The Ranger Scout is not a wilderness guide. Wilderness guides work for the corps, leading survey teams through catalogued biomes with Kadiss-linked nav units and a contract that specifies their extraction coordinates. The Ranger Scout works where the grid does not reach -- uncharted worlds, dead systems, Rim territories where Kadiss satellites were never deployed or were shot down. The Ranger Scout does not need the grid. The grid would only get them killed.
Asset Realisation has no clean entry for the Ranger Scout. The corps cannot book what they cannot track. A Ranger Scout who appears on a Kadiss manifest is a Ranger Scout working under duress -- press-ganged as a colonial pathfinder, indentured as a "terrain asset" on a frontier world the corp is strip-mining. Free Ranger Scouts move through the Rim like ghosts, hiring out to crews that need to go where the maps end, paid in rek with no contract, no record, no grid entry. The corps call them "unregistered navigational assets" and consider them a loss-prevention problem.
The Ranger Scout reads dead worlds. A planet that has been abandoned for centuries -- colony failed, atmosphere bleeding, structures collapsed -- is the Ranger Scout's natural habitat. They read the terrain and see what happened: where the water went, why the crops died, what the colonists were running from. They read tracks and know what made them, how many, how long ago, and whether they are still here. The Ranger Scout moves ahead of the party and ensures the party never walks into what the Ranger Scout already found.
Operating on the Combat/Edge chassis (d10 HD, full BAB, Fort/Ref good, Will poor, 4 SP). Light and medium armour -- mobility over protection. Rifles and melee weapons -- reach and blade, the tools of the advance element. Prime requisites: STR, DEX, WIS -- the body must survive, the hands must shoot, the eyes must read what the grid cannot see.
Rules Reference
Field
Value
Armor Allowance
Light, Medium
Bab Tier
full
Base Skill Points
4
Hd
d10
Hd Sides
10
Max Level
20
Multiclass Notes
Ranger Scouts can multiclass with Scout and Survivalist archetypes. Non-humans use simultaneous multiclassing rules.
Primary Abilities
STR, DEX, WIS
Prime Requisites
STR, DEX, WIS
Save Tiers / Fortitude
good
Save Tiers / Reflex
good
Save Tiers / Will
poor
Weapon Allowance
All rifles, All melee weapons, Pistol
Notes
Archetype Niche: The Ranger Scout is the party's off-grid pathfinder. Frontier Instinct provides passive exploration bonuses that prevent ambushes, bypass hazards, and navigate uncharted space without Kadiss dependency. Ambush Predator turns the first round of combat into a devastating alpha-strike, rewarding the Scout for doing what they do best: finding the enemy before the enemy finds the party. Xeno-Adaptation turns hostile environments from threats into home ground -- the Scout has survived worse. The Ranger Scout's niche is making the journey possible when the grid says it is not.
Level Table
Wanderer
Field
Value
bab
1
fortitude
2
level
1
reflex
2
skillPoints
16
title
Wanderer
will
0
xp
0
Outrider
Field
Value
bab
2
fortitude
3
level
2
reflex
3
skillPoints
4
title
Outrider
will
0
xp
2250
Ranger
Field
Value
bab
3
fortitude
3
level
3
reflex
3
skillPoints
4
title
Ranger
will
1
xp
4500
Deep Ranger
Field
Value
bab
4
fortitude
4
level
4
reflex
4
skillPoints
4
title
Deep Ranger
will
1
xp
9000
Void Ranger
Field
Value
bab
5
fortitude
4
level
5
reflex
4
skillPoints
4
title
Void Ranger
will
1
xp
18000
Master Ranger
Field
Value
bab
6
fortitude
5
level
6
reflex
5
skillPoints
4
title
Master Ranger
will
2
xp
36000
Frontier Lord
Field
Value
bab
7
fortitude
5
level
7
reflex
5
skillPoints
4
title
Frontier Lord
will
2
xp
75000
High Frontier Lord
Field
Value
bab
8
fortitude
6
level
8
reflex
6
skillPoints
4
title
High Frontier Lord
will
2
xp
150000
World Walker
Field
Value
bab
9
fortitude
6
level
9
reflex
6
skillPoints
4
title
World Walker
will
3
xp
300000
High World Walker
Field
Value
bab
10
fortitude
7
level
10
reflex
7
skillPoints
4
title
High World Walker
will
3
xp
600000
Star Walker
Field
Value
bab
11
fortitude
7
level
11
reflex
7
skillPoints
4
title
Star Walker
will
3
xp
900000
High Star Walker
Field
Value
bab
12
fortitude
8
level
12
reflex
8
skillPoints
4
title
High Star Walker
will
4
xp
1200000
Void Walker
Field
Value
bab
13
fortitude
8
level
13
reflex
8
skillPoints
4
title
Void Walker
will
4
xp
1500000
High Void Walker
Field
Value
bab
14
fortitude
9
level
14
reflex
9
skillPoints
4
title
High Void Walker
will
4
xp
1800000
World Lord
Field
Value
bab
15
fortitude
9
level
15
reflex
9
skillPoints
4
title
World Lord
will
5
xp
2100000
High World Lord
Field
Value
bab
16
fortitude
10
level
16
reflex
10
skillPoints
4
title
High World Lord
will
5
xp
2400000
Star-Spanning Ranger
Field
Value
bab
17
fortitude
10
level
17
reflex
10
skillPoints
4
title
Star-Spanning Ranger
will
5
xp
2700000
High Star Ranger
Field
Value
bab
18
fortitude
11
level
18
reflex
11
skillPoints
4
title
High Star Ranger
will
6
xp
3000000
The Uncharted
Field
Value
bab
19
fortitude
11
level
19
reflex
11
skillPoints
4
title
The Uncharted
will
6
xp
3300000
Supreme Ranger Scout
Field
Value
bab
20
fortitude
12
level
20
reflex
12
skillPoints
4
title
Supreme Ranger Scout
will
6
xp
3600000
Special Abilities
Frontier Instinct
Field
Value
level
1
name
Frontier Instinct
description: The Ranger Scout's senses are tuned to worlds the grid does not map. Tracking, Survival, Perception, and Stealth as class skills with +2 competence bonus. The Ranger Scout identifies natural hazards (quicksand, toxic atmosphere pockets, unstable terrain, xeno-flora danger zones) with a Survival check (DC 15) and guides the party to avoid them -- no check for known hazards; the body remembers. At level 5, the Ranger Scout cannot be surprised in natural terrain -- the land warns them. At level 10, the party moves at full speed through difficult natural terrain -- the Ranger Scout finds the path the instruments miss. At level 15, the Ranger Scout always knows true north, depth, and approximate distance to any mapped landmark within 100 miles -- they carry a mental compass that no EMP, no jammer, and no Kadiss blackout can touch.
Ambush Predator
Field
Value
level
3
name
Ambush Predator
description: The Ranger Scout finds the enemy before the enemy knows they are being hunted. During a surprise round, gain an additional standard action (attack, movement, or Stealth only). When attacking a target that has not yet acted in the encounter, +2d6 precision damage -- the shot placed before the target's nervous system registers the threat. At level 7, +3d6. At level 11, +4d6. At level 15, +5d6. At level 19, the Ranger Scout automatically wins initiative against enemies with a lower Survival skill rank -- the Ranger Scout has been tracking them for hours. The fight started before the enemy knew it.
Xeno-Adaptation
Field
Value
level
5
name
Xeno-Adaptation
description: The Ranger Scout's body has survived planets that killed the last crew that landed. Develop resistance to one environmental hazard per 5 levels (choose from: extreme cold, extreme heat, radiation, toxic atmosphere, vacuum exposure, high gravity, low gravity, or Fold-tainted environments). The chosen hazard is treated as one severity level lower with +4 to saves. At level 10, resistance becomes near-immunity (hazard severity reduced by two levels, +6 saves). At level 15, the Ranger Scout guides allies to share half the resistance bonus (+2 to saves against the chosen hazard) -- the Ranger Scout has learned to teach the body what the body learned by surviving.