Planewalker Rangers
    Perhaps my favorite AD&D character class, rangers have always had a special place in my heart.  While the stealth abilities and double-weapon threshing machine attacks are appealing, the most intriguing part of the ranger class is their abilities with animals.  Truly benevolent and kind individuals, animals can sense the ranger's innate goodness, and trust him more than they would trust any other human or demihuman (with the possible exception of druids).  In fact, one of the aspects that gives the ranger the most character is the odd variety of followers a ranger receives.  If you see a warrior accompanied by a bear, a wolf, a hawk, and a woodchuck, odds are he's a ranger.
    Planescape, as anyone who has spent any time on my site knows, is by far my favorite campaign setting.  Mixing my favorite class and setting, what do you get?  Planewalker Rangers.  Rangers may take the Planewalker Warrior kit from The Planewalker's Handbook.  But what about their followers?  The planes have their own unique ecosystems, and have spawned many strange creatures.  Some of these may also be attracted to the kindness of a planewalking ranger.
    Below is a chart to use to determine planar followers for a Planewalker Ranger.  Not all of a ranger's followers need come from this table, however.  Even on the planes, animals and creatures similar to those found on the Prime abound (particularly on the Beastlands).  For each of a planar ranger's 2d6 followers, roll a percentile die.  01-50 indicates that the regular Prime chart is used to determine the follower.  A roll of 51-00 indicates a planar follower.
    Optional Rule:  As I mentioned, a ranger's followers are one of the most interesting things about him.  Most followers do the ranger little good at 10th level, and are actually often more of a hindrance as a dependent NPC.  To deal with this, as well as to balance the abilities of rangers and paladins more effectively, I allow rangers to gain a few followers at earlier levels.  The first follower is gained at 4th level.  The second is gained at 7th level.  No human or demihuman followers may be gained before 10th level, and neither can any special types of followers (those the ranger is allowed a maximum number of 1).  At 10th level, 2d6 is rolled, and the ranger gains the remainder (since he already has the first two).
    The chart lists the creature, as well as the plane it can be found in.  The table assumes the ranger travels widely throughout the planes, and can pick up all sorts of followers on his many travels.  If the ranger never travels to the plane in question, disregard that roll at the DM's discretion.  The source for this creature is also given.



Die Roll                                       Follower                                    Source
01-02 Aasimar Sigil, Upper Planes; PSMCII
03 Aeserpent * Beastlands; Planes of Conflict
04-07 Animental (roll on Prime follower table to determine type) Inner Planes (determine randomly); PSMCIII
08-11 Aoskian Hound Sigil; In the Cage
12-14 Bariaur Ysgard, Sigil; PSMCI
15-16 Bonespear  Acheron, Gehenna, Outlands; PSMCII
17-18 Buraq* Elysium; Planes of Conflict
19 Chaos Beast* (if ranger is lawful, substitute Gear Spirit, below) Limbo; Planes of Chaos
20-21 Cranium Rat (rogue non-evil individual) Sigil, Lower Planes; Planescape Boxed Set
22-23 Ethyk Bytopia; Planes of Conflict
24-27 Executioner Raven Sigil; In the Cage
28-30 Fensir Ysgard; Planes of Chaos
31-33 Fhorge Outlands, Acheron, Baator; PSMCII
34-35 Foo Dog* Astral, Ethereal, Upper Planes; PSMCI
36-37 Formian* Arcadia; Planes of Law
38-41 Fundamental Inner Planes (determine randonly); PSMCIII
42 Gear Spirit* (if ranger is chaotic, substitute Chaos Beast, above) Mechanus; Planes of Law
43-44 Githzerai Limbo; PSMCI
45-47 Leomarh Outlands; PSMCII
48 Nathri Ethereal; PSMCIII
49 Nethling* Ethereal; Guide to the Ethereal
50 Nic'Epona* Outlands; Planescape Boxed Set
51-52

Ni'iath

Bytopia; Planes of Conflict

53-54 Noctral* Mt. Celestia; PSMCII
55-57 Quill Outlands, Lower Planes; PSMCII
58 Rast Quasiplane of Ash; PSMCIII
59-62 Ratatosk Yggdrasil (Astral, Ysgard); Planes of Chaos
63 Slasrath (5 HD) Gehenna; Planes of Conflict
64-67 Sunfly Upper Planes; PSMCII
68 Terlen Carceri, Gray Waste, Gehenna; PSMCII
69-70 Tiefling Sigil, Lower Planes; PSMCI
71-85 Beastlands Animal (re-roll on Prime table, re-roll any non-animal results.  Animal has high intelligence and can speak; has 10% chance for spell abilities) Beastlands (use stats as found in Monstrous Manual, with High Intelligence)
86-00 Prime follower Use Prime chart

*:  The ranger may never have more than one follower of this type at any one time.  Re-roll any duplicate results.


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