Peter smirks at the group. “Do you like my privacy screen shell? My husband made it for me on my 400th birthday! He personally collected the shell from the shore of the Silent Sea. As long as I channel my magic into it not only won’t others be able to hear us but it removes the very concept of us talking. Very effective!”
“Anyway, let’s start with you Jason. Keep doing what you’re doing!” He shrugs, “from what I saw you’ve got an enormous amount of combat experience under your belt. Combined with whatever that skill is you used, you’re good. The only advice I have is let your rabbit fight with you.”
Peter stops talking for a moment under a burning glare from Rosha. She crosses her arms and is about to speak up when Peter raises both hands to stop her. He shakes his head, “from the looks I am getting there is a history behind this. Let me explain myself, though. Your rabbit there is of equal level with Jason. This means it can in theory fight on an equal level with him.”
“Beyond that though she is small. Part of what makes a swarm effective is being smaller than their target. Against your rabbit, the swarm cats won’t be able to do that constant damage trick. Each individual cat would have to try to hit it. Their chances of damaging your rabbit let alone hitting it is phenomenally low.”
“Seriously, a level one trying to hit a second break? That’s just silly. Sure a person can manage it, but swarm cats are idiots so don’t even have a cat’s cunning. But I will leave the decision up to you. The rabbit is your pet after all.”
Jason shrugs, “We will see what happens next time we meet a small swarm like the last.” Though in his mind Jason scoffs, ‘well, getting one out of three doesn’t exactly make you seem like a fount of wisdom. At least not all high level NPCs I meet have the magical ability to see through my secrets.’
Peter raises an eyebrow at him but then shrugs, “Think what you will. Now let’s talk about Courtney!” He turns to face her, “more buffs. Healing and illusions are good focuses, but any true support mage needs buffs. Even a slight increase to a person’s chance to hit is powerful in the right situation. Debuffs are cool too, but you have that somewhat covered with illusions so we can ignore that for now.”
“Now my specific advice is that when fighting a swarm you should have damage reduction on everyone. Yes, even yourself. While you don’t plan on getting into melee range of the swarm, life happens. A couple points of damage every few seconds is bad enough. Take away that defense though and suddenly the swarm is doing five to ten damage just as quickly. If a swarm got to anyone not buffed even higher level people would seem to just melt away.”
Courtney nods, “yes, I understand this principle.”
Peter smiles, “if so then why didn’t you buff yourself and Rosha in the last fight? What happens if a swarm came up behind you two? I know you travellers are functionally immortal, but that shouldn’t be used as an excuse to let your guard down.”
Peter sighs, “before I comment on Rosha, I guess I should give one of my canned pieces of advice. I tell any travellers I like this little tidbit. The biggest barrier to your continued advancement will be not taking this seriously. Too many times I have seen a promising traveller stall out because they treat life as a game.”
Peter shakes his head, “anyway, Rosha! Not only are you a ranger like me, but you use one of those unique traveller weapons. Now I don’t know if you can tell from my tone there but I do not approve of them. You have a weak bow you hit things with, some sub par daggers, and if any of it breaks you’re out of all your weapons.”
“We can’t fix that right now. I advise you just pick up a couple weapons at the bamboo city. The one thing I do approve of is when it comes to these unique options is that it provides a weakened main weapon bonus to all the forms. I actually really appreciate that when it comes to being a ranger. You should be able to ghost your way through a forest while taking on your enemies at all ranges. Though I guess I should ask one pertinent question of you. As a ranger, are you a Ranger, a Hunter, or a Huntsman?”
Rosha tilts her head to the side, “what’s the difference?”
Peter shrugs, “Some rangers would say it is a question of if you’re going to be good, neutral, or evil. The truth is a little deeper, though. Let’s start by saying they are all rangers. No one denies this. They receive almost the same training and can do the same sort of things. Rather, each one is based on the focus of the person.”
“First we have the hunter. They focus on hunting quite appropriately. A hunter goes out into the wild, whether that means deep wilderness or a well-kept nobles garden forest, and hunts. Generally, this is done with the goal of protecting civilization. For instance, they will cull a wolf pack that has gotten too big and started to prey upon farm animals.”
“Next is the evil option, the huntsman. What they focus on is in their name, hunts man. They hunt men and so are evil. In reality, I would call them a form of bounty hunter that seeks out their targets in the wilderness. They would probably have a better name if they targeted bandit groups more actively. Sadly, being a one-man army isn’t easy, so they tend to leave the groups alone.”
“Finally the so-called good option, the classic ranger. If the hunter focused on animals and the huntsman focused on men, then the ranger is in between. What gives them a good image is that they are focused on the wilderness itself. Not protecting it like some seem to think, though they will do so as needed. A ranger has their finger on the pulse of the wild through observation and experience. Unlike the druid which has a mystical connection, a ranger lives it.”
If a huntsmen is considered evil, what is a ranger who hunts animals and evil humaniod creatures like bandits and monsters? Are they still a ranger, a huntsmen, or a hunter? Another book series i read had a hunter hunt animals, but a bowman or an archer could be described as man killers in medieval times as well.