Ranger's Prime... Strength?!?

[dr_venture]

I just figured I'd toss out this idea here and see what my fellow C&C GMs thought.

It seems to me that most character classes have a primary statistic that matches up well with the bulk of their Abilities... yet the Ranger has a Prime of Strength, but Abilities that only use Wisdom or Dex. Since Wisdom is used for the majority of the Ranger's abilities (and thus what makes Rangers into Rangers and not Fighters), and since Wisdom is generally used for perception and sort-of "world" knowledge (as opposed to book knowledge or sheer logic)... doesn't Wisdom seem like a much better Prime for Rangers?

It makes sense to me, but I'm curious what you guys think.

[damned]

When the PC is human is doesnt matter too much because they can add Dex and Wis as Primes.... but if you are an Elven (or any other non human PC race) then it probably starts to bite...
i reckon they opted for strength to balance out all the attributes... 13 classes and all attributes have at least 2 classes that require that attribute as prime... if the Ranger had Wis then only the Fighter would have Str as Prime...
So go right ahead and change it!

[dr_venture]

then it probably starts to bite...
i reckon they opted for strength to balance out all the attributes... 13 classes and all attributes have at least 2 classes that require that attribute as prime... if the Ranger had Wis then only the Fighter would have Str as Prime...

Yeah, I think that's entirely the reasoning there. I also was a bit concerned with that 'unbalancing' of primes, then I thought, "Wait a minute, what does it matter if they are balanced or not?" Actually, now that I think about it more, I kinda like the idea that if you're an adventurer who is really strong, being a fighter is the place you obviously belong. Wise? There are several ways you can utilize your wisdom and acute perception. Dexterous? There are a number of things you can apply your nimbleness and quick reflexes. You're just really, really strong? And you want to be an adventurer? Um... you should just hit things, pretty much. Punch things. Stuff like that... but it's really important work!

Of course, players have options in choosing their primes and class, so they're not really trapped into anything, but I like the way that mentality towards Strength works into the fantasy world's mentality.

I just don't see having big muscles as being the most important attribute of being a Ranger... but I'm curious if I'm missing something in my reasoning here.

[JohnD]

I don't think that you are. I prefer wisdom myself and can't see a very effective ranger without it.

[jhall6766]

I often wondered that myself... I just figured that it used str as prime due to Ranger being a subclass of fighter....

[dr_venture]

Yeah, I think it's a misguided attempt at enforcing game balance vs. rules that make sense. Unless I'm mistaken, the base rules suggest a method of rolling stats that allow players to allocate their stats and extra primes to fit their chosen profession, as opposed to the other way around... so who cares if there are a balance of classes that use STR as a prime?

[Griogre]

Two weapon ranger would use str as well over dex. I don't remember how its done in C&C though.