🏹 The borderland scout (50 points)

A wilderness ranger from the edge of settled country. Sees first, shoots first, leaves no track. Built around the bow, stealth, and reading the land.

Concept and assumptions

  • Starting budget: 50 character points.
  • Tone: grounded fantasy. No powers; everything earned in the field.
  • Party role: eyes and ears — scouting, ranged damage, and a safe path through unfamiliar country.

Statistics — 25 points

  • Agility 13 (6 pts) — bow, knife, stealth, climbing, light feet.
  • Intelligence 13 (6 pts) — feeds Perception, and the base for tracking, survival, navigation.
  • Strength 11 (1 pt) — enough draw weight for the bow; not a melee bruiser.
  • Constitution 11 (1 pt) — long days on the road, short nights.
  • Willpower 11 (1 pt) — patient by trade.
  • Speed +4 (10 pts) — calculated from Agility (base Speed 7 → 9). A ranger lives on distance: get there first, break contact, bank extra actions when the chase turns.

Two 13s instead of one 15: every linked skill rolls higher, and Perception (from INT) and Initiative (average of INT and AGI) both lift quietly. Speed levels are bought on top — see Calculated statistics. (With Agility 13, Speed rises on even purchased levels — +2 and +4 are the sweet spots.)

Field skills — 13 points

  • Bow (AGI) at level 3 — primary weapon. Roll target 16 (13 + 3).
  • Stealth (AGI) at level 3 — moving unseen. Target 16.
  • Knife (AGI) at level 1 — last-ditch close in. Target 14.

Wilderness skills — 8 points

  • Tracking / Hunting (INT) at level 2 — read sign, follow trails. Target 15.
  • Survival / Bush-craft (INT) at level 2 — food, fire, shelter. Target 15.
  • Navigation (INT) at level 1 — pick an environment (forest, say).
  • Herbalist (INT) at level 1 — supporting medicine and field rations.

Quiet-edge skills — 4 points

  • Climbing (AGI) at level 1 — trees, walls, a quick way up to spot from.
  • Shadowing (AGI) at level 1 — tail without being spotted.
  • Acrobatics/Parkour/Free-running (AGI) at level 1 — out of corners, over fences.
  • Animal Handler (WIL) at level 1 — pick a kind (hounds work well here).

Totals so far

25 (stats) + 13 (field) + 8 (wilderness) + 4 (quiet edge) = 50 points spent. Personality traits here come from disadvantage refunds — the Speed investment used the free budget.

Suggested traits — funded by refunds

Three flavours of scout. The base sheet is fully spent; take a disadvantage (or trim a skill) if you want room for advantages.

  • The watcher. Drop Shadowing or Acrobatics (1 pt each) and buy Eagle Eyed or Keen of hearing — first to see (or hear) trouble.
  • The lone hunter. Animal Empathy plus Phobia of crowds and cities (refund) — at home in the wild, a wreck in a market square. Use the refund to push Bow or Stealth up a level.
  • The outlaw scout. Wanted (refund) for poaching on a noble's reserve and a small Code of Conduct (never hunts for sport) — buy Fearlessness or Resourceful with the freed points.

See Advantages & disadvantages for the full default lists. Costs and refunds follow the skill curve.

Why this build works

The scout earns their place at the table by contributing before the fight starts: spotting the ambush, finding the camp, picking the route. In combat, target 16 for the bow lands most arrows, Speed 9 keeps them mobile when the line breaks, and the high AGI keeps the knife usable as a last resort. The wilderness skill cluster means the party rarely camps cold, eats badly, or wakes up surrounded.

Compare with the ex-soldier or the cleric: same budget, very different problems solved.

See also

Build it in the app

Edit Player Character (app)