I’m trying to come up with a backstory for this character and am wondering if she could have been a Farstrider during Arthas’ attack on Quel’thalas.
Rangers are not a defined class- they aren’t just hunters. Rangers are a mix of hunters, warriors and of course rogues.
I believe, absolutely, that the Farstriders have always had rogue-like people in their ranks even before the Scourge invasion.
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Yeah Rangers/Farstriders are an organization, not a class. Like the Sentinels.
Are you aware of any examples of this?
i believe lor’themar was a ranger despite having the style of warrior with a big sword
Ranger Lord -actually a higher military rank than Veeresa or Alleria-.
Elven Rangers (like Shadowhunters and other classes deviated from iconic characters from the old RTS) are indeed a weirdo mix between a hunter, warrior and rogue.
Short answer: Yes.
Long answer: Rogues aren’t always strictly thieves. They can also be operatives focused on intel gathering, like we see with Matthias Shaw and the SI:7. The Farstriders weren’t restricting to people who used bows and arrows, and probably employed people who utilized stealth and covert operations.
I’m going to get a friend on this, whose backstory actually revolves around former enlistment with the Farstriders as part of their rogue’s history.
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Yeah, when it comes down to it, “rogue” is basically just a catch-all RPG game term for “stealthy characters in leather.”
Which is honestly why it’s the one class name that sounds extremely unnatural to me whenever questgivers use it in-game. It doesn’t really make sense for the NPC’s to actually call someone a rogue; they’d be called a thief, or a scout, or a spy, or an assassin (or as of Legion, maybe a pirate or outlaw), but actually addressing them as rogues leans awfully far toward characters in the story basically using what amounts to a meta label for a game mechanic.
As pointed out above, the Farstriders are a military organization, and anyone who has ever been involved with similar can tell you that there isn’t one catch-all personality or skill-set that fits the people whom make them up.
If you look at, say, the US Army, you’ll find that the vast majority of its enlisted troops aren’t in an infantry or direct-action role, they’re logistical staff. Then there are other enlisted and commissioned roles that are required for an army to function, be it building bridges and barracks to performing surgeries.
You can apply a lot of that reasoning to the Farstriders of Quel’thalas. Someone has to be organizing the armory that stocks the arrows that the grunts shoot, after all. There’s no reason why a rogue (in the class sense) can’t be a forward observer for airstrikes flights of dragonhawks to strafe targets (I miss the Isle of Quel’danas), or an infiltration specialist in search and rescue, or any number of roles where someone who specializes in close-quarters combat from ambush might be valuable. There’s not only a ton of potential there just in terms of martial roles available, but professional roles. A tailoring-alchemist priest should be able to crank out bandages and potions by the boatload and roleplay as a medic or physician directly attached to the Farstriders if they want to, because there’s definitely a role for it (and we see similar with the Corpsmen of the Navy attached to the USMC).
Granted, not all of this can be directly supported by lore examples (i.e., a priest labelled “Farstrider”), but there needs to be some degree of flexibility available for such an organization to survive. A pack of ham-handed idiots in a MASH surgical ward is not conducive to the grunts’ confidence. At the same time, you need to have a little cohesiveness within the unit in terms of shared skills, so there might be a little “Every Farstrider A Bowman” going on to give the appearance that they’re predominantly marksmen. You have to be willing to bend the rules a little if you want to add depth at times.
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Well Farstriders aren’t just Hunters. They also have Rogues within their ranks which is the reason why Blood/High Elf rogue can be melee rangers too.
Lots of good posts here. Looks like there aren’t any issues with my character having been in the Farstriders before being exiled for following Umbric.
With a Void Elf character, I’d even go so far as to have the character become a rogue in response to exile. Rogues, with their relatively cheap armor, light weapons, and dirty tactics are the perfect class of desperation for a group of exiles that find they lack both numbers and equipment. And having to adapt to a class of desperation makes for a very compelling story.
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Oh, I like this idea a lot. I guess I could say she was a “scout” in the Farstriders, while becoming a full on rogue after the exile. I play subtly, and its shadow abilities do fit the Void Elf theme well.
I like that too. After the change you found that your current course, once taken out of desperation, allowed you to be more finely in tune with your new existence. You’re a creature of shadows now, not really one of nature.
A rogue is just a hunter with knives.
As long as your not a Mary Sue or Gary Sue Johnson and tell more details of your Character’s life with a creatively personally. You’ll be all good for Roleplaying.
That’s why there’s Ghostblades within the Void Elf Society now. You see them walking through the Streets of Stormwind. Farstrider Assassin to Ghostblade.