Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-25124648-20151121203029/@comment-26298013-20151125210619

The Grey Company was not "elite", they were the 30 Rangers that were on hand/fastest to reach Rivendell or wherever they assembled. They were all of Aragorn's kin that could "be gathered in haste" (RotK).

Therefore, when discussing Ranger armor, we can probably assume that what the Grey Company sets out with is true of most Ranger's gear when they went to war. According to RotK: "A little apart the Rangers sat, silent, in an ordered company, armed with spear and bow and sword. They were clad in cloaks of dark grey, and their hoods...There was no gleam of stone or gold, nor any fair thing in all their gear and harness; nor did their riders bear any badge or token, save only that each cloak was pinned upon the left shoulder be a brooch of silver shaped like a rayed star."

Yes, that is a lot of quote. But it shows that the Dunedain fought mostly without armor, having no armor in the description, though they may very well have mail shirts under their cloaks. They were also all deadly swordsman and archers, as described in the book. They were all "old" for normal men, brutally strong and tougher than most Men, Dwarves, and a good number of Elves. This holds true for all Rangers, because, as I mentioned earlier, it can be assumed that they are "standard" among Rangers.

The Grey Company had horses, but did not necessarily fight mounted. In fact, we do not see them fight mounted, because they could not fit their horses on the ships of the Corsairs after loading those same ships down with the men of the Lebennin. We don't know how they fight, though we can assume, due to their description, which states that they carried spears (Tolkien uses the word "spear" to mean both infantry spears/pikes and cavalry lances. I.e., "'spear' shall be shaken, etc.), that they COULD fight from horseback.

Now for the conclusions. Rangers can, and do, fight from horseback. They act like Elves, switching between ranged and melee fighting. They are the hardiest, hardest-hitting, toughest soldiers you can find. Unless you can raise a company of Calaquendi (Elf Lords. I.e., Glorfindel. And Glorfindel scares Nazgul.). Then you might have them beat. So they SHOULD come in mounted, spear, archer, and sword-wielding variants. And they should be, as I said, brutally, scary, awesomely tough. Because we don't mess around with our protectors of innocent, defenseless lands. Ever. There is no Ranger "armor", save perhaps for something like what the Rangers wear presently. I would prefer to see the in-mod Rangers look more like the Grey Company. Also, in-game, Rangers should be a whole lot tougher. One Ranger shouldn't be killed by a Gundabad orc or two. And they shouldn't rely on daggers for a secondary weapon. The Rangers would not use swords with ornate anything. But they do have exceedingly functional, well-made swords, better than Orcish or Gondorian craft. After all, these swords are probably Numenorian heirlooms. Arnor armor, however, would be identical to Gondorian armor from the S.A. Rangers kill Orcs. Therefore, their bows kill Orcs. Their bows should be strong, though slow. Slow, because a Ranger's strength means he (Or she) can use a bow with a higher draw weight, making it slower to draw for us average "humans" in game. High range, high damage, less firing speed. Other than that, no nightshade wither effect, though perhaps it could become an ingredient in some poisons. And no silver metal in Dunedain equipment. I like the ideas behind the suggestion, though. Sorry for the lengthy post. But I enjoy the subject.