Roleplaying a Hunter

Why is your character a hunter?

This first question to ask yourself when you choose the ranger guild or hunter subguild. It's a harsh lifestyle with few rewards, and a person looking to get rich would do better to accomplish it by joining a prestigious organization, accepting contracts on people's lives, or starting an exporting business. But not everyone has the charisma to be hired by a Noble House, the brutality to be an assassin, or the strength of will to be a merchant. For those who cannot seem to find a place for themselves amongst the rank and file of civilization, for those who know that the dunes will not jeer at their pointed ears, there is a lonely and desperate path they can take.

However, the majority of hunters hunt not for themselves, but for a larger cause. This usually comes in the form of a tribe which must be fed and clothed, but is occasionally a Merchant House that contracts hunters to gather specific materials. Hunters working for Merchant Houses generally have a better time of it due to the support of that organization, but they too must be aware of the hazards on the road they take.

Attacking Dangerous Creatures

Tembos. Southern Giant Beetles. Mekillots. There are two kinds of people who would dare to hunt such fierce and awesome predators. Those who are skilled, intelligent, cautious, and calculating, and those whose bones bleach in the sun. Before deciding to hunt any creature, you should find out what it is you are hunting long before it's in the same room as you are! This doc is a great way to learn more about the wildlife of Zalanthas and decide which creatures are appropriate for your character to hunt.

An ever better method is to find other hunters in game and converse with them, finding out which creatures they are willing to hunt and which they simply avoid. Don't forget that some creatures are there for you to hunt, and others are there to hunt you. Also when hunting, always keep in mind risk of injury and death. Even if you possess the skill to kill a beast, you are always putting your life on the line when fighting a predator.  Remember that you don't have sophisticated weaponry, merely clubs and spears that threaten to shatter every time you strike your opponent. A good analogy would be a grizzly bear in real life. Would you attack a grizzly bear alone, with a melee weapon made out of wood? Probably not, no matter how good you are at fighting human opponents with that melee weapon. Instead consider killing powerful predators with ranged attacks to minimize the risk to yourself, or gathering a group of hunters to help you slay it.

Overhunting

Most Zalanthans are very aware of their ecological surroundings.  Though the reasons might not be altruistic, they realize the danger of overhunting. If someone lives by tanning the hides of tregils, and s/he kills every tregil in the area and sells the hides she made, s/he will gain an immediate windfall, yes. But how will s/he make a living now? Once s/he runs out of money from the additional income, s/he will have no livelihood and will then proceed to starve. Even someone too shortsighted to see this may be aware that there are other ramifications. If somebody takes more than what they need to survive, then they will quickly earn the ire of other hunters and even entire tribes. These tribals and hunters need to be ecologically aware to survive, and a group of overhunters can quickly create a period of famine. They will shed fewer tears over your death than the deaths of those dear to them, and few will hesitate to toss a poisoned spear in your direction as opposed to allowing you to destroy their livelihood. Going into a wild area and killing everything in sight is going to cause just as much problems as going into a tavern in Allanak and hacking people down at random.

Being a hunter is by definition not a lucrative occupation.  If you are selling massive amounts of hides and becoming ludicrously wealthy than you are overdoing it. If you are struggling at some points but in general managing to get by, then you are truly enjoying the experience of playing a hunter in the harsh world that is Armageddon.