Golarion is home to towering city-states and untamed wilderness — sometimes side-by-side. Rangers are those brave individuals who seek to straddle that divide, making the hinterlands safe for settlers and traders and bringing the bounty of nature (and perhaps a bit of its animalism) back to civilization. While many folks make their livelihoods on the borderlands, not all of them are rangers.
Rangers are a common sight in rural communities, although some find work in even the most cosmopolitan cities. Many rangers prefer solitude to social responsibility. Some are hermits who survive on what they can gather or make themselves, while others are trappers and hunters who spend seasons in the wilderness, returning to town only to trade and resupply. These woodsmen are often a source of geographical information for would-be explorers and settlers.
Rangers are integral members of borderland communities, leading hunts and gathering wild plants to supplement the food supply. Diligent rangers also protect roads and villages from natural dangers and unnatural menaces. Some rangers use their talents to subdue nature in the face of civilization’s inexorable advance.
Yet not all rangers are rural. Their sharp senses prove useful even in a metropolis; some rangers track humanoid prey for bounty in the urban jungle of the great cities. Even then, urbanites tend to look down upon rangers, mistaking their often-ragged and unkempt appearance for a lack of sophistication.
Rangers make up the bulk of many rural militias, and even large national armies employ rangers as scouts and spies, outriders and guerrillas. In many cases, these rangers do not wear uniforms. Instead, they carry documentation of their affiliation.
It’s not unusual for a ranger to be struck with wanderlust and take up the life of an adventurer. Some transient rangers have lost the wilds they love to fierce monsters or encroaching civilization. Many travel in search of their favoured enemies.
Favoured Regions: Wherever civilization borders on wilderness, rangers are found. They are particularly common in Avistan since the fall of Imperial Cheliax, as many of its former holdings have been reclaimed by the wild. It is only the work of rangers that keeps many trade routes from disappearing. Most armies employ a handful of rangers to act as scouts. The armies of Andoran, Kyonin, Molthune, Nirmathas and the River Kingdoms, however, rely heavily on rangers. Although these soldiers lack the discipline and martial training of a traditional army, they make up for it with mobility and camouflage. The rangers of Nirmathas—trained in the wilds of the Fangwood — raised guerrilla warfare to new levels, securing Nirmathas from the machinations of Molthune and the druids of the Wildwood Lodge (who also employ rangers to act as their intermediaries). The marines of Korvosa’s Sable Company are all rangers.
Enhanced Companion (Ex): Rangers who join a military unit sometimes focus their training on a single animal, to the exclusion of all others, forming a tight bond. This ability replaces the wild empathy ability.
Upon gaining an animal companion at 4th level, the ranger must choose a single type of animal. The ranger cannot call a different animal companion. The ranger’s effective druid level is equal to the ranger’s level -2 (instead of
the normal ½) for that type of animal. This animal must be on the basic list of companions that can be chosen at 4th level and cannot be changed.
Source: Pathfinder Chronicles: Campaign Setting (Page 48)