Ranger Redux

The Ranger is possibly the most contentious player class in the 5th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons^TM. Since their inception, Rangers have captured the imagination of many players as various types of wilderness survivalists, cunning hunters, and noble warriors. The archetype most players draw on largely comes from Aragorn, who is explicitly described as a "ranger from the North," though later texts would apply the descriptor to any adventurous hero who combined survivalist knowledge, martial skill, and the attitudes and proclivities of a scout that was capable of operating far afield for long periods of time. Eventually, the systems of D&D modeled the more wondrous aspects of these archetypes as various kinds of magic, for mechanical and narrative purposes, and so rangers as spellcasters became a core notion that many fans of the class hew toward.

The Ranger in the 5th edition Player's Handbook sought to satisfy nearly every imaginable archetypal interpretation of the ranger as it has existed in fiction and in the minds and hearts of players. The rangers alone were given features meant to excel in one of the game's least defined pillars of play, that of exploration, except these features offered neither advantages nor opportunities to solve the common problems of exploration, but rather offered factual solutions - you can just do this now. Sometimes, the features very occasionally suggested the player could engage in an activity that was undefined anywhere else in the rulebook, making the adjudication of those features down to DM fiat.

When contrasted to the other designs in the game, no other class has to rely so much on clear communication of expectation between Dungeon Master and player as the Ranger. If half of the Ranger's features won't be used in the game, then I have to think very differently about how my Ranger can excel and achieve heroic feats, regardless of whether I am playing as the ranger or playing as the Ranger's Dungeon Master. Compared to, say, Spellcasting, the rules for exploration, tracking, survival, and a number of other aspect of a ranger's core features are specifically obfuscated from the player, and are locked behind the veil of the Dungeon Master's discretion. Regardless of how useful the features may or may not wind up being, the agency in when and how to use them leaves the player, making Ranger players feel inherently less in control and powerful.

Secondarily, the Ranger suffers from a similar problem that other Martial classes do in that the story being told by its subclass and subclass feature cadence isn't especially unified. For Sorcerers, Clerics, and Warlocks, each one knows that the specifics of how they acquire their powers or what they revere in order to gain their powers is derived from 1st level. Barbarians and Monks have a definitive form of story in their subclasses, as each describes a certain path or journey, a path to self control or strength for Barbarians and a journey of self-discovery and enlightenment for monks. Artificers, Wizards, Bards, and Druids essentially join collectives of like-minded individuals that guide and influence their selection of powers and inform the stories you can tell using their subclass. Rangers lack anything so unifying, instead using the generic "archetype" designation while also affording the Rangers a vast swath of stylistic choices, such Favored Enemy and Favored Terrain, as well Fighting Style and Spellcasting features.

The goal of this document is to present a version of the Ranger that unifies some of their narrative themes while making it clearer how to differentiate one ranger from another. Some features will be promoted into greater importance while others will be made more optional. The core strengths available to a PHB ranger exist throughout, providing the player opts into those specific choices, preventing them from being stuck with features are undervalued in their campaigns.

So. Let's Break it Down in Great Detail.

Favored Enemey

My main problem is that Favored Enemy overlaps too much with the Subclass, but is treated like a Style Choice. That said, it should govern almost everything about how your ranger works. If you are a hunter of dragons and giants, you have a different bag of tricks than a guy who deals with hordes of enemies or a ranger who protects the wild animals of her domain. That bag of trick is best captured in a subclass, and that specific bag of trick is meant to embody that quest, the quest to undo your favored enemies. The "how" of that is a little bit looser. To my mind, that means that this is an excellent catch-all for the bag of features that should be assigned to each Ranger subclass. This document presents redesigns of the three* PHB subclasses and the subclasses aggregated in Xanathar's Guide to Everything. A loose guide for adapting a subclass from another source is to assign its non-magic feature as a Level 1 feature, generate a list of likely favored enemies, and then leave the remaining features distributed through the class as is seen fit.

Primeval Awareness

What do Ranger's bring to an adventuring party? Why would you choose to be a ranger over, say, a druid? Or a rogue? Or a barbarian? A noble quest to eliminate a specific evil could be the realm of a Paladin, even. What magic does a druid have that a ranger should have, but a more refined and specific version? What skill does a rogue possess that a ranger should have some element of? What power does a barbarian's connection to primal energy have that a ranger might offer an alternative to?

If we look at where these abilities emerge in the class feature list of the other classes, we see a common theme: a distinct, "only I can do this" feature is granted at either 1st or 2nd level, sometimes at 3rd. Druids gain shapeshifting. Rogues gain Sneak Attack and later Expertise, and Barbarians have their rage. Paladins, even, have their Divine Smite at 2nd level. Bards gain Bardic Inspiration, Fighters gain Action Surge, etc.

When we look at each of these features, we see either an enhancement to skill checks, enhancements to attacks, or some play-altering feature that only that class can achieve. If we think about what a Ranger should bring to their player and their party, Rangers should definitely be highly skilled additions to your crew, but that skill shouldn't rival that of a rogue. A ranger cannot be as good at a rogue at as many different things as they need to be, but they cannot be generically "not bad" at all things, as that is the domain of the bard. Rather, a Ranger's skill needs to be bound to only their heightened senses and awareness, here represented by their Intelligence and Wisdom checks. We can't give them only choice of Expertise on "awareness" checks and really, all Rangers should have that, so that's less of a "how" choice and more of a "when" choice. That guides my thinking on the idea that this feature should exist for all rangers, and becomes a question, in game design terms, of whether or not doing so can creating an interesting choice for your ranger.

The entire conceit of the PHB version of the feature is your ability to sense the presence of a specific kind of enemy - regardless of whether your chose that creature as your favored enemy or not. It's a really weak ability that is deeply unsatisfying, because you get nothing other than "well, within a mile of us, somewhere, there are some fey creatures." For example, if you're on the Elemental Plane of Fire, what good does this ability do you? You're just going to sense elementals everywhere, you're on their home turf. This kind of thing doesn't help you.

If we're going to say the ranger is magical, why make them pay in a precious magic resource for an underpowered effect? In the following rebuild, I propose letting rangers get a sort of "focus mode" that I have dubbed Primeval Awareness. A ranger can enter this state of heightened sense the way that a barbarian can enter a rage, except instead of shrugging off impairing effects and becoming nigh impervious to damage, a ranger gets nimble and dodgy (advantage on Dexterity ability checks and saving throw), and instead of dealing bonus damage, a ranger's attacks become preternaturally accurate and they gain a bonus to all ability checks (1d4 / +2). Lastly, this focus mode stance doesn't eat their concentration as rage does, and it lasts for up to 10 minutes, which lets them use it to sense their favored enemies (not creatures chosen from a list that may have nothing to do with their favored enemies).

Natural Explorer --> Survival Knacks

I've elucidated my problems with Natural Explorer; it assumes a core notion that doesn't exist in most games. Exploration is either a pillar that goes untackled or it's specifically presented as a challenge with the ranger's powers simply solve in an unsatisfying way that doesn't feel like it allows the ranger to shine. The Deft Explorer upgrade from Tasha's Caulron of Everything only slightly helps in this regard. Because we as a theoretical game designer cannot know how the DM will present their adventure or indeed what our Ranger players imagine is core to a ranger experience, we introduce a talent list for Rangers. I basically ripped this off of Warlocks because I happen to think that Warlock is one of the best designed classes in the game and I Love the "these are like feats, but only for you special kiddos" feeling of Eldritch Invocations.

The Survival Knacks allow you to greatly customize the kind of Ranger you're going to be. If you're not a Ranger who wanders and explores far and wide, you don't have to pick up that Knack. If you're a ranger who wants to call on the powers of the natural world, you can get access to more of that in here without having to spend precious known spells. You can also make your nearly worst-in-show spell list a little bit wider and give yourself Ritual Casting, if that's the sort of ranger you want to be. The point is that the versatility of a talent list allows the class to encompass every kind of ranger at every point along the specturm of players' expectations.

Customized Fighting Style

And finally, going back to the problem of the three kind of rangers: beast friends, magic users, and archers. I found initially that these sort of dovetailed nicely with another concept from the warlock, specifically the pact magic which serves as their style choice. I like this so much that I gave it to the Ranger in the form of the Aspects: Ancients, Wilds, and Hunter. My original idea for this was something like: The Aspect of the Ancients makes your ranger even more magicumal. It gives you ritual casting, which is neat but not overpowered, and lets you take advantage on resisting magical effects and maintaining your concentration, which as a magic ranger you're going to want to do more often. Aspect of the Hunter gives you something like the Battle Master Know Your Enemy features, makes you immune to surprise (Which is actually really good) and lets you critically strike on a roll of 19-20, and Aspect of the Beast was what allowed you to pick up an animal companion - no longer constraining that feature to a subclass.

However, recently, Wizards released the 'alternate features' in Tasha's Caulron of Everything, something I liked so very much, I have stolen liberally from it. I now think that the entirety of a Ranger's style choice can be encapsulated by the expanded definition of Fighting Styles, except I've gone ahead and converted Beast Mastery (an entire, beloved Ranger subclass) into a fighting style. I have also added more options for a Ranger to be particularly good with ranged weapons, allow them to cast cantrips, fight things they cannot see, or be super good with two weapons all based on a Fighting Style. I like this very much and think it is the way of the future for the Ranger.

*Hunter Subclass -> Two New Subclasses

This document eschews the Hunter subclass and instead creates two subclasses that split up the various types of Hunters more according to their chosen prey - the Colossus Hunter and the Horde Breaker. I like the Hunter subclass, it's the "most martial" subclass that exists for the PHB ranger, but I kept trying to understand it in the new context I had created where "Favored Enemy" captures the type of creatures or threats you seek to control, influence, track, or oppose as a ranger. The PHB Hunter is actually too general and too generic by comparison. One of the other parts of Hunter that irritated me was that Colossus Slayer and Giant Killer, thematically, are the same thing. I really struggled with that, conceptually, because a giant is a Colossus, kind of by definition, and vice versa. Anyway, that class has been reimagined as the quintessential ranger capable of hunting legendary creatures. Its Favored Enemy mechanic includes any creature with Legendary actions, as well as any creature of size Huge or larger, and they get a bonus for dealing with lair actions or understanding the regional changes caused by some Legendary creatures.

Horde Breaker, then, casts those rangers as the best possible fighters against large groups of humanoids, like mobs of goblins, skulks of bugbears, packs of kobolds, rampaging orcish hordes, or even hobgoblin legions. While this ranger is unquestionably the best ranger at fighting multiple targets, its also the best ranger for operating "behind enemy lines" against other humanoids. Their Favored Enemy feature gives them the ability to communicate with humanoids with whom they don't share a language at level one, reflecting a kind of worldliness and familiarity with diverse cultures that matches some aspects of the Archetype. When they get higher level, Horde Breakers get the "Multiattack" feature base hunters get, but they also get the ability to disguise themselves and their allies and move around more easily in areas occupied by their favored enemies, allowing them to don disguises and mimic cultural ideas that lets them move unnoticed in "enemy territory."

The Ranger

Class Features

As a ranger, you gain the following class features

Favored Enemy

Beginning at 1st level, you join the ranks of rangers dedicated to preserving society against a specific type of threat, such as a type of creature or enemy you wish to more effectively track, hunt, or even talk to, known as your Favored Enemy. Choose from Beast Mastery, Colossus Hunter, Gloom Stalker, Horde Breaker, Horizon Walker, or Monster Slayer and gain the appropriate features. Each class specifies the types of threats or creatures you count amongst your favored enemies. Other features in this class or your subclass will refer effects you gain when dealing with your favored enemies, which are defined by the Favored Enemy choice you make here.

You gain additional features from this choice at 3rd, 7th, 11th, and 15th levels.

Primeval Awareness

You have a bond with the natural spirits and energies of the world. You can use a bonus action on your turn to tap into your Primeval Awareness and enter a state of heightened senses and instinctual skill.

While using Primeval Awareness, you gain the following benefits:

• You have advantage on Dexterity ability checks and saving throws.
• When you make an ability check or an attack roll, you roll a d4 and add the result as a bonus to that roll. (+2)
• You can use a bonus action on each of your turns to magically sense whether there are any creatures within 1 mile of you that are your Favored Enemies. This ability doesn't reveal the location or number of the creatures, nor their specific types, and it is blocked by 5 feet of common earth or wood, 3 feet of stone, 1 foot of metal, or 3 inches of lead. Creatures hidden from divination magic are also not detected by this ability.

Your Primeval Awareness lasts for 10 minutes. It ends early if you are knocked unconscious or if you end it early on your turn (no action required).

You can use your Primeval Awareness twice and regain all expended uses when you complete a long rest.

At 5th level, you regain all expended uses when you complete a long or short rest.

Spellcasting

See the Spellcasting feature from the Player's Handbook.

Survival Knacks

Beginning at 2nd level, you have learned several tricks for surviving in hostile terrain, exploring new locales, delving into dark places, and dealing with the unique threats and dangers that accompany them. This learning is captured by a special set of talents you have called Survival Knacks. You learn 2 such knacks from the list below. As you gain levels in this class, you learn additional survival knacks per the Survival Knacks column of the Ranger table.

Some survival knacks have prerequisites, which you must meet in order to gain that knack. You can learn a survival knack at the same time you meet its prerequisite. When a survival knack lists a level as a prerequisite, it is referring to your level in this class.

When you gain a level in this class, you can replace one survival knack you know with another you do not, providing you meet all the necessary prerequisites.

Hide in Plain Sight

Prerequisite: 7th level
As a bonus action on your turn while using your primeval awareness, you can don a magical camouflage. Until you move, attack, or deal damage to another creature, you are considered Hidden and invisible, and any Dexterity (Stealth) rolls you make to Hide gain a +5 bonus. If a creature which is one of your favored enemies attempts to search for you, it has disadvantage on any ability checks it makes to do so. Once you use this ability, you cannot use it again until you complete a short or long rest.

Keeper of the Verdant Flame

You learn the faerie fire spell, if you did not know it already, and it does not count against the maximum number of ranger spells you know. When you cast this spell while using your primeval awareness, you can cause it to burn your foes. Any creature that fails their saving throw takes 1d6 fire damage or 2d6 fire damage if they are one of your favored enemies.

Land's Stride

You ignore penalties to your movement speed imposed by nonmagical difficult terrain, such as loose rock or thick foliage, and you take no damage when moving through such hazards if they are nonmagical. If you make a saving throw against such a magical effect that produces hazardous terrain, such as the vines of the entangle spell, that would cause you to take damage on a success, you instead take no damage on a success and only half damage on a failure.

Lethal Hunter

Your weapon attacks that critically strike deal an additional 1d8 damage of the same type as your weapon. If the attack was against one of your favored enemies, you instead deal 2d8 additional damage with that critical strike.

Primeval Striker

Prerequisite: 5th level
Weapon attacks you make against your favored enemies count as magical for the purposes of overcoming resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical weapons. If a creature has immunity to such damage, you ignore the immunity and the target instead gains resistance to the damage from your weapon attacks.

Relentless Hunter

Prerequisite: 5th level
Once per turn, when you miss with an attack while using your primeval awareness, you can reroll that attack. If the target of your attack is one of your favored enemies, you ignore any disadvantage you have for the rerolled attack.

Shroud of Morning Mist

Prerequisite: 5th level
You learn the misty step spell, which counts as a ranger spell for you but does not count against the maximum number of ranger spells you know. When you cast this spell while using your primeval awareness, you can cause mist to cling to you, obscuring you such that enemies have disadvantage on attack rolls against you until the end of your next turn. Enemies with Truesight or that do not rely on sight to attack you do not suffer disadvantage from this effect.

Survivalist

Prerequisite: 6th level
While adventuring, you can expend a use of your primeval awareness over 10 minutes to prepare one of the following benefits for yourself and up to 8 other creatures, which lasts for up to 8 hours:

• You construct a shelter suitable for medium or smaller creatures. The shelter provides advantage on Constitution saving throws to resist the effects of extreme heat or cold and it blends naturally into its surroundings. The DC to spot the shelter or its occupants is equal to 10 + your Wisdom modifier + your proficiency bonus. Your favored enemies have disadvantage on ability checks made to spot the shelter.
• If you lead the way while navigating, creatures traveling with you gain a +5 bonus to any ability check made to climb, swim, or move stealthily across the terrain. In addition, creatures you grant this benefit can take the Hide action even if they are only partially obscured.
• You can teach your allies to trust their other senses when their vision is impaired, acclimating to the nature of your favored terrain. You and creatures you grant this benefit to suffer no penalty to Wisdom (Perception) checks for being in dim light or darkness.

If you use this ability again before the previous benefit ends, that benefit immediately ends for all creatures you granted it to and the new benefit lasts for up to 8 hours.

Vanish

Prerequisite: 13th level
Whenever you use your primeval awareness, you can use a bonus action on each of your turns during this time to take the Hide action, and you cannot be tracked by nonmagical means unless you intentionally choose to leave a trail.

Windspeaker

Prerequisite: 9th level
You learn the sending and tongues spells, which count as ranger spells for you but do not count against your maximum number of spells known.

Fighting Style

At 3rd level, you adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can’t take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.

Beast of the Land, Night, or Sky

small or medium beast, neutral

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• Armor Class 13 + your Wisdom modifier
• Hit Points equal to the beast's constitution modifier + your Wisdom modifier + three times your ranger level (the beast has a number of d6 Hit Dice equal to your ranger level)
• Speed 30 ft. (10ft., fly 60 ft. Beast of the Sky only)

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STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
10 (+0)	16 (+3)	13 (+1)	6 (-2)	14 (+2)	11 (+0)

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• Saving Throws Dex +5, Con +3, Wis +4
• Skills Perception +4
• Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14
• Languages understands the languages you speak.

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Traits

Flyby (Beast of the Sky Only). The beast doesn't provoke opportunity attacks when it flies out of an enemy's reach.

Pounce (Beast of the Night Only). If the beast moves at least 20 feet straight toward a target and then hits it with a shred attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 1d6 slashing damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a Strength saving throw against your spell save DC or be knocked prone.

Relentless (Beast of the Land Only). If the beast takes damage that would reduce it to 0 hit points, it can make a Constitution saving throw. On a success, the beast is reduced to 1 hit point instead. The DC is equal to 10 or half the damage that would have reduced them to 0 hit points, whichever is higher.

Primal Rebirth. If the beast has died within the last hour, you can use your action to touch it and expend a spell slot of 1st level or higher. The beast returns to life after 1 minute with all its hit points restored.

Spiritual Bond. The beast's attack rolls, saving throw proficiencies, and skill bonuses all increase by 1 each time your proficiency bonus increases by 1.

Ready Companion. As a bonus action, you can command the beast to make its shred attack or to Hide.

Actions

Shred. Melee Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1d6 + 3 slashing damage

Blind Fighting

Being unable to see a creature doesn’t impose disadvantage on your attack rolls against it, provided the creature isn’t hidden from you.

Close-Quarters Marksman

You suffer no disadvantage on ranged attack rolls while within 5 feet of an enemy and if a creature provokes an opportunity attack from you while you are wielding a ranged weapon, you can make an attack with your ranged weapon in place of a melee attack. If the weapon has the Loading property, it must be Loaded to be used for such an attack.

Druidic Warrior

You learn two cantrips of your choice from the druid spell list. They count as ranger spells for you, and Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for them. Whenever you gain a level in this class, you can replace one of these cantrips with another cantrip from the druid spell list.

Dueling

When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.

Thrown-Weapon Fighting

You can draw a weapon that has the thrown property as part of the attack you make with the weapon. In addition, when you hit with a ranged attack using a thrown weapon, you gain a +1 bonus to the damage roll.

Whirling Slayer

When you engage in two-weapon fighting and take the Dodge or Disengage actions, you can use a bonus action to make a single weapon attack with each weapon you are wielding. You do not add your ability modifier to the damage rolls of these attacks.

Extra Attack

Starting at 5th level, when you take the Attack action, you can make two attacks instead of one.

Font of Spirit

At 5th level, you regain all expended uses of your Primeval Awareness when you complete a short or long rest.

Favored Terrain

Beginning at 6th level, you have gained an affinity for a particularly type of natural environment and are adept at traveling and surviving in such regions. When you make an Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma ability check regarding your favored terrain or while adventuring in your favored terrain and would apply your proficiency bonus, you instead apply twice your proficiency bonus.

Reliable Instincts

Beginning at 10th level, you gain preternatural senses regarding your favored enemies. Whenever you make an Intelligence or Wisdom ability check regarding such a creature, you can treat any roll of 9 or lower on the die as showing a 10.

Primeval Awareness Improvement

At 10th level, the bonus die from your primeval awareness changes to a d6 (+3).

In addition, while using your primeval awareness, you are aware of the location of any invisible creature within 30 feet of you, provided that the creature does not have total cover from you and you aren’t blinded or deafened. Creatures you sense in this way gains no advantage for attacking you while you cannot see them. Creatures that cannot be detected via divination magic are hidden from these senses.

At 18th level, your primeval awareness bonus increases to a d8 (+4).

Master Survivalist

When you reach 20th level, your survival instincts are honed to deadly precision. Your primeval awareness bonus increases to a d10 (+5).

Favored Enemies

Beast Master

As a beast master ranger, you seek to defend the civilized lands from the encroachment of wild life and to protect and preserve the rightful place of nature among the balance. You hunt down trappers and poachers preying on rare creatures and eliminate threats to the delicate balance between society and nature. Your attunement to the spirits of plants and animals makes you an uncanny hunter but also grants you insight and compassion to the plight of such creatures.

Summon Primal Ally

At 15th level, you gain the ability to summon a creature of great power to aid you in battle or act as an emissary for you. You can cast the conjure fey spell without expending a spell slot or providing material components. The creature you summon gains several additional benefits;

• It gains temporary hit points equal to twice your ranger level.
• It gains a bonus to its AC, saving throws, and damage rolls equal to your proficiency bonus.

Once you use this ability, you cannot use it again until you complete a long rest.

Colossus Hunter

As a Colossus Hunter, you focus on the threats of a scale and size often incomprehensible to others - giants, dragons, and other creatures that exist on a scale beyond mortal limitations of size, such as fiends and celestials. You watch the skies for the telltale shadows of dragons descending to raze a town, listen for the looming thunder that heralds the march of a band of giants, and read the signs and portents that herald the coming of gargantuan threats of legend.

Gloom Stalker

Some rangers are more comfortable operating in the shadows and deep places of the world, sussing out hidden dangers before they ever threaten the bright world of civilization. Many of these rangers make their homes and hunting grounds in the Underdark, becoming an unseen predator of things that lurk and threaten the world above. Exposure to the darkness makes these rangers more dangerous and duplicitous stalkers of their prey.

Horde Breaker

Whether a goblinoid legion urged to militant glory by Maglubiyet, an orcish warband roused by Gruumsh's need for blood and chaos, a shambling mass of undead zombies driven to slaughter by an evil necromancer, or a pack of ravenous gnolls answering the endless hunger of Yeenoghu, the great host of evil is a peril for which civilization must always be ready. As a Horde Breaker ranger, you track and monitor the movements and aggressions of these hordes, waiting and readying yourself to spring into the defense of the innocent at the edges of civilization. Martial skill and ferocity allows you to face a horde of orcs nearly by yourself, but the wisdom and cunning of the Horde Breaker grants them insight into the motivations and politics within the horde. Many such rangers break the ranks of their enemies with subterfuge and magic before their enemies can muster and descend upon the frontier villages and towns under their protection. When all else fails, Horde Breaker rangers know how to defend a besieged populace and can inspire their allies to stand firm against the tide.

Escape the Horde

At 3rd level, you learn to move with uncanny grace through your enemies' reach. You can squeeze between two creatures of size Large or smaller that are within 5 feet of each other without suffering a penalty to your movement speed. In addition, if a creature misses you with an opportunity attack, you can use your reaction to force that creature to repeat the same attack against another creature within range (other than itself) of your choice.

Among the Enemy

Starting at 7th level, you have learned to blend in with your foes and move unseen and undetected amongst them. You gain proficiency in Deception and with the disguise kit. If you already have proficiency, you instead apply twice your proficiency bonus whenever you would apply your proficiency bonus using either of these skills.

In addition, you can spend 10 minutes using a disguise kit and 5gp worth of materials to craft disguises that allow you and up to 5 other creatures to blend in seamlessly among a specific group of humanoids. Each creature you apply the disguise to gains advantage on Charisma (Deception), Charisma (Persuasion), and Dexterity (Stealth) checks meant to avoid detection while traveling in an area occupied by that type of creature.

Skirmisher's Flurry

When you reach 11th level, you have learned how to cope with hordes of enemies with methodical precision. When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can choose to make a single weapon attack against each enemy within your reach. You can move up to 5ft between any attack, but never more than half your speed for that turn. Alternatively, if you are wielding a ranged weapon, you can choose a point within your weapon's range and make a single attack against each creature within 10 feet of that point, expending ammunition for each attack as normal.

Whichever option you choose, you make a separate attack roll for each creature, and you attack each creature only once with this feature.

Stand Against the Tide

Beginning at 15th level, you have learned not only to fight against seemingly overwhelming odds but to lead your allies in battle, guiding their strikes. Once per turn, whenever you or an ally within 30 feet of you that can see or hear you makes a weapon attack, you can direct that ally to make an additional weapon attack. The additional attack must target a different creature within 5ft of the original target and within range of their weapon. You cannot use this ability if you are incapacitated or if you cannot see or hear the ally you would assist.

Horizon Walker

Horizon Walkers guard the world against threats that originate from other planes or that seek to ravage the mortal realm with otherworldly magic. They seek out planar portals and keep watch over them, venturing to the Inner Planes and the Outer Planes as needed to pursue their foes. These rangers are also friends to any forces in the multiverse — especially benevolent dragons, fey, and elementals — that work to preserve life and the order of the planes.

Horizon Walker Magic

Starting at 3rd level, you learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Horizon Walker Spells table. The spell counts as a ranger spell for you, but it doesn’t count against the number of ranger spells you know.

Horizon Walker Spells

Ethereal Step

At 7th level, you learn to step through the Ethereal Plane. As a bonus action, you can cast the etherealness spell with this feature, without expending a spell slot, but the spell ends at the end of the current turn.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Distant Strike

At 11th level, you gain the ability to pass between the planes in the blink of an eye. When you take the Attack action, you can teleport up to 10 feet before each attack to an unoccupied space you can see.

If you attack at least two different creatures with the action, you can make one additional attack with it against a third creature.

Spectral Defense

At 15th level, your ability to move between planes enables you to slip through the planar boundaries to lessen the harm done to you during battle. When you take damage from an attack, you can use your reaction to give yourself resistance to all of that attack’s damage on this turn.

Monster Slayer

You have dedicated yourself to hunting down creatures of the night and wielders of grim magic. A Monster Slayer seeks out vampires, shapechangers, evil fey, fiends, and other magical threats. Trained in supernatural techniques to overcome such monsters, slayers are experts at unearthing and defeating mighty, mystical foes.

Supernatural Defense

At 7th level, you gain extra resilience against your prey’s assaults on your mind and body. Whenever the target of your Slayer's Prey forces you to make a saving throw or whenever you make an ability check to escape that target’s grapple, add 1d6 to your roll.

Magic-User's Nemesis

At 11th level, you gain the ability to counterattack when your prey tries to sabotage you. If the target of your Slayer's Prey forces you to make a saving throw, you can use your reaction to make one weapon attack against the creature. You make this attack immediately before making the saving throw. If your attack hits, your save automatically succeeds, in addition to the attack’s normal effects.

Slayer's Domain

At 15th level, you gain the ability to thwart someone else’s magic. When you see a creature casting a spell or teleporting within 60 feet of you, you can use your reaction to try to magically foil it. The creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC, or its spell or teleport fails and is wasted. A creature that fails to teleport due to your use of this ability cannot attempt to teleport again until it is more than 60 feet away from you.

Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.