"Few now remember them... yet still some go wandering, sons of forgotten kings walking in loneliness, guarding from evil things folk that are heedless." —Tom Bombadil on the Rangers
Ranger of the North
They were grim in appearance and were usually dressed in grey or dark green, with a cloak-clasp shaped like a six-pointed star.
History
Rangers of the North, simply known as the Rangers, were the northern wandering people of Eriador, the last remnant of the Dúnedain of Arnor, who had once peopled the North Kingdom of Arnor. They protected the lands they wandered although their secretiveness made other peoples consider them dangerous and distrustful in Bree and the Shire, where they were known as "Watchers".
The term "Rangers of the North" was used most often by those who lived in the southern lands of Rohan and Gondor, perhaps to distinguish this people from their distant cousins, the Rangers of Ithilien. Like the Rangers of the North, these were also Dúnedain, but belonged to the South-kingdom of Gondor, and their ancestors had been divided from the Northern Dúnedain for some three thousand years.
The Dúnedain of Arnor dwindled after the breaking of Arnor into three kingdoms and the wars with Angmar. Cardolan and Rhudaur soon fell and only the petty-kingdom of Arthedain maintained the noble line of Isildur. Finally, that too was destroyed in the Battle of Fornost and Arvedui, the last King of Arthedain was lost in the sea.
Arvedui's son and heir, Aranarth claimed the title of the Chieftain, who would rule the remnants of his people. Elrond had in his keeping the heirlooms of the house of Isildur: the shards of Narsil, the Star of Elendil, the Sceptre of Annúminas and later the Ring of Barahir, ransomed from the Lossoth.
Each of Aranarth's heirs (who, like him, could trace his descent back to Isildur himself) would be secretly born and raised in Rivendell.
The Rangers became a secretive wandering and nomadic people around Eriador, far from Sauron's spies, little known or remembered, and their deeds were seldom recorded.
The Watchful Peace followed the loss of Arnor and after its end, the enemies concentrated mostly against Rhovanion and Gondor. During that time, the Rangers fought minor battles and skirmishes against orcs and wolves in order to keep the region safe. The hobbits of the Shire flourished under their protection.
During the rule of Arassuil, the Orcs of the Misty Mountains became more bold, daring to invade Eriador. The Rangers fought many battles trying to hold them back, but one party managed to reach the Shire, and were fought off by a party of brave Hobbits under Bandobras Took in T.A. 2747. Soon after, the Long Winter arrived and many lives were lost, and Gandalf and the Rangers had to help the Hobbits of the Shire survive.
In 2911, during Argonui's rule, the Fell Winter began with the Brandywine freezing over. This was a catalyst for White Wolves invading Eriador from the North which must have harassed the Rangers. In the last year of his reign, great floods devastated Enedwaith and Minhiriath leaving Tharbad ruined and deserted. The following years were peaceful although Arador was killed by hill-trolls and his son Arathorn II was killed while hunting orcs.
Ranger of the North Features
Hit Points
- Hit Dice: 1d10 per Ranger of the North level
- Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + your Constitution modifier
- Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier per Ranger of the North level after 1st
Proficiencies
- Armor: Light armor, Medium Armor
- Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons
- Tools: Herbalism Kit, Theives tools
- Saving Throws: Dexterity, Wisdom
- Skills: Choose four from: Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Athletics, Insight, Investigation, Nature, Perception, Stealth, or Survival
Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
- (a) Leather armor and a hooded cloak or (b) Common clothes
- (a) a Martial weapon and longbow with 20 arrows or (b) two simple weapons
- (a) a Dagger
- (a) a long-stemed smoking pipe
- (a) Explorer's pack or (b) a dungeoneers pack
Multi Classing
These requirments must be met in order to multi class into The Ranger of the North.
Prerequisites To qualify for multiclassing into the Ranger of the North class, you must meet these prerequisites: Dexterity and Wisdom must both be 15 or higher.
proficiencies When you multiclass into the Ranger of the North class, you gain the following proficiencies:Light armor, medium Armor, Simple and martial weapons
Ranger of the North Features
| Level | Proficiency Bonus | Features | Favored Sneak Attack |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | +2 | Wilderness Explorer, Favored Enemy, Eye of the Hunter | |
| 2nd | +2 | Wild Life and Tracking Expertise, Fighting Style | |
| 3rd | +2 | Primeval Awareness, Ranger Tactics | |
| 4th | +2 | Ability Score Improvement, Favored Sneak attack | 1d6 |
| 5th | +3 | Extra attack, Light Footed | 1d6 |
| 6th | +3 | Greater Favored Enemy | 1d6 |
| 7th | +3 | Evasion | 2d6 |
| 8th | +3 | Ability Score Improvement | 2d6 |
| 9th | +4 | Hide in Plain Sight | 2d6 |
| 10th | +4 | Alert of your suroundings | 3d6 |
| 11th | +4 | Extra attack(2)against favored enemies | 3d6 |
| 12th | +4 | Ability Score Improvement | 3d6 |
| 13th | +5 | Hunter of all Favored enemies | 4d6 |
| 14th | +5 | Wilderness Explorer Improvement | 4d6 |
| 15th | +5 | Vanish | 4d6 |
| 16th | +5 | Ability Score Improvement | 5d6 |
| 17th | +6 | Hunter Execution | 5d6 |
| 18th | +6 | Alert of your suroundings Improvement | 5d6 |
| 19th | +6 | Ability Score Improvement | 6d6 |
| 20th | +6 | Elite Ranger | 6d6 |
Class level features
Wilderness Explorer
Beginning at the first level, You area master of navigating the natural world, and you react with swift and decisive action when attacked. granting you the following benefits:
- You ignore difficult terrain.
- You have advantage on initiative rolls.
- On your first turn during combat, you have advantage on attackrolls against creatures that have not yet acted.
In addition, you are skilled at navigating the wilderness. You gain the following benefits when traveling for an hour or more:
- Difficult terrain doesn’t slow your group’s travel.
- You are acclimated to any non-magical weather conditions.
- Your group can’t become lost except by magical means.
- Even when you are engaged in another activity while traveling (such as foraging, navigating, or tracking), you remain alert to danger.
- If you are traveling alone, you can move stealthily at a normal pace.
- When you forage, you find twice as much food as you normally would.
- While tracking other creatures, you also learn their exact number, their sizes, and how long ago they passed through the area.
Favored Enemy
At the 1st level, You have significant experience studying, tracking, hunting, and even talking to a certain type of enemy commonly encountered in the wilds. Choose a type of favored enemy:
- beasts, fey, humanoids, monstrosities, or undead.
You gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with weapon attacks against creatures of the chosen type.
Additionally, you have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track your favored enemies, as well as on Intelligence checks to recall information about them.
When you gain this feature, you also learn one language of your choice, typically one spoken by your favored enemy or creatures associated with it. However, you are free to pick any language you wish.
Eye of the Hunter
You've gained Intel on many different Creatures throughout your treacherous journeys in the wild. As a bonus action you can take a glance at your favored enemy, gaining one of the following information about them:
- There current and maximum hit points
- There current ac
- Whether they are lying or telling the truth
- Any special techniques they are hiding, such as pact tactics, barbarians rage, feats, or other similar abilities.
- Any effect they are currently bestowed with, such as being poisoned, Frightened, diseased or similar effects. If there is a way to cure these effects you will have the knowledge to do so.
Wild Life and Tracking Expertise
At the 2nd Level, choose two of your skill proficiencies that you've picked from the initial Ranger of the North skill selection. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses either of the chosen proficiencies.
At 6th level, you can choose two more of your proficiencies to gain this benefit.
Primeval Awareness
Beginning at 3rd level, your mastery of ranger lore allows you to establish a powerful link to beasts and to the land around you. You have an innate ability to communicate with beasts, and they recognize you as a kindred spirit. Through sounds and gestures, you can communicate simple ideas to a beast as an action, and can read its basic mood and intent. You learn its emotional state, whether it is affected by magic of any sort, its short-term needs (such as food or safety), and actions you can take (if any) to persuade it to not attack. You cannot use this ability against a creature that you have attacked within the past 10 minutes. Additionally, you can attune your senses to determine if any of your favored enemies lurk nearby. By spending 1 uninterrupted minute in concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell), you can sense whether any of your favored enemies are present within 5 miles of you. This feature reveals which of your favored enemies are present, their numbers, and the creatures’ general direction and distance (in miles) from you. If there are multiple groups of your favored enemies within range, you learn this information for each group.
Ranger Tactics
At the 3rd level. your ranger skills have been brought onto the battle field in full use gaining the following benefits at the designated levels:
- level 3, you can cast 'Hunters mark' and 'Goodberry'
- level 6, you can cast 'Cure wounds' and 'pass without trace'
- level 9, you can cast 'water breathing' and 'speak with plants'
You have a pool of uses for your ranger tactics equal to your wisdom modifier. You regain these uses on a long rest, or 2 hours of uniterupted meditation.
Favored Sneak Attack
At the 4th level. you know how to strike subtly and exploit a favored enemies distraction. Once per turn, you can deal an extra 1d6 damage to one favored enemy you hit with an attack if you have advantage on the attack roll. The attack must use a finesse or a ranged weapon. (if multiclassed with rouge, your first class choice at level one takes priority of what sneak attack you use.)
You don't need advantage on the attack roll if another favored enemy is within 5 feet the target, that favored enemy isn't incapacitated, You are hidden, and you don't have disadvantage on the attack roll. The amount of the extra damage increases as you gain levels in this class, as shown in the Sneak Attack column of the Ranger of the North table.
Ability Score Increase
When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.
Extra attack
Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. The number of attacks increases to three when you reach 11th level in this class against favored enemies.
Light Footed
At 5th level, You no longer trigger traps, You are unaffected by difficult terrain, and Your climbing and swimming speeds equals your movement speed. As long as you are not wearing heavy armor.
Additionally at level 8, You can use your reaction when you fall to reduce any falling damage you take by half (Damage taken Rounded down).
Greater favored enemy
At 6th level, you are ready to hunt even deadlier game. Choose a type of greater favored enemy:
- aberrations, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fiends, or giants.
You gain all the benefits against this chosen enemy that you normally gain against your favored enemy, including an additional language.
Your bonus to damage rolls against all your favored enemies increases to +4.
Additionally, you have advantage on saving throws against the spells and abilities used by a greater favored enemy.
Evasion
By 7th level, you can nimbly dodge out of the way of certain area effects, such as a red dragon's fiery breath or an ice storm spell. When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.
Hide in Plain Sight
Starting at 9th level, you can remain perfectly still for long periods of time to set up ambushes. When you attempt to hide on your turn, you can opt to not move on that turn. If you avoid moving, creatures that attempt to detect you take a −10 penalty to their Wisdom (Perception) checks until the start of your next turn. You lose this benefit if you move or fall prone, either voluntarily or because of some external effect. You are still automatically detected if any effect or action causes you to no longer be hidden. If you are still hidden on your next turn, you can continue to remain motionless and gain this benefit until you are detected
Alert of your suroundings
Beginning at 10th level, If you are able to hear, you are naturally aware of the location of any hidden or invisible favored enemy within 15 feet of you. You can choose to strengthen this ability to 30ft if you meditate uninterruptedly for 10 minutes.
- This increases to 30ft naturally, and 60ft if meditating at the 18th level.
Hunter of all Favored Enemies
by 13th level, your skills of tracking down various creatures are unparalleled To track down and slay even the mightiest of foes, also knowing knowledge of these treacherous creatures some not even thought possible to have access too. Truly remarkable in these crafts you are. You gain the following benefits:
- Choose one creature from both your favored and greater favored enemy. Every other choice option from both is now your favored enemy.
- You can use the 'Locate Creature' Spell once per short rest.
- Additionally you now know all spoken languages besides Druidic and Theives cant.
Wilderness Explorer Improvement
Over vast unpaved distances you have traveled, giving you the wisdom, hunting knowledge and Eventual constitution to withstand and understand even more of your wilderness landscapes. Allowing you to gain the following benefits when Traveling.
- You are now acclimated to all weather and environmental conditions. (as described in chapter 5 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide)
- You and your group travel twice as fast in any weather condition
- You now remain alert to danger while sleeping
- You have advantage on any skills checks to gather herbal ingredients and /or foraging of any kind.
- You have advantage on any skills checks for rolls made to traverse over hostile environmental hazards.
Vanish
Starting at 15th level, you can use the Hide action as a bonus action on your turn. Also, you and your group can't be tracked by any means, unless you choose to leave a trail.
Rangers?
Suddenly the young adventurer noticed that a strange-looking weather-beaten man, sitting in the shadows near the wall, was also listening intently to the shallow whispered talk. He had a tall tankard in front of him, and was smoking a long-stemmed pipe curiously carved. His legs were stretched out before him, showing high boots of supple leather that fitted him well, but had seen much wear and were now caked with mud. A travel-stained cloak of heavy dark-green cloth was drawn close about him, and in spite of the heat of the room he wore a hood that overshadowed his face; but the gleam of his eyes could be seen as he watched the young adventurer. "Who is that?" the young adventurer asked, when he got a chance to whisper to the inn keeper.... "Him?.... I don't rightly know. He is one of the wandering folk, Skilled in the art of hunting and tracking. Legends have spoken of there combat prowess, but only there companions live to tell such tales. — Rangers we call them."
Hunter Execution
Starting at 17th level. Your weapon is an extension of yourself, and you can freely take down even the mightiest of enemy's with a good strike that youve studied. To begin this move you must roll all of your current amount of melee attacks against a favored enemy, without rolling there damage. If at least one of those hits against a favored enemy with less then half of there hit points remaining. You can attempt a perception check (This will take a bonus action) to glance over your enemy while in combat to see vital weak spots in there armor. If your hit was a Critical hit, you have advantage on your perception check. If you rolled high or low (Gm dependent) determines weather or not the enemy has advantage, disadvantage, guaranteed success, or guaranteed failure against the saving throw. The enemy must either make a Dexterity saving throw against your save dc. (Save dc is 8 + Proficiency modifier + Dexterity Modifier) or be struck down where they stand. If they fail there saving throw, they are killed outright. If they succeed they take the lowest rolled damage out of the melee attack that hit them. After this, whether they fail or succeed, your turn is ended.
- You can do this an amount of times equal to half your Dexterity modifier, rounded down. Before needing a long rest to refill all uses.
Elite Ranger
At the 20th level, You have become known amongst the few remaining Rangers of the North, as one of the best there ever was. Add a +4 increase to your Wisdom and Dexterity score, to a maximum of 24.
Ranger
of the
North
Rangers are supposed to be hunters and trackers, not just a guy with a bow that's good at walking through the woods. The whole ranger archetype was originally designed and tailored to mimic Aragorn from the LOTR's, yet somehow became more akin to Legalos and Drizzt. So I decided to rework the Ranger class and revise it myself, taking some from the Unearthed Arcana version and adding in my own non-magical flair. Now, I did allow the use of spells but only specific ones and you don't gauge the uses with spell slots. Besides the spells I picked can very easily be fluffed up in non-magical ways.
