Ranger
I spend a lot of my life away from civilization, keeping to its fringes to protect it. Don't assume that because I don't bend the knee to your king that I haven't done more to protect him than all his knights put together.
— Soveliss
Rough and wild looking, a human stalks alone through the shadows of trees, hunting the orcs he knows are planning a raid on a nearby farm. Clutching a shortsword in each hand, he becomes a whirlwind of steel, cutting down one enemy after another.
After tumbling away from a cone of freezing air, an elf finds her feet and draws back her bow to loose an arrow at the white dragon. Shrugging off the wave of fear that emanates from the dragon like the cold of its breath, she sends one arrow after another to find the gaps between the dragon's thick scales.
Holding his hand high, a half-elf whistles to the hawk that circles high above him, calling the bird back to his side. Whispering instructions in Elvish, he points to the owlbear he's been tracking and sends the hawk to distract the creature while he readies his bow.
Far from the bustle of cities and towns, past the hedges that shelter the most distant farms from the terrors of the wild, amid the dense-packed trees of trackless forests and across wide and empty plains, rangers keep their unending watch.
Deadly Hunters
Warriors of the wilderness, rangers specialize in hunting the monsters that threaten the edges of civilization—humanoid raiders, rampaging beasts and monstrosities, terrible giants, and deadly dragons. They learn to track their quarry as a predator does, moving stealthily through the wilds and hiding themselves in brush and rubble. Rangers focus their combat training on techniques that are particularly useful against their specific favored foes.
Thanks to their familiarity with the wilds, rangers acquire the ability to cast spells that harness nature's power, much as a druid does. Their spells, like their combat abilities, emphasize speed, stealth, and the hunt. A ranger's talents and abilities are honed with deadly focus on the grim task of protecting the borderlands.
Independent Adventurers
Though a ranger might make a living as a hunter, a guide, or a tracker, a ranger's true calling is to defend the outskirts of civilization from the ravages of monsters and humanoid hordes that press in from the wild. In some places, rangers gather in secretive orders or join forces with druidic circles. Many rangers, though, are independent almost to a fault, knowing that, when a dragon or a band of orcs attacks, a ranger might be the first—and possibly the last—line of defense.
This fierce independence makes rangers well suited to adventuring, since they are accustomed to life far from the comforts of a dry bed and a hot bath. Faced with city-bred adventurers who grouse and whine about the hardships of the wild, rangers respond with some mixture of amusement, frustration, and compassion. But they quickly learn that other adventurers who can carry their own weight in a fight against civilization's foes are worth any extra burden. Coddled city folk might not know how to feed themselves or find fresh water in the wild, but they make up for it in other ways.
Rangers are free-minded wanderers and seekers who patrol the edges of civilized territory, turning back the denizens of the wild lands beyond. It is a thankless job, since their efforts are rarely understood and almost never rewarded. Yet rangers persist in their duties, never doubting that their work makes the world a safer place.
A relationship with civilization informs every ranger's personality and history. Some rangers see themselves as enforcers of the law and bringers of justice on civilization's frontier, answering to no sovereign power. Others are survivalists who eschew civilization altogether. They vanquish monsters to keep themselves safe while they live in and travel through the perilous wild areas of the world. If their efforts also benefit the kingdoms and other civilized realms that they avoid, so be it.
Ranger Leveling Table
| Level | Proficiency Bonus | Features | Spells Known | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | +2 | Favored Enemy, Natural Explorer | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2 | +2 | Fighting Style, Spellcasting | 4 | 2 | — | — | — | — |
| 3 | +2 | Fleet of Foot, Ranger Archetype | 5 | 3 | — | — | — | — |
| 4 | +2 | Ability Score Improvement | 5 | 3 | — | — | — | — |
| 5 | +3 | Extra Attack | 6 | 4 | 2 | — | — | — |
| 6 | +3 | Improved Favored Enemy | 6 | 4 | 2 | — | — | — |
| 7 | +3 | Archetype Feature | 7 | 4 | 3 | — | — | — |
| 8 | +3 | Ability Score Improvement | 7 | 4 | 3 | — | — | — |
| 9 | +4 | — | 8 | 4 | 3 | 2 | — | — |
| 10 | +4 | Primal Awareness | 8 | 4 | 3 | 2 | — | — |
| 11 | +4 | Archetype Feature | 9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | — | — |
| 12 | +4 | Ability Score Improvement | 9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | — | — |
| 13 | +5 | — | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | — |
| 14 | +5 | Foe Slayer | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | — |
| 15 | +5 | Archetype Feature | 11 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | — |
| 16 | +5 | Ability Score Improvement | 11 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | — |
| 17 | +6 | — | 12 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 18 | +6 | Feral Senses | 12 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 19 | +6 | Ability Score Improvement | 13 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 20 | +6 | Unrelenting Nimrod | 13 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
#Shupysle's Brews: Ranger
Creating a Ranger
As you create your ranger character, consider the nature of the training that gave you your particular capabilities. Did you train with a single mentor, wandering the wilds together until you mastered the ranger's ways? Did you leave your apprenticeship, or was your mentor slain—perhaps by the same kind of monster that became your favored enemy? Or perhaps you learned your skills as part of a band of rangers affiliated with a druidic circle, trained in mystic paths as well as wilderness lore. You might be self-taught, a recluse who learned combat skills, tracking, and even a magical connection to nature through the necessity of surviving in the wilds.
What's the source of your particular hatred of a certain kind of enemy? Did a monster kill someone you loved or destroy your home village? Or did you see too much of the destruction these monsters cause and commit yourself to reining in their depredations? Is your adventuring career a continuation of your work in protecting the borderlands, or a significant change? What made you join up with a band of adventurers? Do you find it challenging to teach new allies the ways of the wild, or do you welcome the relief from solitude that they offer?
Quick Build
You can make a ranger quickly by following these suggestions. First, make Dexterity your highest ability score, followed by Wisdom. (Some rangers who focus on two-weapon fighting make Strength higher than Dexterity.) Second, choose the outlander background.
Class Features
Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d10 per ranger level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier per ranger level after 1st
Proficiencies
Armor: Light armor, medium armor, shields
Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons
Tools: Herbalism kit
Saving Throws: Strength, Dexterity
Skills: Choose three from Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Athletics, Insight, Investigation, Medicine, Nature, Perception, Stealth, and Survival
Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
- (a) Scale mail or (b) leather armor
- (a) Two shortswords or (c) two simple melee weapons
- (a) A dungeoneer's pack or (b) an explorer's pack
- Any simple or martial ranged weapon and 20 pieces of ammunition in the appropriate container
- A tool or kit in which you are proficient and a hunter's trap
Favored Enemy
You study a creature, making it your quarry and analyzing with a careful eye. Your study allows you to anticipate the creature’s moves, making it easier to anticipate and counter its tactics.
Once on your turn after you attack a creature, or as a bonus action targeting a creature you can see, you can designate that creature as your Favored Enemy. The target remains your Favored Enemy until you use this ability again or until the creature dies.
You gain advantage on all Wisdom checks made to detect your favored enemy, determine its motives, or discover and follow its tracks, as well as on Intelligence checks to recall information about them, and your Favored Enemy cannot benefit from cover against your attacks.
Starting at 2nd level, any time you cast a spell with only one target that is a creature other than yourself, you can designate that creature as your Favored Enemy.
Natural Explorer
Starting at 1st level, you are able to commune with the land, bonding with the terrain that surrounds you and enhancing your abilities. When you take a long rest, you can spend 1 hour in meditation, prayer or study (as if concentrating on a spell), after which the terrain you're in becomes your favored terrain. The DM selects from arctic, coast, desert, forest, grassland, mountain, swamp, urban, or the Underdark, whichever is more appropriate. If two or more types would make sense, you select which favored terrain you get from those.
When you make an Intelligence or Wisdom check related to your favored terrain, your proficiency bonus is doubled if you are using a skill that you're proficient in.
While traveling in your favored terrain, you gain the following benefits:
- Swimming, climbing or difficult terrain does not slow you down.
- If you get lost, you can discern whether it was due to magical tampering.
- Even when you are engaged in another activity while traveling (such as foraging, navigating, or tracking), you remain alert to danger.
- 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 without added difficulty.
- You gain advantage in Strength, Dexterity and Constitution saving throws made to resist setbacks or evade harm caused by natural terrain properties, such as extreme temperatures, thorns, and other natural dangers.
Fighting Style
At 2nd level, you adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. You can't take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.
Archery
You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons.
Defense
While you are wearing armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.
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.
Two-Weapon fighting
When you engage in two-weapon fighting you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.
Spellcasting
By the time you reach 2nd level, you have learned to use the magical essence of nature to cast spells, much as a druid does.
Spell Slots
The Ranger table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.
For example, if you know the 1st-level spell Animal friendship and have a 1st-level and a 2nd-level spell slot available, you can cast Animal friendship using either slot.
Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher
You know three 1st-level spells of your choice from the ranger spell list.
The Spells Known column of the Ranger table shows when you learn more ranger spells of your choice. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots. For instance, when you reach 5th level in this class, you can learn one new spell of 1st or 2nd level.
Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the ranger spells you know and replace it with another spell from the ranger spell list, which also must be of a level for which you have spell slots.
Spellcasting Ability
Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for your ranger spells, since your magic draws on your attunement to nature. You use your Wisdom whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Wisdom modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a ranger spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.
Spell Save DC
Spell attack modifier
Ritual Casting
You can cast any ranger spell you know as a ritual if that spell has the ritual tag.
Ranger Conclave
At 3rd level, you choose to emulate the ideals and training of a ranger conclave. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 11th, and 15th level. Those features include conclave spells.
Conclave Spells
Each conclave has a list of associated spells. You learn these spells at the levels specified in the conclave description. The spells counts as ranger spells for you, but they don't count against the number of ranger spells you know.
Fleet of Foot
Starting at 3rd level, you can use the Dash action as a bonus action on your turn.
Additionally, you have advantage on saving throws versus magical effects that alter or manipulate the terrain, like the entangle or erupting earth spells.
Ability Score Improvement
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.
Improved Favored Enemy
Starting at 6th level, as a reaction when your favored enemy attacks you or an ally, you can make a melee or ranged weapon attack against your favored enemy. You gain a number of uses of this ability equal to half your ranger level (minimum 1) and regain all expended uses when you complete a short or long rest.
Additionally, whenever you designate a Favored Enemy, you may choose a number of creatures that you can see other than your target equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1). For the duration of the effect, you can treat all the creatures chosen this way as your Favored Enemies.
Primal Awareness
Starting at 10th level, while on your favored terrain, you gain advantage on initiative checks, and you cannot be surprised.
You can also make one additional reaction on each round of combat as long as it is triggered by your favored enemy.
Foe Slayer
Starting at 14th level, once per turn, you can add your Wisdom modifier to one attack or damage roll. You can choose to use this feature before or after the roll, but before any effects of the roll are applied.
Feral Senses
Starting at 18th level, when you attack a creature you can't see, your inability to see it doesn't impose disadvantage on your attack rolls against it.
You are also aware of the location of any creature within 30 feet of you, provided that the creature isn't hidden from you and you aren't both blinded and deafened.
Unrelenting Nimrod
At 20th level, once during your turn if you miss a weapon attack against your favored enemy, you can make an additional weapon attack against it.
Additionally, you gain advantage on all saving throws made against your favored enemy spells, abilities, and effects.