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.

Quick Build

You can make a ranger quickly by following these suggestions. First, make Dexterity your highest ability score, followed by Constitution and Wisdom. Second, choose the outlander background.

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 after 1st

Proficiencies

• Armor: Light armor, medium armor, shields
• Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons
• Tools: Choose one from cartographer's tools, herbalism kit, and navigator's tools

• Saving Throws: Strength, Dexterity
• Skills: Choose two from Acrobatics, Animal Handling, Athletics, History, Insight, Investigation, Medicine, Nature, Perception, Stealth, and Survival

Mage Breaker

You hunt down practitioners of The Art for their transgressions. You gain proficiency with the Arcana skill and learn the true strike cantrip. When you cast this spell, you don't need to concentrate on it, and the attack it grants advantage ignores the effects of any spell that increase the target's AC or grant your attack disadvantage.

Additionally, when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can cast true strike—targeting that creature—as part of the attack. You can do this a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. You regain any expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Keeper of the Veil

You hunt down creatures from beyond the Material Plane. You gain proficiency with the Arcana skill, and learn the protection from evil and good spell. You can cast this spell once without using a spell slot, and regain the ability to do so whenever you finish a short or long rest.

Additionally, when a creature within 30 feet of you is targeted by an attack, you can use your reaction to increase the creature's AC by your proficiency bonus against that attack, potentially causing it to miss. You can do this a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. You regain any expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Ranger Knight

You are in service to a royal court or noble family, and have fought against their enemies to broker agreements between them and the wilds. You gain proficiency with heavy armor and two of the following skills: Deception, History, Intimidation, Insight, and Persuasion. You can use your Wisdom modifier in place of the normal ability score associated with the chosen skills.

Bounty Hunter

You gain proficiency in the Investigation skill and learn thieves' cant: a secret method of communicating that allows you to hide messages in seemingly normal conversation and innocuous symbols and signs. Only another creature that knows thieves' cant understands such messages. It takes four times longer to convey a message in theives' cant than it would to convey it plainly.

Additionally, any creatures you have grappled or that you restrain with spells, items, or other features have disadvantage on checks or saving throws made to escape what binds them.

Arctic

You gain resistance to cold damage. If you already have cold resistance, you also regain additional hit points equal to your level at the end of each short rest where you spend at least one hit die.

Coast

You gain a swim speed equal to your speed and you can hold your breath for an additional 10 minutes. Your swim speed increases by 10 feet if you already have one.

Desert

You gain resistance to fire damage. If you already have fire resistance, you also gain advantage on checks and saving throws against visual illusions.

Forest

You learn the find familiar spell, and can cast it as a ritual. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this spell.

Grassland

Your walking speed increases by 5 feet, and you have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing.

Mountain

You gain a climb speed equal to your speed. While not incapacitated, you ignore the first 30 feet of a fall when determining fall damage.

Primal Awareness Spells

You can cast each of these spells once without expending a spell slot. Once you cast a spell in this way, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest.

Horde Breaker

You hunt groups as effectively as you hunt single quarries. Once on each of your turns when you make a weapon attack, you can make another attack with the same weapon against a different creature that is within 5 feet of the original target and within range of your weapon.

Colossus Killer

Your quarry is a great beast or is otherwise singularly formidable. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, the creature takes an extra 1d6 damage if it's below its hit point maximum. This damage increases to 1d8 if the target is Large or larger. You can deal this extra damage only once per turn.

Night Stalker

You have learned to take advantage of your prey's inherent wariness or paranoia. You can Hide as a bonus action, and can hide even when only lightly obscured. When you hit a creature you are hidden from with a weapon attack, you deal an additional 1d6 damage.

Trickster's Bane

You specialize in fighting creatures who use magic or tricks to succeed. When a creature forces you to make a saving throw, you can use your reaction to make a weapon attack against them. You make this attack before you make the saving throw.

Multiattack Defense

Your foe focuses on laying into you with a bevy of blows. When a creature hits you with an attack, you gain a +4 bonus to AC against all subsequent attacks made by that creature for the rest of the turn.

Line Breaker

Your enemies fight in large groups. The first time a given creature deals damage to you on a turn, you can reduce that damage by your proficiency bonus.

Steel Will

Your foe attempts to break your mind, or bend yourwill. You gain proficiency in Wisdom saving throws. If you already have this proficiency, you instead gain proficiency in Intelligence or Charisma saving throws (your choice).

Evasion

Your foe attempts to blast you out existence. You can nimbly dodge out of the way of certain area effects, such as a red dragon's fiery breath or a lightning bolt 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.

Whirlwind Attack

You can use your action to make a melee attack against any number of creatures within 5 feet of you, with a separate attack roll for each target.

If you are engaging in two weapon fighting, you can an additional attack as if this action were the Attack action.

Volley

You can use your action to make a ranged attack against any number of creatures within 10 feet of a point you can see within your weapon's range. You must have ammunition for each target, as normal, and you make a separate attack roll for each target.

Tyrant-Felling Strike

You can use your action to make a single attack against a creature with a weapon you are wielding. On a hit, the attack deals an additional 3d8 damage, and the creature must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw against your ranger spell save DC or fall prone.

If you are engaging in two weapon fighting, this attack deals additional damage equal to the damage die of the other weapon.

Insightful Shot

When you damage a creature that is concentrating on a spell, that creature has disadvantage on the saving throw it makes to maintain its concentration.

Whenever you hit a creature with an attack, you have advantage on all saving throws it imposes on you until the end of your next turn.

Hunter Conclave

As a ranger of the hunter conclave, you strive to embody preparedness and instinct. You look to hunt the creatures that house ill intent towards the civilizations and goodly folk of the realm. You use the tools and tactics of civilization and employ them against your enemies

Monster Slayer Magic

You gain conclave spells at the ranger levels listed.

Slayer's Prey

When you choose this conclave at 3rd level, you devote yourself to the tracking and hunting of evil creatures. You learn the hunter's mark spell if you do not already know it. If a target of your hunter's mark drops to 0 hit points, you gain temporary hit points equal to half your ranger level + your Wisdom modifier.

Additionally, you can use the action granted by the Ambsucade feature to cast hunter's mark without spending a spell slot.

Supernatural Resilience

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

Unwavering Hunter (???)

At 11th level, the additional damage of your hunter's mark spell increases to 1d8. Additionally, your concentration on hunter's mark can't be broken as a result of taking damage, and you can ignore any effect that would make a creature immune to its effects.

Slayer's Counter

At 15th level, you gain the ability to thwart 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 Charisma saving throw against your spell save DC, or its spell or teleport fails and is wasted.

Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest, or until you expend a spell slot of 3rd level or higher to use it again.

Beast Master Magic

You gain conclave spells at the ranger levels listed.

Ranger's Companion

At 3rd level, you gain a beast companion that accompanies you on your adventures and is trained to fight alongside you. Choose a beast that has a challenge rating of 1/4 or lower to become your companion. It is friendly to you and your companions, and it obeys your commands.

Combat. In combat, your companion shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately after yours. It can move and use its reaction on its own, but the only action it takes on its turn is the Dodge action, unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take one of the actions in its stat block or the Dash, Disengage, or Help action. Additionally, your companion benefits from your Ambuscade feature. The beast loses the Multiattack action, if it has it.

Statistics. Your animal companion gains proficiency in two skills and two saving throws of your choice. While not wearing barding, your animal companion also adds your proficiency bonus to its AC.

Your companion's maximum hit points are equal to 15, unless they are higher. When your animal companion finishes a short rest, it regains all of its hit points instead of rolling hit die.

If the companion is reduced to 0 hit points, it makes death saving throws as normal. If it has died within the last hour, you can use your action and expend a spell slot of 1st level or higher to revive it, provided you are within 5 feet of it.

New Beasts

If your beast dies or you choose to part ways, a beastmaster can obtain a new beast by spending 8 hours in the wilderness bonding with a willing beast that is of challenge rating CR 1/4 or lower. When you bond with a beast, the previous beast loses the benefits of the Ranger's Companion feature. Apply all of the bonuses the previous beast got to the new beast, including bonuses to its hit points, attack rolls, skill checks, and saving throws.

Gloom Stalker Magic

You gain conclave spells at the ranger levels listed.

Dread Ambusher

At 3rd level, you master the art of the ambush. When using your Ambuscade feature, your walking speed increases by 10 feet and you can use your action to make a single weapon attack.

Umbral Sight

At 3rd level, you gain darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. If you already have darkvision, its range increases by 30 feet.

You are also adept at evading creatures that rely on darkvision. While in darkness, you are invisible to any creature that relies on darkvision to see you in that darkness.

Iron Mind

By 7th level, you have honed your ability to resist the mind-altering powers of your prey. You gain proficiency in Wisdom saving throws. If you already have this proficiency, you instead gain proficiency in Intelligence or Charisma saving throws (your choice).

Stalker's Flurry

At 11th level, you learn to attack with such unexpected speed that you can turn a miss into another strike. Once on each of your turns when you miss with a weapon attack, you can make another weapon attack as part of the same action.

Shadowy Dodge

Starting at 15th level, you can dodge in unforeseen ways, with wisps of supernatural shadow around you. Whenever a creature makes an attack roll against you and doesn't have advantage on the roll, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on it. You must use this feature before you know the outcome of the attack roll.

Horizon Walker Magic

You gain conclave spells at the ranger levels listed.

Planar Warrior

At 3rd level, you learn to draw on the energy of the multiverse to augment your movement and attacks. You can use the action granted by Ambuscade to teleport 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see.

Additionally, you can will your strikes to create small cosmic rifts. Once on each of your turns, when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can convert all damage dealt by the attack becomes force damage, and the creature takes an extra 1d8 force damage from the attack. When you reach 11th level in this class, the extra damage increases to 2d8.

Detect Portal

At 3rd level, you gain the ability to magically sense the presence of a planar portal. As an action, you detect the distance and direction to the closest planar portal within 1 mile of you.

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

Ethereal Step

At 7th level, you learn to step through the Ethereal Plane. As a bonus action on your turn, 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.

Credits

Marcy's Grasping Vine, and spells

Spells marked with ⚔ are new spells, or spells which have been altered, and can be found in the following section.

Hurricane Slash

3rd-level transmutation

• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: Self
• Components: S, M (a weapon)
• Duration: Instantaneous

A tempest whirls about you as the frenzied wind takes the shape of blades that bend to your will. You can use a melee weapon you are wielding to make a melee attack against every creature within 15 feet of you. On a hit, the attack deals damage as normal plus an additional 3d6 slashing damage. On a miss, the target instead only takes 3d6 slashing damage.

Imbue Element

3rd-level transmutation

• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: Touch
• Components: V, M (a weapon or piece of ammunition)
• Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You imbue a creature you touch with elemental energy. Choose one of the following damage types: acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder. For the duration, the creature's weapon attacks are considered magical and deal an additional 1d6 of the chosen damage type. Additionally, any creature that hits the imbued creature with a melee attack takes 1d6 of the chosen type.

Lightning Arrow

3rd-level transmutation

• Casting Time: 1 action
• Range: 1000 feet
• Components: V, S, M (a thrown weapon or piece of ammunition)
• Duration: Instantaneous

When you cast this spell, you throw a weapon or fire a piece of ammunition at a target you can see within range, which transforms into a ravenous lightning bolt as it leaves your hands. Make a ranged weapon attack with that weapon against the target. On a hit, the target takes 6d8 lightning damage and their speed is reduced to 0 until the start of your next turn. On a miss, the target takes half as much damage and does not have its speed reduced. A target that has lightning resistance or immunity does not have their speed reduced.

Hit or miss, each creature within 10 feet of the target (excluding the target) must make a Dexterity save. Each creature takes 2d8 thunder damage on a failed save, or half damage on a success. The weapon or ammunition then returns to its normal form.

At Higher Levels: The initial shot's damage increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 3rd, to a maximum of 8d8.