The Trapper
A human dressed in furs darts through the forest. They pause, crouching down and doing something with their hands, before quickly moving on and hiding behind a rock outcropping. A couple seconds later, a huge panther, foaming at the mouth, tears through the same footpath, and as it does, vines spring out and wrap around it. The panther screams, and the ranger emerges from their hiding place with an arrow nocked, and a resolved look in their eye.
Trappers are able to gently manipulate their surroundings, building up energy - both magical and potential - and then releasing it when the time is right. Being a trapper requries a good amount of preparation and wisdom to be able to correctly predict the paths of your targets. Prepare to be disappointed when a foe narrowly avoids your plans, whether by keen intution or by sheer luck. But also prepare for the beauty of a plan carefully laid out and flawlessly executed, as the arrows fly from your bow into your unfortunate prey.
Trapper Magic
Starting at 3rd level, you learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Trapper Spells table. The spell counts as a ranger spell for you, but it doesn't count against the number of ranger spells you know.
Trapper Spells
| Ranger Level | Spell |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Grease |
| 5th | Invisibility |
| 7th | Glyph of Warding |
| 13th | Guardian of Faith |
| 17th | Creation |
Credit: Lucas Staniec
Credit: Wizards of the Coast, from The Complete Scoundrel
Create Trap
At 3rd level, you gain the ability to quickly create traps using the environment around you and a bit of magic. As an action, and with a range of touch, you can cause a 5’ area of ground, wall, or ceiling - along with any mundane objects nearby - to subtly twist, bend, and rearrange into a trap. This ability will only work if the target area contains nothing but non-magical terrain and objects. As it is created, you can choose the type of damage that the trap will do between bludgeoning, slashing, or piercing. The damage starts at 1d12, and increases to 2d12 when you reach 11th level in this class. The trap is hidden to any creatures that did not see it being placed, but can be detected with an Intelligence (Investigation) check vs your spell save DC. The trap is destroyed when it is triggered, or after 8 hours. You can use this ability a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier. When you finish a long rest, you regain all expended uses.
Trigger Trap
You can use a reaction at any time to trigger any number of your traps that you can see. When a trap is triggered, any creatures within 5’ must make a Dexterity saving throw vs your spell save DC. Affected creatures suffer full damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one.
Dismantle Trap
You can also use an action to dismantle one of your own traps, with a range of touch. For each trap you dismantle, you regain one use of your Create Traps ability.
Baited Words
At 7th level, you learn how to set traps in conversation, making it easy for you to read people’s reactions and intentions when they stumble into those traps. You gain proficiency in Insight. If you already have proficiency in Insight, you instead gain Expertise in Insight.
Elemental Traps
Also at 7th level, you learn how to apply elemental magics to your traps. When you use your Trigger Trap ability, you can expend a spell slot to cause one of your triggered traps to do additional damage. Choose between the following additional damage types: acid, cold, fire, lightning, and thunder. The chosen trap does 2d10 additional damage per each level of spell slot expended, of the chosen damage type, to each creature affected. If a creature succeeds on their Dexterity saving throw against the trap, this additional damage is also halved.
Binding Traps
At 11th level, your traps become even more active, entangling their victims as they trigger. If a huge or smaller creature fails its save against one of your traps, it becomes restrained until the end of its next turn. Alternatively it can use an action to make a Strength (Athletics) check against your spell save DC, escaping on a success.
Specialized Traps
Also starting at 11th level, your exceptional knowledge of your favored enemies gives you better ideas about how to make traps that they cannot evade. Your favored enemies have disadvantage on any saving throw or ability check to evade, detect, or escape from your traps.
Make Hay
At 15th level, you learn to make the most of moments when your quarry cannot escape. When you make an attack against a target that is paralyzed, restrained, or stunned, you can add your proficiency bonus to the damage for that attack.
