From from the bustle of cities and towns, over the hedges that shelter the most distant farms from the terrors of the wild, and amid the dense-packed trees of trackless forests and across wide and empty plains, rangers keep their unending watch.
Rangers function as a balanced middle ground between Fighters, Rogues and Druids. Their most-noted role is that of a navigator, tracker, and wilderness-expert, able to safely see themselves and others across untamed areas. They also excel in martial combat, with the ability to relentlessly focus down a target using weapons, spells and specializations that help them hunt specific prey better than most, while still being dangerous to everything else.
You must have a Strength or Dexterity score of 13 or higher and a Wisdom score of 13 or higher in order to multiclass in or out of this class.
Class Features
As a Ranger, you gain the following 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: Herbalists’ Kits.
- Saving Throws: Strength, Dexterity.
- Skills: Choose two from Animal Handling, Athletics, Insight, Investigation, 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 or (c) ring mail and a shield (if proficient)
- (a) two scimitars or (b) a longsword
- (a) longbow or (b) a shortbow
- A quiver of 20 arrows
- (a) a dungeoneer's pack or (b) an explorer's pack
Favored Foe
Rangers learn specialized techniques to deal with enemies you prefer hunting, although the techniques may be widely applicable they are particularly suited to dealing with their chosen foes. If one of these abilities grants a spell or requires a save, it uses your Ranger Spell Save (see Spellcasting below) and counts as a Ranger spell for you.
You may choose one of the following abilities, and at 14th level, you may select another feature from this list. You may not select the same feature twice.
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Bounty Hunter: You are a professional at manhunting and bringing in criminals and prizes intact. You have advantage on checks to grapple creatures, and creatures have disadvantage to escape spells you cast that grapple or restrain. You also gain the rogue’s code-language feature: Thieves’ Cant.
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Clean Hunter: Time spent tracking and learning to analyze targets before acting has paid dividends. The first time you deal damage to a creature that has full health, you deal an additional 1d8 damage if you had advantage on the attack roll. You also learn the True Strike cantrip.
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Golem Smasher: You know how to cause creatures harm even through supernatural defense. If you would deal damage with an attack or spell to a target that is resistant or immune to that damage type, you deal additional damage equal to your Wisdom modifier and this additional damage cannot be reduced in any way. You also gain proficiency in Smiths' Tools.
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Keeper of the Veil: Deeper understanding of the otherworldly and magic wards you, letting you approach your prey unhindered. You can cast Protection from Evil & Good at 1st level once per short rest, and gain proficiency in the Arcana skill.
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Mage Breaker: Spellcasters are dangerous foes, but you understand their ilk and how to counter their most potent abilities. Targets have disadvantage on Constitution saves to maintain concentration from damage you deal, and you gain proficiency in the Arcana skill.
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Ranger Knight: Knowledge and training of your forebearers makes you comfortable in the realm of battlefields, sieges and grand strategy. You gain proficiency in Heavy Armor and the History skill.
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Underforester: Designated warden of woodlands, you protect both nature and man from themselves and each other. You can cast Sleep at 1st level once per short rest, and gain proficiency in Persuasion.
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Sanctified Stalker: The undead are a persistent blight though desecration or necromancy, but you can end them rightly where mundane means would not suffice. You learn the Sacred Flame cantrip and gain proficiency in the Religion skill.
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Sky Warden: Flying threats range from a nuisance to daunting, but you know how to turn their advantage into a liability. If wielding a weapon with a range, you can replace one of your attacks during your turn to expend a piece of ammunition (or throw the weapon it if it is thrown) as an action to force a creature within the weapon’s listed short range to make a Strength save or be knocked prone. You can also cast Featherfall at 1st level once per short rest.
The Ranger
| Level | Proficiency Bonus | Features | Spells Known | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | +2 | Favored Foe, Natural Explorer | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2nd | +2 | Fighting Style, Hunter’s Mark 1d4, Spellcasting | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - |
| 3rd | +2 | Ranger Conclave, Primal Awareness | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - |
| 4th | +2 | Ability Score Improvement, Martial Versatility | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - |
| 5th | +3 | Extra Attack | 4 | 4 | 2 | - | - | - |
| 6th | +3 | Hunter’s Mark Improvement | 4 | 4 | 2 | - | - | - |
| 7th | +3 | Ranger Conclave feature | 5 | 4 | 3 | - | - | - |
| 8th | +3 | Ability Score Improvement | 5 | 4 | 3 | - | - | - |
| 9th | +4 | Hunter's Mark 2d4 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | - | - |
| 10th | +4 | Hide in Plain Sight | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | - | - |
| 11th | +4 | Ranger Conclave feature | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | - | - |
| 12th | +4 | Ability Score Improvement | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | - | - |
| 13th | +5 | The Hunt Continues | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | - |
| 14th | +5 | Additional Favored Foe | 8 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | - |
| 15th | +5 | Ranger Conclave feature | 9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - |
| 16th | +5 | Ability Score Improvement | 9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - |
| 17th | +6 | Hunter's Mark 3d4 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 18th | +6 | Feral Reactions | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 19th | +6 | Ability Score Improvement | 11 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 20th | +6 | Foe Slayer | 11 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
Natural Explorer
You are particularly familiar with one type of natural environment and are adept at traveling and surviving in such regions, and thus gain a feature that trivializes such terrain for you.
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Beast Tamer: Your long time listening to the forests has granted you a permanent ally. You can cast Find Familiar as a ritual once per long rest. The creature that appears is always a beast (not a fey, fiend or celestial spirit), and may use your Stealth, Perception, Investigation and Survival modifiers instead of its own if you so choose.
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Darktracker: You have trained yourself to deal with creatures found in the deepest shadows. Creatures do not have advantage on attack rolls against you as a result of being unseen by you, and you do not have disadvantage of Wisdom (Perception) checks if due to dim light.
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Pathfinder: Your trailblazing abilities have been honed to perfection. You gain proficiency in Survival, and your Proficiency Bonus is doubled for any Wisdom (Survival) check. You also ignore natural, non-magical difficult terrain with your movement.
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Urban Tracker: Your lifestyle of getting things out of people that aren’t much interested in sharing blurs the line between the law and rogurey. You gain proficiency in Thieves' Tools and the Investigation skill.
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Wasteland Wanderer - Desert: Your endless treks across the burning sands has hardened your skin and taught you endurance. You can use your bonus action to gain resistance to fire damage until the beginning of your next turn, and you are immune to the effects of extremely hot weather.
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Wasteland Wanderer - Tundra: Your winters spent surviving freezing conditions gives you the experience to survive blizzards and hoarfrost alike. You gain resistance to cold damage, which also makes you immune to the effects of freezing weather.
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Wasteland Wanderer - Swamp: Your time exploring fetid swamps and bogs has inundated you to the toxins that can be found there. You gain resistance to poison damage, and advantage on saves against the poisoned condition or diseases.
Fighting Style
At 2nd 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.
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Archery. You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons.
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Blind Fighting. You have blindsight with a range of 10 feet. Within that range, you can effectively sense anything that isn't behind total cover, even if you're blinded or in darkness. Moreover, you can sense an invisible creature within that range and it does not benefit from being concealed, unless the creature successfully hides from you.
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Defense. While you are wearing armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.
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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.
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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.
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Great Weapon Fighting. When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll, even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.
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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 +2 bonus to the damage roll.
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Two-Weapon Fighting. When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack. When you reach 11th level in this class, you can make two attacks with your bonus action when two-weapon fighting.
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Close Quarters Shooter. When making a ranged attack while you are within 5 feet of a hostile creature, you do not have disadvantage on the attack roll. Additionally, when a creature provokes an attack of opportunity from you, you may use a ranged weapon you are wielding to make the attack.
- Unarmed Fighting. Your unarmed strikes can deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier. If you strike with two free hands, the d6 becomes a d8. When you successfully start a grapple, you can deal 1d4 bludgeoning damage to the grappled creature. Until the grapple ends, you can also deal this damage to the creature whenever you hit it with a melee attack.
Hunter’s Mark
(This feature replaces the ranger spell of the same name.)
At 2nd level, you are more adept at focusing on all the signs your prey gives you. As a bonus action you may designate one creature you can see, or one who’s tracks you have found with a successful Wisdom (Survival) check as your Hunter's Mark. While your prey is marked in this way, you gain the following benefits:
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You have advantage on all Wisdom checks to uncover information about it, including Survival, Perception and Insight.
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Whenever you damage your marked target with an attack, or with a Ranger spell that requires an attack roll or saving throw, you deal an additional 1d4 damage of the attack or spell’s type. This extra damage improves to 2d4 at 9th level, and again to 3d4 at 17th level.
You may only have one creature designated as your marked prey at a time. You may end your mark on a creature you are aware has fallen to 0 hit points (no action required), or when you complete a long rest.
When you reach 6th level, you only require a short rest to remove your Hunter’s Mark from a creature.
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 two 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.
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Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier
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Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier
Spellcasting Focus
You can use a druidic focus as a spellcasting focus for your ranger spells. A druidic focus might be a sprig of mistletoe or holly, a wand or rod made of yew or another special wood, a staff drawn whole from a living tree, or an object incorporating feathers, fur, bones, and teeth from sacred animals.
Primal Awareness
Beginning at 3rd level, you can focus your awareness through the interconnections of nature: you learn additional spells when you reach certain levels in this class if you don't already know them, as shown in the Primal Awareness Spells table. These spells don't count against the number of Ranger spells you know.
Primal Awareness Spells
| Ranger Level | Spell Granted |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Speak with Animals |
| 5th | Beast Sense |
| 9th | Speak With Plants |
| 13th | Locate Creature |
| 17th | Commune With Nature |
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.
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.
Beast Master Conclave: Gain a special Primal Beast companion that fights beside you, the two of you becoming far more than the sum of your abilities.
Fey Wanderers: Touch the feywild, gaining it’s magic and protecting both realms from each other's dangers.
Gloom Stalker Conclave: Embrace the shadows so deep not even creatures of the night can sense you.
Horizon Walker Conclave: Patrol the borders of this realm and the others of the multiverse.
Hunter’s Pride Conclave: Rangers trained by the Hunters guild with several martial options to defend civilization.
Monster Slayer Conclave: Sworn enemies of creatures civilized folk are better off knowing less about.
Swarmkeepers: Commanders of hundreds of tiny nature entities that aid them in many actions.
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.
Martial Versatility
Whenever you reach 4th level in this class, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can elect to replace a fighting style you know with another fighting style available to rangers. This replacement represents a shift of focus in your martial practice.
Extra Attack
Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Hide in Plain Sight
Starting at 10th level, you can use your action to become invisible. You may remain invisible so long as you continue to use your action each turn to remain still and you take no actions (other than to Hide), bonus actions, and use no more than half your movement.
The Hunt Continues
Starting at 13th level, when you reduce a target marked by your Hunter's Mark to 0 hit points, you may recover a spell slot of 3rd level or lower. You may use this feature once per long rest.
Feral Reactions
At 18th level, you gain preternatural reflexes that make you impossible to get the drop on. So long as you are not incapacitated, you may move up to your speed when you roll initiative, before any turn occurs, and either attempt to Hide or make a Wisdom (Perception) check.
You are also aware of the location of any creature's location within 30 feet of you, provided that the creature isn't hidden from you and you aren't blinded or deafened, even if it is invisible, and these creatures are valid targets for your Hunter's Mark.
Foe Slayer
At 20th level, you become an unparalleled hunter of your enemies. You may use your bonus action to determine the location relative to you of your Hunter’s Mark target regardless of range and even across planes. If you do so, you gain advantage to attack your marked target, and you score critical hits on a natural 19 or 20 against your marked target.
Ranger Conclaves
The following Conclaves have been adjusted to function with the Reinvigorated Ranger. The Drakewarden Conclave is not included in this homebrew due to not being available in the Neanma setting and due to it being thematically similar to Beastmaster.
Beastmaster Conclave
The Beast Masters embody a friendship between the civilized races and the beasts of the world. United in focus, beast and ranger work as one to fight the twisted creatures of Malar and other forces that threaten civilization and the wilderness alike.
Emulating the Beast Master archetype means committing yourself to this ideal, working in partnership with an animal as its companion and friend.
Primal Beast Companion
At 3rd level, you learn to use your magic to create a powerful bond with a creature of the natural world. Through your dreams, or a long ritual, or as a gift from the spirits, you call forth an ancient force from the wilderness to serve as your faithful companion: a Primal Beast of the Air, Earth or Horizon. Their statistics can be found at the end of this document in the Primal Beast Companion section. It takes on a form of your choice that befits it's statistics, such as a Primal Beast of the Earth taking the form of a wolf or a panther.
At the end of the 8 hours, your animal companion appears in the form of a natural animal appropriate to type of Primal Beast chosen and gains all the benefits of your Companion’s Bond ability. You can have only one primal companion at a time.
If your primal companion is ever slain, the magical bond you share allows you to return it to life. With 8 hours of work and the expenditure of 25gp worth of rare herbs, you call forth your companion’s spirit and use your magic to create a new body for it. You can return an animal companion to life in this manner even if you do not possess any part of its body or have remaining spell slots.
Your primal companion has abilities and game statistics determined in part by your level:
- Your companion uses your proficiency bonus rather than its own.
- Your companion also adds your proficiency bonus to its AC.
- Whenever you gain the Ability Score Improvement class feature, you may increase two of your companion's ability scores by 1, up to a maximum of 20.
Hunter's Mark: Hunt Together
The Primal Companion obeys your commands as best it can. During combat, Your companion shares your turn, able to move up to it's speed where you wish it to.
You may use your bonus action to order your Primal Companion to take the Attack, Dash, Disengage, Help or Hide action, or to do a simple task like retrieve an object or drag an incapacitated ally to safety, so on so long as you can see or hear each other. If you give no commands, your beast takes the Dodge action.
If you are absent or incapacitated, your Primal Companion acts on it's own initiative and follows the last commands given to it for as long as seems reasonable under DM control, then acts on its own and may then take any logical action on it's turn for the form you chose for it, including attack. You may choose if these commands are in a language you know or unintelligible signals, such as whistles or body language.
Finally, when you have a Primal Companion and you mark a creature with your Hunter's Mark feature, the companion gains all the same benefits as you against the marked creature. Additionally, if you do not have a creature marked and your Primal Companion deals damage to a creature as part of your bonus action, you may mark that creature with your Hunter's Mark feature (do not apply the bonus damage to the triggering damage).
Bestial Fury
Starting at 11th level, when you take the Attack action or cast a spell, your Primal Companion can immediately make one attack. You may still use your bonus action to command it to attack again.
Perfect Coordination
Beginning at 15th level, both you and your Primal Companion have advantage on attack rolls against creatures during your turn so long as you are both attack the same creature.
Primal Beast Companions
Primal Beast of the Air
Small Beast
- Armor Class 13 (DEX) + your Proficiency Bonus
- Hit Points equals the beast's Constitution modifier + your Wisdom modifier + four times your ranger level (the beast has a number of Hit Dice [d6s] equal to your ranger level)
- Speed 10 ft., fly 60 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 6 (-2) 16 (+3) 13 (+1) 8 (-1) 15 (+2) 11 (0)
- Saving Throws All. Add your Proficiency Bonus to all saves
- Skills Perception +2 + your Proficiency Bonus, Stealth +3 + your Proficiency Bonus.
- Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12 + your Proficiency Bonus
- Languages understands the languages you speak
Flyby. The beast doesn't provoke opportunity attacks while flying.
Keen Hearing and Sight. This beast has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks pertaining to hearing or sight.
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.
Actions
Shred. Melee weapon attack: DEX + your Proficiency Bonus to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit: 1d4 + DEX slashing damage.
Primal Beasts of the Air often take the forms of large birds of prey such as eagles or owls, but can also take the form of noble ravens, large bats, or even enormous insects. They are well-suited to scouting and harassing, and Rangers that use them often form ways to communicate complex ideas such as enemy numbers and movement with their companions.
Primal Beast of the Earth
Medium Beast
- Armor Class 12 (DEX) + your Proficiency Bonus
- Hit Points equals the beast's Constitution modifier + your Wisdom modifier + five times your ranger level (the beast has a number of Hit Dice [d8s] equal to your ranger level)
- Speed 40 ft.; and climb 40 ft., swim 40 ft., or burrow 10ft. (your choice when you bond with the beast).
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 16 (+3) 14 (+2) 14 (+2) 8 (-1) 14 (+2) 11 (0)
- Saving Throws All. Add your Proficiency Bonus to all saves
- Skills Perception +2 + your Proficiency Bonus, Stealth +3 + your Proficiency Bonus.
- Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 12 + your Proficiency Bonus
- Languages understands the languages you speak
Ambush. This beast has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks.
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.
Actions
Maul. Melee weapon attack: STR + your Proficiency Bonus to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit: 1d8 + STR slashing damage.
Seize. reach 5ft., one target. If the target is a Large or smaller creature, it must succeed on a Strength saving throw against your Ranger spell save DC or be grappled.
Primal Beasts of the Earth are the warrior-breed of these entities, excelling in outright combat. Taking the form of wolves, big cats, oversized badgers, great boars, crocodiles, or even small drakes, they often remain directly by their masters side ready for battle or just out of sight prepared to ambush.
Primal Beast of the Horizon
Large Beast
- Armor Class 11 (DEX) + your Proficiency Bonus
- Hit Points equals the beast's Constitution modifier + your Wisdom modifier + six times your ranger level (the beast has a number of Hit Dice [d10s] equal to your ranger level)
- Speed 40 ft.; and climb 40 ft., or swim 40 ft. (your choice when you bond with the beast).
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 14 (+2) 12 (+1) 17 (+3) 8 (-1) 14 (+2) 11 (0)
- Saving Throws All. Add your Proficiency Bonus to all saves
- Skills Perception +2 + your Proficiency Bonus, Athletics +3 + your Proficiency Bonus.
- Senses passive Perception 12 + your Proficiency Bonus
- Languages understands the languages you speak
Overrun. This beast deals an additional 1d6 damage to Large or smaller creatures that are prone.
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.
Actions
Smash. Melee weapon attack: STR + your Proficiency Bonus to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit: 1d6 + STR bludgeoning damage.
Shove. reach 5ft., one target. If the target is a Medium or smaller creature, it must succeed on a Strength saving throw against your Ranger spell save DC or be knocked prone.
Primal Beasts of the Horizon are for rangers that wish to ride into battle. Taking the form of horses, elk, mountain goats, bears, dinosuars, or other beasts of burden, they can ferry their masters into battle with ease.
Fey Wanderers
As a Fey Wanderer, you guard the border between the Feywild and the Material Plane, guiding the lost out of the Feywild and preventing dangerous fey from damaging the Material Plane. Your experience with both domains makes you an exceptional negotiator between inhabitants of these worlds, as you understand both humanoid mindsets and the wiles of the fey courts, and a cunning warrior in both body and mind.
Feywild Gifts
When the ritual to become a Fey Wanderer is completed at 3rd level, you recieve a preternatural blessing from a fey ally or a place of fey power. You gain proficiency in one of Persuasion, Deception or Insight.
Fey magic has also harmlessly altered your appearance. Choose your blessing from the Feywild Gifts table, determine it randomly, or create your own.
| d6 | : | Gift |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Illusory butterflies flutter around you while you take a short or long rest. | |
| 2 | Fresh, seasonal flowers sprout from your hair each dawn. | |
| 3 | You faintly smell of cinnamon, lavender, nutmeg, or another comforting herb or spice. | |
| 4 | Your shadow dances while no one is looking directly at it. | |
| 5 | Delicate horns or antlers sprout from your head. | |
| 6 | Your hair changes color to match the season at each dawn. |
Fey Primal Magic
When you become a Fey Wanderer, you learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class that you can cast with your Primal Awareness feature, as shown in the Fey Primal Spells table. The spells count as a Ranger spells for you, and don't count against the number of Ranger spells you know.
Fey Primal Spells
| Ranger Level | Spell Granted |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Charm Person |
| 5th | Misty Step |
| 9th | Hypnotic Pattern |
| 13th | Compulsion |
| 17th | Mislead |
Hunter’s Mark: Cunning Glamour
Your fey qualities give you a supernatural charm you can focus on your quarry: your Hunter’s Mark thus improves. You add your Wisdom modifier to Charisma checks against creatures you mark with your Hunter’s Mark, and when you deal the extra damage to a marked target, you may choose for this extra damage to be psychic instead.
Additionally, if you cast a Ranger spell on a creature you have marked that requires a Wisdom saving throw, the marked creature does not get a saving throw and the spell immediately succeeds. Instead, at the beginning of your next turn, the creature then may save against the spell as if it had just been cast on them: if they fail they continue to be affected by the spell normally, if they succeed the spell immediately ends.
Beguiling Twist
Beginning at 7th level, the magic of the Feywild guards your mind. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened.
In addition, whenever you or a creature you can see within 120 feet of you succeeds on a saving throw against being charmed or frightened, you can use your reaction to force a different creature you can see within 120 feet of you to make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. If the save fails, the target is charmed or frightened by you (your choice) for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a successful save. You receive the benefits of your Cunning Glamor if the new target is your Hunter's Mark quarry.
Fey Reinforcements
At 11th level, the royal courts of the Feywild have blessed you with the assistance of fey beings: you know the spell Summon Fey. It doesn't count against the number of Ranger spells you know, and you can cast it without a material component. You can also cast it once without using a spell slot, and you regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest.
Whenever you cast this spell, you can modify it so that it doesn't require concentration. If you do so, the spell's duration becomes 1 minute for that casting.
Misty Wanderer
When you reach 15th level, you can slip in and out of the Feywild to move in a blink of an eye: you can cast Misty Step without expending a spell slot. You can do so a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
In addition, whenever you cast Misty Step, you can bring along one willing creature you can see within 5 feet of you. That creature to an unoccupied space of your choice within 5 feet of your destination space.
Gloom Stalkers Conclave
Gloom Stalkers are at home in the darkest places: deep under the earth, in gloomy alleyways, in primeval forests, and wherever else the light dims. Most folk enter such places with trepidation, but a gloom stalker ventures boldly into the darkness, seeking to ambush threats before they can reach the broader world. Such rangers are often found in the Underdark, but they will go any place where evil lurks in the shadows.
Gloom Stalker Magic
Starting at 3rd level, you learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Gloom Stalker Spells table. The spell counts as a ranger spell for you, but it doesn't count against the number of ranger spells you know.
Gloom Stalker Spells
| Ranger Level | Spell Granted |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Disguise Self |
| 5th | Rope Trick |
| 9th | Fear |
| 13th | Greater Invisibility |
| 17th | Seeming |
Hunter's Mark: Dread Predator
At 3rd level, you master the art of the ambush. You can give yourself a bonus to your initiative rolls equal to your Wisdom modifier, and you may mark a creature with you Hunter's Mark when initiative is rolled before any creature acts.
Additionally, if you damage the creature marked with your Hunter's Mark during your turn, you may use your bonus action to take the Hide action, and the marked creature has disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks to locate you.
Umbral Vanish
At 3rd level, you gain darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. If you already have darkvision from your race, its range increases by 30 feet.
You are also adept at evading creatures that rely on darkvision. While in darkness, you are heavily obscured 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).
Out of the Dark
At 11th level, you learn to use your targets shock at your assault to create openings. Once per turn if you are hidden from a target you are attacking or making a spell attack and have advantage on the attack roll, you can forgo the advantage for that roll to make an additional weapon attack against that target, 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
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.
Aetheric Primal Magic
When you become a Horizon Walker, you learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class that you can cast with your Primal Awareness feature, as shown in the Aetheric Primal Spells table. The spells count as a Ranger spells for you, and don't count against the number of Ranger spells you know.
Aetheric Primal Spells
| Ranger Level | Spell Granted |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Detect Evil & Good |
| 5th | Misty Step |
| 9th | Blink |
| 13th | Banishment |
| 17th | Teleportation Circle |
Hunter's Mark: Planar Warrior
Your Hunter's Mark can now draw on the energy of the multiverse to augment your attacks.
The additional damage dealt by your Hunter's Mark can now be force damage if you wish, and when your score a critical hit against the target you can convert all of the damage dealt by the attack into force damage.
You can also bypass cover using dimensional magic. If you know the location of your Hunter's Mark target within a range that you can target them with a weapon or spell attack, you may make your attack as though they were heavily obscured instead of in cover. If this attack hits, it deals no damage, but the target takes force damage equal to your Hunter's Mark bonus damage + your Wisdom Modifier, and suffers any additional effects of the attack.
Detect Planar Activity
Also at 3rd level, you gain the ability to magically sense the presence of a planar activity. If you witness a creature within 120 feet teleport or move to another plane, you may use your reaction to determine the distance and direction (if they teleported) or to what plane they went (if they moved to another plane).
See the "Planar Travel" section in chapter 2 of the Dungeon Master's Guide for examples of planar portals.
Distant Dance
At 7th level, you gain the ability to pass between the planes in a blink of an eye. Once on your turn, you can teleport up to 10 feet to a location you can see so long as you are not incapacitated, grappled, or restrained, and if you take the Dash action you may do so again. You may take a willing creature you can touch of you size category or smaller with you using your bonus action.
Dimensional Evasion
At 11th level, your ability to move between planes enables you to slip through the planar boundaries to escape harm during battle. When you take damage caused by a hostile creature, you can use your reaction to teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest, or until you cast a spell.
Ethereal Storm
At 15th level, you learn to step through the Ethereal Plane and strike with relentless fury.
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.
While you are Ethereal using this feature, your speed doubles and you can make attacks against or cast spells on creatures in the Material Plane. You have advantage on your attacks if the target cannot see into the Ethereal Plane, and all of your attacks deal force damage. If you attack at least two different creatures with the action, you can make two more attacks so long as they are all target different creatures.
Additionally, each time you strike a creature while Ethereal they must make a Charisma saving throw against your Ranger Spell Save DC or be teleported into an unoccupied space of your choice up to 10 feet away from where when they were struck.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Hunter's Pride Conclave
The Rangers of the Hunter's Pride guild, or those that follow their traditions, seek to master weapons to better protect civilization from the terrors of Dire Beasts and the Wild Hunt. Members of the Hunter Pride learn specialized fighting techniques for use against the most dangerous threats, specializing in arms and tactics to work alone or in teams. Where a milita or walls might fail, the Hunter's Pride succeeds.
Hunter's Mark: Multitasking
When you join this Conclave at 3rd level, your Hunter's Mark improves. You may have up to two creatures marked at one time with your Hunter's Mark feature.
Hunter's Prey
At 3rd level, you gain one of the following features of your choice:
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Kneel the Mighty. Creatures may never have advantage on saving throws against effects caused by you.
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Pack Coordination. When a creature misses you or one of your allies with an attack while you are both within 5 feet of that creature, you can use your reaction to attack that creature immediately after its attack, provided that you can see it.
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Horde Breaker. Once on each of your turns when you make a weapon attack or cast a cantrip learned from a Ranger class feature against a creature, you can make another attack with the same weapon or cantrip against a different creature that is within 5 feet of the original target and within range of your weapon or spell.
Defensive Tactics
At 7th level, you gain one of the following features of your choice:
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Escape the Horde. Opportunity attacks against you are made with disadvantage, and you do not provoke opportunity attacks if you did not begin your turn within the creature’s reach.
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Multiattack Defense. 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.
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Steel Will. You have advantage on saving throws against being frightened, charmed or put to sleep.
Wild Assault
At 11th level, you may choose to replace your attack action with one of these options during your turn:
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Volley. You can use your action to make a ranged attack with a weapon 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.
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Whirlwind Attack. You can use your action to make melee attacks against any number of creatures within 5 feet of you, with a separate attack roll for each target, and an attack with an offhand weapon against one creature as a bonus action if you have weapons suitable for two-weapon fighting.
Superior Defensive Tactics
At 15th level, you gain one of the following features of your choice or from the 7th level Defensive Tactics options:
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Evasion. When you are subjected to an effect, such as a red dragon’s fiery breath or a lightning bolt spell, that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on a saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.
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Stand Against the Tide. When a hostile creature misses you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to force that creature to repeat the same attack against another creature (other than itself) of your choice.
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Uncanny Dodge. When an attacker that you can see hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to halve the attack’s damage against you.
Monster Slayer Conclave
You have dedicated yourself to hunting down creatures of the night and wielders of grim magic. A monster slayer seeks out vampires, mind flayers, 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.
Monster Slayer Magic
Starting at 3rd level, you learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Monster Slayer Spells table. The spell counts as a Ranger spell for you, but it doesn't count against the number of Ranger spells you know.
Monster Slayer Spells
| Ranger Level | Spell Granted |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Sanctuary |
| 5th | Zone of Truth |
| 9th | Magic Circle |
| 13th | Banishment |
| 17th | Hold Monster |
Hunter's Mark: Slayer's Rally
Starting at 3rd level, your Hunter's Mark is improved. When you make an attack against your marked target and you are missing hit points, you gain temporary hit points equal to twice your level, but your current hit points + temporary hit points may not exceed your maximum hit points (any excess temporary HP that would raise the total over your maximum hit points are lost). These temporary hit points last until the beginning of your next turn.
Supernatural Defense
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.
Compound Weakness
At 11th level, your ability to turn a magical creature's defenses against it. If you damage a creature that resists or is immune to nonmagical or unsilvered bludgeoning, piercing or slashing damage, you may reroll any of the dice once each.
Additionally, if you have used your reaction and a creature within 60 feet of you targets or otherwise directly affects you with a Legendary Action, you regain your reaction.
Slayer's Counter
At 15th level, you gain the ability to counterattack when your prey tries to sabotage you. If the target of your Hunter's Mark forces you to make a saving throw, you can use your reaction to make one weapon attack against the quarry. You make this attack immediately before making the saving throw. If the attack hits, your save automatically succeeds, in addition to the attack’s normal effects.
Swarmkeeper Conclave
Feeling a deep connection to the environment around them, some rangers reach out through their magical connection to the world and bond with a swarm of nature spirits. The swarm becomes a potent force in battle, as well as helpful company for the ranger.
As a Swarmkeeper, a swarm of intangible nature spirits has bonded itself to you and can assist you in battle as long as you live. The swarm remains in your space, perching on you or flitting about. They may take the form of small birds, playful pixies, clouds of butterflies or other insects, or even a sentient cloud of sand or leaves.
Hunter's Mark: Gathered Swarm
Once you become a Swarmkeeper, your Hunter's Mark improves. Whenever you mark a creature with your Hunter's Mark, the swarm also visibly flits them so long as they are within 30 feet of you and on the same plane of existence, granting you one of the following benefits, chosen at the beginning of your turn:
- Creatures cannot benefit from stealth or being invisible while marked with your Hunter's Mark within range.
- The Marked creature must succeed on a Strength saving throw against your Ranger spell save DC each time you damage it with an attack or spell, or be moved by the swarm up to 15 feet horizontally in a direction of your choice.
- You are pulled by the swarm 5 feet horizontally in a direction of your choice after you deal damage with an attack. This is considered forced movement and does not provoke attacks of opportunity.
Swarmkeeper Primal Magic
Also at 3rd level, you learn the Mage Hand cantrip if you don't already know it. When you cast it, the hand takes the form of your swarming nature spirits.
You learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class that you can cast with your Primal Awareness feature, as shown in the Swarmkeeper Primal Spells table. The spells count as a Ranger spells for you, and don't count against the number of Ranger spells you know.
Swarmkeeper Primal Spells
| Ranger Level | Spell Granted |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Faerie Fire |
| 5th | Web |
| 9th | Gaseous Form |
| 13th | Arcane Eye |
| 17th | Insect Plague |
Writhing Tide
Beginning at 7th level, you can condense part of your swarm into a focused mass that lifts you up. As a bonus action, you gain a flying speed of 10 feet and can hover. This effect lasts for 1 minute or until you are incapacitated.
You must complete a short or long rest before you can use this feature again.
Mighty Swarm
At 11th level, your swarm grows mightier. The range at which they suffer the effects of Gathered Swarm now extends to 60 feet, and the following detriments are also placed on them while in this range:
- The Hunter's Marked creature have disadvantage Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma checks as the swarm distracts it.
- If the Marked creature deals damage to another creature with an attack, you may use your reaction to reduce the damage dealt by an amount equal to half your level (to a minimum of 0).
- If you end your turn without dealing damage to a creature marked with your Hunter's Mark, that creature takes 1d12 magical piercing damage if you so choose.
Swarming Dispersal
When you reach 15th level, you can discorporate into your swarm, avoiding danger. When you take damage, you can use your reaction to give yourself resistance to that damage. You vanish into your swarm and then teleport to an unoccupied space that you can see within 30 feet of you, where you reappear with the swarm.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Ranger Spells
1st Level
- Absorb Elements
- Alarm
- Animal Friendship
- Beast Bond
- Cure Wounds
- Detect Magic
- Detect Poison and Disease
- Ensnaring Strike
- Entangle
- Expeditious Retreat
- Fog Cloud
- Goodberry
- Hail of Thorns
- Jump
- Longstrider
- Searing Smite
- Snare
- Speak with Animals
- Zephyr Strike
2nd Level
- Aid
- Animal Messenger
- Barkskin
- Beast Sense
- Cordon of Arrows
- Darkvision
- Enhance Ability
- Find Traps
- Gust of Wind
- Healing Spirit
- Lesser Restoration
- Locate Animals or Plants
- Locate Object
- Magic Weapon
- Pass without Trace
- Protection from Poison
- Silence
- Spike Growth
- Summon Beast
3rd Level
- Conjure Animals
- Conjure Barrage
- Daylight
- Elemental Weapon
- Flame Arrows
- Lightning Arrow
- Nondetection
- Plant Growth
- Protection from Energy
- Revivify
- Speak with Plants
- Water Breathing
- Water Walk
- Wind Wall
4th Level
- Conjure Woodland Beings
- Dominate Beast
- Freedom of Movement
- Grasping Vine
- Guardian of Nature
- Locate Creature
- Stoneskin
- Summon Elemental
5th Level
- Commune with Nature
- Conjure Volley
- Greater Restoration
- Steel Wind Strike
- Swift Quiver
- Tree Stride
- Wrath of Nature
Bonus: True Strike Rework
The spell below is the homebrew version of True Strike that may be more favorable to this and many other classes. While it still takes an action to cast, it then provides two rounds of advantage should it be maintained.
True Strike (Rework)
Divination Cantrip
- Casting Time: 1 Action.
- Range: 30 feet.
- Components: V.
- Duration: 3 rounds (concentration).
You gain insight into a creature’s movement and weaknesses. Choose one creature within range. Until this spell ends, you gain advantage on attack rolls against the creature. This spell ends if you or the target creature moves out of range or of you end your turn in a location where you cannot see the creature.
Be One
With The
Wild
This reinvigorated Ranger is what I will be using for all my home games, with the variant and homebrew features consolidated and balanced in one place for a more consistent experience.
Features of this class include more widely applicable but still specialized preferences for enemies and terrain, a semi-resourceless self-buff to replace the near-total reliance on the Hunter's Mark spell, expanded ability to use magic effectively, and completely overhauled subclasses to maintain healthy game balance, including a reworked and highly viable Beastmaster Conclave.
A big thanks to the Discord & Dragons community for the immense amount of critique and feedback they provided that made this possible without being a complete mess.
A Long Story
The Ranger is a class with a history, not only in Dungeons & Dragons. A history I wanted to be true to with this project.
The original Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition Ranger was a option for Fighter with various modifications allowing better tracking or even potential animal companions, inspired by the archetype Aragorn set in Lord of the Rings.
These Tolkienien Rangers provided the name and base idea: a warrior who operated in the wilds, far from civilization. Alone or in small groups they would respond to threats to villages and towns that the armies would not or could not protect. But to take it even further back, the Dunedain Rangers that Aragorn led were inspired by many sources...
Verderers, also known as Underforesters, were a feudal occupation in medieval Europe; men tasked by their lord to protect the lord's "vert and venison," or trees and animals, to prevent illegal logging and poaching. Such men needed to be able to travel unhindered through the forests, sustaining themselves, and track both beast and man, becoming masters of their terrain, the bow and natural knowledge. Their domain was the wild they worked in.
Military Rangers stemmed from pathfinders throughout history. Advanced units able to move, scout and fight unsupported, and forge paths for allies behind them were essential as armies grew larger and less maneuverable, and remain a key part of military strategy today. To do so, they had to be expert survivors and combatants.
And finally, fantasy Rangers are a part of this history as well. With a birth from Tolkien's works and many adaptations and variations, Rangers have very much become a distinct archetype. Dungeons & Dragons, Witchers, the Hunters of Final Fantasy and Fire Emblem or even Bloodborne, and the corps of the Ranger's Apprentice series and many more have all added to and drawn from this archetype. Magic, alchemy, secret signs and more became part of the Ranger identity.
So what is a Ranger, really? A warrior, physically capable, who has capabilities related to nature and and their tasks that would seem supernatural to many and often bleed beyond simple tracking, learned from long practice in a harsh environment that makes them a master survivor as well. Inspired by the treatment of the Ranger class in the Baldur's Gate III alpha, I began this project with a simple idea: you may have learned this in a forest, but it can serve you elsewhere.
Overall, I'm pleased with how this turned out. I hope you enjoy, and feel free to share this with anyone that wants to play Ranger or thinks the base class is underwhelming!
~ V