Role: Specialist
The classic Ranger, but more Rangery. Rangers excel at traversing almost any environment, tracking, and capturing or eliminating their target. A bounty-hunter class dealing ranged physical damage, tracking, and discovering weaknesses.
Primary abilities, class dice and proficiencies are still blank.
Design goals
- Master of survival
- Swift and stealthy
- Expert tracker
- Expert forager
- Communicates with creatures or a companion
- Better movement (climbing, swimming, etc.)
- Gets something for killing a target they’ve marked
Core features
Deft Explorer / Scavenger Sense. Your training has taught you to use your surroundings to gather resources, adapt and acquire information. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier, regaining all uses after a long rest. Each time, choose one:
- Plant Lore. For 1 hour, you have advantage on Intelligence (Nature) checks to identify plants and their uses. When you have a first aid kit and forage in your favored terrain, you can find the plants and herbs to regain one use of the kit over that hour.
- Wild Medicine. With a first aid kit in hand, you can use an action to touch a target, spending one use of the kit and one use of Scavenger Sense. The target regains hit points equal to 1d4 + its number of hit dice + your Wisdom modifier.
- Primeval Awareness. Spend your action to focus your awareness on the region around you. For 1 minute, you can sense whether certain types of targets are present within 1 mile (6 miles in your favored terrain). This doesn’t reveal their location or number.
- Snares and Traps. Not written yet.
Natural Explorer. You’re particularly familiar with one type of environment. Choose a favored terrain. When you make an Intelligence or Wisdom check related to it, your proficiency bonus is doubled if you’re using a proficient skill. While traveling for an hour or more in your favored terrain:
- Difficult terrain doesn’t slow your travel.
- Your party can’t become lost.
- You remain alert to danger even while doing something else.
- Traveling alone, you can move stealthily at a normal pace.
- When you forage, you find twice as much food.
- While tracking, you also learn the creatures’ exact number, their sizes, and how long ago they passed.
- You can change your chosen terrain by spending 8 hours training, researching and observing a terrain of another type.
Sci-fi leftovers
Natural Explorer’s terrain list includes “deep space, colonial, or asteroid”, and Primeval Awareness detects “combat craft, infantry, mobile suits or warships”. These look copied from a sci-fi source. They need fantasy terrains and creature types.
Favored Enemy. A ranger selects a favored enemy from the list. You have a bonus of 2× your tier level on Wisdom (Survival) and Wisdom (Awareness) checks to track favored enemies, on Intelligence checks to recall information about them, and on damage rolls against them. You also learn one language your favored enemies speak, if any.
Which Favored Enemy version?
The source lists four alternatives:
- Advantage on Survival checks to track favored enemies and on Intelligence checks to recall information.
- When you hit with an attack, mark the target as your favored enemy for 1 minute or until you lose concentration. The first time you damage it, add 1d4.
- An extra 1d6 damage on every weapon hit against the target, and advantage on Awareness and Survival checks to track it.
- +2 to Awareness and Survival checks against the target and +2 to damage rolls.
Hunter’s Mark. Choose a creature within range. It becomes a favored enemy. If you mark an existing favored enemy, the bonus doubles.
Other feature ideas: Snares and Traps · Assess Target (maybe part of Hunter’s Mark) · Primeval Awareness · Natural Explorer / Deft Explorer / Favored Terrain · Trackless Journey / Land’s Stride / Woodland Stride · Swift Tracker / Relentless Stalker / Roving · T1 Herbalism · T2 Vanish / Camouflage / Nature’s Veil / Hide in Plain Sight
Tier 1
- Primal Spellcasting
- Animal Bond
- Primal Companion. Have an animal companion bound to a rune.
- Weapon Expertise
- Trackless Journey
- Relentless Stalker
- Better Evasion
- Primeval Awareness (with Deft Explorer)
- Land’s Stride. Moving through mundane difficult terrain costs no extra movement. You can move through mundane plants and vines without taking damage from thorns, spikes or similar hazards.
- Hunt Prey. When you roll initiative and can see a favored enemy, you can Hunter’s Mark it as a free action.
- Feat (repeatable)
Tier 2
- Hunter’s Mark upgrade (choose):
- Hunter’s Mark no longer needs concentration and lasts the full duration.
- Attack rolls of 19 or 20 are crits against the marked creature.
- The marked creature gains no benefit from light cover or obscurement.
- −2 to hit for +5 damage.
- Favored Enemy upgrade (choose):
- Flurry. Multiple attacks against the same favored enemy in one round increase damage.
- Outwit. Your bonus also applies to Stealth, Intimidation and Influence checks.
- Precision. Deal an additional 1d6 precision damage per tier level.
- Evasion
- Additional Favored Enemy
- Woodland Stride
- Swift Tracker
- Vanish. Hiding costs 1 AP. You can’t be tracked by nonmagical means unless you choose to leave a trail.
Tier 3
- Hunter’s Mark lasts up to 4 hours
- Additional Favored Enemy
- Camouflage. You can take the Hide action in any natural terrain, even without cover or obscurement.
- Combat Style Mastery
- Spellcasting Upgrade (requires Spellcasting)
- Primeval Awareness Upgrade
- Nature’s Veil. For 1 AP, you become magically invisible along with your gear until the start of your next turn. Uses equal to your tier level.
- Hide in Plain Sight. Spend 1 minute creating camouflage for yourself. Once camouflaged, you can hide by pressing yourself against a solid surface such as a tree or wall, gaining +10 to Stealth as long as you don’t move or take actions. (Also add: in natural terrain, you can hide even while observed.)
- Exploit Vulnerability
- Roving
Tier 4
- Additional Favored Enemy
- Tireless
- Hunter’s Mark lasts up to 12 hours
- Feral Senses
- Bane of Enemies. (Requirement: 10 ranks in Survival and ?) You become an unparalleled hunter. Add your Wisdom modifier to attack or damage rolls against favored enemies.
- (Name TBD) Vulnerability. The AP cost of Quick Assessment is reduced by one.
- Death of Enemies. (Requirement: Bane of Enemies and four favored enemies.) When you score a critical hit against a favored enemy, it must make a Might save or die instantly. Creatures immune to critical hits or death effects are unaffected.
- Blindsight 30 ft
- Hunter’s Mark damage increase
Spells
Conjure Barrage becomes Conjure Volley.
Subclasses (Conclave of the ___)
| Chapter 4 | Class roles |
|---|---|
| Beast Tamer (see Beastcaller) | Beast Tamer |
| the Hood | Swift Hunter |
| the Survivalist | Survivalist |
| the Bow Initiate | Peerless Marksman |
| the Hood |
Expansion subclasses
Beastmaster / Tamer of Beasts / Animal Lord · Swift Hunter · Survivalist / Trapper · Bow Initiate · the Hood · Wanderer / Far Traveler (Horizon Walker / Fey Wanderer) · Gloomstalker / Darkwood Stalker · Monster Slayer · Peerless Marksman · Spirit Hunter / Spirit Tracker · Drakewarden