Greenwood Ranger

This class is a 5th edition translation of the AD&D 2nd edition Greenwood Ranger kit from The Complete Ranger's Handbook. It is designed to help players that would like to play the older 2e Greenwood Ranger class in a modern way.

The Greenwood Ranger begins life as an average humanoid but through fervent prayer and supplication to the spirits and gods of nature, gains plant-like qualities and assumes the form of something between the animal and plant kingdoms.

Bark-like Skin

Starting at 3rd level, the Greenwood Ranger becomes unable to wear armor, their skin having turned completely into bark. Many Greenwood Rangers opt to wearing simple clothing such as smocks and loincloths, and some decorate themselves with pins and trinkets that are often attached directly to the skin.Your base AC becomes 16 and you may not add your Dexterity modifier to your total AC. A shield's benefits will still apply as normal. This base AC changes to 17 at 7th level, 18 at 11th level, and 19 at 15th level.

Vegetal Traits

Starting at 3rd level,  a Greenwood Ranger sheds part of their humanity to adopt many traits and aspects of plant life, for good or ill. 

• You may Speak with Plants at will, requiring no components or casting time. Plants spoken to naturally regard you as friendly.
• You have no need to eat or drink, instead requiring a minimum of one hour of exposure to the sun per day. Overcast days provide sufficient sunlight. You must also water yourself through soaking your roots for a minimum of 10 minutes every two days. Natural rain and other methods of watering may suffice as well. For every day these needs are not met, you must make a Constitution saving throw or suffer one level of Exhaustion.
• You are naturally buoyant, and will float in water. A Greenwood Ranger is still subject to drowning and suffocation, however, and would need to be physically held down in order to accomplish this.
• You have disadvantage on Stealth checks due to your stiffer limbs.
• You have disadvantage on saving throws related to Fire damage, and receive an extra 1d4 damage from sources of Fire damage.
• For every day spent in an extreme climate, such as those averaging below freezing or above 100 degrees F (37 C), you must make a Constitution saving throw or suffer one level of Exhaustion.

Rooting

Starting at 7th level, once per day, a Greenwood Ranger may bury his feet into the ground and sprout tiny, nutrient absorbing roots, enhancing the healing received during either a short or long rest. The ranger must remain undisturbed and may not engage in other activities during this time. The ground must be earth or dirt capable or supporting terrestrial plant life and be in sufficient quantity to completely cover the ranger's feet.

• When used during a short rest, the size category of hit dice expended for the purposes of healing increases by one (i.e. 1d6 becomes a 1d8).
• When used during a long rest, you gain a number of temporary hit points equal to your maximum number of hit dice.

Wooded Camouflage

Starting at 11th level, when in a forest, the Greenwood Ranger may stay completely still, changing the appearance of their bark and making them indistinguishable from a tree native to the environment they are in. This ability will fail when the ranger is in an environment where trees are not known to exist. In addition, they gain advantage on stealth checks when moving through forest or jungle terrain.

Limbing

Starting at 15th level, once per day, the Greenwood Ranger may attempt to perform the Limbing ritual. To perform the ritual, the Greenwood Ranger must be wholly covered in leaves, branches, and dirt, and remain undisturbed for 24 hours. The ranger enters a state of suspended animation during this time and, if interrupted, must wait a full day before attempting the ritual again. Once successfully completed, the ranger awakes with a new limb extending from their chest. The limb has all of the functions of a normal arm and remains attached to the ranger for the next 1d4 days, conferring the following benefits:

• You have advantage on grapple checks and creatures have disadvantage on checks to escape being grappled by you.
• You have advantage on climbing (Athletic) checks.
• You have a swim speed equal to your normal movement speed.
• The third limb may assist with types of performance checks and other ability checks that may benefit from having a third limb, e.g. juggling.
• You may use the third limb to wield a third weapon. When engaging in two-weapon fighting, you may make an additional attack with your third weapon as you would the second attack. Feats and effects that affect the second attack of two-weapon fighting equally affect the this third attack.
• You may use the third limb to wield a versatile or two-handed weapon and another weapon at the same time. If wielding a versatile and light weapon in this way, you may perform two-weapon fighting as normal.