Savage Stalker

The Savage Stalker subclass for the Ranger class is all about consuming the flesh and essence of fallen creatures to gain temporary boosts to the Ranger's own abilities. As they progress in levels, they gain the ability to consume and retain multiple creature traits, sense potential prey, and even summon forth the spirits of past meals. With a CR limit and a time limit on the eaten creature traits, the Savage Stalker must carefully choose their prey and plan ahead to maximize their abilities in combat.

Devour

Starting at 3rd level, you gain the ability to devour the flesh and essence of a creature you have slain, gaining a temporary boost to your own abilities. You may spend a minute consuming the remains of a creature, gaining one of its traits for a duration of 1 hour per CR level of the creature eaten. 

Here are some possible creature traits that you may gain: 

- Strength of a bear (+2 STR)

- Speed of a wolf (+10 ft movement)

- Senses of a hawk (advantage on perception checks)

- Stamina of a deer (+2 CON)

- Agility of a cat (+2 DEX)

- Resilience of a giant toad (+2 HP per level)

You may only have one of these traits at a time but you can consume another creature to replace your current trait doing this still takes one minute. Additionally, you are limited to consuming creatures with a CR of your ranger level or lower.

Dual Nature

At 7th level, you gain an additional trait slot, allowing you to consume and gain two creature traits at once.

Predator Awareness

At 11th level, your predator instincts have become refined. You may now sense the life force of creatures within 60 feet of you, allowing you to identify potential prey to hunt down. Additionally, you may choose to only consume the essence of a creature, leaving its physical body intact.

Predator's Mastery

At 15th level, the Ranger has honed their Predator abilities to the point of mastery. The Ranger gains the ability to consume and preserve the essence of creatures, allowing them to gain one of the creature's traits for up to 24 hours. In addition, if the creature's CR is equal to or greater than the Ranger's level, the Ranger can choose to consume a portion of its spirit instead of its flesh, gaining an increased time limit of up to 24 hours for the selected trait and allowing them to summon a spectral version of the creature to aid them in battle for 8 hours. 

Furthermore, when the Ranger is able to consume a portion of a creature's spirit, they may choose to consume the spirits of multiple creatures to gain multiple traits at once. The Ranger gains the ability to select up to three traits, using each of them once per day. Additionally, the Ranger can now consume creatures with a CR up to three times their Ranger level.