Wouldn't it be interesting if there were a ranger subclass that allowed the creation of mechanical and magical traps?
The idea is a Ranger specialized in modifying the terrain to their advantage. This would lead to different game strategies. It would also be interesting to have a ranger's beast companion lure enemies into their hunting ground. This way, the allies' pushing abilities could group enemies in an area where a trap is hidden. The beast companion could also be given the ability to push enemies so that it can play an active role during combat.
Ability to create traps:
Ditches, concealed by organic material or illusion.
Rope-activated weapon attacks. Weapons such as hidden crossbows with poisoned arrows, hanging logs, or hidden nets...
Ability to place dormant spells in certain parts of the terrain and activate them if the enemy passes over them using the Ranger's reaction.
Other solutions are based on weight, time, or a hidden physical trigger activated by a passive perception check (such as a hidden wire that activates the trap when stepped on).
I think this type of role would be ideal for a ranger.
You don’t need a subclass for this - most of it is straight up mundane stuff any ranger should be doing with survival and nature skills. I know my rangers do it when the situation calls for it or they have time. The only problem is that such things do take time. If you want magic solutions you have plant growth, conjure elemental and minor elemental. What is really needed is a Druidic/ranger spell that is a low level (L2) version of move earth. There are a number of lower level spells that could be a basis for a new earth moving spell.
You don’t need a subclass for this - most of it is straight up mundane stuff any ranger should be doing with survival and nature skills. I know my rangers do it when the situation calls for it or they have time. The only problem is that such things do take time. If you want magic solutions you have plant growth, conjure elemental and minor elemental. What is really needed is a Druidic/ranger spell that is a low level (L2) version of move earth. There are a number of lower level spells that could be a basis for a new earth moving spell.
I wouldn't say mundane, given that not everyone plays with strategies in mind, anticipating combat. Very often, Rangers are played as fighters specializing in ranged combat who have some magical powers. In my opinion, this is a bit reductive when one consider the skills a hunter should have.
You're probably right, the problem is the time it takes to set traps. Unfortunately, the Mold Earth cantrip no longer exists in D&D 2024. Perhaps a magical ability that allows traps to be set very quickly, like in 1 minute, would be needed? That's why I was thinking of a subclass specializing in this aspect of the Ranger.
Great perceptive ability to detect enemies in advance.
Ability to set magical traps in a short time.
Ability to install dormant spells in the ground and activate them as a reaction in any turn. Addition of spells designed for possible traps.
Ability to summon a companion beast (or elemental) with the ability to attract and move enemies on the battlefield to optimize the installed traps.
It would also be interesting to give the creature affected by “Hunter's Mark” a disadvantage on saving throws against the installed traps.
Yes many folks play the ranger ( badly IMO) as a ranged fighter, in doing so they miss the essence of what a ranger could be. A part of the ranger’s problem has nothing to do with the ranger as a class and everything to do with the lack of a solid exploration/outdoor/wilderness adventure leg for the game. The 2014 PHB does a much better job of giving the ranger some depth in ts description including the idea of the solo ranger - alone and on their own in the wilderness. My personal take is that they are the magical fantasy version of the American mountain/frontiers man - a Daniel Boone, kit Carson or Jedidiah Smith with magic. They could navigate the wilderness, find food and water, cook, skin, tan and sew enough to make clothes when needed, hunt, trap, fight when they had to, trade and make friends with the intelligent folks living in the wilderness and generally get along just fine without civilization. They might not have all these skills as they started but would have developed them over time so I could see granting new skills to rangers at different levels as well as actively creating new wilderness based spells just for rangers - especially now that they can trade them out on long rests. A lot of your ideas are already capable of being developed by rangers: 1) great perception- expertise in perception skill as one of their 3 expertises ( my rangers take this first) 2) ability to summon a companion beast - ok only the beastmaster subclass can actually do this directly but any ranger can use the animal friendship spell and animal handling to get and train a beast companion ( or three) to do this. Then there are the various conjure and summon spells as well. 3) magical traps - spiked growth, entangle, cordon of arrows to name 3 off the top of my head 4) disadvantage vs the traps - not really needed if the DC for the save were based on the ranger’s wisdom bonus like a spell then it would affect any creature that set it off. Passive perception to detect it and ( probably) a Dex save to avoid if set off
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Wouldn't it be interesting if there were a ranger subclass that allowed the creation of mechanical and magical traps?
The idea is a Ranger specialized in modifying the terrain to their advantage. This would lead to different game strategies. It would also be interesting to have a ranger's beast companion lure enemies into their hunting ground. This way, the allies' pushing abilities could group enemies in an area where a trap is hidden. The beast companion could also be given the ability to push enemies so that it can play an active role during combat.
Ability to create traps:
Other solutions are based on weight, time, or a hidden physical trigger activated by a passive perception check (such as a hidden wire that activates the trap when stepped on).
I think this type of role would be ideal for a ranger.
You don’t need a subclass for this - most of it is straight up mundane stuff any ranger should be doing with survival and nature skills. I know my rangers do it when the situation calls for it or they have time. The only problem is that such things do take time. If you want magic solutions you have plant growth, conjure elemental and minor elemental. What is really needed is a Druidic/ranger spell that is a low level (L2) version of move earth. There are a number of lower level spells that could be a basis for a new earth moving spell.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
I wouldn't say mundane, given that not everyone plays with strategies in mind, anticipating combat. Very often, Rangers are played as fighters specializing in ranged combat who have some magical powers. In my opinion, this is a bit reductive when one consider the skills a hunter should have.
You're probably right, the problem is the time it takes to set traps. Unfortunately, the Mold Earth cantrip no longer exists in D&D 2024. Perhaps a magical ability that allows traps to be set very quickly, like in 1 minute, would be needed? That's why I was thinking of a subclass specializing in this aspect of the Ranger.
Yes many folks play the ranger ( badly IMO) as a ranged fighter, in doing so they miss the essence of what a ranger could be. A part of the ranger’s problem has nothing to do with the ranger as a class and everything to do with the lack of a solid exploration/outdoor/wilderness adventure leg for the game. The 2014 PHB does a much better job of giving the ranger some depth in ts description including the idea of the solo ranger - alone and on their own in the wilderness. My personal take is that they are the magical fantasy version of the American mountain/frontiers man - a Daniel Boone, kit Carson or Jedidiah Smith with magic. They could navigate the wilderness, find food and water, cook, skin, tan and sew enough to make clothes when needed, hunt, trap, fight when they had to, trade and make friends with the intelligent folks living in the wilderness and generally get along just fine without civilization. They might not have all these skills as they started but would have developed them over time so I could see granting new skills to rangers at different levels as well as actively creating new wilderness based spells just for rangers - especially now that they can trade them out on long rests. A lot of your ideas are already capable of being developed by rangers:
1) great perception- expertise in perception skill as one of their 3 expertises ( my rangers take this first)
2) ability to summon a companion beast - ok only the beastmaster subclass can actually do this directly but any ranger can use the animal friendship spell and animal handling to get and train a beast companion ( or three) to do this. Then there are the various conjure and summon spells as well.
3) magical traps - spiked growth, entangle, cordon of arrows to name 3 off the top of my head
4) disadvantage vs the traps - not really needed if the DC for the save were based on the ranger’s wisdom bonus like a spell then it would affect any creature that set it off. Passive perception to detect it and ( probably) a Dex save to avoid if set off
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.