Ranger needs enhancements all around. Spent some time reworking. What do you think. Inspiration came from ranger , revised ranger , ua feat variants , land Druid , nature cleric , and oath of ancients paladin (these subclasses should not be better rangers then the ranger. So here it is Introducing the ancients ranger!! I hope this makes a difference in some way or maybe someone can use it as a home brew somewhere. A lot of things have been reworked and this ranger makes you fiend to go all the way to level 20. A little tankier, and a bit more magic prowess. 3 features at level 2 like the paladin the very op favorite sibling half caster. But this reworked version makes it similar not in terms of pure damage output but high in versatility. Feral senses I moved to level 10 because it only really allows you to not be snuck up on, and has a lot of potential to work well with the camouflage ability which also works a bit different now. Ua features were sporadically spread out through other features to not make the variant features broken early on. This is a more magic based ranger guided by the ancients and there old secrets. So down below I hope you have a good read and enjoy. Thank you for your time -HoboBob
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
Proficiency Armor: Light armor, medium armor, shields Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons Tools: None Saving Throws: Strength, Dexterity Skills: Choose three from Animal Handling, Athletics, Insight, Investigation, Nature, Perception, Stealth, and Survival
Favored enemy At level 1 Pick a creature type to be your ultimate foe. Studying, experience or perhaps a fellow ranger have told you about these creatures and you excel at fighting them. Gain the following benefits
- Extra damage +1
- Advantage on survival checks to track them
- Advantage in intelligence checks to recall information of them
- Learn one language spoken by favored enemy
At 6th and 14th level you gain an additional favored enemy, and benefits to this feature. As you gain levels, your choices should reflect the types of monsters you have encountered on your adventures.
Natural Explorer At level 1 you are an explorer of the natural world. You are adept at exploring, and living in the wilderness. Maybe you were a traveler, or nomad, but one thing is certain you know your way around a multitude of terrains. The arctic, coast, deserts, forest, grasslands, mountains, swamp, and underdark are your playgrounds. Gain profiency in one skill. In addition gain the following benefits while in natural terrains.
- You can move stealthily at a normal pace by yourself, remain alert to danger, find twice the amount of food while foraging.
- Double your proficiency bonus in nature or survival checks provided you are already proficient and in a natural terrain
- You always know which way is North and can retrace your steps
Gain additional benefits at 6th and 14th level
Fighting Style At 2nd level, you adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options.
- Archery: Gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls made with ranged weapons.
- Defense: While you are wearing armor, gain a +1 bonus to AC.
- Dueling: +2 to damage rolls while wielding a single weapon
- Two weapon Fighting: add ability modifier to off hand attack
- UA Druidic warrior: learn 2 additional cantrips from Druid list
Spell Casting At 2nd level, you have learned to use the magical essence of nature to cast spells, much as a druid does. 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. Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + Wisdom modifier Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + Wisdom modifier Learn one cantrip from the Druid spell list and another at 11th level
Tireless At 2nd level you can endure the worst of it. You are strong willed and can dig deep to keep on moving. You gain the following
- You can expend a hit dice to heal yourself as an action without a short rest. Regain hp equal to 1d10. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your ranger level
- In addition you can dash as a bonus action
You gain additional benefits to this class at 8th level
Ranger Archetype At 3rd level choose an archetype that you strive to emulate. Which path will you follow to guide your journey. You are granted these features again at 7th, 11th, and 15th level
Primal Awareness At 3rd level you begin to attune to nature on a deeper level, an intimate place, one that resonates from your deepest roots, to the worlds deepest roots. You gain the following benefits by focusing on the task for one minute
- Communicate simple ideas to animals with gestures
- Know if your favored enemy’s are within 1 mile of you
- Primal casting table:
Level 3 Detect magic Create / Destroy water
Level 5 Beast sense Locate plants/animal
Level 9 Speak with plants - - - - - - - -
Level 13 Locate creature - - - - - - - -
Level 17 Commune w/ nature - - - - - - - -
- Using a spell in this way requires concentration for 1 minute but you do not need verbal or somatic components to cast them.
- Each spell listed may be cast once per long rest
- These spells don’t count against the number of spells known but count as ranger spells for you (you may replace a spell after you gain a level in this class with noncombative spells from the Druid list to fit play style)
Ability score improvement At 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. Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead.
Extra attack At 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Favored enemy improvement At level 6 pick another favored enemy and gain additional benefits that can be applied to all favored enemy’s
- Extra damage is now +3 and gain +1 to attack rolls
- Double proficiency bonus for tracking and recalling info
- Advantage on saving throws against magical effects
- Learn a language spoken by the new creature type
At 14th level you gain an additional favored enemy, and benefits to this feature. As you gain levels, your choices should reflect the types of monsters you have encountered on your adventures.
Natural explorer improvement At level 6 you gain additional benefits to your natural explorer feature. Gain the following benefits
- Swimming, and climbing speed are equal to your walking speed
- advantage on saving throw against magical plants made to impede
- advantage on initiative rolls while in a natural terrain. You cannot do so again until you finish a long rest.
Reaching 14th level you gain additional benefits to this class feature
Tireless improvement At 8th level your endurance is phenomenal. Gain the following benefits
- When you expend a hit die to heal yourself as an action, you may now add your constitution modifier to the roll
- Whenever you finish a short rest your exhaustion is decreased by one if any
Camouflage At 10th level nature gravitates towards you. The touch of the wooden spuce tree at your side begins to change the color of your skin. the leafs beneath your feet no longer crunch. Your breath so silent as you await to surprise your prey . Gain the following benefits after remaining motionless for one minute or longer
- Enemys roll at disadvantage on perception checks to notice you
- Effects end after attacking or engaging in another activity
Feral senses At 10th level your instincts are now inhuman. Like a beast; predator or prey you’re always ready. Your preternatural senses help you fight creatures you can’t see. Gain the Following benefits
- Your inability to see does not impose disadvantage on attack rolls against it
- You are aware of the location of any invisible creature within 30 feet of you provided you are not blinded or deafened
Favored enemy mastery At level 14 pick another favored enemy and gain additional benefits that can be applied to all favored enemy’s
- Extra damage is now +5
- Bonus to attack rolls is +3
- You cannot be charmed or frightened by favored enemy’s
Natural explorer mastery At level 14 you gain additional unnatural terrains
- Urban, planar, and dungeon environments are now terrains you’re adept in and count as favored terrains for you.
Armor of the ancients At 18th level the lands whisper to you the secrets of the ancient ways. A soft hum strums through your mind and serenity beckons you through and through. Gain the following benefits
- Beast, plants, and fey creature must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, the creature must choose a different target, or the attack automatically misses. On a successful save, the creature is immune to this effect for 24 hours.
- Cant be aged by magic. For every 2 years that pass, your body ages only 1 year.
Natures student At 20th level the land is your strength, Nature your ally, they will protect you, as you have protected them. Magic empowers you. Back to the basics. Your movements no longer provoke opportunity attacks, and any creature with a CR above 18 can be treated as a favorite enemy. In addition Gain the following benefits
- 1st teaching: Cast absorb elements at 3rd level.
- 2nd teaching: Cast fog cloud at 3rd level and does not require concentration
- 3rd teaching: Any ranger spell with a casting time of action may be cast as bonus action and they have disadvantage if forced to make a saving throw.
You may demonstrate the powers bestowed upon you. You may use each configuration once per long rest.
Thank you ! Means a lot! I spent a fair amount of time working on it. All the tools were practically there just needed some tlc and organization in my opinion . Scaling at higher levels is the problem I noticed with the ranger. And the higher level features were slightly lack luster. I’m glad you liked it
Yes , the ranger needs some official love. Until the UA becomes written into lore, it has at least 3 levels where it falls behind the others. This is a good suggestion for a home brew.
Currently rangers are great to level 5, then start to lose out, IMHO
Agreed, my only complaint would be how specific natural explorer is. Deft Explorer seems to be a good replacement. The exception for me being tireless seems which just didnt seem to fit and I felt it needed to be it’s own feature .
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Ranger needs enhancements all around. Spent some time reworking. What do you think. Inspiration came from ranger , revised ranger , ua feat variants , land Druid , nature cleric , and oath of ancients paladin (these subclasses should not be better rangers then the ranger. So here it is Introducing the ancients ranger!! I hope this makes a difference in some way or maybe someone can use it as a home brew somewhere. A lot of things have been reworked and this ranger makes you fiend to go all the way to level 20. A little tankier, and a bit more magic prowess. 3 features at level 2 like the paladin the very op favorite sibling half caster. But this reworked version makes it similar not in terms of pure damage output but high in versatility. Feral senses I moved to level 10 because it only really allows you to not be snuck up on, and has a lot of potential to work well with the camouflage ability which also works a bit different now. Ua features were sporadically spread out through other features to not make the variant features broken early on. This is a more magic based ranger guided by the ancients and there old secrets. So down below I hope you have a good read and enjoy. Thank you for your time -HoboBob
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
Proficiency
Armor: Light armor, medium armor, shields Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons Tools: None Saving Throws: Strength, Dexterity Skills: Choose three from Animal Handling, Athletics, Insight, Investigation, Nature, Perception, Stealth, and Survival
Favored enemy
At level 1 Pick a creature type to be your ultimate foe. Studying, experience or perhaps a fellow ranger have told you about these creatures and you excel at fighting them. Gain the following benefits
- Extra damage +1
- Advantage on survival checks to track them
- Advantage in intelligence checks to recall information of them
- Learn one language spoken by favored enemy
At 6th and 14th level you gain an additional favored enemy, and benefits to this feature. As you gain levels, your choices should reflect the types of monsters you have encountered on your adventures.
Natural Explorer
At level 1 you are an explorer of the natural world. You are adept at exploring, and living in the wilderness. Maybe you were a traveler, or nomad, but one thing is certain you know your way around a multitude of terrains. The arctic, coast, deserts, forest, grasslands, mountains, swamp, and underdark are your playgrounds. Gain profiency in one skill. In addition gain the following benefits while in natural terrains.
- You can move stealthily at a normal pace by yourself, remain alert to danger, find twice the amount of food while foraging.
- Double your proficiency bonus in nature or survival checks provided you are already proficient and in a natural terrain
- You always know which way is North and can retrace your steps
Gain additional benefits at 6th and 14th level
Fighting Style
At 2nd level, you adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options.
- Archery: Gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls made with ranged weapons.
- Defense: While you are wearing armor, gain a +1 bonus to AC.
- Dueling: +2 to damage rolls while wielding a single weapon
- Two weapon Fighting: add ability modifier to off hand attack
- UA Druidic warrior: learn 2 additional cantrips from Druid list
Spell Casting
At 2nd level, you have learned to use the magical essence of nature to cast spells, much as a druid does.
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.
Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + Wisdom modifier
Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + Wisdom modifier
Learn one cantrip from the Druid spell list and another at 11th level
Tireless
At 2nd level you can endure the worst of it. You are strong willed and can dig deep to keep on moving. You gain the following
- You can expend a hit dice to heal yourself as an action without a short rest. Regain hp equal to 1d10. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your ranger level
- In addition you can dash as a bonus action
You gain additional benefits to this class at 8th level
Ranger Archetype
At 3rd level choose an archetype that you strive to emulate. Which path will you follow to guide your journey. You are granted these features again at 7th, 11th, and 15th level
Primal Awareness
At 3rd level you begin to attune to nature on a deeper level, an intimate place, one that resonates from your deepest roots, to the worlds deepest roots. You gain the following benefits by focusing on the task for one minute
- Communicate simple ideas to animals with gestures
- Know if your favored enemy’s are within 1 mile of you
- Primal casting table:
Level 3 Detect magic Create / Destroy water
Level 5 Beast sense Locate plants/animal
Level 9 Speak with plants - - - - - - - -
Level 13 Locate creature - - - - - - - -
Level 17 Commune w/ nature - - - - - - - -
- Using a spell in this way requires concentration for 1 minute but you do not need verbal or somatic components to cast them.
- Each spell listed may be cast once per long rest
- These spells don’t count against the number of spells known but count as ranger spells for you (you may replace a spell after you gain a level in this class with noncombative spells from the Druid list to fit play style)
Ability score improvement
At 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.
Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead.
Extra attack
At 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Favored enemy improvement
At level 6 pick another favored enemy and gain additional benefits that can be applied to all favored enemy’s
- Extra damage is now +3 and gain +1 to attack rolls
- Double proficiency bonus for tracking and recalling info
- Advantage on saving throws against magical effects
- Learn a language spoken by the new creature type
At 14th level you gain an additional favored enemy, and benefits to this feature. As you gain levels, your choices should reflect the types of monsters you have encountered on your adventures.
Natural explorer improvement
At level 6 you gain additional benefits to your natural explorer feature. Gain the following benefits
- Swimming, and climbing speed are equal to your walking speed
- advantage on saving throw against magical plants made to impede
- advantage on initiative rolls while in a natural terrain. You cannot do so again until you finish a long rest.
Reaching 14th level you gain additional benefits to this class feature
Tireless improvement
At 8th level your endurance is phenomenal. Gain the following benefits
- When you expend a hit die to heal yourself as an action, you may now add your constitution modifier to the roll
- Whenever you finish a short rest your exhaustion is decreased by one if any
Camouflage
At 10th level nature gravitates towards you. The touch of the wooden spuce tree at your side begins to change the color of your skin. the leafs beneath your feet no longer crunch. Your breath so silent as you await to surprise your prey . Gain the following benefits after remaining motionless for one minute or longer
- Enemys roll at disadvantage on perception checks to notice you
- Effects end after attacking or engaging in another activity
Feral senses
At 10th level your instincts are now inhuman. Like a beast; predator or prey you’re always ready. Your preternatural senses help you fight creatures you can’t see. Gain the Following benefits
- Your inability to see does not impose disadvantage on attack rolls against it
- You are aware of the location of any invisible creature within 30 feet of you provided you are not blinded or deafened
Favored enemy mastery
At level 14 pick another favored enemy and gain additional benefits that can be applied to all favored enemy’s
- Extra damage is now +5
- Bonus to attack rolls is +3
- You cannot be charmed or frightened by favored enemy’s
Natural explorer mastery
At level 14 you gain additional unnatural terrains
- Urban, planar, and dungeon environments are now terrains you’re adept in and count as favored terrains for you.
Armor of the ancients
At 18th level the lands whisper to you the secrets of the ancient ways. A soft hum strums through your mind and serenity beckons you through and through. Gain the following benefits
- Beast, plants, and fey creature must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, the creature must choose a different target, or the attack automatically misses. On a successful save, the creature is immune to this effect for 24 hours.
- Cant be aged by magic. For every 2 years that pass, your body ages only 1 year.
Natures student
At 20th level the land is your strength, Nature your ally, they will protect you, as you have protected them. Magic empowers you. Back to the basics. Your movements no longer provoke opportunity attacks, and any creature with a CR above 18 can be treated as a favorite enemy. In addition Gain the following benefits
- 1st teaching: Cast absorb elements at 3rd level.
- 2nd teaching: Cast fog cloud at 3rd level and does not require concentration
- 3rd teaching: Any ranger spell with a casting time of action may be cast as bonus action and they have disadvantage if forced to make a saving throw.
You may demonstrate the powers bestowed upon you. You may use each configuration once per long rest.
Nice work
Thank you ! Means a lot! I spent a fair amount of time working on it. All the tools were practically there just needed some tlc and organization in my opinion . Scaling at higher levels is the problem I noticed with the ranger. And the higher level features were slightly lack luster. I’m glad you liked it
Yes , the ranger needs some official love. Until the UA becomes written into lore, it has at least 3 levels where it falls behind the others. This is a good suggestion for a home brew.
Currently rangers are great to level 5, then start to lose out, IMHO
Agreed, my only complaint would be how specific natural explorer is. Deft Explorer seems to be a good replacement. The exception for me being tireless seems which just didnt seem to fit and I felt it needed to be it’s own feature .