As a ranger, you gain the following class features.
Hit Points
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
Proficiencies
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
Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
(a) scale mail or (b) leather armor
(a) two shortswords or (b) two simple melee weapons
(a) a dungeoneer's pack or (b) an explorer's pack
A longbow and a quiver of 20 arrows
Favored Enemy
Beginning at 1st level, you have significant experience studying, tracking, and hunting various types of enemies.
During a short or long rest, you can prepare to hunt types of enemies. Choose a type of favored enemy: aberrations, beasts, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, giants, monstrosities, oozes, plants, or undead. Alternatively, you can select two races of humanoid (such as gnolls and orcs) as favored enemies.
You have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track your favored enemies, as well as on Intelligence checks to recall information about them. Furthermore, you can add your Wisdom modifier to Dexterity (Stealth) checks to hide from favored enemies. Whenever you initiate combat with a surprise attack against a favored enemy, the damage of that attack is critical.
After finishing a short or long rest, you can change your favored enemies.
You choose one additional favored enemyat 6th and 14th level.
Natural Explorer
Also at 1st level, you are particularly familiar with adapting to different environments and are adept at traveling and surviving in such regions. During a short or long rest, you can prepare to explore types of terrain. Choose one type of favored terrain: arctic, coast, desert, forest, grassland, mountain, swamp, urban, dungeon, or the Underdark. When you make an Intelligence, Dexterity, or Wisdom check related to your favored terrain, your proficiency bonus is doubled if you are using a skill that you’re proficient in.
You can change your favored terrains after finishing a short or long rest and choose additional favored terrain types at 6th and 10th level.
Fighting Style
At 2nd level, you adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can't take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.
Archery. You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons.
Defense. While you are wearing armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.
Thrown Weapon Fighting. You can draw a weapon that has the thrown property as part of the attack you make with the weapon.
In addition, when you hit with a ranged attack using a thrown weapon, you gain a +2 bonus to the damage roll.
Two-Weapon Fighting. When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.
Spellcasting
By the time you reach 2nd level, you have learned to use the magical essence of nature to cast spells, much as a druid does.
Spell Slots
The Ranger table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your ranger spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.
For example, if you know the 1st-level spell Animal Friendship and have a 1st-level and a 2nd-level spell slot available, you can cast Animal Friendship using either slot.
Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher
You know two 1st-level spells of your choice from the ranger spell list.
The Spells Known column of the Ranger table shows when you learn more ranger spells of your choice. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots. For instance, when you reach 5th level in this class, you can learn one new spell of 1st or 2nd level.
Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the ranger spells you know and replace it with another spell from the ranger spell list, which also must be of a level for which you have spell slots.
Spellcasting Ability
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 + your Wisdom modifier
Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier
Hunter’s Mark
At 2nd level, you know the Hunter’s Mark spell, and it doesn't count against the number of ranger spells you know.
Primeval Awareness
Beginning at 3rd level, you can perform a 10 minutes ritual to focus your awareness on the region around you. For a brief second, you can sense whether the following types of creatures are present within 1 mile of you (or within up to 6 miles if you are in your favored terrain): aberrations, celestials, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead. This feature doesn’t reveal the creatures’ location or number.
Ranger Conclave
At 3rd level, you choose to emulate the ideals and training of a ranger conclave. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 11th, and 15th level.
Ability Score Improvement
When you reach 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.
Extra Attack
Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Land's Stride
Starting at 8th level, moving through nonmagical difficult terrain costs you no extra movement. You can also pass through nonmagical plants without being slowed by them and without taking damage from them if they have thorns, spines, or a similar hazard.
In addition, you have advantage on saving throws against plants that are magically created or manipulated to impede movement, such as those created by the Entangle spell.
Hide in Plain Sight
Starting at 10th level, you can spend 1 minute creating camouflage for yourself. You must have access to fresh mud, dirt, plants, soot, and other naturally occurring materials with which to create your camouflage. Once you are camouflaged in this way, you gain the following benefits:
You can hide in plain sight as long as you are prone.
You gain advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks when hiding within the same material you used to make your camouflage.
If you are taking cover behind the same material you used to make your camouflage, you can impose disadvantage to attack rolls against you.
Your camouflage needs to match the type of terrain you are in. Otherwise, this feature fails.
Vanish
Starting at 14th level, you can't be tracked by nonmagical means, unless you choose to leave a trail. Also, you are protected from divination magic.
Feral Senses
At 18th level, you gain preternatural senses that help you fight creatures you can't see. When you attack a creature you can't see, your inability to see it doesn't impose disadvantage on your attack rolls against it.
You are also aware of the location of any invisible creature within 30 feet of you, provided that the creature isn't hidden from you and you aren't blinded or deafened.
Foe Slayer
At 20th level, you become an unparalleled hunter of your enemies. You can add your Wisdom modifier (minimum of one) to attack rolls against your favored enemies.
Ranger's Companion
At 3rd level, you gain a beast companion that accompanies you on your adventures and is trained to fight alongside you. You must create a backstory for your beast, explaining why it chose to follow you.
Requirements and Stats
Choose a beast that is no larger than Medium and that has a challenge rating of 1/4 or lower (appendix D presents statistics for the hawk, mastiff, and panther as examples). Add your proficiency bonus to the beast’s AC, attack rolls, and damage rolls, as well as to any saving throws and skills it is proficient in. Its hit point maximum equals its normal maximum or four times your ranger level, whichever is higher. Like any creature, the beast can spend Hit Dice during a short rest.
Communication
The beast understands everything you say. Through signs and sounds, it can communicate simple ideas, such as a yes or no question, or indicate whether something is good or bad. You and your beast have advantage on Wisdom (Insight) checks to analyze each other.
Actions
The beast obeys your commands as best as it can. It takes its turn on your initiative. On your turn, you can verbally command the beast where to move (no action required by you). The beast cannot flank opponents, even in the right positioning. You can use your action to verbally command it to take the Dash, Disengage, or Help action. If you don’t issue a command, the beast takes the Dodge action.
You can also use your bonus action to command your beast to perform any bonus action, such as interacting with an object.
Attacks
As a part of your attacks, you and your beast can perform a combined strike, in which the beast also attacks the creatures you hit if they are within range, dealing 1d4 damage. The damage type depends on how your beast strikes.
You can use your action to verbally command it to take the Attack action.Once you have the Extra Attack feature, you can make one weapon attack yourself when you command the beast to take the Attack action. You can also command your beast to attack as a bonus action if it has a trait that allows it to attack as a bonus action.
Incapacitated or Absent
If you are incapacitated or absent, the beast acts on its own, focusing on protecting you and itself. The beast never requires your command to use its reaction, such as when making an opportunity attack.
Companion’s Bond
Your beast is connected to you by a magical bond that protects it from death. It can only die if you die. Whenever it fails on the death saves while you are alive, it remains unconscious for an amount of time equal to a long rest, unable to regain hit points, and wakes up afterward with one hit point. If you die, the beast will magically travel to the Spirit World, following your soul in the afterlife.
Exceptional Training
Beginning at 7th level, on any of your turns when your beast companion doesn’t attack, you can use a bonus action to command the beast to take the Dash, Disengage, or Help action on its turn. In addition, the beast’s attacks now count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.
Bestial Fury
Starting at 11th level, when you command your beast companion to take the Attack action, the beast can make two attacks, or it can take the Multiattack action if it has that action. Additionally, the combined strike damage increases to a d6.
Share Spells
Beginning at 15th level, when you cast a spell targeting yourself, you can also affect your beast companion with the spell if the beast is within 30 feet of you.
Hunter’s Mark
1st-level divination
Casting Time: 1 bonus action Range: 90 feet Components: V Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour
You choose a creature you can see within range and mystically mark it as your quarry. Until the spell ends, you deal an extra 1d6 damage to the target whenever you hit it with a weapon attack, and you have advantage on any Wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Survival) check you make to find it.
If the target drops to 0 hit points before this spell ends, you can use a bonus action on a subsequent turn of yours to mark a new creature.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd or 4th level, the extra damage is 1d8, and when you use a spell slot of 5th level or higher, it is 1d10.
These are cool ideas for fixing the entirely broken and terrible PHB Ranger. Honestly though I'd probably recommend just using the fixes already released in Tashas Cauldron of Everything, or at least starting from that iteration of Ranger and then applying your homebrew ideas to that version.
Yes, I'd look at the Tasha's Ranger for at least fixes to Hide in Plain Sight and Primeval Awareness. The alternative companion is also better, if a bit more bland. Both of them feel too static to me - if I'm growing and gaining features from 3-20, I'd like to see my companion do the same even if it was just one or two small things.
Making Hunter's Mark a freebie is on the right track, but I don't think it goes far enough. There are still two big issues with it:
It requires concentration, and rangers have no features that assist with keeping concentration up aside from "use a bow and stay far away"
It takes a bonus action to cast and to move to new targets. Many ranger builds require their bonus action for their subclass feature or TWF or something else.
Taking care of at least one of these points would help HM to become usable. IIRC, the playtest for Tasha's gave you WIS mod free casts, and those casts did not require concentration, but unfortunately that got axed for the much worse Favored Foe.
The changes to Favored Enemy/Natural Explorer make sense from a game mechanic perspective, but coming at it from a roleplay side it would conflict with a lot of character concepts. Basically even though you're level 1, you would have to already be a seasoned, experienced hunter who has traveled through all kinds of terrain and studied all kinds of creatures. That's definitely what you want to work up to, but having all that knowledge from level 1 really constrains you in terms of your backstory and potential for growth. Perhaps if it was styled as a field guide from your mentor and the bonus was a roll to reflect that the info may or may not have stuck with you?
Maybe for roleplay (and game mechanic) purposes for Natural Explorer you could choose one type of terrain at character creation and gain the ability to add different terrains after spending 1d4 days in a certain terrain type? That way it simulates the ranger’s superior ability to learn and adapt to new types of terrain rather than knowing them all from the get-go
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Objectives:
1) Make ranger more rangery
2) Make ranger more useful
3) Make ranger scale better
4)Make ranger more interesting
All important changes are highlighted in red
Edit: highlighted important changes in red
Class Features
As a ranger, you gain the following class features.
Hit Points
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
Proficiencies
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
Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
Favored Enemy
Beginning at 1st level, you have significant experience studying, tracking, and hunting various types of enemies.
During a short or long rest, you can prepare to hunt types of enemies. Choose a type of favored enemy: aberrations, beasts, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, giants, monstrosities, oozes, plants, or undead. Alternatively, you can select two races of humanoid (such as gnolls and orcs) as favored enemies.
You have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track your favored enemies, as well as on Intelligence checks to recall information about them. Furthermore, you can add your Wisdom modifier to Dexterity (Stealth) checks to hide from favored enemies. Whenever you initiate combat with a surprise attack against a favored enemy, the damage of that attack is critical.
After finishing a short or long rest, you can change your favored enemies.
You choose one additional favored enemy at 6th and 14th level.
Natural Explorer
Also at 1st level, you are particularly familiar with adapting to different environments and are adept at traveling and surviving in such regions. During a short or long rest, you can prepare to explore types of terrain. Choose one type of favored terrain: arctic, coast, desert, forest, grassland, mountain, swamp, urban, dungeon, or the Underdark. When you make an Intelligence, Dexterity, or Wisdom check related to your favored terrain, your proficiency bonus is doubled if you are using a skill that you’re proficient in.
You can change your favored terrains after finishing a short or long rest and choose additional favored terrain types at 6th and 10th level.
Fighting Style
At 2nd level, you adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can't take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.
Spellcasting
By the time you reach 2nd level, you have learned to use the magical essence of nature to cast spells, much as a druid does.
Spell Slots
The Ranger table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your ranger spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.
For example, if you know the 1st-level spell Animal Friendship and have a 1st-level and a 2nd-level spell slot available, you can cast Animal Friendship using either slot.
Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher
You know two 1st-level spells of your choice from the ranger spell list.
The Spells Known column of the Ranger table shows when you learn more ranger spells of your choice. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots. For instance, when you reach 5th level in this class, you can learn one new spell of 1st or 2nd level.
Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the ranger spells you know and replace it with another spell from the ranger spell list, which also must be of a level for which you have spell slots.
Spellcasting Ability
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 + your Wisdom modifier
Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier
Hunter’s Mark
At 2nd level, you know the Hunter’s Mark spell, and it doesn't count against the number of ranger spells you know.
Primeval Awareness
Beginning at 3rd level, you can perform a 10 minutes ritual to focus your awareness on the region around you. For a brief second, you can sense whether the following types of creatures are present within 1 mile of you (or within up to 6 miles if you are in your favored terrain): aberrations, celestials, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead. This feature doesn’t reveal the creatures’ location or number.
Ranger Conclave
At 3rd level, you choose to emulate the ideals and training of a ranger conclave. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 11th, and 15th level.
Ability Score Improvement
When you reach 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.
Extra Attack
Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Land's Stride
Starting at 8th level, moving through nonmagical difficult terrain costs you no extra movement. You can also pass through nonmagical plants without being slowed by them and without taking damage from them if they have thorns, spines, or a similar hazard.
In addition, you have advantage on saving throws against plants that are magically created or manipulated to impede movement, such as those created by the Entangle spell.
Hide in Plain Sight
Starting at 10th level, you can spend 1 minute creating camouflage for yourself. You must have access to fresh mud, dirt, plants, soot, and other naturally occurring materials with which to create your camouflage. Once you are camouflaged in this way, you gain the following benefits:
Your camouflage needs to match the type of terrain you are in. Otherwise, this feature fails.
Vanish
Starting at 14th level, you can't be tracked by nonmagical means, unless you choose to leave a trail. Also, you are protected from divination magic.
Feral Senses
At 18th level, you gain preternatural senses that help you fight creatures you can't see. When you attack a creature you can't see, your inability to see it doesn't impose disadvantage on your attack rolls against it.
You are also aware of the location of any invisible creature within 30 feet of you, provided that the creature isn't hidden from you and you aren't blinded or deafened.
Foe Slayer
At 20th level, you become an unparalleled hunter of your enemies. You can add your Wisdom modifier (minimum of one) to attack rolls against your favored enemies.
Ranger's Companion
At 3rd level, you gain a beast companion that accompanies you on your adventures and is trained to fight alongside you. You must create a backstory for your beast, explaining why it chose to follow you.
Requirements and Stats
Choose a beast that is no larger than Medium and that has a challenge rating of 1/4 or lower (appendix D presents statistics for the hawk, mastiff, and panther as examples). Add your proficiency bonus to the beast’s AC, attack rolls, and damage rolls, as well as to any saving throws and skills it is proficient in. Its hit point maximum equals its normal maximum or four times your ranger level, whichever is higher. Like any creature, the beast can spend Hit Dice during a short rest.
Communication
The beast understands everything you say. Through signs and sounds, it can communicate simple ideas, such as a yes or no question, or indicate whether something is good or bad. You and your beast have advantage on Wisdom (Insight) checks to analyze each other.
Actions
The beast obeys your commands as best as it can. It takes its turn on your initiative. On your turn, you can verbally command the beast where to move (no action required by you). The beast cannot flank opponents, even in the right positioning. You can use your action to verbally command it to take the Dash, Disengage, or Help action. If you don’t issue a command, the beast takes the Dodge action.
You can also use your bonus action to command your beast to perform any bonus action, such as interacting with an object.
Attacks
As a part of your attacks, you and your beast can perform a combined strike, in which the beast also attacks the creatures you hit if they are within range, dealing 1d4 damage. The damage type depends on how your beast strikes.
You can use your action to verbally command it to take the Attack action. Once you have the Extra Attack feature, you can make one weapon attack yourself when you command the beast to take the Attack action. You can also command your beast to attack as a bonus action if it has a trait that allows it to attack as a bonus action.
Incapacitated or Absent
If you are incapacitated or absent, the beast acts on its own, focusing on protecting you and itself. The beast never requires your command to use its reaction, such as when making an opportunity attack.
Companion’s Bond
Your beast is connected to you by a magical bond that protects it from death. It can only die if you die. Whenever it fails on the death saves while you are alive, it remains unconscious for an amount of time equal to a long rest, unable to regain hit points, and wakes up afterward with one hit point. If you die, the beast will magically travel to the Spirit World, following your soul in the afterlife.
Exceptional Training
Beginning at 7th level, on any of your turns when your beast companion doesn’t attack, you can use a bonus action to command the beast to take the Dash, Disengage, or Help action on its turn. In addition, the beast’s attacks now count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.
Bestial Fury
Starting at 11th level, when you command your beast companion to take the Attack action, the beast can make two attacks, or it can take the Multiattack action if it has that action. Additionally, the combined strike damage increases to a d6.
Share Spells
Beginning at 15th level, when you cast a spell targeting yourself, you can also affect your beast companion with the spell if the beast is within 30 feet of you.
Hunter’s Mark
1st-level divination
Casting Time: 1 bonus action
Range: 90 feet
Components: V
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour
You choose a creature you can see within range and mystically mark it as your quarry. Until the spell ends, you deal an extra 1d6 damage to the target whenever you hit it with a weapon attack, and you have advantage on any Wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Survival) check you make to find it.
If the target drops to 0 hit points before this spell ends, you can use a bonus action on a subsequent turn of yours to mark a new creature.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd or 4th level, the extra damage is 1d8, and when you use a spell slot of 5th level or higher, it is 1d10.
Spell Lists. Ranger
These are cool ideas for fixing the entirely broken and terrible PHB Ranger. Honestly though I'd probably recommend just using the fixes already released in Tashas Cauldron of Everything, or at least starting from that iteration of Ranger and then applying your homebrew ideas to that version.
Yes, I'd look at the Tasha's Ranger for at least fixes to Hide in Plain Sight and Primeval Awareness. The alternative companion is also better, if a bit more bland. Both of them feel too static to me - if I'm growing and gaining features from 3-20, I'd like to see my companion do the same even if it was just one or two small things.
Making Hunter's Mark a freebie is on the right track, but I don't think it goes far enough. There are still two big issues with it:
Taking care of at least one of these points would help HM to become usable. IIRC, the playtest for Tasha's gave you WIS mod free casts, and those casts did not require concentration, but unfortunately that got axed for the much worse Favored Foe.
The changes to Favored Enemy/Natural Explorer make sense from a game mechanic perspective, but coming at it from a roleplay side it would conflict with a lot of character concepts. Basically even though you're level 1, you would have to already be a seasoned, experienced hunter who has traveled through all kinds of terrain and studied all kinds of creatures. That's definitely what you want to work up to, but having all that knowledge from level 1 really constrains you in terms of your backstory and potential for growth. Perhaps if it was styled as a field guide from your mentor and the bonus was a roll to reflect that the info may or may not have stuck with you?
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Maybe for roleplay (and game mechanic) purposes for Natural Explorer you could choose one type of terrain at character creation and gain the ability to add different terrains after spending 1d4 days in a certain terrain type? That way it simulates the ranger’s superior ability to learn and adapt to new types of terrain rather than knowing them all from the get-go