Level 3 Benefits: 1. Thunder weapon - each time you hit with a weapon the weapon does normal damage + 1D4 sonic damage. If they fail a DC 10 Constitution save they are stunned until the start of their next round. 2. Sonar – you may use this ability Proficiency Bonus times / rest. You are able to activate an extended hearing sense granting you the ability to echo locate and perceive objects and beings in even the murkiest and darkest waters by sounds you or they make and their echos. This ability lasts 1 hour. You may extend this sense’s duration by + 1 hour for each spell level of spell sacrificed to extend its duration. Your Sonar extends for 60 feet in all directions. 3. Sea farer’s Spells: Cantrip: Shape Water Level 1) Fog Cloud Level 2) Gust of Wind Level 3) Tidal Wave Level 4) Control Water or Conjure Marine Animals (new spell- would work exactly like conjure woodland creatures but the creatures would be marine creatures) Level 5) Maelstrom or Cnidarian Cloud (new spell - would work like insect plague but with jellyfish and it would be poison damage, the poisoned state on a fail and paralyzed on a critical failure)
L7: You are able to walk on water and breath both air and water. In addition you are no longer subject to the restrictions for fighting underwater.
L11: Song of the Sea- you gain the ability to summon marine creatures of CR 0 to 2 once per rest. You get up to 8 creatures of CR0 or ¼, or 4 creatures of CR 1/2 or 2 creatures of CR1 or 1 creature of CR2.
L15: Swirling Seas: You may churn the waters around you so they deflect missiles and other weapons granting you a +2 to armor class for up to 1 minute as long as you maintain your concentration on this effect. You may use this effect proficiency bonus times per long rest.
The preferred weapons of a marine ranger are the short sword (thrusting weapon), trident, crossbow and lance (harpoon).
My thanks to EnvoyofWater for some suggestions in the general ranger thread where this was originally posted. Please add your comments/suggestions/questions.
maybe a boon to said underwater weapons instead of just encouraging them to use them. like making tridents magic damage or poisons cant be washes off their weapons or the returning property of weapons. this would help feel like a benefit in non water adventures like rainforests/ jungles
Returning might be useful otherwise you never recover bolts or weapons that are dropped they either sink to the bottom lost or float to the surface lost.
Level 3 Benefits: 1. Thunder weapon - each time you hit with a weapon the weapon does normal damage + 1D4 sonic damage. If they fail a DC 10 Constitution save they are stunned until the start of their next round. 2. Sonar – you may use this ability Proficiency Bonus times / rest. You are able to activate an extended hearing sense granting you the ability to echo locate and perceive objects and beings in even the murkiest and darkest waters by sounds you or they make and their echos. This ability lasts 1 hour. You may extend this sense’s duration by + 1 hour for each spell level of spell sacrificed to extend its duration. Your Sonar extends for 60 feet in all directions. 3. Sea farer’s Spells: Cantrip: Shape Water Level 1) Fog Cloud Level 2) Gust of Wind Level 3) Tidal Wave Level 4) Control Water or Conjure Marine Animals (new spell- would work exactly like conjure woodland creatures but the creatures would be marine creatures) Level 5) Maelstrom or Cnidarian Cloud (new spell - would work like insect plague but with jellyfish and it would be poison damage, the poisoned state on a fail and paralyzed on a critical failure)
L7: You are able to walk on water and breath both air and water. In addition you are no longer subject to the restrictions for fighting underwater.
L11: Song of the Sea- you gain the ability to summon marine creatures of CR 0 to 2 once per rest. You get up to 8 creatures of CR0 or ¼, or 4 creatures of CR 1/2 or 2 creatures of CR1 or 1 creature of CR2.
L15: Swirling Seas: You may churn the waters around you so they deflect missiles and other weapons granting you a +2 to armor class for up to 1 minute as long as you maintain your concentration on this effect. You may use this effect proficiency bonus times per long rest.
The preferred weapons of a marine ranger are the short sword (thrusting weapon), trident, crossbow and lance (harpoon).
My thanks to EnvoyofWater for some suggestions in the general ranger thread where this was originally posted. Please add your comments/suggestions/questions.
Thunder weapon has numerous problems, the most serious of which is having a flat DC to resist, instead of standard scaling, but also there's a lot of stepping on Monk toes.
Swarmkeeper unfortunately gets, at L3, the most thematically appropriate thing I can think of to take here. In fact, a broader problem for designing this entire subclass is avoiding just playing a Swarmkeeper whose "swarm" is seawater.
The most appropriate damage types for water theming are poison and acid (for "toxic" water that invades your body and destroys it), bludgeoning for a wave (see Marids and Leviathans, for example), and piercing or slashing if you want to engage in water behaving under intense pressure.
Have all save DCs scale with the Ranger, like spell DCs do.
Try to avoid stunning. The single most thematic debuff you can apply is wrapping the target in water - e.g. if your head is wrapped in water and you can't breathe water, you're suffocating and you can't cast spells with V components. You could also soak the target's body in water and have the water freeze, causing restrained and potentially cold damage, or boil, causing fire damage and potentially blinded or a custom condition (5E hasn't really got rules for being burned).
Actually the most appropriate damage type is probably cold but marine creatures are adapted to it generally although extreme cold (below freezing) would work. Yes as you add subclasses it gets harder and harder not to just a create a slightly reskinned version of something already out there. Thunder (sonic) damage and stunning do have their examples in the ocean where whales and porpoises use it to heard and stun fish when feeding. I'm not really sure where thunder is really stepping on monks the Kiai is meant to startle/stun foes as well as focusing your self at impact but other than that ...?
The problem with wrapping the foe in water is that most foes are (or should be) marine creatures that are wrapped in water and breath water all the time. something like tidal wave is great on the surface but underwater it just makes the foe bob in a circle without doing damage. Maelstrom works better underwater. I thought about fire/heat but the only real sources underwater are volcanic vents and subsea lava flows. I also considered electrical (lightning) damage but again the source is in the air not the water really.. Similarly water jets (piercing) and blades (slashing) don't make a lot of sense really Using poison (as many sea creatures do) would be possible but then your dealing with the prejudice that poison using is evil and acids (or bases for that matter) would dilute extremely quickly but magic could contain them I suppose.
@Wi1dBi11, The Level 7 feature of the Ranger sub-class seems similar to the 'Aquatic Adaptation' feature of the spell Alter Self. So, does this feature allow the Ranger to sprout gills and grow webbing between fingers? Your idea is really creative, good luck.
Level 3 Benefits: 1. You learn to swim – you gain a swim speed of 15 feet. This also allows you to wield most weapons without disadvantage when in/under water. 2. Thunder weapon - each time you hit with a weapon the weapon does normal damage + 1D4 sonic damage. If they fail a DC 10 Constitution save they are deafened and their movement and reactions are lost until the start of their next round. 3. Sonar – you may use this ability Proficiency Bonus times / rest. You are able to activate an extended hearing sense granting you the ability to echo locate and perceive objects and beings in even the murkiest and darkest conditions by sounds you or they make and their echos. This ability lasts 1 hour. You may extend this sense’s duration by + 1 hour for each spell level of spell sacrificed to extend its duration. Your Sonar extends for 60 feet in all directions.
Sea farer’s Spells: Cantrip: Shape Water Level 1) Fog Cloud Level 2) Gust of Wind Level 3) Tidal Wave Level 4) Control Water or Conjure Marine Animals (new spell- works exactly like conjure woodland creatures but the creatures are limited to aquatic/marine creatures) Level 5) Maelstrom or Cnidarian Cloud (new spell - would work like insect plague but with jellyfish and it would be poison damage, the poisoned state on a DC 10 Constitution save fail and paralyzed on a critical failure)
L7: You are able to walk on water and breath both air and water. Your swimming speed increases to 40 feet.
L11: Song of the Sea- you gain the ability to summon marine creatures of CR 0 to 2 once per rest. You get up to 8 creatures of CR 0 or ¼, or 4 creatures of CR 1/2 or 2 creatures of CR1 or 1 creature of CR2.
L15: Swirling Seas: You may churn the waters around you so they deflect missiles and other weapons granting you a +2 to armor class for up to 1 minute as long as you maintain your concentration on this effect. You may use this effect up to proficiency bonus times per long rest.
The preferred weapons of an Ocean Roamer are thrusting weapons such as the short sword, spear/trident, crossbow and lance (harpoon).
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Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
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Ocean Roamer (water based Ranger Subclass)
Level 3 Benefits:
1. Thunder weapon - each time you hit with a weapon the weapon does normal damage + 1D4 sonic damage. If they fail a DC 10 Constitution save they are stunned until the start of their next round.
2. Sonar – you may use this ability Proficiency Bonus times / rest. You are able to activate an extended hearing sense granting you the ability to echo locate and perceive objects and beings in even the murkiest and darkest waters by sounds you or they make and their echos. This ability lasts 1 hour. You may extend this sense’s duration by + 1 hour for each spell level of spell sacrificed to extend its duration. Your Sonar extends for 60 feet in all directions.
3. Sea farer’s Spells:
Cantrip: Shape Water
Level 1) Fog Cloud
Level 2) Gust of Wind
Level 3) Tidal Wave
Level 4) Control Water or
Conjure Marine Animals (new spell- would work exactly like conjure woodland creatures but the creatures would be marine creatures)
Level 5) Maelstrom or
Cnidarian Cloud (new spell - would work like insect plague but with jellyfish and it would be poison damage, the poisoned state on a fail and paralyzed on a critical failure)
L7: You are able to walk on water and breath both air and water. In addition you are no longer subject to the restrictions for fighting underwater.
L11: Song of the Sea- you gain the ability to summon marine creatures of CR 0 to 2 once per rest.
You get up to 8 creatures of CR0 or ¼, or 4 creatures of CR 1/2 or 2 creatures of CR1 or 1 creature of CR2.
L15: Swirling Seas: You may churn the waters around you so they deflect missiles and other weapons granting you a +2 to armor class for up to 1 minute as long as you maintain your concentration on this effect. You may use this effect proficiency bonus times per long rest.
The preferred weapons of a marine ranger are the short sword (thrusting weapon), trident, crossbow and lance (harpoon).
My thanks to EnvoyofWater for some suggestions in the general ranger thread where this was originally posted. Please add your comments/suggestions/questions.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
maybe a boon to said underwater weapons instead of just encouraging them to use them. like making tridents magic damage or poisons cant be washes off their weapons or the returning property of weapons. this would help feel like a benefit in non water adventures like rainforests/ jungles
Returning might be useful otherwise you never recover bolts or weapons that are dropped they either sink to the bottom lost or float to the surface lost.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Actually the most appropriate damage type is probably cold but marine creatures are adapted to it generally although extreme cold (below freezing) would work.
Yes as you add subclasses it gets harder and harder not to just a create a slightly reskinned version of something already out there.
Thunder (sonic) damage and stunning do have their examples in the ocean where whales and porpoises use it to heard and stun fish when feeding.
I'm not really sure where thunder is really stepping on monks the Kiai is meant to startle/stun foes as well as focusing your self at impact but other than that ...?
The problem with wrapping the foe in water is that most foes are (or should be) marine creatures that are wrapped in water and breath water all the time. something like tidal wave is great on the surface but underwater it just makes the foe bob in a circle without doing damage. Maelstrom works better underwater. I thought about fire/heat but the only real sources underwater are volcanic vents and subsea lava flows. I also considered electrical (lightning) damage but again the source is in the air not the water really.. Similarly water jets (piercing) and blades (slashing) don't make a lot of sense really Using poison (as many sea creatures do) would be possible but then your dealing with the prejudice that poison using is evil and acids (or bases for that matter) would dilute extremely quickly but magic could contain them I suppose.
anyway thanks for you're thoughts and suggestions
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
@Wi1dBi11, The Level 7 feature of the Ranger sub-class seems similar to the 'Aquatic Adaptation' feature of the spell Alter Self. So, does this feature allow the Ranger to sprout gills and grow webbing between fingers? Your idea is really creative, good luck.
InkedBee (Undead_Analyst)
Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts - Jenviel Tsumara: Fallen Aasimar- Monk|Crimson Sands of Time - Navarra Iltazyara: Human- Druid/Warlock| Bleak Prospect - Ermasnietsz: Reborn- Clockwork Soul Sorcerer
here is a revised version of the ocean roamer:
Ocean Roamer (water based Ranger Subclass)
Level 3 Benefits:
1. You learn to swim – you gain a swim speed of 15 feet. This also allows you to wield most weapons without disadvantage when in/under water.
2. Thunder weapon - each time you hit with a weapon the weapon does normal damage + 1D4 sonic damage. If they fail a DC 10 Constitution save they are deafened and their
movement and reactions are lost until the start of their next round.
3. Sonar – you may use this ability Proficiency Bonus times / rest. You are able to activate an extended hearing sense granting you the ability to echo locate and perceive objects and
beings in even the murkiest and darkest conditions by sounds you or they make and their echos. This ability lasts 1 hour. You may extend this sense’s duration by + 1 hour for each spell level of spell sacrificed to extend its duration. Your Sonar extends for 60 feet in all directions.
Cantrip: Shape Water
Level 1) Fog Cloud
Level 2) Gust of Wind
Level 3) Tidal Wave
Level 4) Control Water or Conjure Marine Animals (new spell- works exactly like conjure woodland creatures but the creatures are limited to aquatic/marine creatures)
Level 5) Maelstrom or Cnidarian Cloud (new spell - would work like insect plague but with jellyfish and it would be poison damage, the poisoned state on a DC 10 Constitution save fail and paralyzed on a critical failure)
L7: You are able to walk on water and breath both air and water. Your swimming speed increases to 40 feet.
L11: Song of the Sea- you gain the ability to summon marine creatures of CR 0 to 2 once per rest. You get up to 8 creatures of CR 0 or ¼, or 4 creatures of CR 1/2 or 2 creatures of CR1 or 1 creature of CR2.
L15: Swirling Seas: You may churn the waters around you so they deflect missiles and other weapons granting you a +2 to armor class for up to 1 minute as long as you maintain your concentration on this effect. You may use this effect up to proficiency bonus times per long rest.
The preferred weapons of an Ocean Roamer are thrusting weapons such as the short sword, spear/trident, crossbow and lance (harpoon).
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.