Sea Dancer

 

I'm running a campaign were the players have a sailing ship and one of my players wanted to play a Ranger but with a sea thematic. So i build the Sea Dancer. I'm not quite certain if i captured the feel i was among for, so i welcome every feedback on this subclass.

Many of these features only work on a ship which i my biggest concern, but please keep in mind that this is designed for a campaign witch is mostly played out at sea.

I included a section in italic with every feature to describe what i'm aiming for. Hopefully you like my ideas and can help me make this a great subclass for adventures based on sea.

 

Sea Dancer Magic

Starting at 3rd level, you learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the table below. The spell counts as a ranger spell for you, but it doesn't count against the number of ranger spells you know. Also if you use Purify Food and Drink on saltwater it becomes drinkable water.

Sea Dancer Spells

Well this one is really straight forward. In Xanathar's every Ranger Subclass gets a set of  spells and so i oriented myself on that and made the spells ocean themed.

Salt Washed

Starting at Level 3 you get the Ability to fight better when on board of a ship.

You get Proficiency with Vehicles (Water).

You can use both hands to fight while climbing throw the rigging and don't get disadvantage while fighting in the rigging.

 

I think the Proficiency is really straight forward. The Sea Dancer is supposed to know ships and boats so he gets Proficiency. I was thinking about Expertise, but since sailing is such an essential part of my campaign i didn't want the Sea Dancer to be better as the characters who took the sailors background and steal the thunder from them.
The rigging shakes even more than the deck of the ship so i would give every character disadvantage for fighting there and would let them use only one hand so they can hold on to something. This feature takes that restriction away. If you think about the fighting scenes in "Pirates of the Caribbean" between Jack Sparrow and Davy Jones or Barbossa which take place up in the rigging thats what i envision and i don't think a normal fighter would be capable of that.

Ship Dancer

Starting at Level 7 you have adopted the surrounding of a ship so well that you can use Ropes, Crates and stuff to make you harder to hit.

If you are on a ship you can half you movement until the beginning of your next turn and get a bonus to your AC equal to your Wisdom-Modifier.

 

Once again i thought about "Pirates of the Caribbean"  where Jack Sparrow always uses parts of the ship to fight. The most prominent example would be when he turns the wheal in the first movie so Will Turner ends up dangling over the open sea. But i wanted it to be more defensive so i went with the AC-Bonus. I also thought about disadvantage for the attackers but i wanted it to scale with character progression so i went with the AC-Bonus.

Fish in the Sea

You gain this Feature at Level 11.

Not only on the ship but also in the water around it you are at home.

You no longer get disadvantage for fighting in the water if you don't wear medium or heavy armor. Also if you make a ranged attack from over water on a target under water you don't get disadvantage.

You get a swimming speed equal to your walking speed.

 

This one also just takes disadvantage away, but i think it works since disadvantage is no fun. The swimming speed is a nice think but not to powerful.

 

One with the Ship

Starting at 15th Level you can, as long as you are on a ship, forgo your movement to teleport to any unoccupied space on the ship which is in a distance equal or smaller than your walking speed. You can use this this ability up to as many times equal to your Wisdom-Modifier before you have to finish a long rest before using it again.

 

You already know that i draw much inspiration from "Pirates of the Caribbean" so it will be no surprise if this feature also comes from that place. Right at the beginning of the first movie after saving Elisabeth Jack kicks this gallow-looking thing and swings out of reach of his foes. That's what i envision. I loosen a rope, kick something or similar, than just hold one and *wush* i'm over there.