Ranger

Rangers are the master of the wood. Hunters, gatherers, trappers, fugitives. Many take to the woods but only those with the wit to survive become what we term Rangers. Their senses are some of the best attuned of any group on the mortal plane, and their prey rarely gets away. Rangers are normally solitary, but sometimes group together with others for adventure, comradery, or to take on larger prey. They are often contracted by lords looking for game keepers, furs, or to remove predators from their realm.  

C r e a t in g a R a n g e r

As you create your ranger character, consider the nature o f the training that gave you your particular capabilities. Did you train with a single mentor, wandering the wilds together until you mastered the ranger’s ways? Did you leave your apprenticeship, or was your mentor slain— perhaps by the same kind o f monster that became your favored enemy? Or perhaps you learned your skills as part o f a band o f rangers affiliated with a druidic circle, trained in mystic paths as well as wilderness lore. You might be self-taught, a recluse who learned combat skills, tracking, and even a magical connection to nature through the necessity o f surviving in the wilds. What’s the source o f your particular hatred o f a certain kind o f enemy? Did a monster kill someone you loved or destroy your home village? Or did you see too much o f the destruction these monsters cause and commit yourself to reining in their depredations? Is your adventuring career a continuation o f your work in protecting the borderlands, or a significant change? What made you join up with a band of adventurers? Do you find it challenging to teach new allies the ways o f the wild, or do you welcome the relief from solitude that they offer?  

Starting Equipment

• (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
 

S p e l l c a s t i n g

By the time you reach 2nd level, you have learned to use the magical essence o f nature to cast spells, much as a druid does. See chapter 10 for the general rules of spellcasting and chapter 11 for the ranger spell list.

S p e l l S l o t s

The Ranger table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells o f 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot o f 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 o f your choice from the ranger spell list. The Spells Known column o f the Ranger table shows when you learn more ranger spells o f your choice. Each o f these spells must be o f a level for which you have spell slots. For instance, when you reach 5th level in this class, you can learn one new spell o f 1st or 2nd level. Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one o f the ranger spells you know and replace it with another spell from the ranger spell list, which also must be o f a level for which you have spell slots.

S p e l l c a s t in g A b i l i t y

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  

ClassFeatures

Fa v o r e d E n e m y

Beginning at 1st level, you have significant experience studying, tracking, hunting, and even talking to a certain type of enemy. 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 orc s) as favored enemies. You have advantage on W isdom (Survival) checks to track your favored enemies, as w ell as on Intelligence checks to recall information about them. When you gain this feature, you also learn one language o f your choice that is spoken by your favored enemies, if they speak one at all. You choose one additional favored enemy, as well as an associated language, at 6th and 14th level. As you gain levels, your choices should reflect the types of monsters you have encountered on your adventures.

Natural Explorer

You are particularly familiar with one type o f natural environment and are adept at traveling and surviving in such regions. Choose one type o f favored terrain: arctic, coast, desert, forest, grassland, mountain, swamp, or the Underdark. When you make an Intelligence or Wisdom check related to your favored terrain, your proficiency bonus is doubled if you are using a skill that you’re proficient in. While traveling for an hour or m ore in your favored terrain, you gain the following benefits:
• Difficult terrain doesn’t slow your group’s travel.
• Your group can’t become lost except by magical means.
• Even when you are engaged in another activity while traveling (such as foraging, navigating, or tracking), you remain alert to danger.
• If you are traveling alone, you can move stealthily at a normal pace.
• When you forage, you find twice as much food as you normally would.
• While tracking other creatures, you also learn their exact number, their sizes, and how long ago they passed through the area.
You choose additional favored terrain types at 6th and 10th level.

F i g h t i n g S t y l e

At 2nd level, you adopt a particular style o f fighting as your specialty. Choose one o f the following options. You can’t take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.

A r c h e r y

You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged w eapons.

D e f e n s e

While you are wearing armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.

D u e l in g

When you are w ielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.

T w o -W e a p o n F ig h t in g

When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability m odifier to the damage o f the second attack.

R a n g e r A r c h e t y p e

At 3rd level, you choose an archetype that you strive to emulate: Hunter or Beast Master, both detailed at the end o f the class description. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 11th, and 15th level.

P r i m e v a l A w a r e n e s s

Beginning at 3rd level, you can use your action and expend one ranger spell slot to focus your awareness on the region around you. For 1 minute per level o f the spell slot you expend, 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.

A b i l i t y S c o r e I m p r o v e m e n t

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score o f 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.

E x t r a A t t a c k

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

L a n d ’s S t r i d e

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 those created by the entangle spell.

H i d e i n P l a i n S i g h t

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 o ccurring materials with which to create your camouflage. Once you are camouflaged in this way, you can try to hide by p ressing yourself up against a solid surface, such as a tree or wall, that is at least as tall and w ide as you are. You gain a +10 bonus to Dexterity (Stealth) checks as long as you remain there without moving or taking actions. Once you move or take an action or a reaction, you must camouflage yourself again to gain this benefit.

V a n i s h

Starting at 14th level, you can use the Hide action as a bonus action on your turn. Also, you can’t be tracked by nonmagical means, unless you choose to leave a trail.

F e r a l S e n s e s

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 o f the location o f any invisible creature within 30 feet o f you, provided that the creature isn’t hidden from you and you aren’t blinded or deafened.

F o e S l a y e r

At 20th level, you become an unparalleled hunter o f your enemies. Once on each o f your turns, you can add your Wisdom modifier to the attack roll or the damage roll of an attack you make against one o f your favored enemies. You can choose to use this feature before or after the roll, but before any effects of the roll are applied.  

Ranger Archetypes

H u n t e r

Emulating the Hunter archetype means accepting your place as a bulwark between civilization and the terrors of the wilderness. As you walk the Hunter’s path, you learn specialized techniques for fighting the threats you face, from rampaging ogres and hordes o f orc s to towering giants and terrifying dragons.

H u n t e r ’s P r e y

At 3rd level, you gain one o f the following features o f your choice.

Colossus Slayer

Your tenacity can w ear down the most potent foes. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, the creature takes an extra 1d8 damage if it’s below its hit point maximum. You can deal this extra damage only once per turn.

Giant Killer

When a Large or larger creature within 5 feet o f you hits or misses you with an attack, you can use your reaction to attack that creature immediately after its attack, provided that you can see the creature.

Horde Breaker

Once on each o f your turns when you make a w eapon attack, you can make another attack with the same weapon against a different creature that is within 5 feet o f the original target and within range o f your weapon.

D e f e n s iv e T a c t ic s

At 7th level, you gain one o f the following features o f your choice.

Escape the Horde

Opportunity attacks against you are made with disadvantage.

Multiattack Defense

When a creature hits you with an attack, you gain a +4 bonus to AC against all subsequent attacks made by that creature for the rest o f the turn.

Steel Will

You have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.

M u l t i a t t a c k

At 11th level, you gain one of the following features o f your choice.

Volley

You can use your action to make a ranged attack against any number o f creatures within 10 feet of a point you can see within your w eapon’s range. You must have ammunition for each target, as normal, and you make a separate attack roll for each target.

Whirlwind Attack

You can use your action to make a melee attack against any number o f creatures within 5 feet o f you, with a separate attack roll for each target.

Su p e r io r H u n t e r ’s D e f e n s e

At 15th level, you gain one o f the following features o f your choice.

Evasion

You can nimbly dodge out of the way o f certain area effects, such as a red dragon’s fiery breath or a lightning bolt spell. When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.

Stand Against the Tide

When a hostile creature misses you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to force that creature to repeat the same attack against another creature (other than itself) o f your choice.

Uncanny Dodge

When an attacker that you can see hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to halve the attack’s damage against you.  

B e a s t M a s t e r

The Beast Master archetype embodies a friendship between the civilized races and the beasts o f the world. United in focus, beast and ranger w ork as one to fight the monstrous foes that threaten civilization and the wilderness alike. Emulating the Beast Master archetype means committing yourself to this ideal, working in partnership with an animal as its companion and friend.

R a n g e r ’s C o m p a n io n

At 3rd level, you gain a beast companion that accompanies you on your adventures and is trained to fight alongside you. Choose a beast that is no larger than Medium and that has a challenge rating o f 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. The beast obeys your commands as best as it can. It takes its turn on your initiative, though it doesn’t take an action unless you command it to. On your turn, you can verbally command the beast where to move (no action required by you). You can use your action to verbally command it to take the Attack, Dash, Disengage, Dodge, or Help action. Once you have the Extra Attack feature, you can make one w eapon attack yourself when you command the beast to take the Attack action. While traveling through your favored terrain with only the beast, you can move stealthily at a normal pace. If the beast dies, you can obtain another one by spending 8 hours magically bonding with another beast that isn’t hostile to you, either the same type o f beast as before or a different one.

E x c e p t io n a l T r a in in g

Beginning at 7th level, on any o f your turns when your beast companion doesn’t attack, you can use a bonus action to command the beast to take the Dash, Disengage, Dodge, or Help action on its turn.

B e s t ia l F u r y

Starting at 11th level, your beast companion can make two attacks when you command it to use the Attack action.

Sh a r e S p e l l s

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 o f you.