Ranger

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Ranger Class Details

Rough and wild looking, a human stalks alone
through the shadows of trees, hunting the orcs he
knows are planning a raid on a nearby farm.
Clutching a shortsword in each hand, he becomes
a whirlwind of steel, cutting down one enemy
after another.

After tumbling away from a cone of freezing air,

an elf ?nds her feet and draws back her bow to
loose an arrow at the white dragon. Shrugging off
the wave of fear that emanates from the dragon
like the cold of its breath, she sends one arrow
after another to ?nd the gaps between the
dragon’s thick scales.

Holding his hand high, a half-elf whistles to the

hawk that circles high above him, calling the bird
back to his side. Whispering instructions in Elvish,
he points to the owlbear he’s been tracking and
sends the hawk to distract the creature while he
readies his bow.

Far from the bustle of cities and towns, past the

hedges that shelter the most distant farms from
the terrors of the wild, amid the dense-packed
trees of trackless forests and across wide and
empty plains, rangers keep their unending watch.

Deadly Hunters

Warriors of the wilderness, rangers specialize in

hunting the monsters that threaten the edges of
civilization—humanoid raiders, rampaging beasts
and monstrosities, terrible giants, and deadly
dragons. They learn to track their quarry as a
predator does, moving stealthily through the wilds
and hiding themselves in brush and rubble.
Rangers focus their combat training on
techniques that are particularly useful against
their speci?c favored foes.

Thanks to their familiarity with the wilds, rangers

acquire the ability to cast spells that harness
nature’s power, much as a druid does. Their
spells, like their combat abilities, emphasize
speed, stealth, and the hunt. A ranger’s talents
and abilities are honed with deadly focus on the
grim task of protecting the borderlands.

Independent Adventurers

Though a ranger might make a living as a hunter,

a guide, or a tracker, a ranger’s true calling is to
defend the outskirts of civilization from the
ravages of monsters that press in from the wild.
In some places, rangers gather in secretive orders
or join forces with druidic circles. Many rangers,
though, are independent almost to a fault,
knowing that, when a dragon or a band of orcs
attacks, a ranger might be the ?rst—and possibly
the last—line of defense.

This ?erce independence makes rangers well

suited to adventuring, since they are accustomed
to life far from the comforts of a dry bed and a
hot bath. Faced with city-bred adventurers who
grouse and whine about the hardships of the wild,
rangers respond with some mixture of
amusement, frustration, and compassion. But
they quickly learn that other adventurers who can
carry their own weight in a ?ght against
monstrous foes are worth any extra burden.
Coddled city folk might not know how to feed
themselves or ?nd fresh water in the wild, but they
make up for it in other ways.

Creating a Ranger

As you create your ranger character, consider the

nature of 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 of monster that
became your favored enemy? Or perhaps you
learned your skills as part of a band of rangers
aRliated 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 of surviving in the wilds.

What’s the source of your particular hatred of a

certain kind of enemy? Did a monster kill
someone you loved or destroy your home village?
Or did you see too much of the destruction these
monsters cause and commit yourself to reining in
their depredations? Is your adventuring career a
continuation of your work in protecting the
borderlands, or a signi?cant change? What made
you join up with a band of adventurers? Do you
?nd it challenging to teach new allies the ways of
the wild, or do you welcome the relief from
solitude that they offer?

QUICK BUILD

You can make a ranger quickly by following these

suggestions. First, make Dexterity your highest

ability score, followed by Wisdom. (Some rangers

who focus on two-weapon ?ghting make Strength

higher than Dexterity.) Second, choose the

outlander background.

The Ranger Table

—Sp
Pro5ciency Spells
Level Features
Bonus Known
1st

1st +2 Favored Enemy, — —

Natural Explorer

2nd +2 Fighting Style, 2 2

Spellcasting

3rd +2 Ranger Archetype, 3 3

Primeval Awareness

4th +2 Ability Score 3 3

Improvement

5th +3 Extra Attack 4 4

6th +3 Favored Enemy and 4 4

Natural

Explorer Improvements

7th +3 Ranger Archetype 5 4

Feature

8th +3 Ability Score 5 4

Improvement, Land’s

Stride

9th +4 — 6 4

10th +4 Natural Explorer 6 4

Improvement, Hide in

Plain Sight

11th +4 Ranger Archetype 7 4

Feature

12th +4 Ability Score 7 4

Improvement

13th +5 — 8 4

14th +5 Favored Enemy 8 4

Improvement, Vanish

15th +5 Ranger Archetype 9 4

Feature

16th +5 Ability Score 9 4

Improvement

17th +6 — 10 4

18th +6 Feral Senses 10 4

19th +6 Ability Score 11 4

Improvement

20th +6 Foe Slayer 11 4

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
modi?er
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your
Constitution modi?er per ranger level after 1st

Pro5ciencies
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 signi?cant
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, ?ends, 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.

When you gain this feature, you also learn one

language of 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 re_ect the
types of monsters you have encountered on your
adventures.

Natural Explorer
You are particularly familiar with one type of
natural environment and are adept at traveling
and surviving in such regions. Choose one type of
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 pro?ciency
bonus is doubled if you are using a skill that
you’re pro?cient in.

While traveling for an hour or more in your favored

terrain, you gain the following bene?ts:

DiRcult 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 ?nd 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.

Fighting Style
At 2nd level, you adopt a particular style of
?ghting 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.

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

Two-Weapon Fighting
When you engage in two-weapon ?ghting, you can
add your ability modi?er 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. See Spells Rules for
the general rules of spellcasting and the Spells
Listing for the ranger spell list.

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 ?nish 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 modi?er
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 pro?ciency bonus + your

Wisdom modi?er

Spell attack modi2er = your pro?ciency bonus +

your Wisdom modi?er

Ranger Archetype
At 3rd level, you choose an archetype that you
strive to emulate: the Hunter that is detailed at the
end of the class description or one from another
source. Your choice grants you features at 3rd
level and again at 7th, 11th, and 15th level.

Primeval Awareness
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 of 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,
?ends, and undead. This feature doesn’t reveal
the creatures’ location or number.

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.

Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking

this feature to take a feat of your choice instead.

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
diRcult 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.

Hide in Plain Sight

Starting at 10th level, you can spend 1 minute
creating camou_age for yourself. You must have
access to fresh mud, dirt, plants, soot, and other
naturally occurring materials with which to create
your camou_age.

Once you are camou_aged in this way, you can try

to hide by pressing yourself up against a solid
surface, such as a tree or wall, that is at least as
tall and wide 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
camou_age yourself again to gain this bene?t.

Vanish
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.

Feral Senses
At 18th level, you gain preternatural senses that
help you ?ght 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. Once on each of your turns, you
can add your Wisdom modi?er to the attack roll or
the damage roll of an attack you make against
one of 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

The ideal of the ranger has classic expressions.

These are detailed below.

Hunter

Emulating the Hunter archetype means accepting

your place as a bulwark between the people you
protect and the terrors of the wilderness. As you
walk the Hunter’s path, you learn specialized
techniques for ?ghting the threats you face, from
rampaging ogres to towering giants and terrifying
dragons.

Hunter’s Prey
At 3rd level, you gain one of the following features
of your choice.

Colossus Slayer
Your tenacity can wear 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 of
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 of your turns when you make a
weapon attack, you can make another attack with
the same weapon against a different creature that
is within 5 feet of the original target and within
range of your weapon.

Defensive Tactics
At 7th level, you gain one of the following features
of 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 of the turn.

Steel Will
You have advantage on saving throws against
being frightened.

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

Volley
You can use your action to make a ranged attack
against any number of creatures within 10 feet of
a point you can see within your weapon’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 of creatures within 5 feet of
you, with a separate attack roll for each target.

Superior Hunter’s Defense

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

Evasion
When you are subjected to an effect, such as a
red dragon’s ?ery breath or a lightning bolt spell,
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) of 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.

Comments
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Post Reply

Koolbrayden21 Posted Sep 27, 2023

Ya’know ranger get Soo much hate for

being the “worst class” but I played a
ranger in my campaign at the same level as
the other players and I was one of the
strongest ones,you just gotta play them
right to be strong.

Report Reply Quote

Zarohk Posted Sep 13, 2023

My ?rst thought was Taylor Hebert,

honestly. Gain pro?ciency in Intimidation,
use Canny to get expertise in it, and say
you talk with the echoing voice of your
swarm!

Report Reply Quote

ManyGoodsShen Posted Sep 13, 2023

Yeah, for whatever reason, the Tasha's

Cauldron of Everything modi?cation of
Beast Master, which replaces Ranger's
Companion with Primal Companion, isn't
shown anywhere on this page, and is only
in the TCoE book itself. It's also a vast
improvement over the one on this page, so
I strongly recommend DMs allow it and
players use it (if they want to play Beast
Master Ranger, anyway).

Report Reply Quote

DragonRiderHN Posted Sep 12, 2023

Wait…There are optional Features for

Archetypes! WOAH!

Thank you for telling me this. I will explore.

Report Reply Quote

Valafar_Virtue Posted Sep 11, 2023

The Tasha’s beast master has its own stat

block. What do you mean CR 1/4? I’m
assuming you mean choose the animal as
per the PHB Beast Master, but if you’re
using the Tasha’s option that doesn’t apply.
And when you break down the math, the
Beast Master will outdamage the
Drakewarden at nearly every level,
particularly at high levels. Fey Wanderer
doesn’t get its summon until high levels, so
I don’t think that’s a fair comparison.

As per your point about realism, if you want

to argue realism about the mechanics in a
game with dragons, zombies, reality
bending wizards, and living elemental
creatures, all of which can be brought down
by a high enough level person with a pointy
metal stick, you’re welcome to do so.
Personally I much prefer balance and
letting the DM work in the realism. That
doesn’t seem like a point we’re likely to ever
come to an agreement on.

Report Reply Quote

DragonRiderHN Posted Sep 10, 2023

Two: While for balancing purposes it

makes sense to put a limit on action
economy, it makes no sense for realism. I
know that is a common con_ict with D&D
due to the whole MAGIC thing but we have
examples of people who ?ght alongside
animals in real life! A hunter with hunting
Dogs merely needs to give one command
to set them upon his foes! A falconer
doesn’t need to command his bird of prey
over and over again to attack something!
What’s more, most of these relationships
involve a strong bond of loyalty that makes
it so that of the animal perceives someone
as attacking its master, they automatically
move to defend said master, Unprompted!
Put a magical bond in the mix: and you
would have even more synergy between
you and your companion. Sure you can
downgrade the companion for balancing
purposes, but at least do it realistically!

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DragonRiderHN Posted Sep 10, 2023

I disagree on two counts: One, it is not a

very powerful archetype. While it CAN serve
as an extra target, the maximum CR of the
base stat is 1/4, and the end creature is not
buffed to any large extent as compared to
the base creature. If you want the ally thing,
consider Drakewarden or Fey Wanderer.
Drakewarden because of damage
immunity, resistance, _ight, mount capacity,
and chromatic damage. Fey Wanderer
because of the Concentration-less
Summon Fey ability that undermines the
negative effects of most summoning as
you state. Both are long term but so would
any major bene?ts for Beast Master.

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Valafar_Virtue Posted Sep 9, 2023

Pretty much all of the action economy

woes of Beast Master are solved by using
the options from Tasha's Cauldron of
Everything. The ability to command as a
bonus action, or by trading 1 of 2 attacks,
makes it a very versatile subclass.

Also, there is a reason why they don't get to

just command the beast and let it run
around like what you describe. It's because
of how strong having extra allies is. Having
an extra target to soak up attacks, make
attacks, take up space on the board and
waste enemy movement, or even just try
and push people around are all things that
an extra ally allows while letting the entire
party do their own thing. Consider all of the
spells that summon allies that act without
using your action. They all require your
concentration, so if you get hit bad one
time they all go away.

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DragonRiderHN Posted Sep 8, 2023

I have the solution to the Beast Companion

command action economy!

Direct from the Beastmaster page — ”The

beast obeys your commands as best as it
can.”

The ranger: “kill these bad guys”

I don’t know why some people (RAW

worshipers mostly) think you have to
micromanage your beast companion:

”hit that guy one time!”

”great job, now do it again!”

”…and again!”

Just give it a general command that covers

more time than 6 seconds (one round) so
that you can use your own actions to stab
people!

If people need a Compromise, hear is my

proposal: you specify a target to kill. Once
target perishes, you must use another
action to specify a new target.

Report Reply Quote

Valafar_Virtue Posted Sep 4, 2023

It does work with Colossus Slayer.

Report Reply Quote

ZealotBarbarion Posted Sep 4, 2023

Why is there threads upon threads of

comments within a thread of comments?

Report Reply Quote

AmarkBurchett Posted Sep 1, 2023

Quote from Valafar_Virtue

Quote from MechaStar2sh

Quote from
ThamiorDracon

Quote from
MechaStar2sh

So something
that I see for the
Hunter
Subclass could
be a little over
powered:

Volley: You can

use your action
to make a
ranged attack
against any
number of
creatures within
10 feet of a
point you can
see within your
weapon’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 of
creatures within
5 feet of you,
with a separate
attack roll for
each target.

This
theoretically
means that for
Volley you can
attack 24
different targets
(and with Extra
attack, double
it) and with
Whirlwind
Attack you can
attack 8
different targets
(double again
with Extra
Attack).

Actually, it says you

use your action to do
this. It's an action
separate from the
attack action. Extra
attack applies to
neither one.

Ah, I see. Thanks!

Worth noting, while it doesn't work

with Extra Attack since Multiattack
isn't the attack action, it DOES work
with Horde Breaker since that
operates off of a weapon attack.

And it works with colossus slayer

Report Reply Quote

DragonRiderHN Posted Aug 25, 2023

I just realized that the Fey Wanderer’s

Beguiling Twist feature works when ANY
creature you can see succeeds on a save
to avoid being charmed or frightened. This
means that if you or one of your allies tries
to charm an enemy and they succeed, you
can use beguiling twist to try to charm
another enemy.

They might be the best archetype for a

Charisma build. Various skills for imposing
Frightened and Charmed plus the ability to
add Wisdom in ADDITION to your charisma
checks? If you build them right (high
wisdom, high charisma, multi-classing or
feats for expertise) they would easily beat
other typically charismatic
classes/archetypes. Imagine if you multi-
classed in rouge up to Reliable Talent so
your minimum possible die roll on those
expertise CHA skills was 10. Add your
pro?ciency twice to that, and your wisdom,
and your charisma. What’s more you would
most likely get HIGHER than that value with
skills and spells like Beguiling Twist or
Charm Person!

Report Reply Quote

Astral_Radiance Posted Aug 21, 2023

Anyone else having problems trying to

Create a Beast Master? Dnd Beyond is not
allowing it

Report Reply Quote

DragonRiderHN Posted Aug 14, 2023

Quote from Cupidine

Swarmkeeper gives me several

(gross) ideas because of how
deliciously customizable they are.

You guys ever heard of Quanlos?

What about a bat themed swarmkeeper

damphir?

Report Reply Quote

DragonRiderHN Posted Aug 14, 2023

YES!

PET DRAGON!

Report Reply Quote

DragonRiderHN Posted Aug 14, 2023

Quote from Cupidine

Swarmkeeper gives me several

(gross) ideas because of how
deliciously customizable they are.

You guys ever heard of Quanlos?

Those are pretty big though…

Report Reply Quote

Cupidine Posted Aug 12, 2023

Swarmkeeper gives me several (gross)

ideas because of how deliciously
customizable they are.

You guys ever heard of Quanlos?

Report Reply Quote

Vierdz Posted Aug 8, 2023

yay! :D

Report Reply Quote

Commanderw212 Posted Jul 27, 2023

Anyone else bothered by the drake’s stats

don’t increase as it gets bigger and
stronger? Like it’s intelligence and stuff
stays stagnant

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