Wilderness Ranger

The Player's Handbook Ranger has a number of flaws. It's highly reliant on guessing the right kinds of creatures or terrains to be adventuring around. The damage falls off at high levels, and the spell list is small and cluttered with concentration spells. Certain features are just utterly underwhelming and difficult to use.

I recommend using the Overland Journey rules with rangers to empower their exploration.

Aware and Armed

This rework aims to change as little as possible while retaining the feel of the Player's Handbook Ranger. The Ranger is still most effective when working in their Hunting Grounds. They have large bonuses against their Chosen Enemies, and can deal reliable damage with Hunters Mark. At higher levels, they can chase foes down, disappear without trace, and detect otherwise unobservable enemies.

The aim of avoiding overlapping the feel of this class with other martial classes, the Druid or the Rogue was achieved by focusing on the Player's Handbook Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer features and making them more flexible and versatile. Many other features only function in conjunction with these two making them cornerstones of the class

Class Features

As a Ranger, you gain the following class features.

Hit Points

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• 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

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• Armor: Light Armor, Medium armor, Shields
• Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons
• Tools: None

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• 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

Chosen Enemy

Beginning at 1st level, rangers have extensive experience studying, tracking, and hunting their foes. Choose a type of enemy: aberrations, beasts, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, giants, humanoids, monstrosities, oozes, plants, or undead.

You can instantly identify if a creature's type is that of your Chosen Enemy or not. This does not function if they are disguised, shapechanged or under illusions.

You have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track your favored enemies, as well as on Intelligence checks to recall information about them.

You recall spoken languages of these creatures well enough to make rough translations, but cannot read nor speak it.

By spending one hour in meditation (which can be done as part of a rest), you can conduct mental exercises to refresh your knowledge about a certain type of foe, and change your Chosen Enemy. Once you complete this meditation, you must complete a long rest before you can change your Chosen Enemy again.

Fighting Style

This feature is as detailed in the Player's Handbook.

Hunters Mark

Starting at second level, you gain the ability to mark your quarry. You learn the spell Hunters Mark, and it does not count against the number of spells you know. You may cast Hunter's Mark without expending a spell slot a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of once). You regain all expended uses of it when you finish a long rest.

At 11th level this feature improves so that Hunters Mark no longer requires concentration to maintain.

Spellcasting

This feature is as detailed in the Player's Handbook. A revised spell list is presented at the end of this document.

Ranger Archetype

At 3rd level, you choose an archetype that you strive to emulate: Hunter, Beast Master, Wanderer, detailed at the end of the class description, and Monster Slayer or Gloom Stalker detailed in Xanathar's Guide to Everything. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 11th, and 15th level.

Hunting Grounds

Every ranger comes to know the wilderness they are in, the subtleties and unique nature of it. Starting at 3rd level, you may meditate for eight hours, creating a mystical connection to the terrain around you, making it into your Hunting Grounds. Your Hunting Grounds is an area of the following terrain types: arctic, caverns, coast, desert, forest, grassland, jungle, mountain, or swamp. Your hunting grounds extend for a 100 mile radius, to the edges of the terrain type, and to the edges of constructed settlement or dwellings.

• When you make an Intelligence or Wisdom check related to your Hunting Grounds, your proficiency bonus is doubled if you are using a skill that you’re proficient in.
• While in your Hunting Grounds non magical difficult terrain does not slow your movement.
• While traveling alone you cannot become lost except by magical means.
• When not engaged in other activity while traveling alone, you have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Survival) to notice other creatures.
• Even when you are engaged in another activity while traveling alone (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 or hunt alone, 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.

Ability Score Improvement

This feature is as detailed in the Player's Handbook.

Extra Attack

This feature is as detailed in the Player's Handbook.

Snap Assessment

Starting at 6th level, you can quickly and accurately assess the capabilities of your chosen enemies. As an Action you may learn the names of, but no details of, all traits, actions and reactions of one Chosen Enemy that you can see. You can use this feature a number of times equal to one + your Wisdom modifier (minimum of once). You regain all expended uses of it when you finish a long rest.

Traceless

Starting at 10th level, while in your Hunting Grounds, if you break line of sight between you and a creature, you are considered to have successfully Hidden from that creature. For the purposes of Wisdom (Perception) checks to find you, you count as having rolled 10 + Stealth. A creature cannot be hidden from more than once per turn. Also, you can’t be tracked by non magical means, unless you choose to leave a trail.

Feral Senses

Starting at 14th level, while in your Hunting Grounds, your awareness of your surroundings grants you blindsight 30ft. By spending 1 minute opening your senses to your Hunting Grounds, you can learn the rough direction, distance, number and size of creatures that are awake and moving around within 600 ft.

Tireless Hunter

By the 18th level, you have become tireless in chasing and stalking prey, running them down and avoiding their attacks. As part of an Attack action against a creature you have placed your Hunters Mark on, you can move up to half your speed, without provoking attacks of oppertunity from the creature you attacked.

The Wild Hunt

At 20th level, you become able to infuse yourself with a powerful set of magics that bring forth spirits of hunt and chase who aid you in your pursuit. As an action you may undertake this summoning. This grants the following benefits against the creature you have marked with Hunters mark.

Whenever you make a melee attack, the spectral hunters also strike, granting you advantage on the attack. Whenever you make a ranged attack, spectral arrows strike the target, causing your Hunters Mark to deal maximum damage.

The creature automatically fails if it attempts to Hide from you. Additionally, you can determine its exact location even if invisible or not within line of sight, and you automatically make saving throws against illusions it may cast.

If the creature shifts planes or otherwise teleports a distance of greater than one mile, you may freely appear at the destination location in the same relative positioning. If the creature dies or is reduced to 0 hp you may freely return to your original location.

The Wild Hunt lasts for ten minutes. Once you have used this feature, you may not use it again until you have completed a long rest.

Ranger Archetypes

Rangers are much like the wilderness that shape them. They can become savage hunters, adept at taking down all those that oppose them. Some form bonds with beasts, even taking them into battle as stalwart allies. Others are worldly people, as tough and resilient as the nature they stride through.

The Wilderness Ranger presents the following altered subclasses: Hunter and Beastmaster from the Player's Handbook, and the Wanderer, an original creation. The Wilderness Ranger works with the Xanathar's Monster Slayer and Gloom Stalker as written.

Hunter

The Hunter is a ranger who places themselves outside of civilisation in order to protect it. The most common lifestyle for those rangers who are not adventurers, they are also the rangers who have the best relations with urban dwellers. The ranger learns specialised techniques to fight foes that would otherwise stymie single warriors.

Hunter

Ranger Level	Features
3rd	Civilised Rapport, Hunting Technique
7th	Reactionary Defence
11th	Multiattack
15th	Alpha Predator

Civilised Rapport

By 3rd level, you've learned how to effectively persuade people of the dangers of the wilds and how to force the wilds to respect your strength. Gain proficiency with the Persuasion and Intimidation skills. If you were already proficient, you may double your proficiency bonus.

Hunting Technique

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

Scale your Foe You can grapple creatures regardless of their size. However, if they are two or more sizes larger than you, you do not reduce their movement to zero. After successfully grappling a creature at least one size larger than you, you may move into its space by climbing on to its body, counting it as difficult terrain. While you are within their space and it remains grappled, attacks you make with melee weapons against this creature have advantage, and attacks it makes against you have disadvantage.

Strike the Wounds. By striking at the wounds it has already received, you can cause your attacks to become more effective. Whenever you hit a creature with a weapon attack, the creature takes an extra 1d4 damage if it's below its hit point maximum.

Press the Attack 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.

Reactionary Defence

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

Giant and Cumbersome. Whenever a Large or larger creature you can see attacks you with a melee weapon attack, you may use your reaction to move up to half your speed without provoking attacks of opportunity. If this takes you out of the attackers reach, their attack misses.

Parry. Whenever a creature you can see attacks you with a melee weapon attack, you may spend your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack.

Inhuman Shield. Whenever you are hit by a melee attack by a creature within 5ft, you may attempt to grapple them as a reaction.

Whenever you successfully grapple a medium or smaller creature, you may pull it into your space, granting three quarters cover against attacks. Attacks that would miss because of the increased AC from cover hit the grapplied creature instead.

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. You may not move between these attacks.

Alpha Predator

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

Horde Breaker. Whenever you kill a creature or score a critical hit, hostile creatures within 15 feet of your target must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be frightened for 1 round.

Crippler. Once per turn when you hit with a weapon attack you may choose to half the creature's Speed until the start of your next turn.

Envenomed. Once per turn when you hit with a weapon attack, you may force the target to make a Constitution save against your Spell Save DC. If they fail, they are blinded and poisoned for 1 minute. They can repeat the save at the end of each of their turns, ending the effects on a success, and granting immunity to this feature for the next minute.

Beastmaster

Not merely some keeper of pets, you and your companion are equals. You act as a bridge between people and the wild, seeking to resolve rather than fight. The bond between beast and civilisation empowers both to stand stronger against monstrous threats.

Beastmaster

Ranger Level	Features
3rd	Animal Empathy, Beastial Companion
5th	Fangs and Steel
7th	Natural Spirit
11th	One with the Pack
15th	Pack Tactics

Animal Empathy

Starting at 3rd level your empathy with animals grants the following benefits. You gain proficiency with the Animal Handling skill. If you were already proficient, you may double your proficiency bonus. Additionally, Beasts that you have not harmed must make a Wisdom saving throw against your Spell Save DC to attack you.

Beastial Companion

From 3rd level, among your travels you have magically bonded with an animal and travel with it as equals. Choose a Beast that has a challenge rating of 1/4 or lower. 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. The creature has a number of hit die equal to your ranger level or it's normal maximum, whichever is higher. The creatures HP is calculated from this hit die amount. Whenever you gain an Ability Score Improvement, so does your companion.

The connection you have with this creature allows communication beyond words. You understand its mood and emotions and it follows your intent to the best of its ability, even when not directly commanded. The creature can follow complex commands, and can understand any language you speak. While alone apart from your beastial Companion, you are considered alone for the purposes of Hunting Grounds.

In battle the creature acts on your initiative and can perform the following actions; Dash, Disengage, Dodge, Help, and Hide.

If your companion dies you may spend a long rest in meditation, calling their spirit back to a new body. By the end of the rest, your companion returns to you in the same form. Apply any Ability Score Improvements to this new form.

Fangs and Steel

Starting from 5th level, when you make the Attack Action, you may forgo a weapon attack to allow your Beastial Companion to take the Attack action.

Natural Spirit

Starting from 7th level, your companion becomes the vessel for a natural spirit. In combat you companion's attacks count as being magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to non magical attacks and damage.

If your companion dies, you may spend a short rest in meditation. Within the end of this rest your companion will return to you in a new body of the same or different form. Apply any Ability Score Improvements to this new form.

At 7th level your ability to bond with beasts has increased, allowing you to bond with larger and more dangerous animals. You may now chose beasts of up to CR 1/2 when your companion assumes a new form. At 14th level this increases to CR 1.

One with the Pack

At 11th level you have learned how to reach out and magically draw animals to your aid. You may cast conjure animals without using a spell slot, with a casting time of one hour, with a duration of eight hours, and without requiring concentration.

Once you have used this feature you may not use it again until you have completed a long rest.

Pack Tactics

By 15th level working together has become second nature to the pair of you. Your companion may take the Attack action without being commanded to.

You and your companion gain advantage on attack rolls against a creature if at least one of the attacker's allies is within 5 feet of the creature and isn't incapacitated.

Wanderer

Those who live far from civilisation, traveling through the harshest terrain, living off the land and simply enduring the hardships of the wild are the wanderers. They find themselves with a breath of skill and an innate self reliance. A cynical darwinism often arises in these rangers, for when they are not directly threatened, they are content to let nature take its course.

When these rangers join a group, the skills that allowed them to endure and survive are shared to the groups boon. The herbal medicines and brews that kept the ranger going while alone let the party rest and recover with ease. The traps and tools used to even the fight of one vs nature become battlefield obstacles and dangers. When there are injuries that are meant to be endured, the ranger holds on. It is said they can even will themselves to ignore assault.

Wanderer

Ranger Level	Features
3rd	Tools of the Wild, Poultices and Tripwires
7th	Rugged Endurance
11th	Fortifying Brew
15th	Will of the Wild

Tools of the Wild

At third level, gain proficiency with Herbalism kits and Hunting tools.

Poultices and Tripwires

From 3rd level, your skills with setting traps and preparing herbal remedies allow resting to be safer and wounds to recover more quickly. At the start of a short rest, you may declare you are setting tripwires or preparing poultices. A long rest allows you to do both.

To set tripwires, make a Dexterity (Hunting tools) check. The result for this test becomes the DC required to spot the traps. The tripwires protect an area of ground no larger than 25 feet by 25 feet. Any creature that moves through the perimeter of this area tests their passive perception against the DC to spot the tripwires. If they fail, they are tripped prone, and bells jingle, waking any sleeping creature within thirty feet. If they succeed, they spot the tripwire and may move away or attempt a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check against the same DC to cross without setting it off. The tripwire may be disarmed with a Dexterity (Thieves tools) check of the same difficulty.

To prepare poultices, make an Wisdom (Herbalism kit) check against the herbal search DC below in order to gather the correct herbs. You have advantage on this check if you are in your Hunting Grounds. Herbs can also be bought from appropriate vendors. It takes one pound of fresh herbs to prepare each poultice.

If you succeed in gathering fresh herbs, friendly creatures who spend hit dice to recover HP can treat a roll of lower than your Wisdom modifier as your Wisdom modifier.

Herbal Search DC

Terrain Type	DC
Forests, Jungles, Swamps	10
Caves, Plains, Villages	15
Arctic, Deserts, Dungeons, Mountains, Towns	20
Cities	25

Rugged Endurance

Starting at 7th level, your hardy nature allows you steel yourself against constant pain and injury. At the start of your turn, if you have less than your maximum hit points, gain temporary hit points equal to your Wisdom modifier. These last until you finish a short rest.

Fortifying Brew

By 11th level you leave learned how to make long lasting and powerful brews that fortify the drinker. This requires one pound of fresh or dried herbs per brew you wish to make. Finding these herbs uses the Herbal Search DC, or they can bought from an appropriate vendor. As part of a long rest, take one hour to correctly brew these into a drinkable form. Make an Intelligence (Herbalism kit) check, with the DC depending on the number of brews to be made.

Fortifying Brew DC

Number of Brews	DC
1 brew	5
2 brews	10
3 brews	15
4 brews	20
+ 1 brew	+5

When drunk, each brew allows the consuming creature to add half their proficiency modifier to all saving throws they are not currently proficient in for eight hours after consumption.

The brew retains its potency for 24 horus after being brewed. After this time, it becomes mundane herb juice.

Rapid Traps

Starting from 11th level you have learned how to quickly set traps and hazards while in a fight. As a bonus action you may set one of the following traps, provided you have the materials required and enough movement to reach the intended location of all components. You use your Dexterity modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a trap you set and when making an attack roll with one.

Trap save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Dexterity modifier

Trap attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Dexterity modifier

A creature attempting to spot a trap you have set must make a Wisdom (Perception) check against your Trap save DC. If they fail, they do not see it or its components.

Barbed Caltrops

25gp, 5lbs, bag of 100

A bag of 100 barbed caltrops can cover 4, 5-foot-square areas. Any creature that enters one of these areas must make a Dexterity Saving throw against your Trap save DC or stop moving and take 1d6 piercing damage. The creature's walking speed is reduced by 10 feet until an Intelligence (Medicine) check against your Trap save DC is made to remove the barbed caltrop. A creature moving through the area at half speed doesn't need to make the saving throw.

Blowgun Array

100gp, 10 lbs

An array of blowguns set to fire when air is forced through by a concealed bellows. The array is placed to fire in a chosen direction and the bellows are placed within 10 feet of the array. The array can be set to fire in a line or a cone. The array takes 50 needles to load fully, and be carried loaded. When a hostile creature moves through the square containing the bellows, or an allied creature takes a bonus action to deliberately activate the bellows, the trap fires.

If the trap is set to fire in a line, make an attack roll using your Trap attack modifier against each creature in a 25 foot line, expending 10 of the needles in the trap.

If the trap is set to fire in a cone, make an attack roll using your Trap attack modifier against each creature in a 25 foot cone, expending 50 of the needles in the trap. If the trap is not fully loaded, decrease range of the cone by 5 feet for every 10 needle is missing.

If a creature is hit by the needles, they take 1d4 piercing damage. If the hit is a critical, the damage is doubled. The needles may deliver poisons. All creatures attacked are blinded for 1 round as they shields their eyes and other vital parts from the storm of needles.

Steeljaw Trap

25gp, 30 lbs

This trap is a version of the hunting trap with larger jaws and mechanisms to attempt to severe the triggering limb.

When a creature moves through the space containing this trap, make an attack roll using your Trap attack modifier.

If you hit, the creature takes 2d10 slashing damage, and stops moving. Thereafter, until the creature breaks free of the trap, its movement is limited by the length of the chain (typically 3 feet long). A creature can use its action to make a Strength check against your Trap save DC, freeing itself or another creature within its reach on a success. Each failed check deals 1d6 piercing damage to the trapped creature.

If the hit was a critical, the creature takes double (4d10) slashing damage, and has their speed permanently halved as the trap severs the triggering limb. They are not trapped after this.

Wire Net

10gp, 5 lbs

You set the net to cover a 10-foot-square section of ground. The trap is activated by a 25ft draw wire that leads back to you. You may also set the draw wire to trail over an elevated, study object such as a tree branch, iron torch sconce, or rock outcrop.

As a reaction, you may pull on the net, attempting to trap up to four medium or smaller, or one large creature that is standing on it. Each creature makes a Dexterity saving throw against your Trap save DC. If they fail, they are restrained, and if the drawwire was set over an elevated object, they are prone as the net hangs freely.

A creature within reach of the net can use its action to make a DC Strength check against your Trap save DC, freeing all trapped creatures in the net on a success.

You can also make attacks with the wire net, following the rules for a Net, but with a range of 10/30.

Will of the Wild

By 15th level your self reliance has become so strong that you can reach into yourself to avoid harm. When you take damage or are affected by a condition, you may take one level of exhaustion to negate the damage or the condition.

Hunting Tools

Hunting Tools, 5gp, 3lbs

Proficiency with hunting tools allows you to set traps, to skin and butcher wild game, and to collect reagents and material components from slain foes.

Components. Hunting tools include snare lines, bells, skinning knives, butchering knives, gloves, wax paper, vials and small boxes for storing harvested items.

Arcana. Your knowledge of hunting and butchering allows you to easily find and harvest magical components from bodies.

Investigation. Your skill with setting traps allows you to more easily determine what trap components might do or how they are connected.

Nature and Survival. When traveling in the wild, your hunting tools allow you to trap and catch medium or large sized game and harvest it.

Identify meat. You can identify if meat is good to eat, and if it is from a specific beast, a humanoid, or something else at a glance.

Hunting Tools

Activity	DC
Butcher / trap small beasts	10
Butcher / trap medium beasts	15
Butcher / trap large beasts or monstrosities	20