Ranger

Rough and wild looking, a dwarf stalks alone through the shadows of trees, hunting orcs he knows are planning a raid on a nearby farm. Clutching an axe in each hand, he becomes a whirlwind of steel, cutting down one enemy after another, with his trusted boar companion at his side. While together, nothing fazes the two and their resolve only strengths in face of adversity.

After tumbling away from a cone of fresh air, an elf finds 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 find 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 blade.

Far from the bustle of the 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,
creeping 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 useful against any foe
they may encounter in the wilderness.

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 and humanoid hordes 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 first -- and
possibly last -- line of defense.

This fierce 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 whose 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 fight against
civilization's foes are worth any extra
burden. Coddled city folk might not
know how to feed themselves or find
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? Or perhaps you learned your skills as a part of a band of 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 of surviving in the wilds.

Is your adventuring career a continuation of your work in protecting the borderlands? What made you join up with a band of adventurers? Do you find 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 fighting make Strength higher than Dexterity.) Second, choose the outlander background.

Class Features

Hit Points

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

Armor: Light armor, medium armor, shields

Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons

Saving Throws: Strength, Dexterity

Skills: Choose three from Animal Handling, Atheltics, 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 short swords or (b) two simple melee weapons
• (a) a dungeoneer's pack or (b) an explorer's pack
• (a) a component pouch or (b) a druidic focus
• A longbow and a quiver of 20 arrows

Natural Explorer

You are a master of navigating the natural world, and you react with swift and decisive action when attacked. This grants you the following benefits:

• You ignore difficult terrain.
• You add your Wisdom modifier to initiative rolls.
• On your first turn during combat, you have advantage on attack rolls against creatures that have not yet acted.

In addition, you are skilled at navigating the wilderness. You gain the following benefits when traveling for an hour or more:

• 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 numbers, sizes, and how long ago they passed through the area.

Favored Enemy

You have significant experience studying, tracking, hunting, and even talking to a certain type of enemy. Choose a type of favored enemy: aberrations, beasts, fey, humanoids, giants, monstrosities or undead. When you gain this feature, you also learn one language of your choice, typically one spoken by your favored enemy or creatures associated with it. However, you are free to pick any language you wish to learn.

Whenever you make a Wisdom (Survival) check to track your Favored Enemy or any Intelligence check to recall details about them, you are considered proficient in these skills and add double your proficiency bonus to the checks, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.

You choose one additional favored enemy along with additional languages at 7th and 13th level. When you select these additional favored enemies, you can choose from the list available at 1st level or select one of the following: celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals and fiends.

Fighting Style

At 2nd level, you adopt a particular style of fighting 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 on 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 fighting, you can add your ability modifier 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 chapter 10 for the general rules of spellcasting and chapter 11 for the ranger spell list.

Spell Slots

The Ranger table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your 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 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.

Preparing and Casting Spells

The Ranger table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells. To cast one of your ranger spells of 1st level or higher, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest. You prepare the list of paladin spells that are available for you to cast, choosing from the ranger spell list.

When you do so, choose a number of ranger spells equal to your Wisdom modifier + half your ranger level, rounded down (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots.

For example, if you are a 5th-level ranger, you have four 1st-level and two 2nd-level spell slots. With a Wisdom of 14, your list of prepared spells can include four spells of 1st or 2nd level, in any combination. If you prepare the 1st-level spell cure wounds, you can cast it using a 1st-level or a 2nd-level slot. Casting the spell doesn't remove it from your list of prepared spells. You can change your list of prepared spells when you finish a long rest. Preparing a new list of ranger spells requires time spent in prayer and meditation: at least I minute per spell level for each spell on your list.

Spellcasting Focus

You can use a druidic focus (found in chapter 5) as a spellcasting focus for your ranger spells.

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 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

Hunter’s Mark

Starting at 2nd level, as a bonus action, you can designate one target you can see as your quarry. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks to spot your target and Wisdom (Survival) checks to track it.

In combat, once per turn, when you hit the target with a weapon attack, you deal an additional 1d6 damage. When you deal this damage on your turn you can expend a spell slot to deal an extra 1d6 damage to the target per level of the spell slot. When you do so, you can apply one of the following effects, forcing the target to make a save against your Ranger Spell save DC:

• Pinning Strike - It must make a Dexterity save or have its movement reduced to 0ft until the end of its next turn. The additional damage dice deal piercing damage.
• Venomous Strike - It must make a Constitution save or be poisoned until the end of its next turn. The additional damage dice deal poison damage.
• Stumbling Strike - It must make a Strength save or be knocked prone. The additional damage dice deal bludgeoning damage.

This feature lasts until you take a short or long rest, or until you use a bonus action to change the target of your mark.

Hunter’s Mark can be activated against one of your Favored Enemies when you identify their trail while tracking them, even if you can’t see them, and lasts until you take a long rest. When you do damage to a Favored Enemy using Hunter’s Mark, you add d8 damage dice instead of d6s.

Hunter's Mark

This feature is intended to replace the 1st level ranger spell of the same name. If this variant is being used, Hunter's Mark should be removed from the ranger spell list.

Ranger Aspect

At 3rd level, you choose an aspect of the natural world from which to draw your powers: Beast, Stone or Gloaming, detailed at the end of the c1ass description. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 14th and 18th level.

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.

Extra Attack

Beginning at 5th level you can attack twice, instead of once, when you make an Attack action on your turn.

Foe Slayer

At 6th level, you become an unparalleled hunter. Once on each of your turns, you can add your Wisdom modifier to the attack roll or the damage roll of an attack you make. You can choose to use this feature before or after the roll, but before any effects of the roll are applied.

Evasion

Beginning at 10th level, when you are subjected to an effect, such as a red dragon’s fiery 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 a saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.

Swift Attack

At 11th level, you can make a weapon attack as a bonus action on your turn, regardless of what action you took. If you engage in Two-Weapon Fighting and use your bonus action to make an attack with your second weapon, you can make two attacks with it instead.

Feral Senses

At 15th 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 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

Master of the Hunt

At 20th level, your deadly attacks can slay even the mightiest of enemies. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack but do not roll a critical hit, you can choose to count the attack as a critical hit. You must complete a short or long rest before using this feature again.

Ranger Aspects

Gloaming Aspect

Many rangers are skilled in stealth and fieldcraft, but the rangers who draw on the Gloaming Aspect excel natural skill. They are the shades half-seen at twilight on the edge of the woods, the silent presence that haunts the wilderness at night. In combat they strike from ambush, move like shadows cast by flickering torches, slay their foes with strange magic and leave without a trace.

Hit and Run

Beginning at 3rd level, once per round, you can move 10ft immediately after you make a weapon attack. This movement does not provoke opportunity attacks.

Master of Shadows

Also at 3rd level you gain proficiency with Stealth. If you are already proficient with Stealth, you gain proficiency in another skill of your choice selected from the list available to rangers at 1st level. You double your proficiency bonus when using the Stealth skill.

Additionally, you become more adept at leading your allies through silent paths and in ambushes. When you accompany a group of up to ten people, the entire party can move stealthily at a normal pace, and they gain advantage on attacks against any opponent who has not acted yet in combat.

Blinding Strike

At 7th level, you can bind your shadowy power into your attacks to shroud your target in darkness. You gain an additional option when adding additional damage dice with a spell slot using Hunter’s Mark.

• Blinding Strike - It must make a Wisdom save or become blinded until the end of its next turn. The additional damage dice deal psychic damage.

Shadow Magic

Starting at 14th level, if you are hidden from a creature, the creature has disadvantage on any saving throw made against your ranger spells or features on that turn.

Fade from the World

At 18th level, your mastery of the gloaming aspect is such that you are rarely seen at all. When you are in an area of dim light or darkness, you can use your action to become invisible and remain so until you make an attack, cast a spell, or take a short or long rest. You can’t use this feature again until you have taken a short or long rest.

Beast Aspect

Some rangers form particularly strong companionships with the beasts of the wild. These Beast Aspect rangers often feel more at home in the wild in the company of animals, and are able to converse with them freely. Beast Aspect rangers cultivate a particular favoured animal to be their companion on their journey, but all animals are loyal friends to such a ranger.

Animal Companion

At 3rd level, you learn to use your magic to create a powerful bond with a creature of the natural world.

With 8 hours of work and the expenditure of 50 gp worth of rare herbs and fine food, you call forth an animal from the wilderness to serve as your faithful companion.

You normally select your companion from among the following animals: an ape, a black bear, a boar, an eagle, a giant badger, a giant weasel, a mastiff, a panther, a velociraptor, or a wolf. However, your DM might pick one of these animals for you, based on the surrounding terrain and on what types of creatures would logically be present in the area.

At the end of the 8 hours, your animal companion appears and gains all the benefits of your Companion’s Bond ability. You can have only one animal companion at a time.

If your animal companion is ever slain, the magical bond you share allows you to return it to life. With 8 hours of work and the expenditure of 25 gp worth of rare herbs and fine food, you call forth your companion’s spirit and use your magic to create a new body for it. You can return an animal companion to life in this manner even if you do not possess any part of its body.

If you use this ability to return a former animal companion to life while you have a current animal companion, your current companion leaves you and is replaced by the restored companion.

Companion's Bond

Your animal companion gains a variety of benefits while it is linked to you. The animal companion loses its Multiattack action, if it has one. The companion obeys your commands as best it can. It does not roll initiative if it fights alongside you, it uses your initiative and always acts immediately after you do, but you determine its actions, decisions, attitudes, and so on. If you are incapacitated or absent, your companion acts on its own. When using your Natural Explorer feature, you and your animal companion can both move stealthily at a normal pace.

Your animal companion has abilities and game statistics determined in part by your level. Your companion uses your proficiency bonus rather than its own. In addition to the areas where it normally uses its proficiency bonus, an animal companion also adds its proficiency bonus to its AC and to its damage rolls.

Your animal companion gains proficiency in two skills of your choice. It also becomes proficient with all saving throws.

For each level you gain after 3rd, your animal companion gains an additional hit die and increases its hit points accordingly.

Whenever you gain the Ability Score Improvement class feature, your companion’s abilities also improve. Your companion can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or it can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, your companion can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature unless its description specifies otherwise.

Your companion shares your alignment, and has a personality trait and a flaw that you can roll for or select from the tables below. Your companion shares your ideal, and its bond is always, “The ranger who travels with me is a beloved companion for whom I would gladly give my life.”

You are permanently under the effects of a Beast Bond spell [ee p.15], targeting your animal companion.

d6	Trait
1	I'm dauntless in the face of adversity
2	Threaten my friends, threaten me.
3	I stay on alert so others can rest
4	People see an animal and underestimate me. I use that to me advantage.
5	I have a knack for showing up in the nick of time.
6	I put my friends' needs before my own in all things.

d6	Flaw
1	If there's food left unattended, I'll eat it.
2	I growl at strangers, and all people except my ranger are strangers to me.
3	Any time is a good time for a belly rub.
4	I'm deathly afraid of water.
5	My idea of hello is a flurry of licks to the face.
6	I jump on creatures to tell them how much I love them.

Beast Friend

You can communicate with animals as though you are permanently under the effects of a Speak With Animals spell, and any Charisma rolls you make to interact with beasts have advantage.

Coordinated Attack

At 7th level, you learn to coordinate your attacks with your animal companion. If you have a creature targeted with Hunter’s Mark but did not make an attack action on your turn, your animal companion can make an additional attack when making an attack action against that creature. In addition, if you don’t use Foe-Slayer to enhance one of your attacks on your turn, your animal companion can use it instead, using your Wisdom modifier.

Bestial Guardian

At 14th level, when you take damage from an attack made by a creature your animal companion can see, it can spend its reaction to move up to half its movement speed towards the attacker and make an attack against them. This movement does not provoke opportunity attacks.

Menagerie

Starting at 18th level, when you use the spell Conjure Animals, your concentration cannot be broken by taking damage. In addition, all creatures summoned using that spell can use their reaction to defend you when you are attacked by using the Bestial Guardian feature.

Stone Aspect

Rangers of the Stone Aspect are hunters of the deadliest quarry. They walk the mountain roads of the giantfolk, the caverns of the Underdark and even the lairs of mighty dragons. From the earth they draw the courage and determination they need to face down these terrible threats to what they hold dear.

Monster Hunter

At 3rd level, provided you are not wearing heavy armor, you have a +1 bonus to your AC against attacks from any creature targeted with your Hunter’s Mark, and you have advantage on contested rolls to avoid being grappled by that creature.

Quiet as Stone

Also at 3rd level, you can draw on the silent wisdom of the stone to anticipate and avoid the tactics of your monstrous foes. When you are hidden in dark and dim conditions, enemies gain no benefit from darkvision in spotting you. When you are hidden and do not move, enemies gain no benefit from blindsight in spotting you. You can never be surprised by your favored enemies.

Focused Willpower

Starting at 7th level, you have trained your mind and body to resist even the most dangerous monsters. When you target a creature with your Hunter’s Mark, you have advantage on saving throws to avoid becoming frightened by that creature, and you add your Wisdom modifier to all saving throws against any effects originating from that creature.

Giant Killer

Starting at 14th level, when you take damage from a huge or larger creature, you can use your reaction to Dodge. If you do so, you gain advantage on your next attack against that creature on your next turn. Additionally, you can push and grapple creatures of any size.

One with the Stone

At 18th level your attunement to the stone aspect is complete. Your Feral Senses feature is enhanced to become true blindsight within a 30ft range, and you become resistant to non-magical bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage.