Chameleon's Revised Ranger

This is my take on the Ranger.

The Ranger
Hit Points
Hit Dice: 1d10 per Ranger level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + Constitution modifier per Ranger level after 1st

Proficiencies
Armor: Light Armor, Medium Armor, Shields
Weapons: Simple Weapons, Martial Weapons
Tools: Herbalism Kit

Saving Throws: Dexterity, Strength
Skills: Choose three from among Animal Handling, Athletics, Insight, Investigation, Nature, Perception, Stealth, and Survival.

[sblock="The Ranger Table"]
[/sblock]
[sblock="Class Features"]
Favored Enemy
Starting at 1st level, you have trained yourself to fight a particular kind of creature most effectively. Choose Aberrations, Beast, Celestials, Constructs, Dragons, Elementals, Fey, Fiends, Giants, Humanoids, Monstrosities, Oozes, Plants, or Undead.
You have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track your Favored Enemies, as well as on Intelligence checks to recall lore about them, and you learn one language that is commonly spoken by your Favored Enemy. Finally, once per turn when you hit one of your Favored Enemies with an attack, you may add your proficiency bonus to the attack's damage roll.
You may choose an additional type of creature to be your Favored Enemy at 6th level, and again at 14th level. You also learn a new language at each of these levels.

Natural Explorer
Also at 1st level, you are a master of travel and navigation in the wilderness. You gain the following benefits when traveling for at least 1 hour in any wilderness (i.e. non-urban) environment:

• Difficult Terrain doesn't slow your group's Travel.
• Your group can't become lost, except by magical means.
• Even while you are engaged in another activity (such as foraging, tracking, or navigating), you remain alert to danger.
• When you are traveling alone, or with only an animal companion, 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.

Fighting Style
[As the normal Feature, PHB pg. 91]

Spellcasting
[As the normal Feature, PHB pg. 91-92]

Primeval Awareness
Starting at 2nd level, you are able to open your senses to the natural world around you. Using your action, you can detect the presence of Aberrations, Celestials, Dragons, Fey, Fiends, and Undead within 300ft of you. You learn the creature's type and the approximate distance and direction from you, and how many creatures of each of those types that are within range. You don't know what specific kind of creature you sense (i.e. skeletons vs. zombies, etc.), or its name (if it has one).
You may use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1). You regain any expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Ranger Conclave
[See Below]

Wild Empathy
Starting at 3rd level, you are able to read the physical and mental state of wild animals. If you study a creature for at least 1 minute, you are able to discern its emotional state, immediate goals and/or needs, whether or not it is wounded, poisoned or diseased, or enchanted by magic, and what actions (if any) you can take to persuade it not to attack you or your companions.
In addition, you are able to communicate simple ideas and concepts to beasts using sounds and gestures, and have some limited ability to understand their responses (e.g. body language, sounds, etc.).

Land's Stride
[As the normal feature, PHB pg. 92]

Hide in Plain Sight
Starting at 10th level, when you attempt to Hide you can opt not to move. If you avoid moving, creatures that attempt to detect you take a -10 penalty to their Wisdom (Perception) checks to do so until the start of your next turn. You lose this benefit if you move or fall prone. You are automatically detected if any effect or action causes you to no longer be hidden. If you are still hidden on your next turn, you can continue to remain motionless and gain this benefit until you are detected.

Vanish
[As the normal feature, PHB pg. 92]

Feral Senses
[As the normal feature, PHB pg. 92]

Ambuscade
Starting at 20th level, you have advantage on initiative rolls, and on attack rolls against creatures that have not yet acted in combat. In addition, if you are hidden from all of your enemies when you roll initiative, you can take an additional action on your first turn in combat.
[/sblock][sblock="Hunter Conclave"]
The Hunter conclave is unchanged (PHB pg. 93), except that the following feature is added at Level 3:

Hunter's Magic
Starting at 3rd level, you learn a few magical tricks that aid you in tracking and subduing your prey. When you reach certain levels in this class, you gain access to the following spells. These spells don't count against your normal limit of spells known. If a spell doesn't appear on the Ranger spell list, it is nonetheless a Ranger spell for you.

[/sblock]
[sblock="Beast Master Conclave"]
The Beast Master conclave (PHB pg. 93) is replaced with the following:

Beast Magic
Starting at 3rd level, your connection to wild nature grants you access to new spells when you reach certain levels in this class. These spells don't count against your normal limit of spells known. If a spell doesn't appear on the Ranger spell list, it is nonetheless a Ranger spell for you:


Animal Companion
Starting at 3rd level, with the expenditure of 8 hours of worth, and 50gp worth of rare herbs and fine food, you call forth an animal from the wilderness to serve as your faithful companion. You may choose any animal of CR 1 or lower, provided the DM agrees it could logically be found in your local area.
At the end of the 8 hours, the animal appears and gains the benefits of the Companion's Bond Ability (see below). 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 the Multiattack action, if it has one.
• The companion obeys your commands as best it can. It acts on your initiative, but takes its own turns. You determine its actions, decisions, attitudes, and so on. If you are incapacitated or absent, the animal acts on its own.
• Your companion uses your proficiency bonus, rather than its own.
• Your companion adds your proficiency bonus to its AC while it is not wearing armor. If it wears armor that would leave it with a lower AC, it can use your proficiency bonus instead.
• Your companion gains an additional hit die each time you gain a level in this class, and its hit point maximum increases accordingly.
• When reduced to 0 hit points, your companion makes death saving throws like a PC, rather than being killed instantly like most other creatures.

Primal Strike
Starting at 7th level, your animal companion's attacks are considered to be magical for the purposes of overcoming resistance or immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Paired Predators
Starting at 11th level, when you use the Attack action on your turn, you can forgo one of your attacks to allow your animal companion to make a single attack as a reaction.
The attack is made with advantage if you and your companion are both within 5ft of the target, and your companion doesn't have disadvantage on the attack roll.

Share Spells
Beginning at 15th level, when you cast a spell targeting yourself, you can also effect your animal companion with the spell if it is within 30ft of you.[/sblock]

TLDR;

• Added proficiency with Herbalism Kit
• Increased number of spells known.
• Added bonus damage to Favored Enemy
• Natural Explorer applies to all terrain
• Primeval Awareness now uses/day instead of wasting a spell slot. Also, it's no longer trash.
• UA Ranger "speak with animals" effect shunted to separate feature.
• Hide in Plain Sight replaced with UA version
• Foe Slayer replaced with Ambuscade; combines some features from UA version.
• Both vanilla archetypes given XGtE-style bonus spell lists.
• Beast Master redone to be neither hot garbage nor hilariously overpowered.

At first glance I like it overall. The death saves applying to the Beastmaster's Companion was a nice touch, and I like the idea of using the Beastmaster's proficiency bonus to amplify the Companion capabilities.

XP for effort

Edit: As a DM I still have a problem with Primeval Awareness (this critique is not directed at you but at the general concept of this kind of game mechanic) - I have to commit, ad hoc, to the full number and approximate location of certain monster types within a mile of the Ranger at any time the ability is used. That can be a real PITA becuse what DM, who is trying to manage their game efficiently, can pragamatically have that kind of sweeping information at their finger tips? To keep it realistic in the context of a dynamic setting? This kind of game mechanic is too much IMO because it can be nigh impossible to prepare. If the range of the ability was just within 500 feet and limited to favoured terrains, that would be much more managable, I think.

I'm confused: Spellcasting is listed at 2nd level, but there are known spells and spell slots don't show up on the chart above until level 3.

ArwensDaughter said:

I'm confused: Spellcasting is listed at 2nd level, but there are known spells and spell slots don't show up on the chart above until level 3.

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I'm thinking the OP made a typo and the values in the chart didn't show up in the post?

Yeah, sorry. That was a typo. It should be fixed now.

Winterthorn said:

At first glance I like it overall. The death saves applying to the Beastmaster's Companion was a nice touch, and I like the idea of using the Beastmaster's proficiency bonus to amplify the Companion capabilities.

XP for effort

Edit: As a DM I still have a problem with Primeval Awareness (this critique is not directed at you but at the general concept of this kind of game mechanic) - I have to commit, ad hoc, to the full number an approximate location of certain monster types within a mile of the Ranger at any time the ability is used. That can be a real PITA becuse what DM, who is trying to manage their game efficiently, can pragamatically have that kind of sweeping information at their finger tips? This kind of game mechanic is too much IMO because it can be nigh impossible to prepare.

Click to expand...

Would it be better if I reduced the range to 60ft, so that it's basically equivalent to the Paladin's Divine Sense?

ChameleonX said:

Would it be better if I reduced the range to 60ft, so that it's basically equivalent to the Paladin's Divine Sense?

Click to expand...

Yes, my re-editted reply suggests a larger range, but 60 ft. would be very manageable, and somewhat fitting.

I really feel that rangers shouldnt be limited to spells known, or if they are, they should get to pick from any list. Paladins get more spells prepared than rangers get known...

ehren37 said:

I really feel that rangers shouldnt be limited to spells known, or if they are, they should get to pick from any list. Paladins get more spells prepared than rangers get known...

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I agree, which is why I increased the number of known spells this Ranger gets, and also gave each conclave additional bonus spells. This should, in theory, bring the Ranger up to the same level as the Paladin.

For the BM bonus spells, I think I would be more inclined to include ones that boost the animal companion: bless or shield of faith*, warding bond or dragon's breath (if you aren't limited to the PHB spells), either of the 4th level paladin aura spells, and if you threw in a subclass feature that let's you treat your AC as a weapon for purposes of spell targeting, magic weapon and elemental weapon. Awaken is definitely good.

* to tell the truth, I would brake my own rule and give the BM find familiar, so the BM would have a scout "animal"/familiar and a fighting AC.