D&D 5E Martial Ranger

ScuroNotte

Explorer

After reading the debate about spell-less rangers, thought I would throw out a version and see what people thought. I and most in our groups prefer non-spellcasting Rangers. There are also 14 archetypes, 10 of which are new.

The only thing not certain about is whether to keep the Favored Foe feature since changing the damage bonuses of the archetypes.
 
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Stalker0

Legend
There is some good stuff, I think there is a bit of tuning and tweaking to be done but I'm buying what your selling. Lets dig in:

Nature's Gift: I'll come back to the mixtures but I like the fundamental concept. I do think we can tighten up the language a bit here:

"At 2nd level, you gain the Herbalism kit. You can spend 1 hour gathering herbs and preparing herbal mixtures to create a number of mixtures equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1) + your proficiency bonus modifier. You can do this once per long rest.

These mixtures you create cannot be applied by anyone but yourself. After 24 hours, any mixtures that you have not used lose their potency.

Refer to page 6 for Herbalism Kit."

Favored Foe: So one oddity here. You need to get in one attack to start adding in a +1d6, that's fine. But then when you kill the first one you can instantly move the attack and so can immediately get it when you attack the second person.... that feels off. Frankly I like the idea that it takes one attack to apply each time...but with unlimited uses. I think that keeps the balance the check and the unlimited use feels more in line with a non-magical ranger.

Hunter's Eye: I think this "works", but perhaps you could a bonus to passive perception, so its a more "always on" kind of ability.

Roving: Nice and solid, good flavor.

Natural Explorer II / Alacrity: Also solid.

Vanish (Hide in Plain Sight): A bit awkwardly worded, here's a rewrite for additional clarity.

"Hide in Plain Sight. You can spend 1 minute using mud, dirt, plants, soot, animal excrement, and other naturally occurring materials to camouflage yourself. Roll a Wisdom (Survival) check, the result + 10 counts as your stealth. This benefit lasts until you move or take an action."

Its also not clear if the uses per day is for any feature of vanish or just Nature's Veil. I believe you meant it just for nature's veil, so I would just combine the last paragraph into the main text to remove the confusion.

Favored Foe II: If you wanted to get a little nuts here, why not let a 20th level ranger mark any number of targets? They are the ULTIMATE tracker after all.

Ambush Master: Good ability but also awkward with how initiative generally works. Here's another rewrite for clarity and to reduce the action usage a bit (we are at 9th level spell territory, its okay to let the ranger just be cool no strings attached).

"At 17th level, you and all allies within 30 feet gain a bonus to Dexterity (Initiative) checks equal to your wisdom modifier (minimum 1), and a +10 to speed on the first round of combat."

Feral Senses: Its 18th level, lets go big. Just give them blind sense 30 straight up

Master Hunter: I think we can again simplify this and make it ever cooler. I think this is honestly strong enough we don't need a little bit of damage/attack....with this you are winning the action economy which cannot be underestimated.

"At 20th level, you are the master of the hunt. You cannot be surprised, and always start with surprise in each combat"

The Mixtures:
One thing I'll note, I really feel like several of these mixtures could be used in "traps", and I think its worth considering some language for that. Like the blindness potion maybe could be set off as part of a trap.

Also to shave some text, just put at the beginning: "All DCs for a mixture are equal to 8 + prof mod + wisdom."

Beast Sense: Its the one mixture I feel is "too magical". Maybe if it was more like some kind of trance state, shaman wise.

Blindness: I'm not sure what the point of a 5 foot radius is if you can only hit 1 creature. Either make it a true area effect, or simply say "you target 1 creature".

Cure Wounds Poltice: Needs a cleanup on the rewrite, here's my suggestion:

"It takes 1 minute to apply the poultice to a creature. The creature heals 1d6 damage for every 2 ranger levels. A creature cannot receive healing from a poultice again until a short or long rest."

Cure Wounds Elixir: The text says "you imbibe".... is it meant to work on others or just yourself?

Deafness: Its fine though most people probably won't take it, deafness is just a very niche ability.

Dispel Magic: This feels like it should just dispel period, the idea that it "dispels for 1 minute and the the magic comes back" just feels weird to me.

Lesser Restoration: The creature gets advantage on its saving throws?.... not sure what we are going for here.

Spider Climb: Considering you get roving at 6th that already covers most of your climbing needs, this feels extraneous.
 


It could be a little less magical. Two points:

Nature's Gift needs a rename. It's not spiritual, and frankly a ranger could be bad for nature (eg a big game hunter) and still have these skills.

Some of the herbalism kit stuff is magical, even if it's listed as extraordinary.

See Invisibility. You can spend 1 action applying one of your poultices to your eyes or your beasts eyes, thereby expending its use, you or your beast can see invisible creatures and objects as if they were visible for 1 hour.

If this was replaced by something like Glitterdust, I would be more accepting of it.
 

Granting that I slightly prefer rangers who have spellcasting in the base class, I do quite like this implementation.

It could be a little less magical. [...]
I don't concur that a spell-less D&D ranger must do without magical options. Say rather that such a ranger will ideally have sufficient options within the base class that it can accommodate those who want to do without magic entirely and those who are fine with magical abilities, including (which I am pleased to see in this version) a spellcasting subclass.
 

ScuroNotte

Explorer
There is some good stuff, I think there is a bit of tuning and tweaking to be done but I'm buying what your selling. Lets dig in:

Nature's Gift: I'll come back to the mixtures but I like the fundamental concept. I do think we can tighten up the language a bit here:

"At 2nd level, you gain the Herbalism kit. You can spend 1 hour gathering herbs and preparing herbal mixtures to create a number of mixtures equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1) + your proficiency bonus modifier. You can do this once per long rest.

These mixtures you create cannot be applied by anyone but yourself. After 24 hours, any mixtures that you have not used lose their potency.

Refer to page 6 for Herbalism Kit."
Thank you. Will change it.
Favored Foe: So one oddity here. You need to get in one attack to start adding in a +1d6, that's fine. But then when you kill the first one you can instantly move the attack and so can immediately get it when you attack the second person.... that feels off. Frankly I like the idea that it takes one attack to apply each time...but with unlimited uses. I think that keeps the balance the check and the unlimited use feels more in line with a non-magical ranger.
So you think it should be unlimited uses? I thought it would be to OP early on. Also, some of the archetype bonus damage increases at 11th level to help keep up with damage output.
Hunter's Eye: I think this "works", but perhaps you could a bonus to passive perception, so its a more "always on" kind of ability.
For hunter's Eye, did not want to add to many points into 1 feature early on. It already has a skill as bonus action and eliminates penalties to perception for 2 situations. Also, in Natural Explorer I, after traveling for 1 hour "while traveling (such as foraging, navigating, or tracking), you remain alert to danger." is not a bonus but negates penalties to your surroundings. Or am I over interpreting that.
Roving: Nice and solid, good flavor.
Natural Explorer II / Alacrity: Also solid.
Thank you.

Vanish (Hide in Plain Sight): A bit awkwardly worded, here's a rewrite for additional clarity.

"Hide in Plain Sight. You can spend 1 minute using mud, dirt, plants, soot, animal excrement, and other naturally occurring materials to camouflage yourself. Roll a Wisdom (Survival) check, the result + 10 counts as your stealth. This benefit lasts until you move or take an action."

Its also not clear if the uses per day is for any feature of vanish or just Nature's Veil. I believe you meant it just for nature's veil, so I would just combine the last paragraph into the main text to remove the confusion.
Will correct and make those changes. Thank you.
Favored Foe II: If you wanted to get a little nuts here, why not let a 20th level ranger mark any number of targets? They are the ULTIMATE tracker after all.
Gave that to Hunter early on when uses Multiattack feature. Not a bad idea though. Have to seriously consider that.
Ambush Master: Good ability but also awkward with how initiative generally works. Here's another rewrite for clarity and to reduce the action usage a bit (we are at 9th level spell territory, its okay to let the ranger just be cool no strings attached).
"At 17th level, you and all allies within 30 feet gain a bonus to Dexterity (Initiative) checks equal to your wisdom modifier (minimum 1), and a +10 to speed on the first round of combat."
Again great idea. Have you written/created designs like this before? However, should the Ranger get this benefit as well considering the class gets the proficiency bonus modifier added to proficiency checks?
Feral Senses: Its 18th level, lets go big. Just give them blind sense 30 straight up
That has crossed my mind, but even with blanket blind sense, the player will still have disadvantage on attacks and the creature would have advantage on attacks as it is invisible. By leaving only to hearing and sight, it leaves it open for me keep the part with no disadvantage to attacks.
Master Hunter: I think we can again simplify this and make it ever cooler. I think this is honestly strong enough we don't need a little bit of damage/attack....with this you are winning the action economy which cannot be underestimated.

"At 20th level, you are the master of the hunt. You cannot be surprised, and always start with surprise in each combat"
The reason I placed extra wording is if there is an encounter with a creature with a similar feature. Will definitely re-evaluate.
The Mixtures:
One thing I'll note, I really feel like several of these mixtures could be used in "traps", and I think its worth considering some language for that. Like the blindness potion maybe could be set off as part of a trap.

Also to shave some text, just put at the beginning: "All DCs for a mixture are equal to 8 + prof mod + wisdom."
Great idea with traps and placing the DC in the beginning.
Beast Sense: Its the one mixture I feel is "too magical". Maybe if it was more like some kind of trance state, shaman wise.
Like it. Like the peace pipe. Maybe I will change it to that...
Blindness: I'm not sure what the point of a 5 foot radius is if you can only hit 1 creature. Either make it a true area effect, or simply say "you target 1 creature".

Cure Wounds Poltice: Needs a cleanup on the rewrite, here's my suggestion:

"It takes 1 minute to apply the poultice to a creature. The creature heals 1d6 damage for every 2 ranger levels. A creature cannot receive healing from a poultice again until a short or long rest."
Thank you. Will correct wording
Cure Wounds Elixir: The text says "you imbibe".... is it meant to work on others or just yourself?
Anyone. Will make it clearer
Deafness: Its fine though most people probably won't take it, deafness is just a very niche ability.

Dispel Magic: This feels like it should just dispel period, the idea that it "dispels for 1 minute and the the magic comes back" just feels weird to me.

Lesser Restoration: The creature gets advantage on its saving throws?.... not sure what we are going for here.

Spider Climb: Considering you get roving at 6th that already covers most of your climbing needs, this feels extraneous.
Dispel magic: Maybe add if removed because it is something you place on something.

Lesser Restoration: Should just change removes one poison or disease effect.

Spider Climb: For beast companion or allies who don't have that ability
 

ScuroNotte

Explorer
Granting that I slightly prefer rangers who have spellcasting in the base class, I do quite like this implementation.


I don't concur that a spell-less D&D ranger must do without magical options. Say rather that such a ranger will ideally have sufficient options within the base class that it can accommodate those who want to do without magic entirely and those who are fine with magical abilities, including (which I am pleased to see in this version) a spellcasting subclass.
Thank you for the compliment, especially considering your preference.
 

ScuroNotte

Explorer
It could be a little less magical. Two points:

Nature's Gift needs a rename. It's not spiritual, and frankly a ranger could be bad for nature (eg a big game hunter) and still have these skills.

Some of the herbalism kit stuff is magical, even if it's listed as extraordinary.



If this was replaced by something like Glitterdust, I would be more accepting of it.

I agree that some abilities may be "magical" but could just be the effects of what is cultivated in the environment. Like using smoking pipes to communicate with ancestors, spiritual beast companion, etc.

Couldn't think of better name. Maybe Herbalism something or other.

Glitterdust. Doesn't Fog cloud already do something similar. I could rename Fog Cloud to Smoke Bomb.
 


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