D&D 5E Ranger re-build as a half warlock

[Laurefindel]

Yes, yet another ranger re-master. It’s built as a short rest class on a warlock frame. A half-warlock actually, not unlike the PHB ranger is a half-sorcerer when it comes to spellcasting. The warlock has been popular as a ranger frame recently. Intriguing.

This version was made in the early Covid days-off, more out of curiosity and thought experiment than anything, but I like the result. A bit of polish and here it is.

Laurefindel’s Ranger

There’s a lot of design room left with the ranger’s crafts (invocations), including more conclave-exclusive ones for PHB archetypes and Xanathar’s conclaves. Anyhow, comments are welcome as usual.

Also, its sister-thread on my (more recent) version of the Beast Master can be found here.

'findel

P.S. I know, the PHB is not broken that bad, and the variant class features “fix” what would have been broken. But I like to tinker, and the ranger is good candidate for tinkering.

 

[Mon]

No specific comments, but interesting takes on Beastmaster and Ranger. I'll probably plunder some of the ideas for my own homebrew and tinkering.

 

[Horwath]

nice variant.

I would give 1 wildecraft at level 1.

Also Vanish needs to be a lot sooner. between 3rd and 6th level somewhere

Some wildecraft could give 2 expertise, like rogue.

 

[Minigiant]

I always felt that Invocations and Rituals were the best ways to represent Rangers.
Rangers could pick up spells, maneuvers, crafted items, and the like to represent where they ranged and who they encountered.

Overall good rebuild. Reserves of stamina feels a bit weird with Second Wind being a fighter thing.

 

[Laurefindel]

nice variant.

I would give 1 wildecraft at level 1.

Also Vanish needs to be a lot sooner. between 3rd and 6th level somewhere

Some wildecraft could give 2 expertise, like rogue.

Wildercraft at 3rd is simply because once you translate the warlock as a half-caster, that’s when you get your invocations. But since I augmented the progression of new invocations by 25% compared to a true half-warlock already, maybe I shouldn’t be afraid to break the mould...

Agreed on Vanish tho

 

[Laurefindel]

I always felt that Invocations and Rituals were the best ways to represent Rangers.
Rangers could pick up spells, maneuvers, crafted items, and the like to represent where they ranged and who they encountered.

Overall good rebuild. Reserves of stamina feels a bit weird with Second Wind being a fighter thing.

Reserves of stamina is the latest addition made to fill a « void » at level 6th after loosing favoured enemy II.

It was meant to compensate for their loss of cure wounds spell, but they can still cast it with their Land Magic and they get crafts that also get close to it. Any suggestions? Level 6th was an improvement on favoured enemy. Perhaps it could try to enhance Study Foes or Hunter’s Mark

 

[THEMNGMNT]

This...might be...my favorite rebuild of the ranger that I've seen so far.

I like the warlock as chassis. It's an approach I've considered myself, but I've not put the effort into exploring it like you have. One thing I like about the "invocations" is that they're easy to fluff as both magical or non-magical depending upon player preference.

From a story standpoint, I'm not sure the ranger works as a short rest class. But I'm not sure that it doesn't. I'll have to think about it.

I think Reserves of Stamina needs some additional tweaking. It's OK if it has some overlap with Second Wind. After all, the paladin has Lay On Hands, then gets the ability to remove disease with a touch, etc. In fact, I'd look to the paladin for inspiration for healing abilities.

Camouflage is an improvement on Hide In Plain Sight, but it's still of limited utility. I think it needs to be merged with Vanish and then tweaked further. For example, maybe the ranger can Hide as a bonus action, and gets advantage to hiding in the terrain to which they are attuned. Or maybe they don't reveal their position if they miss. Or even if they hit.

Feral Sense is another ability of limited utility. And it comes online so late. I might make it an invocation instead. I'm not sure what I'd put in its place.

I have some quibbles about the names of some of these abilities, but that's just a matter of personal preference.

Good work.

 

[bedir than]

With Reserves of Stamina I would like to bring back the 2HD per level version of a Ranger we once saw. Smaller boosts at 1 per short rest would be interesting.

 

[Mistwell]

 

[DnD Warlord]

I use half and third warlock a lot on npcs I like the 2 spell slots with spells known