D&D 5E (2014) Ranger re-build as a half warlock

[Ancalagon]

There are typos on level 19 and 20, some numbers inverted?

 

[Ancalagon]

First, I like it. This is a method that could work. That being said, a few comments:

They get 2 slots way too early. A level 1 warlock only has 1 slot. There should be 1-2 levels with one slot only.

The wildercraft - the thing that replaces the warlock's evocation? brilliant.

I haven't looked at the other features of the ranger to see if you changed something. But I would adopt that casting style in a 5e campaign over the current casting method.

 

[Laurefindel]

@Mistwell Presently, the PHB ranger is half a sorcerer in everything but cantrips (and sorcery points). Take the sorcerers spell slots and spell known at any given level, divide it by 2, and you get the spellcasting part of the ranger. As such, a 20th level ranger casts like a 10th level sorcerer.

This ranger is « half a warlock » at any given level. As such, a 20th ranger (redux) casts like a 10th level warlock.

at least that’s the idea...

 

[Laurefindel]

First, I like it. This is a method that could work. That being said, a few comments:

They get 2 slots way too early. A level 1 warlock only has 1 slot. There should be 1-2 levels with one slot only.

The wildercraft - the thing that replaces the warlock's evocation? brilliant.

I haven't looked at the other features of the ranger to see if you changed something. But I would adopt that casting style in a 5e campaign over the current casting method.

Yes typos indeed

and you are right, there should be only one spell slot at level 2nd, and two slots from level 3rd and on. I’ll correct it when I get to my computer. Thanks for spotting those

otherwise, many feature are tweaked while trying to stay faithful to the spirit of the PHB features, but one could keep the original features and only change the spellcasting part. In this case I’d reduce the amount of crafts (invocation) a bit as some of the original features became wildercraft options.

the beast master remake could also be used independently on an otherwise vanilla ranger.

 

[Laurefindel]

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

A third warlock subclass? Now that’s something I never considered before. Interesting!

 

[Ancalagon]

and you are right, there should be only one spell slot at level 2nd, and two slots from level 3rd and on. I’ll correct it when I get to my computer. Thanks for spotting those

You are welcome. I thin though... I would have the ranger get their 2nd slot at level 4, double the level of a warlock (who gets their second slot at level 2). Perhaps I haven't understood how the spell-casting is halved?

In this case I’d reduce the amount of crafts (invocation) a bit as some of the original features became wildercraft options

.
Thanks, that's an important detail.

the beast master remake could also be used independently on an otherwise vanilla ranger.

I will have to look at that tomorrow - off to bed for me!

 

[DnD Warlord]

A third warlock subclass? Now that’s something I never considered before. Interesting!

Yup. Take I even made a rogue subclass based off arcane trickester for it once

 

[Laurefindel]

You are welcome. I thin though... I would have the ranger get their 2nd slot at level 4, double the level of a warlock (who gets their second slot at level 2). Perhaps I haven't understood how the spell-casting is halved?

Looking at the other half-spellcasters (ranger, paladin, artificer), the "half" part is calculated as such:

1st-2nd = 1st full spellcaster
3rd-4th = 2nd full spellcaster
5th-6th = 3rd full spellcaster
7th-8th = 4th full spellcaster
9th-10th = 5th full spellcaster

etc., with the caveat that except for the artificer, half-casters get their spells at 2nd level instead of 1st.

Along this model, the half-warlock would get its pact magic (level 1 warlock) at 2nd level, and would get its invocations (level 2 warlock) at 3rd level, and get 2nd level spell slot (level 3 warlock) at 5th level.

Looking back on the Artificer and its infusions however, I find my crafts (invocations) progression rather generous. I might address that.

 

[Marandahir]

What I like about this is that the "Deft Explorer" abilities from the Class Variants UA are Wildercrafts, alongside Urban ranger features, Favoured Foe, and abilities related to Ranger conclaves. This makes a lot of sense to me and allows you to customize your Ranger a lot more.

Isn't your wildercraft progression identical to "Infused Items" progression for Artificers? Their "Infusions Known" is even double that!

 

[Laurefindel]

Brought back some of the base features of the ranger and reduced the progression of crafts to that of the Artificer's infusions (as @ Marandahir noticed). This should make it a friendlier "plug-and-play" version of this ranger.

Left Vanish at 14th level but made it an invisibility feature. I'll make the Hide-as-Bonus-Action thing a craft, which should play nicely with camouflage if a player wants to go the skirmisher route.

I kept Reserves of Stamina and gave it the favored enemy improvement slots at 6th and 14th level. It uses an action, uses one of your Hit Dice, so it's different enough from the Fighter's Second Wind to exist on its own i think.