D&D General What is appropriate Ranger Magic

Which of the following do you see as general Ranger spells?

  • Autumn Blades

    Votes: 5 10.2%
  • Beastmeld

    Votes: 9 18.4%
  • Blade Cascade

    Votes: 7 14.3%
  • Blade Thrist

    Votes: 5 10.2%
  • Bloodhounds

    Votes: 11 22.4%
  • Exploding Arrow

    Votes: 14 28.6%
  • Giant Axe

    Votes: 5 10.2%
  • Greenwood Linb

    Votes: 2 4.1%
  • Heatsight

    Votes: 8 16.3%
  • Implacable Pursuer

    Votes: 12 24.5%
  • Long Grasp

    Votes: 2 4.1%
  • Othrus

    Votes: 1 2.0%
  • Sense Fear

    Votes: 6 12.2%
  • Steel Skin

    Votes: 3 6.1%
  • Strength of the Beast

    Votes: 10 20.4%
  • Umbral Escape

    Votes: 6 12.2%
  • Wildtalk

    Votes: 12 24.5%
  • Wooden Escape

    Votes: 4 8.2%
  • Rangers should have no magic spells.

    Votes: 23 46.9%
  • Rangers should not have magic spells but not be limited to natural limits

    Votes: 13 26.5%
  • Rangers should have every more core magic spells.

    Votes: 5 10.2%

Minigiant

Legend
Supporter
Ranger magic is highly divisive. And I believe the issues D&D and D&D like game has with rangers is that it draws so broadly from ideas of what a ranger could be that designers cannot condense down the many ideas into one cohesive idea nor do some fans what some ideas to be in the ranger.

So I am polling a list of magical effects descriptions and asking you all to choice which you would consider to be a Ranger Base class spell. As if WOTC, ENP, or any other publishers were to create a list of new spells to add to the Ranger expanded list. These are not subclass spells or spell with special class requires. I am interested on how fans see ranger magic.

Some spells are inspired by characters of media that are given as examples of rangers. Others are out there to stretch the limits. Some stretch to druid or wizard territory. Some are inspired by effects and spells from other media

Which do you see as ranger spells?


Autumn Blades

The ranger dissolves their weapon into a cloud of leaves or flower petals which rush at an opponent to slash them hundreds of times.

Beastmeld

The ranger touches a beast no larger that one size larger than them and gains one action, reaction, or trait of the beast. The ranger uses their own ability score and proficiency for all tests and DCs.


Blade Cascade

The ranger, heightened by a sudden rush of vigor and anger, attacks a target over and over until they miss.


Blade Thirst

The ranger transfers magic into a slashing weapon giving it a +3 bonus and a glow of a blue flame


Bloodhounds

The ranger summons a pack of hounds, lizards, or other pack animals from another plane to follow the scent of a creature over long distance and after a long period of time. They do not attack the creature but make a loud ruckus that the ranger can follow.


Exploding Arrow

The ranger enchants their arrow with fire magic which causes it to violently explode up on striking their target


Giant Axe

The ranger enchants a hand axe and throws it. Once flung, the axe increases in size to that of giant of larger size.


Greenwood Limb

The ranger grows a limb of wood and plantlife from their chest. The wooden limb acts as another arm and can be used to make attacks or hold a shield.


Heatsight

The ranger can close their eyes and see heat when they reopen them. This also them to see objects that are invisible, or hidden behind stone or metal barriers. Extremely cold or hot items provide cover while the ranger is seeing this way


Implacable Pursuer

The ranger target a quarry and always knows where their quarry is, as long as it's moving. Whenever they move, the ranger knows.


Long Grasp

The ranger extends their reach with vines or ropes to make grapples and unarmed strikes from far away.


Othrus

The ranger transforms into a large hound with two fanged heads.


Sense Fear
The ranger telepathically enters their prey's mind, leaning how afraid they are and how to Intimidate them.


Steelskin

The ranger touches their skin and it turns into flexible steel. Their Armor Classes increases and they become immune to critical hits.


Strength of the Beast

The ranger touches a piece of hide and grants the might, speed, or toughness of the beast as they turn into a lycanthrope. They can shift between a humaniod, wolf, or hybrid wolfman form.


Umbral Escape

The ranger coats themselves in the black from the Shadowfell granting them a bonus to Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth.


Wildtalk

The ranger can touch a beast and as long as they remain in contact, the beast can speak and understand any language the ranger can.


Wooden Escape

The ranger, when hit by an attack, replaces themselves with plantlife from the Feywild. This causes the attack to miss.
 
Last edited:

log in or register to remove this ad

I'm not the biggest fan of ranger with spells, but these are all pretty interesting. Many of them could be shared with druids or wizard, but most could also be unique to ranger and that'd be fine.
 


i voted on the assumption that the spells wouldn't necessarily be ranger only and that rangers not being casters (or the spells being something other then spells) wasn't an option. they're cool.
 

Lots of great druid spells.

The only Ranger abilities (not spells but woodcraft) I see are:

Heatsight
Long Grasp
Sense Fear
Strength of the Beast


Remove the telepathy from Sense Fear of course.
 

I too am of the opinion that Rangers should primarily be a Skill based martial class BUT in a DnD world I allow for 'supernatural' skills and 'advanced tech' that appears magical but can be rationalised as not.

Thus:
Beastmeld - this is the ranger observing a beast and adapting their body to react like one (no magic needed)

Bloodhounds - its just calling pet(s) to help (just like Tarzan)

Exploding Arrow - not fire magic, just technology

Heatsight - Goggles of Nightsight exist in DnD

Implacable Pursuer - like Hunters Mark this is just enhanced observation and tracking skills

Sense Fear - again observation, reading body language, smelling stress etc

Strength of the Beast - supernatural but still Ranger wheelhouse of being 'in touch with nature', but lose the lycanthropy (think Tarzan and Lucan not Beastboy)

Wildtalk - Talking to animals is a classic trope from Doctor Doolittle and Snow White to Grizzly Adams to Tarzan
 



Rangers shouldn't be casters, at least not by default.
Personally, I don't think Rangers should have spells by default. However, if they do have, Windtalk is the only spell on the list would fit the spells I think they should have.
I'm not the biggest fan of ranger with spells, but these are all pretty interesting. Many of them could be shared with druids or wizard, but most could also be unique to ranger and that'd be fine.


For those of you who believe that the Rangers should not have magic spells by default, what by default should a Ranger have that differentiates them from a fighter or a rogue?
 


Remove ads

Top