Creating a Ranger

As you create your ranger character, consider the nature of the training that gave you your particular capabilities. Did you train with a single mentor, wandering the wilds together until you mastered the ranger's ways? Did you leave your apprenticeship, or was your mentor slain - perhaps by the same kind of monster that became your favored enemy? Or perhaps you learned your skills as part of a band of rangers affiliated with a druidic circle, trained in wilderness lore and the power of the natural flora.

You might be self-taught, a recluse who learned combat skills, tracking, or herbalism through the necessity of surviving in the wilds.

What's the source of your particular hatred of a certain kind of enemy? Did a monster kill someone you loved or destroy your home village? Or did you see too much of the destruction these monsters cause and commit yourself to reining in their depredations? Is your adventuring career a continuation of your work in protecting the borderlands, or a significant change?

What made you join up with a band of adventurers? Do you find it challenging to teach new allies the ways of the wild, or do you welcome the relief from solitude that they offer?

Class Features

As a ranger, you gain the following class features.

Favored Enemy

Beginning at 1st level, you have significant experience studying, tracking, hunting, and even talking to a certain type of enemy commonly encountered in the wilds.

Choose a type of favored enemy: aberrations, beasts, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, giants, monstrosities, oozes, plants, or undead. Alternatively, you can select two races of humanoid as favored enemies. The first attack you make against your favored enemy each turn is made with advantage.

Additionally, you have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track your favored enemies, as well as on Intelligence checks to recall information about them. When you gain this feature, you also learn one language of your choice, typically one spoken by your favored enemy or creatures associated with it. However, you are free to pick any language you wish to learn. You gain an additional favored enemy (and associated language) at 6th and 14th levels.

Natural Explorer

You are a master of navigating the natural world, letting you ignore the slowing effects of traveling through difficult terrain.

In addition, you gain the following benefits when traveling for at least an hour:

• Difficult terrain doesn't slow your group's travel.
• Your group can't become lost except by magical means.
• Even when you are engaged in another activity while traveling (such as foraging, navigating, or tracking), you remain alert to danger.
• If you're alone, you can move stealthily at a normal pace.
• You find twice as much food as normal when foraging.
• While tracking other creatures, you also learn their exact number and how long ago they passed through the area.

Wild Kinship

At 1st level, your familiarity with the natural world lets you relate to beasts, and they recognize you as a kindred spirit.

Through sounds and gestures, you can communicate simple ideas to a beast as an action, and can read its basic mood and intent. You learn its emotional state, whether it is affected by magic, its short-term needs (like food or safety), and actions you can take (if any) to persuade it to not attack.

You cannot use this ability against a creature that has been attacked within the past 10 minutes

Fighting Style

At 2nd level, you adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can’t take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.

Defense

While you are wearing armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.

Dueling

When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.

Two-Weapon Fighting

When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.

Marked Prey

Also at 2nd level, you gain the ability to Mark a target within 90 feet of you as your quarry using a bonus action. You focus your attention on the target's behaviors, sounds, and smells in order to predict its every move. You can maintain this Mark for up to an hour on a target, and you gain advantage on any Perception or Survival checks you make in order to find your quarry.

The first time each round that you hit a Marked target with a weapon attack, that target takes an additional 1d8 weapon damage. You can only have one Marked Prey at a time, and you lose the Mark's affects if you fall unconscious.

You can use this feature a number of times as shown on the Ranger table before needing to finish a long rest to use it again. If your quarry falls to 0 hit points, you may move your Mark to another target as a bonus action within a minute without expending another use of this feature.

Concoctions

Starting at 2nd level, you can start crafting Concoctions using natural materials. Over the course of your adventures, you forage and store the ingredients you need in order to craft them.

When you gain this feature, you learn three recipes of your choice. Concoctions increase in potency as you gain levels in this class. You learn more recipes at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th levels, as shown on the Ranger table. Whenever you gain a new Ranger level, you can choose to forget a recipe and replace with another one instead. Recipes are detailed at the end of this class description.

You can make Concoctions from your list of known recipes every long rest. In order to keep them fresh and potent, you empty your unused Concoctions at the end of each long rest before making new ones using your stash of foraged ingredients. You can make a maximum number of Concoctions per long rest equal to 2 plus half your Ranger level, rounded down. Making one Concoction takes two minutes and can be done throughout the day as time permits.

You can give Concoctions to your allies for them to use. Unused Concoctions held by your allies also expire at the end of their next long rest.

Use the Concoction DC below whenever a Concoction that you made calls for a target to make a saving throw.

Concoction DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier.

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Ranger Conclaves

At 3rd level, you choose to emulate the ideals and training of a ranger conclave: the Beast Conclave, the Hunter Conclave, or the Harvest Conclave, all detailed at the end of the class description. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 5th, 7th, 11th, and 15th level.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Cunning Action

At 6th level, your quick thinking and agility allow you to move and act quickly. You can take a Bonus Action on each of your turns in Combat. This action can be used only to take the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action.

If you have an animal companion, it also gains this feature.

Hide In Plain Sight

By 8th level, you're an expert at avoiding detection while at rest. You can spend 30 minutes using locally found resources and naturally occurring materials to camouflage a camp site and hide up to 6 medium sized companions in a 15 foot radius. By doing so, you also eliminate any tracks or other traces from your group’s traveling in the immediate area surrounding the camp.

Camouflaging a campsite in this way grants the creatures within its radius a +10 bonus to Stealth checks to remain concealed from creatures. Anything overt, such as a fire or talking above a whisper, negates this benefit.

Sharpened Mark

At 10th level, your focus on Marked Prey intensifies. The damage your Marked Prey inflicts increases to 2d8 per round.

Subversive Mark

At 14th level, creatures affected by your Marked Prey can no longer hide behind their defenses. Weapon attacks that you or an animal companion make against your quarry count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Vial of Swiftness

At 18th level, you devise a new Concoction recipe that that grants your hands supernatural agility. For one minute after drinking it, you can make two ranged or melee weapon attacks as a bonus action on each of your turns. Melee attacks made in this way must be done using a weapon with the finesse property.

You can drink this Concoction twice before needing a long rest to use it again, and only you can benefit from it.

Foe Slayer

By 20th level, you've developed unparalleled instincts. Your Wisdom increases by 4, even if it's already 20. Your maximum Wisdom score increases to 24.

Once on each of your turns, you can add your Wisdom modifier to either the attack roll or the damage roll of an attack you make. You can choose to use this feature before or after the roll, but before any effects of the roll are applied.

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Ranger Conclaves

Across the wilds, rangers come together to form conclaves: loose associations whose members share a similar outlook on how best to protect nature from those who despoil it.

Beast Conclave

Many rangers are more at home in the wilds than civilization, to the point where animals consider them kin. Rangers of the Beast Conclave develop a close bond with a beast, becoming a well-orchestrated force as they grow closer together.

Animal Companion

At 3rd level, you form a powerful bond with a creature of the natural world. Whether it be by a life-altering event, a mutual sense of understanding through chance encounters, or by some other force, you and a creature become partners. In the event where there isn't a narrative behind your companion's appearance at 3rd level, you may spend 8 hours and 50gp worth of powerful, rare herbs to call forth a creature from the wilderness to serve as your companion. You can only have one companion at a time.

As a rule of thumb, a beast can serve as an animal companion if it is Medium or smaller, has 15 or fewer hit points, and cannot deal more than 8 damage with a single attack. In general, that applies to creatures with a challenge rating of 1/4 or less, but there are exceptions. Your DM might pick one of these for you based on the surrounding terrain and available wildlife. Consult your DM if you would like to form a bond with a different creature than those listed.

If your companion dies, you can make a special Concoction using pieces of fur, scales, or feathers from your late companion and an assortment of rare, forageable components. The process of foraging and creating this Concoction is slow and delicate, taking you 8 hours of concentrated effort. You can give this Concoction to a new companion, granting them the knowledge and experience of its predecessor.

Companion's Bond

Your animal companion gains a variety of benefits while it's linked to you. It's recommended to have a character sheet for a companion, as they are treated as a separate creature with unique abilities and statistics.

• The animal companion loses any Multiattack action it has.
• The companion takes its turn on your initiative and obeys your commands as best it can. Both you and your companion can move and use an action as normal during your turn.
• When using your Natural Explorer feature, you and your animal companion can move stealthily at a normal pace.
• Choose two skills for it to become proficient in in addition to any it is already.
• The companion uses your proficiency bonus to add to its rolls instead of its own. Add your proficiency bonus to the beast’s AC, attack rolls, damage rolls, all saving throws and any skills that it is proficient in.
• You companion's hit point maximum equals the hit point number in its stat block or four times your ranger level, whichever is higher.

• Whenever you gain the Ranger's Ability Score Improvement class feature, your companion’s abilities also improve. You and your companion each have 2 ability points to spend as you wish. At your DM's discretion, your companion may elect to take a feat instead of increasing its ability scores.
• Your companion gains the benefits of hunting your Marked Prey and favored enemies. Each turn, you decide if either you or your companion will gain the benefits from your Marked Prey or favored enemy.

Pack Sharing

By 5th level, you and your companion form a pack-like bond. You can both benefit the from the effects of Draughts that you drink while next to each other.

In addition, you each regain an additional 1d6 hit points when you take a short rest together.

Beast's Resolve

At 7th level, while you and your companion can see each other, your companion has advantage on all saving throws.

Storm of Claws and Fangs

Also at 7th level, your companion can use its action to make a melee attack against each creature of its choice within 5 feet with a separate attack roll for each target. It can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (a minimum of once) before needing to finish a short or long rest to use it again.

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Harvest Conclave

Other Rangers prefer to let chemistry handle the difficulties of adventuring. Rangers of the Harvest Conclave tend to develop an innate understanding of the natural world, and will supplement their attacks with Concoctions to cripple their foes and protect their allies.

Quick Mix

At 15th level when you roll for initiative and have no Concoctions left, you can hastily cobble together ingredients to create two Concoctions from your known recipes. If you had already made the maximum amount since your last long rest, you create one instead.

Concoction Recipes

Concoctions are made in Flasks, Vials, and other assorted vessels using naturally-occurring materials. Depending on the ranger who makes them, their effects can vary wildly. And, like with all skills, Concoctions get better with practice. Using a Concoction takes an action unless it says otherwise.

A Substitute for the Arcane

There are no spells with this Ranger. Concococtions are meant to replace some of the utility that's lost while offering new options to the class. Because these can be handed out to other allies, their power is inherently increased. On the other hand, Concoctions need to be created in advance, meaning they aren't quite as flexible as a spell slot. Because of these factors, Concoctions should be, on average, a little bit less powerful than their magical counterparts.

Healing Draught

Drinking this Concoction regains health equal to 1d6 + your Wisdom modifier. A creature can fully benefit from these effects only once before needing a short rest. If a creature is healed by this Concoction more than once before taking a short rest, its healing is halved. This Draught can be administered to another willing creature as an action.

At higher levels: This Draught heals for an additional 1d6 at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th levels.

Vial of Cat's Sight

A creature can drink this Concoction as a bonus action to dilate their eyes beyond their normal limits for up to four hours. The creature gains darkvision of up to 30 feet.

At higher levels: At 9th level, your darkvision increases to 60 feet when you drink this Concoction.

Acidic Flask

As an action, you can hurl this Concoction at a creature or object within 30 feet of you. The Flask shatters on impact. A creature that fails a Dexterity saving throw takes 2d6 + your Wisdom modifier of acid damage. An inanimate object is automatically hit, and the damage is maximized.

At higher levels: Your Acidic Flask deals an additional 1d6 acid damage at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th levels.

Draught of Soft Steps

A creature can drink this slippery Concoction as an action to temporarily improve their fine motor control, granting it a +10 bonus to any Dexterity (Stealth) checks for the next hour.

At higher levels: At 5th level, you revise the recipe to let it produce a vapor thatprovides the same benefits as drinking the Draught. As an action, you can open the Concoction to create an invisible cloud of vapor around you. Once exposed to the air, the Concoction cannot be stoppered and opened again. Creatures of your choice that stay within 30 feet of you can add +10 to their Dexterity (Stealth) checks.

If you're struck while using the Draught in this way, make a Concentration check to avoid having the Draught destroyed by the impact.

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Tar Flask

As an action, you can hurl this Concoction at a creature or point within 30 feet of you. The Flask shatters on impact and spreads the Tar in a 10-foot radius, turning it into difficult terrain. Targets within 5 feet of the Flask's point of impact must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is covered in the thick Tar and is restrained for up to one minute. The creature can use its action every turn to make a Strength saving throw and extract itself from the Tar. The Tar dries quickly and loses its stickiness after one minute.

At higher levels: By 5th level, all creatures within the radius of the Tar must make a Dexterity saving throw when it's spread.

At 9th level, you start mixing the Tar with flammable ingredients. If set alight, creatures who enter or start their turns in the terrain take 2d6 fire damage. A creature covered in the Tar remains lit and takes 1d4 fire damage at the start of their turns until they extract themselves from the Tar.

Vial of Everlasting Air

Drinking this Concoction as a bonus action boosts the drinker's lung capacity, tripling the duration a creature can hold its breath for. This Concoction's effects last for one hour.

At higher levels: This Concoction becomes further concentrated to hold one extra serving per Vial for each time you reach 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th levels.

At 9th level, the Concoction's potency is also increased, letting creatures who drink this hold their breath for up to five times their normal duration.

Panacea Draught

A blinded, deafened, diseased, or poisoned creature that drinks this Concoction gains advantage on its saving throws for the next minute in order to recover from these conditions.

At higher levels: By 9th level, you've learned how to treat most temporary ailments. Your Panacea can immediately cure one of the statuses listed above in addition to its other benefits.

Bloodfire Poison

This Concoction can be used to poison a slashing or piercing melee weapon or set of ammunition. As a bonus action, you can coat a blade or piece of ammunition with the poison. Your next successful weapon attack that uses the poisoned blade or ammunition deals an additional 1d4 poison damage.

There is enough poison for two applications to be made in this way. Poison that's been applied to a weapon or piece of ammunition lasts for up to an hour if unused in a successful attack.

Food or drink that has been poisoned with this Concoction carries a slightly metallic flavor that can be detected with a successful Intelligence (Investigation) check. Creatures that ingest the poison take the maximum amount of damage per serving used.

At higher levels: The poison's damage die increases to 1d6 at 5th level, 1d8 at 9th level, 1d10 at 13th level, and 1d12 at 17th level.

Glimmerbug Flask

As an action, you can hurl this Concoction at a creature or target within 30 feet of you. The Flask shatters on impact, sending glittering dust into the air in a 10-foot radius. Creatures within that area must succeed a Dexterity saving throw or be covered in the shimmering dust. Attacks made against the affected creatures are made with advantage for up to a minute.

At higher levels: By 9th level you've learned how to polish the Glimmerbug fragments even further, forcing affected creatures to have disadvantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks.

Glow Potion

You create a syrupy, luminescent mixture that emits bright light for 20 feet and dim light for another 20 feet. This Concoction contains enough liquid for three servings, with each one powerful enough for it to glow for four hours. You can add a chemical reagent as a bonus action on your turn to change the color of the light or pause the glowing effect: saving the remaining time for later use.

You can apply one serving of this mixture to an item or willing creature to emit light from it. You can wipe the mixture off to snuff out the light as a bonus action. If you attempt to apply this mixture on an unwilling creature, it must make a Dexterity saving throw to avoid it.

At higher levels: By 9th level, you make the mixture acidic. By using an action and two servings of the potion, you can dip a blade or arrow in the Concoction before immediately making a single weapon attack. If the attack hits, the target takes an additional 3d6 acid damage and emits a dim glow until the end of your next turn, granting the next ally to make an attack against it advantage on the attack.

Draught of the Beast

As an action, you can drink this Concoction and undergo a hallucinogenic effect for ten minutes. You can interpret the sounds beasts make as language, letting you hold basic conversations with them. The knowledge and awareness of many beasts is limited by their intelligence, but at minimum, beasts can give you information about nearby locations and monsters, including whatever they can perceive or have perceived over the last day. Only you can gain these benefits.

At higher levels: At 5th level, you can share this Concoction with a willing beast to temporarily share its awareness. For the Concoction's duration you become blind and deaf, but perceive through the beast's senses instead, including any special ones that the beast may have. You may end the effects early using an action to regain your senses.

At 9th level, your survival senses become heightened and can make Wisdom (Perception and Survival) checks with advantage for the duration.

Betterberry Gruel

A creature can take a minute to consume this thick but tasty gruel. It provides enough nourishment to sustain a creature for 24 hours and grants that creature 1 temporary hit point for each Ranger level you have. Once consumed, a creature needs a long rest before they are able to gain these benefits again.

At higher levels: The Gruel hold an additional serving at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th levels.

Vial of Nurseweed

A creature can spend a bonus action to drink this small vial of foul-smelling liquid to regain 2d4+4 health. This Concoction dulls the nerves to provide some temporary pain relief, granting it temporary hit points equal to half your Ranger level (rounded up). A creature cannot benefit from this Concoction again until it finishes a long rest. This Vial can be administered to another willing creature as an action.

At higher levels: This Vial heals for an additional 1d4 at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th levels.

Firewater Flask

As an action, you can hurl this Concoction at a creature or point within 30 feet of you. The Flask shatters on impact and creates a 10-foot radius cloud of noxious vapor for one minute before dissipating. Creatures inside this cloud at the start of their turn must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the creature's eyes begin to sting unbearably, causing any attacks it makes on that turn to be made with disadvantage. If a creature has Blindsight, Tremorsense, or has no eyes, they are unaffected by the cloud of vapor.

A moderate wind (of at least 10 miles per hour) disperses the cloud after 5 rounds. A strong wind (at least 20 miles per hour) disperses it after 1 round.

You can drink this to become drunk, although it isn't a pleasant way to do so.

At higher levels: By 13th level, you've learned how to make this Concoction flammable. If the cloud is set alight by either magical or nonmagical means, the cloud is ignited into a ball of flame before immediately dissipating. Creatures caught in the flame must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, they take 6d6 fire damage, or half as much on a successful one.

Draught of Oaken Flesh

Drinking this Concoction temporarily tightens and reinforces a creature's skin for one hour, increasing its AC by 2 and up to a maximum of 16.

A creature can only benefit from this Draught once per short rest, and its effects can be ended early by a Dispel Magic spell.

At higher levels: By 5th level, the effects become more potent. For the duration, the creature's AC can't be less than 16, regardless of what kind of armor it is wearing. By 13th level, a creature can benefit from this Draught any number of times between rests.

Sleep Flask

As an action, you can hurl this Concoction at a creature or point within 30 feet of you. The Flask shatters on impact, creating a 10-foot radius cloud of sleeping gas. Roll 3d8; the total is how many hit points of creatures this Concoction can affect. Creatures within 10 feet of a point you choose within range are affected in ascending order of their current hit points (ignoring unconscious creatures).

Starting with the creature that has the lowest current hit points, each creature affected by this cloud of sleeping gas falls unconscious for one minute. If the sleeper takes damage or someone uses an action to shake or slap the sleeper awake, the creature wakes back up. Subtract each creature's hit points from the total before moving on to the creature with the next lowest hit points. A creature's hit points must be equal to or less than the remaining total for that creature to be affected. Undead and creatures immune to being Charmed aren't affected by this Concoction.

This Concoction can be used to drug food and drink. When applying it in this way, roll the dice before any creatures ingest it. The order of creatures affected by it is determined by the order in which it is consumed.

At higher levels: Roll an additional 2d8 when determining total hit points of creatures affected at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th levels.

Artwork Credits

Dushnikh Yal Archer cover art by Nuare Studio
Forest background by Veli Nyström (p.1)
Female Ranger (with edits) by Yuriy Georgiev (p.1)
Oathbow and Vicious Weapon (Rapier) by Wizards of the Coast (pp.3 & 6)
Male Ranger by Paizo Publishing (p.4)
Forest background by psdeluxe (p.4)
Beast Conclave Ranger and Lynx by Aurore Folny, ©Black Book Editions (p.5)
Alchemy Flask art by Michael Fitzhywel (pp.7 & 9)

Questions? Comments? Concerns?
Message griff-mac with your thoughts and balance suggestions. Thank you to everyone who already has.

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