On the Hunt

Starting at 1st level, when you see a creature, or find clues of a creatures presence, be they tracks or markings, you can use a bonus action to mark the creature as your prey. You can have multiple different prey at the same time. When you mark a creature as your prey you can choose to gain one of the benefits from the following list:

• You gain advantage on survival and nature checks to track and find it.
• You learn its damage Immunities, Resistances, and Vulnerabilities.
• You learn its Condition Immunities, and if it is a spell caster, the level of its highest level spell slot.

If you find new clues that would reveal more about it, or you can see it, you can assess it further as a bonus action, gaining one additional benefit from the list, possibly doing this repeatedly until you have gained all of the benefits from the list.

Whenever you complete a long rest, any creature currently marked as your prey, loses its mark, but you retain any knowledge you have learned about the creature.

Resourceful

As a hunter at 1st level, you are adept at scavenging for useful supplies. Whenever you forage for food or water, the rations you gain as a result are doubled.

Also, you can spend 1 hour to forage for potion and oil supplies to give you the edge within upcoming hunts. Doing so allows you to roll upon the common potions and oils table on pg 6. You gain the result.

At 10th level in this class you can roll upon the uncommon potions and oils table on pg 6 and gain the result.

You can only have three potions and oils created through this feature at a given time.

Favored Enemy

At 1st level, 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 (such as gnolls and orcs) as favored enemies. You can double your proficiency bonus on any survival, history, medicine, or nature check made against them. You also learn one language associated with this enemy, and whenever you mark them as your prey, you gain all of the listed benefits instead of just one, and can critically hit them on a roll of 19-20 while they are marked.

You can choose one additional favored enemy at 6th and 14th level in this class, learning more languages accordingly.

Fighting Style

At 2nd level, you adopt a particular style of hunting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You cant take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.

Weak Spot

Also at 2nd level, you can steady yourself in combat to target your preys weaknesses with precision. If you choose to not expend any of your movement during your turn, you gain the following benefits against those marked as your prey until the beginning of your next turn.

• You can add your Weak Spot damage (as displayed on the Hunter class table) as extra damage to all weapon attacks you make against them.
• If you hit them with advantage, and both rolls would have hit, you can force the target to make a Constitution saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier). On a failure you can select one of their attack options you have seen them use. They suffer disadvantage on attack rolls with the attack option until the end of their next turn, as you mutilate the body part needed to use it.

Hunter Archetype

At 3rd level, you choose an archetype that you aim to emulate. These 10 archetypes can be found on pages 8-21. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 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. Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead.

Extra Attack

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Hunters Eye

At 6th level, your visual and physical reaction time increases.

• You can add your Wisdom modifier to your initiative rolls.
• You can use an object interaction or make a perception check (that would require an action) as a bonus action.

Assess and Adapt

Also at 6th level, when you steady yourself in battle, you can more precisely perceive and react to oncoming threats. If you do not expend any of your movement on your turn, then for the rest of the round when an enemy misses you with an attack, or you succeed a Dexterity saving throw, you can roll, slide, or vault 10ft without expending any of your movement, shifting yourself out of danger. When moving in this way, enemies suffer disadvantage on opportunity attacks against you. You can do this a maximum of twice each round.

Stride

At 9th level, moving through creatures and rough terrain no longer slows your movement, and you can move while stealthing, climbing, and swimming, normally without your movement being slowed.

Traps

Also at 9th level, traps are added to your hunting arsenal.

Each time you complete a short or long rest, you can set a trap. You must set it up within 100ft of where the rest was taken. The different traps you can craft are outlined on pg 6.

The traps save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier.

On the Hunt Improvement

At 10th level, whenever you learn everything about a creature listed in your On the Hunt feature you gain the following benefits against them while they are marked as your prey:

• You can add your Wisdom modifier to any Dexterity based saving throw you make against them.
• Once per round when they attempt to hit you with an attack, you can expend your reaction to add your Wisdom modifier to your AC against this attack and any other attack they make against you until the beginning of your next turn. While you have this bonus to your AC, if they hit you, you lose this bonus to your AC.

Assess and Adapt Improvement

Beginning at 13th level, your ability to assess and adapt accordingly improves. Whenever you use an action or bonus action to make a Strength, Dexterity, or Wisdom based check, or mark a creature as your prey, you can roll, slide, or vault 10ft without expending any of your movement. Attacks of opportunity made against you while you move in this way suffer disadvantage.

Afar and Nigh

At 17th level, when you see creature marked as your prey use their movement, you can expend your reaction to make a weapon attack against them, counting the range from where they started. Furthermore, you no longer suffer disadvantage with ranged attacks due to targets being within 5ft of you.

Rapid Acumen

At 18th level, if you roll, slide, or vault 30ft or more without expending any of your movement during the same round, you can add your Wisdom modifier to the attack and damage rolls of all of your attacks until the end of your next turn.

Big Game Hunter

Finally when you reach 20th level in this class, your ability to assess the weaknesses in your enemies becomes legendary. Whenever you critically hit a target marked as your prey, they must make a Strength saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier.). On a failure, you can choose to remove one of the creatures attack options, this includes legendary attack options. If you choose an attack option that has the recharge trait, instead of removing the attack option, the next time the creature uses the attack option it also suffers the attacks effects. If the creature has only one attack option or succeeds the save, it instead suffers disadvantage on attacks made with that option until the end of its next turn.

Hunter Tables

Blood Hunter

Blood Hunters are mysterious and frightening. They study occult arts and rituals in order to eliminate their prey, causing many hunters to distrust them. They guard their secret hunting methods closely, but will exploit them often, taking steep sacrifices when necessary to slaughter their prey. This is no better exemplified than by the dangerous ritual all blood hunters undergo to transmute and mutate themselves. Once completed this allows them to harness their own life force as a weapon in combat, but also often leaves them with scars and blemishes. Some appearing almost untouched, while others gaining a new eye color or disfigured complexion.

Sanguine Mastery

At 15th level whenever you roll a 4 on a Weak Spot damage dice, you can deal 1d4 necrotic damage to yourself to deal 1 additional Weak Spot damage dice to the same target.

Daring Feats

At 7th level, you gain access to more complex tricks that require a higher amount of skill to pull off.

(3) Duck and Weave. As a bonus action you can grant yourself the benefits of half cover, and whenever you roll, slide, or vault 10ft without expending your movement, you can instead move 15ft. You gain these effects until the beginning of your next turn.

(3) Blinding Potion As an action you can throw a potion you have concocted at a point you can see within 30ft of you and shoot it or simply let it fall to the ground. All creatures within 10ft radius sphere centered on that point must succeed a dexterity saving throw or take 1d8 force damage + your Weak Spot damage and are blinded until the beginning of your next turn. On a successful save they take half damage.

(5) Lightning Trick You can cast the spell lightning arrow as a bonus action.

(6) Volley As an action, you can cast the spell conjure volley.

(7) Slashing Wind. As an action, you can cast the spell steel wind strike. When casting the spell in this way, instead of making melee spell attacks you make melee weapon attacks, and the spells damage replaces the damage for these weapon attacks.

(7) Show Stopper As an action or bonus action, you can throw an explosive potion you have concocted in the air and shoot it or simply let it fall to the ground. All creatures within 20ft radius sphere originating from the potion must succeed a Dexterity saving throw or take 5d8 bludgeoning, slashing, or piercing damage (your choice) + your Weak Spot damage and are blinded until the beginning of your next turn. Creatures take half damage on a successful save. If you used your bonus action for this trick you must also make the save. You cannot be blinded by this trick.

(10) Adrenaline Rush. As a bonus action, you gain the effects of the spell haste for 1 minute.

Hat Trick

At 11th level, your reaction time and ability to capitalize on your speed improves. While you are not wearing heavy armor and you gain an adrenaline point from one of the events described in your 3rd level feature Adrenaline, you regain your reaction if you have expended it previously on the same round. You can do this a once each round, increasing to twice at 15th level, and three times at 20th level in this class.

Show Off

Finally at 15th level, you can expend your reaction while performing the following tricks to increase their effects.

Trick Attack You can use this trick once more this turn.

Feint You can target one additional creature.

Ricochet. You do to not suffer disadvantage on the attack.

Show Stopper. You can teleport up to 30ft to a point you can see. As you vanish in the smoke of the blast and re appear some where else in a flurry of speed. You also avoid any damage caused by the explosion.

Adrenaline Rush. If you are below half your maximum hit points, you can roll your Weak Spot damage dice and gain an amount of temporary hit points equal to the amount rolled. This temporary HP lasts until the adrenaline rush fades.

Arcane Momentum

At 7th level, your experience with fighting mages increases. You can now utilize both your magic and momentum to attack with greater efficiency.

• Whenever you mutilate or remove an enemies attack option, you can instead choose to remove some of their spell slots. You can remove a number of spell slots equal to half your proficiency bonus (rounded down). When removing a spell slot, for each level it is higher than first, the number of spell slots you can remove is reduced by one.
• Whenever you hit an enemy with a weapon attack, you can expend a spell slot to tare into the enemy with arcane momentum. For every 10ft you have moved directly before the attack in a straight line towards the enemy (this includes teleporting, falling, and flying), they suffer an additional 1d4 force damage, to a maximum of 6d4. This benefit lasts for 1 minute per level of the spell slot used.
• Whenever you roll, slide, or vault 10ft without expending any of your movement, you can expend a spell slot to teleport 10ft before, during, or after, moving in this way. This benefit lasts for 1 minute per level of the spell slot used.
• Once per turn when an enemy you can see within 30ft of you casts a spell, you can expend your reaction and a spell slot to teleport to a point within 5ft of them and/or make a weapon attack against them. If the attack hits they must make a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure they suffer disadvantage on any attack roll made as part of the spell, and creatures targeted with the spell have advantage on any saving throw against it.

Rend Magic

Beginning at 11th Level, you learn counterspell and dispel magic as Mage Hunter spells. They do not count against your number spells known. Whenever you cast these spells they require a spell slot of one level lower than the level they are being cast at.

Arcane Feedback

Finally, at 15th level, whenever you successfully counterspell an enemy or dispel one of their spells, you can deal your Weak Spot damage to them as force damage.

Also, whenever you remove spell slots form an enemy, you can store some of the energy you purged from them, allowing you to cast one 3rd level spell without expending a spell slot within the next minute. This extends to 4th and 5th level spells at 18th level. The 5th level spells you can cast with this feature include Swift Quiver, Steel Wind Strike, Far Step, and Conjure Volley. All of these spells count as Mage Hunter spells and do not count against your number of spells known.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier every long rest.

Trapper

Methodical planners and masters of ambush, trappers prefer taking their time with trapping and slaying their prey. Trappers see other sorts of hunters as brash and dull, and exude great pride when a successful hunt has come to a close without receiving a single scratch on their own hide. Trappers who work for coin are sought after as often for disarming traps as laying them, however if given a the choice a trapper will always choose to do the later.

Master Trapper

Finally, at 15th level, you gain advantage on all attack rolls against creatures who have triggered one of your traps within the current or previous round of combat.

Deep Roots

At 7th level, you excel at holding a defensive position, and ensuring your enemies cannot escape your methodical grasp.

• If you choose to not expend any of your movement on your turn, you can brace yourself against oncoming attacks as a bonus action. While you are braced in this way, you gain a +1 to your AC, and advantage on Strength and Constitution saving throws until the beginning of your next turn.
• If you choose to not expend any of your movement on your turn, you can grant yourself advantage on a spell attack you make against a prone creature, or afflict a prone creature with disadvantage on a saving throw against a spell you cast that turn.
• Whenever you disable or remove an enemies attack option, you can also choose to knock them prone, as roots pull them to the ground.
• At the end of your turn, if you have not expended any of your movement, you can roll your Weak Spot dice and gain the result as temporary hit points until the end of your next turn.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier every short or long rest.

Crawling Bulwark

Beginning at 11th level, if you do not expended any movement on your turn, roots sprout and writhe around you, protecting your allies, and harassing your enemies. Allies within 10ft of you gain half cover against ranged attacks, and enemies have their movement speed reduced by 10ft.

Withstand and Repel

Finally, at 15th level, you have learned how to consolidate more layers of defense. Whenever you receive temporary hit points while you already have temporary hit points, instead of being forced to choose one or the other, you can choose to add these temporary hit points to your current temporary hit points. Doing so however weighs you down, and each time you do this, your movement speed is reduced 10ft until your temporary hit points are lost or reduced to 0.

Additionally, as an action you can reduce your temporary hit points to 0, causing them to strike out from you as roots, thorns, or another form you choose. Enemies within 20ft of you must succeed a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC or suffer an amount of damage equal the temporary hit points you expended and are pushed back 15ft and knocked prone. This is dealt as piercing, bludgeoning, or slashing damage (your choice) and is treated as magical for the purposes of overcoming resistances and immunities. They take half damage on a successful save.

Mage Hunter Spell List

Purifier Spell List

Warden Spell List

Design notes

This is more or less a complete redesign. The only things that I have kept from the PHB ranger is favored enemy, resourceful, extra attack, and fighting styles. There was three core design goals I wanted to incorporate into this re design.

1. A clear sense of theme. This is underlined by the name change from Ranger to Hunter. I wanted the class to be centered around tracking, studying and eliminating prey, and I felt that the name Hunter would reinforce this theme more aptly than ranger. Ranger felt too vague to me, and re branding the class to hunter allowed me to make more interesting decisions subclass wise. For example I find it a bit odd that the Scout is a Rogue subclass and not a Ranger one, and I think re branding the Ranger as the Hunter helped pull it away from treading the same ground as rogues or even druids with the elimination of spellcasting.

2. A play style that reflects their keen and methodical nature. Taking your time to take aim at your target and exploit their weaknesses would be enough to distinguish them from the other classes. Their On the Hunt + Weak Spot features are really what makes the redesign of the class have its identity. Sacrificing your movement and bonus action to bump your damage both at melee and at range. I didn't want this mechanic to feel too similar to the rogues sneak attack. Sacrificing movement to be able to do it, and applying it to all your attacks instead of just one, felt like a good way of achieving this design goal.

3. Fun mobility options. I enjoy mechanics in games that give you small short range dashes, rolls, or teleports, and giving the Hunter more mobility later on as they level to offset their lack of mobility as part of using Weak Spot fits well. This should make Hunters feel more accomplished and reactive in combat, as they see their enemies blows coming towards them, dashing away with their high Wisdom. I would also bring into this point combo potential within the class and plenty of synergy for skilled players. Such as Mage Hunters trying to string together movement combos to give them the most damage with arcane momentum. Combat combos with multiple moving parts are something that I feel is lacking within martial class features in 5e.