Nomad archetype for Ranger
Anywhere I Roam
All rangers are travelers, but Nomads are rangers who carry wanderlust even deeper in their hearts than most. They never stay in one place long, constantly on the move. They have trekked through every environment on the Material Plane, learned their ways and their secrets, and can make their home anywhere.
They are adaptive and attuned to the earth, able to gain an edge in any terrain and find their way past any obstacle. Their magical harmony with the earth can even allow them to alter the land around them, ensuring they're always in control of any situations they find themselves in.
No matter where a Nomad finds themselves, they are always prepared to survive.
Subclass Features
Nomad Magic
Starting at 3rd level, you learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Nomad Spells table. The spell counts as a ranger spell for you, but it doesn’t count against the number of ranger spells you know.
Nomad Magic Table
| Ranger Level | Spell |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Expeditious Retreat |
| 5th | Alter Self |
| 9th | Elemental Weapon |
| 13th | Conjure Minor Elemental |
| 17th | Mislead |
Native Habitat
By 3rd level, through your extensive travels you have become accustomed to all natural environments, and you gain additional benefits based on the terrain in which you find yourself. When you are in a space classified as one of the following environment types by your DM, you gain the associated benefits listed in the below Native Habitat table. You lose the benefits of a specific environment type when you leave a space classified as that type, and gain the benefits of the new space in which you stand.
You can also now speak, read, and write Sylvan and Undercommon.
Native Habitat Table
| Habitat | Benefits |
|---|---|
| Arctic | You gain resistance to cold damage, and can move across and climb icy surfaces without needing to make an ability check. |
| Coastal | You gain the shape water cantrip, and you gain the ability to move across liquid surfaces as if they were harmless solid ground. |
| Desert | You gain resistance to fire damage, and advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks. |
| Forest | You have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks, and can cast Speak With Animals as a ritual, even if you do not know it. |
| Grassland | You gain the gust cantrip and ignore disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks or ranged attack rolls related to strong wind or heavy precipitation. |
| Hill | You gain temporary hit points equal to 1d6 + your WIS modifier at the start of each of your turns and have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks. |
| Mountain | You gain a climbing speed equal to twice your walking speed, and are acclimated to high altitude, including elevations above 20,000 feet. |
| Swamp | You gain resistance to poison damage and difficult terrain does not slow your movement. |
| Underdark | You gain the dancing lights cantrip and darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. If you already have darkvision, its range increases by 60 feet. |
| Underwater | You gain the ability to breathe underwater and a swim speed equal to double your walking speed. |
| Urban | You gain advantage on Charisma (Deception) and Wisdom (Insight) checks, and you can't be surprised. |
Terraformer
By level 3, you are so connected to the terrain around you that you are able to transmute it at will. You gain the Mold Earth cantrip. It counts as a Ranger spell for you and does not count against the number of spells known. It also gains the following additional property:
- Mold Terrain. When you use Mold Earth, you are able to transmute a space designated as one environment type (such as grassland) into a space designated as another environment type (such as swamp) and when you stand in that space, you are able to gain your Nomad benefits for that environment type as defined in the "Natural Habitat" feature of this subclass.
- You can have no more than one 5-foot cube transmuted in this way at a time. If you transmute another space, the first one reverts to its natural state.
Homeostasis
Whatever environs you find yourself in, your first priority is to preserve the delicate ecological balance. By 7th level, you have learned to drive out invading species that may be harmful to the local equilibrium. Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can force it to make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, it takes psychic damage equal to your Wisdom modifier and is turned.
Soul of the Wilds
By 11th level, your continued travels have deepened your connection to your surroundings, and you gain new benefits based on the manner of terrain in which you find yourself, in addition to those granted by the Natural Habitat feature. When you are in the listed environments, you gain the associated benefits listed on the Soul of the Wilds Table.
You can also now speak, read, and write Primordial and Draconic.
Soul of the Wilds Table
| Habitat | Benefits |
|---|---|
| Arctic | You ignore cold resistances and can cast the ice storm spell once without material components or expending a spell slot and regain that use when completing a short or a long rest. |
| Coastal | You can hold your breath a number of hours equal to your Constitution modifier, and can cast the control water spell once without material components or expending a spell slot and regain that use when completing a short or a long rest. |
| Desert | You ignore fire resistances, and can cast the wall of sand spell once without material components or expending a spell slot and regain that use when completing a short or a long rest. |
| Forest | You have advantage on initiative rolls, and can cast the greater invisibility spell once without material components or expending a spell slot and regain that use when completing a short or a long rest. |
| Grassland | Your walking speed doubles, and you can cast the control winds spell once without material components or expending a spell slot and regain that use when completing a short or a long rest. |
| Hill | Your temporary hit points from the Natural Habitat trait increase to 3d6 + your WIS modifier, and you have advantage on all Strength (Athletics) and Dexterity (acrobatics) checks. |
| Mountain | You automatically succeed on saving throws against effects that would knock you prone, and can cast the storm sphere spell once without material components or expending a spell slot and regain that use when completing a short or a long rest. |
| Swamp | You are immune to poison damage and can cast the insect plague spell once without material components or expending a spell slot and regain that use when completing a short or a long rest. |
| Underdark | You gain the Fey Ancestry trait, and can cast the spider climb spell once without material components or expending a spell slot and regain that use when completing a short or a long rest. |
| Underwater | You gain blindsight out to 30 feet and advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature that doesn't have all its hit points. |
| Urban | You gain advantage on all skill checks to buy or sell items at a higher price, as well as the Pack Tactics feature. |
Earthshaker
At 15th level, you are truly at one with the earth and are able to move through it with speed and strength at will. Once per turn when you take the Attack action, you can substitute one of your attacks in that action with a 3rd level use of the spell Thunder Step requiring no verbal, somatic, or material components, magically transporting yourself through the surrounding terrain and damaging those you leave behind.
You are also able to coax more changes out of the environs in which you stand. When you use the Terraformer trait of the Mold Earth cantrip, you can now have two separate spaces transmuted simultaneously. If you attempt to transmute a third, one of the others reverts to its natural state.