Ranger Conclave
Deathhunter
The grimly-named Deathhunter Conclave is devoted to the extermination of the undead. These rangers trek across the land, seeking to destroy rogue undead wherever they are found. A day's work might involve tracking down a zombie, abandoned by its necromantic master, and ensuring its destruction before it can menace the innocent.
Most Deathhunters are implacable enemies of necromancy — but not all. Indeed, some work hand-in-bone-hand with the necromancer barons, tasked with managing the collateral damage of the barons' blasphemous experimentation. Some Deathhunters detect all necromancers, extending their war against the dead to include the reanimators. But others are willing to distinguish so-called "grey" necromancy, the kind that avoids outright hostility to life in favor of ruthless competition against it.
Deathhunter Conclave Features
| Ranger Level | Features |
|---|---|
| 3rd | Deathhunter Spells, Grave Sense, Hunter's Tools, Deathblow |
| 7th | Terror for the Dead |
| 11th | Bury the Foe |
| 15th | Grim Templar |
Deathhunter Spells
Starting at 3rd level, you learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the table below. The spell counts as a ranger spell for you, but it doesn’t count against the number of ranger spells you know.
| Ranger Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 3rd | divine favor |
| 5th | gentle repose |
| 9th | spectral championSDS |
| 13th | heavenly rayK |
| 17th | hallow |
You might look at replacing divine favor with sacred strikesSDS, which bumps its damage up by a point.
Grave Sense
When you join the Deathhunter conclave at 3rd level, you hone your aptitude for hunting the dead. You gain proficiency in Perception, or another ranger skill if you are already proficient.
In addition, you are expert at detecting the undead. As an action, you can extend your senses to search for them. You know if any undead are within 1 mile, and can immediately identify any undead within 100 feet. You can detect undead in this way a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier, regaining all uses after finishing a long rest.
Hunter's Tools
Also at 3rd level, you learn to craft the supplies needed for your calling. When you finish a long rest, you can spend 10 minutes to craft one special vial of holy water. This vial becomes regular water the next time you finish a long rest.
Deathblow
Also at 3rd level, you focus your attacks on destroying a single target, especially one of the undead. At the start of your turn, you can designate one creature you can see as your chosen quarry. The first time each turn you hit your quarry with a weapon attack, the attack deals 1d8 bonus radiant damage. If the quarry is undead, it instead deals 3d4 bonus radiant damage.
If you do not have a quarry, designate a new one at the start of your turn (no action). A creature ceases to be your quarry if it is reduced to 0 hit points or if you lose sight of it for 1 minute. You can only have one quarry designated at a time.
At level 11, this bonus increases to 2d8 (6d4 against undead).
Terror for the Dead
At 7th level, you learn to impart just a bit of a priest's holy might. As a reaction when a creature hits you with a melee attack, you can recite an abjuring chant. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, it is frightened of you until the end of its next turn. Creatures with resistance or immunity to Turn Undead make this save with advantage or automatically succeed, respectively.
You can use this feature once, regaining its use after finishing a short or long rest. If you destroy an undead creature marked as your quarry, you immediately regain use of this feature.
Bury the Foe
At 11th level, your implacable will makes you a ruthlessly efficient warrior. When you designate a new chosen quarry, you can make one attack aginst your quarry as a bonus action.
In addition, your attacks against the undead now score critical hits on a roll of 19-20.
Grim Templar
At 15th level, your Terror for the Dead feature improves. When you use it, all creatures of your choice within 30 feet must make the saving throw.
In addition, whenever an undead creature would have fewer hit points than your ranger level after being hit by one of your attacks or subjected to Terror for the Dead, it falls to 0 hit points.
Deathhunter Conclave quirks
The following are some optional quirks for a player of this subclass to choose from.
| d6 | Quirk |
|---|---|
| 1 | Your eyes glow a luminous green when you sense undead. |
| 2 | You adorn your equipment with skull icons. |
| 3 | You always keep a sharpened stake on your belt, just in case. |
| 4 | Years of graveyard stink have turned you into a vegetarian. |
| 5 | You bless new equipment with holy water whenever you obtain some. |
| 6 | You hate clerics. Dabblers. |
Feats
Marksman
Prerequisite: must have an Extra Attack feature
You have practiced extensively for taking a single devastating shot at your foes. When you attack with a weapon that has the loading property, you can make it a Marksman Shot, which applies the following effects:
- Your weapon's damage dice are doubled for the attack.
- You can add your ability modifier to its damage a second time.
- Before you make the attack roll, you can attempt to aim precisely. If you do so, you can subtract half your character level from the attack roll and add your character level to the damage dealt.
- If your last attack was a Marksman Shot, you have advantage when making a Marksman Shot against the same target.
If you make a Marksman Shot, you can't attempt any other attack on your turn by any means.
The Marksman feat attempts to provide proper support for weapons that can only fire once per turn. It also folds in a form of power attack; it's not suggested to let it stack with other types of power attack. If you do, though, that to-hit penalty would be brutal. Also, tell me how it goes, that sounds hilarious.
Appendix 1: Spell Sources
Spells used are available in these collections, all of which are free to use and reference for any purpose.
- Spells That Don't Suck is a set of spells by Omega Ankh and somanyrobots, creating replacements for problematic spells contained in first-party WotC materials. These are marked with SDS.
- So Many Spells is a set of wholly original spells written by somanyrobots. These are marked with S.
- Kibbles' Casting Compendium is the complete set of spells written by KibblesTasty. These are marked with K.
Change Log
v0.1
- Rough Draft
Credits & References:
- Deathhunter Conclave created by somanyrobots | Discord | Patreon
Spells
- Spectral Champion and Sacred Strikes by Omega Ankh and Somanyrobots
- Heavenly Ray by KibblesTasty
Art
Sawblade Slinger, by Joshua Raphael © Wizards of the Coast LLC
Background Image Stains
License
© 2025 somanyrobots, CC BY-NC 4.0
Includes spells from Kibbles' Casting Compendium 2.0 by KibblesTasty Homebrew LLC, which is licensed CC-BY and available here.
Includes spells from Spells That Don't Suck by Omega Ankh and somanyrobots, which is licensed CC-BY and available here.
Fan Content Policy
This work is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
5E SRD Content
This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available here.
The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available here.