Spell-less Ranger

Overview & Creation

Not sure this should be flair'd as a class or a resource, as it's not a homebrew but rather collecting disparate rules in the one place. But anyway... Since the reworked ranger dropped, I've been looking into how this affects the Spell-less ranger class. Turns out, it doesn't do much to change it. Regardless, I felt the need to post this, compiling all the rules, which are now split into the places to look through, into one place. Aside from the two points listed below, this is all official WotC stuff before anyone gets confused.   Consider the following paragraph the TL;DR summary: There are a couple of minor rules variations I'll bring up here to save reading time for people already familiar with the classes entailed.   -Beast master pets cannot be resurrected, however they get death saves that add your proficiency modifier and even if they fail all three, they are considered 'dying' for the next hour and can be saved with 8 hours of intensive care. If not tended to within that hour, they die.   Beast Master companions are inherently magical and the whole point of this class design is to be a ranger without any magical ability   -Superiority dice increase in die type - d10 at 9th and d12 at 17th.   Not having the increasing die types leads to damage falling off compared to their magical counterparts. In the original design the manoeuvres were meant to simulate Hunter's Mark, but that didn't account the fact that at high levels Rangers have access to other spells that can ramp up the damage throughput.   -Deep Stalker Spells have been replaced with mundane equivalents with similar utility.   This is obvious I suppose. Many of them are tied into Superiority die usage.   Anyway, the rest of the post is the entire class, as I'm not entirely sure if there's a better way to do things and I'm not entirely sure how to cobble together those professional looking PDFs that are bouncing around this subreddit   Spell Less Ranger - Post Rebuild (I need a better name. I had considered the Pathfinder, but there's confusion in that one too.)   As a ranger, you gain the following class features:   Hit Points   Hit Dice: 1d10 per ranger level   Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + Constitution modifier   Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier per ranger level after 1st   Proficiencies   Armour: Light armour, medium armour, shields   Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons   Tools: None   Saving Throws: Strength, Dexterity   Skills: Choose three from Animal Handling, Athletics, Insight, Investigation, Nature, Perception, Stealth, and Survival   Equipment You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:   -a) scale mail or b) leather armour   -a) two shortswords or b) two simple melee weapons   -a) a dungeoneer’s pack or b) an explorer’s pack   -A longbow and a quiver of 20 arrows   Favoured 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 favoured enemy: beasts, fey, humanoids, monstrosities, or undead. You gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with weapon attacks against creatures of the chosen type. Additionally, you have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track your favoured 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 favoured enemy or creatures associated with it. However, you are free to pick any language you wish to learn.   Natural Explorer You are a master of navigating the natural world, and you react with swift and decisive action when attacked. This grants you the following benefits:   -You ignore difficult terrain.   -You have advantage on initiative rolls.   -On your first turn during combat, you have advantage on attack rolls against creatures that have not yet acted.   In addition, you are skilled at navigating the wilderness. You gain the following benefits when travelling for an hour or more:   -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 travelling (such as foraging, navigating, or tracking), you remain alert to danger.   -If you are travelling alone, you can move stealthily at a normal pace.   -When you forage, you find twice as much food as you normally would.   -While tracking other creatures, you also learn their exact number, their sizes, and how long ago they passed through the area.   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.   Archery You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons.   Defence While you are wearing armour, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.   Duelling 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.   Combat Superiority At 2nd level, you learn manoeuvres that are fuelled by special dice called superiority dice.   Manoeuvres. You learn two manoeuvres of your choice, which are chosen from the list of manoeuvres available below. Many manoeuvres enhance an attack in some way. You can use only one manoeuvre per attack. You learn one additional manoeuvre of your choice at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th levels. Each time you learn a new manoeuvre, you can also replace one manoeuvre you know with a different one.   Superiority Dice. You have four superiority dice, which are d8s. A superiority die is expended when you use it. You regain all of your expended superiority dice when you finish a short or long rest. Your superiority dice become d10s at 9th level and d12s at 17th level You gain another superiority die at 9th level and one more at 17th level.   Saving Throws. Some of your manoeuvres require your target to make a saving throw to resist the manoeuvre's effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows: Manoeuvre save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice).   Manoeuvres: The manoeuvres are presented in alphabetical order.   Commander’s Strike. When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can forgo one o f your attacks and use a bonus action to direct one of your companions to strike. When you do so, choose a friendly creature who can see or hear you and expend one superiority die. That creature can immediately use its reaction to make one weapon attack, adding the superiority die to the attack’s damage roll.   Disarming Attack. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to disarm the target, forcing it to drop one item of your choice that it’s holding. You add the superiority die to the attack’s damage roll, and the target must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, it drops the object you choose. The object lands at its feet.   Distracting Strike. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to distract the creature, giving your allies an opening. You add the superiority die to the attack’s damage roll. The next attack roll against the target by an attacker other than you has advantage if the attack is made before the start of your next turn.   Evasive Footwork. When you move, you can expend one superiority die, rolling the die and adding the number rolled to your AC until you stop moving.   Feinting Attack. You can expend one superiority die and use a bonus action on your turn to feint, choosing one creature within 5 feet of you as your target. You have advantage on your next attack roll against that creature. If that attack hits, add the superiority die to the attack’s damage roll.   Goading Attack. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to goad the target into attacking you. You add the superiority die to the attack’s damage roll, and the target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the target has disadvantage on all attack rolls against targets other than you until the end of your next turn.   Lunging Attack. When you make a melee weapon attack on your turn, you can expend one superiority die to increase your reach for that attack by 5 feet. If you hit, you add the superiority die to the attack’s damage roll.   Manoeuvring Attack. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to manoeuvre one o f your comrades into a more advantageous position. You add the superiority die to the attack’s damage roll, and you choose a friendly creature who can see or hear you. That creature can use its reaction to move up to half its speed without provoking opportunity attacks from the target o f your attack.   Menacing Attack. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to frighten the target. You add the superiority die to the attack’s damage roll, and the target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, it is frightened of you until the end of your next turn.   Parry. When another creature damages you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction and expend one superiority die to reduce the damage by the number you roll on your superiority die + your Dexterity modifier.   Precision Attack. When you make a weapon attack roll against a creature, you can expend one superiority die to add it to the roll. You can use this manoeuvre before or after making the attack roll, but before any effects of the attack are applied.   Pushing Attack. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to drive the target back. You add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll, and if the target is Large or smaller, it must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, you push the target up to 15 feet away from you.   Rally. On your turn, you can use a bonus action and expend one superiority die to bolster the resolve of one of your companions. When you do so, choose a friendly creature who can see or hear you. That creature gains temporary hit points equal to the superiority die roll + your Charisma modifier.   Riposte. When a creature misses you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction and expend one superiority die to make a melee weapon attack against the creature. If you hit, you add the superiority die to the attack's damage roll.   Sweeping Attack. When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to damage another creature with the same attack. Choose another creature within 5 feet of the original target and within your reach. If the original attack roll would hit the second creature, it takes damage equal to the number you roll on your superiority die. The damage is of the same type dealt by the original attack.   Trip Attack. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can expend one superiority die to attempt to knock the target down. You add the superiority die to the attack’s damage roll, and if the target is Large or smaller, it must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, you knock the target prone.   Primeval Awareness Beginning at 3rd level, your mastery of ranger lore allows you to establish a powerful link to beasts and to the land around you. You have an innate ability to communicate with 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 of any sort, its short-term needs (such as 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 you have attacked within the past 10 minutes. Additionally, you can attune your senses to determine if any of your favoured enemies lurk nearby.   By spending 1 uninterrupted minute in concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell), you can sense whether any of your favoured enemies are present within 5 miles of you. This feature reveals which of your favoured enemies are present, their numbers, and the creatures’ general direction and distance (in miles) from you. If there are multiple groups of your favoured enemies within range, you learn this information for each group.   Poultices At 3rd level, you can create special herbal poultices that have healing power comparable to some potions. You can spend 1 hour gathering herbs and preparing herbal poultices using treated bandages to create a number of such poultices equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1). You can carry a number of poultices at one time equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1). The poultices you create cannot be applied by anyone but you. After 24 hours, any poultices that you have not used lose their potency.   If you spend 1 minute applying one of your poultices to a wounded humanoid creature, thereby expending its use, that creature regains 1d6 hit points for every two ranger levels you have (rounded up).   Ranger Conclave At 3rd level, you choose to emulate the ideals and training of a ranger conclave: the Beast Conclave, the Hunter Conclave, or the Stalker 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.   Greater Favoured Enemy At 6th level, you are ready to hunt even deadlier game. Choose a type of greater favoured enemy: aberrations, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fiends, or giants.   You gain all the benefits against this chosen enemy that you normally gain against your favoured enemy, including an additional language.   Your bonus to damage rolls against all your favoured enemies increases to +4. Additionally, you have advantage on saving throws against the spells and abilities used by a greater favoured enemy.   Fleet of Foot Beginning at 8th level, you can use the Dash action as a bonus action on your turn.   Natural Antivenom Starting at 9th level, you have advantage on saving throws against poison and have resistance to poison damage. Additionally, you can use one of your poultices to cure one poison effect on the creature you are applying it to, in addition to restoring hit points.   Hide in Plain Sight Starting at 10th level, you can remain perfectly still for long periods of time to set up ambushes. When you attempt to hide on your turn, you can opt to not move on that turn. If you avoid moving, creatures that attempt to detect you take a −10 penalty to their Wisdom (Perception) checks until the start of your next turn. You lose this benefit if you move or fall prone, either voluntarily or because of some external effect. You are still automatically detected if any effect or action causes you to no longer be hidden. If you are still hidden on your next turn, you can continue to remain motionless and gain this benefit until you are detected.   Call Natural Allies Starting at 13th level, when you are in an area of your favoured terrain, you can call natural creatures from that terrain to fight on your behalf, using your attunement to the natural world to convince them to aid you. The DM chooses beasts appropriate to the terrain to come to your aid from among those that could hear you and that are within 1 mile of you, in one of the following groups:   -One beast of challenge rating 2 or lower   -Two beasts of challenge rating 1 or lower   -Four beasts of challenge rating 1/2 or lower   -Eight beasts of challenge rating 1/4 or lower   These beasts approach you from their current location, and will fight alongside you, attacking any creatures that are hostile to you. They are friendly to you and your comrades, and you roll initiative for the called creatures as a group, which takes its own turns. The DM has the creatures’ statistics. After 1 hour, these beasts return to their previous location. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again in the same general area for 24 hours, since the same animals will not repeatedly heed your call.   Vanish Starting at 14th level, you can use the Hide action as a bonus action on your turn. Also, you can’t be tracked by nonmagical means, unless you choose to leave a trail.   Relentless Starting at 17th level, when you roll initiative and have no superiority dice remaining, you regain 1 superiority die.   Feral Senses At 18th level, you gain preternatural senses that help you fight creatures you can’t see. When you attack a creature you can’t see, your inability to see it doesn’t impose disadvantage on your attack rolls against it. You are also aware of the location of any invisible creature within 30 feet of you, provided that the creature isn’t hidden from you and you aren’t blinded or deafened.   Foe Slayer At 20th level, you become an unparalleled hunter. Once on each of your turns, you can add your Wisdom modifier to 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.   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 would despoil it.   Beast Conclave Many rangers are more at home in the wilds than in civilization, to the point where animals consider them kin. Rangers of the Beast Conclave develop a close bond with a beast, then further strengthen that bond through the use of magic.   Animal Companion At 3rd level, you learn to tame and befriend a creature of the natural world. With 8 hours of work and the expenditure of 50 gp worth of fine food, you call forth an animal from the wilderness to serve as your faithful companion. You normally select your companion from among the following animals: an ape, a black bear, a boar, a giant badger, a giant weasel, a mule, a panther, or a wolf. However, your DM might pick one of these animals for you, based on the surrounding terrain and on what types of creatures would logically be present in the area.   During these 8 hours, you're developing a wary sense of trust between you and the animal and at the end of it, you gain the Companion's Bond ability.   You can have only one animal companion at a time.   Your animal companion is exceptionally difficult to slay, especially with you watching over them. The companion has its own death saving throw meter and they add your proficiency modifier to those saves. Should they fail their death saving throws, they still are not completely dead and with 8 hours of work and the expenditure of 25 gp worth of rare herbs and medicines you can stabilise them, provided you tend to them within an hour of final failed death saving throw.   Companion’s Bond Your animal companion gains a variety of benefits while it is accompanying you. The animal companion loses its Multiattack action, if it has one. The companion obeys your commands as best it can. It rolls for initiative like any other creature, but you determine its actions, decisions, attitudes, and so on. If you are incapacitated or absent, your companion acts on its own. When using your Natural Explorer feature, you and your animal companion can both move stealthily at a normal pace.   Your animal companion has abilities and game statistics determined in part by your level. Your companion uses your proficiency bonus rather than its own.   In addition to the areas where it normally uses its proficiency bonus, an animal companion also adds its proficiency bonus to its AC and to its damage rolls.   Your animal companion gains proficiency in two skills of your choice. It also becomes proficient with all saving throws.   For each level you gain after 3rd, your animal companion gains an additional hit die and increases its hit points accordingly.   Whenever you gain the Ability Score Improvement class feature, your companion’s abilities also improve. Your companion can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or it can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1.   As normal, your companion can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature unless its description specifies otherwise.   Your companion shares your alignment, and has a personality trait and a flaw that you can roll for or select from the tables below.   Your companion shares your ideal, and its bond is always, “The ranger who travels with me is a beloved companion for whom I would gladly give my life.”   Your animal companion gains the benefits of your Favoured Enemy feature, and of your Greater Favoured Enemy feature when you gain that feature at 6th level. It uses the favoured enemies you selected for those features.   d6 Trait   1 I’m dauntless in the face of adversity.   2 Threaten my friends, threaten me.   3 I stay on alert so others can rest.   4 People see an animal and underestimate me. I use that to my advantage.   5 I have a knack for showing up in the nick of time.   6 I put my friends’ needs before my own in all things.   d6 Flaw   1 If there’s food left unattended, I’ll eat it.   2 I growl at strangers, and all people except my ranger are strangers to me.   3 Anytime is a good time for a belly rub.   4 I’m deathly afraid of water.   5 My idea of hello is a flurry of licks to the face.   6 I jump on creatures to tell them how much I love them.   Coordinated Attack Beginning at 5th level, you and your animal companion form a more potent fighting team. When you use the Attack action on your turn, if your companion can see you, it can use its reaction to make a melee attack.   Beast’s Defence At 7th level, while your companion can see you, it has advantage on all saving throws.   Storm of Claws and Fangs At 11th level, your companion can use its action to make a melee attack against each creature of its choice within 5 feet of it, with a separate attack roll for each target.   Superior Beast’s Defence At 15th level, whenever an attacker that your companion can see hits it with an attack, it can use its reaction to halve the attack’s damage against it.   Hunter Conclave Some rangers seek to master weapons to better protect civilization from the terrors of the wilderness. Members of the Hunter Conclave learn specialized fighting techniques for use against the most dire threats, from rampaging ogres and hordes of orcs to towering giants and terrifying dragons.   Hunter’s Prey At 3rd level, you gain one of the following features of your choice.   Colossus Slayer. Your tenacity can wear down the most potent foes. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, the creature takes an extra 1d8 damage if it’s below its hit point maximum. You can deal this extra damage only once per turn.   Giant Killer. When a Large or larger creature within 5 feet of you hits or misses you with an attack, you can use your reaction to attack that creature immediately after its attack, provided that you can see the creature.   Horde Breaker. Once on each of your turns when you make a weapon attack, you can make another attack with the same weapon against a different creature that is within 5 feet of the original target and within range of your weapon.   Extra Attack Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.   Defensive Tactics At 7th level, you gain one of the following features of your choice.   Escape the Horde. Opportunity attacks against you are made with disadvantage.   Multiattack Defence. When a creature hits you with an attack, you gain a +4 bonus to AC against all subsequent attacks made by that creature for the rest of the turn.   Steel Will. You have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.   Multiattack At 11th level, you gain one of the following features of your choice.   Volley. You can use your action to make a ranged attack against any number of creatures within 10 feet of a point you can see within your weapon’s range. You must have ammunition for each target, as normal, and you make a separate attack roll for each target.   Whirlwind Attack. You can use your action to make melee attacks against any number of creatures within 5 feet of you, with a separate attack roll for each target.   Superior Hunter’s Defence At 15th level, you gain one of the following features of your choice.   Evasion. When you are subjected to an effect, such as a red dragon’s fiery breath or a lightning bolt spell, that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on a saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.   Stand Against the Tide. When a hostile creature misses you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to force that creature to repeat the same attack against another creature (other than itself) of your choice.   Uncanny Dodge. When an attacker that you can see hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to halve the attack’s damage against you.   Deep Stalker Conclave Most folk descend into the depths of the Underdark only under the most pressing conditions, undertaking some desperate quest or following the promise of vast riches. All too often, evil festers beneath the earth unnoticed, and rangers of the Deep Stalker Conclave strive to uncover and defeat such threats before they can reach the surface.   Underdark Scout At 3rd level, you master the art of the ambush. On your first turn during combat, you gain a +10 bonus to your speed, and if you use the Attack action, you can make one additional attack.   You are also adept at evading creatures that rely on darkvision. Such creatures gain no benefit when attempting to detect you in dark and dim conditions.   Additionally, when the DM determines if you can hide from a creature, that creature gains no benefit from its darkvision.   Deep Stalker Training At 3rd level, you gain darkvision out to a range of 90 feet. If you already have darkvision, you increase its range by 30 feet.   In addition you gain the following abilities:   At 3rd level you gain proficiency in disguise kits. If you are already proficient in their use, you double your proficiency modifier when using them.   At 5th level You gain the Hide in Plain Sight feature. At 10th level, instead of gaining the feature, it improves: if you spend your action using the Hide in Plain Sight feature, you can also spend your bonus action to either convey the same benefit to a friendly willing creature within 5ft of you, or further penalise attempts to spot you by imparting disadvantage for a round.   At 9th level Your study over the application of traps is paying off. You may spend an hour to create either a Snare or a Petard. Each trap costs a superiority die to place and extra superiority dice may be used spent to increase the effectiveness of the trap.   Snares inflict your superiority die in damage of either bludgeoning, piercing or slashing damage (your choice when you make the trap). The target must make a Dexterity save vs. your Wisdom DC or have their movement speed reduced to zero. Once snared, they may spend an action to attempt to wrest free of the trap, requiring them to either pass a Strength (athletics) or Dexterity (acrobatics) check vs. your Wisdom DC. Once they succeed, their movement speed returns to normal. Every superiority die spent on the trap past the first can either increase the DC of the snare by 1, or increase the damage inflicted by another die.   Petards are rudimentary and somewhat unstable explosives, though with the materials a ranger has access to, they can do more than just explode in a ball of fire. You may choose between Fire, Cold, Lightning, Acid or Poison damage types, provided you have the ability to do so in your environment (though Fire and Acid are common and Poison is almost always going to be accessible by the ranger). The petard's radius is a 20ft sphere, dealing double the number of superiority dice fed into the trap + your wisdom modifier in damage.   You may only have up to your Wisdom modifier in superiority dice invested into traps at a time. Traps fail if they are not triggered or maintained within 24 hours of their creation.   At 13th level you become a foremost expert in guerilla tactics. You may add a superiority die to hide actions. In addition you can spend a reaction when friendly creature within 30ft of yourself attempts to take the hide action to add a superiority die to their roll.   At 17th level you ability to disguise yourself and others is almost without peer. You may add your superiority die to any Charisma based skill of yourself or any friendly willing creature within 30ft for checks pertaining to impersonation. In addition, you may use your superiority dice to reduce the roll of any creature attempting to see through your disguise by an amount rolled by the superiority die.   Extra Attack Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.   Iron Mind At 7th level, you gain proficiency in Wisdom saving throws.   Stalker’s Flurry Starting at 11th level, once on each of your turns when you miss with an attack, you can make another attack.   Stalker’s Dodge At 15th level, whenever a creature attacks you and does not have advantage, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the creature’s attack roll against you.   You can use this feature before or after the attack roll is made, but it must be used before the outcome of the roll is determined.