Ranger (Swarmkeeper)

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Overview & Creation

Level	Proficiency Bonus	Features	Spells Known
1	+2	Favored Enemy, Natural Explorer, Deft Explorer (optional), Favored Foe (optional)	-
2	+2	Spellcasting, Fighting Style	2
3	+2	Primeval Awareness, Ranger Conclave : Swarmpkeeper, Primal Awareness Deviation (optional), Conclave Feature : Gathered Swarm, Swarmkeeper Magic	3
4	+2	Ability Score Improvement	3
5	+3	Extra Attack	4
6	+3	Favored Enemy improvement , Natural Explorer Improvement, Deft Explorer Improvement (optional)	4
7	+3	Conclave Feature : Writing Tide	5
8	+3	Ability Score Improvement, Fleet of Foot	5
9	+4		6
10	+4	Natural Explorer Improvement, Hide in Plain Sight, Deft Explorer Improvement (optional), Nature's Veil (Optional)	6
11	+4	Conclave Feature : Mighty Swarm	7
12	+4	Ability Score Improvement	7
13	+5		8
14	+5	Favored Enemy Improvement, Vanish	8
15	+5	Conclave Feature : Swarming Dispersal	9
16	+5	Ability Score Improvement	9
17	+6		10
18	+6	Feral Senses	10
19	+6	Ability Score Improvement	11
20	+6	Foe Slayer	11

 

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Class Features

Level 1

Favored Enemy

Beginning at 1st level, you have significant experience studying, tracking, hunting, and even talking to a certain type of enemy.   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 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 that is spoken by your favored enemies, if they speak one at all.   You choose one additional favored enemy, as well as an associated language, at 6th and 14th level. As you gain levels, your choices should reflect the types of monsters you have encountered on your adventures.  

Favored Foe (Optional)

This 1st-level feature replaces the Favored Enemy feature and works with the Foe Slayer feature. You gain no benefit from the replaced feature and don't qualify for anything in the game that requires it.   When you hit a creature with an attack roll, you can call on your mystical bond with nature to mark the target as your favored enemy for 1 minute or until you lose your concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell).   The first time on each of your turns that you hit the favored enemy and deal damage to it, including when you mark it, you increase that damage by 1d4.   You can use this feature to mark a favored enemy a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.   This feature's extra damage increases when you reach certain levels in this class: to 1d6 at 6th level and to 1d8 at 14th level.  

Natural Explorer

Also at 1st level, you are particularly familiar with one type of natural environment and are adept at traveling and surviving in such regions. Choose one type of favored terrain: arctic, coast, desert, forest, grassland, mountain, swamp, or the Underdark. When you make an Intelligence or Wisdom check related to your favored terrain, your proficiency bonus is doubled if you are using a skill that you’re proficient in.   While traveling for an hour or more in your favored terrain, you gain the following benefits:  

• 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 are traveling 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.
• You choose additional favored terrain types at 6th and 10th level.

 

Deft Explorer (Optional)

This 1st-level feature replaces the Natural Explorer feature. You gain no benefit from the replaced feature and don't qualify for anything in the game that requires it.   You are an unsurpassed explorer and survivor, both in the wilderness and in dealing with others on your travels. You gain the Canny benefit below, and you gain an additional benefit when you reach 6th level and 10th level in this class.  

Canny (1st Level)

Choose one of your skill proficiencies. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make using the chosen skill.   You can also speak, read, and write 2 additional languages of your choice.  

Roving (6th Level)

Your walking speed increases by 5, and you gain a climbing speed and a swimming speed equal to your walking speed.  

Tireless (10th Level)

As an action, you can give yourself a number of temporary hit points equal to 1d8 + your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1 temporary hit point). You can use this action a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.   In addition, whenever you finish a short rest, your exhaustion level, if any, is decreased by 1.  

Level 2

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.

Blind Fighting. You have blind sight with a range of 10 feet. Within that range, you can effectively see anything that isn't behind total cover, even if you're blinded or in darkness. Moreover, you can see an invisible creature within that range, unless the creature successfully hides from you.

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

Druidic Warrior. You learn two cantrips of your choice from the Druid spell list. They count as ranger spells for you, and Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for them. Whenever you gain a level in this class, you can replace one of these cantrips with another cantrip from the Druid spell list.

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.

Thrown Weapon Fighting. You can draw a weapon that has the thrown property as part of the attack you make with the weapon.

In addition, when you hit with a ranged attack using a thrown weapon, you gain a +2 bonus to the damage roll.

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

 

Level 3

Primeval Awareness

Beginning at 3rd level, you can use your action and expend one ranger spell slot to focus your awareness on the region around you. For 1 minute per level of the spell slot you expend, you can sense whether the following types of creatures are present within 1 mile of you (or within up to 6 miles if you are in your favored terrain): aberrations, celestials, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead. This feature doesn’t reveal the creatures’ location or number.  

Primeval Awareness Alternative (Optional)

This 3rd-level feature replaces the Primeval Awareness feature. You gain no benefit from the replaced feature and don't qualify for anything in the game that requires it.   You can focus your awareness through the interconnections of nature: you learn additional spells when you reach certain levels in this class if you don't already know them, as shown in the Primal Awareness Spells table. These spells don't count against the number of ranger spells you know.

Ranger Level	Spell
3rd	Speak with Animals
5th	Beast Sense
9th	Speak with Plants
13th	Locate Creature
17th	Commune with Nature

You can cast each of these spells once without expending a spell slot. Once you cast a spell in this way, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest.  

Ranger Conclave

At 3rd level, you choose to emulate the ideals and training of a ranger conclave. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 11th, and 15th level.  

Gathered Swarm

At 3rd level, a swarm of intangible nature spirits has bonded itself to you and can assist you in battle. Until you die, the swarm remains in your space, crawling on you or flying and skittering around you within your space. You determine its appearance, or you generate its appearance by rolling on the Swarm Appearance table.

1d4	Appearance
1	Swarming insects
2	Miniature twig blights
3	Fluttering birds
4	Playful pixies

Once on each of your turns, you can cause the swarm to assist you in one of the following ways, immediately after you hit a creature with an attack:

• The attack's target takes 1d6 piercing damage from the swarm.
• The attack's target must succeed on a Strength saving throw against your spell save DC or be moved by the swarm up to 15 feet horizontally in a direction of your choice.
• You are moved by the swarm 5 feet horizontally in a direction of your choice.

 

Swarmkeeper Magic

Also at 3rd level, you learn the Mage Hand cantrip if you don't already know it. When you cast it, the hand takes the form of your swarming nature spirits.   You also learn an additional spell of 1st level or higher when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Swarmkeeper Spells table. Each spell counts as a ranger spell for you, but it doesn't count against the number of ranger spells you know.

Ranger Level	Spell
3rd	Faerie Fire, Mage Hand
5th	Web
9th	Gaseous Form
13th	Arcane Eye
17th	Insect Plague

Level 4

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, you can increase one Ability Score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two Ability Scores of your choice by 1. Through this way, you can't increase an Ability Score beyond 20. Alternatively, you can pick a feat.  

Level 5

Extra Attack

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

Level 6

 

Level 7

Writing Tide

Beginning at 7th level, you can condense part of your swarm into a focused mass that lifts you up. As a bonus action, you gain a flying speed of 10 feet and can hover. This effect lasts for 1 minute or until you are incapacitated.   You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.  

Level 8

Ability Score Improvement

For detail see Ability Score Improvement  

Fleet of Foot

Starting at 8th level, moving through nonmagical difficult terrain costs you no extra movement. You can also pass through nonmagical plants without being slowed by them and without taking damage from them if they have thorns, spines, or a similar hazard.   In addition, you have advantage on saving throws against plants that are magically created or manipulated to impede movement, such those created by the Entangle spell.  

Level 9

 

Level 10

Hide in Plain Sight

Starting at 10th level, you can spend 1 minute creating camouflage for yourself. You must have access to fresh mud, dirt, plants, soot, and other naturally occurring materials with which to create your camouflage.   Once you are camouflaged in this way, you can try to hide by pressing yourself up against a solid surface, such as a tree or wall, that is at least as tall and wide as you are. You gain a +10 bonus to Dexterity (Stealth) checks as long as you remain there without moving or taking actions. Once you move or take an action or a reaction, you must camouflage yourself again to gain this benefit.  

Nature's Veil (Optional)

This 10th-level feature replaces the Hide in Plain Sight feature. You gain no benefit from the replaced feature and don't qualify for anything in the game that requires it.   You draw on the powers of nature to hide yourself from view briefly. As a bonus action, you can magically become invisible, along with any equipment you are wearing or carrying, until the start of your next turn.   You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.  

Level 11

Mighty Swarm

At 11th level, your Gathered Swarm grows mightier in the following ways:

• The damage of Gathered Swarm increases to 1d8.
• If a creature fails its saving throw against being moved by the Gathered Swarm, you can also cause the swarm to knock the creature prone.
• When you are moved by Gathered Swarm, it gives you half cover until the start of your next turn.

 

Level 12

Ability Score Improvement

For detail see Ability Score Improvement  

Level 13

 

Level 14

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.  

Level 15

Swarming Dispersal

When you reach 15th level, you can discorporate into your swarm, avoiding danger. When you take damage, you can use your reaction to give yourself resistance to that damage. You vanish into your swarm and then teleport to an unoccupied space that you can see within 30 feet of you, where you reappear with the swarm.   You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.  

Level 16

Ability Score Improvement

For detail see Ability Score Improvement  

Level 17

 

Level 18

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.  

Level 19

 

Level 20

Foe Slayer

At 20th level, you become an unparalleled hunter of your enemies. 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 against one of your favored enemies. 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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Starting Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) scale mail or (b) leather armor
• (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

 

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Spellcasting

Spellcasting

By the time you reach 2nd level, you have learned to use the magical essence of nature to cast spells, much as a druid does.  

Spell Slots

The Ranger table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.   For example, if you know the 1st-level spell Animal Friendship and have a 1st-level and a 2nd-level spell slot available, you can cast Animal Friendship using either slot.  

Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher

You know two 1st-level spells of your choice from the ranger spell list.   The Spells Known column of the Ranger table shows when you learn more ranger spells of your choice. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots. For instance, when you reach 5th level in this class, you can learn one new spell of 1st or 2nd level.   Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the ranger spells you know and replace it with another spell from the ranger spell list, which also must be of a level for which you have spell slots.  

Spellcasting Ability

Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for your ranger spells, since your magic draws on your attunement to nature. You use your Wisdom whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Wisdom modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a ranger spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.   Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier   Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier  

Spellcasting Focus (Optional)

At 2nd level, you can use a druidic focus as a spellcasting focus for your ranger spells. A druidic focus might be a sprig of mistletoe or holly, a wand or rod made of yew or another special wood, a staff drawn whole from a living tree, or an object incorporating feathers, fur, bones, and teeth from sacred animals.  

Spell Slot Table

Level	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
1	-	-	-	-	-
2	2	-	-	-	-
3	3	-	-	-	-
4	3	-	-	-	-
5	4	2	-	-	-
6	4	2	-	-	-
7	4	3	-	-	-
8	4	3	-	-	-
9	4	3	2	-	-
10	4	3	2	-	-
11	4	3	3	-	-
12	4	3	3	-	-
13	4	3	3	1	-
14	4	3	3	1	-
15	4	3	3	2	-
16	4	3	3	2	-
17	4	3	3	3	1
18	4	3	3	3	1
19	4	3	3	3	2
20	4	3	3	3	2

 

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Subclass Options

Feeling a deep connection to the environment around them, some rangers reach out through their magical connection to the world and bond with a swarm of nature spirits. The swarm becomes a potent force in battle, as well as helpful company for the ranger. Some Swarmkeepers are outcasts or hermits, keeping to themselves and their attendant swarms rather than dealing with the discomfort of others. Other Swarmkeepers enjoy building vibrant communities that work for the mutual benefit of all those they consider part of their swarm.   Source: Tasha's Cauldron of Everything