The Ranger Revitalized

[Seerow]

The Ranger

https://wrathofzombie.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/undead-slayer-2.png?w=490&h=572

Hit Die: D8
Skill Points: 6+int mod (x4 at 1st level)
Class Skills Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Knowledge(Dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge(Geography) (Int), Knowledge(Local) (Int), Knowledge(Nature) (Int), Knowledge(Religion) (Int), Knowledge(Planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot(Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), and Use Rope (Dex).


LevelBABFortRefWillSpecial
1st +1 +2 +2 +0 Hunter's Quarry, Swift Tracker, Favored Enemy +2
2nd +2 +3 +3 +0 Combat Style
3rd +3 +3 +3 +1 Favored Enemy Ability
4th +4 +4 +4 +1 Woodland Stride
5th +5 +4 +4 +1 Combat Style II, Favored Enemy +4
6th +6 +5 +5 +2 Favored Enemy Ability
7th +7 +5 +5 +2 Seasoned Explorer
8th +8 +6 +6 +2 Combat Style III
9th +9 +6 +6 +3 Favored Enemy Ability
10th +10 +7 +7 +3 Track the Supernatural, Favored Enemy +6
11th +11 +7 +7 +3 Combat Style IV
12th +12 +8 +8 +4 Favored Enemy Ability
13th +13 +8 +8 +4 Follow Teleport
14th +14 +9 +9 +4 Combat Style V
15th +15 +9 +9 +5 Favored Enemy Ability, Favored Enemy +8
16th +16 +10 +10 +5 Planar Adaptation
17th +17 +10 +10 +5 Combat Style VI
18th +18 +11 +11 +6 Favored Enemy Ability
19th +19 +11 +11 +6 Extraplanar Hunter
20th +20 +12 +12 +6 Favored Enemy +10, Combat Style Mastery, Favored Enemy Ability


Weapon and Armor Proficiencies
A ranger is proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and with light armor and shields (except tower shields).

Hunter's Quarry
A Ranger uses her knowledge of her quarry to enhance her effectiveness in combat. As a swift action on her turn, the Ranger may select one creature type, this creature type becomes her Quarry. The Ranger makes a modified Knowledge check called a Quarry check. This Quarry check is 1d20 modified by the character's ranks in the appropriate knowledge skill, her favored enemy bonus (if applicable), and her Wisdom modifier. The ranger gains an insight bonus to hit and damage rolls made against her Quarry, as detailed in the chart below.

A Ranger may have only one Quarry at a time. At any time the Ranger may use a Swift action to change her Quarry to a new creature type. The Ranger may not use a swift action to reroll her knowledge check to determine her Quarry bonus.


Result Hit BonusDamage Bonus
0-9 +0 +0
5-9 +0 +1
10-14 +1 +2
15-19 +1 +3
20-24 +2 +4
25-29 +2 +5
30 +3 +6
Increase check by +5 - Increase Bonus by +1

Favored Enemy (Ex)
At 1st level, a ranger may select one category of knowledge skills used to identify creatures(Arcana, Dungeoneering, Local, Nature, Religion, Planes). The Ranger gains a +2 bonus to Quarry Checks associated with that Knowledge Skill.

Starting at 3rd level, every 3 levels thereafter, and level 20, the Ranger gains Favored Enemy abilities, which provide additional advantages when dealing with her favored enemies. These abilities are chosen from the list below. Unless otherwise stated, a Favored Enemy Ability may be taken only once.

At 5th level, and every 5 levels thereafter, the Ranger's favored enemy bonus increases by +2, and the Ranger chooses one additional Knowledge Category to extend her Favored Enemy bonus to. So at 20th level a Ranger has a +10 Favored Enemy bonus that applies to 5 different categories of creatures.


Always Available
Deadly Strike-Gain a bonus to critical confirmation rolls equal to your favored Enemy Bonus when fighting favored enemies.

Energy Resistance-Gain energy resistance equal to twice your favored enemy bonus to one energy type. This ability may be taken multiple times. Each time the bonus applies to a different favored enemy.

Favored Defense-You Gain DRX/- against attacks from Favored Enemies, where X is your Favored Enemy bonus.

Find Weakness-You ignore up to twice your favored enemy bonus in Damage Reduction when dealing damage to a favored enemy.

Irresistible-When casting a spell on a favored enemy, the save DC of the spell is increased by 1/2 your favored enemy bonus.

Maneuver Expertise-When using a combat maneuver (Trip, Bull Rush, Disarm, etc) against a favored enemy, you gain a bonus on the check equal to your Favored Enemy modifier.

Minion Cleaver-You gain an additional number of attacks of opportunity each round equal to your favored enemy bonus.

Mobility-Gain a bonus equal to your favored enemy bonus to your armor class against attacks of opportunity that you provoke from your favored enemies. For every attack of opportunity from a favored enemy that misses you, you may increase your base move speed by 5ft until the end of your turn.

Opportunist-When making an attack against a favored enemy, you gain a bonus to your to-hit roll equal to your favored enemy bonus.

Resist Spells-You gain Spell Resistance 5+favored enemy bonus+character level against all spells and spell like abilities cast by a favored enemy.

Resilient-Pick one type of saving throw (Fort, Ref, Will). You gain your favored enemy bonus to that type of saving throws invoked by a favored enemy. This ability may be taken multiple times, each time providing its bonus to a different saving throw.

Skill Mastery-You add your favored enemy bonus to Bluff, Hide, Intimidate, Listen, Move Silently, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks against your favored enemies.

Speed-You gain a bonus to your base land speed equal to 5ft per 2 points of favored enemy bonus. (So 5ft at +2, 10ft at +4, and so on).

Sniper-When you attack a favored enemy with a ranged weapon, reduce your range increment penalties by up to your favored enemy bonus.

Spell Penetration-Your spells gain a bonus equal to your favored enemy bonus to bypass spell resistance against favored enemies.

Tunnel Fighter-You ignore penalties for squeezing. When you have a wall adjacent to you on two or more sides, you gain a bonus to your AC equal to your favored enemy bonus.

Requires 9th level
Blindsense-You gain blindsense with a range of 5 times your favored enemy bonus.

Camouflage-You can use the Hide skill in any sort of natural terrain, even if the terrain doesn’t grant cover or concealment.

Energy Immunity-Requires Energy Resistance. Choose one type of energy that you have resistance to through a favored enemy ability. You gain immunity to that energy type.

Mountain Crasher-Requires Maneuver Expertise. When using a combat maneuver against a favored enemy, that enemy does not get the benefit of their size modifier (if positive).

Skirmisher-Requires Mobility, Speed. As a swift action you can move up to half your movement speed without provoking attacks of opportunity.

Troll Slayer-Requires Find Weakness. Regeneration and Fast Healing of a favored enemy you hit is reduced by your favored enemy bonus on any round you hit them. Additionally you deal lethal damage even to favored enemies with regeneration.

Unbreakable-Requires Favored Defense. You gain immunity to critical hits made by a favored enemy.

Venom Immunity-Requires Resilient(Fortitude). You are immune to all poisons inflicted by a favored enemy.

Requires 15th level
Blindsight-Requires Blindsense. You gain Blindsight with a range of 5 times your favored enemy bonus. Your Blindsense range is doubled.

Boundless Will-Requires Resilient(Will). You are immune to mind-affecting effects caused by a favored enemy.

Dervish-Requires Skirmisher. When making a full attack, you may move up to 10ft between each attack you make. This movement may not exceed twice your normal movement speed.

Fortified Body-Requires Resilient(Fortitude). You are immune to ability damage, ability drain, negative levels, and death effects caused by a favored enemy.

Hide in Plain Sight-Requires Camouflage. While in any sort of natural terrain, you can use the Hide skill even while being observed.


Swift Tracker(Ex)
A 1st level ranger gains Track as a bonus feat. A ranger can move at half her normal speed while following tracks without taking the normal -5 penalty. She takes only a -10 penalty (instead of the normal -20) when moving at twice her normal speed while tracking.

Combat Style
At 2nd level, the Ranger must select one combat style. This choice affects the character's class features, but does not restrict her selection of feats or special abilities in any way. A ranger may choose from one of the following combat styles:

Spellcasting
Wild Shape
Beast Mastery
Weapon Master


Spellcasting
A Ranger who picks the Spellcasting Combat Style gains divine spellcasting progression as detailed in the chart below. The Ranger may spontaneously cast any spell from the Ranger spell list. Spell Save DCs and Bonus Spell Slots are based off the Ranger's Wisdom modifier. The Ranger's caster level is equal to her class level.

A Ranger's 0th level spell list is-Create Water, Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Flare, Guidance, Know Direction, Light, Mending, Purify Food and Drink, Read Magic, Resistance, and Virtue.

A Ranger's 5th level spell list is-Animal Growth, Death Ward, Find the Path, Ironwood, Move Earth, Stone Tell, Stoneskin, Summon Nature's Ally 5, Transport via Plants, True Seeing, Wall of Thorns.

Spell Progression:

Level 0th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
1 - - - - - -
2 2 - - - - -
3 3 - - - - -
4 4 - - - - -
5 4 2 - - - -
6 5 3 - - - -
7 5 4 - - - -
8 6 4 2 - - -
9 6 5 3 - - -
10 6 5 4 - - -
11 6 6 4 2 - -
12 6 6 5 3 - -
13 6 6 5 4 - -
14 6 6 6 4 2 -
15 6 6 6 5 3 -
16 6 6 6 5 4 -
17 6 6 6 6 4 2
18 6 6 6 6 5 3
19 6 6 6 6 5 4
20 6 6 6 6 6 5

Wildshape(Su)
A Ranger who picks with Wildshape combat style gains the ability to turn herself into any small or medium animal and back again once per day. Her options for new forms include all creatures with the animal type. This ability functions like the alternate form special ability, except as noted here. The effect lasts for 1 hour per ranger level, or until she changes back. Changing form (to animal or back) is a standard action and doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity. Each time you use wild shape, you regain lost hit points as if you had rested for a night.

Any gear worn or carried by the ranger melds into the new form and becomes nonfunctional. When the ranger reverts to her true form, any objects previously melded into the new form reappear in the same location on her body that they previously occupied and are once again functional. Any new items worn in the assumed form fall off and land at the ranger's feet.

The form chosen must be that of an animal the ranger is familiar with, and the new form's hit dice can not exceed the ranger's class level.

A ranger loses her ability to speak while in animal form because she is limited to the sounds that a normal, untrained animal can make, but she can communicate normally with other animals of the same general grouping as her new form. (The normal sound a wild parrot makes is a squawk, so changing to this form does not permit speech.)

A ranger can use this ability 1 additional time per day at 5th, and every 3 levels thereafter. In addition, she gains the ability to Wildshape into a wider variety of forms as she levels up.

Beast Master(Ex)
A ranger who picks the Beast Master combat style gains an Animal Companion. At 2nd level, she may attract an animal companion selected from the following list: badger, camel, dire rat, dog, riding dog, eagle, hawk, horse (light or heavy), owl, pony, snake (Small or Medium viper), or wolf. If the campaign takes place wholly or partly in an aquatic environment, the following creatures are also available: porpoise, Medium shark, and squid. This animal is a loyal companion that accompanies the ranger on her adventures as appropriate for its kind.

The Ranger's animal companion advances in a similar manner to a Druid's, including the ability to swap the companion for a more powerful animal at high levels. A Ranger's effective druid level when determining her Animal Companion's capabilities is her ranger level.

Weapon Master(Ex)
A Ranger who picks the Weapon Master combat style puts all of their focus on martial combat, pushing themselves to excel completely both in melee and at a range.

A 2nd level Ranger with the Weapon Master combat style gains Improved Toughness, Two Weapon Fighting and Rapid Shot as bonus feats, even if they do not meet the prerequisites for those feats.

Woodland Stride(Ex)
Starting at 4th level, a ranger may move through any sort of natural terrain (such as natural thorns, undergrowth, rubble, and similar terrain) at her normal speed and without taking damage or suffering any other impairment. However, terrain that is enchanted or magically manipulated to impede motion still affect her.

Additionally, at this level the ranger leaves no trail in natural surroundings and cannot be tracked. She may choose to leave a trail if so desired.

At 10th level, this benefit applies even when dealing with magically manipulated environments (such as the Entangle Spell or Wall of Thorns).

Combat Style II
At 5th level the Ranger improves in their chosen combat style. The improvement gained depends on the combat style chosen at second level, as described below.

Spellcasting Style
Choose one 1st level or lower spell from the Druid Spell list and add it to your spell list.

Wildshape Style
A 5th level Ranger may Wildshape into a large creature.

Beastmaster Ranger
At 5th level, a ranger may share her Quarry bonus and a single favored enemy ability with her animal companion. She may switch the favored enemy ability shared with her companion as a full round action.

Weaponmaster Ranger
A 5th level Ranger attacking her Quarry gains +1d6 damage for every point of damage gained from her Quarry, instead of the normal +1. On a critical strike, each d6 increases to 1d10, rerolling results lower than her weapon's critical strike multiplier.


Seasoned Explorer(Ex)
A 7th level Ranger's capability at traversing the Wild is greatly improved. She gains the following abilities:

Her overland movement speed is doubled, and she ignores any negative modifiers from terrain. If she is riding a mount, that mount's Overland movement is doubled.
She may enable up to half her ranger level in additional creatures to match her speed in overland travel.
She only takes a swift action to find tracks with a survival check, and may follow tracks that have been found without slowing her normal overland movement speed.
She may use Survival to gain a +4 bonus to saves against severe weather while still moving at her full overland movement speed.
She may take 10 on a Survival, Knowledge(Nature), or Knowledge(Geography) check, even if stress and distractions would normally prevent the character from doing so.


Combat Style III
At 8th level the Ranger improves in their chosen combat style. The improvement gained depends on the combat style chosen at second level, as described below.

Spellcasting Style
Choose one 2nd level or lower spell from the Druid Spell list and add it to your spell list.

Wildshape Style
A 8th level Ranger may Wildshape into a tiny creature.

Beastmaster Ranger
At 8th level, a Ranger may choose to either gain an extra animal companion, reducing her effective druid level for both companions by 2, or keep a single animal companion and raise her effective level for that companion by 2.

Weaponmaster Ranger
An 8th level Ranger gains Improved Two Weapon Fighting and Improved Rapid Shot as bonus feats.


Track the Supernatural(Su)
A 10th level Ranger can track even foes using supernatural means to evade her. If the Ranger uses survival to attempt to track an opponent who has teleported away, she can trace the destination of the creature's teleport. She is able to judge the distance and direction teleported, enabling her to follow normally. Tracking a creature in this way requires a survival check with a DC of 25. This DC is increased by 10 if the creature being tracked is under the effect of any effects that block divination. A teleport spell that was cast more than 6 hours per ranger level earlier may not be traced in this manner.

If successful, the Ranger can additionally make a Knowledge(Geography) check with a DC of 25 to describe the destination well enough for a caster to teleport to the destination as though it had been "seen casually".

Combat Style IV
At 11th level the Ranger improves in their chosen combat style. The improvement gained depends on the combat style chosen at second level, as described below.

Spellcasting Style
Choose one 3rd level or lower spell from the Druid Spell list and add it to your spell list.

Wildshape Style
An 11th level Ranger may Wildshape into creatures with the Plant or Vermin types.

Beastmaster Ranger
If the ranger's animal companions are flanking with any creature, and the ranger attacks the flanked creature with a ranged attack, the Ranger is considered as flanking with the animal companion until the start of her next round. If the Ranger flanks with an animal companion in melee, both the Ranger and flanking animal companion increase the flanking to-hit bonus by +2.

Weaponmaster Ranger
An 11th level Ranger gains Greater Manyshot and Greater Two-Weapon Fighting as bonus feats.


Follow Teleport(Su)
A 13th level Ranger who successfully tracks a creature using her Track Supernatural ability can make a DC30 survival check to manipulate the residual magic from the teleport, allowing her to follow along to the teleport's destination as a full round action. The Ranger may bring along one willing creature per 3 Ranger levels with her when following a teleport in this manner.

Combat Style V
At 14th level the Ranger improves in their chosen combat style. The improvement gained depends on the combat style chosen at second level, as described below.

Spellcasting Style
Choose one 4th level or lower spell from the Druid Spell list and add it to your spell list.

Wildshape Style
A 14th level Ranger may now Wildshape into a Huge or Tiny creature.

Beastmaster Ranger
While flanking with her animal companion, both the ranger and her companion may add the Ranger's wisdom bonus to damage rolls.

Weaponmaster Ranger
Once per round, when the Ranger misses an attack or fails a miss chance check, the Ranger may reroll the failed roll. He must accept the second result even if it is worse.


Planar Adaptation(Ex)
A ranger of 16th level or higher treats any planar environment as natural terrain. Additionally, the ranger is immune to any harmful environmental effects of a plane he visits, including gaining Energy Resistance 15 against the energy type of an elemental plane he is currently on. For example a Ranger visiting the Elemental plane of Fire would gain Fire Resistance 15. This energy resistance stacks with any existing energy resistances.

Combat Style VI
At 17th level the Ranger improves in their chosen combat style. The improvement gained depends on the combat style chosen at second level, as described below.

Spellcasting Style
Choose one 5th level or lower spell from the Druid Spell list and add it to your spell list.

Wildshape Style
A 17th level Ranger may Wildshape into a creature with the Elemental type.

Beastmaster Ranger
At 17th level, a Ranger may again choose to either gain an extra animal companion or empower the companion(s) she already has. If she choses to attract another animal companion, her effective druid level for all animal companions is treated as 2 lower. If she choses to empower her companion(s), her effective druid level is increased by 2.

Weaponmaster Ranger
A 17th level Ranger may make an additional attack at her highest bonus as a part of a full attack.


Extraplanar Hunter(Ex)
A Ranger of 19th level can not be stopped once on the trail of a creature. With a DC35 Survival check, she may track a creature even across planar boundaries. If the tracked creature has any active effects that block divination, the DC of this is increased by 10. A Ranger who succeeds on the check automatically knows exactly which plane their target has moved to, and where on that plane they are.

Additionally, when tracking a creature that has traveled to another plane by any means, the Ranger is able to utilize her skill combined with residual magic to follow if desired. The ranger must be following within 6 hours per ranger level of when the tracked individual shifted planes for this ability to work.

Combat Style Mastery
At 20th level the Ranger improves in their chosen combat style. The improvement gained depends on the combat style chosen at second level, as described below.


Spellcasting Style
Choose one 6th level Druid spell, and add it to your Ranger spell list as a 5th level spell.

Wildshape Style
A 20th level Ranger may Wildshape into a Gargantuan or Fine creature.

Beastmaster Ranger
At 20th level, any time the Ranger takes a move action to move or make a charge attack, her animal companions may use an immediate action to move up to half their movement speed, and once per round when she attacks a creature threatened by her animal companions, it causes the creature to provoke an attack of opportunity from her companions.

Weaponmaster Ranger
Any weapon wielded by the ranger has its crit threat range and multiplier both increased by 1. This threat range increase does stack with effects such as Keen.

[Seerow]

Alternate Class Features
Nature's Call
This alternate class feature requires the Spellcasting Combat Style. The Ranger gives up the bonus spell known granted at 5th level, and every 3 levels thereafter, and one spell per day of each spell level she can cast from. In exchange, when the Ranger casts Summon Nature's Ally, she treats the spell as though it were one level higher than it actually is. For example, when she casts Summon Nature's Ally I from a 1st level spell slot, it is treated as Summon Nature's Ally II instead.

At 8th, 14th, and 17th level, this improves by one additional spell level. For example, a 20th level Ranger casting Summon Nature's Ally V may instead treat it as Summon Nature's Ally IX.


Wild Power
This alternate class feature requires the Spellcasting Combat Style. The Ranger gives up the bonus spell known granted by her combat style at 5th level and every 3 levels thereafter. In exchange, at 5th, 8th, 14th, and 20th level, the Ranger gains +1 to Saving Throw DCs incurred by their spells, and at 11th and 17th level she gains +1 effective caster level for any spell she casts.


Pack Leader
This alternate class feature requires the Beast Master combat style. The Ranger gives up his animal companion gained at 2nd level and the animal companion improvements gained at 8th and 17th level. The Ranger gains the following Benefits:
2nd Level: Gain 2 minor auras as a Marshal, using your wisdom modifier instead of Charisma Modifier. For other Beast Master abilities, you may treat up to 2 allies as animal companions (for example you may share your Quarry bonus and a favored enemy ability with 2 allies of your choice)
8th Level: Gain 1 additional minor aura and 1 major aura as a Marshal. You may now share your Beast Master abilities with up to your wisdom modifier (minimum 3) allies.
17th Level: Gain 1 additional minor and major aura as a Marshal. You may share a second Favored Enemy ability with your allies.


Cunning Warrior
This alternate class feature requires the Weapon Master combat style. The Ranger gives up the bonus feats gained at levels 2, 8, and 11 in exchange for the following benefits:
2nd Level: A number of times per day equal to Wisdom Modifier + 1/2 Ranger Level (minimum 1), the Ranger can spend a move action to gain a bonus feat of her choice for 1 minute. When choosing this feat, you may ignore one feat prerequisite of the feat per 5 ranger levels.
8th Level: You may gain a bonus feat as a swift action instead of a move action. By spending a move action, you may gain 2 feats instead of 1.
11th level: You may gain 2 bonus feats as a swift action. You may now gain a single bonus feat as an immediate action.

Commentary
The Ranger is the latest class to join my set of "Revitalized" classes. Ironically it started out with me wanting to rework Favored Enemy, and turned into a much bigger project. The biggest problem i ran into was that the Ranger wanted to be like a Druid, but worse at everything except BAB and Skill Points, which just doesn't make for a compelling character. She tried to do too much, which would leave her either overpowered or useless, depending on how the abilities were tuned.

So instead of trying to do everything at once, I decided to let the Ranger pick one thing, and be really good at it. If she picks Beast Mastery, she ends up with 1-3 animal companions that make the Druid feel envious. If she goes for Wild Shape, he ends up with Wild Shaping capability somewhere between MOMF and a full Druid, and generally gets her capabilities before a Druid gets theirs. If she goes for Weapon Master, she gets to be awesome at both Melee and Ranged combat, getting a bunch of feats and abilities to make her shine in both areas, functioning as a multi-attacking striker/skirmisher.

The one I am not sure of is the Spellcasting style. I have debated adding increased save DCs/Caster Levels, or a Battle Blessing style mechanic somewhere in there. But Spellcasting in general makes me tend towards cautious, you get 6th level casting on a pretty strong chasis, and the ability to cherry pick spells from the Druid List, for now I think it is fine compared to the other styles.

The Favored Enemy rework no longer focuses on +damage, which is now the function of Hunter's Quarry. The Quarry functions very similarly to Knowledge Devotion, making the bonuses much more universal. Favored Enemy now is grouped based on Knowledge Groups, so you have only 6 possible groupings of creatures, and by level 20 you have your full favored enemy bonus to 5 of those 6. More importantly, when fighting your Favored Enemy, you get access to the new favored enemy abilities. Most of these abilities will be better or worse against specific creature types, so if you really want to be say, a Dragon Slayer, you will focus more on certain types of abilities and pick a different load out than if you wanted to be an Undead Hunter. I wanted to go this route to keep that same feel of specialization from Favored Enemy in a way that provided some more generally applicable capabilities. I am particularly interested in hearing any new ideas for extra favored enemy abilities (or barring that things you think favored enemy abilities should have some way to counter).

[Teapot Salty]

Haven't read through the whole thing just yet, but you just made a ranger that isn't situational didn't you? Also, the quarry thing, where did you get the idea? (Definitely not asking because all my ranger fixes change favored enemy to an ability called quarry that does stuff similar to yours :smalltongue:)

[unbeliever536]

What are a spellcasting ranger's 1st-4th level spells? Also, what slot does such a ranger cast their one 6th level druid spell from?

Other ideas may come later.

[Teapot Salty]

What are a spellcasting ranger's 1st-4th level spells? Also, what slot does such a ranger cast their one 6th level druid spell from?

Other ideas may come later.

I'm pretty sure 1-4 is the normal list.

And I think they just get the spell on a once per day basis.

[Seerow]

What are a spellcasting ranger's 1st-4th level spells? Also, what slot does such a ranger cast their one 6th level druid spell from?


1) 1st to 4th is the standard ranger spell list.
2) Is what I get for copy/pasting and not paying attention. I need to figure out an actual level 20 ability for the spellcasting style. Any ideas?


Haven't read through the whole thing just yet, but you just made a ranger that isn't situational didn't you?

That was definitely the intention. This Ranger will still be much better against favored enemies, but favored enemies are also much more broadly defined to make sure their abilities are useful the majority of the time.


Also, the quarry thing, where did you get the idea? (Definitely not asking because all my ranger fixes change favored enemy to an ability called quarry that does stuff similar to yours )


It was pretty much entirely inspired by Knowledge Devotion, with the name coming from the 4e Hunter's Quarry. I haven't spent much time looking at Ranger fixes, because I'm usually pretty happy with Mystic Ranger or Wildshape Ranger as a ranger fix. I'd love to give you credit but I can't say I've read yours.

[Amechra]

I think some of the Favored Enemy Abilities need to be specifically restricted to functioning against Favored Enemies (like the extra AoOs from Minion Masher) - I mean, if that was your intent.

Otherwise it looks pretty great; you could have them learn a single 6th level Druid spell as a 5th level spell, you know; while it would technically allow cheaper items to be made for higher level spells... you'd need to find a 20th level Ranger with the specific spell you want.

[Seerow]

I think some of the Favored Enemy Abilities need to be specifically restricted to functioning against Favored Enemies (like the extra AoOs from Minion Masher) - I mean, if that was your intent.

Minion Masher specifically was intended to not call out against favored enemies only... just because tracking two different pools of AoOs gets really fiddly. (I was originally planning to restrict it to only 1 bonus AoO per turn per creature, against favored enemies, but decided it was a lot of work at the table for practically no benefit). I'll double check for any others that should require a favored enemy but doesn't.

Now that I am thinking about it I think I will add one that gives favored enemy bonus as a boost to avoid AoOs and to-hit with AoOs.


Otherwise it looks pretty great; you could have them learn a single 6th level Druid spell as a 5th level spell, you know; while it would technically allow cheaper items to be made for higher level spells... you'd need to find a 20th level Ranger with the specific spell you want.

That seems fair enough. I'll run with that for now.


Edit: Updated to add the two abilities I mentioned. Checked the Favored Enemy abilities. There are currently 4 that work even when not fighting a favored enemy. The extra AoO's mentioned above and the following:

Blindsense+Blindsight: These two I'm not sure make any sense to only let you 'see' favored enemies, but could easily be modified to only apply to that if people think that it does make sense.

Energy Resistance: Again, one of those things that makes little sense if it isn't universal. Take almost no damage from that Red Dragon's breathweapon, but then take full damage from mundane fire seems weird to me. If others disagree this can also be changed with relatively little trouble.

[Andion Isurand]

What if you added Flawless Stride (as per Scout) as a later level ability for the ranger?

I would also point to this page about filling dead levels (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cwc/20061013a) in the various base classes. It might help give you ideas.

I also wouldn't give the ranger outright immunity to poison, but instead give him a bonus on saving throws against poison equal to half his class level (rounded down), starting at 2nd level.

[Seerow]

What if you added Flawless Stride (as per Scout) as a later level ability for the ranger?

Flawless Stride and Woodland Stride are basically the same ability, just Flawless Stride works outside of natural environments. Is it really important (or thematic) for a Ranger to be able to ignore difficult terrain in an Urban environment? Because I am reasonably sure that is the only issue.


I would also point to this page about filling dead levels (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/cwc/20061013a) in the various base classes. It might help give you ideas.

Some of those features would make sense to be paired in with the Tracking/Wilderness themed features, but are there any in particular you feel are needed? For the most part the features in that article are filler that have no meaningful effect on power except filling dead levels. I tried to fill dead levels with features that are slightly more meaningful.


I also wouldn't give the ranger outright immunity to poison, but instead give him a bonus on saving throws against poison equal to half his class level (rounded down), starting at 2nd level.

The Venom Immunity was ripped straight out of the Druid class. Up until Planar Adaptation the nature/tracking themed abilities were determined by going down the list of Ranger and Druid features and going "Will this fit?"

That said, I could see shifting Venom Immunity over to a Favored Enemy bonus (Prerequisite: Resistance to Fort Saves, benefit: Immunity to Poison)), and pushing a couple of those tracking related dead level abilities into its place as a single ability. It could make the progression a bit more logical. Anyone else have a thought on that?

[Seerow]

Okay made some updates:

-Hit die is now a D10, up from a D8.
-Venom Immunity is now a favored enemy ability that applies only against poisons from favored enemies, and requires Resilient(Fortitude).
-Added a few new Favored Enemy abilities, and updated the Energy Resistance ability to allow it to be taken a second time for immunity.
-Camouflage moved from 10th level to 7th level.
-New 10th level ability added, "Seasoned Explorer", provides numerous benefits to tracking and overland travel. Basically took all of the dead level abilities from the article referenced by Andion, and rolled them into one ability with some buffs added. Because that article was intended to provide abilities with as little of a power increase as possible, and it needed an extra kick to be worth a 10th level ability.

Even as it is I am somewhat worried that Seasoned Explorer won't cut it, since most of what it provides is completely bypassed with a teleport spell. But faster tracking and take 10 on skills is always a nice perk, and the other stuff could be situationally useful.

[Andion Isurand]

Well, while Woodland Stride is useful... it doesn't help much with areas of mushy swamps, rocks, snow or sand that might qualify as difficult terrain.

[Seerow]

Well, while Woodland Stride is useful... it doesn't help much with areas of mushy swamps, rocks, snow or sand that might qualify as difficult terrain.

You're right, I guess those things wouldn't count as undergrowth. Updated the wording of Woodland stride to make it work for all natural terrain (the effect I thought it had to start with). So you can move at full speed through a swamp or through rubble, but not necessarily while moving through a crowd of people or broken glass and the like.

Also gave it a 10th level progression to also give the same benefit against magical effects. (Actually did this with the previous update but forgot to include it in the list of things I changed).

[Just to Browse]

Teleport tracking should come much earlier. Enemies are getting the ability to teleport as early as CR 6, circumventing them 13 levels later kind of sucks.

I'm a fan of the new tracks, the only thing that bothers me is the weakness of ranger attack and summoning spells, the latter more so than the former. Any kind of support for rangers that want useful summons would be good, even if its just a feat.

[Seerow]

Teleport tracking should come much earlier. Enemies are getting the ability to teleport as early as CR 6, circumventing them 13 levels later kind of sucks.

The demons and such with teleport at that low of a CR I'm not sure should really be the benchmark for this. But I can see the argument that Teleport is online at 9, and Greater Teleport at 13, making this seem too late to be relevant. But if I did push it forward, what should be dropped, and what makes for a better high level rangerish ability?



I'm a fan of the new tracks, the only thing that bothers me is the weakness of ranger attack and summoning spells, the latter more so than the former. Any kind of support for rangers that want useful summons would be good, even if its just a feat.

I was considering an ACF that traded out the woodsy abilities that gave you a summoning ability similar to the Pathfinder Summoner, where you cast Summon Nature's Ally of the highest level a full caster of your level could 3+wis/day, with the limitation only one could be active at a time. But decided that was a lot of combat power to gain for mostly out of combat abilities.

A feat that lets you cast higher level SNA's out of your lower level slots might not be a bad idea though. There is precedent in the form of that one ring.


Another possibility is giving sub-specializations to the caster, where you can choose between:
-Get higher level summons
-Free heighten spell up +1-3 levels (for those who want to focus on offensive spells, get the higher DCs and avoid annoying "spells lower level than this screw off" immunities)
-Free Quicken Spell on standard action spells (a la Battle Blessing)
-Extra Spells Known from Druid List (for the versatility/utility focused ranger)



I dunno, I'll spend some time thinking on it. If you (or anyone else) has any opinions, let me know. I'm mostly worried that a sub-specialization of a combat style is getting too complex; but am not sure it's something that should be addressed through feats.


Edit: What I could do regarding the first part, is have a Trace Teleport style effect earlier on, where the Ranger knows exactly where they teleported to, and have the higher level effect being able to follow them, first regular teleport following, then later also being able to follow plane shifts.

So progression of 7 abilities would end up going something like
-Track (1)
-Woodland Stride (4)
-Seasoned Explorer (7)
-Trace Teleport (10)
-Follow Teleport (13)
-Planar Adaptation (16)
-Follow to Other Planes (19)

This forces Camouflage and HiPS out of the progression entirely, unless I just let them stay in there on top of whatever else shows up at their levels. (In this case you'd get Camousflage with Seasoned Explorer, and HiPS with Follow Teleport). But it does provide a logical progression where every 3 levels the Ranger is getting much better at tracking down his quarry wherever they go. I could also keep Seasoned Explorer at 10, and move Trace Teleport down to 7, so you get that at the same level as the psionic power comes online.

[Just to Browse]

I'm a fan of your new tracking progression. While I don't think Camo/HiPS should even be class features for anybody, if you want to keep them you could stick them with semi-high-level Favored Enemy Abilities since those become less and less exciting as you accumulate more of them. Maybe Camo at level 6 and HiPS at level 12.

I agree with you on that nesting options within options would make the spellcasting track a pain to read. I was thinking that you could have alternative class features for the spellcasting ranger which would replace the Combat Style abilities. So instead of pilfering from the druid list at level 5, you can choose to increase the save DC of your spells by 1 or boost all your summons by 1 spell level. At level 8, you can choose again.

[unbeliever536]

Does a ranger really need to cast? What if you gave them a Dragon Shaman style Touch of Vitality ability and gave some effective SNA casts to the Beastmaster?

The Ranger wouldn't have access to Entangle, Tree Stride, Freedom of Movement, or the spells you gave them in that case, but you also wouldn't have the caster-ranger transforming like the wildshape ranger.

[Seerow]

Does a ranger really need to cast?

There are a fair number of ranger exclusive spells out there that it would be a real shame to lose. This fix features at least 3 non-casting alternatives for people who don't want a spellcasting ranger. Total removal of casting is something I don't really plan on entertaining.



I'm a fan of your new tracking progression. While I don't think Camo/HiPS should even be class features for anybody, if you want to keep them you could stick them with semi-high-level Favored Enemy Abilities since those become less and less exciting as you accumulate more of them. Maybe Camo at level 6 and HiPS at level 12.

Hrm. I could probably do something like that. Maybe take a few of the others that currently have prerequisites and make them require a higher level as well.

[unbeliever536]

There are a fair number of ranger exclusive spells out there that it would be a real shame to lose. This fix features at least 3 non-casting alternatives for people who don't want a spellcasting ranger. Total removal of casting is something I don't really plan on entertaining.


That's a reasonable position to take. In that case, I'd suggest going Just to Browse's route and breaking casting and non-casting into two broad ACF categories (maybe you could call them Mystic Ranger and Warrior Ranger). Tracking, hiding, and favored enemy stuff can go to both (maybe with different favored enemy buffs for the caster), but beastmaster/wildshape/weaponmaster would be options for the Warrior while the Mystic would have some different set of options, focusing on minions, buffs, and control.

[Seerow]

Update done.

-Changed the tracking progression as noted above.
-Changed Camouflage and HiPS to Favored Enemy abilities
-Added category for favored enemy abilities that require level 9 and 15 respectively. Several abilities that were strong at low level got shifted to these categories.
-Added 2 new ACFs, both for the spellcasting style ranger. One increases effective levels of summons, the other increases DC and Caster Level, in exchange for the flexibility granted by gaining extra spells known (and in the case of summoning, cutting down on spells per day slightly).

I'd be interested in adding more ACFs, but not sure where to go with them. One for the Weaponmaster style that has a more barbarian feel, with a limited rage seems prudent. I really wanted to do one for the Beastmaster style that grants Summoner style Summon Monster, but I'm not sure what I could have it give up that would leave it still feeling like a beast master and being balanced. Also open to any other suggestions for interesting things you want to see.

[unbeliever536]

What about a way for the beastmaster to get a set of temporary companions instead of one or more permanent ones? Say they have some number of "calls" that they can make each day, which last ~1-5 minutes, depending on level/balancing (or maybe some total amount of time that they can split freely among summons?), which gets them a low-grade Druid Animal Companion (which one would be of the ranger's choice at the time of the call) that serves for whatever duration is set by the class (or until dismissed). I think it would be cool if they could call multiple beasts at a time, but that might be hard to balance. This would give the ranger more flexibility on a per-encounter basis, but for longer term stuff they would be weaker than a standard beastmaster.

Of course, it would be pretty hard to fit this into the regular beastmaster progression, and it would require a lot of bookkeeping; even more than for standard summons.

[Seerow]

Got a few more eyes on this class and toyed with it a bit at higher level, made a few adjustments:

1) Slight tweak to Hunter's Quarry. Dropped the to-hit bonus granted some and capped it. Increased the damage bonus slightly. Basically now you get a to-hit bonus equal to total rolled divided by 10 (cap +3), and damage bonus equal to total rolled divided by 5 (no cap). I was running into the problem of rangers breaking the RNG and being crazy accurate early, like on par with a character getting an optimized bard inspiring them. This should reign it in slightly, and make the overall bonuses gained relatively easy to remember.

2) Weaponmaster Ranger lost its bonus mobility abilities, and a couple of the other abilities got tweaked. The mobility capabilities were reworked into a chain of favored enemy abilities, so are still available for a ranger who wants them. Weaponmaster is now the equivalent of a "boring fighter" archetype, with mostly straight numerical bonuses. I worry it may be too boring now, and may tweak it again, but for now I think combined with the favored enemy abilities and the wilderness/tracking bonuses, it will be acceptable.

3) Beast Master got some cut backs. Beast Masters now share only a single favored enemy ability, but get unlimited range right away. The boost for a single animal companion was dropped to +2 instead of +3. The "Animal Companion grows with hit dice advancement" ability was moved, to allow for compatibility with Pathfinder ACs and to make it not a dead level in a game where the DM rules that happens anyway. Other abilities got tweaked or moved around to fit.

4) Wildshape ranger got a few tweaks, most notably the removal of the +5hd bonus to what you can wildshape into. I may reintroduce this, making it something like a flat +1hd bonus per Combat Style effect (so +1 at level 2 and +7 at level 20), but for now I am leaving it off.


5) Added two new ACFS: Packmaster and Cunning Warrior.
a) Packmaster is for someone who wants to play a Leader of men type of ranger. It modifies Beast Master, letting the Ranger give his allies the sorts of benefits other rangers would give to their animal companions, and giving a handful of marshal auras to supplement and round it out.
b) Cunning Warrior is for the Ranger who wants to focus on Fighting but doesn't want to do TWFing/Archery. They basically get a version of the Brawler's Martial Flexibility, gaining the ability to pick bonus feats on the fly to suit the situation a number of times per day, with the added benefit of getting to ignore a few feat prerequisites. May still end up adjusting this since it does seem at a glance like a much better deal than the TWF/Archery feats, but 6 feats always on vs a handful of feats you have to spend combat actions to get a limited number of times per day may actually be fine.