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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Ranger Subclass - Native American / Indigenous Tribal Warrior (Name Needs Help)



Sk8ter274
2018-04-08, 11:14 PM
Currently I've been catching up and powering my way through some games I've bought during Steam over the eyars because I've hit that point in my life where it occured to me that I actaully spent money on these games and never bother playing them. Long story short, after wrapping up Far Cry Primal and moving onto the Assassin's Creed series for a change of pace (3 & Black Flag in particular) that I got an idea for a new ranger subclass or rather how similar the rnager in D&D and the way of life Native American are. At least in broad strokes and if you stick to what we've already seen in movies and such. After doing some basic research into Apache war tactics and the those of other Indigenous tribes around the world, I came up with a new class. Still working on the name though. I've come up with the Primal Ranger or the Native Ranger or Tribal Ranger, but those seem too on the nose. Love to hear your suggestions, both on the name and how to tweak the subclass.





Description – While now it not uncommon for anyone to become a ranger, from peasant to pious lord, and learn the ways of nature However, in the untouched part of the world, are entire towns and villages of people that follow the way of the ranger. They have no need to train armies for each member is taught how to survive from the land from birth. These native rangers are not only able to survive any and all harsh landscape, but learned to adapt and thrive to it.

Handmade Equipment – Eons ago, your hand crafted weapons were all that separated you from life and death. Starting when you choose this tradition at 3rd level, you learn to improve weapons and ammunition using your surroundings and the beasts you slay. Tipping your arrows and other ranged weapons with jagged flint for example. You also gain proficiency with leatherworker’s tools.

During a long or short rest, roll a d4 + DEX modifier to create any combination of the following weapons and ammunition or you can chose to spend it improving your bow. You can also never have more than die size + DEX of ammunition & weapons at a given time. For example, if you roll a 6 and have a DEX modifier of +5, your total is 11 and therefor can only carry 11 regardless of any remaining from previous rolls. The d4 becomes a d6 at 7th level, d8 at 11th, and d10 at 15th.

Flint Arrows – Ammunition – Add an extra d4 of piercing damage
Flint Dagger – 1d6 Slashing – 1lbs – Finesse, versatile, thrown (10/30)
Flint Handaxe (Tomahawk) – 1d8 slashing – 1lbs – Light, Thrown (10/30)
*Improved Shortbow/Longbow – Increase range of your Shortbow/Longbow equal to 5ft per WIS modifier (WIS Mod X 5ft = Increased ranged)
*Can only be applied once and to only Ranger’s weapons

War Cry – Like the roar of a lion or dragon, you’ve learned to strike fear in your prey. At the start of your in combat, you let loose a mighty battle cry as a bonus action. All hostile creatures within 30ft and can hear you must succeed a WIS saving throw or become frighten of you for 1 minute. When you hit with a melee or ranged attack against a creature frightened of you, you deal an extra 2d6 of damage. This ability can only affect one creature per turn. The damage increases to 3d6 at 7th level, 4d6 at 11th, and 5d6 at 15th. You can use this ability equal to your CHA modifier (minimum of one) before a short or long rest.
Frightened DC = 8 + Proficiency Modifier + CHA Modifier

Nature’s Bounty – Starting at 7th level you gain mother nature’s wrath as well as her blessing, you now make all CON saving throws against being poisoned with advantage and have resistance to poison damage. You also have advantage on all skill checks when harvesting poison from venomous creatures or searching for poisonous plants. Your DM will have a list of the poisons you can craft as well as their effects and duration. (DMG pg 257)

Guerrilla Tactics – Starting at 11th level, you take on various predator’s hit and run tactics. After you attack creature, you can now use your bonus action to hide if you begin your turn already hidden or the creature was unaware of your presence.

Animal Aspect – Starting at 15th level, you attune yourself to that of your spirit animal and gain it’s apect. You get choose from the following animal aspects. Each aspect last for 1 minute and cannot be used again until you finish a long rest.
1. Aspect of the Giant Eagle – You take on the aspect of the Giant Eagle and gain the following benefits:
- Your vision, both normal and darkvision (if you have it), is doubled and have advantage on Perception checks (WIS) that rely on sight as well as saving throws.
- You score a critical hit when you naturally roll 18 – 20
- You can pinpoint limbs and such without disadvantage
2. Aspect of Monkey – You take on the aspect of a monkey and gain the following benefits:
- You have advantage on acrobatics (DEX) skill checks
- You can take the dodge action as bonus action
- When you provoke attacks of opportunity, they are made with disadvantage.
3. Aspect of the Bear - You take on the aspect of a cave bear and gain the following benefits
- You can enter a rage and gain restiance to all damage except psychic damage.
- You can attempt to knock a creature prone as a bonus action (8+Prof+STR+WIS)
4. Aspect of the Sabertooth - You take on the aspect of a sabertooth tiger and gain the following benefits
- You make stealth checks with advantage
- You gain the Rogue’s Sneak attack ability for your level. 8d6
- You gain darkvision for 30ft. If you already possess darkvision, it is increased by 30ft

GalacticAxekick
2018-04-09, 09:32 AM
I feel like hunter gatherers are either glossed over or treated as monsters a lot of medieval fantasy, so this subclass's theme is fun and welcome. But I'd be careful about called the class "primal" and calling its homeland "untouched" in the same breath that you compare it to real-world peoples. It's a bit dehumanizing, imo.

That aside, lets have a look at the mechanics you chose to represent the subclass!


3rd Lv. Handmade Equipment uses a very roundabout die-roll-during-rest system to improve the damage dice and range of some weapons. In practice, it adds +1 to the damage rolls of your arrows, daggers, and handaxes, then improves the range of your short bow.

Features that just improve numbers don't affect the class's play style at all. While Hunter Rangers are learning to cut through crowds or take down giants, while Beast Master Rangers are learning to fight alongside an animal, and while the Deep Stalker Rangers are learning to ambush others, your Hunter-Gatherer Rangers are doing the same old.

Yes, hunter-gatherer peoples learn to make equipment from natural materials. But if that equipment isn't practically different from the forged equipment of agricultural societies, it's not worth a feature.

3rd Lv. War Cry does a great job of defining the Hunter-Gatherer's role, but it's beyond overpowered. The 1st level spell *Cause Fear* frightens 1 creature for 1 minute if they fail a Wisdom save. They can repeat this save every round to overcome their fear, or they can break the caster's concentration. A 3rd level Wizard can cast it six times per day (if they're willing to spend all their spell slots).

Your War Cry frightens 1 creature for 1 minute if they fail a Wisdom save. They can't repeat the save, and you don't have to concentrate. You deal bonus damage against them too. A 3rd level Ranger can cast it three times per short rest without spending any spell slots.

7th Lv. Nature’s Bounty is probably underpowered because it's very situational; it's usefulness depends entirely on how often the DM throws poison at you. On top of this mechanical problem, it's a very passive feature which doesn't do a lot to change the Hunter-Gatherer Ranger's role (besides harvesting poison).

Guerrilla Tactics is already covered by the Ranger's 14th level feature, Vanish. It doesn't reflect anything about the Hunter-Gatherer.

Animal Aspect is tricky to balance because it offers very strong features, but for a short duration, and only once per long rest. I think this feature should be nerfed, allowed to last all day, and granted at 3rd level, similar to Totem Barbarians. It would've been a straightforward way to mechanically define the subclass.

Vogie
2018-04-09, 01:43 PM
I like the concept, but I think you're trying too hard to walk that line realism line. I think the main thing you're going for is the hunter-gatherer, completely living off the land aspects. Double down on those.

For names - Nomadic, Wanderer, Outlander, Autochthon, Bush Strider

I'll use Wanderer Ranger for the rest of the suggestions

Handmade equipment - Just narrow the scope, and have them generate their own ammunition & thrown weapons during long rests but more importantly give them the ability to upgrade their weapons over the scope of the class. This would include making a series of upgrades to any of their weapons. This could be as simple as a Forge Cleric's abilities, but you build this out as an actually interesting class feature. Perhaps you can focus less on bows, and more on making the simple weapons, which are ignored by all other classes, absolutely sing in the hands of the wanderer. Doubly so, if you gain the ability to generate poison at later levels.

Is the Wanderer getting an extra attack at 5? You could also do a variant of it, such as "on each of your turns when you miss with an attack, you can make another attack." or "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."

War Cry, as others have mentioned before should be a higher level. Maybe move it to level 7, and make it a reaction for being hit or as a reaction to saving throws.

Guerrilla Tactics - instead of doubling the Vanish effect, why not introduce something that will sync with it? Maybe a Battlemaster-esque ability to inhibit targets - trip, disarm, distract, blind, et cetera

Animal Aspects - Also neat, and I like the callback to entering a Rage in the Aspect of the Bear. Why not just use the rage template basically a Flow state, but for Dexterity-based champions.

For example:

Animal Aspect – Starting at 15th level, you attune yourself to that of your spirit animal and go into a rage as a bonus action. This rage lasts for 1 minute and cannot be used again until you finish a long rest.

While raging, you gain the following benefits if you aren't wearing heavy armor:
◾ You have advantage on Dexterity checks and Dexterity saving throws.
◾ When you make a melee or ranged weapon attack using Dexterity, you gain a +3 bonus to the damage roll
◾ You take on the aspect of an animal and gain their benefits

1. Giant Eagle –
- Your vision, both normal and darkvision (if you have it), is doubled and have advantage on Perception checks (WIS) that rely on sight as well as saving throws.
- You score a critical hit when you naturally roll 18 – 20
- You can pinpoint limbs and such without disadvantage
2. Monkey –
- You can take the dodge action as bonus action
- When you provoke attacks of opportunity, they are made with disadvantage.
3. Cave Bear -
- You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, as well as another type of non-psychic damage of your choice
- When hit with an attack, you can attempt to knock a creature prone as a bonus action (8+Prof+STR+WIS)
4. Sabertooth -
- You make stealth checks with advantage
- You gain the Rogue’s Sneak attack ability for your level. (8d6)
- You gain an additional extra attack

Sk8ter274
2018-04-09, 02:25 PM
I feel like hunter gatherers are either glossed over or treated as monsters a lot of medieval fantasy, so this subclass's theme is fun and welcome. But I'd be careful about called the class "primal" and calling its homeland "untouched" in the same breath that you compare it to real-world peoples. It's a bit dehumanizing, imo.

That's exactly what I was trying to avoid. Native American culture might have been low tech, but that wasn't bad. Perhaps saying while they have knowledge and access to the "more advanced" world they chose to to adapt to nature rather force nature to adapt to them. I'll definately work on it/ All this was more or less thought of and written down in the span of an hour or two. It's incredibly rough draft.



3rd Lv. Handmade Equipment uses a very roundable die-roll-during-rest system to improve the damage dice and range of some weapons. In practice, it adds +1 to the damage rolls of your arrows, daggers, and handaxes, then improves the range of your short bow.

Features that just improve numbers don't affect the class's play style at all. While Hunter Rangers are learning to cut through crowds and take down giants, while the Beast Master Rangers are learning to fight alongside an animal, and while the Deep Stalker Rangers are learning to ambush others, your Hunter-Gatherer Rangers are doing the same old.

Yes, hunter-gatherer peoples learn to make equipment from natural materials. But if that equipment isn't practically different from the forged equipment of agricultural societies, it's not worth a feature.

Thanks for the info. It seemed like classic case of good in theory but impossible in execution. The thought had come to me using fry cry primal crafting system and how you slowly upgrade weapons and such using different materials.


[B][U]3rd Lv. War Cry does a great job of defining the Hunter-Gatherer's role, but it's beyond overpowered. The 1st level spell *Cause Fear* frightens 1 creature for 1 minute if they fail a Wisdom save. They can repeat this save every round to overcome their fear, or they can break the caster's concentration. A 3rd level Wizard can cast it six times per day (if they're willing to spend all their spell slots).

Your War Cry frightens 1 creature for 1 minute if they fail a Wisdom save. They can't repeat the save, and you don't have to concentrate. You deal bonus damage against them too. A 3rd level Ranger can cast it three times per short rest without spending any spell slots.
Alright this one seems tweakable. I had based this on the Apache War Cry and how they used it to strike frighten their enemies. Now that you mention it, it should definelty have a repeablte WIS saving throw. As for the bonus damage, perhaps a bit of scale down. Maybe an extra d6 at 3rd with 2d6 at 7, and etc. I suppose any good ranger would have hunter's mark on it and already be doing extra damage. However, i think I'll keep the one creature per turn otherwise it seems at higher level with extra attacks, the ranger could wipe out an entire group if they all fail thier saving throws.


7th Lv. Nature’s Bounty is probably underpowered because it's very situational; it's usefulness depends entirely on how often the DM throws poison at you. On top of this mechanical problem, it's a very passive feature which doesn't do a lot to change the Hunter-Gatherer Ranger's role (besides harvesting poison).
I sort of had the same idea. It seemed another small thing to combine with restiance & advantage against poison would be fine. After all there all kinds of DM out there. My DM refuses to throw diseases at me or even my group with my Goliath Paladin around


Guerrilla Tactics is already covered by the Ranger's 14th level feature, Vanish. It doesn't reflect anything about the Hunter-Gatherer.
That's mistake on my part. I overlooked that part of the PHB. Perhaps an improved War cry or increase the range? I'll give it some thought.


Animal Aspect is tricky to balance because it offers very strong features, but for a short duration, and only once per long rest. I think this feature should be nerfed, allowed to last all day, and granted at 3rd level, similar to Totem Barbarians. It would've been a straightforward way to mechanically define the subclass.
I can understand that, but there a lot of class that have similar powerful abilites that last a short time and need a long rest o recharge like a Conquest Paladin's Invinclble Conquerer. I'll admit they need to be more combat in the moment oriented like the Aspect of the Cave Bear. I'll give them some thought

Sk8ter274
2018-04-09, 03:09 PM
I like the concept, but I think you're trying too hard to walk that line realism line. I think the main thing you're going for is the hunter-gatherer, completely living off the land aspects. Double down on those.

For names - Nomadic, Wanderer, Outlander, Autochthon, Bush Strider

I'll use Wanderer Ranger for the rest of the suggestions

Thanks so much for the names. Gonna add them to the list of potential names for the subclass.



Handmade equipment - Just narrow the scope, and have them generate their own ammunition & thrown weapons during long rests but more importantly give them the ability to upgrade their weapons over the scope of the class. This would include making a series of upgrades to any of their weapons. This could be as simple as a Forge Cleric's abilities, but you build this out as an actually interesting class feature. Perhaps you can focus less on bows, and more on making the simple weapons, which are ignored by all other classes, absolutely sing in the hands of the wanderer. Doubly so, if you gain the ability to generate poison at later levels.

Is the Wanderer getting an extra attack at 5? You could also do a variant of it, such as "on each of your turns when you miss with an attack, you can make another attack." or "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."

I'm just gonna scrap this bit entirely. It's too complicated to be balanced and a simply making them nonmagical +1 seems pointless at higher levels when you'll be able to buy or find them dungeon diving.


War Cry, as others have mentioned before should be a higher level. Maybe move it to level 7, and make it a reaction for being hit or as a reaction to saving throws.
I'd agree completely, if I wasn't on planning on scrapping the bonus damage bit. The original idea was the ranger gives out a yell and enemies drop their guard long enough for them to score a devastating hit. Gonna nerf it a bit and see what else it could do.


Guerrilla Tactics - instead of doubling the Vanish effect, why not introduce something that will sync with it? Maybe a Battlemaster-esque ability to inhibit targets - trip, disarm, distract, blind, et cetera
this is one was my fault. I missed that ability when I was coming up with the idea. But the idea of blinding in order to escape or put some distance between the ranger and an enemy gives me a few ideas.


Animal Aspects - Also neat, and I like the callback to entering a Rage in the Aspect of the Bear. Why not just use the rage template basically a Flow state, but for Dexterity-based champions.
This is absolutely perfect. Gonna make it part of the subclass unless someone can point out a major balance issue

Vogie
2018-04-09, 03:32 PM
this is one was my fault. I missed that ability when I was coming up with the idea. But the idea of blinding in order to escape or put some distance between the ranger and an enemy gives me a few ideas.

You could also remove the sneak attack portion of the Sabertooth aspect and put it there.

Guerilla Tactics could be like giving it a Surprise round access (similar to Assassin Rogue), provides a sneak attack bonus damage, and when deals damage to a surprised target (or one that hasn't taken a turn yet), it could do things like knock them prone, disarm them, et cetera.

Sk8ter274
2018-04-09, 11:00 PM
Alright, after some tweaks and scrapping, your feedback has helped me come up with a more functional and fun subclass. Unless someone can come up with a better name, I'm going to go with The Bush Strider as it seems to go with the whole native american feel I was going for. Still want some feedback and suggestions. So here the new and improved subclass.

The Bush Strider

Description – While now it not uncommon for anyone to become a ranger, from peasant to pious lord, and learn the ways of nature However, few can call the natural world like the Bush Strider can. These native rangers are not only able to survive any and all harsh landscapes, but they’ve learned to adapt and thrive to it by observing and imitating its inhabitants.

War Cry – Like the roar of a lion or dragon, you’ve learned to strike fear in your prey. At the start of your in combat, you let loose a mighty battle cry. All hostile creatures within 30ft and can hear you must succeed a WIS saving throw or become frighten of you for 1 minute. When attacking, you have advantage on creatures frighten of you. Creatures can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of their turn until they succeed. You can use this ability equal to your CHA modifier (minimum of one) before a short or long rest.

Frightened DC = 8 + Proficiency Modifier + CHA Modifier

Inspiring War Cry – Starting at 7th level your war cry can not only instill fear into your enemies, but bolsters your allies. When you use your War Cry, all friendly creatures that can hear you within 30ft have advantage on their attacks for the rest of the round.

Snake in the Grass – Starting at 11th level, you’ve seen snakes do it to defend themselves and try it for yourself. As a bonus action, you throw dirt, sand, mud, etc into a creature’s face. They must succeed a CON saving throw or be blinded until the end of their next turn. The next attack you make that hits the blinded creature deal an extra 6d6 damage. Only one creature can be blinded at a time.

Blinded DC = 8 + Proficiency Modifier + WIS Modifier

Animal Aspect – Starting at 15th level, you attune yourself to that of your spirit animal and go into a rage as a bonus action. This rage lasts for 1 minute and cannot be used again until you finish a long rest.
While raging, you gain the following benefits if you aren't wearing heavy armor:
- You have advantage on Dexterity checks and Dexterity saving throws.
- When you make a melee or ranged weapon attack using Dexterity, you gain a +3 bonus to the damage roll
- You take on the aspect of an animal and gain their benefits

1. Giant Eagle - Your vision, both normal and darkvision (if you have it), is doubled and have advantage on Perception checks (WIS) that rely on sight as well as saving throws.
- You score a critical hit when you naturally roll 18 – 20
- You can pinpoint limbs and such without disadvantage
2. Monkey - You can take the dodge action as bonus action
- When you provoke attacks of opportunity, they are made with disadvantage.
3. Cave Bear - You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, as well as another type of non-psychic damage of your choice
- When hit with an attack, you can attempt to knock a creature prone as a bonus action. The creature must succeed a STR saving throw

STR DC - 8 + Proficiency Modifier + STR Modifier + WIS Modifier

4. Sabertooth -
- You make stealth checks with advantage
- You gain an additional extra attack

Shawn97
2018-04-09, 11:35 PM
As someone who is part of Kiowa culture, I would say this subclass is unnecessary. Just like with other more developed cultures existing in a D&D setting, warriors could harness their rage (barbarian) or learn to use the tools they have at their disposal (fighter) in real-life most Native American cultures took to the tools introduced by Europe quickly and in a fantasy setting I don't think it would be much different.

Rangers, Bards, Druids, and Clerics are also thematic choices. Rangers combining skill with nature and strength of arms, Bards representing a fascination with stories and music, Druids representing a nature based religion, and a cleric as a servant of one of the gods.

The only classes I really see a problem with would be the more traditionally arcane magic users like Wizard, Sorcerer, and Warlock as, at least in most of the Plains Native American culture I know of, the idea of using powers for self-gain (AKA having powers that come from yourself instead of being bestowed to you by a god) would be viewed as evil.

Sk8ter274
2018-04-10, 12:17 AM
As someone who is part of Kiowa culture, I would say this subclass is unnecessary. Just like with other more developed cultures existing in a D&D setting, warriors could harness their rage (barbarian) or learn to use the tools they have at their disposal (fighter) in real-life most Native American cultures took to the tools introduced by Europe quickly and in a fantasy setting I don't think it would be much different.

Rangers, Bards, Druids, and Clerics are also thematic choices. Rangers combining skill with nature and strength of arms, Bards representing a fascination with stories and music, Druids representing a nature based religion, and a cleric as a servant of one of the gods.

The only classes I really see a problem with would be the more traditionally arcane magic users like Wizard, Sorcerer, and Warlock as, at least in most of the Plains Native American culture I know of, the idea of using powers for self-gain (AKA having powers that come from yourself instead of being bestowed to you by a god) would be viewed as evil.

As one who is more or less unfamiliar with native american culture outside the basics of what is taught in the classroom, hardly better than nothing, I'll admit you're probably right. However, that being the case, I just thought of the class because I though it would be cool to play as Apache. I mean with Xanathar's Guide introducing actual knights with Caviler and Samurai, along with the Gunslinger from Critical Role, why not have a native american ranger. I wasn't going for ultra realism, just fun. As for possibly, and can't stress enough unintentionally, insulting the native american culture, all I can say is sorry.

Blackbando
2018-04-10, 12:25 AM
STR DC - 8 + Proficiency Modifier + STR Modifier + WIS Modifier

Yikes. Maybe not have two ability mods for a DC? That's pretty excessive.


I would say this subclass is unnecessary.

While you make a decent point, I'm gonna personally disagree. Samurais could've easily been represented by most fighters (like Champion or Battlemaster) from an actual culture perspective, but we got a subclass for them. And, as with most things (in 5e at least), it drew from images of pop culture compared to how the actual Samurai warriors fought. Same goes here; yeah, you could just roleplay it and be 100% focused on the actual culture, but is that really as fun as being able to emulate pop culture stuff and make a unique, memorable subclass?

Of course, that's just my thoughts on it. I'm no expert on this stuff, even pop culture-wise, and much less actual-culture wise.

EDIT: Haha, Sk8ter made a reply with pretty much the same points right before I posted! Nice.

Sk8ter274
2018-04-10, 10:02 AM
Yikes. Maybe not have two ability mods for a DC? That's pretty excessive.

Yeah. My bad on that one. I had meant STR OR WIS instead of them both. I was still toying with the idea of possibly allowing a choice or picking one. I thought WIS because Rangers use them for spell casting and you're kinda doing that by "channeling your spirit animal" or just using straight STR because you're just knocking someone prone.

Shawn97
2018-04-10, 09:55 PM
As one who is more or less unfamiliar with native american culture outside the basics of what is taught in the classroom, hardly better than nothing, I'll admit you're probably right. However, that being the case, I just thought of the class because I though it would be cool to play as Apache. I mean with Xanathar's Guide introducing actual knights with Caviler and Samurai, along with the Gunslinger from Critical Role, why not have a native american ranger. I wasn't going for ultra realism, just fun. As for possibly, and can't stress enough unintentionally, insulting the native american culture, all I can say is sorry.

LOL! Don't apologize XD. There's nothing insulting about it. Just saying I think it's strangely specific and unnecessary.

While a Knight was a very specific social class within Europe that had some similar training. All warriors among all northern native american tribes, let alone all aboriginal warriors, is very broad. Even among the Kiowa tribe we had different bands that trained very differently, and even then we had five warrior societies that offered even more training and even among those I could represent those with fighters or rangers.

I would recommend narrowing down the archetype's scope. For example, you said you admire the Apache tribal warriors correct? Pick a type of Apache warrior you admire, like a mounted archer, and make a ranger archetype around that and call it something like "The Horselord" and have them have a horse animal companion or such.

Shawn97
2018-04-10, 10:07 PM
Description – While now it not uncommon for anyone to become a ranger, from peasant to pious lord, and learn the ways of nature However, in the untouched part of the world, are entire towns and villages of people that follow the way of the ranger. They have no need to train armies for each member is taught how to survive from the land from birth. These native rangers are not only able to survive any and all harsh landscape, but learned to adapt and thrive to it.

No, all Native American societies I am familiar with did train warriors and raiders, being able to survive from the land doesn't teach you how to fight other people.


Handmade Equipment – Eons ago, your hand crafted weapons were all that separated you from life and death. Starting when you choose this tradition at 3rd level, you learn to improve weapons and ammunition using your surroundings and the beasts you slay. Tipping your arrows and other ranged weapons with jagged flint for example. You also gain proficiency with leatherworker’s tools.

Meh, depends. Most tribes I know about had dedicated craftsmen.


During a long or short rest, roll a d4 + DEX modifier to create any combination of the following weapons and ammunition or you can chose to spend it improving your bow. You can also never have more than die size + DEX of ammunition & weapons at a given time. For example, if you roll a 6 and have a DEX modifier of +5, your total is 11 and therefor can only carry 11 regardless of any remaining from previous rolls. The d4 becomes a d6 at 7th level, d8 at 11th, and d10 at 15th.

Flint Arrows – Ammunition – Add an extra d4 of piercing damage
Flint Dagger – 1d6 Slashing – 1lbs – Finesse, versatile, thrown (10/30)
Flint Handaxe (Tomahawk) – 1d8 slashing – 1lbs – Light, Thrown (10/30)
*Improved Shortbow/Longbow – Increase range of your Shortbow/Longbow equal to 5ft per WIS modifier (WIS Mod X 5ft = Increased ranged)
*Can only be applied once and to only Ranger’s weapons

A flint weapon takes time to make and is in no way better than a metal equivalent by any stretch of the imagination, this is why most tribes preferred to use metal weapons when they could get their hands on them. Tomahawks are not throwing weapons.


War Cry – Like the roar of a lion or dragon, you’ve learned to strike fear in your prey. At the start of your in combat, you let loose a mighty battle cry as a bonus action. All hostile creatures within 30ft and can hear you must succeed a WIS saving throw or become frighten of you for 1 minute. When you hit with a melee or ranged attack against a creature frightened of you, you deal an extra 2d6 of damage. This ability can only affect one creature per turn. The damage increases to 3d6 at 7th level, 4d6 at 11th, and 5d6 at 15th. You can use this ability equal to your CHA modifier (minimum of one) before a short or long rest.
Frightened DC = 8 + Proficiency Modifier + CHA Modifier

Seems fine, hardly unique to Native Americans or even less developed civilizations. What do you think a Knight yelling "Charge!" "For glory!" "In the name of the Lord!" etc. was?


Nature’s Bounty – Starting at 7th level you gain mother nature’s wrath as well as her blessing, you now make all CON saving throws against being poisoned with advantage and have resistance to poison damage. You also have advantage on all skill checks when harvesting poison from venomous creatures or searching for poisonous plants. Your DM will have a list of the poisons you can craft as well as their effects and duration. (DMG pg 257)

Depends on the tribe, but most that I know of would consider poison as evil.


Guerrilla Tactics – Starting at 11th level, you take on various predator’s hit and run tactics. After you attack creature, you can now use your bonus action to hide if you begin your turn already hidden or the creature was unaware of your presence.

Works for scouts and raiders.


Animal Aspect – Starting at 15th level, you attune yourself to that of your spirit animal and gain it’s apect. You get choose from the following animal aspects. Each aspect last for 1 minute and cannot be used again until you finish a long rest.
1. Aspect of the Giant Eagle – You take on the aspect of the Giant Eagle and gain the following benefits:
- Your vision, both normal and darkvision (if you have it), is doubled and have advantage on Perception checks (WIS) that rely on sight as well as saving throws.
- You score a critical hit when you naturally roll 18 – 20
- You can pinpoint limbs and such without disadvantage
2. Aspect of Monkey – You take on the aspect of a monkey and gain the following benefits:
- You have advantage on acrobatics (DEX) skill checks
- You can take the dodge action as bonus action
- When you provoke attacks of opportunity, they are made with disadvantage.
3. Aspect of the Bear - You take on the aspect of a cave bear and gain the following benefits
- You can enter a rage and gain restiance to all damage except psychic damage.
- You can attempt to knock a creature prone as a bonus action (8+Prof+STR+WIS)
4. Aspect of the Sabertooth - You take on the aspect of a sabertooth tiger and gain the following benefits
- You make stealth checks with advantage
- You gain the Rogue’s Sneak attack ability for your level. 8d6
- You gain darkvision for 30ft. If you already possess darkvision, it is increased by 30ft

Meh, spirit animals are definitely not a universal thing.

If you want some inspiration for making a fictionalized northern native american plains tribes analog, I could not recommend the Shoanti peoples from Paizo's Golarion highly enough.

Shawn97
2018-04-11, 10:18 AM
Yikes. Maybe not have two ability mods for a DC? That's pretty excessive.



While you make a decent point, I'm gonna personally disagree. Samurais could've easily been represented by most fighters (like Champion or Battlemaster) from an actual culture perspective, but we got a subclass for them. And, as with most things (in 5e at least), it drew from images of pop culture compared to how the actual Samurai warriors fought. Same goes here; yeah, you could just roleplay it and be 100% focused on the actual culture, but is that really as fun as being able to emulate pop culture stuff and make a unique, memorable subclass?

Of course, that's just my thoughts on it. I'm no expert on this stuff, even pop culture-wise, and much less actual-culture wise.

EDIT: Haha, Sk8ter made a reply with pretty much the same points right before I posted! Nice.

I would disagree. The samurai and knights where distinctive warriors with distinctive social roles and tactics. There is too much variance between aboriginal cultures to make a archetype based on them. I would recommend picking one specific type of warrior from one culture or group of geographical similar cultures and make that. Like the horselord I suggested from the Apache or plains native americans/american indian cultures.

Blackjackg
2018-04-13, 10:57 AM
If I'm understanding correctly what Shawn97 is saying, then I agree with him. The subclass has some interesting ideas but isn't really representative of any indigenous American cultures.

The way I read the subclass' features, the overarching idea of it is someone who specializes in making do with what nature has provided, eschewing fancy magical equipment in favor of enhancements to the body and improvised weapons-- in other words, kind of bridging the gap between Ranger and Monk. It's a cool idea, but one that is neither universal among indigenous American nations, nor in any way unique to them.

I hesitate to get all social justice-y in a homebrew forum but it bears mentioning that Native American bands and nations are living cultures, not fairy tales or elements of a distant past, and they continue to suffer from stereotyping and overgeneralization. Even ideas like this, that work to distill the idea of "Native American warrior" into a single image or concept, are both inaccurate and potentially indirectly harmful to actual people.

I guess what I'm suggesting is that if you want to explore this idea of a ranger who lives off the land and adheres to self-made technologies, you should divorce it from the idea of representing the indigenous American tribal warrior. It's a concept that occurs in innumerable cultures throughout history (and even today!), and is not universal among indigenous American groups either.

brian 333
2018-04-13, 07:28 PM
Stone-Age Warrior

This class represents tribal warriors from many cultures which live off the land. They are able to blend into the landscape and disperse to avoid numerically superior foes, and use the terrain to wage skirmish warfare on them.

Each tribe is adapted to a particular homeland, and in that land they have no need for supplies or equipment; all they need is provided by nature and their knowledge of the terrain, plants, and animals native to the region.


Stone Age Skills:

Stone Knapping = Expert stone knappers are highly valued by stone age tribesmen. Every hunter and warrior learns to sharpen tools and affix them to handles and shafts, but the knapper knows how to identify the best stones to use for the intended purpose and to shape them using specialized tools into specific shapes best suited for the tool's intended use.
Knapping is as much an art as a craft, and fewer than 1 in 20 people possess the traits which make a good knapper. In a society which values self reliance, the knapper is a rare example of specialization.

Food Preservation = Long after harvest time people get hungry, but the stone age people know how to prepare and store foods for later use. Dried meats instantly come to mind, but salted foods, pickled foods, and fermented foods play a critical role as well. Food caches are literally everywhere in tribal cultures, from eggs and birds wrapped in leaves and buried in mud to roots and herbs tied in strings and hung to dry in the rafters of the lodge.
The expert in food preservation habitually preserves and caches any surplus from the hunt or harvest for later use.

Sk8ter274
2018-04-13, 10:32 PM
I just want to point out that I never expected such positive and helpful results. Although, after much thinking, I've come to realize that the effect I was going for has already been provided and I could have everything with little homebrew. I could simply roll up a Rogue with the Scout subclass and dip three levels into ranger to get beast master to choose a wolf as companion. Using the proficiency from both classes make it a cake walk to survive in the wild, the wolf companion allows me get sneak attack even in up close encounters due to pack tactics. I suppose I could also use the Colossus slayer subclass instead of beast master. For example, stealth and hit with sneak attack and then restealth so next turn I could sneak attack again with another bonus damage.

As for using "handmade weapons", I could always RP that bit using the Outlander background and, as Native Americans and others did, upgrade to better weapons taken off the foes I've slain or traded for. While I know handaxes are not finesse weapons, you could debate with your DM that it is small enough to wielded so. Like so (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl1uQOfOxls) You could quite easily treat them as bigger daggers.

With the warcray bit, something I though was quite unique to the orginal build, it easily works as a feat. Simply have it require 13 CHA and usuable as many as your CHA modifer (or 3 like Luck) per long rest and have it give advantage to the user until they can shake it off via WIS saving throw versus a DC of 8+Prof+CHA.

Long story short what I wanted to do is possible with some multiclassing, a drop of homebrew, lots of patience, and lots of luck to hit max level