Ranger (Horizon Walker)

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Overview & Creation

As you create your ranger character, consider the nature of the training that gave you your particular capabilities. Did you train with a single mentor, wandering the wilds together until you mastered the ranger’s ways? Did you leave your apprenticeship, or was your mentor slain—perhaps by the same kind of monster that became your favored enemy? Or perhaps you learned your skills as part of a band of rangers affiliated with a druidic circle, trained in mystic paths as well as wilderness lore. You might be self-taught, a recluse who learned combat skills, tracking, and even a magical connection to nature through the necessity of surviving in the wilds.   What’s the source of your particular hatred of a certain kind of enemy? Did a monster kill someone you loved or destroy your home village? Or did you see too much of the destruction these monsters cause and commit yourself to reining in their depredations? Is your adventuring career a continuation of your work in protecting the borderlands, or a significant change? What made you join up with a band of adventurers? Do you find it challenging to teach new allies the ways of the wild, or do you welcome the relief from solitude that they offer?       What's the source of your particular hatred of a certain kind of prey? Did a monster kill someone you loved or destroy your home village? Or did you see to much destruction these monsters cause and commit yourself to reining in their depredations? Is your adventuring career a continuation of your work in protecting the borderlands, or a significant change? What made you join up with a band of adventurers? Do you find it challenging to teach new allies the ways of the wild, or do you welcome the relief from the silent solitude that they offer?  

Quick Build

You can make a Ranger quickly by following these suggestions. First, make Dexterity your highest ability score, followed by Wisdom. (Some Rangers who focus on two-weapon fighting or who take the Bounty Hunter subclass make Strength higher rather than Dexterity.) Second, choose the outlander background.  

The Ranger			Spell	Slots	By	Spell	Level
Level	Proficiency Bonus	Features	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
1st	+2	Favored Enemy, Natural Explorer	-	-	-	-	-
2nd	+2	Fighting Style Spellcasting	2	-	-	-	-
3rd	+2	Ranger Archetype Primeval Awareness	3	-	-	-	-
4th	+2	Ability Score Improvement	3	-	-	-	-
5th	+3	Extra Attack	4	2	-	-	-
6th	+3	Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer Improvements	4	2	-	-	-
7th	+3	Ranger Archetype Feature	4	3	-	-	-
8th	+3	Ability Score Improvement Land's Stride	4	3	-	-	-
9th	+4	-	4	3	2	-	-
10th	+4	Natural Explorer Improvement Hide in Plain Sight	4	3	2	-	-
11th	+4	Ranger Archetype Feature	4	3	3	-	-
12th	+4	Ability Score Improvement	4	3	3	-	-
13th	+5	-	4	3	3	1	-
14th	+5	Favored Enemy Improvement Vanish	4	3	3	1	-
15th	+5	Ranger Archetype Feature	4	3	3	2	-
16th	+5	Ability Score Improvement	4	3	3	2	-
17th	+6	-	4	3	3	3	1
18th	+6	Feral Senses	4	3	3	3	1
19th	+6	Ability Score Improvement	4	3	3	3	2
20th	+6	Foe Slayer	4	3	3	3	2

 

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Class Features

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.  

Natural Explorer

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.

• You 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.    

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 the same Fighting Style option more than once, even if you get to choose again.

Archery

You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons.

Defense

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

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.

Two-Weapon Fighting

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

Ranger Archetype

At 3rd level, you choose an archetype that you strive to emulate: the Hunter that is detailed at the end of the class description or one from another source. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 11th, and 15th level.  

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.    

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase on ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature. Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead.  

Extra Attack

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

Land's Stride

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.  

Hide in Plain Sight

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.  

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.  

Feral Senses

At 18th level, you gain preternatural senses that help you fight creatures you can’t see. When you attack a creature you can’t see, your inability to see it doesn’t impose disadvantage on your attack rolls against it. You are also aware of the location of any invisible creature within 30 feet of you, provided that the creature isn’t hidden from you and you aren’t blinded or deafened.  

Foe Slayer

At 20th level, you become an unparalleled hunter 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 items, in addition to the equipment granted by your background.  

• (a) scale mail or (b) leather armor

• (a) two martial melee weapons or (b) a martial melee weapon and a shield

• (a) a dungeoneer's pack or (b) an explorer's pack

• A simple or martial ranged weapon and 20 pieces of ammunition

  Alternatively, you may start with 4d4 x 10 gp to buy your own equipment.

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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. See Spells Rules for the general rules of spellcasting and the Spells Listing for the ranger spell list.  

Spell Slots

The Ranger table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your ranger 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    

Ranger Spells

 
 

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Subclass Options

Horizon Walker

  Horizon walkers guard the world against threats that originate from other planes or that seek to ravage the mortal realm with otherworldly magic. They seek out planar portals and keep watch over them, venturing to the Inner Planes and the Outer Planes as needed to pursue their foes. These rangers are also friends to any forces in the multiverse – especially benevolent dragons, fey, and elementals – that work to preserve life and the order of the planes.  

Horizon Walker Magic

Starting at 3rd level, you learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Horizon Walker Spells table. The spell counts as a ranger spell for you, but it doesn’t count against the number of ranger spells you know.

Ranger Level	Spells
3rd	Protection from Evil and Good
5th	Misty Step
9th	Haste
13th	Banishment
17th	Teleportation Circle

 

Detect Portal

At 3rd level, you gain the ability to magically sense the presence of a planar portal. As an action, you detect the distance and direction to the closest planar portal within 1 mile of you.   Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.   See the "Planar Travel" section in chapter 2 of the Dungeon Master's Guide for examples of planar portals.  

Planar Warrior

At 3rd level, you learn to draw on the energy of the multiverse to augment your attacks.   As a bonus action, choose one creature you can see within 30 feet of you. The next time you hit that creature on this turn with a weapon attack, all damage dealt by the attack becomes force damage, and the creature takes an extra 1d8 force damage from the attack. When you reach 11th level in this class, the extra damage increases to 2d8.  

Ethereal Step

At 7th level, you learn to step through the Ethereal Plane. As a bonus action on your turn, you can cast the Etherealness spell with this feature, without expending a spell slot, but the spell ends at the end of the current turn.   Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Distant Strike

At 11th level, you gain the ability to pass between the planes in a blink of an eye. When you use the Attack action, you can teleport up to 10 feet before each attack to an unoccupied space you can see.   If you attack at least two different creatures with the action, you can make one additional attack with it against a third creature.  

Spectral Defense

At 15th level, your ability to move between planes enables you to slip through the planar boundaries to lessen the harm done to you during battle. When you take damage from an attack, you can use your reaction to give yourself resistance to all of that attack's damage on this turn.