Ranger (Tales from Thedas)

*"When a praying mantis captures a fly, it eats the eyes first. The eyes, and then the brain. The fly wriggles in pain the whole time it's slowly chewed to pieces. That's nature. Nature is a stone-cold murderous bitch. You can respect her, even love her, but by the Maker **don't let her win**."*

— Venhard Abrigast, Gamewarden of Redcliffe

Nestled as it is within the Free Marches, the wilds around Tantervale are absolutely loaded with every beast and terror that ever ranged from the Silent Plains to the Vimmark Mountains. Staying alive means sharp steel and sharper wits—the tools of a ranger. Rangers have an affinity for open country and wilderness, but as independent scouts and militia, they are opportunists, not stewards of nature. They exploit every advantage of their environment, and can tame animals to act as their allies.

(return to Character Creation)

Adapted from the base D&D 5E Ranger, Beast Master subclass.

* **Hit Dice:** 1d10
* **Saving Throws**: Strength, Dexterity
* **Proficiencies:** Light armor, medium armor, shields, simple weapons, martial weapons
* **Skills:** Choose three from Animal Handling, Athletics, Insight, Investigation, Nature, Perception, Stealth, and Survival

### **Equipment**

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

* (a) scale mail or (b) leather armor
* (a) a longbow and a quiver of 20 arrows or (b) a crossbow and 20 bolts
* (a) a dungeoneer's pack or (b) an explorer's pack
* a shortsword and dagger

## **Favored Enemy**

Beginning at 1st level, you have significant experience studying, tracking, hunting, and even talking to a certain type of enemy commonly encountered in the wilds.

Choose a type of favored enemy: beasts, humanoids, darkspawn, Fade creatures, or undead. You gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with weapon attacks against creatures of the chosen type. Additionally, you have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track your 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, typically one spoken by your favored enemy or creatures associated with it. However, you are free to pick any language you wish to learn.

## **Natural Explorer**

You are a master of navigating the natural world, and you react with swift and decisive action when attacked. This grants you the following benefits:

* You ignore difficult terrain.
* You have advantage on initiative rolls.
* On your first turn during combat, you have advantage on attack rolls against creatures that have not yet acted.

In addition, you are skilled at navigating the wilderness. You gain the following benefits when traveling for an hour or more:

* Difficult terrain doesn’t slow your group’s travel.
* Your group can’t become lost except by magical means.
* Even when you are engaged in another activity while 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.

## **Fighting Style**

At 2nd level, you adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can't take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.

### **Archery**

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

### **Close Quarters Shooter**

When making a ranged attack while you are within 5 feet of a hostile creature, you do not have disadvantage on the attack roll. Your ranged attacks ignore half cover and three-quarters cover against targets within 30 feet of you. You have a +1 bonus to attack rolls on ranged attacks.

### **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.

### **Mariner**

As long as you are not wearing heavy armor or using a shield, you have a swimming speed and a climbing speed equal to your normal speed, and you gain a +1 bonus to armor class.

### **Two-Weapon Fighting**

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

### **Blind Fighting**

Being unable to see a creature doesn’t impose disadvantage on your attack rolls against it, provided the creature isn’t hidden from you.

### **Thrown Weapon Fighting**

You can draw a weapon that has the thrown property as part of the attack you make with the weapon. In addition, when you hit with a ranged attack using a thrown weapon, you gain a +1 bonus to the damage roll.

### **Unarmed Fighting**

Your unarmed strikes can deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier. If you strike with two free hands, the d6 becomes a d8. When you successfully start a grapple, you can deal 1d4 bludgeoning damage to the grappled creature. Until the grapple ends, you can also deal this damage to the creature whenever you hit it with a melee attack.

## **Ranger Talents**

Starting at 2nd level, your training enables you to apply your skills as Ranger Talents. Your ability to use these talents is determined by your supply of talent points. Your Ranger level determines the number of points you have, as shown in the Talent Points column of the Ranger table.

You can spend these points to fuel various ranger talents. You start knowing four such talents: Hunter's Mark, Predatory Insight, Strength of the Pack, and Zephyr Strike. You learn more talents as you gain levels in this class.

When you spend a talent point, it is unavailable until you finish a short or long rest. Some of your talents require your target to make a saving throw to resist the talent's effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows:

**Talent save DC** = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier

## **Animal Companion**

At 3rd level, you have tamed a beast of the wilds to act as your animal companion, living and fighting by your side.

With 8 hours of work and the expenditure of 50 gp worth of rare herbs and fine food, you call forth an animal from the wilderness to serve as your faithful companion. If requested, your DM might pick one of these animals for you, based on the surrounding terrain and on what types of creatures would logically be present in the area.

At the end of the 8 hours, your animal companion appears and gains all the benefits of your Companion’s Bond ability. You can have only one animal companion at a time.

If your animal companion is ever slain, the magical bond you share allows you to return it to life. With 8 hours of work and the expenditure of 25 gp worth of rare herbs and fine food, you call forth your companion’s spirit and use your magic to create a new body for it. You can return an animal companion to life in this manner even if you do not possess any part of its body.

If you use this ability to return a former animal companion to life while you have a current animal companion, your current companion leaves you and is replaced by the restored companion.

### **List of Potential Animal Companions**

List of Potential Animal Companions

List of Blighted Animal Companions (only if your character is an Awakened Darkspawn)

### **Companion's Bond**

Your animal companion gains a variety of benefits while it is linked to you.

The animal companion loses its Multiattack action, if it has one. The companion obeys your commands as best it can. It rolls for initiative like any other creature, but you determine its actions, decisions, attitudes, and so on. If you are incapacitated or absent, your companion acts on its own.

When using your Natural Explorer feature, you and your animal companion can both move stealthily at a normal pace.

Your animal companion has abilities and game statistics determined in part by your level. Your companion uses your proficiency bonus rather than its own. In addition to the areas where it normally uses its proficiency bonus, an animal companion also adds its proficiency bonus to its AC and to its damage rolls.

Your animal companion gains proficiency in two skills of your choice. It also becomes proficient with all saving throws.

For each level you gain after 3rd, your animal companion gains an additional hit die and increases its hit points accordingly.

Whenever you gain the Ability Score Improvement class feature, your companion’s abilities also improve. Your companion can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or it can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, your companion can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature unless its description specifies otherwise.

Your animal companion gains the benefits of your Favored Enemy feature, and of your Greater Favored Enemy feature when you gain that feature at 6th level. It uses the favored enemies you selected for those features.

## **Features**

### **Primeval Awareness**

Beginning at 3rd level, your mastery of ranger lore allows you to establish a powerful link to beasts and to the land around you.

You have an innate ability to communicate with beasts, and they recognize you as a kindred spirit. Through sounds and gestures, you can communicate simple ideas to a beast as an action, and can read its basic mood and intent. You learn its emotional state, whether it is affected by magic of any sort, its short-term needs (such as food or safety), and actions you can take (if any) to persuade it to not attack.

You cannot use this ability against a creature that you have attacked within the past 10 minutes.

Additionally, you can attune your senses to determine if any of your favored enemies lurk nearby. By spending 1 uninterrupted minute in concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell), you can sense whether any of your favored enemies are present within 5 miles of you. This feature reveals which of your favored enemies are present, their numbers, and the creatures’ general direction and distance (in miles) from you.

If there are multiple groups of your favored enemies within range, you learn this information for each group.

### **Ability Score Improvement**

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

### **Coordinated Attack**

Beginning at 5th level, you and your animal companion form a more potent fighting team. When you use the Attack action on your turn, if your companion can see you, it can use its reaction to make a melee attack.

### **Greater Favored Enemy**

At 6th level, you are ready to hunt even deadlier game. Choose a type of greater favored enemy: abominations, golems, awakened darkspawn, or dragons. You gain all the benefits against this chosen enemy that you normally gain against your favored enemy, including an additional language. Your bonus to damage rolls against all your favored enemies increases to +4. Additionally, you have advantage on saving throws against the spells and abilities used by a greater favored enemy.

### **Beast's Defense**

At 7th level, while your companion can see you, it has advantage on all saving throws.

### **Fleet of Foot**

Beginning at 8th level, you can use the Dash action as a bonus action on your turn.

### **Hide in Plain Sight**

Starting at 10th level, you can remain perfectly still for long periods of time to set up ambushes.

When you attempt to hide on your turn, you can opt to not move on that turn. If you avoid moving, creatures that attempt to detect you take a −10 penalty to their Wisdom (Perception) checks until the start of your next turn. You lose this benefit if you move or fall prone, either voluntarily or because of some external effect. You are still automatically detected if any effect or action causes you to no longer be hidden.

If you are still hidden on your next turn, you can continue to remain motionless and gain this benefit until you are detected.

### **Storm of Claws and Fangs**

At 11th level, your companion can use its action to make a melee attack against each creature of its choice within 5 feet of it, with a separate attack roll for each target.

### **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.

### **Superior Beast's Defense**

At 15th level, whenever an attacker that your companion can see hits it with an attack, it can use its reaction to halve the attack’s damage against it.

### **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.