Previous Hundred Dungeons posts:

Introducing Hundred Dungeons
The Wild (wilderness exploration)
The Dark (dungeon exploration)
Combat
Recuperation (resting and downtime)
Gear, Tools, and Containers

For a long time, the fifth edition ranger was the brunt of some concentrated abuse by D&D players who complained it couldn’t keep up in combat, that it wasn’t any good after tier 2, and that its features were too dependent on DM discretion. I think those points are valid to varying degrees, and I’ve been using a slightly modified ranger in my home games since 2019.

As with the Paladin design, we’re looking to adjust the Hundred Dungeons Ranger away from spellcasting and more toward features that accomplish a similar feel, but keep level advancement quick.

Let’s pull out our design goals once more:

Simplify in-game decision points
Condense the 20 levels down to 10 that cover a similar spread of power
Work in more “always on” features
Balance the pillars (which means removing some combat stuff and replacing it with features that showcase exploration and social activity)

Let’s head into the wild unknown.

RANGER

Terror stalks the ancient wilds, and it is there that the ranger dares to tread. Through tireless days cutting trails and darkest nights fortifying against ambush, these hardy folk watch and prepare against forgotten threats lurking where only they dare to tread.

Rangers might be scouts and sentinels from settled lands, or perhaps hermits who prefer the lonely wilderness to the company of city folk. Whatever drives them, rangers are peerless explorers.

Ability Increase: Dexterity

Skills: Animal Handling, Tracking, Simple Weapons, Martial Weapons, Heavy Weapons, Simple Armor, Martial Armor

…and one skill of your making

Hit Dice: d10

Starting Hit Points: 10 + Constitution score

Starting Gear:

Backpack
Bedroll
Shortsword
Longbow
Ammunition (Quiver of 50 arrows)
5 silver

EXPLOITS

Hunter’s Mark

Level 1

As a quick action, choose a creature you can see. For 1 minute, whenever you hit that creature with a weapon attack, your weapon inflicts extra damage equal to your Wisdom score. When you choose another creature, it becomes your hunter’s mark and the effect ends on any other creature you’ve previously chosen.

SENTINEL OF THE WILD

Level 1

You gain nightvision within 60 feet. When you take actions as part of your turns in the Wild, your ability rolls are mighty.

Choose a terrain type: arctic, coast, desert, forest, grasslands, hills, mountains, sea, swamp, or another you agree on with your GM. When determining your party’s travel distance across your chosen terrain in the Wild, treat difficult terrain as easy terrain, and unknown terrain as difficult terrain. Your party can’t become lost while you travel along your chosen terrain.

Favored Quarry

Level 2, 4, & 6

Choose Brute, Horde, or Outsider. Your Hunter’s Favor grants you exploits at levels 2, 4, and 6.

Brute, Level 2: Choose a creature type: beast, construct, dragon, giant, or monstrosity. You gain the skill [creature type] Lore, you can communicate with creatures of that type (according to their capability), and easily read their emotional state. Add your renown to weapon damage you inflict on those creatures.

Brute, Level 4: Choose a second creature type from beast, construct, dragon, giant, or monstrosity, and gain the level 2 benefits against that type.

You can spend a turn in the Wild befriending a beast or dragon of level 1 or below. If you expend an offering worth 50 silver or more, this creature becomes your faithful companion, following you into danger and protecting you. While bonded in this way, the creature:

Its hit points become 14. Every time you gain a level, add 4 to its hit point maximum.
Adds your renown to all its ability rolls, attack rolls, damage rolls, defense, and the difficulty of any ability rolls associated with its traits and actions.
Gains one skill of your making.
Can expend your hit dice as well as its own for the purposes of healing during rests.
Takes its own actions as part of your turn in all modes of play. It follows your verbal instructions as best it can, defending you or calling for help if it receives no other command.

Note that the creature may be vulnerable in Combat, and will often flee before dying.

Brute, Level 6: Choose a third creature type from beast, construct, dragon, giant, or monstrosity, and gain the level 2 benefits against that type. When a Large or bigger creature hits or misses you with a melee attack, it provokes an attack from you. You can grapple a creature of any size if you’re within reach of its head.

—

Horde, Level 2: Choose a creature type: beast, humanoid, ooze, plant, or undead. You gain the skill [creature type] Lore, you can communicate with creatures of that type (according to their capability), and easily read their emotional state. Add your renown to weapon damage you inflict on those creatures.

Horde, Level 4: Choose a second creature type from beast, humanoid, ooze, plant, or undead, and gain the level 2 benefits against that type.

Horde, Level 6: Choose a third creature type from beast, humanoid, ooze, plant, or undead, and gain the level 2 benefits against that type. When you use a quick action to attack a Small or Medium creature, make a second attack with the same weapon against a different Small or Medium creature within 5 feet of it.

—

Outsider, Level 2: Choose a creature type: aberration, celestial, elemental, fey, or fiend. You gain the skill [creature type] Lore, you can communicate with creatures of that type (according to their capability), and easily read their emotional state. Add your renown to weapon damage you inflict on those creatures.

Outsider, Level 4: Choose a second creature type from aberration, celestial, elemental, fey, or fiend, and gain the level 2 benefits against that type. Spend 10 minutes concentrating, asking the earth and the wind if any unnatural creatures lurk within 1 mile of you (or 6 miles if you’re in your Sentinel of the Wild terrain). When complete, you sense the presence of aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, or undead in the area, and you learn if there are more or less than 12 of them

Outsider, Level 6: Choose a second creature type from aberration, celestial, elemental, fey, or fiend, and gain the level 2 benefits against that type. You learn to cast the spells banishment and commune with nature using Wisdom. These spells replenish when you finish a long rest.

Quick Attack

Level 3

You can attack with any weapon as a quick action.

Primal Secrets

Level 5

You automatically succeed on any action you take during an Explore round in the Wild. You can Hide as a quick action, and for the next 24 hours you can’t be discovered by nonmagical means unless you choose to leave a trail or reveal yourself.

HUNTer’s Mastery

Levels 7 & 9

Choose Guardian or Stalker. Your Hunter’s Mastery grants you exploits at levels 7 and 9.

Guardian, Level 7: You learn to cast the spells protection from poison and spike growth using Wisdom. They replenish when you finish a long rest.

Guardian, Level 9: You learn to cast the spell freedom of movement using Wisdom. It replenishes when you finish a long rest. Each time you finish a long rest, you can prepare a restorative poultice, which occupies no load slots and loses its virtue after 16 hours. You can spend 10 minutes administering it to a creature, healing them for 4d8 hit points, restoring all their hit dice, and removing any one condition from them you choose.

—

Stalker, Level 7: You learn to cast the spells darkvision and pass without trace using Wisdom. They replenish when you finish a long rest.

Stalker, Level 9: You learn to cast the spell locate creature using Wisdom. It replenishes when you finish a long rest. When you or any of your allies are hidden at the start of your first Combat turn, you and each hidden ally can take an additional quick action that turn.

EVASION

Level 8

When you use Dexterity or Constitution to avoid an effect that inflicts half damage on a success, you take no damage if you succeed, and only half damage if you fail.

FOE SLAYER

Level 10

Whenever you inflict damage with Hunter’s Mark, inflict an additional d12 psychic damage.

NEXT TIME

The Rogue is next, but we may experience some shifting in the order that I post, since it needs a bit more work than the Warrior and Wizard (which are essentially complete). So we’ll need to wait and see what shows up on the blog for the next installment. Thanks for reading, and take a second to drop a comment letting me know what you think!

This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.

Permission granted to copy for personal use only.

THE RANGER


EXP Required	Ranger Level	Hit Dice	Exploits	Traits
	Renown 1		+1 Dexterity	*The Land Provides*
—	1	1d10	Hunter's Mark, Sentinel of the Wild
2	2	2d10	Favored Quarry
3	3	3d10	Quick Attack
4	4	4d10	Favored Quarry
	Renown 2		+1 to any ability score	*Trusted Guide*
5	5	5d10	Primal Secrets
6	6	6d10	Favored Quarry
7	7	7d10	Hunter's Mastery
	Renown 3		+1 to any ability score	*Secret Sights*
8	8	8d10	Evasion
9	9	9d10	Hunter's Mastery
	Renown 4		+1 to any ability score	*Guardian of the Wild's Heart*
10	10	10d10	Foe Slayer

Hundred Dungeons: The Ranger