Runaway Princesses (GLOG): Ranger Class

The Ranger was surprisingly difficult to design, because the class has a bit of an identity crisis. I mean - did you know there's an entire subreddit dedicated to re-designing the 5e Ranger?! These are the things you discover when designing GLOG classes apparently, and many of people's issues with the 5e Ranger seem to be down to that same identity crisis.

Is the Ranger... Bear Grylls with a bow, is it a beast-master (or animal friend as I prefer to call it), can the Ranger cast spells - should they be some sort of arcane archer (coming soon)? Is the Ranger having a bow and arrow iconic, and thus integral to the class, or should we not assume them to use the bow and arrow?

I nearly went with a subclass approach, like my current Rogue has. Have core Ranger features, and then have Hunter and Beastmaster (+ maybe arcane archer) subclasses. I'm probably going to do that one anyway, to see how it looks. But in the end, I was in my usual habitat of analysis paralysis, so just decided to go ahead and do a hodge-podge of Ranger ideas I liked, and just get the class done. I was agonizing over the capstone for a while, and since I came up with it about an hour ago, it may be a terrible idea. But I've been playing Red Dead Redemption 2 (it's a triumph, and has this fascinating push and pull going on where it is simultaneously making fantastic use of the medium, while at other times wishing it was just a Netflix series) and thought stealing the Deadeye mechanic might be quite fun for the Ranger.

Love a good design discussion, but I have rambled on, so as always please, please leave a comment or say hi on the GLOG channel of the OSR discord server. 

Here is the current incarnation of Runaway Princesses Ranger, adapted from Arnold's, zoeology, Words for Yellow, Lexi and Type1Ninja’s Rangers, presented in text, PDF, Google Doc and how it currently looks in the Runaway Princesses PHB (version with classes).

EDIT: The version in the post (not the doc, pdf or pic) has the correct Deadeye text. I'm working on updating the rest asap.

Google Docs

PDF

Ranger 

Hit Die: d8

Gain 3 Skills: 1: Animal Handling, 2: Athletics, 3: Insight, 4: Perception, 5: Stealth, 6: Survival

Starting Equipment: Animal Companion, Bow (+DEX, d6 + DEX, 60/300ft), Leather Armour (AC +2, 0 slots).

Ranger Level 1: Animal Companion, Natural Explorer.

Level 2: Hunter’s Sense, Traps, +1 ready slot.

Level 3: Trophies, Ambush.

Level 4: Versatile, Deadeye.

Animal Companion

You start with an animal companion, which can be any mundane animal horse-sized or smaller. 

Compared to regular pets:

• Your companion can follow more complex commands.

• Before, or during combat (with an action), you can set up an action, such as “attack when I attack”, so you don’t have to direct them with an action in combat.

• You learn the language your companion speaks (e.g. Dogs speak Canine, Cats speak Infernal).

 You can replace your companion by bonding with another.

Natural Explorer

• When a random encounter occurs outside, you can draw or modify the terrain map and choose starting positions (GM discretion).

• When you forage, you find double the amount of rations.

• You can predict (choose) season-appropriate weather for the next day, succeeding on a 5-in-6, -1 for every consecutive successful prediction. You can detect but not create natural disasters. 

Hunter’s Sense

When you’re in the party, the range at which you get Omens increases by +1. Omens are clues of a creature that’s nearby.

You can mark one creature you can see as your Quarry:

• Your rolls to track the creature have +1d6.

• You step up the damage die when you hit the creature.

• If you have combat advantage against the creature, you deal +1d6 damage.

You can only have one Quarry at a time.

Traps

You can manufacture and set traps on the fly. 

Each trap (1 slot) requires a trapping kit (1 slot, U3, 25sp).

It takes 10 minutes to craft a trap in natural terrain.

When you create a trap, choose up to 3 effects:

• Damage: Victims take 1d6 damage.

• Halt: Victims are immobilized.

• Alert: Victims set off a loud racket.

Mark one X on your trapping kit for each effect you choose.

With  additional items (poisons, flammable oils), you can create more types of traps.

Trophies

You can collect trophies from corpses. 

Each trophy takes up 1 slot, and the rare ones fetch a pretty penny to the right collector (25 silver pieces x creature’s HD). Sales grant 1 XP per silver piece gained.

Each readied Trophy gives you:

•  +1 AC against that type of creature.

• +1 damage against that type of creature.

•  +1d6 on checks to avoid or negate their special effects. 

Ambush

You roll initiative with A* and have +1d6 on attack rolls against creatures who haven’t taken their turn yet.

Versatile

Choose one:

• Learn one of the Fighter’s Fighting Styles.

• Learn the Druid’s Wildspeak ability.

• Learn one of the Druid’s spells (1-6) and gain 1 MD to cast it with.

• Learn the Rogue’s Opportunist ability.

Deadeye

During combat, you can enter a mindset of extreme focus, where time seems to slow down, and all you see is the prey’s weak spots. Activating Deadeye is a free action, and it lasts one round. While in Deadeye: 

• When you make a ranged attack, you can make another for free.

• Your attacks always hit, but you still roll for attacks because your critical hit range is increased by +1d6.

• You can exchange your critical hit range bonus to target a specific area on the target, such as the leg to halve movement speed, or shoot their weapon out of their grip. You may or may not still deal normal damage. This is to the GM’s discretion.

You have one use of Deadeye per rest.

Comment: I'll come up with something more diagetic and interesting soon, like eating a harvested monster part recharges Deadeye or something.