Surprising no one, I have played TTRPGs for years. My first character was a Pathfinder 1E sorcerer and he was a blast to play. But it was a bit of a last minute change of mind and I’m not really sure what made me switch. But what I do know is the first class that drew my eye was actually the ranger. Darting through the woods with a bow or twin blades, animal companion at your side, it sounded pretty cool. It’s a class I’ve always thought was cool and wanted to play more. And one feature that always made me excited was favored terrain. There’s so much flavor you can pull out of it. How does a dessert ranger dress compared to a coast ranger? What creatures have they hunted or bonded with? And of course the most important question, what is their favorite food? So you can imagine the horror I felt reading the 2024 D&D ranger when I saw they no longer had that ability. Shocked! Devastated! Full of woe and grief! Okay maybe it wasn’t that bad. But I was still disappointed. I do understand the choice to remove it as well. It can be a bit niche (While I may like little niche abilities I know not everyone does) and it didn’t provide the most evocative of benefits. But it could! You could make it really cool. So dear friends that’s why we are here today! Below bask in the glory that is my answer to ‘How can we make this exciting?’. 

Camp Master

You can spend 1 hour to create a campsite for you and your companions. When you create a campsite designate a 30 by 30 area as the campsite that lasts 10 hours. When you create a campsite you and up to 5 creatures of your choice gain the following benefit and additional ones based on your favored terrain.

Restful Sleep: A creature that finishes a long rest within your campsite gains temporary hit points equal to 1d6 times your proficiency modifier.

Arctic: Hidden In The Snow

While in your campsite you can use a bonus action to grant yourself partial cover until the start of your next turn.

Coast: Safe Haven

While in your campsite you do not provoke attacks of opportunity for moving out of a creature’s attack range.

Desert: Scorching Days, Freezing Nights

While in your campsite you ignore the effects of extreme heat or cold.

Forest: Camouflage Crew

While in your campsite whenever you make a Dexterity (Stealth) ability check and roll a 6 or below on the d20 you may treat it as a 7.

Grassland: Cleared Ground

When you start your turn in your campsite your movement speed increases by 5 ft. until the start of your next turn.

Mountain: Vantage Point

While in your campsite whenever you make a Wisdom (Perception) ability check and roll a 6 or below on the d20 you may treat it as a 7.

Swamp: Stay Out Please

Creatures other than you have their movement speed reduced by 5 ft. when they start their turn in your campsite or enter it for the first time on a turn. This effect lasts until the start of their next turn. The character that created this effect can suppress this effect for any creature (no action required).

Cave: Look Up

While in your campsite you cannot be surprised.

Survival Expert

You gain the following abilities based on what your Favored Terrain is. You can only use them when in one of your Favored Terrains but can use any option you have access to.

Arctic: Snow Blinded

 You may use a bonus action to force a creature within 15 ft. of you to make Constitution Saving Throw against your spell save DC. On a failure the creature is blinded until the start of your next turn. A creature that does not have or can see without eyes is immune to this effect.

Coast: Tide Strider

Difficult terrain only reduces your movement speed by 10 ft.

Desert: Quicksand

As a reaction to a creature within 30 ft. of you taking the move action you can force them to make a Dexterity saving throw with a DC equal to your spell save DC. If they fail, their movement speed is halved until the end of their turn.

Forest: From The Shadows

If you are invisible from taking the hide action at the start of your turn, it lasts until the end of your turn even if you take an action that would normally cause you to be noticed. At the end of your turn you are revealed unless you have successfully hidden since you took an action that would cause you to be revealed.

Grassland: Overrun

Once per round, if you move 10 ft. towards a creature before making a weapon attack you may add 1d10 to the damage dealt.

Mountain: Stand Strong

When an effect would move you against your will or cause you to become prone you may use your reaction to prevent the movement or remain standing.

Swamp: Did you know this is deadly?

When a creature hits you with a melee attack you may use your reaction to force them to make a Constitution Saving Throw against your spell save DC. If they fail, they take poison damage equal to a number of d6s equal to your proficiency modifier. On a success they take no damage.

Cave: Strike First, Strike Fast

On your first turn in a combat you have advantage on your weapon or unarmed attack rolls and deal an extra d8 damage on each hit.

And there it is. The goal of the abilities wasn’t to be completely realistic. Though I did spend a bit of time researching different biomes and camping tips for them. But at the end of the day the point was to make something that would evoke the right vibe and be an exciting power to have. I mean rogues get to sneak attack, barbarians get to rage, and so on. And these abilities are all WILD when you think about them. I mean imagine if rage wasn’t a core ability and someone brought their homebrew class that could just be resistant to all weapon damage in most fights? It would sound insane. And rangers deserve to have something insane AND flavorful. So the intent was to make the abilities sound like they matched the environments. Even if hardcore survivalists will look disapprovingly upon my idle musings. What can I say, roughing it isn’t my forte and likely never will be. What do you all think though? What would you change about rangers to make them more exciting to play?

Until next time, 

Onwards to adventure!

– CozyPandaDragon 

This is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast.