Ranger
Third built class. Runs on the homebrew engine in the Core Rules using the Martial Discipline power model, the same spine as the Cavalier, fueled by Focus instead of Conviction. Built from the Seaquill lore and the High Elf nature bond. Numbers tunable.
1. What a Ranger is
The hunter and tracker of Sylvaria, House Seaquill. High Elves: ancient, ageless, explorers and scholars with a spiritual bond to the natural world. A Ranger reads the forest and the coast like a page of a book they have known for centuries: the bend of a branch, the change in the current, the track no one else sees. Light on their feet, deadly at range, at home in country that kills the unprepared. Bow and blade, traps and snares, marked prey, and the patience of a people who measure time in lifetimes.
They are not casters. The bond to nature is in them, but it expresses as woodcraft and discipline, not as spells pulled from a leyline. A Ranger does not conjure; they out-prepare, out-track, and out-shoot.
Power model: Martial Discipline. Abilities are trained techniques, not spells. No environmental gating: a Ranger works as well in a city alley as on a forest ridge, the bond travels with them. Techniques can be re-trained on a long rest (a Ranger refines their craft), which makes the loadout swappable, like the Cavalier and unlike the Sea Shepherd's fixed gift. Fueled by Focus. Light elven nature touches color the flavor (the at-will tells, the Gift of Sylvaria capstone), but the engine treats every line as a martial maneuver row.
2. Focus (the resource)
Focus is the Ranger's pool: the steady, narrowed attention of a hunter who has already chosen the shot. It refills on rest and follows the base column of the core pool table (level 1 starts at 8, level 10 reaches 68), exactly like the Cavalier's Conviction. It is re-trainable on a long rest the same way: a Ranger can swap which techniques they have drilled.
Focus does not build through combat the way Conviction does; it is a calm resource, not a valorous one. It is spent on costed techniques and recovered by rest (full on a long rest, 25% on a short rest, which also recharges any 1/short-rest technique). A Ranger who burns Focus early fights the back half of an engagement on at-will woodcraft alone, so pacing the pool is the skill.
3. The hunting beast (optional companion sub-module)
A Ranger may bond a single hunting beast: a coastal hawk, a forest lynx, a hound, a heron of the Sylvarian marshes. This is lighter than the Druid's deep bond and lighter than the Cavalier's gryphon mount. It is a helper, not a mount, and a Ranger may choose to run without one. It follows the one companion model in core section 11.
- Bonded at level 1 if the Ranger wants one; a Ranger may also decline and gain a small Focus rebate instead (see traits).
- Its own HP (Light tier). Acts on the Ranger's turn.
- A scout and a spotter first: while the beast has line of sight to a foe, the Ranger has advantage on Tracking that foe and +1 to the action roll of the next ranged technique against it.
- It can harry: once per short rest the beast may make a single strike for 1d4 and impose the Slowed condition for one round on a failed Reflex save (Resist DC 11).
- It does not gain flight scaling the way a gryphon or dragon does; this is a working animal, not a war mount. If it dies, it dies; a Ranger may bond a new one after a long rest spent in the wild.
4. Progression (levels 1 to 10)
| Level | Title | Focus (base) | Unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 2 | Strider | 8 to 10 | at-will woodcraft + tier-1 techniques; bond a hunting beast (optional); Seaquill perk: advantage on Tracking and Survival checks |
| 3 | Pathfinder | 14 | tier-2 techniques |
| 4 to 5 | Warden | 18 to 22 | pick a discipline at level 4; tier-3 begins |
| 6 to 7 | Huntsman | 28 to 34 | tier-3 techniques; Seaquill perk: +2 to all Survival checks and gain Medicine proficiency if not already trained |
| 8 | Master Ranger | 42 | tier-4 techniques |
| 9 to 10 | Warden of Sylvaria (house head) | 54 to 68 | capstones, staff managed; level 10 Seaquill perk: Gift of Sylvaria |
Same pool curve as the core base column. Titles rename freely.
5. At-will woodcraft (free, no cost, no roll)
The everyday instinct of a Sylvarian hunter, always available.
| Woodcraft | Effect |
|---|---|
| Hunter's Mark | quietly note a creature you can see; you remember its trail, scent, and gait for the rest of the scene |
| Sure Step | move silently and keep footing on root, scree, ice, or wet stone |
| Read Sign | judge how old a track is, what made it, and which way it went |
| Field Sense | read weather, time to nightfall, and where game or water lies |
| Quiet Word | speak so only those you choose can hear, the hunter's hush |
| Quillwind | the Seaquill tell: with a flick, draw a single feather, leaf, or arrow-fletch into the air and let it ride the breeze in a slow spiral around you, write a word in drifting pollen, settle a falling leaf onto an outstretched hand, send a feather looping to land at someone's feet; pure flair, no combat use |
Quillwind is the Ranger's answer to a mage's prestidigitation, the parlor trick that says High Elf and Seaquill before a word is spoken. Any light thing on the air will do, a feather, a seed, a curl of mist off the marsh, though the old hands say the gift reads cleanest with a feather from your own bonded beast, and that a Strider who cannot land a leaf on the back of their hand has not been practicing.
6. Core techniques (every Ranger)
| Technique | Lv | Cost | Cast DC | Res DC | Save | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marked Shot | 1 | 1 | 9 | 11 | Reflex | a ranged strike at a Hunter's Marked foe; weapon dice + 1d6 |
| Set Snare | 1 | 1 | 8 | 12 | Reflex | place a trap in reach; first foe to enter it is Rooted for one round on a failed save |
| Steady Aim | 1 | 1 | 8 | none | self | spend a beat to steady; +2 to your next ranged action roll |
| Hunter's Volley | 3 | 2 | 11 | 12 | Reflex | loose a fan of arrows at all foes in a small area; weapon dice each |
| Hamstring | 3 | 2 | 10 | 12 | Reflex | a precise shot or cut to the leg; weapon dice and the target is Slowed for two rounds |
| Disengage | 4 | 2 | 9 | none | self | break contact cleanly; move away without granting a free strike and gain +1 to your next save |
| Called Shot | 5 | 3 | 12 | 13 | Fortitude | an aimed strike at a weak point; weapon dice + 1d8 and the target is Weakened for one round |
| Pin | 6 | 3 | 12 | 13 | Reflex | shot or thrown blade that staples a foe in place; 1d6 and Rooted for two rounds |
| Volley Storm | 7 | 4 | 13 | 14 | Reflex | a sustained rain of arrows over an area; 2d6 each round for two rounds to foes who remain in it |
| Vanish | 8 | 4 | 13 | none | self | melt into cover for one round: you cannot be targeted by direct attacks, and your next technique gains advantage on its action roll |
7. Disciplines (specialization, pick one at level 4)
Locked once chosen, like the Cavalier's. Each deepens one face of the hunt.
- Marksman. The bow. Ranged precision, called shots, killing at distance before the enemy closes. Branch unlocks deepen Marked Shot, Steady Aim, and Called Shot: Deadeye (Lv6, ignore cover and range penalties on your next Marked Shot), Piercing Shot (Lv7, a Marked Shot strikes every foe in a line for weapon dice), and the capstone shot. The artillery of the three.
- Skirmisher. The dance. Mobility, mixed melee and ranged, hit and fade. Branch unlocks deepen Disengage, Hamstring, and Vanish: Quickstep (Lv6, take a second short move on your turn for free once per round), Twin Strike (Lv7, one melee and one ranged strike in a single action, weapon dice each), Phantom (Lv8, after a Vanish your next strike cannot miss the action roll). The bruiser-skirmisher of the three.
- Trapper. The ground. Traps, snares, beast lore, area control. Branch unlocks deepen Set Snare and Pin and the hunting beast: Field of Snares (Lv6, set three Set Snares in one action), Beast Fury (Lv7, your bonded beast makes two strikes this turn and its harry imposes Rooted instead of Slowed), Killing Ground (Lv8, choose a 20-foot zone, foes inside it move at half speed and any Snare in it gains +2 Resist DC). The controller of the three, strongest with a beast at its side.
8. Capstones (levels 9 to 10, house head, staff managed)
| Ability | Lv | Cost | Cast DC | Res DC | Save | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| One Shot | 9 | 6 | 16 | 17 | Fortitude | the perfect arrow, taken after a full round of aim; 4d8 to a single Hunter's Marked foe, and on a failed save the target is Staggered for one round |
| Gift of Sylvaria | 10 | 8 | 14 | none | allies or self | the Seaquill level 10 perk, once per long rest: either heal allies within 30 feet for 2d8 + Wisdom and grant each of them advantage on their next save, OR empower your elven weapon to deal an extra 1d6 radiant or force damage for one minute |
Gift of Sylvaria is the bond to the natural world made real once a day, and it is deliberately a choice between mending the band and sharpening the kill. The Warden of Sylvaria reads the moment and picks.
9. Class traits
- HP tier: Medium. Key stat: Dexterity (ranged and finesse). Saves as core.
- Swappable loadout: techniques can be re-trained on a long rest, like the Cavalier's maneuvers.
- Focus is a calm pool: it refills on rest and is re-trainable; it does not build through combat valor the way Conviction does.
- Magic gear: a Ranger may attune and use martial magic items (enchanted bows, blades, cloaks, the elven weapon the Gift of Sylvaria empowers) but not arcane casting items. They are not blooded and they are not learned casters.
- No environmental gating: unlike the Sea Shepherd, no technique greys out for lack of terrain. The Seaquill bond travels with the Ranger.
- Companion is optional: a Ranger who declines the hunting beast carries 1 extra maximum Focus at every level instead, since attention not spent commanding an animal stays on the shot.
- The Seaquill perks (RP and skill layer): advantage on Tracking and Survival from level 1, +2 Survival and Medicine proficiency from level 6, and the Gift of Sylvaria from level 10. High-elf longevity and scholarship surface as deep Nature, Survival, and Lore standing, which the HUD shows as skill ranks and house standing rather than a damage number.
Open for your sign-off
- Level titles (Strider, Pathfinder, Warden, Huntsman, Master Ranger, Warden of Sylvaria). Rename freely; note that Warden appears at both level 4 and as the house-head title, fold or split as you like.
- Discipline names (Marksman, Skirmisher, Trapper) and whether Trapper's beast-focused branch should require the optional companion or just reward it.
- Whether the no-companion Focus rebate (+1 max Focus) is the right trade, or whether a beastless Ranger should get something else instead.