Spell Less Ranger (5e)
I love the idea of Rangers; people who know how to live off the land and survive. The heroes who can tumble down a path while surviving a hail of arrows just to turn around and keep their party from being eaten in the wilds. The kind of adventurers you find smoking a pipe in a bar glowering at hobbits… and by that, I mean the similar to yet, legally distinct halflings…
But, I don’t like rangers that use magic. It has always made sense to me that their abilities come from training, experience, and knowledge of natural lore. I want them to be a guerilla, fighting (or securing) vast swaths of the wilds using their knowledge, strength, and skill that is one part fighter, one part rugged mountain person. Magic ruins that archetype for me. If a Ranger uses magic, their arrows don’t strike extra hard because of years spent studying the weak points of monsters or because they have practiced thousands of hours with a bow, but because they learned some magic from a book.
This is not a new idea. There are spell less rangers all over the place. Some of them are even quasi-official. I brought this to my DM (I had mocked up a spell less ranger + the UA Revised ranger for maximum firepower) and was politely told that whatever I want to play should be on D&D Beyond.
Fine.
This is the kind of stuff that I would say as a DM, and I have to respect that. Although when I DM, I am eventually worn down by my doe-eyed players (this is how you end up with a beautiful gun-toting, arms dealing, raccoon in your game).
Here is what I want to do: Make this ranger but only use the Player’s Handbook. Make a cool, spell less ranger, and make it street legal.
Option 1: Lie
An ever-popular option. Take all the skills that the Ranger has due to magic and reskin them to be martial abilities. “I can only focus on so many monsters per day” the ranger says, as he scribbles out “spell” on his character sheet and writes “abilities” next to it.
This has the advantage of not mechanically messing with the class and it forces you to really engage with the fiction. How did you find those good berries? Do they come from a specific plant? Why doesn’t everyone already know about the magic healing plant? Why can’t they find the plant and you can?
The downside: There are times where reskinning doesn’t really work with the fiction, and some “abilities” may not be available to you. It’s hard to find good berries (or their non-magic facsimile) in the middle of an ancient underground sewer (though I suppose you could have always brought them with you).
Option 2: Let’s Multiclass
This is probably why you are here. Let’s cobble some stuff together and make something that resembles a Hunter style Ranger, just keep in mind, we are going to have to use optional rules from the PHB.
Let’s take a moment and look at what a ranger does. They:
Are stealthy
Can use a bow
Can wade into combat for a bit
Have this favored terrain thing that is really about mobility and tracking
Can heal their allies in a pinch.
Let’s see if we can replicate that. Roll your stats and do the best you can to max out your Dex. This is going to be a wild ride. Constitution would be a nice secondary pick.
Heritage: You are a human (variant). Take the Healer Feat. You can now heal others… better than some first level clerics.
Background: Outlander or Custom with at least Nature as a selection. Learn the language of your enemy, if you want.
Level 1: Fighter 1 – Don’t take Acrobatics or History as those skills are outside the Ranger’s wheelhouse. Try to ignore your heavy armor proficiency. Choose Archery, Two-Weapon Fighting, or Defense as your fighting style. Don’t even think about choosing a Great Weapon Fighting or Protection.
Level 2: Rogue 1 – If you don’t have it by now, take Stealth for your multiclass pick. If you grabbed it with your background, consider Athletics, Insight, Investigation, or Perception. Your expertise should be in something Ranger-ey like Nature, Stealth, or Survival. Sneak attack is your new Hunter’s Mark. Kind of. Try to pretend that thieves’ tools don’t exist. Maybe negotiate with your DM for something that better fits like an herbalism kit. Maybe another skill. If your team doesn’t have an Edgy Rogue, you could fill that lock-picking void if no one is looking (maybe your misspent youth on the streets of the big city led you to run away from home and into the wilds unknown).
Level 3: Fighter 2 – Action Surge time. I think this fits well with a ranger archetype, yes you can use it to attack twice, but your Action Surge can also be used for mobility in a pinch.
Level 4: Fighter 3 – Choose what you want, but I think Battle master fits best. These are all your new trick shots or stabs that rangers are supposed to do anyway. Plus at higher levels, some the Battle master fluff fits with the Ranger Archetype (see Know Your Enemy). However, Champion works, I suppose, if you don’t want to think about it.
Level 5: Fighter 4 – Ability Score improvement. Dump it in dexterity like a good soldier, or pick a feat that fits within your idiom. Try Medium armor master, maybe Alert, maybe Two-Weapon Fighting. You could negotiate with your DM for a Favored Terrain as a feat.
Level 6: Fighter 5 – Extra attack
Where to go from here:
Think about what you need and use levels in Rogue or Fighter to fill out your abilities.
Rogue levels focus on mobility and Stealth with the addition of some damage, however, the more levels in rogue you get, the later your third attack at Fighter 11.
Rogue 2 gives you a speed boost with Cunning Action, and the ability to Hide as a bonus action. This emphasizes your mobility as a Ranger.
Rogue 3 gives you an additional sneak attack dice, and if you choose Thief you get Second Story Work and it’s lightning climbing speed. This feels like a good ranger trait to have. You can choose Assassin if you want more if situational, damage. Assassinate syncs well with your action surge and extra attack.
Fighter
Fighter 6 gives you an ability score improvement. Time to load up your dex or take another feat
Fighter 7 gives you Know Your Enemy (Battle Master) or Remarkable Athlete (Champion). Know Your Enemy has a Ranger-style feel to it.
Fighter 8 gives you another ability score improvement
Fighter 9 gives you the use of indomitable, which again, feels like a Ranger survival trait.
Fighter 10 bumps your Superiority Dice, or if you choose Champion you get another Fighting Style
Fighter 11 Your third attack. If you took most of your levels in Fighter, this is probably your capstone ability
Upsides: By subbing in a level or three of Rogue with a Fighter (Battle Master) chassis we get a lot of abilities that approximate the Ranger. Higher mobility, additional damage, and stealth. There is enough flexibility to load up on bow skills or two-weapon fighting feats depending on what path you choose. The Healer feat nicely plops in to give you healing. Probably better healing than your magic could give you anyway.
All of these features fit with the Ranger being a lone survivor because almost all your traits recharge on a short rest. You can team up with the Warlock and fight for DAYS while your teammates whine about spell slots. A lot of your abilities like Healer’s feat, the Rogue’s Expertise feature scale, and so do the Battle Master’s Superiority dice if you keep taking levels in Fighter. You get some Ranger feeling stuff early in the build, which is nice.
Downsides: Your animal companion doesn’t exist. I am sorry. That is not something you can get directly out of the rule book. You are a bit “slower” than other builds due to the multi-class level in rogue, so Level 5 is going to suck wind with your single attack while the Fighter, proper Ranger Hunter, Monk, and Paladin get their extra attacks. You are using optional rule sets so the DM can easily say “no”. You are locked out of capstone abilities for the Fighter. Still involves some a little bit of reskinning and lying (“lockpicks? Heavy Armor? I don’t use ‘em”). If you care about such things, you encroach on some niches as you probably stealth as well as the rogue.
