In 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons, subclasses let player൩s add some flair and personality to the standard classes. They are great for homebrewers, since they let players create character options with a strong theme without making a full clas🐲s progression. However, there are certain things to consider when homebrewing subclasses for different classes. Here are some tips for making a Ranger Archetype, either for personal use or publication.
Spells On A Theme
Some rangers get an expanded spell list as part of their subclass. This ca💟n be a strong source of flavor throughout the class’s progression, but creators should remember that rangers only have half spell progression. These spells are extra; rangers know these spells in addition to the ones known through the base class progression. Since they are extra, these spells should focus more on utility than damage, since rangers gain a lot of combat potential from spells in their base spell list.
It is also important to remember that the spells gained at 3rd, 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th levels are spells of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th, respectively. It’s also worth noting that not all subclasses have an expended spell list. However, since the spells are largely no🅠n-combat-focused𓃲 and rangers only get one spell at each spell level, there’s no need to make the subclass’s abilities weaker for balancing purposes.
Starting Out Strong
Rangers gain a lot of combat potency early on in their class progression. Much of the class’s ability to deal damage comes from their fighting style, spells like hunter’s mark, and their 3rd-l♐evel archetype ability. A ranger subclass should start with an ability that has a large impact on combat.
Creators should give rangers a 3rd level ability that either gives a ra🥃w increase to combat power - such as the Horizon Walker's flat 1d8 per turn bonus to their weapon strikes - or drastically alters the ranger’s combat style by providing utility in battle.
Don’t Leave Things Up To Chance
The ranger class has a lot of decision points at the beginning of its progression. Notable among these are the ability to choose a favored enemy and a favored terrain. These give bonuses when interacting with enemies of a certain type and travelling✅ through a certain type of terrain.
These bonuses do not give combat bonuses, they are entirely focused on the social and exploration pillars of the game. This is because Dungeons & Dragons has a larger mechanical focus on combat, so that is where most balancing issues appear. The focus on the non-combat aspects of the game is important, because there’s no guarantee that a DM will include the specific creature-type oౠr terrain that a ranger favors in a campaign. A good ♌DM should, but creators cannot design a subclass based on the assumption that a DM will behave in a certain way. When designing abilities that interact with these abilities, creators should make sure they do not add combat potency.
Creators should keep these guidelines in mind, and make sure they don’t make the subclass too strong 🍌or too weak at any given level. As for coming up with the flavor for the archetype, they’ll have to use their imagination for that.