You know what they say; you can talk a ranger out of the wilds, but you can’t take the wild out of the ranger. (I don’t know if they actually say that; I just made that up.)

Today, we’re introducing another subclass for Dungeons & Dragons 5e… Ranger: The Bounty Hunter.

Why a Bounty Hunter?

• We thought it would be fun to have an “Urban Ranger”; someone just as adept at tracking in the streets as they are the forest.

• We found the idea of having a preferred type of animal to hunt as bad, and the idea of having a favorite humanoid race to hunt even MORE problematic. We wanted an alternative, with the ranger hunting people based on what they DO.

Without further ado, here it is!

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BOUNTY HUNTER

Ranger Archetype

By Steven Moyer and Dave Seidman-Joria

You are a ranger who doesn’t specialize in animals or monsters. You prefer quarries that can talk, reason, and most dangerous of all, think. And they will use all of their cunning to try to outrun you. Track them down over hill and dale, in the deepest cave, or in the densest cities.

	BOUNTY HUNTER FEATURES
3rd	Bounty Hunter Magic, Unnatural Explorer, Favored Classes
7th	Find Your Mark
11th	Tightly Bound
15th	Law of Names

Bounty Hunter Magic

Starting at 3rd level, you learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Bounty Hunter Spells table. The spell counts as a ranger spell for you, but it doesn’t count against the number of ranger spells you know.

	BOUNTY HUNTER MAGIC
3rd	Entangle
5th	Hold Person
9th	Slow
13th	(Otilake’s) Resilient Sphere
17th	Far Step

Unnatural Explorer

Starting at 3^rd Level, you immediately gain an additional favored terrain. In addition, your pool of favored terrains types you can choose from (either now or at 6^th or 10^th level) now includes Urban terrain.  You also also gain one additional language and gain proficiency in the Cartographer tool.

Favored Classes

You may immediately gain two additional humanoid types as favored enemies; however, instead of picking two humanoid races, you instead pick two class types from the PHB (and any other source books allowed in your setting); you are skilled at hunting humanoids with that background. 

Similarly, when your ranger learns an additional favored enemy at 6^th and 14^th level, they may instead learn two additional classes. (If the GM agrees, at 3rd level, you may change your Level 1 favored enemy to pick two classes instead.)

Note: With some spellcasting monsters, it is hard to discern which exact type of spellcaster a monster counts as: generally, monsters with “spellcasting” count as either clerics, druids, or wizards. Meanwhile, some humanoids (but not all) with innate spellcasting count as sorcerer, warlock, etc. When in doubt, use your best judgement.

Find Your Mark

Starting at 7^th level, once per turn, when you cast the spell Hunter’s Mark, you may cast is at level 1 as if it were a cantrip; likewise, any spell slot you use to cast Hunter’s Mark counts as if it was two spell slot levels higher (i.e. a spell slot of 1^st-2^nd level counts as if it was spell slot of 3^rd-4^th level; a spell slot of 3^rd or higher counts as if it was spell slot of 5^th level).

Tightly Bound

Starting at 11^th level, whenever an opponent is restrained by one of your spells, it gains a disadvantage on any Strength tests to break free.

Law of Names

Starting at 15^th level, you can count any non-animal character as a favored enemy provided you know the character’s True Name (nicknames, pseudonyms, or partial names aren’t enough). You may only have one true name enemy like this at a time; once you have chosen a name, you may not “unlearn” it until after a long rest, freeing up the slot.

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That’s it for the Bounty Hunter. It has yet to be thoroughly tested, so any feedback or comments are appreciated. What are your thoughts? Any subclasses you’d like to see? Let us know!

In the meantime, game on!

-Dave Seidman-Joria

Game Designer as Tangent Artists