Note for the DM: This character is admittedly just as much a mechanical experiment for me as it is a roleplaying one. In short - just how different is a Ranger using ALL the Optional Class Features from Tasha's in comparison to its Player's Handbook counterpart? I'll ensure that all Optional Features are clearly displayed for your reference.
Beast Master Ranger
| Level | Proficiency Bonus | Features | Spells Known | 1st Lvl Spell Slots | 2nd Lvl Spell Slots | 3rd Lvl Spell Slots | 4th Lvl Spell Slots | 5th Lvl Spell Slots |
| 1st | +2 | Favored Foe, Deft Explorer | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2nd | +2 | Fighting Style, Spellcasting | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - |
| 3rd | +2 | Ranger Archetype, Primal Awareness | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - |
Hit Dice: 1d10 per Ranger level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier per Ranger level after 1st
Proficiencies
Armor: Light armor, medium armor, shields
Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons
Tools: None
Saving Throws: Strength, Dexterity
Skills: Choose three from Animal Handling, Athletics, Insight, Investigation, Nature, Perception, Stealth, and Survival
Starting Equipment
You start with the following items, plus anything provided by your background.
-
(a) scale mail or (b) leather armor -
(a) two shortswords or (b) two simple melee weapons (Dagger, Quarterstaff) -
(a) a dungeoneer’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack -
A longbow and a quiver of 20 arrows
Alternatively, you may start with 5d4 × 10 gp to buy your own equipment.
Taking average of 125 gp and purchasing the following:
- Scale Mail (50 gp)
- Shield (10 gp)
- Quarterstaff (2 sp)
- Dagger (2 gp)
- Heavy Crossbow (50 gp)
- Net (1 gp)
- Crossbow Bolts - 20 (1 gp)
- Explorer's Pack (10 gp)
This results in 8 sp left over.
L1. Favored Foe (replaces the Favored Enemy feature and works with the Foe Slayer feature)
When you hit a creature with an attack roll, you can call on your mystical bond with nature to mark the target as your favored enemy for 1 minute or until you lose your concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell).
The first time on each of your turns that you hit the favored enemy and deal damage to it, including when you mark it, you can increase that damage by 1d4.
You can use this feature to mark a favored enemy a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
This feature's extra damage increases when you reach certain levels in this class: to 1d6 at 6th level and to 1d8 at 14th level.
L1. Deft Explorer (replaces the Natural Explorer feature)
You are an unsurpassed explorer and survivor, both in the wilderness and in dealing with others on your travels. You gain the Canny benefit below, and you gain an additional benefit below when you reach 6th level and 10th level in this class.
Canny (1st Level)
Choose one of your skill proficiencies (Perception). Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses the chosen skill.
You can also speak, read, and write two additional languages of your choice (Khur, Kenderspeak).
L2. Fighting Style - Druidic Warrior
At 2nd level, you adopt a particular style of fighting as your specialty. You can't take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.
Druidic Warrior: You learn two cantrips of your choice from the Druid spell list. They count as Ranger spells for you, and Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for them. Whenever you gain a level in this class, you can replace one of these cantrips with another cantrip from the Druid spell list.
L2. Spellcasting Focus
You can use a druidic focus as a spellcasting focus for your ranger spells. A druidic focus might be a sprig of mistletoe or holly, a wand or rod made of yew or another special wood, a staff drawn whole from a living tree, or an object incorporating feathers, fur, bones, and teeth from sacred animals.
L2. Spellcasting
By the time you reach 2nd level, you have learned to use the magical essence of nature to cast spells, much as a druid does. See Spells Rules for the general rules of spellcasting and the Spells Listing for the ranger spell list.
Spell Slots
The Ranger table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your ranger spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.
For example, if you know the 1st-level spell animal friendship and have a 1st-level and a 2nd-level spell slot available, you can cast animal friendship using either slot.
Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher
You know two 1st-level spells of your choice from the ranger spell list.
The Spells Known column of the Ranger table shows when you learn more ranger spells of your choice. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots. For instance, when you reach 5th level in this class, you can learn one new spell of 1st or 2nd level.
Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the ranger spells you know and replace it with another spell from the ranger spell list, which also must be of a level for which you have spell slots.
Spellcasting Ability
Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for your ranger spells, since your magic draws on your attunement to nature. You use your Wisdom whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Wisdom modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a ranger spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.
Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier
Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier
L3. Ranger Archetype - Beast Master
Primal Companion (replaces the Ranger's Companion feature)
You magically summon a primal beast, which draws strength from your bond with nature. The beast is friendly to you and your companions and obeys your commands. Choose its stat block—Beast of the Land, Beast of the Sea, or Beast of the Sky—which uses your proficiency bonus (PB) in several places. You also determine the kind of animal the beast is, choosing a kind appropriate for the stat block. Whatever kind you choose, the beast bears primal markings, indicating its mystical origin.
In combat, the beast acts during your turn. It can move and use its reaction on its own, but the only action it takes is the Dodge action, unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take another action. That action can be one in its stat block or some other action. You can also sacrifice one of your attacks when you take the Attack action to command the beast to take the Attack action. If you are incapacitated, the beast can take any action of its choice, not just Dodge.
If the beast has died within the last hour, you can use your action to touch it and expend a spell slot of 1st level or higher. The beast returns to life after 1 minute with all its hit points restored.
When you finish a long rest, you can summon a different primal beast. The new beast appears in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of you, and you choose its stat block and appearance. If you already have a beast from this feature, it vanishes when the new beast appears. The beast also vanishes if you die.
L3. Primal Awareness (replaces the Primeval Awareness feature)
You can focus your awareness through the interconnections of nature: you learn additional spells when you reach certain levels in this class if you don't already know them, as shown in the Primal Awareness Spells table. These spells don't count against the number of ranger spells you know.
| Ranger Level | Spell |
| 3rd | speak with animals |
| 5th | beast sense |
| 9th | speak with plants |
| 13th | locate creature |
| 17th | commune with nature |
You can cast each of these spells once without expending a spell slot. Once you cast a spell in this way, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest.