cashew | Fixin' the ranger

Rangers are broken in a bad way in D&D. And plenty of people have tried their hand at fixing the Ranger, but I really don't think adding yet more complexity is really the way to go. The real complication is that no one can agree what a ranger archetype looks like: is it the Aragorn? US Army Ranger? National Park ranger? Beastmaster? The martial expy of the Druid? The explorer pioneer?

I propose that the one unifying fantasy of the Ranger archetype is "outdoors expert". That one person you want with you if you're stranded somewhere far from civilization. That set of skills to get you through the wilds alive without the amenities of technology or protection of supernatural patronage.

With that in mind, here are my proposed simple fixes for the Ranger. (Sub-class fixes are...a whole other kettle of fish.)

Ranger Hack

Replace Favored Enemy/Favored Foe with Wilderness Expert: Pick one aspect from the following aspects list. When you are in a non-urban location, you can choose to reroll once when rolling d20 in this aspect. Pick a 2nd aspect at level 6 and a 3rd aspect at level 14. Aspects list:
- Wisdom and Constitution saving throws.
- Strength and Dexterity saving throws.
- Intelligence and Charisma saving throws.
- Melee weapon attack rolls.
- Ranged weapon attack rolls.
- Unarmed attack rolls.
New Land's Stride, replace with the following:

Starting at 8th level, you are no longer affected by difficult terrain. You gain a swim speed equal to your movement speed. If you already have a swim speed, it is doubled. On non-difficult terrain, you gain an additional 10 feet of movement speed.
Replace Foe Slayer with Master of the Wilds: If you are in a non-urban location, you may choose to reroll once whenever you roll d20. If you are rolling an aspect selected from Wilderness Expert, you may reroll twice.