Ranger Talents: Exploration Knacks
Beast Friend
Prerequisite: proficiency with Animal Handling
If you spend 10 minutes befriending and feeding a Medium or smaller beast of CR 1/8 or less, you become its guardian ranger. It follows you and is loyal to you, but it acts independently. In combat, it rolls its own initiative and acts on its own turn. The beast won’t attack except as a reaction to being attacked, but it can take other actions as normal and makes death saving throws. You can only be a guardian ranger to one beast at a time.
Build Shelter
Prerequisite: proficiency with Survival
As a part of a long rest, you can build a basic shelter which protects a number of people up to twice your proficiency bonus from the elements and protects you and your companions from danger. Creatures resting within the shelter can't be surprised except when incapacitated by something other than nonmagical sleep.
It lasts for as long as it is needed, but falls apart permanently after being left for a month unattended. Once you have used this feature, you cannot do so again for a week.
Call of the Wild
Through sounds and gestures, you can communicate simple ideas to a beast as an action, and can read its basic mood and intent. You learn its emotional state, whether it is affected by magic of any sort, its short-term needs (such as food or safety), and actions you can take (if any) to persuade it to not attack. You cannot use this ability against a creature that you have attacked within the past 10 minutes.
Expert Forager
Prerequisite: proficiency with Survival
As a part of a long rest, you can gather fruits, nuts, and grubs in the area, as long as the area has edible foliage. This has the same effect as the goodberry spell, but is not magical, and creates a number of edible items equal to twice your proficiency bonus.
Guide
Prerequisite: Deft Explorer
Choose two minor abilities from the Natural Explorer feature. You benefit from these when traveling for an hour or more. You can take this talent up to three times, choosing new minor abilities each time.
Huntsman
Prerequisite: Foehammer
Choose two creature types. You have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track your favored enemies, as well as on Intelligence checks to recall information about them.
Internal Compass
Prerequisite: proficiency with Survival
You always know which way is north, and you always know the number of hours left before the next sunrise or sunset. You can't become lost by nonmagical means, and you have advantage on ability checks against becoming lost.
Longwalker
When you would gain a level of fatigue due to lack of food, water, forced marching, or other environmental effects, you do not gain that level of fatigue. Alternatively, you can choose to accept the level of fatigue, allowing up to two traveling companions to forgo gaining a level of fatigue instead. Once you have used this feature, you cannot do so again for a week.
Monster Mimic
Prerequisite: Proficiency with Nature
By imitating how a beast or studied adversary sounds, looks, and moves, you gain advantage on Deception and Intimidation checks made to convince a creature that it is seeing or hearing that beast or studied adversary.
Relentless Pursuit
Once you have successfully picked up the tracks of a creature, you are able to follow those tracks without any need for further checks for a period of up to 7 days.
Requires 4th Level
Woodsman of Mystery
Prerequisites: 4th level, Wilderness Mystique feature
Choose a second option from the Wilderness Mystique class feature. You gain the benefits from it.
Requires 5th Level
Ear to the Ground
Prerequisite: 5th level
By expending 1 minute remaining stationary, using sound and vibrations alone, until you move or take an action you are able to deduce information up to 30 feet in every direction, as if using blindsight or tremorsense.
Read the Room
Prerequisite: 5th level
By spending 10 minutes observing facial expressions, body language, and vocal intonation, you can detect minute details which give you insight into the creatures within 30 feet of you. For the next minute, you can direct your focus on any one creature that you can see within 30 feet. If the creature you choose has an Intelligence of 3 or lower or doesn’t speak any language, the creature is unaffected. You learn the surface thoughts of the creature — what is most on its mind in that moment. As an action, you can shift your attention to another creature’s thoughts.
Requires 9th Level
Master Tracker
Prerequisite: 9th level, proficiency with Survival
You can spend 5 minutes looking at a 30-foot diameter outdoor area to study the ground and other clues. You learn all events which transpired in that area in the last 24 hours as though you had witnessed them yourself, although you do not learn secret information not obvious to an observer. The information you gain is only that which would be learned by sight; you do not gain sound-based information or learn what creatures in the area said to each other. Once you have used this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
Requires 17th Level
Master of Adventure
Prerequisites: 17th level, Survivalcraft feature
Choose a second option from the Survivalcraft class feature. You gain the benefits from it.
