D&D 5E So what are the (other) ranger archetypes?

[Minigiant]

So 5th edition gave rangers 2 subclasses to act as archetypes for the class:

The Hunter, the barrier between the wild and civilization who has specialized techniques for fighting certain types of enemies.

The Beast Master, the link between beasts and men with a mystical connection with a beast companion.

But there has to be more archetype for a mystical warrior with knowledge on the land and its denizens. What other types of ranger archetypes are there from D&D past and fantasy media with enough filling to form mechanics to exist as a subclass?

One I attempted to make is The Trapper. A popular fantasy trope is the guy with traps, snares, and alarms set up in an area to disable a group of invaders or wanderers. This works in the fiction of D&D as a ranger could ward an area with magical and mundane traps then attack the trapped foes inside it. The issue with the idea in 5th edition is the same as past editions: the mundane traps and magical spell traps don't scale well or took too to set up. And the general tabletop and video game fix was to make traps purchasable and stacking which caused big problems if the trapper got rich and was able to get a huge supply.

Another past ranger was The Horizon Walker, something else I tried. This ranger follows the progression of mundane wilds to planar and otherworldly wilds stereotypically found in D&D and many video games. The benefits were eventually gaining some benefited of the environments and planes. The issue with this was always controlling the terrain and planar powers to neither cause the "favored enemy problem" nor be too general powerful.

What are your ideas?

 

[neobolts]

One memorable ranger archetype I've created was a 3e prestige class for an elven sentry. The fought from the treetops with bows, guarded against intruders in the forest realm of the elves, and excelled at tracking.

 

[sunrisekid]

2E had a Bounty Hunter kit, which is Ranger with some urban skills and an emphasis on tracking. You could probably cherry pick some Rogue traits or re-skin certain spells to give the same flavour.

 

[Sacrosanct]

that's a tough one. Most archetypes I can think of can be managed in some combination of class/background/feat combination. Even the non-spell casting ranger archetype can be replicated by playing a fighter with the right background/feat set up.

 

[steeldragons]

The Ranger, at its base, is the class that specializes in protecting the lands of "civilization" from the wild, acting as the bridge between those differing "worlds", and/or maintaining the knowledge and skills of some forgotten/lost/former civilization/level of knowledge and skill.

So the Archetypes become:
The Hunter: The Ranger who focuses/specializes in dealing with and combating particular creatures.
The Beastmaster: The Ranger who is more in tune with the Wild world than the civilized, to the point of forming bonds with natural creatures.

The Spell-less Ranger: The Ranger who meets [or exceeds] the abilities of magic-using rangers, through simple skill and know how. Masters and movers among the wilds and settled areas equally well. Perhaps more easily than other rangers, better respected, not viewed as so odd as some other "wild/secret/magicky" rangers might be. Perhaps more "Roguish" ranger than "subclass of Fighter" ranger.

The Urban Ranger [though I hate that name, it's the one people would recognize/use]: Often, mistakenly in my opinion, just treated as a normal Ranger in an urban "terrain", this is the Ranger who is more skilled/knowledgeable about the lands of Men [or their respective races] and protection/defense of settlements than wilderness terrains. Focus on the operating within and defending the Civilization, than the areas outside it. They know their local areas like the backs of their hand, but don't rove that far afield. Faramir's "Rangers of Gondor" vs. the "Dunedain/Rangers of the North", exemplify this nicely...as might more "knightly"-styled ranger orders.

The "Vestige" Ranger: The Ranger who upholds the knowledge/secrets of some fallen land, people, or nation...whether they are of that civilization themselves or somehow found/learned/were entrusted with them in their wide travels. A Hunter style ranger but MORE magic-focused [though still a fraction of their lost land/people/nation were] with access to actual Wizard and Druid spell lists [as the original 1e class] and/or expanded magic item use. Gain Ritual Casting at some point? A master of Lore, history and knowledge, blurring the lines to Lore Bard, maybe. As skilled as other rangers in tracking and battling ancestral enemies, but maintaining knowledge & skill long forgotten by more "civilized" men/peoples of the current/local civilization.

 

[Minigiant]

I don't see the "spell less ranger" as an archetype of the ranger anymore.

Since 3rd edition, the threats and abilities have been getting more and more fantastic and magical after just a couple levels. The magicless ranger strains the willing level of disbelief when the stereotypical D&D world has yong dragons, orc shamen, evil cultists, slaver parties, flying monstrosities, and giants a couple hundred miles from a minor city. You kinda need some magic.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I don't see the "spell less ranger" as an archetype of the ranger anymore.

Since 3rd edition, the threats and abilities have been getting more and more fantastic and magical after just a couple levels. The magicless ranger strains the willing level of disbelief when the stereotypical D&D world has yong dragons, orc shamen, evil cultists, slaver parties, flying monstrosities, and giants a couple hundred miles from a minor city. You kinda need some magic.

Not only that, but it really hasn't ever been an archetype in D&D anyway. Rangers have always had spells.

 

[77IM]

How about a spell-focussed ranger, then? Maybe she defends the wilderness against encroaching civilization and unnatural threats like abberations and undead? Call it the warden...

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

I also don't get the constant call for a spell-less ranger. That's basically a fighter/rogue with a woodsy skill set. Easily doable. Moreover, you can't get that from a subclass, as you have spells at level 2, and don't get your subclass until level 3. Other than 4th, every edition of rangers have spells.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I also don't get the constant call for a spell-less ranger. That's basically a fighter/rogue with a woodsy skill set. Easily doable.

Yep. Use the rogue's expertise to gain double proficiency in survival and athletics (outlander background) and there you go. Multi-classing between fighter/rogue gives you that, as well as the archery style. So really you can do the spell-less ranger right there.

The assassinate subclass and battlemaster subclass also fit very well for that archetype. The assassinate ability to get advantage on first attacks, and most of the maneuvers all fit well into what I envision things a ranger can do.