Nightstalker

Nightstalker


The Nightstalker archetype emulates a unique form of shadow magic, used to create shadowy familiars to accompany you in battle. By walking this path, you learn to use your shadow familiar like an extension of yourself, using them like a weapon as you stalk through the dim forests and vast plains of the world, searching for your prey. Your choice of familiar defines your style of fighting, with each familiar playing a different role on the hunt and on the battlefield.

Shadow Familiar At 3rd level, you gain the ability to summon a creature made from shadow magic to serve you. As a bonus action on your turn, you conjure or dismiss your shadow familiar, which takes the form of a spectral creature. You choose the form you can create when you first select this subclass.

When you conjure your shadow familiar, it appears in an unoccupied space within 30 feet of you. As long as it is conjured, you can forgo one or more of your attacks when you use the Attack action to have your shadow familiar move and make attacks of its own, which use your Ranger spell attack modifier for their attack rolls. Your shadow familiar cannot move farther than 120 feet away from you. The three forms you can choose from are listed below:

Cat. Whenever you forgo an attack, you can have the cat move up to 30 feet and attack a creature. On a hit, the attack deals 1d4 + your Wisdom modifier slashing damage, and the next attack made against that creature has advantage on the attack roll. As an action, you can expend a ranger spell slot to infuse the cat’s claws with poison and have it leap onto a target within 30 feet of it. That creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your Ranger spell save DC or be poisoned until the end of your next turn and take 2d8 poison damage for a 1st level spell slot, plus 1d8 for each spell level higher than 1st.

Raven. Whenever you forgo an attack, you can have the raven fly up to 45 feet and attack a creature. On a hit, the attack deals 1d10 + your Wisdom modifier piercing damage. As an action, you can expend a ranger spell slot to infuse the raven with lightning and have it travel along a line 5 feet wide and 20 feet long. Each creature in that line must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take 2d6 lightning damage for a 1st level spell slot, plus 1d6 for each spell level higher than 1st.

Wolf. Whenever you forgo an attack, you can have the wolf move up to 30 feet and attack a creature. On a hit, the attack deals 1d6 + your Wisdom modifier piercing damage, and the target has disadvantage on its next attack roll. As an action, you can expend a ranger spell slot to infuse the wolf with primal ferocity and have it release a piercing howl. Each creature of your choice within 30 feet of the wolf gains 1d6 temporary hit points for a 1st level spell slot, plus 1d6 for each spell level higher than 1st. These temporary hit points last for 1 minute.

Shadowy Transposition Starting at 7th level, whenever you activate the action of your shadow familiar that requires you to expend a spell slot, you can choose to swap positions with them before activating the ability.

Master of the Dark At 11th level, you can choose another form of shadow familiar that you can create, choosing from the same three forms described in the shadow familiar feature.

Lord of the Night When you reach 15th level, you have gained much greater power over your shadow familiar. When you activate the action of your shadow familiar that requires you to expend a spell slot, you can activate it as bonus action rather than an action. Additionally, once per long rest you can activate that action without expending a spell slot.