Grove Warden
Kylin placed a hand on the gnarled tree, eyes closed, as she expanded her awareness through the forest. She sensed five of them, about a mile north. Soon, her hunt would be at an end…
Kylin, a Grove Warden
In return for their diligent protection, the forest offered its blessing to dedicated rangers. These Grove Wardens can tap into the living magic of the forest and call upon its aid. Their senses travel through the plants and earth of the woods, and the very land rises up to strike down the ranger’s enemies.
Building a Grove Warden
Rangers who pursue the path of becoming a Grove Warden learn how to enhance their powers with the strength of the forest. Keep the following traits and abilities in mind when building your character:
Whispers of the Forest - When you use your Primeval Awareness ability within a forest, you can add humanoids to the type of creatures you can sense, and you can even determine whether they are alone or in a group.
Margreve’s Will - You can magically draw on the living essence of the land to hamper your foe, gaining advantage against a single target. If the attack hits, the creature’s speed is reduced by 10 feet.
Intruder’s Bane - You can command the land around you to come to your aid. As a bonus action, you can cause an area of ground to come alive and push creatures out of the area, knocking them prone.
Wrath of the Forest - You can call on the land in your vicinity to strike at your enemies. When you attack, you can cause an otherwise mundane object such as a rock, branch, or root to also attack the target. The object is considered a magical weapon for the attack.
Living Bulwark - The land around you comes to your aid when you are danger, interposing rocks, branches, vines, roots, or even the ground itself between you and your foes. You can use a reaction to add a bonus to your AC.
With their abilities, Grove Wardens are at their most dangerous when in the forest. While it isn’t a requirement to take forests as your Favored Terrain, it certainly allows for a lot of synergy with this subclass. Their ability to track humanoids with their Whispers of the Forest ability makes them invaluable in any campaign that might involve finding a particularly elusive foe. Their other abilities make them a formidable foe in combat, allowing them to deal additional damage, while also slowing enemies or moving them around to set up their allies for a follow-up attack. When selecting spells, consider taking those that thematically tie in with the subclass, such as Hail of Thorns, Spike Growth, and Tree Stride.
There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to picking your race, especially if your gamemaster allows the optional rules variant to customize racial ability modifiers. However, some races may possess certain racial features that grant them an additional edge when it comes to particular classes.
Given their relationship to forests, Woodland Elves, Green Halflings, and Sylvan Gnomes all make great options to play as Grove Wardens. The Hide in Plain Sight feature of the Woodland Elves allows you to easily set up an ambush, while the Alert feature of the Green Halflings means you’re much less likely to be caught by surprise if ever ambushed yourself, and the Vision Keeper feature of the Sylvan Gnomes means that you can use the minor illusion cantrip to distract or confuse your enemies.
Roleplaying Tips
When roleplaying as a Grove Ranger, ask yourself what led your character to pursue this path. Do they come from an ancient forest, under threat from an encroaching civilization? Or are they a scholar who decided to take up the defense of the forests they’ve studied for themselves? Whatever the reason, one personality trait that might fit naturally with this subclass is some sort of lack of social cues. It could be that you’ve spent so much time in the forest that when it comes to interacting with people, you find yourself at a loss. This social awkwardness could result in some fun or unexpected roleplaying interactions, with your character not realizing that it’s strange to climb up in the rafters of the tavern to “get a better look of the area”, for example.
Your roleplaying may also be informed by the background that you choose. Hunter and Recluse both immediately come to mind as options for a character that spends most of their time in the woods, but Researcher is another option if you like the idea of playing a more scholarly ranger, whose martial skills are outmatched only by their knowledge of the forest. As always, whatever path you choose to follow, be sure to ask yourself why it is you’ve sought out the company of an adventuring party, and use that to guide your roleplaying in the future.
How to Access this Content
This subclass was created by our partners at Kobold Press, and it is one of the many available to subscribers, along with others like the Way of the Dragon Spirit or the Elementalist, as well as races such as the Shade or Spindrift Dwarf. Learn about these and others by checking out the rest of our Character Choices series.
Build your own Grove Warden ranger and tell us about it in the comments below or on any of our social channels. Join us on Discord, Reddit or Facebook to meet other members of the community and take your game to the next level, or follow us on Twitter @shardtabletop for regular updates.
