D&D Character Build: the definitive Hunter-Gatherer

I don't know who to credit for this image. If you do, drop me a message!

This is a Ranger. Yes, the infamous Ranger. Tasha's Cauldron of Everything has done a great job with those variant features, especially with this class and I'm going to greatly benefit from those. The loose concept is a character who can provide for itself thanks to what nature gives: food, weapons, chemicals (potions, poisons, antitoxins, etc.). If they need money to buy something specific (like specific tools, as we'll see, or more advanced weapons), they can sell their products. The combination I came up with is a Lizardfolk Gloom Stalker, with the (Uthgard) Tribe Member background and some feats.

Lizardfolk are great for many reasons: they have a natural armor, a decent natural weapon, swimming speed, extra skill proficiencies, a feature to gain temporary hit points and the ability to craft things without the specific need for checks or tool proficiencies (you only need a blade)... They are totally geared towards this concept! The Tribe Member background is very similar to the Outlander. Remove the Forgotten Realms fluff and you will gain other useful proficiencies, like Athletics and Survival, along with a tool that for us will be the Herbalism Kit. The main feature of this background will grant us double forage if we spend time hunting (or gathering), which will speed up our crafting.

©Wizards of the Coast

We are going to swap some Ranger features with those found in Tasha's. Deft Explorer instead of Natural Explorer, Favored Foe instead of Favored Enemy and Primeval Awareness instead of... Primeval Awareness. We are going to take the Thrown Weapon Fighting style, for this character will use a lot of darts (and possibly thrown axes or daggers or javelins or whatever). These changes, combined with the features of the Gloom Stalker will create the supreme hunter: we will gain Darkvision, Wisdom bonus to our Initiative, a burst of movement and attacks and more interesting spells (Rope Trick rules). On top of these, at 4th level we'll choose the Poisoner feat, which will grant us proficiency with the Poisoner's Kit, the ability to apply poison as a Bonus Action and the capability to craft potent poisons. On later levels, we'll be able to attack twice, to be like Schwarzenegger at the end of Predator (the Hide in Plain Sight feature of the Ranger, which does wonders with the capability of lizardfolks to hold their breath for 15 minutes), reroll a failed attack once per turn (the Gloom Stalker is insane) and more.

©20th Century Fox

Then spells. You have choices to make here: spells that further boost your fighting capacity, that cover your weak spots or that help you with the hunting? A bit of everything is totally fair, but choose wisely. I personally love Zephyr's Strike, especially at lower levels, but beware that is a concentration spell. Remember that swapping Primeval Awareness from PHB to Tasha's grants you spells that you always have prepared and that you can cast once for free per long rest.

You see, with all these addictions, it doesn't really matter which is you base damage, because we will likely add more dice to every damage we'll do. As this character grows we will gain more movement (and also climbing speed), temporary hit points, number of attacks and so on. We could also multiclass with a Rogue Scout, to further improve some of these traits, should we not like the Ranger endgame features.

©Wizards of the Coast

There are some drawbacks, obviously. For starters, this character's mechanics are a little convoluted. Maybe a chart that clearly shows all the extra damage and their sources would be useful at first; the same for the various crafting options, including DCs and rolls to make.

Also, this is a slow-growing character. You will need to spend much downtime in the wilderness for the crafting and this is not something that is usually considered in one shots or short adventures. The right spot for them is a long campaign with a great focus on the exploration pillar, where you can play the long game and slowly build your array of poisons, traps and the like.

You should take a mix of Ability Score Increases and feats, like Chef, Piercer, Skulker, Keen Mind, Sharpshooter, Observant. Your best bet is to be adaptable and balanced, because maxing out a stat won't give you that much improvement in this case: this is a character that work best with features and skills, not with a +5 Dex bonus. In fact, I guess this could work fine with a top bonus of +3, since your proficiency will grow up anyway and you will add a crap ton of other dices to your damages. You also won't need that much money at all (I'm looking at you, Wizard). Strange but true, a different kind of optimization.

* * *

I didn't want to go too deep in the details, because my aim was to provide the basics and some (I hope) neat advices on top. So, is there anything that could be different? Let me know!

Be safe during this wild times.
Daniele