[Gems] Ranger - Stonewarden (Patreon)

I wanted to make a ranger with a different kind of focus. We've never really explored rangers and the natural inorganic landscape, and this is one of the .

As far as justifying it to your DM for your homebrew campaign:

> Rangers, being half-caster martial classes, have pretty aligned subclass design. Their 3rd level is a utility and offense feature (usually with a +1d6 on hit), their 7th level is a defense, their 11th level (coinciding with the power spike) is high offense, and their 15th level is a defensive one.

Stonepeak lets the ranger excel at performing their typical tracking job by gaining information from stones.

Earthly Crust, like other 3rd level features, grants a damage bonus per hit. However, they get a bonus to their AC (ramping up from +1 to a +4)  at the cost of not dealing that extra damage later, which shifts the Stonewarden's role from a damage dealer to a melee tank. +4 to AC at 17th level might seem strong, maxing out at 22 (18 in light armor), but the lack of martial damage at that high level is equally devastating, especially when you're out of spell slots.

Stonewalk grants you a short equivalent of earthglide, which is useful for defense, mobility, and escape. However, you do take damage from ending your turn inside something, which discourages you from hiding inside the ground.

Rouse the Earth grants you a new action that deals low damage to a number of enemies and imposes difficult terrain. The wide effect radius is compensated by an extremely common saving throw on a low DC martial class. This is comparable to the Hunter ranger's whirlwind or volley, which has the potential to deal more damage.

One With Stone is a fantastic defensive option. Like some rangers, who get to reduce any damage they take by half (Gloom Stalker, Horizon Walker), the Stonewarden gains resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing at the risk of losing concentration.

What do you think? I'm reasonably confident about the balance except for Earthly Crust, which may either be very strong or very weak. If you try this archetype, please let me know how it goes!