The Fey Wanderer Ranger is one of the most unique subclasses available to Rangers in D&D 5e.
These characters may seem whimsy and chaotic, but don’t be fooled. They are remarkably clever both in and out of combat situations.
Blending the Ranger’s survival skills and combat prowess with Fey magic and enchantments, there’s seemingly nothing these characters can’t do!
If you seek to bring the elusive power of the Feywild to your game, this is for you!
This is the full guide to the Fey Wanderer Ranger in D&D 5e!
What is the Fey Wanderer Ranger in D&D 5e?
Fey Wanderer Rangers have received, either willingly or otherwise, gifts and powers of the Feywild. This might have been a reward for saving a Fey creature from hunters/bandits, swimming in the water of a magical spring, or some other such event.
Regardless of how it happened, the Fey Wanderer now stands between the Material Plane and the Feywild.
In true Fey fashion, these Rangers tend to be whimsical and jolly. However, that doesn’t mean that they should be underestimated when defending themselves or those they care about!
Just as the Feywild can bring comfort and joy, it can also bring gloom and ruin upon those who are not welcome.
With martial prowess, tricks, and charms for days, the Fey Wanderer is excellent at keeping friends and foes alike guessing!
You can find the Fey Wanderer Ranger in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything alongside the Swarmkeeper Ranger.
Role in the Party
Generally speaking, Rangers tend to work best as specialists. However, the Fey Wanderer takes a much more versatile approach to the Ranger class.
They’re still solid combatants and have plenty of magical ability to boost their own performance and keep enemies confused.
But Fey Wanderers also get a nifty bonus to their Charisma checks that makes them adequate as a Face for the party. Pairing that with a high Wisdom for things like the Insight skill means you can certainly be quite the clever one!
In true Fey spirit, these Rangers have a strong focus on manipulating the minds of others with clever charms. Additionally, gaining teleportation spells means they can quickly get in and out of situations as they need to.
Fey Wanderer Ranger Features 5e
While Dexterity is typically the archetypal Ranger’s most important ability score, the Fey Wanderer relies heavily on Wisdom. It powers your most important spells and enhances most of your features.
Sure, Dexterity and Wisdom are both important for Rangers, but Wisdom tends to play “second fiddle” in most character builds. In the case of the Fey Wanderer, you’ll want to switch that up.
While the Fey Wanderer Ranger is an all-around solid subclass, it makes a very strong case for building it around the Druid Warrior fighting style that was also introduced in TCoE.
With so much reliance on spells, it’s not a bad idea to pick up a couple of handy cantrips!
Related: The Ability Scores in D&D 5e Explained
Fey Wanderer Magic (Level 3)
Choosing the Fey Wanderer Ranger subclass gives you access to more spells as you reach certain levels.
These spells count as Ranger spells for you and do not count against the number of Ranger spells that you know. As with your other Ranger spells, Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these.
| Ranger Level | Spell |
| 3 | Charm Person |
| 5 | Misty Step |
| 9 | Dispel Magic |
| 13 | Dimension Door |
| 17 | Mislead |
Spells like Charm Person are a bit weird on a Ranger, but it makes sense for the Fey Wanderer. It can be helpful in a pinch if you need to make a quick friend!
This can be used to take some pressure off of yourself in combat, but know that the target will be making their save with advantage if you or your companions are fighting them!
Misty Step is always a fantastic spell. I mean, what’s not to like about a 30-foot teleportation as a bonus action?!
Whether you’re looking to infiltrate somewhere, reposition, initiate combat, or make a quick escape, you’ll be glad you have it!
Dispel Magic is situational and generally best left to other casters. However, it’s one of those spells that at least one person in every party should have ready.
When you need a teleport with more range that doesn’t necessarily require you to see where you’re going, Dimension Door is handy. Note that this does require an action, however, you are able to bring a friend with you!
Finally, Mislead is a fun and somewhat underrated spell that is great for scouting and bamboozling others.
That said, it’s not quite as useful by the time you’re getting it at level 17. However, you should absolutely seize the opportunity for some Fey hijinks with this spell if the opportunity arises!
Feywild Gifts
The Fey Wanderer’s magic also comes with a fun bit of extra flavor.
Specifically, the Fey Wanderer has received a blessing from one of their Fey allies or from visiting a place of Fey power.
While this blessing is entirely for cosmetic flavor, it’s a fun way to add the Fey “otherness” that you no doubt want such a character to have!
You can either roll on the Feywild Gifts table to determine the effect or choose which blessing you would like.
| d6 | Gift |
| 1 | Illusory butterflies surround you while you take a short or long rest. |
| 2 | Fresh, seasonal flowers sprout from your hair each dawn. |
| 3 | You faintly smell of cinnamon, lavender, nutmeg, or other comforting herbs/spices. |
| 4 | Your shadow dances while nobody is looking directly at it. |
| 5 | Horn or antlers sprout from your head. |
| 6 | Your skin and hair change color to match the season at each dawn. |
Some of these are clearly more apparent than others. If you like to keep a lower profile, most of these will be fine. However, if you like to proudly show your Fey nature, the last two will certainly do the trick!
Of course, you can also work with your DM to come up with other gifts if you’d like.
Have fun with it! After all, all kinds of crazy things can come from the Feywild and this is a fun flavor feature!
Dreadful Strikes (Level 3)
The Fey Wanderer pulls from both aspects of the Feywild: the lively bright regions and the hauntingly gloomy alike.
In this case, it’s the second one.
Now, when you’re dealing weapon damage, you’ll be adding some extra psychic damage into the mix!
When you hit a creature with a weapon, you can deal an extra 1d4 psychic damage to the target, which can take this extra damage only once per turn.
The extra damage increases to 1d6 when you reach level 11 in this class.
It’s easy to undervalue this feature because of the small dice and the “once per turn” limit. But rest assured, Dreadful Strikes is an EXCELLENT feature!
First things first, psychic damage is not commonly resisted by most enemies. Things like constructs, gem dragons, and oozes are the most common psychic-resisting encounters you might run into.
Secondly, the damage can only be taken by a single creature once per turn. If you attack multiple creatures, they’ll each get a dose of the bonus psychic damage!
That means grabbing a feat such as Two-Weapon Fighting or Crossbow Expert will help you get even more use out of this. Both help you get more use out of your bonus action with yet another attack.
This presents yet another opportunity to apply Dreadful Strikes (as long as you’re hitting an enemy that hasn’t already taken the damage from this feature this turn!)
Also, keep in mind that Dreadful Strikes also activates on opportunity attacks. Though, as before, the enemy can’t have taken this extra psychic damage yet this turn.
Of course, Hunter’s Mark is the Ranger’s classic standby spell and it does stack with Dreadful Strikes. I hope you’ve brought plenty of dice!
If you take the Druidic Warrior fighting style, you will want to grab the Shillelagh cantrip to get the most value out of this!
Related: Using the Shillelagh Cantrip in D&D 5e
Otherworldly Glamour (Level 3)
Rangers aren’t usually what comes to mind when it comes to charming, charismatic characters. That’s usually left to Bards, Paladins, or other high-Charisma characters.
But your ties to the Feywild do help your charms and supplement what might otherwise be your dump stat!
Whenever you make a Charisma check, you gain a bonus to the check equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of +1).
In addition, you gain proficiency in one of the following skills of your choice: Deception, Performance, or Persuasion.
Wisdom is important for Rangers so you’ll definitely be making that more of a priority. Being able to add that modifier to your Charisma skills can be incredibly helpful!
Not to mention that gaining an extra skill proficiency is always welcome. (You’ll be better served by choosing either Deception or Persuasion depending on how honest/sincere your character is!)
Giving a handy bonus to what is likely one of your lower abilities helps make for a more well-rounded character.
Who says Rangers can’t be charming?!
Beguiling Twist (Level 7)
At level 7, the Fey Wanderer Ranger gains the Beguiling Twist feature.
Brace yourself, because this one can get confusing…
You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened.
In addition, whenever you or a creature you can see within 120 feet of you succeeds on a saving throw against being charmed or frightened, you can use your reaction to force a different creature you can see within 120 feet of you to make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC.
If the save fails, the target is charmed or frightened by you (your choice) for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a successful save.
So now it makes sense mechanically why Fey Wanderers get the Charm Person spell!
Even beyond your own enchantment magic, 120 feet of range is simply huge! You’ll have plenty of opportunities to activate Beguiling Twist if you have other party members who are fond of charming or frightening enemies.
Furthermore, when you or someone else succeeds against an enemy’s attempt to charm or frighten them, this gives you a way to kindly mark the effect as “Return to Sender.”
If that’s not the ideal play (say if the creature is immune/resistant to such effects), then pass it to one of their allies!
Yes, you can potentially cause a dragon to be frightened by their own Frightful Presence feature!
Being able to salvage these effects when a target succeeds on its save for the low cost of a reaction is excellent.
You can easily cycle the effect from target to target like a fey game of Hot Potato throughout an entire encounter.
It’s a nifty and resource-friendly way to really play mind games with your enemies.
Just don’t skimp on your Wisdom score!
Fey Reinforcements (Level 11)
With your Fey Spirit ally coming out to play, you get a reliable (and potent!) companion. As far as summons go, it’s a very good one!
You know the Summon Fey spell.
It doesn’t count against the number of Ranger spells you know, and you can cast it without a material component. You can also cast it once without a spell slot, and you regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest.
Whenever you start casting the spell, you can modify it so that it doesn’t require concentration. If you do so, the spell’s duration becomes 1 minute for that casting.
Summon Fey is a spell that was introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything alongside this subclass.
Not only are you getting this for free once per day, but you also don’t have to worry about the 300gp material component typically needed to cast this.
Since the Spirit has three moods (Fuming, Mirthful, or Tricksy) that each provides different benefits, you’ll always have options for how to use this.
Mirthful is a great way to charm enemies and works well with your Beguiling Twist feature. However, Fuming is great for when you need to go on the offensive and Tricksy is great for when you need to make a quick getaway!
A higher Wisdom score will make it easier for your Fey Spirit to land its attacks since it uses your spell attack modifier to hit.
Unless you reduce the duration to 1 minute, you will need to make sure you maintain concentration. That’s an important thing to note, but I would be slow to recommend doing so.
Rangers don’t get many spells per day and the Fey Spirit is a powerful enough ally that you’ll want to get the most out of it you can!
Misty Wanderer (Level 15)
Misty Step is such a wonderfully effective and efficient spell that it’s hard not to gush about it.
For the Fey Wanderer Ranger’s capstone, they just got a powered-up version of the spell!
You can cast Misty Step without expending a spell slot.
You can do so a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
In addition, whenever you cast Misty Step, you can bring along one willing creature you can see within 5 feet of you. That creature teleports to an unoccupied space of your choice within 5 feet of your destination space.
Once again, this gets better the more Wisdom you have. At a Wisdom score of 20, you’re getting an astounding FIVE FREE USES of this per day!
Even better, you can bring a friend with you now!
Whether you’re repositioning in combat, saving a friend that’s in peril, or completely getting around a puzzle, this has a huge impact.
Both literally and figuratively, enemies will be completely unable to pin you or your allies down!
Connections
Fey Wanderer Rangers tend to be pretty easy to tie in with most adventures and parties. After all, the Fey are known for being whimsical and approaching new experiences with curiosity.
A core element that really stands out about the Fey Wanderer Ranger is how they have one foot in the Feywild and the other in the Material Plane.
Rangers are known for exploring the uncharted areas of nature, so consider what happened when your character stumbled into the Feywild.
What were their experiences there that led to them gaining their Fey abilities? What kind of friends have they made there?
Is something about the adventure hook of interest to those Fey friends that would prompt you to join the party?
Rangers already tend to get along incredibly well with Druids, so you’ll likely make fast friends with your party’s Druid. But you’ll especially get along with Fey-themed party members like an Archfey Warlock or Circle of Dreams Druid.
Even if there aren’t a ton of Fey themes in the adventure, your travels and experiences will help you be right at home.
In fact, fewer Fey themes in the adventure means that you will be able to stand out even more!
Is the Fey Wanderer Ranger Good?
Regular readers of this blog will know that I have a weakness for anything Fey. The Fey Wanderer Ranger is no exception!
While this is a subclass that wears multiple hats, it’s wonderfully effective in most adventures.
They struggle a bit in an adventure that sees them going against a lot of enemies that resist charms, but you’ll still have plenty of tricks up your sleeve to make it work.
The biggest thing to be aware of with the Fey Wanderer is that they function differently from most other Rangers.
While you can put out some respectable damage in combat, that’s just one element of what you’re bringing to the table. You’ve got social skills and magical utility that you’re also bringing into the mix!
That means that the Fey Wanderer Ranger needs to stay flexible and fill any openings that present themselves in the group.
It’s about recognizing the situation at hand and knowing how you can best slide in to help. If you’re able to spot these openings, you’ll always have plenty of things to do no matter what’s happening in the game!
And that’s a theme with how this subclass works.
While teamwork is always important, it’s absolutely the key to getting the most out of the Fey Wanderer Ranger subclass.
If your party is communicating and working together strategically, your charms and spells will create plenty of openings for the party to emerge victorious!
There’s more of a learning curve with the Fey Wanderer Ranger than most other Ranger subclasses. But the payoff is excellent indeed!
Related: Ranking Every Ranger Subclass in D&D 5e!
Conclusion – Fey Wanderer Ranger in D&D 5e
But that wraps it up for this guide to the Fey Wanderer Ranger in D&D 5e!
I hope you’ve found it helpful, and I’d love to read your thoughts or character concepts on the Fey Wanderer in the comments!
Of course, also let me know if you have any questions. I’m happy to help!
Personally, I’m fond of subclasses like this. Especially when we’re talking about how vibrant and varied beings from the Feywild are, you can really have such a field day with how you play your Fey Wanderer.
There’s something special about subclasses that turn the typical experience of a class on its head. It’s a whole new way of looking at what the class really is and what they offer to the group and the larger story!
But what else would you expect from a Fey, right?
Anyways…
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Concerning Fey gifts: I vividly imagine a tieflng with natural horns and the fifth gift.
Concerning Dreadful Strikes: does the target get damage once per target’s or Wanderer’s turn? If the latter is correct, than it can be used with opportunity attacks: they are outside character’s turn.
Hi V-Z!
Funny enough, I had also imagined a character with multiple sets of horns like that when I was working on this guide. It would certainly be a unique look and I think any Fey would be more than happy to adorn them with flowers, vines, or colorful ribbons!
As I understand Dreadful Strikes, it says that a creature can only take the damage from the feature once per turn.
So if Goblin B gets hit by the Ranger on the Ranger’s turn, Goblin B will take the extra psychic damage.
The Ranger’s turn ends and it is now Goblin B’s turn.
If Goblin B tries to run away on their turn without disengaging, the Ranger can make an opportunity attack. On a hit, the opportunity attack would deal the extra damage from Dreadful Strikes because it is a new turn and Goblin B hasn’t taken Dreadful Strikes damage on this turn yet.
Well, now I know what to do with one of my concepts…
Though it depends on the Fey. I
Ah, I thought so as well. I assume, it will also work with Readied actions, and any other ways of hitting outside your turn.
Value on Charisma checks (Wis+Cha+Prof) possibly nearing expertise levels in the right build, value on charm person and a good use for reaction, value on one of the best bonus action spells, value with extra spells to your list, on top of the ranger variant rules and a unique playstyle to the class…damn I’ve been sleeping on this one.
Hi Albino Rat!
From everything I’ve seen, it seems like many people have slept on the Fey Wanderer. It’s certainly different from all of the other Ranger subclasses, but there is some amazing potential and adaptability to it that is just amazing!
Not to mention, fey stuff is always fun! 🙂
Definitely worth giving this subclass a try!
I want to play a Firbolg Gunslinger, or at least the archetype if guns aren’t allowed. I feel that would be unique, but somehow not weird.
That would be really fun!
I’m envisioning something like a Gunslinger/Fey Wanderer Firbolg who is a really chill and otherworldly “White Hat” Sheriff kind of person.
That could be an interesting character to play and now my mind is racing with the potential!