Use torture as a tool with this cruel ranger subclass.
One conclave of rangers seeks to preserve peace by any means necessary. This means torturing targets to prevent uprisings, assassinations and other nefarious schemes. They employ torturous methods both as a means of terrifying would-be criminals, and as a means of extracting information and punishing the guilty (or even potentially guilty).
This conclave is the torturer conclave, and while their origins have been (they feel) justified, many employ their skills more widely with the sadism expected of those in such a grim profession.
As you’d expect, this is a potentially triggering subclass to roleplay with torturous techniques in abundance. I’d speak with your group before playing this subclass as some may be uncomfortable with the actions you might perform in this role. If you do go ahead with this subclass, expect a ranger that can enhance attacks with extra damage and conditions that aren’t reliant on using hunter’s mark. They also happen to be great at making enemies fail saving throws.
Steinhardt’s Guide to the Eldritch Hunt is a 3rd party book released for D&D 5e and 5.5e. A part of the book was recently launched on D&D Beyond as a player pack. You can also grab the full supplement from MonkeyDM’s website. This guide tackles the 5.5e version of the torturer conclave ranger.
At a glance
- Scout class with plenty of out of combat capabilities
- Half caster that combines spells with weapon attacks
- Cause lots of conditions against enemies
- Makes a strong, but slightly less resilient, melee attacker
5/5 – Strong ranger subclass with lots of extra damage and many conditions and debuffs it can cause. Reduced saving throws against their targets mean they’re great bullies and work well in coordination with allied spellcasters too.
Torturer conclave features
Tools of the trade (Lv3) – 2/5
Proficiency and expertise with torturer’s tools and insight. Both are useful for interrogations and you’ll need torturer’s tools for later features. A ribbon feature, but quite a good one.
Torturer techniques (Lv3) – 5/5
You’ve got 6 of these techniques and can use each one twice per long rest. That’s quite a lot of enhancements to attacks and generally, you’re dealing some extra damage and some kind of condition or effect. At levels 7/11, these techniques can be made nastier by dealing them to the same target 2 rounds in a row and some of the effects really are quite nasty.
The challenge there is ensuring you land 2 techniques in a row against a target. Using spell slots is going to help as this both enhances the damage and reduces the target’s saving throw, and that reduction can be quite considerable. Since you likely want to be making lots of attacks anyway, you may find your spells aren’t used loads for actual spells making this a good alternative and I’d prioritise the 2nd saving throw for spells slots if you need to do any prioritising.
One challenge is that you only have 2 of each technique so if you miss an opportunity to land a technique twice in a row, then that chance is gone for the day. You can use favoured enemy to bolster this though.
It’s worth being aware that combing only requires one failed saving throw to gain the enhanced version. It’s also worth noting that the enhanced damage dealt each turn is magnified by using spells slots too so is one of the better techniques for expending higher level spells slots on. Especially if you want to whittle down health.
There is a bit of a drawback here. You must have a free hand available for torturer’s tools while making the attack. This means shields are out and while you can swap in and out weapons (like using two weapon fighting or two handed weapons), you can’t use these load outs simultaneously with your torturer techniques. This means you’re limited to one handed melee weapons or unarmed strikes for this build and no shield. If you’re really keen to use two handed weapons though, the brutalizer feat will enable this.
Depraved mind (Lv7) – 3/5
Some solid resilience with immunity to a common condition (frightened) and resistance to an uncommon damage type (psychic). The damage caused when a creature attempts to use telepathy against you is fun, but likely a rare occurrence.
All of these are situational buffs, but 2 out of the 3 aren’t too uncommon.
Veil of pain (Lv11) – 4/5
Invisibility to one creature can be good for some focus fire (which you’ll be likely to be doing as you double up on torturer techniques and/or use hunter’s mark). It will give you advantage on attacks against that creature and gives them disadvantage. Handily, you can keep attacking the target and remain invisible, unlike something like the invisibility spell. Everyone else will see you, but you can use this against really nasty creatures and you can even spread invisibility around multiple targets (you have 2 attacks and might spread them between different targets using different torturer techniques on each).
This might even facilitate reaction attacks if creatures move to engage a different target. You can use your torturer technique as part of a reaction attacks too (and even the same one you used on your previous turn as technique types can be used once per turn, not once per round).
Mental agony (Lv15) – 5/5
This is potentially a big reduction to a saving throw and can work really well in conjunction with allied spellcasters. Coordinate your strikes and spells and you’ve got creatures that are much more likely to be failing saving throws. Especially good against save or suck spells like banishment or hold monster.
You can even do this yourself on a creature affected on your last turn, making it much more likely to land a follow up torture technique or spell.
How good is the torturer conclave subclass?
The torturer conclave is suitably vicious! It’s the torturer techniques that really elevate this subclass. Those conditions can be applied fairly liberally and there are plenty of ways to reduce saving throws and increase damage output. There’s a lot of flexibility in the conditions you’re applying too.
It’s worth being aware that this is very much a melee ranger. They diminish a lot at range. They are also unable to be as defensive due to the lack of a shield option when using torture techniques.
This is very much an evil subclass too, and one that could create some amount of discomfort due to the topic on hand. The best you can hope for is maybe a government agent that performs evil acts for the greater good. I’d also say that a ranger is an unusual choice for a torturer subclass. Rogue or perhaps fighter or even an inquisitorial paladin would have been better options. While there are roleplay challenges here, this is very much a mechanically strong subclass.
5/5
Building a torturer conclave ranger
For the most part, a torturer ranger can be built in a similar way to other rangers. You’ll want to build for melee and especially compensate for your reduced resilience. If you want a full breakdown on how to do this using D&D 2024 character options, you can check out my druid optimisation guide.
As this is a Steinhardt’s Guide subclass, I’ve just looked at character options in Steinhardt’s Guide to the Eldritch Hunt book in my build advice below and shared which work well for this ranger subclass.
Species/race
I’d consider the following species from Steinhardt’s Guide for the torturer conclave:
- Demidritch: Resilience against the blinded condition and cold damage. You also get a damage boost with a bonus action damaging emanation or the ability to tackle invisibility. Either way, this is a good option for a melee build.
- Deep One Dwarf: Some resilience through cold resistance and against the poisoned condition are good for a frontline warrior. I’d go for the coiling arm for bonus action grapple attempts, especially if you’ve invested a bit in strength.
- Scourgeborne: A good option if you want to go for an unarmed build. Feral limbs will up your unarmed damage (to d8 if you’re evil, which is likely with this subclass). Grab the grappler feat so you can grapple and attack simultaneously. The Belua lineage will grant you extra damage and healing allowing you attacks with your bonus action.
Backgrounds
For a torturer ranger, you’ll want to prioritise ability score increases for wisdom, constitution and strength or dexterity.
Curious is perhaps the only origin feat that’s really good for a torturer ranger as the others protect against frightened which you’re already immune to. You also already have expertise in insight making this skill a little redundant.
| Name | Ability scores | Origin feat | Skill proficiencies | Tool proficiency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amnesiac | Constitution, intelligence, wisdom | Curious | Insight and investigation | One kind of artisan’s tools |
| Beast hunter | Strength, dexterity, wisdom | Grizzled | Athletics and survival | Herbalism kit |
| Investigator | Dexterity, intelligence, wisdom | Curious | Insight and investigation | One kind of artisan’s tools |
There’s not really an ideal combination of ability score increases, origin feat and skills for a torturer so you may just have to choose where you compromise on your background.
Feats
There aren’t loads of feats to choose from in Steinhardt’s guide, but the following are good options for a torturer ranger:
- Curious: Good for a skills focused class. Can temporarily gain proficiency in a skill you don’t already have this for. Handily, you can do this reactively when a skill check comes up. Learning resistances and vulnerabilities can be useful too.
- Brutalizer: Overcome your inability to use torturer techniques and a two handed weapon by wielding a two handed weapon with one hand. The feat specifies the other hand must be empty or wielding a weapon but you don’t need the torturer tools in your hand to use torturer techniques, just a free hand and the tools accessible meaning these do work together. Advantage after killing an enemy is handy too.
- Focused hunter: Some extra effects you can use once every short rest. they’re called adrenaline arts in the 2024 version of the Jaeger but it looks like that wasn’t updated in the new version of the book. The arts are quite good for a melee build, especially defensive arts for the slightly more vulnerable torturer conclave.
Weapons
You’ll mostly want to stick to one handed melee weapons with something like a longbow as a backup. Of Steinhardt’s additional weapon options, I’d mainly invest in melee weapons. A cleaver is an option for a strength build and handily, you can use it with two hands when not using your torture techniques due to the versatile property.
A scythe can work for a dexterity build and can be really good, but you’ll need the brutalizer feat so you can wield it in one hand.
More from Steinhardt’s Guide
Interested in what else is available from Steinhardt’s Guide to the Eldritch Hunt? Why not check out some of our other guides?
