You Might Be a Swarmkeeper | Ranger Subclass Guide for DND 5e

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#dnd #swarmkeeper #ranger #beemovie
Hey! Guess what. You're Awesome and thanks for watching. I promise this is the best DND tutorial based on a 30 year old Jeff Foxworthy joke you'll ever see. Stick around for more and vote in the comments for which subclass you'd like to next.
FINALLY A VIDEO WITH AN ABUNDANCE OF BEES!
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All music credit to Kevin Macleod
‪@incompetech_kmac‬
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[@Nima_A_B]

See the horror in other players eyes as you roll intimidation by sending a centipede into a guy's ears

[@Riddlewizard]

And then the Druid makes it even worse by casting Giant Insect.

[@erikwilliams1562]

And that's when I leave campaign

[@Riddlewizard]

@@erikwilliams1562 Alright, Kaneki. We understand that might have been a trigger for you, but you didn't say anything at Session 0.

[@osirisatot19]

You're now banned from every game and I hate you.

[@knightghaleon]

I’ve been playing a Bugbear swarm keeper named Pooh. His swarm are from the hive he used to steal honey from. They now have a mutual understanding of each other. And I might be using meat honey bees that require a portion of fallen foes to make honey. We’ve homebrewed small buffs based on the creature meat used.

[@daniella4193]

My favourite swarm keeper concept is making the swarm cats & playing a crazy cat lady

[@xanthangum1217]

The character I have, is a Swarmkeeper Kenku, he uses his various feathers as his swarm, and can throw daggers, its awesome

[@bradwillis7415]

That's a super awesome reskin!!!

[@obviouslykaleb7998]

Bro made Hawks 💀

[@a.z.pantera5577]

Could maybe do something with the Psyknife Rogue as a neat multiclass to take the flavor even further.

[@xanthangum1217]

@@obviouslykaleb7998 who's that

[@obviouslykaleb7998]

@@xanthangum1217 one of the characters from the anime "My Hero Academia." He's a dude with wings, and his superpower is that he has fine control of the individual feathers on his wings.

[@dejatwo]

The swarmkeeper is one of the most flavorful subclasses in the game, and is all around solid. Not bad at all. Truly an underrated subclass Also one of my favorites!

[@deadlyapple8333]

Omg its you! 0:

[@Comicsluvr]

My wife played a Swarmkeeper/Rogue multiclass. Her swarm was bats and her backstory included being bitten by a vampire. A very fun character to play!

[@snowzerox2868]

A swarm keeper concept of mine is a dhampire ranger who's swarm was their own blood

[@13Kira13]

Playing a Dhamphir Swarmkeeper with a swarm of bats as they slowly come into their vampire powers

[@leodouskyron5671]

Rangers (conceptually) are great but peeps for the longest time didn’t understand what they were - the game designers didn’t either. Rangers are the party’s fix-a-flat. What ever is needed a ranger using the right subclass can fill that hole. They are the team B, of D&D. There is a reason why 4 rangers have no weakness in any tier of play if properly kitted out- something no other class can really do.

[@t2i3m4]

Cleric is a good contender for any role, knowledge, war, twilight and nature domains is all you really need to fill every niche.

[@arcangherss999]

​@@t2i3m4 I would say Clerics are the Every-man of the Spellcasters, Rangers are the Every-man in General. Rangers are more versatile in every situation if you build them right, but they are pretty average at everything else, which most of the time is enough.

[@leodouskyron5671]

@@t2i3m4 Indeed they are good for many things but Clerics are not well suited to exploration pillar. They are great and very strong at support but they are not as team B are rangers. That sorta is the point I am making their greatness is being good enough at most anything ;)

[@SleeplessSycophant]

That tortle Swarmkeeper picture is amazing

[@KingZolem]

My swarmkeeper used raccoons. Mage hand was floating one of them over while it does grabby hands to get the thing.

[@K4rm4ttack]

The Swarmkeeper I'm currently using is in a more modern setting, and her swarm is made up of sheets of paper that she can command to fold into whatever shapes she wants. (Her Mage Hand is even those origami witch finger things.)

[@KnicKnac]

Yo that is wicked. Fantastic idea

[@Zytri92]

So like that naruto character?

[@g0lddustt29]

Love this subclass! One of the characters I enjoyed playing most was a Reborn who I flavored as a farmer who got turned into a scarecrow by a petty archfey & his swarm was crows that followed him around. Great fun

[@troperhghar9898]

I'm currently playing a Curse of Strahd campaign with a Swarmkeeper Echo Knight both flavored as living shadows like Dr. Facilier from princess and the frog

[@slimetank394]

If anyone here watched Delicious in Dungeon, they have a species called treasure Insect. Insects that look exactly like gold coins and jewelry. That can be a real cool flavor for your swarmkeeper.

[@nonamegiven202]

yeah i do love how well swarmkeeper (bats) can work for a Dhampir being full gothic vampire, and i'm not just talking about how cheap Spider Climb plus range attacks can be. but yeah the raise of rangers is interesting, like they were just a bad class due to a bunch of situational niches that meant you didn't "have" class features 99% of the time and two "yep you're a ranger" subclasses..........and now we gotten good subclass with great flavor, a class revamp (with a second one coming in the new PHB), and even the beast master redesigned into something useable.

[@Dylan_lion]

I’m still waiting for horizon walker, it’s my favorite ranger subclass. It has a fun concept around it and it’s insanely fun

[@skylandry4059]

Same tbh

[@zinniaferguson461]

A deadly bee weapon... Bees. My God.

[@n7revan829]

Aquatic campaign, Sea Elf, Triton or some such. Oh the swarm? A freaking school of piranhas!

[@MrNBDHWTC]

My wife is playing a beekeeper at the moment and it’s my favorite character at the table every time. No tragic back story. Just a beekeeper looking to make new types of honey.

[@mystery1020]

I have a swarm keeper idea where you ARE the swarm, your just piloting some clothes and trying your best to act human

[@Amy_the_Lizard]

A bunch of bees in a coat

[@CoppermineTypeK]

Waiting for that underwater campaign to be a swarm of piranhas ranger

[@TonySamedi]

Glad to see ya back. And yeah, the Rangers are definitely the class where you can tell how the designers THOUGHT the game would be played clashes with how it's actually played. You can tell that as the game went on they got better at making cool ideas for the class, still restricted by that original design. Hopefully they'll be fully rectifying that with the new PHB. Also, as to upcoming videos...is the Ancients paladin in the rotation? It's such an interesting concept even though the written lore for it seems at odds with the oath itself. Book says 'nature knight' but I can see the oath being more classic Captain America/Superman vibes.

[@austinlindsey2942]

I made a shillelagh ranger for a spell jammer campaign who got hit in face with a space rock. It embedded itself in his eye and gave him control of pebbles. I flavored all my spells and attacks with the rocks, like on a meele attack the rocks formed a hammer head around the end of my staff. Its one of my favorite character I've ever played.

[@RobbopyKamui]

I played a Swarm Keeper once and I had a blast, my swarm were some little penguins flying around my character (Yes, this is a reference to Inazuma Eleven) and in one battle, a sorcerer boss was in a really high cliff so we had to hit with long distance attacks and spells but then I tought "Hey DM, I hitted that MF with my arrow, I'll try to shove her off the cliff" and it worked, she fell like 100 ft got some good fall damage and then our melee characters had a blast beating her on the ground. Good times

[@fusiongod5004]

BABE WAKE UP YMBA IS BACK

[@jacobyullman5005]

I've had a concept character in my vault for a while now that I'd still love to play sometime. It's a reflavored Swarmkeeper that, rather than using insects or animals, uses sand instead. Esssentially it's just reflavoring the swarm and its abilities to be sand that the Ranger magically commands to aid them. You know, for if you want more of a Gara vibe than a Shino vibe.

[@beerbatreps3861]

I like the idea of a SwarmKeeper Warlock multiclass and the patron is the queen bee. Also the extra swarm damage is on an "attack" so eldrich blast works. So now you can oush someone even further with repelling blast or hit for even more damage

[@researcherchameleon4602]

A video about swarm keepers, I will use my normal box containing exactly one bee

[@tylerswanson2062]

Legit my favorite subclass for my favorite class. I even made a build based on Jack Frost with this. Using the swarm like ice nature spirits.

[@cbdrawer9527]

The concept of the Swarm Keeper led me to making a character who commands a army of Spider-Bees (just imagine a very small tarantula that's bee pattern, and has wings, with a bigger version that's the queen) to have the spell list make some sense, and then evolved into a character that backstory led it to it being obsessed with fusing insects with bees, to create a amalgamation, and each level up has a small hive growing on them slowly.

[@eximago]

"a lot less silent, but a lot more deadly" This is art.

[@sharqbyte]

Whenever I get around to actually playing a swarm keeper. It'll be a reborn who is just a husk that in reality is being puppeted by a swarm of sentient centipedes that are trying to look as normal as possible

[@KorotasGeckoGamingCorner]

I think the actual crime with Vanish at Lv 14 is that secondary part of it that says you can't be tracked by nonmagical means I'd imagine a Ranger that lived long enough to hit that level has probably been doing plenty to prevent themselves from being tracked if the need ever arose

[@PeacefulRises]

My favorite idea for a Swarmkeeper Ranger is a Yuan-Ti whose swarm consists of snakes. It’s really fun to reflavor spells to fit your swarm. Ensnaring Strike conjures a giant stake to constrict the target, Healing Spirit takes the form of the Rod of Caduceus. And while it isn’t a reflavor, summoning snakes through Conjure Animals is extremely effective as well. 8 Giant poisonous snakes can deal up to 24d6 damage, and 8 Constrictor snakes can restrain multiple targets.

[@darkvizardking69]

And you can't deny to have a fun little secret weapon with those snakes to go "Pocket snake!"

[@ScoffeeBean]

Multiclass into artificer and unleash untold horrors with a swarm of drones!

[@Exhumed.Consumed]

Love the concept I’ve seen of an exiled/orphaned/on the run Disney princess type whose swarm is comprised of the birds and small woodland critters naturally attracted by her singing. Snow White doing the Immigrant Song in Shrek but also wielding a bow.

[@recycledsoul5908]

Abarami clan is strongest in Naruto. Bugs bugs and more bugs. Offense, defense, chakra sucking, poison so deadly its like acid, etc.

[@erikwilliams1562]

So good they had to remove them completely from Shippuden

[@SWCCandTF]

I’ve imagined it as a swarm of spirits or ghosts, and taking everything with that sort of flavor and it’s all still very fitting

[@clarestaoctavia]

Knew this subclass when I watched Neverafter. I love how Siobhan uses it for her character

[@PsyrenXY]

"This class gets a solid B." Couldn't resist, could you

[@youmightbeadnd]

Its a sickness...

[@SimplexStorm]

You can also flavor all your swarm visuals and mechanics to be shadows if you wanna be edgy. Cloaked in shadow when teleporting, shadow mage hand, shadow clings to arrow to deal more damage, etc. Pretty neat idea I think if you don't want the standard bug or animal swarm

[@Beanie24]

I played a lv 5 swarm keeper lv5 twilight cleric multi class that used magic stone and the crusher feat. Made her a victorian governess whose swarm were ghost children. Eccentric and witchy

[@aaronmarshall5727]

I love that you've found a way to make classes that I've never really understood and then given them more flavor than the pages of the books do just by explaining their features and making it fun for me to play as a dm. Thank you for this sir.

[@nextgenstatus]

I love the way swarmkeepers feel. I always imagine that one scene from dracula untold when bursts into the swarm of vampires

[@TheLegoLord100]

The one time I used this subclass was in descent into avernus, where I gaslit my party into thinking I was a wizard studying fiends and the occult, but I was actually a swarmkeeper ranger with fiends as my favored enemy, the sage background and a swarm of 12 imps soon surrounding my every move

[@King_of_Red_Lions]

A ran a sea nomad Swarmkeeper ranger, his Swarm spirits took on the form of various sea beasties, his favourite was jellyfish, but he did all sorts, mini serpents, sea otters when he was entertaining folks with them, it was always fun to come up with thematic ways to flavour the swarm.

[@bradwillis7415]

The main issue with Rangers is DMs who dont build scenarios that help highlight them. There are plenty of rules that allow them to shine. Tomb of Annihilation is a perfect campaign for Rangers for example when it comes to Hex travel and environmental conditions, and foraging. Etc.

[@pokeredcraft3217]

I had a Changeling Swarmkeeper named Misc Pete who commanded mosquitoes. I've never seen anyone more disgusted as when Pete cast cure wounds for the first time and I described the juiciest mosquitoe crawling out of his coat biting into the wizard and emptying blood into him.

[@Amy_the_Lizard]

I...I'm sorry, but as a medical person I can't help but think of the disease and autoimmune risks that would cause...I'm just gonna assume they're magical mosquitoes that can sanitize the blood and magically yank antigens off it...

[@chrispbacon9055]

I’d love to see Oathbreaker paladin pop up in one of these vids! It’s one of the strongest paladin subclasses along with Conquest in my opinion and has tons of potential for in terms of flavor, utility, and just messing up your enemies on the battlefield. That being said, this video was a banger as always and I look forward to seeing what pops up next

[@brucewatkinson5254]

I’m going to give this class a shot, as being able to manipulate insects sounds rad as hell. Also, I always wanted to see a Viking or Norse Mythology-based class in this series.

[@KnicKnac]

Swarm keeper is so fun. I made a deep gnome who had fireflies as his swarm. Definitely a class and subclass I'd play again. Ranger is and always will be my favorite class

[@RotemHoshen]

I would like to see a video about the oath of the ancient paladin please

[@GrahamMaclagan]

A video on the Druids’ Circle of Wildfire would be great. Playing one right now in a campaign and it’s fun. The Wildfire Spirit they can summon has saved us on more than one occasion 🔥

[@felipefilardimelo550]

Welcome back man, thanks for the vídeo, next round I would like to see you talking about the samurai fighter, it's a martial archtype that I don't see much people talking and with the new Assassin's Creed game coming, I'd like to hear your opnions about this subclass and If it's good or not.

[@karatekoala4270]

Rangers are dope. They are a great utility martial. I've played nearly every ranger subclass from one shots to tier 3 campaigns. Always a powerhouse.

[@EEEEESaladmanaway]

Ngl dude, i remember you were at 5k subs just a little while ago, and you kinda exploded out of no where. or maybe im just delusional. Anywho good job on 40k!

[@matthewbusch6525]

I adore Ranger's Subclasses, the concept great. They are the Swiss army knife, they do a lot of things good, but never excel.

[@dragoknight589]

One time I took a Swarmkeeper Ranger and completely reflavored it as “Psi Warrior 2: Ranger Boogaloo”. No swarm anymore: the push and pull/mobility effects were telekinesis, the extra piercing damage from the swarm was accelerating his arrow or rapier strikes, web was like a force slow.

[@chickitbra]

I loved that Spidersman reference. I'll deff be playing that next haha

[@zeldaandTwink]

I like how after rangers got their boost in tahsas, our collective menacing gaze slowly turned to Monk

[@EsShinkai02]

That "little guys" line reminds me of [BAD COMPANY] and that's my new swarmkeeper.

[@darkvizardking69]

I once thought to write up a triton swarm keeper who'd have his swarm be a group of crab, just having that be a crab rave all over your face.

[@LeroyLucilfer]

i litarly planned to do swarmkeeper for tomorrow (intruduction campain start) perfect timing love it!

[@eesedesesesrdtsuperjoshuab7907]

I will always love my swarmkeeper ranger, Ash Jhinzu, she was a moth person who had a swarm of moths, it was so much fun

[@maiki3344]

I was waiting for this so bad

[@azelard]

The sudden Jollibee jumpscare killed me LMAO

[@arcangherss999]

Fun ideas for Swarmkeepers: 1)An actual Character i played from a a Campaign we never finished: Triton Swarmkeeper/ Genie Warlock He was born in an Island Tribe who worshipped an Entity who protected and provided for them. Before he left on Adventure he made a pact with the entity to find a new vessel and save his tribe. His Swarm was water, literally. With Armor of Shadows, i flavored Mage Armor as just turning my body into water and my swarm was spectral water that surrounds and pushes enemies. Armor of Agathys was freezing the water around me as a shield, and my climbing speed was me using water to carry me upwards. It was quite strong too. 2) Custom Lineage Humanoid, their swarm is literally their bones (a-la Andy from Undead Unluck), coming from a protrusion, their Mage Hand literally cutting their hands and floating. Bonus Points if you flavor Spike Growth aa bone pieces coming from the Ground. More bonus Points if multiclassed with Astral Self Monk. 3) Half-Orc Ancestral Barbarian/Swarmkeeper Your swarm is literally your ancestors. The ghost of your people cover for you and move you around. Very effective as a Tank. 4) Humanoid Swarmkeeper / Echo Knight Fighter A girl with literally a Hyper Active Imagination. Her swarm is a cloud of whatever she imagines, drawings and pictures. Would be very abstract.

[@JessicaMorgani]

YES FINALLY THANK YOU!

[@elementjoe]

I’m giving you inspiration for the Army of Darkness reference

[@artiscommunication.2271]

Idek this one so I'm excited. 🥳🥳

[@artiscommunication.2271]

Well that was hilarious AND cool.

[@TheSylveonSurfer]

My two favorite Swarmkeeper concepts are... - Some variation of a "pied-piper", using rats like you're Corvo or just some cranked out homeless Kobold who thinks that he's actually a dragon and his rat friends are HIS Kobolds... - Just playing Link from Zelda, but your swarm are Cuckoos (Chickens).

[@michaelmuirhead910]

My favorite Ranger subclass. I had to do a Batman style build, and it’s really fun to play.

[@TheKawaiifan]

the ranger at my table initially pitched his character as a swarmkeeper. a crazy old cat lady with a big ol swarm of cats. I was so fucking hyped for this concept, that I was actually really disappointed when he instead decided to be a plain ol beast keeper ranger. with cats. like, bruh! the flavor was there! one year later I was in a mermaid one shot and decided to try swarm keeper for the first time. my swarm were piranhas. it was great

[@koalabarbarian5504]

I'm just imagining those gnomes from gravity falls as a swarm keeper ranger and it's HILARIOUS

[@flying_fish-_-7069]

I don't know how to make it. But, a construct swarm keeper ranger, that is a scarecrow controlling crows. I don't if you can make a scarecrow or if the construct has an option like that. But think of how cool that would be. (Probably done already, but still a cool concept)

[@mikylnutter9963]

Warforged big hero 6 concept sounds killer

[@PirvateerKurei]

I'm creating two swarm keepers right now: a variant human that loves bees, wasps, and hornets, though he's more like a bardic merchant and a changeling that stole his identity and is the big bad of a campaign idea

[@Desert_Gump]

Please please please do Stars Druid next my dude!

[@suzukablade]

A ranger from my last campaign used Crawling Claws as her swarm.

[@GregC1515]

At some point I'm wanting to play a Swarmkeeper Psychopomp with the swarm being soulbutterflies. Maybe throw in a warlock/cleric/Paladin multiclass for a bit of extra spice.

[@alvarox951]

we have a swarmkeeper goliath, it's swarm are literally BONES, i don't know how that works but BOOOONES!!

[@syrupchugger421]

This does sound like fun albeit not that strong. I like the idea of the swarm being dust cloud of sand. Thanks for the video

[@Giosuke_Giogashikata]

I really want to make a toymaker swarmkeeper ranger that made that worlds version of LEGOS, and uses that as his swarm.

[@SproutingBeans]

I can't help but picture a swarmkeeper with an inanimate object, like spoons, or idiots, or knives, or spoons, or youtube ads, or face shov- i mean spoons.

[@airproci]

In italian Bees are api now knowing this give the ranger the proeficency with Guns so it can have "l'APIstola" (a pun about hand gun and bees)

[@DrunkButcher]

An Insectoid but it’s a swarm of bees synchronizing to form a person in a cloak

[@poke2981]

I once went full garaa made my swarm sand

[@sarchiaponeseriale4380]

You could easily make your swarmkeeper a necromancer by making your swarm a bunch of human bones that you can eventually turn into spooky skeletons.

[@Dahaka-rd6tw]

Please, do "You might be a Space Clown"

[@valmarzz696]

Kind of a hated subclass but I’d love to see your take on storm sorcerer !

[@abigailblackmon1144]

oh, oh I did not like that turtle art. Seeing the bees crawl out of the turtle's shell made me do a full body flinch

[@siobhannicolson5566]

oh i wanna make a bard/ranger swarmkeeper so badly - imagine a disney princess type character that attacks you with woodland creatures 😂

[@rand0mtopg62]

7:14 I imagine your swarm points it out by landing on them

[@dr.walrusxii2389]

I think I might bee a swarmkeeper

[@esion0192]

Only once I played a Swarmkeeper, and it was DEVASTATING. Me and my party got face to face with Vecna, I cast web as a BA at our feet (we were in melee range), aim at his head point blank and roll to hit with disadvantage. I hit, then I make him roll to not fall prone, and he fails. Vecna is now stuck in cobwebs prone on the ground with 0ft of movement to get back up. The rest of the turn was just us ganging on him like the JoJo meme

[@Year2047]

Swarmkeeper FTW

[@shadowldrago]

A deadly bee weapon. Bees, my God.

[@donovanreed5940]

I made a shino type swarmkeeper

[@sbeve4841]

An albino kenku with a flock of seagulls (adoptive family)

[@conanmaolcheann5088]

If I ever have to DM a swarmkeeper ranger and he wants to talk to his bees with talk to animals, I'm gonna have the answer to his question erupt into a cacophony of millions of bees all shouting different answers before coming to a consensus among themselves and having one guy give the group answer. As an added bonus they'll get offended if the PC insinuates he thought they'd speak as a hivemind