Welcome to Round 2 of the Ranger subclass: the Dragon Apprentice! Version 1 last week was met with a lot of love for flavor, and a lot of concern regarding balance.
Well let me put those concerns to rest. I've revised the entire thing (primarily the Level 3 and 7 features), taking intense care to ensure balance with other official Ranger subclasses, while not detracting from the flavor of the archetype.
I've also added a new "Divergent" Affinity to include the possibility of Dracolich, Dragon Turtle, Shadow Dragon, and Wyvern Advocates, which I think are a ton of fun.
I've included a supplement at the top of this comment to provide "wyrmling" versions of the Divergent Affinity Advocates (a la the Chromatic and Metallic dragon wyrmlings). While these were designed for use with the 15th level feature of this subclass, "Dragon Keeper," they could certainly be implemented as monsters in their own right, and I look forward to hearing how people use them!
Enjoy!
Dragon Apprentice (Revised) Subclass: Imgur | PDF | Homebrewery
Changes:
Aspect of the Dragon moved from 3rd Level to 7th Level and reworked/rebalanced. It's a ritual u/TheArenaGuy...it's supposed to be (semi)permanent. Dragon's Prey removed.
Dragon Sense added as a true Level 3 ribbon ability (rather than two notable mechanical abilities at Level 3).
Dragon Warrior changed from being similar to Horizon Walker's Planar Warrior, to being more like Monster Slayer's Slayer's Prey. 1) Dragon Apprentices are now able to freely use their bonus action for things like Polearm Master/dual-wielding. 2) Previous incarnation was on par with Planar Warrior's damage boost (though perceived as OP), but was not limited by close proximity to target (which was kind of OP).
Dragon Keeper reduced from two uses per day to once per day.
P.S. - For those interested in a different (slightly more potent) take on this subclass, check out the "I don't mind playing a Ranger that's a little bit stronger and actually makes me want to play the class" Edition: PDF | Homebrewery
