Yeah. And it should be noted that Aragorn is hardly the only example of a woodsman-type hero in Tolkien's work. The rangers that he's lord of in the north spend all their time beating back monsters in the wilderness to protect civilization. As do many other ranger-type figures in the Silmarillion and expanded work - Beren, Barahir, Faramir, etc. None of them raise undead armies.
Sure, and it’s also important to recall that Tolkien isn’t the whole of Ranger class inspiration, and that it matters what folks expect *now*, and that tends to include magic, but not wizard-like magic. They surveyed and playtested for this.
The 5e Ranger isn’t unsatisfactory because it has magic, it’s unsatiafactory because it’s two main low level abilities are ribbons that require making choices, and it’s spellcasting feels weaker than even the 1/3 casters, because you know so few spells, so many of your useful spells are concentration, and the paladin is over there being mechanically similar enough that comparison is unavoidable.
It needs a balance fix. That’s all. And not even a major one, because it isn’t actually significantly behind other classes once your out of tier 1. Conceptually, the 5e Ranger is excellent.
None of them cast anything approaching a D&D spell ...
Neither do the actual wizards in the story.
Spells were a poor patch job for having no skill system
they could easily have had the same kind of rules as the rogue, but specific to survival instead of skullduggery. Instead, they had spells, because the concept was partly magical.
Faramir is a Nobleman leading armies I do not know how
he fought at a personal level but I bet it wouldn't have
been using magic missile or fire ball and a shield spell.
He was a Ranger, who could disappear into the background like an elf. “Like an elf” in Tolkien is magic in dnd.
No no one in Tolkien throws fireballs or magic missiles or has anything like the shield spell. Gandalf fights with weapons, and does very subtle magic, and he is the Wizard of the story.
