Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana: The ranger, revised... overcompensation?
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
OB1
Jedi Master
[MENTION=6704184]doctorbadwolf[/MENTION] - Not saying you shouldn't do as you wish at your table, but curious why you feel so strongly about this. The hunter can still access the ability through spell selection if they feel it's important. I think this makes for one of those great 5e choice moments where a player has to debate about what they really want from their character because neither choice gives them everything they want.
Well no. If the combat abilities of Natural Explorer moved to be within Primeval Awareness then all rangers would still have access to them no matter the "conclave" they chose. Primeval Awareness is a core Ranger ability.
doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
Well, there are a few factors.
One, the ranger spells known is a very limited resource.
Two, the feature feels, to me, like a basic part of the fantasy ranger concept, just like being superbly good at not getting lost.
Third, I want the main subclass concepts to have some minor representation in the base class. The Hunter is an extreme focus on what Favored Enemy represents, Beast Master is an extreme focus on the animal handler aspect of the ranger (represented by skills, spells, and this feature), and Stalker is an extreme focus on the stealthy black ops skill set that lives in the ranger. I like that.
lastly, like I said, Rangers can communicate with animals better than others at my tables, regardless. And it isn't magical, it's just highly focused skill. They are like the horse whisperer, but better, and for all animals. It just feels like a basic thing that any ranger should be able to do, without casting a spell.
Lastly lastly, it's been part of the ranger for a long time. Previously it was a special ability to calm animals x/day. This time, it's a passive ability, that can be augmented with magic. That works for me.
bedir than
Full Moon Storyteller
The Scout is a Fighter archetype from Kits of Old. Mearls indicates that the Scout is supposed to have the new Ranger Natural Explorer.
- Dave Clark @bedirthan Sep 22
@mikemearls I will resubmit. Kits of Old: Scout also has Natural Explorer. Should it get the latest Ranger version of that?
Sacrosanct
Legend
Especially if you acknowledge ranger archetypes that don't have animal communication as a default ability. Like a hunter, or underground tracker, etc.
Personally, I like the approach of "Rather than force this ability on everyone, even if it doesn't fit their theme, here is a way to get it if you do want it." I get how DrBadwolf wants that with every ranger, but not every table has the same feeling. So why force it onto everyone? The option is there if you want it, but it shouldn't be a hard coded ability for all rangers because there are plenty of tables who have ranger archetypes that have nothing to do with communicating with animals.
Ah I see. Interesting. Hadn't really thought about other classes as this was supposed to be a Ranger discussion.
At any rate, the Scout would probably have to go through several changes as well because the Natural Explore trait gained at 3rd level mentions Favored Terrain.
bedir than
Full Moon Storyteller
There is no longer Favored Terrain. The Scout uses the Ranger Revised (UA's 3rd Ranger) Natural Explorer, but gains it at 3rd level rather than first.
OB1
Jedi Master
That's my thought exactly. And it's not gamebreaking to houserule as doctorbadwolf suggested, but it's much easier to give something to players via houserule than to take it away.
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