D&D 5E Ranger

[MonsterEnvy]

Once again what does Colossus slayer do.

 

[Crothian]

We dont need time to tell if ranger spells will make them competitive. We have the spells right in front of us, in the PHB. We already know that ranger spells help, but they are not enough. Rangers, even with their spells, are fairly weak in 5.0 combat.

Thank goodness combat is just one part of the game. Can anyone judge the class on the game as a whole and not just a specific aspect of it?

 

[was]

Once again what does Colossus slayer do.

do an extra 1d8 damage, once per turn, to a creature below its max hp

 

[Pillsy]

The way I read the Beast Master rules, the companion does get a reaction, which is decidedly better than nothing, but overall I still think the Beast Master is pretty marginal. I think the beast's attack and damage would need to scale faster than it does for it to truly be viable, or you would need a way to choose a beast with a higher CR as your level advances.

 

[Stalker0]

The way I read the Beast Master rules, the companion does get a reaction, which is decidedly better than nothing, but overall I still think the Beast Master is pretty marginal. I think the beast's attack and damage would need to scale faster than it does for it to truly be viable, or you would need a way to choose a beast with a higher CR as your level advances.

I just noticed that the ranger has speak animal on his list. Don't have the books yet, but I assume that would work with his companion.

That opens up a wealth of advantages in scouting and intelligence gathering.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I don't have the PHB. Does it actually say anything to the effect of "your animal companion does nothing unless you use your <resource> to direct it"? Because if it doesn't I think it's an unwarranted leap to assume it can't act.

If it does say that it is ridiculous. So I can tame an animal and have it follow me around making 2 or more attacks per round entirely on his own while I go about my business...but if I'm a ranger and decide to form an animal companion bond with it, it becomes a mindless automaton that can't act unless I'm specifically telling it what to do? Yeah, right.

Now, it makes sense if you are summoning a creature and you have to exert your will to keep it under control that it might only be able to act as your direct it with your action (especially if the creature has a stronger combat presence than you do), but not for an animal companion.

About rangers in general, I wouldn't consider DPR or combat presence as a sole indication of class balance. If it has more out of combat utility than a fighter, paladin, or barbarian (and again, I don't know if it does) it must have less of a combat presence in order to be balanced.

 

[outsider]

The ranger looks pretty underwhelming to me. Why did they insist on making it a caster? They could have went the Eldritch Knight route and made casting optional, and they probably should have given how many people like their rangers to be martial rather than magic.

As is, it appears you can get some mileage out of the class if you're smart with your spellcasting. You don't get many spells though, and you will be casting(and concentrating on) Hunter's Mark alot.

What really makes the class seem lackluster, I think, is the lack of damage scaling(outside of nuke spells). Stuff like Colossus Slayer doing 1d8 forever, and even the much vaunted Hunter's Mark never adding more than 1d6 just feel bad.

Outside of combat though, it looks like it's really good at what it does. Stealth, Survival, Tracking, general perception, it's really good at all of them.

 

[Falling Icicle]

Does the ranger's pet gain hp or anything at higher levels, or otherwise improve, or is he stuck with the same pet he had at level 1?

 

[Falling Icicle]

The ranger looks pretty underwhelming to me. Why did they insist on making it a caster? They could have went the Eldritch Knight route and made casting optional, and they probably should have given how many people like their rangers to be martial rather than magic.

I agree. I was really hoping that spell-less rangers were at least going to be an option. Instead, they made the class more dependent on spells than it's ever been before.

 

[Pillsy]

Does the ranger's pet gain hp or anything at higher levels, or otherwise improve, or is he stuck with the same pet he had at level 1?

Its hp are equal to 4 * the ranger's level, and it adds the ranger's proficiency bonus to AC, attack rolls, damage rolls, checks and saves. So it does get better, but not a lot better.