D&D 5E Ranger

[dd.stevenson]

I do have the PHB.

The Ranger has always been one of my favourite classes (and one of the ones I'm most frequently disappointed with when the class design has been a bit meh).

As I was reading through the PHB, with every class I was thinking "this is great! I can't wait to play one of those!".

Then I got to the ranger and... it was 'meh' all over again. I didn't find anything in the class which was exciting or even really interesting. Even the 'favoured enemy' has become utterly toothless. Advantage when tracking and recalling information about them. Hoo. Ray. I'm struggling to find any reason why to play one. Even the 'natural explorer' is hampered because you can only be any good in one natural environment. Would it have killed the class to make it good at exploring at all terrains? That would at least make them worthwhile additions to a party.

I'm almost thinking that if I wanted to play a ranger as I visualise them, my best bet would be to play a 'barbarian' and reskin rage as 'singleminded focus'. Then I can have a big, tough, fast loner.

So sad.

I agree that the ranger's write up is pretty bland and uninspiring. However.

One of my players has an archer ranger, and we've found that favored terrain is no joke if you choose a common terrain that normally slows movement (like, forest). I'm not convinced that favored enemy will amount to anything more than a bonus language, but I was surprised enough by the terrain that I'm willing to wait and see how it feels in play.

I won't say I'm happy with the ranger, but so far, while in the wilderness, he's more than pulled his weight compared to the fighter and the cleric. (We're up to level 4 now, which means he still has a lot of opportunity to disappoint me!)

 

[Mistwell]

Hunter's Mark applies d6 damage on each hit, not just the first hit of the turn. So 7 to that and you're at 42.5 if all 3 attacks hit.

Woah, nice catch!

 

[Hjorimir]

Woah, nice catch!

Tell your ranger player, "You're welcome" for me.

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

I do have the PHB.

The Ranger has always been one of my favourite classes (and one of the ones I'm most frequently disappointed with when the class design has been a bit meh).

As I was reading through the PHB, with every class I was thinking "this is great! I can't wait to play one of those!".

Then I got to the ranger and... it was 'meh' all over again. I didn't find anything in the class which was exciting or even really interesting. Even the 'favoured enemy' has become utterly toothless. Advantage when tracking and recalling information about them. Hoo. Ray. I'm struggling to find any reason why to play one. Even the 'natural explorer' is hampered because you can only be any good in one natural environment. Would it have killed the class to make it good at exploring at all terrains? That would at least make them worthwhile additions to a party.

I'm almost thinking that if I wanted to play a ranger as I visualise them, my best bet would be to play a 'barbarian' and reskin rage as 'singleminded focus'. Then I can have a big, tough, fast loner.

So sad.

That was exactly my reaction. Every class looked great... even the wizard, and I've never been interested in playing one in any edition. The ranger just leaves me wanting more; flavourwise too, but especially mechanically. I look at the paladin (which is a reasonable benchmark as they are both warriors with equivalent spellcasting ability) and the ranger pales in comparison. I'm also unhappy with the overly gamist implementation of the beastmaster (and this from someone who generally doesn't mind gamist aspects to his rulesets).

The sorcerer was the only other class that got a bit of a 'meh' from me, but not to the same degree as the ranger.

Edit: I'd wanted to mention the Hunter's Mark spell. I would have preferred that this be a class feature instead... right now, it seems like a 'spell tax' to me.

 

[Bryk]

Anyone upset about the beastmaster being underpowered...

Anyone upset about the beastmaster being underpowered...

Take the Flying Snake as a pet. It flies, provokes no opportunity attacks, scales very well. It works on everything except undead (poison immunity). If you are going to fight undead switch to the pteranadon.

Fly in, attack, fly back behind cover. The tiny flying snake should get full cover if it flies behind you or a buddy.

+8 to hit at level 1, 3 Piercing + 3d4 Poison. Dual wield to use your bonus (dual wielding / polearm mastery) is nearly a requirement to the build to still use your bonus action.

The damage is very close. One thing I do agree on is that Hunter's mark does not work with your beast. This sadly makes other concentration options better.

 

[Bryk]

It REALLY think they overdid on the nerfs to ranger to prevent the blender rangers, turret rangers, drill rangers, and tandem spike rangers of 4e.

They switched rangers to AOE and reduced buff spells to one in order to keep rangers from being DPR machines with exploration magic.

They also seemed to weaken FEto draw attention away from it.

So 5e rangers are sneaky skirmishers with weak AOE and strong exploration magic who sometimes get a enemy or terrain skill boost.

Hunter rangers have the best AOE in the game, it does NOT require concentration even. Has unlimited usage (buy lots of ammo if you are an archer). In the long days with lots of encounters, rangers are going to be DPR masters.

 

[Minigiant]

Hunter rangers have the best AOE in the game, it does NOT require concentration even. Has unlimited usage (buy lots of ammo if you are an archer). In the long days with lots of encounters, rangers are going to be DPR masters.

The damage buffs (Hunters mark and Swift Quiver) and the AOE spells (Hail of thorns and Lightning arrow) use concentration.

So the At will AOE deals piddly damage unless buffed and meh damage by the time you get them even when buffed.
And the AOE spells deal Meg damage as they cannot be buffed.

Hunter rangers are only "DPR" champs if your DM throws 2HD orcs and 3HD hobgobs when you are level 11.

 

[Bryk]

The damage buffs (Hunters mark and Swift Quiver) and the AOE spells (Hail of thorns and Lightning arrow) use concentration.

So the At will AOE deals piddly damage unless buffed and meh damage by the time you get them even when buffed.
And the AOE spells deal Meg damage as they cannot be buffed.

Hunter rangers are only "DPR" champs if your DM throws 2HD orcs and 3HD hobgobs when you are level 11.

Once 11, you can sharpshooter volley every turn, where casters have concentration and spell slots to use up. In the 6-8 encounter model, I assure you, then have to limit their AOE or run out.

The Ranger in addition still has those other concentration / AOE options. Take on Horde Breaker working with Volley as well as hail of thorns, and it is quite nice. You can easily do minimum 16 damage with sharpshooter on a hit by then, plus 1d10 from hail of thorns, and each has a chance to critical hit. Even without the hail of thorns(which is a bonus action) it is still very very good AOE to do every turn.

 

[TwoSix]

The damage is very close. One thing I do agree on is that Hunter's mark does not work with your beast. This sadly makes other concentration options better.

At least until level 15, when you get share spells.

Giant poisonous snake is also nice with its 10' reach and 3d6 poison damage.

 

[Minigiant]

Once 11, you can sharpshooter volley every turn, where casters have concentration and spell slots to use up. In the 6-8 encounter model, I assure you, then have to limit their AOE or run out.

The Ranger in addition still has those other concentration / AOE options. Take on Horde Breaker working with Volley as well as hail of thorns, and it is quite nice. You can easily do minimum 16 damage with sharpshooter on a hit by then, plus 1d10 from hail of thorns, and each has a chance to critical hit. Even without the hail of thorns(which is a bonus action) it is still very very good AOE to do every turn.

Sharpshooter + volley is only "okay" damage by level 11.
You already get 2 attacks so if you need to 2 guys, you can do it already. So Volley is only worthwhile if you somehow get 3or more guys in its small area. So a ranger would not be doing AOE every round unless they set up the enemy.

The real problem is the level you get it ranger stuff.
At level 11, most foes are fat with HP and ranger AOE anyjust tickles them. Most threats have more that 50 HP and a danger AOE does not break their stride for the squishy back row out of fear. Fighters can do 3 attack burstdown, barbarias have raging reckless attack with brutality. Paladins can burn slots for good damage while buffed. Rangers get AOE for stuff that shouldn't scare them or a 2nd attack for their squishy pet.