D&D (2024) UA Ranger (Playtest 6)

[Minigiant]

They are examples of where 'you only have dis/adv to work with' does not hold true.

It's not a class feature.

It's not Proficiency - Expertise - Expertise with adv- Pass Without trace

 

[Weiley31]

As I'm playing a UA Revised Ranger at the moment I wish they'd incorporate more of those changes.

I'd just wish they would "allow" the Revised Ranger as a variant rule version of the class. I mean, they had Oathbreaker and Death Domain in the DMG. So, I don't see a prob with following suit with the Revised Ranger.

Yeah, yeah, I know, Oathbreaker and Death Domain were more for "NPC characters" in mind, but they were still subclasses. And almost everybody and their mother says that classes aren't really meant for NPCs/Monsters anyway so it's not like its gonna kill anybody's dog.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Thoughts on the Ranger:

• I too am sorry to see the return of Deft Explorer. Having advantage on Nature and Survival is nice, but for me it feels to magical to suddenly become an arctic expert after a good night's rest. Allowing changes at a new level puts the break on that. The choices are still too far ranging: why not just use the four types of land that were identified for druids?
  ARID (~desert) [geographers would go nuts since Antarctica is a desert, etc., but at least I know what this means]
  POLAR (~arctic)
  TEMPERATE (~grasslands)
  TROPICAL (~swamp)
  Get rid of mountain, forest, and coast -- roll them into the overall climate descriptor. Add Aquatic environments tied to each of the above. If you want Underdark there too, that's fine.
• Deft Explorer Improvement could add other exotic possibilities, such as Extra-Planar. Just with that, 50% of what I want from a Horizon Walker subclass would be covered.
• Favored Enemy gives Rangers something to use their concentration on all the time... Good idea to make Hunter's Mark a class-specific spell.
• Conjure Barrage as a free prep is fine, but I don't know how substantial it is.
• As with Conjure Barrage, Invisibility for a turn (Nature's Veil) is tactically fine, but I struggle with the fiction of it. I just don't find it exciting, which 14th level should be.
• Gloom Stalker still feels too powerful to me -- I like the presence of all the Fear benefits. Umbral Sight is still too powerful, and still terribly named (since the main benefit is the invisibility).
• Hunter is improved a lot. Hunter's lore is fine, and I love having to choose at level 7 between Evasion and Uncanny Dodge.

I see it less as magical and more as taking preparations for the enviroment you will be entering.

 

[Horwath]

I see it less as magical and more as taking preparations for the enviroment you will be entering.

That would be a choice of gear.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

I don't like the terrain type thing popping back again, but you can easily view changing it daily as the Ranger getting the lay of the nearby land during downtime.

 

[TwoSix]

I don't like the terrain type thing popping back again, but you can easily view changing it daily as the Ranger getting the lay of the nearby land during downtime.

Or it just IS a metaphysical attunement to nature and their environment. They seem to be leaning into ranger as the primal version of the paladin with their current approach, and I can't really say I'm against that. It at least gives a notoriously undefined class a stronger definition, even if that means some previous ranger concepts are excluded.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Sure. They're a magic nature warrior, I'm not expecting anything they do to be non-magical.

WHY ONLY TRACKING THO

 

[OB1]

Overall the Ranger is looking solid. I wish they would give an option for Beastmaster to bond with a natural beast (keeping the ability to return it to life by expending a spell slot and taking a minute). I've DMd and played with a lot of Beastmaster Rangers for whom the fantasy is bonding with an actual animal in nature, and would like to see that option remain for them.

 

[Corinnguard]

It’s funny, I’m usually one of the most vocal spellcasting ranger haters, and I was actually pretty cool with this version. I mean, obviously I still wish there was a non-spellcasting version available, but for a spellcasting ranger, this is one I could live with.

Ranger | Level Up A5e's Ranger class doesn't cast spells unless you happen to choose it's Wildborn archetype.

Then there is PF1's Skirmisher archetype for the Ranger. Skirmisher – d20PFSRD It replaces the Ranger's spellcasting ability with a new feature called Hunter's Tricks.

 

[Charlaquin]

Ranger | Level Up A5e's Ranger class doesn't cast spells unless you happen to choose it's Wildborn archetype.

Then there is PF1's Skirmisher archetype for the Ranger. Skirmisher – d20PFSRD It replaces the Ranger's spellcasting ability with a new feature called Hunter's Tricks.

Which are great options in those games. 5e, on the other hand, lacks such an option.