D&D (2024) What type of ranger would your prefer for 2024?

What type of ranger?

  • Spell-less Ranger

    Votes: 59 48.4%
  • Spellcasting Ranger

    Votes: 63 51.6%

I'm not saying there aren't or cannot be nonmagical abilities.

I'm saying you would be hard pressed to design a balanced Noncaster and 1/2 caster version of the same class.
Then don't.

Have the consummate outdoorsman that is actually good at that without resorting to hand jive to shoot more than one arrow that some people want and the requisite druid half-caster because every caster needs a half caster variant that others want. The Warden was right there, we just can't have it because making new classes are scary.
 

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Then don't.

Have the consummate outdoorsman that is actually good at that without resorting to hand jive to shoot more than one arrow that some people want and the requisite druid half-caster because every caster needs a half caster variant that others want. The Warden was right there, we just can't have it because making new classes are scary.
That's what I've been saving.

The whole "New Classes are Bad" phobia of the past is just forcing people to climb uphill both way in the snow or fight over a name.

Supporting the partial mystical ranger and pure martial ranger in the same class is an exercise not worth the effort. That's why no company has done it that I know of.
 

Okay here's how I'd describe it in basic terms .

The Base Beastmaster has a beast companion.
  • HP: It has X HP were X is a factor of the Beastmaster's level. My personal method is forms, either as laid atop a low CR beast or form a generic stat block.
    • The Chaser has 1d10 HD and Heightened senses.
    • The Raptor has 1d6 HD and can fly
    • The Protector has 1d12 HD
    • The Racer has 128 HD and faster speed
    • The Stalker has 1d8 HD and can Sneak Attack and Hide
    • The Swimmer has 1d8 HD and swim speed
  • The Beastmaster can order the Companion to make an single attack at level 1, 2 attacks at 5, 3 attacks at 11, 4 at 15, and 5 at 20.
(Nonmagical) The Feral Spirit's Companion has more HP, deals more damage, can flank, can Trip or Push with attacks
(Magical) The Fey Speaker 's Companion deals bonus Psychic damage, speaks Slyvan, can teleport, and can escape to the Feywild to hp when dropped to 0HP.
(Nonmagical) The Packmaster can get 2-5 beasts dividing their bonus HD and can order them to attack one target or multiple targets in an AOE.
(Magical) The Beastmorph can fuse with the companion usng it's HP as THP and their attacks. They can also hide the beast within themselve or vise versa.

The only mandatory magic would be the Channel Nature to heal and revive the beast.

Well, with mandatory magic, you don't have a non-magical version, so that may well be a non-starter for many people.

So, first I'll not that despite Emberash calling my unimaginative and stupid for having a class that does a bear or a snake for their beast, here we have exactly what I was talking about for that. Funny how that works.

Secondly, you didn't really answer my question. Where is it called a "feral spirit" if it isn't spiritual at all? It is just a name, sure, but I would never have guessed you were going to attempt non-magic with something like that.

Third, this is hella broken. Hello Beastmorph being a better version of the moon druid that allows for 5+ attacks and massive Temp hp, unless you make them only able to do so once per day, which is a very harsh limit on something that is your iconic ability compared to everyone else's always on abilities.

I also love how you first start with scaling attacks on such an insane level (a baseline of 2d8+6+5d6+20 And probably higher than that! That is sitting at a baseline 52.5 average damage, and that is with a +3 mod on the character and a +4 mod on the beast. Great Weapon Paladin is dealing 4d6+10+2d8+6+4d8 = 57 and that is with a feat, max stats and a 3rd level divine smite!) then give bonus damage to the "feral spirit" to help differentiate it... and then give bonus damage to the Fey Speaker. Then other beast gets conditions and increased health to stay in the fight longer, while the fey beast.. can speak sylvan... and can teleport away so you don't have to use that channel nature whose main purpose is to revive your beast.... which you probably use anyways to resummon it. Like, it is almost a perfect storm. On one hand, utterly broken mechanically and on the other, so much obviously weaker than the other options that it clearly was just thrown together to provide a concept.

And note, what are the mechanics of the subclass? It just improves the beast. That's it. It just gives the beast different options on their statblock. Meaning that, mechanically, all the weight is in the class... which works identically in likely attacking and commanding the beast to make five attacks as a bonus action. Isn't that... sort of exactly what I said was going to happen? That thing that I'm getting declared unoriginal and uninspired, and not even trying for pointing out? All you've done is create a class that does the same thing the beast master does, and then make subclasses to give them different statblocks to play with. That's it.
 

Not making it the only thing the class does is not the same thing as ignoring it.

So where is it in your proposal? Not providing the option is.... ignoring it.

I am answering you Chaos drop the hysterics.

Pointing out that you are just layering insults upon me isn't hysterics. Calling my calling you out "hysterics" instead of addressing the all the options I presented before is... still insulting me.

Okay. Prove it.

1) Every beastmaster ranger I've had wanted a close connection with a single beast.

2) Trinket is a known character

3) In this link (Beastmaster Ranger - Google Search) , there are pictures. Within the first 37 results, all but 3 present a single beast companion. That is 92%. If I add another 36 results for a total of 73 images, that percentage is only dropping to 89%. There are actually MORE images in that set without any beasts at all, than there are of multiple beasts.

Seriously, unless you want a peer-reviewed research paper done by an accredited third-party, this can't get any more obvious.

I think you just don't like being contradicted and would rather make appeals to a phantom playerbase you don't actually speak for than admit some of us that you're getting into arguments with have valid points to make, points just as valid as yours, mind you.

More pointless insults. So exciting.


Lets let those people speak for themselves.

Who says they aren't? Just because there are only four people in this thread willing to engage with you doesn't mean that everyone ignoring you agrees with you.

Balance isn't a zero sum, and Classes shouldn't be balanced based on PVP as you're apparently trying to do.

I'm not trying to describe PVP at all. Where would you even get that idea? Comparing two player options side by side doesn't mean they are engaging in PVP! And, while balance isn't zero sum, having one thing doing way more than another... isn't balanced.

The Dragon and the Bear (as I described it) present very divergent playstyles, and that is where the balance lies, alongside simply following through on the concept to its fullest extent.

And "as you described it" was a reflfuffed wolf-pack, not as what people generally want, nor what I meant when I provided the example. Yeah, one monster versus many is very divergent, but that wasn't what I was talking about.

If the Bear subclass is at its peak, and by that I mean as fully awesome and fully captive to the idea of the subclass, taken all the way to its logical conclusion after 20/30 levels of play, without being deliberately broken (relative to the game in question), and the same can be said about all other options, then there is no issue or disparity. Anyone who complains at that point isn't someone any game designer needs pay any attention to.

If the bear subclass is at its peak, then there is no issue or disparity? Why? How? Just because you say so? You couched it in three or four mitigating statements, but you literally said nothing except "at its best there isn't disparity". Well, what about at its worst?

And as for Flight, the principle probablem vis a vis DND is that theres too few ways to knock a flyer out of the air, and conversely, basically no ways to recover from a fall. Theres no give and take or push and pull to it.

Yes, DnD flight is DnD flight, and that is why I described it as a powerful option versus non-flight. I'm glad we finally find something to agree on.

I actually just recently designed my systems Flight Rules (and its sister rules in Swimming/Underwater rules). You can check them out in the attachment.(caveat, its a rough draft, so if you smell jank its likely more a big typo than a design issue). Just from the basic rules themselves, a lot of those issues from DND are explicated, and it'll be a matter of simply following through on the referenced Movement Drains, so that theres a healthy variety of them for all character types to access.

Irrelevant to a discussion of DnD design. But if you like we can talk about The Sentinel Comics RPG zones and how they relate to flight rules. It has just as much relevance as your rules do for a design meant for DnD.


See the parts where I talk about you having an arbitrarily narrow vision of how this class could be designed and are basically approaching it not from the bespoke, ground up approach Im using and instead approaching like you're hacking; taking the the crummy things already in DND, cobbling them together into an obviously cruddy take, and then using that to dismiss the idea.

Its very much like making a soup out of toilet water and using it to argue against the value of soup.

And mind, while Im partial to a single beast focus for Subclass reasons, there is nothing saying you couldn't do a compendium class with many different ones, and nothing saying I won't in the far future.

Yeah, strange how when people are talking about taking a thing in DnD and remaking it into a class for DnD, someone might start from a baseline of how DnD handles that concept. I mean, sure, maybe you'll have your beasts work on actions with the main character just standing by doing nothing, but that design largely failed in DnD, because people didn't like feeling like their character was doing nothing while the beast did all the work. Which is why it moved to the bonus action design.

And, frankly, you really can't do much other than either an action command or a bonus action command... because those are the only options in DnD. And you can say "but I'll design a system that doesn't use that!" well, good for you, I wish you good sales, but that won't be a DnD class then.

I refer to the abilities in question (those of Dar) as Psionics because thats literally what they were. The Beastmaster was originally a science fiction story, not high fantasy.

But what Dar could do doesn't have to be psionics, though the line between them and whatever we want to call your general supernatural at-will abilities (like the Fighters Second Wind) is blurry enough that it could go other way and still be suitable for the archtype.

The overall point though that you're glossing over to stoke your hate-fire for Psionics is that the Beastmaster should have abilities that bridge the physical, mental, and metaphysical gaps between them and their Beast(s). Seeing through the Eyes of your beast, for instance, need neither be magic nor Psionics, but that ability should be there, no matter which path its delivered in.



You'll find that I can and will continue to do so.

I love how you want to dismiss the community's reaction, their predictable, repeateded reaction, as my personal "hate-fire". Then, you follow up by just completely abandoning any need for psionics, stating it could be magic, or psionics, or just unexplained abilities that just exist.

Yeah, it can be any of those things. Magic tends to work best. Because DnD isn't a science fiction game. It is a fantasy game with a lot of magic. And, it is rather useful to design things for DnD while keeping in mind the type of game DnD is. A beastmaster class should have abilities related to their beasts. Also true, it just probably shouldn't be psionics, like you said it should, or reference something that the majority of the people who buy DnD have no conception or knowledge of (like you said it should)
 

Then don't.

Have the consummate outdoorsman that is actually good at that without resorting to hand jive to shoot more than one arrow that some people want and the requisite druid half-caster because every caster needs a half caster variant that others want. The Warden was right there, we just can't have it because making new classes are scary.

Why can't the Warden be the consummate outdoosman who doesn't have any magic?
 

Well, with mandatory magic, you don't have a non-magical version, so that may well be a non-starter for many people.
A beast companion that can be stomped by an ogre and strip 50%+ of your class features away is a not starter for design.

So, first I'll not that despite Emberash calling my unimaginative and stupid for having a class that does a bear or a snake for their beast, here we have exactly what I was talking about for that. Funny how that works.

Secondly, you didn't really answer my question. Where is it called a "feral spirit" if it isn't spiritual at all? It is just a name, sure, but I would never have guessed you were going to attempt non-magic with something like that.
The beastmaster has a feral inner spirt/mentality and has a deeper mental empathy for other feral or animalistic beings like their companion.

Easy peasy.

Third, this is hella broken. Hello Beastmorph being a better version of the moon druid that allows for 5+ attacks and massive Temp hp, unless you make them only able to do so once per day, which is a very harsh limit on something that is your iconic ability compared to everyone else's always on abilities.
You are kidding me.

You forgot the moon druid is a whole full caster, right,

The Beastmorph has 5 1d6 claw attacks at level 20 with no magic buffs.

I also love how you first start with scaling attacks on such an insane level (a baseline of 2d8+6+5d6+20 And probably higher than that! That is sitting at a baseline 52.5 average damage, and that is with a +3 mod on the character and a +4 mod on the beast. Great Weapon Paladin is dealing 4d6+10+2d8+6+4d8 = 57 and that is with a feat, max stats and a 3rd level divine smite!) then give bonus damage to the "feral spirit" to help differentiate it... and then give bonus damage to the Fey Speaker. Then other beast gets conditions and increased health to stay in the fight longer, while the fey beast.. can speak sylvan... and can teleport away so you don't have to use that channel nature whose main purpose is to revive your beast.... which you probably use anyways to resummon it. Like, it is almost a perfect storm. On one hand, utterly broken mechanically and on the other, so much obviously weaker than the other options that it clearly was just thrown together to provide a concept.
Were are you getting that math?
Did I say the base beastmaster class has more that one attack themselves? Or even spells?

The fearl companion has more HP, the fey companion can teleport away to heal. The beastmorph's beast can hide in their master.

No math was mentioned because the math can be adjusted to match baseline before printing.
And note, what are the mechanics of the subclass? It just improves the beast. That's it. It just gives the beast different options on their statblock. Meaning that, mechanically, all the weight is in the class... which works identically in likely attacking and commanding the beast to make five attacks as a bonus action. Isn't that... sort of exactly what I said was going to happen? That thing that I'm getting declared unoriginal and uninspired, and not even trying for pointing out? All you've done is create a class that does the same thing the beast master does, and then make subclasses to give them different statblocks to play with. That's it.
Imagine a slider. Class on one side, Subclass on the other.

As long as the beastmaster is solely a subclass, the beast master's beast companion has a whole section of the power unavailable.

If the Ranger's power is 50% Class 50% Subclass, the beast can only have access to 50% of the PC's power.
If the Ranger's power is 70% Class 30% Subclass, the beast can only have access to 30% of the PC's power.
If the Ranger's power is 80% Class 20% Subclass, the beast can only have access to 20% of the PC's power.

Afterall, you can't trade out your Spellcasting and Extra Attack for more companion HP and better AC. Not directly.

If you shift the beast companion to the class, you have access to the full class power and subclass power for design space.

This is best displayed with the 4e Ranger. You can choose between Weapon Powers and Beast Powers in the Ranger. But not with your Paragon Path. Those are separate pools.

Why did people complain about the beast master? It was and required trading out your ranger actions.
Why did WOTC force this? Because there is no simple way to trade unusued martial or primal power to the companion.

You can't trade out medium armor, natural explorerm and favored enemy for an extra beast attack. Or like 4e did, lose your fighting style.
 

Why can't the Warden be the consummate outdoosman who doesn't have any magic?
Because as the poll shows, a lot of people still want an magical ranger.

And no one as I've seen has design a ranger class that has the option full martial or a 1/2 caster.
A5e went with 1/3 caster.
PF2 cut the magic.

The best option is 2 classes. Or 3 for the Beastmaster.
 

Why can't the Warden be the consummate outdoosman who doesn't have any magic?
Because I know how D&D fandom and WotC's acquiescence to it works and the next time the go jumping editions, only the ranger gets to be core because we're stuck with 3e Core + Warlock in the core from now until Judgment Day.
 



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