D&D (2024) 2024 Player's Handbook reveal: "New Ranger"

"More than any other class, the ranger is a new class."

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It has been a year (less a day) since we last saw the Ranger in UA Playtest 6. There still could be a lot of change. My sense is that they are more or less happy with three of the subclasses (Fey Wanderer, Beastmaster, and Gloom Stalker), but many questions remain: Will anyone be happy with the favored enemy/relation to the land abilities? Will Hunter's Mark be foregrounded in multiple abilities? Will rangers at least get a free casting of the Barrage/Volley spells? For the Hunter, will the "Superior" abilties at levels 11 and 15 continue to be things you didn't choose at lower levels? For the Gloom Stalker, will they pull out 3rd level invisibility from "Umbral Sight"? Any chance for a surprise substitution of the Horizon Walker? Let's find out.

OVERVIEW

• "widely played, but ... one of the lowest rated"
• Spellcasting and Weapon Mastery at 1 (as with Paladin). Spellcasting can change spells after long rest (not every level)
• NEW: Favored Enemy: Hunters Mark always prepared, and X castings per day. (was level 2 in PT6, where it was WIS times/day)
• NEW: Fighting Style at 2 (no limits on choice). or you may choose two cantrips (again, like Paladin).
• NEW: Deft Explorer at 3: expertise in a proficient skill, +2 languages. NO INTERACTION WITH LAND TYPES. This is a nerf from PT6, where at least you got a bonus to Intelligence (Nature) checks.
• Extra attack at 5, Roving at 6 (+10' move, Climb Speed, Swim speed).
• Two more expertise options, at 9, presumably. Compared to the playtest, this is a nerf: PT6 gave 1 expertise, the spell Conjure Barrage always prepared, and +2 land types for Explorer. These had problems, but it's a lot to lose for one additional expertise.
• At 10, Tireless (as in PT6) -- THP and reduced Exhaustion.
• NEW: At 13, Damage no longer breaks concentration with Hunter's Mark.
• At 14, Nature's Veil -- invisibility. At 18, Blindsight.
• NEW: At 17, advantage vs person marked with Hunter's Mark.
• NEW: Damage of Hunter's mark increases to d10, not d6. (This too is a nerf from the playtest, which gave +WIS to hit, and +WIS to damage.)

The clear expectation is you are using Hunter's Mark, occupying your concentration and taking your first Bonus action every combat, from levels 1-20.

SUBCLASSES
Beastmaster

• command Primal Beast as a bonus action, and higher level abilities as in PT6, apparently.
• stat blocks level up with you (as in Tasha's and PT6). Beast gets Hunter's Mark benefits at 11.

Fey Wanderer

• vague on specifics; apparently just as in Tasha's.

Gloom Stalker

• as in PT6, Psychic damage bonus a limited number of times per day. +WIS to initiative (cf. Assassin and Barbarian)
• Umbral Sight, darkvision bonus, and invisible in the dark.
• NEW: psychic damage goes up at level 11. Mass fear option of Sudden Strike mentioned, nothing about Sudden Strike.

Hunter.

• Hunter's Lore at 3: know if there are immunities/resistances of creature marked by Hunter's Mark.
• NEW: Hunter's Prey at 3: you have a choice and can change your choice every short/long rest.
• NEW: Defensive Tactics at 7: you have a choice, and again can choose after a rest. The choices are Escape the Horde, Multiattack defense (not Evasion, Uncanny Dodge, and Hunter's Leap, as in PT6).
• NEW: At 11, Hunter's mark now "splashes" damage onto another target.
• NEW: you can choose to take resistance to damage, until the end of your turn.

 

[Minigiant]

Yeah, because Nick exists, TWF Ranger seems to be a thing. Sadly, I cannot see a reason to go two-handed Str Ranger...

With the Beastmaster buffs, GWF STR Maul beastmaster ranger doesn't seem bad at all.

DM nightmare

 

[Baumi]

It would be pointless for rangers as HM only increases duration with upcasting.

Didn't it go up with damage in the UA Version?

 

[mellored]

I like some of this but I was fruitlessly hoping for a ranger who is only a spell caster depending on their subclass. Back to the homebrew board, I guess.

Yea, that wasn't going to happen. Way to big of a change.

You could do Eldritch Knight, but with druid spells.

 

[Baumi]

Your wizard wants to summon a creature? Here's a bespoke stat-block.
Your ranger wants a companion creature? Here's a bespoke stat-block.
Your druid wants to turn into a creature? Here's a monster stat-block you can kludge into a pseudo-template.

They tried Druid Templates but got some hard pushback from part of the community (they say it has a 50/50 split for/against Shapeshift Templates). I myself would have loved templates, but with more options than they tested (burrow, size, etc.)

 

[Marandahir]

I find it interesting that Druidic Warrior is specifically NOT a Fighting Style here, but instead a Ranger class feature that can be taken instead of a Fighting Style.

This explains the Feat quantities and what was ported over from Tasha's and what wasn't, and why they said all the Tasha's Fighting Styles came over despite that not jarring with the Feat quantities and other confirmed feats. Druid Warrior, Blessed Warrior, and Superior Technique must be class features locked to their class as an alternate to the Fighting Styles, while the non-class specific fighting styles are feats that can be taken by anyone or received via the Fighting Style feature.

I do GREATLY appreciate that you can now make a Bow or TWF Paladin or a Great-Weapon or Sword-and-Board Ranger! No more class-locked fighting styles! This was something I commented the HECK out of during the UA playtests, given that they were still locking it behind individual classes at that point.

 

[Minigiant]

Didn't it go up with damage in the UA Version?

We haven't seen the once per turn upcasting version since it debuted.

We also haven't been told it was kept.
They usually mention when a change is kept.

 

[mellored]

Didn't it go up with damage in the UA Version?

Early on, yes. Increasing damage, but it only applied to 1 attack.

Then they reversed that.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

ranger is pointless and redundant if you design the fighter class right.

Choice selective quoting time! I like both classes, but I really don't see what Ranger has (outside of Beast Master) that would be temptingly unique (or not achieved via a small dip).

With the Beastmaster buffs, GWF STR Maul beastmaster ranger doesn't seem bad at all.

As a Beast Master, your bonus actions are already spoken for, so this keeps you from using half of the benefits of PAM/GWM, and is not a great multiplier for your Hunter's Mark (unless they totally change the spell).

Having played a BM, I could at least use Tasha's Favored Foe, because it didn't take a bonus action to cast.

 

[Baumi]

Didn't it go up with damage in the UA Version?

Just checked UA6 .. at 3rd Spellvel it stayed for 8 hours and did 2d6 and with a 5th level slot it lasts 24 hours and deal 3d6 damage. But with a big caveat .. it only did this damage once per turn.

Edit: Mellored beat me already to it.

 

[Charlaquin]

You didn't love DC15 Hide check to become literally invisible? Which you roll before encountering any opponents?

Yeah, that was certainly a rule. Which was there for a long time. And was still there the last UA...

They never even asked for feedback on that one. I ranted about it in the “additional comments” field of every survey since the one where it was introduced and it never went away. It won’t keep me from buying the book if it’s in there, but it will immediately and forever be house ruled back to 2014 functionality at my table if it survived internal testing.