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.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

The FOMO for something you're they're even going to get to scares off players.

Ah, thanks, that clarifies it. I can see that.

Multiclassing before level 5 is a self nerf for 90% of builds.

Yep. And many of the rest are Eldritch Blast turrets.

You shouldn't have to be a CharOp to achieve a classic archetype. That's why the Eldritch Knight is a subclass and not just assuming you can MC Fighter with Wizard.

Oh, I'm in agreement, only I'd say the problem with that approach is that there's a lot of compromises you are making when bolting stuff like Eldritch Knight onto the Fighter chassis, rather than creating a new main class to handle the Magic Swordsman trope.

 

[Kinematics]

4d6 maul + 2d6 HM + 10 Str
= 6d6+10
Vs
2d6 short sword + 1d6 scimitar + 3d6 HM + 10 Dex
= 6d6 + 10

Ignoring fighting style, feats, stats, ect.. it's equal.

Though levels 1-4, two weapon will be ahead.

Two-weapon Fighting would add 5 Dex damage, while Great Weapon Fighting would add 2.6 damage from rerolls. However Nick adds nothing to damage, while Topple can get you (and pet, and allies) advantage.

Also, since Ranger only gets two weapon masteries, if you want one for melee and one for ranged, you can't squeeze in Vex from a shortsword when dual-wielding and still have something for ranged. The maul only takes up one mastery slot, leaving your second mastery free for longbow or whatever.

So even aside from the basic numbers, it's reasonable to see it as an actual choice to consider.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Weapon mastery amounts go up as you level, though (except for Rogues).

 

[mellored]

The question is more like, does Ranger get anything from 2h approach, compared to being a 2h Fighter or Barbarian? Their damage adds are not nearly as conditional, or actively limiting (PAM/GWM also want your bonus action).

Push, Cleave, Graze, Topple, Reach.

At higher levels, when you get advantage on your HM, Vex is going or be pretty useless. And the only other light property is Slow on the d4 club.

Or if your talking about why be a Ranger over a Barbarian. Rangers get spells. Goodberry, pass without trace, plant growth, revivify, ect... it would be overpowered if their damage matched a fighter or Barbarian.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Stepping back and thinking things over, I think overall things are 90% fine.

I was watching a stream with a guy who isn't a big mechanics guy, just a fan of the game. His conception of the ranger changes was that they got nothing until level 10, then the class started getting cool improvements.

I, myself, have done multiple breakdowns of the 2014 ranger over the years. Repeatedly, I found that [just from the 2014 PHB subclasses] the Hunter worked perfectly fine, and the Beastmaster was the only really weak Ranger. The Ranger's damage was actually quite good and quite competetive in 2014 from levels 1 to somewhere around 5 or 7, only really dropping noticeably by level 11. Now the Ranger is getting some noticeable boosts and conceptually interesting ideas for levels 11 to 19. So, I think overall we are not going to be looking at anything particularly bad for the ranger.

Some potential build concepts using the Hunter, since we know most of the 3rd level hunter abilities are the same, and I think the 11th level ability works in a particular way.

A Hunter Ranger using a Musket (assuming the Firearms feat to counter loading property) can attack a Creature from range, hitting for 2d12+2d6+1d8+8 for a total of 32.5 damage every turn, slowing their speed by 10 ft a turn. It sounds like they will also deal 2d6 or 7 damage to a nearby creature.

Sticking with Hordebreaker and Dual-Scimitars, they should be capable of 3d8+3d6+12 or 36 to one target and 1d8+3d6+4 or 19 to a second target.

Dropping a comparison with the Paladin using a Greatsword, GWM, and a 1st level Divine Smite, the Paladin will do about 4d6+2d8+2d8+8+4 or 44 damage. Which is a bit higher in single target, less overall compared to the hordebreaker, but burns through more resources faster than the ranger is doing in either case.

///

This isn't to say I would make no changes. I think I would end up saying that if Hunter's Mark is cast with a 3rd level spell which is possible about 9th level, then it doesn't require concentration. That is a 3rd level spell, lasting 8 hrs, and chops off a bit of their higher level spell utility, so I think that is balanced.


Additionally, I still like the idea of altering the capstone to be "Hunter's Mark increases to 1d10 damage. You are considered to always have Hunter's Mark cast without concentration, and it applies to all enemies within 120 ft. You always have advantage on Survival and Perception checks" It is level 20, this seems fine to me.

 

[Kinematics]

Weapon mastery amounts go up as you level, though (except for Rogues).

For Fighter and Barbarian, yes, but not for Rogue, Ranger, or Paladin.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Volley is better than 1d6 splash damage.

Possibly. But Volley was never terribly useful if you only had two or three enemies on the field, and if the splash happens every time you hit the target, then you can end up dealing a free, automatic, 3d6 damage to a nearby enemy. Which isn't terrible.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

For Fighter and Barbarian, yes, but not for Rogue, Ranger, or Paladin.

Huh. I assumed that if Barbarians got it, then everyone would. But now I realize, there's no space for the weapon mastery progression on the class table, so obviously Ranger/Paladin get that toned down.

Actually interesting. Unless you multiclass into anything, because weapon masteries stack.

 

[Gladius Legis]

Volley is better than 1d6 splash damage.

In terms of raw numbers against 3 or more targets, sure.

But that doesn't tell the whole story when you consider that it's typically better in practice to focus down one enemy with multiple attacks than to spread them out, since you want to kill at least one target faster. 2014 Multiattack's big problem was that it deliberately encouraged tactically suboptimal play.

 

[Argyle King]

It's not about getting to 20th Level. It's about seeing that 20th level endgame feature, and realizing that if you multiclass NOW, you're cutting yourself off from your endgame powers. The FOMO for something you're they're even going to get to scares off players.

Multiclassing is also just very janky and really for the dials-and-levers players (such as 3.5e CharOp fans). Many MANY players were options paralyzed by feat and spell choice before more guidance has been provided.

You shouldn't have to be a CharOp to achieve a classic archetype. That's why the Eldritch Knight is a subclass and not just assuming you can MC Fighter with Wizard.

Maybe, but more than a few classes also have end levels filled with stuff that isn't very compelling. In some cases, it's tough to justify going beyond level 12 or 13 in a class.

I multiclass a lot. Though, for me personally, it's less about power and more that a lot of concepts I have don't fit very well into one class.

Notable exceptions in 5E have been Oath of Ancients Paladin and Druid.

For Ranger, maybe it's just not my cup of tea, but there's not much that the Ranger offers that I haven't felt a different class or classes would do better, just with taking a nature-y or woodsy background.