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.

 

[Horwath]

No, it is not.

The Scout Rogue's level 3 feature is a reaction that hardly ever gets used because Uncanny Dodge is better 99% of the time. You can't even move away until the enemy has finished its turn next to you (not just moved, but taken its whole turn). Which means you very likely got pummeled by their melee attacks before you could even do it. And if you were getting pummeled in melee, again, you likely already used your reaction on Uncanny Dodge.

After that, all they get at level 9 is 10 feet more speed. Meh.

The level 13 and 17 features are good, but they're level 13 and 17, which most tables just won't see.

Regardless, the idea that the Scout Rogue was ever a proper Ranger substitute is laughable.

it's not a great subclass, but it got the tools to get the job done.

2014 ranger got that favored terrain thing that maybe worked, maybe not.
Scout got simple +2 skills and +2 expertise to make "rangering" better for them.
if rangers got that instead for every instance of favored terrain and

Spoiler: Ranger's quarry

Scout: 1st, 5th, 9th, and 17th level
You learn how to effectively read and track your prey. Once on each of your turns, you can choose a creature you can see within 120 feet and mark it as your quarry (no action required). For the next hour, you gain the following benefits:

• Once per turn, when you hit the target with a weapon attack, you can deal 1d4 additional damage to it of the same type as the weapon’s damage. This die changes as you gain scout levels, as shown in the Ranger’s Quarry column of the scout table.
• You have advantage on any Wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Survival) check you make to find it while it’s on the same planet as you.

You can only have one creature marked in this way at a time. Beginning at 5th level, you can use your reaction to mark a creature when it enters your line of sight, provided it is within range of your Ranger’s Quarry.
The duration increases to 8 hours at 9th level and 24 hours at 17th level.

instead of Favored enemy, we would not have more than half of ranger's problem for the last 10 years.

 

[ECMO3]

No, it is not.

The Scout Rogue's level 3 feature is a reaction that hardly ever gets used because Uncanny Dodge is better 99% of the time. You can't even move away until the enemy has finished its turn next to you (not just moved, but taken its whole turn). Which means you very likely got pummeled by their melee attacks before you could even do it. And if you were getting pummeled in melee, again, you likely already used your reaction on Uncanny Dodge.

After that, all they get at level 9 is 10 feet more speed. Meh.

The level 13 and 17 features are good, but they're level 13 and 17, which most tables just won't see.

Regardless, the idea that the Scout Rogue was ever a proper Ranger substitute is laughable.

I love the Scout Rogue, especially on a multiclass with Fighter or Barbarian. I think a Rune Knight with 4 levels of Scout is the best grappler build there is.

It was not a proper Ranger though because it does not have spells.

 

[Horwath]

It was not a proper Ranger though because it does not have spells.

I don't consider that a bug, but a feature.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

I love the Scout Rogue, especially on a multiclass with Fighter or Barbarian.

Yeah, its reaction movement is not that great on a regular Rogue (especially when you get nothing else until lv9), but on a melee warrior type? That thing is really solid!

 

[Minigiant]

Hell, we HAD that with the Scout Rogue. A lot of folks preferred it to the 2014 Ranger, If I'm remembering correctly.

The scout rogue is just a rogue with Nature and Survival expertise. That's a rogue with 2 feats.

So I'll make an addendum

"A spell-less magic-less ranger is pointless and redundant if you design the fighter class and the rogue right."

A lot of people just want to play Fighter or Rogue in a green cloak and Hunters Mark. So WOTC converted the Ranger to appease that section of the community.

 

[Remathilis]

My gloom stalker ban is purely mechanical. I don't like the way the subclass works. I allowed one in a game once, and I didn't like it.

The assassin and necromancer bans are a combination of mechanics and flavor. With respect to the latter, I don't think you can be a non-evil poison-wielding assassin or undead-commanding necromancer. I know other people disagree, but that's just how I see those classes. I would rather they were in the DMG along with the other NPC-only subclasses, like the Death cleric and the poorly named* Oathbreaker paladin. From a mechanical standpoint, the 2014 assassin is wonky, and I'd rather it just not be an option than have to explain to my players why I don't think they should pick it, while the necromancer can bog down the game with all its undead minions.

I also ban the Twilight cleric for mechanical reasons, and I ban the Moon druid purely because I'm sick of it -- it's the only druid subclass I've ever seen in play.

Oh, I also ban the fiend warlock. I had one of those in an early 5e game and decided that that sort of Faustian bargain thing wasn't something I wanted to explore in my games. (I sometimes like to tempt my players with other sorts of devilish bargains in game, but they generally understand that they're expected to resist the temptation.)




*I've never understood why breaking your oath gives you a whole new set of paladin abilities. It ought to just be an unholy/evil oath rather than a "here's a reward for breaking your oath!"

The good news is that many of those classes have revised mechanics. Gloonstalker loses it's free attacks, assassins is just better sneak attackers, and moon druid is better balanced thanks to no animal HP. You may want to give them all a look with fresh eyes when the 24 version comes out

 

[Chaosmancer]

The assassin and necromancer bans are a combination of mechanics and flavor. With respect to the latter, I don't think you can be a non-evil poison-wielding assassin or undead-commanding necromancer. I know other people disagree, but that's just how I see those classes.

You might have a hard time, now that all the rogues are using Poison in their main class.

 

[Micah Sweet]

You might have a hard time, now that all the rogues are using Poison in their main class.

I didn't see that. That seems like a big deal thematically.

 

[CreamCloud0]

oh boy, centralisation of mechanics around a spell i have never once considered taking on my favourite class.

 

[J-H]

Hunter's Mark, the class.
Seem's like the 2014 Ranger with Tasha's Beastmaster fixes is probably better (especially since I fixed Favored Enemy to give +wis to damage against FEs from level 1).