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.

 

[GarrettKP]

People keep harping on Hunter's Mark: the class but you know what I see?

I see a class with martial weapons, medium armor and shields, expertise in three skills, two attacks, d10 HD weapon mastery, and half-caster druidic magic with the option to get cantrips or a fighting style if wanted.

If WotC had called this jack of all trades "the bard" you'd all be going gaga over it! And that's even before ignoring its speed boost, free invisibility, etc.

If you look at the ranger as Jack of all trades class, it's pretty amazing. It's centrally got as much going for it as the rogue and is maybe a step behind the barbarian. (I await the monk and bard previews to determine how they fall, considering the bard was never shown in it's close to final form and the 2nd monk was a touch overtuned). I think there are things that still could have been done a bit better (that capstone is uninspired) but I have come around that it's not as going to be bad a class in play once your character is able to fight, sneak, blast and heal with others as the 2nd best in each.

This! The Ranger is in such a good place but everyone is ignoring it because of Hunters Mark.

And honestly, a Ranger focusing on Hunters Mark is still very good in combat and doing what the Ranger should do, which is single target damage.

Every Subclass gives you damage boosts at 3rd and 11th on top of being able to layer Hunters Mark overtop of Weapon masteries and Fighting Styles and feats and so on.

If you wanted to make a Ranger that focuses on Hunters Mark like the class is leaning towards doing, you can take advantage of Hunter and Beast Master giving HM upgrades, or use Fey Wanders concentrationless Summon Fey, or proc HM on the extra Gloomstalker attack at 11th, all the while using your 15 other prepared spell slots for great in combat utility spells like Jump, Goodberry and Healing spells or out of combat concentration spells like Pass Without Trace, Speak With Animals, and Healing Spirit. Not to mention you can use rituals now!

Rangers are fine, in combat and out of combat. The one truly underwhelming part is the capstone, but I’ll take 95% good features vs 5% bad, especially when it’s the least played level in the game.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

They did.

All the full casters got new spells tailored to them over the years and had new spells tried out in UA for 2024.
At the casters so far had a new spell previewed. Even paladin.

Except for ranger.

Ok. I stand corrected in this regard (edit: or not) . It does not mean a lot though. The spells the ranger has are fine. But need a balance pass. And at least hunter's mark was in UA.

Also, rangers got new spells in tasha and add dispel magic to their list in 2024.

I do not back down on your guilty until proven remark.
This mentality has to be fixed before the ranger.

 

[GarrettKP]

They did.

All the full casters got new spells tailored to them over the years and had new spells tried out in UA for 2024.
At the casters so far had a new spell previewed. Even paladin.

Except for ranger.

This is false.

Since the PHB was released in 2014, Ranger had 14 spells added to the game.

Of those, Beast Bond, Zephyr Strike, Summon Beast, Healing Spirit, Guardian of Nature, Steel Wind Strike, and Wrath of Nature are clearly designed for Ranger and/or Druid specifically, with Zephyr Strike being exclusively Ranger.

Other classes have had more, maybe. But Ranger absolutely has gotten spells designed for them or their niche since the PHB dropped.

As far as the preview videos, the only one that mentioned a new spell was Paladins. That doesn’t mean no other caster is getting unique spells.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I don't mind the Ranger having spells. I mind Hunter's Mark being one of them.

Like, what is the effect we're causing that is so otherworldly as to require the direct alteration of reality? We're doing a little more damage and we have an easier time tracking the target. We need magic words for this?

I'm maybe ok with it needing concentration (narratively at least), a bit like rage, but it really should just be a scaling class feature.

I do want to know what kind of fiction, myth, or other fantasy other than Warcraft games the idea of hunters mark is supposed to represent.

The Ranger in one of our current games is using it to represent a sort of "weakness sight" which allows her to see the organs, weak points, ect of an enemy, highlighting them in golden magic.

I've seen similar things in some stories. The Hunter ability from UnOrdinary looks like that. Tower of Solmnus had the main character gain an ability that guided their strikes to critical points on enemies, even if she was unaware of them. You could argue the feature works by slowing down time and allowing a more perfect strike, seen that in Primal Hunter and Fallout just off the top of my head. Primal Hunter also had a magical ability where the guy dealt extra magical damage whenever he built, that he eventually evolved into an ability to build and release a magical charge inside the bodies of his opponents. You can also cover the idea of double impacts from some martial arts stories with this, the idea of striking an opponent, then your energy or magic striking them again as an echo, that shows up in dozens of places.

Tracking magic or tracking marks are also ubiquitous.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I think you make some fair points about what you like. The "If WotC had called this jack of all trades "the bard" you'd all be going gaga over it!" sounds like fan blaming and its so tiring. That strategy is unconvincing and won't convince anyone to your point of view. If your just venting then ignore my post LOL.

But it kind of does feel like when in the Paladin thread everyone was bemoaning that the Paladin is nearly useless as a class because Divine Smite is a spell. Yes, Ranger's get free castings of Hunter's Mark at level 1.... and no other Hunter's Mark Features until level 11. During that time they get... a LOT of stuff.

I mean. better combat abilities than the typical bard, maybe better than the Rogue, but also getting the expertise that the Bard and Rogue get, and also getting the higher mobility as well as spellcasting which includes battlefield control, healing, defense, buffing and damage?

It does feel a bit odd to say "this class is Hunter's Marl and nothing else" when they have actually gotten decent abilities from every single corner of the game. Yes, at later levels they focus on making a signature spell their go to ability in combat, but the ranger is very full of goodies.

 

[WanderingMystic]

I still have some hope and their are several small changes that could make the ranger much better that still could be revealed.

1: gain a hunters mark slot back during a short rest. Just like the druid, cleric,paladin and barbarian if they get a use back after a short rest it makes it easier to not care about dropping hunters mark to cast a different spell.

2: Hunters Mark not taking a bonus action to switch targets, or something like allowing an attack to be made at the same time you switch or cast the spell.

3: Removing concentration on the different types of hunter attack spells. This honestly has to be a must if they want people to cast entangling strike or any of those types of spells.

 

[Incenjucar]

The Ranger in one of our current games is using it to represent a sort of "weakness sight" which allows her to see the organs, weak points, ect of an enemy, highlighting them in golden magic.

I've seen similar things in some stories. The Hunter ability from UnOrdinary looks like that. Tower of Solmnus had the main character gain an ability that guided their strikes to critical points on enemies, even if she was unaware of them. You could argue the feature works by slowing down time and allowing a more perfect strike, seen that in Primal Hunter and Fallout just off the top of my head. Primal Hunter also had a magical ability where the guy dealt extra magical damage whenever he built, that he eventually evolved into an ability to build and release a magical charge inside the bodies of his opponents. You can also cover the idea of double impacts from some martial arts stories with this, the idea of striking an opponent, then your energy or magic striking them again as an echo, that shows up in dozens of places.

Tracking magic or tracking marks are also ubiquitous.

UnOrdinary the anime online manga-style comic? Come to think of it spells/powers like hunters mark are common on anime characters, so fair point, though they're generally magic detectives or supernatural warriors without much of a hunting vibe.

 

[Chaosmancer]

It's just bland and barely flavored like a ranger because WOTC only knows how to season with spells but won't create new ranger spells.

Gotta be careful with those reveals, you'll break your NDA if you keep telling us all the things you have seen in the physical player's handbook. I mean, how else would you be certain the ranger received no spells when we know the designers have said that there are new spells in the game?

 

[Chaosmancer]

people are harping on Hunter's Mark: the class because a bunch of your class features are dedicated to a spell that implicitly shapes your capacity to play or else you get no benefit from them, the ranger has a decent base but there was absolutely no reason to hamstring it's design this way, that's why people are complaining so much.

From level's 2 thru 10, what Class features are tied to Hunter's mark?

 

[ECMO3]

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

For me I always had trouble figuring out why it was thematically ok for a "good" person to sneak up behind someone and slit their throat, but it is not ok to shoot them with a poison arrow.