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.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I, Minigiant, prefer a heavy focus on exploration.
I want a Ranger spell that gives the caster a dog nose and ears.

The community doesn't.

I was talking about WotC, not you.

That spell sounds really cool.

 

[Horwath]

I, Minigiant, prefer a heavy focus on exploration.
I want a Ranger spell that gives the caster a dog nose and ears.

The community doesn't.

but you also need to be careful that spells do not completely bypass exploration/social encounter but only help with them.

same goes for class features.

maybe that is why everyone hated Favored terrain in 2014. It's just a skip for many exploration challenges or simply does not work.

 

[CreamCloud0]

I can't blame WOTC completely.

The community itself skips exploration and extremely minimizes social mechanics.

WOTC is giving people what they want. The issue is the community don't like the result.

in a similar vein to my comment about nonmagic classes, maybe the community would interact with those things more if the game had proper mechanics to enable them to play them out.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I was talking about WotC, not you.

That spell sounds really cool.

The barbarian can do it wothout a spell.

 

[Undrave]

-Changing the Hunter's options on a long or short rest is a good one, just like changing the land option for the Circle of the Land or the beast options for Wildheart. I wonder if certain other subclasses in the future can switch choices on rests (well we know the Battlemaster can't).

Man, is there something in this edition that actually asks people to commit to a choice?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Man, is there something in this edition that actually asks people to commit to a choice?

Players want to do whatever they want, whenever they want. Gotta follow their story right?

 

[Horwath]

Man, is there something in this edition that actually asks people to commit to a choice?

feat choices.

And that is fine, less thing that are permanent choice the better.

 

[Minigiant]

but you also need to be careful that spells do not completely bypass exploration/social encounter but only help with them.

same goes for class features.

maybe that is why everyone hated Favored terrain in 2014. It's just a skip for many exploration challenges or simply does not work.

You can't have it both ways.


Spells can only not skip over exploration and social challenges if there are multiple exploration and social mechanics that the spells can target but not target other and the table uses them.


It's like the Tongues spell.
You don't want levels of language proficiency.
You don't want accents and dialects mechanics.
You don't want illiterate characters.

Congrads. The social mechanics is just On/Off literacy. Roll Charisma.
Cast Tongues on the Bard.

 

[Undrave]

Players want to do whatever they want, whenever they want. Gotta follow their story right?

feat choices.

And that is fine, less thing that are permanent choice the better.

I'm not against helping players who regret a choice and letting them retrain, but all these 'you can change X on a long rest' gives a feel to the game I don't particularly appreciate AND it'll result in players always looking for THE optimal choice for the day, obsessing over which one to go for all the time. Feels like it's way more fun to ovrcome obstacles within the limits of what you have insead of always having the optimal response. Then again I'm not a Wizard player...

 

[Horwath]

I'm not against helping players who regret a choice and letting them retrain, but all these 'you can change X on a long rest' gives a feel to the game I don't particularly appreciate AND it'll result in players always looking for THE optimal choice for the day, obsessing over which one to go for all the time. Feels like it's way more fun to ovrcome obstacles within the limits of what you have insead of always having the optimal response. Then again I'm not a Wizard player...

if battlemasters have 5 or 6 maneuvers and you can change 1 every long rest, that is not that impactful.

But I am for all casters to have spells known mechanics on levels of sorcerer and you can only change 1 spell every long rest.