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.

 

[ProfessorDetective]

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.

Still a shame the Tracker feat (+1 WIS. Gain Hunter's Mark, can cast 1/LR without slot, can also cast with slots, cast with WIS. Gain Advantage on WIS (Survival) checks to Track) never made it out of UA.

Scout + Outlander + Tracker = Good Enough Ranger for Most Players.

I can see why they reconsidered it.

 

[Incenjucar]

To be clear, there's no need to yuck anyone's yum. If folks like playing rangers whose kit is centered on spell use that is valid.

But it is not a yum for a lot of folks. In my case it's a major part of why I gave up on the game. Aside from just being mildly insulting to hunters, the saturation of spellcasting just makes magic so boring by eliminating contrast.

 

[Horwath]

Still a shame the Tracker feat (+1 WIS. Gain Hunter's Mark, can cast 1/LR without slot, can also cast with slots, cast with WIS. Gain Advantage on WIS (Survival) checks to Track) never made it out of UA.

it was a nice idea for a feat, but mechanically really weak.
maybe with floating +1 ASI and added Pass without trace 1/LR also, to be similar to Fey Touched/Shadow touched.

Scout + Outlander + Tracker = Good Enough Ranger for Most Players.

Scout+Outlander+1 level of fighter for better weapons/armor, fighting style and little self healing instead of Tracker

I can see why they reconsidered it.

As I said, it was too weak of a feat.

 

[ProfessorDetective]

it was a nice idea for a feat, but mechanically really weak.
maybe with floating +1 ASI and added Pass without trace 1/LR also, to be similar to Fey Touched/Shadow touched.

Yeah, HM and PWT would have been a good pairing. I say keep it to WIS, just because this IS a spellcasting feat.

Scout+Outlander+1 level of fighter for better weapons/armor, fighting style and little self healing instead of Tracker

I'm personally not one for multiclassing. Plus, the Advantage on Survival checks stacks with the Survivalist feature's double prof. bonus on Survival and Nature checks.

As I said, it was too weak of a feat.

I was meaning more in a facetious "we can't give Rogues HM! That's CLEARLY the only thing Rangers have going for them!" way. Though, given the emphasis on HM in 2024...

 

[UngeheuerLich]

To be clear, there's no need to yuck anyone's yum. If folks like playing rangers whose kit is centered on spell use that is valid.

But it is not a yum for a lot of folks. In my case it's a major part of why I gave up on the game. Aside from just being mildly insulting to hunters, the saturation of spellcasting just makes magic so boring by eliminating contrast.

How is it mildly insulting to hunters?

 

[Sulicius]

The biggest thing that I don't see people talk about are the ranger unique spells from the 2014 PHB.

They are usually about half as *strong as other spells at those levels.

Just fixing those will be a big improvement.

 

[Minigiant]

I'm tired, so a single example is all I'm bringing to the table. Vixen from DC comics can channel animal totems to empower herself. She can channel different animals, but only one at a time. Exactly like the Wildheart is depicting.

The book series I am reading right now has a Prince whose special magical ability is muscle memory. Give him a little bit, and he can swap to any fighting style he knows and perform it, but it takes time to flip through too many.

So, no, the Tropes do not "disallow" this

Vixen is a good idea for the current trope.

But the "Totem Warrior" trope was that you channeled and commune with a specific set of spirits. Maybe they were the spirits of your tribe, your nation, your family , or your self.

The Wizadfication of everything is due to WOTC only knowing how to design wizards well and refusal to offer for social advice.

Crawford literally said they cut out the options of choosing hunter prey features because they couldn't balance them. That's admitting you don't know how to balance situational bonuses

Letting a player retrain a class feature choice that doesn't work is basic good DMing.

Wizardfication is admitted you don't know how to balance and are afraid to tell people how solve table problems due to the expansion of the hobby.

 

[Minigiant]

The biggest thing that I don't see people talk about are the ranger unique spells from the 2014 PHB.

They are usually about half as weak as other spells at those levels.

Just fixing those will be a big improvement.

That's my main gripe and I'm vocal about it.

 

[Horwath]

The biggest thing that I don't see people talk about are the ranger unique spells from the 2014 PHB.

They are usually about half as weak as other spells at those levels.

Just fixing those will be a big improvement.

ranger really needs something "paladin like" as smites to use spells slots on.
That way you can keep spellcasting and have some feel of a spell-less ranger.

I.E:
option 1:
Elemental attacks:
once per round when you hit with a melee or ranged attack you can spend a 1st level slot to add 2d8 damage.
Damage type is Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Poison or Thunder.
for every slot level above 1st, increase damage by 1d8

option 2:
Rapid assault
Once on your turn you can spend 1st level spell slot to gain extra action.
you can only make two melee or ranged weapon attacks with that action.
for every spell slot level above 1st gain one extra attack with this action.

 

[CreamCloud0]

while i'm more than happy for ranger to have magic the way i always state it is as such: a ranger's magic should exist to open up extra possibilities for them, not simply allowing them to do the basic things their class ought to be doing in the first place.