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.

 

[Gammadoodler]

I mean most people don't know what wilderness challenges ARE to attribute them to ranger then make fantastical versions of it.

And I don't think many in WOTC or TSR did either.

Ennnh. I dunno. I think most people could figure out:

1. Find food
2. Find water
3. Find shelter
4. Find the thing you're hunting
5. Don't get killed by the thing you're hunting.
6. Kill the thing you're hunting

Like, yeah, the specifics for how those challenges might be resolved, and the complications to overcome might be outside of folks' experience, but I think most people could figure out the basics.

I'm not sure how such challenges should get brought into D&D, as I would not want detailed resource tracking.

But I think people mostly know that they need to find a safe place to sleep while they avoid starvation and dehydration while in the wilderness.

 

[Minigiant]

Ennnh. I dunno. I think most people could figure out:

1. Find food
2. Find water
3. Find shelter
4. Find the thing you're hunting
5. Don't get killed by the thing you're hunting.
6. Kill the thing you're hunting

Like, yeah, the specifics for how those challenges might be resolved, and the complications to overcome might be outside of folks' experience, but I think most people could figure out the basics.

I'm not sure how such challenges should get brought into D&D, as I would not want detailed resource tracking.

But I think people mostly know that they need to find a safe place to sleep while they avoid starvation and dehydration while in the wilderness.

The point is they don't know the intricacies of them enough to split them up to not be on/off mechanics, not be annoying, and upscale it past level 1.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Trade "magically enhance" from your post and replace it with "focus"

And you lose nothing. That's the point. The "magic" isn't carrying any weight.

I'm good with all sorts of other magic stuff the ranger can do.

But Hunter's mark, specifically, is dumb magic.

For Hunter's Mark specifically? Maybe, maybe not. I do think Hunter's Mark would be better if it had a slightly more magical tracking effect. Even something as simple as "you know which direction the target is in" to help expand on the Advantage. But I think it can be flavored as more magical, and there are tropes that it supports.

And frankly, it isn't the only spell like this. Detect Magic and Identify have a similar problem. But I think that it is better to just slightly spice up Hunter's Mark rather than yeet it from the class. Because there are tropes it is following, it just isn't following them quite as far as it could.

 

[Chaosmancer]

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.

Agreed. Made sure to do that when I was doing my homebrew spell pass. In theory, they are supposed to be a little weaker because they have bigger areas of effect, but since you get them later, and the massive area is usually wasted, I bumped their damage.

I did think that the changes from the UA to make them automatically miss allies was a good step though.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I thought it was a group check. You need a majority for success.

That depends on the DM. Many reasonably assume that you only need one person to make noise to give away the whole group, so go with individual tests and compare the lowest result with the opposition's passive perception.

 

[Micah Sweet]

That depends on the DM. Many reasonably assume that you only need one person to make noise to give away the whole group, so go with individual tests and compare the lowest result with the opposition's passive perception.

I get that idea; it appeals to me as a lover of logic. If things work that way in the game you're going to want to lean into splitting the party. That's what rogues are for right?

 

[Chaosmancer]

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.

And you can still choose to do that, or you can reflavor them to match. Instead of the spirit of the Salmon, you can channel the Tiger's swim speed instead.

But I think you make a point without realizing it. That was the concept of the Totem Warrior. This is the Wildheart, and it is a little different. A half step to the left. You might as well say the Illusionist is a terrible concept because in 2014 the illusionist didn't include the concept of summoning a shadow creature as part of the subclass, but now in 2024 it can. Not because semi-real illusions are never a thing seen in the trope of illusionists... but because they wanted to expand the concept a bit, change the focus.

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

No, it isn't.

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

That is not what he literally said. What he literally said was that in the 2014 version, there were two good options and a bad option at the levels for the Hunter. And that they decided to focus on just making sure you had the two good options and polishing them. He didn't say "and we did this because we are too incompetent to have ever balanced three options" It was a conscious choice of how to focus the redesign. You not liking that doesn't mean they were too incompetent to make a different decision.

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.

No, it isn't. You are just making things up because you don't like the choices they made. Which are CHOICES not a result of being unable to design classes.

 

[Chaosmancer]

It's essentially replacing hunting skills with a form of external technology and implies skills aren't good enough for adventuring on their own. A hunter can't possibly hunt without magical GPS target paint, etc.

Just like Paladins are insulting to knights, because it implies that their faith and martial skills aren't good enough for adventuring on their own, they need external technology and can't possibly adventure without without divine bombs in their swords, right?

 

[Incenjucar]

Just like Paladins are insulting to knights, because it implies that their faith and martial skills aren't good enough for adventuring on their own, they need external technology and can't possibly adventure without without divine bombs in their swords, right?

Knights like fighters?

 

[CreamCloud0]

For Hunter's Mark specifically? Maybe, maybe not. I do think Hunter's Mark would be better if it had a slightly more magical tracking effect. Even something as simple as "you know which direction the target is in" to help expand on the Advantage. But I think it can be flavored as more magical, and there are tropes that it supports.

And frankly, it isn't the only spell like this. Detect Magic and Identify have a similar problem. But I think that it is better to just slightly spice up Hunter's Mark rather than yeet it from the class. Because there are tropes it is following, it just isn't following them quite as far as it could.

i think i mentioned something similar earlier but i think it would be better if the damage portion of HM was removed from it and let it focus on being a utility spell, replace the damage by adding a damage boosting spell like arcane weapon to ranger's spells but i'd rather a HM like:

HUNTER'S MARK - 1st level spell
-1 bonus action
-self
-V
-1 hour, (no concentration)

You choose a creature (or type of creature) you can see or name and mystically mark it as your quarry. Until the spell ends you have advantage on any Wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Survival) check you make to find them, you become aware of [basically the generic statblock], information on unique creatures may be incomplete.
upcasting increases duration.

this gives it strong thematic purpose without cornering players into a long duration concentration spell or feeling like they're wasting significant resources by not using it.