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.

 

[Chaosmancer]

i'm looking at the spell from the perspective of something the class will be giving you free castings of, it might not be something you typically pick but it's nothing you'll complain about having,

an hour might not always be enough to track something down but it'll manage to give you a good headstart or pinpoint the exact location near the end, plus there's always the option of upcasting(maybe being able to expend multiple of your free uses to upcast without wasting slots), and a quick way to identify potential weaknesses, resistances or abilities you might want to prepare for.

I get what you are saying, but even as a free ability... enemies just don't run away often enough. And when they do, well last week I had a game where the DM tried to have a group of enemies flee the party. They stopped attacking us entirely, and followed their boss. For the next two hours IRL the party harassed and followed them, constantly foiling their attempts to actually keep distance from us. Maybe you could force more scenarios where that is the case, but I just don't see pursuits usually having that sweet spot where a bonus on tracking is useful.

And the weaknesses, resistances and abilities... often that information is less useful than I think people think it is. If you have a Ranger, Fighter, Rogue, and Paladin party and you find out the enemy is weak to fire but resists cold... you can't do anything with that information mid-battle. No one has any abilities to do those damage types really, unless they happened to be high enough level and prepare one of two or three spells. I mean, this is an ability of the Hunter Subclass to do this, and I don't see it being something that ends up coming up 90% of the time. Which is why I think it is treated more like a ribbon and given at the same time the Hunter gets their other abilities at level 3.

 

[mellored]

And the weaknesses, resistances and abilities... often that information is less useful than I think people think it is. If you have a Ranger, Fighter, Rogue, and Paladin party and you find out the enemy is weak to fire but resists cold... you can't do anything with that information mid-battle

Carry around Alchemist Fire and other such item.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Carry around Alchemist Fire and other such item.

RAW, there are no other such items, so at best you’d do double damage with a 1d4 attack - you have no way of targeting any other weaknesses.

And 2-8 damage is probably a lot less than just hitting them with your sword one, but you get two or more chances to try.

 

[CreamCloud0]

I get what you are saying, but even as a free ability... enemies just don't run away often enough. And when they do, well last week I had a game where the DM tried to have a group of enemies flee the party. They stopped attacking us entirely, and followed their boss. For the next two hours IRL the party harassed and followed them, constantly foiling their attempts to actually keep distance from us. Maybe you could force more scenarios where that is the case, but I just don't see pursuits usually having that sweet spot where a bonus on tracking is useful.

And the weaknesses, resistances and abilities... often that information is less useful than I think people think it is. If you have a Ranger, Fighter, Rogue, and Paladin party and you find out the enemy is weak to fire but resists cold... you can't do anything with that information mid-battle. No one has any abilities to do those damage types really, unless they happened to be high enough level and prepare one of two or three spells. I mean, this is an ability of the Hunter Subclass to do this, and I don't see it being something that ends up coming up 90% of the time. Which is why I think it is treated more like a ribbon and given at the same time the Hunter gets their other abilities at level 3.

it's not designed to track fleeing enemies even though it can be used for that, it's for locating them in the first place, if you're using this spell in battle you've either waited way too late to cast it or you didn't know you were going to fight whatever you're facing, this is a divination spell, use it like one, if your team is a ranger, rogue, fighter paladin what were the chances you were going to be able to hit it's weaknesses even if you could prepare?

still, better a situational ribbon spell than one that warps how you play with perpetual concentration and feature dedicated to it IMO.

 

[Incenjucar]

RAW, there are no other such items, so at best you’d do double damage with a 1d4 attack - you have no way of targeting any other weaknesses.

And 2-8 damage is probably a lot less than just hitting them with your sword one, but you get two or more chances to try.

There aren't like frost oil coatings or anything in 5E after 10 years?

 

[Micah Sweet]

I get what you are saying, but even as a free ability... enemies just don't run away often enough. And when they do, well last week I had a game where the DM tried to have a group of enemies flee the party. They stopped attacking us entirely, and followed their boss. For the next two hours IRL the party harassed and followed them, constantly foiling their attempts to actually keep distance from us. Maybe you could force more scenarios where that is the case, but I just don't see pursuits usually having that sweet spot where a bonus on tracking is useful.

And the weaknesses, resistances and abilities... often that information is less useful than I think people think it is. If you have a Ranger, Fighter, Rogue, and Paladin party and you find out the enemy is weak to fire but resists cold... you can't do anything with that information mid-battle. No one has any abilities to do those damage types really, unless they happened to be high enough level and prepare one of two or three spells. I mean, this is an ability of the Hunter Subclass to do this, and I don't see it being something that ends up coming up 90% of the time. Which is why I think it is treated more like a ribbon and given at the same time the Hunter gets their other abilities at level 3.

Is 90% the cut-off for "useful ability vs ribbon"? How generous of you.

 

[mellored]

RAW, there are no other such items, so at best you’d do double damage with a 1d4 attack - you have no way of targeting any other weaknesses.

And 2-8 damage is probably a lot less than just hitting them with your sword one, but you get two or more chances to try.

(1d4+Dex)*2,
So 8-14 damage, each turn.

And yea, it really should be 1 attack, not the whole action. I expect that to be something they clean up.

 

[Minigiant]

And the weaknesses, resistances and abilities... often that information is less useful than I think people think it is. If you have a Ranger, Fighter, Rogue, and Paladin party and you find out the enemy is weak to fire but resists cold... you can't do anything with that information mid-battle. No one has any abilities to do those damage types really, unless they happened to be high enough level and prepare one of two or three spells. I mean, this is an ability of the Hunter Subclass to do this, and I don't see it being something that ends up coming up 90% of the time. Which is why I think it is treated more like a ribbon and given at the same time the Hunter gets their other abilities at level 3.

Vulnerability is so rare in 5e.

If it wasn't, elemental weapon would be a better spell for those who can cast it.

 

[Incenjucar]

I imagine that with vulnerability being so extreme in 5E they can't use it for much beyond gimmick monsters. Much easier to use when the difference is smaller.

 

[Chaosmancer]

it's not designed to track fleeing enemies even though it can be used for that, it's for locating them in the first place, if you're using this spell in battle you've either waited way too late to cast it or you didn't know you were going to fight whatever you're facing, this is a divination spell, use it like one, if your team is a ranger, rogue, fighter paladin what were the chances you were going to be able to hit it's weaknesses even if you could prepare?

I guess if you can name the enemy sure, I missed it was range of self, so I guess you can cast it to target anyone, anywhere, at any time? Of course if you say "Orc" then you likely target no one. So, it helps you find people whose names you know?OR someone you can see. And there is of course, the problem. If you can see them.... you've already found them. Which is why the current functionality is less than useful, because if I'm within 90 ft of an enemy... I usually don't need much help finding the,.

And yes, that is my point with why abilities to learn weaknesses on enemies you can see are often... not as good as people think. Because only specific characters can take advantage of that information with any regularity.

still, better a situational ribbon spell than one that warps how you play with perpetual concentration and feature dedicated to it IMO.

I disagree. Because it just ends up being a spell that won't see use, making it a dead feature.