D&D (2024) 2024 Player's Handbook reveal: "New Ranger"

"More than any other class, the ranger is a new class."

​

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]

Maybe you could. My question would, once again, be, "why is this necessary".

How does the ability to trigger little explosions of force serve or reinforce the class fantasy of the grizzled warrior of the woods?

I can draw a pretty straight line from experience in hunting creatures to knowing their weak spots to doing additional damage to those creatures.

What is the narrative line that goes from experience in hunting creatures to spellcasting to causing tiny force explosions as long as I hit a marked target with my weapon strikes?

It just seems, to me, like spellcasting for its own sake. And spellcasting that interferes with the class fantasy rather than supporting it.

What does shooting an arrow made of lightning have to do with being a grizzled warrior of the woods? What does summoning wind have to do with being a grizzled warrior of the woods? What does running and leaving a trail of fire behind you have to do with being a grizzled warrior of the woods? What does summoning a large orb of light have to do with being a grizzled warrior of the woods? What does bringing back someone from the dead have to do with being a grizzled warrior of the woods? What does turning your skin into stone have to do with being a grizzled warrior of the woods? What does turning into a tree have to do with being a grizzled warrior of the woods? What does teleporting through trees have to do with being a grizzled warrior of the woods? What does animating trees, stones, and grass have to do with being a grizzled warrior of the woods?

Does every single spell need to have a direct narrative line from "experience in hunting creatures" to whatever the spell effect is? What does hunting creatures have to do teleporting multiple times within a 30 ft range making multiple weapon attacks? Do I need to justify that as some sort of hunting technique of a grizzled warrior of the woods to be happy that the ranger has Steel Wind Strike, or Revivify, or Lightning arrow, or anything else?

Sure, sure, it is only Hunter's Mark that is the problem and it is only a problem because WoTC decided that it was an important part of the ranger. I've already said we can make it more magical. I like the magical GPS tracker bit, which DOES fit a hunter. So, how about this, tell me what would be an acceptable magical answer to dealing 1d6 damage on a hit for you. Instead of you just constantly demanding I justify the mechanics of the spell, you tell me. Not "make it mundane and therefore it would be better". It is a spell, you have said you are fine with a ranger being a spell-user and a hunter. I'll give you magical GPS on the utility side of the spell. What would you accept as a proper magical damage reason for Hunter's Mark?

 

[Gammadoodler]

Sure, sure, it is only Hunter's Mark that is the problem and it is only a problem because WoTC decided that it was an important part of the ranger.

Yes, this exactly.

For me, the Ranger should be a hunter first, and a spellcaster second. The planned relationship between the 2024 Ranger and Hunter's Mark seems to have those priorities reversed (at least with respect to weapon damage) in a way that I don't really see a reason for.

Like look at all the other cool stuff they're going to be capable of with no magical explanation.

But if they want to hit a little harder with that arrow or sharpened steel..they gotta start hand-jiving.

 

[CreamCloud0]

But if magic is superior, why doesn't everyone learn it?

if learning how to program is so superior in this age of technology why doesn't everyone learn it? if you don't know programming then you've basically got your own answer right there.

because it's hard and complicated, and some people just don't have the knack, or the time, or the information, or would simply prefer to be doing more enjoyable things than studying, or have more important things to do like working to put food on the table today, learning magic is an investment that not everyone can or wants to afford the down-payment on, easier just to hire a wizard/programmer as and when you need one than learn the entire skillset yourself.

 

[Minigiant]

Like look at all the other cool stuff they're going to be capable of with no magical explanation.

Name them

It's likely stuff 90% of tables skip or don't have at their tables.

That's the problem.

 

[Rocker26a]

There goes WOTC, doing exactly what I would've guessed. Still just completely unable to imagine anything for Ranger without saying the words "Hunter's Mark", and even then what they've got is just absolutely anemic and boring.

At least they killed the class features "the spells Conjure Barrage and Conjure Volley"!

 

[Minigiant]

There goes WOTC, doing exactly what I would've guessed. Still just completely unable to imagine anything for Ranger without saying the words "Hunter's Mark", and even then what they've got is just absolutely anemic and boring.

At least they killed the class features "the spells Conjure Barrage and Conjure Volley"!

Again I partially blame the community for also giving them no ideas.

I mean there's a Beastmaster Ranger.
That's Zoology.

Go into other Nature Sciences

Botany Plant Ranger
Geologist Rock Rangers
Marine Biology Sea Ranger
Metallurgy Metal Ranger
Cryptozoology Monster Ranger

Imma turn my arrow into a shark.

 

[Rocker26a]

Again I partially blame the community for also giving them no ideas.

I do think them being married to what they've already offered is another big part of it, like they cannot bring themselves to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but that is fair to say as well.

I think it's partially down to the wide spectrum of ideals that people have for the Ranger. Some are somewhat mutually exclusive, and you don't want to de-legitimize one by legitimizing another. So you end up with this safe, boring status quo that pleases nobody.

I mean there's a Beastmaster Ranger.
That's Zoology.

Go into other Nature Sciences

Botany Plant Ranger
Geologist Rock Rangers
Marine Biology Sea Ranger
Metallurgy Metal Ranger
Cryptozoology Monster Ranger

Imma turn my arrow into a shark.

See like, these are fun and kooky, but they don't entirely jive with my conceptualization of who a Ranger is on the face of it. And that just seems to be a really common sentiment between community members!

 

[Remathilis]

But if magic is superior, why doesn't everyone learn it?

And now you know why magical and supernatural classes outnumber mundane 4 to 1.

 

[CreamCloud0]

At least they killed the class features "the spells Conjure Barrage and Conjure Volley"!

you're not the first person to mention this so may i ask (as an open question), why the hate for conjure barrage/volley? was it the specific implementation? the fact they're spells? something else?

i haven't been keeping up with all the various class previews so i may be lacking additional context.

 

[Rocker26a]

you're not the first person to mention this so may i ask (as an open question), why the hate for conjure barrage/volley? was it the specific implementation? the fact they're spells? something else?

i haven't been keeping up with all the various class previews so i may be lacking additional context.

Sure! It's sort of a multi-layered problem for me personally;

• I don't like spells being "elevated" to class feature in general. I think WOTC having basically nothing to work with for the Ranger besides Hunter's Mark in particular has caused endless problems.
• They also happened to pick boring spells to elevate to class feature (or at least I consider them to be boring spells). They do absolutely nothing for me on the flavour or mechanical fronts.
• They don't fit in with the Ranger fantasy for me. It's difficult to really convey why, but I just don't see Rangers as the conjuring matter types, even granting them high/hard magic contexts. I just consider it the domain of the other spellcasters. Wizards n' that.

Probably other stuff/other ways of saying it, but this is my best attempt to put it concisely here and now.