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.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

why the hate for conjure barrage/volley?

It's in place of a class feature. Instead of them coming up something that has to do with the class itself, these spells were like 'here you go, a spell you have access to already, but we FORCEFULLY PICKED IT FOR YOU'.

There is a way to handle it better. You could give the player a choice of thematic spells that are otherwise out of their reach. Like, at lv8, a melee Ranger could choose to pick Steel Wind Strike, while ranged Ranger could get Swift Quiver, or a Druidy Ranger could get, uh, concentration-less Guardian of Nature..?

Anyway, a class feature should feel like a reward, not like something was taken from you because they could not be bothered to think of an actual class feature.

 

[Rocker26a]

There is a way to handle it better. You could give the player a choice of higher-level spells that are otherwise out of their reach. Like, at lv8, a melee Ranger could choose to pick Steel Wind Strike at lv8, while ranged Ranger could get Swift Quiver, or a Druidy Ranger could get, uh, concentration-less Guardian of Nature..?

I mean yes that would be better, but it's still bad! Why can't the Ranger just get a handful of decent spells they can pick from at a reasonable level? With their spellcasting feature, that they have? You're right that absolutely nobody wants to be hanging on till 17th level for stuff the Wizard's been able to do for like 8 levels and who knows how many hours of play. But granting the current pickings a little earlier is still missing the forest for the trees, I feel like.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

I mean yes that would be better, but it's still bad! Why can't the Ranger just get a handful of decent spells they can pick from at a reasonable level?

I know! I'm in that camp! But we're dealing with what we're dealing with here. Spells are the only thing that is on their mind (see also: just removing Land's Stride without putting anything in its place).

 

[Rocker26a]

I know! I'm in that camp!

(Oh yeah I figured of course, but y'know, wanted to say it anyway.)

(see also: just removing Land's Stride without putting anything in its place).

I will say; Land's Stride did deserve to be scrapped, but yeah it also needed to be replaced with something that accomplished it's intended effect more handily, and at a level where it's actually worth a damn.

 

[Gammadoodler]

Name them

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

That's the problem.

Bunch of traversal stuff, climbing swimming and the like. Bunch of survival stuff, shrugging off exhaustion, multiattack uncanny dodge, etc. Some attack utility from weapon masteries.

All that.. but if you want to deal some extra damage on your weapon strikes, better start mumbling and gesticulating.

 

[Minigiant]

Bunch of traversal stuff, climbing swimming and the like. Bunch of survival stuff, shrugging off exhaustion, multiattack uncanny dodge, etc. Some attack utility from weapon masteries.

All that.. but if you want to deal some extra damage on your weapon strikes, better start mumbling and gesticulating.

What about predicting sharknadoes and avoiding Manbearpigs?

 

[Stalker0]

For me, the Ranger should be a hunter first, and a spellcaster second.

And your vision is not the 5e vision of the ranger, and never has been. WOTC has been clear from the onset, the ranger is a "magical hunter", spellcasting is in the bones of the class, not an afterthought.

I get a lot of people don't like that, but clearly a good number of people do, and so it was never going to change.

Now where I think they have gone wrong is that with the loss of the scout as a core rogue subclass in the new book, the dropped the only other class archetype you could point to and say "well that's pretty rangery and non-magical". people can always use the 2014 version but there will always be purists that want to stick with one version or the other.

 

[CreamCloud0]

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.

just commenting on this point specifically, i think the idea of a ranger being able to shoot several dozen arrows or more to pincushion a whole group is quite thematic to the fantasy, but it being a spell 'conjuring' those arrows isn't really the best way to do that.

 

[Rocker26a]

just commenting on this point specifically, i think the idea of a ranger being able to shoot several dozen arrows or more to pincushion a whole group is quite thematic to the fantasy, but it being a spell 'conjuring' those arrows isn't really the best way to do that.

I cannot agree in the slightest, there are no depths to how much I don't care about the idea of Ranger as just "the bow and arrow folks that do stuff with a bow and arrow".
If you're not General Radahn, the "hail of arrows" thing just reads like a MOBA ability to me. I find it dull.

 

[Chaosmancer]

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.

So are you going to answer the question of what explanation for the damage is good enough for you? Or is this a case of "I will never be satisfied until Hunter's Mark is removed from the class entirely?"