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.

 

[g00se99994]

I concur heartily. To make this work you need to lean away from weapon use as the Ranger's main schtick, since that's already covered (in 5e) by the fighter (expert weaponsmith), the rogue (cunning weaponsmith), or the barbarian (overbearing weaponsmith). A properly designed beastmaster can fulfill this role (companion+weaponsmith), and why I found something like Tasha's drakewarden interesting -- it offered something clearly different than could be built by the other classes, they felt different in play, and they were flavorful from an RP/worldbuilding perspective.

As an aside, part of why I think the Ranger has always struggled with its identity/design is that it's one of the few classes (Bards used to be another, but even they have been generified in 5e) where it's out of encounter/combat role is supposed to play a big part of its role/identity. But that is not only awkward since most other classes are more flexible in that regard, but often those out of encounter/combat abilities count towards the 'power level' of the class, leaving the Ranger with less capabilities in encounters/combat, and if the DM or adventure doesn't incorporate them, then the out of encounter/combat abilities feel useless. I think that striping out all of the "wilderness explorer" bits from the ranger (and making it available in another form to all characters, say as a separate profession or theme pick) would help, allowing the Ranger as a class to focus on what could be interesting to play, both mechanically and from a flavor perspective, such as a "druidic paladin" spellcaster (or a druidic eldritch knight, if you prefer), a beastmaster, drakewarden, swarmkeeper, etc.

I would have been fine with Ranger being a subclass of Fighter with an inspiration of Aragorn or Legolas.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I don't see how it would be relevant other than both being in the same party...?

With a Scout Rogue, there wouldn't be magic from the Ranger available, giving they role to another PC to shine, but still it would be different.

Which is a choice the player considered when making the character. If they’re in the same party the rogue either isn’t going to be a scout (or Scout), or the two will be a team and work together to be dual scouts.

And frankly, if all the ranger has are nature spells to set it apart from a survivalist rogue, the Ranger doesn’t promote its own fiction. Especially given that the Ranger has “known spells but called prepared spells so that all the traditional casters have the same framework” with the supposed versatility of changing one spell a day.

Lol sure the Paladin has more versatility than the class that should actually be versatile but don’t think about that

 

[doctorbadwolf]

We need to start including fun rangery challenges to allow the ranger to be rangery

OR

develop a new identity for ranger that ignores rangering.

No.

 

[Gammadoodler]

So something like an Eldritch Knight, but with druid spells.

Probably more Arcane Trickster, for my tastes. But basically yeah.

That said, I think one of the more interesting ideas that I'd seen in this thread was a reflavored World Tree Barbarian.

I think if you turn all the Hunters Mark stuff into a Rage-adjacent suite of abilities, but keep the spellcasting, I think you more or less get where I'd prefer to land.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

A properly designed beastmaster can fulfill this role (companion+weaponsmith), and it's why I found something like Tasha's drakewarden interesting -- it offered something clearly different than could be built by the other classes, they felt different in play, and they were flavorful from an RP/worldbuilding perspective.

I'll just use this tangent to note that if I was to play a companion Ranger again, I would pick Drakewarden over Beast Master. BM is the offense option, but eats your bonus action for it, and demands your Wisdom to be high. Drake is just happy to be included, and doesn't want anything from you.

 

[Gammadoodler]

To be fair, Hunter’s Mark has a strong benefit for actual hunting, and doesn’t require a spell slot most days with this new version.

Sure. But that's also just the thing..why is this a spell?

• It doesn't benefit anyone else..
• It replaces the things a normal hunter would do because they are a professional..
• And the designers feel so strongly about it that they feel the need to break the spell slot economy for it

 

[Minigiant]

I do think the new ranger does well in that it generates some unique abilities that are good in combat....but also happen to useful for true rangering. Things like:

1) +10 speed
2) gain a climb and a swim speed (can be very useful in certain fights)
3) Remove Exhaustion (does require DMs to use exhaustion, but the new exhaustion design might mean monsters will use this mechanic more, will have to see).


Now we can argue if the ranger gets enough of these or if they are early enough in the class. But I do think this is the way to go. If this ranger got to do no real exploration and was doing all combats, these abilities would still be useful. Put them in a wilderness setting, these abilities would be quite useful.

To me it isn't enough for if a DM actually does wilderness exploration challenges.

That's where 5e misses the mark.
It separates most exploration and combat boosters rather than combining some of them.

The Ranger should have a Chameleon spell/feature that lets him hide easier in the wilderness AND give a combat bonus like an AC buff.

The Rangers heightened senses and sharklike electricity field detection lets him see invisible and get an accuracy bonus and damage reflection via rough skin.

The Ranger can predict incoming magical weather patterns and "predict" when and where a cyclone will hit the dragon who "happens" to fly by.

 

[Chaosmancer]

It's a separate issue to the whole spellcaster thing, but. I do kinda think giving up on Hunter's Mark would help immensely. I feel like Ranger is still crying out for a signature class feature, their own Rage, Smite, Wild Shape, etc. And Hunter's Mark just. Isn't it. It cannot fill those shoes.

Even if we slightly altered it so it acted as a magical GPS that could tell the ranger the direction and distance the target is? Would it still not be a signature feature like... deal 2d8 radiant damage.

 

[Kinematics]

Hunter's Mark
Duration: 1 minute (concentration)
Action: Bonus Action
Range: 120 feet

Choose a target within range that you can see. If you ever lose sight of the target, the spell immediately ends.

At the start of your turn, the mark's power increases by 2d6 (by to a maximum of 10d6).

When you hit with a weapon attack, you can end the spell to do the mark's power as damage to the target.

Yeah, this is an interesting take on it. Feels like a re-flavoring of the spell for the Hunter subclass — a sniper effect, the kind of thing you'd expect of a "Colossus Slayer" (instead of just, "do an extra die of damage once per turn").

In fact, it would be interesting to allow each subclass to have its own variant on Hunter's Mark. Something each subclass can do with the spell that's special compared to the basic version. A sort of unique metamagic. (It could also be re-done as a class feature. That's not really relevant.)

Some quick brainstormed ideas:

Hunter

• At level 3, each turn you do not apply the damage from Hunter's Mark to a designated target increases Hunter's Mark's strength by 2d6, up to a max of 10d6. You may choose when to apply this damage when you make an attack. This value is reset once used, or if the target dies or you change targets.
• At level 11, fire a flurry of arrows (or attack with a dervish fury) at your target and do additional damage to any other enemies within 10' of it. (exact damage undetermined)

Beastmaster

• At level 3, a creature you have designated with Hunter's Mark cannot gain any benefit from cover as long as your companion is present. You have advantage on attacks against a designated target that your companion is next to. A targeted creature has disadvantage on any attempts to hide.
• At level 11, you can order your companion to grapple a designated target. If your companion succeeds, the next attack you make against that target is a crit.

Gloomstalker

• The first stuff I would consider are already part of the subclass (fear, mass fear). So...
• At level 3, you can forgo the damage you'd deal with Hunter's Mark to instead force a creature to save or be blinded for a turn.
• At level 11, ... Not sure. Steal Mass Fear, maybe.

Fey Wanderer

• At level 3, when you strike a creature designated by Hunter's Mark, you may teleport to a space next to it, or force it to make a save or be teleported to a space next to you.
• Cupid's Arrow: At level 11, you can forgo damage from an attack against a target designated by Hunter's Mark to instead force it to make a save or be inflicted with the Charm effect. (Stacks with Beguiling Twist.)

I left off any limits on usage, as that level of detail isn't really the purpose of this little brainstorm session.

EDIT:

Choose a target within range that you can see. If you ever lose sight of the target, the spell immediately ends.

Also, I wouldn't include this part. The Hunter should embody the, "You can run, but you'll just die tired" trope. If he's marked you, and then has to chase you halfway across the city, he should get that full devastating shot.

 

[Minigiant]

Sure. But that's also just the thing..why is this a spell?

• It doesn't benefit anyone else..
• It replaces the things a normal hunter would do because they are a professional..
• And the designers feel so strongly about it that they feel the need to break the spell slot economy for it

Thsts why it's a spell.

1. The mark is invisible to others
2. It doesn't replace anything. You can't make marks nonmagically. There is no moving paint in real life.
3. Because it's a strong bonus and requires a time when targets can be switched.

If Hunter's Mark was just fluorescent paint, then it would use different rules.