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.

 

[Minigiant]

I don't understand why those people play a Ranger though. Or for that matter a Rogue, Cleric, Druid or Wizard.

I think this is a player issue more than a class issue. I have played a lot of Rangers and I have never kept up with other builds at the table in terms of damage, but never felt outclassed by them either. I have also played Rogues, Clerics and Wizards and the same can be said for those characters.

It's 100% a player issue.

People want to player Fighter/Rogues in a Green Cloak and get mad Ranger doesn't just combine Fighter and Rogue.

I see nature and survival checks quite often in play. Animal Handling, not so much.

Again table dependent.

Stealth and Perception are the top tier skills.
Nature and Survival are third tier skills with all the lore skills. Usage is based on the DM's frequency of Int and Wis checks.
Animal Handling is bottom tier.

 

[CreamCloud0]

The best way to invoke these aspects of the Ranger in a way that can be swapped out for combat abilities .

That's spells or infusions or Invocations.

honestly i think the ranger could significantly benefit from having an invocations style list of abilities to pick from, let players pick and choose their perks and strengths that their ranger has and then the matter of campaigns where ERROR 404 EXPLORATION PILLAR NOT FOUND is entirely sidestepped and the player has abilities that will be relevant.

 

[mellored]

There were spells for this in 3e.

• Embrace the Wild
• Implacable Pursuer
• Living Prints
• Mark Object
• Mark of the Hunter
• Stalking Brand

WotC never ported them over. Neither do most DMs. Nor 3rd party publishers.. I do.
That's the issue with 5e's design.

5e was designed with gaps do DMs could go to older editions and plug in missing aspects. But few DMs nor 3pps do.

Sure.

But if you add it to Hunters Mark, then you automatically get the "trade combat for utility" thing, and can keep extra casting as a core resource.

Also, kind of odd there isn't an 'expend a use of hunters mark to do subclass thing".

 

[Chaosmancer]

The part of all of this that truly baffles me?

Rip out the level 1 feature, no more free preparation, no more free castings. What is likely to happen? Ranger players will prepare and cast Hunter's Mark, like they already do on every single ranger I have played with or DM'd for for the last decade.

Replace it with a concentration free ability to do a 1d4 damage on an enemy you choose within range? Then the players will combine it with Hunter's Mark. Which, frankly, dealing 4d6+2d4+6 damage at level 2 would be insanity.

All WoTC is doing is recognizing how people already play the class. They took out the abilities that rarely were used, and gave us a way to more easily do the things we wanted to do.

 

[Minigiant]

honestly i think the ranger could significantly benefit from having an invocations style list of abilities to pick from, let players pick and choose their perks and strengths that their ranger has and then the matter of campaigns where ERROR 404 EXPLORATION PILLAR NOT FOUND is entirely sidestepped and the player has abilities that will be relevant.

That was my original draft of idea for the Ranger


You start with 3-4 Ranger Mini-feats and get 1 each level thereafter.

Some were combat.
Some were exploration
Some were social.
Some were tailored to specific enemies
some tailored to specific terrains and later planes.

But I figured it was info overload and grouped them together by enemy and terrain.

 

[James Gasik]

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

We don't even have rules for fire arrows.

 

[Minigiant]

The part of all of this that truly baffles me?

Rip out the level 1 feature, no more free preparation, no more free castings. What is likely to happen? Ranger players will prepare and cast Hunter's Mark, like they already do on every single ranger I have played with or DM'd for for the last decade.

Replace it with a concentration free ability to do a 1d4 damage on an enemy you choose within range? Then the players will combine it with Hunter's Mark. Which, frankly, dealing 4d6+2d4+6 damage at level 2 would be insanity.

All WoTC is doing is recognizing how people already play the class. They took out the abilities that rarely were used, and gave us a way to more easily do the things we wanted to do.

Well not all people but this is the compromise.

The Combat only Rangers get more Hunter's Marks.
The Some Exploration Rangers don't have to lose combat power to use Exploration spells.

 

[Rocker26a]

Sure but it doesn't solve the problem.

Nature, Survival, and Animal handling are bad picks for Expertise unless the DM is handcuffed into being forced to use them.

That's the central problem.

+1 Expertise means the Ranger take Athletics or Perception Expertise

Survival could be a good candidate in the right game already, it could be a good candidate in most games if it got the right support, was given appropriate weight. Which it somewhat lacks. It's a bit nebulous.

Survival being made a better proficiency + Ranger getting some more freedom with their skills and expertise would help a lot.

 

[Rocker26a]

If people care about doing high damage, I don't understand why they would CHOOSE to play a Ranger

I mean it's pretty simple in my mind; there is a belief that Ranger should be good at doing high damage.

 

[Minigiant]

We don't even have rules for fire arrows.

5e was designed with gaps so DMs could go to older editions and plug in missing aspects. But few DMs nor 3pps do.

I mean it's pretty simple in my mind; there is a belief that Ranger should be good at doing high damage.

From video games

In video games:

• Archers are DPS.
• Dual wielders are DPS.
• Trappers are DPS
• Weapon is shield is tank.
• Two handed weapon users are off tank/backup DPS aka Brutes
• Beastmasters and Summoners vary depending on game.
• Duelist "don't exist"
• Throwers "don't exist"
• Polearms "don't exist"
• Smiters (Paladins) are tanks who can spend resources to heal or deal damage
• Situational Warriors (like the D&D hunter) don't exist