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.

 

[ECMO3]

It hasn't shaked out that way, but people do want to be Aragorn adjacent with the Ranger.

there are more than one version of aragorn. there is the highly magical spell casting aragorn in the book and the less magical aragorn in the movie.

 

[Rocker26a]

two exceptions ( or 3 if you count rogue) is half of the other martial classes

Exceptions as in, like Barbarians not getting a fighting style. Rogue and Monk are out on the fringe, Barbarian a little closer, Fighter, Paladin, and Ranger are more immediately obviously similar.
You would never say "why should paladin have smite? they get a fighting style, extra attack and martial weapon proficiencies", so why should that be the case for Ranger.

i think the spells should be the po and martial options are a fall back, like cantrips on a full caster

I disagree, but that's okay!

there are more than one version of aragorn. there is the highly magical spell casting aragorn in the book and the less magical aragorn in the movie.

Let's not beat around the bush, most people probably want to be Viggo Mortensen.
(That having been said; was Aragorn especially more explicitly magical in the book? Maybe some bits you could interpret as "oh he used vague healing magic"?)

 

[ECMO3]

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.


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.

i would say stealth is as table ( or party) dependant as n or s. especially since implementation of rules on hiding varies widely. Perception is universally top tier though and athletics is probably next.

 

[Minigiant]

i would say stealth is as table ( or party) dependant as n or s. especially since implementation of rules on hiding varies widely. Perception is universally top tier though and athletics is probably next.

Stealth is great as one of your 4-6 skill picks regardless of hiding rules
:

1. Perception, Stealth
2. Acrobatics, Athletics, Persuasion, Deception, Sleight of hand (2024)
3. Arcana, Investigation, Intimidation, Insight, Religion, Sleight of Hand (2014), Survival
4. Animal Handling, History, Medicine, Nature, Performance.

 

[ECMO3]

Let's not beat around the bush, most people probably want to be Viggo Mortensen.
(That having been said; was Aragorn especially more explicitly magical in the book? Maybe some bits you could interpret as "oh he used vague healing magic"?)

He pretty clearly cast a spell to heal (or more accurately partially heal) Frodo after being stabbed by that Wraith. It has been argued that this part of the book was actually the inspiration for the spell component system (Verbal, Somatic and Material) introduced in 1E.

I don't think it is debatable that he was magical. I think most of the debate centers around if his magical abilities are because he is a Ranger or because he has Elven blood with some arguing it is an "Elf feature" and not a "Ranger feature".

If you put yourself in Tolkein (the author's) culture; the term Ranger existed long before LOTR and it did not refer to some woodsy outdoorsman. It referred to a soldier who was a behind the lines commando type and existed in both the UK and US military (it still exists in the US military today).

 

[Rocker26a]

He pretty clearly cast a spell to heal (or more accurately partially heal) Frodo after being stabbed by that Wraith.

My question was, is he especially more explicitly magical in the book. Healing Frodo with Kingsfoil happens in the movie too.

 

[Chaosmancer]

You would never say "why should paladin have smite? they get a fighting style, extra attack and martial weapon proficiencies", so why should that be the case for Ranger.

Since Divine Smite is a spell, why can't Hunter's Mark be a spell? And if you are just going to argue "but I don't like that Divine Smite is a spell" well... it is. SO it would seem to be a good parallel that both half-casters have 1st level spells as their "main thing"

 

[Rocker26a]

Since Divine Smite is a spell,

Tell me another class that can cast it!

why can't Hunter's Mark be a spell?

Hunter's Mark is a spell, I am advocating for it staying a spell as opposed to being made a class feature.

 

[Gammadoodler]

He pretty clearly cast a spell to heal (or more accurately partially heal) Frodo after being stabbed by that Wraith. It has been argued that this part of the book was actually the inspiration for the spell component system (Verbal, Somatic and Material) introduced in 1E.

I don't think it is debatable that he was magical. I think most of the debate centers around if his magical abilities are because he is a Ranger or because he has Elven blood with some arguing it is an "Elf feature" and not a "Ranger feature".

If you put yourself in Tolkein (the author's) culture; the term Ranger existed long before LOTR and it did not refer to some woodsy outdoorsman. It referred to a soldier who was a behind the lines commando type and existed in both the UK and US military (it still exists in the US military today).

I mean..etymologically..it appears to refer exactly to a woodsy outdoorsman.

ranger | Etymology of ranger by etymonline

"gamekeeper, sworn officer of a forest whose work is to walk through it and protect it,"… See origin and meaning of ranger.

www.etymonline.com

 

[Minigiant]

The harsh truth is most of the iconic features of a ranger that people would expect from an expert ranger would either:

require magic
OR
require technology that doesn't exist in most Medieval/Renaissance era D&D settings
OR
have a low chance of success if done mundanely and be unfulfilling/annoying if non-magical as a game mechanic

And many of them are parts of different disciplines and skills: Animal Handling, Investigation, Medicine, Nature, Perception, Stealth, Survival

Rogues and Bards have it better as their iconic features have can be hit in 2-3 skills. (Stealth+SOH+Deception, Persuasion+Performance+Deception)

Bards meet up with Ranger in the fact that many of their iconic features have to be magical for the same reasons.

But back to the beginning, the D&D community haven't really sat down and created a list of Ranger stuff, their level, and their importance to the archetype.

The list is long and nebulous and filled with blatantly magical stuff that no one can agree what's important.... except maybe Hunter's Mark and Speak with Animals.