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.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

if you were in party with rogues, monks and fighters, it was OK.

If there were paladins, druids, clerics and wizards, it was bad.

No, it was not. It was close enough at least till level 8 when we played.

Not top tier but playable and enjoyable.
The caster supremecy is only partially true, but we derail the thread.

Just tale my word, the ranger characters were mkre effective and enjoyable for the players than I had ever thought.

I would not have played them myself because my impression from the 2014 ranger is about the same as yours.

 

[Rocker26a]

Speech of beast and leaf exists which is not a spell and doesn't require spellcasting, absolutely no reason they couldn't give that or something similar to the ranger, honestly i feel like druidic could serve well repurposed as a 'speak to plants/animals lite' ability(language).

I still really like the beast kinship part of Revised Ranger's Primeval Awareness! I so wish they didn't ditch that!
Or I'd even be okay with just appropriating that part of Speech of the Woods from Shepherd Druid. (Frankly I kinda think all Druids should get that part of Speech of the Woods as well, or at least something similar.)

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I am sincerely happy for them, but I'm only really interested in the larger scale. Few things entirely lack champions, but the statistics are much more informative. I have suspicions that it will be too fiddly due to a mismatch in expectations and reality.

Which one?

I guess the 2024 ranger will do perfectly fine as the hurt points are removed.

Most players don't care about that level of optimization. And if hunter's mark + subclass boost + exploration spells is easy to use and effective, players will love the class.

 

[Minigiant]

While the ranger remains a prime example of why I don't find 5E compelling, I am curious to see if people will actually like playing it.

My first 5e character was a Half elf Hunter Ranger.

By level 10, I had the capitol and every settlement and dungeon in the Empire under constant bird and plant surveillance from my underwater hideout and it only costed me seed and bread.

DM stopped letting me do stuff in downtime after a while.

 

[Incenjucar]

Which one?

I guess the 2024 ranger will do perfectly fine as the hurt points are removed.

Most players don't care about that level of optimization. And if hunter's mark + subclass boost + exploration spells is easy to use and effective, players will love the class.

2024 ranger is the only one that matters at this point. 2014 ranger was not one of the more popular classes in the DDB results, so it will be interesting to see if that changes.

 

[mellored]

2024 ranger is the only one that matters at this point. 2014 ranger was not one of the more popular classes in the DDB results, so it will be interesting to see if that changes.

It was not top but still popular, and rated poorly.

Most players don't care about that level of optimization. And if hunter's mark + subclass boost + exploration spells is easy to use and effective, players will love the class.

This.

While I don't think this is the most interesting ranger, I think it does its thing well enough that most people will be satisfied.

You get enough free Hunters Marks to cover combat.
And plenty of slots left for Animal Friendship or Pass Without a Trace outside combat.

Hail of Thorns, Ensnaring Stike, and Zephyr Strike need to lose concentration though.

Zephyr Strike
Bonus action
Move up to 30' without provoking Opportunity Attacks. You gain advantage and +1d8 damage on your next attack this turn.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Hail of Thorns, Ensnaring Stike, and Zephyr Strike need to lose concentration though.

So badly. But WotC seems convinced that concentration is the only thing keeping Ranger in check.

 

[mellored]

So badly. But WotC seems convinced that concentration is the only thing keeping Ranger in check.

Letting Hunters Mark stack with Hex would be a bit much.

And they already removed concentration from the Smites, so I don't see why they wouldn't remove them from the ranger equivalent too.

 

[Rocker26a]

WotC seems convinced that concentration is the only thing keeping Ranger in check.

Genuinely, it's so consistent. Like, the initial incarnation of Favoured Foe from the CFV UA offered Hunter's Mark with no concentration, and I'm pretty sure every incarnation since has specifically gone back on that.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

So badly. But WotC seems convinced that concentration is the only thing keeping Ranger in check.

Did you just break your NDA?