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.

 

[James Gasik]

But how can we make room for buffs when we have to sacrifice Four class features on the altar of Hunter's Mark??

You know, I don't even mind the idea of Rangers getting extra bennies for Hunter's Mark, but the ones offered do seem kind of meh. I'd prefer a more "team player" Ranger who could share the benefits of Hunter's Mark with their team. The kind of thing that'd make your party happy to have brought a Ranger along.

 

[Rocker26a]

You know, I don't even mind the idea of Rangers getting extra bennies for Hunter's Mark, but the ones offered do seem kind of meh. I'd prefer a more "team player" Ranger who could share the benefits of Hunter's Mark with their team. The kind of thing that'd make your party happy to have brought a Ranger along.

Funny you should say; that's yet another aspect of my homebrew tinkerings! I'm in the process of homebrewing a subclass with some themes of a shared creed, and they have an 11th level feature "Esprit de Corps". Once per rest, as a reaction, an ally within range of your senses can roll your Hunter's Mark equivalent dice and add the result to an attack roll, ability check, saving throw, or to their AC till the start of their next turn. It was somewhat inspired by the Bait and Switch Battlemaster maneuver, and Silvery Barbs (in particular how my DM hates it because it's far too strong).

 

[ECMO3]

So anyone playing a melee ranger is forced into a feat tax to make the character playable?

A class does not need to be balanced with other optimised builds to be playable.

a melee Ranger works great, with or without a feat. Optimized for melee and they will generally be better at it than most of the players at the table.

I've never taken Resilient Constitution on any Ranger I played. I do generally take Reslient Wisdom at high level (16th level generually), but that is not unique to Ranger. I generally take that feat on any class that doesn't have it at high level.

 

[mellored]

You know, I don't even mind the idea of Rangers getting extra bennies for Hunter's Mark, but the ones offered do seem kind of meh. I'd prefer a more "team player" Ranger who could share the benefits of Hunter's Mark with their team. The kind of thing that'd make your party happy to have brought a Ranger along.

Sounds like a fun subclass.

Call it Guide.

 

[James Gasik]

Sounds like a fun subclass.

Call it Guide.

I think that the Ranger should be a more leader-y class. I mean, you're in the wilderness, what's the Ranger ideally doing? Leading you, showing you what not to do, what dangers to avoid, setting you on the right path, and so on.

Sure, the "Lone Wolf" might be part of the Ranger archetype, but D&D is a game about a team working together, so I think that it would be better if classes leaned into that more on a base level, not just "well, there's this subclass that cares about the team".

More like how the Bard and the Paladin have abilities that can support allies built into their class chassis and don't require a subclass for such things. (The fact that their are "selfish" Bard subclasses notwithstanding).

 

[mellored]

Does anyone know if you get a Hunter's Mark back on a short rest?

 

[Corinnguard]

So anyone playing a melee ranger is forced into a feat tax to make the character playable?

End it's not even a good, interesting or cool feat.

Not really. Just remove the need to maintain concentration while casting a spell by treating them as a prepared caster.

 

[Corinnguard]

I'd prefer a more "team player" Ranger who could share the benefits of Hunter's Mark with their team. The kind of thing that'd make your party happy to have brought a Ranger along.

This is a class feature for PF1 Rangers that might meet what you are looking for:

Hunter’s Bond (Ex)​

At 4th level, a ranger forms a bond with his hunting companions. This bond can take one of two forms. Once the form is chosen, it cannot be changed. The first is a bond to his companions. This bond allows him to spend a move action to grant half his favored enemy bonus against a single target of the appropriate type to all allies within 30 feet who can see or hear him. This bonus lasts for a number of rounds equal to the ranger’s Wisdom modifier (minimum 1). This bonus does not stack with any favored enemy bonuses possessed by his allies; they use whichever bonus is higher.

I could see this being converted to 5e or 2024 D&D. Spell or class feature?

 

[James Gasik]

This is a class feature for PF1 Rangers that might meet what you are looking for:

Hunter’s Bond (Ex)​

At 4th level, a ranger forms a bond with his hunting companions. This bond can take one of two forms. Once the form is chosen, it cannot be changed. The first is a bond to his companions. This bond allows him to spend a move action to grant half his favored enemy bonus against a single target of the appropriate type to all allies within 30 feet who can see or hear him. This bonus lasts for a number of rounds equal to the ranger’s Wisdom modifier (minimum 1). This bonus does not stack with any favored enemy bonuses possessed by his allies; they use whichever bonus is higher.

I could see this being converted to 5e or 2024 D&D. Spell or class feature?

Yeah, Pathfinder 1e Rangers still had the same issues as D&D Rangers, where their flavor is poorly defined and very broad- but Paizo leaned into that by giving us a wide variety of Ranger archetypes to choose from. So you had spellcasting fey Rangers, pet Rangers, environmental experts, rangers who focus on slaying particular foes, teamwork Rangers, bow experts, outlaws, shapeshifters, skirmishers, pirates, bounty hunters, wilderness defenders, and grizzled old mountain men.

 

[Arilyn]

Yeah, Pathfinder 1e Rangers still had the same issues as D&D Rangers, where their flavor is poorly defined and very broad- but Paizo leaned into that by giving us a wide variety of Ranger archetypes to choose from. So you had spellcasting fey Rangers, pet Rangers, environmental experts, rangers who focus on slaying particular foes, teamwork Rangers, bow experts, outlaws, shapeshifters, skirmishers, pirates, bounty hunters, wilderness defenders, and grizzled old mountain men.

And the PF1 archetypes didn't just add a few features at set levels. Some archetypes just tweaked the class while others were almost complete rewrites. I really like PF1 archetypes system. The spell-less guide is a good one to look at.