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.

 

[Rocker26a]

I'm having a hard time imaging anything that can't be a spell. Since spells can litterally do anything.

Y'know that thing Jeff Goldblum said in the dinosaur movie? It's like that!
(Sure a lot of things technically can be spells but not everything should be. In particular, not everything in a classes loadout should be relegated to spells.)

 

[Scott Christian]

I'm not sure the Ranger has a strong identity, I mean, is the Ranger:

Tarzan, Lord Greystoke?

Aragorn son of Arathorn?

Daniel Boone, King of the Wild Frontier?

Drizz't Do'Urden?

Robin Hood?

Simo Häyhä, The White Death?

A Druidic or Fey Knight, a counterpart to the Paladin?

What features do we want them to have? Dual-wielding? Archery? Peerless tracking? Camouflage? Trap and snare making? Herbalism? The ability to live off the land indefinitely? Monster Hunting? Animal Taming? Beast speaking? Terrain mastery? Fast movement? Ignoring difficult terrain and natural hazards? Ignoring exhaustion and extreme weather? Learning combat abilities from beasts? Are they aligned with Druids or Nature priests? Do they gain powers and boons from sylvan creatures and the fey? Shapeshifting (either as a Druid or something as transformative as turning into a Treant, like 2e's Limbant Ranger?). Do they have climbing and swim speeds? Can they call upon primal spirits, conjure and call protectors of the forests?

There's a lot of different things that's been thrown into this nebulous category we call "Ranger".

The ranger is all of those things. I think that is the point of sub-classes.

 

[mellored]

Y'know that thing Jeff Goldblum said in the dinosaur movie? It's like that!
(Sure a lot of things technically can be spells but not everything should be. In particular, not everything in a classes loadout should be relegated to spells.)

Well, like it or not, they are half casters, so half that stuff is going to be spells.

 

[Rocker26a]

Well, like it or not, they are half casters, so half that stuff is going to be spells.

I'm not saying they shouldn't rely on spells at all, only that some stuff should be part and parcel to the class itself, regardless of how many spell slots they've burnt.
Fast movement, overcoming exhaustion and natural conditions, snappy reflexes etc., these are things that I'd put on the levelling table. But, I wanted to add something similar to the Art of Quickening from Bloodborne* to the Ranger's toolkit, sorta like a longer running Zephyr Strike, Bloodborne's Hunters are another that I'd put in that Ranger club. And yes, that comfortably fits the mould of a spell.

*(Bloodhound Step and the Bloodhound Knights from Elden Ring if you prefer)

 

[CreamCloud0]

Well, like it or not, they are half casters, so half that stuff is going to be spells.

i feel like that's something you needed to be reminded of in the opposite direction given that you're proposing their breadth of features all take the form of spells, so like it or not, they are half casters, so half their stuff is going to be martial features!

 

[Minigiant]

Which is?

A warrior who uses worldly and wilderness skill to hunt the threats of the wild and protect civilization and/or nature from it.

The issue is most D&D fans have little wilderness knowledge nor imagination of fantastical versions of it.

 

[mellored]

I'm not saying they shouldn't rely on spells at all, only that some stuff should be part and parcel to the class itself, regardless of how many spell slots they've burnt.
Fast movement, overcoming exhaustion and natural conditions, snappy reflexes etc., these are things that I'd put on the levelling table.

Extra movement, overcoming exhaustion, swimming and climbing are on the levelling table.

Don't think they get any extra reaction beyond opportunity attacks.

 

[Rocker26a]

Extra movement, overcoming exhaustion, swimming and climbing are on the levelling table.

That's what I'm saying, they are on the right lines sometimes, it's not a complete failure. It's just I'd say some stuff comes kinda late or could do more.

 

[Minigiant]

i feel like that's something you needed to be reminded of in the opposite direction given that you're proposing their breadth of features all take the form of spells, so like it or not, they are half casters, so half their stuff is going to be martial features!

It could work the opposite direction.

The issue is the fanbase notoriously skips non-magical Subsystems due to the inherent complexity.

How many fans actively track enemies?
Or even have used the tracking rules?
Or seen the additional attack options?

 

[mellored]

They could also just have actual Expertise, and access to Enhance Ability.

They do have access to both.