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.

 

[Horwath]

Many throwing weapons use only strength. Works well with shield equipped. But we are derailing the thread.

at what range?
if someone can get to you with single move and then whack you over the head, it's to really a good ranged weapon.

not to mention that magical throwing weapon does not return to hand by default.

 

[Horwath]

does this mean you'll be willing to give my dex character a d12 finesse weapon? because 'finesse isn't actually all that great'

2d6 please.
it's finesse after all, 2d6 is reliable, not wildly like d12.

 

[Chaosmancer]

exactly,
that is why if we have d8 finesse weapon(rapier), we need d10 non finesse weapon.
now if there would be d10 non finesse weapon, maybe that awful Flex masteryfrom UA would not be that bad.

then you could dual wield:

STR:
main hand, d12(Flex included), off hand d8 light(nick)

DEX:
main hand, d8 finesse(Vex), off hand d6, light(nick), finesse

I point out why it is a bad idea and you say "exactly"?

Flex is a dead mastery, it doesn't exist anymore. And no, you don't "need" a d10 1-handed non-finesse weapon.

What you are proposing would lead to:

STR with no Feat: Main hand, 1d8, off-hand 1d8
Dex, with Feat, Main Hand, 1d6, off-hand 1d6

And while I know we all have a hatred for Dexterity builds being effective in melee, and at range, and just existing, that would be a bad outcome. Because it would be the single most effective 1-handed weapon in the game.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

at what range?
if someone can get to you with single move and then whack you over the head, it's to really a good ranged weapon.

not to mention that magical throwing weapon does not return to hand by default.

As I said: derailing the thread. We won't convince each other.

Switching from bow to one handed weapon without a shield is not good in my book. I'd rahter draw 2 daggers then.
And with dex main, you can't even do cool things like grapple or push with your free hand.

 

[Chaosmancer]

i think this says more about the faults of the inclination to give out full blocks of weapon proficiency rather than meaningful curation of what classes can use what, as well as the lacklustre array of weapons in general.

And I think that is silly, because giving specific weapons to specific classes as a balance will never work and is a pain in the butt. Also, yeah, you could have more weapons, but most groups don't even use the ones we have, adding three dozen more isn't going to make the game better. I tried that.

 

[Horwath]

What you are proposing would lead to:

STR with no Feat: Main hand, 1d8, off-hand 1d8
Dex, with Feat, Main Hand, 1d6, off-hand 1d6

And while I know we all have a hatred for Dexterity builds being effective in melee, and at range, and just existing, that would be a bad outcome. Because it would be the single most effective 1-handed weapon in the game.

and why is this wrong?

I do not hate dex builds, I like them.
However, I do realize that that flexibility should come at a cost. Cost is less melee damage of STR.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

and why is this wrong?

I do not hate dex builds, I like them.
However, I do realize that that flexibility should come at a cost. Cost is less melee damage of STR.

There is a cost. As I said: you have a useless free offhand.

 

[Horwath]

As I said: derailing the thread. We won't convince each other.

Switching from bow to one handed weapon without a shield is not good in my book. I'd rahter draw 2 daggers then.

that is true

And with dex main, you can't even do cool things like grapple or push with your free hand.

But you can sneak and win initiative

 

[UngeheuerLich]

that is true

But you can sneak and win initiative

Yes. True. For me it sounds balanced.

So anything lower than 1d8 makes it strictly worse than two daggers (it is anyway, if you don't have extra attack).

(With extra attack, you have 3d6 vs 2d8 later on).

 

[mellored]

Solution:

more feat slots, less fixed class features.

Solution:
Martial with Nature Invocations.

And those invocations can include spells or spell-like abilities, always on speak with Animals, herbal healing, scouting pet, combat pet, and whatever else.

Not officially happening for 5.24, but would fit 6e just fine or a homebrew.