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.

 

[Staffan]

a version of SwA that's active 24/7 and that isn't disrupted by antimagic effects? sure.

I don't think I want a ranger that can actually speak with animals without using magic. Some form of primal communication for simple concepts like "I mean you no harm" or "Get out of my way", sure, but not actual words-communication. That should take a spell.

One thing I say in almost every ranger thread is

Most of the commonly stated ranger icons are low level and/or for low magic settings.

Like Jon Snow from a ASOIAF. He's the Lord Commander of the Nights Watch. And Id be generous to say he's over level 7 and a Ranger 5.

Jon Snow is more of a Warlord than a Ranger. Rangers are a skill-based class after all, and the defining trait of Jon Snow is that he knows nothing.

 

[Rocker26a]

I don't think I want a ranger that can actually speak with animals without using magic. Some form of primal communication for simple concepts like "I mean you no harm" or "Get out of my way", sure, but not actual words-communication. That should take a spell.

Repeating myself, but, that is something a previous rendition of the Ranger offered, and it wasn't a spell.
And that wasn't even all the feature did! Granted the other half hinges around Favoured Enemy, which is it's own can of worms, but. If you ignore that bit, it's not bad!

 

[Horwath]

I don't think I want a ranger that can actually speak with animals without using magic. Some form of primal communication for simple concepts like "I mean you no harm" or "Get out of my way", sure, but not actual words-communication. That should take a spell.

Jon Snow is more of a Warlord than a Ranger. Rangers are a skill-based class after all, and the defining trait of Jon Snow is that he knows nothing.

I would say that withing rules of 5E, Jon Snow is battlemaster fighter.

 

[Minigiant]

Jon Snow is more of a Warlord than a Ranger. Rangers are a skill-based class after all, and the defining trait of Jon Snow is that he knows nothing

If put Jon Snow as a Fighter2/Ranger3 with the houserule that two classes with Extra Attack get it at 5th level regardless of combination.

Beast Bond, Hunter's Mark, and Longstrider

8 INT of course

 

[Horwath]

8 INT of course

Feeling generous today, I see?

 

[Rocker26a]

with the houserule that two classes with Extra Attack get it at 5th level regardless of combination.

I kinda don't hate that as a houserule. I know it's the bargain you sign up for when you choose to multiclass, but. Can still be frustrating to be stalling out like that so near the start of a game.

 

[Horwath]

I kinda don't hate that as a houserule. I know it's the bargain you sign up for when you choose to multiclass, but. Can still be frustrating to be stalling out like that so near the start of a game.

even allowing extra attack features to stack from two different classes for 3 attacks total will not break anything.

yes, you can in theory get 3rd attack before fighter one level sooner but you do miss on your level 6+ features for it.

 

[Rocker26a]

even allowing extra attack features to stack from two different classes for 3 attacks total will not break anything.

yes, you can in theory get 3rd attack before fighter one level sooner but you do miss on your level 6+ features for it.

May nag consult my DM about implementing that houserule. We're actually about to do an event thing where our characters play out an event in their past at an appropriate level, and I was trying to figure out a split that'd leave me with Extra Attack (which I did not have at that actual level) to not make it too painful a backwards adjustment.

 

[Horwath]

May nag consult my DM about implementing that houserule. We're actually about to do an event thing where our characters play out an event in their past at an appropriate level, and I was trying to figure out a split that'd leave me with Extra Attack (which I did not have at that actual level) to not make it too painful a backwards adjustment.

since only class that gets more than 2 attacks is fighter, one more limitation on this rule could be that out of two classes with Extra attack, one MUST be fighter in order to stack and/or that fighter levels must be equal or more than other class.
So we do not get fighter 5/then 15 levels of any class that can get their hands on Extra attack feature.

 

[Rocker26a]

since only class that gets more than 2 attacks is fighter, one more limitation on this rule could be that out of two classes with Extra attack, one MUST be fighter in order to stack and/or that fighter levels must be equal or more than other class.
So we do not get fighter 5/then 15 levels of any class that can get their hands on Extra attack feature.

Yeah, that could be fair. Honestly I think just the "you get your first extra attack whatever the ratio" bit is nice enough without covering the additional ones Fighter gets, those 1 - 5 levels are the kinda make or break levels. Something to make multiclassing a bit less of a knee-cap in the short-term is decent.
In my specific case it's only a 3 level dip for Battlemaster, as is sometimes the case, and then the rest in Ranger. So don't need to sweat it as much, but.