D&D General Should ranger get a companion as its 'signature' feature?

[Minigiant]

rather go 1e and leave their favoured enemy as Giants. (though there's a case for Undead, to be fair)

1e's giants included orcs, gnolls, goblins, and kobolds.

That's sociology and psychology then.

Maybe; I'm concerned that would eat into the Dwarves' niche as being stone-masters.

Dwarves carve rocks and stones.

Rangers grind up rocks and stones to make smoke bombs, explosives, and quick cement.

Jon Snow fought his share of supernaturals, didn't he? As did Aragorn? And if you're referring to their use of magic items, I've no issue with any class having those

And (censored)ing lost and got his butt handed to him.

It's the premier example of the nonmagical ranger fighting supernaturals without magic nor science.

Rangers use druidic,, priest, wizard, and fey magic because that is the life science, psychology, and forensics of Old School and New School D&D.

 

[Stalker0]

Jon Snow fought his share of supernaturals, didn't he?

Yes but Jon Snow wasn't a ranger, he was a steward

 

[jmartkdr2]

Being the "pet class" is my favored way to give the ranger a mechanical identity. Hunter's mark can work here but pets are more distinctive.

But it's a pretty big change, since most non-beast pets wouldn't really mesh with the 'wilderness warrior' identity rangers have always tried to go for.

 

[Stalker0]

going back to the OP, I don't think the community minds the concept of rangers getting the benefits of hunter's mark as a signature ability. Gaining damage against a focus target, getting strong bonuses to track them down....seems perfectly rangery.

Its just the mechanics of how that is done. There is always a camp that will hate how reliant on magic the 5e ranger is, and having their premier class ability be a spell is always going to urk them. then there is the camp that likes ranger magic, and finds that hunter's mark consumes too much spell time/slot/concentration for them to enjoy other spells. etc.

As for companions, yeah its too niche of a player base for that to be a core ability imo, its perfectly good as a subclass. For the camp that doesn't like the beast spirits but wants a permanent companion.... the only way that works is if you do like the familar thing where the beast just goes into some special pocket dimension when the fight starts. If you are fine with the companion being an exploration thing and doing nothing in combat, than that's fine. But having the companion act in combat does not work, you HAVE to give them loads of stats and abilities to survive and even then they still die often. the beast spirit is mechanically a much better approach.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Take the 13A Druid approach.

Every ranger gets 3 talents. One talent gets you Apprentice training, two gets you Master training. Apprentice is a partial or basic set of features, Master is the whole kit and caboodle. Offer, say, four paths:

• Hunter (ranged weapon features, favored enemy, exploration/terrain)
• Tamer (animal companion, socialization, tapping nature for information)
• Survivalist (healing, woodland lore, nature magic)
• Slayer (better armor, two-weapon fighting features, intimidation/fear)

That way, any one Ranger has to focus, but the Ranger generally is all four things. Perhaps even offer a feat (requires Ranger 12) that lets you gain one more talent, either letting you be an Apprentice at everything, a Master of two things, or a Master of one and Apprentice of two.

That's also how 13th Age rangers work...

 

[jmartkdr2]

like dude, what if like my Cohort that I got from Leadership feat, gets Leadership feat and then like that cohort gets a Leadership feat....

Only if you're Egyptian-themed.

 

[Reynard]

FWIW the Dragonbane ranger (hunter) signature ability is having a pet. And the way that game works, other than trained skills, it is the hunter's only (starting) ability.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

FWIW the Dragonbane ranger (hunter) signature ability is having a pet. And the way that game works, other than trained skills, it is the hunter's only (starting) ability.

Same with the WoW hunter. Having a pet is their signature mechanic, alongside traps and ranged weapons.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

That's also how 13th Age rangers work...

I hadn't read them. Rangers rarely interest me.

 

[jmartkdr2]

I hadn't read them. Rangers rarely interest me.

I stand by the statement that 13th Age has the best ranger in a 21st century DnD-alike.

Mostly by letting you pick which tropes matter to you.