D&D General Why does the Hunter subclass for the 2014 & 2024 Ranger not have bonus spells?

[Minigiant]

Because the hunter subclass doesn't need it.

But this does show some of the cognitive dissonance when it comes to the Ranger and Magic.

Because Wizard thinks that the ranger is inherently tied to a form of magical senses and thus cast a spell to use these magical senses.

BUT

Wizards goes out of their way to not expand the Rangers spell list a subclasses spell list or create new spells for Rangers.

So Rangers are inherently tied to casting spells but they don't want to give it spells.

 

[Corinnguard]

Because the hunter subclass doesn't need it.

In the case of the Hunter and Beastmaster subclasses, WoTC could have taken a page from the Skirmisher archetype for PF1's Ranger and replaced their ability to cast spells with the feature Hunter's Tricks. This feature grants boons or bonuses to the Ranger or to a nearby ally, much like certain combat maneuvers in 5e do.

Skirmisher – d20PFSRD

 

[Minigiant]

In the case of the Hunter and Beastmaster subclasses, WoTC could have taken a page from the Skirmisher archetype for PF1's Ranger and replaced their ability to cast spells with the feature Hunter's Tricks. This feature grants boons or bonuses to the Ranger or to a nearby ally, much like certain combat maneuvers in 5e do.

Skirmisher – d20PFSRD

Nah

Hunter and Beastmaster in D&D is magical.
Problem is how much

The issue is the core.

1. Ranger is a core D&D class
2. Ranger is a popular D&D class
3. The only core universal subsystem in D&D is Spells

I still argue that Rangers should be infusion users like Artificers. Rangers are more tied to items and gear than most D&D classes.

 

[Mephista]

Okay, so now for the big Gloom! Gloom Stalker is a bit weird, because its kind of like the assassin-Ranger. It takes the Stealth aspects of Ranger and dials them up to 11.

It doesn't seem like the Gloom Stalker gets a ton of damage upgrades at third level, which is weird. Hunter gets 1d8 on every attack, Fey gets 1d4, Beastmaster gets a whole 'nother attack from their pet. Gloom Stalker gets 2d6 about 3 times a day. That's an average of 1.75 across a 12 turns of combat day. That's not a lot, though the fact its something you can focus on bigger enemies and ignore mooks is nice.

The big thing, however, is fighting in darkness. If you can extinguish all lights, you've effectively got a persistent Greater Invisibility. Advantage on attacks, disadvantage on being hit when they can locate you. That sounds pretty amazing... and it was great in 2014. Its especially fun in a party of a warlock with devil sight, shadow monk, shadow sorcerer. It doesn't work against tremorsense, truesight, blindsight, or the Devil's Sight invocation, but those are relatively rare, whereas Darkvision is not.

Gotta take a moment to ask, however. Is it still amazing in 2024? Advantage is much easier to get in 2024. Expecting to get advantage from this feature also means that your choice of weapons is now in question. There's usually a few categories of weapons Rangers use: shortbow, longbow, heavy crossbow, shortsword+scimitar, shillelagh+scimitar, rapier+shield, whip+shield. Occasionally you get Strength based Rangers, but considering that this is a stealth-focused subclass, I don't think we want to move away from Dexterity.

We don't want to use a rapier, a shortbow, nor a shortsword, since any time we use our signature ability, it effectively negates Vex mastery and means Topple is less valuable to you. Longbow / heavy crossbow is still extremely valuable, as is Shillelagh+scimitar; whips can be interesting, due to the way they proc O.A.s with Reach if you're deep in enemy territory. Overall, though, it looks like Slow is the dominant Mastery, except for one exception. Heavy crossbow has a d10 and Push vs longbow's d8 and Slow, but it requires Crossbow Expert before you can take Heavy Weapon Master; the crossbow is probably the best weapon if you can afford the feat.

Level 7 is... okay. Wisdom saves are important, but not what I'd call an exciting feature. Same with 15 - extra defense is good, even if not exciting.

Level 11 is... one of these is the clear winner over the other. An extra attack is massively better than Frightened, even if it has to be against a second target near a first. Especially if you're already effectively invisible from the level 3 feature, Greater Invisibility spell, or from Nature's Veil at level 14. How can they avoid walking closer to you or suffer from line of sight if they don't know where you are? Mass Fear directly conflicts with the themes and powers of the sub-class offered so far.

Much like the Hunter, I'm really iffy on this level again, because... what happens when you're both unseen and no monsters are next to each other, or its a solo boss fight? You effectively either can't use this level, or you have to give up on hiding and switch to trying to be the Scary Guy instead of the ambusher.

I feel like this sub-class was nerfed as a reaction against the 2014 version being OP. Understandable, but they didn't account for the fact that advantage is easy to get in 2024, so there's a second pseudo-nerf there too. This subclass can definitely be fun to play, and consistently bring the level 3 ability into play. But its damage is probably the absolute worst of the five Ranger subclasses.

(EDIT) Longbow / heavy crossbow is probably the best choice here, since you can more easily find patches of Darkness with ranged attacks than you will with being in the midst of melee, then pair it with Heavy Weapon Master. This also leaves your BA open for applying H.M., Nature's Veil, or even a simple Poison for a bit more damage. Honestly, I'm partial to putting poisoner's kit on the gloom archer here, then using a terrain control spell (like Spike Growth) for your concentration spell instead of H.M. Poison immunity is common amongst constructs, undead, and fiends, but for everything else its a bit of free extra damage. Spike Growth also pairs nicely with Slow and Push.

 

[Mephista]

Fey Wanderer is our fourth subclass, the last of the phb ones, and probably one of the better options.

Level 3 is okay. You get an extra 1d4 damage - not much, but unlike the other classes, it has no condition applied to it. Upon a hit, you deal an extra 2.5 average damage. Not huge, but definitely useful. You get a mix of spells, mostly utility except Misty Step and Summon Fey, and you already had Summon Fey on your Ranger list. And you get an extra skill and to add your Wisdom to any Charisma checks.

I'm not normally a huge fan of the Skilled origin feat - normally you should give everyone the chance to shine during exploration or social scenes. But as a Ranger you're kinda expecting to be the scout (acrobatics, stealth, perception, survival, maybe animal ken) and now the subclass wants to be the face as well (insight, deception, either intimidate or persuasion). That's a lot of skills you're going to want to fill in to make the most of your ability.

This is also the very first subclass that I'm not going to really talk about what weapons to take. The other three subclasses have a definite bias in what weapons you want to take - Hunter (and Winter Walker) want to engage in TWFing to go with the HM heavy playstyle, Beastmaster is more biased away from TWFing or melee in general, and Gloom tends towards Slow / Push Mastery stuff. Fey Wanderer is the first Ranger subclass that really is weapon agnostic. You could easily go bow, you could go TWFing, you could go sword and board, you could even try for heavy melee weapons if you wanted.

Level 7 and 15 are once again more defensive options... kind of. Level 7 here has a lot of overlap with the Gloom Stalker's Wisdom proficency, in that most monsters calling for a Wisdom check tend to be tied to the Charmed or Frightened condition. And not only on avoiding the conditions, but you get to use anyone forcing a check - be it enemy or ally - to inflict your own conditions on enemies. Level 15 takes Misty Step and turns it into a way to rescue a fellow party member. These are both excellent party-play abilities that can synergize with your allies, and I absolutely love those.

My only complaint is that, if elf, gnome or halfling that already have advantage on those saves, there's no alternative to develop. But the rest of it is good enough that I'd not call it a deal breaker. Just a pet peeve of mine (I'm looking at you, gold dragonborn-fire dragon sorcerer).

Level 11 lets you cast Fey Wanderer once for free, and the ability to make the casting Concentration-free at the cost of 1 minute duration. Concentration-free Summon Fey is huge, in no small part because it lets you have another Concentration spell up simultaneously. You could go Hunter Mark, you could go with a second Summon or Conjure spell, etc. By the time you hit level 17, this can effectively give you a free extra 2 attacks for every combat. This is probably the only tier 3 damage boost Ranger has that scales as you go up in level due to how spell slots work.

Sure, it requires at least a turn of set up, but you're a Ranger. Use that stealth and perception, and find the enemies before they find you and get the necessary prep time. Also, keep in mind that the one free, no slot casting of Summon Fey? Its not a spell slot, so that can be combined with a bonus action spell. You can use your level 15 ability to Misty Step yourself and a party member into position before summoning your attack-fairy.

All in all, this is an extremely fun option. Most of the time, your level 7 and 15 defenses are just passives. Not only do these encourage you to do stuff at the table, but its actively coordinating with your party. Your level 11 power bump is actually consistantly strong enough for tier 3 and eventually tier 4 martial damage (assuming you get the set up time), and it has fun options of its own.

 

[Mephista]

Winter Walker
In many ways, its a lot like Hunter, in that you're encouraged to be Hunter Mark heavy. This also pushes you towards TWFing. This inevitably means that we're going to end up comparing the two subclasses.

Level 3. You get 1d4 cold damage (eventually 1d6), cold resistance, AND a partial, free Elemental Adept (cold) effect. This is before we talk about the 1d10+Ranger level THP for casting Hunter's Mark, and the inability of your Marked foe to disengage. Keeping in mind that chances are, if you run out of THP, you're likely going to be casting HM again anyways from losing Concentration, and you're likely going to be in melee both for max HM damage and to make use of the disengage-lock, this is a pretty good deal. The THP grows expnentially - you get more Marks as you level AND more THP per Mark cast.

You are dealing 2 less damage on average than an equal leveled Hunter, and you don't have the know-resist-immune-vuln thing anymore, but the damage is more consistent and the divination perk was kind of game and table dependent. But overall, I would have to say that you're getting more at this level than the Hunter.

The great thing about this class, though? You also qualify for Cold Caster. -1d4 from your target's saves. This could be a set up for your own Hold Person spell, or a party-play option for your local casters to pull off a better battle-shaping spell. Because it keys off attack rolls, this is one of the two subclasses and one class that will make good use of it, the others being quicken-spell sorcerer and elemental monk. The other two are probably better with it (stunning strike and a full CC spell options). But it is still a great option to keep in mind.

I admit to some disappointment that this Ranger gets Remove Curse instead of Hunger of Hadar or Sleet Storm. Its cold themed, its zone control, its perfect for a cold-based Ranger class. Sadness. Overall, the same spell choices as Hunter, though. Maybe an Ice Storm on occasion before slipping back into Hunter Marks.

Level 7 is again a more survival-based feature, but this time its more of an out of combat one for the whole party. Heal everyone for 1d10 + Ranger level damage and advantage on fear; great for the rest right before the BBEG, saves your party healer some slots. Not as individually good as Multi-attack Defense, but you're getting lots of healign and THP from this class that I don't htink it'll be a huge difference.

Level 11. Stunning as a Reaction. Stunning is a great condition, especially with the speed set to 0. It synergizes with Cold Caster too, if you hit them before they hit you! That said... this is your big tier 3 damage bump, and you only get it WIS times per day. It needs to be something on par with Radiant Strikes. And I don't think this qualifies. Not in this quantity. If someone disagrees, I'd like to hear why.

Level 15. Frozen Haunt. Immunity to Cold, 2d4 damage emination. Immune to grappling, restrained, prone, some mobility. 5 extra damage and the defensive features is nice, but not game changing. Is it better than the Reaction resistance that Hunter gets? Ehh... I'd say maybe. Being grappled and tossed around is a relative weakness of the Ranger's, but hopefully you've found a solution before here, plus you've got Freedom of Movement in your pocket by now.

Overall, while early game is an improvement to the Hunter, its tier 3+ game is still suffering. I'd probably recommend Winter Walker over Hunter, but neither of them for level 11+ games.