D&D 5E (2024) Multiclass Ranger Fix?

[Tigris]

Look at how barbarian damage scales and lvl 11 Fighter and Paladin abilities.

Beastmaster ranger. Bonus action command pet and to set hunters mark.

You can also give up 1 of your own attacks for commanding the pet to attack.


The pet also profits from hunters mark at level 11. So even then its 1d6 bonus damage. And on turns not needing hunters mark its an extra pet attack + 1d6 damage. (And depending on how the GM treats the 2 attacks you can even knock down 2 enemies or have 2 tries to knock down an enemy with beast of the land)


And fighters and barbarians have no spells and dont gain a spell slot.

Beast ranger also gets a decend upgrade level 7 because the pet can now disengage to do the "charge attack" trigger every turn. And also upgrades level 12 and 16 with 1 more damage on the pet and hit (and more hp from the level 10 feature).

 

[FrogReaver]

if you want him to be a martial damage dealer it’s probably fighter or rogue.

If you want him to lean toward caster then control is probably your best option. I think Druid gets a bit better control than cleric so I’d say Druid there.

 

[Zardnaar]

You can also give up 1 of your own attacks for commanding the pet to attack.


The pet also profits from hunters mark at level 11. So even then its 1d6 bonus damage. And on turns not needing hunters mark its an extra pet attack + 1d6 damage. (And depending on how the GM treats the 2 attacks you can even knock down 2 enemies or have 2 tries to knock down an enemy with beast of the land)


And fighters and barbarians have no spells and dont gain a spell slot.

Beast ranger also gets a decend upgrade level 7 because the pet can now disengage to do the "charge attack" trigger every turn. And also upgrades level 12 and 16 with 1 more damage on the pet and hit (and more hp from the level 10 feature).

Pet does be efit. But you cast or give hunters mark per can't do anything iirc until next round.

 

[Tigris]

Pet does be efit. But you cast or give hunters mark per can't do anything iirc until next round.

"You can also sacrifice one of your attacks when you take the Attack action to command the beast to take the Beast's Strike action."

so you can use hunters mark or another bonus action spell and do your action to attack to still grant the pet 1, or from level 11 2 attacks.


So for the beastmaster ranger the level 11 upgrade is in any case roughly as good as an extra attack.

You either use the bonus action to command it for 2 attacks or you use it for a spell and then sacrifice one of your attacks for 2 attacks. In both cases its 1 more (beast) attack than before level 11 and in addition the beast does also profit from hunters mark (once per turn).

This is on top of the beasts natural scaling (5 more health and 1 more hit dice per level)


If all hunter Subclasses would have auch a good scaling feature on level 11 there would not be a problem.

 

[Zardnaar]

"You can also sacrifice one of your attacks when you take the Attack action to command the beast to take the Beast's Strike action."

so you can use hunters mark or another bonus action spell and do your action to attack to still grant the pet 1, or from level 11 2 attacks.


So for the beastmaster ranger the level 11 upgrade is in any case roughly as good as an extra attack.

You either use the bonus action to command it for 2 attacks or you use it for a spell and then sacrifice one of your attacks for 2 attacks. In both cases its 1 more (beast) attack than before level 11 and in addition the beast does also profit from hunters mark (once per turn).

This is on top of the beasts natural scaling (5 more health and 1 more hit dice per level)


If all hunter Subclasses would have auch a good scaling feature on level 11 there would not be a problem.

Good catch. Might be time for errata.

 

[Tigris]

Good catch. Might be time for errata.

You mean for the other subclasses?


This part of the beastmaster is the same since Tashas so that is wanted. (Beast still only has 1 action so you cant command it twice), but yeah the other subclasses definitly should have some errata to catch up.


(Not saying hunter does not also have some problems. Like hunters mark after some level should be allowed to be concentrated on in addition to other spell, but I still see the fault more at the weak level 11 subclass features most subclasses have).

Like Gloomstalker, I can see that the level after it gets some increase with more wis as well, but still a 2 damage increase in addition to 3 extra attacks per day is not enough.

 

[Minigiant]

So the ranger isnt to popular. The class is mostly fine level 1-10 or so. As long as you know what you're doing and don't screw things up. At level 11 it starts falling behind the other martisls though.

So what multiclas would you do and when?

Better 3rd-5th level spells.

That's 90% of the problem.

 

[Tigris]

Better 3rd-5th level spells.

That's 90% of the problem.

Why? Isnt the problem more the concentration (of hunters mark)?

I think the ranger would have been better as a non caster. Half caster is just a lot more annoying for balance reasons.


You must make sure that the spells ehich lack behind are still useful, but also that other classes which pick them up (bard) are not busted.

And because people are used to having choices with spells, you need to give a lot of spells (which then need to be useful and balanced).


Also having the level 11 powerspike feature (which should be equal in power to an extra attack) be a part of the subclasses also invites problems, with how much subclasses vary in power in general.


One subclass increases a 1/turn damage dize by 1 size (so 1 damage), while anothet gives an extra attack + potentially 1d6 more damage per turn.

 

[Minigiant]

Why? Isnt the problem more the concentration (of hunters mark)

No.

Hunters mark is supposed to be a 2nd option. It's a stink' 1st level spell.

No class should be using a 1st level spell as their goto at level 11.

Even if HM didn't have concentration, like I said often, what spell are you casting with it?

Ranger is the only class that didn't get access to one of 2024's new spells and got no new spells in the FR book.

The "I don't see ranger as a spellcaster" people are holding back a literal spellcasting class.

I think the ranger would have been better as a non caster. Half caster is just a lot more annoying for balance reasons.

It would be worse.

WOTC does not have a good track record with building noncasters .