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.

 

[Kinematics]

I'm probably missing something since this is just quick napkin math, but some DPR estimates...

Basically, a Drizzt-type (dual-wielding scimitars plus pet, two-weapon fighting style) with level 20 Hunter's Mark is in the neighborhood of 65 DPR, while the Hunter using a bow (archery fighting style) is in the neighborhood of 40 DPR. (Bow builds always tend to be low DPR, because their real strength is about range.)

For reference, actual spreadsheeted melee Fighter at 20 is about 70 DPR, but that accounts for a lot more things than this quick napkin math. Still, a quick estimate seems like it has Ranger at least being competitive, and not feel like it's being hobbled by its own features.

Not being able to lose concentration on Hunter's Mark at 13 feels a bit like a Barbarian not losing Rage at 15. With all the upgrades to HM by level 20, it does feel a bit like a restructured Rage.

 

[mellored]

I'm not a huge fan of being able to switch features on a rest - mainly because I create character sheets that have everything that you can do listed in detail, and that sounds like a lot of extra clutter when you can't use it. OTOH, I've always been pretty liberal with allowing players to rebuild characters when they want to do something different, so I've never really needed them to allow switch-outs.

Otherewise, I like most of this.

Half the classes can switch their entire spell load out on a rest. Adding in a few ranger abilities doesn't seem like much.

In fact, you can just use the 9th level spell slot part of the page.

 

[Stalker0]

seems the go to melee ranger will be the Nick TWF one. at 5th level getting 3 attacks for an extra 3d6 is pretty solid. But yeah it annoys me that the ranger probably has to roll concentration saves more than almost any other class.

I do think the roving ability is quite nice, I have a PC with a climb speed right now and its impressive how often it comes up.

So ultimately it seems alright, not amazing, not garbage.

The one thing I will say is sorely lame is Foe Slayer. We can argue the math of how good it is....but its lame. Lame lame lame. It doesn't feel epic at all. I mean hell at that point just say its no longer a spell, you just permanently have the effect of hunter's mark on all creatures at all times. Now that is something cool.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Half the classes can switch their entire spell load out on a rest. Adding in a few ranger abilities doesn't seem like much.

I don't like it for other classes either.

In fact, you can just use the 9th level spell slot part of the page.

I don't use their character sheets.

It's not a BIG dislike. Just a minor irk.

 

[Kobold Stew]

I just feel like giving Ranger's unique spellcasting out at lv1, a level no pure class would spend any length of time at, is just an intentional buff to multiclass dips, and the post-lv1 features just aren't that impressive.

This is an interesting observation. Assuming you have 13 Dex and Wis, a one-level dip in Ranger gives you:

• a d10 hit die
• light, medium armor, shield proficiency, and martial weapon proficiency.
• one skill from the ranger's list, and expertise in any one skill on the ranger's list.
• Weapon Mastery for two weapons, changeable on long rest.
• Hunter's Mark always prepared, castable for free WIS times/long rest.
• +1 level worth of spell slots (or two slots, if you're not already a caster)
• two spells prepared from the Ranger's list: Cure Wounds, Fog Cloud, Ensnaring Strike all good choices; will Entangle and Absorb Elements be on the list?). Presumably if you choose a spell with a Ritual Tag (Detect Magic), you can cast it without using a slot.

That's seems like a lot, and could benefit (e.g.) a Bard, Sorc, or a non-Blade Warlock. At level 2 you would only get a fighting style and one extra spell prepared.

 

[Neonchameleon]

So ... it's basically a Tasha's Ranger with functional TWF thanks to weapon masteries. And makes for a good rogue type.

Although being disappointed would be too much to say I'm certainly not appointed.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I'm definitely torn on this one. Nothing immediately jumps out to me as a bad ability in isolation, but I feel like I want to shuffle things around, or just that they should get more things at lower levels.

I feel like damage not breaking concentration on Hunter's Mark could be lower down, and then level 11 or 13 being a place where you no longer need to Concentrate on it (Or maybe make that a feature of casting it at higher levels). It is also weird to me that the level 17 ability to get advantage is so much better than the capstone. I actually really like @Stalker0 's idea of having the Capstone being that every enemy you hit counts as having Hunter's Mark on them. That would be fun and brutal (yes, that would be advantage on every attack you ever make. This is level 20, go nuts).

I also am not a fan of the swapping a single spell per long rest. Just let them swap their entire list like the Druid, Cleric, and Paladin. It barely makes a difference.

...

On the other hand, the Hunter ability to swap their kit is SO exciting to me. That feels suitably great for the ultimate hunter to be able to hunt both swarms and colossus depending on what they were planning on facing.

I've liked the nature's veil invisibility for a while, and drawing focus on the Ranger being a magical class and the roaming abilities are really nice. I actually feel like they have a bit more of a narrative niche now, because while the Druid is the nature warrior who stays in one place, the Ranger is the nature warrior who straps on their pack, and travels through the forest, over the mountain, through the desert, into the city and grabs a boat to the nearest island. They are movers, and they do actually get a bit of that feel with the level 6 and 10 abilities. A little late perhaps, but with Tireless and Roving, you really feel like someone who can just travel for a month straight, taking only small breaks.

I'm also kind of glad about the changes to the Gloomstalker. I played one, and it really did feel like outside of turn one I didn't have a subclass most of the time. The Darkness Invisibility can be hard to pull off, and the other rangers just do better damage after turn 3 or so, so it is nice to see fixes to that.


So, overall... I would tweak a few things. Shift some things around. But it isn't in a bad place I don't think.

 

[el-remmen]

I like some of this but I was fruitlessly hoping for a ranger who is only a spell caster depending on their subclass. Back to the homebrew board, I guess.

 

[Charlaquin]

Ugh, truly awful. Combined the least interesting features from both UA versions, and leaned even harder into “What if the whole class was just Hunter’s Mark.” I’d long since given up on WotC’s ranger being for me, but I can’t imagine who this latesr design is for.

Todd Kenrick seems to make a point every video of saying “sounds like you really focused on delivering that fantasy of [whatever the class does] and this time he really struggled to identify what that fantasy is in this case.

 

[sevenbastard]

Quick Question?

Did the add "your mama's house" to the list of available favored terrains?