D&D 5E Building a better Ranger

[Paul Smart]

Hi, everyone.

Let's talk Rangers. What works about them? What would you change and why? How can they be improved?

I would love to hear everyone's thoughts. Also, let's keep it civil.

 

[LordEntrails]

What do you mean by improved? Do you mean you want them to deal more damage? Do you mean they are not what you envision Aragorn to be? Do you mean... what?

 

[Sacrosanct]

Let's look at previous threads, just to save time

Improving the Ranger
Improving the Ranger again
A better ranger
Let's tweak the ranger!
Overthinking the ranger

I'm sure there are many more, but that's a start.

 

[Coroc]

Playing a hunter ranger with sharpshooter feat, and everything about him feels good.
He can dish out some, even in close combat (flavour wise I only use 1 weapon) because hunters mark and colossus slayer works for both ranges, and he can emergency heal other party members. He is one level short to never getting lost in his next favorite terrain which is the underdark atm.
Being wood elf synergizes in being superstealthy and having criminal background he also can be good in / lockpicking trap disarming. He also speaks duergar. All this is supported by a solid background story and all of this is RAW.
Using backgrounds and feats you can absolutely build a ranger that leaves no wishes open.

The beastmaster class seems suboptimal but I think even the officials noticed that already.

 

[Eltab]

I want distinctive Ranger sub-classes:

Archer / ranged attack specialist
Melee fighter (maybe two-weapon specialist?)
Wilderness tracker / skill monkey
Beastmaster that can use the animal to do something better than his human counterparts can do it.
Somebody that is not an Aragorn- or Drizzt- clone

I don't want to be mediocre at all of these at once.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

I (like half the people on these boards) have a homebrew ranger that amounts to a complete overhaul, but here are the high points:

• Spellcasting as a subclass. This is not an intrinsically magical character archetype.
• Marking quarry as a core feature. Distinguish the ranger from the fighter, barbarian, and rogue by playing up the "singleminded hunter" theme mechanically. Favored Enemy is an optional substitute feature: basically, "you automatically have this type of creature marked, but you can't mark other creatures".
• Expertise. In Survival at a minimum. Under no circumstances should bards be better trackers than rangers.
• Class features that emphasize perception, mobility, endurance, and knowledge.
• Constitution as a save proficiency. That the core ranger doesn't have it is just criminal. I'd go Dex/Con because I don't really care much for the "good save/bad save" dichotomy, but if you do, Str/Con or Int/Con.

 

[Coroc]

I want distinctive Ranger sub-classes:

Archer / ranged attack specialist
Melee fighter (maybe two-weapon specialist?)
Wilderness tracker / skill monkey
Beastmaster that can use the animal to do something better than his human counterparts can do it.
Somebody that is not an Aragorn- or Drizzt- clone

I don't want to be mediocre at all of these at once.

Archer = hunter with sharpshooter

Meleefighter pick a two handed sword put on medium armor dump dex push Strength use great weapon master still hunter with colossus slayer and hunters mark (you can recast it as a bonus action if it gets lost due to a botched concentration save) this is for a 1 target melee specialist, Or maybe take halberd and polearm master, the other feats same.

Wilderness tracker: My ranger has got 16 dex 16 wis atm. he has got rocking high passive and active perception and is proficient with thieving tools due to background. You want some other skills? Check the backgrounds skillmonkey is limited, but you can build a ranger with more skills really usable with good scores than a fighter.

Beastmaster yea as I said they seem to be off atm.

Not Aragorn clone? Hm I think Aragorn relies mostly on his 1 1/2 hander sword so he is a melee ranger. If I remember the book right he did get some lay on hands like ability in the end when he was king so I rather would say he is as much paladin as a ranger.

Not Drizzt clone? Don't play drow don't use 2 weapon combat at least not 2 scimitars

 

[Coroc]

I (like half the people on these boards) have a homebrew ranger that amounts to a complete overhaul, but here are the high points:

• Spellcasting as a subclass. This is not an intrinsically magical character archetype.
• Marking quarry as a core feature. Distinguish the ranger from the fighter, barbarian, and rogue by playing up the "singleminded hunter" theme mechanically. Favored Enemy is an optional substitute feature: basically, "you automatically have this type of creature marked, but you can't mark other creatures".
• Expertise. In Survival at a minimum. Under no circumstances should bards be better trackers than rangers.
• Class features that emphasize perception, mobility, endurance, and knowledge.
• Constitution as a save proficiency. That the core ranger doesn't have it is just criminal. I'd go Dex/Con because I don't really care much for the "good save/bad save" dichotomy, but if you do, Str/Con or Int/Con.

In your house rule which seems quite legit apart from saves in dex / con do you use int or wis as a spell casting attribute?
Did you relocate several skills to intelligence, am I correct?
I am not negative on reallocating skills e.g. I think it is totally legit that half orcs or barbarians should key intimidate of strength if they like to, and for dwarves I would totally allow to use con as the attribute for intimidation but it should parallel be possible to use the standard attributes for these skills imho.
I even would say your dex/con saves are not breaking the game, as the ranger is still not that good in defensive in melee combat since he can only wear limited armor.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

Hi, everyone.

Let's talk Rangers. What works about them? What would you change and why? How can they be improved?

I would love to hear everyone's thoughts. Also, let's keep it civil.

How do you feel about the revised Ranger Class that was brought out as UA?

Are they part of the discussion?

 

[TheCosmicKid]

In your house rule which seems quite legit apart from saves in dex / con do you use int or wis as a spell casting attribute?

It's still Wis. And the DCs of any nonmagical class features that allow saving throws are set by Wis too.

Did you relocate several skills to intelligence, am I correct?

No.