D&D 5E Convince me that the Ranger is a necessary Class.

[Frozen_Heart]

I like half casters as well

Arcane half-casters: Artificer
Eldritch half-caster: Warlock
Divine half-casters: Paladin
Primal half-caster: Ranger
Universal half-caster: Bard


Ranger would still have to cast spells because the majority of rangery effects require specific language and most D&D fans don't want to learn additional subsystems.

Honestly sometimes I think just let the people who want subclass/no caster/full caster versions of those classes just have them.

And make a fully new set of half-caster classes to fill those roles. That way they don't have the baggage weighing them down.

 

[Yaarel]

I like half casters as well

Arcane half-casters: Artificer
Eldritch half-caster: Warlock
Divine half-casters: Paladin
Primal half-caster: Ranger
Universal half-caster: Bard


Ranger would still have to cast spells because the majority of rangery effects require specific language and most D&D fans don't want to learn additional subsystems.

I hate half casters. Heh, leave the Bard and Warlock alone, thankyou.

 

[Yaarel]

Honestly sometimes I think just let the people who want subclass/no caster/full caster versions of those classes just have them.

And make a fully new set of half-caster classes to fill those roles. That way they don't have the baggage weighing them down.

Elaborate?

Relatedly, in 5.24, full casters are Bard, Cleric, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard, and half casters are Artificer, Paladin, and Ranger, but also include part casters like Eldritch Knight, Arcane Trickster, and others. The Psi Warrior, Barbarian, and Monk dont cast "spells", but they are mages in the sense of wielding magic.

Among the half casters, the Artificer can probably now serve as the "arcane Paladin" sotospeak, the "magus", what the Eldritch Knight needed to be for those wanting a more fully magical blend of "Fighter / Magic User".

Paladin is the holy warrior, including any kind of ideal that requires personal devotion, such as being an athlete. This comes with life magic, social influence, and similar.

The Ranger is still odd. Is this the Druid warrior? Is the Barbarian the Druid warrior? At least thematically, the Ranger seems like a Wizard-Druid-Fighter-Rogue fusion.

Even the 5.24 Ranger is still a placeholder for conflictive concepts.

 

[Scribe]

Even the 5.24 Ranger is still a placeholder for conflictive concepts.

How magical one wants everything to be aside, this is imo the problem with the 5e/5.5 Ranger.

"What is it?"

 

[AnotherGuy]

So I have mate who joined my current campaign for a small stint in OotA. He required a pretty easy enough 10th-level character to play (as the rest of the party are quite high level) and anything complex it just gonna slow the game down. The concept would also have to be interesting, i.e. not your usual trope.

What I did was I made a Bugbear spell-less Ranger wielding an enchanted Javelin (named Blink), crafted from the femur of a Blink Dog which allows upon a successful hit, the attuned user, to as a bonus action either summon the Javelin back to their hand or teleport themselves to the Javelin.
He was a surviving thrall of a mind flayer thus his favoured enemies are Aberrations and Monstrosities. He identifies as belonging to the Emerald Enclave, even though the Emerald Enclave has no idea who he is.

As a prelude to your adventuring career, you served as an agent of the Emerald Enclave, although they were likely not aware of you. As it happens you met one of their agents during your days as a thrall of an Illithid. He had been captured by the Illithid and before his demise/consumption, he had told you about the organisation he belonged to, trying to impress upon you its virtues in an attempt to shake you from the dominating force exerted on you by your master. And although you found his message appealing you could not escape your current predicament.
Nevertheless after your release from servitude by the drow elf Drizzt Do’Urden and his companions, you undertook to champion the value of the Emerald Enclave’s beliefs.

I allowed him to select appropriate Traits, Ideals Bond and Flaws from the Slave, Hermit, Outlander and Acolyte backgrounds and either the Wanderer or Discovery background feature.

Then made the following changes:
Replaced Spellcasting with Action Surge.
Replaced Primeval Awareness with Improved Critical
Replaced Land's Stride with a feat
At 7th level where the Ranger usually gains 3rd level spells, I substituted in Remarkable Athlete (2024 version).
Replaced the 10th level Natural Explorer Improvement with Second Wind (using ranger levels as opposed to fighter levels).
Selected Ranger Archetype Hunter - Colossus Slayer and Steel Will

In our setting 9th level is the standard cap, something extraordinary has to happen to your character allow one to exceed the 9th level. Well the mind flayer messing around in his brain, opened up his mind thus allowing him to reach greater powers.

So I gave him a modified Hunter's Mark to replace Hide in Plain Sight

As a bonus action, you select a creature within 90 feet, and with determined will (Concentration) and uttering an incantation you mystically mark the creatures as your quarry. This mark may last up to an hour and requires Concentation. Until the spell ends, you deal an extra 1d6 damage to the target whenever you hit it with a weapon attack, and you have Advantage on any Wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Survival) check you make to find it. If the target drops to 0 hit points before the spell ends, you can use a bonus action on a subsequent turn of yours to mark a new creature.
Modified Section. You may use this feature a number of times day equal to your proficiency score. You regain 1 expended use when you finish a short rest, and all expended uses after you finish a long rest.

I could have also gone the other way (and made my life easier)
Selected the Fighter Champion.
Made Favoured Enemy (Aberrations) his Slave background feature
Used a feat to acquire a Natural Explorer (Underdark) ability.
And then made sure the rest of his stats (abilities and skills) were Ranger-y

 

[Horwath]

Eh.

Class are just a laundry list of pre-selected feats balanced around being pre-selected.

well, about that...

 

[Minigiant]

Honestly sometimes I think just let the people who want subclass/no caster/full caster versions of those classes just have them

Well the Bard didn't start as a full caster.

Bard and Warlock became full casters because WOTC and 3PPs suck at balancing not full casters.

Also the community is too freaking wizard biased to extend niches to other types of magic.

But I'll say it again The ranger exists and is a half caster because you need distinct rules for many rangery things.

You cannot heal with the Medicine skill.
You cannot charm an animal with Animal handling skill.
You cannot cover yourself with natural armor of bark or stones with Nature skill.
You cannot make special tracking tools with Survival skill.

Animal handling, Medicine, Nature and Survival are traditionally Ranger skills along with Stealth.

But we all agree for the most part at most tables...

Animal Handling, Medicine, Nature and Survival don't "do anything".​

The ranger class exist to introduce those prepackaged effects associated with wilderness survival and hunting along with high skill rolls in order to add them to the game.

The major issue with 5E is that for the most part WOTC and most 3PPs forgot ranger is a skills class and rangers either had exclusive access to some skill uses or had spells that removed limitations/restrictions on defined skill uses.

 

[Minigiant]

How magical one wants everything to be aside, this is imo the problem with the 5e/5.5 Ranger.

"What is it?"

The Ranger is the user of wilderness and hunting skills.

Unfortunately the fan community wants wilderness skill but hates learning new rules and can't agree how to implement them in existing rules.

And the wizard biased caster lovers don't want to add more non-spell pages to the PHB.

 

[Scribe]

The Ranger is the user of wilderness and hunting skills.

Unfortunately the fan community wants wilderness skill but hates learning new rules and can't agree how to implement them in existing rules.

And the wizard biased caster lovers don't want to add more non-spell pages to the PHB.

I'm afraid those all ring a little too true.