D&D 5E (2014) Convince me that the Ranger is a necessary Class.

[Maxperson]

3e Ranger, not 3.5.

Yeah. I saw your follow up post a bit after I responded.

I didn't remember that they didn't have ranged options until you just mentioned it. As for 2e Rangers, I saw a whole lot of Rangers who hated orcs or giants. Everyone picked a commonly encountered monster.

 

[James Gasik]

Yeah. I saw your follow up post a bit after I responded.

I didn't remember that they didn't have ranged options until you just mentioned it. As for 2e Rangers, I saw a whole lot of Rangers who hated orcs or giants. Everyone picked a commonly encountered monster.

I once met a mad lad who took Dragons as his favored enemy, lol. I don't know if he ever ran into one. I just don't have the best experience with it, since while you do sometimes run into entire themed campaigns fighting Drow, Giants, or Hobgoblins, most campaigns I played in were pretty varied in what you faced. Though in retrospect, Humans would probably be a fantastic choice- so much so that it was seriously limited in 3.x, lol.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Mostly Martial ranger fans don't like it when you say that.

Lol fair, but I stand by it. Any ranger that isn’t just a scout will have some features that can reasonably be fueled by spell slots.

The only other way to go is to base the ranger on Discipline rather than spell slots and give some sort of discipline features that you can lean into instead of spells, but seriously they’ll just end up being spells anyway.

I just had a chat with some people I game with who are younger, and asked them what they thought the Ranger should be. The answer was basically, The Witcher.

Yeah I can see it for sure.

 

[ECMO3]

Please explain. Are you just talking about magic items in official published modules?

I am talking about the setting and the official printed material supporting it.

 

[ECMO3]

What do you know? 5.5 takes something I was uncertain about in 5.0 and makes it demonstrably worse to my eyes. Film at 11.

Maybe so, but I think the public asked for more magic in the playtest as they gave both Paladin and Ranger more magic including spells right out of the gate at level 1 (and the Ranger more spells to cast per day at level 1 than any other class). When it comes to the number of spells a day you can cast a full caster does not catch up to a Ranger until level 3.

 

[Minigiant]

And a lot of people would, but "Hunter of supernatural creatures who themselves have supernatural abilities triggered by alchemy" could fit in the Ranger's wheelhouse. Alchemy makes more sense (well, to me, at least) than spellcasting, since it's simply using components found in the natural world (natural for a Ranger including creatures with magical abilities like Displacer Beasts or Dragons) to replicate magical effects.

Rangers as Infusion users.

I got another believer.

 

[Horwath]

@Rocker26a, what about having it where you can change your Favored Enemy per Long Rest?

any design around having favored enemy/terrain is a bad design, unless that feature gives all around bonuses and little better bonuses while engaging favored enemy/terrain.

IE:
favored terrain underdark: +60 ft darkvision, can hide in darkness without cover or concealment
favored terrain plains: +10ft speed, can Dash as Bonus action
favored terrain swamp: advantage vs poison and disease, resistance to poison daamage
favored terrain aquatic: swim speed and water breathing
favored terrain urban: +3 languages, +3 skills from: Insight, History, Investigation, Deception, Persuasion, Intimidation
favored terrain forest: Climb speed, Hide as Bonus action

 

[Horwath]

3e Ranger, not 3.5.

yeah,
3.0 ranger was essentially 1 level class.
you took it at 1st level as you got double skills from fighter and 3 feats.
and that is it.
waiting for awful spellcasting was a fools errand.

never saw a "ranger" in 3.0 with more than 1 level.

 

[Horwath]

Rangers as Infusion users.

I got another believer.

I would not mind that, or similar to 3.5e warlock invocations, even if magical, they are always on.

IE: the signature Pass without trace, rangers need to wait 5 levels for it, while druids need only 3 levels.
again, druids, better rangers than rangers.

Maybe it can be reduced in power and be at-will always on ability.

Pass without trace, Invocation/infusion/talent/whatever
+5 stealth to everyone in 60ft and no one leaves tracks.
must be 3rd level to pick this(to prevent dips)

 

[Crimson Longinus]

In any case, like I said ages ago when this thread started, the trouble with ranger is not actually the class, it is that the game as it is currently is basically has no structured mechanics for exploration, foraging, travel etc. These are things ranger should be an expert on, but there is no mechanical depth to attach the features to.