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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9669105" data-attributes="member: 6790260">As I said just over a year ago (a year and one week exactly, it would seem):That list of questions remains. "Necessity" is, was, and always will be a useless thing to ask about, because literally nothing is "necessary" in a leisure activity. It's always a matter of what benefit is brought, not whether something is required by some divine authority. So:Is the ranger class useful? Does it fill a player desire or interest?This would seem to be unequivocally the case. Even folks who don't care for it recognize that it fulfills a couple of different player interests, usually in ways that don't match well with other classes: it is THE pet class, for example, as well as the wilderness survivalist. Those are both mechanical and thematic things that a significant chunk of players really like.What archetypes can be found in the ranger? Does it bring them to life?This is more in question, but I think just looking at the 5.5e Ranger gives a clear idea of the archetypes it's meant to capture. It includes things like David from David and Goliath (the small hero against the great monster), or Robin Hood by way of "gritty survivalist and all around sneaky-boi" which also covers (for example) Odysseus, or the monster-tamer e.g. Androcles and the Lion. I do think a lot of the heavy lifting for bringing this to life comes purely from the player, rather than the class design, which is a shame but not uncommon in 5e (see: Wizard and its extremely minimal support for its flavor, as opposed to the 5.0 Wizard's near-total lack of support--yet I don't see folks clamoring for the removal of Wizards.)What mechanics does the ranger use? Are they well-made for the purpose they serve?We can see those mechanics by looking at them in the 2024 books--and the 2014 books, for comparison. The old Beast Master, for example, fell pretty short of actually being well-made for the purpose they (were intended to) serve. 5.5e has improved some things. I haven't seen them in action enough to speak to their function myself.</blockquote>

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