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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gladius Legis" data-source="post: 7541965" data-attributes="member: 68748">IV. Races[spoiler=Common races]Dwarf: +2 to CON is a big deal, along with advantage on saves vs. and resistance to poison, and Darkvision. Bonus proficiencies in an artisan's tools are a neat little bonus.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Mountain: +2 to STR makes this the obvious subrace of choice for a STR-Ranger.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Hill: Decent for DEX-Rangers, with the extra hit point per level being quite nice, along with the +1 WIS. STR-Rangers should definitely go Mountain, though.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Duergar (SCAG/MTOF): +1 STR, Superior Darkvision, advantage on saves against illusions, charm and paralysis, and free Enlarge and Invisibility. Not a bad package, although Sunlight Sensitivity is regrettably quite the pain.</li> </ul>Elf: All Elves get a +2 to DEX, so make that your attack stat. Immunity to magical sleep and advantage vs. charms are very good, as are Darkvision, Trance and automatic proficiency in the all-important skill Perception.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Wood: Well, they say cliches exist for a reason. Easily a top Ranger choice with the extra speed, the WIS bonus and the ability to hide in light obscurity.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">High: At least there are some useful Wizard cantrips that don’t need INT you can pick with this. The INT bonus isn’t the best, though.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Drow: Sorry, Drizzt fans, but the Drow is a pretty suboptimal choice. The CHA bonus is worthless, you won't be able to use the Drow's Faerie Fire effectively because it's CHA-based, and while there are ways to get around Sunlight Sensitivity in a lot of cases, it can still be a pain in the butt.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Eladrin (MTOF): +1 CHA is bad, but Fey Step is a nice 1/short rest minor-action teleport with a nifty season-based side effect.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Sea (MTOF): +1 CON is nice. Unfortunately water breathing and swim speed are very situational, and only really useful in a sea-based campaign.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Shadar-kai (MTOF): Now this one’s great. 1/short rest bonus action teleport like the Eladrin, but with a much better stat bonus with +1 CON. And the side effect of this teleport gives you resistance to all damage.</li> </ul>Halfling: +2 to DEX, so you know which route to go with your attack stat. Lucky is straight-up awesome, protecting you from that dreaded natural 1, and moving through occupied spaces opens up a lot of options on the battlefield. Halflings can also ride their animal companions as a mount (provided it's a Medium animal), making the Beast Master option a little more useful for them.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Lightfoot: Hiding behind a Medium or larger ally is pretty nice, somewhat making up for its useless +1 CHA.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Stout: The +1 CON of this subrace is more useful overall, and plucking the Dwarf's anti-poison defenses is great, too.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ghostwise (SCAG): +1 WIS is good, but telepathy is pretty situational.</li> </ul>Human: Meant to be the most versatile race. One particular variant delivers on that promise.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Default/Stock: +1 to all attributes, the bottom three of which aren't going to make a difference, is really quite tame.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Variant: The Variant Human, on the other hand, is absolutely fantastic, and in a game that uses feats, arguably the best race for this class considering its attribute needs. The bonus feat means you get a potentially build-making ability at Lv. 1 that other races have to wait until at least Lv. 4 to get, while being a full ASI ahead. That’s huge. And just having an extra feat on top of the other one, maybe two, you planned to take is also really beneficial. On top of that, you get two +1s you can put in any attributes you want, as well as a skill proficiency of your choice.</li> </ul>[/spoiler][spoiler=Uncommon Races]Aaracocra (EEPC): Yeah, this race is pretty unfair in general with its at-will flight from the start, and especially so for DEX-based Rangers, for whom the +2 DEX and +1 WIS are a perfect stat match. The introductory paragraph pretty much leaves it up to the DM whether or not to even allow you to play this race, and for good reason.Dragonborn: +2 to STR, so it's obvious which type of Ranger this is for. Resistance to one type of energy is solid, and since you're likely to have a decent CON score, you'll be able to use the Breath Weapon decently under bounded accuracy. That CHA bonus is a waste, though.Genasi (EEPC): All Genasi get a +2 to CON, a solid stat bonus for all characters. All subraces get a 1/day free spell with no material components.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Air: +1 DEX, hold your breath forever as long as you’re not incapacitated, and Levitate as the racial spell. Pretty nice.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Earth: +1 STR, ignore some difficult terrain, and the very useful Pass Without Trace as the racial spell. Good.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Fire: +1 INT is a waste, making this the worst subrace for Rangers. Darkvision and fire resistance aren’t bad, though.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Water: +1 WIS is a relevant Ranger stat even if not optimal, and breathing air and water and having a real swim speed can come in handy in campaigns with a lot of water.</li> </ul>Gith (MTOF): Compulsory +1 INT ensures this race choice will always make a suboptimal Ranger.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Githyanki: +2 STR and you eventually get 1/long rest Misty Step. Meh. The Shadar-kai is teleporting once every short rest.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Githzerai: +2 WIS, and 1/long rest for Shield isn’t enough to make a substantial difference. Again, meh.</li> </ul>Gnome: Generally a bad race for Rangers, with that +2 to INT being a complete waste. Advantage on all mental stat saving throws vs. magic is about the only real positive. Stick to Halfling if you want to be small.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Forest: +1 DEX, a cantrip that’ll be useless without a good INT score, and a cute talk to small animals ability. Not enough to make you a good Ranger.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Rock: Nope. +1 CON is OK, but Rangers have no use for tech knowledge.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Deep (SCAG/MTOF): +1 DEX and Superior Darkvision. Probably the best Gnome Ranger race by default (damning with faint praise much?), but still not enough for success.</li> </ul>Half-Elf: The immunity to magical sleep and advantage vs. charms that Elves get, plus the two free skills of your choice are tempting, but the +2 CHA bonus is mostly a dealbreaker. The +1 to two other stats helps, but not enough to ever recommend this over a Wood Elf or Variant Human.Half-Orc: +2 to STR and +1 to CON are great, but what really puts this race over the top as a STR-Ranger are things like adding an extra weapon die to a crit, Darkvision, and staying upright once per day on a would-be KO. Intimidation proficiency is sort of a waste, but the rest of this package is awesome.Tiefling: Bonuses to your two least useful stats! Don't be a Tiefling … at least not in PHB or MTOF form.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Feral (SCAG): On the other hand, if you want to be a Tiefling and have SCAG options available, you could replace that useless +2 CHA with the very useful +2 DEX. You’re still stuck with the also-useless +1 INT, but at least you’re a viable Ranger now.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Devil’s Tongue/Hellfire (SCAG): No and no.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Winged (SCAG): If your DM lets you, this, together with Feral, is awesome. Replaces those useless Infernal Legacy spells with flight. And since you won’t wear heavy armor anyway, you’ll be putting this to very good use.</li> </ul>[/spoiler][spoiler=Volo’s Guide Races]Aasimar: The Paladin-lite abilities are pretty strong, but there’s just no getting away from the fact +2 CHA is simply the worst stat bonus for a Ranger, bottom line. None of the three subrace options changes that fact, either.Firbolg: +2 WIS and +1 STR mean the stats are in the right place for STR-Rangers. Also short-rest recharge Disguise Self and Detect Magic (WIS-based), short-rest recharge round of invisibility and talking to animals and plants are all pretty beneficial. A solid Ranger race.Goliath: +2 STR and +1 CON, automatic Athletics proficiency, reduce damage taken from something once per short rest and ability to carry and lift more stuff round out a terrific race for STR-Rangers.Kenku: +2 DEX and +1 WIS and racial training in Acrobatics and Stealth. You won’t be good at the Deception stuff, though, so that takes this down a peg.Lizardfolk: +2 CON and +1 WIS are two good Ranger stat bonuses (even if not attack stats). A bite that means you’re always armed, swim speed, hold breath for a long time, natural armor that’s better than the standard light armor, 2 free skills from a list that includes the Ranger staples such as Perception, Stealth, Survival and Animal Handling, and a short-rest recharge bonus-action attack.Tabaxi: +2 DEX is great, and doubling your speed for one turn while giving up your movement for a later turn has its tactical uses. You’re also trained in the all-important Perception and Stealth and get Darkvision. The only real knock on this race Ranger-wise is the +1 CHA.Triton: +1s to STR, CON and CHA. Two of those stat bonuses are relevant. Aside from that, swim speed, breathe water and air, talk to water creatures, and cold resistance. Also note that of the three racial spells, only Gust of Wind actually uses your CHA for anything, so feel free to cast Fog Cloud or Wall of Water instead.[/spoiler][spoiler=Monster Races (VGM)]Subject to DM approval, so consult with your DM first before playing one of these.Bugbear: The highlight is the extra 5 feet of reach when you make a melee attack (but only on your turn). +2 STR and +1 DEX means it fits both STR- and DEX-Rangers. Also gets Darkvision, free Stealth proficiency and 2d6 extra damage when attacking from surprise. Good one, for sure.Goblin: Small size, but 30 feet speed. +2 DEX and +1 CON, Darkvision, short-rest recharge extra damage against something bigger than you, and Disengage or Hide as a bonus action (effectively 2/3rd of the Rogue’s Cunning Action) are all great. (You get the best part of Vanish 14 levels early, yay.) Weave through enemy traffic with no fear of OAs, and even use Stealth if you need to.Hobgoblin: +2 CON, +1 INT (the latter’s a waste), Darkvision, and short-rest recharge power that lets you add up to +5 (or less depending on number of allies you have) to a failed attack, save or ability check. Eh.Kobold: -2 STR, but you get +2 DEX, so that’s the route to go. The signature ability is Pack Tactics, giving you some sweet advantage practically every round as long as an ally is next to your target. That’s pretty nice, though Sunlight Sensitivity is always a drawback to consider; if it’s not much of a factor in your campaign then this race gets a lot better. A Kobold with Sharpshooter and Crossbow Expert will kill a lot of enemies.Orc: +2 STR and +1 CON at the expense of -2 INT, which doesn’t hurt you too much since you don’t care about INT. Bonus-action movement of your full speed helps close to melee range quickly, always a plus if you’re melee. Much less so if you’re ranged. Also get Darkvision and free Intimidation proficiency. Pretty solid for a STR-based melee build, actually.Yuan-ti Pureblood: A fantastic race for those classes that can take advantage of its talents, but unfortunately that's not you. Bonuses to two Ranger dump stats, and you're not likely to have the CHA regardless to put Suggestion or any of its other racial spells to good use.[/spoiler]</blockquote>

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