D&D (2024) How to simply fix Ranger in 2024.

[Minigiant]

Yeah but we are talking about Aragorn, not a generic woodland nature man. For the most part, Aragorn didn't do woodcraft/nature stuff.

IRL Rangers are not about woodcraft. They are badass special forces soldiers.

My point was all the stuff that Aragorn does.

All the stuff that people claim are Ranger things.

are Spells in D&D.

Rangers would not develop nonmagical herbology, zoology, geology, meteorology, geography, etc... because the magic exists.

Rangers would use the technology (in high tech low magic settings), magic (in magic low tech settings), or both (in high magic high tech settings).

Aragorn is using Ranger Magic or Ranger Tech. Ranger Tech doesn't exist in D&D. There's no rules for it. There never is.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Rangers would not develop nonmagical herbology, zoology, geology, meteorology, geography, etc... because the magic exists.

i'd quibble that rangers would still develop that stuff too, but i agree with the core of your point that they'd also use the magic versions of those skills where available.

Edit: IMO a ranger uses magic to enhance their capabilities in those areas, not replace them entirely.

 

[Minigiant]

i'd quibble that rangers would still develop that stuff too, but i agree with the core of your point that they'd also use the magic versions of those skills where available.

Edit: IMO a ranger uses magic to enhance their capabilities in those areas, not replace them entirely.

I'd argue that Hunter's mark is one of those spells rangers would pay druids and wizards to make for them.

To me again, Paladins get Smites. Rangers get Marks

Hunter's Mark=Tracking buff + Damage
Beastmaster Mark= Beast buff + Damage
Stalker's Mark= Stealth buff + Damage
Trapper's Mark= Sensory + Damage trap

We wait for 6e.

 

[Rocker26a]

what if they had just flat added 1d6 extra damage to all weapon attacks the ranger makes as a passive bonus, if the intent of HM was meant to supplement the ranger's DPR i don't know why they have to mess around making it a spell and the havok permanent concentration wreaks on doing anything with their magic.

That's very similar to what I've got in my homebrew. Ranger gets an ability they activate with a bonus action, that adds a damage die to their attacks, plus better senses, tracking and movement. And then Hunter's Mark itself is a backup/double-down, adds a slimmer but guaranteed damage bonus, plus reveals damage resistances.

I'm messing with some alternate castings of Hunter's Mark that do other cool things, but not sure where I wanna go with that just yet.

 

[Eubani]

I would of liked to see 3 things in the 2024 Ranger:
1. The creation of more non concentration ritual spells and extra slots dedicated purely for ritual spells.
2. A range of "Mark" spells across all 5 levels as well as some spells that create traps.
3. More weapon attack spells that work with both melee and ranged.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I think HM could be a nice 10 minutes ritual the ranger could use when observing a creature or their tracks. You then gain 1d6 damage and tracking bonus against that creature, and advantage on Int check to recall info about them for X hours. It could even be bonus against the same creature type (ie: goblins, zombies etc)

Then it's not about spell slots or concentration, but more about preparation.

 

[Moorcrys]

My issue isn’t with concentration/not concentration, it’s that it takes a bonus action to switch targets, which screws with action economy on abilities like the beast master, two weapon fighting, and non-concentration fey companions.

 

[mellored]

My issue isn’t with concentration/not concentration, it’s that it takes a bonus action to switch targets, which screws with action economy on abilities like the beast master, two weapon fighting, and non-concentration fey companions.

Beastmaster can replace one of your attacks with the best attack.
Two weapon fighting has Nick, removing the bonus action.

 

[Moorcrys]

Beastmaster can replace one of your attacks with the best attack.
Two weapon fighting has Nick, removing the bonus action.

Yes. Unless I’m misreading, it doesn’t particularly help you until 5th level, and even then you still need to use your bonus action to move the beast or do other things. Since you will usually want to be using the bonus action hunter’s mark to move to a new target when your mark goes down, chances are your beast is going to want to be moving to another target as well. And you will only be able to do one or the other. It’s just clunky in my opinion, which is why I’m leaning toward making hunters mark a bonus action to cast, but a reaction to change targets once the mark dies or is incapacitated… then removing the reaction demand entirely at a certain level.

Vex is great for one type of build. I’d prefer that a primary ability the designers leaned heavily on, Hunters Mark, work well with all sorts of ranger builds relatively well.

Otherwise, I am happy with the Ranger. I just feel like the designers could have thought through their decisions regarding Hunter’s Mark a little more thoroughly to make it work a bit more elegantly.

 

[mellored]

Yes. Unless I’m misreading, it doesn’t particularly help you until 5th level,

It might be able to out damage you.
Could certainly hit a different target than you.

and even then you still need to use your bonus action to move the beast or do other things.

It can move on and take OA's on it's own.