evilbob
Adventurer
Looking at a 5.0 ranger, they seem to have very little party synergy at upper levels. They also seem to lack a clear role. A dex-based fighter can out-damage them and cover several of their skills; a rogue can out-damage them and cover pretty much any of their skills and then some; a druid is just about strictly better in every way and is also a druid; other casters bring more utility; etc. They definitely do alright at lower levels - at level 5 they could potentially get 3-4 attacks in one round and add a d6 in damage to each one - but past the midpoint they start to dwindle, and by upper levels the general consensus seems to be that multiclassing a ranger is a better option than staying one. (Not a good thing.) Part of the issue comes from the fact that their spells are straight-up awful - but really because all their good ones (except conjure barrage and conjure volley) are concentration. Even weird ones that are a bonus action and only affect your next attack are concentration for some reason - making them conflict directly with all your other useful spells. Ideally they would lose out in martial strength a bit but make that back with a good spell selection, but this isn't the case. And if they can't do either, ideally they would do something no other class can do - but this is REALLY not the case. Even in an exploration-heavy, wilderness-centered campaign there isn't a good reason to bring a ranger if you could bring a druid instead, or have a cleric, or have a rogue. These three classes can pretty much cover anything a ranger can do, PLUS do all the things they are already good at. And I've gotten this far without even mentioning the sad, sad Beastmaster subclass which is easily the weakest one in the PHB, or their pathetic capstone ability which is also the weakest one in the PHB by about a mile.
Personally I think the whole class needs re-tooling, but short of that I have a few ideas for a few fixes that will hopefully make the ranger more unique and give them more ability to be useful especially at higher levels. While they don't necessarily need more damage, I've also tried to make the Favored Enemy feature a bit more meaningful, as right now it's also useless. See what you think; I've included rationales behind each improvement. Comments welcome!
Ranger Class Improvements
Level 1, Foe Slayer: At 1st level, you can add your Wisdom modifier to the attack roll or damage roll of an attack you make against one of your favored enemies. You can use this feature again after a short or a long rest. At 10th level, you can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum once) per short or long rest, but never more than once per turn. At 20th level, you can use this feature once on each of your turns, and you may apply half the bonus rounded down to any non-favored enemy.
This gives a bit of purpose to your favored enemy selections other than rangers simply being amazing linguists, increases your damage a bit at the midpoint at least against creatures you should be doing well against, and makes the capstone feature not completely worthless. It's still not even half as good as the barbarian's, but at least it's something. (Note that allowing rangers to add Wis mod to BOTH attack and damage is still not as good as the barbarian's capstone since you can only do it once per turn. I had thought of making it apply to both, but I wasn't sure - what do people think?)
Level 2, Spellcasting (in addition to the current feature): You gain the Druidcraft cantrip. You also gain the spell Hunter's Mark, which does not count against your spells known. When you reach level 13, you no longer need to concentrate to maintain Hunter's Mark, and it always lasts the full duration.
This gives them a bit more spellcasting flavor with the cantrip and extra spell known, and lets players know that this is a good spell they should probably be using. Even at higher levels it still only adds a d6 to damage, but releasing the concentration requirement allows rangers to combo it with all their other spells. Note that rogues add 7d6 sneak attack damage by level 13 - an extra d6 on every attack for the cost of a spell seems extremely light. I almost want to make the concentration go away earlier, but they don't really need much help with damage earlier.
Level 3, Primeval Awareness: This feature does not use a spell slot, but you can only use this feature once per long rest. It also works on any of your favored enemies, in addition to the types listed, and reveals each type of enemy detected. At level 5, you can use this feature for 2 minutes and it can be used again after a short or long rest. At level 9, you can use this feature for 3 minutes and it can be used a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum once) per short or long rest. At level 13, you can use this feature for 4 minutes and it also reveals the rough direction (relative to you) and an approximate number of any creatures detected (one, a few, several, etc.). At level 17 it lasts for five minutes and you know the exact number and location of any creatures detected.
Now we get to the most interesting change, where the worst class feature in the PHB becomes a moderately good one, and a relatively great one at high levels. This gives the ranger something actually unique that they can do, builds off both the favored enemy and favored terrain, and gives them something useful they can do that you would expect a ranger to be able to do.
Personally I think the whole class needs re-tooling, but short of that I have a few ideas for a few fixes that will hopefully make the ranger more unique and give them more ability to be useful especially at higher levels. While they don't necessarily need more damage, I've also tried to make the Favored Enemy feature a bit more meaningful, as right now it's also useless. See what you think; I've included rationales behind each improvement. Comments welcome!
Ranger Class Improvements
Level 1, Foe Slayer: At 1st level, you can add your Wisdom modifier to the attack roll or damage roll of an attack you make against one of your favored enemies. You can use this feature again after a short or a long rest. At 10th level, you can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum once) per short or long rest, but never more than once per turn. At 20th level, you can use this feature once on each of your turns, and you may apply half the bonus rounded down to any non-favored enemy.
This gives a bit of purpose to your favored enemy selections other than rangers simply being amazing linguists, increases your damage a bit at the midpoint at least against creatures you should be doing well against, and makes the capstone feature not completely worthless. It's still not even half as good as the barbarian's, but at least it's something. (Note that allowing rangers to add Wis mod to BOTH attack and damage is still not as good as the barbarian's capstone since you can only do it once per turn. I had thought of making it apply to both, but I wasn't sure - what do people think?)
Level 2, Spellcasting (in addition to the current feature): You gain the Druidcraft cantrip. You also gain the spell Hunter's Mark, which does not count against your spells known. When you reach level 13, you no longer need to concentrate to maintain Hunter's Mark, and it always lasts the full duration.
This gives them a bit more spellcasting flavor with the cantrip and extra spell known, and lets players know that this is a good spell they should probably be using. Even at higher levels it still only adds a d6 to damage, but releasing the concentration requirement allows rangers to combo it with all their other spells. Note that rogues add 7d6 sneak attack damage by level 13 - an extra d6 on every attack for the cost of a spell seems extremely light. I almost want to make the concentration go away earlier, but they don't really need much help with damage earlier.
Level 3, Primeval Awareness: This feature does not use a spell slot, but you can only use this feature once per long rest. It also works on any of your favored enemies, in addition to the types listed, and reveals each type of enemy detected. At level 5, you can use this feature for 2 minutes and it can be used again after a short or long rest. At level 9, you can use this feature for 3 minutes and it can be used a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum once) per short or long rest. At level 13, you can use this feature for 4 minutes and it also reveals the rough direction (relative to you) and an approximate number of any creatures detected (one, a few, several, etc.). At level 17 it lasts for five minutes and you know the exact number and location of any creatures detected.
Now we get to the most interesting change, where the worst class feature in the PHB becomes a moderately good one, and a relatively great one at high levels. This gives the ranger something actually unique that they can do, builds off both the favored enemy and favored terrain, and gives them something useful they can do that you would expect a ranger to be able to do.
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