Last D&D Survey Results In! Plus What's Up With The Ranger?

As you may know, WotC has a monthly survey/feedback system going. I report on it each month. Last month's survey was about product expectations Gen Con, and the results report was much shorter than usual - just a couple of sentences. "In terms of product, setting books and monster books proved the most popular. We were also happy to see that many of you had played in our published campaign worlds or wanted to try them out. We also saw plenty of support for new character options, with a consensus that most players are happy with our current pace of "slow but steady." I personally feel that my - anecdotal - experience with the online community says the opposite about the current pace, but a survey's a survey!

There's a new survey up, covering the recent Ranger playtest. As WotC mentions, the Ranger is the least popular class, and they intend to approach the class in a number of different ways over the coming year. The Ranger is interesting, because it attracts a lot of snotty comments (not as many as the very concept of a Warlord, but that's another thing).

Click here to take the Ranger survey.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I voted favored enemy gives you an all the time bonus that's useful against your favored enemy.

Favored enemy undead give you deal extra radiant damage, and resistance to necrotic.
Favored enemy beast gives you immobilizing arrows and move speed. (as they are in all melee).
Favored enemy dragon gives you immunity to fear, evasion, and/ or a prone arrow (which causes them to fall).

I feel like that's what the hunter TRIES to do, but it's probably worth promoting to a full class mechanic and given some more massaging. I don't see why I have to choose between that and An Animal Friend (who cannot be a bear).

I also +1'd a spell-less ranger, but who can opt into spellcasting like EK's and AT's can.

The release schedule didn't surprise me too much - there's PLENTY of material around, and an OGL would sweeten the deal.

Nobody is asking for bloat, nor does bloat equal a bit more than we are getting now.

Also, if they come out with something you don't like then don't buy it.

Should I not be able to have milk just because you don't?

I think what the survey points to is that not very many people would buy it. I mean, if you're the only one who wants milk in a country of the lactose intolerant (or lactose-apathetic), do you think a system of dairy farms should be erected to fulfill your needs?

Maybe with the OGL, you'd get a few small farmers making milk for you, anyway!

 

[EthanSental]

Nobody is asking for bloat, nor does bloat equal a bit more than we are getting now.

Also, if they come out with something you don't like then don't buy it.

Should I not be able to have milk just because you don't?

Then your going to be out of milk since the majority of people say the release schedule suits their needs. It they do come out with something just to try and satisfy the a smaller set of players that are interested in it and the majority don't buy it since they don't like it...guess what, WoTC just lost money or contribution margin on it. That's not a smart business move. I think they are playing it smart, seeing what people want next and will provide it.

I'm more interested in what they kind of book (setting/monster/PC options) they will give us after the Sword Coast that isn't tied to the current seasons adventure book.

 

[ChrisCarlson]

Natural Explorer made more useful in a general way, rather than something that's only useful in specific terrain types - this makes its usefulness too dependent on the type of campaign being played.

I've said this many times, but I think this is the one of the only real whiffs in the PHB. Does anyone else recall during the Next playtest, that there was at least one packet wherein the ranger had this very suggestion above?

Like having mountain as their terrain they could ignore certain related instances of difficult terrain.

Same with Favored Enemy. If they took dragons as their favored enemy, for example, they might have received advantage on reflex saves due to having learned to dodge dragon's breath (in addition to whatever hunting/tracking specific bennies came with them in general). I recall it was something like that.

I really wish I still had my old playtest packet PDFs so I could go back and look them up. My memory ain't what it used to be.

 

[Parmandur]

Doesn't surprise me that they weren't too detailed in their breakdown of results: pretty important industry info for them to know what we will pay money for.

Thinking the release schedule is slow seems to be an Internet selection bias phenomenon to me, which matches with the data apparently.

I liked the PHB Ranger fine, thought their proposal in UA was good; still seems to be something missing...

 

[Parmandur]

Nobody is asking for bloat, nor does bloat equal a bit more than we are getting now.



Also, if they come out with something you don't like then don't buy it.



Should I not be able to have milk just because you don't?

Wizards is making their decisions to maximize their profits: sometimes that means less is more. Chris Perkins said in a recent interview that they don't want to release books they don't think will sell 100,000 copies. That's a high bar, but doable at the rate they are releasing product.

 

[pukunui]

[MENTION=6801216]ChrisCarlson[/MENTION]: The ranger from the 08/02/13 packet had Favored Enemy as the subclass choice (with the two options being Dragon Slayer or Horde Breaker). It also had Expertise dice - it would be nice if rangers could just have Expertise in, say, Survival and Nature in general, rather than having Expertise in any Intelligence- or Wisdom-based skill check so long as they're in their favored terrain. That's just too fiddly and conditional.

As for Natural Explorer, the 08/02/13 ranger didn't get it until 5th level, and it made it so you and your companions could move at twice the normal rate while in "aboveground environments". It also made it so you couldn't become lost. It also increased the ranger's scouting range and foraging results. No mention of only being able to do these things in specific terrain types.

Their 20th level capstone ability was also pretty good: Terrain Superiority gave them advantage on attack rolls and saving throws made in "aboveground, wilderness environments".


As an aside, my overall impression with the PHB ranger is that it seems like it was designed with solo play in mind. It doesn't really come across as a team player. There are a few things here and there, but for the most part it's still got that "I work alone" vibe to it. And I'm not sure that's the best thing for a team-based game.

 

[Talmek]

Did anyone else notice that their survey recap mentioned NOTHING regarding the survey results for GenCon experiences? I mean, they mentioned that it was included in the survey but had no comments whatsoever regarding what people said, etc.

 

[Andor]

My biggest realization from the poll was in rating each edition's Ranger. It really called out that I haven't liked a version of the Ranger since 1E. The 5E version is the best one, since, but still not great. I despise the TWF thing, which makes absolutely no sense to be a class feature (this is where the 5E "pick a style" helps). Making the Ranger into a martial Druid is a complete perversion of the archetype (nature's champion isn't bad, it's just got nothing to do with a Ranger). And having a pet is just one build of the Ranger -- one that may make more sense for the Druid to own.

I agree that the 5e ranger is the best since 1e. Maybe a tad better since he isn't clearly an attempt to file the serial numbers of of Aragorn. In the survey I hope I made clear that I loath the idea of the spirit companion for a Ranger. First, as if they didn't learn from the Battlemaster ≠ Warlord response, trying to cram the 4e Shaman into a Ranger sub-class will not be met with applause. Secondly, it both a lousy archetype, and it steps on the Totem Barbarians toes at the same time.

 

[Magistus71]

For all of you that want more monsters, check this out. https://www.kickstarter.com/project...nsters-for-5th-edition/posts/1377732?ref=dash

 

[Jaelommiss]

Given how diverse peoples' opinions on what makes a good ranger, I have come to the conclusion that the ranger needs to be a build-your-own class. Take the ranger and strip it down to virtually nothing. Favoured enemy, natural explorer, fighting style, extra attack, possibly another couple features. For everything else, EVERYTHING else, give them a mechanic similar to the warlock's invocations.

Every two levels, gain a new ability from the list of "Survival Techniques" or something similar. Hunter archetype abilites would be there. Spellcasting progression would be there over a few steps. An animal companion could be attained and improved through it. Features from the spell-less ranger (poultice, resistance to poisons, adv on saves vs poisons) could be bought over a few levels. Specific benefits that require a specific favoured enemy, as suggested upthread, would be here too. Each 'path' (spellcasting, animal companion, Hunter features) would require five purchases, giving the ranger the opportunity to fill two full ability trees or dip into several at the cost of capstone features.

The biggest problem with this system is that it allows those so inclined to build a rather powerful 'optimal' ranger. The benefit is that everyone can build what THEY want from a ranger rather than being stuck with what the designers hope they would like.