Let's Build a Ranger Subclass for Fighter

[FrogReaver]

Please don't turn this into a discussion about whether this is needed or not. Let's instead build something!​

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Let's briefly talk about why.

1. The Ranger Class in 5e is generally viewed as being bad and while the subclasses in Xanather's helped the basic concept of an outdoors warrior that gets magical abilities for being so close to nature is lacking.

2. A fighter subclass will probably get us closer to those concepts faster than trying to create a whole new Ranger class with subclasses. Afterall we do have the Eldritch Knight as a bit of a guide.

3. I would love to see a well done Ranger Class in 5e and would love someone to design one. It's just subclasses are easier to design and I think most of the traditional Ranger features can be covered in a subclass and be balanced.

4. Of course it will be a very generic Ranger subclass and will not be able to cover concepts like beastmaster rangers and such. For that we would need a full class and I hope one day they release a variant ranger class that works for all this.

5. I'm a little leery about whether the important abilities will come together early enough. I think they will but I could be mistaken.

Possible Subclass abilities

Level 3: 1/3 Spell casting very similar to Eldritch Knight.
A) I'm not sure if I should follow the Druids or Rangers Spell list
B) I'm not sure what if any ribbon ability I should give the class in addition to spell casting at this level.

The rest of the abilities really depends on our choices for the spell list and the ribbon ability.

Level 7:
A) Possibility for favored enemy or Natural Explorer or maybe both?

Level 10:

Level 15:
A) Generally is combat related unless our combat ability is already scaled enough by some other feature?

Level 18:
A) Generally a very solid ability but not overpowered in any way?


Thoughts? Ideas? Opinions?

Would Hunter's Mark be too strong on the Fighter Class with full level progression? I think I'll examine this in my next post.

 

[FrogReaver]

Assuming 4 rounds of combat per fight and 2 short rests

At level 3 Hunter's mark can affect 10 attacks. That's a total of 10d6 extra damage daily if all attacks hit (probably closer to 6d6 with 60% of attacks hitting). Possibly a little more if two-weapon fighting but typically not much more (I've dealt with why two weapon fighting isn't nearly as effective with hunter's mark as it would appear to be in many other threads so I'm not going to rehash the evidence that brings me to that conclusion).

A battlemaster can typically do 12d8 damage per day with added effects. A battle master is a bit better at damage (it's a very front loaded class) but if we add in one decent ribbon type ability and think about the added versatility of spells then it's probably balanced enough at this level.


At high levels an Eldritch Knight using shadow blade should be more effective at damage than a fighter with hunter's mark. The side effect is that the hunter's mark fighter would have higher level slots left for healing and utility which may make up the difference. Either way I think the spell boosts are balanced enough.

Probably just need very little in the way of additional benefits for the ranger subclass of fighter.

 

[mellored]

3: Might as well stick with the ranger spell list.
Survival expertise.

7: beast companion: you can get a pet of CR 1/2 or below. It acts directly after your turn.
10, 15, 18: increase your beast CR.

 

[MechaPilot]

Drat! I thought this was going to be about a spell-less ranger using the fighter chassis.

 

[Ancalagon]

I would start with the scout subclass from xanatar, I wouldn't use one with spells...

And the PhB Hunter subclass is decent. It's the beastmaster that has issues.

 

[FrogReaver]

3: Might as well stick with the ranger spell list.
Survival expertise.

7: beast companion: you can get a pet of CR 1/2 or below. It acts directly after your turn.
10, 15, 18: increase your beast CR.

From the looks of my comparisons it looks like this fighter using hunter's mark most every fight already gets plenty in the damage department. I wouldn't want to add anything else in that increases damage unless its by a miniscule amount or is very circumstancial. I'd probably take the remaining subclass space to add out of combat stuff? What you think?

Expertise survival is a good call I think. Other opinoiins on this one?

 

[FrogReaver]

Drat! I thought this was going to be about a spell-less ranger using the fighter chassis.

A fighter subclass could also be good for that, but not what I had in mind here. Just the fighter class with the right background and almost any subclass like champion or cavalier could work for that too I would think?

 

[FrogReaver]

I would start with the scout subclass from xanatar, I wouldn't use one with spells...

And the PhB Hunter subclass is decent. It's the beastmaster that has issues.

I think the Hunter Ranger only looks decent because
1. It's not a beastmaster ranger
2. It's actually pretty good for the first 5 levels. After that it's kinda suspect. (Especially level 11 and beyond)

 

[mellored]

Low level beast won't add much damage.

Perhaps just keep it at CR1/2 at 7, and at 10+ give out some high level utility spells that your otherwise missing. Like freedom of movement and tree stride 1/day.

 

[FrogReaver]

Low level beast won't add much damage.

Perhaps just keep it at CR1/2 at 7, and at 10+ give out some high level utility spells that your otherwise missing. Like freedom of movement and tree stride 1/day.

I like the idea of once per day spells for the Ranger. Good call. I'm still not convinced on the beast. If it's not a magical beast it's too easy to lose. Are you thinking it's more like a bigger familiar?