D&D 5E Ranger

[Gladius Legis]

Thanks for doing the math, Gladius. Keep in mind though, Hunter's Mark is situational because 1) it's a bonus action, which conflicts with the extra TWF attack, and 2) it requires Concentration and the Hunter doesn't have proficiency in Con saves.

1) Only for the first round against an enemy.
2) That's a fair point, although a glance at the Hoard of the Dragon Queen monsters addendum, which I assume use the final monster design guidelines, reveals that there won't be too many Concentration checks higher than DC 10, even among the high CR monsters. And if you really need an insurance policy, there's always Resilient.

 

[Gargoyle]

Looking at beastmaster closely I can see some potential in it that probably can't be expressed in DPR. Beast are fast, have movements such as climbing and flying, and can threaten more enemies just by their mere presence, drawing attacks away from others and granting advantage with Help actions that are pretty much free at 7th level. Having an animal companion gives you options, and is pretty cool with regard to flavor.

It's too bad their "share spells" ability is 15th level though; I think that should have been granted at 3rd because the power of it scales with the power of the spells you're casting. They should get something else at 15th level to enhance both the ranger and the beast's survival, possibly some sort of hit point sharing "life bond" ability.

As an aside, it amuses me that we are continuing the grand tradition of being overly critical of every single ranger class ever designed. People are passionate about rangers!

 

[fba827]

People are passionate about rangers!

You might say it's a favored enemy ;-)





( but more specifically, it's just one of those classes that everyone seems to have different opinions on how it its core should be represented..)

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Not having the PHB yet, I have a couple of questions about the beast master.

If you have to spend your action/attack to have your animal companion attack, does the animal companion get something special out of it? Is this an enhanced attack of some sort?

Kind of matters, because in my game anyone can have a pet. Want a panther to follow you around? That's some Handle Animal and time to raise a club. No class feature required. And the animal will fight normally--using its own actions.

So what is different about the effectiveness of the ranger's animal companion compared to just having the animal from the MM (or PHB appendix) as a pet/friend?

 

[greymarch]

Rangers = meh

Bought the new PHB a few days ago. In general I am a big ranger fan. I have read all the classes several times. My opinion on ranger:

Meh. One of the weaker combat classes. Because of the ranger spells, definitely better with ranged weapons than melee weapons.

Hunter > Beast Master.

For hunter, Giant Killer, Multi-attack defense, Volley and Evasion will be the abilities to take. Uncanny dodge requires a bonus action, so you wont be able to use a 2nd bonus action in the same round to cast one of your tasty bonus-action spells. Evasion simply works...doesnt require any action.

Hail of Thorns will be your DPR spell. Combined with Volley, or simply with more than one attack, you will be raining decent damage on plenty of combatants in a single round

Swift quiver is nice, but doesnt kick in until the round after you cast it. Swift quiver costs a bonus action to cast. You can then shoot two extra arrows with a bonus action each round, but since swift quiver is a bonus action in the first place, and you can only take one bonus action each round, your wont start getting the extra two shots until the round after you cast swift quiver. With swift quiver, the round after you cast it, a ranger can get 4 shots a round.

Stoneskin could be useful depending on how many monsters have attacks which count as magical attacks.

Vanish could be fantastic, if a player can hide during combat. The hide rules for 5.0 are a mess. The official D&D boards are raging with players trying to figure out all the details of how hide works in 5.0

Ranger burst damage stinks.

Rangers are a role-playing class. Oh well. I will learn to deal with it. Personally, my character will be 18 levels of ranger, and 2 levels of rogue. That should still make for a decent combat character with loads of roleplaying potential.

 

[FadedC]

It's worth noting that at low level a boar's charge hits for as much as a 16 strength character using a greatsword, and has a decent chance to knock the enemy prone. That's very frequently going to be worth giving up your attack for. The constrictor snake might be an even better bet, it's damage is a little lower but it's more accurate and comes with a restrain effect which is pretty nasty. It's kind of hard to imagine a ranger and his faithful boa constrictor companion though.

Regarding extra benefits that hunters gain for their companions, they get to add their proficiency bonus to their companion's attack, damage and AC. They also give their pet a max hp of their lvl x 4.

 

[Chriscdoa]

Not having the PHB yet, I have a couple of questions about the beast master.

If you have to spend your action/attack to have your animal companion attack, does the animal companion get something special out of it? Is this an enhanced attack of some sort?

Kind of matters, because in my game anyone can have a pet. Want a panther to follow you around? That's some Handle Animal and time to raise a club. No class feature required. And the animal will fight normally--using its own actions.

So what is different about the effectiveness of the ranger's animal companion compared to just having the animal from the MM (or PHB appendix) as a pet/friend?

The AC gets to add the ranger pc proficiency bonus to attacks and other things. So it will be better. But of course the ranger is losing its own attacks for that.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

What are peoples oponions on the new ranger then?

I have the book but haven't had time to read it much, but still it looks like the ranger is a bit naff.

i really don't like how you use your actions to make your companion attack.
why would you want to when you are probably better off attacking yourself.

It's a game balance/time issue. In 3rd Edition, summoning could be powerful (not always) but it always extended round length. Even if the player is "on the ball" and has the right stats and thinks and acts fast, their turn is going to take longer.

Also not a fan of full casting

I'm not a fan of casting rangers either. Why isn't that a feat?

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Regarding extra benefits that hunters gain for their companions, they get to add their proficiency bonus to their companion's attack, damage and AC. They also give their pet a max hp of their lvl x 4.

The AC gets to add the ranger pc proficiency bonus to attacks and other things. So it will be better. But of course the ranger is losing its own attacks for that.

Hmm... So it sounds like the animal companion is better than the standard beast (advanced training with his ranger, I'd assume).

Well then it sounds like the way to go is simply allow the animal to act normally on his own, and the ranger can choose to give up some of his actions to give the animal extra actions. Having an improved beast and the flexibility to direct it warlord-style seems seems like it would be useful.

That's assuming that there is nothing explicitly saying that the companion doesn't do anything unless you direct it. If it does say that, I'll straight up ignore it, or rule that the companion only adds the ranger's proficiency bonus to attacks and such when it is being commanded and otherwise acts as a normal creature.

 

[drjones]

It's the same action economy issue that the 4e ranger (and other summoning classes) faced. If you don't take away the characters action to use the creatures action then you are basically adding a new PC to the party, and all encounters need to be rebalanced for that. Combined with the ability to soak damage it made summoners some of the more powerful character types in earlier editions. A summon creature spell could outshine most of the same level in some circumstances.

Not that it is wrong to be powerful, and this version is un-fun in that it gives you a toy and then tells you not to use it. But there is a reason for it that would need to be addressed in some other way if summons got their own actions.