NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gradine" data-source="post: 7486788" data-attributes="member: 57112">The Ranger has never had a stable identity as a class. I feel like it was originally envisioned as "Be Aragorn" and that identity has drifted this way and that ever since. I feel like it retained a relatively stable identity (although I always thought it weird that Minsc was a Ranger) until Wizards picked it up and they haven't figured out what to do with it since. 3.X treated the class like its main distinctions were whether they were archers or dual-wielders, in a system where other classes could excel at either, and didn't really give the class anything else to really set it apart. 4e made it worse by taking away the Ranger's magic and focusing the class almost entirely on its combat role. The 5e Ranger is arguably the closest WotC has gotten to a "classic" Ranger, but it still doesn't have a strong handle on what it's unique identity is supposed to be, and as a result it feels like many "classic" Ranger archetypes could be better built, or at least built more easily, with a different class and the way 5e handles backgrounds. The one exception I could probably think of, in all honesty, is Drizzt, who as far as a PHB-only campaign is concerned is a pretty solid fit for a Hunter Ranger, and now that we have the Gloom Stalker (or heck, Monster Slayer works too) I'm not entirely certain why there's even a conversation as to why he somehow doesn't fit in the class anymore.Here's the real trouble with the animal companion - it's a vestige of a style of play that D&D has not supported well since, well at least since AD&D. This was back when every class was attracting followers of some kind or another, and there was more of a focus on stronghold building and protection, as opposed to having that small army of followers/apprentices/animals join you on adventures and dungeon crawls and hack monsters with you. It was a nod to its wargaming roots. 3.X made at least a token effort to make followers an option but it just... doesn't really fit the mode of play D&D has shifted into at this point. I can understand the drive to still have an "animal companion" class, and WotC did about as good a job with it as they reasonably could have without really breaking the game or borking over the action economy, but honestly I think the "Beastmaster" is a trope that I think has worn out its fit within the game.</blockquote>

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