D&D General Seeking Input: A moment of prayer for the Ranger

[Corinnguard]

Then Rangers get Druid spells to represent wilderness expertise and instead of that, Rogues get extra abilities to represent their trickery.

Laser Llama's take on both classes have it where both classes get features that do reflect on the Wilderness expertise of the Ranger and the extra abilities of the Rogue. The Ranger has Knacks while the Rogue has Devious Exploits.

Alternate Ranger by laserllama

Alternate Ranger by laserllama - Created with GM Binder.

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Alternate Rogue by laserllama

Alternate Rogue by laserllama - Created with GM Binder.

www.gmbinder.com

 

[mellored]

Double down on "awareness"

Ranger 1: Sixth Sense
The subtle changes to the noises of animals, the way dust lays in the ground, the faintest of smells, even changes in air current combin to give you a level of awareness beyond understanding. You are automatically vaguely aware of any creature within 10' times your ranger level, half that in an urban setting. You can not be surprised by creatures in this range.
If you spend 10 minutes studying your surroundings, you become aware of any creature within a number of miles equal to your Ranger level, 100' for an urban environment, and know their general direction.

Ranger 2: guerilla warfare
You can cast Pass Without Trace at-will, except the bonus is equal to half your Ranger level, and it is not a magical effect.


Horizon Walker: your Sixth Sense detects portals. And you can discern what dimension they lead to as an action.

...
Improved Sixth Sense: you are now aware of flying creatures.

 

[Eubani]

I once had a mechanic idea for non magical Rangers. Preparation Dice, the Ranger started off with a small number and accrued more as they prepared or worked on a task for a task. These could be burned for extra damage, roll bonuses, time reduction and other special effects. As the Ranger levelled they gained more ways to use them and gain them as well as the dice scaling with level.

 

[Minigiant]

I'm an RPG I'm designing, the Druid and Ranger analogs get different spells from Nature, Astral, and Glamor magic.

The Druid analog has access to Shape spells that turn the caster into animals, plants, fairies, and beasts.

The Ranger analog has access to Shift spells which grant the caster one of the traits of the best, plant, or fairy but maintaining a human or Humaniods body.

Beast Boy vs Beast

It's as high fantasy as D&D if not more so though.

 

[Skyscraper]

I really want to see if the "army scout" idea could work. I have toyed with making a magic-less Ranger and never really arrived at something anywhere as good as what the 5e Barbarian achieves.
Perspective: I'm weird in that I started from 5e and then went towards the OSR, one of the reasons was the "everyone has magic" issue that 5e suffered from.
Side note: Barbarians and Paladins are how i think an alternative fighter work best: mechanically different on alternative axies and I am a bit sad the Ranger doesn't have this feel.

Does stripping magic from rangers return them to their roots as skilled trackers and hunters? Creating opportunities for cunning wilderness encounters and emphasizes problem-solving and survival skills over spellcasting. A ranger's true power should lie in their knowledge of the land and their ability to use it to their advantage.
What do you all think?

I really want to see if the "army scout" idea could work. I have toyed with making a magic-less Ranger and never really arrived at something anywhere as good as what the 5e Barbarian achieves.
Perspective: I'm weird in that I started from 5e and then went towards the OSR, one of the reasons was the "everyone has magic" issue that 5e suffered from.
Side note: Barbarians and Paladins are how i think an alternative fighter work best: mechanically different on alternative axies and I am a bit sad the Ranger doesn't have this feel.

Does stripping magic from rangers return them to their roots as skilled trackers and hunters? Creating opportunities for cunning wilderness encounters and emphasizes problem-solving and survival skills over spellcasting. A ranger's true power should lie in their knowledge of the land and their ability to use it to their advantage.
What do you all think?

Is it possible to reskin the Ranger spells to non-spell class features?

 

[theBardic life]

You need to answer how an "army scout" hunts a storm giant, red dragon, archmages, archfiend, or lich and survive in environment polluted by them.

This typically can't be done without either spell casting, something that maybe spell casting (invocation or infusions), or warping the entire game to create a subsystem that require specific wilderness mechanical play,

I think this is the core of my problem, my "army scout as a ranger" character concept breaks as the power level increases.

One of the inspirations for this idea is the Scout Regiment from "Attack on Titan", and when its 1 scout vs 1 titan, the scout usually get eaten. So yeah, I guess its not an idea that works (shrugs).

 

[Rushbolt]

I believe the best way to fix the Ranger is to really lean hard into WIS bonuses being applied on almost anything. The Ranger's power has less to do with STR, DEX, or even CON and more to do with with their ability to make the right decision at all times. They can withstand the mental stress resulting from the uncertainty and danger of being totally self-reliant. By making more class features benefit from WIS you get away from the DEX-based Ranger persona that is ruining the flexibility of the class. It also corrects the MAD problem the Ranger exhibits at this time. I'm not saying Ranger's should get something similar to the Paladin's Aura of Protection, but there needs to be enough reasons to raise your WIS to 20 before you even worry about raising your attack stat. The Ranger may not end up being the highest DPR at that point, but emphasizing that their mental defenses are much higher than a Fighter or Rogue will help reinforce a different identity.

 

[Corinnguard]

I believe the best way to fix the Ranger is to really lean hard into WIS bonuses being applied on almost anything. The Ranger's power has less to do with STR, DEX, or even CON and more to do with with their ability to make the right decision at all times. They can withstand the mental stress resulting from the uncertainty and danger of being totally self-reliant. By making more class features benefit from WIS you get away from the DEX-based Ranger persona that is ruining the flexibility of the class. It also corrects the MAD problem the Ranger exhibits at this time. I'm not saying Ranger's should get something similar to the Paladin's Aura of Protection, but there needs to be enough reasons to raise your WIS to 20 before you even worry about raising your attack stat. The Ranger may not end up being the highest DPR at that point, but emphasizing that their mental defenses are much higher than a Fighter or Rogue will help reinforce a different identity.

One of the things that could be done with the 2024 Ranger involving Wisdom is to replace their STR-based saving throws with a WIS-based saving throw. This would give them a better chance to resist psychic attacks from supernatural beings like the Fey that live in the wilderness.

 

[Horwath]

I believe the best way to fix the Ranger is to really lean hard into WIS bonuses being applied on almost anything. The Ranger's power has less to do with STR, DEX, or even CON and more to do with with their ability to make the right decision at all times. They can withstand the mental stress resulting from the uncertainty and danger of being totally self-reliant. By making more class features benefit from WIS you get away from the DEX-based Ranger persona that is ruining the flexibility of the class. It also corrects the MAD problem the Ranger exhibits at this time. I'm not saying Ranger's should get something similar to the Paladin's Aura of Protection, but there needs to be enough reasons to raise your WIS to 20 before you even worry about raising your attack stat. The Ranger may not end up being the highest DPR at that point, but emphasizing that their mental defenses are much higher than a Fighter or Rogue will help reinforce a different identity.

steal from 3.5e feat.

Zen Archery:
+wis
you can use Wis bonus instead of Dex for ranged attacks.
your weapon range increases by 50%

 

[Minigiant]

I think this is the core of my problem, my "army scout as a ranger" character concept breaks as the power level increases.

One of the inspirations for this idea is the Scout Regiment from "Attack on Titan", and when its 1 scout vs 1 titan, the scout usually get eaten. So yeah, I guess its not an idea that works (shrugs).

That is the crux of the issue.

D&D gets heroic at level 5 and super heroic at level 10.

You either have to become supernatural (4e and 5e) or mandate a required amount of magic items exclusively by class (0e to 3e) to make "Human fights Litteral Giant" and "Human tracks down Magic Flying Dragon" work