Wiseblood
Adventurer
Please allow me to explain why I feel the 5e Ranger doesn't excite my imagination. The Ranger in it's earliest versions was a warrior, at odds with the dangers presented by the wilderness. A defender of civilized lands battling against the depredations of evil humanoids and giants. It was hard to meet requirements barring a ruling by a DM. The ranger also wielded magic both divine and arcane prior to getting several iterations of revised spell lists. I have not seen the new ranger in play. The changes I see in the 5e ranger are of a class that has moved further from its roots as a warrior than ever before.
I will list the changes that I feel will return the ranger to more familiar territory and why I think you and I should use them. It is not my goal to put a layout of the whole class like it appears in the PHB but only a list of changes and their descriptions.
Favored Enemy would grant the same bonuses it currently does. Additionally, it would give a bonus to damage equal to your proficiency bonus on each successful attack against such an enemy. At first level it would include traditionally evil humanoids specifically Orcs, Kobolds, Gnolls, and Goblinoids, that is to say, you get ALL of them. This ends the sadistic choice between picking what you expect to see a lot of and picking what you think your character would. These were selected because they would be the most common threat to settlements on the surface. This emphasizes the role of rangers as guardians of people not guardians of the wild. At 6th level Giants would be added then Dragons at 14th.
Natural Explorer my first desire would be to change the name. It's not very evocative, but I digress. Again the bonuses would not change. Rangers would possess mastery of 4 terrain types Mountains, Plains, Forests, and Swamps. Only benefiting from one at a given time. The ranger would be able to swap them out after finishing a long rest and meditating. Additionally the ranger would benefit from the ability to recover 1d10 plus level Hit Points or One Level of Exhaustion at the end of a Short Rest. I replace the 6th and 10th level improvements with two new abilities discussed later. First I must explain why I changed these.
The first level ranger feels to me like an NPC class without these changes. The changes to these abilities are driven partially because they focused entirely on the two of the elements of play that are almost ignored by other class designs, and both rely on more input from the referee or would otherwise be so specific as to reduce their value without the complicity of said referee. I believe our game should be allowing more creativity with classes, and these class abilities as presented in the PHB are more confining to the group.
Note some characters may be better suited to alternate terrain types or enemies. As would be the case with Dwarves or Drow being suited to Underdark as a terrain type and aquatic races being adept at fighting Sahuagin. This should be discussed with your group and DM.
Confounding Foe 6th level ability that replaces the Natural Explorer Improvement is designed to emphasize the ranger's elusiveness and the disconcerting nature of being attacked while unaware. When an enemy is hit by the ranger with an attack during a surprise round that enemy must make a saving throw DC 8 + Your Proficiency Bonus + Your Wisdom Modifier or be confused until the end of your next turn.
Terrifying Foe 10th level ability that replaces Natural Explorer Improvement when the ranger has mastered woodscraft or bushcraft to the degree that they can eavesdrop or attack from seemingly out of nowhere. (Hide in Plain Sight) He or she can attack in such a way as to strike fear into the hearts of his enemies. When an enemy is hit by the ranger with an attack during a surprise round that enemy and any of it's allies within 30' must make a saving throw DC 8 + Your Proficiency Bonus + Your Wisdom Modifier or be frightened until the end of your next turn
Fighting Style would be gone. I understand that this may sound contrary to my stated goal. But it would be replaced with....
Skirmish at 2nd level. When the Ranger uses the attack action, the dash action, or the disengage action they may use a bonus action to make an attack. This feels extremely potent but I feel it's needed to differentiate the Ranger from other warriors. This would allow rangers to charge and eliminates the need for two weapon fighting style. They could simply use two weapons and use this ability to make their attack with the off hand. I have deliberately left out specifics on weapon type. This allows for heavy weapons, ranged weapons and wielding two weapons that are or are not light. This is the most potent change I have considered it is also the most interesting tactical development to shape the experience of playing a ranger.
While these are the changes that I would make to the ranger class I would also consider changing the spell list, to deemphasize spellcasting in combat for the purpose of a damage boost. Hail of Thorns and Hunter's Mark being the first such spells that I would likely remove.
I am interested to hear what you think.
Wiseblood
I will list the changes that I feel will return the ranger to more familiar territory and why I think you and I should use them. It is not my goal to put a layout of the whole class like it appears in the PHB but only a list of changes and their descriptions.
Favored Enemy would grant the same bonuses it currently does. Additionally, it would give a bonus to damage equal to your proficiency bonus on each successful attack against such an enemy. At first level it would include traditionally evil humanoids specifically Orcs, Kobolds, Gnolls, and Goblinoids, that is to say, you get ALL of them. This ends the sadistic choice between picking what you expect to see a lot of and picking what you think your character would. These were selected because they would be the most common threat to settlements on the surface. This emphasizes the role of rangers as guardians of people not guardians of the wild. At 6th level Giants would be added then Dragons at 14th.
Natural Explorer my first desire would be to change the name. It's not very evocative, but I digress. Again the bonuses would not change. Rangers would possess mastery of 4 terrain types Mountains, Plains, Forests, and Swamps. Only benefiting from one at a given time. The ranger would be able to swap them out after finishing a long rest and meditating. Additionally the ranger would benefit from the ability to recover 1d10 plus level Hit Points or One Level of Exhaustion at the end of a Short Rest. I replace the 6th and 10th level improvements with two new abilities discussed later. First I must explain why I changed these.
The first level ranger feels to me like an NPC class without these changes. The changes to these abilities are driven partially because they focused entirely on the two of the elements of play that are almost ignored by other class designs, and both rely on more input from the referee or would otherwise be so specific as to reduce their value without the complicity of said referee. I believe our game should be allowing more creativity with classes, and these class abilities as presented in the PHB are more confining to the group.
Note some characters may be better suited to alternate terrain types or enemies. As would be the case with Dwarves or Drow being suited to Underdark as a terrain type and aquatic races being adept at fighting Sahuagin. This should be discussed with your group and DM.
Confounding Foe 6th level ability that replaces the Natural Explorer Improvement is designed to emphasize the ranger's elusiveness and the disconcerting nature of being attacked while unaware. When an enemy is hit by the ranger with an attack during a surprise round that enemy must make a saving throw DC 8 + Your Proficiency Bonus + Your Wisdom Modifier or be confused until the end of your next turn.
Terrifying Foe 10th level ability that replaces Natural Explorer Improvement when the ranger has mastered woodscraft or bushcraft to the degree that they can eavesdrop or attack from seemingly out of nowhere. (Hide in Plain Sight) He or she can attack in such a way as to strike fear into the hearts of his enemies. When an enemy is hit by the ranger with an attack during a surprise round that enemy and any of it's allies within 30' must make a saving throw DC 8 + Your Proficiency Bonus + Your Wisdom Modifier or be frightened until the end of your next turn
Fighting Style would be gone. I understand that this may sound contrary to my stated goal. But it would be replaced with....
Skirmish at 2nd level. When the Ranger uses the attack action, the dash action, or the disengage action they may use a bonus action to make an attack. This feels extremely potent but I feel it's needed to differentiate the Ranger from other warriors. This would allow rangers to charge and eliminates the need for two weapon fighting style. They could simply use two weapons and use this ability to make their attack with the off hand. I have deliberately left out specifics on weapon type. This allows for heavy weapons, ranged weapons and wielding two weapons that are or are not light. This is the most potent change I have considered it is also the most interesting tactical development to shape the experience of playing a ranger.
While these are the changes that I would make to the ranger class I would also consider changing the spell list, to deemphasize spellcasting in combat for the purpose of a damage boost. Hail of Thorns and Hunter's Mark being the first such spells that I would likely remove.
I am interested to hear what you think.
Wiseblood
