D&D (2024) UA Ranger (Playtest 6)

[Emberashh]

So the Ranger inexplicably brought back a diminished form of terrain specialization, and gave Hunter some of its glory back, but has also fully committed to making literal spells take up an entire level.

I am doing an upset. (Mostly because Im not trying to rewrite my own Ranger yet and this is enraging me considerably)

 

[Willie the Duck]

Being able to swap the terrain specialization goes a long way to making them work for most groups.

I'll have to go back and look to see if 4th level spells are a game-changer for rangers. My gut says no. It'd be nice if they gave at least a ribbon like having an occasionally useful spell always prepared like they did with 3rd (along with a deft explorer upgrade).

I do like a weapon mastery rather than cantrips. It helps keep the ranger a little more in the 'this is a martial character who also happens to casts spells' camp. Especially if the level 1 feats stay as they are and everyone will be able to pick up some cantrips easily anyways.

 

[Gladius Legis]

I do like a weapon mastery rather than cantrips. It helps keep the ranger a little more in the 'this is a martial character who also happens to casts spells' camp. Especially if the level 1 feats stay as they are and everyone will be able to pick up some cantrips easily anyways.

Plus Rangers can still take cantrips as their Fighting Style (from Tasha's). And having Weapon Mastery makes that tradeoff much less painful.

 

[Horwath]

Nice to see that trend of "Rangers getting the shaft" is back on WotC menu.

1. Deft explorer? Again? really? DM charity feature. One good thing is that you can change it after long rest so it's not that bad.
would 2 expertise at 1st level be too much for the ranger?

Also, why is there no global benefit for favorite terrain?

Arctic?
Cold resistance and normal movement on ice/snow without risk of falling.

Coast: swim speed and water breathing, maybe also cold resistance

Desert: fire resistance and you need only half food and water.

Forest: normal movement in all difficult terrains

Grassland: +10ft move speed

Mountain: altitude adaptation and cold resistance

Swamp: poison and disease resistance and advantage on saves vs them

Underdark: +60ft darkvision

*Urban: +2 languages and 2 skills from: History, Insight, Deception, Persuasion, Intimidation.


2.
Favored enemy:
Add: when Hunter's mark is casted with this feature, it does not need Concetration and there is no spell components.
also, use prof bonus, now Wisdom for usage. Too much focus on tertiar ability

3.
Conjure Barrage; you wont make a bad spell good, by make it a free preparation. At least give it one free use per day. Or better yet, replace it with Fireball. You can refluff it as rain of arrows.

4.
Nature's veils: same problem with Wisdom focus. Use proficiency bonus instead.

5.
Conjure Volley, Now, if this was instead of that dreaded 9th level feature, we would be talking. at 17th level it's OK but nothing special.
One free usage would not hurt.

Edit: Now I have noticed that from others here that Rangers lost cantrips.
Ofc, they did. why should rangers have some cool trick to entertain at campfire. Druidcraft+Elemetalism

Now we will be in a world without Rangers of 5th level casting poison spray instead of shooting someone at 150ft with archery style. Such a waste...

 

[Charlaquin]

It’s funny, I’m usually one of the most vocal spellcasting ranger haters, and I was actually pretty cool with this version. I mean, obviously I still wish there was a non-spellcasting version available, but for a spellcasting ranger, this is one I could live with.

Deft Explorer is pure upside compared to the last UA - you still get expertise in a skill of your choice, and now you also get advantage on some nature-related checks. You get two terrain types and can swap one of them out on a long rest, which means it’ll basically always be active.

Hunter’s Mark requiring concentration again is of course a big nerf, but I saw it coming. They’ve tried it multiple times now, it keeps proving overpowered. We need to let this one go.

All of the subclasses got significant improvements, and they all get to do cool things that aren’t just spells.

Still don’t like that Barrage and Volley are spells, but this is clearly a hill WotC wants to die on, so whatever. I give up. The ranger isn’t going to be the survivalist character I want it to be, it’s just the primal analogue to paladins. I can live with that.

 

[Emberashh]

The ranger isn’t going to be the survivalist character I want it to be

WOTC kickin my lunch money and stealing my dog

 

[A2Z]

Being able to swap the terrain specialization goes a long way to making them work for most groups.

I don't really understand why it should be terrain dependant at all. Especially if you can just swap it out anyway.

As I'm playing a UA Revised Ranger at the moment I wish they'd incorporate more of those changes.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Thoughts on the Ranger:

• I too am sorry to see the return of Deft Explorer. Having advantage on Nature and Survival is nice, but for me it feels to magical to suddenly become an arctic expert after a good night's rest. Allowing changes at a new level puts the break on that. The choices are still too far ranging: why not just use the four types of land that were identified for druids?
  ARID (~desert) [geographers would go nuts since Antarctica is a desert, etc., but at least I know what this means]
  POLAR (~arctic)
  TEMPERATE (~grasslands)
  TROPICAL (~swamp)
  Get rid of mountain, forest, and coast -- roll them into the overall climate descriptor. Add Aquatic environments tied to each of the above. If you want Underdark there too, that's fine.
• Deft Explorer Improvement could add other exotic possibilities, such as Extra-Planar. Just with that, 50% of what I want from a Horizon Walker subclass would be covered.
• Favored Enemy gives Rangers something to use their concentration on all the time... Good idea to make Hunter's Mark a class-specific spell.
• Conjure Barrage as a free prep is fine, but I don't know how substantial it is.
• As with Conjure Barrage, Invisibility for a turn (Nature's Veil) is tactically fine, but I struggle with the fiction of it. I just don't find it exciting, which 14th level should be.
• Gloom Stalker still feels too powerful to me -- I like the presence of all the Fear benefits. Umbral Sight is still too powerful, and still terribly named (since the main benefit is the invisibility).
• Hunter is improved a lot. Hunter's lore is fine, and I love having to choose at level 7 between Evasion and Uncanny Dodge.

 

[Charlaquin]

I don't really understand why it should be terrain dependant at all. Especially if you can just swap it out anyway.

So that they feel like terrain-based benefits, which they said were heavily requested in the feedback to the last Expert UA. At least this way they can say they checked that box, without making the feature in question actually be dependent on being in any specific terrain type.

 

[Gladius Legis]

Hunter’s Mark requiring concentration again is of course a big nerf, but I saw it coming. They’ve tried it multiple times now, it keeps proving overpowered. We need to let this one go.

It's overpowered in the early levels but just fine past level 6 or so. They just need to add this feature to the progression:

Favored Enemy improvement
When you reach 6th level as a ranger, you no longer need to concentrate on hunter's mark.