Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana: Another New Ranger Variant

*Deleted by user*

 

[Orlax]

So for complete broken nonsense including some house ruling of the Psionics UA I have a fun build going:

Human UA Ranger 3 / Immortal 5 / Assassin 3 / Paladin 9

13, 13, 13, 12, 12, 12 base array ending with a 14, 14, 14, 13, 13, 13 {I gave the immortal a 13 int multiclass requirement because there needs to be something there and int is kindof their only real stat}

STR 13
DEX 14
CON 13
INT 13
WIS 14
CHA 14

Start with ranger and take 4 levels of immortal to get the resilient feat for con ASAP. Head to rogue after that for three levels to get the assassin subclass. from there you go to paladin for 8 to boost DEX and CHA (+3 to all saves is so worth it) with your other two ASIs. Then finish out the rest of the classes as you wish grabbing the last of immortal ranger and paladin in any order really.

Ending with

STR 13
DEX 16
CON 14
INT 13
WIS 14
CHA 16

Also take the Dueling fighting style and Defense Fighting Style to get that +2 to damage, and +1 to AC.

With a rapier, Stalker's fang, a full Leathal Strike, and a 3rd level spell divine smite active that first hit (which is a crit thanks to assassin) comes to 2d8+10d6+10d10+8d8+8 which is on average about 143 dmg. The second hit comes in at 2d8+10d10+8d8+6 which is on average about 106. so that's about 249 damage..and this is just the ambuscade round. Next up we've got the surprise round! first crit comes in at 2d8+6d6+10d10+6d8+6 so on average 118 and with the second crit we are at 2d8+10d10+6d8+6 which is about 97 damage so about 215 for the second round. So total between the two rounds we have about 464 damage on average...which means that I can, while blowing a large number of my resources, on average drop CR 22 monsters without letting them take any actions.

That doesn't even get into using the Poisoner's kit to bring in some nice wyvern poison (DC 15 con vs 7d6 damage so another average 21) to the first hit, or heck this is 20th level we should be bringing around Purple Wurm poison (DC 19 vs 12d6 for an average of 42). With good rolls this thing can straight drop a Kraken before it even gets to act, or at least turn that Kraken into a straight cleanup fight for the rest of the party if they don't just clean it up in the surprise round. Sure I lose some ASIs but really...I hardly need them. Heck my laying nothing on attacks to start a fight are 2d8+6d6+6 and 2d8+6 for the Ambuscade and 2d8+6d6+6 and 2d8+6 for the surprise round for an average of 204 damage tossed out before any enemies can act in a surprise round. Also to note, thanks to celerity, the chances of me getting a third round of attacks off as crits before any enemies get to attack is HIGHLY likely.

Along with that I have 9d10+5d8+9d6+40 hit points, pretty beefy coming in with 157 average hit points. with hit dice I can spend as an action, and I can heal 45 damage a day with lay on hands. My saves are:

STR +4
DEX +12
CON +11
INT +4
WIS +11
CHA +6

Also I have a floating +6 that I can change with a short rest to throw into STR, INT, or CHA.

Rock a breastplate to get to a 17 AC which thanks to Iron Durability I can pump to 18. This completely disregarding the possibility of getting magic armor. (Luckily I can continually break from melee so the average AC is not the worst thing to happen to me)

With a Soldier Background I have 6 skills (Lets say Athletics, Insight, Intimidation, Perception, Stealth, and Survival), two of them with expertise (Stealth and Intimidation) , and am proficient with the Herbalism Kit, Thieves Tools, Disguise Kit, Poisoner's Kit, A gaming set, and Vehichles(Land).

I can cast Bless, Cure Wounds, and Find Steed and quite a few other awesome spells that barely rely on level to be awesome.

I like to call this the Vin Diesel Build, because with it i enD liVes.

I know its a total BS build but it is funny to me none the less.

 

[Hussar]

It's occurred to me that I have been in this thread for several pages now...and have yet to weigh in (other than speculation) on the ACTUAL source of the thread: the UA 5e Ranger: Take 3!

So, very quickly, let's see....page 1...Intro, check. Design notes. Check, and always appreciated to get these glimpses into the thought process...



D'OH! Had me right up to the last sentence.

Page 2...

The whowhat now? "...combines the concept of..." uhhhnnnooo. No, it doesn't. That might be what they were going for. They missed....by a lot. This is a shaman kind of thing to do...and as a Ranger archtype, I suppose, it's plausible...though I'd certainly prefer it as a Druid or Barbarian archetype (which it kinda already is, and is sort of directly copying/stepping on the creative space of the Totem Barb, imho)...but as the base Ranger core "lookit I can do" thing?! Not so much....Like, so very not.

Class Features (all of the fiddly bits at the beginning) mostly looks fine/the same. Light armors and shield only...<shrug> It's a start/thing and opens up the subclasses to bonus prof into Medium or Heavy armors, I guess.

Ambuscade...are you ffffundamentally kidding me? A free round* before anyone else acts ?!...every "round"/ initiative roll?! ...AND, in case that isn't completely enough broken for you, you're never surprised...ever.

<tick>

*yes, I know, 5e doesn't have "rounds", but that's what they are/you know what I mean.

Skirmisher's Stealth...


Does that...so you...but if...

Dear designers: Read that again...did you read it the first time?...No matter what you do...or anyone else does...your enemy doesn't see you. I can stand next to you with a flashing neon arrow-shaped sign saying "Ranger Here!" pointing to the guy in the 5' space next to me...who just attacked you, by the way...and they are still hidden?!?!

<tick. tick.>

Spirit Path/Companion...sooo, the ranger is the shaman base-class now?

<head explodes>

Yeah. I'm out...Cranial combustion is my limit. Not even going to finish reading.

So, basically, this was posted just to give people to keep them busy/argue about on the internet for a month while they work on something else more important/worthwhile...Because, this? This can't be serious. There are buckets of other topics and material that I am sure they could produce than throwing out this ill-conceived and/or just plain brokenly bad third version of the ranger class. ...and yes, I'm using that word objectively. It has ludicrously "broken" overpowered mechanics and unnecessarily redefining [if not redundant to a totem barbarian] flavor. It is a bad class...of any name.

37 pages in and you hadn't actually read the OP? LOL

Now you know why there is so much disagreement about the ranger and why it's been panned so hard. Heck, I'm pretty positive, typically, on most of what WOTC does, or at least try to be neutral on it, but, wow, this is just full of badness. For all the reasons you listed.

I do like your reasoning though. Maybe it just gets out all the bad stuff right out of the chute and then they can get down to more serious design. "Well, we tried doing x (like a spirit companion) and everyone hated it, so, here's this improvement." Start from the very bottom and work their way up? Although, I think I saw something earlier (in this thread or another) that the Sword Coast Legends class looks a lot like this, so, maybe they're just getting the video-gamey stuff out of the way first.

 

[ScuroNotte]

My main beef with the ranger is the low hit points and poor spell defense of the beast companion of the one subclass. Also that Hunter's Mark is a concentration spell with a melee class that doesn't have Con for a save. I don't think it needs to be replaced, just tweaked so a single fireball doesn't kill the beast. The other ranger subclasses seem fine to me but I haven't played them.

Maybe be they can tie it with Favored Enemy. Favored Enemy - choose 1 humanoid and 1 non-humanoid. Then create Hunter's Prey - gain advantage on concentration spells checks when attacking Favored Enemy. Then at later levels, create Improved Hunter's Prey - only lose concentration spells when unconscious

 

[Skyscraper]

I haven't read through this entire thread, just the 2 first pages, but the proposed ranger in the UA article simply is not to my liking. It starts with the feel: what's this spirit companion thing? Since when does the ranger invoke spirits? There was a class in 4E, the shaman?, anyway, that did that.

And really, bear, wolf, hawk. Again. Boring.

Anyway. I hope they ditch and start working on something new entirely. It seems like people initially liked this design, or thought it was a "good start". I think it's a poor start and I hope they look in another direction.

 

[CapnZapp]

I think it's a start. For a class that isn't the ranger.

 

[Trickster61]

We have a ranger in our party using the UA version, it's not been a game breaker at all, especially not compared to the Battlemaster and his manoeuvres. The Ambuscade round gives her an extra attack, and she can hide if conditions/terrain allow. Skirmisher's Stealth still requires her to be hidden at the start of the round. It's actually been a lot of fun playing it. As a DM I had some concern about it, but it seems to have worked out ok. I've made up some rules for her to continue in the class, some of which I took from the earlier class variant designs UA article.

 

[Flamestrike]

So for complete broken nonsense including some house ruling of the Psionics UA I have a fun build going:

Human UA Ranger 3 / Immortal 5 / Assassin 3 / Paladin 9

13, 13, 13, 12, 12, 12 base array ending with a 14, 14, 14, 13, 13, 13 {I gave the immortal a 13 int multiclass requirement because there needs to be something there and int is kindof their only real stat}

STR 13
DEX 14
CON 13
INT 13
WIS 14
CHA 14

Start with ranger and take 4 levels of immortal to get the resilient feat for con ASAP. Head to rogue after that for three levels to get the assassin subclass. from there you go to paladin for 8 to boost DEX and CHA (+3 to all saves is so worth it) with your other two ASIs. Then finish out the rest of the classes as you wish grabbing the last of immortal ranger and paladin in any order really.

Ending with

STR 13
DEX 16
CON 14
INT 13
WIS 14
CHA 16

Also take the Dueling fighting style and Defense Fighting Style to get that +2 to damage, and +1 to AC.

With a rapier, Stalker's fang, a full Leathal Strike, and a 3rd level spell divine smite active that first hit (which is a crit thanks to assassin) comes to 2d8+10d6+10d10+8d8+8 which is on average about 143 dmg. The second hit comes in at 2d8+10d10+8d8+6 which is on average about 106. so that's about 249 damage..and this is just the ambuscade round. Next up we've got the surprise round! first crit comes in at 2d8+6d6+10d10+6d8+6 so on average 118 and with the second crit we are at 2d8+10d10+6d8+6 which is about 97 damage so about 215 for the second round. So total between the two rounds we have about 464 damage on average...which means that I can, while blowing a large number of my resources, on average drop CR 22 monsters without letting them take any actions.

That doesn't even get into using the Poisoner's kit to bring in some nice wyvern poison (DC 15 con vs 7d6 damage so another average 21) to the first hit, or heck this is 20th level we should be bringing around Purple Wurm poison (DC 19 vs 12d6 for an average of 42). With good rolls this thing can straight drop a Kraken before it even gets to act, or at least turn that Kraken into a straight cleanup fight for the rest of the party if they don't just clean it up in the surprise round. Sure I lose some ASIs but really...I hardly need them. Heck my laying nothing on attacks to start a fight are 2d8+6d6+6 and 2d8+6 for the Ambuscade and 2d8+6d6+6 and 2d8+6 for the surprise round for an average of 204 damage tossed out before any enemies can act in a surprise round. Also to note, thanks to celerity, the chances of me getting a third round of attacks off as crits before any enemies get to attack is HIGHLY likely.

Along with that I have 9d10+5d8+9d6+40 hit points, pretty beefy coming in with 157 average hit points. with hit dice I can spend as an action, and I can heal 45 damage a day with lay on hands. My saves are:

STR +4
DEX +12
CON +11
INT +4
WIS +11
CHA +6

Also I have a floating +6 that I can change with a short rest to throw into STR, INT, or CHA.

Rock a breastplate to get to a 17 AC which thanks to Iron Durability I can pump to 18. This completely disregarding the possibility of getting magic armor. (Luckily I can continually break from melee so the average AC is not the worst thing to happen to me)

With a Soldier Background I have 6 skills (Lets say Athletics, Insight, Intimidation, Perception, Stealth, and Survival), two of them with expertise (Stealth and Intimidation) , and am proficient with the Herbalism Kit, Thieves Tools, Disguise Kit, Poisoner's Kit, A gaming set, and Vehichles(Land).

I can cast Bless, Cure Wounds, and Find Steed and quite a few other awesome spells that barely rely on level to be awesome.

I like to call this the Vin Diesel Build, because with it i enD liVes.

I know its a total BS build but it is funny to me none the less.

Its a bit fiddly.

A Half Orc Greataxe using Fighter 3/ Assasin 3/ Paladin 11/ Sorcerer 3 can spit out more damage. Before the battle he converts all his 1st level slots and 2nd level slots into extra sorcery points (10 points or two extra 3rd level slots). He uses one of those 3rd level slots to pre buff with Haste, sneaks up, gains surprise, triggers action surge, gains advantage on his attacks from assasin (and auto crits), spams GWM, superiority dice and smites, and finishes with a quickened greenflame blade.

Attack 1: 3d12+15 (greataxe crit + strength + GWM) + 10d8 (smite crit) + 2d8 (improved smite) + 2d8 (menacing attack)
Attack 2: 3d12+15 (greataxe crit + strength + GWM) + 10d8 (smite crit) + 2d8 (improved smite) + 2d8 (menacing attack)
Attack 3: 3d12+15 (greataxe crit + strength + GWM) + 8d8 (smite crit) + 2d8 (improved smite) + 2d8 (menacing attack)
Attack 4: 3d12+15 (greataxe crit + strength + GWM) + 8d8 (smite crit) + 2d8 (improved smite) + 2d8 (menacing attack)
Attack 5 (haste): 3d12+15 (greataxe crit + strength + GWM) + 8d8 (smite crit) + 2d8 (improved smite)
Attack 6 (bonus action cantrip): 3d12+15 (greataxe crit + strength + GWM) + 8d8 (smite crit) + 2d8 (improved smite) + 6d8 (greenflame blade)

It adds up to 18d12+78d8+90 (re-roll 1's and 2s). Deals an extra 12d8 against fiends and undead.

 

[Flamestrike]

I haven't read through this entire thread, just the 2 first pages, but the proposed ranger in the UA article simply is not to my liking. It starts with the feel: what's this spirit companion thing? Since when does the ranger invoke spirits? There was a class in 4E, the shaman?, anyway, that did that.

And really, bear, wolf, hawk. Again. Boring.

Anyway. I hope they ditch and start working on something new entirely. It seems like people initially liked this design, or thought it was a "good start". I think it's a poor start and I hope they look in another direction.

Is it just me, or was anyone else also reminded of this:

[video=youtube;cmnrMXpyOg0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmnrMXpyOg0[/video]