Blog (A5E) Level Up Class Preview: Ranger

The Kickstarter is halfway through! Last week we shared the adept with you. Today, it’s the most frequently requested class of them all — the ranger!

With the ranger, our initial surveys showed a lot of interest in a spell-less class. While the Level Up ranger can do fantastic things in the wilderness — think of Aragorn leading Legolas and Gimli as they chased the orcs in The Two Towers — those things are a product of skill, experience, and knowledge. Their abilities may even sometimes look like magic to the uninitiated, but they are not. The Level Up ranger is the undisputed master of the exploration pillar, with exploration knacks and other features which interact with the journey rules and other aspects of the game.

But we know some people like the spellcasting ranger, and so we have included an archetype (subclass) for that, as well as a rule which enables you to use existing spell-casting ranger subclasses with our new version of the class.

Class Preview: Ranger — Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition (A5E)

The Kickstarter is halfway through! Last week we shared the adept with you. Today, it’s the most frequently requested class of them all — the ranger!

www.levelup5e.com

 

[niklinna]

You had to post this just as I'm heading out for the afternoon?!

But seriously, squee! Can't wait to read it.

 

[This Effin’ GM]

was think warden seemed lackluster until I realized smarter mounted = way better mounted combat options

 

[Morrus]

was think warden seemed lackluster until I realized smarter mounted = way better mounted combat options

Mounted combat in Level Up is such fun!

 

[This Effin’ GM]

Mounted combat in Level Up is such fun!

Yeeeeeeah!

 

[Faolyn]

Wow, this looks great. This is pretty much what I want a ranger to be like. But, of course, things to say:

Gnolls are still humanoids? I hope they got de-demon-background'ed in the MM, then. I felt they were still kinda too demony in the monster playtest. (My actual hope is that "gnolls" is just a mistake brought over from o5e and you fix it to read, I dunno, elves or something.)

Are "game animals" ever really defined anywhere? Does it count if the Narrator says the town of Stoneburg declares that gorgons are game animals in their neck of the world? Or does this ability only work with beasts? If it's the latter, I think you need to say that. If it's up to the Narrator, then hey, that's pretty awesome.

Flash of Steel? Free maneuver, no exertion cost? Awesome! I wonder if any of the other martial classes have something similar.

Can another ranger of sufficient use your hunter's blind without inadvertently ruining it?

For Under the Stars, do you have to spend the remainder of the time in light activity, or can you just get up and go? Is this the "be the annoying morning person who gets up at the crack of dawn and jogs a few miles before breakfast" trait?

Personally, I'd alter Beast Friend so that you can get a CR 1/4 beast at 11th level, or CR 1/2 if you're a Beastmaster (and maybe have a note that Beastmasters can get CR 1 beasts at, say, 17th level). Nevertheless, I love that Beastmasters can give their beasts temp hp and bonuses to attack and damage. I don't think that there should be any issues if you used the Beast of the Air/Sea/Land stats (they have no CR) instead of a regular-issue beast, but what does everyone else think?

I think the Wildborn does a great job of having spellcasting rangers, for those people who really prefer more magical rangers.

All, in all, this is a great class!

Edit: A nitpick: There seems to be an extra space above Waste Not.

 

[WinnableBadger]

I really hope the ranger is just a more damaging fighter. I understand that the fighter may have more options in terms of the manuvers and stuff, but can it beat better hunters mark and extra +1s and stuff. As well as more d6s from the Accuracy Bonus. Its just crazy! Not to mention the saving throw bonuses from subclasses.

 

[Kinematics]

Really nice. It uses a lot of ideas that have been suggested or used in other ranger re-write attempts, with a little extra polish. Almost seems like too much stuff, but I realize some of that is multiple choice options, so it's not actually that large for any given ranger.

Only thing that seemed off to me was a couple of the options provided in High Ground: the +5 move speed, and making an area you pass through be difficult terrain, really don't feel like level 19 abilities. I would have expected them to show up at much lower levels.

 

[King Brad]

Firstly, I'm loving it overall! I would definitely play one of these, especially the Warden.

...but is there a reason Beastly Attack (18th) is so much weaker than High Ground? It just seems pretty one sided. High ground has so much, and Beastly Att. just gets an extra non-magical attack from a friendly beast... that's not going to amount to much.

 

[Tonguez]

This makes me very very happy, I do like Familiar terrain, the exploration knacks, non-spell Hunters mark and the Beastmasters best friends.
I’m seeing hints of doing a viable Tarzan, which is always my standard for assessing Ranger classes