D&D (2024) 2024 Player's Handbook reveal: "New Ranger"

"More than any other class, the ranger is a new class."

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It has been a year (less a day) since we last saw the Ranger in UA Playtest 6. There still could be a lot of change. My sense is that they are more or less happy with three of the subclasses (Fey Wanderer, Beastmaster, and Gloom Stalker), but many questions remain: Will anyone be happy with the favored enemy/relation to the land abilities? Will Hunter's Mark be foregrounded in multiple abilities? Will rangers at least get a free casting of the Barrage/Volley spells? For the Hunter, will the "Superior" abilties at levels 11 and 15 continue to be things you didn't choose at lower levels? For the Gloom Stalker, will they pull out 3rd level invisibility from "Umbral Sight"? Any chance for a surprise substitution of the Horizon Walker? Let's find out.

OVERVIEW

• "widely played, but ... one of the lowest rated"
• Spellcasting and Weapon Mastery at 1 (as with Paladin). Spellcasting can change spells after long rest (not every level)
• NEW: Favored Enemy: Hunters Mark always prepared, and X castings per day. (was level 2 in PT6, where it was WIS times/day)
• NEW: Fighting Style at 2 (no limits on choice). or you may choose two cantrips (again, like Paladin).
• NEW: Deft Explorer at 3: expertise in a proficient skill, +2 languages. NO INTERACTION WITH LAND TYPES. This is a nerf from PT6, where at least you got a bonus to Intelligence (Nature) checks.
• Extra attack at 5, Roving at 6 (+10' move, Climb Speed, Swim speed).
• Two more expertise options, at 9, presumably. Compared to the playtest, this is a nerf: PT6 gave 1 expertise, the spell Conjure Barrage always prepared, and +2 land types for Explorer. These had problems, but it's a lot to lose for one additional expertise.
• At 10, Tireless (as in PT6) -- THP and reduced Exhaustion.
• NEW: At 13, Damage no longer breaks concentration with Hunter's Mark.
• At 14, Nature's Veil -- invisibility. At 18, Blindsight.
• NEW: At 17, advantage vs person marked with Hunter's Mark.
• NEW: Damage of Hunter's mark increases to d10, not d6. (This too is a nerf from the playtest, which gave +WIS to hit, and +WIS to damage.)

The clear expectation is you are using Hunter's Mark, occupying your concentration and taking your first Bonus action every combat, from levels 1-20.

SUBCLASSES
Beastmaster

• command Primal Beast as a bonus action, and higher level abilities as in PT6, apparently.
• stat blocks level up with you (as in Tasha's and PT6). Beast gets Hunter's Mark benefits at 11.

Fey Wanderer

• vague on specifics; apparently just as in Tasha's.

Gloom Stalker

• as in PT6, Psychic damage bonus a limited number of times per day. +WIS to initiative (cf. Assassin and Barbarian)
• Umbral Sight, darkvision bonus, and invisible in the dark.
• NEW: psychic damage goes up at level 11. Mass fear option of Sudden Strike mentioned, nothing about Sudden Strike.

Hunter.

• Hunter's Lore at 3: know if there are immunities/resistances of creature marked by Hunter's Mark.
• NEW: Hunter's Prey at 3: you have a choice and can change your choice every short/long rest.
• NEW: Defensive Tactics at 7: you have a choice, and again can choose after a rest. The choices are Escape the Horde, Multiattack defense (not Evasion, Uncanny Dodge, and Hunter's Leap, as in PT6).
• NEW: At 11, Hunter's mark now "splashes" damage onto another target.
• NEW: you can choose to take resistance to damage, until the end of your turn.

 

[Micah Sweet]

if you've switched to another game then i think you've accepted ranger is not something else and stopped fighting it, at least enough to matter, unless of course you're still going around complaining about how a game you're not playing isn't designed like how you want it to be.

WotC D&D is always going to be more than simply "a game I'm not playing". It defines the industry and everything other people make for it in very real ways.

 

[Corinnguard]

To be fair, barbarians are one of the dying breed of classes that don't require spell use.

It's almost like they want a setting like Dark Sun where everything and everyone has something magical about them.

 

[James Gasik]

So what does our spell-less Ranger actually look like? I'm assuming not the 4e Ranger. 1e and 2e had spells. So the last time I saw a Ranger without magic was in 3e's Complete Warrior, who gave up spells to get the following:

Can I say I'm highly amused that this "spell-less" Ranger still gets the ability to cast neutralize poison, remove disease, and freedom of movement at high levels?

 

[Corinnguard]

So what does our spell-less Ranger actually look like?

Unearthed Arcana apparently had a spell-less variant of the Ranger class a while back.

Ranger with No Spells (UA) - DND 5th Edition

dnd5e.wikidot.com

It had Combat Superiority, Poultices, Fleet of Foot, Natural Antivenom, Call Natural Allies, and Relentless as class features.

Then there is Level Up's Ranger class.

Ranger | Level Up

a5e.tools

 

[Minigiant]

Ranger who can't talk to, charm, and command animals, trees, and nature ain't a real ranger.

That requires magic.

There i said it.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

So what level 1 feature would you replace it with?

And how many people would agree that it's a "ranger" feature?

Can’t speak for them, but I’d basically just tone down the Revised Ranger’s first level.

Or, I’d use some of my Assassin ideas as Rabger features, like

Lethal Hunter: “if you reduce a target to an amount of HP equal to twice your Ranger level or lower, they are instead reduced to 0HP”
and

Ranger’s Mark: “You place your mark on the target, as a bonus action or when you take the attack action. When a target is marked, you can add your Wisdom modifier to any intelligence check dealing with the creature, and to survival checks to track them. You can end the Mark by making a Perfect Strike when you successfully hit the target with an attack, and deal your Mark Damage. Your mark damage and the number of times you can use this ability are shown in the Ranger class table. You regain one use when you take a short rest or spend one hour tracking or observing a target, and regain all uses when you take a long rest.”

And then instead of favored terrain it’s a feature I dropped from the assassin

Learn Your Surroundings: “You can spend 1 hour familiarizing yourself with the terrain within 1 mile. If you spend a Mark, you instead learn the terrain within 10 Miles as a bonus action. Within terrain you have studied within the last 24 hours, you ignore difficult terrain, you have advantage on stealth, initiative, and perception checks, and you can use any terrain that would normally cause you to use extra movement to traverse to gain partial cover or concealment.”

 

[Minigiant]

Unearthed Arcana apparently had a spell-less variant of the Ranger class a while back.

Ranger with No Spells (UA) - DND 5th Edition

dnd5e.wikidot.com

It had Combat Superiority, Poultices, Fleet of Foot, Natural Antivenom, Call Natural Allies, and Relentless as class features.

Then there is Level Up's Ranger class.

Ranger | Level Up

a5e.tools

More proof that a spell-less ranger is a fighter in a green cloak.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The other idea I had is to have a combination of invocations and infusions (ie some of the Wilderness Knacks give you items rather than abilities or buffs) and a feature called Ranger’s Bane which gives you the ability to learn how to make a poison, learn a tactic, or learn a magical ritual, that is geared toward a broad type of enemy.

Stuff like “this bane deals damage any time the creature flies or moves more than half its speed, and when it takes the damage it must save vs prone” and “this bane shuts down regeneration and makes it so that the target takes extra [element] damage every time they are hit by a weapon attack or unarmed strike”. (Include radiant as a damage type and you’re good at taking down a decent amount of undead).

A little more specific than the Hunter Ranger’s features because you learn multiple of them, but in a similar tactical vein.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Ranger who can't talk to, charm, and command animals, trees, and nature ain't a real ranger.

That requires magic.

There i said it.

But it doesn't require spellcasting, and you can reserve actual magic for higher levels.

 

[Minigiant]

To be fair, no one else has sold me on it either.

Except beast master. That's a unique thing.

A while ago I delved into the belief that the Ranger should be the Earth/Life Science Warrior.
A ranger is a Man that studies Nature to defend Men and/or Nature.

• Zoology/Beast Mastery: Beast Master Ranger
  • Beast Companion
  • Lycantropy
  • Can talk to beasts at will
• Botany/Plant Mastery: Greenwood Ranger
  • Constant Barkskin
  • Photosynthesis
  • Buffed Entangle DC
• Geology/Stone Mastery: Rockskin Ranger
  • Constant Stoneskin
  • Can throw rocks and flints
  • Burrowing
• Sociology/Man Mastery: Stalker Ranger
  • Better Stealth
  • Interrogation bonus to Intimidation
  • Terror features

Then you get

• Crytpozoology Monster Hunter
• Entomology Swarmkeeper
• Marine Biologist Sea Ranger
• Dracology Drake Warden
• Umbrasociologist Gloomstalker

I mean which D&D class would have a giant's brain in a jar and hold a conference to study it and their 90% complete fire giant skeleton?

"I say Johnson is wrong. You should stab an ice giant in the third toe for maximum pain. Ice monsters and weak in the third digit. Everyone know that."
"Humbug. Giants are weak in the ankles. You stab the ankles."
"Who do you that? An (ethnic slur* for goblin)!"
"No, A (slur* for elf)"

*Rangers have favored enemy. They know all the slurs and some of them are racists.