New Ranger | 2024 Player's Handbook | D&D

[@btmikey1925]

"Gloomstalkers do a lot of psychic damage!" Ah yes. Forgot how crazy powerful a single d8 of damage is

[@KevinVideo]

Especially a limited number of times per long rest.

[@Feian83]

Considering that the ranger’s capstone changes a d6 to a d10, one single d8 can account for “a lot.”😂

[@btmikey1925]

@@Feian83 Lol! Yeah, guess I should look at ranger in a vacuum. Let me just ignore the other class's capstones like the +4 Str and Con that Barbarians get or the 4th attack that fighters get. Also should probably ignore the fact that arcane casters can warp all known realities at that level too. You're right! 5d8 damage for the entire day is good! 🤣

[@Feian83]

@@btmikey1925 see? You just welcomed the perfect ranger mentality 😂

[@jonstokes1832]

Don’t forget the extra attack

[@Unendarkened]

How did this pass playtesting? Did the spell list actually cut out the massive number of concentration spells that compete vs hunters mark? Why oh why.

[@ShadGray]

It didn't pass playtesting. They just moved forward with it anyways.

[@TEGRULZ]

It couldn't pass through a massive hole in the ground let alone play testing, they just took all of the feedback they saw and trashed it. But the fact is, this started with them trying to make SWIMMING AND CLIMBING level dependent. I have no idea how a Ranger is so complicated for these people, but it has broken them.

[@tylersmith7509]

This is a very valid point, it makes no sense to have a long list of concentration spells if hunter's mark is going to prevent you from using them.

[@icaromota1277]

"you are now as a ranger able to command your beast with a bonus action" The same one I use to cast Hunter's Mark? The main ability the class revolves around now?

[@waltercosta2067]

yeap

[@bradleyrichard9283]

Should just be able to use hunters mark as part of an attack action

[@SophiaAphrodite]

You only need to cast it once then concentrate. You act like you have to recast it multiple times. people complain about EVERYTHING

[@magnusflodberg6162]

@@SophiaAphrodite If the enemy dies you need your BA to move HM to a neew target

[@jamal8757]

@@SophiaAphrodite when your target get down u can, with a bonus action, choose a new target

[@Nerd704]

What an abysmal design. Seriously basing that much of the class around hunter's mark when it prevents you from using at least half of your spell list because it eats concentration and they balanced the class around the idea that hunter's mark is always up...

[@westoncraig7384]

Exactly! My biggest complaint playing ranger is that you can never use a concentration spell bc your class is built around maintaining concentration on a 1st level spell that just isn’t good/fun enough to be worth it after a while. Not only is it mechanically boring, but it removes a ton of roleplaying flavor that would be introduced from the other spells.

[@LangyMD]

Maybe the new Ranger spell list doesn't have any other concentration spells?

[@elementzero3379]

​@@LangyMDThat would potentially be great for the Ranger, but does it seem likely? These guys think Hunter's Mark is too good to remove Concentration, and that it's a fitting centerpiece for an entire class.

[@Nerd704]

​@@westoncraig7384 Hunter's mark is a pretty fun combat way to make ranger damage different than the other martials. It's just horribly implemented. It costs a bonus action only provides at most 3d6 extra damage if you dual wield and doesn't scale into the later levels (that amount is gained at level 5). Compare it to sneak attack or smite. Smite does all it's damage at once and scales up. Sneak attack can be pretty much consistently obtained. HM requries you to basically swear off all the other cool things your class spells let you do because the whole spell list is concentration heavy. Even single turn effects like lightning arrow require concentration. So now you want to lightning arrow something? You not only spend the spell slot resource but also have to spend another spell and bonus action to get HM back up again. Like a "I target you specifically" buff is pretty flavorful and at least as good as sneak attack and smite but the limitations are insane. And warlocks get a just better version of it.

[@gardenagnostic4138]

they did to ranger with Hunters Mark what old warlock's issue was with Eldritch Blast. Eldritch Blast was so good and its upgrades were so prominent that you were nerfing yourself as warlock by using any other cantrip. in the new warlock version, the invocation upgrades that make it slow or extend the range or whatever apply to ANY cantrip now, not just eldritch blast, which opens up a lot more options! thats awesome and ive ALWAYS wanted that! then for ranger they...lock you into Hunter's Mark in the exact same way???? By upgrading it throughout the class?? Like they didnt learn at all??? Imagine how much your nerfing yourself by saying nah i want to concentrate on Swift Quiver or Barkskin or Beast Bond or Magic Weapon instead; all your hunters mark stuff is going to waste because youre not using it

[@pokemon30326]

Man this is the second time today Im watching two dudes deliver lies and disappointment.

[@vlrze]

Full list of fighting styles? Nice! I can't wait to take archery from a bigger pool.

[@jacobtrost5048]

lmao that's exactly what I said

[@vortigern7021]

you can get blind fighting, then get a whopping 20 feet extra blind sight at level 18.

[@swartzwalker]

It's really disappointing that the Hunter's Mark feature requires concentration and uses a bonus action to cast. It seems like it would be the equivalent for a Rogue to have to use concentration and a bonus action to use sneak attack.

[@acember]

Sneak Attack damage scales up...

[@supervado7962]

What's so annoying about the ranger being one of the worst classes mechanically is they're the most iconic class in lore and media. Aragon, Drizzt, The Witcher, John Snow, Katniss, etc. When people think of a hero in an adventure a Ranger is the 1st image that comes to mind and they get shafted constantly. Animal companion should be part of the core class with the beast master getting extra benefits, hunter's mark should scale throughout the class or not require concentration, climb and swim speed should be much earlier, they should have an arcane archer type subclass that makes them a clear front runner for best ranged weapon user

[@AndrewThoesen]

It’s because mechanically, the exploration/survival/tracking parts of DND are so weak.

[@Manahyde]

Minsc as well, THE D&D char most used in modern advertising

[@alemar1122]

The Witcher is an Eldritch Knight... Aard = Thunderwave , Quen = Shield , Igni = Firebolt , Yrden = Slow , Axii = Charm Person

[@supervado7962]

@@alemar1122 I was more referring to the monster hunter aspect. It's not 1:1

[@Day-eb9po]

​@@supervado7962 Yeah, like, I have a joke that Indiana Jones is a ranger in every way that matters. I think his closest 5e equivalent is rogue/fighter though? And really, that's the problem with this ranger. Basically any "ranger" in media would be better replicated with a different class. Who marks a single target as their main deal? A lumberjack?

[@TraunaFish]

Pros: We now have a version of the ranger on par with the old 2014 classes. Cons: I guess we wait till 2034 to get a ranger on par with the other 2024 classes. Class is entirely dependent on a single first level concentration spell, as soon as you try to do anything else with concentration most of your class features disappear. :( :(

[@5AMACE]

No, this is a worse than 5e ranger. In 5e, ranger overcomes the likes of rogue and fighter easily only being surpassed by paladin among the martials, but this one struggles to keep up with it's old self and isn't even a contender for the others.

[@michaelkellermann6949]

Well they will fix it in about 6 to 8 years with TCoE 2

[@camerongct]

@@5AMACE Ranger overcomes fighter? In what circumstance?

[@vortigern7021]

no, they will do another revised ranger to fix it like before.

[@vortigern7021]

@@camerongct conjure animals.

[@clarkside4493]

So, are we still having to pick between casting _Hunter's Mark_ and telling our beast to DO something on round 1? I mean, I'm liking all the changes so far, but that one thing staying is very frustrating.

[@gersonbruno8463]

you can still command your beast with your action, if you have extra attack, both of you can do it while marking someone. but yes, they could have their own initiative and actions/BA ;c

[@clarkside4493]

@gersonbruno8463 DndBeyond's article says Bestial Fury will share your _Hunter's Mark_ damage with your beast. I hope that is _in addition_ to your 2 beast attacks per command that it originally provided and not in place of it.

[@MaMastoast]

@@clarkside4493 The two are gonna compete for your bonus action, also your beast can apparently only benefit once per turn... Because why make it simple

[@lupusprimealpha6198]

80% of players never see lvl 9 and above. Wotc: lets put all the ‘okay’ ranger stuff after lvl 10. that will show em!

[@oscarfellini6500]

Q: If the DM describes a helmet on the ground in front of my Ranger do I (A.) Roll to kick it, and (B.) If successful do I break my toe or do we proceed like nothing's happened?

[@Critrol]

you don't proceed like nothing's happened, my dude. You give a manly cry of frustrated anger first, THEN continue like nothing happened.

[@robertgauthier8876]

You have to break your toe for real.

[@ChuckFinnley944]

For the love of god, just make Hunter’s Mark a class ability. If you’re going to give the class special interactions with the spell, LEAN INTO IT. Give every subclass a unique bonus to it. Basically all of the subclasses have some kind of feature when you first choose them to add a little damage to one attack and a special effect on top of that. They usually require a bonus action too. Wrap it all up in there, “when you attack your Marked target do X too.” Incorporare it into the class so that it can be a unique selling point just like Smite is for Paladins.

[@willvasser7253]

If you’re going to make a class reliant on a spell. (First off don’t I thought they learned from the Warlock and eldritch Blast) that spell cannot require concentration. Also with the hunter removing options is not a buff

[@jacobtrost5048]

The thing I don't get is that they keep saying, "this is basically all completely new," but then it's the same exact Hunter with the options "focused." And like for Beast Master, when he described the "Share Spells" feature it was basically identical to the 2014 version, but the other guy reacted like it was brand new. I just don't understand.

[@jaselumena1889]

Of all the awesome concentration spells that ranger gets, they decided to focus on Hunter's Mark, which got nerfed hard in the playtest and never did anything interesting to begin with (compared to the other cool spells they get). Hoping the at least remove its concentration requirement.

[@rdchris6556]

I think ranger is the most anticipated class. Monk previously was, but given the nearly unanimous approval of the previous UA, i think we can feel pretty confident of its direction.

[@waltercosta2067]

monk feels great, ranger on the other hand, they've dropped the ball, yet again, it's unbeliveble

[@TEGRULZ]

It may have been the most anticipated, and the most misused by WoTC. At least we don't have to call this 5.5E

[@Abelhawk]

Literally the ONLY THING that will make this class work is if they added like 15 new Ranger-specific spells that are different types of awesome arrows and stuff.

[@SpaceCoon92]

If they do this and refrain from making the spells require concentration, this class (and everyone complaining about the changes) will be a completely different story

[@NChase459]

I’m kind of disappointed. I like the changes that they brought over from Tasha’s and that they gave a bunch of good changes related to hunter’s mark, but it still always requires concentration. This means that you almost never get to use other combat concentration spells like zephyr strike and hail of thorns.

[@edgeofnothing67]

those arent concentration anymore

[@blaink8064]

you guys really hate the Ranger? we let you cook and he still come out uncooked

[@iMacPunk]

7:54 „It used to be that they could only chsnge one spell when they would level up. Now it‘s one every day - we made this change in spellcasting to better support the utility side …“ So instead of making them prepared casters, line their direct equivalents (Pally) and the class their hybridising (druids), we gave them 1 spell/day to switch it up! Yay flexibility!!! WTF is wrong with WotC?!?! It might be my OCD talking but the solution is obvious, symmetrical and beautifully ordered within the system!!!

[@DragrifTilo]

I resume the video: Just use tashas ranger if you are not playing high level, it is way better

[@matheusfiorelli8829]

why are they so afraid of Hunter's Mark? like for real, why they are so afraid to give Rangers a special, no concentration casting of this LEVEL 1 spell? did anyone like the last version of the UA?

[@hunterarchersam3747]

I’m currently playing a drakewarden ranger in a ongoing campaign and ranger is my favorite class so I hope they give the ranger the love it deserves

[@snoeleppard]

Oh my gosh, same! Ranger’s been my favorite since I started and I’m playing a drakewarden in an upcoming campaign!

[@i.am_berserk]

It's my best friend's fave too, and i respect it so much, i want him to have fun so i hope this is good

[@waltercosta2067]

if you're playing with the tasha's ranger, nothing changed basically

[@izenheimreborn6390]

I've been making ranger work in a couple of campaigns, and I've been begging for improvements so I could talk with my dm about using the new "improved" ranger. Now I'm thinking I treated 2014 ranger too harshly

[@AndrewThoesen]

F in the chat for our Drakewarden homies

[@notdabi5912]

Hands down the most disappointing of the updated classes. Could have used a bit more times cooking honestly. Real disappointed as a Ranger main 🥲.

[@UndeadMark]

Hunters Mark, call it something else if necessary, needs to be the "sneak attack" of the ranger that keeps improving and building as you go. it should be a class ability, not a spell. They just never seem to get the core problems of the Ranger.

[@UndeadMark]

Also, kind of a fundamental problem I've had with Rangers is they put so much importance on tracking an enemy. In practice, this just doesn't come up very often. I think I've had to track an enemy once in all my time of dnd. Almost every enemy encounter is a fight to the death or end in some sort of parley.

[@UndeadMark]

Having their exhaustion go away faster then the rest of the party sounds great, but if the rest of the part is still exhausted, then the party is going to act accordingly. You get to be the designated driver. yay.

[@Poppydagoblin]

We lost lands stride for this.

[@danielbeshers1689]

Hunter's Mark should have been a non-spell feature if you were going to tie other class features into it. Period.

[@Mpcs84]

Hmm, I am hoping an important detail regarding changes to the hunter's mark spell was left out or it seems the Ranger is going to remain subpar without some HB rulings. Doesn't seem like WotC took community feedback into account on this one.

[@killerchansey4938]

Also why are they so lazy with the Fey inspiration on everything. Now if its a Fey subclass you just teleport. There's more to Fey then just popping up everywhere

[@CratthewF]

this is definitely the class i’m most worried ab. hoping for a non-concentration hunters mark 🤞

[@gardenagnostic4138]

how do you feel now

[@AiraBai]

Just disappointing again. More spell focus? Sure that is the first thing I think of a ranger. It still just imitates badly other classes. More Hunters Mark? Yeah, just make it more of a lonewolf, by requiring the ranger to focus on his/her/its target, instead of the changes in battle that his/her/its team needs to adapt to. Best class for exploring? The groups slowest members decides travel speed and foraging on the go is mostly only asked once or twice in a campaign on my tables, because it just extends the time of traveling between spaces, which is already a boring part for most, which makes the player feel bad against the groaning of the group when he/she/it does it. Other DMs seem just to skip travel stuff and say that it happened between sessions. That high level feature is just last nail on the coffin.

[@sakuratejina]

Does Wizards hate rangers or something? Why can’t they make this class on par with any other class? I feel like they want to make it so bad so it gets booed out of the next edition they release. If a Ranger is to a Druid as a Paladin is to a cleric, why does Ranger feel like the odd one out? I was introduced to Ranger in 3.5 and it was way more enjoyable back then :/ I wanna like playing rangers again. I’ve liked every class up until now for this update except Ranger. Even Sorcerer got the wish fulfillment Wizards promised. (Tho time will tell if they’ll continue to fix their past sins)

[@NinoSidari]

I'd love it if they had an improved two-weapon fighting for the ranger

[@JensenGKP]

It’s called the Nick weapon mastery.

[@kallebuchholz2156]

@@JensenGKPI guess he meant something that just the Rangers could do when dual-wielding.

[@NinoSidari]

@@kallebuchholz2156 yeah - something that made dual-wielding as cool as it should be

[@kallebuchholz2156]

@@NinoSidari I would love that but not as a class feature, because I would like to build other dual-wielding PCs with other base classes. What I actually would like to see are scaling fighting styles so that every style of fighting feels mechanically different.

[@JarieSuicune]

Pretty sure I'm just sticking to my homebrew dual-wielding rules for my groups. (Not overly different, just makes it so when you use your Bonus Action as part of an Attack Action while dual-wielding you get to attack with up to all the weapons you are wielding for each attack, so you properly scale with number of arms and Extra Attacks. ie: a Lv. 5 Fighter Thri-kreen quad-wielding daggers, or two Light weapons and two other applicable weapons if they take the Feat Dual Wielder) gets to make 8 attacks per turn. Doubled if they Action Surge. And allows for wielding multiple two-handed weapons when you have the additional weapon-usable hands.)

[@seanandwhatever]

Verdict: Go back to using the Laserllama homebrew, it's way better.

[@blakenoir7890]

So rangers at 18 level get something Warlocks could get at 2nd level in 5e... super cool -_-

[@izenheimreborn6390]

They got rid of Hide in Plain Sight for an invisibility addon. Wow, I love losing a free +10 stealth for +5 average increase to my rolls outcome. The best feature for ranger because of how it stacked with stealth, proficiency, expertise, and Pass Without Trace now requires 4 more levels and gives you the same benefits of a 5th level wizard to touch you.

[@life-destiny1196]

Guys, look, we found the one person that used Hide in Plain Sight!

[@izenheimreborn6390]

@@life-destiny1196 Guilty as charged

[@tulliusexmisc2191]

@@life-destiny1196 Well, that's the only one of them you found...

[@winterwolfcr7]

The ranger's hunters mark SHOULD be able to stack with other spells. Considering how dependent on it they are. That or they better not have any other concentration spells. I like almost everything but that aspect honestly. At least from what I've heard and the PT.

[@RisenTactics]

Glad to see level 20 Ranger still has one of the most boring capstones out of any class. One of the most complained about features basically not address. (Yes, I understand this version is better than the 2014 version, but its so boring compared to other classes)

[@ligerdrag20]

It's actually still worse if you were already playing with Tasha's options, compared to 2014 with Tasha's this lost quite a few features.

[@Droogie128]

WotC is allergic to the Ranger.

[@jocelyngray6306]

Ten years in the oven and the Ranger still isn't ready for prime time. Guys...

[@jamesberghuis8231]

Ranger got screwed again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't you like those changes?

[@killerchansey4938]

You mean those changes we already had as options in Tasha's

[@jesseseva2219]

I don't even use Hunters Mark anymore. This just forces me to use a subpar spell.

[@jamesberghuis8231]

@@killerchansey4938 yeah those ones! What a joke. Ranger hasnt been good since advanced dungeons and dragons. What a slap in the face

[@okieoneshinobi]

Seriously disappointed in this.

[@ARCADEAVERY]

while i agree with everyone else’s criticism of the class (presenting tasha’s optional stuff as brand new features, doing only lateral tweaks to features, not really addressing the main issues with ranger), i don’t really see the issue with the hunter’s mark focus. “they’re funneling you down into a specific play style by forcing you to use hunter’s mark!” that’s like saying paladin funnels you into a specific play style by forcing you to use divine smite. classes have specific things that make them that class. i don’t see the free hunter’s marks as anything different from that

[@HavocHank]

For crying out loud, just commit to making Hunter's Mark a class feature or come up with a different solution for martial spells to get rid of concentration. These kludged mechanics are too inelegant and don't fully solve the problem. Just make a classification tag for martial/weapon spells like hunter's mark and smites and say that they can't stack.

[@gabrielyt6575]

I’m not mad just disappointed

[@carlosforma5978]

Well, at least Hunter's Lore plays deeper into the fact Hunter's Mark is a DIVINATION spell. Its "extra damage", in lore terms, would be related to exploiting vulnerabilities of the enemies (which, in 3e, would have made it essentially useless against Undead, Oozes, Elementals and so on, which in turn would actually make more sense).

[@N07NA]

Being the king of survival checks I think is a core fantasy of the ranger and something that comes up all the time in play. Would have liked to see advantage on those checks like the revised ranger. That also makes sure they're not overshadowed by someone with expertise too, and the ranger can themselves choose its expertise in it to be really good if they wish.

[@ScottySmith1957]

If somehow a Wizards employee reads this and cares, or anyone else for that matter for homebrewing sake at your table, Rangers should feel just as special as any other class. As opposed to giving additional expertise or more dice to roll when they mark things, I would advise taking a step back and giving yourself creative freedom with the potential of the class. Rangers aren't druids, and they're not quite fighters, but they simply have an unrivaled ability to understand, use, and empower themselves with all things that the sky, land, and waters can possibly provide them. Examples of things that simply come to mind: -Hunter's mark instead should grant Rangers with the ability of doing interesting damage types such as psychic, necrotic, or poison damage with a wicked hallucinogenic acid, or organic flash-powders and decoctions to inflict fire or cold damage. Decrepifying ointments that inflict status ailments... Rangers could use the land as their spell components to concoct the perfect naturalistic boon to fell their pray, like a druidic predator. (Spell components would be required presumably incentivizing Rangers to scavenge the lands) Taking the intent of hunter's mark and giving it flesh by giving the Ranger a REASON to live amongst the land and to get to know their enemies (learn their weaknesses so they know what to prepare). -They could have the ability to freely speak with animals nonverbally (no actual dialogue can be spoken but, akin to a sign language, nonverbal communication can be had with beasts), like knowing a language such as elven or dwarvish, but it's nonverbal beastial language. Animal handling or persuasion checks still must be made and no descriptive details can be discerned but basic warnings and directions through uncharted territories would come with ease, using the fauna of the land to guide the Ranger. (Again, giving the player and the Ranger a compelling reason to actually be a Ranger). -Large expanses of land and the way terrain and water shape the earth should come naturally and paths through difficult jungles should unravel at the foot of a well trained ranger and even the most unorthodox travel of an adventuring party feels much less worrisome. (Parties may opt to travel through caves, rivers, and jungles as means of travel when accompanied by a ranger, as though they were roads). Additionally at higher levels, a Ranger familiar with a given territory may anticipate significant details about the land and be warned to the presence of any fey, celestial, fiend, undead, or draconic creature within a few miles of the creature. Born from the land itself, as a Ranger masters their harmony with the flora and fauna around them, they acquire the ability to pick up on subtle particularly unnatural influences in their otherwise natural realm. -Ranger's uncanny ability to understand the nature of all beings gives them the prowess to pre-delict the behavior of any known creature. Similar to scrying, as a Ranger becomes more familiar with a creature, they understand the being on an entirely primal intuitive depth. With greater familiarity, the Ranger is guided with increasing success towards any creature's location similar to the "locate object" spell with increasing ease as they begin to truly understand and study land and foe alike. A Class Feature: The Hunt - 'Attempt to track the location of any known creature equal to your proficiency modifier per long rest. With a DC of 20, "The Hunt's" DC reduces as you gain familiarity with the creature. What they consider a domicile, what they truly are, what they eat, what they desire, what effects they have on their environment, and what their tracks resemble (and more) all progressively ease the Ranger in their Hunt. On a success the Ranger is intuitively compelled by the world around them to know assuredly the direction of the creature they seek for 1 minute. Range: 1 mile x a player's level(s) in Ranger.' Rangers should feel not only as though are they one with the world they live in, but also that the world they live in is one with them as well. None of that fantasy makes me think a ranger should understand arcana better, roll persuasion checks higher, hurt things really well, or be durable like a barbarian? Instead Rangers should play into this really interesting niche they have of versatility with animals and understanding the land as well as what it provides.

[@the_purple_mage]

It's pretty discouraging to see how pointless the UA process was for this class....

[@BeastMasterNeil]

Being able to look through your animal's eyes I thought would be fundamental

[@ai2802]

I really hope they allow Rangers to actually change their spells per long rest like literally every other half caster. Honestly, that and a buff to the Hunter and you could literally keep the changes from Tasha and call it a day, though a better way to use Hunter's Mark would be wonderful too! Fingers crossed 🤞

[@sweetyhake]

Every class have prepared spell now, so no need to worry about it.

[@M9Seradon]

​@@sweetyhakeno, every class is considered to "prepare" spells, but there's still actual prepared casters, and spells known casters. That said, this Ranger sits in a funny spot where it gets to swap 1 spell a day.

[@alemar1122]

My favourite part of the 2014 Hunter is Colossus Slayer making my longbow hit for twice as hard so long as I was selective with my targets... now not only are you gimping my preferred class's spells, and giving us a counter to exhaustion (that I literally have never had to deal with in 10 years of playing) my best feature is now just straight up gone...

[@RulesLawyerDnD]

01. Spells at first lvl....great. 02. Favored enemy/ hunter mark as a spell....okay I guess kinda confused how he said it 03. Weapon master....needed 04. Fighting style fully open....sweet 05. deapth Explorer extra languages........great 06. Weapon or cantrip options.....I like options 07. Extra attack.....same 08. Roving......great it was needed 09. Additional spells and change one per long rest......thank you. 10. Utility options......we like Utility 11. 2 more expertise options....skill monkey 12. Tireless.....has potential 13. Hunters mark no con checks....awesome 14. Invisibility......okay not bad 15. Hunters mark upgrade again.....cool 16. Blindsight.......kinda late 17. Huntermark upgrade damage......okay maybe

[@pederw4900]

Hunters mark improvements seem to come online way too late

[@RulesLawyerDnD]

​@@pederw4900Agreed, but also depends on the utility options and if a subclass maybe makes up for it.

[@killerchansey4938]

01. Spells at first level: great 02. Favored Enemy now tied to Hunter's Mark: bad (forces you into a play style instead of using other options) 03. Weapon Master: great 05 Deft Explorer: Literally copy and pasted from Tasha's so we already had it, not new. 06. Options are good. 08. Roving also was part of Tasha's 09. They were originally gonna be prepared caster so bad. But changing a spell once per day good. 10. Utility good 11. More Expertise is fun but may make rogue not as good 12. Tireless already was a option in Tasha's so not adding anything new 13. Hunters Mark concentration can't break objectively good (but I do not like they're forcing you to waste you concentration spells on Hunters Mark vs other options.) 14. Hidden In Plain Sight was again part of Tasha's so nothing new. 15. Again forcing people to use Hunter's Mark vs other options 16. A little late for Blindsight I agree 17. The worst iteration of the Ranger capstone to date

[@RulesLawyerDnD]

@@killerchansey4938 you're not completely wrong. Some of those changes are the fact that Tasha's was optional vs now they are the rules. Makes ot harder for a DM to say no to a rule vs optional rule. I don't mind the hunter mark actually because it can be used both and out of combat. Unless they change the wording too much. It's better but I'll have to do a deep dive to see if it's really good or just okay with some minor improvements.

[@killerchansey4938]

​@@RulesLawyerDnD My issue is moreso they proclaim that they want people to have options and don't want to force people into one style of play and yet they've made Hunter's Mark THE spell you have to use Now if this was going off the older UA where Hunters Mark was concentration free, this may not be a issue. But now it's im forced to use concentration on vs the other spell options and that's going against their model of giving actual diversity

[@greglohman6750]

Why on earth did you keep dependence on hunters mark as a.core feature, with it still taking up concentration! That was the part that makes it stink, locking up the concentration slot for the base damage boost. Favored prey should just be a prof bomus times per long rest ability, no concentration. I agree yall beefed it with the Ranger agan.

[@lorentz2372]

4:22 Question: instead of having a lot of spoken languages that is sometimes unreasonable due to the nature of living in the woods or roaming the lands, wouldn’t be an interesting choice to renounce to the languages and add a talent instead? For someone that roams a talent like observant or exploring ones may be quite fitting more than languages that other party members always have.

[@demonzero677]

I sincerely hope that the "change one spell per long rest" change to the formerly known spellcaster that is ranger is a change to ALL known spellcasters, while I'm bummed that vansion spellcasting from the first UA was rolled back on, I'm ok with having a mostly rigid known spell list with the ability to change out some spells over long rest instead of ONLY at level up.

[@mythno394]

If you dont want hunters mark to be a choice, then dont make it a spell that requires concentration. Look at vow of enmity on paladins, just a feature that you activate on that particular target you want dead and go to town. Thats way closer to how it should work. We dont have to concentrate on it at the late level of 13, but it still requires us to forego other spells, and if we choose to just ignore it then were choosing to give up class features that revolve around it. Its weird seeing Rangers not get the same treatment as other classes despite already being at the bottom of the list.

[@MrSANGREPODRIA]

Here is an idea from a random costumer, scale up the dmg of Hunters Mark at par with Ability Score Improvement, a 1d6 for each time you you improve? Plus not be a concentration spell anymore?

[@jaredt.murphy8257]

Honestly, as someone that's never played one, all the extra details add so much that makes the "ranger" into just that, uniquely skilled for traveling the world, not just sticking heels in and fighting to the death - it makes sense!

[@jcmalbec]

Why does Hunter's Mark not just operate like Smite? On a successful hit, you may choose to apply hunter's mark. It requires concentration to maintain. Gets around having to stop your Beastmaster pet from doing nothing on turn one for example.

[@JohnvanCapel]

Here's my thoughts on this: 🔥 🗑 That's it. That's my entire thoughts. It's a dumpster fire.

[@Nerdahedron]

I'm not a fan in general of taking class abilities and turning them into spells. Class abilities should be *abilities*, not more spells. I guess we'll see how it looks on paper.

[@UrbanAnimal97]

im sorry but when you have classes like wizard that are just better than every other class. and now sub classes like the new fey warlock. why are we acting like hunters mark would be broken if it wasnt concentration. its soo lame. concentration would be justifiable if the damage die went up or you got more of them using higher level spell slots but short of that come on. but we got more expertise! .... ground breaking

[@westoncraig7384]

Exactly. For example divine smite on paladin. It scales throughout the entire class, and is fun. Why do I care at level 10 about hunters mark?

[@UrbanAnimal97]

@@westoncraig7384 honestly if they wanted to make it so hunters mark is worth concentrating on and not have any damage scaling while also being a desired class feature. they should have given it the invocation treatment or infusions. i have a pool of options to pick from that grows as i level that, based on the ones i pick, allow me to do things like upon hitting a target affected by hunters mark i can use a bonus action or reaction to goad or banish it or slow it or blind it. actual utility that is impactful at all points of a campaign

[@TouchGrassAnyPercent]

waiting till level 10+ for core RP/class identity features that make me actually feel like a ranger. Even roving at 6 is too high level. The game is half over by then and I finally get to “range”?

[@yuvalgabay1023]

I can't believe as a lvl 20 ranger i get the aswome ability of +2 to dmg Truly wotc out did them self

[@SmaugBoi]

That's how I feel about the rogue assassin change

[@robf88]

So if you can up at it to get more dice.....let's say at 5 level and it's 3d6 Now that's 3d10 that would now be plus 6 damage per attack now.

[@yuvalgabay1023]

@@robf88 ohhh wow exciting. Need to wast my very limited 5th lvl spells for .extra 6 dmg wowowowoowowow.

[@varunvijay9293]

I don't even want hunters mark to be a thing now, I want stuff like entangling strike etc to be more viable but now they've designed it so that hunters mark is the only viable option

[@robf88]

​​@@yuvalgabay102318 extra damage if you get 3 attacks via BM or 3 attacks via two weapon fighting. I know still underwhelming but there are builds....

[@gratuacuun8366]

Level 20: Cleric: I summon *GOD!* Fighter: *Takes out whole squad by themselves with 8 attacks* Wizard: *Casts Wish to rewrite reality* Druid: *Becomes an immortal forest god* Paladin: *Turns into an angel* Ranger: Hey guys, look! I can do an average of 4 more damage a round!

[@codiethompson3401]

Worse: it’s actually 2 points on average 😅

[@gratuacuun8366]

@@codiethompson3401 I was being generous and call it 4 because of extra attack. 😀

[@tylersmith7509]

Valid, but the Fighter capstone isn't that great either. Not by itself. On the whole it is 8 attacks, but the cap stone is only 1 more attack (2 more with action surge, twice a day). But ~12 more damage per turn is a lot better than 2 (or 6, if Hunter's Mark is cast at 5th level).

[@gratuacuun8366]

@@tylersmith7509 Wouldn't it be twice each short rest? So depending on how many short rests, it can scale.

[@tylersmith7509]

@@gratuacuun8366 short rests, in my experience, are very dependent of the DM and the type of adventure. Most of the time it is 1 extra attack and 2 times two extra attacks.

[@elainelefey]

Tasha, can I copy your homework? Yeah, just change some things, so it's not obvious.

[@vortigern7021]

I would have rather they just copied and pasted Tasha's

[@secretlyditto7716]

@@vortigern7021ME TOO

[@OneShotQuesters]

So.....Am I making jokes that the Ranger still sucks? Or the party doesn't need him until level 10?

[@Rajunganclips]

eyy

[@yuidragongirl.1396]

F in the chat for Ranger 😭

[@Person-u5y]

This needs more likes!

[@darkswordgamer9496]

RIP

[@jefferystafford9657]

Why is wotc so afraid of making Rangers stronger?

[@Hous3ofpros]

im still crying that hunter’s mark STILL requires concentration. the free uses are great but come on a paladin doesnt have to concentrate on their aura, why does a ranger have to concentrate on their core class feature. its dumb af.

[@vortigern7021]

what is even worse the Paladin doesn't have to concentrate or even cast a spell for their improved Divine Smite.

[@Hous3ofpros]

@@vortigern7021 EXACTLY

[@ArturoGonzalez-st7xj]

could be worse, like having to use your bonus action every time you want to deal HM damage :D

[@Hous3ofpros]

@@ArturoGonzalez-st7xj i mean, if u got high damage ur kinda doing that anyway to switch it around 😂 but v true that’d be crazy

[@MekkaYGO]

So we all agree to homebrew no concentration hunters mark.

[@mitchellenderson7194]

Allowing it at my table, and buffing the Hunter’s Mark damage to go from 1d6, up to 3d6 at capstone.

[@KevinVideo]

Just like the Tasha's upgrade for Favored Foe, which was concentration, and shouldn't have been. I just use the 2019 UA for "Class Feature Variants". It reads: "You can call on your bond with nature to mark a creature as your favored enemy for a time: you know the hunter’s mark spell, and Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for it. You can use it a certain number of times without expending a spell slot and without requiring concentration-a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest. When you gain the Spellcasting feature at 2nd level, hunter’s mark doesn’t count against the number of ranger spells you know."

[@wavecycle]

Or uses concentration (with free casting) but no action to relocate

[@FawkesOnline]

I would just use Favored Foe but with better scaling damage tbh

[@izenheimreborn6390]

Upcasting, higher damage scaling, no concentration, free action to switch. My reasoning is that rangers are the class that stack abilities such as spells, class features, weapon bonuses, and ally buffs to use every die in your set

[@alexg.9498]

So we all agree that we are gonna make our own Ranger if a player at our table wants to play one

[@trealosgaming3345]

I will play it as the phb wants cause it is honestly broken if built right(which i have done by accident often). Once this comes out it makes my Warlock/ranger way more broken than expected. It went from a slow melee, to being able to deal 4d6 plus modifiers on turn 1 if you take the nick weapon mastery. Early level rangers can suddenly become damage dealers far faster than a fighter. Yea you may have to recast hunters mark but nick suddenly makes that bonus action free to do so.

[@pedroropio6970]

Yeah, but that's exactly the problem. You have to build it "right" or else you'll just feel incredibly auto-nerfed if you want to play a STR ranger, or if you wanna send your pet in while you use a long bow.

[@carlosforma5978]

If your class only swings in the extremes (broken, unplayable trash in almost any build, OP in that one or two specific builds), it's still a trash class. I hate that, because I always loved the Ranger class identity and to play as a Ranger. But my excitement to play Ranger has been running on the nostalgia fumes for years because the developers seem to hate anything that translate the class fantasy into anything usable.

[@carlosforma5978]

Honestly, I'm wanting to make a level by level progression homebrew for Ranger, basing it more around 3e Ranger and translating Flavor Text into mechanics. But I'm not entirely sure of which levels represent what in general character progression, so I'm a bit hesitant. I guess I'll start by writing in some note app.

[@ManubibiWalsh]

@@pedroropio6970 if you wanna play a STR-based class just go Paladin/Barbarian… You can’t play a ranger and expect them to be a tank. And yeah, the point is building them in a way that works for you. Always been. You can’t grab a character that’s based on dexterity and expect them to be proficient at strength-based actions. Or you can, but then the whole character will suck. Play a Paladin 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@nicholassteele1367]

To steal a line from The Waterboy: "Oh no, we suck again!" 😑

[@WokedOx]

Did he just say that my level 20 ability that i spent so much time working for.... increases my damage to a single enemy im concentrating on... by 2

[@wolfaru]

Keep in mind that stacking with the advantage you already get from having them as your target of Hunter's Mark meaning it's bumping up to a d10 and you already have a much greater chance of critting

[@life-destiny1196]

The level 20 Ranger ability is roughly as good as a fighting style, only on the target of Hunter's Mark. Thank you very cool. I guess if you're doing Swift Quiver--j/k that's concentration. WOTC really does seem to overvalue die size increases. Remember when they thought the Martial Arts die bump was gonna be enough for Monk?

[@M9Seradon]

@@wolfaru that feature is also a joke. Weapon mastery and the rest of the Ranger toolkit already give easy access to advantage as early as lvl 1. Waiting until lvl 17 to give you advantage for using a dud of a spell is a humongous slap in the face.

[@blakenoir7890]

yeah... and level 18 is amazing, you get something a warlock in 5e gets at level 2.

[@matthewmenendez7302]

@@wolfaru the issue is we already had the ability to cast hunters mark, this base class feature is useless. Sure i can cast it for free but its not providing something new till 13th level. The base class feature should of been something like the blood hunter. Making sacking a spell slot to deal extra elemental damage that scales. Maybe later levels you can get some insightful fighting mechanic to get weaknesses to optimize the damage type. Get more types as you level up, get advantage on knowledge on creatures or monsters that you previously selected. Just remove the blood hunter flavor and slap it on and would feel like the ranger has something truly there own that mechanically is satisfying to use

[@Antarctican_]

Ranger needs to be an exploration themed mirror of the paladin to be successful. Focusing the entire class around a level 1 concentration spell with no scaling(until levels 13,17, and 20) is simply not it. Give the ranger a climb and swim speed. Let them choose two expertise skills between Nature, Perception, Stealth, and Survival. And them give them the other two they don't choose at a higher level. Give them the paladin smite feature, but instead of nova damage it is damage plus status effects, such as blinded, restrained, exhausted, or frightened. Or prone, disarming, or shoving, like a battle master. Make it so that these conditions don't get saves. Eldritch smite has a no save prone, swords bard has a no save shove, I don't wanna hear people saying this is broken or OP. For the frightened, restrained and blind just make it so it lasts for one round instead of a save. Instead of Divine Smite call it Nature's Fury. Now the ranger has a resource to expend that isn't chewing up their bonus action, so it can play much nicer with beast master, gloom stalker, etc. At the end of the day, so what if it ends up being over tuned? Rangers have been dog water for a long, long time, while paladin has been S tier. Give the ranger some love.

[@Sambrostar]

Absolutely agree, love the ideas of ranger being based on conditions like blinded, restrained, frightened and exhausted. I still think Ranger's can use Hunter's Mark, but just make a free action without concentration or something.

[@Antarctican_]

@@apollosungod6673 hence why I said "has been", because it's been S tier for a decade now.

[@Antarctican_]

@@apollosungod6673 I agree. The paladin nerfs will not be run at my table. Looks like I'm going to have to do a lot more picking and choosing as a DM than I hoped for.

[@gorgit]

No save exhausted might be a taaad unfair. After 3 hits the enemy is effectively useless, after 4 basically dead.

[@Sambrostar]

@@gorgit obviously ways to balance it. An example might be that they gain 1 level of exhaustion each time they are hit and fail a save, and they cannot have more levels of exhaustion than the spell level of the Hunters Mark, for example.

[@josiahtaylor2246]

"Just play a Fighter with a bow, it's better!" -JoCat Still true today.

[@trealosgaming3345]

Eh, lets put a lv1 2024 ranger vs a lv1 2024 fighter. If the ranger goes melee and has nick weapon mastery, that first turn attack suddenly is an extra d6 to 2d6 damage depending on the weapon/ fighting style choosen. Rangers are far more than guy with bow and spells. JoCat is a low creativity person honestly.

[@terence9867]

​@@trealosgaming3345 You knew that he doesnt actually think that, right?

[@turtley8581]

@@trealosgaming3345 yeah but most of that seeming good on paper is just because ranged dps got nerfed so hard with the 2024 handbook lol

[@Louis-ef4eb]

​@@trealosgaming3345let's put a 2024 character vs another 2024 character...LET'S NOT. 😂 is anyone going to use this?

[@DonceGT]

I'm sad that it still applicable

[@ZiadCharif]

Capstone for Ranger: +2 damage, meanwhile wizards are a fireball machine gun... Ehh, for my table I'll probably just homebrew it that it is a free action to cast, and/or doesn't need concentration, that feels better as a cap stone feature.

[@elementzero3379]

How dare you?! I will not be wasting my time casting Fireballs! I'll be turning the Ranger into a Dragon so he can feel cool. This Ranger is such a disappointment. ☹️

[@Pavel-wj7gy]

Even with a free action no concentration, hunters mark is not going to catch up at level 15+.

[@hyperlink6547]

@@Pavel-wj7gy yeah like. im a 20th level ranger, i can either cast hunters mark for 2 extra d10 if i hit both of my attacks. Or, i can spend my action to cast Steel wind Strike, for triple that damage on 5 different creatures!!! AND i still have my BA to command my beast companion. this capstone feature is literally worthless.

[@i.am_berserk]

"The ranger is now a completly new class" *Proceeds to describe the Tasha's Options for the Ranger*

[@westoncraig7384]

Yep.

[@SolBadguyGuiltyGearMan]

You mean aside from the SEVERAL new options they gave it? You mean aside from the new stat locks and growths for the beast master? You mean aside from the new features on the fey wanderer and gloomstalker? You mean aside from the almost complete rework of the hunter?

[@i.am_berserk]

​@@SolBadguyGuiltyGearMan i mean the how they kept it the same just a little bit buffed, like Tasha's did

[@Baraz_Red]

Well, both sides of the statement here are a bit true : the core parts of the revised Ranger is very Tasha's ... and the Beast Master is Tasha's... except the spell-combo part! The Gloom Stalker is truly different (and needed it!). And it is just poking fun a bit at the statement in the interview. :P

[@okayhellohihowyadoin]

Oh no I don’t like this at all. They way overvalued hunters mark.

[@MeatbagSlayer]

Looks like dad burned the food. Ranger bros are not eating tonight.

[@BorzoiByDaylight]

IM SOBBING ALL I WANTED WAS A BETTER RANGER NOT THIS 😭😭😭

[@AndrewThoesen]

The only explanation is that at some point Jeremy played in a group where a Ranger PC bullied him and he decided the class would never be playable again.

[@Koranthus]

lot of grown adults whining about concentration in these comments, weird

[@trealosgaming3345]

Ranger has always been playable and it sounds like most of you all cant be creative in how to use it.

[@wizkid5555]

​@@trealosgaming3345 I mean, JC even pointed out that Ranger has *always* been the lowest rated class in terms of satisfaction.

[@ghostkill221]

I just think the removal of onhit stuff feels meh. Ranger was always THE onhit build.

[@gorgit]

​@@Koranthus You call it whining, I call it laughing at the sheer stupidity. How can you get paid for designing THIS? 💀💀💀

[@aidanweaver1744]

Why didn't they just make hunters mark a feature instead of just free casting a spell? They're making it such a necessity yet limiting it so much. You could just make it a feature so that 1. Doesnt need concentration and 2. Make it genuinely unique

[@KevinVideo]

Agreed. It should have been something similar to the monk's unarmed strike.

[@TheDragonRuler-]

They did the same thing with Smite which everyone also disliked except to a class which was already weak

[@aduinoch]

Because some other things grant it it as a spell. (Oath of Vengeance Paladin, 2 sub races from Eberon, and the Fey Touched feat)

[@joshuazemanek5809]

They tried it in the UA process... but whatever people said made them undo it.. so blame the masses with a megaphone

[@ArturoGonzalez-st7xj]

It appears they are doubling down on spells for halfcasters and not even good spells. just look at what they did to the paladin divine smite feature.

[@mitchellenderson7194]

Okay, so let me throw my thoughts in: • REMOVE CONCENTRATION FROM HUNTER’S MARK. There are a million words in the English language, yet through no combination of them can I accurately string together how badly I hate this. There are tons of great options in the Ranger list as-is that require concentration, and are better than an extra d6 of damage that only I can benefit from. Ashardalon’s Stride, Summons, Swift Quiver, Flame and Lightning Arrows, Tree Stride, Guardian of Nature, Stoneskin, Wind Wall, even Ensnaring and Zephyr Strike at level one! I’m okay with making Hunter’s Mark central to the class, but for the love of the gods and all that is holy, it needs more! • The level 20 ability *actually* makes me angry. Like, imagine you’ve played an expansive campaign with a party of your friends and have kept your Ranger alive and pushed them to the apex of their abilities, and all you get is an average damage boost of 2 while you have Hunter’s Mark up. Does that feel like an open slap in the face to anyone else, or just me? • For a completely rebuilt class, I’m seeing a LOT of features plundered from Tasha’s. They were cool features and all, but this isn’t the same Ranger anymore. Maybe it’s time we move on past them. • Hunter rework actually sounds really cool, interested in trying it out to see how it feels. Same with Beast Master. • I always thought Gloom Stalker was more Underdark aligned than Shadowfell. Not that I mind; I actually like the idea of subclasses geared towards certain planes. It opens up my creativity to things like Horizon Walkers geared toward the Astral Plane, Clockpunks geared toward Mechanus, Avengers from the Upper Planes, or Demon Slayers diving into the Abyss. Overall, 5/10. Homebrew will fix Rangers for us again down the line.

[@zoloaftermidnight]

You can't even blame your unearthed arcana feedback for this because EVERYONE ALREADY VOICED THEIR COMPLAINTS FOR THIS!

[@jamiehuebsch]

This is the first class revision that looks terrible, I sincerely liked all the others up to this one. How WotC keeps basing the Ranger's combat around a single bad 1st level spell in spite of receiving at least 4 passes of feedback now that is heavily disliked, I will never understand. Hunter's Mark sucks and is not fun to use. Stop forcing Rangers to use it just to keep up with other classes damage. Of course it's too late now since these books are already printed in a warehouse somewhere.

[@nicholassteele1367]

Agreed. They could've just made it a feature like favored foe from tasha's only remove concentration. Make it a scaling feature like sneak attack so that it isn't too strong for a one level dip. Add tracking advantage. Done. No reason to overcomplicate it like they have. There also isn't a need to limit it's use besides once per turn.

[@ademas2010]

Ive never used it in any other form of the class, and I usually just dual class anyways and just pump up my survival skill and other relivent skills as the campaign goes on cause half the stuff for magic is done by the crazy wizard or sorcerer's anyways. Or the edge lord druid.

[@twitwit99]

Having Pass Without Trace remain up is way too important to use hunters mark a lot of the time.

[@Tryson101]

I have played many rangers because I like freedom motif they have. I have used Hunter's Mark less then 10 times. There are better spells to concentrate on for both damage and flavor. Now many of the higher level feature are based on that one spell!?!? I honestly don't care that much about damage equality, this hinders my character's freedom. I hate the idea of multi-classing normally, but for this Ranger...

[@shetoldmeto]

I feel like Hunter's Mark would have been a great feature if they just simply stated, "Whenever you roll initiative, target one creature you can see..." and simply run the regular Hunter's Mark rules after that except for concentration. Even the apply to another creature effect once that creature goes to 0 HP. Then you don't have to worry about spell slots, concentration, or anything similar. It would retain its identity of focusing one creature and wouldn't be overpowered.

[@matthewmiller1847]

"We are looking at features to make sure they are the right action economy. Sometimes removing the action cost all together" *makes paladin Channel Divinity options apply on an attack* *also keeps hunter's mark a bonus action AND concentration*

[@wilverine5557]

And commanding an animal companion on a BA

[@gersonbruno8463]

@@wilverine5557 instead of animals having their own initiative action and bonus actions

[@fullmetalpotato1258]

​@@gersonbruno8463 commanding a familiar or a mount you ride is a free action. Commanding the animal companion could have been too if its gonna compete with using hunters mark

[@SirAron]

So you are telling me, instead of taking the opportunity to make Hunter's Mark a Class Feature without concentration. They keep it useless at higher levels and even claim that the lvl 20 cap stone ability is a damage increase of 2 points at average only if you use a spell that gets out scaled at that lvl. Feels like they on purpose choose to ignore the community on that one. No concentration needed after lvl 5. No dmg scaling for up casting. Triggers once per turn. And slowly scales from 1d6 to 1d8 than to 1d10 that was the better version, and they decided to make it useless.

[@SlvrSwrd92]

I thought hunters mark was whenever you hit with a weapon attack?

[@matheusfiorelli8829]

@@SlvrSwrd92 they nerfed it in UA 6, there was a once per turn

[@Sambrostar]

Hunter's Mark should scale with the die size, even if you can use it as a 2nd level spell for free when it improves, then again as a 3rd level spell at capstone. Or the damage begins at 2d6/3d6, so potentially could maximize damage to 7d6 as a 5th level upcasted. And more targets at higher spell levels, so you don't have to waste your bonus action to change targets often!

[@TrixyTrixter]

@@Sambrostar that is way to much for a 1st level spell. As a feature you are just taking the rogues main thing and giving it to ranger but better.

[@Sambrostar]

@@TrixyTrixter Not necessarily, Rogue doesn't have to bonus action concentrate to gain the effect of their sneak attack, but Rangers wouldn't have to get advantage on their attacks. Additionally, to get 7d6 damage, you'd have to expend a very limited 5th level spell slot, which we don't know how many Rangers actually get. Just expending a 1st level spell so you can deal 3d6 extra damage at, say, level 15-20 would be a very nice and reasonable feature.

[@PenatiLorenzo]

If the whole class is built on Hunter's Mark how are we supposed to be able to use any other spell if it is concentration? Also the buffs are at 13/17 for a 1d10 dmg? Are you realy going to concentrate on Hunter's Mark in Tier 2 and 3 of play? Such a disaster of a class, just make it concetration free at lvl 13 and the class is at least decent. Like this is atrocious for a class. So sad because I like almost every other change we got to see thus far in all other classes.

[@steven_r33d]

just make a house rule that hunter's mark doesn't require concentration. It looks like that's what everyone else is doing.

[@TommieCobb]

Hunters mark still requires concentration. Why is this single spell, still the core class mechanic of the class? Why isn't it a class feature? Why does it require concentration? No other classes core feature requires concentration.

[@Qyshawn]

I think the idea is that they also made ranger a primary caster now? So you have much more spell slots to work with

[@johnnyspillowfort377]

Yeah, I think they are trying to make it like Smite, but that doesn't take a "known spell" slot. Honestly if I want an animal companion or nature magic I could play a Warden Druid.

[@Aranesque]

at the very least, if they insist SO much into making the core class mechanic, why can't rangers become exceptionally good at it? Give us improvements with the spell as we level up. Remove concentration at certain level, or the use of bonus action, give us more damage die or anything that makes it worthwhile using the free slots they are giving us.

[@johnnyspillowfort377]

Wait, hang on at 10:00 they give you free castings of it, and at lvl 13 damage doesn't break concentration. Ok, so they are only making it a spell so you can't stack concentration. Why?? Why kneecap the rest of the class for this one spell??

[@Mrryn]

​@@QyshawnAnd? Now you have to choose between losing out on around half your class features to concentrate on good spells like the new Conjure and Summon spells, or be stuck maintaining concentration on a level 1 spell (that potentially only deals a single d6 of bonus damage per turn based on the last UA version) just to actually get mileage out of your class. All while also losing out on your bonus action casting/switching targets that you need for other class features, notable commanding your freakin' beast companion meaning they still haven't fixed one of, if not the, main issue with Beast Master ranger despite 10 years of feedback and a year-long+ playtest to fix it - action economy.

[@fredcole6844]

Druid: A full spellcasting class. We wanted to give druids that didn't want to cast spells something to do with their spell slots (ie: wildshape / summon a animal friend). Ranger: A full martial class with limited spellcasting abilities. We gave you a spell you are required to use to do any damage at all, which takes your concentration slot up permanently. And don't forget to be excited about the enhanced spell list. Seems like Ranger is still a dip only class :(.

[@nicholassteele1367]

They absolutely missed the "mark" with this one. So very disappointed. To sum up: -They presented Tasha's optional features as brand new features. -Made a bunch of new features centered around Hunter's Mark, making it feel like a required use for the Ranger, without buffing it in the levels ranger will mostly be played in. -Nerfed gloomstalker while leaving in the most problematic feature (invisible to creatures that rely on darkvision). I don't understand this at all. -Made a couple minor tweaks to features that are more lateral changes. They seem to be trying to funnel ranger characters into one playstyle. This is just a worse version of other classes. Just play a fighter/druid or a warlock. Warlock got so much love and the ranger just got the shaft.

[@Thomas-zt7dm]

Have you heard any news on how often they'll be able to do dread ambush? Honestly its basically free casting zephyr strike except it also comes with a free attack. The ranger multiclass is going to go insane though.

[@Sambrostar]

Fighter/Druid subclass is just a better Ranger, and I dunno if that subclass would even be a highly viable build.

[@WalterRiggs]

Rangers rule. But I gotta wait 20 levels before Hunters Mark damage increases? Weak

[@trise2033]

...if you ignore that using Hunter's Mark also makes that target your Favored Enemy, with all of those fun benefits.

[@waltercosta2067]

@@trise2033 what are the benefits mechanically?

[@jefferystafford9657]

Ranger sucks sadly

[@M9Seradon]

@@trise2033you seem to be misunderstanding, but there is no favored enemy feature to give you benefits on a tagged target. All you get is a d6 and advantage at 17 (lol), unless you're in one of the few subclasses that cares but still only gets minor boons to it.

[@Dighpo]

Wait, you don't want +1 average damage as a level 20 capstone??? Why???

[@diobrando1545]

If wizards don't do the ranger justice,it's going to be really bad

[@waltercosta2067]

@@williamhargreaves7046 yeah, me too

[@sambro6657]

They ruined it

[@joshuasmith9061]

it's bad

[@Megawaps]

They already did.

[@punkasaurian3055]

This is a confusing statement

[@malezar5444]

Fighters: "If I miss, I just hit" Wizards: "I can counterspell, and if it doesn't work, I don't use my spell slot" Paladin: "Everyone around me gets lots of bonuses because I am awesome!" Ranger: "I get +2 to damage, am I useful yet guys?"

[@Koranthus]

ah yes, compare the fighters epic boon feat to a separate hunters mark feature upgrade that you don't list. just dont forget they get blindsight and advantage on marked targets and also you did the math wrong its more than +2 at every change in the hunters mark progression.

[@DuDleyAllDay]

@@Koranthus He's specifically comparing lvl 20 capstone features.... all they needed to do was give the Ranger 24 Wisdom and Con like the barbarian, even THAT would be better than an avg +2 dmg per hit at lvl 20 when the Barbarian gets a garuanteed +2 damage per hit lol and they dont have to maintain concentration on an outscaled trash lvl 1 spell

[@ishigami04]

Hope this class get some love. The playtest was a pain in my heart, so i really want it to be good in the final book Cross my heart that if the Ranger doesn't get cool features I'm just making a homebrew version of the class for my group

[@andrewdowns3673]

Same. I think Dungeon Couch made an alt. Ranger vid a year or so ago; was so good.

[@ishigami04]

I actually have one made by my own inspired by the 3.5/pathfinder 1e Ranger that is both powerful and tematic IMO. My version is in the Portuguese language, because it's my native idiom, but I'm going to take a look in the Dungeon Coach version. TYSM! ​@@andrewdowns3673

[@Aranesque]

If it's like the last playtest, I'll probably homebrew the ugly bits. My main issue was adding terrains again and not giving you upgradeable free hunters mark (either free uses at max cast level or making it no-concentration or something worth using it past level 5)

[@mkdynasty272]

Same here

[@jefferystafford9657]

Just move to DC20 instead of 5e

[@nonashubeltaine2861]

I didn't think it could of been done. But they made Ranger even worse to play now. I just don't have anymore words.

[@Sambrostar]

Yeah I'm wondering if the 2014 version is actually better in this case. I would just homebrew every 2024 ranger feature out of existence at this point, any monkey could do a better job than WotC ever could with this class.

[@thesistersofbattle]

They could have hit the Mark with making a better Ranger, if they weren't too busy concentrating on something else.

[@_somerandomguyontheinternet_]

*ba dum tss*

[@Elkay_J]

So now, not only will we still not cast hunters mark at high levels, but now we don't get class features either. Since they are all based around a 1st level spell. My disappointment with the new handbook has peaked

[@justsomedude8617]

"One of our misses in the 2014 ranger is we had some really nice flavorful abilities having to do with different environments or different types of creatures that didn't really deliver a reliable, concrete game experience" Which is exactly why we have scrapped those abilities entirely, and in their place we have made the ranger's theme about dealing an additional d6 of damage to one creature, once per turn.

[@ВладимирБолотов-ъ3э]

And instead quite logical expert in couple environments we get a tarzan, who is just worse version of good magician in plainly everything. Why we have warrior, who is just english Dreadnought and this cripple with 1d6 extra damage on every attack. And if they nerf/remove sharpshooter, then ranger will deal about negative amount of damage!

[@killerchansey4938]

They really said we're just gonna use the Tasha's Ranger. The only new things they actually gave Ranger were a few more expertise and languages, a feature that keeps from breaking concentration on hunters mark and the new most pitiful capstone. They're REALLY banking on people not reading any of the other books

[@killerchansey4938]

Like updating a die from a D6 to a d10. How about you add your Wisdom modifier to attack and damage rolls. Maybe make a number of attacks a critical hit a number a times a day equal to your WIS modifier. Like what are they smoking?

[@yuvalgabay1023]

​@@killerchansey4938what you don't like doing extra 2 ish dmg per attack?

[@deffdefying4803]

@@yuvalgabay1023 compared to the old capstone which was +WIS (thus potentially +4 or even +5) to either damage or attack rolls.

[@capy-karma186]

Did anyone else notice that they also made no mention of Primal Awareness or Primeval Awareness? Is that just gone now?

[@killerchansey4938]

It's just gone now ​@@capy-karma186

[@DeadLight63]

Too much focus on Hunter’s Mark. If it really was designed as the identity or bread and butter of the Ranger, it either needed better and earlier scaling, or not requiring concentration. Rangers have access to really great spells, but are pigeonholed into Hunter’s mark if they don’t want their damage to fall off a cliff. These changes don’t fix that, and if anything make them worse. Two extra expertise skills at level 19 are neat, but what exactly is that supposed to accomplish? Most campaigns don’t go that high, and even if they do, Expertise is honestly pretty easy to get past that point. I could see this being awesome at 8th or 10th level, 19 is just too late.

[@TheComicWonder]

You get the expertise at 9th level, he phrased it wrong. Still not an exciting class though unfortunately

[@madwookie9844]

You guys could've easily had Favored Foe from Tasha's Cauldron, since you copy pasted from the book and didnt change it much if at all for Ranger, work as the "Hunter's Mark" ability you guys have setup with the following improvements: It no longer requires concentration. Regain uses on a short or long rest. Possibly a damage buff such as: lvl 1 1d4, lvl 4 1d6, lvl 8 1d8, lvl 14 1d10, lvl 20 1d12. (just spitballing that, not definitive) That's it, that was all that really needed to happen. You already had uses equal to your proficiency bonus which is great as it would automatically build with you. And without concentration you could mark multiple creatures if you want for 1 minute to deal extra damage to them, which means: *You no longer have your bonus action and concentration eaten by a very mediocre spell when there are much better options in the Ranger spell list, not to mention your beast commands as Beastmaster also require a bonus action now.* *OR* you could have combined the two still have the Hunter's Mark thing but it does not require concentration and the damage improves MUCH sooner not *starting* to improve at 13th level, and being able to mark multiple creatures if you wish too. These changes are nice but they are very much *not* sufficient when compared to all the other classes and subclasses thus far, you guys *really* dropped the ball with this one. I still look forward to the rest but man this was a real blunder.

[@elvenscout]

Honestly. Plus FF was only 1x/turn. could start it at 1d6 and easily scale it up to 5d6, which is only half of what a rogue gets at level 20. Or like you said, make it HM a class feature instead that you can only use # times per day with your prof bonus, have it scale to 1d6, 1d8, 1d10, 1d12 at 5, 9, 13, 17 (levels we get our prof bonus at), and include the original Favored Enemy advantage to Wisdom rolls for the creature to track it, and on Intelligence checks to recall information about them if they've been marked in the last day. Or something along those lines. Like bring back the nature and survival master vibes at least. If they're worried about concentration - make it so it's only no concentration if they use the free cast, not the spell slot, which is cast at lowest level (still 1 hour long). Literally such an easy fix. Starting off you only get 2 casts per LR that have no concentration. It's like a variant attack form of wild shape, which now also levels up. It's just wild they're basically making the class unplayable due to concentration. Esp if like others mentioned, they didn't even playtest this version. at all. and they ignored the feedback given. It's blatant disregard. I blame WOTC and HABRO for constantly firing their employees though. it's always the good employees they fire, like the entire crew that worked on BG3. All gone. (I genuinely hate it here)