Why Rangers Suck in Dungeons and Dragons

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What is your Take on the Ranger Class? Is it as bad as people make it out to be?
Edited by Notdeadspider ► / @jadencaster
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#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #rangers

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[@KalaamNozalys]

@@TaiJendamNation Is there any control on what they are actually doing tho' ? Sounds like a weird intermediate

[@UMCorian]

I think BG3 basically overhauled D&D Rangers and made them good just by tweaking the paradigm. They made them not reliant on being in particular terrain to be effective, but gave them bonuses *because* of the terrains they've acclimated to. Desert rangers get fire resistance anywhere. Arctic Rangers get Cold resistance everywhere. Because you specialize in Bounty Hunting, you get a skill AND the ability to do a thing vs. *everything* that's reflective of your style. They took the flair and flipped it around. It's not: "Because you're an arctic ranger that hunts undead, you are only useful when you're in the Arctic and hunting Undead." which has been such a terrible design for so long.

[@kinsan89]

Not to mention giving the companion their own initiative and better upgrades

[@chelsmaria]

100% I feel that D&D proper should update to do Rangers like BG3 did. It's one of those areas that the video game version did better than tabletop

[@pickleboy6059]

This makes me feel like Goblin slayer could be a ranger that specializes in caves and goblins. But he is still decent against other types of enemies. Aka how the class should be

[@MrGrimsmith]

It sounds like the old AD&D Ranger rules back from 2nd Edition or so. The favoured terrain and enemy were *bonuses* and you the companions were brutal on the beastmasters. IIRC a starting companion could be Boar, Bear, big cat or Wolf from the beginning.

[@renaldoawes2210]

Rangers are still the weakest pureclass in BG3. Beastmasters are supposed to be pet builds and are some of the weakest pet builds in the game. Hunters are supposed to be amazing single target, but are weaker than barbs fighters and arguably gloomstalkers and even swordsbards.. Gloomstalkers are great but are very front loaded and are better for multiclassing than pureclassing. Rangers need more love.

[@mrgopnik5964]

A member of our group actually wanted to try out the ranger, but since he knew how much he sucked, everyone agreed to buff him a little. Mainly, we let him do increased damage on favourite enemy and since he also chose beastmaster, we allowed his companions to scale with his level, have autonomous action and he could choose between quality or quantity, based on what he summoned. This may not sound like much, but in the late game he had the choice of supporting us with a goblin horde, or a pet dragon... yeah, we definitely fixed the class XD

[@willc3697]

The entire time I was listening to him argue about how the whole beast thing sucked, I was thinking “just change his abilities a little. A little homebrew never hurt. Or not that I’m aware of.”

[@Logan-oc6ct]

Just use 3.5 ranger

[@Hellheart]

You did exactly what every group I know of has done to fix the ranger. That quality\quantity thing is a neat little twist. If I run a 5e game again, I'm gonna borrow that. Cheers! ✌🏻

[@Jashyboi]

I ran a Ranger my first time playing. My DM let me do this. My panther companion quickly became overpowered lol

[@burnttoast26]

3.5 ranger was a far better iteration, I don't know why they nerfed it so hard in 5e. Feels like DnD's design team has no idea what to do with the class.

[@GandalfMonkeyAnimations]

Tasha’s Cauldron of everything gave a bunch of optional rules for the ranger that's great, and the revised Beast Master is pretty good now! Legit, the Ranger is pretty good and doesn't deserve to be called the worst anymore

[@Sandman382]

At this point the main things keeping it at worst is 1. Reputation. and 2. Needing to own Tasha's which is a costly addition to your book collection for someone entering the hobby. It needed a full ass rewrite of the class but after that its now quite good. Now the main problem to me is monk after fighter spontaneously gained the ability to 1d8 punch from level one. Still better off then ranger but it feels a bit bad when you go 'I put in years of effort(11 levels) and now my fists are as steel' and the fighter walks in and goes 'oh yeah, well I downed a flagon and punched through a mans platemail yesterday.'

[@peterwhitcomb8315]

@@Sandman382 Yeah, Monk is mechanically #13 on the list. Hopefully 6th Ed will make them playable and not so reliant on Ki to do even basic functions. It feels like they need to spend Ki just to wipe their own .

[@MayHugger]

@@Sandman382 Google/KZbin.

[@personman8734]

I’d argue with good spell choices and good feat choices could allow you to easily out perform most martials in dps and survivability except barbarian of course.

[@Thkaal]

Arcanum's Beastmaster is best

[@lucasball5336]

I came up with a himebrew for the ranger that actually seems fun: turn your ranger into a special forces ranger. Identifying weaknesses to reduce crit requirements; using the terrain to form traps and improvised weapons that are better than what you otherwise would get; trick arrows that have one of 8 different affects; and being able to use your perception as a modifier to attack and defense, because a good ranger is never caught off guard.

[@michaelmonaromclaughlin7610]

That's actually a pretty good Idea, if you don't mind, can I use this type of homebrew as well?

[@draklen2244]

So.... Hawkeye.

[@michaelmonaromclaughlin7610]

?

[@lilywashere27]

My first "true" character (the first one i purposefully designed myself instead of letting my experienced friend tell me what to do) was a Ranger (bc I loved the flavour and I felt bad for him). I kind of had a terrible time in terms of using my specific abilities...but I loved the campaign, so I have a soft spot for Rangers now! (my sister went as a monk for the exact same reasons. You can't tell we're twins, right?)

[@aaronwhite1882]

Tasha's fixed a lot of the Ranger, and I'm having a blast playing a Swarmkeeper. It looks like One D&D is leaning into more Tasha's now too.

[@IABJordan]

Also running a Swarmkeeper right now and loving it.

[@Nomadik]

I made a Drakewarden, & he's tons of fun.

[@peterwhitcomb8315]

Ranger's in this first pass of 6th Ed got a major buff. I'll wait to see what sticks and what is removed (as well as what others get) but they have initially came out ahead which is good.

[@aaronwhite1882]

@@peterwhitcomb8315 I doubt the concentration free Hunter's Mark at first level sticks, but it's definitely been improved further from Tasha's.

[@peterwhitcomb8315]

@@aaronwhite1882 🤞

[@Albertosn3]

Don’t forget the Tasha’s update to the Beastmaster It is basically an answer to every major complaint this video (rightly) gives

[@benjaythewhite]

Still gotta use your attack to make it attack.

[@jansolo4628]

@@benjaythewhite Bonus Action*

[@HunterTracks]

@@benjaythewhite Only if you already used up your Bonus Action on something.

[@theoverseer9153]

Main issue with ranger is unfortunately it is too based around specialization in a very specific setting other than general use, Tasha's cauldron did a really good job expanding on a more generalist playstyle. Unfortunately it still suffers from not being the best at what it is meant for.

[@caurd]

Yep, the best is still a rogue. The scout subclases specially

[@trndrd]

Ranger is a martial DPS with good spell casting and expertise. If that isn't the literal definition of versatile, I don't know what is. What if I tell you Ranger is better at stealth than the Rogue, better at damage than the Fighter and better at skill checks than the Bard?

[@caurd]

@@trndrd Then you are lying. No, you are literally dying. And rangers don't have expertise.

[@trndrd]

@@caurd Deft Explorer (Optional) This 1st-level feature replaces the Natural Explorer feature. You gain no benefit from the replaced feature and don't qualify for anything in the game that requires it. You are an unsurpassed explorer and survivor, both in the wilderness and in dealing with others on your travels. You gain the Canny benefit below, and you gain an additional benefit when you reach 6th level and 10th level in this class. Canny (1st Level) Choose one of your skill proficiencies. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make using the chosen skill. You can also speak, read, and write 2 additional languages of your choice.

[@SamBrockmann]

@@trndrd , good spellcasting? Bahahaha As for your what if question: people have proven time and time again that's a load of horse dung.

[@jrcperes]

Tasha's changed everything. I'm playing a Gloomstalker with optional features (Favored Foe and Deft Explorer) and having a blast so far. Amazing class with an excellent damage output and lot to offer to the party when it comes to survival, tracking, stealth and infiltration.

[@mitchellconner6928]

yeah it's cool that the updated ranger feels like it has it's place in a party now as the single target dps, with the subclasses kind acting as ways to add veriety.

[@ADT1995]

While the meme of the ranger being bad will always exist... I honestly consider them a solid A tier class now. They're a better rogue than the rogue is and they're second only to a fighter in single target damage. And they've got spells to boot Beast master is still bad, you're better off playing a hunter or gloomstalker or whatever other subclass you want then picking up summon beast as a spell once you hit 5th level. If you really want to play a beast master then just reflavor drakewarden and talk with your DM. I'm biased though, I actually love the rangers, my favorite subclass is gloomstalker but I have also played hunter, drakewarden, and monster slayer.

[@json_bourne3812]

To be fair though you picked the one subclass that people consider actually good, while every other subclass (and the class as a whole) remain very low in consideration. It's unfortunate that if you play with a group of players that are very serious about their combat and you want to play a ranger - they'll hate you if you play anything other than Gloom.

[@ForDerrick]

I DM a group with two rangers: a Drakewarden and a Gloomstalker. I have to increase the difficulty of encounters because of their DPR

[@terezakramska7912]

I am playing even without the optional features in CoS campaign and ranger can get pretty OP. :D People just don't know how how good gloomstalker is.

[@dragon_of_metal1914]

Been playing a tasha's beastmaster ranger mounted with a focus on wisdom in an Avernus campaign. And so far up to level 8 he has been a dominant force both on the battlefield and off. I have been shocked by how tanky and damaging he is, and his flexibility in action economy has been really surprising.

[@IceMetalPunk]

Honestly, I'd homebrew the beast master so that at level 7 or so, you can start commanding it with a bonus action instead of an action. That mitigates a lot of the drawback, and has the flavor of "your companion knows you so well by now that it only takes a grunt, whistle, or short word for it to understand what you want it to do".

[@torgranael]

I completely forgot that half the class is dead weight leaving you underpowered in any mission not specifically tailored for that one character. I just remember "Hunter's Mark + Colossus Slayer = fun".

[@A.C_B.]

Just use the varient features from Tasha's and you'll be fine. Ranger really isn't that bad.

[@Dwoods451]

@@A.C_B. monk isn't either

[@dj_1831]

@@A.C_B. You could also use the revised ranger UA

[@kharnthebetrayer8251]

Another thing everyone forgets. They get really good, unique spells. A better alarm that also shoots whoever triggers it. Ignore opportunity attacks for a minute and get an advantage Even one to just slash everyone within 30ft I played a Druid, and couldn't do more than 1 spell in a fight because they're all concentration Ranger spells are better than druid spells

[@indrickboreale7381]

Just use Fighter with a bow, bro

[@nympheantares5913]

Hey I am playing a Ranger right now and he absolutely destroyes everything because the damage is absolutely ridiculous

[@lordheklsmosh9490]

The revised ranger is great, I'm level 14 and have a plus 16 to hit

[@codybearden3091]

Hunters mark is awesome

[@11epicnoob]

I've gone Beast Master Ranger. I have got a companion from prior that I managed to tame at level 2- a Zombie Rat I named Karumonix. My level 3 spell of choice- Conjure Animals. I intend to use it to conjure rats at some point

[@Owlinsweatpants]

Tasha’s really saved the day for rangers. Invisibility, extra damage, expertise and other cool stuff making them much better. And my last character - Gloomstalker with Primal Savagery and ridiculous perception and stealth - was just awesome. I took a dip in monk for unarmored defence and was wearing just rugs and cape. I also used Thaumaturgy to make his eyes glow red and pupils look like an ameba. Then trained a few days to make low growling voice without hurting my vocal cords. And I ended up basically playing Morbius but with some Punisher vibes

[@grocksauce7422]

@@lordheklsmosh9490lvl 14?! 😱

[@H.J97]

I'm playing a drakewarden ranger atm (with the optional rules not the base rules) and I'm really liking it. Running around as a goblin with a drake that's larger than me that I can use as a mount or help in battle is fun.

[@ApocryphalSaint]

That Drake is a baller. Personal favorite Ranger subclass. I only wish it had a breath attack :c

[@ancientreddragon5617]

@@ApocryphalSaint It gets a Breath Attack at level 11 tho Your character can also use it but me personally I would only have my Drake use it

[@travisbishop782]

That's awesome!

[@matthewIhorn]

If you want to be the best at bows? Be a fighter If you want to be really good at nature control magic? Be a druid If you want to be bad at both? Be a ranger.

[@godofchaos8131]

Running a drow Drakewarden right now in a Curse of Strahd campaign and honestly it's a solid class. Solid damage output while leaving a lot of room for other general help (ex. stealth). Tasha's did fix a a lot of the issues.

[@hank7281]

To be fair, they've gotten a fair bit of errata, and Tasha's optional feats make it pretty decent

[@harperjames4799]

A few bad features doesn't ruin a class entirely. Even before Tasha you could get the Archery fighting style, extra attack and some of the best spells in the game : Conjure animals, Goodberry, Fog Cloud

[@caurd]

It does when this features were suposed to be the core of the class.

[@firerosenight6937]

I love being a ranger. Granted I like roleplaying and lore and my DM altered some things around to make it make more sense. I have an action, bonus actions, a animal action but only 1 animal of my tamed ones, then a movement. So if I have 3 pets with me, I can set 2 to "guard mode" and use the other in combat. And Tasha's update really helped. Her stargazer subclass my favorite for both the lore and the spells.

[@_WhiteMage]

A simple fix would have been to let you swap out favored terrain and favored enemy on long rests or something. If you expect you're gonna be fighting orcs in a swamp, switch to orcs and swamps. This could represent changing out their gear and dialing in their tools to meet the new situation.

[@veritas562]

I hate the whole “ranger is the worst class”, the class abilities are all replaceable, and the subclasses are all great (for the most part)

[@bbs.5157]

This video made me realize how different the rules are between pathfinder and d&d: I played a ranger in Pathfinder, and against favorite enemies, besides all the already mentioned things, I got a bonus +2 in both roll to hit and damage, and any 5 levels, I could pick another favorite enemy and increase the bonus of an extra +2 on whatever enemy I chose; it's still pretty situational, it's not gonna be that useful if your favorite enemies are dragons and you're in the city's square, but STILL, MUCH BETTER THAN D&D

[@gatness]

thats also what favoured enemy did for rangers in dnd 3.5.... which is where pathfinder 1st edition was based off. they just really messed up the ranger in base 5e

[@sleepyboldhijack]

Another favored enemy? Pathfinder strikes again

[@JustLoveHnS]

* pathfinder 1e and d&d 5e :) Rangers of earlier DnD editions had similar bonuses against favored enemies. Also, I must say, I actually like Ranger, even beastmaster. Yeah, it's quite utilitarian but not as useless as in memes )) P.S. And ranger actually doesn't lose its action completely after giving an order to a beast. It's still possible to make its additional attacks. Edit: also 1/4 CR = Horse. So you can ride it spending no actions and shooting arrows at the same time!

[@JustLoveHnS]

@@sleepyboldhijack Huh? But you get additional favored enemies in 5e also - in level 6 and 14. Or I misunderstood you somehow?

[@sleepyboldhijack]

@@JustLoveHnS oh, so they do, still gets an attack bonus? I forgot they got more

[@loganparry2676]

As someone who is currently playing a ranger, drakewarden(and is a better beast master in literally every way) feels very very nice, especially with optional feats. I took natural explorer but not favored enemy lol

[@Lenoh]

> Hear Beastmaster’s “downside” So they get a token they can move for free to wherever they want AND YOU WOULDN’T COMBINE THAT WITH ROGUE _WHY EXACTLY?!_ Think of the flanking bonuses! The sneak attacks! The flavor you could give your 1/4CR flankitten!

[@antssa2558]

Ranger and beast master got reworked and they’re pretty good now

[@thecognitiverambler8911]

It's like this video was made 6 years ago and not 12 days ago. Aside from Tasha's improving virtually ALL of the ranger's situational features, the ranger was *never* as bad as the community thought they were (that would be the monk, but I digress). I mean the class is packed with SO much they can do. Amazing skill monkeys especially with exploration / survival skills (with beneficial features on top of that). Half-casters with a very good half-caster spell list. Powerful martials with the amazing archery fighting style, and the disgusting gloomstalker subclass. The class allows you to be an extremely competent damage dealer, exploration based skill monkey, all while providing support with spells like healing word or goodberry. The ranger was always more competent than people gave it credit for, and the new subclasses + tasha's rules pushed the ranger to even greater heights. They're still not in the realm of paladins or any full casters, but I think they sit ahead of just about everything else at this point.

[@empyrean7649]

there's a ranger version of an rpg that looks a lot like dnd 3.5. You start with a list of 10 enemies and as you defeat them you cross the list and add new ones (yes, this ranger could have knowledge in combat with all the monsters). The ranger gained a +4 bonus to Stealth, Survival, AC, saving throws, and rolls with his favored weapons against his favored enemy. After killing the creature you make a trophy from the creature, this makes the +4 bonus increase to +8 if you don't suffer any partial effects from spells or attacks. but the best is at level 20 where you create a trophy that mimics the characteristics of a magic item with a maximum value of 100000 gold pieces. YES YOU GET A FREE VORPAL AND IT DOESN'T OCCUPY A MAGIC ITEM SPACE AND CAN ONLY BE USED BY A RANGER.

[@twocents7509]

I remember playing an aarakocra ranger at one point. Flight, combined with the sharp shooter, dealt out some massive damage.

[@hedwigon6951]

If you have Tasha's, the ranger is instantly just a downright good starting class. One of the only things holding it down is needing to own Tasha's for you to get that.

[@JulfyJD]

You don't have to own the book to use features from it, you know that right?

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

Gloomstalker 4 is also a super handy graft for a lot of characters

[@boomkruncher325zzshred5]

Fellow Monk Stans Rise Up 🙌

[@stankmcdankton6204]

Bugbear gloom stalker ranger using the Two Weapon fighting style with Alert Feat and Dual Weapon Master gives both the rogue and the fighter an existential crisis. Especially when you surprise attack with a prepared Searing Strike.

[@daboi-god]

the monk is really good multiclassed with ranger 5 levels in monk open hand and 2 levels in ranger +hunters mark+ longsword

[@dumodshorts9766]

“My spleen thanks you”…😂

[@matthewwikaryasz]

Food for thought and I would love to know if anybody has done this but; Homebrewing the attribute bonus feat that you get every 4 levels to coincide with character level instead of class level would open up a lot of cross class opportunities.

[@SirLionofBiff]

Old skool boost: rangers can find and use herbs that provide benefits similar to potions. (Healing, speed, strength, etc.)

[@piranhaplantX]

Yeah, I feel like most of these arguments happen between people who use the optional tasha's stuff and those who don't. Post-tasha's I'd put it above most rogue builds, most Barbarian builds, a lot of fighter builds, and just about every monk build. I'd put it above all of those, if your party works with you to take advantage of surprise rounds and pass without trace. As many have said, pure Gloomstalker basically rogues harder than pure rogue, and scouts better than monk could hope to. Goodberry also provides some high impact out of combat healing. You can also multiclass dip to beef it up further. I'll also give a shoutout to the swarmkeeper, fey wanderer, and even the hunter. The hunter subclass was never bad, it just couldn't dig the pre-tasha base class out of the hole it was in with the PHB features.

[@dustinhill4834]

Swarmkeeper with 1 level into warlock genie patron, variant human with the poisoner feat, then the +10 ranged damage feat, and take the thrown weapons fighting style.

[@bostonkoberlein2308]

I thing the favorite enemy thing should be group into different types like humanoids like giants and goblins or beasts like wolves or other creatures and there could be a whole bunch more groupings. you could get 1d6 extra damage on a creature in your category and get advantages with checks on or against them.

[@E.G.1005]

Drake Warden is the better Beast Master. Gloom Stalker is just fantastic and synergizes perfectly with Rogues. I personally really like Horizon Walker and would like to do something with it eventually. Fey Wanderer could also be super neat too, though I'd probably just go Fey Warlock to be honest.

[@RenoKyrie]

Ehh, Horizon Walker is a pretty weak Subclass, its not worse than Monster Slayer but boy its a pretty weak one Gloomstalker, Drakewarden, Beastmaster, and even Hunter despite being obviously outdated are a much better subclass than Horizon Walker and Monster Slayer The thing with Beastmaster you get a Mount way earlier than Drakewarden as a Small Race, even the Spirit Beast(Except Sky Beast) is a decent Mount to have

[@E.G.1005]

@@RenoKyrie I'm aware of how weak Horizon is, thats why I could only say its neat haha. But out of all the Ranger subclasses its the one with the kind of flavor I want. And I might be the only player that thinks having access to a mount is incredibly over-rated.

[@notsae66]

To be fair, if you heavily homebrew Beastmaster until it only barely resembles the original design, it could be pretty good. Remove the asinine restrictions in challenge rating, let the beast (or beasts if you allow multiple) to attack independently, and have both you and then increase in power with each level. Pro ably needs even more work than that, but the fundamental concept of a pokemon style collector of beast companions for combat is a fun idea.

[@mr.cookey]

Started a ranger for a campaign, aaand he's a bit lackluster. Picked Drakewarden, and, due to a misreading, we homebrewed that the drake(named Sir Wyrrmington, important) acts on his own, right after my turn. That way, the character turned out to be pretty decent in combat. But, i feel sad, because for flavour, he's by far the coolest to me...sadge he needs tweeking if you don't want him to feel left behind by other characters.

[@SasorisPuppet]

Sorry, but my Ranger's pulled off some really badass stuff. You just have to know how to play the class. :) Also, he's a Beast Master subclass. We just allow the attack to be separate from his attacks and the Primal Beast thing in Tasha's Cauldron . That and specializing in mostly area control spells and healing spells because having extra heals in the party is never a bad thing. Again. You just need to know how to play your character.

[@gabrielsouzasilva703]

Is because everyone sees a ranger with a extreme difference perspective, ones sees like aragorn to support and healing, ones sees as Kraven the hunter or the mandalorian, others sees as Bear Grills. THATS IS REAL CAUSE why this cause frustration. And of course is a class adventure style dependent as the artificer

[@reritheguy6756]

Shoutouts to Tasha's Cauldron.

[@KitasaurusRex93]

Playing a Ranger for my current campaign but only because I was told about Drakewarden Ranger and I loved the idea of a HTTYD type character and the fact that the Drake levels with you. Somehow during creation I ended up with a Tabaxi Sand Cat Ranger that was more Indiana Jones than Viking. Should be an interesting campaign.

[@xdrslash]

Hear me out: *Gnome beastmaster ranger riding their flying Pteranadon beast companion* Flyby passive + riding rules + handcrossbows break the game. Add a Fog cloud spell above your enemies for cover between flybys. Pretty much only feasible in a campaign with dinosaurs tho, but ToA is perfect for it given the surplus of dinos AND the need for constant Survival checks to navigate the large open world map, which makes a Ranger a viable party addition. Inside the Tomb of Annihilation switch to a Panther mount with climbing speed for essentially the same combat benefits.

[@Mugthraka]

Allow for Favorite terrain to work on ALL terrains AND give some bonus in the actual favored terrain. Favorite foe gives a +1/+2/+3 to hit and attack rolls on creatures and an extra D6 dmg on the favorite foes. Best companion has its own actions ans can act Before OR after the ranger. Companion can be a best of a CR half the rangers level and Beast Masters can choose another type of creature as long that it aint an humanoid or humanoid like creature. You're welcome

[@ailius1520]

Well, in the video game versions of Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Rangers are actually useful! The way the game was coded, Rangers got Druid spells and Paladins got Cleric spells, so a multi or dual class Ranger/Cleric would have access to both spell sets. Which meant a max level dual-class Cleric with a couple levels in Ranger could cast top-level Druid spells.

[@mayalackman7581]

When are we getting an episode on dragonborn puberty? I genuinely want this.

[@DeerRunner]

When I played the ranger and my entire team was going to die. After a smart move I made escaping alone the DM ended the campaign and tried to say my character starved to death in the forest I retreated into but I was a ranger so I couldn't be killed by that due to the ranger class easily can live in the wild.

[@kittyroid8123]

Tasha's Cauldron options + hunter subclass with the Colossus Slayer ability is AMAZING. Rangers get to be more than archers with animal companions. They are actually pretty flexible... iiiiif built right

[@pflume1]

Played a ranger once it was an outside campaign so we didn't have to worry about food, water etc. . Then I had a sub class that allowed for an extra attack on the first round. Firing three arrows with all the other archery stuff. Well everyone tried to keep me alive.

[@dwaynemontgomery1851]

yah if someone picks rainger in my campaighn setting, there ONLY use is outside the massive city the game takes place in, so i just buff almost everything they get and that goes double for beast master, i crank up the size and challenge rating of what they can take to the point ware ive had one player choose a bear!

[@michaelmeyer4845]

You can homebrew to allow the beast to have a turn separate from your own. Also you go get some useful abilities like ensnare when you level up.

[@gazzelleFLORENCE]

My biggest issue playing ranger ends up being so many of their abilities require concentration and/or the bonus action...and I know they arent a caster class, but imagine if you could use zephyr strike AND lightning arrow. you would at least have one really cool turn. but most of my turns are shooting an arrow from 300 feet away lol

[@katiconyt]

I'll be honest one of my favorite characters was a beastmaster ranger. This was admittedly because my dm helped the class actually be a beastmaster and I had a awesome blink dog I visually described as the blue dog from adventure time card wars. It just was so fun because I also got the bag of tricks allowing even more creatures on my side and became a wall of creatures if beastmaster was more like what my dm did it would be 100 percent my favorite class

[@Maxtherandomperson]

I multiclass on my ranger making them a rogue ranger while still make rangers useful for languages and the ability to go around the map very fast

[@sebastian114]

My giant stalker ranger were an absolute beast. But not the smartest of the lizardfolk and bit a zombie. The joy of death sickness.

[@stackup31]

and this is why i play echoknight fighter. if you really want an extra fighter on the battlefield, pick that one. although, it still doesn't have autonomous action, its still more useful then... that

[@Gamer5934_]

In a homebrew dnd campaign and playing as a modified ranger. Best pro is, is that I get a modified rail gun that does 3d12 whilst our characters are level 4 xD

[@freddymcshreddy6586]

Now I’m starting to understand why Matt Mercer did alot of fine tuning and changed the class up a bit for Laura Bailey when she played ranger.

[@Aredel]

That was before Tasha and Xanathar came out and gave the Ranger some ungodly buffs and new subclasses that shit on the idea of Ranger being a meme. Imagine how the Whitestone arc would have gone if Vex could turn invisible at will.

[@indymanmike4164]

I’m my current campaign im playing a low level ranger tabaxi, I’ve watched a bunch of videos on ranger hoping to learn tips but was met with hate, started at level one expecting to be a unimportant support but turned out to be the main dps always knowing I’ll be able to carry through for the party, the point I want to make is if you want to play something simply play it how you want and trust the dice - Ranger out

[@Keilink]

That makes me realise how much they changed the class in BG3 to make it more playable. I played a Beast Master on my first playthrough with a friend, at lvl 12 the animal companion was a true menace and you control it separatly from the start. We literally watched my bear stunlock an end game boss while we were dealing with the adds :'D I guess that's way different on the tabletop.

[@vishnar2515]

at my table it's easy; I simply have the restriction of 1/4 cr for their "starting" beast, after that if they can tame it (and live) they can keep it. and the action thing is dumb for attacks, we ignore that.

[@grantharriman284]

Ranger makes sense in a small party, where you have no rogue, frontline, or druid, and know ahead of time what type of enemy AND terrain you are going to be dealing with. It can KINDA patch that gaping hole in your party composition in those SPECIFIC circumstances. That is the ONLY reason the Ranger EVER works.

[@birthbyblades]

You joke but i NEED THAT MONK VIDEO OUT!!! I wanna understand just why i die as a Monk whenever i play one!

[@patrickscannell6370]

Made the decision to try my hand at making a ranger for the first time. oof, only way to really power it up is to multiclass, and you could just make a stronger "ranger-type" by multiclassing a few other classes (especially) rogue, druid, and fighter) without using a ranger. BUT!!!! Indeed by getting an animal companion in the form of a drake, the drake warden, which now only uses the bonus action, it makes you the only true dragon-riding warrior in the game and that's.... pretty dang cool. And as you mentioned, swarmkeeper....that is super unique and can really do some stuff nobody else can do.

[@patrickscannell6370]

Must add! Been playing the onednd ranger. Free hunters mark, no concentration, two expertise, spellcasting on level 1. Now its one of my fave classes

[@douglascampbell1972]

Well, I'm a half-elf Ranger. That means I see in the dark, can see for great distances and have lots of dexterity. Good for killing enemies from far away. And I have healing spells. And I recently bought a whole lot of gunpowder which I'm fashioning into bombs. I'm doing ok.

[@douglasdoherty9057]

See when i do ranger in 5E i like the hunter subclass simply becouse we normally end up being swarmed with groups of enemies or it just fits when your trying to make a all rounder akin to say goblin slayer. Someone who knows the lay of the land, knows what their meant to handle and tackle. Its just most of ranger is lack luster when people just scream go fighter if you wanna fight and go wizard or cleric if you wanna cast a spell.

[@jrytacct]

And yet again, another case I can point to when people ask me why I'm still on Pathfinder 1e. Sounds like Rangers got royally screwed in 5e.

[@RenoKyrie]

Not really People dont know how to play the class..... Look up Pack Tactics video, he explained really well on why Ranger is good except Horizon Walker and Monster Slayer the 2 worst Subclasses

[@harrytodd5079]

Can't speak for 4th, 5th or One editions but my favourite class in 3.5 or Pathfinder 1st Ed is the Ranger. It's a good multirole class, capable of holding its own in combat, giving some decent spell support as a back up caster, and contributing a lot in terms of skills. Hell at level 2 I single handedly defeated the "boss" monster of an encounter while my party engaged his minions earning my Ranger the title of Orcs Bane. How? Because I took rapid shot and had a near even chance to hit with 2 shots from my longbow every turn, so I was dealing 2d8 damage for the 5 turns it took for the boss to get to me and with my high dex I had a good AC. Once he was in range I switched to my shortsword and kept up the damage. He critted me once, leaving me on 1HP but failed to hit me at all for the rest of our duel leaving me as the victor.

[@jeremiahbazan562]

Well, you could use the sidekick mechanic to make the beast companion more useful

[@Tomofthetower]

I played a drake wardon summer elidren and I could shoot 400 feet away it was really good and it only cost my bonus action for my dark to attack or lite my arrow on fire

[@EeveetoUmbreon25]

Shadar-kai gloomstalker ranger multiclass into fighter, now you get 6 attacks ( 7 if you miss an attack) on the first turn plus teleportation that gives you resistance to all damage as a bonus action and you count as invisible to creatures that rely on dark vision to see. So first turn of combat, 6-7 attacks as your action, and then teleport away to the nearest darkness, now with that youll become resistant yo all damage types and also anything attacking you that does or doesnt have dark vision will have disadvantage on attacks made against you. you now are a better rogue then a rogue! Also you can choose an ability from ranger to go invisible for free as a bonus action, basically once you run out of teleports, you can go invisible instead to benefit from that nice nice disadvantage to hit you. Definitely my favourite character ive made! Hes so much fun to play, regardless of if its the first turn or not, hes always doing crazy damage and is incredibly hard to even hit Side note, you can also go 3 levels into rogue take the assassin subclass, and when you get surprise rounds at the start of encounters from using pass without trace effectively you can turn each of those attacks into critical hits doubling the amount of all damage you roll. And every hit will be a crit with this set up. Not to mention that even just at 3 levels into rogue your sneak attack will be doing 2D6 extra damage as well. Damn near ending high levelled enemies before the encounter even starts. Hunters mark or favoured foe also go cracky with this build just boosting the damage even higher. To go even further beyond, take at least 3 levels into fighter and take rune fighter, you can add, up to 3d6 extra damage to 1 attack. Pumping that damage even higher! Once again, being an Assassin will be doubling the damage you roll from this as well. If youre using a non magic, regular rapier, if you have max dex (you better) from what ive done, turn 1 your out putting about 184ish damage turn 1 of surprise round not including round 2 or what your allies do. And theres items and stuff that you can get to increase the damage like tattoos (claw mark, bloodfurry) And thats before your second turn comes around. Also, i wont forget to mention at night they have 90ft if darkvision, they will always be saying hello to you first😂

[@EeveetoUmbreon25]

Rangers are alot like onions, horrible by them selves but, when mixed with other things they are great!

[@db5627]

I play a goblin ranger/drakewarden named dirty Joe. One of my favorite characters. Me and my blue Drake named sparky are best buds.

[@CindyHelms]

Look I am going to play a shifter (Wild Hunt sub race) That is a ranger class solely because of Power Rangers and I will not be talked out of it! I already know the creature my shifter is going to use so it doesn't matter what kind of challenge rating it has. As an added note I feel like that's why a varying group of players with different races and classes is important.

[@Skrellgor]

Beast master isn’t all that bad if you use it as a utility and not a weapon for instance I tamed a hawk and was able to train it to find my target or spot danger or maybe you can train a mouse attempt to pick a lock. Always remember just because you can train a animal tho it may seem cool doesn’t me it has to fight

[@vlover15OO]

Alot of the time when i dm and someone takes intrest in ranger ill ask them what type of character they want and ill basically jailbreak the class. Ill let them use their bonus action to command their beast and if its to attack than they will attack creatures they are unfamiliar with untill commander otherwise. Also as they reach higher levels their companion levels with them gaining things like pack tactics or the ability to use breath attacks that kind of thing. Rangers are only useless if your dm is a rule lawyer

[@MisterIncog]

Some of these are solvable (and solved) by the smallest home-brew possible. Like, just add increasing danger levels to beast master beasts and allow beasts to attack without using action. That takes 0 mental capacity to change

[@vergil_vt]

3:59 image a necromancer wizard with over 150+ undead on his side but he cant do anything with them until its the wizard turn then i guess only 1 undead would attack out of the 150+ or would all 150+ undead attack? Feels bad for hunters.

[@jenniferstewarts4851]

Oh oh oh, beastmaster, allow them to create summoning stones that they can bind creatures to. Now they can only have 1 creature out at a time, and are limited to say 1 stone every 4 levels, so at max they could have 5 summons at level 20. And nope the beast master can't get traits but can teach his pet special maneuvers... but yep, all he can do is stand at the back calling out attacks and moves for the pet... Can you see it? Wolf, dodge his attack! Great job, now use bite! withdraw and use growl for intimidate! Wolf, return! Switches gems, "Falcon use quick attack!"

[@kazoo9364]

Gloom stalker is awesome played one for 2 years and multi classed into Assassin rogue to add to the first turn tomfoolery

[@theentertainer6198]

I have a beast master ranger in a DND session I’m in. The beasts aren’t that useful (especially when there is also a Wizard and Warlock)

[@HellcatsBounty]

... playing a beast-master Ranger myself. Although my DM doesn't count my commands as actions. Outfitting my mountain lion (panther stats) with armor for now, will ask about house rules to level him up a smidgen later. For now he's excellent at removing either stupid npcs or squishy gnome wizards from the immediate battle ground. Fight me. I took out our first dragon with this Ranger, fight meee

[@christyencremins7676]

Monks are a lot of fun once they hit 7-10 level.

[@jedimasteroforder8222]

I have not used favorite enemy as a ranger since I began years ago because a few months into playing on one of my campaigns I actually picked up the roebuck started reading into it and took favored foe deft explorer and I chose Hunter because beastmasters shall not be spoken of

[@tomasdubravsky4851]

On last october I started playing DnD for the first time in my life. As a ranger. And i d o not know if it was because of our a bit inexperienced DM or my creativity on how to bribe the DM and a lot of enemies more powerful than me, i was cooking. I got a crossbow, hunter´s mark and leveled up to have no disatvantage at using the crossbow as a slugshot shotgun. During sessions where it was just me, my friend who played a Bard (she was also a really good thief) and another friend who was a paladin and the DM. I hunted, A LOT. I amassed so much wealth, i am richer than the bard who is of a noble origin and i did it by getting in a lot of trouble with enemies like dwarves and wyverns. I also got much better gear, made some powerful allies. And then we editted another friend´s backstory to where he is a the son of a queen and a god of darkness and shadows. And with that, we started a cult. I multi-class as a cleric now, and i use both the ranger and cleric to "do some trolling" on my enemies, e.g. casting inflict wounds with advantage, hunter´s mark and then finishing off the enemy with a point-blank crossbow shot. And to be fair, i am happy that i started as a Ranger.

[@crunch1216]

As of tasha' s, ranger is completely fine. Even the beastmaster ain't all bad, favored enemy and favored terrain have optional features too. Ranger is really good! Monk is now the "worst" class

[@iceking6987]

We have a ranger in our campaign. He is awesome. Most people that crap on rangers are just looking at them on paper and not in play.

[@Respectable_Username]

One of my players in my fledging party of first timers (I managed to drag some friends into it) chose to play a ranger. How do I make sure she definitely multiclasses at Level 3 (gotta get Hunter's Mark first, only good thing!) without outright telling the newbie they made a grave mistake? 😛

[@hobbyspotnz2833]

Tashas and xantithars made them way cooler, I was lucky to come along just as it started. My Ranger is pretty decent now he's a gloom stalker fighter, minimum damage I can do on a hit is 20

[@maunaowakea777]

I instantly fixed The Problem With Ranger Class by table ruling a retro-change back to Advanced. Rangers now get to select active spells after each long rest (if they want to) It actually really helps.

[@digitalatom6433]

If you look at the one D&D version, it's gotten a lot better, changing things that have been asked for. 1: Hunter's Mark, a staple ranger spell that everyone takes because it's just one of the best 1st-level spells you can choose, is now a feature that you can use according to your proficiency bonus. Same rules of the spell apply, and I dunno about how they handle the upcasted versions (but all those did is increase the duration, which started at 1 hour already, so nobody cares). It basically means you don't have to use one of your choices on a spell that's arguably part of the class no matter what. 2: you actually get useful abilities that make sense and are more generalised. I could list them all, but... none of that "oh we're in a naval campaign so your forest ranger is useless" crap. 3: the Hunter subclass is actually good now. No need to always rely on Gloomstalker just to make your ranger a better damage dealer than other classes. Well... most of them anyway. On your first turn. Especially if you multiclass Rogue or Fighter. (I feel so dirty for doing exactly the above in my current campaign, but hey... if you want to play a ranger and feel strong in combat, that's what you have to do.)

[@Elheru42]

I have a very oppositional DM (well did, he is much better now) who created each combat around crystals that made magic fail half of the time. And then whether it worked or not a crazy and bad magical effect would happen crippling the party. Our sorcerer turned into a bag of holding during 4 combats in a row and had to sit through an hour of game doing nothing each time. I lost 2 characters to wild shenanigans that didn't continue the story. Awful stuff. So then I created my 3rd character to have no magic. I was discussing my archer fighter with my dm and he suggested going as a ranger. When I looked at the class levels I realised what a bad idea that would be. In order for a ranger to feel powerful and have cool moments you need a DM who wants you to feel powerful and have cool moments. They need to give you a story in your favoured terrain or allow you to track your favoured enemy. If instead your dm wants you to suck so he feels better about himself then you just can't go as a ranger. I used to think that being a great dm was about finding out what makes your player characters amazing and leaning into that. Now I've realised that if you don't do that then half the game is broken and you may as well give up. I'm currently battling with how my fighter had multiclassed into rogue and will soon be able to become an assassin. But we are always ambushed and never get surprise rounds, even with my roll of 42 on stealth. Because our dm doesn't run stealth or initiative properly I may as well not choose a subclass that will never get any use.

[@sillyking1991]

man ya know...favored enemy could be relatively fine as is (i mean from an objective standpoint. it still wouldn't *feel* good to play neccesarily) if more creatures had strengths and weaknesses that actually mattered...so that getting advantage to recall information actually could have a significant impact. i mean, i still would prefer some actual like...combat bonuses. but if wizards *Really* wanted to avoid that, then at least they coulda designed the monsters in such a way that the existing feature was useful...

[@Nauriek]

I find it hillarous how, as a testament to how terrible the OG Ranger is, their level 20 capstone ability is a nerfed version of what should have been part of their level 1 core class feature: Favored Foe. Like, seriously, 3.5 e Rangers get a scaling damage bonus against their favored enemy, giving 5e Rangers +WIS do damage rolls against their Favored Foes should make perfect sense...

[@firedem0n5]

Sooo not going to lie I am loving a fey wander subclassed lvl 15 ranger and 5 bard… before any performance, or persuasion rolls I already have a dirty 20

[@thatrandomgamer28]

Currently playing a level 7 aaracockra gloomlurker with a badass sniper rifle

[@jf_kein_k8590]

"Flavor is free" as the saying goes. But the 5e PHB Ranger took that so far that functionality suffered under it.