Elvenkind boots and cloaks, Bracers of Archery, Warning and +X Weapons are there since forever. Now we have new things like Moon Sickles, Nature’s Mantle and the lovely new Dragon Wing Bows from Fizban’s (was it just me, or do you guys also hate Oathbow?)
Magic weapons. Figurine of Wondrous Power (Drizzt Do'Urden isn’t a beast master). Bag of Tricks. Bracers of Archery. And the big one, magic arrows! When people talk at damage comparisons I rarely see magic arrows mentioned, even though they stack with magic bows and bracers of archery.
My favorite in general is a Belt of Giant Strength. Usually Rangers have a low Strength and this makes their athletics better and gives them far more melee weapon options.
The coolest item I ever had on a Ranger I was playing was a Wand of Fear on a Fey Wanderer.
I did some math here and the new Dragon Wing Bow is a great addendum to Rangers who don’t want to get Sharpshooter all the time.
After playing a Goblin Ranger for a while, I was looking for alternatives to be able to hide effectively without multiclassing into Rogue 2 for Cunning Action, and I fell in love with Nature’s Mantle. I love uncommon useful magic items.
Boots of varied tracks, cloak of displacement, helm of comprehend languages, Swiss army wand, wand of magic missiles, wand of secrets, wand of magic detection, wand of pyrotechnics, immovable rod, rod of security, cloak of the manta ray, pretty much any item that doesn’t require atunement. You don’t have to use them constantly but having them avaible when needed without having to a tune to them makes them invaluable.
I grant that a cloak of protection is a lot more likely to be discovered and that the +1 to saves is a solid bonus but the +1 to AC is not as good as the disadvantage of the cloak of displacement which says any attack roll so not just melee, but also missile, spell and ranged spell attacks. It’s one downfall is that once you get hit it stops working for the rest of the turn.
Elvenkind boots and cloaks, Bracers of Archery, Warning and +X Weapons are there since forever. Now we have new things like Moon Sickles, Nature’s Mantle and the lovely new Dragon Wing Bows from Fizban’s (was it just me, or do you guys also hate Oathbow?)
What are the best magic items for Rangers?
It’s not just you, I would rather take a plain +2/3 bow than an oath bow. If I’m only going to have 3 attunement slots to work with I feel there are much better items to have in those slots. In my game there are some home brew versions of the Drow piwifa that combine the elven and protection cloaks and a few legendary versions that include a third ability like displacement or arachnida - those are, like the animated shield and dancing or defender sword, far better uses of an attunment slot.
I think this question may need to be rephrased as 2 or maybe 3:
1) what are your favorite magic items for your attunment slots?
2) what are your favorite magic items for unattuned standard wear/carry?
3) what are your favorite common/uncommon magic items for fun/flavor use?
For me the answers are:
1) cloak of displacement, ring of protection and an ioun stone of protection. Rather than the belt of giant strength I prefer to carry potions of giant strength.
2) the best armor I can get, a sword of dragonslaying, quiver of Ehlonna, Howard’s Haversack, Bag of Holding, Boots of Elvenkind, best composite short bow I can get/make ( it’s a homebrew - the size of the short bow but with the range and damage of a long bow - basically the mongol composite horse archer bow. It makes far more sense to me for some one either riding a lot or walking thru dense forests/brush/etc with a long unwieldy bow getting caught in everything, and it’s usable by small creatures too.), wands of detect magic and secrets ( now you don’t have to waste known spells on detect magic and you can find secret doors/passages quickly and easily.), wand of magic missile,
3) Swiss army wand ( it may not be unlimited castings but at least it’s a way for a ranger to get some cantrips without multiclassing), arcane tent, cloak of many fashions (worn in crowds you can change who you look like instantly allowing you to lose shadows quickly and easily), clothes of mending.
I grant that a cloak of protection is a lot more likely to be discovered and that the +1 to saves is a solid bonus but the +1 to AC is not as good as the disadvantage of the cloak of displacement which says any attack roll so not just melee, but also missile, spell and ranged spell attacks. It’s one downfall is that once you get hit it stops working for the rest of the turn.
My thinking is mostly anything that can ensure I keep CON saves up as much as possible as I think this is the weakest area for ranger.
Armor Class helps too so the ones that add AC help with this too.
I think the displacement cloak would be the better choice if given the option tho as you are right that DIS is much better
The problem with displacement is that your hit it’s gone for the rest of the turn so any follow up attacks don’t have disadvantage. If we still had +2/+3cloaks of protection I would go for those over displacement since it’s both improving the AC BY 10/15% and improving the save by 10/15%. Ah well 😜
Yeah, but that cloak of displacement could prevent you from getting hit for several rounds in a row before a lucky tag gets through, and then it re-ups on your turn again.
Elvenkind boots and cloaks, Bracers of Archery, Warning and +X Weapons are there since forever. Now we have new things like Moon Sickles, Nature’s Mantle and the lovely new Dragon Wing Bows from Fizban’s (was it just me, or do you guys also hate Oathbow?)
What are the best magic items for Rangers?
Magic weapons. Figurine of Wondrous Power (Drizzt Do'Urden isn’t a beast master). Bag of Tricks. Bracers of Archery. And the big one, magic arrows! When people talk at damage comparisons I rarely see magic arrows mentioned, even though they stack with magic bows and bracers of archery.
My favorite in general is a Belt of Giant Strength. Usually Rangers have a low Strength and this makes their athletics better and gives them far more melee weapon options.
The coolest item I ever had on a Ranger I was playing was a Wand of Fear on a Fey Wanderer.
I did some math here and the new Dragon Wing Bow is a great addendum to Rangers who don’t want to get Sharpshooter all the time.
After playing a Goblin Ranger for a while, I was looking for alternatives to be able to hide effectively without multiclassing into Rogue 2 for Cunning Action, and I fell in love with Nature’s Mantle. I love uncommon useful magic items.
Boots of varied tracks, cloak of displacement, helm of comprehend languages, Swiss army wand, wand of magic missiles, wand of secrets, wand of magic detection, wand of pyrotechnics, immovable rod, rod of security, cloak of the manta ray, pretty much any item that doesn’t require atunement. You don’t have to use them constantly but having them avaible when needed without having to a tune to them makes them invaluable.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Ooh. Nature's Mantle is great. I need to remember that one. The bonus action hide addition is really good.
Amulet of Health to set your CON score to 19 and get a better bonus for CON saves to not lose your concentration on spells.
Same for Stone of Good Luck and Cloak of Protection.
Keeping conjure animals and other spells up for another round is >>>>a +1 weapon IMO.
I grant that a cloak of protection is a lot more likely to be discovered and that the +1 to saves is a solid bonus but the +1 to AC is not as good as the disadvantage of the cloak of displacement which says any attack roll so not just melee, but also missile, spell and ranged spell attacks. It’s one downfall is that once you get hit it stops working for the rest of the turn.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
It’s not just you, I would rather take a plain +2/3 bow than an oath bow. If I’m only going to have 3 attunement slots to work with I feel there are much better items to have in those slots. In my game there are some home brew versions of the Drow piwifa that combine the elven and protection cloaks and a few legendary versions that include a third ability like displacement or arachnida - those are, like the animated shield and dancing or defender sword, far better uses of an attunment slot.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
I think this question may need to be rephrased as 2 or maybe 3:
1) what are your favorite magic items for your attunment slots?
2) what are your favorite magic items for unattuned standard wear/carry?
3) what are your favorite common/uncommon magic items for fun/flavor use?
For me the answers are:
1) cloak of displacement, ring of protection and an ioun stone of protection. Rather than the belt of giant strength I prefer to carry potions of giant strength.
2) the best armor I can get, a sword of dragonslaying, quiver of Ehlonna, Howard’s Haversack, Bag of Holding, Boots of Elvenkind, best composite short bow I can get/make ( it’s a homebrew - the size of the short bow but with the range and damage of a long bow - basically the mongol composite horse archer bow. It makes far more sense to me for some one either riding a lot or walking thru dense forests/brush/etc with a long unwieldy bow getting caught in everything, and it’s usable by small creatures too.), wands of detect magic and secrets ( now you don’t have to waste known spells on detect magic and you can find secret doors/passages quickly and easily.), wand of magic missile,
3) Swiss army wand ( it may not be unlimited castings but at least it’s a way for a ranger to get some cantrips without multiclassing), arcane tent, cloak of many fashions (worn in crowds you can change who you look like instantly allowing you to lose shadows quickly and easily), clothes of mending.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
My thinking is mostly anything that can ensure I keep CON saves up as much as possible as I think this is the weakest area for ranger.
Armor Class helps too so the ones that add AC help with this too.
I think the displacement cloak would be the better choice if given the option tho as you are right that DIS is much better
The problem with displacement is that your hit it’s gone for the rest of the turn so any follow up attacks don’t have disadvantage. If we still had +2/+3cloaks of protection I would go for those over displacement since it’s both improving the AC BY 10/15% and improving the save by 10/15%. Ah well 😜
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Yeah, but that cloak of displacement could prevent you from getting hit for several rounds in a row before a lucky tag gets through, and then it re-ups on your turn again.
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Yeah fair points.
Overall both are very good