Had to call AAA for a tow the other day. When the driver showed up, my blood went cold. It was my first DM from when I was 12. He used to kill us off as soon as we got to 6th level. After hooking up the SUV, I got into the cab with him and asked "are you Glen?" He smiled that old wicked smile I remembered and said, "still trying to make the Ranger work as viable character Erik?" I realized later that he had my name from the AAA dispatch but, we had a good laugh and reminisced about the old days and the fact that both of us are still playing after 50. As I got out of his cab, he told me to keep playing until I die. I shot him that rye smile from my Ranger days and retorted that I had recently found a Ring of Regeneration on a quick trip through The Deathtrap Equalizer and I will live forever! As he drove away he yelled "As I recall, you never could make it out of that dungeon alive."
My son is now rolling characters and I have passed down all of my original source books (except my beloved and well used PHB). True to form, he is rolling a Ranger!#$%*^. Bad genes I suppose.
I did learn something in my 40+ years of D&D though:
1) "The people we surround ourselves with at the table make the game come alive" - Some sappy Paladin quote
2) "Beholders just need a hug" - Me; right before my Ranger died
3) Rangers are broken and now I try to make Warlocks work. Since that is only going moderately well, I admit it could be me that is broken.
-May your blade be ever sharp, your initiative ever first, and your dragons always metallic.
As someone else that has been playing since the first egg hatched I e never found rangers to be broken. Both of my first 2 are now retired epic NPCs in my DMing world.
It depends on what you mean by broken. The way some dms run, phb Is Op (with player work/investment.) Other dms will actively hinder them, by denying benefits via reverse meta gaming or by downplaying features via vaguness. Some dms are scared a ranger will ruin their plans and respond irresponsibly.
Jeremy crawford recently said there was a problem was "mother may I mechanics". I say it's almost nonexistent if both of you understand the ranger's features before they come up. Otherwise people treat you like Patrick Rothfuss just for playing your skills.
Playing a Goliath Ranger now in Rim of Frost.....Not getting my party lost in fridged temps, being able to move a party full speed after an hour are priceless! Good Berries and foraging for double the results in a frozen waistland saves us all daily.
Rangers are so valuable...oh and soon pass with out trace for an hour will keep us safely hiden and able to stalk our foes.
Thank you Roscoeivan. The DM does make all the difference. I will en devour to take yours and Wi1dBi11's advice. Time to have a conversation with my current DM about a new character.
The optional features for Rangers in Tasha's Cauldron Of Everything made Rangers much less situational. I'm currently playing a Goliath Ranger with the Drakewarden subclass from the Fizban book and I love playing him. There are definitely a few other Ranger subclasses I want to try, I just wish I had more groups to try them in!
Amazing story. I love this funny coincidences of life.
Ranger is my favorite class and I don’t know why the community got so angry since PHB launch saying they were weak.
I mean… I agree that some class features were situational at best, and Beastmasters were indeed bad, but my Rangers builds were dominating combat before Gloomstalkers and Tasha’s optional variants were a thing. After that, they just got straight up better and less reliant on DM fiat, but a classic CBE Hunter Horde Breaker with Goodberry and Pass Without Trace is an outstanding character to have in any party — and this build is available in the Basic Rules, you don’t even need the PHB to have that.
Even phb beastmaster isn't bad in context of phb expectations.
It is Conplex/convoluted, requires specific nonstandard expectations, uses non phb materials(dmg, mm), requires playstyle commitments but in the end you get tradeoffs that allow unique powers to the subclass. Animal Traits(poison harvesting, blindsight, flight, keen senses etc) two reactions, the possibility to keep acting at 0hp, and more.
Tashas stuff definitely reduced those negatives and also reduced many of the positives. Tashas is more generally appealing but I find some builds are still only possible by going the other way.
Had to call AAA for a tow the other day. When the driver showed up, my blood went cold. It was my first DM from when I was 12. He used to kill us off as soon as we got to 6th level. After hooking up the SUV, I got into the cab with him and asked "are you Glen?" He smiled that old wicked smile I remembered and said, "still trying to make the Ranger work as viable character Erik?" I realized later that he had my name from the AAA dispatch but, we had a good laugh and reminisced about the old days and the fact that both of us are still playing after 50. As I got out of his cab, he told me to keep playing until I die. I shot him that rye smile from my Ranger days and retorted that I had recently found a Ring of Regeneration on a quick trip through The Deathtrap Equalizer and I will live forever! As he drove away he yelled "As I recall, you never could make it out of that dungeon alive."
My son is now rolling characters and I have passed down all of my original source books (except my beloved and well used PHB). True to form, he is rolling a Ranger!#$%*^. Bad genes I suppose.
I did learn something in my 40+ years of D&D though:
1) "The people we surround ourselves with at the table make the game come alive" - Some sappy Paladin quote
2) "Beholders just need a hug" - Me; right before my Ranger died
3) Rangers are broken and now I try to make Warlocks work. Since that is only going moderately well, I admit it could be me that is broken.
-May your blade be ever sharp, your initiative ever first, and your dragons always metallic.
As someone else that has been playing since the first egg hatched I e never found rangers to be broken. Both of my first 2 are now retired epic NPCs in my DMing world.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
It depends on what you mean by broken. The way some dms run, phb Is Op (with player work/investment.) Other dms will actively hinder them, by denying benefits via reverse meta gaming or by downplaying features via vaguness. Some dms are scared a ranger will ruin their plans and respond irresponsibly.
Jeremy crawford recently said there was a problem was "mother may I mechanics". I say it's almost nonexistent if both of you understand the ranger's features before they come up. Otherwise people treat you like Patrick Rothfuss just for playing your skills.
Tldr: ranger is only as broken as the dm.
Playing a Goliath Ranger now in Rim of Frost.....Not getting my party lost in fridged temps, being able to move a party full speed after an hour are priceless! Good Berries and foraging for double the results in a frozen waistland saves us all daily.
Rangers are so valuable...oh and soon pass with out trace for an hour will keep us safely hiden and able to stalk our foes.
Thank you Roscoeivan. The DM does make all the difference. I will en devour to take yours and Wi1dBi11's advice. Time to have a conversation with my current DM about a new character.
Thank you for the encouragement Wi1dBi11, I just wanted to share an experience with the community that made me revive my love of the game.
The optional features for Rangers in Tasha's Cauldron Of Everything made Rangers much less situational. I'm currently playing a Goliath Ranger with the Drakewarden subclass from the Fizban book and I love playing him. There are definitely a few other Ranger subclasses I want to try, I just wish I had more groups to try them in!
This is great, everything about this is great! 😊
Amazing story. I love this funny coincidences of life.
Ranger is my favorite class and I don’t know why the community got so angry since PHB launch saying they were weak.
I mean… I agree that some class features were situational at best, and Beastmasters were indeed bad, but my Rangers builds were dominating combat before Gloomstalkers and Tasha’s optional variants were a thing. After that, they just got straight up better and less reliant on DM fiat, but a classic CBE Hunter Horde Breaker with Goodberry and Pass Without Trace is an outstanding character to have in any party — and this build is available in the Basic Rules, you don’t even need the PHB to have that.
Even phb beastmaster isn't bad in context of phb expectations.
It is Conplex/convoluted, requires specific nonstandard expectations, uses non phb materials(dmg, mm), requires playstyle commitments but in the end you get tradeoffs that allow unique powers to the subclass. Animal Traits(poison harvesting, blindsight, flight, keen senses etc) two reactions, the possibility to keep acting at 0hp, and more.
Tashas stuff definitely reduced those negatives and also reduced many of the positives. Tashas is more generally appealing but I find some builds are still only possible by going the other way.