I was looking at the capstone (15th level) abilities for each of the Ranger subclasses trying to gauge how powerful they are compared to one another, and I made a strange observation. Out of the 9 subclasses on D&D Beyond, like 4 of them have a capstone that somehow acts to halve damage using your reaction. I will list the relevant parts below:
Drakewarden. Reflexive Resistance (1/3 of the full capstone)- When either you or the drake takes damage while you’re within 30 feet of each other, you can use your reaction to give yourself or the drake resistance to that instance of damage. You can use this reaction a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Horizon Walker. Spectral Defense - When you take damage from an attack, you can use your reaction to give yourself resistance to all of that attack’s damage on this turn.
Hunter. Superior Hunter's Defense [Uncanny Dodge] - When an attacker that you can see hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to halve the attack’s damage against you.
Swarmkeeper. Swarming Dispersal - When you take damage, you can use your reaction to give yourself resistance to that damage. You vanish into your swarm and then teleport to an unoccupied space that you can see within 30 feet of you, where you reappear with the swarm. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Is there a reason they find this kind of ability crucial for the design of Ranger subclasses?
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Very few people play at this level. We have reliable data from D&D Beyond, Roll20 and stuff and most campaigns usually go level 9 to 11. Characters spend most of their time between levels 5 to 8.
Personally speaking, I don’t care so much for abilities above level 9.
I'd hardly call it crucial if they're not giving it to all the subclasses (ie, it's not a class feature). Halving damage is a pretty popular move that there are many ways to get, for many classes. Don't forget also that rangers have access to Absorb Elements and Protection from Energy, both of which they get well before 15th level.
I think you probably have it Roscoe, most of the subclasses have at least one way to mitigate damage at L15 whether it is something that halves the damage, eliminates if you save (hunter’s evasion) forces disadvantage on attacks, etc. even beastmaster gets it sort of with share spells so your companion is covered by your spells like absorb elements and protection from energy.
I find it interesting that the HWalker and Hunter versions have no limits on the number of times you can use it. At the price of a Reaction for a non-caster/non-tank, that's not bad at all.
11th level: dpr boost (usually rather large, tends to be on par with additional attack)
15th level: utility/defensive feature
A lot of people don't realize this.
yep, lvl 11 is to compensate the fighter extra extra attack, you need to do something to make sure not everyone that reads ranger goes to fighter directly
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I was looking at the capstone (15th level) abilities for each of the Ranger subclasses trying to gauge how powerful they are compared to one another, and I made a strange observation. Out of the 9 subclasses on D&D Beyond, like 4 of them have a capstone that somehow acts to halve damage using your reaction. I will list the relevant parts below:
Drakewarden. Reflexive Resistance (1/3 of the full capstone)- When either you or the drake takes damage while you’re within 30 feet of each other, you can use your reaction to give yourself or the drake resistance to that instance of damage. You can use this reaction a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Horizon Walker. Spectral Defense - When you take damage from an attack, you can use your reaction to give yourself resistance to all of that attack’s damage on this turn.
Hunter. Superior Hunter's Defense [Uncanny Dodge] - When an attacker that you can see hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to halve the attack’s damage against you.
Swarmkeeper. Swarming Dispersal - When you take damage, you can use your reaction to give yourself resistance to that damage. You vanish into your swarm and then teleport to an unoccupied space that you can see within 30 feet of you, where you reappear with the swarm. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Is there a reason they find this kind of ability crucial for the design of Ranger subclasses?
Four-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
Very few people play at this level. We have reliable data from D&D Beyond, Roll20 and stuff and most campaigns usually go level 9 to 11. Characters spend most of their time between levels 5 to 8.
Personally speaking, I don’t care so much for abilities above level 9.
I'd hardly call it crucial if they're not giving it to all the subclasses (ie, it's not a class feature). Halving damage is a pretty popular move that there are many ways to get, for many classes. Don't forget also that rangers have access to Absorb Elements and Protection from Energy, both of which they get well before 15th level.
Birgit | Shifter | Sorcerer | Dragonlords
Shayone | Hobgoblin | Sorcerer | Netherdeep
The higher you go in level the more damage monsters do. At that point most classes have some form of mitigation or damage avoidance.
It seems that's just the where rangers get it. I'm not sure it's anything deeper than that. However, I am interested if any valid theories arise.
I think you probably have it Roscoe, most of the subclasses have at least one way to mitigate damage at L15 whether it is something that halves the damage, eliminates if you save (hunter’s evasion) forces disadvantage on attacks, etc. even beastmaster gets it sort of with share spells so your companion is covered by your spells like absorb elements and protection from energy.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
I find it interesting that the HWalker and Hunter versions have no limits on the number of times you can use it. At the price of a Reaction for a non-caster/non-tank, that's not bad at all.
The other answer is: Because the devs wanted to reserve the really good stuff for the Paladins.
since rangers(and actually everyone) need a tank feature
Ranger subclass design is actually pretty uniform across the board
3rd level: dpr boost (usually relatively small) + flavorful utility
7th level: utility/defensive feature
11th level: dpr boost (usually rather large, tends to be on par with additional attack)
15th level: utility/defensive feature
A lot of people don't realize this.
yep, lvl 11 is to compensate the fighter extra extra attack, you need to do something to make sure not everyone that reads ranger goes to fighter directly