I’ve been playing a 2024 Wild Heart Barbarian for a few months now because… I wanted to play a decent Ranger. Posting here because I think it is a great option for folks who want to play a Ranger that feels more classic D&D
Straight up: I think Ranger has been broken since 2014 and is now possibly even worse.
For lots of us the spell casting side of a Ranger is not the reason we want to play that class.
With a WH Barb, you can fight with two weapons effectively (the Rage bonus counteract the dip in not using ability modifier for BA attack). And with nick weapons and Duel Wielder Feat you can have 4 attacks from 5th Level.
Bows are useable and ok - you can have weapon expertise and the rule change for Rage means you can maintain it whilst being a range based attacker if you want. Focussing on Dex and Cont as a Barb is a viable option if you want.
The Rage types links to animals are really where the class feels Ranger-y. Eagle helps you to move in and out of combat easier, Panther helps you climb out of the way and shoot in, or drop into combat and the choices at 14th are all better than the insultingly bad ‘capstone’ boon at 20th for Rangers.
There’s even a sprinkling of nature based ritual spells. Getting Commune With Nature at 10th level is very powerful from a role playing perspective.
I just thought I’d share to help folks keen to have a Ranger experience without having to endure the dreadful options we all have for 5e which I love as a system aside from the nerfing of my favourite class!
Well, thats the thing about 5e... fantasy and flavor are mutable, given the right skills and features you can play almost any "playstyle" using any class, like you said the "ranger vibe" but being a barbarian (it has many skills in the class).
In some ways, you'll need to think really outside the box or go to really weird extends, on others just change the name and you are done. It depends on what you want and how you picture it.
Still prefer the ranger mix, as the combination is really good and have better adaptability given certain circunstances... but, the fantasy can be fullfilled otherwise.
Wild Heart Barbarian is the same plain old Beast Totem Barbarian from 10 years ago and no one ever saw them replacing the Ranger.
I got your point related with nature interaction and etc, but Druids can do that as well and they co-exist with Rangers.
Besides the whole fantasy characterization and classic tropes that were immortalized by Ranger figures, I believe each people have the freedom to imagine the flavor of the class as they want.
However, from a purely mechanical niche perspective, Rangers were always the lighter mobile stealth sometimes but not necessarily DEX-based warriors; whether using ranged or finesse weapons. I don’t think Barbarians fall into this niche. Some people argue about Rogues and Fighters, but the source and the origin of those classes are very different from Rangers.
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I’ve been playing a 2024 Wild Heart Barbarian for a few months now because… I wanted to play a decent Ranger. Posting here because I think it is a great option for folks who want to play a Ranger that feels more classic D&D
Straight up: I think Ranger has been broken since 2014 and is now possibly even worse.
For lots of us the spell casting side of a Ranger is not the reason we want to play that class.
With a WH Barb, you can fight with two weapons effectively (the Rage bonus counteract the dip in not using ability modifier for BA attack). And with nick weapons and Duel Wielder Feat you can have 4 attacks from 5th Level.
Bows are useable and ok - you can have weapon expertise and the rule change for Rage means you can maintain it whilst being a range based attacker if you want. Focussing on Dex and Cont as a Barb is a viable option if you want.
The Rage types links to animals are really where the class feels Ranger-y. Eagle helps you to move in and out of combat easier, Panther helps you climb out of the way and shoot in, or drop into combat and the choices at 14th are all better than the insultingly bad ‘capstone’ boon at 20th for Rangers.
There’s even a sprinkling of nature based ritual spells. Getting Commune With Nature at 10th level is very powerful from a role playing perspective.
I just thought I’d share to help folks keen to have a Ranger experience without having to endure the dreadful options we all have for 5e which I love as a system aside from the nerfing of my favourite class!
Well, thats the thing about 5e... fantasy and flavor are mutable, given the right skills and features you can play almost any "playstyle" using any class, like you said the "ranger vibe" but being a barbarian (it has many skills in the class).
In some ways, you'll need to think really outside the box or go to really weird extends, on others just change the name and you are done. It depends on what you want and how you picture it.
Still prefer the ranger mix, as the combination is really good and have better adaptability given certain circunstances... but, the fantasy can be fullfilled otherwise.
Wild Heart Barbarian is the same plain old Beast Totem Barbarian from 10 years ago and no one ever saw them replacing the Ranger.
I got your point related with nature interaction and etc, but Druids can do that as well and they co-exist with Rangers.
Besides the whole fantasy characterization and classic tropes that were immortalized by Ranger figures, I believe each people have the freedom to imagine the flavor of the class as they want.
However, from a purely mechanical niche perspective, Rangers were always the lighter mobile stealth sometimes but not necessarily DEX-based warriors; whether using ranged or finesse weapons. I don’t think Barbarians fall into this niche. Some people argue about Rogues and Fighters, but the source and the origin of those classes are very different from Rangers.