Any homebrew or original material has been created by G W Ashby.
Ranger Versatility
Favored Enemy* (HFH)
You study a creature, marking it as your quarry and analyzing it with a careful eye. Your study allows you to anticipate the creature’s moves, making it easier to anticipate and counter its tactics.
As a bonus action, you can designate a creature that you can see within 100 feet of you as your favored enemy. The target remains your favored enemy until you designate a new creature.
You gain advantage on all Wisdom (Perception) checks to detect your favored enemy and Wisdom (Insight) checks to determine its motives. You also gain advantage on all checks made to discover and follow its tracks.
Once per turn, you can choose to make an additional weapon attack against your favored enemy. You can do so a number of times equal to half your ranger level rounded up/down? (minimum 1) and regain all expended uses when you complete a long rest.
Starting at 6th level, you gain advantage on all saving throws initiated by your favored enemy.
Starting at 14th level, once during your turn if you miss a weapon attack against your favored enemy you can reroll the attack.
*You may either select this version of Favored Enemy, or the version of the feature as detailed on pg 91 of the Player's Handbook.
Natural Explorer* (HFH)
Your bond with nature is heightened by the time you have spent exploring and navigating the natural world. Choose a skill in which you are proficient, your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make with the chosen proficiency.
In addition, you choose one type of favored terrain in which you have gained particular experience: arctic, coast, desert, forest, grassland, mountain, swamp, the underdark, or urban. You have advantage on all ability checks to avoid becoming lost while in your favored terrain. Additionally, you gain the following benefits based on that terrain type:
Arctic: You gain resistance to cold damage.
Coast: You gain a swim speed equal to your speed.
Desert: You gain resistance to fire damage.
Forest: You become proficient in Perception, if you are proficient with Perception, your proficiency bonus is doubled for any perception check and when determining your passive Perception.
Grassland: Your speed increases by 10 feet.
Mountain: You gain a climb speed equal to your speed.
Swamp: You gain resistance to poison damage and are immune to disease.
Underdark: You learn Undercommon. Additionally, you gain Darkvision with a range of 30 feet. If you have darkvision, you instead gain “blindsight” with a range of 5 feet.
Urban: You learn one language of your choice. You become proficient with Investigation, if you are proficient in Investigation your proficiency bonus is doubled for any Investigation check and when determining your passive Investigation.
You choose an additional favored terrain type at 6th and 10th level.
*You may either select this version of Natural Explorer, or the version of the feature as detailed on pg 91 of the Player's Handbook.
Fighting Style (HFH)
Whirling blades: When you engage in two-weapon fighting while wearing light or no armor, you do not expend your bonus action and add your ability modifier to the second attack. You can still gain the benefits of two-weapon fighting only once during your turn.
Alternate Feature: Gift of the Wild (HFH)
At 2nd level, as an alternative to the ranger's Spellcasting feature detailed in the Player's Handbook, you may instead receive the Gift of the Wild class feature, choosing one of the options for it below. Additionally, you gain the use of Herbalist as part of Gift of the Wild.
Option 1: Mighty Slayer
Some rangers develop enhanced tactical acumen and physical prowess to achieve astounding feats of martial skill.
Mighty Slayer (HFH, HB)
At 2nd level if you select this feature as your Gift of the Wild, you gain the ability to use your tactical acumen and physical prowess to achieve astounding feats of martial skill.
You gain the ability to use martial exploits, fueled by special dice called martial dice. You gain uses of martial exploits based on your ranger level, as shown in the Martial Exploits table, and regain all expensed uses when you complete a long rest.
You can apply the benefits of only one exploit to any given attack. If more than one exploit could apply to an attack, you select which one to use.
Martial Dice. Your martial dice are d6s. At 9th level, your martial dice turn into d8s and at 13th level, your martial dice turn into d10s. Starting at 17th level, when you roll initiative and have no martial dice remaining, you regain one martial die.
Some exploits require a creature to make a saving throw. The DC for such a save is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier.
Martial Exploits
Ranger Level Uses
2-3 3
4-6 5
7-9 7
10-12 9
13+ 10
With this feature, you learn the Heart of the Bear, Crippling Blow, and Masterful Strike exploits:
Heart of the Bear. You focus your mind and body, pushing aside pain and drawing on wellsprings of energy that blot out the pain of your wounds.
During your turn, you can expend a martial exploit die to gain temporary hit points. You gain temporary hit points equal to 5 times your proficiency bonus plus the rolled martial die.
Crippling Blow. You take careful aim at your foe’s exposed weak points, unleashing a brutal attack that knocks the target senseless.
You can expend a martial exploit die when you hit with a weapon attack. You can increase the damage by a number of martial exploit dice up to half your proficiency bonus (rounded up.) The target of the attack must make a Constitution saving throw. If it fails, its speed is reduced to 0. At the end of each of its turns, it can make a Constitution saving throw to end this effect.
Masterful Strike. You strike with overwhelming strength and accuracy, battering aside your foe’s defense to deliver a deadly strike. When you make an attack, you roll a number of martial dice up to 1 + your proficiency bonus.
If the attack would miss, you learn the target’s AC and can add one or more martial dice of your choice to your attack roll, possibly turning the miss into a hit. Any unused dice are added to your damage roll.
Gift of the Wild Option 2: Wild Companion
Some rangers develop a bond with the spirit of Nature in the form of a wild beast, and further strengthen that bond by tapping into the inherent magic of Nature herself.
Wild Companion (Source: HFH, UA-RR)
At 2nd level if you select this feature as your Gift of the Wild, you establish a bond with a natural spirit that takes the form of a wild beast companion with a challenge rating of 1/4 or lower that is no larger than Medium.
Your companion uses your proficiency bonus rather than its own. Additionally, your companion adds your proficiency bonus to it’s AC, damage rolls, and any saving throws and skills in which it is proficient. Its hit point maximum equals the hit point number in its stat block or five times your ranger level, whichever is higher.
Starting at 5th level, the beast’s attacks count as magical for purposes of overcoming resistances or immunities.
Companion's Bond. Your animal companion receives a number of benefits while it is linked to you, but loses its Multiattack action, if it has one.
The beast acts as you wish regardless if you are present or conscious and uses your initiative count in combat. Your companion understands your speech, and you can intuit basic concepts and statements as long as it can see or hear you.
Like any creature, it can spend Hit Dice during a short rest to regain hit points. If brought to zero hit points then you roll death saving throws for it as with a PC. If your animal companion is ever slain, the magical bond you share with it’s nature spirit allows you to return it to life. With 8 hours of work and the expenditure of 50 gp worth of rare herbs and fine food, you call forth your companion’s spirit and use your magic to create a new body for it. You can return an animal companion to life in this manner even if you do not possess any part of its body.
Your companion also receives certain benefits for as long as it is linked to you.
While traveling through your favored terrain with only your companion, you can both move stealthily at a normal pace.
When you gain the Land's Stride and Feral Senses features at 8th and 18th level respectively, the benefits granted also apply to your companion.
Your companion shares your alignment, and has a personality trait and a flaw that you select. Your companion shares your ideal, and its bond is always, "The ranger with whom I am bonded is a beloved companion who has my full trust and protection.”
Herbalist (UA-MC)
As part of the Gift of the Wild class feature, you gain the ability to create and apply healing salves and poultices as a form of herbalism. You become proficient in the Herbalism kit, if you are already proficient, your proficiency bonus is doubled for any Herbalism check you make. You can spend time gathering and preparing wild plants and herbs to create healing salves and poultices. You can carry a number of poultices equal to your Wisdom modifier. Application takes 1 minute, thereby expending a poultice, and the recipient regains a number of hit points equal to 1d6 (1d8 if made from ingredientsfrom one of your favored terrains) for every three levels you have in this class + your Wisdom modifier.
Once you obtain 5th level in this class, your poultices both heal and replicate the effects of a lesser restoration spell.
Primeval Awareness (UA-RR, PHB)
Beginning at 3rd level, your competency in the wild allows you to establish a link to the beasts and land around you.
You have an innate ability to communicate with beasts, and they recognize you as a kindred spirit. As an action, through sounds and gestures, you can communicate simple ideas to a beast and can read its basic mood and intent. You learn its emotional state, whether it is affected by magic of any sort, its short-term needs, and actions you can take (if any) to persuade it to not attack. You cannot use this ability against a creature that you have attacked within the past 10 minutes.
In addition, through your connection to the land, you can use your action to focus your awareness on the region around you. For 1 minute, you can sense whether the following types of creatures are present within 1 mile of you (or within up to 6 miles if you are in your favored terrain): aberrations, celestials, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead. This feature reveals a rough sense of the creatures’ location and number. You cannot use this ability again in this manner until you complete a short or long rest.
*Primeval Awareness and Spellcasting: If you opt to retain the ranger's Spellcasting class feature, you must also use the version of Primeval Awareness as detailed on pg 92 of the Player's Handbook.
Ranger Archetype (PHB, HFH)
At 3rd level, you choose an archetype that you strive to emulate. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 11th, and 15th level.
Some archetype features work differently with Gift of the Wild and Wild Companion class features, as detailed in the next section. (Otherwise please consult the archetypes detailed in the Players Handbook and Xanathar's Guide to Everything).
Vanish (PHB, UA-RR)
By 14th level, you have become a master of swift, stealthy movement and ducking in and out of cover. You can use the Hide or Dash action as a bonus action on your turn. Also, you can’t be tracked by nonmagical means, unless you choose to leave a trail.
*Vanish and Spellcasting: If you opted to retain the ranger's Spellcasting class feature, you must also use the version of the Vanish feature as detailed on pg 94 of the Player's Handbook.
Alternate Archetype Features:
Gift of the Wild
When you select Gift of the Wild, the following ranger archetype features work differently for you. (Ignore this section if you chose to retain Spellcasting as a class feature.)
Starting at 3rd level, you gain the ability to cast a spell of your choice from the relevant Spells table in the archetype description found in XGtE. Your ranger level must be at least equal to the level listed alongside the spell. Once you cast a spell in this way, you cannot cast that spell again until you complete a short rest.
Beast Master (HB)
Starting at 3rd level, if you select the Beast Master archetype, you gain the ability to cast a spell of your choice from the table below. Your ranger level must be at least equal to the level listed alongside the spell. Once you cast a spell in this way, you cannot cast that spell again until you complete a short rest.
Ranger Level Spell
3rd Beast Bond
5th Beast Sense
9th Sending
13th Death Ward
17th Awaken
Hunter (HB)
Starting at 3rd level, if you select the Hunter archetype, you gain the ability to cast a spell of your choice from the table below. Your ranger level must be at least equal to the level listed alongside the spell. Once you cast a spell in this way, you cannot cast that spell again until you complete a short rest.
Ranger Level Spell
3rd Ensaring Strike
5th Pass without Trace
9th Nondetection
13th Guardian of Nature
17th Commune with Nature
Alternate Archetype Features:
Wild Companion and Beast Master archetype (HFH, UA-RR)
If you select the Wild Companion option as your Gift of the Wild and choose the Beast Master ranger archetype, the following rules apply:
Ranger's Companion
You do not gain the Ranger’s Companion archetype feature.
Improved Wild Companion
At 3rd level, your beast companion’s challenge rating can be 1/2 or lower. If you opt for a companion with a challenge rating of 1/4 or lower, you can increase one of your companion's ability scores by 2, or you can increase two of its ability scores by 1 each.
Your animal companion gains proficiency in two additional skills of your choice, and becomes proficient with all saving throws.
For each level you gain after 3rd, your animal companion gains an additional Hit Die plusit’s Constitution modifier, if any. Whenever you gain the Ability Score Improvement class feature, your companion’s abilities also improve, as governed by the normal rules.
Also at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with the Animal Handling skill, if you are already proficient, your proficiency bonus is doubled for ability checks you make that use that skill.
Exceptional Training
You do not gain the Exceptional Training archetype feature.
Beast's Defense
From 7th level, your companion gains advantage on all saving throws as long as it can see or hear you.
Share Spells
You do not gain the Share Spells archetype feature.
Beast's Agility
At 15th level, whenever your companion takes damage from an attacker or source that it can see (such as an weapon or spell attack, or an effect requiring a dexterity saving throw) it can use its reaction to halve the attack’s damage against it.
Great. Thanks! Below is an FAQ to support the list of proposed Alternate Class Features:
Ranger Versatility: FAQ
Q: Why do we need a set of alternate class features for the ranger?
A: The interweb has and abundance of dissections and critiques on the Player's Handbook Ranger (and almost as many aimed at the UA-Revised Ranger). Alongside these, I'd wager that the ranger core class has received more homebrew treatments than just about any other core class. All told, this is evidence that many amongst us are simply not content with the class as it stands. This is especially true of the Beast Master archetype. I won't go into a deep analysis here (you can find many on the web) but the categorical 'issues' identified with the ranger are as follows:
a frustrating lack of core flexibility due to key class features being usable in very specific situations (i.e. Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer);
a perception by some (but contested by others) that the ranger is underpowered when compared to other half-casters and martial classes (e.g. many have sought to show how the ranger compares unfavorably in power to the paladin); and
a significant plurality (if not outright majority) who are deeply dissatisfied with the Beast Master archetype due to its frustrating action economy, and an inability to protect or revive a relatively 'squishy' animal companion who is always at high risk of falling in battle.
These and other points of dissatisfaction have been simmering within the ranger community since 2014, and the various attempts by the game designers to address them have stalled, with only a bit of minor improvements on the Beast Master offered as errata to the PHB in 2018. Lead designers at WotC have spoken of a set of alternate class features to address these persistent concerns but to date nothing has been forthcoming, beyond the work done by Mike Mearls on his unofficial online stream late last year. Ranger Versatility seeks to offer a set of alternate features that could act as a bridge of sorts until an official offering is made.
Q: Does this set of alternate features make the PHB version of the ranger class obsolete?
A: No! And that is part of its virtue. It is important to emphasise that by making these alternate features available, it does nothing to preclude or make obsolete the PHB version. And it definitely does not create a 'new' version of the ranger, in the way that the UA-RR did. Why is that important? It's clear that the game's designers (quite understandably) don't wish to diminish the experience of the core PHB class, and lot of people do enjoy it as is. But for those who do not, this set of additional options would allow them to improve their playing experience while preserving balance and not stepping on the feet of those who are quite happy with the existing official version.
Q: How do I use Ranger Versatility in my game?
A: If you or wish to play a ranger, or you are DM for someone who does, then start by thinking about Ranger Versatility (RV) as offering you two initial choices on two core class features: Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer.
The PHB versions of these two features are perceived by some to be quite prescriptive in their application, allowing the ranger to access two important and character-defining features only if and when the circumstances are right, i.e. combat encounters against certain creatures that the ranger may or may not encounter, or exploring a particular type of terrain that might or mightn't be part of the adventure. Having such situation-specific features not only can be frustrating for a player, but also can potentially be burdensome for a DM, who may feel that she has to find a way to 'weave in' a certain type of enemy or terrain to serve the needs of the ranger player. The alternate features offered by Ranger Versatility can help to address these concerns and increase playability and enjoyment.
Q: Tell me more! What else can I do with this set of alternate features?
A: Ranger Versatility also grants to the player the flexibility to script his own customised ranger 'story' with a third main decision point: whether to keep spellcasting as a core class feature, or replace it with (a) enhanced martial prowess or (b) an enhanced beast companion. The exciting thing about this, at least in my opinion, is that when this choice is combined with the selection of ranger subclasses, it opens up exciting new combinations for non- spellcasting rangers. How about a Gloom Stalker with a sleek black panther sidekick? Or a combat-savvy Hunter possessed of countless ways to dispatch with his foes? By swapping out spellcasting for one of the two Gift of the Wild options, these and other combinations become possibilities, all while preserving balanced play.
Q: I see that you also play around with Primeval Awareness and Vanish. And what's up with 'Bush Medicine' and new spells for the Hunter and Beast Master?
A: I took the view that if you elect to play a non-spellcasting ranger, a few of the additions that had been offered by previous Unearthed Arcana were relevant here to maintain both flavour and effectiveness for the class:
-The rudimentary communication with animals element that Primeval Awareness granted as part of the Revised Ranger seems important here to help maintain the ranger's fundamental link with things wild, for without spellcasting the ranger loses important capabilities like those granted by the speak with animals spell.
-Imbedding the ability to take the Dash action as a bonus action into the Vanish class feature seems sensible too, as swift movement afoot is a key part of the ranger fantasy, and without spellcasting, spells like zephyr strike and longstrider are off the table.
-Likewise, given the usefulness of the cure wounds spell, a substitute feature for non-spellcasters allowing for the creation of healing poultices that scale with level seems appropriate to stave off the harm an adventurer might suffer while exploring in the wilderness, and keep a beast companion upright if the ranger has one!
-Lastly, creating symmetry between the PHB and the XGtE archetypes in terms of dedicated spells, seemed like a good idea if you forego spellcasting as a core class feature. I've gone for a selection that offers key elements important to both archetypes (e.g. pass without trace for the Hunter, and beast sense for the Beast Master) but other choices could certainly work as well, so please feel free to keep homebrewing as you see fit!
That is the only thing Wizards has, what annoys me is that they won't put it on Beyond. They have a date that everything UA that came out before will never be put on the site, everything after that date will. Why? I don't know, makes no sense to me.
My call would be to put it up and see how many Ranger builds change over to Revised, be a good way to gauge use compared to PHB.
I'd like to see an alternative, one that blends the phb and the revised and also updates Beast Master (reworked) and Hunter, give them spell list, etc...
Beast Master in particular is basically useless as is in the phb.
That is the only thing Wizards has, what annoys me is that they won't put it on Beyond. They have a date that everything UA that came out before will never be put on the site, everything after that date will. Why? I don't know, makes no sense to me.
My call would be to put it up and see how many Ranger builds change over to Revised, be a good way to gauge use compared to PHB.
I totally agree that putting it up on DDB as an experiment to gauge interest would be a fab idea. But then I also think we should have a second referendum on Brexit to see if we still 'really' want to leave but the government won't give us one. In both cases it seems the powers that be fear the truth lol!
That Revised Ranger has been deemed archived by WotC. They had all the feedback they needed.
towing the party line still? I'm not convinced that feedback was as conclusive as you suggest. why not publish it? in any case what's the real harm in granting a sizeable minority what they wish. I can't see how it would harm anyone- I've heard of no one saying that the PHB version should be banned or excluded. In this day and age can't we make room to accommodate all tastes?
Beast Master in particular is basically useless as is in the phb.
Not really. It's a bit lacking in the damage department compared to the Hunter at 3rd level, but it does add utility. A wolf companion basically has 18 passive perception when it comes to finding creatures, attacks with advantage if anyone else is next to the enemy and has a chance to knock it prone.
The 2018 errata fixed its lack of magic damage and let it take the Dodge action if you don't command it to do anything.
I totally agree that putting it up on DDB as an experiment to gauge interest would be a fab idea. But then I also think we should have a second referendum on Brexit to see if we still 'really' want to leave but the government won't give us one. In both cases it seems the powers that be fear the truth lol!
Like filcat said, that experiment was a dead end. Putting it on DDB would just cause confusion.
Beast Master in particular is basically useless as is in the phb.
Not really. It's a bit lacking in the damage department compared to the Hunter at 3rd level, but it does add utility. A wolf companion basically has 18 passive perception when it comes to finding creatures, attacks with advantage if anyone else is next to the enemy and has a chance to knock it prone.
The 2018 errata fixed its lack of magic damage and let it take the Dodge action if you don't command it to do anything.
I totally agree that putting it up on DDB as an experiment to gauge interest would be a fab idea. But then I also think we should have a second referendum on Brexit to see if we still 'really' want to leave but the government won't give us one. In both cases it seems the powers that be fear the truth lol!
Like filcat said, that experiment was a dead end. Putting it on DDB would just cause confusion.
Having to give up your attack for a weaker attack that has a really low dc save or be knocked prone is not that much utility in my book.
Why would that cause confusion? Just make it a toggle option when you create a character, have it "off" by default, then only people who want to use it will be using it and nothing would change for everyone else. Is is confusing to have Blood Hunter an option? Is it confusing to use Artificer? No. They are options.
I'd like to see an alternative, one that blends the phb and the revised and also updates Beast Master (reworked) and Hunter, give them spell list, etc...
Beast Master in particular is basically useless as is in the phb.
How exactly are you interpreting the PHB beast master? I’ve come to the conclusion that much of the difference of opinion about the beast master is due to different interpretations of the archetype. If you have a specific example of how the beast master and interact during an encounter that you find makes the archetype useless, that may help me and others understand your perspective.
I think we all understand that the beast can be squishy. This becomes a problem if the player is heedlessly throwing them into the middle of the battle, if the DM keeps throwing a lot of area of effect spell at the party or targets the beast specifically too much and if the other party members see the beast as the ranger’s problem and not part of the team.
Having to give up your attack for a weaker attack that has a really low dc save or be knocked prone is not that much utility in my book.
A wolf is going to have +6 to hit, get free advantage and deal 2d4 + 4 damage, which is at least as good as what the Ranger would do.
Strength correlates well with size for monsters; tier 1 and tier 2 medium creatures tend to hover around 12-13 Strength, with a few going up to 15-16. So if you're fighting anything medium or smaller, you'll have around 40-50% prone chance.
So you're trading one attack that might not have advantage for an attack that deals around the same amount of damage, will have advantage, and gets a decent free prone chance.
Why would that cause confusion? Just make it a toggle option when you create a character, have it "off" by default, then only people who want to use it will be using it and nothing would change for everyone else. Is is confusing to have Blood Hunter an option? Is it confusing to use Artificer? No. They are options.
Because the revised ranger is dead. That iteration of it isn't going anywhere, and putting it on DDB is just going to give the impression that it is. Even before it got deprecated, it was causing confusion for new players who don't know what Unearthed Arcana is.
It's the same reason the previous iteration of the Artificer wasn't available on DDB. The current one got close enough to what the designers and players are looking for to have a future.
Having to give up your attack for a weaker attack that has a really low dc save or be knocked prone is not that much utility in my book.
A wolf is going to have +6 to hit, get free advantage and deal 2d4 + 4 damage, which is at least as good as what the Ranger would do.
Strength correlates well with size for monsters; tier 1 and tier 2 medium creatures tend to hover around 12-13 Strength, with a few going up to 15-16. So if you're fighting anything medium or smaller, you'll have around 40-50% prone chance.
So you're trading one attack that might not have advantage for an attack that deals around the same amount of damage, will have advantage, and gets a decent free prone chance.
Why would that cause confusion? Just make it a toggle option when you create a character, have it "off" by default, then only people who want to use it will be using it and nothing would change for everyone else. Is is confusing to have Blood Hunter an option? Is it confusing to use Artificer? No. They are options.
Because the revised ranger is dead. That iteration of it isn't going anywhere, and putting it on DDB is just going to give the impression that it is. Even before it got deprecated, it was causing confusion for new players who don't know what Unearthed Arcana is.
It's the same reason the previous iteration of the Artificer wasn't available on DDB. The current one got close enough to what the designers and players are looking for to have a future.
‘The only reason the current Artificer is up and the other wasn’t is that the current one was published after the cut off date for UA content that appears on Beyond, it has nothing to do with “close” to done.
As for the BM, I don’t have an interpretation, I simply am looking at what it does.
So a wolf has advantage on a +6 to do 2d4+4 with a 40% chance to knock prone (and that percentage can only go down as you go higher in level, and depending on initiative order knocking prone may be useless) and to give him that I have to position him in the fray where he is a glass cannon because his ac/hit points are garbage and I have to give up my attack of +9 to hit for 1d8+1d6+5 or (assuming a hunter) my +9 to hit dealing 2d8+1d6+5 if the enemy has been hit at all. So yeah, I don’t see that being worth it.
I wish the BM was viable, but if you play one, you have to accept that you are going to do crap damage compared to a hunter or any other Ranger and that your pet is going to die 9/10 times there is an AOE attack.
One of the annoying aspect of Critical Role campaign one was that the Ranger had a pet bear that was useless, died all the damn time, and created a pain in the ass anytime they had to traverse terrain.
You can play one from a rp, but it is pretty broken
‘The only reason the current Artificer is up and the other wasn’t is that the current one was published after the cut off date for UA content that appears on Beyond, it has nothing to do with “close” to done.
Everything that came before that cut off date had either been followed through to completion or abandoned as a design. So yes, it had to do with how close the designers got to something publishable. That iteration of the Artificer was 100% dead, much like the Revised Ranger. We could still see another attempt at improving the Ranger's class features, but whatever that looks like, it won't be the Revised Ranger you know.
So a wolf has advantage on a +6 to do 2d4+4 with a 40% chance to knock prone (and that percentage can only go down as you go higher in level, and depending on initiative order knocking prone may be useless) and to give him that I have to position him in the fray where he is a glass cannon because his ac/hit points are garbage and I have to give up my attack of +9 to hit for 1d8+1d6+5 or (assuming a hunter) my +9 to hit dealing 2d8+1d6+5 if the enemy has been hit at all. So yeah, I don’t see that being worth it.
My numbers were for a level 3 Beast Master. A level 3 hunter can't have +9 to hit using point buy or standard array or +5 to damage rolls. They have +7 to attack rolls and +3 to damage rolls at best (+2 proficiency, +3 DEX, +2 Fighting Style.) So you're looking at +6 with advantage for 9 damage or 10/14.5 damage (with/without Colossus Slayer), no advantage. Your hypothetical Hunter will miss more due to lack of advantage, and the Beast Master saved a spell slot, so that's a fair trade. Your Hunter doesn't have 18 passive perception against enemy ambushes either.
By the time your Hunter has two ASIs to hit 20 DEX, the Beast Master doesn't have to give up Hunter's Mark any more (Extra Attack) and the beast's AC, attack roll bonus and damage roll bonus have all gone up because of the Ranger's proficiency bonus being 1-2 points higher.
I wish the BM was viable, but if you play one, you have to accept that you are going to do crap damage compared to a hunter or any other Ranger and that your pet is going to die 9/10 times there is an AOE attack.
Or you could play with a DM that doesn't hate Beast Masters and gives the pet Death Saving throws like any other party member. Healing Spirit or a cleric willing to pitch in will go a long way towards keeping an animal companion in the fight too. Heroism, Aid, Warding Bond and Death Ward are all good ways to keep an animal companion in the fight if you're expecting a tough encounter.
The Beast Master isn't without its flaws and it certainly takes additional effort from the players. But you're vastly overstating the power difference and at the end of the day, people pick Beast Master to have an animal companion, not to be the DPS king. A lot of people don't mind being somewhat underpowered if they're playing a character they're happy with. The Champion Fighter is still plenty popular despite being barely any better than having no subclass from 3rd to 9th level, and the majority of players don't pick Variant Human as their race even though an extra feat almost always outweighs the benefits of other race's class features.
You have the official answer on the reason why the Revised Ranger is not on DDB. You can try to use the homebrew toolset to replicate it.
Your view of the Beast Master is your view. I played two Beast Master so far, and I think it is a very well designed subclass.
Obviously a lot of folks aren't satisfied with the ranger as is - you can argue about whether it's a large minority or an outright majority but either way it's a big number. Those folks (like me) are customers. They buy books, online content and subscriptions to this site. Rather than arguing with us and saying things like (effectively) "you're playing the PHB version wrong", "the Revised Ranger is dead" or "The PHB BM / Ranger is just fine", why not work out a plan for delivering product to the group of customers (however large or small) who aren't satisfied with the status quo? That's what compromise is all about :-) Whether the group of us who aren't digging on the PHB version represents 15%, 30% or whatever, that is still a very sizeable minority. If you can make us happy without making other people unhappy, then it's a no-brainer to do that (Economists call it a Pareto improvement, you can google it if you are interested: https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/21435/economics/pareto-improvement/). I speak here as a paying customer, of DDB as well as numerous print books. I expect, as a customer, to have my views respected i.e. Not told that I'm wrong or that my views don't matter.
NB- whilst your suggestion of using home-brew functionality on DDB is a good one, it doesn't allow for us to deal with the ranger question in its entirety because of the restrictions against altering core classes. I understand that this is now being looked at and could come soon-ish. We would welcome that with open arms.
NB (2) - one of the reasons I and many others are so brusque in our manner on this topic is because we feel like we've been given the run-around on the topic for 4+ years. No fewer than 2 or 2.5 attempts by WotC at revising the ranger have been started and stopped, and each one of those were prefaced by an admission (in writing) that the rangers appeared deeply flawed and unpopular to many, and that there was an ongoing attempt to address concerns. Then in middle of last year, Crawford declares the Revised Ranger dead, and that we 'might/will/could/would/should' (whatever) see some alternate class features for the core class that could allow for a single version of the Ranger (the PHB) but could offer flexibility for those of us needing it. That has never arrived and we've just been caught in this endless filibuster of sorts. Again, we are customers and I'm very sorry but I think we deserve more.
Never said your views are wrong or don't matter. The satisfaction with a product (whatever that product is) is highly subjective. As such, I disagree that the introduction of a Revised Ranger will dissatisfy no one. The introduction of an alternative Ranger 5 years after the release of the PHB will dissatisfy many.
But I digress. That is not even the point. The point is that WotC is the only one with the final say on the release of a product of theirs on DDB. Be it Unearthed Arcana material or a map pack, they have the copyright and the final say.
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Yeah, for some reason it wasn't loading right, I did a copy all and was able to paste it. I will read it over and drop some edits.
Cool. The GM binder site seems a bit buggy. I might prepare a google docs version so people don’t struggle!
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Alternate Class Features
The Player's Handbook ("PHB")
Unearthed Arcana, The Ranger, Revised 2016 ("UA-RR")
Unearthed Arcana, Modifying Classes 2015 "(UA-MC")
Mike Mearls Happy Fun Hour Nov 2018 ("HFH")
Homebrew elements ("HB")
Any homebrew or original material has been created by G W Ashby.
Ranger Versatility
Favored Enemy* (HFH)
You study a creature, marking it as your quarry and analyzing it with a careful eye. Your study allows you to anticipate the creature’s moves, making it easier to anticipate and counter its tactics.
As a bonus action, you can designate a creature that you can see within 100 feet of you as your favored enemy. The target remains your favored enemy until you designate a new creature.
You gain advantage on all Wisdom (Perception) checks to detect your favored enemy and Wisdom (Insight) checks to determine its motives. You also gain advantage on all checks made to discover and follow its tracks.
Once per turn, you can choose to make an additional weapon attack against your favored enemy. You can do so a number of times equal to half your ranger level rounded up/down? (minimum 1) and regain all expended uses when you complete a long rest.
Starting at 6th level, you gain advantage on all saving throws initiated by your favored enemy.
Starting at 14th level, once during your turn if you miss a weapon attack against your favored enemy you can reroll the attack.
*You may either select this version of Favored Enemy, or the version of the feature as detailed on pg 91 of the Player's Handbook.
Natural Explorer* (HFH)
Your bond with nature is heightened by the time you have spent exploring and navigating the natural world. Choose a skill in which you are proficient, your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make with the chosen proficiency.
In addition, you choose one type of favored terrain in which you have gained particular experience: arctic, coast, desert, forest, grassland, mountain, swamp, the underdark, or urban. You have advantage on all ability checks to avoid becoming lost while in your favored terrain. Additionally, you gain the following benefits based on that terrain type:
Arctic:
You gain resistance to cold damage.
Coast:
You gain a swim speed equal to your speed.
Desert:
You gain resistance to fire damage.
Forest:
You become proficient in Perception, if you are proficient with Perception, your proficiency bonus is doubled for any perception check and when determining your passive Perception.
Grassland:
Your speed increases by 10 feet.
Mountain:
You gain a climb speed equal to your speed.
Swamp:
You gain resistance to poison damage and are immune to disease.
Underdark:
You learn Undercommon. Additionally, you gain Darkvision with a range of 30 feet. If you have darkvision, you instead gain “blindsight” with a range of 5 feet.
Urban:
You learn one language of your choice. You become proficient with Investigation, if you are proficient in Investigation your proficiency bonus is doubled for any Investigation check and when determining your passive Investigation.
You choose an additional favored terrain type at 6th and 10th level.
*You may either select this version of Natural Explorer, or the version of the feature as detailed on pg 91 of the Player's Handbook.
Fighting Style (HFH)
Whirling blades: When you engage in two-weapon fighting while wearing light or no armor, you do not expend your bonus action and add your ability modifier to the second attack. You can still gain the benefits of two-weapon fighting only once during your turn.
Alternate Feature: Gift of the Wild (HFH)
At 2nd level, as an alternative to the ranger's Spellcasting feature detailed in the Player's Handbook, you may instead receive the Gift of the Wild class feature, choosing one of the options for it below. Additionally, you gain the use of Herbalist as part of Gift of the Wild.
Option 1: Mighty Slayer
Some rangers develop enhanced tactical acumen and physical prowess to achieve astounding feats of martial skill.
Mighty Slayer (HFH, HB)
At 2nd level if you select this feature as your Gift of the Wild, you gain the ability to use your tactical acumen and physical prowess to achieve astounding feats of martial skill.
You gain the ability to use martial exploits, fueled by special dice called martial dice. You gain uses of martial exploits based on your ranger level, as shown in the Martial Exploits table, and regain all expensed uses when you complete a long rest.
You can apply the benefits of only one exploit to any given attack. If more than one exploit could apply to an attack, you select which one to use.
Martial Dice. Your martial dice are d6s. At 9th level, your martial dice turn into d8s and at 13th level, your martial dice turn into d10s. Starting at 17th level, when you roll initiative and have no martial dice remaining, you regain one martial die.
Some exploits require a creature to make a saving throw. The DC for such a save is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier.
Martial Exploits
Ranger Level Uses
2-3 3
4-6 5
7-9 7
10-12 9
13+ 10
With this feature, you learn the Heart of the Bear, Crippling Blow, and Masterful Strike exploits:
Heart of the Bear. You focus your mind and body, pushing aside pain and drawing on wellsprings of energy that blot out the pain of your wounds.
During your turn, you can expend a martial exploit die to gain temporary hit points. You gain temporary hit points equal to 5 times your proficiency bonus plus the rolled martial die.
Crippling Blow. You take careful aim at your foe’s exposed weak points, unleashing a brutal attack that knocks the target senseless.
You can expend a martial exploit die when you hit with a weapon attack. You can increase the damage by a number of martial exploit dice up to half your proficiency bonus (rounded up.) The target of the attack must make a Constitution saving throw. If it fails, its speed is reduced to 0. At the end of each of its turns, it can make a Constitution saving throw to end this effect.
Masterful Strike. You strike with overwhelming strength and accuracy, battering aside your foe’s defense to deliver a deadly strike. When you make an attack, you roll a number of martial dice up to 1 + your proficiency bonus.
If the attack would miss, you learn the target’s AC and can add one or more martial dice of your choice to your attack roll, possibly turning the miss into a hit. Any unused dice are added to your damage roll.
Gift of the Wild Option 2: Wild Companion
Some rangers develop a bond with the spirit of Nature in the form of a wild beast, and further strengthen that bond by tapping into the inherent magic of Nature herself.
Wild Companion (Source: HFH, UA-RR)
At 2nd level if you select this feature as your Gift of the Wild, you establish a bond with a natural spirit that takes the form of a wild beast companion with a challenge rating of 1/4 or lower that is no larger than Medium.
Your companion uses your proficiency bonus rather than its own. Additionally, your companion adds your proficiency bonus to it’s AC, damage rolls, and any saving throws and skills in which it is proficient. Its hit point maximum equals the hit point number in its stat block or five times your ranger level, whichever is higher.
Starting at 5th level, the beast’s attacks count as magical for purposes of overcoming resistances or immunities.
Companion's Bond. Your animal companion receives a number of benefits while it is linked to you, but loses its Multiattack action, if it has one.
The beast acts as you wish regardless if you are present or conscious and uses your initiative count in combat. Your companion understands your speech, and you can intuit basic concepts and statements as long as it can see or hear you.
Like any creature, it can spend Hit Dice during a short rest to regain hit points. If brought to zero hit points then you roll death saving throws for it as with a PC. If your animal companion is ever slain, the magical bond you share with it’s nature spirit allows you to return it to life. With 8 hours of work and the expenditure of 50 gp worth of rare herbs and fine food, you call forth your companion’s spirit and use your magic to create a new body for it. You can return an animal companion to life in this manner even if you do not possess any part of its body.
Your companion also receives certain benefits for as long as it is linked to you.
While traveling through your favored terrain with only your companion, you can both move stealthily at a normal pace.
When you gain the Land's Stride and Feral Senses features at 8th and 18th level respectively, the benefits granted also apply to your companion.
Your companion shares your alignment, and has a personality trait and a flaw that you select. Your companion shares your ideal, and its bond is always, "The ranger with whom I am bonded is a beloved companion who has my full trust and protection.”
Herbalist (UA-MC)
As part of the Gift of the Wild class feature, you gain the ability to create and apply healing salves and poultices as a form of herbalism. You become proficient in the Herbalism kit, if you are already proficient, your proficiency bonus is doubled for any Herbalism check you make. You can spend time gathering and preparing wild plants and herbs to create healing salves and poultices. You can carry a number of poultices equal to your Wisdom modifier. Application takes 1 minute, thereby expending a poultice, and the recipient regains a number of hit points equal to 1d6 (1d8 if made from ingredients from one of your favored terrains) for every three levels you have in this class + your Wisdom modifier.
Once you obtain 5th level in this class, your poultices both heal and replicate the effects of a lesser restoration spell.
Primeval Awareness (UA-RR, PHB)
Beginning at 3rd level, your competency in the wild allows you to establish a link to the beasts and land around you.
You have an innate ability to communicate with beasts, and they recognize you as a kindred spirit. As an action, through sounds and gestures, you can communicate simple ideas to a beast and can read its basic mood and intent. You learn its emotional state, whether it is affected by magic of any sort, its short-term needs, and actions you can take (if any) to persuade it to not attack. You cannot use this ability against a creature that you have attacked within the past 10 minutes.
In addition, through your connection to the land, you can use your action to focus your awareness on the region around you. For 1 minute, you can sense whether the following types of creatures are present within 1 mile of you (or within up to 6 miles if you are in your favored terrain): aberrations, celestials, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead. This feature reveals a rough sense of the creatures’ location and number. You cannot use this ability again in this manner until you complete a short or long rest.
*Primeval Awareness and Spellcasting: If you opt to retain the ranger's Spellcasting class feature, you must also use the version of Primeval Awareness as detailed on pg 92 of the Player's Handbook.
Ranger Archetype (PHB, HFH)
At 3rd level, you choose an archetype that you strive to emulate. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 11th, and 15th level.
Some archetype features work differently with Gift of the Wild and Wild Companion class features, as detailed in the next section. (Otherwise please consult the archetypes detailed in the Players Handbook and Xanathar's Guide to Everything).
Vanish (PHB, UA-RR)
By 14th level, you have become a master of swift, stealthy movement and ducking in and out of cover. You can use the Hide or Dash action as a bonus action on your turn. Also, you can’t be tracked by nonmagical means, unless you choose to leave a trail.
*Vanish and Spellcasting: If you opted to retain the ranger's Spellcasting class feature, you must also use the version of the Vanish feature as detailed on pg 94 of the Player's Handbook.
Alternate Archetype Features:
Gift of the Wild
When you select Gift of the Wild, the following ranger archetype features work differently for you. (Ignore this section if you chose to retain Spellcasting as a class feature.)
Gloom Stalker / Horizon Walker / Monster Slayer (HFH)
Starting at 3rd level, you gain the ability to cast a spell of your choice from the relevant Spells table in the archetype description found in XGtE. Your ranger level must be at least equal to the level listed alongside the spell. Once you cast a spell in this way, you cannot cast that spell again until you complete a short rest.
Beast Master (HB)
Starting at 3rd level, if you select the Beast Master archetype, you gain the ability to cast a spell of your choice from the table below. Your ranger level must be at least equal to the level listed alongside the spell. Once you cast a spell in this way, you cannot cast that spell again until you complete a short rest.
Ranger Level Spell
3rd Beast Bond
5th Beast Sense
9th Sending
13th Death Ward
17th Awaken
Hunter (HB)
Starting at 3rd level, if you select the Hunter archetype, you gain the ability to cast a spell of your choice from the table below. Your ranger level must be at least equal to the level listed alongside the spell. Once you cast a spell in this way, you cannot cast that spell again until you complete a short rest.
Ranger Level Spell
3rd Ensaring Strike
5th Pass without Trace
9th Nondetection
13th Guardian of Nature
17th Commune with Nature
Alternate Archetype Features:
Wild Companion and Beast Master archetype (HFH, UA-RR)
If you select the Wild Companion option as your Gift of the Wild and choose the Beast Master ranger archetype, the following rules apply:
Ranger's Companion
You do not gain the Ranger’s Companion archetype feature.
Improved Wild Companion
At 3rd level, your beast companion’s challenge rating can be 1/2 or lower. If you opt for a companion with a challenge rating of 1/4 or lower, you can increase one of your companion's ability scores by 2, or you can increase two of its ability scores by 1 each.
Your animal companion gains proficiency in two additional skills of your choice, and becomes proficient with all saving throws.
For each level you gain after 3rd, your animal companion gains an additional Hit Die plus it’s Constitution modifier, if any. Whenever you gain the Ability Score Improvement class feature, your companion’s abilities also improve, as governed by the normal rules.
Also at 3rd level, you gain proficiency with the Animal Handling skill, if you are already proficient, your proficiency bonus is doubled for ability checks you make that use that skill.
Exceptional Training
You do not gain the Exceptional Training archetype feature.
Beast's Defense
From 7th level, your companion gains advantage on all saving throws as long as it can see or hear you.
Share Spells
You do not gain the Share Spells archetype feature.
Beast's Agility
At 15th level, whenever your companion takes damage from an attacker or source that it can see (such as an weapon or spell attack, or an effect requiring a dexterity saving throw) it can use its reaction to halve the attack’s damage against it.
I made some language tweaks, renamed some things, and changed reset times on some stuff
Great. Thanks! Below is an FAQ to support the list of proposed Alternate Class Features:
Ranger Versatility: FAQ
Q: Why do we need a set of alternate class features for the ranger?
A: The interweb has and abundance of dissections and critiques on the Player's Handbook Ranger (and almost as many aimed at the UA-Revised Ranger). Alongside these, I'd wager that the ranger core class has received more homebrew treatments than just about any other core class. All told, this is evidence that many amongst us are simply not content with the class as it stands. This is especially true of the Beast Master archetype. I won't go into a deep analysis here (you can find many on the web) but the categorical 'issues' identified with the ranger are as follows:
a frustrating lack of core flexibility due to key class features being usable in very specific situations (i.e. Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer);
a perception by some (but contested by others) that the ranger is underpowered when compared to other half-casters and martial classes (e.g. many have sought to show how the ranger compares unfavorably in power to the paladin); and
a significant plurality (if not outright majority) who are deeply dissatisfied with the Beast Master archetype due to its frustrating action economy, and an inability to protect or revive a relatively 'squishy' animal companion who is always at high risk of falling in battle.
These and other points of dissatisfaction have been simmering within the ranger community since 2014, and the various attempts by the game designers to address them have stalled, with only a bit of minor improvements on the Beast Master offered as errata to the PHB in 2018. Lead designers at WotC have spoken of a set of alternate class features to address these persistent concerns but to date nothing has been forthcoming, beyond the work done by Mike Mearls on his unofficial online stream late last year. Ranger Versatility seeks to offer a set of alternate features that could act as a bridge of sorts until an official offering is made.
Q: Does this set of alternate features make the PHB version of the ranger class obsolete?
A: No! And that is part of its virtue. It is important to emphasise that by making these alternate features available, it does nothing to preclude or make obsolete the PHB version. And it definitely does not create a 'new' version of the ranger, in the way that the UA-RR did. Why is that important? It's clear that the game's designers (quite understandably) don't wish to diminish the experience of the core PHB class, and lot of people do enjoy it as is. But for those who do not, this set of additional options would allow them to improve their playing experience while preserving balance and not stepping on the feet of those who are quite happy with the existing official version.
Q: How do I use Ranger Versatility in my game?
A: If you or wish to play a ranger, or you are DM for someone who does, then start by thinking about Ranger Versatility (RV) as offering you two initial choices on two core class features: Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer.
The PHB versions of these two features are perceived by some to be quite prescriptive in their application, allowing the ranger to access two important and character-defining features only if and when the circumstances are right, i.e. combat encounters against certain creatures that the ranger may or may not encounter, or exploring a particular type of terrain that might or mightn't be part of the adventure. Having such situation-specific features not only can be frustrating for a player, but also can potentially be burdensome for a DM, who may feel that she has to find a way to 'weave in' a certain type of enemy or terrain to serve the needs of the ranger player. The alternate features offered by Ranger Versatility can help to address these concerns and increase playability and enjoyment.
Q: Tell me more! What else can I do with this set of alternate features?
A: Ranger Versatility also grants to the player the flexibility to script his own customised ranger 'story' with a third main decision point: whether to keep spellcasting as a core class feature, or replace it with (a) enhanced martial prowess or (b) an enhanced beast companion. The exciting thing about this, at least in my opinion, is that when this choice is combined with the selection of ranger subclasses, it opens up exciting new combinations for non- spellcasting rangers. How about a Gloom Stalker with a sleek black panther sidekick? Or a combat-savvy Hunter possessed of countless ways to dispatch with his foes? By swapping out spellcasting for one of the two Gift of the Wild options, these and other combinations become possibilities, all while preserving balanced play.
Q: I see that you also play around with Primeval Awareness and Vanish. And what's up with 'Bush Medicine' and new spells for the Hunter and Beast Master?
A: I took the view that if you elect to play a non-spellcasting ranger, a few of the additions that had been offered by previous Unearthed Arcana were relevant here to maintain both flavour and effectiveness for the class:
-The rudimentary communication with animals element that Primeval Awareness granted as part of the Revised Ranger seems important here to help maintain the ranger's fundamental link with things wild, for without spellcasting the ranger loses important capabilities like those granted by the speak with animals spell.
-Imbedding the ability to take the Dash action as a bonus action into the Vanish class feature seems sensible too, as swift movement afoot is a key part of the ranger fantasy, and without spellcasting, spells like zephyr strike and longstrider are off the table.
-Likewise, given the usefulness of the cure wounds spell, a substitute feature for non-spellcasters allowing for the creation of healing poultices that scale with level seems appropriate to stave off the harm an adventurer might suffer while exploring in the wilderness, and keep a beast companion upright if the ranger has one!
-Lastly, creating symmetry between the PHB and the XGtE archetypes in terms of dedicated spells, seemed like a good idea if you forego spellcasting as a core class feature. I've gone for a selection that offers key elements important to both archetypes (e.g. pass without trace for the Hunter, and beast sense for the Beast Master) but other choices could certainly work as well, so please feel free to keep homebrewing as you see fit!
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So, is there any suito official Ranger revision I can get access to?
It's kinda of frustrating this isn't easier to find. I'd like something concrete that Wizards has produced.
http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/unearthed-arcana-ranger-revised
That is the only thing Wizards has, what annoys me is that they won't put it on Beyond. They have a date that everything UA that came out before will never be put on the site, everything after that date will. Why? I don't know, makes no sense to me.
My call would be to put it up and see how many Ranger builds change over to Revised, be a good way to gauge use compared to PHB.
That Revised Ranger has been deemed archived by WotC. They had all the feedback they needed.
I'd like to see an alternative, one that blends the phb and the revised and also updates Beast Master (reworked) and Hunter, give them spell list, etc...
Beast Master in particular is basically useless as is in the phb.
I totally agree that putting it up on DDB as an experiment to gauge interest would be a fab idea. But then I also think we should have a second referendum on Brexit to see if we still 'really' want to leave but the government won't give us one. In both cases it seems the powers that be fear the truth lol!
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Don't be Lawful Evil
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towing the party line still? I'm not convinced that feedback was as conclusive as you suggest. why not publish it? in any case what's the real harm in granting a sizeable minority what they wish. I can't see how it would harm anyone- I've heard of no one saying that the PHB version should be banned or excluded. In this day and age can't we make room to accommodate all tastes?
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Not really. It's a bit lacking in the damage department compared to the Hunter at 3rd level, but it does add utility. A wolf companion basically has 18 passive perception when it comes to finding creatures, attacks with advantage if anyone else is next to the enemy and has a chance to knock it prone.
The 2018 errata fixed its lack of magic damage and let it take the Dodge action if you don't command it to do anything.
Like filcat said, that experiment was a dead end. Putting it on DDB would just cause confusion.
Having to give up your attack for a weaker attack that has a really low dc save or be knocked prone is not that much utility in my book.
Why would that cause confusion? Just make it a toggle option when you create a character, have it "off" by default, then only people who want to use it will be using it and nothing would change for everyone else. Is is confusing to have Blood Hunter an option? Is it confusing to use Artificer? No. They are options.
How exactly are you interpreting the PHB beast master? I’ve come to the conclusion that much of the difference of opinion about the beast master is due to different interpretations of the archetype. If you have a specific example of how the beast master and interact during an encounter that you find makes the archetype useless, that may help me and others understand your perspective.
I think we all understand that the beast can be squishy. This becomes a problem if the player is heedlessly throwing them into the middle of the battle, if the DM keeps throwing a lot of area of effect spell at the party or targets the beast specifically too much and if the other party members see the beast as the ranger’s problem and not part of the team.
A wolf is going to have +6 to hit, get free advantage and deal 2d4 + 4 damage, which is at least as good as what the Ranger would do.
Strength correlates well with size for monsters; tier 1 and tier 2 medium creatures tend to hover around 12-13 Strength, with a few going up to 15-16. So if you're fighting anything medium or smaller, you'll have around 40-50% prone chance.
So you're trading one attack that might not have advantage for an attack that deals around the same amount of damage, will have advantage, and gets a decent free prone chance.
Because the revised ranger is dead. That iteration of it isn't going anywhere, and putting it on DDB is just going to give the impression that it is. Even before it got deprecated, it was causing confusion for new players who don't know what Unearthed Arcana is.
It's the same reason the previous iteration of the Artificer wasn't available on DDB. The current one got close enough to what the designers and players are looking for to have a future.
‘The only reason the current Artificer is up and the other wasn’t is that the current one was published after the cut off date for UA content that appears on Beyond, it has nothing to do with “close” to done.
As for the BM, I don’t have an interpretation, I simply am looking at what it does.
So a wolf has advantage on a +6 to do 2d4+4 with a 40% chance to knock prone (and that percentage can only go down as you go higher in level, and depending on initiative order knocking prone may be useless) and to give him that I have to position him in the fray where he is a glass cannon because his ac/hit points are garbage and I have to give up my attack of +9 to hit for 1d8+1d6+5 or (assuming a hunter) my +9 to hit dealing 2d8+1d6+5 if the enemy has been hit at all. So yeah, I don’t see that being worth it.
I wish the BM was viable, but if you play one, you have to accept that you are going to do crap damage compared to a hunter or any other Ranger and that your pet is going to die 9/10 times there is an AOE attack.
One of the annoying aspect of Critical Role campaign one was that the Ranger had a pet bear that was useless, died all the damn time, and created a pain in the ass anytime they had to traverse terrain.
You can play one from a rp, but it is pretty broken
You have the official answer on the reason why the Revised Ranger is not on DDB. You can try to use the homebrew toolset to replicate it.
Your view of the Beast Master is your view. I played two Beast Master so far, and I think it is a very well designed subclass.
Everything that came before that cut off date had either been followed through to completion or abandoned as a design. So yes, it had to do with how close the designers got to something publishable. That iteration of the Artificer was 100% dead, much like the Revised Ranger. We could still see another attempt at improving the Ranger's class features, but whatever that looks like, it won't be the Revised Ranger you know.
My numbers were for a level 3 Beast Master. A level 3 hunter can't have +9 to hit using point buy or standard array or +5 to damage rolls. They have +7 to attack rolls and +3 to damage rolls at best (+2 proficiency, +3 DEX, +2 Fighting Style.) So you're looking at +6 with advantage for 9 damage or 10/14.5 damage (with/without Colossus Slayer), no advantage. Your hypothetical Hunter will miss more due to lack of advantage, and the Beast Master saved a spell slot, so that's a fair trade. Your Hunter doesn't have 18 passive perception against enemy ambushes either.
By the time your Hunter has two ASIs to hit 20 DEX, the Beast Master doesn't have to give up Hunter's Mark any more (Extra Attack) and the beast's AC, attack roll bonus and damage roll bonus have all gone up because of the Ranger's proficiency bonus being 1-2 points higher.
Or you could play with a DM that doesn't hate Beast Masters and gives the pet Death Saving throws like any other party member. Healing Spirit or a cleric willing to pitch in will go a long way towards keeping an animal companion in the fight too. Heroism, Aid, Warding Bond and Death Ward are all good ways to keep an animal companion in the fight if you're expecting a tough encounter.
The Beast Master isn't without its flaws and it certainly takes additional effort from the players. But you're vastly overstating the power difference and at the end of the day, people pick Beast Master to have an animal companion, not to be the DPS king. A lot of people don't mind being somewhat underpowered if they're playing a character they're happy with. The Champion Fighter is still plenty popular despite being barely any better than having no subclass from 3rd to 9th level, and the majority of players don't pick Variant Human as their race even though an extra feat almost always outweighs the benefits of other race's class features.
Obviously a lot of folks aren't satisfied with the ranger as is - you can argue about whether it's a large minority or an outright majority but either way it's a big number. Those folks (like me) are customers. They buy books, online content and subscriptions to this site. Rather than arguing with us and saying things like (effectively) "you're playing the PHB version wrong", "the Revised Ranger is dead" or "The PHB BM / Ranger is just fine", why not work out a plan for delivering product to the group of customers (however large or small) who aren't satisfied with the status quo? That's what compromise is all about :-) Whether the group of us who aren't digging on the PHB version represents 15%, 30% or whatever, that is still a very sizeable minority. If you can make us happy without making other people unhappy, then it's a no-brainer to do that (Economists call it a Pareto improvement, you can google it if you are interested: https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/21435/economics/pareto-improvement/). I speak here as a paying customer, of DDB as well as numerous print books. I expect, as a customer, to have my views respected i.e. Not told that I'm wrong or that my views don't matter.
NB- whilst your suggestion of using home-brew functionality on DDB is a good one, it doesn't allow for us to deal with the ranger question in its entirety because of the restrictions against altering core classes. I understand that this is now being looked at and could come soon-ish. We would welcome that with open arms.
NB (2) - one of the reasons I and many others are so brusque in our manner on this topic is because we feel like we've been given the run-around on the topic for 4+ years. No fewer than 2 or 2.5 attempts by WotC at revising the ranger have been started and stopped, and each one of those were prefaced by an admission (in writing) that the rangers appeared deeply flawed and unpopular to many, and that there was an ongoing attempt to address concerns. Then in middle of last year, Crawford declares the Revised Ranger dead, and that we 'might/will/could/would/should' (whatever) see some alternate class features for the core class that could allow for a single version of the Ranger (the PHB) but could offer flexibility for those of us needing it. That has never arrived and we've just been caught in this endless filibuster of sorts. Again, we are customers and I'm very sorry but I think we deserve more.
Thanks.
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Don't be Lawful Evil
#OpenDND
Never said your views are wrong or don't matter. The satisfaction with a product (whatever that product is) is highly subjective. As such, I disagree that the introduction of a Revised Ranger will dissatisfy no one. The introduction of an alternative Ranger 5 years after the release of the PHB will dissatisfy many.
But I digress. That is not even the point. The point is that WotC is the only one with the final say on the release of a product of theirs on DDB. Be it Unearthed Arcana material or a map pack, they have the copyright and the final say.