To clarify i am a human swarmkeeper ranger, my prefered weapon is the long bow and I just hit level 5 in icewindale.
I currently have hunters mark (damage and tracking) cure wounds (heal myself and other in a pinch) and good berry (and its been so useful so far)
With level 5 i have access to 2nd lvl spells and i am trying to think what shpuld i get?
I was thinking Pass Without Trace for group stealth and i was thinking to swap Cure Wounds with either Aid (party members suggestion) or Healing Spirits (it has some distance and heals pretty well for a concentration spell)
What would be better Aid Or Healing Spirits?
(note, i know spike growth is good and synergises with swarm keepers ability to move opponents on a faile strength check but the druid has that covered and i get Web as a free spell anyway)
To clarify i am a human swarmkeeper ranger, my prefered weapon is the long bow and I just hit level 5 in icewindale.
I currently have hunters mark (damage and tracking) cure wounds (heal myself and other in a pinch) and good berry (and its been so useful so far)
With level 5 i have access to 2nd lvl spells and i am trying to think what shpuld i get?
I was thinking Pass Without Trace for group stealth and i was thinking to swap Cure Wounds with either Aid (party members suggestion) or Healing Spirits (it has some distance and heals pretty well for a concentration spell)
What would be better Aid Or Healing Spirits?
(note, i know spike growth is good and synergises with swarm keepers ability to move opponents on a faile strength check but the druid has that covered and i get Web as a free spell anyway)
Aid is much better than Healing Spirit. Don't cast it up front - what it does really well is pick up multiple allies who are down at once, since it acts like multi-target healing. As a general rule, the best L2 Ranger spells are:
That doesn't mean the other L2 spells are bad, but especially with a Druid in the party, you need to be mindful that a) you can't change your mind later easily like the Druid can, b) you know fewer spells than the Druid can prepare even without the handicap of your choices being harder to change, and c) you're not a ritual caster, so that needs to inform your spell choices. For example, I didn't list Lesser Restoration or Magic Weapon, despite them both being excellent spells, because the only case in which they're worth burning a precious spell known is if you know up front you'll need them - which you generally won't. Better to leave those for someone else in the party to grab on the fly.
Your party member is also right - Cure Wounds is a pretty bad spell. Here are the best L1 Ranger spells, again as a general rule - you always need to tailor your choices to your campaign, your party, etc.
I didn't list Goodberry, even though Goodberry is an excellent spell, because the best way to use Goodberry is as an afterthought: you cast it just before you take a long rest, dumping all your remaining spell slots into it, and then you eat the berries the next day as needed. A Druid can spare the preparation "slot" much more easily than a Ranger can spare the knowledge "slot" for it, and the Druid will much more often end their day with unspent slots. Rangers tend to run dry easily.
Mind you, I have a Ranger right now disregarding much of what I just said - with both Goodberry and Magic Weapon known. Definitely don't take this post as gospel or slavishly take only the spells I'm recommending here. I'm just trying to help you out, not tell you how to play.
Since you only know 4 spells total (plus the Swarmkeeper bonus ones) and only have 2 L2 slots, I suggest focusing more on L1 spells than L2 ones. You can always upcast an L1 spell - you can't downcast an L2 one. In your place, I would try to pick 3 L1 spells and 1 L2 one to learn. Which L2 spell I'd pick would depend very heavily on party makeup - Darkvision could be mission critical or a waste of everyone's time!
One of the swarm keeper's best stratigies is moving people around. I would recommend Hail of Thorns because hunter's mark is honestly awful. If you would rather stick with hunter's mark and want something 2nd level would be spike growth. Your ability to move people people up to 15 feet means that this area control spell can give you an extra 6d4 damage. Plus, it isn't concentration based, so you can still use hunter's mark or whatever other spell you want to use.
So, you have a good selection of comments regarding the most efficient spells to get as a ranger and if being efficient is all you want you can ignore what I'm about to say: just pick the spells based on the theme of your character.
Yes, there are spells that are better than others in the game but if you insist in using the best spells every time, you'll end up with the same character every time (mechanically speaking). D&D is a great game because there is no way to win but hundreds of ways to have fun and if min maxing if your thing, more power to you but there is a more interesting way to pick your spells if you want my opinion.
I you want an example: I have made a divine sorceress and I basically only took heals and charms, because I was playing her as a symbol of mercy e forgiveness. This was cool because I've never said anything to my DM regarding this, I just picked the spell and played my character but the NPCs started referring to her as a merciful soul, the one that heals the wounded and forgives the sinners. Anyway, her flaw was that she had a irrational fear of water. When she managed to win over that fear I decided to learn Control Water. Not because it was the best choice but because it fit the character at that point of her story. It was just a spell that I had to take for my level up but I decided to play it as if winning over her fear was the reason why she learned to cast that spell and the spell had a lot of meaning for her for that reason. No fireball in the world feels as good as casting Control Water with that specific character. That's why it's memorable to me.
Ya thats a very good point. Mu characters whole motivation is to protect icewindale and its people so i figured his spells revolve around protecting people (like a shepard to his flock) or full on killing his enemies. Also his swarm (a small storm of snow that can be a gentle breeze surrounding him when he is calm, to a raging snow storm when he is angry/in the thick of battle) has effects on his spells too.
Pass without trace is essential to any ranger, regardless of subclass, as it's handy for both evading pursuit and sneaking up on enemies. Ensnaring strike is situational but can make life difficult for enemy spellcasters, as they're likely to have low Strength bonuses.
Pass without trace is essential to any ranger, regardless of subclass, as it's handy for both evading pursuit and sneaking up on enemies. Ensnaring strike is situational but can make life difficult for enemy spellcasters, as they're likely to have low Strength bonuses.
For Ensnaring Strike You can totally flavor it as your "snow storm swarm" encasing your target's feet in ice too. Flavor is flavor. As long as the mechanics are respected, who cares what it looks like! Just pick what makes sense for your character or if you like something but don't like the flavor of it, change the flavor! :)
For the damage, make the "encasing ice" create "spikes" which would still deal piercing damage.
Since you are grouped with a druid Pass Without a Trace loses a bit of it”s lustre. I would suggest rather then Aid for 5 hps for 3 people that you put more meat on the table with Summon Beast. The best damage reduction for your party is to have the mobs attacking something else. Why add 15 HP when you can add 30. Since the moon druid is not a battle caster have them ready the utility spells like Pass.
To clarify i am a human swarmkeeper ranger, my prefered weapon is the long bow and I just hit level 5 in icewindale.
I currently have hunters mark (damage and tracking) cure wounds (heal myself and other in a pinch) and good berry (and its been so useful so far)
With level 5 i have access to 2nd lvl spells and i am trying to think what shpuld i get?
I was thinking Pass Without Trace for group stealth and i was thinking to swap Cure Wounds with either Aid (party members suggestion) or Healing Spirits (it has some distance and heals pretty well for a concentration spell)
What would be better Aid Or Healing Spirits?
(note, i know spike growth is good and synergises with swarm keepers ability to move opponents on a faile strength check but the druid has that covered and i get Web as a free spell anyway)
Aid is much better than Healing Spirit. Don't cast it up front - what it does really well is pick up multiple allies who are down at once, since it acts like multi-target healing. As a general rule, the best L2 Ranger spells are:
That doesn't mean the other L2 spells are bad, but especially with a Druid in the party, you need to be mindful that a) you can't change your mind later easily like the Druid can, b) you know fewer spells than the Druid can prepare even without the handicap of your choices being harder to change, and c) you're not a ritual caster, so that needs to inform your spell choices. For example, I didn't list Lesser Restoration or Magic Weapon, despite them both being excellent spells, because the only case in which they're worth burning a precious spell known is if you know up front you'll need them - which you generally won't. Better to leave those for someone else in the party to grab on the fly.
Your party member is also right - Cure Wounds is a pretty bad spell. Here are the best L1 Ranger spells, again as a general rule - you always need to tailor your choices to your campaign, your party, etc.
I didn't list Goodberry, even though Goodberry is an excellent spell, because the best way to use Goodberry is as an afterthought: you cast it just before you take a long rest, dumping all your remaining spell slots into it, and then you eat the berries the next day as needed. A Druid can spare the preparation "slot" much more easily than a Ranger can spare the knowledge "slot" for it, and the Druid will much more often end their day with unspent slots. Rangers tend to run dry easily.
Mind you, I have a Ranger right now disregarding much of what I just said - with both Goodberry and Magic Weapon known. Definitely don't take this post as gospel or slavishly take only the spells I'm recommending here. I'm just trying to help you out, not tell you how to play.
Since you only know 4 spells total (plus the Swarmkeeper bonus ones) and only have 2 L2 slots, I suggest focusing more on L1 spells than L2 ones. You can always upcast an L1 spell - you can't downcast an L2 one. In your place, I would try to pick 3 L1 spells and 1 L2 one to learn. Which L2 spell I'd pick would depend very heavily on party makeup - Darkvision could be mission critical or a waste of everyone's time!
I concur that Aid is awesome, and we didn't even consider it in any context other than cast up front. That's an interesting tactic that I wasn't sure was supposed to actually work until I reread the spell.
As we were playing through Icewind Dale at the time I collected the feather, fur, and scale from previous quests (no spoilers). My elf was from a tribe in the spire that my DM created from a town named Swollen Oak (for the acorn) and it was gilded for me after my longbow saved a town from attack. If you work for it over time the components are available depending on setting and DM buy-in.
entangle makes it much easier for you and your team to attack a group of enemies.
zephyr strike is better for melee rangers, as it encourages a hit-and-run fighting style, similar to a rogue.
longstrider may seem a bit underpowered, but it has an often-overlooked hidden strength. It doesn't require concentration, which means that you can cast it on yourself or another party member at the start of combat and it will benefit you for the entire encounter. Cast it on a melee character, and the enemy will have trouble fleeing from them.
At 2nd level:
barkskin can be cast on a wizard or another creature with subpar defences. Though everyone in your party appears to have a decent AC.
healing spirit is broken when it comes to out-of-combat healing. Out of combat, your party can huddle together under the spirit. It scales incredibly.
pass without trace is particularly effective if you want to avoid unnecessary combat. It improves the stealth of everyone, meaning that no player is likely to screw up a stealth attempt with a bad dice roll. Group Stealth checks can be annoying for sneaky characters, as the person playing the stealthy character gets a 25, everybody else gets a decent roll of 15, while one person gets unlucky and gets an 8. Pass without Trace negates this recurring event.
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Brains over brawn? Mind over matter? These canny warriors rightly answer, "Why not both?" - Tasha
Healing Spirit used to be a go to spell before the nerf....its ok now but its not as good as Aid as others have mentioned.
PWT is awesome for a group to set up ambushes.
I personally like Zephyr Strike myself simply for setting up that amazing first round with gloomstalker....but seeing you are swarmkeeper it might not have the same benefit.
To clarify i am a human swarmkeeper ranger, my prefered weapon is the long bow and I just hit level 5 in icewindale.
I currently have hunters mark (damage and tracking) cure wounds (heal myself and other in a pinch) and good berry (and its been so useful so far)
With level 5 i have access to 2nd lvl spells and i am trying to think what shpuld i get?
I was thinking Pass Without Trace for group stealth and i was thinking to swap Cure Wounds with either Aid (party members suggestion) or Healing Spirits (it has some distance and heals pretty well for a concentration spell)
What would be better Aid Or Healing Spirits?
(note, i know spike growth is good and synergises with swarm keepers ability to move opponents on a faile strength check but the druid has that covered and i get Web as a free spell anyway)
Pass Without Trace is one of the most powerful 2nd level spells for any class. Good pick!
Aid is better than healing spirits, IMO.
A 1st level I think you should pick up: Absorb Elements.
Spike Growth is great, but it can really mess up your teammates if you have a lot of melee characters without strong range options in the party.
Might look into absorb elements at some point. For the time being im pretty tanky at 52 hp and 16 AC and im more of a bow and arrow kinda guy.
So with aid i can help buff my team :
Battle master fighter
Moon druid
Bladesinger wizard
Aid is much better than Healing Spirit. Don't cast it up front - what it does really well is pick up multiple allies who are down at once, since it acts like multi-target healing. As a general rule, the best L2 Ranger spells are:
That doesn't mean the other L2 spells are bad, but especially with a Druid in the party, you need to be mindful that a) you can't change your mind later easily like the Druid can, b) you know fewer spells than the Druid can prepare even without the handicap of your choices being harder to change, and c) you're not a ritual caster, so that needs to inform your spell choices. For example, I didn't list Lesser Restoration or Magic Weapon, despite them both being excellent spells, because the only case in which they're worth burning a precious spell known is if you know up front you'll need them - which you generally won't. Better to leave those for someone else in the party to grab on the fly.
Your party member is also right - Cure Wounds is a pretty bad spell. Here are the best L1 Ranger spells, again as a general rule - you always need to tailor your choices to your campaign, your party, etc.
I didn't list Goodberry, even though Goodberry is an excellent spell, because the best way to use Goodberry is as an afterthought: you cast it just before you take a long rest, dumping all your remaining spell slots into it, and then you eat the berries the next day as needed. A Druid can spare the preparation "slot" much more easily than a Ranger can spare the knowledge "slot" for it, and the Druid will much more often end their day with unspent slots. Rangers tend to run dry easily.
Mind you, I have a Ranger right now disregarding much of what I just said - with both Goodberry and Magic Weapon known. Definitely don't take this post as gospel or slavishly take only the spells I'm recommending here. I'm just trying to help you out, not tell you how to play.
Since you only know 4 spells total (plus the Swarmkeeper bonus ones) and only have 2 L2 slots, I suggest focusing more on L1 spells than L2 ones. You can always upcast an L1 spell - you can't downcast an L2 one. In your place, I would try to pick 3 L1 spells and 1 L2 one to learn. Which L2 spell I'd pick would depend very heavily on party makeup - Darkvision could be mission critical or a waste of everyone's time!
One of the swarm keeper's best stratigies is moving people around. I would recommend Hail of Thorns because hunter's mark is honestly awful. If you would rather stick with hunter's mark and want something 2nd level would be spike growth. Your ability to move people people up to 15 feet means that this area control spell can give you an extra 6d4 damage. Plus, it isn't concentration based, so you can still use hunter's mark or whatever other spell you want to use.
My only good homebrews: Races, Subclasses.
An aspiring DM and Homebrewer. Ask me if you need anything.
So, you have a good selection of comments regarding the most efficient spells to get as a ranger and if being efficient is all you want you can ignore what I'm about to say: just pick the spells based on the theme of your character.
Yes, there are spells that are better than others in the game but if you insist in using the best spells every time, you'll end up with the same character every time (mechanically speaking). D&D is a great game because there is no way to win but hundreds of ways to have fun and if min maxing if your thing, more power to you but there is a more interesting way to pick your spells if you want my opinion.
I you want an example: I have made a divine sorceress and I basically only took heals and charms, because I was playing her as a symbol of mercy e forgiveness. This was cool because I've never said anything to my DM regarding this, I just picked the spell and played my character but the NPCs started referring to her as a merciful soul, the one that heals the wounded and forgives the sinners. Anyway, her flaw was that she had a irrational fear of water. When she managed to win over that fear I decided to learn Control Water. Not because it was the best choice but because it fit the character at that point of her story. It was just a spell that I had to take for my level up but I decided to play it as if winning over her fear was the reason why she learned to cast that spell and the spell had a lot of meaning for her for that reason. No fireball in the world feels as good as casting Control Water with that specific character. That's why it's memorable to me.
Ya thats a very good point. Mu characters whole motivation is to protect icewindale and its people so i figured his spells revolve around protecting people (like a shepard to his flock) or full on killing his enemies. Also his swarm (a small storm of snow that can be a gentle breeze surrounding him when he is calm, to a raging snow storm when he is angry/in the thick of battle) has effects on his spells too.
Pass without trace is essential to any ranger, regardless of subclass, as it's handy for both evading pursuit and sneaking up on enemies. Ensnaring strike is situational but can make life difficult for enemy spellcasters, as they're likely to have low Strength bonuses.
Frankly, my dear, I'd rather be listening to Rehn Stillnight.
For Ensnaring Strike You can totally flavor it as your "snow storm swarm" encasing your target's feet in ice too. Flavor is flavor. As long as the mechanics are respected, who cares what it looks like! Just pick what makes sense for your character or if you like something but don't like the flavor of it, change the flavor! :)
For the damage, make the "encasing ice" create "spikes" which would still deal piercing damage.
Since you are grouped with a druid Pass Without a Trace loses a bit of it”s lustre. I would suggest rather then Aid for 5 hps for 3 people that you put more meat on the table with Summon Beast. The best damage reduction for your party is to have the mobs attacking something else. Why add 15 HP when you can add 30. Since the moon druid is not a battle caster have them ready the utility spells like Pass.
I concur that Aid is awesome, and we didn't even consider it in any context other than cast up front. That's an interesting tactic that I wasn't sure was supposed to actually work until I reread the spell.
I was gonna go for that but i dont have the funds or access to a gold gilded acorn stuffed with fur feather and scale for the material component.
And our dm is pretty particular on the material components for a spell
As we were playing through Icewind Dale at the time I collected the feather, fur, and scale from previous quests (no spoilers). My elf was from a tribe in the spire that my DM created from a town named Swollen Oak (for the acorn) and it was gilded for me after my longbow saved a town from attack. If you work for it over time the components are available depending on setting and DM buy-in.
Really like the idea of ensnaring strike causing damage with icicles - very thematic! Also, I'd forgotten there was a druid in the group.
Frankly, my dear, I'd rather be listening to Rehn Stillnight.
Silence is an amazingly useful spell on so many levels. It is still good at 20th.
Stops a lot of spell casting, helps with stealth, lets you fight a guard without having them yell for help.
At 1st level:
At 2nd level:
Brains over brawn? Mind over matter? These canny warriors rightly answer, "Why not both?" - Tasha
My Homebrews: Monsters, Magic Items, Spells, Races
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Isn't entangle a druid spell? Pretty sure it's not available to rangers.
Frankly, my dear, I'd rather be listening to Rehn Stillnight.
Healing Spirit used to be a go to spell before the nerf....its ok now but its not as good as Aid as others have mentioned.
PWT is awesome for a group to set up ambushes.
I personally like Zephyr Strike myself simply for setting up that amazing first round with gloomstalker....but seeing you are swarmkeeper it might not have the same benefit.
It is now since Tasha's added it in the list of additionnal ranger spells in the optional rules.
Im looking through all the advice and tips, thank you all for the advice.
I decided to keep Pass Without Trace but i am unsure what to do for replacing Cure Wounds.
I am thinking Gust of Wind, it fits with his theme if a snow storm swarm and i could see it having a lot of uses at the right times.
Im still thinking overall. I like to oick spells that can be helpful but mostly thematic.