The one you enjoy playing. Go to the Bard forum where you posted the same thing asking about the "best bard" and read the response you got there - the same thing applies to Ranger or any class. "Best" is subjective and depends on what your goals are for the character.
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"...at worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
It really depends on your playstyle. I really loved the 2014 version of beastmaster. some people hate it. For me I like the unique traits and using each stat block creatively. Some just want a stable pet 2024 or Tasha's is the way to go.
If you want field control or positioning swarm keeper is awesome. Take thorn whip and spikegrowth and have fun.
Many people will say gloomstalker is one of the most damaging rangers in both 2014 and 2024.
Fey wanderer is a good general adventurer that can do charisma jobs or combat well.
Some say scout rogue is the best ranger as its does what they want and wont need spells. (They are probably wrong but what do I know)
If you want to hunt and kill The Drow from Menzoberranzan, then the absolute best build is of course a Deep Gnome Gloom Stalker Ranger.
If you want to venture far into the forrest then an Elf (or Half-Elf) Fey Wanderer Ranger is probably the best.
But if you're environment is metropolitan and you want to stay on the outskirts of a big city like Waterdeep then, as a Human, The Hunter Ranger is best.
Fighter. Fighter is the best Ranger. Unfortunately, this is a class they really screwed over in upper tier play, and they haven't bothered to fix it yet. If you're in a campaign that stops before level 10 or so, you're probably fine as a beast master with dual wielding, but if you go past that you're better off with levels of fighter, rogue, or any other class after 10.
Ranger doesn't need a fix above 10th level. It's fine. The narratives on the Ranger's poor high level performance are overstated. The Ranger is far superior to fighter/rogue/paladin in terms of multi target damage while the fighter is (generally) better in single target damage. The rogue meanwhile wastes a ton of damage with overkill which is no change from the 2014 version.
As for best Ranger build a Hunter with Horde Breaker is probably your best damage dealer, if you can combine with Cleave or Polearm Master or both you can do some interesting things with attacks per turn.
If you want to multiclass I recommend 3 levels of War Cleric for a consistent bonus action longbow shot.
That has not matched my experience playing a ranger in several T4 and T3 games with fairly difficult to very difficult encounters. The math doesn't math with your claims about Horde Breaker (which is also dependent heavily on enemy position on the battlefield). War cleric is OK, but by mentioning that you're sort of making my point for me. You have to multiclass a Ranger to not be a drag on your party past level 8 or so
But what Rangers need is a legitimate boost to their single target damage at around level 10. The whole class is married to Hunters Mark which doesn't scale until the very end of a Ranger's career, and then only scales by two die steps (so, 2-3 damage per round on average). Yes, you can cast a couple of blast spells which hit for decent damage and have good target selection, but that's your turn. The classic longbow ranger does not perform well at all the entire game, and the dual wielding Ranger only does well in T1 and then does OK in T2. Higher Tier abilities tied to Hunter's Mark make other abilities less useful (thinking about HM giving advantage making Nature's Veil, which now you have to wait until 14 to get, somewhat redundant to use).
It's bad. Concentration on HM means we don't get to do really anything else that requires concentration. Hail of Thorns isn't target selective so it's hard to apply on many battlefields without hitting your friends. In order for Longbow to even deal decent damage for a while you have to take Great Weapon master or you may as well not be on the battlefield. It's the worst damage dealing class in 2024, just like it was at the start of 2014. Unfortunately it's utility doesn't compensate for it's severe lack of damage output. They need to fix it.
Meanwhile Paladins can cast a damage boosting spell (devine favor) which takes no concentration and only does 1 less damage per round on average. They also get a *ton* more spells and a great many more unique class-based spells (Divine Favor, various smites). Rangers should have lots of options for single target damage spells. Let us have a scalable 1d8 Elemental blast we can apply like a smite, or make an elemental weapon buff concentration free (like Elemental Weapon) so we can stack things and ramp up damage.
If your obsession is single target damage then you will find the Ranger wanting. Its not ideally suited there. In particular as compared to the Paladin above level 10. As a trade off it has better skill access, better multi target damage, better summoning, and better control. It is also more ideally suited for ranged combat than the Paladin with a host of spells to enhance that style.
I agree that Hunter's Mark should have been made concentrationless above level 10 - 12, and that was my recommendation during the playtest. It not being concentrationless doesn't ruin the class.
It's not my obsession, but it's an essential function. Hitting six monsters for 20 to maybe 40 force damage in T3 or 4 is all fine and good, but it isn't likely to impact action economy in a way that helps protect your party over the course of several rounds. Rangers used to be able to do both at the upper tiers, but now we cannot compete in that regard at all, and the iconic longbow ranger build is entirely dead at those levels (unless you want to be a waste of time for your team's success round by round). Skill access is irrelevant (Skilled feat), Multitarget damage is vastly outpaced by other casters, summoning is limited by spell slot level, control is outpaced by many other classes. Rangers are martials, martials need to do damage.
Rangers have significantly fewer unique spells than Paladins do (Paladins get Hunters Mark, for example, through vengeance, but Divine Favor is exclusive to their class).
Ranged is really bad damage in 2024, and on most battlemaps being at ranged isn't actually all it's cracked up to be defensively. You have to take Great Weapon Master for it to be even remotely relevant round by round, so there's a feat tax tacked on to playing at range (not to mention having to dump points to get a 13 strength). Even then, the damage output for a ranged build is really bad.
Ranger needs a significant DPR boost at level 10 - Paladins get a free D8 damage *per attack* at 11. Fighters and melee Warlocks get a third attack. Even War Clerics can put out more melee or ranged damage in T3 and 4 with Divine Strike.
damage has never been the problem with ranger. Ranger problem's stem from wotc not understanding the "go-to" ranger player base. They give showy and power fantasy abilities when most rangers actually want more of a "clever fantasy" or "everyman vs monster" fantasy.
The memes are now so deep that its almost impossible to avoid "ranger bad" but often in person actual play discussions show rangers to be party MVPs.
It wouldn't take much to fix it. Level 11, give rangers an extra D8 elemental damage like Paladins get radiant. That would probably take care of the lion's share of the issue. or, give an additional attack against a marked enemy. Or let HM scale like it did in the playtest. Sharpshooter should also give PB damage per hit like GWM.
College of Valor Bard, Woodelf species, Wayfarer background. Point buy: 13 Str, 15 Dex (+1), 12 Con, 8 Int, 10 Wis, 14 Cha (+2). Level 2, Dip Fighter for Archery fighting style and Weapon Masteries. Then Bard the rest of the way.
Feats: At Bard 4 (cha lvl 5) Fey-Touched (Charisma) Can choose Hunter's Mark here, or pick your favorite. At Bard 8 (cha lvl 9): Great Weapon Master, for Longbow Damage. At Bard 12 (cha lvl 13): Sharpshooter. At Bard 16 (cha lvl 17): ASI Dex & Cha. At Bard 19 (cha lvl 20) pick an epic Boon.
Downsides: many things come online late. Extra Attack at level 7. GWM & Sharpshooter at 9 & 13. Abilities are spread kinda thin- especially that 13 in Str for GWM.
Upsides: Excellent Skills. With Bardic Inspiration & access to Guidance thru magical secrets, as well as extra proficiencies & Expertise... skills should be ok. Spell Casting: At Bard 10, Magical Secrets opens up your spell list to a lot of possibilities... and your spell slots and levels will outpace the Ranger. There are WAY more options on what to use your concentration on while you shoot your longbow (or, frankly, this build would work great with Melee. Just tweak the abilities from Dex to Str, and choose something other than Sharpshooter.)
I think this out-Rangers the Ranger. Skills are better. Melee and ranged Weapon damage is comparable. Spell casting is much better.
Downside - everything is late, AC is less than ideal, why is the 15 going into Dex and not charisma if your a bard?. Question, 2014 or 2024 build? Given that play mostly stops between L12 and 15 anything you add after that in a whiteroom build like this is basically useless. The bard’s big skill advantage is really jack of all trades. Great weapon master applies to longbow? I’ll have to look that up ( ok the legacy version can be read to allow it, check with your DM I know I wouldn’t). Yes you do get the 2 attacks ( 2 levels later) and your spell progression is better with a wider selection but if your going to multiclass to get weapon masteries then why not go ranger Ang multiclass into sorceror for some real combat casting? Playing a ranger2/bard3 now and one of the biggest problems with it is AC and HP - not enough of either to really be a front liner and he often has to be.
Yeah, there's lots of holes, I'll admit. I was stretching for a very atypical Ranger alternative. 2024 rules. Dex/Cha was just to get both to 16. GWM applies to heavy weapons, does not specify melee or ranged. Only the 2nd part of the feat applies specifically to melee crits. So, it's a big investment to use it for ranged attacks. It'd be much better applied to a great weapon melee pc, who could then also use it for Longbow or heavy crossbow attacks, too. Sorc would also be an interesting alternative, but there's no subclass that gets extra attack, so it'd be a much more expansive multiclass build. I was looking to do a Ranger without Ranger levels. The 1st level Fighter Dip gets weapon Mastery, fighting style, and proficiency with all weapons and armor, so AC shouldn't be too much of an issue w medium or heavy armor (although that'll impact your Sneak, bit of well). You're right about the HP though- low Con and a d8 make this a ranged build for certain: stay far away, and hope you're not targeted much. However- you do get some fun spells that could help mitigate getting hit, like Mirrir Image. So, there are options.
It's a clumsy, hastily concocted idea. But I thought it was at least a fun mental exercise.
as a mental exercise perhaps, in one sense you are on the right track - one of the biggest misunderstandings about rangers is that as they pass from L8 to L12 they are transitioning from melee/ranged combat first, spells second to spells first, melee/ranged second and the bard does allow for that - if your AC and HP allow you to live that long. If you want to avoid ranger levels and can accept the low AC and HP, a scout rogue/sorceror or scout rogue/hexblade combo would be interesting. the hexblade would even give you the two attacks I believe.
Ranger took two large hits in the 2024 design: 1. De-optimization of ranged combat: removal of sharpshooter/CBX damage combo 2. De-optimization of conjure spells
Note: Ranged combat's defensive optimization is still there and great, you still don't take much damage since you are not in melee. Multi target damage is still quite good and better than the other martials.
We talk a lot about the change from conjuring many critters to aura as a big deal, but an equally important problem is the duration reduction of Conjure Animals. With an hour of duration it was usable in multiple encounters. Now, at 10 minutes you can't reliably pre cast it and assure you will have it for a combat. Conjure Woodland Beings has the same problem. This is particularly a problem when you start doing spreadsheet math and can no longer assume having these higher level spells precast in battle. Your spreadsheet damage plummets as you spend 1 round getting them up. There are encounters where you can have them precast and when those happen its pretty awesome.
The most important house rule that would unlock the Ranger is making Hunter's Mark non concentration at 13th level instead of just not being able to be broken. Its what my feedback had in it during playtest, and its the biggest miss on the design.
Ranger took two large hits in the 2024 design: 1. De-optimization of ranged combat: removal of sharpshooter/CBX damage combo 2. De-optimization of conjure spells
Note: Ranged combat's defensive optimization is still there and great, you still don't take much damage since you are not in melee. Multi target damage is still quite good and better than the other martials.
We talk a lot about the change from conjuring many critters to aura as a big deal, but an equally important problem is the duration reduction of Conjure Animals. With an hour of duration it was usable in multiple encounters. Now, at 10 minutes you can't reliably pre cast it and assure you will have it for a combat. Conjure Woodland Beings has the same problem. This is particularly a problem when you start doing spreadsheet math and can no longer assume having these higher level spells precast in battle. Your spreadsheet damage plummets as you spend 1 round getting them up. There are encounters where you can have them precast and when those happen its pretty awesome.
The most important house rule that would unlock the Ranger is making Hunter's Mark non concentration at 13th level instead of just not being able to be broken. Its what my feedback had in it during playtest, and its the biggest miss on the design.
Exactly house rule that at my table. Non concentration HM lvl 13 just give the boost needed. For best damage go 2 weapons fighting dex. Great weapon fighting hunter horde breaker with push mechanic also good with free attacks. If you want to go range war Cleric lvl for bonus actions attack are not bad... But range is now suboptimal, multiclass Rogue look the best actually... This said, 5 level ranger may be better than 5 level fighter to get to the vital 2 attacks round.
Ranger took two large hits in the 2024 design: 1. De-optimization of ranged combat: removal of sharpshooter/CBX damage combo 2. De-optimization of conjure spells
Note: Ranged combat's defensive optimization is still there and great, you still don't take much damage since you are not in melee. Multi target damage is still quite good and better than the other martials.
We talk a lot about the change from conjuring many critters to aura as a big deal, but an equally important problem is the duration reduction of Conjure Animals. With an hour of duration it was usable in multiple encounters. Now, at 10 minutes you can't reliably pre cast it and assure you will have it for a combat. Conjure Woodland Beings has the same problem. This is particularly a problem when you start doing spreadsheet math and can no longer assume having these higher level spells precast in battle. Your spreadsheet damage plummets as you spend 1 round getting them up. There are encounters where you can have them precast and when those happen its pretty awesome.
The most important house rule that would unlock the Ranger is making Hunter's Mark non concentration at 13th level instead of just not being able to be broken. Its what my feedback had in it during playtest, and its the biggest miss on the design.
Exactly house rule that at my table. Non concentration HM lvl 13 just give the boost needed. For best damage go 2 weapons fighting dex. Great weapon fighting hunter horde breaker with push mechanic also good with free attacks. If you want to go range war Cleric lvl for bonus actions attack are not bad... But range is now suboptimal, multiclass Rogue look the best actually... This said, 5 level ranger may be better than 5 level fighter to get to the vital 2 attacks round.
Ranger took two large hits in the 2024 design: 1. De-optimization of ranged combat: removal of sharpshooter/CBX damage combo 2. De-optimization of conjure spells
Note: Ranged combat's defensive optimization is still there and great, you still don't take much damage since you are not in melee. Multi target damage is still quite good and better than the other martials.
We talk a lot about the change from conjuring many critters to aura as a big deal, but an equally important problem is the duration reduction of Conjure Animals. With an hour of duration it was usable in multiple encounters. Now, at 10 minutes you can't reliably pre cast it and assure you will have it for a combat. Conjure Woodland Beings has the same problem. This is particularly a problem when you start doing spreadsheet math and can no longer assume having these higher level spells precast in battle. Your spreadsheet damage plummets as you spend 1 round getting them up. There are encounters where you can have them precast and when those happen its pretty awesome.
The most important house rule that would unlock the Ranger is making Hunter's Mark non concentration at 13th level instead of just not being able to be broken. Its what my feedback had in it during playtest, and its the biggest miss on the design.
Exactly house rule that at my table. Non concentration HM lvl 13 just give the boost needed. For best damage go 2 weapons fighting dex. Great weapon fighting hunter horde breaker with push mechanic also good with free attacks. If you want to go range war Cleric lvl for bonus actions attack are not bad... But range is now suboptimal, multiclass Rogue look the best actually... This said, 5 level ranger may be better than 5 level fighter to get to the vital 2 attacks round.
Dex. isn't any better than Str. for damage.
Strengh 2 weapons fighting??? Dex also boost ini, usually not bad.
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What is the best ranger build?
The one you enjoy playing. Go to the Bard forum where you posted the same thing asking about the "best bard" and read the response you got there - the same thing applies to Ranger or any class. "Best" is subjective and depends on what your goals are for the character.
"...at worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
It really depends on your playstyle. I really loved the 2014 version of beastmaster. some people hate it. For me I like the unique traits and using each stat block creatively. Some just want a stable pet 2024 or Tasha's is the way to go.
If you want field control or positioning swarm keeper is awesome. Take thorn whip and spikegrowth and have fun.
Many people will say gloomstalker is one of the most damaging rangers in both 2014 and 2024.
Fey wanderer is a good general adventurer that can do charisma jobs or combat well.
Some say scout rogue is the best ranger as its does what they want and wont need spells. (They are probably wrong but what do I know)
The BEST Ranger Build?
Well, that all depends...
If you want to hunt and kill The Drow from Menzoberranzan, then the absolute best build is of course a Deep Gnome Gloom Stalker Ranger.
If you want to venture far into the forrest then an Elf (or Half-Elf) Fey Wanderer Ranger is probably the best.
But if you're environment is metropolitan and you want to stay on the outskirts of a big city like Waterdeep then, as a Human, The Hunter Ranger is best.
Fighter. Fighter is the best Ranger. Unfortunately, this is a class they really screwed over in upper tier play, and they haven't bothered to fix it yet. If you're in a campaign that stops before level 10 or so, you're probably fine as a beast master with dual wielding, but if you go past that you're better off with levels of fighter, rogue, or any other class after 10.
Ranger doesn't need a fix above 10th level. It's fine. The narratives on the Ranger's poor high level performance are overstated. The Ranger is far superior to fighter/rogue/paladin in terms of multi target damage while the fighter is (generally) better in single target damage. The rogue meanwhile wastes a ton of damage with overkill which is no change from the 2014 version.
As for best Ranger build a Hunter with Horde Breaker is probably your best damage dealer, if you can combine with Cleave or Polearm Master or both you can do some interesting things with attacks per turn.
If you want to multiclass I recommend 3 levels of War Cleric for a consistent bonus action longbow shot.
That has not matched my experience playing a ranger in several T4 and T3 games with fairly difficult to very difficult encounters. The math doesn't math with your claims about Horde Breaker (which is also dependent heavily on enemy position on the battlefield). War cleric is OK, but by mentioning that you're sort of making my point for me. You have to multiclass a Ranger to not be a drag on your party past level 8 or so
But what Rangers need is a legitimate boost to their single target damage at around level 10. The whole class is married to Hunters Mark which doesn't scale until the very end of a Ranger's career, and then only scales by two die steps (so, 2-3 damage per round on average). Yes, you can cast a couple of blast spells which hit for decent damage and have good target selection, but that's your turn. The classic longbow ranger does not perform well at all the entire game, and the dual wielding Ranger only does well in T1 and then does OK in T2. Higher Tier abilities tied to Hunter's Mark make other abilities less useful (thinking about HM giving advantage making Nature's Veil, which now you have to wait until 14 to get, somewhat redundant to use).
It's bad. Concentration on HM means we don't get to do really anything else that requires concentration. Hail of Thorns isn't target selective so it's hard to apply on many battlefields without hitting your friends. In order for Longbow to even deal decent damage for a while you have to take Great Weapon master or you may as well not be on the battlefield. It's the worst damage dealing class in 2024, just like it was at the start of 2014. Unfortunately it's utility doesn't compensate for it's severe lack of damage output. They need to fix it.
Meanwhile Paladins can cast a damage boosting spell (devine favor) which takes no concentration and only does 1 less damage per round on average. They also get a *ton* more spells and a great many more unique class-based spells (Divine Favor, various smites). Rangers should have lots of options for single target damage spells. Let us have a scalable 1d8 Elemental blast we can apply like a smite, or make an elemental weapon buff concentration free (like Elemental Weapon) so we can stack things and ramp up damage.
If your obsession is single target damage then you will find the Ranger wanting. Its not ideally suited there. In particular as compared to the Paladin above level 10. As a trade off it has better skill access, better multi target damage, better summoning, and better control. It is also more ideally suited for ranged combat than the Paladin with a host of spells to enhance that style.
I agree that Hunter's Mark should have been made concentrationless above level 10 - 12, and that was my recommendation during the playtest. It not being concentrationless doesn't ruin the class.
It's not my obsession, but it's an essential function. Hitting six monsters for 20 to maybe 40 force damage in T3 or 4 is all fine and good, but it isn't likely to impact action economy in a way that helps protect your party over the course of several rounds. Rangers used to be able to do both at the upper tiers, but now we cannot compete in that regard at all, and the iconic longbow ranger build is entirely dead at those levels (unless you want to be a waste of time for your team's success round by round). Skill access is irrelevant (Skilled feat), Multitarget damage is vastly outpaced by other casters, summoning is limited by spell slot level, control is outpaced by many other classes. Rangers are martials, martials need to do damage.
Rangers have significantly fewer unique spells than Paladins do (Paladins get Hunters Mark, for example, through vengeance, but Divine Favor is exclusive to their class).
Ranged is really bad damage in 2024, and on most battlemaps being at ranged isn't actually all it's cracked up to be defensively. You have to take Great Weapon Master for it to be even remotely relevant round by round, so there's a feat tax tacked on to playing at range (not to mention having to dump points to get a 13 strength). Even then, the damage output for a ranged build is really bad.
Ranger needs a significant DPR boost at level 10 - Paladins get a free D8 damage *per attack* at 11. Fighters and melee Warlocks get a third attack. Even War Clerics can put out more melee or ranged damage in T3 and 4 with Divine Strike.
damage has never been the problem with ranger. Ranger problem's stem from wotc not understanding the "go-to" ranger player base. They give showy and power fantasy abilities when most rangers actually want more of a "clever fantasy" or "everyman vs monster" fantasy.
The memes are now so deep that its almost impossible to avoid "ranger bad" but often in person actual play discussions show rangers to be party MVPs.
It wouldn't take much to fix it. Level 11, give rangers an extra D8 elemental damage like Paladins get radiant. That would probably take care of the lion's share of the issue. or, give an additional attack against a marked enemy. Or let HM scale like it did in the playtest. Sharpshooter should also give PB damage per hit like GWM.
9 lvls ranger max and then anything else. Lol
College of Valor Bard, Woodelf species, Wayfarer background. Point buy: 13 Str, 15 Dex (+1), 12 Con, 8 Int, 10 Wis, 14 Cha (+2). Level 2, Dip Fighter for Archery fighting style and Weapon Masteries. Then Bard the rest of the way.
Feats: At Bard 4 (cha lvl 5) Fey-Touched (Charisma) Can choose Hunter's Mark here, or pick your favorite. At Bard 8 (cha lvl 9): Great Weapon Master, for Longbow Damage. At Bard 12 (cha lvl 13): Sharpshooter. At Bard 16 (cha lvl 17): ASI Dex & Cha. At Bard 19 (cha lvl 20) pick an epic Boon.
Downsides: many things come online late. Extra Attack at level 7. GWM & Sharpshooter at 9 & 13. Abilities are spread kinda thin- especially that 13 in Str for GWM.
Upsides: Excellent Skills. With Bardic Inspiration & access to Guidance thru magical secrets, as well as extra proficiencies & Expertise... skills should be ok. Spell Casting: At Bard 10, Magical Secrets opens up your spell list to a lot of possibilities... and your spell slots and levels will outpace the Ranger. There are WAY more options on what to use your concentration on while you shoot your longbow (or, frankly, this build would work great with Melee. Just tweak the abilities from Dex to Str, and choose something other than Sharpshooter.)
I think this out-Rangers the Ranger. Skills are better. Melee and ranged Weapon damage is comparable. Spell casting is much better.
Downside - everything is late, AC is less than ideal, why is the 15 going into Dex and not charisma if your a bard?. Question, 2014 or 2024 build?
Given that play mostly stops between L12 and 15 anything you add after that in a whiteroom build like this is basically useless. The bard’s big skill advantage is really jack of all trades. Great weapon master applies to longbow? I’ll have to look that up ( ok the legacy version can be read to allow it, check with your DM I know I wouldn’t). Yes you do get the 2 attacks ( 2 levels later) and your spell progression is better with a wider selection but if your going to multiclass to get weapon masteries then why not go ranger Ang multiclass into sorceror for some real combat casting? Playing a ranger2/bard3 now and one of the biggest problems with it is AC and HP - not enough of either to really be a front liner and he often has to be.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Yeah, there's lots of holes, I'll admit. I was stretching for a very atypical Ranger alternative. 2024 rules. Dex/Cha was just to get both to 16. GWM applies to heavy weapons, does not specify melee or ranged. Only the 2nd part of the feat applies specifically to melee crits. So, it's a big investment to use it for ranged attacks. It'd be much better applied to a great weapon melee pc, who could then also use it for Longbow or heavy crossbow attacks, too. Sorc would also be an interesting alternative, but there's no subclass that gets extra attack, so it'd be a much more expansive multiclass build. I was looking to do a Ranger without Ranger levels. The 1st level Fighter Dip gets weapon Mastery, fighting style, and proficiency with all weapons and armor, so AC shouldn't be too much of an issue w medium or heavy armor (although that'll impact your Sneak, bit of well). You're right about the HP though- low Con and a d8 make this a ranged build for certain: stay far away, and hope you're not targeted much. However- you do get some fun spells that could help mitigate getting hit, like Mirrir Image. So, there are options.
It's a clumsy, hastily concocted idea. But I thought it was at least a fun mental exercise.
as a mental exercise perhaps, in one sense you are on the right track - one of the biggest misunderstandings about rangers is that as they pass from L8 to L12 they are transitioning from melee/ranged combat first, spells second to spells first, melee/ranged second and the bard does allow for that - if your AC and HP allow you to live that long. If you want to avoid ranger levels and can accept the low AC and HP, a scout rogue/sorceror or scout rogue/hexblade combo would be interesting. the hexblade would even give you the two attacks I believe.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Ranger took two large hits in the 2024 design:
1. De-optimization of ranged combat: removal of sharpshooter/CBX damage combo
2. De-optimization of conjure spells
Note: Ranged combat's defensive optimization is still there and great, you still don't take much damage since you are not in melee. Multi target damage is still quite good and better than the other martials.
We talk a lot about the change from conjuring many critters to aura as a big deal, but an equally important problem is the duration reduction of Conjure Animals. With an hour of duration it was usable in multiple encounters. Now, at 10 minutes you can't reliably pre cast it and assure you will have it for a combat. Conjure Woodland Beings has the same problem. This is particularly a problem when you start doing spreadsheet math and can no longer assume having these higher level spells precast in battle. Your spreadsheet damage plummets as you spend 1 round getting them up. There are encounters where you can have them precast and when those happen its pretty awesome.
The most important house rule that would unlock the Ranger is making Hunter's Mark non concentration at 13th level instead of just not being able to be broken. Its what my feedback had in it during playtest, and its the biggest miss on the design.
Exactly house rule that at my table. Non concentration HM lvl 13 just give the boost needed. For best damage go 2 weapons fighting dex. Great weapon fighting hunter horde breaker with push mechanic also good with free attacks. If you want to go range war Cleric lvl for bonus actions attack are not bad... But range is now suboptimal, multiclass Rogue look the best actually... This said, 5 level ranger may be better than 5 level fighter to get to the vital 2 attacks round.
Dex. isn't any better than Str. for damage.
Strengh 2 weapons fighting??? Dex also boost ini, usually not bad.