I came up with some modifications to the 2024 Ranger, I'm curious what you all think about it. Most of it is the same, but the lines in red are the ones I modified/added
Level 1: Favored Enemy: You always have the Hunter’s Mark spell prepared. You can cast it twice without expending a spell slot, and you regain all expended uses of this ability when you finish a Long Rest. When cast without a spell slot, the spell does not require concentration and instead deals damage as shown in the Favored Enemy column of the Ranger Features table. The number of times you can cast the spell without a spell slot increases when you reach certain Ranger levels, as shown in the Favored Enemy column of the Ranger Features table.
Level 6: Roving: Your Speed increases by 10 feet while you aren’t wearing Heavy Armor. You also have a Climb Speed and a Swim Speed equal to your Speed. Additionally, moving through non-magical difficult terrain costs no extra movement.
Level 13: Primal Hunter: You can cast Speak with Animals and Speak with Plants at will. Additionally, you can cast Locate Creature and Commune with Nature each once per Long Rest.
Level 14: Nature’s Veil: You can spend 1 minute creating camouflage for yourself. You must have access to fresh mud, dirt, plants, soot, or other naturally occurring materials with which to create your camouflage for your environment. When completed, the camouflage grants you the effects of the Pass Without Trace spell. This bonus ends when you take an action or leave the terrain that you made the camouflage for. Additionally, you may use the Hide action as a bonus action on your turn, and you can’t be tracked by nonmagical means unless you choose to leave a trail.
Level 20: Foe Slayer: When attacking an enemy marked with Hunter’s Mark with the Attack action, you may attack them an additional time as part of the same Attack action.
My idea was to make using Hunter's Mark from the class feature feel more like a barbarian's rage but focused. Instead of damage to all attacks against any target, you only get additional damage to one target.
The modifications to Roving, Primal Hunter (yes, I renamed it) and Nature's Veil are mainly focused on making the ranger feel more like a tracker and traveler rather than just a killer. Rather than just instant generic invisibility, I think having Nature's Veil emulate Pass without Trace makes it more interesting while also being unstackable with a spell cast of Pass without Trace. It's a return to the 2014 Hide in Plain Sight feature, but I think it fits better now.
I modified Foe Slayer to make it feel like it fit with the martial aspect of the class, since Rangers are kind of a mix between Fighters and Druids.
I welcome any thoughts or suggestions on this topic. I know fixing the Ranger has been a subject of debate for a long time now; I just wanted to add my two cents to the issue.
Level 14 Nature's Veil: you write: "the bonus ends when you take an action," but I think you may have meant "when you take the attack action or cast a spell." Also, later the feature grants a Bonus Action Hide and becoming untrackable. Are these additional, independent features? Or are they contingent upon being camouflaged? One other thing I'd adjust: rather than making the feature dependent on the environment the Ranger is in and whether they can scrounge up materials to camouflage themselves, what if the feature just allowed Pass Without a Trace as a ritual spell, but requiring components and limited to only the Ranger?
The Level 1 feature, Favored Enemy, refers to "damage as shown in the Favored Enemy column of the Ranger Features table." But that column is not included in your post? Or did I miss something or misunderstand? I presume, since it's cast without a slot and concentration free, that the damage would be less than the d6 you'd get with casting the spell using a slot & concentration. Are we talking a d4? Or perhaps a flat bonus, such as +2 or something?
Those are the only questions I have. Otherwise, this looks good. I like the addition of ignoring difficult terrain. And I really like the level 13 Feature- really makes the Ranger feel more... "Ranger-y".
I see one potentially worrisome problem with the change to Favored Enemy. Allowing Hunter's Mark to not require concentration at level 1 will create a multiclassing problem - every martial will want to take a single level dip to get it. Dual-wielders especially would be able to capitalize on this because they could stack it on top of something like Conjure Minor Elementals or Spirit Shroud. If you are going to remove the concentration requirement, you should probably move it to a later class level than level 1.
I see one potentially worrisome problem with the change to Favored Enemy. Allowing Hunter's Mark to not require concentration at level 1 will create a multiclassing problem - every martial will want to take a single level dip to get it. Dual-wielders especially would be able to capitalize on this because they could stack it on top of something like Conjure Minor Elementals or Spirit Shroud. If you are going to remove the concentration requirement, you should probably move it to a later class level than level 1.
Correct, and I totally agree with this OP. If it was me, I’d piggyback it with either level 5 extra attack or level 6, but anything prior to level 3 would be a problem.
I see one potentially worrisome problem with the change to Favored Enemy. Allowing Hunter's Mark to not require concentration at level 1 will create a multiclassing problem - every martial will want to take a single level dip to get it. Dual-wielders especially would be able to capitalize on this because they could stack it on top of something like Conjure Minor Elementals or Spirit Shroud. If you are going to remove the concentration requirement, you should probably move it to a later class level than level 1.
Correct, and I totally agree with this OP. If it was me, I’d piggyback it with either level 5 extra attack or level 6, but anything prior to level 3 would be a problem.
You might also want to consider having HM not last as long if cast without a spell slot. If you want it to be like a Barbarian's rage but more focused maybe only have it last 10 minutes (so that it's more of a combat boost like rage) rather than the full 1 hour or more that you'd get by using a spell slot.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"...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."
Level 3: Hunter's Instinct When a creature marked with your Hunter's Mark drops to 0 hit points or dies before the spell ends, you can take a reaction to move the mark to another creature you can see within 90 feet.
Level 9: Hunter's Mind When you cast Hunter's Mark with your Favored Enemy feature, it doesn't require concentration and lasts until the end of its full duration or until you choose to end it (no action required).
Level 13: Relentless Hunter While an enemy is marked by your Hunter's Mark, you have advantage on Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration on your Ranger spells.
Level 20: Champion of the Wilds Your Constitution and Wisdom scores increase by 4, to a maximum of 25.
Level 3: Hunter's Instinct When a creature marked with your Hunter's Mark drops to 0 hit points or dies before the spell ends, you can take a reaction to move the mark to another creature you can see within 90 feet.
Level 9: Hunter's Mind When you cast Hunter's Mark with your Favored Enemy feature, it doesn't require concentration and lasts until the end of its full duration or until you choose to end it (no action required).
Level 13: Relentless Hunter While an enemy is marked by your Hunter's Mark, you have advantage on Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration on your Ranger spells.
Level 20: Champion of the Wilds Your Constitution and Wisdom scores increase by 4, to a maximum of 25.
There are a bunch of other ideas too, though.
So did the Dungeon Dudes. Also there’s a pdf of a improv out there that’s pretty good too. I just don’t remember the name
Level 14 Nature's Veil: you write: "the bonus ends when you take an action," but I think you may have meant "when you take the attack action or cast a spell." Also, later the feature grants a Bonus Action Hide and becoming untrackable. Are these additional, independent features? Or are they contingent upon being camouflaged? One other thing I'd adjust: rather than making the feature dependent on the environment the Ranger is in and whether they can scrounge up materials to camouflage themselves, what if the feature just allowed Pass Without a Trace as a ritual spell, but requiring components and limited to only the Ranger?
The Level 1 feature, Favored Enemy, refers to "damage as shown in the Favored Enemy column of the Ranger Features table." But that column is not included in your post? Or did I miss something or misunderstand? I presume, since it's cast without a slot and concentration free, that the damage would be less than the d6 you'd get with casting the spell using a slot & concentration. Are we talking a d4? Or perhaps a flat bonus, such as +2 or something?
Those are the only questions I have. Otherwise, this looks good. I like the addition of ignoring difficult terrain. And I really like the level 13 Feature- really makes the Ranger feel more... "Ranger-y".
For the Nature's Veil part, I was trying to use the same phrasing as the original Hide in Plain sight, but yes, changing it to attack or cast a spell would be better. I kept the non-ritual/non-magical aspect of it because I liked the feel of the ranger just being able to hide themselves without magic and also that it wouldn't be able to spread to the party like casting Pass Without Trace would. It would also make finding them with detect magic harder since they aren't using magic to hide.
The Level 1 feature is referring to the 2024 SRD table where it effectively increases the number of uses as you increase your ranger level. it goes from +2 to +6 by level 17 (it follows proficiency increases but is tied specifically to ranger levels). So at max level it would be equal to rolling max damage on the d6, but it doesn't get a bonus from crits, so I hoped it would even out, kind of like the barbarian rage bonus.
I see one potentially worrisome problem with the change to Favored Enemy. Allowing Hunter's Mark to not require concentration at level 1 will create a multiclassing problem - every martial will want to take a single level dip to get it. Dual-wielders especially would be able to capitalize on this because they could stack it on top of something like Conjure Minor Elementals or Spirit Shroud. If you are going to remove the concentration requirement, you should probably move it to a later class level than level 1.
The idea is that it would only give a small flat bonus if you multi-classed into it. At level 1 it would only give a +2 to damage when cast without concentration, and that would not go up unless you took more ranger levels since it isn't tied to proficiency. I don't know how powerful that would be, especially since I haven't looked at the new SRD spells
You might also want to consider having HM not last as long if cast without a spell slot. If you want it to be like a Barbarian's rage but more focused maybe only have it last 10 minutes (so that it's more of a combat boost like rage) rather than the full 1 hour or more that you'd get by using a spell slot.
That's a good idea. I didn't even think of the duration on it.
Level 3: Hunter's Instinct When a creature marked with your Hunter's Mark drops to 0 hit points or dies before the spell ends, you can take a reaction to move the mark to another creature you can see within 90 feet.
Level 9: Hunter's Mind When you cast Hunter's Mark with your Favored Enemy feature, it doesn't require concentration and lasts until the end of its full duration or until you choose to end it (no action required).
Level 13: Relentless Hunter While an enemy is marked by your Hunter's Mark, you have advantage on Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration on your Ranger spells.
Level 20: Champion of the Wilds Your Constitution and Wisdom scores increase by 4, to a maximum of 25.
There are a bunch of other ideas too, though.
I for one love the Dnd Shorts version and offer my players the choice to choose it against the regular 2024 version. It's not the be-all and end-all fix for Rangers but it is certainly the glow up they need to be more effective.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
#Open D&D
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
It confers better benefits (movement speed, no provoking opportunity attacks, 1D8 force damage), but only lasts one minute (to avoid argument of being over-powered)
It confers better benefits (movement speed, no provoking opportunity attacks, 1D8 force damage), but only lasts one minute (to avoid argument of being over-powered)
Hunter's mark adds a 1d6 to every hit though, rather than just once per turn with Zephyr Strike. So at higher levels when Rangers have 2 attacks or if you use 2 weapon fighting, Hunter's Mark is still superior in terms of damage.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"...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."
I came up with some modifications to the 2024 Ranger, I'm curious what you all think about it. Most of it is the same, but the lines in red are the ones I modified/added
Level 1: Favored Enemy: You always have the Hunter’s Mark spell prepared. You can cast it twice without expending a spell slot, and you regain all expended uses of this ability when you finish a Long Rest. When cast without a spell slot, the spell does not require concentration and instead deals damage as shown in the Favored Enemy column of the Ranger Features table. The number of times you can cast the spell without a spell slot increases when you reach certain Ranger levels, as shown in the Favored Enemy column of the Ranger Features table.
Level 6: Roving: Your Speed increases by 10 feet while you aren’t wearing Heavy Armor. You also have a Climb Speed and a Swim Speed equal to your Speed. Additionally, moving through non-magical difficult terrain costs no extra movement.
Level 13: Primal Hunter: You can cast Speak with Animals and Speak with Plants at will. Additionally, you can cast Locate Creature and Commune with Nature each once per Long Rest.
Level 14: Nature’s Veil: You can spend 1 minute creating camouflage for yourself. You must have access to fresh mud, dirt, plants, soot, or other naturally occurring materials with which to create your camouflage for your environment. When completed, the camouflage grants you the effects of the Pass Without Trace spell. This bonus ends when you take an action or leave the terrain that you made the camouflage for. Additionally, you may use the Hide action as a bonus action on your turn, and you can’t be tracked by nonmagical means unless you choose to leave a trail.
Level 20: Foe Slayer: When attacking an enemy marked with Hunter’s Mark with the Attack action, you may attack them an additional time as part of the same Attack action.
My idea was to make using Hunter's Mark from the class feature feel more like a barbarian's rage but focused. Instead of damage to all attacks against any target, you only get additional damage to one target.
The modifications to Roving, Primal Hunter (yes, I renamed it) and Nature's Veil are mainly focused on making the ranger feel more like a tracker and traveler rather than just a killer. Rather than just instant generic invisibility, I think having Nature's Veil emulate Pass without Trace makes it more interesting while also being unstackable with a spell cast of Pass without Trace. It's a return to the 2014 Hide in Plain Sight feature, but I think it fits better now.
I modified Foe Slayer to make it feel like it fit with the martial aspect of the class, since Rangers are kind of a mix between Fighters and Druids.
I welcome any thoughts or suggestions on this topic. I know fixing the Ranger has been a subject of debate for a long time now; I just wanted to add my two cents to the issue.
Level 14 Nature's Veil: you write: "the bonus ends when you take an action," but I think you may have meant "when you take the attack action or cast a spell." Also, later the feature grants a Bonus Action Hide and becoming untrackable. Are these additional, independent features? Or are they contingent upon being camouflaged? One other thing I'd adjust: rather than making the feature dependent on the environment the Ranger is in and whether they can scrounge up materials to camouflage themselves, what if the feature just allowed Pass Without a Trace as a ritual spell, but requiring components and limited to only the Ranger?
The Level 1 feature, Favored Enemy, refers to "damage as shown in the Favored Enemy column of the Ranger Features table." But that column is not included in your post? Or did I miss something or misunderstand? I presume, since it's cast without a slot and concentration free, that the damage would be less than the d6 you'd get with casting the spell using a slot & concentration. Are we talking a d4? Or perhaps a flat bonus, such as +2 or something?
Those are the only questions I have. Otherwise, this looks good. I like the addition of ignoring difficult terrain. And I really like the level 13 Feature- really makes the Ranger feel more... "Ranger-y".
I see one potentially worrisome problem with the change to Favored Enemy. Allowing Hunter's Mark to not require concentration at level 1 will create a multiclassing problem - every martial will want to take a single level dip to get it. Dual-wielders especially would be able to capitalize on this because they could stack it on top of something like Conjure Minor Elementals or Spirit Shroud. If you are going to remove the concentration requirement, you should probably move it to a later class level than level 1.
Correct, and I totally agree with this OP. If it was me, I’d piggyback it with either level 5 extra attack or level 6, but anything prior to level 3 would be a problem.
You might also want to consider having HM not last as long if cast without a spell slot. If you want it to be like a Barbarian's rage but more focused maybe only have it last 10 minutes (so that it's more of a combat boost like rage) rather than the full 1 hour or more that you'd get by using a spell slot.
"...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."
I liked the relatively simple idea DnD Shorts had for a modification to Ranger.
There are a bunch of other ideas too, though.
So did the Dungeon Dudes. Also there’s a pdf of a improv out there that’s pretty good too. I just don’t remember the name
For the Nature's Veil part, I was trying to use the same phrasing as the original Hide in Plain sight, but yes, changing it to attack or cast a spell would be better. I kept the non-ritual/non-magical aspect of it because I liked the feel of the ranger just being able to hide themselves without magic and also that it wouldn't be able to spread to the party like casting Pass Without Trace would. It would also make finding them with detect magic harder since they aren't using magic to hide.
The Level 1 feature is referring to the 2024 SRD table where it effectively increases the number of uses as you increase your ranger level. it goes from +2 to +6 by level 17 (it follows proficiency increases but is tied specifically to ranger levels). So at max level it would be equal to rolling max damage on the d6, but it doesn't get a bonus from crits, so I hoped it would even out, kind of like the barbarian rage bonus.
The idea is that it would only give a small flat bonus if you multi-classed into it. At level 1 it would only give a +2 to damage when cast without concentration, and that would not go up unless you took more ranger levels since it isn't tied to proficiency. I don't know how powerful that would be, especially since I haven't looked at the new SRD spells
That's a good idea. I didn't even think of the duration on it.
I for one love the Dnd Shorts version and offer my players the choice to choose it against the regular 2024 version. It's not the be-all and end-all fix for Rangers but it is certainly the glow up they need to be more effective.
#Open D&D
Have the Physical Books? Confused as to why you're not allowed to redeem them for free on D&D Beyond? Questions answered here at the Hardcover Books, D&D Beyond and You FAQ
Looking to add mouse-over triggered tooltips to such things like magic items, monsters or combat actions? Then dash over to the How to Add Tooltips thread.
Any opinion about replacing free Hunter's Mark spell from Favored Enemy with Zephyr Strike instead?
It confers better benefits (movement speed, no provoking opportunity attacks, 1D8 force damage), but only lasts one minute (to avoid argument of being over-powered)
Hunter's mark adds a 1d6 to every hit though, rather than just once per turn with Zephyr Strike. So at higher levels when Rangers have 2 attacks or if you use 2 weapon fighting, Hunter's Mark is still superior in terms of damage.
"...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."
Thanks for reminding me! In my recent games, I have two ranger attacks based on leveling up. I need to remember to roll for each hit.