Ranger has so many different possible builds each with its own Best race. There are few Bad ranger races.
For me
Support- healing. - Prioritize extra skills/spells or Proficiency and wisdom bonus. Firbolg, Human, Halfling
dex Melee striker. - Mobile races. Bugbear, tabaxi, Goblin
ranged fighter. - Mobile races With wisdom and/or dex. Aracocra, tabaxi, elf (dont forget the feat )
Beast master or animal specialist. - depends on pets. Yuan-ti with flying snake is just fun. forest Gnome is also good. Kenku with ravens. just to name a few.
Tank substitute.- Con bonus or armor bonus- Tortle, warforge, dwarf, Lizard folk
Aarakocra and Owlfolk (UA) are great for shooting things from the sky.
Halflings and gnomes are able to make mounts out of their primal companions (or the pteranodon if going PHB Beast Master.)
Wood Elves are the quintessential archers. I'm also going to make a case for Drow Gloom Stalkers, provided you can work around Sunlight Sensitivity.
Half-Elves and Tritons are phenomenal races now that we have the floating ASI rules.
My personal favorite though is human. Variant Human to start with a feat and an extra skill is really hard to pass up, but I'm finding a lot of success with my Mark of Finding Human Ranger, who gets Darkvision, free Hunter's Mark and Locate Object, and can add a 1d4 to Survival and Perception checks. Admittedly, not every campaign allows Dragonmark races, but for those that do, this is an excellent Ranger choice. And it also comes in Half-Orc flavor to boot.
Mountain Dwarf, I've always felt that Rangers should be strong, let the Rogues be the wimpy sneaky folk.
The biggest drawback is the lack of Dexterity increase. However if you're playing a Strength-based Ranger then I guess it would be pretty good.
Yeah I usually go Str based though I take Archery fighting style to be more of a switch hitter, that way with a 18Str (lvl 4) and a 14Dex I have the same attack bonus in melee or at range.
Bugbears make surprisingly good melee rangers. I think forest gnomes, the various blink elves, maybe lightfoot halflings, and anything with flying. Small Beastmasters are fun, because they can mount their Companions.
They're big but stealthy, look awesome, ideal surprise attackers, and are great for strength based rangers. Overall they are just an amazing race for nearly every situation. I feel in love with them in 3rd edition and have never looked back, my characters are almost exclusively bugbears whenever possible.
The only problem with them is the typical "These guys are evil" BS that goes with all the misunderstood species, ignore it.
I think its funny that no one voted on kobold, since they can get advantage from their animal companion (I didn't put kobold either because the lizardfolk is just so good)
I'm playing a stout halfling drake warden. Archery build. Doing quite well in combat. Will definitely be taking sharpshooter at my next ASI. Can't wait to hit 15th level so that I can fly on my Drake and rain death from above.
I think its funny that no one voted on kobold, since they can get advantage from their animal companion (I didn't put kobold either because the lizardfolk is just so good)
It's pretty rough dealing with the sunlight sensitivity unless you take blind-fighting, and kobolds can't use GWM worth a damn.
A race tied to or from a favored terrain is super thematic! Wood elf and forest gnome are great for rangers. Lizard folk, tabaxi, any animal folk really. Forest gnome is my current personal favorite, both thematically and mechanically. That gnome cunning can really shore up a weak point in the ranger's defenses.
I originally put the lizardfolk due to the extra skills and tankiness but now that I think about it, the forest gnome is perfect. You could use minor illusion to hide yourself (Its a 5-foot by 5-foot area) the gnomish cunning feature makes you extremely tanky as you already have strength and dex saving throws. And if you are going down the beastmaster route, then you could either communicate with your sky beast, using it for scouting and surviellence, or ride your land beast, making up for your lower movement speed plus riding around on your bear and wacking people in the shins just puts a smile on my face.
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Which, in your opinion, is the best race for the ranger?
Note: I excluded some of the races in the poll
I personally think that the wood elf or aarakocra is the best.
Mountain Dwarf, I've always felt that Rangers should be strong, let the Rogues be the wimpy sneaky folk.
I voted Wood Elf but an equally strong choice is a kenku, although it's not as thematically fitting it's just as fitting mechanically.
I agree. My favourite races for Ranger are Wood Elf, Aarakocra, Kenku, and Tabaxi.
The biggest drawback is the lack of Dexterity increase. However if you're playing a Strength-based Ranger then I guess it would be pretty good.
Note: This is a response to the poll
I guess forest gnome is not bad, BUT WHO VOTED TORTLE?! Explaining why would be awesome.
EDIT: I'm surprised that aaracokra only has one vote.
Ranger has so many different possible builds each with its own Best race. There are few Bad ranger races.
For me
Aarakocra and Owlfolk (UA) are great for shooting things from the sky.
Halflings and gnomes are able to make mounts out of their primal companions (or the pteranodon if going PHB Beast Master.)
Wood Elves are the quintessential archers. I'm also going to make a case for Drow Gloom Stalkers, provided you can work around Sunlight Sensitivity.
Half-Elves and Tritons are phenomenal races now that we have the floating ASI rules.
My personal favorite though is human. Variant Human to start with a feat and an extra skill is really hard to pass up, but I'm finding a lot of success with my Mark of Finding Human Ranger, who gets Darkvision, free Hunter's Mark and Locate Object, and can add a 1d4 to Survival and Perception checks. Admittedly, not every campaign allows Dragonmark races, but for those that do, this is an excellent Ranger choice. And it also comes in Half-Orc flavor to boot.
Yeah I usually go Str based though I take Archery fighting style to be more of a switch hitter, that way with a 18Str (lvl 4) and a 14Dex I have the same attack bonus in melee or at range.
Pre- or post- Tasha?
Bugbears make surprisingly good melee rangers. I think forest gnomes, the various blink elves, maybe lightfoot halflings, and anything with flying. Small Beastmasters are fun, because they can mount their Companions.
Pre-Tasha's.
Goblin, the answers always goblin.
Goblinoid is always the answer for any character.
But Mephista is on the money about bugbears.
They're big but stealthy, look awesome, ideal surprise attackers, and are great for strength based rangers. Overall they are just an amazing race for nearly every situation. I feel in love with them in 3rd edition and have never looked back, my characters are almost exclusively bugbears whenever possible.
The only problem with them is the typical "These guys are evil" BS that goes with all the misunderstood species, ignore it.
I think its funny that no one voted on kobold, since they can get advantage from their animal companion (I didn't put kobold either because the lizardfolk is just so good)
I'm playing a stout halfling drake warden. Archery build. Doing quite well in combat. Will definitely be taking sharpshooter at my next ASI. Can't wait to hit 15th level so that I can fly on my Drake and rain death from above.
It's pretty rough dealing with the sunlight sensitivity unless you take blind-fighting, and kobolds can't use GWM worth a damn.
I voted Goblin as well. Perfect ability scores Pre-Tasha’s, Nimble Escape is amazing and Fury of the Small is good to have as well.
Everything complements well Ranger features.
A race tied to or from a favored terrain is super thematic! Wood elf and forest gnome are great for rangers. Lizard folk, tabaxi, any animal folk really. Forest gnome is my current personal favorite, both thematically and mechanically. That gnome cunning can really shore up a weak point in the ranger's defenses.
Basically I think the correct answer is a good ranger build can be made from every race.
I originally put the lizardfolk due to the extra skills and tankiness but now that I think about it, the forest gnome is perfect. You could use minor illusion to hide yourself (Its a 5-foot by 5-foot area) the gnomish cunning feature makes you extremely tanky as you already have strength and dex saving throws. And if you are going down the beastmaster route, then you could either communicate with your sky beast, using it for scouting and surviellence, or ride your land beast, making up for your lower movement speed plus riding around on your bear and wacking people in the shins just puts a smile on my face.