The Ranger of the 2024 Player’s Handbook is our beloved sword of the wilds, now with more magic, greater martial prowess, and new opportunities to gain Expertise. They can prepare more spells, cast Hunter’s Mark for free several times per day, and receive bonuses to the iconic Ranger spell at higher levels. Several other new features, such as Roving, Tireless, and Nature’s Veil, will look familiar from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.
Read below as we cover what’s new with the 2024 Ranger. If we don’t cover a feature, such as your Ability Score Improvements or Extra Attack, that’s because it remains unchanged from 2014.
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2024 Ranger Class Features Overview
The 2024 Ranger can prepare more spells than the 2014 Ranger could learn. For example, the 2014 Ranger learned their 6th spell at level 9, and the 2024 Ranger can prepare their 6th spell at level 5.
Spellcasting looks a little different in the 2024 Player’s Handbook. All spellcasting classes prepare their spells now, although some classes still change their spells when they level up, just like you’re used to. Spellcasting classes are no longer distinguished by who prepares spells and who learns them, but rather how often a class can change their prepared spells and how many they can change at a time. For example, now the 2024 Ranger prepares its spells when they complete a Long Rest, just like the Druid, but can only swap out one spell per day.
You can also now use a Druidic Focus, an optional class feature from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything that has been made a part of the new Ranger’s Spellcasting feature.
The 2024 Ranger and Hunter’s Mark
The 2024 Player’s Handbook strengthens the Ranger class’s relationship with its trademark spell, Hunter’s Mark. Several of the 2024 Ranger’s base class features—Relentless Hunter, Precise Hunter, and Foe Slayer—all power up your Ranger while Hunter’s Mark is active. Also, the spell now deals Force damage on a hit.
Favored Enemy has seen some significant changes. This feature no longer focuses on tracking and recalling information about certain creature types, or learning their language (though you can learn two new languages with the Deft Explorer feature below). Instead, you can now cast Hunter’s Mark twice per Long Rest without expending a spell slot, and you always have it prepared. This will make it much easier to keep up with the Barbarians, Fighters, and Paladins in damage output without having to spend your precious spell slots to do it.
With the new Spellcasting feature, you could already prepare more spells than before; with the new Favored Enemy, you also prepare the Ranger’s trademark spell for free. You’ll get more free castings of Hunter’s Mark as you level up.
At level 1, you’ll get access to the Weapon Mastery feature, which allows you to use the mastery property of two weapons, which you can swap out during a Long Rest. Mastery properties make combat as a martial character more exciting, more tactically interesting, and—if you take them as an opportunity to get creative with your battle scenes—more cinematic.
Let’s look at the mastery properties for two of the most common Ranger weapons, the Longbow, the Scimitar, and because I want to show Strength-based Rangers some love, the Battleaxe:
- Battleaxe (Topple): I’m a simple guy—the only thing I like better than rolling to attack an enemy is doing it with Advantage. With Topple, you can force enemies to make a Constitution saving throw or be knocked Prone. This can also help protect your allies if you Topple an enemy who was intending to chase after them.
- Longbow (Slow): Use Slow to buy your party some time before the second wave of enemies arrives. Aim for the leg or wing with your Longbow and reduce the target’s Speed by 10 feet. A creature can only suffer from one Speed reduction via the Slow ability at a time.
- Scimitar (Nick): Nick allows you to use the Light property’s extra attack as part of your Attack action instead of your Bonus Action. This keeps your Bonus Action available for spells like Ensnaring Strike and Hunter’s Mark, or for subclass features like the Beast Master commanding their Primal Companion.
Natural Explorer is not a feature of the 2024 Ranger. Instead, if you’d like to be an expert navigator through the woods, the Ranger now gains access to spells that could help with travel (such as Alarm, Goodberry, and Speak With Animals) at level 1 and you can select Expertise in Survival with Deft Explorer at level 2.
Deft Explorer and its benefits from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything have been broken out into their own features for the 2024 Ranger. Now, a level 2 feature, the new Ranger’s Deft Explorer grants you Expertise in one skill plus proficiency in two languages. Overhear the softest twig snap during watch with expertise in Perception, or help the tricksters of the group on their next scheme by picking up Deception.
Fighting Styles function largely the same as before. They are now a type of feat, however, so when you get access to the Fighting Style feature, you can select a feat with the Fighting Style feature as a prerequisite.
The biggest change here is that the optional class feature Druidic Warrior from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything is now available to all Rangers. If your Ranger is more magically focused, you can choose Druidic Warrior to learn two Druid cantrips instead of selecting a Fighting Style feat. (Consider the new Starry Wisp spell!)
You also are no longer limited to Archery, Defense, Dueling, and Two-Weapon Fighting. So, now your Ranger can grab a Shield and focus on protecting their allies in the frontlines if they want.
- Beast Master: The Beast Master’s signature feature, Primal Companion, looks very similar to the optional feature from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. However, most of its stats (AC and Beast's Strike damage) now scale with your Wisdom modifier instead of your Proficiency Bonus. With Exceptional Training, whenever you command your companion, it can take the Dash, Disengage, Dodge, or Help action using its Bonus Action. Lastly, Bestial Fury shares some of the benefits of Hunter’s Mark with your Primal Companion once per turn.
- Fey Wanderer: The Fey Wanderer is almost entirely unchanged from its appearance in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. At level 9, Summon Fey is always prepared instead of Dispel Magic. But Dispel Magic now appears on the Ranger spell list, meaning any Ranger can prepare it.
- Gloom Stalker: The Gloom Stalker saw some moderate tweaks. Instead of an extra attack on the first round that deals additional damage, the Gloom Stalkers’s Dread Ambusher now allows them to add extra damage to a hit a few times per day. Stalker's Flurry at level 11 was also tweaked slightly to build off of this change, increasing the damage of Dread Ambusher and allowing you to apply an additional effect when you use it: You can make an extra attack on a nearby enemy or Frighten your target and creatures within 10 feet of it. In addition to imposing Disadvantage on another creature's attack roll, Shadowy Dodge now takes your Reaction and lets you teleport up to 30 feet.
- Hunter: The Hunter has become more streamlined, with Hunter’s Prey and Defensive Tactics granting you two options instead of three. However, you can change those selections every time you take a Short or Long Rest, making you much more adaptable. My favorite change is the new Hunter’s Lore at level 3: You automatically know the Immunities, Resistances, and Vulnerabilities of creatures marked by your Hunter’s Mark spell!
Primeval Awareness is not a feature of the 2024 Ranger. You can still gain greater awareness of the world around you by picking up Expertise in Perception at level 2 with Deft Explorer. You also have more spells now and can swap them more often, so you can access magic like Beast Sense and Locate Animals or Plants more easily.
Formerly a part of the Deft Explorer feature in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, Roving has been split off into its own class feature with a slight buff. It now grants an additional 10 feet of movement instead of 5. But it does require you not to wear Heavy armor. It still grants the Climb speed and Swim speed as before.
This situational feature is no longer present in the 2024 Ranger. The increased Speed now found in Roving effectively replaces Land's Stride's avoidance of Difficult Terrain—and does so at an earlier level.
The Ranger gains Expertise in two additional skills! Now you have Expertise in three skills, and can better keep up with Bards and Rogues, who have four.
With Tireless, you can use an action to grant yourself Temporary Hit Points. I love using this feature as soon as literally anything seems "off," because you get several uses per day, and the Temporary Hit Points don’t fade until you complete a Long Rest. As soon as I hear a weird noise, I’m drawing my Scimitar and using Tireless.
This feature is nearly identical to its appearance in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, except now the number of uses is tied to your Wisdom modifier, not your Proficiency Bonus. (As an aside, I like this tweak. The power represents your connection to primal forces, and so does your spellcasting ability modifier.) Just as in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, Tireless also allows you to reduce your Exhaustion by one level when you take a Short Rest.
This feature replaces 2014's Hide in Plain Sight (though Rangers who want extra sneakiness can now gain Expertise in Stealth at level 9).
Taking damage can no longer break your Concentration on Hunter’s Mark. If you want to focus on dealing damage, nothing so pedestrian as a Fireball can stop you. You can now only lose Concentration on Hunter’s Mark if you become Incapacitated, you die, or you cast another spell or activate another effect that requires Concentration.
Replacing 2014's Vanish, Nature's Veil lets you turn Invisible as a Bonus Action! This invisibility lasts until the end of your next turn, granting you Advantage on any attack rolls you make during that time.
This feature is nearly unchanged from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, but the number of uses now equals your Wisdom modifier instead of your Proficiency Bonus. Just as with Tireless, I personally like this tweak; turning Invisible is presumably an act of magic, and the Ranger uses Wisdom for their spellcasting.
If a creature is marked by Hunter’s Mark, you have Advantage on attacks against them. By this level, you have six free castings of the Hunter’s Mark spell, so if you want to focus on dealing damage, Precise Hunter will help you slay your enemies.
You now have Blindsight out to 30 feet. Enemy mages slinging spells from behind the cover of Invisibility aren’t safe from you any longer. This isn’t new per se—the 2014 Ranger could also perceive Invisible creatures within 30 feet—but the 2014 Player’s Handbook’s language wasn’t quite as streamlined or easy to understand. These types of tweaks are designed to make players’ lives easier.
Gain an Epic Boon feat! Epic Boons are feats that require you to be at least level 19. You will have twelve to choose from. You can select any Epic Boon you like, but the 2024 Player’s Handbook recommends:
- Boon of Dimensional Travel: Increase one ability score by 1 (up to a maximum of 30), and immediately after you take the Attack or Magic action, you can teleport up to 30 feet.
Hunter’s Mark now deals 1d10 Force damage on a hit instead of 1d6. Between Favored Enemy giving you free castings of this spell, Relentless Hunter protecting your Concentration from being broken, and Precise Hunter giving you Advantage on marked targets, the level 20 Ranger is now a master combatant.
Dominate the Battlefield with Primal Magic
The 2024 Player’s Handbook is now available on the D&D Beyond marketplace, which means it's time to set out on new adventures with fresh or familiar characters!
The 2024 Player’s Handbook makes it easier for your Ranger to feel like a primal warrior, a guardian of the wild places, and a deadly hunter. You’ll have Expertise in more skills, more prepared spells, new tactical options in martial combat, and your Hunter’s Mark will benefit from additional bonuses. The 2024 Ranger is versatile, skilled in exploration, utility, melee and ranged combat, and primal magic.
We’re delighted to share with you the changes to fifth edition D&D that appear in the 2024 Player’s Handbook. Make sure to keep an eye out on D&D Beyond for more useful guides on using the wealth of new options, rules, and mechanics found in the 2024 Player's Handbook!
Damen Cook (@damen_joseph) is a lifelong fantasy reader, writer, and gamer. If he woke up tomorrow in Faerûn, he would bolt through the nearest fey crossing and drink from every stream and eat fruit from every tree in the Feywild until he found that sweet, sweet wild magic.
This article was updated on August 13, 2024 and August 28, 2024 to issue corrections or expand coverage for the following features and subclasses:
- Deft Explorer: Fixed typos and clarified that Natural Explorer's primary benefit of doubling your Proficiency Bonus for certain checks has been absorbed in Deft Explorer's Expertise benefit.
- Ranger Subclass (Beast Master): Clarifed scope of changes between Tasha's Cauldron of Everything's Primal Companion and the new Primal Companion.
- Ranger Subclass (Gloom Stalker): Fixed typo. Also added that Shadowy Dodge allows you to teleport up to 30 feet after the attack hits or misses.
- Roving: Clarified that Land's Stride avoidance of Difficult Terrain is effectively replaced by Roving's increased Speed.
- Hide in Plain Sight: Clarified that this was replaced by Tireless, and the extra stealthiness can be granted by Expertise in Stealth and level 9.
- Relentless Hunter: Clarified that you can still lose Concentration on Hunter's Mark if you cast another spell that requires Concentration.
- Nature's Veil: Clarified that this absorbed the primary benefit of 2014's Vanish.
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Posted Jun 28, 2024I'm very disappointed by the Over-reliance of Ranger Traits on Hunter's Mark. Maybe the 13th level trait should have been concentration protection from ANY Ranger spell, at 17th level maybe increase the critical range of his attacks and any attack the opponent suffers with Hunter's Mark, maybe reduce the levels of the ranger to level 5. the level 18 trait and decrease its range to 10m (and at level 18 increase its range an additional 30 feet.), and a level 20 trait much more suitable and as much as possible less dependent on Hunter's Mark.
We will have to wait to see the list of spells
(And Monsters, perhaps the immunities, resistances and weaknesses are more significant than before.)of this class along with the changes of the ones it casts, WITH SOME LUCK the Ranger is NOT SO bad in comparison of the rest but at the moment I don't have much hope.-
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Posted Jun 28, 2024I've liked most of the class changes so far, but the Ranger is a huge miss. Very disappointed with this version of the class.
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Posted Jun 28, 2024Bl**dy h*lls, that's bad. And they can't do anything about it at this stage...
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Posted Jun 28, 2024This is a joke ¿Right?
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Posted Jun 29, 2024Woof, what a joke. I think paladins got the worst 2024 change, but still probably end up ahead of rangers because they were starting in a much better place. Surprise: building a class around a spell that isn't all that good, without making the spell all that good, isn't all that good! And as we've seen several times already, it just isn't any fun to lose gameplay by using your main shtick.
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Posted Jun 29, 2024I know it's too late for dnd to change it since the book's are probably getting printed, but just wanted to put in my obligatory comment that this is the most awful version of the ranger. Is it mechanically better than 2014, MAYBE. Is it a giant slap in the face to everyone who likes Ranger? Definitely. Glad to know that once per turn I can turn 1d6 to 1d10 at the same level that Barbarians get +4 Str AND Con, fighters get a 4th attack, all full spellcasters have 9th level spells like Wish or True Polymorph, and Paladins literally get the power to be unstoppable as a bonus action. Real great work y'all have done there.
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Posted Jun 29, 2024Ugh, this is just Tasha's Ranger. I've been playing this class already. Why did Nature's Veil move from 10 (a "high" lvl ability, but a level that most rangers will get to) to a lvl 14 ability? Where, most Rangers are in the end game IF they even make it there. Ouch, that one hurt.
And still having concentration on Hunter's Mark is rough. Unless a lot of spells lost their concentration (like Lightning Arrow.)
Proficiency bonus abilities becoming WIS modifier. This is also rough. I max my DEX, and try to up WIS, but it never hits 18 or 20 (gets to 16 if I'm lucky)....so, we have less uses of abilities that now work off the WIS modifier. Also, like the feedback I made in the playtest, making abilities that rely on a DC off the table for me. "The ranger casts entangle, you need a DC14.....oh, you easily passed that. Ranger wasted his turn."
Not to mention that my rangers go for the +modifiers that modify their weapon damage rolls and not their +spell abilities. (Unless there are new +modifiers for hybrids that add to their attack rolls and spell DC/spell attack rolls for new magic items and weapons.) So rangers get double dinged on the DC rift with their pure caster counterparts.
So far, this is just a nerfed version of the gloomstalker i've been playing for 2 years now. (Don't worry, the DM I have always has us in the light so it negates his invisibility.)
I was most excited for this reveal, but, while the Warlocks really had an awesome rework....the Ranger is the same we've had for a few years if you used the optional rules. Just a few free Hunter's marks and 2 more expertise.
So, to recap: no concentration spells because you need Hunter's Mark to keep up with melee damage others have built in-- but you can be knocked out of concentration on it until lvl 13....higher than most campaigns go. DC spells you CAN choose, but +3 or +4 WIS modifier at best with no +spell attack nor +DC items (unless you take one of those and have another for your weapons.) And Nature's Veil moved beyond when most campaigns end. Also, CON is important to up because of concentration on Hunter's Mark to keep up with damage. Why is there concentration on Hunter's Mark? If we didn't have that, it would eliminate the worry about getting hit removing our damage buff-- and we could cast other concentration spells....this one feels like a lazy re-design and half baked. The level 14+ abilities look good (except the capstone) but campaigns don't go that high.
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Posted Jun 29, 2024bad.
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Posted Jun 29, 2024Whatever happened to listening to player feedback? Was that just a blatant lie? We pushed back against these changes during your Unearthed Arcana and you did it anyway. Now everyone is pissed off and rightfully so.
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Posted Jun 29, 2024I dont like that hunters mark is so focused here. What if I'm a ranger who wants to use other concentration spells in combat? The hunters mark buffs make it so doing so handicaps you.
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Posted Jun 29, 2024Ok, so, why is hunters mark so garbage? It is the central class feature, but all it does is increase damage by 1d6 until LEVEL 17! Wizards can cast wish at that level, and you get to hit at advantage! Wow! And a level 20 ability only increasing damage by about 2 on average is so garbage. The damage should be constantly increasing as you level, like how sneak attack does, for this to be even remotely good. Please, WoTC, do not release the ranger like this. They were bad enough in 5e, don't make them worse.
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Posted Jun 29, 2024I really hope that they are poorly explaining these classes and subclasses. The more articles and videos WITC puts out, the more I am led to believe that I will stick with the 2014 rules as they are far superior to what I am seeing here.
For instance, saying that the vision of a beastmaster ranger is for the ranger to have A beast companion is simply not true. Have they not watched the movie? The movie, and my vision, show The beastmaster is pretty much the master of ALL beasts, especially his numerous allies. The closest thing to my vision that I have seen was the D4 Deep Dive Pokemon build. I think he had to multi-class five or six times to become but I would consider to be a beastmaster.
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Posted Jun 29, 2024They have removed fighting styles from the Marshall classes. You now need to take a feat in order to get a fighting style. So I have no idea what you mean by fighting style versatility. So if I take archery as my fourth level feat, and then elven accuracy at eight level, how is that more powerful than in 2014? In 2014, I get archery with my class and I can take of an accuracy at fourth level. So overall I'm getting fewer feats.
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Posted Jun 29, 2024d6 to d10 is such a joke capstone feature. Average damage increases by 2 lol.
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Posted Jun 29, 2024It's a little confusing without seeing the full picture, but you still get the Fighting Style feature at 2nd level, which lets you pick a feat that has as its prerequisite the Fighting Style feature: which are the actual fighting styles. It's a convoluted way of saying that you still get a fighting style at 2 (and fighters at 1).
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Posted Jun 29, 2024So here's the problem that I have. I expected these videos to be advertisements of sorts to wow me into pre-ordering the book. I will wait till YOU have a new book in hand before I spend a dime. Then maybe you can sell me on it.
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Posted Jun 29, 2024Huh? That's more than just a little confusing! The fighting style feature that you get at second level lets you pick a feat that has as it's prerequisite the actual fighting style, which you don't have. You bet that's confusing! Because what that says is that you cannot get a fighting style because you don't have a fighting style which is the prerequisite for getting a fighting style. Which is all a convoluted way of saying you don't get a fighting style, you must use a feat. If I use a feat to get a fighting style that is one less feat that I can get for other purposes. Overall a serious downgrade.
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Posted Jun 29, 2024I was really excited for ranger but I’m a bit meh
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Posted Jun 29, 2024I don't think it's going to be that confusing in practice. You get a fighting style feat for free.
More precisely, there will be feats like "Fighting Style: Dueling" or "Fighting Style: Defense" that have as the prerequisite "Fighting Style feature." The Fighting Style feature (a) qualifies you to take these feats, and (b) gives you one for free. You could then pick up more later if you want.
There's a lot to take issue with in the ranger, I don't think this is one of those things. ;)
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Posted Jun 29, 2024In its current state, I don't see much reason to be a Ranger after level 5. WOTC is too chicken-shit to make it so that your free castings are at their highest level for your class, so it's a feature that stops being useful at level 5.
At present, the base Ranger's basic martial abilities scale at:
- Level 5, with Extra Attack
- Level 9, with 3rd level spells (assuming Hunter's Mark resembles its OneD&D incarnation)
- Level 17, with Precise Hunter (adv against your Mark) and 5th level spells (assuming Mark is like OneD&D).
- Level 20, with 6 more damage from 3d6 -> 3d10 damage.
Level 13 protecting your concentration comes on way too late to matter (because you probably have enough free daily uses of Mark to not care), and doesn't count as serious scaling. The gulf between levels 9 and 17 are the biggest problem that I don't think the subclasses will rectify enough. I'd rather multiclass into Druid just to get an owl familiar who can take Help to give me advantage, and increase my spell level progression for Hunter's Mark. Rogue is still going to be a primary martial multiclass. Why would I take 4 levels to get +1d6 Mark damage at level 9, when I could take 5 levels of Rogue and get +3d6 damage.
But the reality is that using Hunter's Mark with your concentration is going to be the biggest trap; there are so many other spells that are far more useful to concentrate on than Hunter's Mark. Mark is going to go from a signature ability to the ability you use as a last resort. I don't see the integrations with Hunter's Mark as "Wow, I don't need to worry about a lot of other concentration spells, because I have it covered with Mark; I can focus on preparing all kinds of other versatility and utility features", I see it as wasted page space, because that's how weak it is.
My opinions might change when we get more precise information, but speaking of information, let's give a round of applause to the Ranger video for being THEE most unhelpful and vague presentation we've gotten so far. A cluster**** of indecipherable vagueries and forgettable nonsense that relies on information they won't give to us to even understand.