How I fixed the Ranger class in 2024 Dungeons and Dragons

The Ranger in the 2024 Player's Handbook (PHB) has had a major overhaul, removing Natural Explorer and reworking Favored Enemy. The Hunter's Mark spell is now signature to the Ranger, but something is missing. A ton of flavor was lost in the update and Hunter's Mark usability is low. Here is how I am fixing the Ranger class in my campaigns.

00:00 Intro - Why I love Ranger
04:04 Theory of changes
07:29 Ranger Class Updates

#dungeonsanddragons #ranger #wizardsofthecoast

[WheelerCub]

We made some other types of tweaks for our Ranger that we really like so far:

Hunter's Mark: Range: Self, Bonus Action, Concentration up to an hour. As part of the casting of this spell, you Mark a creature that you can see within ranger. Until the spell ends, you deal an extra 1d6 force damage to the target or 1d8 force damage if using a two-handed weapon. If the marked creature drops to 0 HP before this spell ends, you can Mark another creature as a free Action. For the duration, you gain Advantage on Perception and Survival checks against the Marked creature. Finally, you can opt to lower the damage die by 1-step (1d4 / 1d6 with 2H weapons) to remove Concentration from this spell.

Favored Enemy: The free castings of HM can be used to can also be used to cast other Ranger spells like Hail of Thorns, Entangling Strike, Cure Wounds, and Zephyr Strike, but you must know the spell. The level of the spell you cast can be increased with additional HM charges (e.g. use 3 charges to cast Lighting Arrow). Finally, any spell you cast using the free HM charges adds your PB to the damage or healing.

Roving: Your study of wild creatures has taught you to be quicker and quieter than most. Your speed increases by 10 feet when not wearing Heavy Armor, you have a Climb and Swim speed equal to your movement speed, and you can now Hide as a Bonus Action.

Relentless: You no longer need to concentrate on Hunter's Mark.

Foe Slayer: You have become an unparalleled Hunter of your foes. When you make an attack roll against a creature marked by your Hunter's Mark, you can choose to let that roll become a critical hit. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you take a Short Rest. In addition, your Hunter's Mark now deals an additional 1d10 damage.

[elfhririn]

Ima steal this & add it my HB Base Ranger it was so good!

If curious here is a snip it of my changes:

Lv1 favored foe is PB/LR concentrationless hunters mark but starts as a d4 & scales each tier of play. & each tier of play unlocks a new kind of mark: each with a different purpose. Frees up concentration for more important things.

Lv6: survivalcraft. A 5' Aura of your choice each long rest of a survival/hunter-based buff at lv11 & 17 you get 1 additional aura active. Each only works in 1 terrain type but the terrain is swappable on a long rest. Which really makes them feel like the party exloration-leader/guide

Last change: added some ranger-exclusive spells & buffed some ranger spells & removed hunters mark (in lieu of facored foe).

[avsabari]

Not bad.

Might offer it to the next player I have who'll want ranger.

[CyrilAsanov]

I know I'm late for the party, but I really like the idea of Tracker's Handbook!
I would probably make it a choice between Humanoids and Monsters, so it can also appeal to the Bounty Hunter archetype though. (To add to that fantasy, I would probably also make it so Ranger can add WIS to their Investigation checks, same way Druids and Clerics now do for some other skills)
And for Hunter's Mark damage, I think it will be fine if, like a Monk Martial Arts dice, it'll be increasing every few levels up to d12 at level 17 or so.

[raziel]

This sounds amazing, adding a "bestiary" to the Ranger as a mechanic makes so much sense, definetly need something to make hunter's mark better as you level. I also think that the damage of hunter's mark should increase with levels as sneak attack or the martial arts die. Free Ranger spells per day at level 20 sounds way better too.

[zeroderorero]

Before watching the video: I think the best iteration of ranger both roleplay and combat wise is Baldur's Gate 3.
The reason is because of the way favored enemy/natural explorer is implemented, giving ranger so much personality and benefits.
If you are a humanoid hunter you could very well be a bounty hunter (there's the name), an agent of the law or just some maniac that likes hunting people you would be good at restraining people so ensnaring strike giving disadvantage in the saving throw is gold. The natural explorer giving you some sort of easier way to travel through the land while also giving you battle benefits (resistances).

The whole thing just reeks of "Hunting trophy" and "Experience" flavor that rangers lacked, just imagine having having "Dragons" as favored enemy and having a fang that gives you a cantrip of the elemental damage of the dragon the potential is pretty much limitless

[kwaksea]

Very cool solution for Ranger improvement. It feels much more like hunter it should have been.

Personally, I dont know why Hunter's Mark is spell oppose to class ability (just like many Ranger exclusive spells like Conjure Volley or Steel Wind Strike).

I know it is small point, but Druid Warden gets extra d8 dmg at lv 7 and it becomes 2d8 at lv 15.
The most anger inducing part is, Warden Druid, inflict such dmg just by inflicting weapon or creature (wildshape) dmg and no other restriction is required.
This looks like good alternative for hunter's mark spell we have at the mkment.

[KevinVideo]

Rangers are currently the only martials that don't get anything at 5th level beyond Extra Attack. I'd move Humanoid Tracker to that level. It'd also keep relatively in line with the Revised Ranger from 2017 that had Greater Favored Enemy at 6th level.

I like your capstone change. You and MonkeyDM think alike. For 13th level, people have brought up concerns with hunter's mark not having concentration because you could just keep casting all of your slotless ones, then casting a spell slot one on top of that. As such, instead of it just saying, "Your Hunter’s Mark no longer requires Concentration.", I'd add that you can only have one hunter's mark up at a time.

Another thing that was taken away was Land's Stride, which allowed the ranger to move through nonmagical difficult terrain without issue and advantage against plants and magical difficult terrain such as the entangle spell. That was really good and added flavour. As a hunter yourself, you've probably had to go through thick brush a time or two, and with experience, you learned where to step without much issue.

I'm shocked at WotC for not catching the mistake on hunter's mark at level 20. The issue is that the capstone is based off the One D&D version of the spell, not the 2014 version. The One D&D version scaled up to 5d6, but you could only use it once per turn, so it'd make sense that at 20th level it'd deal 5d10 when other people could only get it deal 5d6 at max (although another one was 3d6 vs 3d10, which isn’t as impressive). I expect to see errata or another Tasha's fix for that.

The Study action exists in 5.24 so your fix to hunter's mark makes sense.

[blackmantis]

Deserved love and balanced. Well done. Thanks.

[kiwikrg]

I'm not even 2 minutes in and I'm like "😮 I was there!!!" Hehe