A Powergaming Ranger

[Iaccidentally]

I'm a brand new DM, and very new to DnD in general, leading a subset of the group that regularly plays together in a short campaign. However, our usual DM's character is giving me problems I don't know how to deal with yet. He is a powergamer, and is intent on doing the most damage and outdoing all the other players, and gimping encounters. So my questions are twofold:

1. Am I interpreting the PHB, DMG, MM correctly? i.e. Is everything he's doing legal?
2. How can I continue to challenge him without him feeling as if I am targeting him specifically?

1.
Let's outline his character:
A human (variant) Ranger with the sharpshooter feat, and a Dex modifier of +3

So he has a longbow, takes no disadvantage on shots out to 600 ft, ignores half and 3/4 cover, and his hit is d20 +5, which he can -5 from do add 10 damage, and, when he takes the archery fighting style at level 2, still gets a +2, and access to spells.
I already know he's going to take hunter's mark at level 2 as well, adding a 1d6 ad infinitum unless I can knock his concentration, but I don't know how to deal with all this damage.
Longbow 1d8 + DEX 3 + Sharpshooter 10 + Hunter's Mark 1d6 = 13 guaranteed + up to 14

I've tried to read everything I can on attacking, saving throws, the feats, and I've already caught him on bull**** twice. He tried to take spells at level one until I showed him the chart in the PHB that said he had no spell slots at level 1, no known spells, and that the spells he wanted to take were indeed on the level 1 Ranger spell list, and he played as if he had the archery fighting style at level 1, instead of getting it at level 2. So at this point, I'm not trusting him not to lie to me for his favor, and would like a second opinion on the interpretation of the sharpshooter feat.

2.
As for challenging him in encounters, I've had some success during a night chase battle, using limited LoS (We used roll20, reveal area, so it wasn't perfect), preventing him from sniping a spy at 200 ft, but otherwise, if he can see it, he can kill it, no problem.

That leads to obvious changes in fights, where smokescreens or walls of fog are deployed, close combat encounters with tight corners and low maneuverability, but that's all I can think of, other than swarming him with tiny kobolds and grappling him to hell. Even if I get someone close to him, (please correct me if I am wrong about this) he can target someone other than the creature close to him, not take disadvantage on the shot, and kill it.

Are there any methods I might try to make encounters more challenging other than breaking his bow?

[arrowstorm]

Go with things that don't necessarily need to join the battle on the first round of combat, put them in the back and split him off from the group. If you get them into melee range, he has disadvantage on ranged attacks. Give him a magic bow, it's a mimic.

[Bellberith]

I'm a brand new DM, and very new to DnD in general, leading a subset of the group that regularly plays together in a short campaign. However, our usual DM's character is giving me problems I don't know how to deal with yet. He is a powergamer, and is intent on doing the most damage and outdoing all the other players, and gimping encounters. So my questions are twofold:

1. Am I interpreting the PHB, DMG, MM correctly? i.e. Is everything he's doing legal?
2. How can I continue to challenge him without him feeling as if I am targeting him specifically?

1.
Let's outline his character:
A human (variant) Ranger with the sharpshooter feat, and a Dex modifier of +3

So he has a longbow, takes no disadvantage on shots out to 600 ft, ignores half and 3/4 cover, and his hit is d20 +5, which he can -5 from do add 10 damage, and, when he takes the archery fighting style at level 2, still gets a +2, and access to spells.
I already know he's going to take hunter's mark at level 2 as well, adding a 1d6 ad infinitum unless I can knock his concentration, but I don't know how to deal with all this damage.
Longbow 1d8 + DEX 3 + Sharpshooter 10 + Hunter's Mark 1d6 = 13 guaranteed + up to 14

I've tried to read everything I can on attacking, saving throws, the feats, and I've already caught him on bull**** twice. He tried to take spells at level one until I showed him the chart in the PHB that said he had no spell slots at level 1, no known spells, and that the spells he wanted to take were indeed on the level 1 Ranger spell list, and he played as if he had the archery fighting style at level 1, instead of getting it at level 2. So at this point, I'm not trusting him not to lie to me for his favor, and would like a second opinion on the interpretation of the sharpshooter feat.

2.
As for challenging him in encounters, I've had some success during a night chase battle, using limited LoS (We used roll20, reveal area, so it wasn't perfect), preventing him from sniping a spy at 200 ft, but otherwise, if he can see it, he can kill it, no problem.

That leads to obvious changes in fights, where smokescreens or walls of fog are deployed, close combat encounters with tight corners and low maneuverability, but that's all I can think of, other than swarming him with tiny kobolds and grappling him to hell. Even if I get someone close to him, (please correct me if I am wrong about this) he can target someone other than the creature close to him, not take disadvantage on the shot, and kill it.

Are there any methods I might try to make encounters more challenging other than breaking his bow?

Unless he is a close friend, he would be booted out of my games for intentionally cheating if you know he did it on purpose. Aside from that all i can see is he is right about sharpshooter. Ignores all cover except total cover. And can shoot out to maximum range on a weapon with no disadvantage. Best way to negate him is to have encounters in areas with decent cover so the enemies can take total cover from him and move up to melee range without getting wrecked. Re-implement tower shields from 3.5e, have the enemy hide behind them for total cover.

Now, aside from that, ranger is pretty bad as a class. If he was a real power-gamer he would do a similar build as a Battle-Master Fighter and use precision strike to negate the sharpshooter penalty while also having action surge to lay down heavy damage. Add 3 Levels of rogue and 5 levels of wizard in the mix. You now have 12 Battle-Master Fighter, 3 Assassin Rogue, and 5 Divination Wizard. With haste active you can lay down 4 attacks per round, 7 with action surge. Add in critical strikes when the enemy is surprised on all 7 attacks and expertise stealth checks so he won't be found ever. Haste also doubles his movement speed which is amazing synergy with cunning action. Div wizard for amazing utility spells and portent rolls.... you see where i am going here. If he is a "power-gamer", then he is a bad one. But he is just a cheater.

Edit: He takes disadvantage if anyone is within 5ft of him regardless of who he aims at. Page 195 of the phb.

[Corran]

Humans dont have darkvision. Throw some fights in the dark and he will have disadvantage on his attack rolls (make it a heavily rainy night if you want to justify torches not working). The disadvantage mechanic is his worst enemy, so you could try to impose it via other ways, such as fear effects. Also, as the enemies' AC increases, the less effective sharpshooter becomes. Monitor his rolls, since you know this player is cheating.

Other than that, your problem is with the feat itself. It is true, it can add tons of damage when facing low AC enemies, but that is this feat's main job, and feats are supposed to be powerful. Besides, a ranger is supposed to be a dpr, especially a sharpshooter ranger.

All that said, maybe you should look to homebrew the sharpshooter (and the GWM) feat.

[NotVeryBatman]

Feats and the Variant Human remain only at the DM's option. You could get rid of both. Other than that, start giving humanoid characters shields.

[MaxWilson]

As for challenging him in encounters, I've had some success during a night chase battle, using limited LoS (We used roll20, reveal area, so it wasn't perfect), preventing him from sniping a spy at 200 ft, but otherwise, if he can see it, he can kill it, no problem. *snip*
Are there any methods I might try to make encounters more challenging other than breaking his bow?

You could always have enemies lie prone when taking enemy fire. Sharpshooter negates range disadvantage, not disadvantage from shooting at a prone target.

On their turn, they can stand up, shoot back (so they're not at disadvantage on their shot), advance 15', and lie back down again.

Sharpshooter lets you ignore 3/4 cover, but nothing lets you ignore total cover. Choosing good lines of sight is a vital skill for a Sharpshooter, because if the enemy is approaching from behind a building or something, Sharpshooter can't help you at all. So ideally the Sharpshooter wants good ground in an overwatch position; but he's kind of at your mercy as to whether an overwatch position is even available. (Please don't abuse your power as a DM here; allow overwatch when it is appropriate.)

Total cover combines well with the other thing Sharpshooters have to worry about, which is stealth. Even if the Sharpshooter is in a tree in the middle of a grassy plain and can kill anything he sees, there's no guarantee he's going to see the Bugbear sneaking up on him (crawling on its elbows through the grass) before it is too late. Don't be a jerk and make this happen automatically every time, but do sort out your stealth rules and how you intend to run hiding; the Sharpshooter will have to account for it. You've already done this to a degree using night fights, but it can happen during the day too, depending on terrain.

(I'm not sure whether Roll20 will cope well with stealth, but if not that's a flaw in the tool, not in the rules.)


Humans dont have darkvision. Throw some fights in the dark and he will have disadvantage on his attack rolls (make it a heavily rainy night if you want to justify torches not working).

...sort of. Most races only have 60' darkvision anyway, so if he's shooting at someone 200' away, nobody can see each other and the advantage/disadvantage cancels out. Standard human sniper tactic in the dark is to back away until the orcs/whatever can't see you any more, and then shoot them then. (Although it does allow enemies the chance to Hide from you, which is bad if you're fighting goblins.) Night fights are an exercise in patience, stealth, and counter-stealth, and trying to "paint" the enemy with Dancing Lights so that everybody all over the battlefield can shoot them up at advantage. Very different from your stereotypical "over in 3 rounds of attack rolls" 5E melee-fest.

[Toadkiller]

Add some social encounters.

Have him face someone with the same feat.

Toss up a wall spell and cut him off

Just a few ideas.

[ImSAMazing]

You know what is really annoying? Blindness/Deafness. Cast it on the ranger, who should have a low con save. He is now (concentration free) blinded for 1 minute, so he can't shoot anyone.

[MaxWilson]

You know what is really annoying? Blindness/Deafness. Cast it on the ranger, who should have a low con save. He is now (concentration free) blinded for 1 minute, so he can't shoot anyone.

AFB, but doesn't that spell only have a 30' range?

[JackPhoenix]

You may want to focus more on urban/dungeon enviroment. 600 feet range doesn't mean much when the enemy is behind corner 30' away

[Corran]

...sort of. Most races only have 60' darkvision anyway, so if he's shooting at someone 200' away, nobody can see each other and the advantage/disadvantage cancels out. Standard human sniper tactic in the dark is to back away until the orcs/whatever can't see you any more, and then shoot them then. (Although it does allow enemies the chance to Hide from you, which is bad if you're fighting goblins.) Night fights are an exercise in patience, stealth, and counter-stealth, and trying to "paint" the enemy with Dancing Lights so that everybody all over the battlefield can shoot them up at advantage. Very different from your stereotypical "over in 3 rounds of attack rolls" 5E melee-fest.
Ideally he would have to stand at 60-70 feet away, so that he is far enough to be outside the darkvision's range, but still close enough so he can know the enemy's location via sound. Audible distances and all, if the DM includes such rulings for a more realistic approach. Unless ofc you ''paint'' the enemies with light, as you said. Btw, you just helped me realize how dancing lights can be helpful, the range (120ft), number of sources of light and the ability to move them as a bonus action.... I'll definitely keep an eye for this cantrip when creating ranged characters.

ps: To the op, shatter and wind wall can be good spells to throw once in a while against the ranger (do not overdo it). Also, make the player keep track of how many arrows he has, if you want to put some extra pressure (though suggest someone picks up the mending cantrip, so that the ranger's allies can mend his arrows).

[MaxWilson]

ps: To the op, shatter and wind wall can be good spells to throw once in a while against the ranger (do not overdo it). Also, make the player keep track of how many arrows he has, if you want to put some extra pressure (though suggest someone picks up the mending cantrip, so that the ranger's allies can mend his arrows).

Apropos:

Arrows are cheap by adventurer standards, but somehow I still like the fact that sling bullets are even cheaper. I love the mental picture of a Sharpshooter Ranger 11 launching a whole volley of sling bullets in one cast and bringing down five out of eight orcs at the same time. Price: not quite 2 cp. (Would be 4 sp for arrows.)

[Foxhound438]

throw some high AC creatures at him, his sharpshooter will become garbage. also as others have said, use terrain. not everything should be 600ft of flat plains. even if you're in the open, some rolling hills could make it so he would need to be a lot closer, so even without buildings or similar you can design topography to subvert his ludicrous range. For his high damage try using illusions so he might shoot at nothing? Finally, later on you might have monsters have some teleportation abilities (ie L7 wizard NPC dimension door's in a barbarian right next to him)

[Sir cryosin]

He's a human hit him with a sleep spell I had a lv 14 range fighter warlock I all so had sharp shooter feat my DM hit that party with a sleep spell and then assassins killed me and the human cleric but the DM set a huge trap for the Bard and moon druid who are power gamers so he gave us stones that after we died we were revied my character was contracted to kill the bard and druid by a dragon Council be cause the bard molested the silver dragon and the druid was demanding that the dragons to bow to him so I died because of the sleep spell and smashed the bard and druids stones but the power gamers they are manged to get out of the town the DM slipped up he could of got them. But in the end the druid was done in by the rouge tackling the druid into his portal able hole everyone in the party had a bag of holding. Sorry that turned in to a rant but spells there is all kind of spells that can hurt him just play a very claver wizard set traps or start a in party fight let the other players Duke it out

[MaxWilson]

throw some high AC creatures at him, his sharpshooter will become garbage. also as others have said, use terrain. not everything should be 600ft of flat plains. even if you're in the open, some rolling hills could make it so he would need to be a lot closer, so even without buildings or similar you can design topography to subvert his ludicrous range. For his high damage try using illusions so he might shoot at nothing? Finally, later on you might have monsters have some teleportation abilities (ie L7 wizard NPC dimension door's in a barbarian right next to him)

One of the unfortunate aspects of playing on a grid is that it tends to make DMs think in two-dimensional terms. Not only are three-dimensional battleareas exciting and fun to navigate, but they are also very rich tactically.

I sometimes use lego blocks to represent battleareas, but if there were an Oculus Rift or Hololens solution for presenting 3D battlespaces I would buy it in an instant. I want giant ant tunnels, ladders up the sides buildings, sky bridges from tree to tree, vines to swing on, hedges that block sightlines, riverbeds, and long sloping hillsides.

[Bellberith]

One of the unfortunate aspects of playing on a grid is that it tends to make DMs think in two-dimensional terms. Not only are three-dimensional battleareas exciting and fun to navigate, but they are also very rich tactically.

I sometimes use lego blocks to represent battleareas, but if there were an Oculus Rift or Hololens solution for presenting 3D battlespaces I would buy it in an instant. I want giant ant tunnels, ladders up the sides buildings, sky bridges from tree to tree, vines to swing on, hedges that block sightlines, riverbeds, and long sloping hillsides.

Lets just make a full virtual world while we are at it, then we can all play D&D with our minds online. (i hope i am alive for this, doubt it, but this is a dream of mine.)

[Flashy]

This build is basically at the peak of its power. It'll have another spike at 3 when the player inevitably picks up Colossus Slayer, and then again at 5 when it picks up Extra Attack, but as enemy AC starts ratcheting up Sharpshooter is going to lose a lot of its luster. It becomes a choice rather than an always on feature. Be VERY wary about giving this player +1-3 magic weapons. Attack bonus is incredibly valuable for this sort of build.

Be sure to remember that Hunter's Mark has a 90' range. The bow may have a 500' range, but the spell can't be applied to enemies for those extreme standoff hits.

There are some good options for CR appropriate creatures that will still be a pain for the ranger to deal with. Play the statblocks straight or refluff them as something else, but find ways to pepper them in. I've put a handful of reasonable choices in the spoiler below (obviously far from comprehensive).


Goblin (MM 166): CR 1/4, This is an almost ideal statblock for your situation. High AC (15) and low HP (7) combine to make the -5/+10 Sharpshooter feature actively counterproductive. Bonus action disengage makes it hard for frontliners to pin them down.
Blink Dog (MM 318): CR 1/4, Teleport lets them strike and retreat quickly to full cover.
Anything with the False Appearance feature: Ideal ambush creatures, they're almost guaranteed to get the drop on the party. This category includes Mud Mephits (CR 1/4, MM 216), Dust Mephits (CR 1/2, MM 215), and Darkmantles (CR 1/2, MM 46).
Any of the MM orcs (MM 246-247): CR 1/2-4, AC is reasonable across the board and they have good options for rapidly closing the distance.
Goblin Boss (MM 166): CR 1, High AC and a reaction that allows it to force a selected attack to hit another creature. Works well until it runs out of other goblins.
Spy (MM 349): CR 1, bonus action hide allows the spy to rapidly close the distance without giving the ranger a good shot. Probably an ambush sort of character anyway.
Cult Fanatic (MM 345): CR 2, Shield of Faith gives it a reasonable AC, and I don't know how the ranger's wisdom save is but Command and Hold Person are both good options for messing with his action economy.
Druid (MM 346): CR 2, Entangle will mess the ranger up something fierce, inflicting the restrained condition (which includes distadvantage on attack rolls) on a failed strength save. Considering how dexterity optimized the rest of the character is I'll be shocked if his strength score isn't garbage.
Displacer Beast (MM 81): CR 3, Displacement gives the ranger a good chance of wasting his attack.

[MaxWilson]

This build is basically at the peak of its power. It'll have another spike at 3 when the player inevitably picks up Colossus Slayer, and then again at 5 when it picks up Extra Attack, but as enemy AC starts ratcheting up Sharpshooter is going to lose a lot of its luster. It becomes a choice rather than an always on feature. Be VERY wary about giving this player +1-3 magic weapons. Attack bonus is incredibly valuable for this sort of build.

There's another spike at level 9 when the Ranger gets Conjure Animals. Level 5/Spike Growth is a minor boost as well, though not as good as it is for a level 8 Bardlock with Repelling Blast; and Pass Without Trace is a free surprise round for the whole party.

Also, this ranger has yet to realize how good spells like Ensnaring Strike and Entangle are for an archer.

[Flashy]

There's another spike at level 9 when the Ranger gets Conjure Animals. Level 5/Spike Growth is a minor boost as well

For sure, but since the fullcasters will have all picked those up a few levels before I don't think it'll be quite as big a power spike as being a 2nd level sharpshooter in a campaign where it seems like no one else took starting feats, or at least took much less damage centric starting feats.

[MaxWilson]

For sure, but since the fullcasters will have all picked those up a few levels before I don't think it'll be quite as big a power spike as being a 2nd level sharpshooter in a campaign where it seems like no one else took starting feats, or at least took much less damage centric starting feats.

Assuming that by "full caster" you mean "there's a druid in the party," then yes. Otherwise it's still a unique addition to the party and a major spike. Even if there's a druid in the party, having another PC who can spend his concentration on these spells frees up the druid to do combos.

Although it seems like we are comparing different things. I'm talking about spikes in PC power, relative to what he was before. You seem to be talking about intraparty power variance, how much better he is than the next guy right now. Very different things, and which one (if either) a given player cares about will vary. Personally I don't care about intraparty variation--if the other players are good friends and good players then it doesn't affect fun; and if the other players are untrustworthy morons then you need to quit that campaign regardless of who is "more powerful." But that is just my perspective--I tend very much toward a global "whole-team optimization" mindset with a strong note of "should also be viable in solo scenarios or duos". If you get your main fun out of competing with the other PCs (as my players sometimes seem to) then perhaps you will feel differently.

[Flashy]

Assuming that by "full caster" you mean "there's a druid in the party," then yes. Otherwise it's still a unique addition to the party and a major spike. Even if there's a druid in the party, having another PC who can spend his concentration on these spells frees up the druid to do combos.

Although it seems like we are comparing different things. I'm talking about spikes in PC power, relative to what he was before. You seem to be talking about intraparty power variance, how much better he is than the next guy right now. Very different things, and which one (if either) a given player cares about will vary. Personally I don't care about intraparty variation--if the other players are good friends and good players then it doesn't affect fun; and if the other players are untrustworthy morons then you need to quit that campaign regardless of who is "more powerful." But that is just my perspective--I tend very much toward a global "whole-team optimization" mindset with a strong note of "should also be viable in solo scenarios or duos". If you get your main fun out of competing with the other PCs (as my players sometimes seem to) then perhaps you will feel differently.

I don't think there's anything wrong with intraparty power variance, but I think it makes a little harder to DM when members party are at very different levels of power (especially in the early game). My general point was that those spells aren't going to be difficult to compensate for in the same way it's sort of hard to compensate for a standout ranger with strong early feat selection. They won't make as much of an impact from an encounter design perspective because they're coming online later, they don't really give the player any major boosts in their apparently single minded pursuit of damage, and will sort of be generally part of the normal ranger power progression.

You are totally right though, those definitely are spike points from the perspective of the individual character's build and I wasn't taking that into proper consideration. I was thinking about it in terms of the spike the DM sees from the player, rather than the spike the player sees with the character. It's sort of a weird distinction, and maybe the spikes will be more significant than I thought.

[MaxWilson]

I don't think there's anything wrong with intraparty power variance, but I think it makes a little harder to DM when members party are at very different levels of power. My general point was that those aren't going to be difficult to compensate for in the same way it's sort of hard to compensate for a standout ranger with strong early feat selection. They won't make as much of an impact from an encounter design perspective because they're coming online later, they don't really give the player any major boosts in their apparently single minded pursuit of damage, and will sort of be generally part of the normal ranger power progression.

You are totally right though, those definitely are spike points from the perspective of the individual character's build and I wasn't taking that into proper consideration. I was thinking about it in terms of the spike the DM sees from the player, rather than the spike the player sees with the character. It's sort of a weird distinction, and maybe the spikes will be more significant than I thought.

My experience with summoning spells as a DM is that they drastically impact encounter design, in the sense that it gives players an "I win" button for any encounter that is getting out of hand*, and now you'll have either twice as many or infinitely times as many PCs with "I win" buttons, depending on whether or not you already had a druid. If you put a conjuring spell on a class that already has fantastic at-will damage like a ranger, you get someone who doesn't suffer from attrition, but is also very hard to beat in a single Deadly encounter.

From my perspective as a player and as a DM that's a good thing, because it means he can handle more exciting threats and tackle bigger challenges (and it's also more likely that I as DM can just skip over trivialized combats and say "Okay, you kill them with Conjure Animals; spend 5 spell points", and then resume roleplaying the scenario instead of detouring into combat). But for a Combat As Sport DM that might be a big minus instead of a big plus.

-Max


* There have been two or three major battles in my campaign which were shaping up to be TPKs until someone blew the Silver Horn of Valhalla and completely turned things around. That horn only works once per week, but any session now the Shadow Monk 8/Druid 6 is going to realize that he can cast Conjure Animals multiple times per day, and it is almost as good as the berserkers. Up to this point he hasn't really even ever cast any druid spells, he's just thinking of it as a tax he has to pay to reach Druid 10 and become a teleporting Earth Elemental...

[Flashy]

Snip

I totally agree with you about summoning spells, encounter design, and their overall impact, I just don't think it's going to be a terribly sizable power spike for a ranger who seems to be emphasizing direct damage. It's going to be new, shiny, and powerful, it's just not going to make this particular build all that much scarier in the same way that it is right now.

Will it change things? Absolutely. It just won't make Sharpshooter hit harder or more reliably, which seems to be the area of concern.

[Bellberith]

I totally agree with you about summoning spells, encounter design, and their overall impact, I just don't think it's going to be a terribly sizable power spike for a ranger who seems to be emphasizing direct damage. It's going to be new, shiny, and powerful, it's just not going to make this particular build all that much scarier in the same way that it is right now.

Will it change things? Absolutely. It just won't make Sharpshooter hit harder or more reliably, which seems to be the area of concern.

I agree. Princes of the Apocalypse for example has many enemies early on with a 16-19AC. Especially the earth cult with priests that have a 17AC and the ability to cast shield and other defensive buffs or offensive debuffs like slow. Using stat-blocks from them in particular will give the ranger a very humbling experience considering he would have to crit to hit the priests using shield and the standard Black Earth Guards have 18AC without using shields, with shields they have a 20AC.

Summoning spells are quite powerful, but like a few other spells in the game, the DM reserves the right to tone them down or remove them completely. So that shouldn't be an issue.

[Hairfish]

Even if I get someone close to him, (please correct me if I am wrong about this) he can target someone other than the creature close to him, not take disadvantage on the shot, and kill it.


Good news, you're wrong! ;)

PHB p. 195, "Ranged Attacks in Close Combat"

It doesn't matter whether the hostile standing next to a ranged attacker is the attacker's target or not, the ranged attacks still have disadvantage. There's a feat (Crossbow Expert) which can negate that, which he'll likely take at level 4.

As other folks have mentioned, it sounds like you need some variety in your battlefields and enemies. Don't just have enemies milling around in the open someplace like XP piñatas. Ask yourself, would your bad guys really choose to engage the party at a distance in a given setting? Animals hunting prey are smarter than that. Bandits are smarter than that, or they'd have already been killed.

Another alternative is just to use more/more difficult enemies. Adding two extra wolves to a pack or four extra bandits to a gang just increases the total XP by 100. Swarms have resistance to b/p/s damage, which will halve non-magic-users' damage against them. Orcs get double move if it's charging a hostile. From levels 2-4, any AC 14+ enemy will force him to skip the +10 damage option if he wants better than a 50% chance to hit.

However, this none of this changes that this guy is powergamer. You're not required to accept every player that wants to join. Sometimes things just don't work out. Frankly, I'd take him aside and explain to him that further taking advantage of you not knowing the rules as well as he does won't be tolerated. If he can't keep his desire to "win" a role-playing game in check, then he needs to find another game that offers the style of play he's looking for.

[JoeJ]

You may want to focus more on urban/dungeon enviroment. 600 feet range doesn't mean much when the enemy is behind corner 30' away

This. The game is called Dungeons and Dragons after all.

[Arial Black]

Hunter's mark only applies to a single enemy at a time. It takes a bonus action in a later round to switch it to another target (within 90 ft). It goes away if he fails his concentration check, and there's nothing in his build that suggests he's unhitable by enemy archers.

Also, if he uses the dreaded Sharpshooter feat, his attack bonus is +0, goblins are AC 15, so he needs to roll a 15 to hit (on the table, where you can see it). That's only 3 arrows in 10 that hit.

[MaxWilson]

I totally agree with you about summoning spells, encounter design, and their overall impact, I just don't think it's going to be a terribly sizable power spike for a ranger who seems to be emphasizing direct damage. It's going to be new, shiny, and powerful, it's just not going to make this particular build all that much scarier in the same way that it is right now.

Will it change things? Absolutely. It just won't make Sharpshooter hit harder or more reliably, which seems to be the area of concern.

Okay, good point.

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As other folks have mentioned, it sounds like you need some variety in your battlefields and enemies. Don't just have enemies milling around in the open someplace like XP piñatas. Ask yourself, would your bad guys really choose to engage the party at a distance in a given setting? Animals hunting prey are smarter than that. Bandits are smarter than that, or they'd have already been killed.

"...or they'd have already been killed." In a universe where high-level adventurers abound, bandits shouldn't attack small groups of unknown and armed warriors at all, or they'd have already been killed. You can make an argument that bandits could pretend to be harmless merchants during the day, and then maybe sneak up in the night and attack the now-unarmored warriors in their bedrolls when they are asleep.

Common D&D hack-and-slash tropes basically rely on getting intelligent adversaries like bandits to act in stupid and suicidal ways. You can either embrace them with the justification that "they've never met anyone as deadly as the PCs before," or you can toss the tropes entirely and play Combat As War instead of Combat As Sport--and now if the bandits DO engage the PCs at range during daylight, they'll do it from behind partial cover and in overwhelming force from ambush. Say, 40 bandits hidden in the trees on either side of a 200' stretch of road in order to take down 4 or 5 wealth-looking PCs.

You can't really have a game against intelligent humanoids who throw their lives away in futile assaults 6-8 times per day, hence D&D's relative fondness for monsters over intelligent foes. (Compared to GURPS or Shadowrun, where fighting NPCs is far more common than fighting monsters.)

[djreynolds]

Also remember a dex based ranger using archery, can melee with as well. And he can add hunter's mark and use horde breaker or colossus slayer, you have plenty of hit points, and access to healing spells. No reason he cannot use two short swords in combat when needed, hunter's mark will work on every swing so you won't miss the dex modifier on your off-hand, and you can go rapier and shield as well.

[Mara]

He's killing things slightly faster in D&D...

Just add more goblins(mooks). Use the variant rule for cleaving so the melee types feel cool.

Seriously, most problems can be solved by adding more mooks to fights.

[hellspawnfish]

I have the same exact character in my game, plus the Skirmisher Stealth ability and minus the skeezy cheating angle. What I accidentally found really screws with them is denying mobility (enemies with abilities to make your speed zero, enviromental hazards) and piercing damage resistance (have no idea why skeletons don't have it this edition, I added it in because it makes more sense).

Give an enemy Orc a Sentinel feat, Aggressive it up to the back ranks and keep him there (the Orc gets AoO even if the ranger chooses to Disengage, if the Orc hits ranger's speed is zero). For added fun have two orcs, one with Sentinel and one with Power-attack. Orc 1 Shoves the ranger to the ground, Orc 2 Power Attacks with advantage. If the ranger is always hanging in the back ranks during marches, ambush from behind.

All that said. Don't be too adversarial in your encounter design. Give the ranger the ability to deal epic damage once in a while. Don't dwell on it if you don't have to. Put some exposed enemies around so the ranger can play sniper and shoot someone from 600 ft away for his 13 damage. Go "you hit him square in the eye and he crumples to the ground" and go on with the plot. As mentioned above, the ranger will not stay at this comparative level of power forever. Don't make an adversary out of the player. It sucks, feeling that you are being selectively shut down by the GM.

Look at your other players' abilities. In my experience players of lower-powered characters have a more thoughtful approach to combat. Look at things your party can do that will 'solve' encounters besides just damage. Off the top of my head, Fighter or Barbarian with Athletics proficiency can Shove people into murderpits, so put some murderpits around. Look at the casters' cantrips. People can be vary of using up spells for unconventional tactics, but will try tricks with cantrips. Look at the rogue's Acrobatics skill and see if you can put it to good use. Enable your less powergamey players to do amazing things instead of shutting down the ranger's ability to do amazing things.

[Arial Black]

Also remember a dex based ranger using archery, can melee with as well. And he can add hunter's mark and use horde breaker or colossus slayer, you have plenty of hit points, and access to healing spells. No reason he cannot use two short swords in combat when needed, hunter's mark will work on every swing so you won't miss the dex modifier on your off-hand, and you can go rapier and shield as well.

He can use two shortswords, but hunter's mark doesn't work on every swing, only on every swing that hits the marked target. If that target goes down it takes a bonus action (in a future round) to move it, and that uses up the bonus action you need to make a second attack.

It also makes switching weapons more difficult. If you only use a single melee weapon, then you can still hold your bow in your off hand, so you use your single free object interaction to draw/sheath your shortsword when switching, and never need to stow your bow. If you must switch between bow and two shortswords, you suddenly need three object interactions to do so (without dropping a weapon): one to draw/sheath each sword and one to stow/draw the bow.

[Knaight]

Making the terrain more 3D will help with this, along with being more interesting in general. Then there's the use of full cover, which should be standard practice for just about everyone while they're closing to range (though if they are also ranged fighters, having them partially exposed during the actual shooting is mandatory unless shenanigans involving the turn structure are involved). A shift towards stealth tactics at range could also help.

What all of these things have in common is not targeting the character in particular, and just representing stronger tactics in enemies across the board. Switching enemy composition to more mooks is a bit more targeted, but may still be worth doing. I'd recommend avoiding putting in blindness effects and similar to counter the character, although there's still a baseline amount that is there regardless, and if the opponent in question has to target somebody the nasty sniper ignoring all their cover is a good first option.