DM is allowing UA ranger. Please help me optimize this

[Klorox]

https://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/downloads/UA_RevisedRanger.pdf

Rules: no Tasha’s reassignments of stats, just the PHB races (no drow), no elven accuracy, 27 point buy, gritty realism rules (short rest takes 8 hours, long rest takes 7 days).

I’m thinking of going wood elf with the archery fighting style, taking the sharpshooter feat and possibly piercer feat (is this my best option if I can’t choose elven accuracy?).

I’m thinking of going with the deep stalker conclave. I’d consider multiclassing rogue as well.

I have nothing beyond that. I know I’ve read something about shillelagh on a ranger and I’m not opposed to that at all, but I’m not sure how it’s usually accomplished.

I’ve never played a ranger in 5e, but it was one of my favorite 1e and 2e classes.

[Kane0]

What do you want your ranger to do?

[Contrast]

So for clarity, are you allowed Revised Ranger but banned from the Tashas optional class features?

But yeah, we need a bit more info on what you're actually setting out to achieve in particular, if anything. If you just want to be generically good, yeah take SS and boost Dex until max. Spell wise Hunters Mark, Goodberry and Absorb Elements are the level 1 staples.

[Klorox]

What do you want your ranger to do?
I guess rangery stuff. 😜

So for clarity, are you allowed Revised Ranger but banned from the Tashas optional class features?

But yeah, we need a bit more info on what you're actually setting out to achieve in particular, if anything. If you just want to be generically good, yeah take SS and boost Dex until max. Spell wise Hunters Mark, Goodberry and Absorb Elements are the level 1 staples.Yeah, I don’t get it either. I mean, UA ranger is 100% better, right? I mean, I’m not missing anything, am I?

I would like to be a good wilderness warrior, a tracker and archer primarily, but I’d be happy to take out two short swords should the situation arise.

Is a 14 WIS good enough, or should I bump it to 16 on a ranger?

[quindraco]

https://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/downloads/UA_RevisedRanger.pdf

Rules: no Tasha’s reassignments of stats, just the PHB races (no drow), no elven accuracy, 27 point buy, gritty realism rules (short rest takes 8 hours, long rest takes 7 days).

I’m thinking of going wood elf with the archery fighting style, taking the sharpshooter feat and possibly piercer feat (is this my best option if I can’t choose elven accuracy?).

I’m thinking of going with the deep stalker conclave. I’d consider multiclassing rogue as well.

I have nothing beyond that. I know I’ve read something about shillelagh on a ranger and I’m not opposed to that at all, but I’m not sure how it’s usually accomplished.

I’ve never played a ranger in 5e, but it was one of my favorite 1e and 2e classes.

Ok, reading this for the first time:

1) The single largest flaw with Favored Enemy isn't fixed - you have to pick a type without knowledge of what types will be relevant in the campaign - but some of the underlying flaws have been patched, like how ooze has been dropped as an option, helping you avoid the worst choice you can make. Do not take beasts - since you know they lose relevance by Tier 3 - or fey, since they're incredibly uncommon in almost all campaigns. Humanoids are generally common in all campaigns, and you don't need to pick a subtype, but monstrosity is the most common type in the game. Undead are incredibly common, really remarkably so, but I think they lose out to humanoids and monstrosities here. Going in completely blind, I would choose humanoids first, because they're the only type you can guarantee exist in the campaign world (since you exist, and you're a humanoid), and go from there. For your language, the best languages to learn are Undercommon, Primordial, Sylvan, Deep Speech, Draconic, Giant, Celestial, Infernal, and Abyssal. Check with your DM - the ban on Drow might mean no Underdark, which means no Undercommon. Depending on your DM's answer - pay attention! - you should either immediately choose Undercommon or Deep Speech, or immediately reject both, because Aberrations are a lot more common in the Underdark than on the surface. If you reject both, I suggest a language you know has a chance of coming up. In this case, that means Draconic or Infernal, since you know Dragonborn and Tieflings exist in the campaign.
2) Variant Human is better than Wood Elf, here, because Rangers are MAD and Variant Human is one of only two races you have access to that can fix it (the other is Mountain Dwarf). You have no use for the Wood Elf weapon proficiencies - will your DM let you swap them for tools, per Tasha's? - and the speed increase is not significant. Hiding in natural phenomenon isn't even a little reliable, unlike the halfling equivalent. What makes Wood Elves popular choices for Rangers is simply that both of those are a lot better than nothing and Wood Elves have ideal stat mods for a Ranger.
3) Fighting Style: Archery is the best fighting style in the game, take it. Do not take Piercer, it is garbage. Since you don't have access to Tasha's anyway, you may not need a half-feat - if your starting statline is 17/16/15, your first ASI can fix it to 18/16/16 and you're golden. The best feats you can take for DPR with Archery are Sharpshooter and Crossbow Expert. If you need a half-feat (e.g. if you're a Variant Human), Skill Expert is easily one of the best feats in the entire game and it will make you more Rangery immediately.
4) You need access to the Tasha's fighting styles for a Ranger to even contemplate Shillelagh - Tasha's adds Druidic Warrior as a style, giving you access to 2 Druid cantrips. Guidance and [Shillellagh or Magic Stone] are generally considered the best two choices for a Ranger. This would replace Archery. The big draw is making you SAD, at the cost of 1 bonus action per combat, and you may be able to convince your DM to not charge that, if they let you spam Shillelagh all day, so it's assumed any given combat starts with the spell already on your stick. However, "Deep Stalkers" (Gloom Stalker is the official, released version, and I recommend using it - it's in Xanathar's) are much better at range than in melee - and besides, Crossbow Expert fixes any issues with engaging targets 5 feet away, if you need to.

[NorthernPhoenix]

Ok, reading this for the first time:

2) Variant Human is better than Wood Elf, here, because Rangers are MAD and Variant Human is one of only two races you have access to that can fix it (the other is Mountain Dwarf). You have no use for the Wood Elf weapon proficiencies - will your DM let you swap them for tools, per Tasha's? - and the speed increase is not significant. Hiding in natural phenomenon isn't even a little reliable, unlike the halfling equivalent. What makes Wood Elves popular choices for Rangers is simply that both of those are a lot better than nothing and Wood Elves have ideal stat mods for a Ranger.


And, just maybe, that they're a perfect thematic fit and people want to be Legolas? Just a thought.

[Yakk]

In a game I'm playing, the DM just let a Ranger cherry-pick Tashas, PHB and UA Ranger class features for a beastmaster ranger.

https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-MEWbwuL-HVr282cXb8C
PHB
And UAs.

L1: Favored Enemy (UA)
L1: Canny Explorer (Tasha's)
L3: Primal Awareness (Tasha's; free spells are just cleaner)
L3: Tasha's animal companion (Tasha's; just because it is mechanically cleaner)
L5: Extra Attack (PHB)
L5: Coordinated Attack (UA BM)
L6: Roving (Tashas), Greater Favored Enemy (UA)
L7: Mythic Bond (Tasha's BM)
L8: Land's Stride (PHB)
L10: Tireless (Tasha's)
L10: Nature's Veil (Tasha's)
L11: Storm of Claws and Fangs (UA BM)
L14: Vanish (PHB)
L15: Superior Beast's Defence (PHB BM)
L18: Feral Senses (PHB)
L20: Foe Slayer (PHB)

This produces a more mechanically complex character than a Gloomstalker "ambush killer".

It does include components that where never designed to stack together, but none of them particularly break the game in my opinion. For example, EA+CA at level 5.

This won't be as strong as a charop ranger. Max charop is probably BM3/Gloom 5 to start, to get the 6 attack initial combat round and a pile of +1d8 precice attacks to boost your sharp shooter -5/+10 attacks. Then assassin 3 for auto-crits if your DM makes it possible for you to surprise reasonably often, otherwise... whatever really.

But the above mash of 3 different rangers shouldn't be utter crap, and might even be worth taking ranger above 5 in a shocking surprise.

A real bonus of the above is that you should *feel* a lot like what I think of as a Ranger, and not a burst-damage assassin. :p

I assume "no tasha's reassignment of stats" means "no moving attributes around", not "no using tasha's optional features".

[luuma]

All your choices sound solid. You might prefer crossbow expert to piercer, maybe? I'd also recommend ignoring Shillelagh and taking the Archery fighting style, because it pairs fantastically with sharpshooter.

When it comes to spell choices, everyone universally recommends hunter's mark, and it's essentially a compulsory choice. You'll definitely want to have access to it til at least 9th level.

Beyond that, I'd personally recommend checking out the following spells to get started with planning your build:
1st level spells: absorb elements (XGtE/EEPC), ensnaring strike, goodberry
2nd: pass without trace, cordon of arrows, healing spirit (XGtE), Aid (TCoE), summon beast (TCoE)
3rd: lightning arrow, conjure animals, plant growth

Beyond that, just pick the ones you like, really. Most ranger spells focus on noncombat abilities - so their power varies from campaign to campaign. You also get some great noncombat stuff from the deep stalker.

[Person_Man]

https://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/downloads/UA_RevisedRanger.pdf

Rules: no Tasha’s reassignments of stats, just the PHB races (no drow), no elven accuracy, 27 point buy, gritty realism rules (short rest takes 8 hours, long rest takes 7 days).

Yikes. I’ve never seen that Rest variant, and it basically screws every spellcaster.

Seems like a nature themed Rogue might be a much better option. 5E Rangers are generally considered one of the weaker classes, even with the UA fix. With such limited rests, its going to be even harder to play.

[PhantomSoul]

Yikes. I’ve never seen that Rest variant, and it basically screws every spellcaster.

It's meant for cases where the "adventuring day" doesn't line up coherently with the in-world day-night cycle, which, in my experience, has been the vast majority of every single campaign I've been in, to the point that squinting would probably lead you miss the times when there actually was something approximating the "average" "adventuring day". (Despite that we don't do sensible rest cycles like the DMG suggests above.)

[Klorox]

Ok, reading this for the first time:

1) The single largest flaw with Favored Enemy isn't fixed - you have to pick a type without knowledge of what types will be relevant in the campaign - but some of the underlying flaws have been patched, like how ooze has been dropped as an option, helping you avoid the worst choice you can make. Do not take beasts - since you know they lose relevance by Tier 3 - or fey, since they're incredibly uncommon in almost all campaigns. Humanoids are generally common in all campaigns, and you don't need to pick a subtype, but monstrosity is the most common type in the game. Undead are incredibly common, really remarkably so, but I think they lose out to humanoids and monstrosities here. Going in completely blind, I would choose humanoids first, because they're the only type you can guarantee exist in the campaign world (since you exist, and you're a humanoid), and go from there. For your language, the best languages to learn are Undercommon, Primordial, Sylvan, Deep Speech, Draconic, Giant, Celestial, Infernal, and Abyssal. Check with your DM - the ban on Drow might mean no Underdark, which means no Undercommon. Depending on your DM's answer - pay attention! - you should either immediately choose Undercommon or Deep Speech, or immediately reject both, because Aberrations are a lot more common in the Underdark than on the surface. If you reject both, I suggest a language you know has a chance of coming up. In this case, that means Draconic or Infernal, since you know Dragonborn and Tieflings exist in the campaign.
2) Variant Human is better than Wood Elf, here, because Rangers are MAD and Variant Human is one of only two races you have access to that can fix it (the other is Mountain Dwarf). You have no use for the Wood Elf weapon proficiencies - will your DM let you swap them for tools, per Tasha's? - and the speed increase is not significant. Hiding in natural phenomenon isn't even a little reliable, unlike the halfling equivalent. What makes Wood Elves popular choices for Rangers is simply that both of those are a lot better than nothing and Wood Elves have ideal stat mods for a Ranger.
3) Fighting Style: Archery is the best fighting style in the game, take it. Do not take Piercer, it is garbage. Since you don't have access to Tasha's anyway, you may not need a half-feat - if your starting statline is 17/16/15, your first ASI can fix it to 18/16/16 and you're golden. The best feats you can take for DPR with Archery are Sharpshooter and Crossbow Expert. If you need a half-feat (e.g. if you're a Variant Human), Skill Expert is easily one of the best feats in the entire game and it will make you more Rangery immediately.
4) You need access to the Tasha's fighting styles for a Ranger to even contemplate Shillelagh - Tasha's adds Druidic Warrior as a style, giving you access to 2 Druid cantrips. Guidance and [Shillellagh or Magic Stone] are generally considered the best two choices for a Ranger. This would replace Archery. The big draw is making you SAD, at the cost of 1 bonus action per combat, and you may be able to convince your DM to not charge that, if they let you spam Shillelagh all day, so it's assumed any given combat starts with the spell already on your stick. However, "Deep Stalkers" (Gloom Stalker is the official, released version, and I recommend using it - it's in Xanathar's) are much better at range than in melee - and besides, Crossbow Expert fixes any issues with engaging targets 5 feet away, if you need to.

I forgot to include no variant humans in my initial post.

We start in a hidden village that is near an entrance to the underdark. Some of the residents of our town are former slaves of the drow that have escaped.

I feel safe picking humanoid as my favored enemy.

What’s the difference between undercommon and deep speech?


Thematically, I see this character using a long bow. I know it’s better mechanically with crossbow expert and a hand crossbow, but maybe that’s something I can develop into later in the game.


Since this ranger subtype gives me darkvision, perhaps I should choose stout halfling instead? Why are mountain dwarves such a good choice?

[Khrysaes]

There are several options.

But to clarify, is it the Customizing your Origin in Tasha's that are banned, the Optional Class Features, or both?

From the first post it seems that Customizing your Origin is what is mentioned.

I.e.
1: Be a wood elf with +2 Int +1 con = Customizing your origin
2: Be a ranger with favored foes instead of favored enemies = Optional Class Features.

Ok First, Rangers are able to many things but few of them better than any other particular class. Strictly speaking, I think that other than in a capacity as beast master, Bard is better at everything a ranger can do, and since the PHB beast master is so bad, while revised ranger is usually not allowed, it makes ranger, despite being on of my favorite classes thematically, lackluster mechanically.

So, I would envision what you want your ranger to be able to do and work the mechanics to do that while ignoring all the precreated fluff in the books. Make your own fluff. Find the mechanics to make that fluff work. I.e. I think of a witcher as a badass fighter, immune to desiese with some spells. Mechanically, I made him a Paladin/Warlock/Sorc.

To note, Breaking the BM: Revised would be a good option without including Tasha's https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?532340-Breaking-BM-Revised

I personally like 6 Shadow Monk/Gloomstalker 3: Pseudo Invisibility and Teleportation between shadows. Also pairs well with rogue. Works great with the mariner fighting style from UA if allowed.

If also available and/or wanted, Rangers with no spells does not conflict with the Revised ranger, and pairs well with a Battle Master Fighter Multiclass granting more maneuvers and uses per short rest. Also pairs well with rogue.

https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/unearthed-arcana/modifying-classes

Finally, if available, the Psionics options revised UA, the feats Wild Talent and Metabolic Control would work well with any short rest features such as monk ki or maneuvers.

[Khrysaes]

I forgot to include no variant humans in my initial post.

We start in a hidden village that is near an entrance to the underdark. Some of the residents of our town are former slaves of the drow that have escaped.

I feel safe picking humanoid as my favored enemy.

What’s the difference between undercommon and deep speech?


Thematically, I see this character using a long bow. I know it’s better mechanically with crossbow expert and a hand crossbow, but maybe that’s something I can develop into later in the game.


Since this ranger subtype gives me darkvision, perhaps I should choose stout halfling instead? Why are mountain dwarves such a good choice?


1: Undercommon = common for most underdark races (I would suggest this if dealing with an underdark campaign)
2: Deep Speech = speech of aberrations such as Beholders and Mind Flayers.


Mountain Dwarves get +2 con +2 strength and are one of few, along with half elves, that get +4 total stats as a race. They get a bunch of good stuff and even without switching the racial ability scores, if you can change out the skills or weapon/armor proficiencys using Tasha's Customizing your origin, then even better.

With long bows, understand how you are handling ammunition. Multiclassing fighter and getting the snipe maneuver from Class Feature Variants UA would be useful. I am sad this didn't make it to Tasha's
Snipe
As a bonus action, you can expend one superiority die and make a ranged weapon attack. You can draw a thrown weapon as part of making this attack. If you hit, add the superiority die to the attack’s damage roll.