5e Ranger fix, as simply as possible.

[EroxESP]

5e Ranger Fix

Certain 5e classes haven't felt quite right to me and I think this feeling is shared with much of the community with the Ranger in particular. I've seen a lot of this energy directed to complete reworks which is difficult to determine balance and often are too focused on flavor particulars of the designer.

I've seen a lot of proposed changes from WotC which always seem to make changes which make all classes more the same and would only exacerbate the Class differentiation problem many see in 5e.

My design philosophy is to do things in as few changes as possible, and make those changes as simple as possible. They might still be powerful changes which can change the entire way a class plays.

The Combat Problem

In my humble opinion, most of the issues of the Ranger distill down to a single source Hunters Mark.

Its a hallmark spell many cannot imagine a Ranger without, but the way it was deployed in 5e makes the class very bland and undifferentiated in my opinion. This is more powerful than most 1st level spells, by design, because some of the power intended for the whole class has been placed into it. This is fine, in theory, but Rangers have limited access to spell slots and its a concentration spell. So much of the flavorful class and subclass spells meant to differentiate the play-style of the Ranger end up being ignored in favorable of a far-more powerful option.

The Combat Solution
The solution is to take the class power which has been funneled into this spell and apply it to the Ranger as a whole. I have attempted this by removing the Hunters Mark spell and adding this Hunters Mark ability:

Hunters Mark:
[Insert flavor text about weaving a thread of ranger magic into your focus on your quarry, or whatever.]

While you are concentrating on a Ranger spell of 1st level or higher, you may use a Bonus Action to mark a target.
While you are still concentrating on this spell, the first attack you land on the target each turn does an extra d6 force damage. This damage increases to a d8 if you're concentrating on a spell of 3rd level or higher, and a d10 if that spell is 5th level or higher

That's it. This is all that I think is needed to differentiate the playstyle of a Ranger from other classes and return some of the flavor of the class and subclass which has been sequestered in favor of Hunters Mark. Having DMed two groups with PCs playtesting this change I can say that these Rangers did feel more Ranger-ey. We had a Gloom Stalker that would actually cast Darkness! We had a Ranger actually excited to learn Flame Arrows! Imagine that, Rangers actually using the spells intended to differentiate them and give them flavor.

Other Optional Changes:
There are other issues with the Ranger deal with how they interact with the environment. I find that it can be difficult as a DM to run a game where Natural Explorer felt relevant. It always seemed to take tools from my DM toolbox rather than giving me jumping-off points. I won't want to go as far as to say that it is the job of an ability like this to give the DM jumping-off points, but when it is an ability designed only to have narrative power I think it would be ignored unless it added rather than detracted.

I have a two part suggested fix here:

Replace Natural Explorer with the expertise in Survival and Nature, as the Scout has (not great for differentiation, but would turn the Scouts ability into more of a nod towards the Ranger, rather than a better version of their ability)

Give the Ranger prepared spells and Ritual Casting. Much of the cool stuff Rangers want to do to feel Ranger-ey is already granted by Ritual spells. So just hand those to the Ranger. Because their spell-list is so limited anyway this hasn't made them feel to Druid-ey as I had worried when I first playtested it. Mostly it frees up spell slots which, admittedly, the Hunters Mark change constrains a little.

What do you think?

[Sorinth]

Overall pretty solid, I really like the fact that the modified Hunter's Mark now works in conjunction with things like Zephyr/Ensnaring Strike instead of being in competition with them. The one problem is the lack of concentration spells at 3rd level for melee rangers. Archers have two solid ones in Flame Arrows/Lightning Arrow, but a melee ranger is stuck with Conjure Animals or Windwall. So you'll probably want to add a concentration spell here.

Letting the Rangers use their ritual spells without having to sacrifice a spell known is also really good as they can finally actually use spells like Animal Friendship/Speak with Animals without feeling like they are giving something good up just to be in order to have on brand abilities.

[Yakk]

They still have the problem of lack of level 1 combat-usable abilities.

(Their level 1 combat features are strictly dominated by 3 other classes; every other d10+ HD class.)

[Ninjadeadbeard]

This is a really nice rule change. I'll be sure to use it.

[EroxESP]

They still have the problem of lack of level 1 combat-usable abilities.

(Their level 1 combat features are strictly dominated by 3 other classes; every other d10+ HD class.)

This is absolutely true. It could be further tweaked at the table. As mentioned above there might need to be other tweaks here and there for the broad strokes mentioned above to achieve the best desired effect, such as tacking on a couple more Concentration spells to the Ranger spell list.

I'm trying to focus more on broad-strokes with my 'as simply as possible' changes. I don't want them to require further changes for the broad strokes to be an improvement, but they could certainly benefit from filling in some more blanks.

[TyGuy]

I prefer the UA class features proposed change. I'm not a fan of tying it to a spell with concentration.

[Yakk]

Suggestion: Give the Ranger spellcasting at level 1, and round-up-on-MC slots.

At level 1, they can Zephyr Strike for a HQ-effect, a movement boost, plus a finisher.

That means that level 1 Rangers are no longer strictly dominated by other classes in combat.

[EroxESP]

I prefer the UA class features proposed change. I'm not a fan of tying it to a spell with concentration.

Is there a UA that alleviates concentration? Everything I've seen ties it to a spell with concentration, only the extra power is in a single concentration spell as opposed to ANY Ranger concentration spell.

[TyGuy]

Is there a UA that alleviates concentration? Everything I've seen ties it to a spell with concentration, only the extra power is in a single concentration spell as opposed to ANY Ranger concentration spell.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...aEzg05vws9AWe5

I'm pleased with most of the proposed changes in this. The temp HP from tireless is probably too strong at level 1. But I like how they tackle hunters mark and utility spells that are quintessential ranger, but hard to justify learning for the off chance they're needed (primal awareness)

[Yakk]

One issue is that HM is evocative -- picking out a foe to hunt down.

The "you get damage when you focus on a ranger spell" is less evocative.

[EroxESP]

One issue is that HM is evocative -- picking out a foe to hunt down.

The "you get damage when you focus on a ranger spell" is less evocative.

I get that. My focus was less on flowery language, but completely fleshed-out this could be partly ameliorated with flavor-text. You still use a bonus action to mark, so the flavor text would carry the burden of showing that Hunters Mark is an ability you have rather than a spell that you know, and you can place one while you're concentrating on any Ranger spell.

[Kane0]

As far as simple fixes go, this is good