Enemy NPCs -> Ranger Danger?

[SpikeFightwicky]

Howdy folks,
I noticed a severe lack of "Ranger" style enemies in the monster manuals (the only generic enemy with ranger spells being the Grung Wildling in Volo's Guide). Now... is there some kind of hidden brutality to Ranger spells that I'm missing? Like, if I took the "Archer" npc and added spellcasting like the Grung Wildling had (9th level Ranger caster), would it even affect CR that much? Hunter's mark would add to DPR, and spike growth... well, I don't know how to calculate how much CR that spells like spike growth add. Can't be much more than Hunter's Mark.

Taking it a step further, if I compare to the DPR potential of the "Conjurer", with cloudkill, conjure elemental and fireball, each castable multiple times per day, so if I want to create a CR5 NPC "Ranger", I have no idea how to balance it. Would it be feasible to take something like a Sahuagin Baron (potential DPR 31), and alter the stats so that they're ranged attack appropriate? I find there's very little to go on for a non-magical ranged attacker once above cr 2-ish.

[NorthernPhoenix]

The CR rules mostly govern direct offensive and defensive power. When people say they "break down, they mean they don't take into consideration (or do so enough) powers that exist outside that paradigm.

Any of the ranger spells that just do DPR can be easily factored into the regular CR calculation.

The reason i belive they don't include more of this type of creature is that fighting sniper type foes is generally quite annoying, so they're less likely to see play in as large amount of campaigns as other archetypes.

[SpikeFightwicky]

The CR rules mostly govern direct offensive and defensive power. When people say they "break down, they mean they don't take into consideration (or do so enough) powers that exist outside that paradigm.

Any of the ranger spells that just do DPR can be easily factored into the regular CR calculation.

The reason i belive they don't include more of this type of creature is that fighting sniper type foes is generally quite annoying, so they're less likely to see play in as large amount of campaigns as other archetypes.

Yeah, I figure that's a "hidden" modifier. I noticed that most "Wizard" casters don't have Fly on their spell lists by default. I was thinking of making a lead scout for an army, and nothing really jumps out as a sample ranger NPC, thought we have clerics, druids, paladins, wizards, warlocks, etc... I mean... I'm still going to make them, and they're likely to be a one-off. It looks like many of the NPC spell lists are done specifically to reduce PC headaches. I always found the lich spell list to be a bit underwhelming by default.

[NorthernPhoenix]

Yeah, I figure that's a "hidden" modifier. I noticed that most "Wizard" casters don't have Fly on their spell lists by default. I was thinking of making a lead scout for an army, and nothing really jumps out as a sample ranger NPC, thought we have clerics, druids, paladins, wizards, warlocks, etc... I mean... I'm still going to make them, and they're likely to be a one-off. It looks like many of the NPC spell lists are done specifically to reduce PC headaches. I always found the lich spell list to be a bit underwhelming by default.

Pretty much, and you're encouraged to switch out the spells. You can create a truly nasty foe with 3 tweaks or less of many of the existing stat blocks, which i imagine is exactly why they haven't provided a ready made one. Just glancing at the pre-made statblocks, if you combine the physical attacks of the Archer npc with the statblock of "Druid of the Old Ways" and give it 600ft range (as if with Sharpshooter), you've got a sub CR10 horrorshow for a large number of parties.