World Anvil!: www.worldanvil.com/ I hope I convince you that this class ain't that bad... If not, then I'm sorry for the song. PATREON: / xptolevel3 TWITTER: / xptolevel3 DISCORD: / discord
Realistically they have no practical effect. One archetype is completely useless (yes the beastmaster) and overall the ranger is only good for gloomstalkee
And the thing is, favored enemy is basically useless even when you DO have whatever monster type in your campaign, unless your quest consists of exclusively tracking and remembering information about them
Honestly, it sounds like your DMs are assholes, or maybe uncreative with the ability. I've used favored enemy multiple times to ask the DM what I know of this enemy, and when I found out what I needed, shared with the party and created strategies to easily kill our quarry. Granted, I tailored my favored enemy to Giants in a campaign explicitly dealing with them, but I've never had a DM try to screw a party member over because of something they chose for their class.
My favourite part is the prospect of pinging for dragons you weren't expecting, and now you just have to worry about how there's at least one dragon somewhere within ~5 miles of you in potentially any direction that may or may not be aware of you too.
Sadly, when the credits roll, nobody will remember the guy who helped them track down the enemy, who fed them when they were hungry and helped prevent good gods how many ambushes. They'll remember how your damage was subpar and how a fighter with the archery fighting style would've done a better job putting additional pins into the enemies.
yeah that's because you can buy rations, the rogue can take expertise in survival and the druid can get a 25 passive perception or the wizard can scout ahead with fin familiar.
@@caleb7006 yes but you can run out of rations (or they could go off) and you don't always know what the party composition is going to be, a party with no rogue, no wizard (at least a wizard without find familiar) and no ranged fighter can really benefit from having a Ranger . . . as far as perception goes the more people with a good perception the better.
@@caleb7006 expertise in survival does not keeps party from getting lost chief, and a bunch more stuff. Btw, check the revised ranger and use Xanathar subclasses. Boom And, Hunter's mark
Which is why, when I tried multicasting a Ranger with a Hexblade...yeah, it was weird as fuck, I could do a bit of everything but no thing perfectly It was awesome and pretty powerful actually, I recomend you try it, but yeah, complicated as fuck
I want to multiclass a ranger and bard for my first character (I haven't played before) to fit backstory and make it just a bit more versatile coz sometimes bards are kinda useless... and also I want a songbird and a wolf-dog if thats possible. I don't know if it is....
This is acyually what I hope to do once I get to play Dream scenario is a sword and shield ranger with realistic deinonychus animal companion... but I need to hope in a lenient DM that is ok with letting me homebrew some stuff
@@Birbucifer What are the possibilities of making a "versatile" ranger that is also capable of shooting arrows? Knowing perfectly well that it will end up doing both worse, but I'm thinking the adaptability might be worth it (and most importantly cool)
myky992 If you wanna lean more into the martial aspect, I would ask your DM if you could be a Revised Ranger and then go with the Hunter subclass, and then ask your DM if you could prepare your spells like Rangers should already do. You will never do as much DPS as any of the other classes post level 5 BUT you will be a pretty good supplement spellcaster/skirmisher. Also, if your team ever needs some phat sneaks and someone is in heavy armor, you’ll have (hopefully) Pass Without Trace prepared, to make up for the disadvantage on those checks.
@@yearnie4207 I don't disagree with that statement completely, but as put into 5th edition currently, it is extremely difficult to make rangers work in places where druids or fighters don't already function Yes you can have fun with a ranger, and I've seen people have fun with rangers in the past (Laura Bailey on Critical Role for example played a fantastic ranger) but in their current place in 5th edition Jocat's statement rings true to me personally
@@Vaprous Aragorn had a bow in fellowship and the company of Rangers led by Faramir all had Longbows, plus there's other media about Rangers that generally has them use bows (but each to their own I guess).
I find the ranger comes into its own in gritty realism campaigns. The ability to hunt, survive and track in the wilderness is incredibly useful when you have to make a 3 week trek through the wilderness and can only carry 10 days worth of food/water.
Funnily enough, I would prefer Favored Enemy if I was at level 20 and Favored Foe 1-19. Foe Slayer is much stronger than people give it credit for, adding up to +5 to your damage or, more importantly, accuracy. Actually hitting the enemy is one of the most important things for DPR. Lvl 20 Ranger vs Tiamat: 25 AC 20 dex, +3 weapon: +14 to hit. Necessary roll: 11 That's a 50% chance to hit. Now add Fiend as Favored Enemy and 20 Wis: +19 to hit. Necessary roll: 6 That's a 75% chance to hit. You still get this benefit from Favored Foe, but at the cost of Concentration and you only ever have 6 uses between long rests.
@@Aredel a bunch of additional optional class features, the fey wanderer subclass which is basically the charisma ranger (a bunch of advantages with charisma stuff); the swarmkeeper subclass which gives you a swarm of insects/birds/anything you choose really and they help you in combat, deal extra damage, pick you up and give you flying speed; and it also adds an extra beastmaster feature where instead on having an actual living animal you conjure a sea, land or sky spirit like creature called primal companion which has its own statblock and overral is pretty cool
There's one more thing that Tasha's added to Rangers that gets overlooked. The Druidic Warrior fighting style. It allows you to take two Druid Cantrips. I absolutely recommend choosing Shillelagh as one of those, since Rangers get Extra Attack at 5th level. After that, you'll always have a reliable source of magic damage.
How many other people went into this video expecting it to be a 20 second video saying "So you wanna play a ranger huh, well don't." Then the rest of the time was just elevator music over some sponsorship/patreon stuff.
The Ranger a.k.a. ‘session 0 is a must.’ From what all of the skill sets in rules of a ranger implies. That you need to have a good repertoire with your DM. You can’t wait until the first session reveal your backstory to everyone including the DM. You need to let your DM know that you’re playing a Ranger so you can work together to decide what would be best for your characters, favorite train and preferred enemy. Essentially, if you’re going to play a rogue, the DM needs to be your ally, not your enemy.
An underrated thing about Rangers is that a) they have no arcane focus, meaning their hands can be free to hold weapons, and b) they only have a handful of spells that have material components with a gold cost.
Dude, you’ve been Level 3 forever. Your DM must have some harsh XP requirements, have you tried going to the Ethereal Plane with a bunch of NPC’s and grinding? It might help speed up the process
“Hmmm dwarf friend?” “Aye Bebop?” “Bebop feels it has been many, many days since personal growth. Reason?” “Hmmm. Haps’ we should head on down to them fancy-ass elven mages and have them poof’ us on over ta tha ghosty place. Killin’ a few of those nasty buggers makes me feel mir’ powerful.” “Okay dwarf friend.”
@@l-gzy7400 grinding? Grinding?!? GRINDING?!?!?!?! GGGGGRRRRRIIIIIEEENNNNDDDDIIIMNNNNGGGG GGGGGRRRRRIIIIIEEENNNNDDDDIIIMNNNNGGGG GGGGGRRRRRIIIIIEEENNNNDDDDIIIMNNNNGGGG No, stop it. This isn't a video game, your dm should melt your dice and use the slag to ruin your character sheet.
Not just ranged weapons: fighters can use literally any weapon in the game. Crossbows, lances, spears, daggers, bastard swords, battle axes, war maces, flails, swords, bows, and if the setting has them included firearms of some sort, I guarantee you the fighter is the one that's going to use them. Also they happen to be the class that gets the best subclass for setting up for mounted combat(so they can play a mounted knight etc) and finally, more importantly: they get a subclass called the arcane archer, which should really read "better ranger class".
If you think about it, both Vesemir and Geralt are rangers themselves since they can use both weapons and magic in a fight, they're skilled in monster behavior and weakness, also they can just be as effective towards humans and other races, and they're experts on alchemy from gathering various ingredients from plants and creatures
I love being able to teleport when I teleport, then I teleport again when I attack and my DM hates me, Horizon Walkers are hilarious. They're now I'm over here, made you look! Now you have 3 arrows in your back!
I don't really have a funny joke or anything, I just wanna say the new look of these "How to Play" look really nice and it always brings a smile to my face hearing Jacob yelling about something Edit: When will these songs be on Spotify or SoundCloud ?!
I actually have a ranger in a campaign I dm, they've been in the group for about 9 months now, and in all that time they used hunter's mark a grand total of zero times, because they had it, and knew how good it was, but forgot to activate it every single time. We did not forget to take the piss out of them for this, but then, in the last session we played, they finally remembered to use hunter's mark! Yay!! So then the fight continues as normal and then about 2/3 of the way to the end of the fight I hear them say 'oh fuck I've been forgetting to add my hunter's mark damage' so the one and only occasion they actually used it, and they forgot about it again immediately after. They later had enough fight, and the ranger forgot to cast hunter's mark entirely again
@@madanotap6492 rangers aren't that hard to play and hunter's mark is THE ranger spell, and if they forgot about it all the time why not change it for a spell they actually use
DM: "I'm planning on making a kind of mystery Zombie apocalypse one shot for next Friday. Y'all will need 5th level characters" Me, making a Ranger with Undead as favored enemy and knowing I'll have that Track Undead spell to immediately figure out where the zombies are coming from: *this is where the fun begins*
@@XPtoLevel3 Yes but one is used for archery and the other is for a violin, obviously the ranger and the bard are playing different classes than they actually are I real life. You know like a game, where you play a role, like bounty hunter of Masterchef!
Now I really want to make a Rogue that has Orcs and Drow as their Favored Enemies not to kill them, but because they have a fetish for those races and uses the language and tracking abilities to hunt down and seduce some green/grey bootie. ...maybe multi-class with bard too.
I had a DM who kept track of a giant overworld map and made exploration of various terrain an integral part of the campaign. It made playing Ranger so much fun.
Man Jacob has a lot of patrons... but you can't multiclass into different warlock subclasses, and what if your patrons have different demands or goals? We need answers, Jacob.
I’m still grinding XP for level 4. I’m currently three levels in Bard, I don’t know what all these patrons are doing trying to get me to cross class in a warlock
I dknt think there's anything stopping you multi classing I to the same class you just don't get twice the spells or anything onlt the bonus subclass abilities.
I change one thing about the beast master that made it really fun, it doesn’t consume your action to make it take an attack (it can only do one action on your turn). It’s a night and day difference that just makes it so much easier to remember and work with the class
I've played a beast master ranger, and my DM let me choose an animal companion completely outside of the rules set in the book. I feel that this completely made the ranger function better.
I play a kenku beast master in Adventurer's League as Mordecai and Rigby. Sure, Rigby dies a lot, but he always comes back after 8 hours. My goal is to collect the rest of the Regular Show characters using Conjure Animals and by collecting Bags of Tricks and Figurines of Wondrous Power.
Мясная Жижа I'll get an item of commanding elementals, probably fire because he's always angry. I already have a necklace that can summon an owlbear once per day and I flavor him as Skips.
Jacob: takes my favorite class in the entire game and rips it to a million pieces then spits on its grave by calling Beastmaster, my preferred archetype, a piece of garbage Me: LOOK HOW THEY MASSACRED MY BOY
I've always wanted to give ranger a chance but I always see it getting absolutely obliterated at every turn. I know your comment is 2 years old but I was wondering; what about it makes it your favourite class?
@@lydiac9118 the roleplaying aspect. I love Ranger archetypes from classics like LOTR or even more modern portrayals of Rangers in today's military. They're not tanky barbarians with tons of hit points or rogues who hit every shot but they're masters of their terrain. I just love the idea of a character who can see things others can't and whose skills allow them to pass unharmed and undetected in any environment. Also I love having familiars (my best ranger character had a pet boar who I was very fond of)
@@chimerazeta1714 thanks for the reply! I can definitely get a sense for a different angle on the class now :)! My group right now is definitely more combat and rp focused and spend a lot of time in towns or on/in modes of transport, which is personally what makes ranger hard for me to play because, well, what tends to make them great ties a lot into being in a natural setting. That being said, I think I'll give them a go next time we're running a oneshot with this angle in mind!
@@lydiac9118 Depends on your level, really. Playing Ranger levels 1 to 2 is an anxiety filled nightmare because it's we when you unlock your subclass (paired with Tasha's Guide stats) that the class comes online as a versatile powerhouse that can give Fighters and Rogues a run for their money.
As someone who has actually done archery I had a serious knee jerk moment when I saw him carrying that bow... The bow string is on the wrong side of the bow.
6:04 I actually decided to go with Hunter for a Ranger I decided to make. The DM is adamant against guns, so he has a hand crossbow. Horde Breaker along with the Crossbow Expert feat is so powerful and I didn't even mean for that to happen lol
Having been in the America infantry, a ranger is literally the best class to play for something like that. A ranger runs point, knows the terrain, is a great warrior, studies and learns. I have so much appreciation for rangers
Swarmkeeper might be my fave but I think Beastmaster and Hunter are still useful. Revised BM anyway, but despite mostly focusing on offensive options, the Hunter is arguably the most durable ranger archetype, as it has the most options to directly prevent the Ranger from taking damage.
I really like rangers not for any of the stuff then can do but for the fact that in terms of role play they are one of the few classes that is just straight up someone who goes on adventures.
This is the first time ever i comment a youtube video... this is hillarius and the song at the end is EPIC! You are great and keep going with your channel!
@@rayar3234 i know we practiclly gave hunter subclass eye of the god and ultra focus as spells that can be used one needed specal points called gods points one per use and the other just a short rest the first one allowed you to get the lvl 20 bonus on enything you are curently fighting (ultra focus) and the other showed you every living ( dosent work on undead) creature in 100 feet. Other than that we got a paladin gave him balista and made him yell BALISTA MOUNTED AND LOADED every time he used it he was our lord tachanka(rainbow six siege refrence )
My dm loves rangers. He doesn’t understand how monk works. He doesn’t know how paladins work. He has played dnd for 7 years. **i think I need a new party**
NinjaBluefyre he doesn’t understand how flurry of blows works. Thinks that martial arts applies to each hit, hitting twice every time. He doesn’t know you get *one* bonus action. Not 30. He also had no idea what lay on hands is.
I have played ranger many times in my life and i really liked the players handbook subclasses the hunter is so good and its really fun having an animal with you
On behalf of all gm's i would like to say that all these rules are hard to keep track of and unless we have made a map we are NEVER going to use travel pace. Thank you for listening -to my ted talk-
I agree with that one nerd here. Foraging, tracking, all of that booze is so complex. I only really do it if there is nothing else to do then that and maybe throw in a random encounter while it goes on. For example, in curse of Strahd, our ranger wanted to play a beastmaster. So while they escort Ireena to vallaki, they make a side stop to collect herbs. Once thats done with, Strahd himself will gift the ranger a wolf. Talks to the party and in the final battle the wolf is torn between Strahd and the Ranger.
The rangers major niche is to be situationally useful, making it so in the right senecio you have a lot of utility but outside of that situation you are far less powerful, this idea is very captured by the hunter subclass (which is actually a pretty good one btw) which grants bonuses in certain senecios in combat like an extra attack if enemies are close together, or a +4 AC against enemies with multiattack, showing that in certain situations the ranger can be very powerful but otherwise less useful, a niche no other class really fills outside of some out of combat utility spells having a similar feel like identify or illusory script.
I played a Tiefling horizon walker in the Descent into Avernus module. His name was Tobias Brand and he was by far the most fun character I’ve ever played. It was the first time I had ever played a chaotic evil character and it just so happened that I wrote into his backstory that he was simping hard for Zariel. Needless to say, some shit went down and one of the party members took his kneecaps as a trophy after he fell victim to power word kill.
A good way to play a ranger would be to play a cartographer, an explorer in the employ of a noble who wants him to map a region. Lots of backgrounds can help this idea out
Whew, I was super worried there wasn't going to be a song but then there was the note informing that it was at the end and I could calm down and stop crying.
Horizon walkers can also work well outside of a planar portal type game. Just so long as the dm agrees that you can sense all portals. The BBEG tries to teleport away you know exactly where their going, and can pick up their tracks from there.
Well considering that most range dmg comes from either magic or equipment, like grenades, the most unique thing about the ranger class imo is the fact that they are the only class that can viably do physical dmg from range. Very useful for those situations where you're fighting something that's resistant to magic with immobilizing abilities. Ijs
In recent times I've been warming up to the idea of the ranger being a druidic archetype of other classes. Like a fighter subclass that's a nature-y alternative to Eldritch Knight
You can’t sneak attack with a greatsword, it’d be better to take three levels of scout for the expertises and cunning action and the rest Horizon Walker Haste and Hold Monster.
@@TomoeNageX or instead of a greatsword dual wield 2 shortswords or scimitars instead (or 2 rapiers if you take the Dual wielder feat, although I would re-flavour the rapier as Sai or Stilletto blades etc... because dual wielding Rapiers is ludicrous), the Rogues sneak attack has to use either a finesse weapon or a ranged weapon it doesn't say anything about having to use dexterity (I know ranged weapons must use dexterity but with finesse weapons give you a choice) so you could make a strength based Rogue but you would be spreading yourself pretty thin multiclassing into ranger (strength for attacking, dexterity for stealth, acrobatics and the almighty Dexterity saving throw and wisdom for perception and survival . . . and constitution too for survivability) . . . . At this point just picking a different more suitable race like Halfling, Gnome, Half-Elf, Human or Wood-Elf would make things much easier
Honestly, I actually really like the PHB beastmaster. Yeah it’s a little extra work but that’s what got me into DnD. My first class was 3.5 druid. I like doing extra research, putting time into planning ahead, keeping track of details, and overall I enjoy classes that allow me to play into those aspects of the game.
I love making my players feel badass,it gives me joy as a dm to see them have fun with all the cool Homebrew systems I make up and I've made one up for rangers,it's called terrain attunement,basically a ranger can attune themselves to the terrain they're in,learning it's lay out,the creatures that reside in it and how to traverse the terrain safely,for example if the party was in a forest but ends up in the underdark a ranger during a short rest can attune themselves to the underdark and learn about it's lay out,it's really fun and it made people who come to play my games wanna play a ranger even more...
The UA Ranger is in my Top 5 Favourite Classes, but the Vanilla Ranger is my least favourite next to the Warlock Also, Revised Beast Master is the dopest and cutest shit ever
@@thelandofnod2269 warlock does make a great villain class IMO. running a slightly altered version of Volo's "warlock of the great old one" for my current arc's villain
The gloomstalker doesn't just get an extra d8, they get an extra attack that does an extra d8 on top. Aslo Xanathar fixed favored enemy to add hit and damage.
“Beast Master Sucks” You’re Right but also, I Want A Pet Goddamnit! For me beastmaster is the roleplay subclass. Like sure, I could be good at the game. But also I could be a red skinned tiefling with black and gold eyes, looking like the literal embodiment of the nine hells, and travel with a sleek blank panther who growls and anybody who dares speak to me, while being the absolute sweetest person ever. I wish they’d put more focus on the team aspect of the beastmaster subclass, and maybe added a balanced animal levelling system so your companion can fight a level 10 enemy with you without getting one hit KO’d
You should look up he UA Artificer battle Smith they get a companion that "levels up" with you (I think they are making the Artificer official in their next book)
I'm playing a Tabaxi Lv.2 ranger/Lv.1 rogue for an assassin/sniper build. Hunters mark and sneak attack are a pretty nice combo so far. And with the Tabaxi Feline Agility trait zooming around the map can make some interesting strategy. It's really fun! I recommend the multiclass.
