It would be a very good idea if every ranger picked a primary color, like blue red etc to identify themselves. They would be very powerful rangers. I wonder what they could be called.
I love the idea of a Ranger party base of Disney princesses! Swarm keeper - Snow White (calls the small beasts of the forest) Beastmaster - Belle (Beauty and the beast) Fey Wanderer - Pocahontas (talking to the spirits of the forest) Drakewarden - Mulan (Mushu the dragon)
@@woutvanostaden1299 I actually think Mulan could be a Gloom Stalker, if you look at how she actually approached combat and was disguising herself. Although I liked the idea of her being a drake warden. Other idea Jasmine could be a Gloom Stalker, she certainly stayed hidden and navigated an urban environment in a Gloom Stalker way.
@@Grinnar still haven't played a horizon walker or hunter. My gloomstalker was obviously dope, swarm keeper was fun and I played revised BM a few times! Once with a hawk, another with a giant rabbit and in Icewind Dale my DM gave me an owl bear! Talk about tanky! And I made him STR over DEX. But my favorite was my fey wanderer, beguiling twist against casters and dragons was clutch!
@@karatekoala4270 mine was a strength built (originally fighter, but DM let me swap with a lot of down time), and boy did he wreck a lot of enemy groups very quickly, and tanked to protect the druid.
Oh god, I just had a vision of an enemy encampment in a field, and from 600 feet away, a ridiculous hail of arrows are being pointed at them. The enemy has no idea, just going about preperations, maybe even celebrations after a succesful mission. And then the first round of arrows strike. Before cries of pain can even be heard, the second arrows have landed. A third of the camp is down or dying before initiative has even been rolled. The enemy scrambles, trying to form a counterattack, but the rangers are several rounds of dashing across open ground away. A few lucky enemies manage to close distance, getting within 60 feet of this firing squad, but before they can attempt to do anything, 3 wild beasts and an actual dragon launch out of hiding, tearing into the poor warriors who thought they stood a chance. As the sounds of chaos and bloodshed end, the rangers approach the camp. They collect as many arrows as they can, recast their Pass Without Trace and Summons, and move on, ready to devastate the next enemy encampment.
Stealth and movement speed aside, 600ft isn’t what most people think it is. It isn’t actually that far. I’m talking vision wise. Just saying because it frustrates me how seemingly everyone treats tiny distances like epic journeys. For example something I see in almost every stream I’ve watched is this bizarre idea that 30ft is too far away to hear a normal volume conversation clearly. If there’s lots of background noise interfering then sure, but that’s rarely the case. I’ve even seen the legendary Matt Mercer say “you can barely see them, they’re way off on the horizon… maybe 200ft away.” It’s just bizarrely ludicrous how badly everyone interprets distance in d&d. I think it’s in part due to using ft as the measurement which leads to large numbers for small distances. Movement speeds don’t help either as people think of dashing 60ft in 6 seconds as an all out sprint when it’s really just twice more than a casual walk (average walking speed is between 1m/s and 1.6m/s. This works out at around 19ft to 31ft in a 6 second round).
@@asherandai1000 way out of context. Vision and hearing has no bearing on the context at hand. Shooting a bow accurately at 600 ft IRL is really hard. But doing it in DND when most others cannot is what is being discussed here. It's pretty good.
I was thinking of that, but are the rest of the Merry Men strong examples of archetypical Rangers? Little John seems like a Fighter while Frier Tuck is a Cleric.
@@Mordalon Good question. Little John would be the Shillelagh armed fey wanderer and based only on the Russell Crowe film Tuck would be the swarmkeeper.
all your vids give off this very comfy "older brothers teach their younger sibling" vibe and i'm here for it. thanks for sharing your love for this game
I think the biggest LotR analog for an all-ranger military outfit is Faramir’s guerrillas in Ithilien in the two towers. They’re way more visibly Rangery than Aragorn overall, at least what’s seen on screen and in the main narrative of the novels. They appear around Sam and Frodo when Tolkien explicitly states that the Big People can’t sneak up on Hobbits because they’re too noisy and clumsy, but Faramir’s company manages it. They appear out of nowhere to ambush the Haradrim, then immediately melt back into the woodlands and getting back to their hidden camp
Despite a company of Rangers of the North, led by Halbarad, very little is known about them as opposed to the exposure given to the Rangers of Ithilien who definitely operate as guerrilla skirmishers.
@@unboundsoul3582 I think that it levels out at that time, cuz PWT yeah it's a limited duration but, it's a +10 and unless you rule Nat 1 on Skill Checks auto fail, with Reliable Talent it sets them at a 10 regardless of 1-9. So officially Rangers still outperform in Stealth cuz without modifiers, that PWT is basically an 11-30 when RT is 10-20. Yeah they described in the party the Fey Wanderer being a Wisdom focus, but Medium Armor Master just negates the Stealth Disadvantage of Half Plate
@@unboundsoul3582 you need to redo your math a bit. Pass without trace is better than reliable talent. Straight up. A rogue rolling a 1-9 gets 10+stealth mod. A ranger rolling a 1 gets 1+10+stealth mod. With tasha's giving ranger expertise, it is a straight upgrade.
A party of blood hunters could fit that theme too. Tho ranger are better since they healing and spells, while blood hunters might have a leg up on damage depending on the build. Mixing the 2 parties would be cool too.
39:52 I have been playing a campaign, with a ranger and I am a rogue. And that has happened to me many times. The DM has placed creative scenarios for fights where he says "x thing gives you disadvantage on attacks" and I am like "great, I do not have sneak attack, I am absolutely useless". But then, the ranger out damages my sneak attack on each individual attack. He ends up making two to three times the amount of damage I make. Even when I crit, he still out damages me that turn.... It really has made me realize how powerful the ranger is. And even then, he is a lot of times way more useful outside of combat than me. We often completely rely on him on exploration.... I think the ranger is really underrated.
Yeah, an unfortunate problem with rogues is that most of their best damage is only circumstantial available(sneak attack) whereas, like the dudes said, rangers are very consistent in their damage output. Also, most of a rogues utility is skill or tool based, which just can't really compete with spellcasting. Rogues are in an unfortunate position.
This is the main fantasy behind the ranger class. 4 dudes sneaked in, picked apart a whole encampment of enemies, and captured the objective. And you are one of them.
Rangers are so versatile! Take Heavily Armored Feat at lvl 4, focus CON, take defensive FS and you have tank with AC 21 and high HPs. Take Crossbow Expert and Sharpshooter for awesome DPS. Play Fey Wanderer for awesome face skills. Play Swarmkeeper or Horizon Walker for mobility boost. PS: Don't forget, that we are not using multiclassing, so we don't have to have 13+ DEX, so we can easily start with 17 in STR, 16 CON and 14-15 WIS and take Heavily Armored at lvl 4 for great AC, great HPs, STR +4 and still good WIS stat! (many people ignore STRangers totally)
Exactly, and on top of all the points you list the spell list they get generally has lots of great utility spells. And if you pick one of the pet providing rangers you can get some great utility from the pets too - useful stuff like blindsight, or just as a source of readily harvestable poisons, a more durable mount etc. For me its between ranger and monk as the most undervalued class in 5E - Rangers are so very versatile and monks so very mobile, both of which are really good things to be, but tend to be rather overlooked in the pursuit of impressive damage numbers or lack of singularly impressive spells that in practice you probably never actually cast as its to resource intensive to waste outside of the final showdown with a BBEG.
Before starting the video, my dream team: Fey Wanderer is pretty crucial to act as a party face, then either Beast Master or Drakewarden for the pet, then either Swarmkeeper or Gloomstalker, and then add Monster Hunter as the spicy pick. Monster Hunter actually looks like it's be really interesting with an all-Ranger party, since it can give out information on enemy weaknesses, gets a once per short rest ability to counter a spell or attempt to teleport, and gets Magic Circle, which could open up some amazing tactical cheese if the party is planning to ambush any celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, or undead.
I actually played in an all ranger party about three years ago! It was one of the most fun short campaigns I've been in. Everyone had a different subclass. I was playing the revised Beast Master, with the character basically being a D&D version of Steve Irwin. We had a Gloom Stalker, Fey Wanderer, and Swarmkeeper as well. The DM threw a lot of oddball challenges at us, and we had an answer to almost everything.
As a ranger appreciator, I love this. Rangers' reputation in 5E has been tainted thanks to their original features and subclasses, and it's hard to say you're a fan of them without being met with turned-up-noses. To hear that in the ridiculous hypothetical scenario of a mono-class party they'd be S tier from some of my fave content creators is very validating
I know I've been looking forward to this one :) Two things that would send this party flying: - Fey Touched: Bless - Shadow Touched: Silent Image Bless would absolutely boost their ranged damage through the roof. And Invisibility plus Silent Image are just amazing for getting in close and ambushing a target.
Those are amazing feat choices for this party. Currently playing a dhampir swarmkeeper and I've taken sharpshooter and piercer. (Between the bow/fangs, gathered swarm, and HM, there s almost always an opportunity to reroll low die rolls) my next ASI at level 12, I'm hoping to pick up the Vital Sacrifice feat from the new taldorei book to add to his damage and attacks.
You even have the perfect characters for those feats thematically. Gloomstalker and fey wanderer. Although fey wanderer gets some great extra spells, so it might be mechanically better for bless to be on the drakewarden. But the flavor with the other two subclasses....
For the inspiration section, surprised that the idea of Robin Hood and his Merry Men didn't come up, that is totally a pack of rangers, with their bard and cleric hangers-on!
Ranger main group is awesome. We hype each other up and show we’re a force to be reckoned with. I think the line from Star Wars rogue one - Make ten men feel like a hundred - perfectly sums up this party. Love the vid, keep up the awesome content 👍🏹
One of the thoughts for an all ranger campaign I had was exploring an alien planet. Where they have just put up a small settlement and they’re the ones in charge of securing it and keeping the area safe. Maybe interacting with other local creatures as well
The whole video, I was picturing: Sun is rising, casting shadows over a valley. Within, a group of gnolls are getting ready to hunt for the day. One kicks the embers of the campfire to see if any meat fell from yesterday's kill. Another stands and scans the valley. The rising sun behind him casts long shadows on the tall grass that sways throughout. The gnoll turns, shielding his eyes from the glare of the new sun. All seems peaceful. The grass moves as it should. The party is grumbling, but slowly packing up the campsite. The gnoll, who has been scanning the valley, registers a flash in the grass. With the glare of the sun, he hesitates a beat too long. The arrow takes him through his throat, silencing his cry as he falls back. He lands in the campfire, but it's already to late for the startled gnolls. The Ranger's "rain" takes them all by surprise. The Rangers reveal themselves; camouflaged with the valley's grass, they emerge from an ocean of swaying shadows and greenery.
Ok, I think this is the group that's the most fun to talk about. Case and point, Race? It matters! I think it may matter just as much with this group as with any of the others. A Wood Elf group would be different than a Drow group! How about a mix? So, SO good. I could write crazy stories about this group.
I've been playing a Fey Wanderer ranger for a few months now, i specc'd them to be a kind of do anything character, because 3 of the 5 players in the game have never played before - fey wanderer makes a great all-areas backup to help boost up new player's confidence. I've got backup healing, utility magic, social bonuses and the option of going completely rambo if the moment calls for it. Also I'm a winged tiefling, so i have a great way to get in range for a healing word (I'm keeping the flight to a minimum though.) I'm working to build the others up as much as possible, and with the other experienced player being a bard and working the same way, i think we're doing pretty well!
what is your gameplay in combat? i just got to level 9 and im wisdom based (i use magic stone or shillelagh with fey touched hex as my bread and butter), i tanked a mindflayer with some lucky rolls against his int based stun while our barb was stunned until it dies
@@finalfantasy50 rapier/longbow. Dreadful strikes + favoured foe + gift of the chromatic dragon. So I can hit for 1d8+2d4+1d6+3 each hit if I devote a bonus action to the setup for it. Like I said, i have the option to go completely rambo when I need to.
14:40 Not only that, but since it adds Wisdom TO your Charisma checks, it can easily be one of the strongest social faces in the game. Pretty easy to sit at level 3 with a +9 to Persuasion via Pointbuy and Expertise
One of my favorite D&D One-offs. We've done this a couple of times. My favorite iteration was the "Sky Ranger" game. Yes, they fly, the entire party is made up of flying Rangers. It was fun!
One of my favorite 3.5 edition campaigns was the old “Orc Wars” trope; BBEG opens portals across the realm, orcs and goblins are pouring in. But the twist was, we modeled the world basically like a huge military deployment, think US Army during Vietnam War or in Europe during WWII. Everything was militarized, towns were occupied, civilians were put to work supporting the military. It was low magic in terms of powerful wizards, most spell casters were in support rolls healing and making cool magical items. The focus was on the infantry i.e. fighters and rangers, think Airborne Rangers. We were based out of Daggerford and patrolled the areas around it. We had Roc’s that flew us in like helicopters by carrying a wagon with a Ranger squad in it. We used a home version of the Ranger that we called the militarized Ranger that had no spells, but had bonuses to THAC0 and damage. It was a lot of fun and felt very much like a hopeless, endless war.
Alright pre video guesses; Gloomstalker for obvious Fey wanderer for party face, Beast master/drake warden front liner, and Swarm keeper for the beast of utility and control
I've tried to get my friends all in on a campaign like this in a desolate setting akin to Dark Sun. Swarmkeeper and Tashsas changed my entire opinion on the class in one of their campaigns when I was able to survive a losing fight and ended up the last man standing before our enemy relented. Its a memory I will never forget and was the only time in DnD I've felt like the absolute BA that you'd expect a hero to be. God tier class and full ranger party would be sick. Great video guys keep it up.
The most awesome answer is: 4 Drakewardens. You're either part of a military (the Dragon Scout unit?) or part of a large adventuring guild. You basically raise your own drakes up from the early levels up until you can use them as mounts, and eventually as flying mounts. Plus: group breath weapon spam.
Magic Initiate could add a familiar to the party roster, enabling aerial surveillance. The airborne familiar could pass signals through aerial maneuvers - for instance circling left or right, dives or climbs.
If you want a familiar, Ritual Caster is a better choice. You get the familiar, plus spells ranger is missing like detect magic, identify, comprehend languages and so on.
Would it be worth it to have a strength based ranger mixed in to cover your skill bases and rock heavy armor? The Drakewarden could be a tanky support and also fits the "knight and dragon" aesthetic nicely.
That's what I was thinking. Since the all-Ranger party is so good you can probably spare some "inefficiencies" to take Skilled or Heavily Armored to fill in the gaps.
I *love* these single-class party videos, and this one did not disappoint. A couple of comments: 1. I would love to see a video where you both create single-class parties and do battle against each other, maybe at 8th Level or so. Spellcasters won't get 5th level spells yet, and everyone will have had a chance for a second feat or ability score bump. Could be a fun one-shot if you ran it in a large arena with some terrain for added strategy. A friend and I did something like this once, challenging a four-person party of Mystics (from an Unearthed Arcana playtest) against a classic four-person party with a Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, and Wizard. It was a lot of fun! 2. All of my characters are "Rangers," but none have had any levels of the Ranger class. Since there is no Rangers' Guild or anything like that, who's to say who is a Ranger and who isn't? My personal criteria is they need to have good Dexterity, wear nothing heavier than light armor, and call themselves a Ranger. (Ideally they're also proficient in Survival and Perception.) I've played Rangers who were Wizards, Clerics, Rogues, Fighters, Monks, and Druids, and it's always great fun. It all started when 5e came out and I was disappointed by the Ranger class, and it's my favorite type of character.
I recently ran a 1 on 1 D&D session (would definately recommend) with a ranger. It really made it hit home that rangers are surprisingly good at everything. Hit dice and fighting style of a fighter, stealth and subterfuge of a rogue, healing and damage buffs of a cleric, as well as the outdoor survival skills of, well, a ranger. When you are the only player in a party, you have no one to help you out in a pinch. A ranger can tread water where others would sink.
Love this series: could be worth a follow up where you build the characters, choosing the races/species, feats, spells, etc to make each the best they can be.
I like this one, thanks guys! I think it is defensible to build a Ranger that dumps Wisdom, as so few Ranger spells require a good WIS to be good. Also, I think the all swim speed in a seafaring situation is clutch.
Ranger party: you can run but you cant hide. From the deepest pit to the tallest peak we pursued our enemy, until we smote his ruin on the mountainside.
One member of the team can take Medium Armor Master and Half Plate. No Disadvantage on Stealth, AC 20 with a shield. Fighter-level HP. You won't always need a tank, but now you have one!
@@CitanulsPumpkinmedium master. Wearing medium armor doesn't impose disadvantage on your Dexterity (Stealth) checks. When you wear medium armor, you can add 3, rather than 2, to your AC if you have a Dexterity of 16 or higher.
@@oliverl6779 Okay, so walk through this with me. The ranger, a class that needs good scores in Dex, Wis, and Con, is going to give up an ASI and get what exactly? No disadvantage on a roll for a skill they most likely already have proficiency in, expertise in, is governed by their Main Stat, a plus ten bonus from one of their best class specific spells, and a few other bonuses from magic items or whatnot accumulated through the DM just handing out stuff in books that "feels rangerish." And 1 more point of AC. Granted, every point of AC is precocious, but... doesn't this feel like diminishing returns? If we're really trying to get more AC take a feat that gives you the Shield spell or talk to your DM about hunting down an enemy that has or can be crafted into a ring of spell storing and fill it with Shield spells. Or just pick up a wand of Shield spells.
Great Video guys. I love the idea of a more upfront ranger party, so instead of the gloomstalker, taking the horizan walker. It gives the party a DPS character as they get haste and also provide banishment for some field control. My personal like that are rangers are skirmish fighters
Stealth killing a dragon is one of my fondest gaming achievements. Who knew all rangers were op? Dunedain, that's who. Finally, my favorite class gets its due. Much Love Dudes
I added one thing to my table's available options that I've been very pleased with: I made a new feature for Rangers that gives them something like the Paladin's Divine Smite, but instead of doing crazy damage it focuses on damage type versatility and inflicting a variety of debuffs and interesting effects. It's not even a huge change, but it provides a ton of flexibility and makes the Ranger into a utility fighter that can spike their damage a bit and make sure enemies stay right where they want them
My ranger fix is a bit more involved, but if you know the source material for it all the problems with ranger melt away. 1. Hunter's Mark, favored enemies, and favored terrain. All gone. They don't exist for Rangers in my games. 2. Rangers get all the stuff they got in Tasha's, except for the feature that gives extra castings of Hunter's Mark. 3. Rangers choose a Color of Mana at the levels they would have chosen a favored enemy creature type. White Blue Black Red Green Colorless The colors from Magic the Gathering. When you pick a favored mana, you get multiple benefits. 1. Bonus languages known equal to one or your Int mod. Whichever is higher. 2. All Dex, Int, and Wis checks made while inside or in relation to any terrains, creature types, classes, backgrounds, or effects tied to one of your favored mana colors are made with advantage. 3. All weapon attacks against creatures tied to any of your favored mana colors deal one extra damage die of the weapon's normal die type. If you know nothing about MtG it may not seem like a good change, but there are easy to find resources that will tell you what creature and terrain types get slotted into what colors. Some third party subclasses that give a free terrain or creature type I change to give one more favored mana color.
@@wantedOSTRICH so the basic mechanic is that a Ranger can spend a spell slot to activate the feature, which I named Primal Snares to parallel the Paladin's Divine Smite feature. When a Ranger hits with an attack, ranged or melee, they can expend a spell slot to deal extra damage to the target and provoke a saving throw to resist an extra effect. Each Snare specifies the damage type, and different spell slot levels can activate different specific Snares. The three first level Snares I came up with were Bleeding (which deals slashing damage and can cause the enemy to take extra b/p/s damage), Hobbling (which deals piercing damage and can cut the target's speed), and Pushing (which deals bludgeoning damage and can knock a target prone). The damage starts at 1d6, but it upscales as you use higher level slots. The effects also get stronger as it goes, so it stays useful as you level up
@@CitanulsPumpkinthat's super cool! I don't know how well it would work at a table like mine (only I and two other players know anything about MtG) but it sounds like it works for you! I added some extra mechanics to favored terrain and favored enemy, which works for us, but different groups will like different mechanics!
If you added a 5th and knew the campaign was going high level, i'd love to pick up a Horizon Walker STRanger for this. Guardian of nature's Primal Beast form + horizon walkers teleportation would be great starting at level 13. Also, make it a bugbear for extra reach to allow for more chance to get that third attack every round. Additionally, if your squad is getting the drop on the enemy and you get a good initiative roll, you can really make the most out of the new bugbear's surprise attack ability and potentially get up to 3 swings on 3 different creatures
I have a ranger I wanna play soon for an island based campaign my friend is planning who's a pirate, I was originally planning to use the corsair subclass from a third party book if my DM allows it (Wanderer's guide to enchanted emporiums), but this also gave me the thought that I could pick swarmkeeper instead, flavour spike growth like caltrops and the swarm is parrots or high sea winds.
For another anime example, Ghost in the Shell is about a spec-ops counterterrorism team. There's whole flashback episode involving how the main sniper of the team was recruited to the team, and it involves a big game of cat and mouse as the sniper tries to outsmart a group he is targeting solo.
Also, with the tasha's 'Canny' feature, each character can take expertise in a different core skill. Gloomstalker-Stealth(forabvious reasons.) Fey Wanderer- CHA skill of choice(from race or background) Drakewarden-Survival(dragons have excellent senses) Swarmkeeper-Perception(he of a thousand eyes sees all, also flight at 7th level gives a really good vantage point) This would allow the party leeway to bot all focus on core ranger skills, and diversify overall party skill proficincies more.
A Tortle Fey Wanderer with a club and shield would be pretty cool. A tanky, wise, friendly turtle bro as the party face would be awesome. Also, you can save some ability points on dex to put elsewhere since dex doesn't add to Tortle ac. Makes it easier to prioritize wis>con>whatever else you want.
I’ve loved playing a Ranger from day one. I’ve played most classes now, but Ranger remains my favorite! My very first character was a Tabaxi ranger with the hunter subclass. Pretty classic ranger build, weapon-wise. The climbing speed and Feline Agility from Tabaxi were a great fit for the ranger class. She ended up picking up an Oath Bow along the way and with enough setup could sometimes deal upwards of 100 damage in a single turn! The second ranger I am currently playing in a Spelljammer campaign is an astral elf horizon walker, using a crossbow and dual wielding short swords. She was made with One D&D ranger rules. The horizon walker spells mix beautifully with the astral elf’s starlight step ability. She recently got a dancing sword as well! Distant Strike and Spectral Defense are amazing in combat, and I never feel like I’m out of options! She is easily one of my favorite characters so far. My third ranger that I’ve made for an upcoming campaign is a human (haven’t decided variant or not) Drake warden. Because I haven’t had the chance to play her yet, I’m really excited to see what her play is going to be like.
Optimizing an all ranger party (assuming tashas Customize Origin is allowed) Half Elf Gloomstocker: Stats: 15 +2 dex 14 + 1 Con 13 +1 Wis 12 int 10 str 8 char Notable features: Piercer, sharpshooter, Crossbow expert with Light Crossbow and the archery fighting style is really nice on this build. If multiclassing were allowed: battlemaster fighter Mountain Dwarf Fey Wanderer: Stats- 15 (+2) Wis 14 dex 13 (+2) con 12 char 10 str 8 int Notable features: Fighting initiate: dueling mixed with Druidic: Sheleighlah makes a 1d8+2 weapon. That's more damage on average than a 1d10 weapon. Or Crusher, giving you a 16 con whilst Doubling down on the magical bludgeoning stick that you are beating people with is useful. Other than that, crank that Wisdom to the moon. If multiclassing were allowed, one of the heavy armor Cleric subclasses would be perfect. Half Orc Primal Companion Beast Master: Stats: 15 (+2): dex 14: con 13(+1): wis 12: char 10: str 8: int Notable Features: This character is also another CBE Sharpshooter with a beastial companion that can be adjusted per the environment you are in. Summon Fey would be an interesting pick for a Summon spell. Straight class is encouraged Custom Lineage Horizon Walker. Stats 15 (+3) Dex 14 Wis 13 Con 12 str 10 char 8 Int Feat: Piercer. Notable features. This is your secondary frontline. Dueling with a Mini-smite and a rapier. Piercer for optimization purposes and maybe fighting Initiate protection to fight side by side with an ally to discourage hits.
Instead of picking up a fighting style feat for duelling and druidic warrior, take duelling on the character and magic initiate druid. Gives you the two can trips of druidic warrior and a lvl 1 spell.
GloomSTOCKER? a guy loading up Walmart's shelves in near darkness. 😅 Now I know what class my cousin is!! I know it's just a typo but the image it created was just too good to not comment, lol.
When I run a game for a Horizon Walker I make a few updates to bring the subclass in line with the Tasha's subclasses. 1. They always deal that extra damage die on one attack. The bonus action on that feature just turns all damage they deal until the start of their next turn into force damage. This brings the subclass in line with swarmkeeper and fey wanderer who get one extra damage die on one attack every turn for free. 2. They know about a number of portals equal to their Int score and all portals they find through play get recorded for later use. Finding portals is the defining feature of the subclass and because 5e handles exploration and plane hopping so poorly it always gets overlooked or ridiculed. I put at least one Horizon Walker safe house somewhere in every single planar metropolis in my games. I always start Horizon Walkers with 2 known portals that will take them to Sigil, and the 1 portal that dumps them in a back alley on the Radiant Citadel. Once the Horizon Walker leads the party to any planar metropolis they can check in at the safe house and buy maps to portals that will take them to the adventure locations I want the party to end up at. Ranger subclasses are called conclaves. That means they have secret meeting places and speak easies. The subclass that benefits most from this is the Horizon Walker. There are backrooms and training camps scattered across the multiverse that are freely used by all Horizon Walkers. The distance between these locations is infinite, but they are all within walking distance for Horizon Walkers. Each of these locations has at least one guy who asks every new arrival what portals they know about and, for a small fee that pays for upkeep and maintenance, sells them the locations of portals they need for their missions.
I'm playing a Ranger in 2 of my 3 games. So glad to see the Swarmkeeper getting some love! I'm playing a Warforged with a nanobot swarm (well, kind of inverse that) in our steam have and love it. So much versatility, and the swarm gives so much thematic flexibility as well.
Tasha's gave so much to Rangers, that it's probably one of the best martial classes now. Besides the expertise, movement buffs, temp HP, and invisibility, they also gave Rangers 5 always prepared utility spells. That they can also cast for free once daily. It really helps them free up their spell selections for other options, and makes it so casting them isn't a bad choice.
Right off the bar, any All-Ranger party would almost have to include a Fey Wanderer for social interaction. The Drakewarden will eventually become the striker, attacking and fading to draw event attention where necessary. The Gloomstalker is the ambusher who opens with a deadly salvo and improves the overall stealth of the party. Lastly, a Swarmkeeper would bring some additional utility. Or maybe a Monster Slayer could finally get a little love by being the dedicated anti-caster character. Or the Horizon Walker being able to teleport around the battlefield, absolutely wrecking their does and breaking their morale. Also, if you want that Fey Wanderer frontliner to do even more damage, make them a V. Human or Custom Lineage and start them with Fighting Initiate: Dueling, so they start off doing more damage with their staff even before they reach 2nd level and get Shillelagh through Druidic Warrior.
Idk, I like shadar-kai for fey wanderer....at level 3 the BA teleport plus resistance is really great for repositioning to where you need to be and tanking for others.... also, spiny shield is a new spell available for rangers I. The humblewood books that would help with tanking. Less damage output, but damage isn't really the point of a tank, especially with 3 other rangers in the party, right?
eladrin is better because the combination with beguiling twist at level 7 imo i am playing one but every enemy i go against in the phandelver and below campaign seems to be immune to frightened and charm lol
Great video as always... the one weakness I would perhaps note with an all ranger party is simply that the spell casting progression is slow. Summon Fey and conjure animals are great but worth remembering you don't have those til level 9, and you can't use seeming til 17. Also as you don't get to swap out the spells daily for what you need, it's going to be very important to decide who takes what spell. :o)
For spec ops ranger, see The Justicar in White Plume Mountain. One area the ranger may fall back in is the ability to make magic attacks for damage resistant enemies.
I'm very happy that the concept of "exploring and mapping new lands" was mentioned. I'm new to DnD, but I love the idea of a Dwarven Pioneer who searches for new resources, rediscover lost strongholds, and starts a new hold in a distant land.
I love that it's possible to do this in 5e. One curious rule in 1E was that you could never have more than three rangers in a party. We always joked that when the 4th ranger enters the room they all explode!
An easy thing to miss is that gloomstalkers get Wisdom save proficiency at 7th level. Treantmonk recently pointed out that a lack of save diversity is a big problem for parties, and that is built into every “what if everyone plays” party. You probably want to find a way to have every save covered by someone, and gloomstalker saves you one Resilient feat.
I played my ranger by the mantra "Be kind, be courteous, and have a plan to kill absolutely everyone you meet." As a Ranger, a little planning takes you all the way.
Honestly I think these are the best picks for subclasses in this scenario. The only thing I would change is make the Drakewarden your sole frontliner. With its flexible damage resistance and a pretty durable companion on hand, all you need to do is give them the sentinel feat and they can lock down individual threats easily. Have the Fey Wanderer hang back with Sharpshooter and Magic Stones. Maybe give them Shillelagh too so they can switch to melee. I'd probably have someone cast something like spike growth around the backline. It'll slow enemies and won't affect the Rangers thanks to their level 8 feature.
The big personal example I use for the Ranger's role and ability in a party is in a Ravnica game I played. 6 back-to-back encounters, 5 of which are leading up to the boss encounter at #6 (context: we're trying to stop an assassination). I, a Gruul Ranger specifically built for endurance, didn’t have to do much more than take some hits for the squishies, while they had to make sure the enemies thrown at us didn't whittle us down too much for the final encounter. Encounter 6, boss fight time. Everyone else's spellcasting resources are near fully depleted (we were Lv. 11-13, forgot the precise level), and we have a dilemma: they are in a windowless, escapeless room with our guy to protect, and they have a Wall of Force blocking the steel door. We need to get in there now, and have no means to do so; DM thinks the combat series is over. I reject the notion, interject, and ask them how thick the walls are. Seeing as this was intended to be a holding room for powerful prisoners until the Azorius decided what to do with them, DM answers with a steel sandwich with stone bread, each layer 5 feet thick. "Easy. I'm spamming Shatter until I break through. They will hear me. How much damage does Shatter have to deal for me to break through?" Two rounds later (I rolled extremely well), I have opened a massive hole into the wall, and the rest of the party (myself included), pour into the room and make them regret backing themselves into a corner. Or, in simple terms, a proper party doesn’t need a Ranger, and may be better with another class that can do what a Ranger does better. But you will never go wrong with having a Ranger to back you up, and all it takes to be a good Ranger is a little creativity with what you have and what's around you.
A lesser-used part of the character sheet can be useful here. Rangers are primarily archers, and arrows are consumable ammunition. If one of the rangers is a fletcher, the group can refill their quivers without having to return to town.
I am a ranger main for the most part (been branching out and letting others take up that mantle as of late). I have actually thought about how an all ranger party could work out. Personally I have thought of a 4 person ranger party being structured like this - Fey Wanderer, face person. Best for this absolutely. - Drakewarden, having their drake buddy means they can lean into calvary and/or they can be a healer who has their buddy cover for them so they aren’t attacked or focused on. You can also go strength build for this one and use javelins instead of a longbow. - Gloomstalker, one of your best to use for a stealth build, bar none, of the ranger subclasses. - and, Horizon Walker. I debated this a long time, but I felt, thematically and otherwise, this is a good build to move into a more intellectual build. The Monster Slayer is also thematically good for this. But that’s my opinion and how I would do this. There is a few hiccups no matter what but proper communication and working with your dm and them working with you, helps smooth over a lot of those.
As time has gone on, I have grown to love rangers. I always see them getting value. I love the flavor as well. I just imagine the all ranger part in a dragon hunting campaign and they would be amazing.
Rangers really are versatile and all encompassing. Problem is, too much work for only one Ranger to do, which weakens that character in comparison to the party. But when we have Rangers all around, we can cover all the possibilities, making the Class really shine! Loved this video Also, I wanted to do a bit of One Piece-like pirating in my campaign and I wanted a good idea for Marines. This? Ambushes and efficient takedowns? It’s giving me lots of ideas
Gloomstalker - dps Swarmkeeper - crowd control Fey Wanderer - face Beast Tamer and Drake Warden - pet tanks Horizon Walker - blink tank and the main way the DM gives new travel options to the party.
Call the A-Team!! Regarding the Fey Wanderer: I know this is supposed to just be no multiclassing, but I just gotta say if you took a one level dip into Monk then you'll be able to add your amazing Wisdom score to your AC and become insanely formidable. Bracers of Defense will be a must too to give it a boost, then you'll totally have the AC to be a good frontliner even naked. 👍
Sadly not a single STRanger. Currently I'm playing a Gloom Stalker STR Ranger and it's extremely deadly using heavy weapons. If AC is the main problem you can always get the Heavily Armored feat to gain Heavy Armor Prof. (and dump DEX if you want to).
Why would you ever want to? In 5e there's simply no good reason for any character (except Barbarians, who can't do anything except melee) to expose themself to the risks inherent to the front line (especially not in a party with such ready access to summoned creatures who can act as a disposable front line in your stead), not to mention how ranged combatants do more damage.
Back in 3.5 I was going to do a STRanger, but since composite bows aren't a thing anymore, when I adapted that character to 5e, I've found my longbow is just too strong? Which is wild, but as the dungeon dudes say, ranged attacks are good. Edited for clarity
This is a party that can start attacking 600ft away, that's a lot turns that the enemy is a sitting duck. The only caster party that could give them a run for there money would be warlocks specced into long range eldritch blast or if the caster knows wind wall that could throw a wrench in this too. Actually fighters and rogue (speccing into long bow through feats) parties could also be dangerous. But most other parties would be at severe risk.
@@janemayhew5159Yeah, 5E has really done STR dirty. Almost everything you could do with STR you can do with a low STR score as well. The exception is pretty much just STR saving throws.
Rangers are the A- class. They're almost never the tip top of anything, but they're 150% of a class. 50% rogue, 50% fighter, 50% druid. They cover basically every base and can pick up any slack. Ready for everything. Face? Fey Wanderer has you covered. Striker? Gloom Stalker obliterates enemies. Mobs? Monster Slayer thins the lines. Expendable support? Drakewarden and Beast Master can burn a spell slot to bring back powerful companions. Need a rogue? Rangers get expertise. Need languages? Rangers get plenty. Swimming, climbing, exhausted? Rangers don't stop. Rangers are just awesome.
This is an interesting one, haven't watch the video yet, but in theory Rangers should be one of the most versatile classes, lacking only in social interaction but not the worst in it. Lets see if even with Tasha's improvements this party will be as good as it should... IMPROVISE, ADAPT, OVERCOME... Hurra!! P.S: It actually is.
I had forgotten about drakewarden, so I replaced it with beast master, but otherwise predicted the party. Tasha's really did a number on the original class to bolster it into the beast it now is
I think the one real weakness the all-Ranger party might have issue with is fighting indoors or in cramped places. Even then, they're solid. However, if they're outside, their enemies are done for. If I was planning this team for a take-down of a bandit camp, for example, I'd have the Gloomstalker and the Swarmkeeper sitting at a comfortable range in stealth (within about 30 feet of each other), put the summons on the opposite side to pincer, have the spike growth to funnel and the Archfey and Drakewarden blocking the remaining escape route. The ranged attackers kick off the ambush with a volley, the summons then move in and, when the bandits try to run, the only path they can (quickly enough), they're hit by the tanks. Honestly? This is one heck of a team. Still waiting on the all-Artificer party, which might not be as effective, but man... the mad scientist party is going to be SO FUN!
Magic item of choice for most rangers: Serpent Scale Mail. Maybe not for the fey wanderer using druidic warrior. But especially for that switch hitting drake warden.
Ironically enough the worst possible thing to run for an all Ranger party would be an exploration campaign because they’d all be too good and there’d be no challenge.
It would be a very good idea if every ranger picked a primary color, like blue red etc to identify themselves. They would be very powerful rangers. I wonder what they could be called.
They should be called super sentai
Everyone takes 2 levels in druid
They're so powerful, maybe we'd call them the super rangers?
Rainbow rangers!
[Guitar shredding intensifies]
I love the idea of a Ranger party base of Disney princesses!
Swarm keeper - Snow White (calls the small beasts of the forest)
Beastmaster - Belle (Beauty and the beast)
Fey Wanderer - Pocahontas (talking to the spirits of the forest)
Drakewarden - Mulan (Mushu the dragon)
Oh my gosh that’s genius
So if we add another who would be the gloomstalker? 😮😅😅😂
Brilliant
@@woutvanostaden1299 I don't know maybe Sleeping Beauty! 😉
@@woutvanostaden1299 I actually think Mulan could be a Gloom Stalker, if you look at how she actually approached combat and was disguising herself. Although I liked the idea of her being a drake warden. Other idea Jasmine could be a Gloom Stalker, she certainly stayed hidden and navigated an urban environment in a Gloom Stalker way.
As a ranger main I appriciate this. They can be played so differently and imagine the themes to work with for why a troupe of various rangers meet.
Ranger mains unite!
Same! I was so excited to see this
Loved my horizon walker.
@@Grinnar still haven't played a horizon walker or hunter. My gloomstalker was obviously dope, swarm keeper was fun and I played revised BM a few times! Once with a hawk, another with a giant rabbit and in Icewind Dale my DM gave me an owl bear! Talk about tanky! And I made him STR over DEX. But my favorite was my fey wanderer, beguiling twist against casters and dragons was clutch!
@@karatekoala4270 mine was a strength built (originally fighter, but DM let me swap with a lot of down time), and boy did he wreck a lot of enemy groups very quickly, and tanked to protect the druid.
Oh god, I just had a vision of an enemy encampment in a field, and from 600 feet away, a ridiculous hail of arrows are being pointed at them. The enemy has no idea, just going about preperations, maybe even celebrations after a succesful mission. And then the first round of arrows strike. Before cries of pain can even be heard, the second arrows have landed. A third of the camp is down or dying before initiative has even been rolled. The enemy scrambles, trying to form a counterattack, but the rangers are several rounds of dashing across open ground away. A few lucky enemies manage to close distance, getting within 60 feet of this firing squad, but before they can attempt to do anything, 3 wild beasts and an actual dragon launch out of hiding, tearing into the poor warriors who thought they stood a chance. As the sounds of chaos and bloodshed end, the rangers approach the camp. They collect as many arrows as they can, recast their Pass Without Trace and Summons, and move on, ready to devastate the next enemy encampment.
"our archers will blot out the sun." "Well then we will fight in the dark" this except said by the same person! Lol
You got me moist 😂
Stealth and movement speed aside, 600ft isn’t what most people think it is. It isn’t actually that far. I’m talking vision wise.
Just saying because it frustrates me how seemingly everyone treats tiny distances like epic journeys. For example something I see in almost every stream I’ve watched is this bizarre idea that 30ft is too far away to hear a normal volume conversation clearly. If there’s lots of background noise interfering then sure, but that’s rarely the case. I’ve even seen the legendary Matt Mercer say “you can barely see them, they’re way off on the horizon… maybe 200ft away.”
It’s just bizarrely ludicrous how badly everyone interprets distance in d&d. I think it’s in part due to using ft as the measurement which leads to large numbers for small distances. Movement speeds don’t help either as people think of dashing 60ft in 6 seconds as an all out sprint when it’s really just twice more than a casual walk (average walking speed is between 1m/s and 1.6m/s. This works out at around 19ft to 31ft in a 6 second round).
@@asherandai1000 way out of context. Vision and hearing has no bearing on the context at hand. Shooting a bow accurately at 600 ft IRL is really hard. But doing it in DND when most others cannot is what is being discussed here. It's pretty good.
@@indigo_tribe I never said it wasn’t. I said the distance isn’t what people think it is. Try to pay attention.
20 mins in and not one mention of Robin Hood and the Merry Men perhaps the most famous example of an all ranger party!
I was thinking of that, but are the rest of the Merry Men strong examples of archetypical Rangers? Little John seems like a Fighter while Frier Tuck is a Cleric.
@@Mordalon Good question. Little John would be the Shillelagh armed fey wanderer and based only on the Russell Crowe film Tuck would be the swarmkeeper.
Visually? Yes (albeit with a cleric and a bard). Mechanically? Rogues and fighters.
all your vids give off this very comfy "older brothers teach their younger sibling" vibe and i'm here for it. thanks for sharing your love for this game
I think the biggest LotR analog for an all-ranger military outfit is Faramir’s guerrillas in Ithilien in the two towers. They’re way more visibly Rangery than Aragorn overall, at least what’s seen on screen and in the main narrative of the novels.
They appear around Sam and Frodo when Tolkien explicitly states that the Big People can’t sneak up on Hobbits because they’re too noisy and clumsy, but Faramir’s company manages it. They appear out of nowhere to ambush the Haradrim, then immediately melt back into the woodlands and getting back to their hidden camp
Despite a company of Rangers of the North, led by Halbarad, very little is known about them as opposed to the exposure given to the Rangers of Ithilien who definitely operate as guerrilla skirmishers.
Robert Rogers' rangers also work, if you're going for a more historical basis (bonus points if your table uses firearms rules.)
Quick note: Rangers, especially in an all Ranger party, are very nearly as stealthy as Rogues thanks to Pass Without Trace.
Possibly more since those optional features give Expertise as well. They r typically Dex based too, and with that and PWT, they're pulling more
Theyre better straight up until reliable talent comes into play, but Rangers can still cap out higher.
@@unboundsoul3582 I think that it levels out at that time, cuz PWT yeah it's a limited duration but, it's a +10 and unless you rule Nat 1 on Skill Checks auto fail, with Reliable Talent it sets them at a 10 regardless of 1-9. So officially Rangers still outperform in Stealth cuz without modifiers, that PWT is basically an 11-30 when RT is 10-20. Yeah they described in the party the Fey Wanderer being a Wisdom focus, but Medium Armor Master just negates the Stealth Disadvantage of Half Plate
@@unboundsoul3582 you need to redo your math a bit. Pass without trace is better than reliable talent. Straight up.
A rogue rolling a 1-9 gets 10+stealth mod.
A ranger rolling a 1 gets 1+10+stealth mod.
With tasha's giving ranger expertise, it is a straight upgrade.
Even a group of Paladins is stealthy with Path without Trace...
A party of Rangers could be a band of witchers and make a pretty cool monster hunter campaing
A party of blood hunters could fit that theme too. Tho ranger are better since they healing and spells, while blood hunters might have a leg up on damage depending on the build.
Mixing the 2 parties would be cool too.
@@woutvanostaden1299 i dont like the blood hunter i like Mat work as a DM but the rest im off
@@carlosblack8690 Fair enough.
@@woutvanostaden1299Blood Hunter is literally an off-brand, Great Value Ranger. Worse in every way
Pathfinder has a class that is basically witchers.
39:52 I have been playing a campaign, with a ranger and I am a rogue. And that has happened to me many times. The DM has placed creative scenarios for fights where he says "x thing gives you disadvantage on attacks" and I am like "great, I do not have sneak attack, I am absolutely useless".
But then, the ranger out damages my sneak attack on each individual attack. He ends up making two to three times the amount of damage I make. Even when I crit, he still out damages me that turn.... It really has made me realize how powerful the ranger is. And even then, he is a lot of times way more useful outside of combat than me. We often completely rely on him on exploration.... I think the ranger is really underrated.
My wife is playing a rogue and this same exact thing is happening to her.
Yeah, an unfortunate problem with rogues is that most of their best damage is only circumstantial available(sneak attack) whereas, like the dudes said, rangers are very consistent in their damage output. Also, most of a rogues utility is skill or tool based, which just can't really compete with spellcasting. Rogues are in an unfortunate position.
The scene in Dune where the Freman ambush their enemies by hiding in the sands is exactly how I imagine Rangers would play in a desert campaign
In the books they even communicate with trained bats and use a mix of ranged and melee combat.
@@Mordalon I've been through the books several times, and totally forgot about that. Thanks for the reminder!
This is the main fantasy behind the ranger class. 4 dudes sneaked in, picked apart a whole encampment of enemies, and captured the objective.
And you are one of them.
Faramir and Aragorn! The Ithilien Rangers and the Dunedain.
Exactly what I thought of.
Rangers are so versatile!
Take Heavily Armored Feat at lvl 4, focus CON, take defensive FS and you have tank with AC 21 and high HPs.
Take Crossbow Expert and Sharpshooter for awesome DPS.
Play Fey Wanderer for awesome face skills.
Play Swarmkeeper or Horizon Walker for mobility boost.
PS: Don't forget, that we are not using multiclassing, so we don't have to have 13+ DEX, so we can easily start with 17 in STR, 16 CON and 14-15 WIS and take Heavily Armored at lvl 4 for great AC, great HPs, STR +4 and still good WIS stat! (many people ignore STRangers totally)
Exactly, and on top of all the points you list the spell list they get generally has lots of great utility spells. And if you pick one of the pet providing rangers you can get some great utility from the pets too - useful stuff like blindsight, or just as a source of readily harvestable poisons, a more durable mount etc.
For me its between ranger and monk as the most undervalued class in 5E - Rangers are so very versatile and monks so very mobile, both of which are really good things to be, but tend to be rather overlooked in the pursuit of impressive damage numbers or lack of singularly impressive spells that in practice you probably never actually cast as its to resource intensive to waste outside of the final showdown with a BBEG.
Before starting the video, my dream team: Fey Wanderer is pretty crucial to act as a party face, then either Beast Master or Drakewarden for the pet, then either Swarmkeeper or Gloomstalker, and then add Monster Hunter as the spicy pick. Monster Hunter actually looks like it's be really interesting with an all-Ranger party, since it can give out information on enemy weaknesses, gets a once per short rest ability to counter a spell or attempt to teleport, and gets Magic Circle, which could open up some amazing tactical cheese if the party is planning to ambush any celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, or undead.
I was thinking the same way. Switching the swarmkeeper for the monster slayer to handle casters.
I actually played in an all ranger party about three years ago! It was one of the most fun short campaigns I've been in. Everyone had a different subclass. I was playing the revised Beast Master, with the character basically being a D&D version of Steve Irwin. We had a Gloom Stalker, Fey Wanderer, and Swarmkeeper as well. The DM threw a lot of oddball challenges at us, and we had an answer to almost everything.
As a ranger appreciator, I love this. Rangers' reputation in 5E has been tainted thanks to their original features and subclasses, and it's hard to say you're a fan of them without being met with turned-up-noses. To hear that in the ridiculous hypothetical scenario of a mono-class party they'd be S tier from some of my fave content creators is very validating
I know I've been looking forward to this one :)
Two things that would send this party flying:
- Fey Touched: Bless
- Shadow Touched: Silent Image
Bless would absolutely boost their ranged damage through the roof. And Invisibility plus Silent Image are just amazing for getting in close and ambushing a target.
Those are amazing feat choices for this party. Currently playing a dhampir swarmkeeper and I've taken sharpshooter and piercer. (Between the bow/fangs, gathered swarm, and HM, there s almost always an opportunity to reroll low die rolls) my next ASI at level 12, I'm hoping to pick up the Vital Sacrifice feat from the new taldorei book to add to his damage and attacks.
You even have the perfect characters for those feats thematically. Gloomstalker and fey wanderer. Although fey wanderer gets some great extra spells, so it might be mechanically better for bless to be on the drakewarden. But the flavor with the other two subclasses....
For the inspiration section, surprised that the idea of Robin Hood and his Merry Men didn't come up, that is totally a pack of rangers, with their bard and cleric hangers-on!
Ranger main group is awesome. We hype each other up and show we’re a force to be reckoned with. I think the line from Star Wars rogue one - Make ten men feel like a hundred - perfectly sums up this party. Love the vid, keep up the awesome content 👍🏹
Been a ranger fan for a long time and it has been particularly hearting to see the class get so much love in recent books.
That crushing darkness at the beginning though
ranger is a personal favorite of mine as the first class i played in d&d and im really happy with where they are right now in 5e
One of the thoughts for an all ranger campaign I had was exploring an alien planet. Where they have just put up a small settlement and they’re the ones in charge of securing it and keeping the area safe. Maybe interacting with other local creatures as well
The whole video, I was picturing:
Sun is rising, casting shadows over a valley. Within, a group of gnolls are getting ready to hunt for the day. One kicks the embers of the campfire to see if any meat fell from yesterday's kill. Another stands and scans the valley. The rising sun behind him casts long shadows on the tall grass that sways throughout. The gnoll turns, shielding his eyes from the glare of the new sun.
All seems peaceful. The grass moves as it should. The party is grumbling, but slowly packing up the campsite.
The gnoll, who has been scanning the valley, registers a flash in the grass. With the glare of the sun, he hesitates a beat too long. The arrow takes him through his throat, silencing his cry as he falls back.
He lands in the campfire, but it's already to late for the startled gnolls. The Ranger's "rain" takes them all by surprise. The Rangers reveal themselves; camouflaged with the valley's grass, they emerge from an ocean of swaying shadows and greenery.
Ok, I think this is the group that's the most fun to talk about. Case and point, Race? It matters! I think it may matter just as much with this group as with any of the others. A Wood Elf group would be different than a Drow group! How about a mix? So, SO good. I could write crazy stories about this group.
37:38 Slow is smooth, smooth is fast, and to paraphrase Wyatt Earp "Fast is fine, but accuracy is final"
I've been playing a Fey Wanderer ranger for a few months now, i specc'd them to be a kind of do anything character, because 3 of the 5 players in the game have never played before - fey wanderer makes a great all-areas backup to help boost up new player's confidence. I've got backup healing, utility magic, social bonuses and the option of going completely rambo if the moment calls for it. Also I'm a winged tiefling, so i have a great way to get in range for a healing word (I'm keeping the flight to a minimum though.)
I'm working to build the others up as much as possible, and with the other experienced player being a bard and working the same way, i think we're doing pretty well!
what is your gameplay in combat? i just got to level 9 and im wisdom based (i use magic stone or shillelagh with fey touched hex as my bread and butter), i tanked a mindflayer with some lucky rolls against his int based stun while our barb was stunned until it dies
@@finalfantasy50 rapier/longbow. Dreadful strikes + favoured foe + gift of the chromatic dragon. So I can hit for 1d8+2d4+1d6+3 each hit if I devote a bonus action to the setup for it.
Like I said, i have the option to go completely rambo when I need to.
14:40 Not only that, but since it adds Wisdom TO your Charisma checks, it can easily be one of the strongest social faces in the game.
Pretty easy to sit at level 3 with a +9 to Persuasion via Pointbuy and Expertise
It’s cool to see the support the rangers have received has made them so impressive. A party of rangers is also the most organic party of the classes.
One of my favorite D&D One-offs. We've done this a couple of times. My favorite iteration was the "Sky Ranger" game. Yes, they fly, the entire party is made up of flying Rangers. It was fun!
Maybe not the best class, but it came a long way since the beginning of 5e and it’ll always be my favourite ♥️
One of my favorite 3.5 edition campaigns was the old “Orc Wars” trope; BBEG opens portals across the realm, orcs and goblins are pouring in. But the twist was, we modeled the world basically like a huge military deployment, think US Army during Vietnam War or in Europe during WWII. Everything was militarized, towns were occupied, civilians were put to work supporting the military. It was low magic in terms of powerful wizards, most spell casters were in support rolls healing and making cool magical items. The focus was on the infantry i.e. fighters and rangers, think Airborne Rangers. We were based out of Daggerford and patrolled the areas around it. We had Roc’s that flew us in like helicopters by carrying a wagon with a Ranger squad in it. We used a home version of the Ranger that we called the militarized Ranger that had no spells, but had bonuses to THAC0 and damage. It was a lot of fun and felt very much like a hopeless, endless war.
Alright pre video guesses;
Gloomstalker for obvious
Fey wanderer for party face,
Beast master/drake warden front liner, and
Swarm keeper for the beast of utility and control
You were correct.
I've tried to get my friends all in on a campaign like this in a desolate setting akin to Dark Sun. Swarmkeeper and Tashsas changed my entire opinion on the class in one of their campaigns when I was able to survive a losing fight and ended up the last man standing before our enemy relented. Its a memory I will never forget and was the only time in DnD I've felt like the absolute BA that you'd expect a hero to be. God tier class and full ranger party would be sick. Great video guys keep it up.
Gotta say, I love the 6 seconds of black at the beginning of the video. It really adds atmosphere 😂 great video as always guys, keep it up!
I legit thought UA-cam was bugging lol
The most awesome answer is: 4 Drakewardens. You're either part of a military (the Dragon Scout unit?) or part of a large adventuring guild. You basically raise your own drakes up from the early levels up until you can use them as mounts, and eventually as flying mounts. Plus: group breath weapon spam.
Pern, Alagaësia, and Berk would like to speak with you.
EDIT: This list will continue to be updated.
Is this how you train your dragon?
Eh. I'd just be an Aasimar and use the Radiant Soul to be a Legend of Dragoon style Dragoon.
This is where you play a Githyanki.
Magic Initiate could add a familiar to the party roster, enabling aerial surveillance. The airborne familiar could pass signals through aerial maneuvers - for instance circling left or right, dives or climbs.
If you want a familiar, Ritual Caster is a better choice. You get the familiar, plus spells ranger is missing like detect magic, identify, comprehend languages and so on.
Rangers may not win very many gold medals, but the gold medal they've got is in the decathlon.
I loved playing as a ranger. Swarmkeeper is awesome!
That excited triple arm slapping at 36:51 gets me 😅
Finally some Ranger love
Would it be worth it to have a strength based ranger mixed in to cover your skill bases and rock heavy armor? The Drakewarden could be a tanky support and also fits the "knight and dragon" aesthetic nicely.
That's what I was thinking. Since the all-Ranger party is so good you can probably spare some "inefficiencies" to take Skilled or Heavily Armored to fill in the gaps.
Spelljammer Campaign = Firefly!
Shiny!
You would NOT believe your eyes...
@@MrsAjergirl 🤦
I *love* these single-class party videos, and this one did not disappoint. A couple of comments:
1. I would love to see a video where you both create single-class parties and do battle against each other, maybe at 8th Level or so. Spellcasters won't get 5th level spells yet, and everyone will have had a chance for a second feat or ability score bump. Could be a fun one-shot if you ran it in a large arena with some terrain for added strategy. A friend and I did something like this once, challenging a four-person party of Mystics (from an Unearthed Arcana playtest) against a classic four-person party with a Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, and Wizard. It was a lot of fun!
2. All of my characters are "Rangers," but none have had any levels of the Ranger class. Since there is no Rangers' Guild or anything like that, who's to say who is a Ranger and who isn't? My personal criteria is they need to have good Dexterity, wear nothing heavier than light armor, and call themselves a Ranger. (Ideally they're also proficient in Survival and Perception.) I've played Rangers who were Wizards, Clerics, Rogues, Fighters, Monks, and Druids, and it's always great fun. It all started when 5e came out and I was disappointed by the Ranger class, and it's my favorite type of character.
I recently ran a 1 on 1 D&D session (would definately recommend) with a ranger. It really made it hit home that rangers are surprisingly good at everything.
Hit dice and fighting style of a fighter, stealth and subterfuge of a rogue, healing and damage buffs of a cleric, as well as the outdoor survival skills of, well, a ranger.
When you are the only player in a party, you have no one to help you out in a pinch. A ranger can tread water where others would sink.
Yeah it really shows you how good overall
Yeah it really shows you how versatile it is
Love this series: could be worth a follow up where you build the characters, choosing the races/species, feats, spells, etc to make each the best they can be.
I like this one, thanks guys!
I think it is defensible to build a Ranger that dumps Wisdom, as so few Ranger spells require a good WIS to be good. Also, I think the all swim speed in a seafaring situation is clutch.
Love this group. You didnt even talk about the power behind beguiling twist and summon fey and the control that brings
Real talk you guys built the exact party that I would make down to the specific character builds. Very nice work gentleman, very nice work
Ranger party: you can run but you cant hide.
From the deepest pit to the tallest peak we pursued our enemy, until we smote his ruin on the mountainside.
All Gloom stalker ranger party:
“Bravo Six, going dark.”
One member of the team can take Medium Armor Master and Half Plate. No Disadvantage on Stealth, AC 20 with a shield. Fighter-level HP. You won't always need a tank, but now you have one!
Rangers already get medium armor and shields.
@@CitanulsPumpkinmedium master. Wearing medium armor doesn't impose disadvantage on your Dexterity (Stealth) checks.
When you wear medium armor, you can add 3, rather than 2, to your AC if you have a Dexterity of 16 or higher.
@@oliverl6779 Okay, so walk through this with me. The ranger, a class that needs good scores in Dex, Wis, and Con, is going to give up an ASI and get what exactly?
No disadvantage on a roll for a skill they most likely already have proficiency in, expertise in, is governed by their Main Stat, a plus ten bonus from one of their best class specific spells, and a few other bonuses from magic items or whatnot accumulated through the DM just handing out stuff in books that "feels rangerish."
And 1 more point of AC.
Granted, every point of AC is precocious, but... doesn't this feel like diminishing returns? If we're really trying to get more AC take a feat that gives you the Shield spell or talk to your DM about hunting down an enemy that has or can be crafted into a ring of spell storing and fill it with Shield spells. Or just pick up a wand of Shield spells.
@@CitanulsPumpkin 2 more ac, as You Can take half plate.
But I agree with you, there are many feats that I would prefer instead , or an asi
In the right campaigns, you can make "all one class" comps work super well. Rangers are no exception, and I appreciate this video
Great Video guys. I love the idea of a more upfront ranger party, so instead of the gloomstalker, taking the horizan walker. It gives the party a DPS character as they get haste and also provide banishment for some field control. My personal like that are rangers are skirmish fighters
Stealth killing a dragon is one of my fondest gaming achievements. Who knew all rangers were op? Dunedain, that's who. Finally, my favorite class gets its due. Much Love Dudes
I added one thing to my table's available options that I've been very pleased with: I made a new feature for Rangers that gives them something like the Paladin's Divine Smite, but instead of doing crazy damage it focuses on damage type versatility and inflicting a variety of debuffs and interesting effects. It's not even a huge change, but it provides a ton of flexibility and makes the Ranger into a utility fighter that can spike their damage a bit and make sure enemies stay right where they want them
That sounds really interesting. Could you expand on that?
My ranger fix is a bit more involved, but if you know the source material for it all the problems with ranger melt away.
1. Hunter's Mark, favored enemies, and favored terrain. All gone. They don't exist for Rangers in my games.
2. Rangers get all the stuff they got in Tasha's, except for the feature that gives extra castings of Hunter's Mark.
3. Rangers choose a Color of Mana at the levels they would have chosen a favored enemy creature type.
White
Blue
Black
Red
Green
Colorless
The colors from Magic the Gathering.
When you pick a favored mana, you get multiple benefits.
1. Bonus languages known equal to one or your Int mod. Whichever is higher.
2. All Dex, Int, and Wis checks made while inside or in relation to any terrains, creature types, classes, backgrounds, or effects tied to one of your favored mana colors are made with advantage.
3. All weapon attacks against creatures tied to any of your favored mana colors deal one extra damage die of the weapon's normal die type.
If you know nothing about MtG it may not seem like a good change, but there are easy to find resources that will tell you what creature and terrain types get slotted into what colors.
Some third party subclasses that give a free terrain or creature type I change to give one more favored mana color.
@@wantedOSTRICH so the basic mechanic is that a Ranger can spend a spell slot to activate the feature, which I named Primal Snares to parallel the Paladin's Divine Smite feature. When a Ranger hits with an attack, ranged or melee, they can expend a spell slot to deal extra damage to the target and provoke a saving throw to resist an extra effect. Each Snare specifies the damage type, and different spell slot levels can activate different specific Snares. The three first level Snares I came up with were Bleeding (which deals slashing damage and can cause the enemy to take extra b/p/s damage), Hobbling (which deals piercing damage and can cut the target's speed), and Pushing (which deals bludgeoning damage and can knock a target prone). The damage starts at 1d6, but it upscales as you use higher level slots. The effects also get stronger as it goes, so it stays useful as you level up
@@CitanulsPumpkinthat's super cool! I don't know how well it would work at a table like mine (only I and two other players know anything about MtG) but it sounds like it works for you! I added some extra mechanics to favored terrain and favored enemy, which works for us, but different groups will like different mechanics!
Can definitely run a Hell Divers inspired campaign with this group, and it will be epic
Yes! Completely agree! I love Rangers & this is the single class party video I've been waiting for. Yes to S teir!
If you added a 5th and knew the campaign was going high level, i'd love to pick up a Horizon Walker STRanger for this. Guardian of nature's Primal Beast form + horizon walkers teleportation would be great starting at level 13. Also, make it a bugbear for extra reach to allow for more chance to get that third attack every round. Additionally, if your squad is getting the drop on the enemy and you get a good initiative roll, you can really make the most out of the new bugbear's surprise attack ability and potentially get up to 3 swings on 3 different creatures
I have a ranger I wanna play soon for an island based campaign my friend is planning who's a pirate, I was originally planning to use the corsair subclass from a third party book if my DM allows it (Wanderer's guide to enchanted emporiums), but this also gave me the thought that I could pick swarmkeeper instead, flavour spike growth like caltrops and the swarm is parrots or high sea winds.
For another anime example, Ghost in the Shell is about a spec-ops counterterrorism team. There's whole flashback episode involving how the main sniper of the team was recruited to the team, and it involves a big game of cat and mouse as the sniper tries to outsmart a group he is targeting solo.
Your fey wanderer description was spot on with my first ever 5e character. Multiclassed with druid instead of the fighting style but same idea
A party of rangers would be so versatile, they could go weapon & shield, dual wielding, archery and even thrown weapon fighting
Also, with the tasha's 'Canny' feature, each character can take expertise in a different core skill.
Gloomstalker-Stealth(forabvious reasons.)
Fey Wanderer- CHA skill of choice(from race or background)
Drakewarden-Survival(dragons have excellent senses)
Swarmkeeper-Perception(he of a thousand eyes sees all, also flight at 7th level gives a really good vantage point)
This would allow the party leeway to bot all focus on core ranger skills, and diversify overall party skill proficincies more.
A Tortle Fey Wanderer with a club and shield would be pretty cool. A tanky, wise, friendly turtle bro as the party face would be awesome. Also, you can save some ability points on dex to put elsewhere since dex doesn't add to Tortle ac. Makes it easier to prioritize wis>con>whatever else you want.
I’ve loved playing a Ranger from day one. I’ve played most classes now, but Ranger remains my favorite!
My very first character was a Tabaxi ranger with the hunter subclass. Pretty classic ranger build, weapon-wise. The climbing speed and Feline Agility from Tabaxi were a great fit for the ranger class. She ended up picking up an Oath Bow along the way and with enough setup could sometimes deal upwards of 100 damage in a single turn!
The second ranger I am currently playing in a Spelljammer campaign is an astral elf horizon walker, using a crossbow and dual wielding short swords. She was made with One D&D ranger rules. The horizon walker spells mix beautifully with the astral elf’s starlight step ability. She recently got a dancing sword as well! Distant Strike and Spectral Defense are amazing in combat, and I never feel like I’m out of options! She is easily one of my favorite characters so far.
My third ranger that I’ve made for an upcoming campaign is a human (haven’t decided variant or not) Drake warden. Because I haven’t had the chance to play her yet, I’m really excited to see what her play is going to be like.
Optimizing an all ranger party (assuming tashas Customize Origin is allowed)
Half Elf Gloomstocker:
Stats:
15 +2 dex
14 + 1 Con
13 +1 Wis
12 int
10 str
8 char
Notable features: Piercer, sharpshooter, Crossbow expert with Light Crossbow and the archery fighting style is really nice on this build. If multiclassing were allowed: battlemaster fighter
Mountain Dwarf Fey Wanderer:
Stats-
15 (+2) Wis
14 dex
13 (+2) con
12 char
10 str
8 int
Notable features: Fighting initiate: dueling mixed with Druidic: Sheleighlah makes a 1d8+2 weapon. That's more damage on average than a 1d10 weapon.
Or Crusher, giving you a 16 con whilst Doubling down on the magical bludgeoning stick that you are beating people with is useful. Other than that, crank that Wisdom to the moon.
If multiclassing were allowed, one of the heavy armor Cleric subclasses would be perfect.
Half Orc Primal Companion Beast Master:
Stats:
15 (+2): dex
14: con
13(+1): wis
12: char
10: str
8: int
Notable Features:
This character is also another CBE Sharpshooter with a beastial companion that can be adjusted per the environment you are in. Summon Fey would be an interesting pick for a Summon spell.
Straight class is encouraged
Custom Lineage Horizon Walker.
Stats
15 (+3) Dex
14 Wis
13 Con
12 str
10 char
8 Int
Feat: Piercer.
Notable features.
This is your secondary frontline. Dueling with a Mini-smite and a rapier. Piercer for optimization purposes and maybe fighting Initiate protection to fight side by side with an ally to discourage hits.
Instead of picking up a fighting style feat for duelling and druidic warrior, take duelling on the character and magic initiate druid. Gives you the two can trips of druidic warrior and a lvl 1 spell.
GloomSTOCKER? a guy loading up Walmart's shelves in near darkness. 😅 Now I know what class my cousin is!!
I know it's just a typo but the image it created was just too good to not comment, lol.
When I run a game for a Horizon Walker I make a few updates to bring the subclass in line with the Tasha's subclasses.
1. They always deal that extra damage die on one attack. The bonus action on that feature just turns all damage they deal until the start of their next turn into force damage.
This brings the subclass in line with swarmkeeper and fey wanderer who get one extra damage die on one attack every turn for free.
2. They know about a number of portals equal to their Int score and all portals they find through play get recorded for later use.
Finding portals is the defining feature of the subclass and because 5e handles exploration and plane hopping so poorly it always gets overlooked or ridiculed. I put at least one Horizon Walker safe house somewhere in every single planar metropolis in my games. I always start Horizon Walkers with 2 known portals that will take them to Sigil, and the 1 portal that dumps them in a back alley on the Radiant Citadel. Once the Horizon Walker leads the party to any planar metropolis they can check in at the safe house and buy maps to portals that will take them to the adventure locations I want the party to end up at.
Ranger subclasses are called conclaves. That means they have secret meeting places and speak easies. The subclass that benefits most from this is the Horizon Walker. There are backrooms and training camps scattered across the multiverse that are freely used by all Horizon Walkers. The distance between these locations is infinite, but they are all within walking distance for Horizon Walkers. Each of these locations has at least one guy who asks every new arrival what portals they know about and, for a small fee that pays for upkeep and maintenance, sells them the locations of portals they need for their missions.
There was a Wild West film featuring Multi-classing Rangers and Bards...The Three Amigos :)
I'm playing a Ranger in 2 of my 3 games. So glad to see the Swarmkeeper getting some love! I'm playing a Warforged with a nanobot swarm (well, kind of inverse that) in our steam have and love it. So much versatility, and the swarm gives so much thematic flexibility as well.
I am so waiting for the Monk and Artificer "Everyone Plays" video!
They've done the monk already
Tasha's gave so much to Rangers, that it's probably one of the best martial classes now. Besides the expertise, movement buffs, temp HP, and invisibility, they also gave Rangers 5 always prepared utility spells. That they can also cast for free once daily. It really helps them free up their spell selections for other options, and makes it so casting them isn't a bad choice.
Right off the bar, any All-Ranger party would almost have to include a Fey Wanderer for social interaction. The Drakewarden will eventually become the striker, attacking and fading to draw event attention where necessary. The Gloomstalker is the ambusher who opens with a deadly salvo and improves the overall stealth of the party. Lastly, a Swarmkeeper would bring some additional utility. Or maybe a Monster Slayer could finally get a little love by being the dedicated anti-caster character. Or the Horizon Walker being able to teleport around the battlefield, absolutely wrecking their does and breaking their morale.
Also, if you want that Fey Wanderer frontliner to do even more damage, make them a V. Human or Custom Lineage and start them with Fighting Initiate: Dueling, so they start off doing more damage with their staff even before they reach 2nd level and get Shillelagh through Druidic Warrior.
Idk, I like shadar-kai for fey wanderer....at level 3 the BA teleport plus resistance is really great for repositioning to where you need to be and tanking for others.... also, spiny shield is a new spell available for rangers I. The humblewood books that would help with tanking. Less damage output, but damage isn't really the point of a tank, especially with 3 other rangers in the party, right?
eladrin is better because the combination with beguiling twist at level 7 imo
i am playing one but every enemy i go against in the phandelver and below campaign seems to be immune to frightened and charm lol
@@finalfantasy50 it is a very psychic-heavy campaign. Illithid jerks ruining everything...
Great video as always... the one weakness I would perhaps note with an all ranger party is simply that the spell casting progression is slow. Summon Fey and conjure animals are great but worth remembering you don't have those til level 9, and you can't use seeming til 17. Also as you don't get to swap out the spells daily for what you need, it's going to be very important to decide who takes what spell. :o)
For spec ops ranger, see The Justicar in White Plume Mountain. One area the ranger may fall back in is the ability to make magic attacks for damage resistant enemies.
I highly agree. I feel like all excess gold would be spent on enchanted arrows of various types. To try to mitigate this.
If your DM is throwing nothing but damage resistant enemies at you then go Horizon Walker.
I'm very happy that the concept of "exploring and mapping new lands" was mentioned.
I'm new to DnD, but I love the idea of a Dwarven Pioneer who searches for new resources, rediscover lost strongholds, and starts a new hold in a distant land.
I love that it's possible to do this in 5e. One curious rule in 1E was that you could never have more than three rangers in a party. We always joked that when the 4th ranger enters the room they all explode!
An easy thing to miss is that gloomstalkers get Wisdom save proficiency at 7th level. Treantmonk recently pointed out that a lack of save diversity is a big problem for parties, and that is built into every “what if everyone plays” party. You probably want to find a way to have every save covered by someone, and gloomstalker saves you one Resilient feat.
I played my ranger by the mantra "Be kind, be courteous, and have a plan to kill absolutely everyone you meet." As a Ranger, a little planning takes you all the way.
Honestly I think these are the best picks for subclasses in this scenario. The only thing I would change is make the Drakewarden your sole frontliner. With its flexible damage resistance and a pretty durable companion on hand, all you need to do is give them the sentinel feat and they can lock down individual threats easily. Have the Fey Wanderer hang back with Sharpshooter and Magic Stones. Maybe give them Shillelagh too so they can switch to melee.
I'd probably have someone cast something like spike growth around the backline. It'll slow enemies and won't affect the Rangers thanks to their level 8 feature.
The big personal example I use for the Ranger's role and ability in a party is in a Ravnica game I played.
6 back-to-back encounters, 5 of which are leading up to the boss encounter at #6 (context: we're trying to stop an assassination). I, a Gruul Ranger specifically built for endurance, didn’t have to do much more than take some hits for the squishies, while they had to make sure the enemies thrown at us didn't whittle us down too much for the final encounter.
Encounter 6, boss fight time. Everyone else's spellcasting resources are near fully depleted (we were Lv. 11-13, forgot the precise level), and we have a dilemma: they are in a windowless, escapeless room with our guy to protect, and they have a Wall of Force blocking the steel door. We need to get in there now, and have no means to do so; DM thinks the combat series is over.
I reject the notion, interject, and ask them how thick the walls are. Seeing as this was intended to be a holding room for powerful prisoners until the Azorius decided what to do with them, DM answers with a steel sandwich with stone bread, each layer 5 feet thick.
"Easy. I'm spamming Shatter until I break through. They will hear me. How much damage does Shatter have to deal for me to break through?"
Two rounds later (I rolled extremely well), I have opened a massive hole into the wall, and the rest of the party (myself included), pour into the room and make them regret backing themselves into a corner.
Or, in simple terms, a proper party doesn’t need a Ranger, and may be better with another class that can do what a Ranger does better.
But you will never go wrong with having a Ranger to back you up, and all it takes to be a good Ranger is a little creativity with what you have and what's around you.
A lesser-used part of the character sheet can be useful here. Rangers are primarily archers, and arrows are consumable ammunition. If one of the rangers is a fletcher, the group can refill their quivers without having to return to town.
The sharpshooter feet is just so good it makes the rangers not need to worry about positioning.
I am a ranger main for the most part (been branching out and letting others take up that mantle as of late). I have actually thought about how an all ranger party could work out.
Personally I have thought of a 4 person ranger party being structured like this
- Fey Wanderer, face person. Best for this absolutely.
- Drakewarden, having their drake buddy means they can lean into calvary and/or they can be a healer who has their buddy cover for them so they aren’t attacked or focused on. You can also go strength build for this one and use javelins instead of a longbow.
- Gloomstalker, one of your best to use for a stealth build, bar none, of the ranger subclasses.
- and, Horizon Walker. I debated this a long time, but I felt, thematically and otherwise, this is a good build to move into a more intellectual build. The Monster Slayer is also thematically good for this.
But that’s my opinion and how I would do this. There is a few hiccups no matter what but proper communication and working with your dm and them working with you, helps smooth over a lot of those.
As time has gone on, I have grown to love rangers. I always see them getting value. I love the flavor as well. I just imagine the all ranger part in a dragon hunting campaign and they would be amazing.
Rangers really are versatile and all encompassing. Problem is, too much work for only one Ranger to do, which weakens that character in comparison to the party. But when we have Rangers all around, we can cover all the possibilities, making the Class really shine! Loved this video
Also, I wanted to do a bit of One Piece-like pirating in my campaign and I wanted a good idea for Marines. This? Ambushes and efficient takedowns? It’s giving me lots of ideas
Gloomstalker - dps
Swarmkeeper - crowd control
Fey Wanderer - face
Beast Tamer and Drake Warden - pet tanks
Horizon Walker - blink tank and the main way the DM gives new travel options to the party.
Call the A-Team!!
Regarding the Fey Wanderer: I know this is supposed to just be no multiclassing, but I just gotta say if you took a one level dip into Monk then you'll be able to add your amazing Wisdom score to your AC and become insanely formidable. Bracers of Defense will be a must too to give it a boost, then you'll totally have the AC to be a good frontliner even naked. 👍
Waited a long time for this one. Thanks for making it. 🙂
Sadly not a single STRanger. Currently I'm playing a Gloom Stalker STR Ranger and it's extremely deadly using heavy weapons. If AC is the main problem you can always get the Heavily Armored feat to gain Heavy Armor Prof. (and dump DEX if you want to).
Why would you ever want to? In 5e there's simply no good reason for any character (except Barbarians, who can't do anything except melee) to expose themself to the risks inherent to the front line (especially not in a party with such ready access to summoned creatures who can act as a disposable front line in your stead), not to mention how ranged combatants do more damage.
Back in 3.5 I was going to do a STRanger, but since composite bows aren't a thing anymore, when I adapted that character to 5e, I've found my longbow is just too strong? Which is wild, but as the dungeon dudes say, ranged attacks are good.
Edited for clarity
This is a party that can start attacking 600ft away, that's a lot turns that the enemy is a sitting duck. The only caster party that could give them a run for there money would be warlocks specced into long range eldritch blast or if the caster knows wind wall that could throw a wrench in this too. Actually fighters and rogue (speccing into long bow through feats) parties could also be dangerous.
But most other parties would be at severe risk.
@@janemayhew5159Yeah, 5E has really done STR dirty. Almost everything you could do with STR you can do with a low STR score as well.
The exception is pretty much just STR saving throws.
Rangers are the A- class. They're almost never the tip top of anything, but they're 150% of a class. 50% rogue, 50% fighter, 50% druid. They cover basically every base and can pick up any slack. Ready for everything. Face? Fey Wanderer has you covered. Striker? Gloom Stalker obliterates enemies. Mobs? Monster Slayer thins the lines. Expendable support? Drakewarden and Beast Master can burn a spell slot to bring back powerful companions. Need a rogue? Rangers get expertise. Need languages? Rangers get plenty. Swimming, climbing, exhausted? Rangers don't stop.
Rangers are just awesome.
This is an interesting one, haven't watch the video yet, but in theory Rangers should be one of the most versatile classes, lacking only in social interaction but not the worst in it.
Lets see if even with Tasha's improvements this party will be as good as it should...
IMPROVISE, ADAPT, OVERCOME... Hurra!!
P.S: It actually is.
Goodberry makes them really quite durable especially if you remember to cast them before long rests.
My personal favorite ranger subclass is the horizon walker I just love the flavor of that subclass
Stargate (SG1) in D&D. You can run it from Sigal or spelljammer. ((You guys are Canadian and you didn’t call it out))
I had forgotten about drakewarden, so I replaced it with beast master, but otherwise predicted the party. Tasha's really did a number on the original class to bolster it into the beast it now is
Same, i figured beastmaster was a must but Drakewarden is just the cooler beastmaster.
Drakewarden is better tank, because you can use Action to resummon the companion.
In every other aspect, Beast Master is much better.
I can see the Fey Wanderer being the leader of the group, personally
I think the one real weakness the all-Ranger party might have issue with is fighting indoors or in cramped places. Even then, they're solid. However, if they're outside, their enemies are done for.
If I was planning this team for a take-down of a bandit camp, for example, I'd have the Gloomstalker and the Swarmkeeper sitting at a comfortable range in stealth (within about 30 feet of each other), put the summons on the opposite side to pincer, have the spike growth to funnel and the Archfey and Drakewarden blocking the remaining escape route. The ranged attackers kick off the ambush with a volley, the summons then move in and, when the bandits try to run, the only path they can (quickly enough), they're hit by the tanks.
Honestly? This is one heck of a team.
Still waiting on the all-Artificer party, which might not be as effective, but man... the mad scientist party is going to be SO FUN!
Magic item of choice for most rangers: Serpent Scale Mail. Maybe not for the fey wanderer using druidic warrior. But especially for that switch hitting drake warden.
Ironically enough the worst possible thing to run for an all Ranger party would be an exploration campaign because they’d all be too good and there’d be no challenge.