Ranger

Unearthed Arcana: The Ranger,
Revised

Over the past year, you’ve seen us try a number of
new approaches to the ranger, all aimed at
addressing the class’s high levels of player
dissatisfaction and its ranking as D&D’s weakest
class by a significant margin.
Those two factors combined to put us on the path
to this revision. We have classes that rate as weak,
but which nonetheless have high levels of player
satisfaction. That tells us people playing those
classes are happy with how their characters’
abilities work and with their own experience at the
table, even if those classes aren’t the strongest. After
all, not every class can rank at the top.
Likewise, most issues we see with classes are
confined to specific abilities that don’t play a big
role in determining whether players like the class as
a whole. In other words, no class is perfect, but each
is close enough to the mark in its own way that
players are happy.
As such, the ranger’s status as a sore spot for
players has been a cause for concern for a while.
And so, today we present a new revision of the
ranger. Though it retains many of the elements of
the existing class, a lot has changed, so it’s best to
simply dig into the new material to get a sense of
how it feels. But what I’d like to address here is how
the D&D game will evolve in the future.
Any change as dramatic as rebuilding a character
class requires planning, verification, and a clear,
easy implementation.
The planning phase goes back to our review of
playtest feedback. We review data and read
anecdotes on Reddit, forums, and social media. We
try to decide if addressing the issue is worth the
potential disruption to the game.
In this case, we felt that a few factors combined to
push for a change. Many players want to play
rangers, but few were happy with the class, which
held its place at the bottom of class power rankings
by a significant margin. The class’s individual
features also filled the top-ten list of lowest-rated
individual character features.
With our course set for a revision, we’ve spent the
past year experimenting and gathering feedback.
We believe that if something doesn’t hit the mark
the first time, we need to take our time and make
sure our path to a solution is the right one. So our
tinkering with the ranger led us here, to this latest
update.
Our next step, which begins now, is verification.
Are these fixes correct? Do they solve problems at
your table? Do you, as the community of D&D
players and DMs, accept them? I expect another
revision or two to be made to the class, but I’m
confident that the scope and direction of these
changes fit in with what the community is looking
for.
Finally, we come to implementation. If this
iteration of the ranger, or a future revision of it,
grades high enough, our plan is to present it as a
revised ranger in a future D&D sourcebook. Players
can select the original ranger or the revised version,
though DMs will always be free to use only one or
the other. Both will be legal for D&D Adventurers
League play, and players of existing ranger
characters will have the option to swap to the
revised version. As you’ll see as you read further, the
original ranger and the revised class use almost
identical progression tables, even if the specifics of
some features differ. With a little work on our end,
we can ensure that any new ranger options we
provide work for both classes.
Overall, this approach captures our intent—fix
what needs to be fixed when it’s necessary to do so,
but in a way that minimizes disruption and
maximizes player satisfaction. With that in mind,
take a look at our new ranger and keep an eye out
for the feedback survey to follow.

Additional Fighting Styles: (2nd Level)

* Close Quarters Shooter (Unearthed Arcana): You are trained in making ranged attack at close quarters. When making a ranged attack while you are within 5 feet of a hostile creature, you do not have disadvantage on the attack roll. Your ranged attacks ignore half cover and three-quarters cover against targets within 30 feet of you. Finally, you have a +1 bonus to attack rolls on ranged attacks.
* Tunnel Fighter (Unearthed Arcana): You excel at defending narrow passages, doorways, and other tight spaces. As a bonus action, you can enter a defensive stance that lasts until the start of your next turn. While in your defensive stance, you can make opportunity attacks without using your reaction, and you can use your reaction to make a melee attack against a creature that moves more than 5 feet while within your reach.
* Mariner (Unearthed Arcana): As long as you are not wearing heavy armor or using a shield, you have a swimming speed and a climbing speed equal to your normal speed, and you gain a +1 bonus to AC.

Archetypes

* Beast Master
* Gloom Stalker/Death Stalker (undead hunter)(homebrew folder)
* Horizon Walker (interplanar hunter)(homebrew folder)
* Primeaval Guardian (druidic and plant focused ranger)(homebrew folder)
* Hunter
* Monster Slayer
* Primeval Guardian (character must be associated with a nature cult, druidic circle, fey court or some such organization)
* Ghost - (stationary urban legend hermit)(homebrew folder)
* Strider - (mounted ranger)(homebrew folder)
* Marksman - ranged ranger (homebrew folder)
* Skirmisher
* Warden (usually a sanctioned and mandated police)(homebrew folder)
* Wanderer (a ranger with no exclusive terrain focus)(homebrew folder)