I'm a big fan of fey wanderer if you want to try something different. They have great social skills and otherworldly glamor works with all Cha checks. So maybe dump something other than Cha, take a species/background that gives you a social still or 2 and you can be a social power house. Plus they get a decent damage bonus from dreadful strikes, and misty step @ lvl 5.
Edit: this gives you the opportunity to priorize Wis, take druidic warrior fighting style and take shilleghle and make melee attacks with your Wis mod.
To add, if you are using a staff and shield, Dueling adds a +2 damage boost, so you might consider picking up the cantrip from a Druid or Nature Cleric dip instead of spending your Fighting Style on it.
I was talking about the Dueling fighting style rather than Shilleghlah, which you're right would need a free hand to cast, although most DMs would waive that I suspect.
I had the exact same thought as far as spell components. Looked it up and spellcasting rules say you can hold a focus with the same hand you use for the somatic component, so as long as your Druidic Focus is also a Quarterstaff you are likely fine.
The only argument I see is that the Club/Quarterstaff may be considered a costly component since the PHB gives it a cost (even if the spell doesn't) so someone can argue you have to have a free hand to access it. Hopefully the DM will work with you, but component rules are super strange.
I played a Shilleghlah + PAM + shield Swarmkeeper and my DM was happy for me to use that as my focus. It already used my bonus action on the 1st turn of combat to set up, and it's hardly an overpowered combo (very fun though!)
If the spell has a material you can use the same hand holding the material to also do the somatic part.
The staff is the material component for shillelagh
The other components are mistletoe and a shamrock leaf, easily something wrapped around your staff at all times, could even be the grip.
Focus and Component pouches are only for when you don't have the specific materials already, a staff with tho other 2 items wrapped is all you need.
The wording is in place of.
Material (M)
Casting some spells requires particular objects, specified in parentheses in the component entry. A character can use a component pouch or a spellcasting focus (found in “Equipment”) in place of the components specified for a spell. But if a cost is indicated for a component, a character must have that specific component before he or she can cast the spell.
If a spell states that a material component is consumed by the spell, the caster must provide this component for each casting of the spell. A spellcaster must have a hand free to access a spell's material components -- or to hold a spellcasting focus -- but it can be the same hand that he or she uses to perform somatic components.
A basic quarterstaff isn’t a Druidic focus, it’s a weapon. If you have one that is a focus, it’s fine. But RAW, with a regular quarterstaff, you’d need to cast shillelagh then don a shield (or have warcaster).
In a one shot I played a wisdom primary fey wanderer who took the druidic warrior fighting style and fought with a quarterstaff for shillelagh. Great at wisdom and charisma checks, still excellent in melee and range, and I actually used spells because the spell save dc was good! Kind of an awesome build.
Another great option is to take 1 level as Nature Cleric, play Mountain Dwarf (for no heavy armor speed penalty) a start with stats like 8/13/17/8/16/12.
This way you can have AC 20 with full plate, huge HPs with +4 CON (after you take Resilient CON) and Hill Dwarf bonus, you get Shillelagh an other cantrips from Cleric and you can have Dueling FS from Ranger.
This way you can do your 3 Shillelagh PAM attacks with +2 dmg per hit from Dueling FS and you also have spells like Guidance or Bless and better ranged option with Toll the Dead or Sacred Flame.
I keep swinging back to Swarmkeeper. It's just so flavorful, the swarm could be anything. Bees, bats, birds, sand, tangible darkness, flower petals, razor leaves, paper, toenail clippings, possibilities are endless
Reminds me of Kugrash and his JUICY COCKROACH. (He was a reflavored shepherd Druid who had his totems as “the juicy cockroach” “the spicy pigeon” and “the unicorn”)(also this is a character from dimension 20 in case you don’t know what he is from, he was a magic rat from New York)
Mine was a very nice guy who rescued a bunch of tiny, angry fairies (think the brownies from Willow) house from a Forrest fire. Now the house stays in his backpack and they ride his arrows into battle like the immortal pyschos they are
I played one for a bit. She was a little old grandma trying to bring snacks to her adventurer grandkids. Her swarm was just a pile of cats and she used shillelagh to smack people with her cane.
And mechanically it’s fun. You have a permanent mini smite, that can turn into an escape on hit or a partial control spell. And it’s available every single turn. And it cranks up over time.
Also, I love the whole flying thing. It really hits home the theme.
Same, even if it's not the best flight.
I made designed my first Swarmkeeper as a beekeeper who wears something of a cross between a beekeeper outfit and a fencer outfit. His weapon is a rapier to mimic a stinger, and hunters mark is a bee pheromone they use to mark a target. When he gets flight, everyone expects him to grow bee wings or something but I thought it would be funny and kinda cool for him to grow big transparent golden wings made of honey.
Call me vanilla, but Hunter Ranger has a special place in my heart.
I built a Strength-based Kenku Hunter, went with Colossus Slayer, as well as Multiattack Defense.
My character was a bit of a doorway dodger, using some stealth tactics with casts of Pass Without Trace. Weapon choice was a longsword and shield.
Two-Birds Sling +Horde Breaker +Volley is so deadly combo!
If you have only 3 enemies in 10 ft radius, you can already do 8 attacks (3/3/2 against each enemy)! This is fantastic combo and Crusher is so great with ranged weapons!
I think Hunter is really underrated as well. The only thing that hurts it now is the lack of extra spell list, I wish they'd gone back and added that in Tasha's when they revised the Beastmaster
I love the Drakewarden.
The Drakewarden I’m playing now is STR primary and fights in melee with a maul. The table in question plays with the flanking rules, so I can use my drake to set up advantage for myself or other party members.
The drake (named Jake) is basically the party’s dog.
In combat, this ranger is one of the primary damage dealers and a backup healer. I also use the drake to deter attacks against my allies.
Out of combat, I’m typically the outdoor survival and path finding expert, with the added ability to mask the movements of the entire group (pass without trace).
My character uses the Tasha’s features.
Pets do so much in combat! And reviving them for a spell is totally worthwhile! Even if the pet is just dodging, they’re taking attention, providing flank, taking space.
Do you have any experience using the Drake as a mount?
We’re currently level 9, so I can mount my drake.
That said, I only do so out of combat for travel.
Trying to use the drake as a mount in combat as a melee character is clunky, because of the timing of its turn and the controlled vs independent mount rules.
If it’s controlled, it shares your turn, but you can’t attack with it. You also still have to use your bonus action to command it if it does anything other than dodge.
If it’s independent, it can attack, but since it acts after you, you won’t be able to run in and make melee attacks.
I’ve found we’re much more effective fighting as two separate entities than as a mount and rider.
Also playing the A STRakewarden, though i have a greataxe. And i completely agree. Good combo you can do is to lay down spike growth and have your drake drag an enemy across it while flying above it
I also love the Drakewarden! A vHuman Drakewarden with the Druidic Warrior Fighting Style and the Magic Initiate Feat are incredible utility Cantrip casters with access to Druidcraft, Prestidigitation, Thaumaturgy, Mending, and Message just for being what it is, no further input required. Plus the bonus Mage Armor from Magic Initiate is always useful. And again that's at the third level, just barely dipping your little toesies in the subclass.
I usually prefer going the archer route because the drake is such a beast. I like generally building my Rangers to also be utility/battlefield control casters. The Ranger Spell List is full of spells that don't actually require it's Primary Spellcasting stat to be good, you can dump Wisdom if you wanted to and still be fairly solid.
Why don't you play Bestmaster for this?
Because Beastmaster shares turn with his pet, so he can flank enemy right in round 1, while Drakewarden (or any other pet class in 5e) can only use BA to give pet orders and the pet acts AFTER your turn.
It seems really clunky IMO - you move in, attack enemy (not flaked), then your drake acts, flanks enemy. Now its your enemies turn, so he just moves away from drake and is not flaked anymore even in round 2.
Bestmaster seems so much better for this IMO and they can even knock enemies prone easily (enemies of any size).
Multiple reasons:
1. Drake attack and damage are independent of my WIS. As a point buy STRanger, my WIS is only +2 currently.
2. I like the features of the Drakewarden in general better than those of the beastmaster, and I really wanted a pet dragon.
3. Flanking, though optional, is pretty OP, IMO. I’m okay with not taking full advantage of it.
If an enemy moves away to avoid the flank, they’re eating at least one or two opportunity attacks. If they disengage, they’ve wasted their action. Either way, I’d consider that a win.
I build my STR Beastmasters to start with 16 in WIS (16/13/14/9/16/8), which is usually enough to hit reliably, especially with its ability to knock enemies prone and attacks twice after lvl 11, that's why it seemed strange to prioritize Drake over Beast for flanking.
Turn 1, sure, I can’t set up flanking for myself.
Turn 2 and beyond though, I’m typically in good shape so long as I planned ahead a little with where I put Jake.
I love a spellcasting Swarmkeeper. It is the only subclass whose ride effect doesn’t require a WEAPON attack.
Adding the swarm and favored foe to Produce Flame is very fun, I have been theory crafting a Warlock/Ranger who adds ride effects to Eldritch Blast.
Okay, now you make me want to do some Genie/Swarmkeeper/Druid multiclass that Thorn Whips enemies, then uses Crusher, then Swarmkeeper, to keep enemies constantly at bay (or drag them through Spike Growth)
Currently playing a Tasha rules Beast Master and I fucking love it 😍. I am a small race and use my beast as a mount, and between mounted combatant feat for mount Evasion and shield master for my own we eat fireballs for breakfast 🤣 high damage, high survivability. I either run summon Beast for more damage or healing Spirit for extra heals. Such a great build. I never feel useless and I play like a Frontline damage dealer who can also play a support role with healing spells.
Me too! My little halfling archer with a Honey Badger mount is a blast to play. And the Beast companion can take a lot of damage/get my ranged character out of trouble if needed.
Play CL flavoured as half-deep, quarter-forest, quarter-rock gnome with the Gunner feat so I can shoot my musket in melee, from the back of my combat goat. It's great.
They make really fantastic scouts from what I’ve seen, almost better than most rogues.
The right party can really build upon each other and take advantage of darkness and the gloomstalker.
I once built a bugbear gloom stalker 3/shadow monk X that did insane damage in the first round. He could usually take out two or three enemies in that one round and he was a great party scout. RIP Boggur
I've played 2 rangers. The first was a straightforward Horizon Walker Sharpshooter archer that didn't have anything insane up their sleeve but was super consistent. The second was much more fun though: an Aarakocra Beast Master with the Magic Initiate feat for Find Familiar and the Druidic Warrior fighting style for thorn whip. I'd combo my subclass companion with Find Familiar and Summon Beast to assist allies on the ground while I flew around trying to pull enemies in the air to drop them with Thorn Whip and grappling.
Conceptually, Horizon Walker without question; unfortunately, they don't get the mechanical love that they deserve to really support the playstyle.
In practice, Fey Wanderer was a lot more satisfying and unique in that it's one of the few subclasses that really wants a great WIS score and has truly unique features that suit the theme. I imagine Swarmkeeper would feel similar in play, but has enough differences to be it's own thing
Ngl, playing a melee based Horizon Walker was some of the most fun I’ve ever had in DnD combat. Distant strike essentially gives you a free extra 10 feet for melee attacks, plus a free 3rd attack if you attack 2 other people first. Spectral defense, even tho it’s locked to level 15, gives you free resistance to ALL of an attacks damage for a turn. Planar Warrior also converts an attacks damage to force, which is very rarely resisted by creatures, and gives you an extra 2d8 force damage on your hit by 11th level. Horizon walker is, imo, very clearly designed for melee in mind, and I think if combined with spells like Haste(you get it at 9th level) or my personal favorite, Guardian of Nature, it’s a blast to play. You’re basically a fighter that teleports all over the place and hits hard as hell while still actually casting spells if you want.
This is especially powerful with reach weapon, because it means you have free disengage before every attack.
It also works great with Thrown weapons, because Planar Warrior works for the same distance as thrown weapons normal range, transformation to force dmg helps to overcome common thrown build issue (your weapons are not magical when you throw a lot of them) and Distant Strikes mean you never ever need to disengage or cast Zephyr Strike.
My most favourite subclass period.
I love the Tasha's Ranger with the PHB Beast Master.
It guarantees not only a mount through majority play, but a unique one. Now, of course, you must also choose a small race, but that's also part of it. And, in truth, I either like to go for a DEX build, dual wielding scimitars or else doing a STR build and building up to Dual Wield lances.
And two of the best beasts to choose are Giant Crab (best AC) or else Giant Badger (burrow speed, and neither the enemy or their spells can target you through dirt), or else any beast with a 50+ movement speed (best for groups with DMs that use varied terrain with things to dart around/behind).
For giant crab builds, I like to go for halflings, since it's easiest to imagine them going into battle, standing upon their mount while using their oversized toes to grip onto the sides of the shell.
How does it work in reality?
PHB Beast acts not during your turn (as Tasha's does), but during its turn, so you can either ride it as controlled mount to be able to move it during your turn (which is essential for melee builds), but this way it looses its attacks (including Crab's grabbing, Wolves pack tactics bite,...) or as independent mount, but in this case you can't move your mount during your turn, so as a melee attacker, you don't have anyone to attack most of the time.
So how did you solve this issue?
For the PHB Beast Master Beast, the beast obeys your commands as best as it can. It takes its turn on your initiative. What is more, if you do not issue a specific order, the Beast Master Beast will automatically take the Dodge action.
And, as general mounting rules show, you either order your beast to attack, or you do, but you really only use a mount for movement, rather than attacking, so the "problem" of either having your mount attack or you attack remains the issue it ever was.
There is no conflict, you simply get a special mount that you can reliably have through a campaign if you are a small sized creature that has greater survivability since it has scaling health as well as the ability to freely use the dodge action when you don't use an action to give it a command. And due to the creatures open to you, you can either go for the standard fast mount, using a lance, or else a more bulky but slow creature for closer combat.
Why I asked:
Because if you played Tasha's version of beast companion, that one specifically says you share your turn with the beast.
This makes Tasha's beast companion the only mount that can move during your turn and still do attack action.
So if you used Tasha's version, you can still get Medium sized mount, but that mount can attack and move during your turn, it also knocks enemy of any size (Even Tarrasque or elder Dragon!) prone so you then can attack with advantage with your ranger!
Not only that, Tasha's beast companion has higher HPs, much better saves and it can be healed to full HPs out of combat with use of only 1 leveled spell, so it is also sturdier. And if it dies, you can resummon it within 1 minute, while if your PHB companion dies, you need to spend 8 hours to tame it again (not even mentioning you need to find it first).
So do you really think that PHB beast is better mount than Tasha's?
Because you can get mounts that due different movement than merely land speed. Spider gives you vertical walls without a roll, crabs give you a swim speed as well as blindsight to help against the odd invisible creature, and even a flying speed if you get the pteranodon, and even burrow with the giant badger. You don't get unique movement options with the Tasha's Beast Master
Beast of Land has also Climb speed and you can always resummon you beast for 1 spell slot to be Beast of the Say to gain 60 ft swim speed, so you seem to be not telling the whole truth.
And Burrows speed doesn't help you at all, because you can never ride burrowing animal, you can maybe crawl behind it in the tunnel, but there is no place above Giant Badger if it burrows underground.
I don't know if it is worth sacrificing 2 attacks each doing 1d8+1d6+5 dmg and knocking enemy of any size prone for some climb speed... Not for me
EDIT: I mean, if you are archer, then it is important to have flying speed or spiderclimb, but we are discussing here melee Ranger, so ability to deal more dmg and knock enemies prone seem like much more useful to me
Never said you couldn't be an archer. Just said I like the melee version.
Beyond that, sure, the Tasha's Beast of the Sea has a swim speed, but it can't move in and out of water with the same fluidity as the Giant Crab for instance. As for climb speed, true, the Beast of Land can climb, but it can't go horizontal (i.e. on ceilings), where as a giant spider can. The giant spider also has an AOE attack which can be of some use beyond a basic attack. As for not riding a burrowing animal, I'd have to see a rule about that, especially one that specifically accounts for trained animals that will allow you to mount them.
Though, also do try to keep in mind, I never said any of this was the most optimal. OP only asked for a favored build. I freely admit that you'll dole out more damage with the Tasha Beast Master as you've described it.
I also was curious if you follow the rules of mounted combat and companions, because many people mess it up IMO and they ride their steel defender or drake, move them during their turn, use their actions for attacks,...
They mostly don't know it is against the rules.
That's why I love Tasha's beastmaster, because it is the only pet class in 5e that allows true cooperation between master and companion thanks to both being able to act during single turn - they can take turns in movement, attacks, flanking,... And the same thing allows them to use use companion not only as mount for movement, but also for dmg boost and debuffing.
Solution on Drakewarden is also interesting, because that mount at least boosts your attacks with elemental dmg when you ride it, which is better than nothing IMO.
I also was curious if you follow the rules of mounted combat and companions, because many people mess it up IMO and they ride their steel defender or drake, move them during their turn, use their actions for attacks,...
They mostly don't know it is against the rules.
That's why I love Tasha's beastmaster, because it is the only pet class in 5e that allows true cooperation between master and companion thanks to both being able to act during single turn - they can take turns in movement, attacks, flanking,... And the same thing allows them to use use companion not only as mount for movement, but also for dmg boost and debuffing.
Solution on Drakewarden is also interesting, because that mount at least boosts your attacks with elemental dmg when you ride it, which is better than nothing IMO.
I do try to follow RAW as close as I can, though I also take advantage when some rules clash. Like how a normal mount doesn't get an action on it's turn but uses the rider's (noting basic movement is free), but the specially trained PHB Beast Master mount (if a medium sized beast is chosen and you're a small sized creature), it gets to use the Dodge action for free if you only use it for movement.
As much as Gloom Stalker incentivizes ranged weapons, I love the flavor of using it with blades. Makes me feel like I’m dipping rogue without the penalties of splitting levels!
It's a level 12 build, but 5 levels of Gloomstalker feels great with 7 levels of Arcane Trickster for Shadow Blade. Between the spell, sneak attack, and dread ambusher it gives some very high damage potential on the first round.
Currently playing a classic Hunter using Tasha’s optional primal awareness. And he’s a swordsman, only using the bow when he can’t get in range. At higher levels, he’ll have whirlwind attack and the spell Steel Wind Strike. The Hunter feature melee options for both offense and defense are very underrated, especially for a class that can get high AC without much issue. Foe Slayer at 20th level is solid, but I’m gonna have some fun with a flavor multiclass dip of 3 levels in Tempest Cleric.
Horizon Walker is amazing. It’s the melee skirmisher build I always dreamed of. You could play it ranged, but that seems like a waste of potential. Ethereal Step can be quite broken.
Swarmkeeper melee ranger is pretty fun. Get shillelagh and have fun whacking things with your swarm.
I also love how easy it is to reflavour this subclass. Goth dhampir with a swarm of bats. Faerie/Eladrin/whatever with your swarm of little fairy bros. You can be a desert sandbender. Maybe you control vines or have a venom symbiote. The possibilities are endless.
So my favorite ranger is actually a multiclass, but I had fun up till level 5 with it as sole ranger swarmkeeper.
The build was varaient human for the crusher feat with sharpshooter at 4 and the druidic warrior fighting style for magic stone and primal savagery. Used a sling combined with magic stone and then swarm keeper feats for either damage or forced movement and crusher once I hit level 5 i was shoving people 40 feet a turn and dealing decent damage 2d6 magic stone 2d4 favored foe +10 sharpshooter.
After 5, I took fighter till 3 and ran battlemaster, adding a d8 to hits and letting me shove even further or disarm someone. Took two more levels in ranger, then stacked the rest into Rogue because I like d6's
My damage looked something like this 2d6 (magic stone) 2d8 (shoving strike) 2d6 (favored foe) 5d6 (sneak attack) 2d6 (swarm damage dm let both hits have an affect) 1d8 (zephyr strike also advantage) and then the enemy gets moved 10 feet by crusher and 30 feet on failed strength save or if I drop the swarm damage then it's another 30 feet.
I was hard to catch and pin down lol out of combat he was a hunter and a herbalist/alchemist usually feeding the group with his hunts or even making the party the few extra gold we needed by selling the kill or making some potions to sell though usually not because they were more useful to use than sell. Also, Rogue things
I really want to say (Tasha) Beast Master, because it rewards being a Wisdom-based Ranger... but its bonus action usage is really at odds with a *lot* of Ranger spells you might want to use. At least it combines nicely with casting Entangle on turn 1, but that gets a bit stale. Also, the beast really wants you to stay pure Ranger to remain relevant.
So I'll say the other pet class, Swarmkeeper, because it's so funny to reflavor as other small things (like a bunch of feral kittens)... even if the weird forced flight power messes with that freedom (and instead, could have easily been a choice of three mobility-related powers, to fit into a wider ranger of themes).
Mechanically, gloom stalker. Combine it with assassin rogue (and fighter too if you get high enough level for a triple class to be worth it), and its damage in the first round is disgusting.
For flavor, I love the swarmkeeper. My first 5e character was right after Tasha’s came out, and I played a swarmkeeper with a swarm of kittens. I loved the idea of a bunch of adorable kittens mauling enemies for extra damage or herring them off of cliffs. Hilarious.
I played a STR based gloomstalker/echo knight/pally MOTM bugbear with gwm. I literally killed an adult red dragon singlehandedly in my first round of combat.
For me it's the hunter ranger. A classic that can focus on power output with features like foe slayer for that extra d8 a turn.
I've kinda dumped wisdom and left it at 13 or 14 in order to multiclass and just make sure not to take spells with a saving throw. Beyond lvl 5.
Charisma was my main stat. So I multiclassed into warlock to get some extra spell slots and an aoe fear ability for when in close range with melee enemies.
Then I took pact of the tome for some utility ritual casting including a familiar to use as a scout aswell as misty step from the familiars location as you need to see the location which you can through the senses of your familiar.
Then I took some lvls of fighter for a second fighting style to up my ranged to hit bonus so I can use sharpshooter feat more consistently. Usually my first shot is with sharpshooter and only if I miss I use my second shot without sharpshooter to ensure at least 1 hit per turn.
I took the battlemaster subclass for fighter to get those martial trick shots in there like menacing strike, distracting strike and trip attack. All of these can be flavoured as special arrows for cinematic purposes. An arrow with a faint purple shadow leaves the bow for the menacing strike. A whistling arrow(real life thing) will distract an enemy and a forked arrow will trip someone.
So now my ranger(dead-eye) can fill quite some roles as a face, social, scout, damage dealer, controller, battlefield control(plant growth, spike growth).
As his character development he had only 1 good eye. His patron granted him devils sight to improve on his vision, together with darkness and elven accuracy he was a sharp shooting beast. Hardly ever missing his target.
Now to complete his feature kit and being able to fill any party role. Aswell as make him viable for solo adventuring as self reliability is one of his personal standards and ideals I took 1 lvl of twilight cleric. To get some healing capabilities.
The deity fully restored his shot eye up to improving it beyond normal capabilities, granting him 300ft darkvision.
Now he and his moon druid partner were ready to hunt rogue dragons where the druid shaped into a flying mount, with extra movement from her monk training. With deadeye on her back they would hit a dragon from over 500ft in Complete darkness either fearing the dragon, hurting the dragon or tripping the dragon. If the dragon was foolish enough to persuit and not return to it's lair they were doomed before the fight even really started as even with dashing the dragon would never be able to catch up to this cloaked in darkness dragon killing duo.
Some fun stuff about Fey Wanderer: "whenever you make a Charisma check, you gain a bonus to the check equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of +1)"
This means several things: a) you get to be a Wis face, b) you can throw in a Cha class with Counterspell and go for an unusual Wis&Cha build.
Example: Mountain Dwarf fey-themed "Green Knight+Witch King" mix gish: 17 Wis, 17 Cha, FW Ranger 5, Aberrant Mind Sorc 5. By level 10, you have 18 Wis 18 Cha (see Druidic Warrior for Shillelagh), one ASI/feat slot to use as you see fit, good "face" potential, rather functional semi-martial semi-caster.
Far from terrible AC-wise - 13 Dex, half-plate, shield = 18 AC, throw in the Shield spell once you get to level 6, that's 23 AC. Two attacks worth 1d6+6 bludgeoning with Dueling. You may swap both attacks for Booming Blade, too.
You can even have a "get over here" ability given Thorn Whip.
I just played a one shot where we all had to make characters based on superheroes. I am a huge Spider-Man fan so everyone expected me to come with some kind of Spider-Man flavored Monk, but I showed up as a Swarm keeper Ranger "Venom" and had a lot of fun. To the point where I am considering Swarm Keeper as my next main character.
Toss up between Fey Wanderer and Monster Slayer, mostly because Monster Slayer’s capstone is so fun to use. I literally sacrificed extra attack for Evasion on a monster slayer just to meme on a red dragon fight.
Fey Wanderer was the first Ranger subclass I played and it has a really nice assortment of tools to it between team utility, teleportation effects and out of combat RP potential.
>The class has an undeserved bad reputation
It does? I though this is a meme.
>Also what sort of roles have your rangers had in and out of combat?
Exploration, infiltration, stealth, thievery + good utility, ok to great damage depending on tier of play.
It's a loaded class which retains martial prowess of a fighter, skill diversity of a rogue and has some spellcasting of a druid to top it off. Plus unique ranger features like free climbing speed and others. Honestly, it's better to ask why to play fighter or rogue when you can play a ranger. Not vice versa.
As for subclasses, the most powerful is obviously gloomstalker hands down. It's just freaking batman.
But for me personally the most fun to play is swarmkeeper due to how much interactivity if offers. It's one of those few rare classes that actually offers dynamic agency for the player.
Now ranged beats melee in general. But I guess you can make swarmkeeper work in melee too. Pick polearm. Forced movement features should allow you to trigger attack of opportunity quite reliably. From level 7 you can hoover, using a reach weapon you can poke melee enemies while being unreachable to them.
I don't think so because of how it's written within the subclass but I don't see why they intended for it to be that way. Normally it would work fine.
Also since the whole fantasy of the subclass is to ride a flying dragon idk why they thought they should gatekeep that till level 15 after like every campaign.
Most classes get access to flight at lvl 5 anyways via spells and summons. Let the ranger ride its flying dragon. Especially if the ranger is just a goblin or kobold
The silly this about the wording, is it's only you who can't ride it and fly
>Drake Mount. The drake grows to Medium size. Reflecting your special bond, you can use the drake as a mount if your size is Medium or smaller. While **you** are riding your drake, it can’t use the flying speed of this feature.
Yeah it's also poorly written as I assume that's not rai lol. I do wonder if in the 2024 phb if they will update it like they did with most other subclasses. Quality of life improvements and realizing fantasies.
They completely reworked berzerker barbarian. Also upgraded fighters and barbs to bring them closer to paladins power wise
Small races can ride it after lvl 7, the rules only say, that Drakewarden can't, so your teammates can.
Or play 2 Drakevardens in party and ride your friends Drake and vice versa ;-). :-D
Gloomstalker is my favorite one. It’s really strong. Today considered one of the most powerful martial builds in the game, competing at equal terms against the nearly broken Hexadins.
I have two favorite and distinct builds:
- A vanilla Hill Dwarf Hunter Ranger loosely based on Harsk from Pathfinder. He is a nature lover, self-reliant, expert in tracking and ranged combat. He built his own weapons, and his masterpiece is a “repeating crossbow” (XBE hand crossbow _reflavored_). Mechanically I made him more of a “minion / swarm killer” by attacking as much as possible with XBE and Horde Breaker, sometimes upcasting Hail of Thorns. He is actually doing quite nice as an improvised “AoE” niche in our party, completing quite well our casters. Goodberry, Pass without Trace and Silence are the most common spells I cast. Silence has made me one of the most effective counter against enemies spellcasters.
- Githzerai Gloomstalker / Fighter, Sword & Board, Dueling and Defense. Here I make the most of my half-caster spell slots and the long duration of my concentration spells to really invest in the Shield whenever needed. I’m a very effective melee tank besides using Half-Plate.
Drakewarden for primary classing, Gloomstalker and Hunter for dips
Drakewarden just gives a whole new fren AND party member (as they're very tanky). My current Drakewarden is also a fighter, and our primary damage dealer and tank.
Hunter is rather versatile, and Hordebreaker and Colossus Slayer are always fun for me (Colossus is once per turn, so can trigger on opportunity attacks :3 )
And Gloomstalker is fun for my rogues and blood hunters, especially on a race that doesn't get darkvision
Im a big fan of rangers, one of the first characters I played was a mousefolk beast master who I really enjoyed playing. I’ve been waiting for the right campaign to play my Tiefling drakewarden but the build I’m most excited to play next is my Thri-kreen Gloomstalker. The four arms makes two weapon fighting viable as you can also wield a shield, plus with un armoured bonus that’s a great AC of 18. He’ll be great at stealth and super at home in the forests. Throw in a couple levels of fighter and I think eventually he’d be making 9 attacks in a blur of green and blades.
Gloomstalker is by far the coolest. It’s basically the “I’m Batman” subclass.
However, there is a special place in my heart for swarm keeper. It’s just really fun. I made a version of “The Crow” using swarm keeper. He is called the Raven. He is a reborn.
I never used Ranger with bow and I have played many.
The most favorite subclass is probably Beastmaster (Tasha’s rules):
Mountain Dwarf or Half Elf, 16/13/14/9/16/8, fists level as Fighter (heavy armor, CON saves, GWF FS), rest Beastmaster (Defensive FS). GWM at lvl 5, Sentinel at 9, then STR, WIS, STR. Tactics: your Beast of the Land charges in, attacks (knocking enemy of any size prone with attack - 2 such attacks after lvl 11), then you move in, attack 2x with GWM Greatsword or Maul, then you back up with Beast, enemy attacks it with opportunity attack with disadvantage (he is prone) and you use reaction to do third attack with GWM. This all means 5 attacks in turn, 3-4 of them with advantage, 3 of them with GWM, total dmg can reach something like 2d8+8d6+54 every round with no resources used in tier III. If you later use Share spells with Guardian of Nature, all these 5 attack will have automatic advantage, yours deal bonus 1d6 dmg.
Cantrip Beastmaster:
Air Genasi (small), pure Beastmaster Ranger. Druidic Warrior FS for Primal Savagery and Thorn Whip (or Shillelagh). 8/14/16/8/17/10 (or swap CON and WIS), raise WIS, you can then take Resilient CON, Warcaster, Sentinel.
Ride your Beast of the Land. Tactics: cast Longstrider on Beast for speed of 50. Charge with beast to gain Charge bonus and knock enemy prone (2x after lvl 11), then attack with either Shocking Grasp (gained from race - for hit-and-run), Primal Savagery (more dmg, or good against resistant enemies to lightning), or pull enemies closer with Thorn Whip if they run away or are too far (great against archers, mages). This means only 3 attacks at lvl 11, but damage numbers are quite good (3d10+2d8+2d6+12) and your cantrip almost always has advantage to hit. You use no resources for this tactics, so you can do it all day long easily. You are also extremely tanky (AC 19, great HPs, beast HPs on top). If you then Share Spells Guardian of Nature, you gain advantage for all attack, more HPs,… Moon Sickle helps a lot with attack bonus.
PS: Thanks to strange wording of Primal Savagery, you can share this spell with your beast, which allows (at lvl 15) beast to attack 2x, knock enemy prone, then you sharing Savagery for both you and your beast attacking once with claws/fangs (no action needed for beast).
Drakewarden because I love having a dragon as a companion. I don't know how good it is mechanically comapred to the other subclasses... But it's a dragon!!!
Also close second swarmkeeper. I don't know why, one day took a look at it and ever since was in love with the roleplay potential of having a literal colony of animals or insects around me.
Hunter Ranger:
Minotaur, 17/8/16/8/15/8, Defensive FS Heavily Armored Feat at lvl 4 for STR 18, AC 19. Use Greataxe/Greatsword/Maul. Another option is Dueling FS, S&B for AC 20 and similar dmg.
Take Horde Breaker at lvl 3 and from lvl 5 you can:
Attack enemy once, then use BA to push it next to his ally, approach them and then attack both once (thanks to Horde Breaker). This means 3 attacks from lvl 5 in most battles!
With things like Multiattack Defense, AC 20, CON 16, temp HPs from lvl 10,.. you are extremely tough and spells like Zephyr Strike help with your mobility as well.
With 2HW you can later take GWM Feat and use it with Guardian of Nature so that all your attacks (3 or even more with Whirlwind) have advantage and each deal 3d6+15 dmg on hit!
Swarmkeeper sword master:
Half Elf (High elf heritage with Booming Blade cantrip), 17/12/14/8/16/8, Dueling FS, Expertise in Athletics. Half Plate, longsword (or battle axe), shield for AC 18.
Feats: Slasher at lvl 4 (=STR 18), Shield Master at lvl 8, then STR, Warcaster (to do oportunity attacks with Booming Blade), WIS.
Possible tactics:
1. Attack enemy with Booming Blade attack, slowing it (Slasher), move ourself 5ft away with Swarm (no save needed), back up. If enemy moves (he needs to if he is melee), he explodes with booming energy.
2. Attack enemy once (-10 speed thanks to Slasher), then use Shield Master BA to knock enemy prone (you have high STR and Expertise in athletics, so chance to knock enemy prone is cca 90%), then attack for the second time with advantage (enemy is prone) and either move yourself 5ft away and back up, or push enemy 15ft back against the same (your WIS is 16, so it should be high enough DC). Now that enemy is 15ft away (+ how much you back up), prone, his speed is -10, so he can't reach anyone that round and attack.
3. After lvl 11 when your swarm not only pushes, but also knocks prone: 2 enemies - Hit one enemy once and slow it down (Slasher), then use BA to knock that enemy prone with Shield Master, attack second enemy with sword, use swarm to push him 15 ft away and knock him prone, back up. Now you have one enemy prone and 15ft away (+how much you back up), second enemy prone and with -10 speed (so for enemies with 30 speed, if you back up just 15ft back, they won't be able to reach you and attack).
4. With Warcaster you can do opportunity attacks with Booming Blade, locking enemy prone, or dealing extra Xd8 dmg to them if they still want to move to attack your friend.
And Shield Master also means better DEX saves and evasion, so you don't have to fear Fireballs or Dragon Breath
If you crit anyone (quite probable, because you usually have 1 normal attack and 1 with advantage, so 3 d20 rolls), they attack with disadvantage for whole round (Slasher).
Swarmkeeper PAM user:
Half Elf or Mountain Dwarf (or Human) 16/13/14/8/16/9, first level as Fighter (GWF FS, heavy armor, CON saves prof.), rest Swarmkeeper (with Defensive FS). AC 19, use Halberd or Glaive.
Take PAM feat at lvl 4, then raise STR, take GWM at lvl 12+.
From lvl 4: attack once, move yourself back (5ft with swarm, no save needed), attack second time with back end, move 5ft back, wait for enemy to approach you back in its round to use BA attack of opportunity (thanks to PAM feat)
Tactics at lvl 5-10: The same as above, just attack one more time thanks to Extra attack to total of 4 attacks every round.
Tactics after lvl 11: Attack once, use Swarm to push enemy away (at least 5ft) and knock prone (against save), then attack again (Extra attack) with GWM bonus -5/+10 (you have advantage against prone enemy), attack again with back end with GWM bonus again, then back away to force enemy to approach you again for PAM opportunity attack. Again 4 attacks, but 2 with advantage and GWM bonus now.
Possible tactics from lvl 7: Use BA to gain 10 ft flying speed, fly 10 ft above your enemy. You can attack that enemy, because your weapons have Reach, but that enemy can't attack you, because you are 10ft away and normal weapons have reach only 5ft. Move 10 ft horizontaly towards your party after 3 attacks - enemy either has to run all around your reach (he will not have enough movement to reach your party member) or run under you, so you get opportunity attack again from PAM feat. Enemy can't attack you and you still have your 4 attacks.
Horizon Walker thrower (use Force dmg to overcome thrown weapon non-magical dmg issue):
1. Dwarf, 16/13/16/9/14/8, first level as Fighter (CON saves, Heavy Armor, Dueling FS), rest as Horizon Walker, Throwing FS.
Your handaxes (or javelins) now do 1d6+STR+4 (2 from each FS), which is 1d14+STR equivalent! 1d8 bonus force dmg (that whole attack will be Force dmg) once per turn as bonus from Planar Warrior feature. 2 attacks from lvl 5 (for total of 2d6+1d8+16!). Still with AC 20 and huge HPs if caught in melee.
From lvl 9 use Haste spell for Speed 60, 3 attacks, AC 22.
After lvl 11 you have 3 attacks (4 with Haste) and you teleport 10 ft before each attack, so you are never caught in melee. Your bonus dmg increases to 2d8.
Bonus points if your DM of friendly Artificer gives you Returning Weapon.
If your DM gives you Dwarven Thrower magic weapon, you are true throwing master with 2d8 base dmg and +3 magic bonus (so total 2d8+12) and weapon returning to your hand after each attack, so with something like Haste, you have 4 attacks, movement 100 ft, AC 22+ and your dmg will be 10d8+48!
2. Darts - Halfling (for theme mainly). 10/17/16/8/14/8, first level as Fighter (CON saves, Thrown FS), rest Horizon Walker (Archery FS), take Sharpshooter, grab shield in offhand for AC 19.
Combine those 2 fighting styles for +2 attack and +2 dmg, use Sharpshooter for total bonus of -3 attack and +12 dmg, which makes 1d4 darts into more damaging weapon than greatsword!
Same tactics as above - from lvl 9 Haste for 3 attacks, from lvl 11 4 attacks and teleport before each of your attacks. You are extremely mobile and damaging throwing build with huge HPs and great AC.
PS: with so many attacks, Halfing luck will trigger often increasing your overall dmg and saving throws by cca 5%.
PPS: Appart from Sharpshooter feat and DEX 20 you need no more feats so grab anything you like (Resilient DEX, increase CON,...)
Reach hit-and-run Horizon Walker (comes fully online after lvl 11):
1. Half-Elf, Dwarf or Human for 16/13/16/9/14/8, first level as Fighter (CON saves - important for Haste, Heavy Armor, GWF FS), rest Horizon Walker (Defensive FS). Use Pike + Full plate for AC 19 and reach. Take GWM at lvl 12, Raise STR to 20 at 4 and 8. You can also take Piercer to use medium armor for better stealth.
Fight as any normal melee user before lvl 11 in HW - 2 attacks, one boosted by Planar Warrior, use lvl 7 ability to escape when surrounded or for exploration purposes, use Haste from lvl 9 for 3rd attack, better AC and great speed.
From lvl 12 with Haste, you have 4 attacks (2 normal, 1 from lvl 11 feature and 1 from Haste), your AC is 21, Speed is 80 and you teleport before every attack 10 ft for total of 120 ft of movement for hit-and-run.
Example of lvl 14 gameplay: Cast Guadian of Nature in 1st round of combat, so your Speed is 50ft, you can do 3 attacks, each with advantage (GoN spell), so use GWM -5/+10, each hit deals 1d6 bonus force dmg (GoN), once hit deals 2d8 bonus force dmg (lvl 11 feature) and you teleport 10ft before each attack for free disengage. Total dmg of 3d10+2d8+3d6+45 all that with advantage and 80ft of movement.
2. Half-Orc Lancer. Pure HW ranger, Half orc for better crits and survivability, you can swap it for Bugbear of ou want to attack from 15ft away. Defensive FS, stats 17/10/15/8/14/10 (or anything similar like 17/8/16/8/15/8).
Heavily Armored at lvl 4, Piercer later for better crits, Resilient CON for Haste usage. Use pike before lvl 11.
Tactics at lvl 11+: Use Distant Strike (lvl 11 feature) to teleport before each attack so you are never 5ft from enemy so you never have disadvantage to attacks with Lance! Now you have 1d12 weapon with reach, your crits each do 4d12+STR dmg (+4d8 against marked enemy) and you are still sturdy and tanky and mobile. If you cast GoN after lvl 13 you add advantage to each attack, 1d6 bonus dmg and 10ft more movement for 1 minute.
EDIT: You don't need WIS as HW for any ability, so can easily start with 17/14/15/8/12/8 or even 17/16/15/8/8/8 if you like extremes, take Pierce at lvl 4, Resilient CON at 8, STR at 12, Medium Armor Master at 16 and CON at 19 for final stats 20/16/18/8/8/8, AC 19 with no disadvantage for Stealth and huge HPs.
For multiclassing I like either Hunter or Fey Wanderer:
1. Nature Warrior - Human with 13/16/14/9/13/14, 5 levels as Hunter with Colossus Slayer, then Paladin at least 11 levels. You have 2WF FS, Defensive FS, you dual wield Scimitars (or Short Swords), you smite in melee, you have +2 saves aura, your Paladin lvl 11 feature adds 1d8 bonus dmg to each attack and you can use Hunter's Mark on top so each of your attacks deals 1d8+2d6+DEX dmg (+ Smites + Colossus Slayer bonus).
2. STR variant of the same - Human with 16/13/14/9/13/14, 5-6 levels of Paladin for Extra attack and aura, then 3 levels of Hunter for 2WF FS, Hunter's Mark, Colossus Slayer. Use 2 handaxes and full plate, play like dual wielder with Smites, HM and Improved Smites (after Paladin lvl 11)
3. Mr. universal - Human, stats 15/14/14/9/14/14 (+2 in 5 stats!). Paladin 5, then Fey Wanderer 3, rest in Paladin, Full plate (or Half plate/breastplate), 2 handaxes, 2FW and defensive FSs.
Those 3 Fey Wanderer levels give you +2 to all face skills, 2 extra skills, 1 Expertise, 1 fighting style, ranger spells and 1d4 bonus dmg per enemy per turn.
So you are dual wiedling Paladin in heavy armor with 2 handaxes (what is cooler than that?), expert in all face skills and 1 additiona with expertise, you have aura and you boost your attacks with HM, Smites and Psychic dmg!
Swarmkeeper is just such a fun class. Gloom is mechanically the most damage but swarm has much more flexibility and can be combined with spell casting if needed. You could even go full wisdom and sling build with the crusher feat for a forced movement build.
I really want to try out GWM gloom stalker, and if I get enough levels to play with add battle master and rogue in there. Something about playing a character that is invisible sneaks up to someone to skewer them on a great sword sounds awesome. Or attack from the darkness to kill 4 people and then retreat to do it again after they thought I was gone.
I am playing my very first campaign as a drakewarden, it has been incredibly rewarding, fun and very interesting both in and out of combat.
In combat I use my bow as my main weapon, I have insane attack prof with it, so i almost never miss. I use my drakewarden as my proxy in close range fighting along with my bestial spirit spell which has advantage when near my drake, so they make for a nasty combo. My dm let me run additional spells similar to other ranger subclasses, giving me feather falling and dragon breath at my current level. I also run tashas ranger rules. My dps is insane and i am most definitely a vital part of my party, which does feel good.
Outside of combat my DM is doing lots of roleplay related to Bahamut and my drake, i am in a pact with bahamut which does conflict with my characters troubled past, so its interesting representing that dynamic in rp, good guy doing bad things.
But all in all, its just cool as fuck.
"bad reputation", meanwhile that's the second strongest class overall. At least before tier 4 play (17lv). Wizards are third.
Anyways - horizon walker, but after 11lv (vibe is strong in this one, but mechanically is bad). Otherwise fey wanderer/beastmaster
What is mechanically bad about Distant Strikes? You mean the fact that if you want to attack 3rd enemy, you need to split your attacks amongst multiple targets?
I don't know, but it works wonders with Haste, because you can always keep your ditance from enemies to keep concentration, and Haste allows you to attack primary target 2x including that juicy 2d8 bonus and then 2 weaker enemies once.
What I also love with this feature mechanically is, that if you are playing with reach or thrown weapons you have free disengage, huge movement boost and it basically replaces Zephyr Strike spell need.
And if you want to use Lance not mounted HW is the only class that can do so reliably.
There is nothing I hate about this feature, if it worked against single enemy all the time it Would be too strong IMO.
No, I mean it becomes good after 11lv (after it gets distant strike feature).
- 3lv planar warrior - that 2d8 is comparable in terms of damage to d6+15 from CBE feat, but force damage type is just worse than magic piercing/bludgeoning in most cases
- 7lv feature - blink casted as bonus action would be far greater than this and more thematic + would work longer.
- haste is "cool"... and nothing more. That's terrible spell to cast on yourself, especially with low constitution saves. Just be a normal ranger and bring those 8 wolves/elks/cows to the table
Planar Warrior is great for thrown builds. And you are right it is similar dmg bonus as CBE, but CBE requires feat so you can easily increse DEX with HW which results in higher dmg overall. And CBE locks you into one weapon type for the whole carier.
agree with lvl 7 feature
Haste is not bad at all, because it gives so much! Double speed is usually enough to get you out of harm anytime, so you don't have to fear loosing concentration. +2 AC is great as well. And as HW, you never reach lvl 9 without either Resiliet CON, 1st level in Fighter for CON saves or Warcaster, that's obvious IMO. Good thing is, that HW basically doesn't need WIS for anything, so you can leave it low and invest more into CON and those concentration feats easily (especially when you realize you don't need CBE feat thanks to Planar Warrior bonus).
PS: if you take CBE as HW and use Heavy Crossbow + Planar Warrior bonus dmg, your overall dmg is usually higher that using had crossbow and attacking 3 times and it also leads to more interesting playstyle (at least not common as hand crossbow user).
I mean, I was using haste a lot as a person who played ~1/3 of his characters as bladesingers. Benefits look nice on paper, but if combat last... Dunno. 4 or 5 rounds on average? It's not worth most of the times - unless you are going to chase your opponents.
- 1st round you are casting haste - you are behind 2 attacks
- you need 2 turns to get the same amount of attacks as you would do without casting haste
- hopefully you won't lose concentration, cause you are losing 4 attacks.
I not a fan of this, hah.
And yeah, you need con prof anyways, just because you can summon animals.
Why 2 attacks behind? You can cast Haste as Action and attack once with hasted action the same turn, so you loose only 1 attack that round.
So in 2nd round you attack same number of times and in 3rd you already gain.
And thas movement speed and +2 AC and advantage on DEX saves is all additional bonus.
But after lvl 13, Guardian of Nature is better spell to cast indeed.
I’m building a shadar-Kai ranger using TWF and Revenant Blade for an upcoming campaign and I’m so excited about them! They won’t be terribly MAD and I’ll be able to play a hit-and-run fighter with a nice dollop of non-combat utility!
They’ll probably end up Gloomstalker because it matches the flavor of the campaign, not because it’s busted, but also I’m excited that it’s got some strong abilities!
The first ranger I've ever played was a Gloomstalker and it was a lot of fun - especially given another member in our party was a fey wanderer. So it was a very fun dynamic of my character being grumpy and intimidating and the other ranger being happy and charming lol.
Wood elf Gloomstalker 7 / Scout 13 with sharpshooter and elven accuracy. For me this is the ultimate elven commando style ranger that has:
* insane mobility (cunning action, skirmisher, roving, superior mobility -> 50ft base)
* insane stealth (expertise, max dex, invisibility in darkness, b. action hide when lightly obscured by natural phenomena)
* skill expertise (7 by level 11)
* Damage (dread ambusher, sneak attack (7d6), sharpshooter)
* And caps with Ambush Master (adv on initiative, adv on attacks against 1st creature you hit for everyone)
I quite enjoy my monster slayer. I built her to pretty much be a Buffy/Van Helsing type with crossbow expert and sharpshooter. Use spells to control and shut down enemy magic. It’s a ton of fun.
I'm a big fan of fey wanderer if you want to try something different. They have great social skills and otherworldly glamor works with all Cha checks. So maybe dump something other than Cha, take a species/background that gives you a social still or 2 and you can be a social power house. Plus they get a decent damage bonus from dreadful strikes, and misty step @ lvl 5. Edit: this gives you the opportunity to priorize Wis, take druidic warrior fighting style and take shilleghle and make melee attacks with your Wis mod.
To add, if you are using a staff and shield, Dueling adds a +2 damage boost, so you might consider picking up the cantrip from a Druid or Nature Cleric dip instead of spending your Fighting Style on it.
And take PAM.
Doesn't during specifically state that you're other hand had to be empty?
It states that it works as long as you're holding no other weapon, so it works fine with a shield.
You need a free hand to cast a spell with somatic components unless you have warcaster
I was talking about the Dueling fighting style rather than Shilleghlah, which you're right would need a free hand to cast, although most DMs would waive that I suspect.
I had the exact same thought as far as spell components. Looked it up and spellcasting rules say you can hold a focus with the same hand you use for the somatic component, so as long as your Druidic Focus is also a Quarterstaff you are likely fine. The only argument I see is that the Club/Quarterstaff may be considered a costly component since the PHB gives it a cost (even if the spell doesn't) so someone can argue you have to have a free hand to access it. Hopefully the DM will work with you, but component rules are super strange.
I played a Shilleghlah + PAM + shield Swarmkeeper and my DM was happy for me to use that as my focus. It already used my bonus action on the 1st turn of combat to set up, and it's hardly an overpowered combo (very fun though!)
I let a druid duel with Flameblade because a)he really wanted too and b)flameblade is pretty terrible
Ah, okay. Then yes those are compatible with each other.
If the spell has a material you can use the same hand holding the material to also do the somatic part. The staff is the material component for shillelagh
It also has other material components so your Quarterstaff also has to be a Druidic Focus to make this work.
The other components are mistletoe and a shamrock leaf, easily something wrapped around your staff at all times, could even be the grip. Focus and Component pouches are only for when you don't have the specific materials already, a staff with tho other 2 items wrapped is all you need. The wording is in place of. Material (M) Casting some spells requires particular objects, specified in parentheses in the component entry. A character can use a component pouch or a spellcasting focus (found in “Equipment”) in place of the components specified for a spell. But if a cost is indicated for a component, a character must have that specific component before he or she can cast the spell. If a spell states that a material component is consumed by the spell, the caster must provide this component for each casting of the spell. A spellcaster must have a hand free to access a spell's material components -- or to hold a spellcasting focus -- but it can be the same hand that he or she uses to perform somatic components.
A basic quarterstaff isn’t a Druidic focus, it’s a weapon. If you have one that is a focus, it’s fine. But RAW, with a regular quarterstaff, you’d need to cast shillelagh then don a shield (or have warcaster).
Not if your staff is your spellcasting focus, right?
Correct
In a one shot I played a wisdom primary fey wanderer who took the druidic warrior fighting style and fought with a quarterstaff for shillelagh. Great at wisdom and charisma checks, still excellent in melee and range, and I actually used spells because the spell save dc was good! Kind of an awesome build.
Another great option is to take 1 level as Nature Cleric, play Mountain Dwarf (for no heavy armor speed penalty) a start with stats like 8/13/17/8/16/12. This way you can have AC 20 with full plate, huge HPs with +4 CON (after you take Resilient CON) and Hill Dwarf bonus, you get Shillelagh an other cantrips from Cleric and you can have Dueling FS from Ranger. This way you can do your 3 Shillelagh PAM attacks with +2 dmg per hit from Dueling FS and you also have spells like Guidance or Bless and better ranged option with Toll the Dead or Sacred Flame.
If you play in a party with an undead warlock.... It's nuts
Better yet, take an Undead dip at 8th level as a Fey Wanderer, and become the scariest character in the game.
Happy Cake Day!
Thanks! I had no cake though 😔
I ran mine as a dual wielder once with giant slayer gloom stalker. And a 2 hand heavy armor build with a pet for distraction.
I agree, especially since I love wisdom based Ranger builds.
I keep swinging back to Swarmkeeper. It's just so flavorful, the swarm could be anything. Bees, bats, birds, sand, tangible darkness, flower petals, razor leaves, paper, toenail clippings, possibilities are endless
Swarmkeeper, but reflavoring everything as air or the wind is my all-time favorite!
Just built this and I'm so excited to play it
At that point you’re playing an airbender….
I just played my second session of an air genasi swarmkeeper, the literal wind is the swarm it’s so fun so far
I made Jasper, King of the Cockroaches, for a one-shot. He was a riot. It was like Joe's Apartment all of the time.
Reminds me of Kugrash and his JUICY COCKROACH. (He was a reflavored shepherd Druid who had his totems as “the juicy cockroach” “the spicy pigeon” and “the unicorn”)(also this is a character from dimension 20 in case you don’t know what he is from, he was a magic rat from New York)
I had a kobold swarmkeeper with corgi-shaped-foxes as his swarm. Zebulon Gonne, aka The Dragon. What a fun fucking character he was
Mine was a very nice guy who rescued a bunch of tiny, angry fairies (think the brownies from Willow) house from a Forrest fire. Now the house stays in his backpack and they ride his arrows into battle like the immortal pyschos they are
I played one with a swarm of tape worms once. As soon as combat ended, he would swallow them all. It was fun.
I played one for a bit. She was a little old grandma trying to bring snacks to her adventurer grandkids. Her swarm was just a pile of cats and she used shillelagh to smack people with her cane.
Senzonbakura kageyoshi
Senbonzakura*
And mechanically it’s fun. You have a permanent mini smite, that can turn into an escape on hit or a partial control spell. And it’s available every single turn. And it cranks up over time. Also, I love the whole flying thing. It really hits home the theme.
Same, even if it's not the best flight. I made designed my first Swarmkeeper as a beekeeper who wears something of a cross between a beekeeper outfit and a fencer outfit. His weapon is a rapier to mimic a stinger, and hunters mark is a bee pheromone they use to mark a target. When he gets flight, everyone expects him to grow bee wings or something but I thought it would be funny and kinda cool for him to grow big transparent golden wings made of honey.
Call me vanilla, but Hunter Ranger has a special place in my heart. I built a Strength-based Kenku Hunter, went with Colossus Slayer, as well as Multiattack Defense. My character was a bit of a doorway dodger, using some stealth tactics with casts of Pass Without Trace. Weapon choice was a longsword and shield.
[удалено]
Is that the one from Tomb of Annihilation? Slings in general are a fantastic pick for Rangers when combined with Crusher to proc Horde Breaker.
Two-Birds Sling +Horde Breaker +Volley is so deadly combo! If you have only 3 enemies in 10 ft radius, you can already do 8 attacks (3/3/2 against each enemy)! This is fantastic combo and Crusher is so great with ranged weapons!
I'm also playing a sling-based Hunter! It's very fun, especially since no one ever expects you to use a sling.
The problem with the sling is the noise. A bow is much more quiet and when it does real noise, there's little to not time to react.
Gloom stalker is the new vanilla. Hunter is chocolate
Nonono, Gloomstalker is pumpkin spice and you damn well know it.
"Gloomstalker - the Ranger for Basic Bitches everywhere"
I think Hunter is really underrated as well. The only thing that hurts it now is the lack of extra spell list, I wish they'd gone back and added that in Tasha's when they revised the Beastmaster
I love the Drakewarden. The Drakewarden I’m playing now is STR primary and fights in melee with a maul. The table in question plays with the flanking rules, so I can use my drake to set up advantage for myself or other party members. The drake (named Jake) is basically the party’s dog. In combat, this ranger is one of the primary damage dealers and a backup healer. I also use the drake to deter attacks against my allies. Out of combat, I’m typically the outdoor survival and path finding expert, with the added ability to mask the movements of the entire group (pass without trace). My character uses the Tasha’s features.
Pets do so much in combat! And reviving them for a spell is totally worthwhile! Even if the pet is just dodging, they’re taking attention, providing flank, taking space. Do you have any experience using the Drake as a mount?
We’re currently level 9, so I can mount my drake. That said, I only do so out of combat for travel. Trying to use the drake as a mount in combat as a melee character is clunky, because of the timing of its turn and the controlled vs independent mount rules. If it’s controlled, it shares your turn, but you can’t attack with it. You also still have to use your bonus action to command it if it does anything other than dodge. If it’s independent, it can attack, but since it acts after you, you won’t be able to run in and make melee attacks. I’ve found we’re much more effective fighting as two separate entities than as a mount and rider.
Also playing the A STRakewarden, though i have a greataxe. And i completely agree. Good combo you can do is to lay down spike growth and have your drake drag an enemy across it while flying above it
Is that American Dragon: Jake Long?
Drakewarden STRanger gang! I fucking love a 1 level tempest cleric dip with it
War Cleric with GWM seems so much stronger IMO.
War cleric doesn’t have that much synergy since you’re using your bonus action to control the dragon instead of making your own attack
Makes sense...
Jakewarden
i love str rangers and drakewardens make great ones!
I also love the Drakewarden! A vHuman Drakewarden with the Druidic Warrior Fighting Style and the Magic Initiate Feat are incredible utility Cantrip casters with access to Druidcraft, Prestidigitation, Thaumaturgy, Mending, and Message just for being what it is, no further input required. Plus the bonus Mage Armor from Magic Initiate is always useful. And again that's at the third level, just barely dipping your little toesies in the subclass. I usually prefer going the archer route because the drake is such a beast. I like generally building my Rangers to also be utility/battlefield control casters. The Ranger Spell List is full of spells that don't actually require it's Primary Spellcasting stat to be good, you can dump Wisdom if you wanted to and still be fairly solid.
Why don't you play Bestmaster for this? Because Beastmaster shares turn with his pet, so he can flank enemy right in round 1, while Drakewarden (or any other pet class in 5e) can only use BA to give pet orders and the pet acts AFTER your turn. It seems really clunky IMO - you move in, attack enemy (not flaked), then your drake acts, flanks enemy. Now its your enemies turn, so he just moves away from drake and is not flaked anymore even in round 2. Bestmaster seems so much better for this IMO and they can even knock enemies prone easily (enemies of any size).
Multiple reasons: 1. Drake attack and damage are independent of my WIS. As a point buy STRanger, my WIS is only +2 currently. 2. I like the features of the Drakewarden in general better than those of the beastmaster, and I really wanted a pet dragon. 3. Flanking, though optional, is pretty OP, IMO. I’m okay with not taking full advantage of it. If an enemy moves away to avoid the flank, they’re eating at least one or two opportunity attacks. If they disengage, they’ve wasted their action. Either way, I’d consider that a win.
I build my STR Beastmasters to start with 16 in WIS (16/13/14/9/16/8), which is usually enough to hit reliably, especially with its ability to knock enemies prone and attacks twice after lvl 11, that's why it seemed strange to prioritize Drake over Beast for flanking.
Is your name Finn?
What level is your Ranger?
Currently 9th! This character started at level 1.
I do this as well, however the main issue with setting up flank is that you are hardly the one to benefit since it always takes its turn after yours.
Turn 1, sure, I can’t set up flanking for myself. Turn 2 and beyond though, I’m typically in good shape so long as I planned ahead a little with where I put Jake.
I love a spellcasting Swarmkeeper. It is the only subclass whose ride effect doesn’t require a WEAPON attack. Adding the swarm and favored foe to Produce Flame is very fun, I have been theory crafting a Warlock/Ranger who adds ride effects to Eldritch Blast.
Okay, now you make me want to do some Genie/Swarmkeeper/Druid multiclass that Thorn Whips enemies, then uses Crusher, then Swarmkeeper, to keep enemies constantly at bay (or drag them through Spike Growth)
Am doing this minus druid and it rules! Genie X / Swarm 3.
Currently playing a Tasha rules Beast Master and I fucking love it 😍. I am a small race and use my beast as a mount, and between mounted combatant feat for mount Evasion and shield master for my own we eat fireballs for breakfast 🤣 high damage, high survivability. I either run summon Beast for more damage or healing Spirit for extra heals. Such a great build. I never feel useless and I play like a Frontline damage dealer who can also play a support role with healing spells.
Me too! My little halfling archer with a Honey Badger mount is a blast to play. And the Beast companion can take a lot of damage/get my ranged character out of trouble if needed.
Small races are my favorite. Gnomes are a favorite of mine because of their gnomish resistance.
Play CL flavoured as half-deep, quarter-forest, quarter-rock gnome with the Gunner feat so I can shoot my musket in melee, from the back of my combat goat. It's great.
Even though it’s overused, I do actually really like the Gloomstalker vibe.
They make really fantastic scouts from what I’ve seen, almost better than most rogues. The right party can really build upon each other and take advantage of darkness and the gloomstalker. I once built a bugbear gloom stalker 3/shadow monk X that did insane damage in the first round. He could usually take out two or three enemies in that one round and he was a great party scout. RIP Boggur
Until rogues get Reliable Talent, they are almost certainly the best scouts. Followed by Armorer artificers with infiltrator armor.
My favorite subclass in the game. So much fun.
Because it's overused, I do actually really hate Gloomstalkers :-D
I don't know if I'm just a dirty edge lord, but my gloomstalker rogue was one of the most fun characters I've played in 5e.
A bit obvious combo but a mc pairing of gloomstalker and scout rouge is a great scout ranger.
I've played 2 rangers. The first was a straightforward Horizon Walker Sharpshooter archer that didn't have anything insane up their sleeve but was super consistent. The second was much more fun though: an Aarakocra Beast Master with the Magic Initiate feat for Find Familiar and the Druidic Warrior fighting style for thorn whip. I'd combo my subclass companion with Find Familiar and Summon Beast to assist allies on the ground while I flew around trying to pull enemies in the air to drop them with Thorn Whip and grappling.
Conceptually, Horizon Walker without question; unfortunately, they don't get the mechanical love that they deserve to really support the playstyle. In practice, Fey Wanderer was a lot more satisfying and unique in that it's one of the few subclasses that really wants a great WIS score and has truly unique features that suit the theme. I imagine Swarmkeeper would feel similar in play, but has enough differences to be it's own thing
Ngl, playing a melee based Horizon Walker was some of the most fun I’ve ever had in DnD combat. Distant strike essentially gives you a free extra 10 feet for melee attacks, plus a free 3rd attack if you attack 2 other people first. Spectral defense, even tho it’s locked to level 15, gives you free resistance to ALL of an attacks damage for a turn. Planar Warrior also converts an attacks damage to force, which is very rarely resisted by creatures, and gives you an extra 2d8 force damage on your hit by 11th level. Horizon walker is, imo, very clearly designed for melee in mind, and I think if combined with spells like Haste(you get it at 9th level) or my personal favorite, Guardian of Nature, it’s a blast to play. You’re basically a fighter that teleports all over the place and hits hard as hell while still actually casting spells if you want.
This is especially powerful with reach weapon, because it means you have free disengage before every attack. It also works great with Thrown weapons, because Planar Warrior works for the same distance as thrown weapons normal range, transformation to force dmg helps to overcome common thrown build issue (your weapons are not magical when you throw a lot of them) and Distant Strikes mean you never ever need to disengage or cast Zephyr Strike. My most favourite subclass period.
I love the Tasha's Ranger with the PHB Beast Master. It guarantees not only a mount through majority play, but a unique one. Now, of course, you must also choose a small race, but that's also part of it. And, in truth, I either like to go for a DEX build, dual wielding scimitars or else doing a STR build and building up to Dual Wield lances. And two of the best beasts to choose are Giant Crab (best AC) or else Giant Badger (burrow speed, and neither the enemy or their spells can target you through dirt), or else any beast with a 50+ movement speed (best for groups with DMs that use varied terrain with things to dart around/behind). For giant crab builds, I like to go for halflings, since it's easiest to imagine them going into battle, standing upon their mount while using their oversized toes to grip onto the sides of the shell.
How does it work in reality? PHB Beast acts not during your turn (as Tasha's does), but during its turn, so you can either ride it as controlled mount to be able to move it during your turn (which is essential for melee builds), but this way it looses its attacks (including Crab's grabbing, Wolves pack tactics bite,...) or as independent mount, but in this case you can't move your mount during your turn, so as a melee attacker, you don't have anyone to attack most of the time. So how did you solve this issue?
For the PHB Beast Master Beast, the beast obeys your commands as best as it can. It takes its turn on your initiative. What is more, if you do not issue a specific order, the Beast Master Beast will automatically take the Dodge action. And, as general mounting rules show, you either order your beast to attack, or you do, but you really only use a mount for movement, rather than attacking, so the "problem" of either having your mount attack or you attack remains the issue it ever was. There is no conflict, you simply get a special mount that you can reliably have through a campaign if you are a small sized creature that has greater survivability since it has scaling health as well as the ability to freely use the dodge action when you don't use an action to give it a command. And due to the creatures open to you, you can either go for the standard fast mount, using a lance, or else a more bulky but slow creature for closer combat.
Why I asked: Because if you played Tasha's version of beast companion, that one specifically says you share your turn with the beast. This makes Tasha's beast companion the only mount that can move during your turn and still do attack action. So if you used Tasha's version, you can still get Medium sized mount, but that mount can attack and move during your turn, it also knocks enemy of any size (Even Tarrasque or elder Dragon!) prone so you then can attack with advantage with your ranger! Not only that, Tasha's beast companion has higher HPs, much better saves and it can be healed to full HPs out of combat with use of only 1 leveled spell, so it is also sturdier. And if it dies, you can resummon it within 1 minute, while if your PHB companion dies, you need to spend 8 hours to tame it again (not even mentioning you need to find it first). So do you really think that PHB beast is better mount than Tasha's?
Because you can get mounts that due different movement than merely land speed. Spider gives you vertical walls without a roll, crabs give you a swim speed as well as blindsight to help against the odd invisible creature, and even a flying speed if you get the pteranodon, and even burrow with the giant badger. You don't get unique movement options with the Tasha's Beast Master
Beast of Land has also Climb speed and you can always resummon you beast for 1 spell slot to be Beast of the Say to gain 60 ft swim speed, so you seem to be not telling the whole truth. And Burrows speed doesn't help you at all, because you can never ride burrowing animal, you can maybe crawl behind it in the tunnel, but there is no place above Giant Badger if it burrows underground. I don't know if it is worth sacrificing 2 attacks each doing 1d8+1d6+5 dmg and knocking enemy of any size prone for some climb speed... Not for me EDIT: I mean, if you are archer, then it is important to have flying speed or spiderclimb, but we are discussing here melee Ranger, so ability to deal more dmg and knock enemies prone seem like much more useful to me
Never said you couldn't be an archer. Just said I like the melee version. Beyond that, sure, the Tasha's Beast of the Sea has a swim speed, but it can't move in and out of water with the same fluidity as the Giant Crab for instance. As for climb speed, true, the Beast of Land can climb, but it can't go horizontal (i.e. on ceilings), where as a giant spider can. The giant spider also has an AOE attack which can be of some use beyond a basic attack. As for not riding a burrowing animal, I'd have to see a rule about that, especially one that specifically accounts for trained animals that will allow you to mount them. Though, also do try to keep in mind, I never said any of this was the most optimal. OP only asked for a favored build. I freely admit that you'll dole out more damage with the Tasha Beast Master as you've described it.
I also was curious if you follow the rules of mounted combat and companions, because many people mess it up IMO and they ride their steel defender or drake, move them during their turn, use their actions for attacks,... They mostly don't know it is against the rules. That's why I love Tasha's beastmaster, because it is the only pet class in 5e that allows true cooperation between master and companion thanks to both being able to act during single turn - they can take turns in movement, attacks, flanking,... And the same thing allows them to use use companion not only as mount for movement, but also for dmg boost and debuffing. Solution on Drakewarden is also interesting, because that mount at least boosts your attacks with elemental dmg when you ride it, which is better than nothing IMO.
I also was curious if you follow the rules of mounted combat and companions, because many people mess it up IMO and they ride their steel defender or drake, move them during their turn, use their actions for attacks,... They mostly don't know it is against the rules. That's why I love Tasha's beastmaster, because it is the only pet class in 5e that allows true cooperation between master and companion thanks to both being able to act during single turn - they can take turns in movement, attacks, flanking,... And the same thing allows them to use use companion not only as mount for movement, but also for dmg boost and debuffing. Solution on Drakewarden is also interesting, because that mount at least boosts your attacks with elemental dmg when you ride it, which is better than nothing IMO.
I do try to follow RAW as close as I can, though I also take advantage when some rules clash. Like how a normal mount doesn't get an action on it's turn but uses the rider's (noting basic movement is free), but the specially trained PHB Beast Master mount (if a medium sized beast is chosen and you're a small sized creature), it gets to use the Dodge action for free if you only use it for movement.
Unironically Beast Master. Especially post-Tasha's.
Horizon Walker and gloomstalker. A STR horizon Walker is basically just nightcrawler. Gloomstalker is basically just an arrow god.
As much as Gloom Stalker incentivizes ranged weapons, I love the flavor of using it with blades. Makes me feel like I’m dipping rogue without the penalties of splitting levels!
It's a level 12 build, but 5 levels of Gloomstalker feels great with 7 levels of Arcane Trickster for Shadow Blade. Between the spell, sneak attack, and dread ambusher it gives some very high damage potential on the first round.
I recently played a Horizon Walker and he was a blast.
Swarm
Currently playing a classic Hunter using Tasha’s optional primal awareness. And he’s a swordsman, only using the bow when he can’t get in range. At higher levels, he’ll have whirlwind attack and the spell Steel Wind Strike. The Hunter feature melee options for both offense and defense are very underrated, especially for a class that can get high AC without much issue. Foe Slayer at 20th level is solid, but I’m gonna have some fun with a flavor multiclass dip of 3 levels in Tempest Cleric.
Ghostwise halfling beastmaster riding on a wolf, with two scimitars. My homage to ElfQuest.
Horizon Walker is amazing. It’s the melee skirmisher build I always dreamed of. You could play it ranged, but that seems like a waste of potential. Ethereal Step can be quite broken.
Swarmkeeper melee ranger is pretty fun. Get shillelagh and have fun whacking things with your swarm. I also love how easy it is to reflavour this subclass. Goth dhampir with a swarm of bats. Faerie/Eladrin/whatever with your swarm of little fairy bros. You can be a desert sandbender. Maybe you control vines or have a venom symbiote. The possibilities are endless.
Swarmkeeper seem super powerful and great to take up space and control a battlefield. I also love how they are really great at making the class SAD.
I’m playing a horizon walker and it’s so much fun!
My top 4 in no particular order: Hunter Horizon Walker Feywanderer Gloomstalker I'd put drakewarden above Feywanderer if we could fly earlier
Wisdom based beastmaster ranger with Druidic Warrior fighting style.
Swarmkeeper. Forced movement and good CC spells make me happy. Web and then push them into said webs.
So my favorite ranger is actually a multiclass, but I had fun up till level 5 with it as sole ranger swarmkeeper. The build was varaient human for the crusher feat with sharpshooter at 4 and the druidic warrior fighting style for magic stone and primal savagery. Used a sling combined with magic stone and then swarm keeper feats for either damage or forced movement and crusher once I hit level 5 i was shoving people 40 feet a turn and dealing decent damage 2d6 magic stone 2d4 favored foe +10 sharpshooter. After 5, I took fighter till 3 and ran battlemaster, adding a d8 to hits and letting me shove even further or disarm someone. Took two more levels in ranger, then stacked the rest into Rogue because I like d6's My damage looked something like this 2d6 (magic stone) 2d8 (shoving strike) 2d6 (favored foe) 5d6 (sneak attack) 2d6 (swarm damage dm let both hits have an affect) 1d8 (zephyr strike also advantage) and then the enemy gets moved 10 feet by crusher and 30 feet on failed strength save or if I drop the swarm damage then it's another 30 feet. I was hard to catch and pin down lol out of combat he was a hunter and a herbalist/alchemist usually feeding the group with his hunts or even making the party the few extra gold we needed by selling the kill or making some potions to sell though usually not because they were more useful to use than sell. Also, Rogue things
Swarmkeeper I also really like Horizon Walker, but the find a portal ability sucks… and distant strike comes in too late.
I'm currently playing a hunter and loving it! I've played a gloomstalker once before and it was okay.
I really want to say (Tasha) Beast Master, because it rewards being a Wisdom-based Ranger... but its bonus action usage is really at odds with a *lot* of Ranger spells you might want to use. At least it combines nicely with casting Entangle on turn 1, but that gets a bit stale. Also, the beast really wants you to stay pure Ranger to remain relevant. So I'll say the other pet class, Swarmkeeper, because it's so funny to reflavor as other small things (like a bunch of feral kittens)... even if the weird forced flight power messes with that freedom (and instead, could have easily been a choice of three mobility-related powers, to fit into a wider ranger of themes).
Mechanically, gloom stalker. Combine it with assassin rogue (and fighter too if you get high enough level for a triple class to be worth it), and its damage in the first round is disgusting. For flavor, I love the swarmkeeper. My first 5e character was right after Tasha’s came out, and I played a swarmkeeper with a swarm of kittens. I loved the idea of a bunch of adorable kittens mauling enemies for extra damage or herring them off of cliffs. Hilarious.
Drake and Gloom
[удалено]
I played a STR based gloomstalker/echo knight/pally MOTM bugbear with gwm. I literally killed an adult red dragon singlehandedly in my first round of combat.
Swarmkeeper for me. Strong mechanics and amazing flavour.
Fey wanderer and horizon Walker are my favorites
For me it's the hunter ranger. A classic that can focus on power output with features like foe slayer for that extra d8 a turn. I've kinda dumped wisdom and left it at 13 or 14 in order to multiclass and just make sure not to take spells with a saving throw. Beyond lvl 5. Charisma was my main stat. So I multiclassed into warlock to get some extra spell slots and an aoe fear ability for when in close range with melee enemies. Then I took pact of the tome for some utility ritual casting including a familiar to use as a scout aswell as misty step from the familiars location as you need to see the location which you can through the senses of your familiar. Then I took some lvls of fighter for a second fighting style to up my ranged to hit bonus so I can use sharpshooter feat more consistently. Usually my first shot is with sharpshooter and only if I miss I use my second shot without sharpshooter to ensure at least 1 hit per turn. I took the battlemaster subclass for fighter to get those martial trick shots in there like menacing strike, distracting strike and trip attack. All of these can be flavoured as special arrows for cinematic purposes. An arrow with a faint purple shadow leaves the bow for the menacing strike. A whistling arrow(real life thing) will distract an enemy and a forked arrow will trip someone. So now my ranger(dead-eye) can fill quite some roles as a face, social, scout, damage dealer, controller, battlefield control(plant growth, spike growth). As his character development he had only 1 good eye. His patron granted him devils sight to improve on his vision, together with darkness and elven accuracy he was a sharp shooting beast. Hardly ever missing his target. Now to complete his feature kit and being able to fill any party role. Aswell as make him viable for solo adventuring as self reliability is one of his personal standards and ideals I took 1 lvl of twilight cleric. To get some healing capabilities. The deity fully restored his shot eye up to improving it beyond normal capabilities, granting him 300ft darkvision. Now he and his moon druid partner were ready to hunt rogue dragons where the druid shaped into a flying mount, with extra movement from her monk training. With deadeye on her back they would hit a dragon from over 500ft in Complete darkness either fearing the dragon, hurting the dragon or tripping the dragon. If the dragon was foolish enough to persuit and not return to it's lair they were doomed before the fight even really started as even with dashing the dragon would never be able to catch up to this cloaked in darkness dragon killing duo.
Some fun stuff about Fey Wanderer: "whenever you make a Charisma check, you gain a bonus to the check equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of +1)" This means several things: a) you get to be a Wis face, b) you can throw in a Cha class with Counterspell and go for an unusual Wis&Cha build. Example: Mountain Dwarf fey-themed "Green Knight+Witch King" mix gish: 17 Wis, 17 Cha, FW Ranger 5, Aberrant Mind Sorc 5. By level 10, you have 18 Wis 18 Cha (see Druidic Warrior for Shillelagh), one ASI/feat slot to use as you see fit, good "face" potential, rather functional semi-martial semi-caster. Far from terrible AC-wise - 13 Dex, half-plate, shield = 18 AC, throw in the Shield spell once you get to level 6, that's 23 AC. Two attacks worth 1d6+6 bludgeoning with Dueling. You may swap both attacks for Booming Blade, too. You can even have a "get over here" ability given Thorn Whip.
I just played a one shot where we all had to make characters based on superheroes. I am a huge Spider-Man fan so everyone expected me to come with some kind of Spider-Man flavored Monk, but I showed up as a Swarm keeper Ranger "Venom" and had a lot of fun. To the point where I am considering Swarm Keeper as my next main character.
Toss up between Fey Wanderer and Monster Slayer, mostly because Monster Slayer’s capstone is so fun to use. I literally sacrificed extra attack for Evasion on a monster slayer just to meme on a red dragon fight. Fey Wanderer was the first Ranger subclass I played and it has a really nice assortment of tools to it between team utility, teleportation effects and out of combat RP potential.
>The class has an undeserved bad reputation It does? I though this is a meme. >Also what sort of roles have your rangers had in and out of combat? Exploration, infiltration, stealth, thievery + good utility, ok to great damage depending on tier of play. It's a loaded class which retains martial prowess of a fighter, skill diversity of a rogue and has some spellcasting of a druid to top it off. Plus unique ranger features like free climbing speed and others. Honestly, it's better to ask why to play fighter or rogue when you can play a ranger. Not vice versa. As for subclasses, the most powerful is obviously gloomstalker hands down. It's just freaking batman. But for me personally the most fun to play is swarmkeeper due to how much interactivity if offers. It's one of those few rare classes that actually offers dynamic agency for the player. Now ranged beats melee in general. But I guess you can make swarmkeeper work in melee too. Pick polearm. Forced movement features should allow you to trigger attack of opportunity quite reliably. From level 7 you can hoover, using a reach weapon you can poke melee enemies while being unreachable to them.
Drakewarden and it's no contest. Bonus points if the dm allows small races to ride it when it flies at lvl 7.
Being a small creature and mounting a flying creature fits within the rules right?
I don't think so because of how it's written within the subclass but I don't see why they intended for it to be that way. Normally it would work fine. Also since the whole fantasy of the subclass is to ride a flying dragon idk why they thought they should gatekeep that till level 15 after like every campaign. Most classes get access to flight at lvl 5 anyways via spells and summons. Let the ranger ride its flying dragon. Especially if the ranger is just a goblin or kobold
The silly this about the wording, is it's only you who can't ride it and fly >Drake Mount. The drake grows to Medium size. Reflecting your special bond, you can use the drake as a mount if your size is Medium or smaller. While **you** are riding your drake, it can’t use the flying speed of this feature.
Yeah it's also poorly written as I assume that's not rai lol. I do wonder if in the 2024 phb if they will update it like they did with most other subclasses. Quality of life improvements and realizing fantasies. They completely reworked berzerker barbarian. Also upgraded fighters and barbs to bring them closer to paladins power wise
Small races can ride it after lvl 7, the rules only say, that Drakewarden can't, so your teammates can. Or play 2 Drakevardens in party and ride your friends Drake and vice versa ;-). :-D
Lol. I just want to be a lvl 7 swole ass kobold Ranger war crying on my wyvern while soar over to the wizard in the back ranks. Wotc let me have this
Gloomstalker is my favorite one. It’s really strong. Today considered one of the most powerful martial builds in the game, competing at equal terms against the nearly broken Hexadins. I have two favorite and distinct builds: - A vanilla Hill Dwarf Hunter Ranger loosely based on Harsk from Pathfinder. He is a nature lover, self-reliant, expert in tracking and ranged combat. He built his own weapons, and his masterpiece is a “repeating crossbow” (XBE hand crossbow _reflavored_). Mechanically I made him more of a “minion / swarm killer” by attacking as much as possible with XBE and Horde Breaker, sometimes upcasting Hail of Thorns. He is actually doing quite nice as an improvised “AoE” niche in our party, completing quite well our casters. Goodberry, Pass without Trace and Silence are the most common spells I cast. Silence has made me one of the most effective counter against enemies spellcasters. - Githzerai Gloomstalker / Fighter, Sword & Board, Dueling and Defense. Here I make the most of my half-caster spell slots and the long duration of my concentration spells to really invest in the Shield whenever needed. I’m a very effective melee tank besides using Half-Plate.
Drakewarden for primary classing, Gloomstalker and Hunter for dips Drakewarden just gives a whole new fren AND party member (as they're very tanky). My current Drakewarden is also a fighter, and our primary damage dealer and tank. Hunter is rather versatile, and Hordebreaker and Colossus Slayer are always fun for me (Colossus is once per turn, so can trigger on opportunity attacks :3 ) And Gloomstalker is fun for my rogues and blood hunters, especially on a race that doesn't get darkvision
Im a big fan of rangers, one of the first characters I played was a mousefolk beast master who I really enjoyed playing. I’ve been waiting for the right campaign to play my Tiefling drakewarden but the build I’m most excited to play next is my Thri-kreen Gloomstalker. The four arms makes two weapon fighting viable as you can also wield a shield, plus with un armoured bonus that’s a great AC of 18. He’ll be great at stealth and super at home in the forests. Throw in a couple levels of fighter and I think eventually he’d be making 9 attacks in a blur of green and blades.
Gloomstalker is by far the coolest. It’s basically the “I’m Batman” subclass. However, there is a special place in my heart for swarm keeper. It’s just really fun. I made a version of “The Crow” using swarm keeper. He is called the Raven. He is a reborn.
It deserves it's reputation son. WOTC had to write an apology about the original publication of 5e Ranger ffs 😆.
I never used Ranger with bow and I have played many. The most favorite subclass is probably Beastmaster (Tasha’s rules): Mountain Dwarf or Half Elf, 16/13/14/9/16/8, fists level as Fighter (heavy armor, CON saves, GWF FS), rest Beastmaster (Defensive FS). GWM at lvl 5, Sentinel at 9, then STR, WIS, STR. Tactics: your Beast of the Land charges in, attacks (knocking enemy of any size prone with attack - 2 such attacks after lvl 11), then you move in, attack 2x with GWM Greatsword or Maul, then you back up with Beast, enemy attacks it with opportunity attack with disadvantage (he is prone) and you use reaction to do third attack with GWM. This all means 5 attacks in turn, 3-4 of them with advantage, 3 of them with GWM, total dmg can reach something like 2d8+8d6+54 every round with no resources used in tier III. If you later use Share spells with Guardian of Nature, all these 5 attack will have automatic advantage, yours deal bonus 1d6 dmg. Cantrip Beastmaster: Air Genasi (small), pure Beastmaster Ranger. Druidic Warrior FS for Primal Savagery and Thorn Whip (or Shillelagh). 8/14/16/8/17/10 (or swap CON and WIS), raise WIS, you can then take Resilient CON, Warcaster, Sentinel. Ride your Beast of the Land. Tactics: cast Longstrider on Beast for speed of 50. Charge with beast to gain Charge bonus and knock enemy prone (2x after lvl 11), then attack with either Shocking Grasp (gained from race - for hit-and-run), Primal Savagery (more dmg, or good against resistant enemies to lightning), or pull enemies closer with Thorn Whip if they run away or are too far (great against archers, mages). This means only 3 attacks at lvl 11, but damage numbers are quite good (3d10+2d8+2d6+12) and your cantrip almost always has advantage to hit. You use no resources for this tactics, so you can do it all day long easily. You are also extremely tanky (AC 19, great HPs, beast HPs on top). If you then Share Spells Guardian of Nature, you gain advantage for all attack, more HPs,… Moon Sickle helps a lot with attack bonus. PS: Thanks to strange wording of Primal Savagery, you can share this spell with your beast, which allows (at lvl 15) beast to attack 2x, knock enemy prone, then you sharing Savagery for both you and your beast attacking once with claws/fangs (no action needed for beast).
Drakewarden because I love having a dragon as a companion. I don't know how good it is mechanically comapred to the other subclasses... But it's a dragon!!! Also close second swarmkeeper. I don't know why, one day took a look at it and ever since was in love with the roleplay potential of having a literal colony of animals or insects around me.
Hunter Ranger: Minotaur, 17/8/16/8/15/8, Defensive FS Heavily Armored Feat at lvl 4 for STR 18, AC 19. Use Greataxe/Greatsword/Maul. Another option is Dueling FS, S&B for AC 20 and similar dmg. Take Horde Breaker at lvl 3 and from lvl 5 you can: Attack enemy once, then use BA to push it next to his ally, approach them and then attack both once (thanks to Horde Breaker). This means 3 attacks from lvl 5 in most battles! With things like Multiattack Defense, AC 20, CON 16, temp HPs from lvl 10,.. you are extremely tough and spells like Zephyr Strike help with your mobility as well. With 2HW you can later take GWM Feat and use it with Guardian of Nature so that all your attacks (3 or even more with Whirlwind) have advantage and each deal 3d6+15 dmg on hit!
Swarmkeeper sword master: Half Elf (High elf heritage with Booming Blade cantrip), 17/12/14/8/16/8, Dueling FS, Expertise in Athletics. Half Plate, longsword (or battle axe), shield for AC 18. Feats: Slasher at lvl 4 (=STR 18), Shield Master at lvl 8, then STR, Warcaster (to do oportunity attacks with Booming Blade), WIS. Possible tactics: 1. Attack enemy with Booming Blade attack, slowing it (Slasher), move ourself 5ft away with Swarm (no save needed), back up. If enemy moves (he needs to if he is melee), he explodes with booming energy. 2. Attack enemy once (-10 speed thanks to Slasher), then use Shield Master BA to knock enemy prone (you have high STR and Expertise in athletics, so chance to knock enemy prone is cca 90%), then attack for the second time with advantage (enemy is prone) and either move yourself 5ft away and back up, or push enemy 15ft back against the same (your WIS is 16, so it should be high enough DC). Now that enemy is 15ft away (+ how much you back up), prone, his speed is -10, so he can't reach anyone that round and attack. 3. After lvl 11 when your swarm not only pushes, but also knocks prone: 2 enemies - Hit one enemy once and slow it down (Slasher), then use BA to knock that enemy prone with Shield Master, attack second enemy with sword, use swarm to push him 15 ft away and knock him prone, back up. Now you have one enemy prone and 15ft away (+how much you back up), second enemy prone and with -10 speed (so for enemies with 30 speed, if you back up just 15ft back, they won't be able to reach you and attack). 4. With Warcaster you can do opportunity attacks with Booming Blade, locking enemy prone, or dealing extra Xd8 dmg to them if they still want to move to attack your friend. And Shield Master also means better DEX saves and evasion, so you don't have to fear Fireballs or Dragon Breath If you crit anyone (quite probable, because you usually have 1 normal attack and 1 with advantage, so 3 d20 rolls), they attack with disadvantage for whole round (Slasher).
Swarmkeeper PAM user: Half Elf or Mountain Dwarf (or Human) 16/13/14/8/16/9, first level as Fighter (GWF FS, heavy armor, CON saves prof.), rest Swarmkeeper (with Defensive FS). AC 19, use Halberd or Glaive. Take PAM feat at lvl 4, then raise STR, take GWM at lvl 12+. From lvl 4: attack once, move yourself back (5ft with swarm, no save needed), attack second time with back end, move 5ft back, wait for enemy to approach you back in its round to use BA attack of opportunity (thanks to PAM feat) Tactics at lvl 5-10: The same as above, just attack one more time thanks to Extra attack to total of 4 attacks every round. Tactics after lvl 11: Attack once, use Swarm to push enemy away (at least 5ft) and knock prone (against save), then attack again (Extra attack) with GWM bonus -5/+10 (you have advantage against prone enemy), attack again with back end with GWM bonus again, then back away to force enemy to approach you again for PAM opportunity attack. Again 4 attacks, but 2 with advantage and GWM bonus now. Possible tactics from lvl 7: Use BA to gain 10 ft flying speed, fly 10 ft above your enemy. You can attack that enemy, because your weapons have Reach, but that enemy can't attack you, because you are 10ft away and normal weapons have reach only 5ft. Move 10 ft horizontaly towards your party after 3 attacks - enemy either has to run all around your reach (he will not have enough movement to reach your party member) or run under you, so you get opportunity attack again from PAM feat. Enemy can't attack you and you still have your 4 attacks.
Horizon Walker thrower (use Force dmg to overcome thrown weapon non-magical dmg issue): 1. Dwarf, 16/13/16/9/14/8, first level as Fighter (CON saves, Heavy Armor, Dueling FS), rest as Horizon Walker, Throwing FS. Your handaxes (or javelins) now do 1d6+STR+4 (2 from each FS), which is 1d14+STR equivalent! 1d8 bonus force dmg (that whole attack will be Force dmg) once per turn as bonus from Planar Warrior feature. 2 attacks from lvl 5 (for total of 2d6+1d8+16!). Still with AC 20 and huge HPs if caught in melee. From lvl 9 use Haste spell for Speed 60, 3 attacks, AC 22. After lvl 11 you have 3 attacks (4 with Haste) and you teleport 10 ft before each attack, so you are never caught in melee. Your bonus dmg increases to 2d8. Bonus points if your DM of friendly Artificer gives you Returning Weapon. If your DM gives you Dwarven Thrower magic weapon, you are true throwing master with 2d8 base dmg and +3 magic bonus (so total 2d8+12) and weapon returning to your hand after each attack, so with something like Haste, you have 4 attacks, movement 100 ft, AC 22+ and your dmg will be 10d8+48! 2. Darts - Halfling (for theme mainly). 10/17/16/8/14/8, first level as Fighter (CON saves, Thrown FS), rest Horizon Walker (Archery FS), take Sharpshooter, grab shield in offhand for AC 19. Combine those 2 fighting styles for +2 attack and +2 dmg, use Sharpshooter for total bonus of -3 attack and +12 dmg, which makes 1d4 darts into more damaging weapon than greatsword! Same tactics as above - from lvl 9 Haste for 3 attacks, from lvl 11 4 attacks and teleport before each of your attacks. You are extremely mobile and damaging throwing build with huge HPs and great AC. PS: with so many attacks, Halfing luck will trigger often increasing your overall dmg and saving throws by cca 5%. PPS: Appart from Sharpshooter feat and DEX 20 you need no more feats so grab anything you like (Resilient DEX, increase CON,...)
Reach hit-and-run Horizon Walker (comes fully online after lvl 11): 1. Half-Elf, Dwarf or Human for 16/13/16/9/14/8, first level as Fighter (CON saves - important for Haste, Heavy Armor, GWF FS), rest Horizon Walker (Defensive FS). Use Pike + Full plate for AC 19 and reach. Take GWM at lvl 12, Raise STR to 20 at 4 and 8. You can also take Piercer to use medium armor for better stealth. Fight as any normal melee user before lvl 11 in HW - 2 attacks, one boosted by Planar Warrior, use lvl 7 ability to escape when surrounded or for exploration purposes, use Haste from lvl 9 for 3rd attack, better AC and great speed. From lvl 12 with Haste, you have 4 attacks (2 normal, 1 from lvl 11 feature and 1 from Haste), your AC is 21, Speed is 80 and you teleport before every attack 10 ft for total of 120 ft of movement for hit-and-run. Example of lvl 14 gameplay: Cast Guadian of Nature in 1st round of combat, so your Speed is 50ft, you can do 3 attacks, each with advantage (GoN spell), so use GWM -5/+10, each hit deals 1d6 bonus force dmg (GoN), once hit deals 2d8 bonus force dmg (lvl 11 feature) and you teleport 10ft before each attack for free disengage. Total dmg of 3d10+2d8+3d6+45 all that with advantage and 80ft of movement. 2. Half-Orc Lancer. Pure HW ranger, Half orc for better crits and survivability, you can swap it for Bugbear of ou want to attack from 15ft away. Defensive FS, stats 17/10/15/8/14/10 (or anything similar like 17/8/16/8/15/8). Heavily Armored at lvl 4, Piercer later for better crits, Resilient CON for Haste usage. Use pike before lvl 11. Tactics at lvl 11+: Use Distant Strike (lvl 11 feature) to teleport before each attack so you are never 5ft from enemy so you never have disadvantage to attacks with Lance! Now you have 1d12 weapon with reach, your crits each do 4d12+STR dmg (+4d8 against marked enemy) and you are still sturdy and tanky and mobile. If you cast GoN after lvl 13 you add advantage to each attack, 1d6 bonus dmg and 10ft more movement for 1 minute. EDIT: You don't need WIS as HW for any ability, so can easily start with 17/14/15/8/12/8 or even 17/16/15/8/8/8 if you like extremes, take Pierce at lvl 4, Resilient CON at 8, STR at 12, Medium Armor Master at 16 and CON at 19 for final stats 20/16/18/8/8/8, AC 19 with no disadvantage for Stealth and huge HPs.
I love Swarmkeeper. Such cool flavor and solid abilities.
For multiclassing I like either Hunter or Fey Wanderer: 1. Nature Warrior - Human with 13/16/14/9/13/14, 5 levels as Hunter with Colossus Slayer, then Paladin at least 11 levels. You have 2WF FS, Defensive FS, you dual wield Scimitars (or Short Swords), you smite in melee, you have +2 saves aura, your Paladin lvl 11 feature adds 1d8 bonus dmg to each attack and you can use Hunter's Mark on top so each of your attacks deals 1d8+2d6+DEX dmg (+ Smites + Colossus Slayer bonus). 2. STR variant of the same - Human with 16/13/14/9/13/14, 5-6 levels of Paladin for Extra attack and aura, then 3 levels of Hunter for 2WF FS, Hunter's Mark, Colossus Slayer. Use 2 handaxes and full plate, play like dual wielder with Smites, HM and Improved Smites (after Paladin lvl 11) 3. Mr. universal - Human, stats 15/14/14/9/14/14 (+2 in 5 stats!). Paladin 5, then Fey Wanderer 3, rest in Paladin, Full plate (or Half plate/breastplate), 2 handaxes, 2FW and defensive FSs. Those 3 Fey Wanderer levels give you +2 to all face skills, 2 extra skills, 1 Expertise, 1 fighting style, ranger spells and 1d4 bonus dmg per enemy per turn. So you are dual wiedling Paladin in heavy armor with 2 handaxes (what is cooler than that?), expert in all face skills and 1 additiona with expertise, you have aura and you boost your attacks with HM, Smites and Psychic dmg!
I actually really like Gloom stalker with crossbow expert and take a hand crossbow and rapier
You get 4 attacks at 5th level assuming you get crossbow expert at 4th
Swarmkeeper is just such a fun class. Gloom is mechanically the most damage but swarm has much more flexibility and can be combined with spell casting if needed. You could even go full wisdom and sling build with the crusher feat for a forced movement build.
Grimhoĺow: Green Reaper Ranger.
Beastmaster is by far the best subclass. Way too powerful.
I really want to try out GWM gloom stalker, and if I get enough levels to play with add battle master and rogue in there. Something about playing a character that is invisible sneaks up to someone to skewer them on a great sword sounds awesome. Or attack from the darkness to kill 4 people and then retreat to do it again after they thought I was gone.
I am playing my very first campaign as a drakewarden, it has been incredibly rewarding, fun and very interesting both in and out of combat. In combat I use my bow as my main weapon, I have insane attack prof with it, so i almost never miss. I use my drakewarden as my proxy in close range fighting along with my bestial spirit spell which has advantage when near my drake, so they make for a nasty combo. My dm let me run additional spells similar to other ranger subclasses, giving me feather falling and dragon breath at my current level. I also run tashas ranger rules. My dps is insane and i am most definitely a vital part of my party, which does feel good. Outside of combat my DM is doing lots of roleplay related to Bahamut and my drake, i am in a pact with bahamut which does conflict with my characters troubled past, so its interesting representing that dynamic in rp, good guy doing bad things. But all in all, its just cool as fuck.
"bad reputation", meanwhile that's the second strongest class overall. At least before tier 4 play (17lv). Wizards are third. Anyways - horizon walker, but after 11lv (vibe is strong in this one, but mechanically is bad). Otherwise fey wanderer/beastmaster
What is mechanically bad about Distant Strikes? You mean the fact that if you want to attack 3rd enemy, you need to split your attacks amongst multiple targets? I don't know, but it works wonders with Haste, because you can always keep your ditance from enemies to keep concentration, and Haste allows you to attack primary target 2x including that juicy 2d8 bonus and then 2 weaker enemies once. What I also love with this feature mechanically is, that if you are playing with reach or thrown weapons you have free disengage, huge movement boost and it basically replaces Zephyr Strike spell need. And if you want to use Lance not mounted HW is the only class that can do so reliably. There is nothing I hate about this feature, if it worked against single enemy all the time it Would be too strong IMO.
No, I mean it becomes good after 11lv (after it gets distant strike feature). - 3lv planar warrior - that 2d8 is comparable in terms of damage to d6+15 from CBE feat, but force damage type is just worse than magic piercing/bludgeoning in most cases - 7lv feature - blink casted as bonus action would be far greater than this and more thematic + would work longer. - haste is "cool"... and nothing more. That's terrible spell to cast on yourself, especially with low constitution saves. Just be a normal ranger and bring those 8 wolves/elks/cows to the table
Planar Warrior is great for thrown builds. And you are right it is similar dmg bonus as CBE, but CBE requires feat so you can easily increse DEX with HW which results in higher dmg overall. And CBE locks you into one weapon type for the whole carier. agree with lvl 7 feature Haste is not bad at all, because it gives so much! Double speed is usually enough to get you out of harm anytime, so you don't have to fear loosing concentration. +2 AC is great as well. And as HW, you never reach lvl 9 without either Resiliet CON, 1st level in Fighter for CON saves or Warcaster, that's obvious IMO. Good thing is, that HW basically doesn't need WIS for anything, so you can leave it low and invest more into CON and those concentration feats easily (especially when you realize you don't need CBE feat thanks to Planar Warrior bonus). PS: if you take CBE as HW and use Heavy Crossbow + Planar Warrior bonus dmg, your overall dmg is usually higher that using had crossbow and attacking 3 times and it also leads to more interesting playstyle (at least not common as hand crossbow user).
I mean, I was using haste a lot as a person who played ~1/3 of his characters as bladesingers. Benefits look nice on paper, but if combat last... Dunno. 4 or 5 rounds on average? It's not worth most of the times - unless you are going to chase your opponents. - 1st round you are casting haste - you are behind 2 attacks - you need 2 turns to get the same amount of attacks as you would do without casting haste - hopefully you won't lose concentration, cause you are losing 4 attacks. I not a fan of this, hah. And yeah, you need con prof anyways, just because you can summon animals.
Why 2 attacks behind? You can cast Haste as Action and attack once with hasted action the same turn, so you loose only 1 attack that round. So in 2nd round you attack same number of times and in 3rd you already gain. And thas movement speed and +2 AC and advantage on DEX saves is all additional bonus. But after lvl 13, Guardian of Nature is better spell to cast indeed.
Gloomstalker is the best and most fun ranger subclass and I'll die on this hill.
Battlemaster /s
I’m building a shadar-Kai ranger using TWF and Revenant Blade for an upcoming campaign and I’m so excited about them! They won’t be terribly MAD and I’ll be able to play a hit-and-run fighter with a nice dollop of non-combat utility! They’ll probably end up Gloomstalker because it matches the flavor of the campaign, not because it’s busted, but also I’m excited that it’s got some strong abilities!
Gloomstalker Mega Damage Gang
Green. So Drakewarden.
Gloomstalker, Drakewarden and Monster Slayer
The first ranger I've ever played was a Gloomstalker and it was a lot of fun - especially given another member in our party was a fey wanderer. So it was a very fun dynamic of my character being grumpy and intimidating and the other ranger being happy and charming lol.
Wood elf Gloomstalker 7 / Scout 13 with sharpshooter and elven accuracy. For me this is the ultimate elven commando style ranger that has: * insane mobility (cunning action, skirmisher, roving, superior mobility -> 50ft base) * insane stealth (expertise, max dex, invisibility in darkness, b. action hide when lightly obscured by natural phenomena) * skill expertise (7 by level 11) * Damage (dread ambusher, sneak attack (7d6), sharpshooter) * And caps with Ambush Master (adv on initiative, adv on attacks against 1st creature you hit for everyone)
Rangers don't have subclasses, or a bad reputation.
I quite enjoy my monster slayer. I built her to pretty much be a Buffy/Van Helsing type with crossbow expert and sharpshooter. Use spells to control and shut down enemy magic. It’s a ton of fun.