Rangers are the elusive forest ninjas of D&D. Don’t mistake Rangers for only being bow users (although they are some of the best in the game with a bow), because they have the option of taking fighting styles that can really push their melee damage up as well. Rangers are a great class who marry.
Posted by2 years ago
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So, the Revised Ranger UA has been out for some time now. I read over it and liked what I saw. However, it was not until the last day or two that I really sat down and started messing with it.
One of the major flaws in 5th Edition is the fact that the Ranger is the most underpowered class in the game, especially the Beast Master Archtype. Fortunately, this has changed with the UA Revised Ranger.
For all of you that WANT to play a Beast Master, this post is for you.
Here I will detail a level by level guide to get the most bang for your buck from the Revised Ranger's Beast Conclave. Hold on tight, things get DOPE!!
As a DM I always have my players use the Standard Array, it keeps all players on an even footing and removes some of the confusion for new players. To that end we start our Revised Ranger with the following stats:
STR 8 DEX 14 CON 15 INT 12 WIS 13 CHA 10
The reason for this odd stat spread is twofold. One: Even though you have spells, they are completely situational for this build, so Wis is low. Two: Dex is lower than Con because you get a dex Boost when we choose our race.
Next we choose our race. For the build I have in mind the only viable option is Lightfoot Halfling. The reason for this is their Naturally Stealthy racial feature, which lets you take the Hide action while you are behind a creature at least one size larger than you (Medium+). This feature will come into play as soon as your very first level 1 encounter, but once you claim your animal companion, watch out! Sure, you have to eat an off-stat ability increase, but it is worth it.
Lightfoot Halfling nets you a +2 to Dex (increasing it to 16) and a +1 to Cha (increasing it to 11). Other than the aforementioned Naturally Stealthy feature, you also gain advantage on saves against fear effects (Brave), a movement feature (Halfling Nimbleness), and the Lucky feature (STATIC rerolls on all attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws that come up 1! OMFG!)
Next we look at backgrounds. Thanks to a guide posted here, www.tribality.com/2016/01/11/dd-5e-character-optimization-ranger/ , I was able to determine that, for this build, Folk Hero is the background we want to choose. It gives us 2 of the 6 skills needed by this build; Animal Handling and Survival, both crucial for rangers. Folk Hero is also flavorful for a halfling background. This background also gives you proficiency with one set of Artisan Tools AND gives you said tools. I chose Cook's Utensils because hobbits be hungry, and Folk Hero already gives you an Iron Pot as equipment.
Finally, we get to Class. As this is a Revised Ranger Build, it is now time to open up your free UA:RR PDF and prepare to be amazed.
Going down the list, we skip Hit Points and Proficiencies as those are static features. Skill selection, though, we will discuss. As was hinted at, there are 6 skills required by this build. Two were gained with our background, and as a ranger we choose Perception, Stealth, and Nature. The last skill we gain later on.
Next we look at starting equipment. Your equipment choices haven't changed from the PHB so we just choose normally. We want to go with Leather Armor (upgrade to Studded Leather when you can) because Scale Mail gives you disadvantage to Stealth, which we want to avoid. For weapon choices, take your Two Shortswords. They are more expensive than any two simple weapons (selling at half price), and we will be selling them. Take the Explorer's Pack or the Dugeoneer's Pack based on your preference of what is inside each. Lastly, all rangers start with a Longbow and 20 arrows, which we will be trading in... because as a halfling we take disadvantage when using heavy weapons (which a longbow is).
Work with your DM to do the following during character creation: sell your two shortswords for 10g (5g each at half price), more starting money for you. TRADE your longbow and arrows for the more reasonably sized Hand Crossbow and bolts; again, as a halfling we take disadvantage to attack rolls when using heavy weapons.
If your DM is on the fence about this trade, use this argument to sway them. Numerically, the Hand Crossbow costs 75g (25g more than a longbow), and this is where most DM's will have a problem. BUT trading a longbow and arrows for a hand crossbow and bolts is a fair trade when you take into account that a hand crossbow does 1d6 instead of the longbow's 1d8 and the range of a hand crossbow is five times less than the longbow. Once this is explained, any reasonable DM will allow it. I would.
RANGER LEVEL 1 Your character is now a fully functioning first level ranger. You have 12hp, 14 AC, and a +5 1d6+3 ranged attack. You are also Naturally Stealth, Lucky, and Brave. You gain the Favored Enemy feature, choosing Humanoids (because they are the most common enemy type). This nets you a +2 bonus to damage against this creature type and a language associated with that creature type, as well as advantage on Survival and Knowledge checks against your Favored Enemy. You also get the Natural Explorer feature. This feature is now BOSS. It gives you advantage on initiative rolls, advantage on creatures that haven't taken their first turn yet (a no-hiding version of Naturally Stealthy), and lets you ignore rough terrain (which is good because as a halfling we don't have very much movement AND even a foot deep of water is rough terrain for small creatures i.e. sewers, streambeds, etc.). Natural Explorer also gives us alot of out-of-combat flavor for when your party is traveling long distances. Note: As you adventure, always be on the look out for a set of Studded Leather Armor sized for a small creature. This will be rare, as most CR appropriate humanoid enemies will be medium size, but lets hope your DM throws in some goblins or Kobolds outfitted with this armor, just for you. If not, you will have to save up to buy a set from the merchant (45g).
Ranger Level 2 As a second level ranger you up your HP by 8 unless your DM has you roll for hit points. You also gain a Fighting style, choosing Archery for that sweet, sweet +2 bonus to ranged weapon attack rolls. Your hand crossbow now has a +7 to hit. Second level is also your first level of spellcasting. As I mentioned before, this build makes situational use of casting, so I leave it up to you to chose your spells at each level, though Hunter's Mark is a given and should be used often. In fact, ONLY use your spell slots in combat to cast this spell. Grab utility spells (like Cure Wounds) to benefit the party out of combat.
Ranger Level 3 Finally! We get to the reason you chose ranger. As a third level ranger you gain another 8 hp and the nominally useful Primeval Awareness. You also gain your new and improved Beast Conclave Archtype. This beastmaster rework gives you access to 9 specific animal companions. If you do not like the options available, as a DM I would say that a good rule of thumb would be to find an alternate animal companion that fits these requirement:
Must have the creature type Beast
Beast choices are limited to CR 1/2 or below AND have no more than 3 Hit Die. These two requirements put any alternative animal companion on par with the Ape or Black Bear, which then makes it a fair. You also gain the Companion's Bond feature, which REALLY makes up for the lackluster PHB Beastmaster. This is how this feature works. You gain your animal companion (Ape in our case) and immediately increase its base AC, saving throws, attack bonus, and damage rolls by your proficiency modifier, which scales with your character level, not your level in ranger. Your companion also gains proficiency with ALL saving throws and two skills of your choice (Stealth and Medicine, your Ape is already proficient with Athletics and Perception. Making it stealthy and have the ability to stabilize party members at 0hp is awesome). Your companion ALSO gains a hit die every time you level up (in any class, the wording of the feature does not exclude levels outside of ranger, though this might change if WotC officially publishes this Revision) Your companion also gains an Ability Score Increase whenever you do (again the wording of the feature does not prohibit multiclass ASIs).
At 4th level gain another 8hp, your Ape gains 7hp, and you and your companion both gain an ASI. Take this opportunity to learn the Crossbow Expert feat. This nets you the ability to fire your hand crossbow in melee without disadvantage and a bonus action crossbow attack, which you can do because you now ignore the loading property of crossbows. Your Ape companion increases his Strength by 2 (18 total).
Lets stop here for a moment to flesh out this character. You are a fourth level ranger. You have 36hp, 15 AC (you have studded by now), and an action and bonus action ranged attack at +7 1d6+3. You can use your Naturally Stealthy ability to hide behind your Ape, which you do, as you walk around to ensure advantage on the first turn in combat (just in case you cannot benefit from the advantage given by Natural Explorer). Your Ape has 26hp, 4 HD, 14 AC, Athletics +5, Perception +3, Stealth +4, Medicine +3, All saving throws at its Mod+your proficiency bonus, and a FIST or ROCK attack at +5 1d6+3 bludgeoning. Note Buy or build a satchel that your Ape can carry around a load of rocks in (ten 5 inch river stones for example); and say that you use your downtime to teach it to draw and throw rocks from the satchel during combat, as well as to fetch and stow thrown rocks after combat concludes.
IMPORTANT Your Ape moves and attacks on its own initiative count, verbally controlled by you. This effectively allows you two weapon attacks and a movement on your turn, and an attack and movement by your Ape on its turn.
Your action economy in combat would go like this.
If you are entering combat on your terms, roll a stealth check and announce that you are hiding behind your Ape. This allows you to enter combat hidden from enemies (the DM checks each enemy's Passive Perception or makes Perception Checks, both against your Stealth Check, to determine if you are hidden from them, PHB 192 and 194). This gives you advantage to attack on your first turn, just in case you can't make use of the advantage given by Natural Explorer.
Roll Initiative for you and your Ape, you should always go before your Ape because you get advantage to initiative rolls.
First Turn - You: Hunter's Mark, Attack, Move (Optional). Ape: Move (Optional), Attack (Ranged or Melee). Second Turn - You: Attack, Bonus Attack, Move (Optional). Ape: Move (Optional), Attack (Ranged or Melee).
Each Turn After the Second - Repeat turns one and two tactics, switching your Hunter's Mark as targets die. Also, your Ape has a 30ft climb speed, use it often to make your Ape harder to hit.
Ranger Level 4 / Rogue Level 1 YES!!! You multiclass to rogue! This first level of rogue gives you 7hp, your Ape 7hp, and the Investigation skill for having multiclassed. You also get the Expertise feature (Stealth and Thieve's Tools). You gain a 1d6 Sneak Attack, which you will ALWAYS apply to your first hit each round. This is because you have advantage during your first round of combat (Hidden/Natural Explorer) and will target enemies that are adjacent to allies (including Ape) from the second round onward. Lastly, you learn the Thieve's Cant language. You also went up in proficiency bonus this level, so recalculate your Ape's statistics to reflect this change.
Ranger Level 4 / Rogue Level 2 This level sees you gain another 7hp, your Ape another 7hp, and you gain the Cunning Action feature. This ability will allow you to take Hide, Dash, or Disengage actions as a bonus action. This feature is very situational, as you will primarily be using your bonus action to attack with your Hand Crossbow or reapply Hunter's Mark.
Ranger Level 4 / Rogue Level 3 This level sees you gain another 7hp, your Ape another 7hp, and you gain a Roguish Archtype. Because this build capitalizes on stealth and advantage to attack rolls during the first round of combat, lets pile on some more of that.
Take the Assassin Archtype. This gives you proficiency in the disguise kit (useless) and the poisoner's kit (extra damage and effects on your crossbow bolts, YAY! Craft or buy poisons often, always announce to your DM that you have applied poison to your crossbow bolts, preferably during downtime or short rests). You also gain the Assassinate ability. This ability gives you a redundant advantage against foes that have not taken their first turn, but more importantly, you now automatically do critical damage against surprised foes.
(Always ask your DM if any foes are surprised to capitalize on this extra damage. Remember, you actively attempt to hide behind your Ape before your party initiates combat. This means that the DM is already checking the passive perception of each enemy. Foes are surprised by you if their Passive Perception scores fail to meet or beat your stealth check. PHB 189 Surpried).
Ranger Level 4 / Rogue Level 4 This level sees you gain another 7hp, your Ape another 7hp, and both of you gain an ASI. Ape raises his Strength by 2 (total 20), and you learn the Sharpshooter feat. This lets you ignore 1/2 cover, 3/4 cover, and disadvantage for long distance with your crossbow attacks, increasing your normal range to 120ft. The -5 attack / +10 damage ability should always be used during the first round of combat, as you have advantage on the attack roll. It then become situational during the second round onward. Your first round of combat would then look like this. Advantage on the attack roll (x2 1d20+3), on a hit, you deal 1d6+3 (bolt)+1d6 (Hunter's Mark)+ 2d6 (Sneak Attack)+ xdX and effect (poison)+ 10 (sharpshooter)+6 (Assassinate Auto-crit). This gives a first turn damage potential of Minimum: 24+poison Average: 31+poison Maximum: 43+poison. Of course there is always the possibility that both attack roll die come up low, making you miss, but this is always the gamble.
Ranger Level 4 / Rogue Level 4 / Fighter Level 1 Don't you dare tell me you did not see this coming by now. At 9th level you multiclass into Fighter. This gives you 8hp, your Ape gets 7hp, and you gain the Second Wind ability. You also grab a second fighting style, choosing Defense to boost your AC to 16. Your proficiency bonus increases at this level, so recalculate your Ape's statistics to reflect this change.
Ranger Level 4 / Rogue Level 4 / Fighter Level 2 This nets you another 8hp and your Ape another 7hp. You gain one use of Action Surge, woot woot. This now allows you to add another attack to your first round of combat. Remember, you have advantage to all attack rolls during the first round from being hidden/natural explorer/assassinate; so always use your action surge here to capitalize on maximum damage output.
The uppers tier of play are rarely seen, but if you play with a group that is going all the way to level 20 in a long campaign, this is how you proceed.
Ranger Level 4 / Rogue Level 6 / Fighter Level 2 Take two more levels of rogue. These levels net you Uncanny Dodge and a second round of Expertise (Investigation and Perception). Increase your hp and your Ape's hp accordingly.
Ranger 12 / Rogue 6 / Fighter 2 From levels 13 to 20 you add eight more levels of Ranger. Increase your hp and your Ape's hp accordingly. You gain the Coordinated Attack feature at 13th level (ranger 5), which allows Ape to make a reaction attack when you take the attack action. This is in addition to Ape's regular attack on his turn. Your proficiency bonus also increases at this level, recalculate Ape's statistics. At 14th level (ranger 6) you gain the Greater Favored Enemy feature. This one is a crap-shoot as your DM could have a theme in creature type for encounters or throws random creatures at you each encounter. At level 15 (ranger 7) Ape gains the Beast's Defense feature. He now has advantage on all saving throws (eat that DM). At level 16 (ranger 8) you and Ape gain an ASI, increasing your Dex by 2 and Ape's Con by 2. You also gain the (now redundant) Fleet of Foot feature. At level 17 (ranger 9) you gain nothing, but your Proficiency bonus increases here so recalculate Apes Statistics. At level 18 (ranger 10) you gain Hide In Plain Sight. Also useless since you have been doing this since level 1. At level 19 (ranger 11) Ape gains the Storm of Claws and Fangs ability, effectively allowing him to use the Hunter Archtype's Whirlwind ability while in melee. Finally, at level 20 (ranger 12) you and ape gain your last ASI. You increase your Dexterity by 2 (total 20) and Ape boosts his Con by 2 (total 18).
To summarize for the 20th level Revised Beastmaster.
You have 158hp, 18AC, 14d10+6d8 HD, your base attack is +13 1d6+5, you have multiple attacks, you have advantage on your first turn in combat, you have a boatload of damage modifiers, along with a situational spell list. Ape has 172hp, 18 AC, 20d8 HD, a base attack of +11 1d6+11 ranged or melee, two attacks per round, proficiency and advantage on all saving throws, Ape's saving throws add your proficiency to his ability modifiers, and he has a situational Whirlwind Attack. AND if he dies, you can resurrect him for only 25g and 8 hours of work.
Got to say, I love me some Revised Beastmaster. The only thing that might change in this build is your DM's or WotC's ruling that the animal companion only gains HD and ASI with ranger levels. If this is the case, Ape is 8 levels down in HP and does not increase his Con scores, further reducing his HP. Other than that, the build solid.
Edit After contemplating on this build a while, I realize that after Level 15, the ranger features you gain do not really benefit your character very well. Most of them are redundant or situational at best. I have since revised my opinion to Ranger 8 / Rogue 10 / Fighter 2 as the progression after character level 10. I know I just said you only need 7 levels of Ranger, but taking that 8th level gets you the ASI, even if you also get the useless class feature. The 4 extra levels of Rogue (instead of ranger 12) net you one more sneak attack die and evasion. It also ensures that you still get all 5 ASIs, thanks to the fact that rogues get that extra one at 10th level (like a mini fighter).