Would be cool if hunters mark worked like Warlock incantacions. At some levels you can add bonus to it like you mentioned. (no concentration, more damage, no bonus acton etc. etc.)
@@Elemenopi23 I feel like leaving the base ranger's ability less interesting just because some people were synergizing with something else is kind of lame...
@@Elemenopi23 then they should have done something like: ‘Level 6/9/w/e idk: you can Concentrate on 2 *Ranger* spells if one of them is Hunter’s Mark, you have disadvantage on Concentration saves while doing this (until lvl13 when you get relentless hunter)’
I like that you added the option for a non spiky build, meele companions would hate you if you cut of their way to get to the enemies with spikes on every combat lol
@@minikawildflower1) Casters aren't squishy 2) Skill issue on the melee part really, there is a reason why unless melee gets significantly buffed ranged is still ultimately superior
Woohoo here right off the bat. Colby, looking forward to see your magic in making an optimized build for the 2024 Ranger. Side note, I think I’m gonna join your discord. I appreciate your pov with the future of d&d, I’ve watched most of your builds and I’m here to support❤️💪
I just wanna say thank you for giving me the motivation to clean my house. I wanna watch your video but also can't just sit and watch it, so the house gets 30 minutes of work cleaner.
I absolutely love your character builds, so much so that I use some as bosses in dungeons. Not only giving them a fun combat encounter as a DM but showing them different tactics and abilities they might not be aware of. (There is alot to consider and look through!) When they ask what the build is I just send them to your videos! Hope you make a DM version at the end of future videos about how you'd go about facing a party with the character!
I really love how you always find a way to put a positive outlook on every class. With so many internet trolls out there bashing the game we devote so much time to your channel is a bright spot.
So fun fact, each living creature can attune to an item, so your animal companion can attune to them as well. So DM’s, here’s a item for BM rangers, uncommon magic item: “Collar of the beast master: An animal companion can attune to this collar for the following benefits, whenever a ranger casts the hunter’s mark spell, the animal companion can use its concentration to maintain the spell for the ranger, and whenever you’re able to reapply the hunter’s mark, you can do so and attack with animal companion as the same bonus action.”
@ np, it’s yours. For balance, I made it so you can’t attack and apply for the initial cast, but if you want a bit more punch, you can make it so the cast of hunters mark also allows for the pet attack, against the pet’s target, of course.
This is awesome. I think my next Ranger will be this build. Except I'll take the Guide Background to get Shillelagh, Stary Wisp, and Healing Word. This way, I can pump Wisdom and get into melee with a Quarterstaff/Club and Shield with two Beasts next to me. Also, I'm going to High Elf to get Booming Blade, Detect Magic, and Misty Step. I'll swap out Booming Blade for Mage hand or an attack cantrip or something once I get Extra Attack.
I'd like to see a class feature for a Ranger that lets you use a Reaction to move your _Hunter's Mark._ Like, if we HAVE to use some sort of action to move the mark, then you'd think we could eventually use a Reaction.
@@apollosungod6673 prof bonus should not be used for classes, it allows low level dips for features to be as effective as the full class due to class-agnostic scaling.
@@apollosungod6673 here is my 100% perfect* homebrew: Ranger Level 6 - Instinctive Mark: You can Concentrate on two Ranger spells at once if one of the spells is Hunter’s Mark. You have disadvantage on Concentration saves while doing this and failing a Concentration save ends both Concentration spells (the 13th level Ranger feature Relentless Hunter still applies). You can expend a use of Favored Enemy to extend the duration of your active Hunter’s Mark spell by 1 hour, or expend a use to remove the Bonus Action cost from moving or casting Hunter’s Mark. You can also move the mark even if the marked creature has not died. *perfection not guaranteed
This video made me realize that the free hunters Mark castings are really there for the two weapon fighting melee builds. Range builds won't use it because they're at range and not getting hit and their concentration is thus much more protected. It also made me realize everybody is multi-classing ranger.
Everybody is multi-classing ranger? "Always have been." The post-Tasha's 5e Ranger has a serious problem with being a great chassis for multiclass builds, but scaling terribly with half casting and effectively no martial damage bumps at higher class levels. The 2024 Ranger doesn't gain any class features to improve their archery between levels 5 and 17, and 17 still requires spellcasting. Their insulting capstone seriously feels like a punishment from the devs for NOT multiclassing.
Wouldn't it be easier to just allow the scaling of the class feature being extra hunters Mark castings be used to cast other spells as well. Like if you want to convert them into spell slots that's the one way to scale the class..... I can't believe they didn't think of this. Who needs five to six hunters Mark castings anyways when you can't lose concentration on it starting at 13?...
They needed to add more things to do with the Favored Enemy resource. Could have used it to power other effects. Really feels like a missed opportunity.
@@RaethFennec Always? Meanwhile rangers not liking multiclass before 14lv, getting great abilities during each levels and being stronger than any other martial, with possibility to end most combats alone. 2024 is like 30% of total damage and usability compared to 2014 or postTasha.
@@Kivuhl Yes, always. Optimization doesn't mean less-optimized builds are bad. You're valid for enjoying them or finding success with them. Make the character you will enjoy playing for months with your friends! But comparative analysis and live play alike show that Ranger is stronger if you multiclass out after level 5. They're also not martials. 2024 Ranger does more damage overall. 2014 only does more damage in the first several levels, where it was honestly overpowered thanks to level 1 feat species and post-Tasha's subclasses like gloomstalker. This is a healthy change for the game. I don't like the design they went with, so I'm a bit sad about the 2024 Ranger, as they don't feel distinct to me. But that's a preference thing, and is subjective.
Great guide! I also have issues with Hunter's Mark's action and concentration economy. Here are my fixes that we're trying at my table, which are modifications to the base class features for the Ranger. Please feel free to use or modify these ideas for your tables! 5th Level - Improved Favored Enemy: Starting at 5th level, you may cast Hunter's Mark using a 2nd level spell slot or greater to no longer require concentration on the spell. Further upcasting increases the duration as normal (gives players a choice to expend spell slot resources for the benefit of no concentration). 13th Level - Relentless Hunter: You have 10' increased movement speed and you ignore difficult terrain when moving toward the target of your Hunter's Mark (plays to the fantasy of the Ranger pursuing its quarry with supreme competency and efficiency). 17th Level - Deadly Hunter: You have Advantage on attack rolls against the creature marked by your Hunter's Mark, and the damage die is a d8 instead of a d6 (gives a damage increase to Hunter's Mark earlier). 20th Level - Foe Slayer: The damage die of your Hunter's Mark is a d12 instead of a d8 (substantial boost to Hunter's Mark damage over the baseline capstone). These changes do not address the issue of a Ranger having tons of choices in their bonus action economy, but we felt like these changes did enough to incentivize a Ranger to continue leveling on their primary class track while still making the spell more powerful and fun to use at higher levels of play. Criticism and feedback is welcome :D
Without even having gotten into the crunch of the build: .. I appreciate the preamble. I can't help but love the delicious sauce that goes into the genesis of lots of these ideas. If you have the patience to follow it, it's a convenient way to pick up stray ideas for even more builds later down the line, or how others come up short and in what ways.
Always love Beastmasters. I DO think you can probably preserve the flavor by going Druid after your beast gets its second attack for all their spells, as well as notable access to a Familiar, so you have an Animal Companion AND Familiar AND Wild Shape (though the last one is mostly for flavor), and I doubt you would lose much of anything else in the DPR department, especially given upcasting Summon Beast higher or getting other damage buffs through spells.
I would have been more okay if Hunter's Mark was a Reaction to change targets. This would still take an action of sorts, but ranged characters are less likely to have a use of their reaction. And even the melee characters wouldn't have a use for their reactio. All the time. Also, it makes sense. 'I see my target fall. I immediately react and change my tactics/target to something new.'
36:00 ooooo not cheesey is a strong option too? Hooray! It's sad that both of these don't use hunter's mark but it's not like they would focus on that for all of Ranger's class... right?
If you end the build with ranger 16 then rogue 4 - you can get 2x epic boon feats. This will probably be the optimal way to build rangers and almost all of the epic boon feats are better than Hunters mark upgrades (sad but true).
Hunter’s Mark Fix: Master of the Hunt: At Rangers Level 6, 10, 14, and 18 you get to customize your Hunter’s Mark Spell with one of the following options. 1. You gain advantage with all attacks you make on a marked target. 2. Your Hunter’s Mark spell no longer requires concentration. 3. Your Hunter’s Mark does 2d6 damage instead of 1d6. (2d10 at level 20) 4. You can cast and move your Hunter’s Mark as part of your attack action. 5. Your Hunter’s Mark grants you knowledge of Immunities Resistances and Vulnerabilities. Hunter subclass would get another instance of Master of the Hunt at level 3 and would be the only subclass able to get all 5 upgrades.
I like the idea! Imo it's a bit of an overcorrection, would suggest the following nurfs for corresponding options: 1. Requires level 10 2. While concentrating on hunter's mark, you can also concentrate on a second spell. 3. Requires level 10. 4. Casting the spell still requires a bonus action 5. No changes.
Awesome to see more Beast Master content. Still hoping for some errata/options from WotC to address the Bonus Action/Concentration conflicts on Hunter's Mark. Also, would love to see some exploration around the Share Spells and Primal Savagery interaction and how would that look in the spreadsheet.
38:27 Just wanted to point out that GWM's 2nd effect actually doesn't proc with bows, as the feat specifies "melee weapons" However unless something changed with natural weapons in the 2024 rules then if your land beast kills or crits an enemy them then you do get to make a bonus action attack....... but you just used it to make them attack in the first place lol.... I might homebrew that lol...
I’m playing a straight ranger in a high level campaign using the new rules and when I got the “Hunters Mark can’t lose concentration” feature I spoke to my DM and he agreed to home brew it so Hunters Make just straight up doesn’t require concentration. I find myself casting in most combats and it felt really powerful, even compared to the barbarian sitting next me. But regardless, another great build and another great video Colby. Love your work ❤
@@garion046 if it something a table would homebrew into the rules it would definitely need to be between level 6-10 otherwise it comes in too late to be worthwhile
I think a lot of people are missing that all of the hunter's mark buffs (except the 11th-level hunter feature, which I too despise) aren't load-bearing features-that to say you're always *also* getting something else: -13th level concentration protection comes along with 4th level spells -17th level attack advantage comes along with 5th -Beastmaster 11 comes along with a *whole 2nd beast attack* Moreover the Paladin and Artificer get *Nothing* at 13th and 17th, outside spellcasting progression. The ranger isn't really getting hunter's mark only features, they're getting bumps to hunter's mark alongside their spellcasting leveling up, to help out with its relevancy over time. That to say I'm no massive fan of the new setup, but its only real crime are some feelbads, not mechanical deficiency.
Maybe I'm biased here, but shackling most of the class features to a spell that is outclassed rapidly would classify as a mechanical deficiency. Particularly a spell that forces you to give up a lot of other spell options by tying up your Concentration. < Edit > Ultimately I think the disconnect here is that they can't really decide what the Ranger is in the modern day, as a class, what it should look like and what it should do. It lacks identity, and the band-aid solution through all of 5e has been subclasses that push it in the direction of other classes. The only real defining aspect of Ranger in 5e has been the prevalence of the bow and arrow, and the historical nod of the Beastmaster animal companion trope as a subclass.
@@PhailRaptor The part of your opening statement I would disagree with is "...*most* of the class features..." Outside subclasses we're talking about two class features total before *level 17* (and one of those isn't load bearing). And there's only one subclass that has meaningful hunter's mark interaction. And it's called *The Hunter*. I really don't see how any of this qualifies as "most of the class features."
I don’t know if I’d say Rangers “suck”, but they definitely didn’t really see any NET power-ups the way most of the other classes did. Also hitching the wagon to Hunter’s Mark even harder was a mistake. Feels bad when you have features that are offline unless you’re using ONE singular 1st level spell
@@brilobox2 I have no problem with nerfing smite, but again the core class for Rangers still needs work. Like there are two half caster classes and 1 of them some parties view as almost a necessity and the other you're like, sure for a troll, I guess that could be entertaining. Like...that's crazy to me.
27:59 I’m building a thri Kreen with a heavy crossbow and two hand crossbows. Attack 1 heavy cb, attack 2 hand cb, bonus action off hand cb. Super excited
You use hunters mark on a single target high hp enemy. Use your spell slots for multiple enemy situations... It's free damage when you need it. Plus the advantages of having hunters mark on a target out of combat.
Honestly Ive always though it made sense for Longbow to require strength; as to use a historic warbows, it actually need the user to be very strong. So, even though it isn't a true requirement, it is on if you want to optimize it with GWM
@@TommyTheCat83 No, this is a falsehood. The min stat you need is STR for melee and DEX for ranged. The person I was responding to deleted their comment so mine is lacking context now.
I believe the post is referring to the minimum strength of 13 in the prerequisites for great weapon master, not the heavy property requiring either 13 dex for heavy ranged weapons or 13 str for heavy melee (though that verbiage in the text seems abusable).
@@jesseseva2219 Yes, but the attack that reduces the target to 0 needs to also be with a melee weapon, so unless your making a full on thrown weapons build (in which case you wouldn't get the other benefit from GWM since no thrown weapons have the heavy property) your not likely to get it to trigger.
My proposed fix for hunters mark. Move relentless hunter to lvl 6. At level 9 make it so activating it costs a bonus action, but not to transfer it. Instead, once your target falls to 0 HP, you can change targets as a free action before you take the attack action on your turn. At level 13, hunters mark no longer requires concentration. Just lasts as long as the spell level used allows. I think this is an elegant solution. Otherwise everything else will stay the same, and i think this brings the ranger in line with the other classes baselines
YES! I wanted a Heavy Crossbow build for so long! And it's also a "Pokémon master"! This surely is going to be one of my favourite builds! Right on top with the Artillerist Artif/Evocation Wiz!
Chris (Treantmonk) did make a good list of Ranger spells, none of which were concentration, so I think making it a choice is kinda interesting, but I haven't bothered doing a deep dive
2:30 "cuz Ranged weapon users have two advantages over melee..." Actually 3, ranged characters also, by default, attack using an attribute that always adds to initiative, AC and a major/important save. Also may synergizes with stealth & trickiness.
I helped another player rebuild his character because he did a lot of ill-considered multiclassing to try to make a good archer and it just wasn’t working. So I made him a 2024 fighter; we’re level 14. With a +3 longbow and bracers of archery, he’s at +15 to hit and does 1d8+15 damage per attack. He makes three attacks per turn. He can also use superiority dice, his attacks impose disadvantage on concentration checks, his speed is 40 and opportunity attacks have disadvantage to hit him… granted this is pretty high level but I think archers are doing fine.
Wizards released Uni and the Hunt for the Lost Horn yesterday on D&D Beyond, and reading through the module I realized why I always lean towards playing a Ranger... 12yo me watching the cartoon and Hank being the coolest character of the show must have had a profound effect on my RP psyche.
In a lot of ways, this feels so similar to Warlock. Youve got a concentration spell buffing your damage and two ranged attacks per turn that can force movement. The difference really boils down to your skills, spells, and bonus action
DId we forget about share spells. Conjure Woodland Beings with Beast and Share Spells is gonna go crazy. Better on a melee build but imagine a flyby animal just dashing around or dodging while hitting every enemy with 5d8 or save on half. Probably better for a twf build so you could double dip 10d8 dmg per round not even counting your attacks. Anytime the fight isn't serious use a free HM. Ranger is goated with spells.
I had a question on that. There is language in shared spells that says the spell has to be cast within 30-ft. Surely that is just the casting right, and the spell doesn’t blink out if your beast moves over 30-ft away from you? Because the a Beast Master with 2014 rules could share Ashardalons Stride for a similar play style, but that also is pretty useless if there is a 30-ft limitation.
@@alanmaxwell9105 no no, you are correct, there is NO "you must remain within 30ft" language. So you just cast it and run. Ashardolons Stride is a great use for 3rd lvl ranger slots
In practice Great Weapon Master can't actually give bonus action attacks to ranged builds. It only gives those if you take down the enemy or crit with a melee weapon. This is pretty much irrelevant in terms of DPR, since as you say your beast is probably at least as good anyway, but it's worth noting.
I think I would house rule that rangers could change targets when taking the attack action when they gain Extra Attack. Then probably a level or 2 later allow a ranger to switch targets with a reaction if they dropped a creature to 0 Hit Points. For the switching and thinking about it more, I think I would word it such that "While taking the Attack action, you can switch the target of your spell once per turn."
I have stated multiple times my opinion is that WotC should have made the "slot free castings" of Hunter's Mark should also be concentration free, which I think would make the limitations feel a little less like it is pigeon-holing your ranger.
Eldritch Knight Fighter with Fey-Touched to Grab Hex is likely the highest damaging Ranged build. It might have similar utility to the ranger because of Arcane spell casting and the additional ways of using Second Wind.
I can't wait for colby to do a mounted beastmaster build with the changes. I want to see what his beautiful brain can do to break it. Does he go controller, or striker etc.
An argument in favor of ranged weapons, battlefield control has been massively buffed for melee characters and martials in general both through weapon masteries and class features. Playing ranged is a great response to this. While features such as second wind and indomitable do an incredible job of allowing a fighter to move more freely and get into position to pressure casters and ranged martials, those same features do an incredible job of allowing a ranged martial to stay out or reach of that pesky world tree barbariabs. Sure your ranged dps is lower, but does it matter if you get to attack without response from a melee character for as many rounds as you can kite? And sure, casters offer more utility, but they do that in exchange for eventually running out of spell slots while the fighter and rogue "can do this all day"
Battlemaster Archer is a pretty decent battlefield control character with the manouvers. Plus Rangers have things like Plant growth and Spike growth. So there is still a niche there
This is going to make 2024 unfriendly to VTT play as the movement is often greater than the map size. Using range as a balance challenge will require theatre of the mind
Thinking a good fix of hunter's mark is simply allowing you to cast and move hunter's mark without a bonus action at level 11. It adds more damage, doesn't take away from you, all without dropping the need for concentration. It opens you up without being a demand, as concentrating on it is still a big choice.
Just a reminder if you don't mention it you can still use great weapon Master for a longbow or a heavy crossbow, or even a musket I believe. They all have the heavy property so you can add proficiency to damage on your action attacks.
When you talk about Great Weapon Master, you talk about the bonus action attack. You say that you aren't making assumptions around it, but it also is not available. The Hew feature of Great Weapon Master explicitly requires a Melee weapon (and oddly, does NOT require a Heavy weapon).
On summon woodland creatures. In theory, if you were a melee build, had your beast master summon and woodland being up it might be bad for the enemy to move away from the emanation to avoid the damage since they would get 2 attacks of opportunity. If so on your turn you could run around in a circle around the enemy allowing the emanation to move 30 feet. So you move it back 15 and forward 15 triggering the creature entering for the first time on a turn. Potentially double dipping 😊
Yea - taking the mounted combatant feat (with sharpshooter) might be amazing as you can ride your beast into combat and shoot enemies. As a halflife you can also hide behind your beast (as halflings can hide behind medium sized creatures). Lots of possible builds here.
I would be interested to see you do a strictly ranged weapon build, maximizing damage without using any other sources of damage. I don't know how fun such a build would be to play, but I'd be interested to see how it is built.
I wish *2014 Tasha's Ranger* was kept as is, except for adding *Weapon Mastery* and getting the same capstone that *Monk* got. I enjoyed it a lot, because I could *ignore Hunter's Mark* (HM) without FOMO. Unfortunately, *2024 Ranger* has lost *Favored Foe, Primal Awareness, Land's Stride, Vanish,* and *Nature's Veil* is delayed 4 levels. All those are replaced by *Weapon Mastery,* additional *Expertise,* and *4 Hunter's Mark features,* trying to pigeonhole every *2024 Ranger* into only using *Bonus Actions* and *Concentration* on *HM,* instead of Ranger's many amazing *level 2+ Concentration spells.*
I'm going yo keep saying this about hunters mark: each Ranger Subclass should get a thematic bonus effect to justify concentration (eg gloom stalker gets the effects of pass without trace just on themselves while concentrating maybe) alternatively, it gets more damage as you go. Otherwise just make it concentration free, maybe when upcasted
Sooo... there's supposedly a way to build a Warlock/Thief MC to mimic the old illusionist bracer for loads of EB's each turn. So there's a challenge for you if you choose to accept it.
Also was curious on your thoughts of the wording of commanding the beast in combat under the Lv3 feature. "In combat, the beast acts during your turn. It can move and use its Reaction on its own, but the only action it takes is the Dodge action unless you take a Bonus Action to command it to take an action in its stat block or some other action. You can also sacrifice one of your attacks when you take the Attack action to command the beast to take the Beast’s Strike action." As I read this the Bonus Action Command and and the Command you make after sacrificing one Attack are not mutually exclusive because it using the phrase "You can Also." So shouldn't a Lv11 Beast Master with a bow be doing 5 attacks? 4 with the beast and 1 with bow.
I had an idea recently that I think would make Ranger so much better. I’m coming at it from a role play perspective but I think it would benefit mechanically as well. What if Rangers got an equivalent of Pact Boons/Eldritch invocations? Part of the issue with Rangers is that no one can decide what their class fantasy is. If that’s the case, they should make it so we can CHOOSE what it is. One “pact” could focus on an animal companion, one can focus on hunter’s mark and the survivalist aspects, then one could double down on the Druidic warrior/half caster part of rangers. Instead of having the Ranger Kit include everything, let them specialize. Hunter’s Mark could scale better in the Hunter pact and then the Animal Pact lets you have companions on any subclass. It’s like the Warlock. Now you don’t have to choose a specific subclass to get the play style you want. I’m not a game designer so I’m sure the idea would need ironing out, but I think this would be a perfect way to solve people’s issues with Rangers.
@@rekcroom Star Wars 5E. Its a fully fan/community made 5E mod for star wars, fully free online. While having MANY issues (its more like 3.5 with rules/feat bloat), it gave all non casters "pickable abilities" like invocations and went a long way in make martials and half casters really feel as customizable as spell casters.
Thank you for including the non-cheese grater variants. Everyone's fun is valid if agreed upon, but such gimmicks are very much not welcome at my table, so it's great to hear more normal tactics.
I've been looking more at the free rules and I kinda like 'em! I already bought my physical copy! But until DnDBeyond works I'm going to wait with that purchase for awhile! I always loved playing Bards and Druids, but with these new rules I am falling in love with the Weapon Masteries for Barbarians and Fighters! Battleaxe (topple) and the Slasher feat or a Warhammer (push) and Crusher feat! And I might even play a Paladin now, with Two-weapon fighting! Slice&Smite! Muahaha! I just hope DnDBeyond fixes some issues that I have with it! The character sheet sometimes show some stats in the wrong way, and spell descriptions don't always match their database!
As for hunters mark, I think at dome level I'd add a feature thats basically "after you hit a enemy you may move your hunters mark to that target without using a bonus action", and also some feature in the style of "your concentration on hunters mark cant be broke" and finally "you may concentrate on another ranger spell in addition to hunters mark". Adding these at like level 5, 7 and 9 or something like that. Buuuut... Got no player going Ranger atm, so not gonna need to look firther into it. But I'm definitely gonna remove the bonus action required for smites, just add that they count as casting a leveled spell if using a spell level, which makes the few free ones able to combine with leveled ones a few turns per long rest.
I started a similar build, but instead of CBE, I just carried around multiple heavy crossbows (Attack/Sheath, Draw/Attack; still have 1 object interaction), to get GWM earlier. This will cause issues when magic XBows come into play but, meh, lol.
Rangers aren't making many spell attacks lol kind of a moot point for them specifically, but it's applicable to others who probably won't use hunter's mark! 😂
I agree that ranger should have been given additional bonuses to hunters mark at additional levels. My thoughts on what specifically they should add are that it should come in at around level 6 and level 11 (when ranger damage tends to fall off). I feel that rather than making hunters mark concentration free, being able to hold concentration on another spell in addition to hunters mark seems like a reasonable fix. Further, I think it would be fun if rangers had the ability to cause additional effects to occur at the cost of a spell slot that effect their mark in some way. Maybe a simple damage rider, but i feel it wouldn’t be difficult to come up with other flavorful effects to impose specifically against your mark. That way rangers are solidified as excellent at single target damage against one specific target at a time compared to other martials.
While I have not crunched the numbers monks throwing daggers might be crazy. exspecially if multiclassing to ranger for fighting styles and mastery. nick and thrown weapons respectively, then jumping in for two unarmed strikes from FoB. plus Hunters mark, talking 5 attacks by level 6-7 at 1d8+1d6+dex each
Use code DND50 to get 50% OFF your first Factor box plus 20% off your next month at bit.ly/47Qm2Nr!
Colby will you take a look at the new Baldurs Gate 3 Mods and hopefully do a video about it?
Would be cool if hunters mark worked like Warlock incantacions. At some levels you can add bonus to it like you mentioned. (no concentration, more damage, no bonus acton etc. etc.)
I'm home-brewing this because this fixes my issue with hunters mark dependency
For a while it was like this in test, but people were using Fey Touched at level 4+ to grab hex and having both up at the same time.
Invocations, my friend
@@Elemenopi23
I feel like leaving the base ranger's ability less interesting just because some people were synergizing with something else is kind of lame...
@@Elemenopi23 then they should have done something like: ‘Level 6/9/w/e idk: you can Concentrate on 2 *Ranger* spells if one of them is Hunter’s Mark, you have disadvantage on Concentration saves while doing this (until lvl13 when you get relentless hunter)’
I'm increasingly happy that the Old sharpshooter, /Great Weapon Master, and Crossbow expert are gone. there's so much more variety now.
I wish they hadn't gutted Sharpshooter though. Should have had a damage boost like GWM
@@PsyrenXY as in +[Prof] dmg for Heavy Ranged weapons, and limit GWM to Heavy Melee weapons?
@@PsyrenXY The Damage boost from GWM works with Longbows and Heavy Crossbows
@@PsyrenXYGWM works on some Ranged weapons. The hardest hitting non-Guns
@@CasualAF691 it also requires 13 Str.
I like that you added the option for a non spiky build, meele companions would hate you if you cut of their way to get to the enemies with spikes on every combat lol
yeah agree - this can be great in a party of squishy casters though! And with melee friends you can switch strategy.
Me too, and I love that the summon spells create damage that is comparable.
@@minikawildflower1) Casters aren't squishy
2) Skill issue on the melee part really, there is a reason why unless melee gets significantly buffed ranged is still ultimately superior
Woohoo here right off the bat.
Colby, looking forward to see your magic in making an optimized build for the 2024 Ranger.
Side note, I think I’m gonna join your discord. I appreciate your pov with the future of d&d, I’ve watched most of your builds and I’m here to support❤️💪
Sweet! We love getting new members! ;)
@@DnDDeepDive How about a plat member? lol Just signed up, happy to be a part of the team man. Looking forward to with you all.
I just wanna say thank you for giving me the motivation to clean my house. I wanna watch your video but also can't just sit and watch it, so the house gets 30 minutes of work cleaner.
I absolutely love your character builds, so much so that I use some as bosses in dungeons. Not only giving them a fun combat encounter as a DM but showing them different tactics and abilities they might not be aware of. (There is alot to consider and look through!)
When they ask what the build is I just send them to your videos! Hope you make a DM version at the end of future videos about how you'd go about facing a party with the character!
I really love how you always find a way to put a positive outlook on every class. With so many internet trolls out there bashing the game we devote so much time to your channel is a bright spot.
So fun fact, each living creature can attune to an item, so your animal companion can attune to them as well. So DM’s, here’s a item for BM rangers, uncommon magic item: “Collar of the beast master: An animal companion can attune to this collar for the following benefits, whenever a ranger casts the hunter’s mark spell, the animal companion can use its concentration to maintain the spell for the ranger, and whenever you’re able to reapply the hunter’s mark, you can do so and attack with animal companion as the same bonus action.”
Yeah, I'll just take this thanks bud
@ np, it’s yours. For balance, I made it so you can’t attack and apply for the initial cast, but if you want a bit more punch, you can make it so the cast of hunters mark also allows for the pet attack, against the pet’s target, of course.
It's Tuesday, favorite day of the week 😁
The age of variant men is over. The time of the halfling has come.
This is awesome. I think my next Ranger will be this build.
Except I'll take the Guide Background to get Shillelagh, Stary Wisp, and Healing Word.
This way, I can pump Wisdom and get into melee with a Quarterstaff/Club and Shield with two Beasts next to me.
Also, I'm going to High Elf to get Booming Blade, Detect Magic, and Misty Step. I'll swap out Booming Blade for Mage hand or an attack cantrip or something once I get Extra Attack.
I'd like to see a class feature for a Ranger that lets you use a Reaction to move your _Hunter's Mark._ Like, if we HAVE to use some sort of action to move the mark, then you'd think we could eventually use a Reaction.
They should get a proficiency bonus times per long rest ability to use their reactions to attack a target.
GOOD CALL!
@@apollosungod6673 prof bonus should not be used for classes, it allows low level dips for features to be as effective as the full class due to class-agnostic scaling.
@@brilobox2 so make the feature come online at level 7 or 8 or something so you need to invest actual ranger levels to gain it's benefits
@@apollosungod6673 here is my 100% perfect* homebrew:
Ranger Level 6 - Instinctive Mark:
You can Concentrate on two Ranger spells at once if one of the spells is Hunter’s Mark. You have disadvantage on Concentration saves while doing this and failing a Concentration save ends both Concentration spells (the 13th level Ranger feature Relentless Hunter still applies). You can expend a use of Favored Enemy to extend the duration of your active Hunter’s Mark spell by 1 hour, or expend a use to remove the Bonus Action cost from moving or casting Hunter’s Mark. You can also move the mark even if the marked creature has not died.
*perfection not guaranteed
This video made me realize that the free hunters Mark castings are really there for the two weapon fighting melee builds. Range builds won't use it because they're at range and not getting hit and their concentration is thus much more protected.
It also made me realize everybody is multi-classing ranger.
Everybody is multi-classing ranger? "Always have been."
The post-Tasha's 5e Ranger has a serious problem with being a great chassis for multiclass builds, but scaling terribly with half casting and effectively no martial damage bumps at higher class levels. The 2024 Ranger doesn't gain any class features to improve their archery between levels 5 and 17, and 17 still requires spellcasting. Their insulting capstone seriously feels like a punishment from the devs for NOT multiclassing.
Wouldn't it be easier to just allow the scaling of the class feature being extra hunters Mark castings be used to cast other spells as well. Like if you want to convert them into spell slots that's the one way to scale the class..... I can't believe they didn't think of this.
Who needs five to six hunters Mark castings anyways when you can't lose concentration on it starting at 13?...
They needed to add more things to do with the Favored Enemy resource. Could have used it to power other effects. Really feels like a missed opportunity.
@@RaethFennec Always? Meanwhile rangers not liking multiclass before 14lv, getting great abilities during each levels and being stronger than any other martial, with possibility to end most combats alone.
2024 is like 30% of total damage and usability compared to 2014 or postTasha.
@@Kivuhl Yes, always. Optimization doesn't mean less-optimized builds are bad. You're valid for enjoying them or finding success with them. Make the character you will enjoy playing for months with your friends! But comparative analysis and live play alike show that Ranger is stronger if you multiclass out after level 5. They're also not martials.
2024 Ranger does more damage overall. 2014 only does more damage in the first several levels, where it was honestly overpowered thanks to level 1 feat species and post-Tasha's subclasses like gloomstalker. This is a healthy change for the game. I don't like the design they went with, so I'm a bit sad about the 2024 Ranger, as they don't feel distinct to me. But that's a preference thing, and is subjective.
As a ranger you get 3 skill proficiencies and by multiclassing rogue you get another one to have a total of 4 anyway.
right! i often forget that Rangers start with more
@@DnDDeepDive feels like they really leaned into ‘Ranger is a Rogue/Druid hybrid’ now, like Paladin is a Fighter/Cleric hybrid.
@@brilobox2 Fighter/Rogue/Druid I would say.
D10 HP, Extra attack, fighting style. Pretty Fighter-y
@@SuperSorcerer how important is it to get individual proffeciencies?
Great guide! I also have issues with Hunter's Mark's action and concentration economy. Here are my fixes that we're trying at my table, which are modifications to the base class features for the Ranger. Please feel free to use or modify these ideas for your tables!
5th Level - Improved Favored Enemy: Starting at 5th level, you may cast Hunter's Mark using a 2nd level spell slot or greater to no longer require concentration on the spell. Further upcasting increases the duration as normal (gives players a choice to expend spell slot resources for the benefit of no concentration).
13th Level - Relentless Hunter: You have 10' increased movement speed and you ignore difficult terrain when moving toward the target of your Hunter's Mark (plays to the fantasy of the Ranger pursuing its quarry with supreme competency and efficiency).
17th Level - Deadly Hunter: You have Advantage on attack rolls against the creature marked by your Hunter's Mark, and the damage die is a d8 instead of a d6 (gives a damage increase to Hunter's Mark earlier).
20th Level - Foe Slayer: The damage die of your Hunter's Mark is a d12 instead of a d8 (substantial boost to Hunter's Mark damage over the baseline capstone).
These changes do not address the issue of a Ranger having tons of choices in their bonus action economy, but we felt like these changes did enough to incentivize a Ranger to continue leveling on their primary class track while still making the spell more powerful and fun to use at higher levels of play.
Criticism and feedback is welcome :D
What is neat about this is the different tactics you would use as you work through your different level spell slots.
Posting this 22 mins in. My cheese grater senses are tingling.
27:57 it's me lol! I look forward to your future Swiss Army Bug Eldritch knight build 😂
Without even having gotten into the crunch of the build: .. I appreciate the preamble. I can't help but love the delicious sauce that goes into the genesis of lots of these ideas. If you have the patience to follow it, it's a convenient way to pick up stray ideas for even more builds later down the line, or how others come up short and in what ways.
Always love Beastmasters. I DO think you can probably preserve the flavor by going Druid after your beast gets its second attack for all their spells, as well as notable access to a Familiar, so you have an Animal Companion AND Familiar AND Wild Shape (though the last one is mostly for flavor), and I doubt you would lose much of anything else in the DPR department, especially given upcasting Summon Beast higher or getting other damage buffs through spells.
Even with the changes, a Lucky Halfling is still hilariously fun.
I would have been more okay if Hunter's Mark was a Reaction to change targets. This would still take an action of sorts, but ranged characters are less likely to have a use of their reaction. And even the melee characters wouldn't have a use for their reactio. All the time.
Also, it makes sense. 'I see my target fall. I immediately react and change my tactics/target to something new.'
36:00 ooooo not cheesey is a strong option too? Hooray!
It's sad that both of these don't use hunter's mark but it's not like they would focus on that for all of Ranger's class... right?
43:40 here. I got you this box to stand on...
If you end the build with ranger 16 then rogue 4 - you can get 2x epic boon feats. This will probably be the optimal way to build rangers and almost all of the epic boon feats are better than Hunters mark upgrades (sad but true).
Ooh I love this
Hunter’s Mark Fix:
Master of the Hunt:
At Rangers Level 6, 10, 14, and 18 you get to customize your Hunter’s Mark Spell with one of the following options.
1. You gain advantage with all attacks you make on a marked target.
2. Your Hunter’s Mark spell no longer requires concentration.
3. Your Hunter’s Mark does 2d6 damage instead of 1d6. (2d10 at level 20)
4. You can cast and move your Hunter’s Mark as part of your attack action.
5. Your Hunter’s Mark grants you knowledge of Immunities Resistances and Vulnerabilities.
Hunter subclass would get another instance of Master of the Hunt at level 3 and would be the only subclass able to get all 5 upgrades.
I like the idea! Imo it's a bit of an overcorrection, would suggest the following nurfs for corresponding options:
1. Requires level 10
2. While concentrating on hunter's mark, you can also concentrate on a second spell.
3. Requires level 10.
4. Casting the spell still requires a bonus action
5. No changes.
Awesome to see more Beast Master content. Still hoping for some errata/options from WotC to address the Bonus Action/Concentration conflicts on Hunter's Mark.
Also, would love to see some exploration around the Share Spells and Primal Savagery interaction and how would that look in the spreadsheet.
Just wanted to comment how much I always appreciate your closing message of keeping in there ❤
As a Canadian born and raised in Victoria, it's a lovely place to live. Would love to have a chance to meet and chat about our favorite hobby!
38:27 Just wanted to point out that GWM's 2nd effect actually doesn't proc with bows, as the feat specifies "melee weapons"
However unless something changed with natural weapons in the 2024 rules then if your land beast kills or crits an enemy them then you do get to make a bonus action attack.......
but you just used it to make them attack in the first place lol.... I might homebrew that lol...
But works with throwing a dagger
I have the exact same toaster. The rotisserie function is awesome, but boy is that fan loud, even for a couple of minutes after it's finished cooking.
I’m playing a straight ranger in a high level campaign using the new rules and when I got the “Hunters Mark can’t lose concentration” feature I spoke to my DM and he agreed to home brew it so Hunters Make just straight up doesn’t require concentration. I find myself casting in most combats and it felt really powerful, even compared to the barbarian sitting next me.
But regardless, another great build and another great video Colby. Love your work ❤
I think this is a good solution, though I'd like to see it in tier 2.
@@garion046 if it something a table would homebrew into the rules it would definitely need to be between level 6-10 otherwise it comes in too late to be worthwhile
I think a lot of people are missing that all of the hunter's mark buffs (except the 11th-level hunter feature, which I too despise) aren't load-bearing features-that to say you're always *also* getting something else:
-13th level concentration protection comes along with 4th level spells
-17th level attack advantage comes along with 5th
-Beastmaster 11 comes along with a *whole 2nd beast attack*
Moreover the Paladin and Artificer get *Nothing* at 13th and 17th, outside spellcasting progression. The ranger isn't really getting hunter's mark only features, they're getting bumps to hunter's mark alongside their spellcasting leveling up, to help out with its relevancy over time.
That to say I'm no massive fan of the new setup, but its only real crime are some feelbads, not mechanical deficiency.
Maybe I'm biased here, but shackling most of the class features to a spell that is outclassed rapidly would classify as a mechanical deficiency. Particularly a spell that forces you to give up a lot of other spell options by tying up your Concentration.
< Edit > Ultimately I think the disconnect here is that they can't really decide what the Ranger is in the modern day, as a class, what it should look like and what it should do. It lacks identity, and the band-aid solution through all of 5e has been subclasses that push it in the direction of other classes. The only real defining aspect of Ranger in 5e has been the prevalence of the bow and arrow, and the historical nod of the Beastmaster animal companion trope as a subclass.
@@PhailRaptor The part of your opening statement I would disagree with is "...*most* of the class features..."
Outside subclasses we're talking about two class features total before *level 17* (and one of those isn't load bearing). And there's only one subclass that has meaningful hunter's mark interaction. And it's called *The Hunter*. I really don't see how any of this qualifies as "most of the class features."
I don’t know if I’d say Rangers “suck”, but they definitely didn’t really see any NET power-ups the way most of the other classes did. Also hitching the wagon to Hunter’s Mark even harder was a mistake. Feels bad when you have features that are offline unless you’re using ONE singular 1st level spell
Paladins be like
@@brilobox2 True, but I feel like Paladins were already in a more solid place to begin with than Rangers were.
@@brandoncurtis1636Totally agree. Its almost like they'd rather nerf paladins then make rangers better
@@seanbrown7724 sorry not sorry, but nerfing Smite spam is good for the game.
@@brilobox2 I have no problem with nerfing smite, but again the core class for Rangers still needs work. Like there are two half caster classes and 1 of them some parties view as almost a necessity and the other you're like, sure for a troll, I guess that could be entertaining. Like...that's crazy to me.
27:59 I’m building a thri Kreen with a heavy crossbow and two hand crossbows. Attack 1 heavy cb, attack 2 hand cb, bonus action off hand cb. Super excited
You use hunters mark on a single target high hp enemy.
Use your spell slots for multiple enemy situations...
It's free damage when you need it. Plus the advantages of having hunters mark on a target out of combat.
Wouldn't the summons do better damage?
Yes, so would spike growth@@jesseseva2219
Since GWM works on Longbow it's not that ranged sucks, it's just that strength is no longer automatic dump.
Honestly Ive always though it made sense for Longbow to require strength; as to use a historic warbows, it actually need the user to be very strong.
So, even though it isn't a true requirement, it is on if you want to optimize it with GWM
@@envytee9659 Not true. It requires 13 Dex for ranged heavy weapons.
@apjapki you mean 13 strength for heavy weapons.
@@TommyTheCat83 No, this is a falsehood. The min stat you need is STR for melee and DEX for ranged. The person I was responding to deleted their comment so mine is lacking context now.
I believe the post is referring to the minimum strength of 13 in the prerequisites for great weapon master, not the heavy property requiring either 13 dex for heavy ranged weapons or 13 str for heavy melee (though that verbiage in the text seems abusable).
Note that the great weapon master bonus action attack only specifically works with melee weapons.
Some thrown weapons are melee weapons so it can still be used at range though not as long ranged as crossbows.
@@jesseseva2219 Yes, but the attack that reduces the target to 0 needs to also be with a melee weapon, so unless your making a full on thrown weapons build (in which case you wouldn't get the other benefit from GWM since no thrown weapons have the heavy property) your not likely to get it to trigger.
@@Klaital1 yeah... Realized it also has to be a returning weapon as the bonus attack has to use the same weapon.
My proposed fix for hunters mark. Move relentless hunter to lvl 6.
At level 9 make it so activating it costs a bonus action, but not to transfer it. Instead, once your target falls to 0 HP, you can change targets as a free action before you take the attack action on your turn.
At level 13, hunters mark no longer requires concentration. Just lasts as long as the spell level used allows.
I think this is an elegant solution. Otherwise everything else will stay the same, and i think this brings the ranger in line with the other classes baselines
Good berry also got a buff, it is a bonus action now instead of an action. I believe the big berry build got a nerf though.
I will also add that with nick and hunters mark, dual scimitars are better than ever now! Perfect way to have the Drizzt fantasy
For style, sure. For optimization, two nick weapons do nothing. Get a short sword for vex instead.
This dude in the matrix. He knows 5e kung fu
Dual wielding got a huge buff. I haven't looked into sword and board but hopefully that also benefited
This build was…. Beastly.
I’ll let myself out
This might have to be my next build. I've always wanted to make a ranger and beastmaster is so cool thematically.
Time for maximum pew pew! Great build Kolby! I await the Berzerker!
YES! I wanted a Heavy Crossbow build for so long! And it's also a "Pokémon master"!
This surely is going to be one of my favourite builds! Right on top with the Artillerist Artif/Evocation Wiz!
Chris (Treantmonk) did make a good list of Ranger spells, none of which were concentration, so I think making it a choice is kinda interesting, but I haven't bothered doing a deep dive
Came for the build, stayed for the 52 AC. 😂
Way to make a decent ranger.
2:30 "cuz Ranged weapon users have two advantages over melee..."
Actually 3, ranged characters also, by default, attack using an attribute that always adds to initiative, AC and a major/important save. Also may synergizes with stealth & trickiness.
I helped another player rebuild his character because he did a lot of ill-considered multiclassing to try to make a good archer and it just wasn’t working. So I made him a 2024 fighter; we’re level 14. With a +3 longbow and bracers of archery, he’s at +15 to hit and does 1d8+15 damage per attack. He makes three attacks per turn. He can also use superiority dice, his attacks impose disadvantage on concentration checks, his speed is 40 and opportunity attacks have disadvantage to hit him… granted this is pretty high level but I think archers are doing fine.
Whats making +15 damage? +5 Dex, +3 magic longbow, +2 bracers looks to be 10. Whats the extra 5?
@ Great Weapon Master feat. It adds proficiency bonus to damage for heavy weapons. No requirement that those be melee weapons, so Longbow qualifies.
The Bloopers at the end might be the highlight of my Tuesdays
Cloud giant ancestry for new goliath would make for a great ranged character. Free misty step to just teleport all over the place.
I was already working on a beastmaster ranger heavy crossbow user so this is awesome to do a comparison to mine! Love the content!
Wizards released Uni and the Hunt for the Lost Horn yesterday on D&D Beyond, and reading through the module I realized why I always lean towards playing a Ranger... 12yo me watching the cartoon and Hank being the coolest character of the show must have had a profound effect on my RP psyche.
Love your content! Thanks for this very important coverage!
First video I’ve watched from your channel, loved it! Thank you so much!
@@axegrin thanks and welcome!
Thanks Colby! ❤
I was just thinking about building a beast master for our next campaign. Perfect timing!
In a lot of ways, this feels so similar to Warlock. Youve got a concentration spell buffing your damage and two ranged attacks per turn that can force movement. The difference really boils down to your skills, spells, and bonus action
Thrikreen is still fantastic for allowing you to wield a shield with your crossbows.
What do you think of "Shoot ranged weapon + Drop Prone"?
@@gaidencastro9706 I don’t have a problem with it. There’s some risk and some reward.
I like Short Bow. Vex is great for the rogue splash and only losing 1 average damage is not bad to get advantage
DId we forget about share spells. Conjure Woodland Beings with Beast and Share Spells is gonna go crazy. Better on a melee build but imagine a flyby animal just dashing around or dodging while hitting every enemy with 5d8 or save on half. Probably better for a twf build so you could double dip 10d8 dmg per round not even counting your attacks. Anytime the fight isn't serious use a free HM. Ranger is goated with spells.
I had a question on that. There is language in shared spells that says the spell has to be cast within 30-ft. Surely that is just the casting right, and the spell doesn’t blink out if your beast moves over 30-ft away from you? Because the a Beast Master with 2014 rules could share Ashardalons Stride for a similar play style, but that also is pretty useless if there is a 30-ft limitation.
@@alanmaxwell9105 no no, you are correct, there is NO "you must remain within 30ft" language. So you just cast it and run. Ashardolons Stride is a great use for 3rd lvl ranger slots
In practice Great Weapon Master can't actually give bonus action attacks to ranged builds. It only gives those if you take down the enemy or crit with a melee weapon. This is pretty much irrelevant in terms of DPR, since as you say your beast is probably at least as good anyway, but it's worth noting.
I think I would house rule that rangers could change targets when taking the attack action when they gain Extra Attack. Then probably a level or 2 later allow a ranger to switch targets with a reaction if they dropped a creature to 0 Hit Points.
For the switching and thinking about it more, I think I would word it such that "While taking the Attack action, you can switch the target of your spell once per turn."
Can we get a throwing build!?? Now that it’s actually might be a viable build I’d love to see what you do with that!!
Hi Welcome to d4, where we listen to Antony Starr talk about D&D
I have stated multiple times my opinion is that WotC should have made the "slot free castings" of Hunter's Mark should also be concentration free, which I think would make the limitations feel a little less like it is pigeon-holing your ranger.
Eldritch Knight Fighter with Fey-Touched to Grab Hex is likely the highest damaging Ranged build. It might have similar utility to the ranger because of Arcane spell casting and the additional ways of using Second Wind.
To be more complete, this is probably the highest damaging build period when you build it for melee.
I can't wait for colby to do a mounted beastmaster build with the changes. I want to see what his beautiful brain can do to break it. Does he go controller, or striker etc.
An argument in favor of ranged weapons, battlefield control has been massively buffed for melee characters and martials in general both through weapon masteries and class features.
Playing ranged is a great response to this. While features such as second wind and indomitable do an incredible job of allowing a fighter to move more freely and get into position to pressure casters and ranged martials, those same features do an incredible job of allowing a ranged martial to stay out or reach of that pesky world tree barbariabs.
Sure your ranged dps is lower, but does it matter if you get to attack without response from a melee character for as many rounds as you can kite? And sure, casters offer more utility, but they do that in exchange for eventually running out of spell slots while the fighter and rogue "can do this all day"
Battlemaster Archer is a pretty decent battlefield control character with the manouvers. Plus Rangers have things like Plant growth and Spike growth. So there is still a niche there
This is going to make 2024 unfriendly to VTT play as the movement is often greater than the map size. Using range as a balance challenge will require theatre of the mind
Thinking a good fix of hunter's mark is simply allowing you to cast and move hunter's mark without a bonus action at level 11. It adds more damage, doesn't take away from you, all without dropping the need for concentration. It opens you up without being a demand, as concentrating on it is still a big choice.
2:14 I feel like this is the Pathfinder 2 talking, how Strength and Dexterity have different roles and advantages. 😂
Just a reminder if you don't mention it you can still use great weapon Master for a longbow or a heavy crossbow, or even a musket I believe. They all have the heavy property so you can add proficiency to damage on your action attacks.
When you talk about Great Weapon Master, you talk about the bonus action attack. You say that you aren't making assumptions around it, but it also is not available. The Hew feature of Great Weapon Master explicitly requires a Melee weapon (and oddly, does NOT require a Heavy weapon).
Yes, love beastmaster! Work just got a little more bearable!
On summon woodland creatures. In theory, if you were a melee build, had your beast master summon and woodland being up it might be bad for the enemy to move away from the emanation to avoid the damage since they would get 2 attacks of opportunity. If so on your turn you could run around in a circle around the enemy allowing the emanation to move 30 feet. So you move it back 15 and forward 15 triggering the creature entering for the first time on a turn. Potentially double dipping 😊
Colby I literally can’t wait for a Barbarian Build
if you play a hafling, can you use your beast of the land as a mount?
Yea - taking the mounted combatant feat (with sharpshooter) might be amazing as you can ride your beast into combat and shoot enemies. As a halflife you can also hide behind your beast (as halflings can hide behind medium sized creatures). Lots of possible builds here.
Jebus ... Willow and Lady Hawke, trying to make me feel old. I see
I would be interested to see you do a strictly ranged weapon build, maximizing damage without using any other sources of damage. I don't know how fun such a build would be to play, but I'd be interested to see how it is built.
2:26 3: +1 ammunition and +1 ranger weapons
I wish *2014 Tasha's Ranger* was kept as is, except for adding *Weapon Mastery* and getting the same capstone that *Monk* got. I enjoyed it a lot, because I could *ignore Hunter's Mark* (HM) without FOMO.
Unfortunately, *2024 Ranger* has lost *Favored Foe, Primal Awareness, Land's Stride, Vanish,* and *Nature's Veil* is delayed 4 levels. All those are replaced by *Weapon Mastery,* additional *Expertise,* and *4 Hunter's Mark features,* trying to pigeonhole every *2024 Ranger* into only using *Bonus Actions* and *Concentration* on *HM,* instead of Ranger's many amazing *level 2+ Concentration spells.*
*Why* is *Everything* *BOLDED*
Oh no, not Land's Stride....
None of the lost features are anything useful
@@20storiesunder people will probably never be happy with ranger balance.
I'm going yo keep saying this about hunters mark: each Ranger Subclass should get a thematic bonus effect to justify concentration (eg gloom stalker gets the effects of pass without trace just on themselves while concentrating maybe) alternatively, it gets more damage as you go. Otherwise just make it concentration free, maybe when upcasted
Sooo... there's supposedly a way to build a Warlock/Thief MC to mimic the old illusionist bracer for loads of EB's each turn. So there's a challenge for you if you choose to accept it.
@1:00:52 I'm asking about which build you decided to go with & how it went?
Also was curious on your thoughts of the wording of commanding the beast in combat under the Lv3 feature.
"In combat, the beast acts during your turn. It can move and use its Reaction on its own, but the only action it takes is the Dodge action unless you take a Bonus Action to command it to take an action in its stat block or some other action. You can also sacrifice one of your attacks when you take the Attack action to command the beast to take the Beast’s Strike action."
As I read this the Bonus Action Command and and the Command you make after sacrificing one Attack are not mutually exclusive because it using the phrase "You can Also."
So shouldn't a Lv11 Beast Master with a bow be doing 5 attacks? 4 with the beast and 1 with bow.
The companion still only has 1 action to spend. That just gives you 2 ways to trigger it
@@kreilly91_ this is how I'd rule it.
@kreilly91_ ah that makes sense.
I have not seen this discussed anywhere else
@jesseseva2219 it's cuz I'm dumb lol 😆
Me, PNW native, staring at Buchart Gardens the entire episode: BC????
I sold girl guide cookies there as a kid! ❤😂
So beautiful!
Beast Master ranger was a favorite of mine in 3.5.
You can cast magic weapon on the beasts natural weapon, nothing against it in the spell. Adds a little damage and chance to hit.
I had an idea recently that I think would make Ranger so much better. I’m coming at it from a role play perspective but I think it would benefit mechanically as well. What if Rangers got an equivalent of Pact Boons/Eldritch invocations? Part of the issue with Rangers is that no one can decide what their class fantasy is. If that’s the case, they should make it so we can CHOOSE what it is. One “pact” could focus on an animal companion, one can focus on hunter’s mark and the survivalist aspects, then one could double down on the Druidic warrior/half caster part of rangers. Instead of having the Ranger Kit include everything, let them specialize. Hunter’s Mark could scale better in the Hunter pact and then the Animal Pact lets you have companions on any subclass. It’s like the Warlock. Now you don’t have to choose a specific subclass to get the play style you want. I’m not a game designer so I’m sure the idea would need ironing out, but I think this would be a perfect way to solve people’s issues with Rangers.
I would love this tbh
👍👍
I think -ALL- classes should get Invocations. Check out SW5E, where they made all non full casters get invocations and it completely rocks.
@ What’s that? I don’t recognize the acronym
@@rekcroom Star Wars 5E. Its a fully fan/community made 5E mod for star wars, fully free online. While having MANY issues (its more like 3.5 with rules/feat bloat), it gave all non casters "pickable abilities" like invocations and went a long way in make martials and half casters really feel as customizable as spell casters.
Thank you for including the non-cheese grater variants.
Everyone's fun is valid if agreed upon, but such gimmicks are very much not welcome at my table, so it's great to hear more normal tactics.
I've been looking more at the free rules and I kinda like 'em!
I already bought my physical copy! But until DnDBeyond works I'm going to wait with that purchase for awhile!
I always loved playing Bards and Druids, but with these new rules I am falling in love with the Weapon Masteries for Barbarians and Fighters! Battleaxe (topple) and the Slasher feat or a Warhammer (push) and Crusher feat!
And I might even play a Paladin now, with Two-weapon fighting! Slice&Smite! Muahaha!
I just hope DnDBeyond fixes some issues that I have with it! The character sheet sometimes show some stats in the wrong way, and spell descriptions don't always match their database!
Either doing with an eldritch knight or going back to the Giant Barbarian that might be able to use the cool throwing feature now!
As for hunters mark, I think at dome level I'd add a feature thats basically "after you hit a enemy you may move your hunters mark to that target without using a bonus action", and also some feature in the style of "your concentration on hunters mark cant be broke" and finally "you may concentrate on another ranger spell in addition to hunters mark". Adding these at like level 5, 7 and 9 or something like that.
Buuuut... Got no player going Ranger atm, so not gonna need to look firther into it. But I'm definitely gonna remove the bonus action required for smites, just add that they count as casting a leveled spell if using a spell level, which makes the few free ones able to combine with leveled ones a few turns per long rest.
Great analysis! Thank you!
I started a similar build, but instead of CBE, I just carried around multiple heavy crossbows (Attack/Sheath, Draw/Attack; still have 1 object interaction), to get GWM earlier. This will cause issues when magic XBows come into play but, meh, lol.
Hunters mark got buffed it says 1d6 on attack rolls now not weapons attacks so if you use spells now you get that d6
Rangers aren't making many spell attacks lol kind of a moot point for them specifically, but it's applicable to others who probably won't use hunter's mark! 😂
@@apollosungod6673only ranger spell that has synergy with HM is Hail of Thorns
I agree that ranger should have been given additional bonuses to hunters mark at additional levels. My thoughts on what specifically they should add are that it should come in at around level 6 and level 11 (when ranger damage tends to fall off). I feel that rather than making hunters mark concentration free, being able to hold concentration on another spell in addition to hunters mark seems like a reasonable fix. Further, I think it would be fun if rangers had the ability to cause additional effects to occur at the cost of a spell slot that effect their mark in some way. Maybe a simple damage rider, but i feel it wouldn’t be difficult to come up with other flavorful effects to impose specifically against your mark. That way rangers are solidified as excellent at single target damage against one specific target at a time compared to other martials.
Colby!!!! Great build as always. But I'm more interested in when you visited Vic last?
Nevermind, I just watched the out takes. 😅
BEEN WAITING FOR THIS!! Rangers my 2nd fav class right behind monk
While I have not crunched the numbers monks throwing daggers might be crazy. exspecially if multiclassing to ranger for fighting styles and mastery. nick and thrown weapons respectively, then jumping in for two unarmed strikes from FoB. plus Hunters mark, talking 5 attacks by level 6-7 at 1d8+1d6+dex each
Much love. Great video.