Comparing PHB vs Tasha's Ranger

 More than any other class, the Ranger got a profound rework with Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. Given the reputation for the poor state of the Ranger over the last 6 years, I thought I'd go through feature-by-feature and consider how the new ones stack up against the old ones.

Note that I'll be ignoring the Beast Master changes. While certainly good (you sort of just have Summon Beast up at all times, though the stat blocks are a bit different) I'm looking at universal Ranger features.

Level 1: Favored Enemy vs. Favored Foe.

Favored Enemy: This lets you choose a creature type (or two humanoid races) and designate them as your favored enemies. You learn a language associated with them, and you get advantage on Survival checks to track them, as well as any Intelligence checks to recall information about them. You get additional favored enemies at 6th and 14th level, with all the perks.

Favored Foe: When you hit an enemy, you can mark them for 1 minute while maintaining concentration (as if on a spell) as your foe, dealing an extra d4 of damage to them once per turn (including when you mark them.) You can do this a number of times equal to your PB, getting all uses back on a long rest. The damage bonus goes up to a d6 at level 6, and a d8 at level 14. (The marked target also counts for your Foe Slayer feature at level 20.)

    So, I'll be honest, I think I like the original better in this case. The fact that Favored Foe both requires concentration and is also limited by your PB - and you can't move it to other targets while it's up - means that it's basically a worse, albeit spell-slot free version of Hunter's Mark, which you're probably going to pick up at level 2 anyway. Just take Hunter's Mark instead and enjoy the flavorful element of Favored Enemy.

Level 1: Natural Explorer vs Deft Explorer.

Natural Explorer: This lets you choose a favored terrain, with an array of examples from which you can choose. When making an Intelligence or Wisdom check related to that terrain, your proficiency is doubled if you're using a skill that you're proficient with (wow, guess I've been doing that wrong - honestly, I think part of the reason to swap this one out is that it's so complicated.) If you travel for an hour or more in that terrain, you get the following benefits:

Difficult terrain doesn't slow your travel. You can't be come lost except by magical means. While engaged in another activity while traveling (such as foraging, navigating, or tracking) you remain alert to danger. If traveling alone, you can move stealthily at a normal pace. When you forage, you find twice as much food as you normally would. While tracking other creatures, you learn their exact number, their sizes, and how long ago they passed through the area.

And you pick additional terrain types at 6th and 10th level.

Deft Explorer: You get the following benefits at levels 1, 6, and 10: Level 1: Canny: Choose one of your skill proficiencies. You double your proficiency when you make a check that uses that skill (basically expertise, right?) Level 6: Roving: Your movement speed increases by 5 and you gain a climbing speed and a swimming speed equal to your walking speed. Level 10: Tireless: As an action, you can give yourself temp HP equal to 1d8+Wis (minimum of 1.) You can do this a number of times equal to your PB per long rest. Also, if you finish a short rest, your exhaustion level, if any, decreases by 1.

    So, in this case, I'd actually lean toward the newer one. While the former has some great sort of immunities, unless your adventure is focusing a lot on long-distance travel, it's basically fluff, while the Deft Explorer features are all very clearly useful in any campaign. So in this case, I'd go with the new feature (though I'm debating if I'd want to swap it out in my Tomb of Annihilation group, where I'm playing a Ranger - having Forest as his favored terrain has been very useful, though it'll abruptly not be when we get to the dungeon itself.)

Level 3: Primeval Awareness vs Primal Awareness

Primeval Awareness: You can expend a Ranger spell slot to sense (for 1 minute per spell level) whether there are any aberrations, celestials, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, or undead within 1 mile (or 6 miles if you're in your favored terrain.)

Primal Awareness: You learn additional spells that don't count against your spells known, each at a different level. 3rd level: Speak with Animals. 5th level: Beast Sense. 9th level: Speak with Plants. 13th level: Locate Creature. 17th level: Commune with Nature. You can cast each of these spells once without expending a spell slot, regaining this use on a long rest.

    Going to hand it to the new one, Primal Awareness. While Primeval Awareness can be nice, the RP potential and general usefulness of the other spells feels way cooler.

10th level: Hide in Plain Sight vs. Nature's Veil:

Hide in Plain Sight: You can spend 1 minute creating camouflage for yourself. You must have access to fresh mud, dirt, plants, soot, and other naturally occurring materials with which to create your camouflage. Once camouflaged this way, you can try to hide by pressing yourself up to a solid surface, such as a tree or a wall, that is at least as tall and wide as you are. You gain a +10 bonus to Dexterity (Stealth) checks as long are you remain there without moving or taking actions. Once you move or take an action or reaction, you must camouflage yourself again to gain this benefit.

Nature's Veil: As a bonus action, you can magically become invisible, along with any equipment you're wearing or carrying, until the start of your next turn. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your PB, regaining all uses when you finish a long rest.

    Oh man. On one hand, I adore the absurd flavor baked into Hide in Plain Sight. On the other hand, it's so over the top impractical unless the situation is built for it (and useless in dungeon environments.) Frankly, this is the kind of thing I'd let a Ranger do if they sold me on the RP and maybe succeeded on a Survival check. But Nature's Veil is clearly going to be far more useful in almost every situation.

    And there we have it. Half of the Ranger's unique class features can be swapped out for others. I don't know how most people will choose to play this - whether a player can pick and choose each of them or if they have to take the full suite. I really like the new ones except for Favored Foe, which I really think just doesn't seem worth it (if it weren't a concentration effect, that would salvage it for me.)

    I think you do lose some of the Ranger's really idiosyncratic specificity by taking the new options, but if it makes the class feel less like it's being held back in comparison to, say, a ranged fighter, I'm all for players who want to play that fantasy feeling like they aren't handicapping themselves by playing a broken class. And what's nice about this being simply new optional rules instead of a whole new edition is that if you preferred the original Ranger, there's nothing stopping you from playing it that way.