The Ranger in 5th Edition has some issues. Generally perceived as the weakest class, the fantasy of the ranger is there, but gameplay-wise, if you look at the class, it feels a bit underwhelming - your spellcasting is more limited than other half-casters (who get to prepare spells instead of just learning a handful) and a lot of your early features only come into play within specific scenarios. Tasha's brought some new alternative rules for Rangers that nearly rebuild the class, but while some of these are quite good, others are a bit underwhelming or even just kind of bad.
But, I think the Ranger is actually deceptively good. Unlike the Paladin or Cleric, whose primary strength is in the base class, the Ranger gets most of its power from its subclasses, many of which are quite powerful indeed. So let's take a look at them.
We'll start with the original two out of the PHB, beginning with the much-maligned Beast Master.
Notably, like the base Ranger, the Beastmaster got a couple of new optional rules in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. So we'll try to cover the original and the new version.
At 3rd level, you can get either Ranger's Companion or Primal Companion.
Ranger's Companion lets you get a beast that is no larger than medium and CR 1/4 or lower to act as your battle pet. You get to add your proficiency bonus to its AC, attack rolls, damage rolls, and saving throws that it is proficient in. Its max health is either the beast's normal health or four times your ranger level, whichever is higher, and like any creature, it can spend hit dice during a short rest (though its hit dice don't seem to go up as you level up.)
The beast acts on your initiative, and you can verbally command it to move, or use your action to tell it to take the attack, dash, disengage, or help action. Otherwise it just dodges. Once you get Extra Attack, you can spend one of your attacks to have the beast make an attack. And if it dies, you can spend 8 hours bonding with another beast.
The alternative, Primal Companion, lets you magically summon a beast. There are three scaling statblocks similar to a Battle Smith's Steel Defender, using your spell attack modifier for its attack bonus. The action economy works the same, but if it has died within the last hour, you can take 1 minute and use a spell slot to revive the beast with full hit points. The Beast of the Land and Beast of the Sea both are a little hardier than the Ranger's companion, with max HP equal to 5 plus 5 times your level (so 20 at level 3) and the Beast of the Air gets 4 + 4 times your level (which still scales just barely better than the Ranger's Companion.)
At the end of a long rest, you can summon a different beast, swapping them out.
Obviously, these two features are at the heart of the subclass. I think the new version is superior, though until you get high wisdom, the old version might actually get a better attack bonus. Still, I think the ease of bringing the Primal Companion back (and not requiring you to just find a new beast) is a pretty nice benefit. Moving on!
At level 7, you get Exceptional Training. First off, it makes your beast's attacks magical to overcome foes with resistance or immunity to nonmagical physical attacks. Also, if it doesn't attack during your turn, you can have it Dash, Disengage, or Help if you use your bonus action. Essentially you can give yourself advantage every turn, which is not bad.
At level 11, you get Bestial Fury. This lets your beast make two attacks when you command it to attack (or use multiattack if it has that feature already.) This essentially gives you and your pet three attacks per round, which is not too bad.
At level 15, you get Share Spells. When you cast a spell targeting yourself, you can also affect the beast if they're within 30 feet of you. This does have to be your own spell, but Rangers do have a fair number of buff spells that you can double up on.
As probably the least-liked subclass of the least-liked class, I think there's nothing inherently wrong here, especially with the changes from Tasha's. But as I said earlier, the Ranger's power comes from its subclasses, and this is just barely making it functional to play with a companion. If you're willing to go for more of a steampunk vibe, I'd highly recommend just going with a Battle Smith instead.
Next, we have the Hunter, which feels like almost a synonym for Ranger, but oh well.
At level 3, you get Hunter's Prey, which allows you to choose from one of the following:
Colossus Slayer lets you deal an extra 1d8 damage to a foe you hit once per turn if the target is below its maximum health (which practically translates to 1d8 every turn in most cases.)
Giant Killer: When a large or larger creature within 5 feet of you hits or misses you with an attack, you can use your reaction to make an attack against them.
Horde Breaker: When you make a weapon attack against a target, if there's another target within 5 feet of it, you can make another attack against that second target if it's still in range of your weapon.
All of these are potentially good, though I think Colossus Slayer and Horde Breaker are the clearly better ones.
At level 7, you get Defensive Tactics. You choose one of the following:
Escape the Horde: Opportunity attacks against you have disadvantage.
Multiattack Defense: When a creature hits you with an attack, you gain a +4 bonus to AC against subsequent attacks made by that creature for the rest of the turn.
Steel Will: You have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.
Here, I think the clear winner is Multiattack Defense, as a big foe with a lot of attacks can really be devastating. These are a bit less inspiring than the previous feature.
At level 11, you get, confusingly, Multiattack (isn't that just what Extra Attack is?) You get, again, two options:
Volley: You can use an action to make a ranged attack against any number o creatures within 10 feet of a point you can see within your weapon's range. You have to spend ammunition for each attack and make a separate attack roll for each.
Whirlwind Attack: You can use an action to make a melee attack against any number of creatures within 5 feet of you, with a separate attack roll for each target.
Naturally, the choice is going to depend if you're a melee ranger or a ranged... ranger. I think Volley can potentially be very strong, while Whirlwind is much more situational.
Finally, at 15, Superior Hunter's Defense gives you three options. Evasion works just like it does for Rogues and Monks. Likewise, Uncanny Dodge works just like it does for Rogues. The third options is Stand Against the Tide, which says that when a hostile creature misses you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to force them to make. the same attack against a creature other than itself of your choice (within range, of course.)
So... I'll admit that I think the PHB Ranger subclasses are a bit underpowered. Nothing here screams "amazing," which the Ranger kind of needs. We'll see how that changes when we look at Xanathar's Guide to Everything.
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