Sunday, July 2, 2023

PHB 6 Ranger Subclass Overview

 Ok, we've already covered the Beast Master in its own dedicated post, and one of the four found in playtest six is the existing Fey Wanderer, so for this post, we're going to be looking at only the Hunter and Gloom Stalker.

Gloom Stalker

I was fairly confident that we'd get the Gloom Stalker, given its popularity. This subclass I think has generally been thought to be very strong for its 3rd level features, but sort of drops off at later levels in terms of power. So let's compare.

3rd level:

Gloom Stalker spells are unchanged. Dread Ambusher keeps the initiative bonus from Wisdom and the 10 feet of extra movement on your first turn. However, rather than getting an extra attack that deals 1d8 extra damage on that first turn, you can now add 1d8 psychic damage to a hit once per turn and force a Wisdom save or give the target the Frightened condition until the start of your next turn. However, you can only use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier per Long Rest.

    So, this is a "Berf" (a new term I saw on a YouTube thumbnail, which means a buff and a nerf). The extra attack from Dread Ambusher could potentially add a huge amount of damage (notably, if multiclassed with Fighter, you could get two extra attacks with Action Surge). This is going to limit the explosive damage to a single d8, though given that you choose to use this only after you hit, you should be able to get a "crit smite" effect from it.

So, damage-wise it's a nerf. But you can also use it on any turn in combat, which is a buff. But you can only use it a limited number of times per day, which is a nerf (though if you were having fewer combats per long rest than your Wisdom modifier, this actually winds up being a buff). And adding the Frightened condition, which is pretty powerful, is a buff. This is a very "your mileage will vary" kind of change.

Umbral Sight is almost identical, except that if you already have Darkvision, the buff to your darkvision range is now 60 feet, up from 30. So that's a (mild, but unquestionable) buff to this feature.

7th level:

Iron Mind is unchanged.

11th level:

Stalker's Flurry is totally redesigned. When you use the Frighten effect of your Dread Ambusher, you can cause one of the following effects: You can make another attack with the same weapon against a different creature within 5 feet of the original target (assuming it's in range of the weapon). Alternatively, you can cause each creature within 10 feet of the target to also make a Wisdom saving throw and be Frightened until the start of your next turn on a failure.

    So, again, this is basically a brand-new feature. Still limited by how many times you can do this, but you can get off either a sort of cleave-attack or an AoE fear effect. I think my only issue here is that you're going to only be able to do this a couple times a day.

15th level:

Shadowy Dodge works similarly, but you can now apply it when the target has advantage on the attack against you. But much more importantly, if the attack misses, you can now get a 30-foot teleport to a spot you can see as part of the reaction.

    So, this is another pure buff that will help keep you away from your attackers.

    There's clearly a much bigger emphasis on the shadowy magic of the Gloom Stalker in this version. I think the damage has been nerfed, but that's probably warranted.

Hunter:

So, the Hunter has gotten some of its old features back - most importantly the ability to choose between different features. We'll be comparing it to the 2014 one.

3rd level:

Hunter's Prey lets you choose between Colossus Slayer, Horde Breaker, or Retaliator.

Colossus Slayer is unchanged. Horde Breaker is slightly more limited, as you can't target a second creature if you've already attacked it this turn (such as with Extra Attack). Giant Slayer has been renamed Retaliator and no longer has any restriction on size.

    The new rider on Horde Breaker is a little odd - you can shoot monster A with your first attack and get a bonus attack against monster B, and then attack monster B with your second attack. But you cannot attack B, then attack A and get your bonus attack on monster B. I'm trying to figure out why the rules should care about this.

Hunters also get a new feature called Hunter's Lore, which lets you find out the damage or condition immunities, damage resistances, and damage vulnerabilities of the target when you mark them with Hunter's Mark.

    Notably, this is pretty similar to the Monster Slayer's Hunter's Sense (hell, they could have just called it Hunter's Sense). I had previously said I thought the Monster Slayer, from a flavor/lore perspective, would have been a good PHB option, but I think their intent here is to kind of fold the Monster Slayer into the Hunter, thematically. So, moving forward, your Van Helsing/Solomon Kane-style character can probably go with this subclass.

7th level:

Evasion jumps from 15 to 7 here as one of your options, as does Uncanny Dodge. Hunter's Leap is a new one that lets you use a reaction when an enemy you can see enters a space within 5 feet of you to move up to half your speed without provoking Opportunity Attacks. Gone are Steel Will, Escape the Horde, and Multiattack Defense.

    So, obviously Uncanny Dodge and Evasion are tried-and-true options. Hunter's Leap could be situationally good.

11th level:

So, rather than getting different options, you now get to pick up a second Hunter's Prey option with the feature here, Superior Hunter's Prey. So, no Volley or Whirlwind Attack. Having never played a Hunter (or at least one in D&D) I don't know if these were good - I could imagine they were good in tightly-packed groups of enemies, but with Rangers getting automatic access to an improved Conjure Barrage, this probably works out.

15th level:

Once again, rather than getting new features, Superior Hunter's Defense now lets you choose a second option from the Hunter's Defense feature at level 7.

    Interestingly, because there are only three options at levels 3 and 7, a high-level build is ultimately choosing what they don't take rather than what they do. And, in fact, some of these choices actually seem easy to make if you decide to focus more on melee or ranged combat - Retaliator and Uncanny Dodge are both more useful for melee characters while Hunter's Leap is a great ranged option to help you stay at range.

And having covered the Beast Master and having nothing new for the Fey Wanderer, that's it for our Ranger subclasses. Nothing here I think is earth-shattering.

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