Ways to make the Ranger class better - Without Changing It
I honestly don’t understand the indifference to downright dislike rangers get. They have a unique place in the game as the ingenuitive, practical, foraging, animal taming, hunters.
Let’s get the criticisms layed out:
They are underpowered in 5e
Archery Fighters are basically them but better.
Druids make them obselete
They’re far too situational! Basically useless in most campaigns.
So let’s fix them without even a scent of home brewing.
Are they underpowered in 5e. Honestly yes, in many ways they certainly are. Their damage output swiftly gets buried by other classes, their spells are limited, and their health is average to boot. But that’s missing the point of a ranger. They work best as a tactical class, they aren’t about damage output or spell slinging in the way that a fighter with a bow or a traditional caster is. Their spells are like extensions of their practical skills rather than true Spellcasting. They are best used for their high wisdom score to survey their environment and use their wit. If you play a ranger like a fighter they’ll end up weak, if you play them how the class seems to have been built, you may find them to be a great asset. To better understand this let’s look at the next criticism.
Aren’t Archery Fighters the same thing but better? In sheer strength yes, in roleplay, flavour, and combat strategy. Far from it. Rangers are a Wisdom class for a reason. High perception, natural cunning, and practical thinking. When a fighter sees the battlefield they see ways to most effectively use their attacks, where to fire their precious couple arrows. When a ranger sees the battlefield they see where an arrow is best placed to clear a path, where a spike growth might cut off an enemy, who needs their good berries. In other words, the key difference in combat between a fighter and ranger is that a ranger is about battlefield control and practical planning.
Outside of combat though, what separates them and lets them shine in a unique light? What can they do that a Druid can’t? Well, druids are generally more about protecting nature, communing with the forces of nature, and animal friendship. A ranger on the other hand, knows their favored terrain like the back of their hand. They are expert navigators, trackers, and hunters, they can make traps and find poisons. A ranger is an expert at using their favored terrain to their advantage. While a Druid is an expert in the forces of nature and can freely communicate with the wildlife, they’d be comparatively lost when trying to build a trap or hunt for food. Key difference being: a Druid has nature work with them, a Ranger works practically to use nature to their aid.
That’s all well and good. A ranger has a unique role, it doesn’t matter when that role is so obscure it’s unhelpful in the campaign we’re playing. Are Rangers Situational? Kinda yeah, but there are ways to make sure your ranger fits the campaign. Number 1: in session 0 speak to your DM, what is the environment of your campaign? What kinds of creatures live there? Once you know that you can make a ranger that fits the game. If you think that limits your ideas, thats ignoring the fact that your character needs to fit the setting anyway. If you know you’re playing a tundra campaign in the icy north, why would a desert ranger be up there? Make sure your concept meshes with the campaign as you would in any other class. Number 2: If you feel like you’re not getting enough opportunities to shine, ask your DM. They’re there to make the game fun for everyone equally, if you feel like your ranger doesn’t get opportunity to track, or not enough plant creatures have shown up to make use of your skill set. Your DM could put in a quest involving tracking an NPC through the nearby woods. Or you could find a new kind of plant monster. If your ranger fits the setting this shouldn’t be a problem for them. And finally Number 3: Your wisdom isn’t limited to your favored terrain. You’re perceptive, deductive and practically thinking, these are incredible skills in most situations. Just because you’re in a town doesn’t mean you can’t be thinking with the same mindset as in your favored terrain. Rangers are a very fun class to play if you think of them less as legolass and more as bow and arrow wielding Bear Grylls. I love rangers, and if you want to play one then don’t let the “power” of the class stop you! If playing a ranger is what you want it’s because you see roleplay, you see style, you see an aesthetic, you see a unique kind of class. Play a ranger however makes you enjoy it because that’s what we play DnD for.
