72
votes
Accepted
Is my Ranger doing more damage than they should?
You are doing wildly too much damage.
A ranger's damage shouldn't be out of line with the other characters. While some classes and weapon choices hit harder than others, it shouldn't be more than 20% ...
- 72.8k
66
votes
Accepted
How can I give a Ranger advantage on a check due to Favored Enemy without spoiling the story for the player?
You make the advantage roll in secret
In situations where I don't want players to know they have advantage/disadvantage for any reason I simply roll a d20 for them myself and work out the results. ...
- 36.3k
65
votes
Accepted
At third-level, are rangers allowed to select a drake as their animal companion?
Not as an "animal companion," because Drakes aren't Beasts
Drakes, though animal like in appearance and behavior, have the creature type of dragon, not beast. And the Ranger's Companion ...
- 38k
60
votes
Accepted
Can a Ranger refuse to hate their favored enemy?
If that's the way they want to roleplay their character than why not let them? Why does it matter to you (or anyone else) if they don't "hate" their Favoured Enemy?
The PHB says:
you have ...
- 56.8k
60
votes
Accepted
How can a ranger's Hail of Thorns ever do 6d10 damage?
The 6d10 maximum damage is not relevant for an usual ranger, but is brought into play when casting the spell at higher levels than five, which can happen...
By being a Bard
The Bard has spell slots ...
- 53.9k
54
votes
Accepted
Who should know/inform the Ranger's Favored Enemy?
In my games, a Ranger would be presumed to recognize the type of a creature who was their Favored Enemy, and I would inform them immediately of the creature type, and of their bonuses.
The only ...
- 52.3k
52
votes
Accepted
Must a Ranger's spellcasting focus be druidic, or can it be arcane (or even holy)?
Rangers Don't Get Foci
All classes that use a focus have a "Spellcasting Focus" subheading to their Spellcasting (or Warlock) feature:
Wizard (arcane focus)
Warlock (arcane focus)
Sorcerer (...
- 40.2k
52
votes
Is my Ranger doing more damage than they should?
D&D Wiki is notorious for overpowered fan-created content.
D&D Wiki (dandwiki.com) is infamous for fan-created game content with two major issues: it is often wildly overpowered, and it is ...
- 79k
47
votes
Accepted
My Ranger missed picking a "favored enemy language" when I started. Is it fair for me to pick one now that I'm in the midst of a campaign?
No answer we can give you will help you deal with the real yardstick of “what’s fair” you will need to clear: your DM. Settling this kind of thing is their job anyway, and bypassing them risks making ...
- 243k
45
votes
Does a Ranger’s Favored Enemy bonus apply against an Undead version of that creature?
No, it wouldn't
Favored Enemy states:
Choose a type of favored enemy: aberrations, beasts, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, giants, monstrosities, oozes, plants, or undead. ...
- 36.3k
44
votes
Accepted
What does "can't become lost" mean?
What the Ranger feature talks about is also mentioned in the Navigate activity from p. 183 in the PHB:
Navigate. The character can try to prevent the group from becoming lost, making a Wisdom (...
- 36.9k
41
votes
Accepted
If I multiclass from ranger into Druid, can I still wear metal armor?
In the PHB pg 164 it gives you the multiclass table for what proficiencies you gain once you place 1 level into Druid (or any other class). Note on this table it also reminds you that Druids will NOT ...
- 18.6k
41
votes
Accepted
House rules for a new player's Ranger character; are they balanced?
Your house rules are slightly weaker to the already published Unearthed Arcana: Revised Ranger Beast Master, except for rule 2, which isn't game breaking anyway.
This 'Rule 2' is already covered in ...
- 28.5k
41
votes
Can a level 1 Ranger cast spells from Ranger spell scrolls?
Yes, but the Ranger must pass an ability check to cast the spell
Spell Scroll
A spell scroll bears the words of a single spell, written in a
mystical cipher. If the spell is on your class’s spell ...
- 142k
40
votes
Accepted
What are the biggest changes between UA Ranger and PHB Ranger?
This article does an excellent job of describing in detail the changes between the stock ranger and the UA Ranger Revised, but I'll summarise for the Stack. Generally the Ranger is made more mobile, ...
- 65.5k
40
votes
Accepted
How can I help our ranger feel special about her beast companion?
Since someone answered what the DM should do and how he should think about the ranger's animal companion VS other, normal, beasts, let me tell you what I would do as a player since that's the actual ...
- 3,474
37
votes
Does the Crossbow Expert feat's extra crossbow attack work with the reaction attack from a Hunter ranger's Giant Killer feature?
No, for at least two reasons.
Crossbow Expert (PHB, p. 165) is very specific about when you can make an attack with your hand crossbow:
When you use the Attack action and attack with a one-handed ...
- 46.1k
36
votes
How can I give a Ranger advantage on a check due to Favored Enemy without spoiling the story for the player?
This is precisely what the passive versions of skills are for
The recommendations for when to use passive checks are:
Such a check can represent the average result for a task done repeatedly, such ...
- 27.7k
36
votes
Accepted
Can a Beast Master ranger choose a swarm as an animal companion?
No, you can not choose a swarm as an animal companion
The simplest argument is that the Ranger must choose a beast, singular, not a swarm of beasts, plural. Rules designer Jeremy Crawford even ...
- 7,283
36
votes
Is D&D Beyond correct in showing my ranger's attack bonus being higher than his Dex mod + bonus from Archery Fighting Style?
Proficiency bonus.
As a ranger you have proficiency with your bow, so your +2 proficiency bonus is added to your bonus to hit. The rule for “Modifiers to the Roll” in the Attack Rolls section of the ...
- 144k
35
votes
At third-level, are rangers allowed to select a drake as their animal companion?
The lowest-CR drake on D&DBeyond has CR = ½
A ranger's companion must have CR ≤ ¼.
So no, you cannot (currently) have a drake as your animal companion. To do so would require ...
- 101k
35
votes
How to encourage melee combat when ranged is a stronger option
Introduce roleplaying
You said your character wants to do a bit of both, so just have them do it because that is who they are and what they enjoy doing. Yes ranged is better, and you aren't likely to ...
- 29.8k
34
votes
Accepted
Can a Horizon Walker ranger use the Distant Strike feature to teleport out of the Forcecage spell?
Yes, but you need to make a Charisma saving throw
Distant Strike states that you:
gain the ability to pass between the planes in a blink of an eye. When you use the Attack action, you can teleport ...
- 21.5k
33
votes
Why is the PHB Ranger considered underpowered?
WOTC acknowledged in the preface of Unearthed Arcana: Revised Ranger that the Ranger Archetype beast master has been unpopular to play as it is underpowered.
Many players want to play rangers, but ...
- 8,441
33
votes
Accepted
Does the fighter's Action Surge feature reset the free attack from the Gloom Stalker ranger's Dread Ambusher feature?
It doesn’t “reset” anything, but rules as written, you can make an extra attack as part of each Attack action taken that turn.
The wording of the ability is (emphasis mine):
If you take the Attack ...
33
votes
Does the Ranger's Favoured Foe Ability from Tasha's work with Cantrips?
Favored Foe works with any cantrip that uses an attack roll.
Favored Foe says:
When you hit a creature with an attack roll, you can call on your mystical bond with nature to mark the target as your ...
- 144k
32
votes
Accepted
If a Ranger chooses "fey" as their Favored Enemy, what languages can they choose from?
You gain any one language that any of your favored enemies speak.
When you gain this feature, you also learn one language of your choice that is spoken by your favored enemies, if they speak one at ...
- 79k
31
votes
Accepted
Can a Ranger bond with a beast that’s secretly an Angel in disguise?
What's important to you here, the fluff or the crunch?
"Fluff" is the game world that the DM describes and the players interacts with. "Crunch" is the actual game rules mechanics. ...
- 55k
31
votes
Accepted
Is Gloom Stalker overpowered?
Umbral sight isn't THAT strong
It's a solid ability that I suspect (without looking through every adventure) gets a few uses per session, on average.
The build is optimized for this example
It seems ...
- 20.9k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible