The Ranger has always been one of the more odd-ball classes in Dungeons and Dragons 5e, in part thanks to its highly situational abilities. Players were looking forward to seeing a glow-up for the class in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, but when a video on the official YouTube channel suggested its hallmark feature, Hunter’s Mark, would not receive a much-requested change, fans were irate.
The problem, as many players see it, is that Hunter’s Mark requires concentration. You can only have one concentration spell going at a time, which has always left the Ranger 5e making an unpleasant choice. They can either forgo using a bunch of their spells, or miss out on a key feature of their DnD class.
When Wizards of the Coast revealed that Hunter’s Mark would still use concentration, there were a lot of disappointed comments. But new information revealed in a Screen Rant interview with lead DnD designer Jeremy Crawford suggest this might not be such an issue.
According to Crawford, while Hunter’s Mark still uses concentration, plenty of other DnD spells have had this stipulation removed. His comments to Screen Rant suggest that this might be particularly common for the Ranger’s spells – the decision made explicitly to counteract the previous problems with the class.
Plenty of other buffs to the Ranger have also been revealed, including more spellcasting at a lower level, and taking advantage of the new weapon mastery feature. According to another interview with Crawford (this time with the channel Dungeon Dudes) the Ranger is joint first for the most-improved class, tied with the 5e Monk. From what we’ve seen (and played) of the new material, that martial art user is a bonus action machine now, thanks to the new rules.
Crawford’s been talking a ton about the new Player’s Handbook in the last few days, diving into depth on his favorite features, as well as going into more detail about the game’s backwards compatibility.
For more great content, check out our guides to all the different DnD races and the best DnD 5e feats.
Source: Wargamer
