D&D 5.5E: Interview Underscores Key Weakness in New Ranger
A recent interview reveals one of the underlying weaknesses of the new 5.5E Ranger Design. But you’ll have to concentrate to spot it.
Rangers definitely get a buff in D&D 5.5E, but they also wear a heavy albatross around their neck in the form of the Hunter’s Mark spell. There is no escaping it, if you want to play a Ranger.
And that means that there’s no escaping the Concentration mechanic. In D&D 5E (and 5.5E), you can only maintain concentration on one spell. And if you take damage while concentrating, you run the risk of losing the spell.
Ordinarily that’s a fine way to balance something. But when you have whole class features that revolve around and assume you’re concentrating on one spell, well… you start to see a problem emerge.
In a recent interview with Screen Rant, Jeremy Crawford, lead rules design for D&D, talked about some of the steps the D&D team has taken to address this, which mostly means removing Concentration from Ranger Spells.
5.5E Rangers – Less Concentration Spells, More Hunter’s Mark
Speaking to Screen Rant, Jeremy Crawford talked about how some spells in the upcoming 2024 Player’s Handbook no longer require Concentration:
People are going to see that, while there are certain things like hunter’s mark that required Concentration in 2014 and continue to require it in 2024, there are other things that used to require Concentration that no longer do. And we were particularly mindful of that for classes like the Ranger that have key features that require Concentration.
And Crawford isn’t wrong. The new 5.5E Ranger has a reliance on Hunter’s Mark, particularly if you pick a subclass like Beast Master or Hunter, where your Hunter’s Mark benefits expand into both your class and your subclass.
Including the Level 20 feature, which changes your Hunter’s Mark damage from 1d6 to 1d10. It’s pretty underwhelming. You get to spend a level 20 class feature to slightly improve a 1st level spell, by 2 points of damage, on average.
However, it seems like some of the steps the D&D will take should ameliorate some of this pain. But only some of it, as Crawford spelled out in the interview:
Now, there’s still going to be Concentration choices. That’s a part of the Concentration mini-game. And that choice is important. And the Ranger particularly at higher level will perhaps have spells that they’re very happy to be concentrating on instead of hunter’s mark, for instance.
So Rangers, get ready to decide what spells are worth concentrating on. And know that you’ll always have a few free castings of Hunter’s Mark to make up for the fact that your class identity is tied to a 1st level spell.
What do you think of the new Ranger?
