While the 2024 Player’s Handbook forDungeons & Dragonsbrings changes to a lot of areas of the game, one aspect a lot of players wanted to closely follow was how each class would change. Specifically, the ranger class was one in need of some reworking, considered by many as the worst class of the game.
Well, it certainly has been reworked, and for the better. It isn’t suddenly the strongest class in the game, and clearly, that was never the aim, but now the class feels like a more cohesive package that is all about picking one enemy and tearing it apart.
7No More Primeval Awareness
But A Lot More Expertise
The 2014 ranger gained primeval awareness at level three, letting them know what type of creature was surrounding them at any moment. This feature was almost never used by players, to the point that Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything introduced primal awareness, an optional feature that adds optional spells at various levels.
Well, in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, both versions of awareness are completely gone, and there isn’t much in its place to compensate. The class seems to be built like a skills expert that uses expertise to track foes, hence why you get more of that feature now than ever before.
6Simpler Feral Senses
You Now Gain Blindsight
Features at level 18 are often overlooked since not many adventures get to that point, but they are still important levels to keep relevant. Feral senses was a feature that tried to make rangers the masters of detecting hidden creatures, but ended up being so limited that it was, like most ranger features, rarely used.
The 2024 rendition of ranger makes things simpler at level 18, since feral senses now give rangers blindsight with a range of 30 ft. This makes rangers not only good at detecting hidden creatures, but at navigating dangerous areas without needing any special equipment to do so.
5Less Hiding, More Survivability
You’re Not A Rogue After All
The 2014 rules had rangers being really good at hiding, but only in specific and at times cumbersome circumstances. The level ten feature of hiding in plain sight relied on the ranger never moving, and at level 14 they could hide as a bonus action, as long as they have somewhere to hide in.
This focus on hiding is gone in 2024, with the level ten feature, called tireless, being all about gaining temporary hit points and removing exhaustion levels during short rests. At level 14, you still gain an ability to hide, but it is a bit more effective: you turn fully invisible as a bonus action.
4More Fighting Styles
Druidic Warrior Is Still An Option
Fighting styles have changed for all classes in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, making them a group of feats that you can choose from instead of a specific list per class. As such, the build diversity of rangers has grown exponentially, letting you make tankier rangers that intercept enemies or unarmed ones that trigger Hunter’s Mark with their bare fists.
The druidic warrior style still exists, but not as a feat; it continues to be a feature exclusive to rangers. Since Hunter’s Mark now triggers with attack rolls (no weapon needed), you canpick a druid cantripand still benefit from the Mark when attacking with it.
3Weapon Masteries
Another feature that is present for multiple classesis weapon masteries, letting you do more with your weapons than just damage. For rangers, this expands on what they might want to do since, more often than not, rangers end up with the same 2 or 3 weapon choices.
The best example of this is when we compare the longbow with the shortbow. Up until now, the longbow has always felt like a direct upgrade to the shortbow, but not anymore; since the shortbow gives you advantage on your next attack after each hit, multi-attacking with it can end up being more damage overall than with the longer range version.
2Tasha’s Rules Reign Supreme
No More Natural Explorer Here
The optional rules present in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything for rangers tend to be what most players use, so it is no surprise that in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, those rules still apply. While primal awareness didn’t make it, deft explorer and roving did.
In Tasha’s, roving only gave five feet of extra movement. Now it gives ten, but only when you aren’t wearing heavy armor.
This goes to show that, while flavorful, the features of natural explorer just weren’t present enough in most campaigns to be meaningful. The things that deft explorer (expertise and two languages) and roving (ten extra feet of movement) give, however, are significant in a higher number of cases, making rangers feel mobile and more relevant overall.
1Hunter’s Mark Is Now A Core Feature
Still Counts As A Spell, But It Gets Constantly Buffed
The biggest change for rangers in the 2024 Player’s Handbook is favored enemy, which is now completely reliant on Hunter’s Mark. You no longer choose a type of creature as your enemy; instead, you focus all your efforts on Hunter’s Mark: your favored enemy is whoever you are targeting.
Since you gain this feature at level one, rangers can nowcast spells starting at level oneinstead of two. This lets them already work towards the damage or support build they need without needing to start the game at higher levels.
Since the way Hunter’s Mark gets upgraded is so significant for rangers, here are all the upgrades you can look forward to as you level up:
Hunter’s Mark Upgrade
1
Cast Hunter’s Mark without expending a spell slot a set number of times.
13
17
20
