Welcome back to the weekly Tabletop Games thread! This thread is where we can talk about all kinds of RPGs, card games, board games, etc. Whether you gather around a physical table in the real world, or use a virtual space to play with friends who may live far away from you, this is where you can discuss your favorites, ask for and/or receive recommendations, recap your recent adventures, or even find some people to play games with!

Discussion Prompt: This week I’m taking a look at the 5.5e Ranger class.

The Ranger is in a weird place in 5.5e. On the one hand, comparing to the 2014 Player’s Handbook, its one of the most changed classes in the game. However, the Ranger was updated much more recently than 2014–in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, the class got a pretty major overhaul. And the 2024 Ranger class largely ports over the changes from Tasha’s, meaning it hasn’t really changed all that much from the previous version.

So what has changed? Like most martial classes, the Ranger gets to use the new Weapon Mastery system. And like the Paladin, the Ranger also now gets access to Spellcasting starting at level 1. All Rangers now also have the Hunter’s Mark spell automatically prepared right from level 1, and can cast it without using a spell slot twice a day (eventually scaling up to 6 times a day).

In the mid-range levels, the Ranger gets Expertise in a couple of skills, a faster movement speed and the ability to swim and climb, and can give themselves some temporary hit points and remove exhaustion levels with a short rest; all abilities that debuted in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.

If you make it as far as level 13, your Hunter’s Mark spell starts to get some improvements. The Relentless Hunter feature makes it so that taking damage can not break your concentration on Hunter’s Mark. At level 17, Precise Hunter gives you advantage to attack the target of your Hunter’s Mark. And the capstone ability at level 20, Foe Slayer, makes your Hunter’s Mark damage increase from 1d6 to 1d10 (underwhelming to say the least).

For Ranger subclasses, we have the Beast Master, which gives you an animal companion; the Fey Wanderer, who harness the magic of the Feywild for some charm or fear effects; the Gloom Stalker, who excels at ambushing enemies from the cover of darkness; and the Hunter, which focuses less on magic and more on martial combat.

Share your thoughts about Rangers in any edition of D&D, or similar characters from other games, in the comments!

If you would like to suggest a prompt or contribute a write-up or discussion topic of your own, let me know in the comments!