How the 2024 Player's Handbook of D&D Fixes the Worst Ranger Subclass

Among the twelve basic classes in Dungeons & Dragons, The ranger has always been viewed as one of the weakest options. Part of this reputation comes from its lackluster first-level abilities and the slow progression it gets per level in the original rules. Another part of it comes from the two subclasses the ranger can choose from in the 2014 Player’s Handbook: The hunter and the beast.

Although the Hunter is a somewhat effective but polite choice, the Beastmaster attracted many new players with the idea of Working side by side with an animal companion. It’s a common fantasy trap, and for good reason, as it’s a fun and versatile character option in theory. Only The 2014 Beastmaster was plagued with inefficiencies and mechanical downsides That made the subclass a common choice for the weakest option in the TTPRG. It has needed official improvements for years, and with the new one 2024 Player Handbook, It gets them.

Ranger’s Companion vs. Primal Companion

Changes to Beastmaster’s core abilities

The 2024 version of Rangers benefits from Lots of changes that have been unofficially available for a while nowBy Unearthed Arcana and fan-made content. The biggest changes from the 2014 rules are the revisions to the classes’ 3rd-level ability, where the beastmaster gets their animal companion; Or, as it is now called, primal companion. Whereas once, beastmasters chose from among a list of low-power beasts for their sidekick, now They choose one of three base stat blocks that can apply to any number of different animals.

The stat blocks are called The beast of the earth, the beast of the sky, and the beast of the sea. Each includes the ability scores and actions that the primal companion can take. The idea here is that players can decide which animal they want to adventure with but still maintain a level of power and balance to keep up with other characters. A land animal can be a dog, a bear, a dinosaur; The options are up to the player and DM, but the stats work the same.

Stat	beast of the earth	Beast from the sky	animal of the sea
Health	5 + Ranger level x 5	4 + Ranger Level x 4	5 + Ranger Level x 5
Damage per hit	1d8 + 2 + Wisdom mod	1d4 + 3 + Wisdom mod	1d6 + 2 + Wisdom mod
feature(s)	Climbing speed	Fly by, flying speed	Amphibious, swimming speed, extra darkvision
Extra effects	Charges for extra damage and knocking enemies prone		Grapples on a hit

The stat blocks improve with the ranger’s level and proficiency bonus, gaining more hit points and higher damage. The previous animal did this too, although to a lesser extent. moreover, The new Beastmaster can restore life to his animal companions with spell slots Or choose a new one during a long rest; The old version could lose its companion permanently, and had to actually find a new existing beast to get a new one.

Beastmaster and the Action Economy

The real problem with D&D’s 2014 Beastmaster, and how it’s fixed

A ranger of the north sits before the mountains in dungeons and dragons

All these changes are nice to improve the durability of the beast, but the real problem with the 2014 Beastmaster is that it took an action to command the animal companion to make it do something besides move or dodge. That meant that It was directly competing with the ranger’s own actions and limiting what the character himself could be doing Quite a few, especially in early levels. Later, Beastmasters can use one of their two attacks to command the beast to attack, or use a bonus action to command it to duck, aid, or disengage. Only if it is not attacked.

Because of this, many experienced players avoided this subclass like the plague. Unless they have a really strong animal companion, It’s almost always better to use the ranger yourself to take attacks or cast spells How to use up actions enable commands. This was a simple problem that held Beastmaster back for years, but the Primal Companion feature fixes it quite easily.

In the new rules, Beastmasters can use their bonus action from the start to command the beast To do anything from attacking to dashing to helping, and that alone makes the subclass much more viable. In addition, they can still replace one of their attacks to have the beast attack, in addition to using their bonus action to give a command, which means the beast can do a lot more than before each turn.

Additional improvements to the Beastmaster are icing on the cake

A few more features to top off the 2024 renovation

Beyond this major change, the Beastmaster gets several other improvements. At level 7, They can use their bonus action to command the beast to take two actionsAs long as one of them is Dash, Disengage, Dodge or Assist. The beast gets an extra attack later on, just like in the original rules, but now players can choose to make the attacks deal force damage and add extra damage to enemies affected by Hunter’s sign

Many of the Ranger’s class features in the 2024 Player’s Handbook Spin around Hunter’s mark, amping up his damage, taking his concentration requirement, and more. While this shift in focus may narrow players’ choices with the class, it’s nice to at least see some Hunter’s Mark synergy with the Primal Companion.

The latest Beastmaster feature, Share Spells, works the same as originally, Allowing the beats to share in the instant effects of anything the ranger casts on himself. All in all, these changes do a lot to improve the ranger’s reputation and the viability of this classic subclass. It still can’t stand up to something like the Gloomstalker in terms of sheer damage, but with the new rules, Dungeons & Dragons Fans should finally be able to experience the Beastmaster the way they wanted to back when it first debuted.

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