Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Ranger Feedback

Hello so i got to the end of EA with about 30h played, i made a ranger player character as it was the only class not available via companions

I think it performed pretty well overall due to its very high chances to hit and consistent damage with hunter's mark and it's free recast allowing you to keep fighting without having to rest

My main concern is that it gets boring really fast compared to other classes, apply hunter's mark, auto attack till it's dead, repeat... Wish it had more "fun" combat abilities that are worth pressing
I played with the Volley a bit but quickly realised it is extremely situationnal that enemies are clumped up in such a tight area, and when they did the aoe damage isnt even that great considering it costs both action and bonus action

I felt like the spell slots were only worth using for Hunter's mark really

I did go the Beast Master route and found pets to be EXTREMELY underwhelming
They look goofy and their sneaking animation made me laugh a lot, but id rather have serious looking pets i think
Pets do not follow the group properly whenever there is a ladder or some jumping and they struggle to go through tight doors, so overall i'd say it's an annoyance to have a pet when exploring
Happend to me more than a few time to forgot to resummon the pet prior to combat and it's not summonable mid combat

But in all honnesty i really feel like forgetting to summon the pet had no impact on combat since the pets almost never manage to land a hit or ability! and when they did, the damage was mediocre at best
The only half decent use i got out of the pets was the aoe taunt with the bear to try and soak some damage for the team, but it didnt land that often.

Also the bear keeps groaning every second when exploring so you have to summon him only prior to fighting else it gets really annoying

I think going for the other subclass with extra auto attack damage on targets that arent full hp (colossus slayer i think its called) is a lot more reliable than trying to get some value out of the pets with beast mastery

But if i had to do it again i'd probably not make a ranger to beggin with, to me it felt really really boring

Rangers are really strong if you go Hunter, but yeah I can agree that their niche is limited to blasting marked targets with arrows. I personally find that their healing and other utilities are nice to have since Shadowheart is a Cleric made of paper.

The spider's ability to shoot webs alone makes beast master worth taking. It's normally a level 2 wizard spell that requires concentration, but it's not required of the spider. Of course, if scaling isn't implemented properly, then its utility will drop off pretty rapidly.

My PC is a beast master ranger and the spider is far and away the best summon. The pathfinding sucks, but that's a deeper problem than just summons.

Your other point about it just being kinda boring is an artifact of 5e. And yeah I agree - every class should have some interesting attack to do every turn. Resorting to a basic ranged/melee attack is boring and should be used far less frequently.

They should make animal companions 'teleport' to you after you climb cliff or jump off.

I liked my main character. I went with the Hunter subclass and took the extra D8 on targets that have taken damage. Some builds are designed around the main attack. Especially since later on, you get multiple attacks when you take the attack action, coupled with dual wield and hunters mark, its a lot of raw damage. ultimately, Tier 1 DND is notoriously bland until you get your subclass and then doesnt really take off until level 5 when the extra attacks start going out and cantrips get buffed. Up until then, bad guys are hitting a bunch and you get that one piddly attack each round.


As far as boring goes... I blame this on party size and lack of Feats/spells/cantrips. There really are a lot more options in 5e and we will especially need Booming Blade/ Green-flame blade for melee characters like the Eldritch Knight for them to feel right. Magic initiate feat is a way to get those melee cantrips on any class in 5e, that could really spice up the options. . I like that they added short rest attacks for each melee weapon like Pin Down/Cleave/Charge etc... I think right now our in game feat options are limited, they put in Great Weapon Master but no Sharpshooter. Spell Sniper is missing, Shieldmaster lost its thunder because they gave everyone bonus action shove, so a sword and board Ranger doesn't have as much appeal


I also would like to see 5 player teams or possibly even 6. Part of my issue with boredom is how long I have to watch the computer take turns before I get to go. Misses and failed spells are the worst!

I`ve played for 30+ hours as a melee hunter ranger and I couldn't agree more about how hunters mark is the only good spell in the rangers kit this early on. Its just like vanilla 5e where everything in the level one spellcasting list is garbage or is very situational.

My solution for this problem is giving rangers the variant of hunters mark which is you get charges of hunters mark equal to your wisdom modifier and it doesn't affect your spells used, plus its not concentration. This means Rangers are able to free up their bonus action and use something else, however the problem here is that there's nothing to use because how poor the ranger spell list is so Larian should introduce the Xanthan's guide to everything spell called Zephyr Strike which is Once before the spell ends, you can give yourself advantage on one weapon attack roll on your turn. That attack deals an extra 1d8 force damage on a hit. Whether you hit or miss, your walking speed increases by 30 feet until the end of that turn. WoTC also gave rangers smites at level 1 spell casting which is also a good alternative.

cracks me up and I agree..Shadowheart spends most of my fights dead after she casts about 2 spells and that is fully buffed. My Ranger I made the mistake of going Beastmaster and while I enjoy it, it's been rough going to level 4. Now she's a Beast though.

I'm playing a human ranger, criminal background, with urban tracker and bounty hunter (ST16, DX 16, CO10, IQ 12, WS 14 CH 9 - unopimized on purpose). I went dual wielding and picked up hunter with colossus slayer and on 4th level I went with the feat for dual weapons (using a medium armor ending up AC 16).


Results:
I don't need a thief. I can use lock picking and sneak.
This build is my primary damage dealer, I only bother with Hunter's Mark for key enemies when I'm using a bow - and that only happens if I can't melee - I'm on purpose not cheesing with ranged+sneak.
Most used spell is 'Speak with Animals'.
I have 'Cure Wounds' if needed.

Overall I'm playing the ranger really the way I like it. Except for social situations he is very useful and the most deadly character in my party (as he fits my playstyle the most) being very flexible and deadly. I see me multiclassing him into a battlemaster in the full game to expand on his flexibility in combat and because I'm always torn between fighter and ranger

I think this is a good point. Ranger has a lot of utility outside combat. High Dexterity and Wisdom plus a lot of skill proficiencies. Can handle all the traps, locks, stealth plus perception, etc. Situational but useful spells like speak with animals. Also, while you may not have a lot of options in combat you can't argue that Ranger is not effective. My Ranger has an amulet of Misty Step, so she teleports to high ground and just snipes everyone. By far the most kills in the group. So yeah, I can see how combat gets repetitive but a class that is strong in combat and brings a lot of out of combat utility is pretty good.

Sadly, I have not found any magic bows or finesse weapons.

Since they removed expertise and everyone has bonus action disengage there really isnt much of a point playing rogue over ranger at this stage. Rangers can do everything rogues can but with better hit dice and a fighting style.

I would be very surprised if we don't see the bonus actions and rogues go back to 5e with the first major update. I think this will create nice rolls for both. I would asume the subclasses will need some more balancing for the ranger, but I think its solid start.

+1 to Xanthar's. I think when it comes to Spells/Cantrips. They should pull from as much source maaterial as possible. They dont need to commit to the subclass options from those books to draw from the benefits that the spells would provide this games gameplay.