How does everyone feel about Rangers getting resistances to fire etc.?
I like it.
In my experience as both player and DM, the 5E Ranger (especially during the PHB era) struggled both mechanically and favor-wise, and I think this really gives something uniquely useful to the Ranger's core class without going too overboard.
Right now, other classes tend to their resistances around level 6, and almost always as secondary boost (i.e. only 1 part of the suite of goods you get). E.g. Draconic Sorcerer gets a elemental damage buff ability + an associated elemental resistance. Giving this earlier to Rangers kind of gives them a nice niche, and is by no means OP since you can easily get that at level 1 via racial traits anyway.
A resistance i.e. 50% damage reduction seems like something you get from a powerful magical spell or item, or a physiological trait like Tieflings being half-devils. Not so much from a mundane skill or "experience" as the Ranger.
I mean, Rangers in D&D are fueled by nature/divine magic - Lore wise it's not like anyone just wandering aimlessly in an appropriate landscape is gaining this. Rangers are far more potent magic users om 5e than any edition before - they can literally bring people back to life now.
The Ranger spells Absorb Elements, Protection from Poison and Protection from Elements all give you resistance which are redundant if you already have resistance.
Absorb Elements and Protection from Energy will both still be useful for Rangers to protect them from the 4 other elements that they don't have resistance to. Both these spells can cover (one at a time) fire, cold, acid, lightning, and thunder.
Protection from Poison loses one aspect of its use if you already have poison damage resistance, as that doesn't stack. However, the saving throw advantage is still useful, as is the ability to neutralize active poisons. It's a little confusing, but the
Poisoned Condition (usually a save) is NOT affected by Poison Resistance (affects damage only). A Tiefling Ranger wouldn't be any more Fire Resistant than a human Ranger which is a bit of a flavor fail imo.
It's clumsy design that overlaps with a lot of other stuff like their own spells and racial traits. Like Niara pointed out, it feels like whoever designed this isn't really in sync with D&D and how stuff works.
I don't know about this - it's a thing in 5e PnP too. Off the top of my head - other thematically class + race combos with stacking issues (many of which don't even give you a choice to go off-theme for another elemental type):
- Dragonborn + Draconic Sorcerer
- Celestial Warlock + Aasimar (no alts)
- Fire Genasi + Genie Warlock: Efreeti
- Triton + Fathomless Warlock (no alts)
And if you look outside of energy resistance, you'll run into things like the Triton + Storm Herald Barbarian both having redundant swim speeds, Fey Wanderer Ranger + Elf = stacking Charm Resistance, etc., too.
Should Rangers get a Saving Throw Advantage instead that would nicely stack with Resistances from their spells?
I'm not completely against it, but it's new mechanic to 5E that will need to be considered across the board (I assume if we are letting resistances stack, it needs to be across the board and not a Ranger exclusive). Do only permanent resistances stack this way? What happens when there's 3 sources? Another side-effect that will be hard to calculate isn't in the damage reduction, but what this helps you avoid when certain spells/abilities that do more than just damage. Very similar to the Poison Resistance vs. Poison Condition situation I outlined above.
