However, as impressive as the Ranger can be in the hands of a clever player, some aspects built to balance the class may be holding back the potential of this type of spellsword. Both the melee combat and archery could be addressed, with the most notable possible change to the class coming from what can be seen as the weaker magic D&D offers to its more powerful spellcasters.
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Expand the Ranger’s Fighting Styles
The fighting styles in D&D are a huge part of customizing both the Fighter class, as well as the Ranger class, though Fighters certainly get more options to flex this feature. While giving Rangers the exact same number of attacks and fighting styles as the Fighter might sound enticing to anyone currently running a character of this class, it isn’t exactly a balanced option. Instead of making the Ranger completely replace the Fighter with the addition of spells, the 6th Edition should look at making the fighting styles more malleable.
Specifically, this would mean allowing Rangers to change their chosen fighting style, most likely limiting this hot-swapping to take place either during a long rest or even forcing the choice to take effect for several in-game days. Allowing a Ranger to change their fighting style would give them a certain amount of flexibility across combat encounters, with the limiting factor forcing them to plan ahead instead of swapping around without limit. Considering the way that the Ranger is already a Jack of All Trades with the mix of physical combat and magic, being able to shift around fighting styles would still fit with the classic D&D character.
One interesting note about this idea is that it already exists to a much more limited degree as a class feature among Rangers at a handful of levels. However, this limit being set to gaining levels not only makes preparations for individual adventures impossible, but will also eventually set the character’s chosen fighting style in stone after reaching 19th Level. That being said, the ability to shift fighting styles still pales in comparison to the improvement that could come with a simple expansion of the Ranger’s spell list from some of Dungeons & Dragons’ best utilized magic.
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Add Cantrips to the Ranger’s Spell List
Anyone who’s spent any amount of time as one of the stronger spellcasting classes, like Dungeons & Dragons’ Wizards or Sorcerers, can comment on the strength of cantrips. These are basic spells that have an unlimited number of casts, having no slot cost and being easily utilized from one encounter to the next. However, what really makes these some of the best spells in D&D is the way that they don’t improve based on the slot they are cast with, but instead with the level of the caster.
While the current build of the Ranger can cast some of D&D’s mid-powered spells up to 5th level, the ability to have a spell that grows and evolves as the character gains experience can completely change how they approach combat. This would also give the character a much more natural way to improve their combat abilities in ways that the standard class features don’t necessarily accomplish after obtaining the extra attack at fifth level. That being said, with fighting styles and some magical weapons available, it’s unlikely that the addition of cantrips will give any Ranger the dreaded “correct option” when choosing how to approach any combat situation.
In the case of improving any spellcaster, it might be tempting to expand the list of higher level spells, possibly even giving a class like the Ranger access to 9th level magic. However, giving the Ranger the ability to cast Wish or True Polymorph while also letting it be a powerful fighter would be taking several steps too far. So, settling for some cantrips that can upgrade alongside the character might be one of the best options for expanding the Ranger’s spellcasting ability without introducing homebrew spells to D&D or making other characters less unique by giving away their higher level magic.
Dungeons and Dragons 5E is available now.
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