Editing Ranger (section)

====Xanathar's Guide to Everything====
Included in XGtE are three new ranger subclasses. They don't pave over most of the problems caused by the erroneous rules in the PHB and take the class away from the Beastmaster/tracking image of the class presented in the PHB. However, regardless of this, they have still managed to make the Ranger an iconic, diverse and interesting class that can hold its own against most others, and when combined with the UA Revised Ranger or a competent homebrew a well-built XGtE ranger can be a force to be reckoned with.

The first of the three is the Gloom Stalker, a rogue-esque subclass that is considerably more powerful than other ranger archetypes if you're playing in a campaign where you frequently enter dungeons, caves, the Underdark, or other dark places. It also gives you access to Rope Trick at 5th level (giving your party a safe place to take a short rest should never be discounted, especially as this was previously exclusive to wizards) and greater invisibility at 13th level (an amazing option for any stealthy character, and one that makes you stealthy even in light areas). The other spells (disguise self, fear, and seeming) are situational but still useful nonetheless. At 3rd level you can add your wisdom modifier to initiative, gain 60 ft. darkvision (or add 30 ft. if you already have it), on the first turn of combat gain +10 ft. of movement and an extra attack that deals an extra 1d8 damage, and ''nullify other creatures' darkvision'' when they try to see you in the dark, essentially making you invisible to most creatures in the monster manual. At 7th you gain proficiency in Wisdom saving throws (or intelligence/charisma if you already have it), can turn a miss into another attack at 11th, and can impose disadvantage on an enemy's attack roll against you whenever it attacks without advantage as at 15th, albeit as your reaction. The 3rd level bonuses alone, especially Umbral Sight, make this subclass terrifying to most monsters.

The second subclass is the Horizon Walker, a less stealthy subclass than the Gloom Stalker, but no less effective. If you want to teleport around in combat and hit stuff, this is the subclass for you. The spells are, almost without exception, fantastic: protection from evil and good at 3rd, misty step at 5th, haste at 9th, banishment at 11th (the only weak link as you likely won't have a high enough wisdom to back up this otherwise great spell with a high enough DC) and teleportation circle at 17th. Your 3rd-level bonuses are more specialist than the Gloom Stalker: gaining the ability to detect the distance and direction to the nearest planar portal within 1 mile (helpful in plane-hopping campaigns) and Planar Warrior, which gives you bonus damage and turns the weapon damage on the affected attack into force damage (which is resisted by almost nothing). It only works once per turn, and uses your bonus action so you may be able to do more damage by investing in two-weapon fighting or taking Crossbow Mastery, but this is free, and it scales on its own at 11th. At 7th, you can cast etherealness once per rest as a bonus action, allowing you to slip past enemies that can see invisibility or that have blindsight, walk through doors and walls, etc. At 11th you gain the ability to teleport 10ft. when you take the Attack action, which is on top of your normal movement, and can make a 3rd attack against a 3rd creature if you've attacked two creatures so far on your turn. If you have two enemies to attack in a small enough area, you can teleport back and forth between the two while attacking. Be sure to caste Haste before you jump into combat. At 15th you can use your reaction when you get hit to give yourself resistance to all the damage of that hit. Couple this with a high AC and you can prevent a large amount of damage as you only have to use it when you are hit.

The final subclass is the Monster Slayer, an improved version of the Hunter subclass from the PHB. Unfortunately it can't compete with the Gloom Stalker's capacity for stealth, or with the Horizon Walker's damage output (at least before 15th); despite this, it is still very powerful in its own right. Its spells are mostly either situational or difficult for you to use given your likely mediocre wisdom, with the exception of protection from good and evil, which you get at 3rd. At 3rd, you gain the ability to discern a creature's damage immunities, resistance or vulnerabilities as an action and can use Slayer's Prey against (i.e. mark) one creature so that it takes 1d6 extra damage on the first attack you hit it with each turn (this stacks with Hunter's Mark but both use a bonus action so do this one first) and lasts until you change the target or finish a rest. At 7th, you can add 1d6 to grapple checks or saving throws against the target of your Slayer's Prey - a bit unreliable but fantastic nonetheless. At 11th you can nullify a spell or teleport by a creature within 60 ft. by forcing them to make a wisdom save against you spell save DC - not quite as good as Counterspell but could still prevent an enemy escaping or casting a spell that would ruin your day. Finally, at 15th you gain the absurdly good ability to use your reaction to counterattack against the target of your Slayer's Prey when they force you to make a saving throw - you attack before making the save, and if the attack hits you also automatically pass the saving throw. There's no limitation on its usage, so if you're fighting a spell caster you'll be able to get free attacks against them every round assuming you're using ranged weapons.