 Howdy how's it going? My name's Davy Chappy, and I won't lie. Rangers just aren't my cup of tea. I don't play them often. I don't see them played often. I can partly be blamed for that. But I don't want to ostracize the unfortunate few of you who do enjoy playing the Bone Swordsmen. So today we'll be talking about one half of the Rangers' full potential as a class. It's Spelllist. I'm gonna go over the Ranger Spelllist, how it works, which spells you should cherry pick for your own games, and which spells are better left in the forgotten memories of Dead Rangers. As always, keep in mind that a lot of this is just my opinion, so if you feel like I'm starting to become your favorite enemy, feel free to run your Rangers however you want. But with that out of the way, let's begin. But wait! It's ad time! Listen here, old chap. You seem to be the type of adventuring lad that would find yourself knuckled deep in the cobblestone sewers of Waterdeep, out trying to stop one of the Xanathar's harebrained schemes, when out from the sludge comes the most adorable spooky ghost puppy that you just have to have. But woefully, you do not have the rules to acquire. And so what is the only conceivable thing to do when faced with such a predicament? Why? It's to buy Stibbles Codex of Companions, a brand spanking new book written by the boys over at Eldermancy, and currently being crowdfunded on Kickstarter. With Stibbles Codex of Companions, you'll find yourself lavish with over 70 beautifully crafted companions from all walks, crawls, floats, and swims of life, along with new mechanics for companion loyalty, new spells and feats that bolster the power of you and your small fluffy friends, and a personality table full of teammate temperaments so that your axolotl can be personalized to you and you alone. And now the only thing left for you to do is click the link in the description below and make your pledge to nurture and love your little battle monster, and also give Eldermancy like $25. Stibbles Codex of Companions. Need kibbles? Get stibbles. So the Ranger is a type of caster known as a half caster, a title earned by being less of a bathrobe wearing magic blasting master blaster and more of a fighter that just has a fetish for robes and wizard hats. When you're a half caster, instead of upgrading to a higher spell level every two class levels, you instead go up a spell level every four class levels, capping you out at level five. This means that as a ranger, your magic isn't the main draw. It's the silver lining that you use to accentuate your martial combat abilities. Think of your spells less as actual spells and more like special class abilities that you have the luxury of choosing between, and you'll have a good idea. Especially given the fact that unlike mainline casters, your spell levels only go up to fifth level and you get them at a much slower rate than the wizard. Especially the wizard. It's also worth noting that the Ranger doesn't get cantrips, meaning the spells that you do have are gonna be much more important and the spells that don't directly benefit you will be better off taken by full casters since their parents were rich enough to buy their kids' way into private wizard school. You're not a support class, you're a fighter with style. You also only start getting spells at level two, you have the second smallest spell list in the game even if you only measure up the other lists to level five and you can't just swap out spells whenever you want, which is especially annoying because you don't get that many spells in the first place, so planning matters. You aren't even a ritual caster, so rangers are just kinda screwed for flexibility. This means that spells that do damage are going to become less and less impressive as the levels go up because they're balanced around other spells that players would normally have gotten in half the time and spells that provide utility bonuses are going to be praised for being able to withstand the test of time. Finally, the biggest thing holding the Ranger spell list back is also the class' biggest strength, Hunter's Mark. Hunter's Mark is invaluable for rangers everywhere because the Ranger doesn't have a lot of good ways to keep up its damage output compared to other classes besides the extra damage and the ability to conserve spell slots that Hunter's Mark provides. This would be okay if it weren't for the fact that Hunter's Mark is a concentration spell, meaning you can't cast any other concentration spell, or else Hunter's Mark will fizzle out and you'll have to waste an already limited spell slot to get it back. It's a frustrating snafu because it means that all those spells that add variety to your kit are completely locked out due to the necessity of one good spell. So for the purposes of this list, I'm going to assume that you won't be riding the big girthy dong of Hunter's Mark or else we could just throw out every other concentration spell for not being Hunter's Mark. But let's get this guide going, starting with First level! Absorb elements, grab it when you need it, staying alive is fun. Alarm! Tell the wizard to take this if you want it so badly. Animal friendship. Again, take it if you need it, otherwise leave it alone. Beast bond. It's okay if you're a beast master, but speak with animals is just better. Cure wounds. Okay, this is gonna sound crazy, but you actually don't need this. You are not a full caster and once you take cure wounds, your spell slots will disappear like mad. Take it at your own risk. Detect magic. Just have a wizard do it. Detect poison and disease. Not useful when you have slots to spare and it won't be useful now. In snaring strike. Not as good as the druid it can snare from which the spell takes inspiration, but it's still a really good spell against solo enemies. Fog cloud. Nobody gives a crap about your magical vape. Good berry. Strictly better than cure wounds out of combat and nobody appreciates good berry enough to force you to use it a million times. Hail of thorns. A little tough to set up, but good damage either way. Hunter's Mark. I literally gave this spell its own paragraph. Nuff said. Jump. Longstrider. Under most circumstances, you don't need this, but who knows? Snare. Good to keep on if you're tracking down a target that you might want to interrogate. Speak with animals. You never know what that dumbass bird has been up to. Zephyr strike. A get out of jail free card that also acts as a one-off reliable damage dealer. Animal messenger. Good for talking to people. Not much to say there. Bark skin. You literally start with scale mail. Your AC is already 16 if you prioritize decks, which you did. And this clogs your concentration? No. Beast sense. It's like beast bond, but better. Horde of arrows. It only costs an action and it doesn't need concentration so you can use this while you're retreating to be a dick. Dark vision. You will have ways of beating dark vision by this point. Don't waste your spell slots trying to do what a high wisdom or intelligence check can do better. Healing spirit. This spell is broken as fuck and I actually had no idea rangers could use this because they're always using Hunter's Mark. Lesser restoration. Again, think of this as a class feature, not a spell, and you'll get a good idea of when to use this. Locate animals or plants. Please don't waste your TM's time with this. Locate object. Rangers always know where shit is. Pass without trace. Good to help you out with stealthy missions, especially if you need to offset scale mail's stealth penalty. Protection from poison. Silence. Pocket sand for spellcasters. Spike growth. If there's a druid in your party, let them do this instead. If not, then it's your time to shine, baby. Conjure animals. That may look like a squirrel, but it's still a fey. Conjure brage. For a third level spell, 3D8 isn't gonna compete with a Fireball's 8D6, but please remember that these are being measured against other spells in the class list this time around, so it's not awful comparatively. Daylight. A bigger light spell. Someone's bound to have it. Flame arrows. Not gonna lie, it's probably better that one of your spellcasting allies cast this on you. I know it's embarrassing, but you'll get it way sooner that way. Lightning arrow. It's like Halo Thorns, but better. Nondetection. Divination doesn't come up that often, and if it does, it's not the ranger's problem. Plant growth. Sure, you're not a druid, but this is a pretty nice spell for stopping movement outdoors. Grass is plants too. Protection from energy. I would argue that while this spell is a better spell for slot economy, absorb elements is better to take normally if you fight melee since this is concentration, and absorb elements does damage back. Speak with plants. Again, you're not a druid, but useful spells are useful spells. Water breathing. Take it if you need it. Water walk. Unless you're about to drown, do not take this. Wind wall. This is like the pretense of being a wall. Conjure woodland beings. Charge into battle with a squad of unfair folk backing you up. Freedom of movement. Utility spells get more leeway on this list. It's just the rules. Grasping vine. It really does a bad job of keeping people at bay, and it costs concentration. Guardian of nature. Everybody gangsta until the ranger shows off its giant woody. Locate creature. You can usually circumvent this if you know what the creature is holding, but it's not bad to have anyway. Stoneskin. If you use a bow, you don't need this because you can run away. If you use melee, you don't want this because it'll just get wiped off of you. Commune with nature. Knowledge of the terrain is great, so long as it's an outdoors problem. Conjure volley. It's a pretty great ranged ability for the rangers spellcasting capstone. Steel wind strike. This is the most anime spell ever, and for some reason wizards get it too. Swift quiver. The true successor to Hunter's Mark, so long as your fight only lasts for one minute. Tree stride. I normally don't really care about this spell, but for the utility-centric ranger, being able to teleport all over the forest is fantastic. Wrath of nature. A variety of good abilities that, while overshadowed by the other fifth level spells, are still pretty great. Buuuut that'll about do it. I hope you enjoyed this video. Be sure to like, comment, subscribe, ring the bell. Like my Twitter, Instagram, maybe my Twitch, I don't know. And maybe support me on Patreon so that I can afford the therapy that invariably comes with doing all of these spell lists. But yeah, dabby out.