Summary
- Ranger changes in D&D's 2024 Player's Handbook remove a Concentration requirement from four spells.
- Hail of Thorns, Lightning Arrow, Barkskin, and Magic Weapon get buffs with Concentration removal.
- Increased reliance on hunter's mark makes Concentration more valuable than ever.
The Ranger reworks in the changes to the game, and one big part of that shift has to do with what Rangers dedicate their Concentration to. Concentration is a spell requirement in DnD that can only be applied to one spell at a time, and getting hit with an attack poses the risk of breaking it. The core Ranger spell hunter's mark is one that requires it, and with a bigger focus on hunter's mark than ever, the 2024 Player's Handbook puts a unique emphasis on Concentration.
A potential problem with highlighting hunter's mark so much lies in how many other Ranger spells traditionally rely on Concentration, forcing Rangers to make trade-offs to use their core class feature. One way that the new Player's Handbook addresses this is by removing the Concentration requirement from a few Ranger spells that traditionally required it. Although there's still a lot of strategy in deciding where and when to apply Concentration, the changes to the spell list do tweak the equation in an interesting way.
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Ranger Spells With Concentration Removed In D&D
Four Spells Get A Boost
The Ranger spell list in the 2024 Player's Handbook removes Concentration from four spells, spread across the first three levels. No level four or five Ranger spells are losing Concentration requirements, requiring some careful decision-making at high-level play. None of the spells that lost Concentration requirements are necessarily crucial to a standard Ranger build, but all of them can have some good utility.
Spell |
Level |
School |
|---|---|---|
Hail of Thorns |
1 |
Conjuration |
Barkskin |
2 |
Transmutation |
Magic Weapon |
2 |
Transmutation |
Lightning Arrow |
3 |
Transmutation |
Despite the increased focus on hunter's mark, Rangers are a lot more than just their Concentration spells, and other changes in the 2024 Player's Handbook could also have a big impact on how they're played. Regardless, getting a bit more flexibility with spellcasting is nice, even if it's not quite the Concentration-free hunter's mark that some fans would like. Dungeons & Dragons is definitely shaking up the Ranger experience, and dropping Concentration requirements for a few spells is a key part of that.
How The 2024 Player's Handbook Changes Ranger Spells
Losing Concentration Isn't The Only Buff
Hail of thorns is a good option to get some extra damage into the mix with a low-level spell. Cast at first level, hail of thorns inflicts additional piercing damage on a target hit by a ranged weapon attack. In the 2014 Player's Handbook, it could be cast as a bonus action that would apply to the next hit within a subsequent minute of Concentration being maintained, while the 2024 version changes it to a bonus action that can be taken immediately after landing the hit and removing the Concentration window.
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Lightning arrow's 2024 tweaks switch around the nature of casting the spell in the same way as hail of thorns, moving a pre-emptive option to a bonus action deployed after an attack lands. As a level three spell, it ups the damage, dealing 4d8 lightning damage when the attack hits its target and half as much damage when it misses. Creatures within 10 feet have to make Dexterity saving throws, taking 2d8 on failures and half damage on successes. For each spell slot level above three, another 1d8 is added to the equation.
Barkskin functions in the same basic way as it did before, but it's getting buffed on two counts. In the 2014 rules, touching a willing creature and using barkskin could give their skin a bark-like texture and raise their AC to 16 for an hour as long as Concentration was maintained. Along with removing the Concentration requirement, the 2024 Player's Handbook increases the minimum AC after using barkskin to 17.
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The outlook for magic weapon under the 2024 ruleset is similar to barkskin. Previously, magic weapon added a +1 bonus to a chosen nonmagical weapon for an hour with consistent Concentration, scaling to +2 with level four spell slots and +3 with level six slots. The 2024 Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook drops Concentration and moves the +2 scaling down to level three spell slots, potentially incentivizing more use of the spell than before.
Dungeons and Dragons
Dungeons and Dragons is a popular tabletop game originally invented in 1974 by Ernest Gary Gygax and David Arneson. The fantasy role-playing game brings together players for a campaign with various components, including abilities, races, character classes, monsters, and treasures. The game has drastically expanded since the '70s, with numerous updated box sets and expansions.
- Franchise
- Dungeons & Dragons
- Original Release Date
- 1974
- Publisher
- TSR Inc., Wizards of the Coast
- Designer
- E. Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson
