- The Monster Slayer is a
specialist when it comes
to taking down the most dangerous monsters
in the D&D Multiverse.
I talked to Jeremy Crawford
about this new subclass for the Ranger
in "Xanathar's Guide to Everything".
- So the Monster Slayer in
the Ranger is a subclass
that's basically all about
letting you play Van Helsing.
This is the Ranger who is the
pro at hunting down
not only creatures of the night,
vampires, werewolves, etc.,
but is also the bane of evil spellcasters.
This is the Ranger who is a
bit more bookish, we imagine,
than the typical Ranger.
The one who knows all sorts
of interesting tidbits about
different monsters and how to defeat them.
This subclass actually started
in the Unearthed Arcana
process as a Fighter subclass.
People responded pretty well to it
but as we worked on it we really
felt that the subclass
would be even better as a
part of the Ranger class
where the class would gain
access to a number of the
Ranger's magical abilities,
the Ranger's favored,
you know, foe abilities,
these sorts of things.
They all were a natural
fit for this person who is
the best at hunting down
these vile creatures.
The subclass itself,
I think, is super fun.
It has a number of additional spells.
It knows all about trapping
other-wordly creatures.
You know, spells like
Magic Circle, Hold Monster,
also Banishment to send, you know,
fellow creatures off to other planes.
But probably my favorite
bit in this subclass
is its ability to foil a
dark spellcaster's magic.
Now people can already do this in the game
using Counter Spell.
This Ranger can do it just using
a particular class feature.
On top of that it also
works against other people
who are trying to teleport away.
So this is one of the few
characters in the game where if,
as long as the foe is close enough,
this Ranger has a chance to magically foil
the person's ability to suddenly
teleport out of a battle
and get away.
Because again this is
the Van Helsing figure
who is going to stop that
creature of darkness.
That creature of darkness
who can normally escape from others.
Not from this Ranger.
This Ranger also has early on an ability,
and this goes back to the
idea that this Ranger knows
potentially a little
bit about every monster,
the ability to discern
whether a monster has
damage immunities, damage
resistances, condition immunities.
That sort of thing.
So this is then going to be the character
who can help the group figure out
how do we stop this monster
that has been bedeviling us.
None of our weapons work against it.
That sort of thing.
Whereas this is the
character who is more quickly
going to figure out we need
to use silvered weapons.
Or we need a magical weapon.
Or mmm stop using fire.
That kind of thing.
Now many groups figure
these sorts of things out
through trial-and-error
and then they remember them
because oh we fought
these creatures before.
We know they're immune to
these sorts of attacks.
This is the sort of
character, the Monster Slayer,
who, in contrast, has the potential
to figure those things out
upon first meeting a monster.
And this chance is really
representing the fact that
this Monster Slayer is assumed
to have been doing studying
before their adventuring and during.
Always learning new things about monsters.
So as a lover of especially
old Hammer horror films
and pretty much gothic
horror stories of any sort
and in October I have a
kind of an endless diet
of those things at night.
Given that taste of mine,
this is a Ranger subclass
I'm particularly excited about.
- You can pre-order "Xanathar's
Guide to Everything"
and earn pre-order bonuses
as well by clicking
on the video link in
this video description.
I'm Todd Kendreck.
Thank you for watching.
