I've had an idea about revising the Favored Enemy features for the 2024 Ranger. I've really only been thinking about the base class, so I haven't looked at how my idea might affect subclass features. Also: this is all theoretical- I haven't done any math or playtesting. It's all just spitballing. Anyways, here goes:
At level 1: you get Hunter's Mark as a class feature (not a spell). The number of times you can use it stays the same, but Hunter's Mark changes.
First: when you use this feature, it's part of the attack action to initiate it. No Bonus Action. There is no concentration. And it's no longer a d6 added to every attack that hits. Instead, it's a +1 to attack bonus and to damage against the creature marked. It still lasts for a minute, and if the marked creature dies, you can transfer the Mark to another creature with another attack action that hits.
I believe that nerfing the d6 down to a static +1 dmg is offset by adding the to hit bonus and removing concentration and removing the Bonus Action. But there's more...
At 3rd level, when you activate Hunter's Mark using the Favored Enemy feature, you also receive a +1 AC and +1 to all Saving Throws against the attacks & spells/abilities of the marked creature only.
At 6th level, the attack & damage bonus changes to +2. At 9th level, the AC & Saves bonus changes to +2. At level 13, the attack & damage bonus increases to +3, and at level 17 the AC & Saves bonus increases to +3.
I'm thinking the level 20 capstone could be a +4 across the board. Maybe also a 19-20 critical hit range, too.
The Hunter's Mark spell as it exists would no longer be available to Rangers. It would need to be renamed to something like Concentrated Strikes, which would basically be the Hunter's Mark spell as it exists now, available on probably the Cleric's spell list (?), and still available to Pally & Arti subclasses that currently have it.
Thoughts? Too much? Too little? Too complicated? My thinking was to create a feature that was unique to the Ranger, that still had the flavor of a hunter focusing on their quarry and receiving both offensive & defensive boosts from their knowledge of/focus on that creature... and have those boosts scale. All while allowing the Ranger to then concentrate on other spells that enhance their attacks (without completely breaking the game by overloading them with dpr).
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I've had an idea about revising the Favored Enemy features for the 2024 Ranger. I've really only been thinking about the base class, so I haven't looked at how my idea might affect subclass features. Also: this is all theoretical- I haven't done any math or playtesting. It's all just spitballing. Anyways, here goes:
At level 1: you get Hunter's Mark as a class feature (not a spell). The number of times you can use it stays the same, but Hunter's Mark changes.
First: when you use this feature, it's part of the attack action to initiate it. No Bonus Action. There is no concentration. And it's no longer a d6 added to every attack that hits. Instead, it's a +1 to attack bonus and to damage against the creature marked. It still lasts for a minute, and if the marked creature dies, you can transfer the Mark to another creature with another attack action that hits.
I believe that nerfing the d6 down to a static +1 dmg is offset by adding the to hit bonus and removing concentration and removing the Bonus Action. But there's more...
At 3rd level, when you activate Hunter's Mark using the Favored Enemy feature, you also receive a +1 AC and +1 to all Saving Throws against the attacks & spells/abilities of the marked creature only.
At 6th level, the attack & damage bonus changes to +2. At 9th level, the AC & Saves bonus changes to +2. At level 13, the attack & damage bonus increases to +3, and at level 17 the AC & Saves bonus increases to +3.
I'm thinking the level 20 capstone could be a +4 across the board. Maybe also a 19-20 critical hit range, too.
The Hunter's Mark spell as it exists would no longer be available to Rangers. It would need to be renamed to something like Concentrated Strikes, which would basically be the Hunter's Mark spell as it exists now, available on probably the Cleric's spell list (?), and still available to Pally & Arti subclasses that currently have it.
Thoughts? Too much? Too little? Too complicated? My thinking was to create a feature that was unique to the Ranger, that still had the flavor of a hunter focusing on their quarry and receiving both offensive & defensive boosts from their knowledge of/focus on that creature... and have those boosts scale. All while allowing the Ranger to then concentrate on other spells that enhance their attacks (without completely breaking the game by overloading them with dpr).