so for some reason it crossed my mind recently to run the "out of the abyss" module but everyone in the party is a ranger, however i quickly realized that some problems would occur with the natural explorer feature if the entire campaign takes place in the underdark since:
the feature probably was not designed to work wherever you go and kind of passively "solves" exploration, ie it might get too powerful for a 1st level feature and
the feature only gets stronger in the fact that you can choose new favored terrain types, something that sucks if you are only ever going to be in this one terrain since it means the feature does not get any stronger at 6th and 10th level as it is supposed to
how do i subtly tweak the feature to work better in such an environment? like i do not wanna discard it completely and replace it with the deft explorer feature from tasha's, as the two features touch on very different areas of the game, my current idea is that instead of gaining all of the six passive benefits you normally gain when travelling for 1 hour or more in your favored terrain, you choose two of those features to gain at 1st level, then you gain two more at 6th and 10th level, as this would both weaken the feature at 1st level, let it improve as you gain levels and allow some diversity and specialization among an all-ranger party beyond just the canny feature
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
i am soup, with too many ideas (all of them very spicy) who has made sufficient homebrew material and character to last an thousand human lifetimes
The first sentence says "You are particularly familiar with one type of natural environment". Since the party didn't start in the campaign's terrain then they can't choose that as their preferred terrain type ;-)
If they are still there at level 6, then it could be argued that they have become familiar with it.
The first sentence says "You are particularly familiar with one type of natural environment". Since the party didn't start in the campaign's terrain then they can't choose that as their preferred terrain type ;-)
The party may not have started in the Underdark but what's to say that the PC Ranger hasn't spent time there previous to the adventure. What if the PC is a drow? A duergar? A deep gnome? These are all allowed per the rules, and even if they normally were not, could be allowed by the GM. Heck even a human might have the backstory of having found some entrance to the Underdark and explored it as a youth, and therefore be highly familiar with it. I would not exclude this as a possibility at level 1, provided the player has a background that justifies it.
Now, if the background is, "I was living in the town of Neverwinter until the day before the adventure opens and never left outside its walls," then yeah, you can't take Underdark at level 1 for favored terrain. But that would be up to the player to work out.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
so for some reason it crossed my mind recently to run the "out of the abyss" module but everyone in the party is a ranger, however i quickly realized that some problems would occur with the natural explorer feature if the entire campaign takes place in the underdark since:
how do i subtly tweak the feature to work better in such an environment? like i do not wanna discard it completely and replace it with the deft explorer feature from tasha's, as the two features touch on very different areas of the game, my current idea is that instead of gaining all of the six passive benefits you normally gain when travelling for 1 hour or more in your favored terrain, you choose two of those features to gain at 1st level, then you gain two more at 6th and 10th level, as this would both weaken the feature at 1st level, let it improve as you gain levels and allow some diversity and specialization among an all-ranger party beyond just the canny feature
i am soup, with too many ideas (all of them very spicy) who has made sufficient homebrew material and character to last an thousand human lifetimes
Discard it. It is a frustrating and badly designed feature.
The first sentence says "You are particularly familiar with one type of natural environment". Since the party didn't start in the campaign's terrain then they can't choose that as their preferred terrain type ;-)
If they are still there at level 6, then it could be argued that they have become familiar with it.
You decide what a biome is. Yes, most games would have the "Underdark" be one biome.
In your game, there is the "Surface Underdark", the "Deep Underdark", the always hated "Water level", the "Mushroom Forest" level, etc.
The party may not have started in the Underdark but what's to say that the PC Ranger hasn't spent time there previous to the adventure. What if the PC is a drow? A duergar? A deep gnome? These are all allowed per the rules, and even if they normally were not, could be allowed by the GM. Heck even a human might have the backstory of having found some entrance to the Underdark and explored it as a youth, and therefore be highly familiar with it. I would not exclude this as a possibility at level 1, provided the player has a background that justifies it.
Now, if the background is, "I was living in the town of Neverwinter until the day before the adventure opens and never left outside its walls," then yeah, you can't take Underdark at level 1 for favored terrain. But that would be up to the player to work out.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.