I am new to 5e and was hoping to change up the ranger class. I am going to ask my DM to let me change some things but thought I would come here first and see if this idea is just way to strong or weak. I love the idea of rangers. The natural hunters and explorers of the world. I have just always hated the way favored enemies have been in the game. I want to change that mechanic specifically to see if I enjoy it more. I'm also using the UA Revised Ranger base. So here we go.
Hunters Mark- I felt this was such an essential part that this spell just needs to be a feature. The Ranger focus and studies his enemies. He uses a bonus action to mark a target as his quarry. He gets advantage to all perception and survival checks to his target and does 1d6 extra damage to his target. this last until he kills the target or picks a new one. His companion also gets the benefits from this. He gets 2 uses per short rest.
Hunters skills- This is what I'm replacing favored enemies with. Its kinda complicated so stay with me. First you no longer just pick your favored enemies, you have to hunt them. When a target you have marked under your hunters mark dies you gain a hunting point to put into that creatures respective category from; Humanoids, Beasts, Fey, Monstrosities, Undead, Aberrations, Celestials, Constructs, Dragons, Elementals, Fiends, and Giants. For each point you gain the following benefits for them in the future;
1 point- advantage on survival checks
2 points- advantage on perception and knowledge checks
3 points- +2 to hit
4 points- +2 to damage
If ranger is your starting class you start with three points you can place anywhere.
Level 2
Spellcasting and fighting style are unchanged except the hunters mark is removed from the list.
Natural explorer I moved up one just cause I though it was really strong to start out with it at level 1. :p
Level 3
Conclaves- unchanged
Primeval Awareness- Ups your hunters point cap to 5.
5 points- After one minute of uninterrupted concentration you can determine if these creatures are within 2 miles of you and a general direction they are in.
Level 4
unchanged
Level 5
unchanged
Level 6
Improved hunters mark- After long hours of studying creatures you have become far more adept at it and can now have 2 creatures marked with Hunters mark and can use it 4 + wisdom modifier per short rest. The damage bonus is also increased to a d8.
Hunters Expertise- Pick stealth, perception, or survival and gain expertise in the skill. Ups the hunters point cap to 9.
6 points- gain a +2 to AC against this creature type
7points- gain another +2 to hit
8 points- gain another +2 damage
9 points- Only 3 creature types can reach this point. Learn a language associated with the creature type.
Level 7 and up is the same cause my main problem was just favored enemies.
so let me know what you guys think. Good, bad, terrible, interesting or fun just want some feedback before I ask the DM.
As an experienced DM that has had players want to edit and change more things than my mind can remember, as well as having to work through them to look at all angles and make everyone at the table happy, my thoughts are as follows:
I think your Hunter's Skills is a very groovy modification to make the rangers buffed up a bit (since it's almost universally agreed that 5e rangers fall behind in all other classes).
I also think that Favored Enemy is a far less used ability than some that other classes get and revamping it, or replacing it, is a good change.
I think Hunter's Skills should have a cooler name lol but that's just flavor
I think your concept of adding points into types of enemies is really cool. Just some questions/concerns:
After each hunt, you can place a point into that creature's monster type. I assume you can hunt different types of monsters, and not just solely one type only? Or is it like Favored enemy and you can only choose one type?
I think having to do hunts, unless that is the main part of the group's campaign, will slow down the overall group. You either have a solo ranger who does these hunting side quests while the others are adventuring, or you have a group that will follow the ranger and help him hunt their monsters. I sort of don't like this caveat for the following reasons:
It makes the game feel more geared toward the ranger because they're constantly having to take quests/missions/encounters to find a certain type of monster just so the ranger is stronger. I think you could avoid this by making the hunts a passive thing. Sort of like when you choose a new feat you can suddenly do whatever the feat is. So in this case, you just choose a type that you have hunted and you can incorporate the hunt as something he did in the downtime or in between quests or something, instead of actual hunts that the players will have had to do.
Keeping up with the different points on different monster types may get confusing/forgotten/may not remember and effectively become useless if not remembered at all times.
What if the ranger just wants to hunt each type of monster to the fullest point to get the maximum effects. That gives a level 1 ranger advantage on survival, perception, knowledge checks as well as a +2 to hit and damage against Humanoids, Beasts, Fey, Monstrosities, Undead, Aberrations, Celestials, Constructs, Dragons, Elementals, Fiends, and Giants (which I'm thinking means every creature). What you've just created is a SUPER overpowered character. So the player who is the ranger will either have to agree not to use his class's feature to maximum capacity (which I don't think should be done to any class feature, because that's just limiting) or the DM will have to allow the player to become the greatest level 1 adventurer of all time lol An easy way to fix this is to set a maximum number of hunts per level and then increase them by each level in the class or at certain intervals in the class.
Hope this helps you and you were able to make some use of my comments lol
Wow thanks for the detailed reply. So the main goal was to make the favored enemy mechanic feel more relevant and not just a flavor or side feature. I wanted it to became this main feature that is interactive and fun. I didn't want to just pick a race that might be a good choice or not but be good at what the DM throws our way. If you fight lots of dragons or beasts then you throw a hunters mark on them, kill them and suddenly you are good and relevant against them. I guess I didn't consider exploiting it to maximum benefit. I tried to limit the number of hunts a day by limiting the number of uses of hunters mark a day. Then at level 6 giving him way more uses of it. Maybe I can add a certain number of creatures types you can have points in a level and making the cap stone open everything up. I just really wanted to feel like a hunter and grow through the campaign hunting what is the most relevant. I'm not sure what kinda bonus I should give for each point in a creature type or if you gain points to fast or to slow. Also, hunters mark was a big part of their damage so limiting it feels strange.
really cool idea makes you fell like an atcheal hunter i would suggest not starting with 3 points make it were you have to earn all your points instead of being given some for free
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I am new to 5e and was hoping to change up the ranger class. I am going to ask my DM to let me change some things but thought I would come here first and see if this idea is just way to strong or weak. I love the idea of rangers. The natural hunters and explorers of the world. I have just always hated the way favored enemies have been in the game. I want to change that mechanic specifically to see if I enjoy it more. I'm also using the UA Revised Ranger base. So here we go.
proficiencies are the same as normal ranger.
Level 1: Hunters Mark, Hunter Skills
Level 2:Spellcasting, Natural Explorer, Fighting Style
Level 3: Ranger Conclave, Primeval Awareness
Level 4: Ability Score Improvement
Level 5: Conclave Feature
Level 6: Improved Hunters Mark, Hunters Expertise
level 7 to level 20: Same as UA Revised Ranger
Level 1
Hunters Mark- I felt this was such an essential part that this spell just needs to be a feature. The Ranger focus and studies his enemies. He uses a bonus action to mark a target as his quarry. He gets advantage to all perception and survival checks to his target and does 1d6 extra damage to his target. this last until he kills the target or picks a new one. His companion also gets the benefits from this. He gets 2 uses per short rest.
Hunters skills- This is what I'm replacing favored enemies with. Its kinda complicated so stay with me. First you no longer just pick your favored enemies, you have to hunt them. When a target you have marked under your hunters mark dies you gain a hunting point to put into that creatures respective category from; Humanoids, Beasts, Fey, Monstrosities, Undead, Aberrations, Celestials, Constructs, Dragons, Elementals, Fiends, and Giants. For each point you gain the following benefits for them in the future;
If ranger is your starting class you start with three points you can place anywhere.
Level 2
Spellcasting and fighting style are unchanged except the hunters mark is removed from the list.
Natural explorer I moved up one just cause I though it was really strong to start out with it at level 1. :p
Level 3
Conclaves- unchanged
Primeval Awareness- Ups your hunters point cap to 5.
Level 4
unchanged
Level 5
unchanged
Level 6
Improved hunters mark- After long hours of studying creatures you have become far more adept at it and can now have 2 creatures marked with Hunters mark and can use it 4 + wisdom modifier per short rest. The damage bonus is also increased to a d8.
Hunters Expertise- Pick stealth, perception, or survival and gain expertise in the skill. Ups the hunters point cap to 9.
Level 7 and up is the same cause my main problem was just favored enemies.
so let me know what you guys think. Good, bad, terrible, interesting or fun just want some feedback before I ask the DM.
As an experienced DM that has had players want to edit and change more things than my mind can remember, as well as having to work through them to look at all angles and make everyone at the table happy, my thoughts are as follows:
Hope this helps you and you were able to make some use of my comments lol
Published Subclasses
Wow thanks for the detailed reply. So the main goal was to make the favored enemy mechanic feel more relevant and not just a flavor or side feature. I wanted it to became this main feature that is interactive and fun. I didn't want to just pick a race that might be a good choice or not but be good at what the DM throws our way. If you fight lots of dragons or beasts then you throw a hunters mark on them, kill them and suddenly you are good and relevant against them. I guess I didn't consider exploiting it to maximum benefit. I tried to limit the number of hunts a day by limiting the number of uses of hunters mark a day. Then at level 6 giving him way more uses of it. Maybe I can add a certain number of creatures types you can have points in a level and making the cap stone open everything up. I just really wanted to feel like a hunter and grow through the campaign hunting what is the most relevant. I'm not sure what kinda bonus I should give for each point in a creature type or if you gain points to fast or to slow. Also, hunters mark was a big part of their damage so limiting it feels strange.
really cool idea makes you fell like an atcheal hunter i would suggest not starting with 3 points make it were you have to earn all your points instead of being given some for free