Variant Concept: Hex Ranger

A variant I've been kicking around for the 5.5 Ranger. In essence a way to turn it into a sort of Hexblade.  How balanced would this be, and is it something that you yourself would either play or allow at your table?


Level 1: Accursed Enemy (Optional)
This 1st level feature replaces the Favored Enemy feature. You always have the Hex spell prepared. You can cast it twice without expending a spell slot, and you regain all expended uses of this ability when you finish a Long Rest. The number of times you can cast the spell without a spell slot increases when you reach certain Ranger Levels, as shown in the Favored Enemy column of the Ranger Features table. Any Ranger feature that expends uses of Favored Enemy expends use of this feature instead. Any Ranger feature that requires you to be concentrating on Hunter's Mark requires you to be concentrating on Hex instead.

Level 2: Fighting Style
You gain a Fighting Style feat of your choice (see chapter 5). If you took the Accursed Enemy feature, you can choose the option below instead of taking one of those feats.

Eldritch Warrior. You gain the Eldritch Adept feat in place of a fighting style feat. 

I'm curious what the motivation is for Accursed Enemy. Hex is very similar to Hunter's Mark, but with a less desirable damage type and an extra feature (imposing disadvantage on ability checks with one specific ability) that rarely comes up in practice. What's the goal in changing one for the other?

Eldritch Adept is interesting, but it has a pretty severe limitation baked into it, in that if you're not also a Warlock you can't take any of the invocations that have any kind of prerequisite on them at all, which if you're using the 5.5e list doesn't give you very many options. That might be okay since it's taking the place of a Fighting Style feat, but you miss out on things like Agonizing Blast or Fiendish Vigor that might be really desirable.

I wonder if it might be better to ditch any connection to the Eldritch Adept feat and just give a class-specific Fighting Style option that's not a feat (similar to Druidic Warrior) that provides an invocation directly, and set some looser limits on which ones you can take.

Quote from wagnarokkr >>

I'm curious what the motivation is for Accursed Enemy. Hex is very similar to Hunter's Mark, but with a less desirable damage type and an extra feature (imposing disadvantage on ability checks with one specific ability) that rarely comes up in practice. What's the goal in changing one for the other?

Eldritch Adept is interesting, but it has a pretty severe limitation baked into it, in that if you're not also a Warlock you can't take any of the invocations that have any kind of prerequisite on them at all, which if you're using the 5.5e list doesn't give you very many options. That might be okay since it's taking the place of a Fighting Style feat, but you miss out on things like Agonizing Blast or Fiendish Vigor that might be really desirable.

I wonder if it might be better to ditch any connection to the Eldritch Adept feat and just give a class-specific Fighting Style option that's not a feat (similar to Druidic Warrior) that provides an invocation directly, and set some looser limits on which ones you can take.

 
To address, and thank you for bringing this up:

-While Hex is absolutely arguably a less desirable Hunter's Mark, it brings a different flavor with it. The original idea that brought me to this is, if one simply made the swap would Ranger make a decent way to approach making a Hexblade.

-I had actually first making it explicitly just Pact of the Blade but using Wisdom, then I considered Eldritch Adept but adding text to make it so you could treat your Ranger level as your Warlock level for the purposes of Invocations.  What I settled on above was just the feat for a starting point, interested in seeing what people suggested. As it stands it would give the choice of: Armor of Shadows, Eldritch Mind, Pact of the Blade, Pact of the Chain, or  Pact of the Tome.

Admittedly I also tossed around the thought of tacking on the choice for additional Invocations instead of the Expertise granting features, but I was hesitant to make too many changes from the start.

So, based on feedback so far, how about for the fighting style instead.

Eldritch Warrior. You gain an Eldritch Invocation of your choice. Any spells gained through this invocation are Ranger spells, Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for them, and you may use Wisdom instead of Charisma for any invocation that refers to Charisma. You may treat your Ranger level as your Warlock level for the purposes of qualifying for Eldritch Invocations. When you gain a Ranger level, you may replace this invocation with another one for which you qualify.

I just have to raise the point wagnarok did. What's the point? You could simply build regular Ranger, flavour your hunter's mark as cursing the target, and take the Eldritch Adept feat at level 4 and have a better character than this. Alternatively, you could build a Pact of the Blade Warlock and dip one level into Fighter at level 6 and have a better character than this.

What is it that you are trying to achieve? What features of Ranger do you think benefit the Hexblade concept?

Quote from Agilemind >>

I just have to raise the point wagnarok did. What's the point? You could simply build regular Ranger, flavour your hunter's mark as cursing the target, and take the Eldritch Adept feat at level 4 and have a better character than this. Alternatively, you could build a Pact of the Blade Warlock and dip one level into Fighter at level 6 and have a better character than this.

What is it that you are trying to achieve? What features of Ranger do you think benefit the Hexblade concept?

 
All fair questions. 

1. Hunter's Mark support turned to Hex support:  Favored Enemy (extra castings), Relentless Hunter (concentration cannot break), Precise Hunter (advantage on target marked), Foe Slayer (die increase from d6 to d10). I like these, even if Necrotic is not uncommon a resistance/immunity. 

2.  Spellcasting: 3.5's Hexblade was a familiar utilizing half-caster martial. Ranger's spellcasting framework, more in slots than actual spells, harkens back to it better than Warlock's. Even more so that the only cantrip Hexblades got was Prestidigitation via a Web Enhancement to fix dead levels. While it was also a Charisma-based class, I don't think the shift in stat is a loss.

3. Weapon Mastery:  This places greater emphasis on the martial component, and is not an option native to warlock. And while this could be accomplished with multiclassing, or taking a feat, I appreciate that it is baked in.

4. Subclasses:  In their own ways, I think Beast Master, Fey Wanderer, Gloom Stalker, Hollow Warden, Hunter, and Winter Walker all have something to offer here. Most have a feature that interacts with Hunter's Mark in some manner, so it would interact with Hex the same with such a variant, even if only to draw from the same resource in Hollow Warden's case. We'll also see if future subclasses also have anything. I wouldn't doubt Demon Hunter also could play well in its own right, though tracking demons through their vision is a core element.


My goal is to take Ranger and offer a variant in a form that a reasonable DM might allow, with in part in mind making as few changes as possible, with the result being a Wisdom and Dexterity oriented character that can integrate curses and weapon attacks and comes online as early as possible. Just reflavoring Hunter's Mark can do this in part, but I feel more can be done even if the result is typically a little weaker than normal. Making a target's escape harder by making checks to get away harder rather than simply making it easier to figure out where they are is a trade off I personally feel is worth considering. Taking Eldritch Adept is an option, but Pact of the Blade would still be Charisma dependent; Something that while, if we point to 3.5's Hexblade, we'd instead want Pact of the Chain for the choice here, I want to allow for options. Not limit them.

If the solution to adding some elements of Warlock to Ranger is to not take Ranger, then we've rejected the premise. If the result is a slight nerf but achieves the result without being dependent upon multiclassing or feat choices to accomplish, then I'm happy. At present, this variant is functional at 1st level and is supported by an option granted at 2nd level. Most games in my experience start between 1st and 3rd.

If you want the "curse" concept, I honestly don't think Hex is  sufficient. Hunter's Mark does the same thing as Hex and almost none of the other Ranger spells have anything to do with curses (and most have little to do with weapon-combat), you need more to it for the Ranger to feel noticably different. I think you'd also need to swap the entire spell list of the ranger to get the feel you want. The current ranger spell list is very nature-oriented, support and utility focused and not at all curse-like, same with all the class features that aren't related to Hex. You'd need to also swap the spelllist with the Warlock spell list IMO to feel at all hexblade-y, and probably should change more class features as well.

Level 1: Favored Enemy -> This you've got a swap for.
Level 1: Weapon Mastery -> This is fine.
Level 2: Deft Explorer -> This is fine.
Level 2: Fighting Style -> You should swap the Druidic Warrior for "Hexes" that gives them the two most Hex-y cantrips you can find.
Level 3: Ranger Subclass -> This is fine.
Level 4: Ability Score Improvement -> This is fine.
Level 5: Extra Attack -> This is fine
Level 6: Roving -> This needs replacing! 
Level 9: Expertise -> This is ok, but could be replaced for something more thematic
Level 10: Tireless -> This needs replacing!
Level 13: Relentless Hunter -> This is fine.
Level 14: Nature’s Veil -> This is ok, but could be replace for something more thematic
Level 17: Precise Hunter -> This is fine.
Level 18: Feral Senses -> This is ok, but could be replace for something more thematic
Level 19: Epic Boon -> This is fine
Level 20: Foe Slayer -> This is fine

Quote from Agilemind >>

If you want the "curse" concept, I honestly don't think Hex is  sufficient. Hunter's Mark does the same thing as Hex and almost none of the other Ranger spells have anything to do with curses (and most have little to do with weapon-combat), you need more to it for the Ranger to feel noticably different. I think you'd also need to swap the entire spell list of the ranger to get the feel you want. The current ranger spell list is very nature-oriented, support and utility focused and not at all curse-like, same with all the class features that aren't related to Hex. You'd need to also swap the spelllist with the Warlock spell list IMO to feel at all hexblade-y, and probably should change more class features as well.

Level 1: Favored Enemy -> This you've got a swap for.
Level 1: Weapon Mastery -> This is fine.
Level 2: Deft Explorer -> This is fine.
Level 2: Fighting Style -> You should swap the Druidic Warrior for "Hexes" that gives them the two most Hex-y cantrips you can find.
Level 3: Ranger Subclass -> This is fine.
Level 4: Ability Score Improvement -> This is fine.
Level 5: Extra Attack -> This is fine
Level 6: Roving -> This needs replacing! 
Level 9: Expertise -> This is ok, but could be replaced for something more thematic
Level 10: Tireless -> This needs replacing!
Level 13: Relentless Hunter -> This is fine.
Level 14: Nature’s Veil -> This is ok, but could be replace for something more thematic
Level 17: Precise Hunter -> This is fine.
Level 18: Feral Senses -> This is ok, but could be replace for something more thematic
Level 19: Epic Boon -> This is fine
Level 20: Foe Slayer -> This is fine

 
I like where your head is at. Alright, lets go over these then.

Spellcasting: (As Ranger but with Warlock spell list.)
Favored Enemy, but with Hex, as discussed in initial post as Accursed Enemy.
Fighting Style:  Eldritch Warrior (Lets say 2 Warlock Cantrips for now)

Roving (6th): Normally that's +10 speed, plus a climb and swim speed.
Expertise (9th): Normally that's expertise in 2 skills.   
Tireless (10th): Normally Temp HP as an action Wis mod/Long rest and Exhaustion reduces on a short rest.
Nature's Veil (14th):  Normally Bonus Action invisibility Wis mod/long rest. 
Feral Senses (18th): Normally Blindsight 30ft.

Now I COULD just say replace them with Invocations, except they are keyed to Wisdom and you use your Ranger level as your Warlock level.  Might work for Roving, Expertise, Nature's Veil, and Feral Senses. Decent level spacing and its easy, but that would still leave the 10th level ability to sort out. A point of justification can be: Tireless can be covered mostly by Fiendish Vigor, Feral Senses can be compared to Witch Sight is another 30ft sensory thing but its Truesight instead, Nature's Veil Could be compared to One with Shadows is at will but an action in dim light or darkness, and we used to have a skill based Invocation but now we have an invocation that gives an origin feat. These are arguably comparable features.

We could think of new supports for Hex, or borrow old.   Relentless Hex (bonus action 30ft teleport to be within 5ft of a target of Hex) and Maddening Hex (bonus action AoE damage to your hex target and around them) were Invocations of note.

Alternatively, to continue drawing from 3.5 when Hexblade was not a warlock subclass/variant:   Mettle (Evasion for Fortitude/Will saves, Con/Wis saves in modern terms. Two saves Ranger doesn't get proficiency with), and Aura of Unluck (20% miss chance while active by enemies within the aura)
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How about then:

Level 1: Spellcasting (Half-casting, Warlock spell list, Wisdom spell dc.)
Level 1: Accursed Favored Enemy (Hex replacing Hunter's Mark)
Level 1: Weapon Mastery 
Level 2: Deft Explorer  [I know you said fine, but also tempted on an Invocation here, for entry into a pact boon]
Level 2: Fighting Style: Eldritch Warrior (Like druidic warrior but 2 warlock cantrips cast via Wisdom.)
Level 3: Ranger Subclass 
Level 4: Ability Score Improvement
Level 5: Extra Attack 
Level 6: Relentless Hex (While concentrating on Hex, you can teleport up to 30ft as a bonus action to a space within 5ft of the hexed creature you can see) [Awkward with 13th level feature name, but.. we'll workshop it]
Level 9: Expertise  [Or maybe an Eldritch Invocation?]
Level 10: Mettle (Proficiency with Constitution and Wisdom saving throws.)
Level 13: Relentless Hunter Hexer  (Hex replacing Hunter's Mark)
Level 14: Nature’s Veil   [Or maybe an Eldritch Invocation?]
Level 17: Precise Hunter Hexer (Hex replacing Hunter's Mark)
Level 18: Feral Senses [Or maybe an Eldritch Invocation?]
Level 19: Epic Boon
Level 20: Accursed Foe Slayer  (Hex replacing Hunter's Mark)


Edit:  Upon Reflection, I'm inclined to throw out Eldritch Warrior, and lean into the Invocations.  a 2nd level Hexblade could have Pact of the Tome if they are dying for Eldritch Blast, but they also could grab Druidic Warrior (we'll keep that) and throw Agonizing Blast on that. We leave Eldritch Blast + Agonizing Blast to be a Warlock thing that one, if they are dying for it, could get to by 9th level here.  A couple druid cantrips as an option paired with prepared warlock spells (which winds up capping off at where normal warlock slots end anyways), lands at a sort of more Witch flavor that I think helps set this apart nicely.  Primal Savagery, Thorn Whip or Starry Wisp with Agonizing Blast with an emphasis on using Hex could make for an interesting build path, and taking something like Druidcraft or Guidance are just good flavor.