I've always been interested in having a Ranger subclass that was less directly invested/ tied to a type of wilderness, and could be more easily worked into city and urban campaign settings. While the Bounty Hunter Ranger is not a particularly original idea by any stretch of the imagination, none of the existing homebrews I found really tied into what I thought a bounty hunter should be: a character with simple damage options and more options to control and keep up/ get at their targets.
This is the completed first draft, and I'd love some feedback on it. There are some aspects I really like, and some that I'm not entirely sold on (e.g. I had a difficult time coming up with a subclass capstone that felt flavorful while still feeling like an adequate reward for taking 15 ranger levels).
Thanks in advance!
---------------
Ranger: Bounty Hunter Conclave
Bounty Hunter Magic Starting at 3rd level, you learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Bounty Hunter Spells table. The spell counts as a ranger spell for you, but it doesn't count against the number of ranger spells you know.
Ranger Level
Spell(s)
3
Disguise Self
5
Hold Person
9
Slow
13
Locate Creature
17
Mislead
Mark the Target
At 3rd level, you learn Hunter’s Mark, and it does not count against your ranger spells known. Bounty Hunters can cast Hunter’s Mark at level one without expending a spell slot a number of times equal to their proficiency bonus per long rest. Your damage die for Hunter’s Mark is 1d8.
Wanted: Alive
At 3rd level, you master the use of the net like no other. When using a net to restrain an enemy, the DC for them to break free is now equal to your spell save DC. When attacking with a net, you may make one attack in addition to the netting action, regardless of whether the target saves or fails the DC. When attacking, Bounty Hunters are able to use their ranged weapon to launch the net a greater distance, increasing it’s range to 60ft.
Hunter’s Focus
By 7th level, you have greatly honed your ability to maintain concentration on your targets in the thick of busy streets or battle. You gain proficiency in constitution saving throws. If you already have this proficiency, you instead gain proficiency in wisdom or intelligence saving throws (your choice). Additionally, if forced to make a concentration check due to an attack by a marked target, you have advantage on the roll.
Wanted: Dead
At 11th level, you learn to ensure your target is delivered “the hard way”. Once per turn, when taking the attack action against a target that you’ve marked or a restrained target, you may use your bonus action to make one additional attack. Additionally, your Hunter’s Mark die is now 1d10.
Dogged Persistence
Starting at 15th level, you learn to persevere through anything between you and your prey. Your movement speed increases by 10 feet and cannot be reduced, even by magical means. Additionally, you gain a climbing speed equal to your movement speed.
I think this is great. Some of the language could use a *little* polishing, but overall each ability is very clear on what it gives and how it works. I like that it focuses on one of the favorite spells for the ranger and gives them the possibility to use their limited number of known spells on something else by giving them free uses.
I would maybe switch Wanted: Dead with Dogged Persistence. A free bonus action attack without relying on TWF (especially against an already restrained target) is pretty strong. Add onto that that Hunters Mark gives you +1d10 damage, and I think its more fitting as the subclass's capstone.
With that in mind, I think Dogged Persistence is still a little weak for an 11th level feature. As a comparison, at 11th level, most fighters are getting 3 attacks per round and full casters are getting 6th level spells.
One spell that Dogged Persistence makes me think of is Freedom of Movement . Perhaps you could add on something like "As an action you can cast Freedom of Movement using this feature. Once you have cast the spell this way, you cannot do so again until you finish a long rest" This would buff the strength of Dogged Persistence by giving the Ranger access to the power of a 4th level spell two levels earlier than they would usual be able to use it. After that, it once again gives them a way to cast one of their Ranger spells a limited amount without using up one of their spells known, allowing them to expand their kit.
Just an idea though. Either way, I feel Dogged Persistence could use some additional power.
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I'm a little iffy on the Wanted: Alive feature. A feature that only kicks in with the use of one specific weapon, and a rarely used one at that, might not even get used in the majority of campaigns. Also, it seems to give multiple attacks (provided one is with a net) at 3rd level?
I do like the idea of it, though. Maybe shift it to something that gives a boost to all restraining attacks, rather than specifically with nets?
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I'm a little iffy on the Wanted: Alive feature. A feature that only kicks in with the use of one specific weapon, and a rarely used one at that, might not even get used in the majority of campaigns. Also, it seems to give multiple attacks (provided one is with a net) at 3rd level?
I do like the idea of it, though. Maybe shift it to something that gives a boost to all restraining attacks, rather than specifically with nets?
I kind of like it. I feel like it encourages the player to use nets which (as you say) is underused in most campaigns. This is probably not because of a rarity or lack of availability but because you can only ever make one attack and its pretty easy to escape from. I think this ability does help with that a little.
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Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews!Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
As someone below noted, the idea behind this feature was to give the net actual usage by eliminating its three major drawbacks:
Having a low and easy to overcome the set DC is for enemies to escape (10) Having to be in near-melee range to actually use it Having to forgo actually attacking on your turn
So yes, you do theoretically get multiattack at level 3, but only when using a net, which doesn't do damage. After you get multiattack, it is worded in a way that lets you still only take one additional attack, in order to not allow what is essentially a 3 hit multiattack (net-hit-hit).
Nets themselves aren't rare and are theoretically available in most towns in most standard campaign settings.
Dogged Persistence was definitely the feature I had the most trouble designing beyond the name (Dog the Bounty Hunter and all).
I like the idea of swapping it out. I hadn't fully considered that Wanted: Dead was effectively 3 attacks + modifiers + 3d10 at level 11. Which is pretty busted that early. I definitely like the idea of swapping the two. I want to have a boost to damage or damage consistency at level 11, as without it the subclass adds no additional damage after level 3 until level 15. While I've clearly focused this class more around control, I'd like players to not feel their damage is a little neutered.
Dogged Persistence was definitely the feature I had the most trouble designing beyond the name (Dog the Bounty Hunter and all).
I like the idea of swapping it out. I hadn't fully considered that Wanted: Dead was effectively 3 attacks + modifiers + 3d10 at level 11. Which is pretty busted that early. I definitely like the idea of swapping the two. I want to have a boost to damage or damage consistency at level 11, as without it the subclass adds no additional damage after level 3 until level 15. While I've clearly focused this class more around control, I'd like players to not feel their damage is a little neutered.
Any ideas?
Dogged Persistence is a movement-oriented feature, so tying more damage into it may be difficult. I do have one idea though. Maybe consider adding the following effect:
"When a creature within 5 feet of you takes the Disengage action, you can use you're reaction to pursue the creature. You can move up to your movement speed maximum without provoking opportunity attacks, following the same path as the target creature, and you can choose to end this movement early at any time. At then end of your movement, if you are within 5 feet of the target you can make a single melee weapon attack against it as part of the same reaction."
This doesn't add consistent damage, but does give you a way to ensure that a creature cannot get away from you, even by disengaging, without relying on the Sentinel feat. I think it also ties into the flavor of the ability that you are going for. Otherwise, your best bet for giving them a damage boost at level 11 would be to work in another minor ability that is separate from Dogged Persistence. To be honest, I am not sure that you need the damage boost. At level 11 you will have 4 free castings of Hunter's Mark with each hit dealing an extra 1d8 damage.
As another point, I would consider making the increase to the Hunter's Mark damage to be part of the level 7 ability. The free castings of the spell at level 3 is already good, and while alot of Ranger subclasses get some +1d8 damage ability at 3rd level, it usually only applies to one attack per turn rather than every attack. For 1d8 on every attack I think that level 7 is more appropriate and could still be thematically woven into being part of Hunter's Focus
As someone below noted, the idea behind this feature was to give the net actual usage by eliminating its three major drawbacks:
Having a low and easy to overcome the set DC is for enemies to escape (10) Having to be in near-melee range to actually use it Having to forgo actually attacking on your turn
So yes, you do theoretically get multiattack at level 3, but only when using a net, which doesn't do damage. After you get multiattack, it is worded in a way that lets you still only take one additional attack, in order to not allow what is essentially a 3 hit multiattack (net-hit-hit).
Nets themselves aren't rare and are theoretically available in most towns in most standard campaign settings.
I like the intent of making underused weapons worthwhile, but this seems too good to me. Restraining something at a distance of 60 feet (and then doing damage to boot) all day long is very good. No cantrip comes close to this, even with class feature add-ons or Invocations, for classes that are focused on control. It also doesn't really seem to fit with what an urban bounty hunter evokes in my imagination - I'm thinking crowded streets and twisted alleys, not a wide-open space where combatants are fighting from 60 feet away.
I would drop the range increase. The net would still be more than worth using without it. Or as a compromise, remove the penalty for using at long range.
The other thing that seemed a bit conceptually off was that if you want to kill your target via your Wanted: Dead feature, ironically your best opening action is using the Wanted: Alive feature. The names give the idea of two separate ways to deal with a target, but in reality they work best in combination with each other.
I did some combat playtesting recently and I fully agree with you regarding the netting ability - it is too strong as it is. The range + the consistency that rangers can land hits with the archery fighting style means they're basically restraining targets constantly. In tandem with a dual weapon fighter I was testing with, this lead to a lot advantaged strikes. The only way around this as written is for the DM to limit net acquisition, which is poor design. So my consideration for limitations is to, instead of making any net usable for the ability, is to change the ability to the 'creation' of netting arrows. The creation of these 'trick' arrows will have the limitations of a number that can be carried at a time, a set damage die when used to net a target (with no additional attack), and a certain amount of time needing to be spent crafting the actual arrows.
As for Wanted: Alive and Wanted: Dead working in tandem with each other, I don't see that as a problem. That was a design choice in the names. Wanted Alive + Wanted Dead = Wanted Dead or Alive. I thought it worked quite well.
And I see your point about ranged nets not necessarily being flavorful for a Bounty Hunter, I just disagree. I appreciate the critique though - and please let me know what you think of my proposed adjustments.
Hey thanks for the thought out response! I really like the ideas here actually and I think they fit well into a refitting of the class. Moving the damage die upgrade to a later level feature makes it a bit weaker early but makes the class progression feel a bit more like a consistent upward slope in terms of how it feels to play - tangible upgrades in damage without changing the mechanics of the class.
As for the Dogged Persistence changes proposed - I like that idea of having Sentinel Lite to keep melee rangers more readily engaged. I'll think about how to word it and update the subclass.
Cheers!
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Hi all!
I've always been interested in having a Ranger subclass that was less directly invested/ tied to a type of wilderness, and could be more easily worked into city and urban campaign settings. While the Bounty Hunter Ranger is not a particularly original idea by any stretch of the imagination, none of the existing homebrews I found really tied into what I thought a bounty hunter should be: a character with simple damage options and more options to control and keep up/ get at their targets.
This is the completed first draft, and I'd love some feedback on it. There are some aspects I really like, and some that I'm not entirely sold on (e.g. I had a difficult time coming up with a subclass capstone that felt flavorful while still feeling like an adequate reward for taking 15 ranger levels).
Thanks in advance!
---------------
Ranger: Bounty Hunter Conclave
Bounty Hunter Magic
Starting at 3rd level, you learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Bounty Hunter Spells table. The spell counts as a ranger spell for you, but it doesn't count against the number of ranger spells you know.
Ranger Level
Spell(s)
3
Disguise Self
5
Hold Person
9
Slow
13
Locate Creature
17
Mislead
Mark the Target
At 3rd level, you learn Hunter’s Mark, and it does not count against your ranger spells known. Bounty Hunters can cast Hunter’s Mark at level one without expending a spell slot a number of times equal to their proficiency bonus per long rest. Your damage die for Hunter’s Mark is 1d8.
Wanted: Alive
At 3rd level, you master the use of the net like no other. When using a net to restrain an enemy, the DC for them to break free is now equal to your spell save DC. When attacking with a net, you may make one attack in addition to the netting action, regardless of whether the target saves or fails the DC. When attacking, Bounty Hunters are able to use their ranged weapon to launch the net a greater distance, increasing it’s range to 60ft.
Hunter’s Focus
By 7th level, you have greatly honed your ability to maintain concentration on your targets in the thick of busy streets or battle. You gain proficiency in constitution saving throws. If you already have this proficiency, you instead gain proficiency in wisdom or intelligence saving throws (your choice). Additionally, if forced to make a concentration check due to an attack by a marked target, you have advantage on the roll.
Wanted: Dead
At 11th level, you learn to ensure your target is delivered “the hard way”. Once per turn, when taking the attack action against a target that you’ve marked or a restrained target, you may use your bonus action to make one additional attack. Additionally, your Hunter’s Mark die is now 1d10.
Dogged Persistence
Starting at 15th level, you learn to persevere through anything between you and your prey. Your movement speed increases by 10 feet and cannot be reduced, even by magical means. Additionally, you gain a climbing speed equal to your movement speed.
I think this is great. Some of the language could use a *little* polishing, but overall each ability is very clear on what it gives and how it works. I like that it focuses on one of the favorite spells for the ranger and gives them the possibility to use their limited number of known spells on something else by giving them free uses.
I would maybe switch Wanted: Dead with Dogged Persistence. A free bonus action attack without relying on TWF (especially against an already restrained target) is pretty strong. Add onto that that Hunters Mark gives you +1d10 damage, and I think its more fitting as the subclass's capstone.
With that in mind, I think Dogged Persistence is still a little weak for an 11th level feature. As a comparison, at 11th level, most fighters are getting 3 attacks per round and full casters are getting 6th level spells.
One spell that Dogged Persistence makes me think of is Freedom of Movement . Perhaps you could add on something like "As an action you can cast Freedom of Movement using this feature. Once you have cast the spell this way, you cannot do so again until you finish a long rest" This would buff the strength of Dogged Persistence by giving the Ranger access to the power of a 4th level spell two levels earlier than they would usual be able to use it. After that, it once again gives them a way to cast one of their Ranger spells a limited amount without using up one of their spells known, allowing them to expand their kit.
Just an idea though. Either way, I feel Dogged Persistence could use some additional power.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
I'm a little iffy on the Wanted: Alive feature. A feature that only kicks in with the use of one specific weapon, and a rarely used one at that, might not even get used in the majority of campaigns. Also, it seems to give multiple attacks (provided one is with a net) at 3rd level?
I do like the idea of it, though. Maybe shift it to something that gives a boost to all restraining attacks, rather than specifically with nets?
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I kind of like it. I feel like it encourages the player to use nets which (as you say) is underused in most campaigns. This is probably not because of a rarity or lack of availability but because you can only ever make one attack and its pretty easy to escape from. I think this ability does help with that a little.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
As someone below noted, the idea behind this feature was to give the net actual usage by eliminating its three major drawbacks:
Having a low and easy to overcome the set DC is for enemies to escape (10)
Having to be in near-melee range to actually use it
Having to forgo actually attacking on your turn
So yes, you do theoretically get multiattack at level 3, but only when using a net, which doesn't do damage. After you get multiattack, it is worded in a way that lets you still only take one additional attack, in order to not allow what is essentially a 3 hit multiattack (net-hit-hit).
Nets themselves aren't rare and are theoretically available in most towns in most standard campaign settings.
Hey I really appreciate your feedback!
Dogged Persistence was definitely the feature I had the most trouble designing beyond the name (Dog the Bounty Hunter and all).
I like the idea of swapping it out. I hadn't fully considered that Wanted: Dead was effectively 3 attacks + modifiers + 3d10 at level 11. Which is pretty busted that early. I definitely like the idea of swapping the two. I want to have a boost to damage or damage consistency at level 11, as without it the subclass adds no additional damage after level 3 until level 15. While I've clearly focused this class more around control, I'd like players to not feel their damage is a little neutered.
Any ideas?
Dogged Persistence is a movement-oriented feature, so tying more damage into it may be difficult. I do have one idea though. Maybe consider adding the following effect:
"When a creature within 5 feet of you takes the Disengage action, you can use you're reaction to pursue the creature. You can move up to your movement speed maximum without provoking opportunity attacks, following the same path as the target creature, and you can choose to end this movement early at any time. At then end of your movement, if you are within 5 feet of the target you can make a single melee weapon attack against it as part of the same reaction."
This doesn't add consistent damage, but does give you a way to ensure that a creature cannot get away from you, even by disengaging, without relying on the Sentinel feat. I think it also ties into the flavor of the ability that you are going for. Otherwise, your best bet for giving them a damage boost at level 11 would be to work in another minor ability that is separate from Dogged Persistence. To be honest, I am not sure that you need the damage boost. At level 11 you will have 4 free castings of Hunter's Mark with each hit dealing an extra 1d8 damage.
As another point, I would consider making the increase to the Hunter's Mark damage to be part of the level 7 ability. The free castings of the spell at level 3 is already good, and while alot of Ranger subclasses get some +1d8 damage ability at 3rd level, it usually only applies to one attack per turn rather than every attack. For 1d8 on every attack I think that level 7 is more appropriate and could still be thematically woven into being part of Hunter's Focus
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
I like the intent of making underused weapons worthwhile, but this seems too good to me. Restraining something at a distance of 60 feet (and then doing damage to boot) all day long is very good. No cantrip comes close to this, even with class feature add-ons or Invocations, for classes that are focused on control. It also doesn't really seem to fit with what an urban bounty hunter evokes in my imagination - I'm thinking crowded streets and twisted alleys, not a wide-open space where combatants are fighting from 60 feet away.
I would drop the range increase. The net would still be more than worth using without it. Or as a compromise, remove the penalty for using at long range.
The other thing that seemed a bit conceptually off was that if you want to kill your target via your Wanted: Dead feature, ironically your best opening action is using the Wanted: Alive feature. The names give the idea of two separate ways to deal with a target, but in reality they work best in combination with each other.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
I did some combat playtesting recently and I fully agree with you regarding the netting ability - it is too strong as it is. The range + the consistency that rangers can land hits with the archery fighting style means they're basically restraining targets constantly. In tandem with a dual weapon fighter I was testing with, this lead to a lot advantaged strikes. The only way around this as written is for the DM to limit net acquisition, which is poor design. So my consideration for limitations is to, instead of making any net usable for the ability, is to change the ability to the 'creation' of netting arrows. The creation of these 'trick' arrows will have the limitations of a number that can be carried at a time, a set damage die when used to net a target (with no additional attack), and a certain amount of time needing to be spent crafting the actual arrows.
As for Wanted: Alive and Wanted: Dead working in tandem with each other, I don't see that as a problem. That was a design choice in the names. Wanted Alive + Wanted Dead = Wanted Dead or Alive. I thought it worked quite well.
And I see your point about ranged nets not necessarily being flavorful for a Bounty Hunter, I just disagree. I appreciate the critique though - and please let me know what you think of my proposed adjustments.
Hey thanks for the thought out response! I really like the ideas here actually and I think they fit well into a refitting of the class. Moving the damage die upgrade to a later level feature makes it a bit weaker early but makes the class progression feel a bit more like a consistent upward slope in terms of how it feels to play - tangible upgrades in damage without changing the mechanics of the class.
As for the Dogged Persistence changes proposed - I like that idea of having Sentinel Lite to keep melee rangers more readily engaged. I'll think about how to word it and update the subclass.
Cheers!