Maybe I am too generous with the baseline ranger’s favored enemy ability, but the monster slayer ranger subclass’s 3rd level ability, hunter’s sense, is pretty much the same thing for me. The differences being that one is always on but limited to the favored enemy choice(s) while the other is a little limited by can be used on anything. Both are rendered moot if the table allows meta gaming knowledge. I’m curious as how others interpret this little part of favored enemy.
Intelligence measures mental acuity, accuracy of recall, and the ability to reason.
Intelligence Checks
An Intelligence check comes into play when you need to draw on logic, education, memory, or deductive reasoning. The Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature, and Religion skills reflect aptitude in certain kinds of Intelligence checks.
Arcana
Your Intelligence (Arcana) check measures your ability to recall lore about spells, magic items, eldritch symbols, magical traditions, the planes of existence, and the inhabitants of those planes.
History
Your Intelligence (History) check measures your ability to recall lore about historical events, legendary people, ancient kingdoms, past disputes, recent wars, and lost civilizations.
Investigation
When you look around for clues and make deductions based on those clues, you make an Intelligence (Investigation) check. You might deduce the location of a hidden object, discern from the appearance of a wound what kind of weapon dealt it, or determine the weakest point in a tunnel that could cause it to collapse. Poring through ancient scrolls in search of a hidden fragment of knowledge might also call for an Intelligence (Investigation) check.
Nature
Your Intelligence (Nature) check measures your ability to recall lore about terrain, plants and animals, the weather, and natural cycles.
Religion
Your Intelligence (Religion) check measures your ability to recall lore about deities, rites and prayers, religious hierarchies, holy symbols, and the practices of secret cults.
Other Intelligence Checks
The DM might call for an Intelligence check when you try to accomplish tasks like the following:
Communicate with a creature without using words
Estimate the value of a precious item
Pull together a disguise to pass as a city guard
Forge a document
Recall lore about a craft or trade
Win a game of skill
Spellcasting Ability
Wizards use Intelligence as their spellcasting ability, which helps determine the saving throw DCs of spells they cast.
Beginning at 1st level, you have significant experience studying, tracking, hunting, and even talking to a certain type of enemy.
Choose a type of favored enemy: aberrations, beasts, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, giants, monstrosities, oozes, plants, or undead. Alternatively, you can select two races of humanoid (such as gnolls and orcs) as favored enemies.
You have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track your favored enemies, as well as on Intelligence checks to recall information about them.
When you gain this feature, you also learn one language of your choice that is spoken by your favored enemies, if they speak one at all.
You choose one additional favored enemy, as well as an associated language, at 6th and 14th level. As you gain levels, your choices should reflect the types of monsters you have encountered on your adventures.
At 3rd level, you gain the ability to peer at a creature and magically discern how best to hurt it. As an action, choose one creature you can see within 60 feet of you. You immediately learn whether the creature has any damage immunities, resistances, or vulnerabilities and what they are. If the creature is hidden from divination magic, you sense that it has no damage immunities, resistances, or vulnerabilities.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of once). You regain all expended uses of it when you finish a long rest.
Hunter’s Sense is limited to damage, works instantly, no roll is required to recall what will or won’t hurt a target, isn’t limited to your Favored Enemy, and has limited uses.
Favored Enemy gives Advantage on Intelligence checks to recall any kind of information about a creature in that category, potentially including knowledge about what does and doesn’t hurt something. It isn’t limited to just this and it doesn’t have a limited number of uses but it also doesn’t guarantee knowing the answer.
If you wanted to game the abilities, you’d make the check first to see what you recall about a Favored Enemy’s weaknesses. If that doesn’t provide enough information, you then fall back on Hunter’s Sense to make sure you are absolutely certain of the best way to put the target down.
If you allow players to use player knowledge rather than character knowledge at the table then both abilities are useless and what’s the point of playing at that point?
Maybe I am too generous with the baseline ranger’s favored enemy ability, but the monster slayer ranger subclass’s 3rd level ability, hunter’s sense, is pretty much the same thing for me. The differences being that one is always on but limited to the favored enemy choice(s) while the other is a little limited by can be used on anything. Both are rendered moot if the table allows meta gaming knowledge. I’m curious as how others interpret this little part of favored enemy.
Intelligence
Intelligence measures mental acuity, accuracy of recall, and the ability to reason.
Intelligence Checks
An Intelligence check comes into play when you need to draw on logic, education, memory, or deductive reasoning. The Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature, and Religion skills reflect aptitude in certain kinds of Intelligence checks.
Arcana
Your Intelligence (Arcana) check measures your ability to recall lore about spells, magic items, eldritch symbols, magical traditions, the planes of existence, and the inhabitants of those planes.
History
Your Intelligence (History) check measures your ability to recall lore about historical events, legendary people, ancient kingdoms, past disputes, recent wars, and lost civilizations.
Investigation
When you look around for clues and make deductions based on those clues, you make an Intelligence (Investigation) check. You might deduce the location of a hidden object, discern from the appearance of a wound what kind of weapon dealt it, or determine the weakest point in a tunnel that could cause it to collapse. Poring through ancient scrolls in search of a hidden fragment of knowledge might also call for an Intelligence (Investigation) check.
Nature
Your Intelligence (Nature) check measures your ability to recall lore about terrain, plants and animals, the weather, and natural cycles.
Religion
Your Intelligence (Religion) check measures your ability to recall lore about deities, rites and prayers, religious hierarchies, holy symbols, and the practices of secret cults.
Other Intelligence Checks
The DM might call for an Intelligence check when you try to accomplish tasks like the following:
Spellcasting Ability
Wizards use Intelligence as their spellcasting ability, which helps determine the saving throw DCs of spells they cast.
Favored Enemy
Beginning at 1st level, you have significant experience studying, tracking, hunting, and even talking to a certain type of enemy.
Choose a type of favored enemy: aberrations, beasts, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, giants, monstrosities, oozes, plants, or undead. Alternatively, you can select two races of humanoid (such as gnolls and orcs) as favored enemies.
You have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track your favored enemies, as well as on Intelligence checks to recall information about them.
When you gain this feature, you also learn one language of your choice that is spoken by your favored enemies, if they speak one at all.
You choose one additional favored enemy, as well as an associated language, at 6th and 14th level. As you gain levels, your choices should reflect the types of monsters you have encountered on your adventures.
Hunter's Sense
At 3rd level, you gain the ability to peer at a creature and magically discern how best to hurt it. As an action, choose one creature you can see within 60 feet of you. You immediately learn whether the creature has any damage immunities, resistances, or vulnerabilities and what they are. If the creature is hidden from divination magic, you sense that it has no damage immunities, resistances, or vulnerabilities.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of once). You regain all expended uses of it when you finish a long rest.
Hunter’s Sense is limited to damage, works instantly, no roll is required to recall what will or won’t hurt a target, isn’t limited to your Favored Enemy, and has limited uses.
Favored Enemy gives Advantage on Intelligence checks to recall any kind of information about a creature in that category, potentially including knowledge about what does and doesn’t hurt something. It isn’t limited to just this and it doesn’t have a limited number of uses but it also doesn’t guarantee knowing the answer.
If you wanted to game the abilities, you’d make the check first to see what you recall about a Favored Enemy’s weaknesses. If that doesn’t provide enough information, you then fall back on Hunter’s Sense to make sure you are absolutely certain of the best way to put the target down.
If you allow players to use player knowledge rather than character knowledge at the table then both abilities are useless and what’s the point of playing at that point?