Related Information to Aericsteele’s D&D 5e Questions & Support

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Not who you asked, but I might as well toss in my two cents. Bear in mind, I'm partly running off of memory here, and there are a lot of changes, so I'm probably missing a few things.

-Several changes to base features, favored enemy and favored terrain in particular. The former grants a damage bonus, and the latter a few extra perks, advantage on initiative checks among them. Primeval awareness now works on favored enemies rather than "Unnatural creatures", which narrows its function a bit. Extra attack is gone, but two of the three subclasses add it right back in. Land's Stride is completely gone, replaced by the ability to dash as a bonus action.
-Beast Conclave (Formerly known as the Beastmaster archetype), went through quite a few changes. First off, the list of animal companions you can choose from has been narrowed considerably (Presumably to limit potential shenanigans), Share Spells is gone, and beasts that normally have multiattack don't get to use it. In exchange, that weirdness of having to give up an attack for your companion to do something is flat out gone, your companion becomes considerably both beefier and more dangerous as you level up, and it gains your bonuses from favored enemy.
-Hunter Conclave didn't change at all, except for adding back in the extra attack removed from the core class abilities.
-Deep Stalker conclave is a new subclass, its fluff is centered around a ranger that hunts the Underdark. Lots of ambush, darkness, and stealth related abilities.

All in all, in my estimation, the Ranger as a whole went from a class that the Power Gamer side of me would constantly shy away from to a highly competitive and interesting option.

It still needs a few tweaks I think, but there's a player running a revised Ranger in the 5E game I run in person on Saturdays, and I have no regrets about allowing it. Though to be fair that campaign hasn't hit high levels yet.

Edited: daishain on 27th Oct, 2016 - 7:19pm

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Thanks for that. It sounds really promising. I haven't noticed Carrick being underpowered but I have read that before they were by far the weakest class in fifth edition. I know it is no fun to play a weak character. I played a bard in 3.5 and it was not a fun experience. .

Aericsteele’s D&D 5e Questions & Support Archive Pathfinder / D&D

At levels one and two, martial characters are largely on the same level. The Ranger features that people were mostly complaining about start coming into play at L3.

I should also note that while they were rated the most disappointing class, they aren't necessarily weak. There are a few Beastmaster builds that are actually pretty powerful. But they're specific builds, and tend to involve some wacky stuff (The most compelling I've seen was a Halfling riding around on his Panther Beast companion and taking full advantage of the mounted combatant feat). I have to say if you need to jump through lots of hoops just to stay competitive, the base features probably need work.

In any case, if you want to take a look at it yourself, just google "Unearthed Arcana Revised Ranger", the article should be the first result.

Edited: daishain on 27th Oct, 2016 - 8:00pm

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The Scout of the Deep Wilds says...

Well, as we are still just level two and thus I have not gained my archetype yet, all I can really comment on with Carrick is having advantage on initiative combined with the little dip into the "Assassinate" ability from the rogue class will be interesting. I also like the extra damage granted to favored enemy now and also that it scales. Though I might have suggested a bonus to hit as to opposed to damage, just from a thematic standpoint as you are better at hitting your "Favored enemy" than inflicting more damage. However, I've had some explain this away as "You know your enemy so well that you know the precise locations on its body to do more damage", so there's that.
And yes, I too am allowing the ranger in my homebrew game to play with this altered class and she is currently 6th level and I haven't had any issues.
All in all, I like it. I'm also not one to really try to min-max (As you can probably tell with some of my attribute scores) so being able to play around and test an altered class is cool, but would have been just as fine with RAW.

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The Maker says...

Further discussion on the new Ranger might be worth starting up a topic in the "Board, Card, & RPG Reviews Role-playing Game Newsletters" section; I find it an interesting topic, but I I think the topic would be better placed there in order to keep this thread focused on questions and comments regarding the game/setting.

Aericsteele’s D&D 5e Questions & Support

The Scout of the Deep Wilds says...

Just a quick question: about to what extent of knowledge would Carrick, or any character for that matter, have on any particular fauna at least to the extent of what would be "Natural" given that it's a fantasy universe? At least to the point of requiring rolls are concerned. Like obviously we wouldn't need to roll to identify a wolf or bear or perhaps even a dragon (If they exist in your universe), but again, as a fantasy universe would "Natural" creatures such as the one we are currently engaged with need a check to be identified or are they a common enough threat that seeing one is enough? I'm leaving out what I currently believe the creature to be to avoid any meta-gaming, but that lends to my question, as Carrick may have encountered one of these before and may know of a particular weakness or way to evade, etc.
Now if rolls are needed, which is also fine, do they take a whole action? I know some Dungeon Masters who impose that trying to identify a creature would take a whole action if it's completely out the characters realm of knowledge, as it was with the grell, but others allow it as a free action just as apart of the character's natural inclination to understand what exactly they might be fighting as they swing their ax or cast their spell, what have you, but the knowledge they gain is completely up to the Dungeon Masters discretion.

Also, and this kind of ties into the previous question, and I don't remember this coming up in the past, but are "Called shots" going to be a thing? Like can I specify where I want an arrow to hit and then there be some DC or penalty applied, or just not at all?

Aericsteele’s D&D 5e Questions & Support - Page 20

Just to clarify, I specified my guy going for the neck as a matter of flavor rather than as a choice with mechanical impact. (Not that I'd be adverse to using such, just assuming it wasn't an option.)

5E doesn't have rules for called shots, though if our Dungeon Master is interested in such, one popular house rule I've seen lets you take disadvantage on the attack roll (Cannot use the option if one already has disadvantage) in exchange for inflicting something on the enemy depending on the called body part (Reduced speed, various status effects, etc.).

As for identifying the creature, pretty sure I know what it is as well. Traditionally, a high check in the right knowledge skill (Nature or Arcana if this thing is what I think it is), would at least give you a name.

Edited: daishain on 28th Oct, 2016 - 6:33pm

Aericsteele’s D&D 5e Questions & Support D&D / Pathfinder Archive - Page 20

I have a question about flavor, as well as a pragmatic question. First, for flavor, as long as someone is not actually trying for a mechanical/rules effect, does the Dungeon Master mind if we embellish actions for flavor? For example, in the current situation, the basic move would be for Corren to Bonus Action Hide, move into position, then attack the creature. I could very easily write him diving from his horse, moving amongst the trees and striking. But it would be a bit more cinematic to have him grab onto a sturdy limb, move from one branch to another, then drop down to strike. As long as I am not looking for any extra advantage, would the Dungeon Master mind me going with that sort of move?

As for the pragmatic question, for his turn, unless things change, how far is the creature from Corren? He might have to Bonus Action Dash in order to reach the fight and still attack… thank you in advance for consideration!