It is worth noting that this is just my perception of ranger not having seen what they unlock as the game goes on... If each FE gets some sort of unique progression at lvl 6 or 7 (sort of how draconic sorcs are supposed to get stuff based on their dragon ancestor at lvl 6) that would address many of my concerns. Hopefully that is the plan.
I agree. The way Larian manage progression for their homebrew will be the making or breaking of it, and it’s hard to make a judgement without more info.
Though I do hope that the initial bonuses for sanctified stalker and mage breaker especially can be rethought a bit. As has been discussed, true strike and sacred flame cantrip aren't super useful or meaningful to the kit. Unlike other FEs which are incredibly meaningful (heavy armor ranger is kind of a game changer for example). Many good potential alternatives.
While more, or slightly tweaked, options could be great, I think it would be possible to make a viable and fun ranger using any of the existing FE options. Sure, some might be better than others when it comes down to raw damage or even general combat potential but as I’m a roleplayer rather than power gamer I don’t really mind that as long as I’m not dying or missing all the time, and if I can do decent damage I don’t mind if there are alternatives that could do more!
As I’ve mentioned, what I particularly like about the Larian approach so far is the inspiration it gives me for my rangers, and that it encourages me to explore their different abilities and create various distinctive characters, potentially with flavours of other classes without full-on multiclassing (if the latter is even going to be possible).
I can see that’s less of a benefit for experienced DnD players who would no doubt be able to come up with more interesting ranger concepts in their sleep, and for whom my thinking about what I can do with the ranger abilities is probably unsophisticated and old hat - and I’m sure in some cases just plain mistaken - but it’s still really handy for me as someone who only plays the odd single-player RPG as a place to start from!
To illustrate, if we take the existing FE options:
- Bounty Hunter: Archetypal ranger or stealthy hunter? Probably with a bow or rapier, with the boost to their signature Ensnaring Strike ability and the Investigation skill proficiency which is a thematically appropriate class skill, but nice to get for “free” given it would often be hard to prioritise as it’s INT based rather than synergising with one of the key ranger stats. The more general utility of this FE option to rangers is balanced by the fact that the Ensnaring Strike option is only likely to start becoming useful at level 2 when you get the spell, and it’s probably going to encourage a build that doesn’t focus on the other ranger signature, Hunter’s Mark, which would be in competition with Ensnaring Strike for concentration and spell slots.
- Mage Breaker: Suggests interesting backstory for RP, with an Arcana proficiency that rangers wouldn’t normally have access to. INT based so they’re not going to be great at it anyway, but good enough to give a different flavour. True Strike isn’t great and I agree this FE is a candidate for some improvement, but it’s fun to think about whether it could be leveraged. It’s a cantrip so at least no spell slot worry. And while generally two normal attacks would be better than one with advantage, conversely one normal attack might be better than two with disadvantage (is it given to Mage Breakers because it might therefore be useful against a Blurred opponent?). Could a ranger with Two Weapon fighting use it to cast and then offhand attack in the same round so they don’t need to maintain concentration in the interim? Might it be useful for a ranger who wanted to increase the chance of one of their scarce spells hitting and was willing to expend a turn to do it?
- Protector of the Veil: Has great RP potential given the way the plot of the game seems to be going, and Arcana proficiency like the Mage Hunter. Protection from Evil and Good once a day could be handy given the antagonists we seem to be facing and gives the ranger a slight cleric or paladin vibe that can be played up with other character choices. As it uses concentration the ranger is not going to be able to use Ensnaring Strike or Hunter’s Mark at the same time, so this is going to encourage a build that doesn’t rely on those abilities.
- Ranger Knight: With heavy armour to lug around (and which negates DEX bonus to AC), this is probably going to encourage a strength based ranger. It will certainly be extremely useful for any ranger who wants to prioritise high AC and doesn’t care about being sneaky (setting aside the dodgy stealth mechanics of the game currently, anyway), and saves them having to take the Heavily Armored feat, so makes sense it doesn’t also come with an active ability. History proficiency is a nice touch that rangers wouldn’t normally get, also INT based so rangers again aren’t going to be great at it, but it’s enough to add flavour, eg more successful lore checks related to history (particularly later in the game when proficiency bonuses increase).
- Sanctified Stalker: Like Mage Breaker, a potentially interesting back story with an appropriate skill proficiency that rangers don’t normally get: Religion in this case. A ranger with a hint of cleric or druid, perhaps? And they probably are going to have to prioritise WIS more than your average ranger if they’re going to get any benefit from that Radiant Flame cantrip. I agree it’s still pretty underwhelming in EA, though as discussed in this thread will improve later and could still be situationally useful. And if you’re going to pump more into WIS anyway, you might as well look for other ways your ranger could benefit from this. At the moment, that looks mainly to be by being a better healer (given the bonus to HP healed) and use of abilities for which a higher spell save DC would be helpful.
Anyway, apologies for going on far longer than I intended, but I hope that brings to life what I mean about how the FE options have helped me think about the potential of the class in a way that I, as a 5e novice, otherwise probably would not have.
And that’s even without going into the natural explorer options, which could potentially add a familiar, lockpicking/trap disarming skill, or elemental resistance to any of the above!
