Larian Banner: Baldur's Gate Patch 9
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 2 of 2 1 2
Joined: Feb 2021
enthusiast
Offline
enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2021
Hunter's Mark really bothers me. When I first read and tried it out I thought it was great but I quickly realised:

(1) It's incredibly resource heavy for what it does,

(2) renders dual wielding almost completely pointless for one of only 2 classes that get offhand damage bonus,

(3) scales incredibly badly versus, for example, Thief Sneak Attack that does more damage more reliably with no Concentration requirement or Bonus Action use.


Honestly I'd like to see casting it be a lvl2 class mechanic like Action Surge rather than a spell, which recharges on Short Rest; and reapplying be a Free Action. But that will probably get me in trouble with the 5e RAW crowd... frown

Last edited by Elessaria666; 02/03/21 05:16 PM.
Joined: Nov 2020
P
addict
Offline
addict
P
Joined: Nov 2020
Originally Posted by Elessaria666
Hunter's Mark really bothers me. When I first read and tried it out I thought it was great but I quickly realised:

(1) It's incredibly resource heavy for what it does,

(2) renders dual wielding almost completely pointless for one of only 2 classes that get offhand damage bonus,

(3) scales incredibly badly versus, for example, Thief Sneak Attack that does more damage more reliably with no Concentration requirement or Bonus Action use.


Honestly I'd like to see casting it be a lvl2 class mechanic like Action Surge rather than a spell, which recharges on Short Rest; and reapplying be a Free Action. But that will probably get me in trouble with the 5e RAW crowd... frown

Not necessarily. The original class replacement favoured foe feature granted limited uses per day of hunter's mark that didn't need concentration, this was praised as a good thing by a large amount of people i saw, at least, because concentration locking is an issue with rangers that people struggle with. So when it was changed in tasha's to be just worse in every way, there was widespread disappointment.

Joined: Oct 2020
addict
Offline
addict
Joined: Oct 2020
Now that druid spells are in I think going back and looking over the spells and cantrips rangers get and changing them to something that adds tactical advantages would be a good idea. Larian's ranger is better than the PHB but there's a few specific options that are just vastly superior to the others.

Some spitballed changes I can think of:

FAVORED ENEMY

Bounty Hunter: Give the ranger Thorn Whip as a cantrip. It works thematically because it allows the ranger to pull enemies closer so as it better capture them. It also adds utility for pulling enemies off high ground and so isn't made worthless by access to a bow.

Keeper of the Veil: Give them a single use of Faerie Fire per long rest to combat the innate invisibility most fey and some fiends and aberrations enjoy.

Mage Breaker: Getting a single use of Silence per long rest might be OP, but it is the only thing I can think of that'd be thematically appropriate and still be useful. The other option is Resistance but using your entire action for defensive seems like a losing strategy to me.

Ranger Knight: Perfect as-is.

Sanctified Stalker: Give the ranger Produce Flame instead of Sacred Flame. Significantly better cantrip that can light fires, which is thematically appropriate for hunting undead, which is what I feel this Favored Foe should focus on since Keeper of the Veil already deals with demons and devils.


I'd also go a step further and make it so the skills you get from these key off WIS instead of INT to make the ranger a bit less MAD, as it was already a MAD class before Larian added INT as a stat they should focus on. Flavor it as knowledge gained through experience rather than study or something.

Page 2 of 2 1 2

Link Copied to Clipboard
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5