iserith
Magic Wordsmith
I ran a Viking-themed one-shot for a group that included two UA rangers last night - beast and hunter. Here are some notes on the results.
Favored Enemy: Monstrosity was useful against the winter wolves that attacked Vikingheim. The hunter ranger was able to successfully protect her wards from being eaten which was critical to her gaining entrance to Valhalla. Thane Magnus, the goliath barbarian, by contrast was unable to protect his wards from the winter wolves, due in part to mobility issues and damage output.
Natural Explorer was good for both the hunter ranger and beast ranger. They typically, but not always, went first in combat. They were also able to plow through snow drifts that were difficult terrain for other PCs and monsters. There was no navigating the wilderness in this scenario so I can't comment on its effectiveness.
The beast ranger used Primeval Awareness to detect the coming of Fimbulvetr, the wyrm of ice and shadow, before it arrived which allowed the party to prepare for battle better and avoid surprise.
Greater Favored Enemy: Giants was useful to the beast ranger in that (in addition to bonus damage) he learned something critical about the frost giant, Hrimthursar - he's easily goaded by insults. While the giant ultimately destroyed the Blue Flame of Asgard in the Temple (his goal), goading the giant did allow them to keep a fellow PC alive by distracting it.
Greater Favored Enemy: Dragons was useful to both the beast ranger and hunter ranger both for the damage and the advantage to saving throws against the necrotic breath weapon of Fimbulvetr, the adult white dragon (with shadow dragon template).
Fleet of Foot was basically the star of the show for both rangers in my view. Getting across the map quickly was very useful to them both in achieving their goals and being in the best position in battle.
The beast ranger's Animal Companion was very effective, scoring the first kill of the night (a huskarl in service to the PCs' declared enemy) and kept pace with the other PCs in total number of kills. Though it did die, so did all the other PCs and it wasn't the first to go down either.
Beast's Defense was useful against the dragon's breath weapon.
Colossus Slayer was as good as it's always been for the hunter ranger. Escape the Horde didn't come up at all because she was good at staying at a good distance from enemies and just raining down arrows on them. The only time she got close was when she went to bail out a companion from getting killed by the frost giant and by that time it was low on hit points. She finished it off with a couple of well-placed arrows.
Neither ranger did much in the way of Spellcasting with hunter's mark being the only spell that was used. Notably, the use of healing magic was possible, but discouraged in this scenario due to the achievement system.
So, from my perspective, the UA rangers performed well as compared to the berserker barbarian and assassin rogue in the party. In terms of achievements, the beast ranger earned the most and the hunter ranger earned the least, but all of the PCs earned their way into Valhalla by session's end.
Favored Enemy: Monstrosity was useful against the winter wolves that attacked Vikingheim. The hunter ranger was able to successfully protect her wards from being eaten which was critical to her gaining entrance to Valhalla. Thane Magnus, the goliath barbarian, by contrast was unable to protect his wards from the winter wolves, due in part to mobility issues and damage output.
Natural Explorer was good for both the hunter ranger and beast ranger. They typically, but not always, went first in combat. They were also able to plow through snow drifts that were difficult terrain for other PCs and monsters. There was no navigating the wilderness in this scenario so I can't comment on its effectiveness.
The beast ranger used Primeval Awareness to detect the coming of Fimbulvetr, the wyrm of ice and shadow, before it arrived which allowed the party to prepare for battle better and avoid surprise.
Greater Favored Enemy: Giants was useful to the beast ranger in that (in addition to bonus damage) he learned something critical about the frost giant, Hrimthursar - he's easily goaded by insults. While the giant ultimately destroyed the Blue Flame of Asgard in the Temple (his goal), goading the giant did allow them to keep a fellow PC alive by distracting it.
Greater Favored Enemy: Dragons was useful to both the beast ranger and hunter ranger both for the damage and the advantage to saving throws against the necrotic breath weapon of Fimbulvetr, the adult white dragon (with shadow dragon template).
Fleet of Foot was basically the star of the show for both rangers in my view. Getting across the map quickly was very useful to them both in achieving their goals and being in the best position in battle.
The beast ranger's Animal Companion was very effective, scoring the first kill of the night (a huskarl in service to the PCs' declared enemy) and kept pace with the other PCs in total number of kills. Though it did die, so did all the other PCs and it wasn't the first to go down either.
Beast's Defense was useful against the dragon's breath weapon.
Colossus Slayer was as good as it's always been for the hunter ranger. Escape the Horde didn't come up at all because she was good at staying at a good distance from enemies and just raining down arrows on them. The only time she got close was when she went to bail out a companion from getting killed by the frost giant and by that time it was low on hit points. She finished it off with a couple of well-placed arrows.
Neither ranger did much in the way of Spellcasting with hunter's mark being the only spell that was used. Notably, the use of healing magic was possible, but discouraged in this scenario due to the achievement system.
So, from my perspective, the UA rangers performed well as compared to the berserker barbarian and assassin rogue in the party. In terms of achievements, the beast ranger earned the most and the hunter ranger earned the least, but all of the PCs earned their way into Valhalla by session's end.
