nothing is FREE.
everything has a cost of not getting something else instead.(more skills, more feats, more expertise, more Bonus action options, more "insert something here")
This Is the crux of the issue
You were not going to get a free skill at level 13.
You are not going to get a extra feet at level 13.
You were not going to get bonus action options at level 13.
Those would have increased the power of the Ranger class and made it not backwards compatible.
the math of 2024 and 2014 is not the same.
Yes it is.
The averages are the same.
2014 has a higher base ceiling but a lower base floor.
2024 has a higher base floor but a lower base ceiling.
They both averaged to the same math. It is just easier to make a good character in 2024. 2014 you have to optimize to get a good character but that optimization is rewarded more due to higher numbers and additional loopholes.
with mandatory usage of HM you must calculate to spend those usages or you are wasting your class resources if not spent.
if you got extra 1st level spell slots for RANGER SPELLS ONLY, equal to extra HM usages, that would be OK.
there is 1st level spells without Conc that you could sprinkle in over the day
There are no first level Ranger spells that are combat equivalent that is built into its damage calculation.
There are no other first level damn it spells for Ranger in their calculation. It's just Hunter's Mark.
Zephyra Strike was cut. that's on purpose.
Level 13 is where you get your first fourth level spell. This gives you enough Second Third and Fourth level spells to cast one of them every encounter.
That is when your first level spells
age out of the damage calculation.
But now you get a new class feature that buffs your first level damage spell and now it becomes an
option again.
The feature is not
forcing you to use Hunter's Mark.
The feature is
allowing you to use Hunter's work.
Because at level 13 if not buffed Hunter's Mark is not worth casting.
At level 13 a full caster's first and second level spells are not good enough for damage.
At level 13 a half caster's first level spells are not good enough for damage.
The 13th and 17th level features allow your only good offensive first level spell to be useful at those levels..
Think of it like this imagine if the sorcerer got free castings of burning hands. Burning hands eventually is not good enough damage to be used against the monsters that a sorcerer faces at Tier 3. But if they got an ability that increased the damage of burning hands burning hands becomes an option again. Force they're not forced to use only burning hands. Burning hands just doesn't suck anymore.
That's what they did with Hunter's Mark. Hunter's Mark doesn't match up well enough to other Ranger buffs and summons at higher levels. But you still have first level slots. So they buffed the strength of those first level slots vis a buff to the spell.
