D&D (2024) Ranger 2024 is a bigger joke than Ranger 2014:

[fluffybunbunkittens]

But otherwise, FF < HM.

Only if your primary idea is to always HM. My experience (though ending in the teen levels) mirrors Ecmo's - I sometimes dropped my concentration (Entangle had done most of its job) to take Favored Foe advantage of a crit I landed on a major enemy. HM would not let me do that - it would've required me to drop Entangle ahead of time, and lose attacks by spending the bonus action.

 

[Minigiant]

Only if your primary idea is to always HM. My experience (though ending in the teen levels) mirrors Ecmo's - I sometimes dropped my concentration (Entangle had done its job) to take Favored Foe advantage of a crit I landed on a major enemy. HM would not let me do that - it would've required me to drop Entangle ahead of time, and lose attacks by spending the bonus action.

Favored Foe doesn't transfer targets and have less uses per day.

Again it is only good if you don't have many encounters and many enemies.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Favored Foe doesn't transfer targets and have less uses per day.

Which is meaningless if HM is worse for how we actually played. What part of this made you think that we ran around spamming Favored Foe on every tiny minion until we ran out of charges for it?

 

[ECMO3]

Favored Foe doesn't transfer targets and have less uses per day.

Who cares! It has more uses than you need even using it for a single attack per use. This is what you don't seem to understand.

This is not conjecture, Ranger is my favorite class and I have played lots of games well into high level to include several to level 20.

Again it is only good if you don't have many encounters and many enemies.

This is not true.

Above I gave you an example of a 7-encounter day and what spells would typiclally be used on a 13th level character and after 7 encounters that character still had 5 slots, 4 free castings and all their uses of Favored Foe left.

You can only concentrate on one spell at a time! It does not matter how many free uses of HM or Favored Foe you have if you are concentrating on something else.

 

[Minigiant]

Which is meaningless if HM is worse for how we actually played. What part of this made you think that we ran around spamming Favored Foe on every tiny minion until we ran out of charges for it?

Which is what I said.

If your DM only runs a few encounters or puts the bulk of the encounter power focus on one creature, Favored Foes is great. You are playing to it's strengths.

But if you run a dungeon of monsters, a cave of gobliniods, a fort of hobgoblins, or a hideout of demons and cultists in multiple rooms, Favored foe would run out due to the higher number of high quality targets.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

You can only concentrate on one spell at a time! It does not matter how many free uses of HM or Favored Foe you have if you are concentrating on something else.

Yep. I also often found myself with spell slots left over (hey there, backpack full of Goodberries, no matter the level), because it was not worth it to switch concentration once I'd committed to a spell already.

 

[ECMO3]

Meant Summon Fey.
Sure
But you have the free castings as an option.
The point is that you have the option.

An option you can't use is a uselss option.

At high level, I would need about a 15 fight day to get to the point you would be down to using my free casting of Hunter's Mark ..... and that assumes I am not sporting a Wand of Binding or Pipes of Haunting or Staff of Thunder and Lightning or something else that I would start burning charges on first.

Favored Foe caps at 6 uses per LR and can' be swapped on target death.

And you will not use those 6 uses.

So unless you fight less than Prof Mod targets a day, Favored Foes is inferior.

No absolutely not true and I know this from experience. 2xPB fights a day I would still ROUTINELY have Favore for left at High level. I actually gave an example above.

Now there are tables where you have <3 encounters a day and most fights are 1 Big Guy and a bunch of useless minions. Then I could see you never running out.

I don't usually play on those tables though.

But otherwise, FF < HM.

The way I play a Ranger that is false at any level above 5th.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

But if you run a dungeon of monsters, a cave of gobliniods, a fort of hobgoblins, or a hideout of demons and cultists in multiple rooms, Favored foe would run out due to the higher number of high quality targets.

It would still be of more use than a Hunter's Mark we were not going to cast anyway. Free castings of Find Traps wouldn't exactly rock the world either, even though it's free.

 

[ECMO3]

Which is what I said.

If your DM only runs a few encounters or puts the bulk of the encounter power focus on one creature, Favored Foes is great. You are playing to it's strengths.

NOT TRUE. If your DM runs lots of encounters with lots of enemies you will rarely use all your uses.

Also IME there is little difference in 1 enemy or multiple enemies because I am only typically using FF for ONE ATTACK.

But if you run a dungeon of monsters, a cave of gobliniods, a fort of hobgoblins, or a hideout of demons and cultists in multiple rooms, Favored foe would run out due to the higher number of high quality targets.

Not true. I played numerous adventures which had these kinds of things and did not run out of Favored Foe. I played both Tyranny of Dragons and POTA and both of these had several of these type Dungeons/flying castles/frog people hideouts etc.

 

[Minigiant]

Who cares! It has more uses than you need even using it for a single attack per use. This is what you don't seem to understand.

This is not conjecture, Ranger is my favorite class and I have played lots of games well into high level to include several to level 20.

Maybe it's a DM thing.
My DM and when I DM, you'd 100% be dipping into your Favored Foe.

To the point where my player asked me to let them recharge on short rest.

An option you can't use is a uselss option.

At high level, I would need about a 15 fight day to get to the point you would be down to using my free casting of Hunter's Mark ..... and that assumes I am not sporting a Wand of Binding or Pipes of Haunting or Staff of Thunder and Lightning or something else that I would start burning charges on first.

What's wrong with 15 fights a day?

Magic items mean I get to sic more foes and bigger foes on you.