True, although they can go plate mail, be battlemaster and parry, eldritch knight shield, psi warrior protective shield or second wind and stay in the action. To be fair, Rangers can cure wounds but they lose their action which stings.
I'm not crazy about their AC and defensive capabilities. They get a D10 hit die, so that's good. Also medium armor and shield, not bad at all too. But if you want to use ranged you will need to drop the shield because it takes an action to equip. Best offense on Ranger is now dual wield and at...
There is crunch in ways that isn't obvious too. I'll give you a decent example based on a character I'm using.
Level 4 Barbarian Zealot with a greataxe using the cleave mastery and GWM feat. 18 STR. Raging.
When I attack, while raging I do 4 (str) + 2 (rage) + 2 (GWM) = 8 slashing
Once a round...
I am enjoying 5.24 and have play tested it extensively over the last year during the UA process. My only issue is remembering all the circumstances for damage that come up every session.
Level 4 Zealot Barbarian using a greataxe, GWM with Cleave mastery. 18 STR.
Here is my cheat sheet. All...
If you have Eldritch Knight with minor spellcasting, than Fighters having a Ranger subclass with similar capability of casting would be cool. I'd allow something like that at my table.
To each their own.
You could even give some flexibility in the subclass options (which you have here too). Maybe natural medicine, expanding on tracking abilities, have a pet companion. I just think having it part of the Fighter toolkit would solve so many problems for Rangers. Based on...
oh yeah for sure. just close your eyes and allow your blindsight or whatever other sense you have take over. I think that's 100% legit. wouldn't have any penalty to hit at all in that case. Overall I'm happy with getting a single round of something when I use my illusions in game, not too greedy :P