D&D (2024) Hunter's Mark, Hex, and the illusive balance

Here's my simple warlock solution.

Invocation with appropriate level requirement (maybe 5 or 7?). You can now cast hex without expending a spell slot as a first level spell. Now anytime you want to use hex you can and it doesn't cost your higher level slots to use it. You want to open with fear spell and then switch to hex once it's ran it's course you can! Go for it. There's an issue though in having EB and riders, hex and fear spell up all at once. It's simply too much.

For Ranger's I think people just play them wrong.
For level 11+ they are really intended to use a good concentration spell, probably an aoe damage one, while either dual wielding or using GWM and a bow. The Hunter's Mark stuff is intended to supplement them when their concentration on their better spells goes down. It was never intended to be their primary combat option. It's more like the backup option.

FrogReaver said:

Invocation with appropriate level requirement (maybe 5 or 7?). You can now cast hex without expending a spell slot as a first level spell. Now anytime you want to use hex you can and it doesn't cost your higher level slots to use it. You want to open with fear spell and then switch to hex once it's ran it's course you can! Go for it. There's an issue though in having EB and riders, hex and fear spell up all at once. It's simply too much.

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As I said earlier, I am generally opposed to most of the "fixes" and would instead prefer they deemphasize the spell in the class mechanics. Just make it another 1st level spell - use it if you want to.

That said, this is a really elegant solution, even at unlimited uses a day like Armor of Shadows it is not OP if you wait to level 5. For most Warlocks it will be like you said - when you are not concentrating on something better, you don't have to waste your 4th level pact slot on Hex, you need to use an Invocation so it is not free and not a "mandatory" class feature. If you really want to lean on Hex heavily you can combine this invocation with Great Old one and have a really powerful Eldritch Hex, but you still can't combine it with another concentration spell.

Anything that takes away concentration would make a Great Old One Warlock way OP. With Fey Touched, he could rope a dope Hex on a free cast and follow it up with Fear in the same action and give the guy disadvantage, and he keeps getting disadvantage on the save even when out of sight. The hex would stay up an hour no matter what, so as long as the guy dies you can use it in the next battle too, and with Magical Cunning in a 3rd battle. After the first three battles you would need to use a pact slot for it, so you could not cast your save or suck the same round, but after casting once it would be up the entire rest of the day without concentration.

I am playing a Fey Wanderer Ranger right now and you mostly describe how I am using FE. She is a Gish and plays on the caster-heavy side of Ranger and is mostly a controller through charmed and frightened spells, other abilities and summoned Fey. She is usually concentrating on something else, especially early in the battle, often Fear from a wand of Fear. But after whatever concentration spell I cast has run its course she uses FE to generate a little extra damage and she has enough uses it is essentially at will.

evilbob said:

Divine Smite is 2d8 radiant for a 1st level spell slot that cannot be wasted. That's much better than 1d6 necrotic. The rider is almost negligible on Hex, since it doesn't affect saves.

And yes: the primary benefit of the spell is constantly being able to switch targets for a bonus action. Targets often die quickly in 5.5 - it's hard to get more than 2 uses of a single-target spell on most enemies. Solos are an exception.

Replying to your earlier comment: sorry, what I meant was: removing concentration from the spell is so much of a buff that anything else you do to reign it in isn't going to be enough to offset that. Unless you make it useless, like removing the ability to switch targets. My opinion is that this will be too fine of a needle to thread (overpowered vs. useless) so I'd leave concentration alone.

If your concern is the duration, the simplest solution would be to not allow it to be upcast. You could probably even limit it to 10 minutes.

Sidebar: Ranger's Quarry is way better than Hunter's Mark, and HM is already a little overpowered IMO. That's no action or spell slot: you just have extra damage all the time, forever. That's like the Paladin level 11 feature that just adds 1d8 radiant to all weapon attacks.

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Ranger's Quarry seems to be once per turn.

ECMO3 said:

As I said earlier, I am generally opposed to most of the "fixes" and would instead prefer they deemphasize the spell in the class mechanics. Just make it another 1st level spell - use it if you want to.

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this.

or just give ranger that amount of extra 1st level spell slots that can be spent on ONLY RANGER spells. with extra 1st level spell preparation.

there is a few 1st level ranger spells that I would not mind to use few times extra per day.