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I would say that's as least worst as it gets if you are determined to keep as close to the regular Favoured Enemy/Natural Explorer frameworks as you can. Obviously for me personally, I'd rather just scrap both altogether, but I do get why that'd be unpalatable for some.

Moving the goal posts a bit there, I would say. There's only so many justifications you can pull. Regardless, the proposed example is; their character motivation is killing them Fiends, and that propels their mechanical investments. The ability and incentive to shelf their character motivation...

You can, but then you're foregoing being more obviously mechanically useful in the name of staying true to your roleplaying, which isn't a decision class features should be provoking. You want them to work towards both aims hand-in-hand, ideally. Also something you could do, but it's just not...

I'm glad you've asked! I actually mentioned this in a thread ages ago. The issue with that sort of proposed solution is; it becomes a non-choice, because you just pick whatever you know/you think you're most likely going to see today. You might as well just have the bonus regardless. And then...

Exactly, as before and as again afterwards, Favoured Enemy provided a sticking point. The fact that it's more explicitly a combat feature brings that problem of "Are there (creature type)s in this leg of the campaign? No? Well just let me know when there are, because I dedicated a class feature...

Seriously! There's a lot I really like about Revised Ranger, and wish got folded back into later attempts! Particularly the combat centric additions to Natural Explorer, and the animal kinship from Primeval Awareness! It's not an awful crack at it, especially for the time it was offered!

I can't speak to 3.5E, but that's what particularly gets me as far as 5E goes. I'd say there were a few times where we were really close to an official version of Ranger that was just good, mechanically and thematically, that you wouldn't have to qualify with a bunch of caveats, if they'd only...

That's actually something I considered as an upcasting bonus for part of a homebrewed variant of Hunter's Mark, you can choose an additional creature to gain it's benefits per level. Obviously still pretty niche and expensive for a Ranger to consider, but. Y'know. Compared to the duration thing.

It probably wouldn't be a perfect fit for everyone, but I've liked associating Ranger with Force damage. So they've got the option to forego a specialization, in the name of hitting everything equally. I first thought of it because of Zephyr Strike and Steel Wind Strike's damage being Force...

I somewhat disagree, not because there's anything wrong with better, more bespoke benefits in and of themselves (besides taking up a bit more real estate on the page I guess), I just think Favoured Enemy's premise was/is always gonna be a hard sell. Any remedy for Favoured Enemy has to deal with...

I think Revised Ranger's spin on Favoured Enemy was close to something workable, it just didn't move far enough away from the original feature, so you've still got that "welp, my choice isn't in this campaign, guess that's that" problem.

That's very similar to what I've got in my homebrew. Ranger gets an ability they activate with a bonus action, that adds a damage die to their attacks, plus better senses, tracking and movement. And then Hunter's Mark itself is a backup/double-down, adds a slimmer but guaranteed damage bonus...

Darn, missed the bulk of the discussion. Not that I had much to contribute that others didn't cover. @Horwath @fluffybunbunkittens @CreamCloud0 Particularly echo the sentiments of you folks! So, yeah. Putting the power aspect aside, I also think it's lame to be pigeonholed into Hunter's Mark...

Do definitely like some of these, although I'm hoping to have stuff besides things that just grant you spells. Particularly spells already on the Druid list, I might not have bothered with the Wind Fan if it weren't for the Wind Waker association.

So me and my DM have been working on a Druid subclass that's partially focused around controlling/empowering plantlife. One of their starting abilities is, the ability to replicate and temporarily maintain magic items using Druidcraft. Similar to Artificer's Infuse Item, but smaller scale...

This was something I was dabbling with for Hunter's Mark. I wanted to put together some alternative castings/upcasts to bring it more into parity with the Smite spells, around the theme of particular monster abilities. So if you be a good Ranger and assess the incoming threat, you've got...

See ideally spells like Flame Arrows or Lightning Arrow would fill that sort of utility, but. I find you unlock them far too late, and they're pretty expensive spell slots for what you get. Lightning Arrow is at least kinda cool and effective, Flame Arrows kinda shakes out to just elemental...

Ranger's lack of a definitive enemy in terms of bestiary category (outside of Monstrosities debatably), like what's generally considered true for Paladins and Undead etc., is part of why I like Force damage as Ranger's "element". They become a universal threat, they can fight anything! There is...

I agree, but the wilds already are pretty naturally chaotic and magical. Though admittedly just as much is down to meddling. Hubris of Wizards, cruelty of extraplanar entities etc. That's sorta part of how I tend to think of Rangers, they're like the counterbalance against the things plaguing...

Not for me personally, no. My thinking on the issue is partly on flavour grounds, and I've already arrived at a solution I like. And I don't plan on changing my view.