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<blockquote data-quote="Chaosmancer" data-source="post: 9393405" data-attributes="member: 6801228">It needs to be a spell because it already is a spell, because it is part of the Vengeance Paladin package, and because it can be quite nice to upcast it to increase the duration. And you can't upcast abilities. Also, it uses the concentration mechanics, which in early levels of play prevents stacking the frankly massive boost in damage with other concentration effects.IF you want to argue it can be a limited use, magical ability that is not a spell, but uses concentration and is just spell-like... then I'd wonder what the point of the change is. It would be a spell that is a spell in everything except for name. Also, while I could totally homebrew it be literally anything else, it is far easier to modify it as a spell and stay within the bounds of the current design, when I need to figure out how other effects and rules play into it. I would already need to either re-write the 13th level ability or add a small ribbon if I allowed casting the spell using a 3rd level slot to avoid concentration, because the ability to prevent concentration from breaking is tied into it being a spell that has concentration. How much more difficult would it be to adjust a potential future ranger subclass that has an ability such as &quot;whenever you cast Hunter's Mark using a spell slot of level 2 or higher, you can teleport 30 ft to a location you can see&quot; if I have made it not a spell? Future proofing your design is an important consideration. Is all of that a good enough reason for you to finally answer what explanation for the damage of hunter's mark you would find acceptable? Remember, I'm already increasing the utility by having it actually work as a Magical GPS, making it far more useful out of combat that essentially anything except locate person or locate object.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Chaosmancer, post: 9393405, member: 6801228"] It needs to be a spell because it already is a spell, because it is part of the Vengeance Paladin package, and because it can be quite nice to upcast it to increase the duration. And you can't upcast abilities. Also, it uses the concentration mechanics, which in early levels of play prevents stacking the frankly massive boost in damage with other concentration effects. IF you want to argue it can be a limited use, magical ability that is not a spell, but uses concentration and is just spell-like... then I'd wonder what the point of the change is. It would be a spell that is a spell in everything except for name. Also, while I could totally homebrew it be literally anything else, it is far easier to modify it as a spell and stay within the bounds of the current design, when I need to figure out how other effects and rules play into it. I would already need to either re-write the 13th level ability or add a small ribbon if I allowed casting the spell using a 3rd level slot to avoid concentration, because the ability to prevent concentration from breaking is tied into it being a spell that has concentration. How much more difficult would it be to adjust a potential future ranger subclass that has an ability such as "whenever you cast Hunter's Mark using a spell slot of level 2 or higher, you can teleport 30 ft to a location you can see" if I have made it not a spell? Future proofing your design is an important consideration. Is all of that a good enough reason for you to finally answer what explanation for the damage of hunter's mark you would find acceptable? Remember, I'm already increasing the utility by having it actually work as a Magical GPS, making it far more useful out of combat that essentially anything except locate person or locate object. [/QUOTE]

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