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D&D 5E A new Hunter class

NotAYakk

Legend
So first, a perspective.

5e still has 4 roles like 4e, but I'd call them: Brawler, Skirmisher, Sage and Priest.

A Brawler is good at being attacked, a Skirmisher is good at avoiding being attacked. Sage/Priest is basically Wizard/Cleric difference (aka, can you heal). Many classes are a blend.

I'm guessing this is a Skirmisher.

...

Hunter's Focus lacks clear action economy instructions. Refresh usage doesn't match usual 5e wording. As written, you don't get them back on a long rest, among other issues. Also, 17th level feature is unclear (how exactly does the sharing work? Do they have to see you when you apply it, or when they do damage?)

Table dependent features should say what level they apply at, so you don't have to cross-check with the table. Only when they must should they directly mention the table, and they should be explicit about it.

Dip the 1 level dip is a bit strong I think.

You add your Proficiency Bonus to Dexterity (Stealth) ability checks
anyone proficient in Stealth gets this benefit. I suspect you want expertise; this is the wrong wording. Find expertise wording and mimic it.

Natural Resources for verimissiltude, you might want to let the DM pick what kind of resources you find and have those have mechanical impact, while forcing them to be findable. The 16th level spoilage rules, did I miss earlier rules about spoiling?

Ambush this is worded as if "combat mode" is a thing; how does the stealth bonus work if no fighting is involved?

Poison an action in combat is extremely expensive. Using the "damage delayed sucks" discount of 30%, doing +1d4 damage per hit indefinitely (and 1 minute is close enough) is "worth" about 3x as much immediately. So on a Ranger with N attacks (N=1 or 2), that poison action is "worth" the same as a 7.5 or 15 damage attack. And most Hunters will out damage that. What more, on 3 pieces of ammunition that drops the value down a whole bunch; with 2 attacks per round, that is 2.5*2*.7 + 2.5*.5 = 4.75 attack-equivalent damage as an action.

Applied before combat it isn't horrible.

Traps insight? Strange. "stop moving" should be "and have its speed reduced to 0 until it escapes". The DC of the strength check is missing? Oh, it is 10+prof. That 10+prof doesn't look right; it should be 8+wisdom+prof I suspect to scale right.

Party Hunting needs better wording. It is unclear how long it lasts and what conditions end it.

Spear Mastery appears to be a trap; for 1 handed, it is worse than dueling, and for 2 handed, it would be worse than GWF.

Wilderness Knacks you forgot to say you only get 1. Ammunition one is something I'd expect to be able to do without being a Hunter. Beast Empathy, you should use the Charmed condition.

Wealth of Nature implies to me that these are supposed to be ribbons. I mean, I guess you can say "we have a month of downtime? I spend it making knick knacks and selling them to dumb tourists"?

Hide in Plain Sight is like a bajillion times worse than the 2nd level Ranger spell that grants +10 stealth to themselves and nearby allies.

Relentless is supposed to be a 13th level ability, on par with being able to cast a 7th level spell once/day.

Feral Senses still sucks. Hiding is trivial for an invisible creature.

Echos of the Land is the only ability that is "big". For the quarry it requires seeing it first, which makes it marginal (I mean, if a PC has seen a target, the DM should assume the PC has killed it); but taken literally the place you are seeking ability is a super power. Which makes me suspect most DMs won't take it literally.

Second Fighting Style sucked as a Champion subclass feature, why would you put it here?

Hunter's Focus probably doesn't scale well enough.

I was looking at is as a Skirmisher, and honestly it isn't one. In melee this character is going to get bogged down with no way out. And it is lightly armored with no self-heal abilities, so it isn't a great brawler.

In combat, it will play like a fighter with +1d6 damage per tap on one target, no action surge, and falling behind on taps in T3.

You stuck level 11 as a subclass feature. Other classes gain a large power up at level 11 built in. When you make 11 a subclass, every subclass has to have a beefy ability there. You don't. The best you have is a copy of one of the weak baseline PHB ranger subclasses.

(One big problem with the baseline Ranger is that subclass level 11 features are rarely beefy enough).

Gloomstalker's ability to reroll one miss is closer to the floor of how good a level 11 feature should be. Not as good as extra attack(3) (which is a strong level 11 ability), but still decent. It is a bread and butter end-tier power boost.

Such abilities should happen at 5, 11 and 17, the end of a tier and the start of the next. Extra Attack(1) qualifies. Fighter Extra Attack(2) and Action Surge(2) are also examples.

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I did not look over the subclasses in detail, just the base class.

But based off the above, the subclasses would have to carry a large load.

One way I like to think about a class is to think about each tier and multiclassing. While balancing each level is hard, balancing a tier shouldn't be.

Within a tier, you should get easily as much benefit as grafting on the first tier of another class (and if it gets extra attack, pretend that stacks).

The T1 fighter gets its first fighting style (worth way more than a 2nd), an additional attack/round, a 3rd level subclass feature, action surge, second wind of 1d10+5, and an ASI.

Look at your T1 1-5, T2 6-11, T3 12-17, and T4 18-20. Compare what you get to that package. You should be in the same ballpark at least. (and yes, I know T4 is shorter than 5 levels, but we are talking ballparks, and you can afford to be generous with a capstone).

While MCing is optional rules, you can still use it to get yourself into the right ballpark.
 
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