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<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 8126948" data-attributes="member: 20323"><p>It looks like in your effort to make "not a ranger", you've increased the complexity and word count of the class. That's pretty common for first drafts of fan-made classes, but just something to keep in mind as you iterate your design – you want to move towards more simplicity, not more wordiness.</p><p></p><p>I see you've done some things that are very common in homebrew not-rangers: incorporating <em>hunter's quarry </em>as a feature rather than a spell, removing problematic language from Natural Explore (Wilderness Traveler), and adding some kind of wildcraft/wilderness knacks.</p><p></p><p>One of the big issues – particularly where trap creation & Natural Resources & "useful information" a la Echoes of the Land are concerned – is that you're relying a lot on DM fiat. What is a "Natural Resource" and what can you do with it? I dunno, up to the DM! There's nothing wrong with that in general. And nothing wrong with designing a homebrew class for your own use which incorporates DM fiat. However, this diverges from the official class design, so if your intent is to share this with the community, self-publish, or otherwise match the sort of language found in the PHB, then you'll need to tighten that stuff up.</p><p></p><p>Also, you have several fixed DCs listed, for example Echoes of the Land is a fixed DC 15 check as are the Hunting Tactics. For Hunting Tactics, there should be a scaling DC so it remains relevant at higher levels. Echoes of the Land probably merits a pretty serious redesign without any check required – it's more or less a 1/day <em>augury </em>(with narrative limits / specific flavor / possibly a bit more info) accessible at 5th level, so not overpowered. Again, language needs tightening on that feature.</p><p></p><p>Wilderness Knacks are all over the place. For example, you have Arctic Survivor (cold resistance) & Mountain Guide (gain climbing speed) competing for one of your 3 knacks along with Desert Dweller (you need half as much water as a regular person...when the cleric/druid could cast <em>create water</em> since 1st level) & Wealth of Nature (gain 1d10+ level gp...sooo tempting when we're raking in 100's to 1000's of gp). Sorry, no one is taking Desert Dweller or Wealth of Nature with those other far more tempting options.</p><p></p><p>Call of the Horn raises the question of: Why can't everyone blow a horn to be heard within 5 miles and let others know their position? Also, granting Inspiration via a class feature is bad design. Inspiration is intended as a reward <em>outside </em>of the normal rules system. Turning it into something like <em>bless</em> or Bardic Inspiration cheapens its value. Again, for your campaign YMMV, but that's how it looks with the rules as written / the spirit of the rules.</p><p></p><p>Also, you have a couple abilities that grant advantage. Generally, you want to minimize the presence of "you gain advantage" language in class features because that then limits the potential for gaining advantage through circumstance & clever use of terrain/situation/positioning. Which is one of the whole points of the advantage system – to inspire creative player strategies. I think you're OK keeping it with the not-<em>hunter's quarry, </em>but I would hard edit Wilderness Traveler to remove all references to advantage – no advantage on initiative rolls (that's what a <em>weapon of warning</em> or the Alert feat is for), no advantage on first turn in combat against creatures that haven't acted (potential subclass feature?), no advantage on Stealth checks (that's what a <em>cloak of elvenkind, </em>or clever use of cover, or distracting the guards is for).</p><p></p><p>Same with Hunting Tactics: Ambush. Personally, I'd consider having it extend some of your "self-only" Wilderness Traveler features to your companions.</p><p></p><p>EDIT: Oh, I may have overlooked, but you should totally have a Wilderness Knack which grants more air / time when holding your breath or when out of breath. Free-diving training, underwater cave spelunking, etc.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 8126948, member: 20323"] It looks like in your effort to make "not a ranger", you've increased the complexity and word count of the class. That's pretty common for first drafts of fan-made classes, but just something to keep in mind as you iterate your design – you want to move towards more simplicity, not more wordiness. I see you've done some things that are very common in homebrew not-rangers: incorporating [I]hunter's quarry [/I]as a feature rather than a spell, removing problematic language from Natural Explore (Wilderness Traveler), and adding some kind of wildcraft/wilderness knacks. One of the big issues – particularly where trap creation & Natural Resources & "useful information" a la Echoes of the Land are concerned – is that you're relying a lot on DM fiat. What is a "Natural Resource" and what can you do with it? I dunno, up to the DM! There's nothing wrong with that in general. And nothing wrong with designing a homebrew class for your own use which incorporates DM fiat. However, this diverges from the official class design, so if your intent is to share this with the community, self-publish, or otherwise match the sort of language found in the PHB, then you'll need to tighten that stuff up. Also, you have several fixed DCs listed, for example Echoes of the Land is a fixed DC 15 check as are the Hunting Tactics. For Hunting Tactics, there should be a scaling DC so it remains relevant at higher levels. Echoes of the Land probably merits a pretty serious redesign without any check required – it's more or less a 1/day [I]augury [/I](with narrative limits / specific flavor / possibly a bit more info) accessible at 5th level, so not overpowered. Again, language needs tightening on that feature. Wilderness Knacks are all over the place. For example, you have Arctic Survivor (cold resistance) & Mountain Guide (gain climbing speed) competing for one of your 3 knacks along with Desert Dweller (you need half as much water as a regular person...when the cleric/druid could cast [I]create water[/I] since 1st level) & Wealth of Nature (gain 1d10+ level gp...sooo tempting when we're raking in 100's to 1000's of gp). Sorry, no one is taking Desert Dweller or Wealth of Nature with those other far more tempting options. Call of the Horn raises the question of: Why can't everyone blow a horn to be heard within 5 miles and let others know their position? Also, granting Inspiration via a class feature is bad design. Inspiration is intended as a reward [I]outside [/I]of the normal rules system. Turning it into something like [I]bless[/I] or Bardic Inspiration cheapens its value. Again, for your campaign YMMV, but that's how it looks with the rules as written / the spirit of the rules. Also, you have a couple abilities that grant advantage. Generally, you want to minimize the presence of "you gain advantage" language in class features because that then limits the potential for gaining advantage through circumstance & clever use of terrain/situation/positioning. Which is one of the whole points of the advantage system – to inspire creative player strategies. I think you're OK keeping it with the not-[I]hunter's quarry, [/I]but I would hard edit Wilderness Traveler to remove all references to advantage – no advantage on initiative rolls (that's what a [I]weapon of warning[/I] or the Alert feat is for), no advantage on first turn in combat against creatures that haven't acted (potential subclass feature?), no advantage on Stealth checks (that's what a [I]cloak of elvenkind, [/I]or clever use of cover, or distracting the guards is for). Same with Hunting Tactics: Ambush. Personally, I'd consider having it extend some of your "self-only" Wilderness Traveler features to your companions. EDIT: Oh, I may have overlooked, but you should totally have a Wilderness Knack which grants more air / time when holding your breath or when out of breath. Free-diving training, underwater cave spelunking, etc. [/QUOTE]
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