Adjustments to Ranger Abilities

[Hawk Diesel]

So I've been looking over the ranger. I've already adjusted the beastmaster to fit what I think that archetype should be able to do. But there are a couple of other things that bother me about the ranger. This is based both on feedback I've received from my players, and the options offered in the UA about the ranger.

First thing is favored enemy. I see the ranger as a wild hunter and tracker. A skirmishing, guerrilla fighter that uses the terrain, nature, and mobility to get things done. No where in that concept does the idea of a favored enemy fit, at least from my perspective. Players I've DM'ed seem to agree. In the UA, it seemed to present the Ambuscade ability to replace Favored Enemy (at least from my interpretation of the work). However, Ambuscade is a broken and easily abusable ability. But I liked the feel of the sense that a ranger is, in a sense, always prepared for danger. So I developed an ability that players at my table can use to replace Favored Enemy.

Guerrilla Defense
In battle, you are able to quickly assess the situation and implement effective strategy. Whenever initiative is rolled, you gain a special turn that takes place before other creatures can act. As long as you are not surprised, you may move up to half their speed. In addition, you may choose to take an action. You must use this action to either attempt to hide (if the appropriate conditions are met) or use the dodge action.

If you are surprised, you still gain a special turn before other creatures can act. However, you may not move and can only use your action to dodge.

At level 6 when not surprised you may move your normal speed and gain advantage to your Dexterity (Stealth) check to attempt to hide.

At level 14 when using the dodge action with this ability, you also gain a +2 to AC and Dexterity saving throws until you take your first normal turn in combat. Dodge works as normal in subsequent turns during combat.

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Now, changing the Ranger in this way makes their other abilities need to be independent of Favored Enemy. Thankfully, most ranger abilities are independent of having favored enemy and do not build off of this power. With the exception of the capstone Ranger ability, Foe Slayer. However, for a capstone ability, Foe Slayer seems rather weak and limited to me to begin with. But now with the challenge of finding a way to adjust it so that it could function without the Favored Enemy, I saw a way to change it so that it was worthy of being a level 20 ability.

Foe Slayer
At 20th level, you become an unparalleled hunter of your enemies. Once on each of your turns, you can add your Wisdom modifier to the attack roll or the damage roll of an attack you make. You can choose to use this feature before or after the roll, but before any effects of the roll are applied.

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I'm curious to know people's thoughts regarding this. It seems fair to me in terms of the ranger and has internal consistency. However, I have not really compared it to other classes in terms of DPR and such.

 

[jodyjohnson]

Favored Enemy is clearly laid out as a Role Play ability (or Ribbon) in the April 2015 Unearthed Arcana by Rodney Thompson
http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/modifying-classes

Favored Enemy was intentionally designed to provide no combat bonus, because the ranger’s strength in combat should not rely solely on the discretion of the Dungeon Master or the circumstances of the adventure. Although the Hunter archetype’s 3rd-level ability does rely somewhat on the nature of the foes being fought, Favored Enemy is generally useful in the interaction and exploration pillars of the game.

Now a free Hide or Dodge might be a weak or strong ability but it is still a combat bonus.

However, let's look at the scenarios:

Surprised - which by nature is usually because you are not aware of the attackers.

Dodge: When you take the Dodge action, you focus entirely on avoiding attacks. Until the start of your next turn, any attack roll made against you has disadvantage if you can see the attacker, and you make Dexterity saving throws with advantage. You lose this benefit if you are incapacitated (as explained in appendix A) or if your speed drops to 0.

And you can't hide if your foes can see you clearly. If they don't it is because you were already Hidden.

Not surprised - Free Dodge, possibly able to Hide but if neither side is surprised then that means no one was Hidden. There is no such thing as a Surprise Round so the main effect here would be One attack with advantage.

Overall effects: most of the time the Ranger starts combat Dodging visible foes or takes a chance at 1 attack with advantage against a foe. In a typical Surprise round there's no effect per the House rule as written (except for "Girlfriend stabs you on the couch" surprise).

I'd guess the easy choice is Dodge which is a strong action. Except "Until the start of your next turn" means that it immediately expires as written since you take it during a special Turn before anyone gets to do anything.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

I don't mind ribbon abilities and actually enjoy them. But as the ranger is typically seen as a martial class, that fact that they get no clear martial abilities at first level weakens them in comparison to other martial options. Additionally, if the favored enemy is treated as a ribbon ability, I really see no reason to link it directly to the ranger's level 20 capstone ability.

But I really appreciate your clarification on dodge. I will work to rewrite that to make it more clear in the case of unseen attackers/attacks (in which case the Dodge may not make sense to attempt).

My thought process in developing this ability is by considering the ranger as a scout/skirmisher. They are nature themed because they need to know the terrain to gather intel and implement their guerrilla tactics. But they are also always on guard. They have a keen sense of tactics and strategy that allow them to anticipate when opponents may attempt a surprise strike. They use this knowledge and training in conjuction with their senses to be aware of and avoid threats.

But not like a barbarian. I wanted to distinguish this ability from the Barbarian's danger sense. Barbarians use their reflexes and toughness to avoid dangers at all times, their bodies and senses a well-honed machine.

In my opinion a ranger’s abilities are more about assessing a situation and reacting appropriately. It is a slight distinction, but one that relies more on wisdom, intellect, and anticipation rather then a preternatural reflex.

To this end, I believe rangers should have an ability to help them get into position and engage strategically if they can see the threat coming. But even if they are surprised, their training can allow them some measure of protection in the initial onslaught of a surprise attack. So the ability would function against opponents (intelligent and autonomous by nature) rather than traps or hazzards.

 

[jodyjohnson]

What your describing seems to be reflected by training in Perception and Stealth. In favored terrain, they get double prof for perception (Wisdom check) useful for spotting hidden foes and traps.

Ranger's rock the Exploration pillar out of the gate (plus the extra skill) and not getting combat abilities until 2nd just seems so minor when getting to 2nd is so quick.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

I disagree, I feel like the ranger should get something more related to combat at first level. I might be able to accept switch their fighting style to first level and favored enemy to second (which makes more sense since by 2nd level a ranger would have a better idea of the kind of creatures they might encounter for favored enemy). But regardless, without any combat related advantages like other classes, even considering how quickly you can go from level one to two there is not much reason to start with a ranger when other options are more appealing from the get go.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

I mean, let's compare. First two levels, ranger's get favored enemy, favored terrain, and then a fight style and spallcasting. Paladins get divine sense, lay on hands, then fighting style, spell casting, and divine smite. Fighters get fighting style, second wind, then action surge. Monks get unarmored defense, martial arts, extra movemement, and ki abilities. From looking at this, the ranger definitely gets shafted in terms of any mechanical benefits to combat or abilities that are generalizable. Ranger require very specific conditions (dealing with specific creatures or in a specific type of environment) in order the function effectively. No other class has such requirements to get the most out of their abilities in the first few levels.

 

[jodyjohnson]

I see the ranger as a wild hunter and tracker. A skirmishing, guerrilla fighter that uses the terrain, nature, and mobility to get things done.

I think right here you have somewhat painted the Ranger into a corner.

The whole 'gets to go first' thing, even when surprised just seems like getting Advantage on Initiative would be simpler.

Getting an 'extra special turn' seems so complicated.

Using Perception and Stealth are the normal means a character gets that combat advantage and avoids getting surprised. Of the fighters, the Ranger does that best.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

I don't think I painted the ranger in a corner, from my perspective this is what the ranger embodies, just as wizards embody studious magic users and fighter embody martial aptitude and barbarian's embody savage toughs. As for the way the ability is written, I admit that the ability could be simplified, and I like some of the suggestions presented. But once again, I based the development of this ability off of the Ambuscade ability presented in the Unearthed Arcana for the ranger (hence the ideas of special rounds and such). In addition, since favored enemy scales with level (adding additional enemies) I was looking to create an ability that can also scale.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

Ok, I've thought about some of the feedback provided in this thread and updated the ability a bit.

Guerrilla Defense

In battle, you are able to quickly assess the situation and implement effective strategy. Once per day, you may roll your initiative with advantage. You must wait until you finish a long rest to use this ability again.

At level 6 when you are caught by surprise, the first attack made against you is made with disadvantage. This ability only affects attacks that specifically target you.

At level 14 you always roll initiative with advantage. You no longer need to finish a long rest between uses in this ability. In addition, during the surprise round, all attacks that specifically target you are made with disadvantage, not just the first attack.

 

[jodyjohnson]

I think you could switch Guerrilla Defense to refresh on a short or long rest.