Alternate ranger abilities?

[VonRichthofen]

Badly worded, I know.
Is that balanced?

No, it is not. It is totally overpowered. You basically hand out 5d6 Sneak Attack & 5d6 Skirmish that won't stack. That alone is WAY too good.

Since you only have to meet requirements of a Sneak Attack/Skirmish to trigger it, this will work against all targets, even those immune to critical hits - you didn't say it's precision damage. Once again, that is WAY too good to be true.

And now... drumroll....allowing for NO range limit!!! That is totally rediculous, no offense meant. The limited range of 30ft. is what prevents sneakers/skirmishers from ruling supreme in combat against crittable targets.

You'd simply remove those limiting factors and grant any smart ranger a nigh-guaranteed 1d6-5d6 damage bonus on every attack, lest he'd demonstrate plain stupidity and wouldn't move/flank/surprise anyone.

A 25 ft. speed increase is powerful in its own right, here, it is just the icing on the cake.

Sorry, but your sense of balance seems to be seriously confused - this is blatantly overpowering the ranger.

 

[Klaus]

Sorry, and what's uhh...that?

http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/unearthedArcana.html

Granted, it is not the whole UA material (as noted), that's why I asked whether it was part of the SRD...

Well, I'll keep on searching for an UA variant that lets you substitute FE for turn undead & lay on hands - allthough Cha is a ranger dump stat, this sounds much more versatile than FE bonuses - might be interesting.

I meant that WotC won't post the entire contents of UA in the SRD, but that other sites (like the one you linked to) usually compile the rules variants.

Turn Undead is far, far, FAR, more restricted than Favored Enemy. With the usual FE rules, if you pick Undead as your primary FE and keep boosting it, you'll end up having +10 to damage and several skills against them. On top of that you will have +2 bonus against 4 other creature types.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Turn Undead is far, far, FAR, more restricted than Favored Enemy. With the usual FE rules, if you pick Undead as your primary FE and keep boosting it, you'll end up having +10 to damage and several skills against them. On top of that you will have +2 bonus against 4 other creature types.

If there were no Divine Feats (in use in a given campaign), I would agree. With Divine Feats though, TU rocks on toast.

Er, IME. --- however, a dependence on high Cha might not be exactly useful to the cause here.


For something really bland, but potentially very useful, how about a feat (from a list) at 5th, 10th, 15th and 20th..? Just a thought. Hm, at 1st. . . I dunno.

 

[VonRichthofen]

If there were no Divine Feats (in use in a given campaign), I would agree. With Divine Feats though, TU rocks on toast.

Exactly.

 

[Meloncov]

Turn Undead is far, far, FAR, more restricted than Favored Enemy. With the usual FE rules, if you pick Undead as your primary FE and keep boosting it, you'll end up having +10 to damage and several skills against them. On top of that you will have +2 bonus against 4 other creature types.

Except that the bonus damage doesn't apply to undead.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Yes, it does. It didn't in 3.0, but it does in 3.5.

 

[RigaMortus2]

Except that the bonus damage doesn't apply to undead.

Care to quote where in the rules it states this?

 

[javcs]

Care to quote where in the rules it states this?

The fact that undead is a viable type to select for FE, and it is not precision damage.

Garr, can't believe I didn't say it was precision damage.
I'm sorta throwing him a bone with this, 'cause the other classes have all gotten some more abilities too. It's for a deliberately high-power campaign.

Revised:
Favored Enemy Alternative Class Feature: Swift Hunter (Ex):
Whenever the ranger would gain FE, he instead gains a cumulative +5ft increase in his base speeds, or +1d4 precision damage whenever he meets sneak attack requirements or skirmish requirements (target denied Dex or flat-footed, or ranger moves 10ft+) and can clearly see and reach the target creature, but no range limit (because FE has no range limit, and it will be less total damage). 1st level +5ft or +1d4.
Applies only when in light/no armor, and carrying no more than a light load.

I'm going to post this on house rules in a short while.

 

[RigaMortus2]

The fact that undead is a viable type to select for FE, and it is not precision damage.

Which just proves my point that the bonus to damage from FE does apply to undead if you choose them as your favored enemy.

 

[javcs]

Which just proves my point that the bonus to damage from FE does apply to undead if you choose them as your favored enemy.

Whoops, sorry, I thought you were trying to get a quote for FE damaging undead.