D&D 5E Am I missing something with Favored Foe?

[Great Gonzalez]

It is not the way the ability works. "increase that damage" refers to the normal damage of the attack as "that damage", not the last damage you dealt. If it meant that, there would need to be wording to handle situations in which your weapon changes between attacks, etc..

Then why in the second part of the description would they say:
“You can use this feature to mark a favored enemy a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus...”
Instead of just saying:
“You can use the feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus.”
I’m also just trying to make sense of what Walters is “theoretically” saying.

 

[JackalTornMoons]

Then why in the second part of the description would they say:
“You can use this feature to mark a favored enemy a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus...”
Instead of just saying:
“You can use the feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus.”
I’m also just trying to make sense of what Walters is “theoretically” saying.

It talks about marking enemies so that it interacts with the ranger capstone.

Do note that Favored Foe also works with spells.

It's strictly better than Favored Enemy.

 

[TheSword]

I suspect Favoured foe is being balanced against a Rogue rather than against other ranger abilities. It’s a minor edition to a ranger but in its early incarnation was on par with a rogues ability to sneak attack, without the limitations.

On the old system a ranger could get a several attacks per round with the additional d6, with the other bonuses that come with hunters mark.

While a rogue gets their sneak attack damage once per round, with several limitations.

 

[jgsugden]

There are abilities we think are too powerful when they are released, and ones we underestimate. This one is underestimated. Use cases for a lower level ranger are fairly obvious as you'll want to make use of it when low or out of spells.

How about a higher level Ranger?

I have a Tiefling 5th level Gloom Stalker / 5th level Divine Soul / 1st level Cleric of Order / 2nd Level Fighter archer, who is often casting Haste as a bonus action on Rd 1. She has used this a lot since her Tasha rebuild and rarely (long) rests with any of it left available. It usually only triggers damage once per use, but that adds up. When she adds Battlemaster and then adds Assassin, it will get even more useful.

 

[TheSword]

Six classes... I’m not sure an ability can or should be balanced for that kind of corkscrewing.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Favored Foe is pretty great for Ranger builds with really crowded bonus actions. For a Horizon Walker, for any dual wielder, or for a crossbow expert, Ranger builds that have a go-to use for their bonus action every round of combat, it's a solid use of concentration and lets them make better use of a core build feature (the Horizon Walker who is also a dual wielder is, of course, still utterly screwed).

At the other end of the spectrum, if you are playing an Archer or Duelist Gloomstalker or Hunter, your bonus action is basically there for casting concentration spells, so a concentration thing not using the bonus action often gives you no benefit, and Favored Foe just becomes the bargain bin Hunter's Mark you use when you're out of spell slots.

For other Rangers it's going to fall somewhere in between.

 

[jgsugden]

Six classes... I’m not sure an ability can or should be balanced for that kind of corkscrewing.

You're missing my point - that build is one that has the most trouble benefiting from the ability - and I still find it reasonably useful. More so than Favored Enemy.

And don't exaggerate - she'll only have 5 classes in the end (you double counted fighter/battlemaster). It really feels more like a dual class than so many different classes. She is a scout archer to begin with, then found her faith. Ranger/fighter/rogue all support that scout role, while Divine Soul and Cleric of Order are all about her found faith. I often find that multiclassing allows more organic growth in a PC than sticking o the rigidity of a single class. Many of my PCs multiclass for this reason. They have a role to play in the campaign, and they develop in the ways to fill that role as organically as possible.

 

[TheSword]

You're missing my point - that build is one that has the most trouble benefiting from the ability - and I still find it reasonably useful. More so than Favored Enemy.

And don't exaggerate - she'll only have 5 classes in the end (you double counted fighter/battlemaster). It really feels more like a dual class than so many different classes. She is a scout archer to begin with, then found her faith. Ranger/fighter/rogue all support that scout role, while Divine Soul and Cleric of Order are all about her found faith. I often find that multiclassing allows more organic growth in a PC than sticking o the rigidity of a single class. Many of my PCs multiclass for this reason. They have a role to play in the campaign, and they develop in the ways to fill that role as organically as possible.

I play WFRP. I’d happily scrap classes all together. I just don’t think it’s good for game balance. I also love multi class. My eyes just bulged at 5-6 classes. Lol.

 

[jgsugden]

I play WFRP. I’d happily scrap classes all together. I just don’t think it’s good for game balance. I also love multi class. My eyes just bulged at 5-6 classes. Lol.

I think people look at classes in a few different ways. The way that I look at each level is a decision tree - what eligible option best tells my PC's story? Each of those switches had more to do with the place she was in her story. Scout, Disciple, Priest, Rebel. That is the short version of her story.

 

[St3volopez]

You guys are missing ALOT:

Hunter mark is a Bonus action spell, FF is not. so you can do a bonus action that doesnt have concentration THEN cast FF on an enemy.

Hunters mark uses a spell slot, FF does not. (giving you room for a different spell while still having the dmg benefit, for example i took zephyr strike with my new gained spell space, granted using FF will cancel its concentration, but once youve moved to safety with the zephy strike benefit, might as well start blasting with extra Umph from there after)

Hunters mark costs a Component (verbal), FF does not.

Hunters mark only lasts longer as you level up, while FF you gain more dmg, by level 20 hunters mark still only does 1d6 whille FF can theoretically do 6d8. that's the difference of an additional 1 to 6 damage on a single foe, compared to an additonal 6 - 48 damage on a single foe by the 6th round.

AND

Hunters mark you must apply it to an enemy YOU CAN SEE, while favored foe, as long as you've HIT the enemy, you can cast it.

FF > HM hands down.

Favored Foe
1st-level ranger feature, which replaces the Favored Enemy feature and works with the Foe Slayer feature

When you hit a creature with an attack roll, you can call on your mystical bond with nature to mark the target as your favored enemy for 1 minute or until you lose your concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell)

The first time on each of your turns that you hit the favored enemy and deal damage to it, including when you mark it, you can increase that damage by 1d4.

You can use this feature to mark a favored enemy a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

This feature's extra damage increases when you reach certain levels in this class: to 1d6 at 6th level and to 1d8 at 14th level.