Bacon Bits
Legend
I don't like those classes:
- Berserker is problematic, their basic class feature works differently to all class features, instead of a limited number of uses it gets exhaustion and you need a high level spell or a long rest to recover 1 level of exhaustion. It's absurd when you think it's only an extra attack using a bonus action when you rage which is also a limited resource per long rest, all classes can have an extra attack using 2 weapons without exhaustion, fighters can have more attacks than the berserker without exhaustion. Intimidating presence at level 10 is useless if the DM uses the intimidate skill with the same effect.
At least it can be easily fixed, I don't use exhaustion and at lvl 10 it gets 2x proficiency to Intimidate.
I don't think I've seen anyone use Frenzy more than once a day except in dire emergencies. If I were to make a change I'd just make the attack be part of the Attack action instead of yet another bonus action (i.e., make it an Extra Attack attack and not a bonus action attack). Yeah, that makes them pretty sick at low level with TWF and pretty good with GWM, but, well, both those things should be true.
- Bard college of valor is in no mans's land, you get some armor and weapon proficiencies, an extra attack and lastly you can cast a spell and make one attack. This is a very limited dip for warrior features that ends practically inconsequential at higher levels.
Eh, that's pretty subjective. Valor Bard is the worst fighting class that gets Extra Attack, but it does get Extra Attack as well as full casting. It fights better than the Cleric and casts better than a Paladin or Ranger. That's perfect, IMO, for the kind of versatility the Bard class is supposed to exemplify. Valor Bard only looks weak in comparison to the Lore Bard. Valor makes the Bard more versatile. Lore makes the Bard more focused. It's much easier to play the Lore Bard as mage-of-all-trades instead of playing a Valor Bard as real a jack-of-all-trades.
- Ranger sucks. Favored enemy and natural explorer have a very limited utility. Primeval awareness wastes your spells slots (compare it with divine sense). TWF has a bad mechanic but it has the worst synergies for a ranger which is the class more associated with that fighting style. Foe slayer is completely underwhelming.
Hide in plain sight is a bit absurd when other classes get invisible, hide in shadows, etc. What's the purpose of a class with spells if you have to dedicate 10min to hide?
The beast master has horrible mechanics and instead of the beast being a follower of the ranger it ends the other way in combat.
Multiattack for hunters doesn't work well comparatively speaking with other class features at lvl 11. You need hordes, whirlwind attack is the worst case, you need at least 3 enemies at the same time to be comparable to an extra attack, but 1 attack to each is far worse that 3 attacks to one, and being surrounded by enemies is dangerous.
Ranger's problem is that players have no control on whether or not favored enemy and natural explorer come up, and all the damage from the class comes from Hunter's Mark (a spell) and subclass features. So the base class doesn't do anything particularly interesting and all the combat prowess is forced into the subclasses, which drastically limits their flexibility. It constantly feels like the DM can turn off all your abilities with a moment's notice, too, since every ability is conditional. That means the class just doesn't ever feel powerful. It feels clunky compared to the others, particularly (IMO) because they feel compelled to make it a part-time pet class and make the pet viable. I have to think they made the pet class the Ranger instead of Druid because of Drizzt, but I am not a fan of pet classes. Too many DMs I've played under just kill pets because they're not PCs. However, if you want a utility pet, you're sacrificing a ton abilities that are supposed to be your damage abilities that let you keep up with Barbarian, Fighter, and Paladin.
I'd like there to be a Horizon Walker type Ranger that can pick and choose his Favored Enemy types and Natural Explorer terrains each long rest or each short rest. Let him be like Batman and be able to take advantage of preparation and knowing your enemy. None of these abilities is that useful in combat. About all it lets you know is that Trolls are weak to fire and Demons resist everything but acid and Vampires can be killed in several oddly specific ways (if you have the right favored enemy). That means the Horizon Walker subclass would have to grant all the combat bonuses with Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer terrains, which is unfortunate because it means you can't do anything else with it, but it's certainly doable.
Hide in Plain Sight would be fine if it didn't say, "Once you move or take an action or a reaction, you must camouflage yourself again to gain this benefit." and instead said, "[...] you must press yourself against a solid surface to hide again." If the effect lasted as long as you were in the terrain you camouflaged for, it'd be great. It'd be +10 to Stealth when not moving, making it almost as good as the Warlock's One with Shadows.
Colossus Slayer is not a bad ability at all. It works better with TWF than the other abilities, certainly, but the remainder of the Hunter abilities are all fairly specialized and often won't come up. Multiattack Defense and Evasion are really the only generic good ones.
I agree TWF isn't great for the Ranger, but I think TWF isn't that great in 5e. Bonus actions are, generally speaking, pretty heavily overloaded if you're min/maxing at all. Finding something to do with your bonus action is part of maximizing a character. TWF is good for rogues to increase chances of sneak attack, but that's about all.
Contrary to some people I really like Warlocks and Sorcerers:
- The warlock as a man with a lasgun can be a bit boring in combat but it works very well, outside of combat with CHA and DEX skills and some invocations he is very interesting. The melee warlock also works very well, I've been playing one and he tanks good without a shield thanks to armor of agathys, darkness and killing enemies, damage is good thanks to armor of agathys and hellish rebuke. He can also stay back and shoot the lasgun or a bow.
I hate Devil's Sight. It's a stupid ability that should not be available to the PCs without a magic item. I also hate the "on hit" wording of eldritch blast, hex, and Agonizing Blast, too. It's damage that's on par with a Fighter with a 2 handed weapon, and it feels like you're cheating because of how the game works in every other situation (i.e., 1 spell == 1 hit). I also don't really like short rest abilities in general due to the effects they cause, so short rest spellcasting is something I'm not a fan of.
Beyond that, I like the class just fine. I played an Archfey Warlock that focused on versatility as much as possible, and I was more than capable of keeping up. Faerie fire is devastatingly effective in a large party.
I've not played or seen a Sorcerer. I don't find the class interesting in the slightest, and strongly prefer Wizard.