Dragon #308 previews new ranger and barbarian!

[Fenes 2]

I think it's safe to say they didn't have your nonstandard game in mind when making these changes.

That is why I always said that this ranger is overpowered IMC. I never said it was overpowered in a standard D&D game (whatever that is) - but I don't need to see the book to ban it IMC.

 

[Kershek]

That is why I always said that this ranger is overpowered IMC. I never said it was overpowered in a standard D&D game (whatever that is) - but I don't need to see the book to ban it IMC.

Thank you for posting something that is useful to an audience of yourself.

 

[Fenes 2]

Thank you for posting something that is useful to an audience of yourself.

You're welcome.

 

[doctorjeff98]

I banned the monk IMC, except for NPC villains. When I wanted a monkish NPC as a cohort NPC for a player I built a fighter/rogue with several unarmed combat feats.


When you take all that, and add spells and other nature abilities, it blows away the fighter IMC.

Seems like most of the players in my campaigns have more fun when they are allowed to play whatever they want and I adjust the strengths of the monsters as necessary. But it does seem possible that some settings might be incomptible with some classes. I guess I would try to base it on overall philosophy and not strength---I can deal with characters that are 'too strong.'

 

[Plane Sailing]

- hide in plain sight, which is very powerful in a campaign where you can't just buy rings of invisibility

Hey, keep a bit of perspective here! The new ranger would get this ability at 17th level... which is when clerics are casting miracle and true resurrection, wizards are casting wish and timestop and shapechange.

Do you *really* think that some kind of ability to use hide checks in some kind of situation with otherwise limited cover (we don't know the parameters of it yet) is a game-breaker?

Or perhaps you don't use clerics or wizards in your campaign either ?!? (just joking, but do you get my point?)

 

[Fenes 2]

Hey, keep a bit of perspective here! The new ranger would get this ability at 17th level... which is when clerics are casting miracle and true resurrection, wizards are casting wish and timestop and shapechange.

Do you *really* think that some kind of ability to use hide checks in some kind of situation with otherwise limited cover (we don't know the parameters of it yet) is a game-breaker?

Or perhaps you don't use clerics or wizards in your campaign either ?!? (just joking, but do you get my point?)

I banned wish, timestop and miracle, and I currently have no wizard or cleric imc (as long as you don't count the fighter/duelist who multiclassed into one cleric level due to roleplaying reasons, and with wisdom 10 at the time to boot).

I run a rather low-magic campaign, and any cleric or wizard entering it would have to be carefully balanced, with several spells banned or restricted. I don't encourage either high-level wizards or clerics, and have gutted the party sorcerer accordingly.

 

[Steverooo]

Good point. How exactly would I explain this to my players? You just dissapear? Your ranger abilities allow you to bend light?

Actually, "Hide in Plain Sight" is a name of an ancient Samurai ability... You can explain it to players in any number of ways.

Being unseen is easy, as long as you are BEHIND someone. Above and below work well, too. While much stealth involves taking advantage of concealment or cover, a great deal of it also involves other tings; mainly, staying out of the line of sight. (Ashida Kim's book, The Art of Invisibility has several good examples of this). Where staying out of the line of sight isn't possible, fooling the eye often is. One oft-used example is changing the shape of your body into a non-manlike form (such as spreading the legs slightly, then doubling over at the waist, and appearing like a stump or post). Any good manual on stealth, evasion, and escape should cover a number of such ideas. A few more might include:
* Lying flat in a dip while camouflaged.
* Hiding against stone while wrapped in a stoneflage cloak (thus appearing like a boulder, etc.)
* Running through a door and around the corner (along the wall) while in sight, then pressing against the ceiling and upper door jamb before the pursuer runs through the doorway, turns, and sees you've disappeared.

 

[Steverooo]

[*]Combat styles (3): Here we have three combat feats that can be used all the time. Strong, Strong, Strong.

Nope; see the Update Spotlight on Multishot (quoted several times in this thread). Rangers of level 6+ can use it ONLY WHEN IN LIGHT OR NO ARMOR. Lame, lame, lame!

 

[Dinkeldog]

Sunshine and kittens!

Sunshine and kittens!

Sunshine and kittens!

Pre-emptive love strike.

 

[SpikeyFreak]

I would like to point out that in 1E Rangers got 2d8 at 1st level.

Bertman

I can't believe how long it took for someone to point this out.

--0ld 5k00l Spikey