Xeviat
Dungeon Mistress, she/her
Hi everyone. The Ranger is one of my favorite classes. It always has been. This is possibly because I liked stealthy warriors in Baldur's Gate, or because I started reading fantasy literature with "Lord of the Rings" and "Icewind Dale". It probably has a lot to do with that I started truly playing D&D in at the start of 3rd Edition, and I found that I liked fiddling with the rules. The ranger required the most fiddling.
Now, I, like many, have my own house ruled ranger. My changes are small. That's not what I'm here for. Today, I'd like to discuss a problem area I see in the Hunter subclass: Multiattack. Multiattack is a decent feature for what it is; giving an at-will area attack to the ranger, instead of making them rely upon the Summon Volley spell.
I have been doing simple analysises of the classes to find their peak damage potential. I've analyzed the fighter, both battlemaster and champion, the rogue (assassin), the paladin (honor), and the ranger (hunter). They're all fairly close to each other, with results that you'd expect: twfing rogue is at the top of the damage pack, the paladin is slightly ahead of the fighter IF they dump all their spells into smite at every level except 20th (where the fighter's 4th attack makes them leap ahead). The hunter ranger is comparable to the fighter and paladin up until 11th level. Whether or not you think the ranger should be more comparable to the fighter/paladin or to the rogue (a strong argument could be made that the hunter's damage should be comparable to the rogue, since they lack an hp recovery mechanic comparable to lay on hands or second wind; more on this later).
The ranger starts to fall behind the paladin and fighter at 11th because of multiattack. If you assume they can target an average of 3 targets a round, then they will be on par with fighters and paladins. This could happen, but it may not. This fits in with one of the hunter specialties, the horde hunter, but it doesn't really fit in with the dragon hunter, who is supposed to be specialized in taking on a solitary big beast, not multiple targets.
So, I wanted to see if anyone had good ideas for another "multiattack" mechanic, but one that represents a flurry of attacks on a single target. I'd rather not just give a 3rd attack; that's boring (and it may react unfavorably with Hunter's Mark). I also don't want a mechanic that raises the damage ceiling beyond what a 3rd attack would do (so no "attack till you miss" mechanics).
The best thing I can come up with is an attack for XdW+ability as an action, but with a save for half instead of an attack roll. This would be a flurry of attacks against a single target that is bound to hit them a little. It'll be good against high AC targets, wearing them down little by little.
Any other ideas for another option for multiattack?
PS: On comparing the ranger to the fighter/paladin or rogue. I think the hunter should be comparable to the rogue, and that the beast master should be comparable to the fighter/paladin. The beast companion's HP, which do negate single target damage to the ranger or the rest of the party, could be seen as comparable to the paladin's lay on hands. The paladin gets +5 hp/level per day; the beast master's companion has its own hp, which are a daily resource. This leads me to want to boost it's HP up to 5/level, which would be the same as a rogue with a 10 con.
Now, I, like many, have my own house ruled ranger. My changes are small. That's not what I'm here for. Today, I'd like to discuss a problem area I see in the Hunter subclass: Multiattack. Multiattack is a decent feature for what it is; giving an at-will area attack to the ranger, instead of making them rely upon the Summon Volley spell.
I have been doing simple analysises of the classes to find their peak damage potential. I've analyzed the fighter, both battlemaster and champion, the rogue (assassin), the paladin (honor), and the ranger (hunter). They're all fairly close to each other, with results that you'd expect: twfing rogue is at the top of the damage pack, the paladin is slightly ahead of the fighter IF they dump all their spells into smite at every level except 20th (where the fighter's 4th attack makes them leap ahead). The hunter ranger is comparable to the fighter and paladin up until 11th level. Whether or not you think the ranger should be more comparable to the fighter/paladin or to the rogue (a strong argument could be made that the hunter's damage should be comparable to the rogue, since they lack an hp recovery mechanic comparable to lay on hands or second wind; more on this later).
The ranger starts to fall behind the paladin and fighter at 11th because of multiattack. If you assume they can target an average of 3 targets a round, then they will be on par with fighters and paladins. This could happen, but it may not. This fits in with one of the hunter specialties, the horde hunter, but it doesn't really fit in with the dragon hunter, who is supposed to be specialized in taking on a solitary big beast, not multiple targets.
So, I wanted to see if anyone had good ideas for another "multiattack" mechanic, but one that represents a flurry of attacks on a single target. I'd rather not just give a 3rd attack; that's boring (and it may react unfavorably with Hunter's Mark). I also don't want a mechanic that raises the damage ceiling beyond what a 3rd attack would do (so no "attack till you miss" mechanics).
The best thing I can come up with is an attack for XdW+ability as an action, but with a save for half instead of an attack roll. This would be a flurry of attacks against a single target that is bound to hit them a little. It'll be good against high AC targets, wearing them down little by little.
Any other ideas for another option for multiattack?
PS: On comparing the ranger to the fighter/paladin or rogue. I think the hunter should be comparable to the rogue, and that the beast master should be comparable to the fighter/paladin. The beast companion's HP, which do negate single target damage to the ranger or the rest of the party, could be seen as comparable to the paladin's lay on hands. The paladin gets +5 hp/level per day; the beast master's companion has its own hp, which are a daily resource. This leads me to want to boost it's HP up to 5/level, which would be the same as a rogue with a 10 con.
