Unearthed Arcana Light, Dark, Underdark - November's Unearthed Arcana

Interesting stuff.

 

[Radaceus]

I would be very interested in actual played feedback of Tunnel Fighter, ask one of your players to build a character using it, leave it up to them to decide how they incorporate this into their toon. And then proceed as normal.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Oh i get that there are ways to do it im just sour that the BM rangers pet requires you to use an action and the new shadowhound just munches its target till it can munch no more.

The Beast Master ranger's companion mechanic has proved to be very unpopular and has been abandoned for purposes of any future design.

However, the subclasses in the PHB will never be revised.

We can hope for one or two things to happen in the future:
a) They make a new ranger class variant or subclass that has some sort of companion using a different mechanic. If it proves popular, it will become AL legal.
b) They make an optional subclass feature for the Beast Master that could be swapped in as an alternative to replace the current companion mechanic with a different one. If popular, it would become AL legal.

In other words, the Beast Master subclass is a known issue. The aren't going to nerf new class/subclass designs to keep them balanced with or similar to it.

 

[Sacrosanct]

The Beast Master ranger's companion mechanic has proved to be very unpopular and has been abandoned for purposes of any future design.

However, the subclasses in the PHB will never be revised.

We can hope for one or two things to happen in the future:
a) They make a new ranger class variant or subclass that has some sort of companion using a different mechanic. If it proves popular, it will become AL legal.
b) They make an optional subclass feature for the Beast Master that could be swapped in as an alternative to replace the current companion mechanic with a different one. If popular, it would become AL legal.

In other words, the Beast Master subclass is a known issue. The aren't going to nerf new class/subclass designs to keep them balanced with or similar to it.

OR...

The BM isn't nearly as broken as people claim, and people who have played it in actual game play haven't seen any major balance issues, and thus there's nothing to fix.

 

[Serpine]

b) They make an optional subclass feature for the Beast Master that could be swapped in as an alternative to replace the current companion mechanic with a different one. If popular, it would become AL legal.

The least invasive way might be to introduce a 2nd or 3rd level spell to allow the companion to self manage for a time. This keeps the existing PHB framework intact but allows control balanced by an expenditure similar to that required by casters that summon an independent attacker.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

OR...

The BM isn't nearly as broken as people claim, and people who have played it in actual game play haven't seen any major balance issues, and thus there's nothing to fix.

Part of what is unpopular is the conceptual aspect as much as the balance aspect.

The balance aspect would probably still come into play in groups that allows any character to acquire a companion through normal by the book means (like buying an elephant mount and letting it act independently).

So for one or more reasons, it may work for some groups, but doesn't work well for many others.

 

[Azurewraith]

OR...

The BM isn't nearly as broken as people claim, and people who have played it in actual game play haven't seen any major balance issues, and thus there's nothing to fix.

I wouldn't know i have been put of by wonky mechanics to try it. The loss of hunters mark seems huge as it should of been a class feature and not a spell to begin with i may have to try it at some point though.

 

[Celtavian]

I did some damage calculations with the Beast-Master ranger. The one fix I would recommend to make it viable at higher level is allowing the pet's natural weapons to strike as magic weapons. If they did that, the Beast-Master ranger would be comparable to the hunter and do fairly decent damage.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I wouldn't know i have been put of by wonky mechanics to try it. The loss of hunters mark seems huge as it should of been a class feature and not a spell to begin with i may have to try it at some point though.

People forget about conjure animals. If you're not concentrating on hunter's mark, you can concentrate on conjure animals. Which is one of the more underrated spells in the book, IMO. That's a pretty powerful spell.

 

[gyor]

Yeah you can conjure a giant eagle and use it as a mount. It gets better if someone has Planar Binding so they can boost the duration.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Apparently you have not observed the conga line problem. They DO attack the guy in front. It's just that they move in, attack him, and move back. Because in this edition monsters (and PCs) can split their move up with part before the attack and part after. Once the first opportunity attack is spent, it's a free for all - 20 goblins can attack one PC with no repercussions for it, and no need for the space around the PC to attack them (they can do this all with just one space open).

In the right circumstances it's a real issue. And this ability solves for it.

You're right that I haven't observed this phenomenon... cause as a DM, I'd never actually run my monsters in such a stupid, illogical fashion even though the rules "allow" me to do so. Same reason why I'd ever have that group of 20 goblins each try and run past the fighter in the tunnel in order to bum rush the wizard in back.

There is something to be said for trying to run fights at least a little bit "realistically" and not always game the system. LOL.