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Message: <blockquote data-quote="nonsi256" data-source="post: 5038537" data-attributes="member: 86164">>> As I said in my post, I don't know - I'm not sure whether to add>>  them as epic abilities (probably not, since most groups don't go>> epic), or add a high-level feat to gain them, or simply let the>> ranger choose the terrain a second time to gain them. Since they're>> rather powerful, I'm leaning toward the feat route.1. We’ll get to the epic issue in a moment.2. 4 terrains in 20 levels and you want to make a player waste one?! Bad mojo, dude.3. Requiring feats would just be shoehorning.I’d suggest you choose one of two options:- Decide upon a level from which Advanced Abilities are acceptable and not overpowered.- Dictate that they’re received automatically after so many levels with a favored terrain.>> Sudden Strike? ??? I was aiming for something that typifies>> a guerilla fighter without overshadowing the rogue.You’re not thinking BIG enough (does the name “Legolas” ring a bell?)>> Any suggestions? I know these are a bit weak, though I'd intended>> for them to be minor powers to start with.Not every feature has to be awesomely powerful to be useful, interesting or thematically sound.>> Where? It doesn't fit with any of their other abilities.1. The Ranger embodies mobility & agility.2. A lot of high-level monsters have tons of battlefield control (a lot of which is direct damage).||\/Evasion is both thematically sound and mechanically important.>> What's Flawless Stride?Kind’a like Woodland Stride, but everywhere.And now that 3e material is no longer distributed by WotC, there are 2 words you might want to get familiar with: mtorrent & rapidshare (I’ll leave the rest to you).>> I don't own any non-core books. If you're going to refer to non-core>> material, at least tell me what it is or what it does.Complete Adventurer.>> That's what woodland stride is. Permanent freedom of movement is>> far too powerful to add as a class ability.Saying that makes it clear that you just don’t grasp the huge gap (on so many levels) between martial classes and full spellcasters (defense, offence, action-economy, mobility, options, battlfield control, foresight and whatnot).This just makes it a teeny weenie bit harder for a magic user to hogtie-rape you in broad dalight at those levels. >> Four isn't enough? Considering the ranger has to spend a month in>> the terrain, that's hard enough, don't you think?Ok, this seems like an appropriate time to illuminate things in the proper light.Skill-wise & combat-wise, level 6 describes everything that’s humanly possible by the best of the best (a websight called “The Alexandrian” presents a wonderful analysis to back up this claim) and that probably in the entire human history there weren’t even 10 6th level individuals (De-Vinci, perhaps the greatest Ninja ever, king Leonidas maybe...).This means that 7th level is already outside of the known territories of the mortal realm.Now consider this: they never rewrote a 3.5 version of the epic level handbook. Ever wondered why?I’ll tell you my guess:1. 3e’s epic level rules don’t work. Everything in there is either sub-epic appropriate, reduced to nothing more than ZOMGWTF stat pumping or just too damn blurry to really figure out (mostly epic-level spells).2. 3e’s epic level rules don’t really bring anything new to the gaming table. They all end up with the gage-meters passing the red zone and spinning erratically out of control.3. There’s enough potential to take your campaign wherever you wish it to go without epic-level rules.4. Everything has a point at which it has gone as far as it can go – so should be the case for base classes. Level 20 is and should be the point where you squeezed just about everything you could possibly squeeze out of a particular class and that it’s time to move on. I mean, a level-20 base class should be no less than f#cking awesome. And don’t forget that even with all the modifications I’ve suggested in the attached doc (plus the core Ranger’s spellcasting on top of that - with everything you might find in any official game spplement), the Ranger would still trail way behind full casters.5. Given the above, according to your rules, only one human in 500 years could have the theoretical potential of getting exceptionally familiar with 2 terrains. With mine, there might be a freak of nature at some point of human evolution that would be able to get exceptionally familiar with 3, but 2 are definitely humanly possible every now and then.>> Combat Archery (which does the same thing) is an epic feat.Ditto.>> I made it into a high-level one that requires BAB +16.1. Too far off to count.2. Shoehorning. Plus, you’re not gonna be takin it by level 16, simply because you’re not gonna have a feat to spend (unless you're a Fighter <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/ponder.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":hmm:" title="Hmmm    :hmm:" data-shortname=":hmm:" />).>> I considered giving it to the ranger as a bonus feat, though.Then make it a feature and you’ll have something the Ranger can do that no one else can.>> How about allowing the ranger to use any of his other feats/abilities >> with it, like Hindering Shot, Sniper Shot, etc.?That too.>> That's great if you don't plan to go into epic territory, but I designed >> the system to scale up to L40. I like the +1 bonus idea, though.There’s no advantage in spreading 20 levels over 40 (not one that I could figure anyway).Btw, Chameleon is nice. Not great, that’s for sure, but nice.</blockquote>

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