Unearthed Arcana Question about Ranger Unearthed Arcana: Primeval Awareness

[Vithor Carvalho]

Hello again guys,

I have some problems with my Ranger when he use this ability:


Primeval Awareness

Beginning at 3rd level, your mastery of ranger lore allows you to establish a powerful link to beasts and to the land around you.

You have an innate ability to communicate with beasts, and they recognize you as a kindred spirit. Through sounds and gestures, you can communicate simple ideas to a beast as an action, and can read its basic mood and intent. You learn its emotional state, whether it is affected by magic of any sort, its short-term needs (such as food or safety), and actions you can take (if any) to persuade it to not attack.

You cannot use this ability against a creature that you have attacked within the past 10 minutes.

Additionally, you can attune your senses to determine if any of your favored enemies lurk nearby. By spending 1 uninterrupted minute in concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell), you can sense whether any of your favored enemies are present within 5 miles of you. This feature reveals which of your favored enemies are present, their numbers, and the creatures’ general direction and distance (in miles) from you.

If there are multiple groups of your favored enemies within range, you learn this information for each group.



How can I deal with this ability?


The Ranger chose Humanoid as an enemy, so if he uses it in a city, will he be able to find specifically the group he's looking for? Or how many humanoids are there he can have problems with that?


For example, we are in the sewer, under a city, he is not sure what we are looking for and uses the skill. What are the consequences?


Would he find the enemies in the Sewer? Does the city's population mess the ability?




Another small point. If he's looking for humanoids, and there are "Wererats" (Rat Men) in the Sewer, can he find the Rat Men in animal form? Or you might know where a Druid in Animal Form is using this ability (assuming the favorite enemy is Humanoid)

TY

 

[KahlessNestor]

I would rule the usefulness of the ability based on population density in the area. At street level it would probably be useless. He would be overwhelmed. In the sewer, where there isn't likely to be a huge concentration of humanoids, it might be possible. I would say he couldn't sense wererats or druids in animal form though.

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[Blue]

He can't identify specific groups at all. Just that there is a group, the size, and general direction/distance.

Since a city is a group, I'd tell him "he's in the middle of a group of about 5,000" (or whatever the population is).

If he's out in the wilderness he might get "there's a group of 20 3 miles to the NNE and a group of 8 to the south". The first could be a small village, a bandit camp or even a caravan on the road. The other group might be an extended family in their farmhouse, or might be a raiding party of goblins. The power doesn't distinguish.

 

[jaelis]

The Ranger chose Humanoid as an enemy, so if he uses it in a city, will he be able to find specifically the group he's looking for? Or how many humanoids are there he can have problems with that?

It's up to you as DM to interpret "group" but I would take it to mean different groups of creatures in distinctly different locations. I'd base that on the mile scale. So if there were two villages within 5 miles of you, you would be aware of that. If you're in the middle of a city, then that is all you know.

For example, we are in the sewer, under a city, he is not sure what we are looking for and uses the skill. What are the consequences?

Would he find the enemies in the Sewer? Does the city's population mess the ability?

I would say that unless the sewers are a mile underground, the ability would be pretty useless.

Another small point. If he's looking for humanoids, and there are "Wererats" (Rat Men) in the Sewer, can he find the Rat Men in animal form? Or you might know where a Druid in Animal Form is using this ability (assuming the favorite enemy is Humanoid)

The rules aren't very clear on that, but I would say that while the wererats are in rat form, they count as beasts. In the hybrid form I would probably count them as humanoid. For the druid question, the devs have said that when in animal form, you are a beast for all purposes.

 

[Cyber-Dave]

So, he can sense any creature that has the "humanoid" type. If a creature is shapechanged into a different type of creature, he can or cannot sense them depending on the wording of the shapechange powers. Some powers actually turn you into the creature, and as a result you now have the new shapes type. Other powers don't, and as such you would still have your natural type as far as the primordial awareness power is concerned. In the case of wererats, they always have the humanoid type, and so you can always sense them. If places of huge population densities, you should feel free to say, "you feel many humanoids all around to. Too many to count!" Also, keep in mind, lots of people feel that the current version of the ability is a little overpowered or unwieldy for a DM to use. My DM uses it as written most of the time. Sometimes, however, if I am looking for specific information he will make me roll a survival check or spellcasting check (like an spellcasting attack roll).

 

[Vithor Carvalho]

Thank you for the tips..

 

[Jacob Johnson]

I spoke to my brother who GM's and has allowed this ability and it seems entirely problematic to us both. There are no limitations on usage for this ability which allows a ranger to consistently abuse this information gathering technique. Walls don't block it, even if the enemy is in the ethereal plane, it doesn't block it. Often times, a DM isn't prepared to deal with a group of intrepid explorers who decide to go off track and raid a nearby orc settlement for some additional XP. I feel this ability needs some refinement as allowing an entire block of humanoids to be tracked so easily is just broken for DM's. Oh.. there's kobolds over there, lets kill them. Lizard people in the swamp, let's lay an ambush for some quick XP, it will boost us over the next level. I think it should have a limitation in the number of uses per day, perhaps tied to the Ranger's wisdom modifier. Thoughts?

 

[iserith]

I spoke to my brother who GM's and has allowed this ability and it seems entirely problematic to us both. There are no limitations on usage for this ability which allows a ranger to consistently abuse this information gathering technique. Walls don't block it, even if the enemy is in the ethereal plane, it doesn't block it. Often times, a DM isn't prepared to deal with a group of intrepid explorers who decide to go off track and raid a nearby orc settlement for some additional XP. I feel this ability needs some refinement as allowing an entire block of humanoids to be tracked so easily is just broken for DM's. Oh.. there's kobolds over there, lets kill them. Lizard people in the swamp, let's lay an ambush for some quick XP, it will boost us over the next level. I think it should have a limitation in the number of uses per day, perhaps tied to the Ranger's wisdom modifier. Thoughts?

If there is a "track" such that the DM is at a loss when the players go off of it, then that's not so much a problem with this class feature as it is the expectations everyone has for the game. The DM is running it one way (a game with a plot or storyline or a limited amount of prepared content) and the players are playing it another (as a sandbox or otherwise open-world type game). Limiting the number of times per day this class feature can be used probably won't have any effect on the problem. It likely won't just be this class feature that reveals this mismatch of expectations either.

If there's a plot or storyline, the DM needs to let the players know that in my view so they can buy-in and do their best to stay on it. The DM might even only give XP for achieving milestones relevant to that plot - wandering off to grind out some kobolds or lizardfolk gets them nothing but some laughs. When the DM and players are on the same page, the players will tend in my experience to use the feature only when it's beneficial to the party and to staying within the parameters of the game everyone has agreed upon.

 

[BookBarbarian]

He can't identify specific groups at all. Just that there is a group, the size, and general direction/distance.

Since a city is a group, I'd tell him "he's in the middle of a group of about 5,000" (or whatever the population is).

If he's out in the wilderness he might get "there's a group of 20 3 miles to the NNE and a group of 8 to the south". The first could be a small village, a bandit camp or even a caravan on the road. The other group might be an extended family in their farmhouse, or might be a raiding party of goblins. The power doesn't distinguish.

This. It's not like the X-Men Movies where Professer X can use it to see the person and know how tall they are and what close they are carrying or anything like that.

If you do like Blue above, and just have the ability do exactly what it says it works just fine.

A Ranger knowing the exact population of Waterdeep shouldn't break any DM's game unless the ultimate goal of the party is to create a census.

 

[Jacob Johnson]

If there is a "track" such that the DM is at a loss when the players go off of it, then that's not so much a problem with this class feature as it is the expectations everyone has for the game. The DM is running it one way (a game with a plot or storyline or a limited amount of prepared content) and the players are playing it another (as a sandbox or otherwise open-world type game). Limiting the number of times per day this class feature can be used probably won't have any effect on the problem. It likely won't just be this class feature that reveals this mismatch of expectations either.

If there's a plot or storyline, the DM needs to let the players know that in my view so they can buy-in and do their best to stay on it. The DM might even only give XP for achieving milestones relevant to that plot - wandering off to grind out some kobolds or lizardfolk gets them nothing but some laughs. When the DM and players are on the same page, the players will tend in my experience to use the feature only when it's beneficial to the party and to staying within the parameters of the game everyone has agreed upon.

Isereth, this was merely meant as a single illustration of how this ability can be abused. There are many other ways besides going off track. While the Ranger should be the ultimate tracker, the ability to pinpoint such large groups of enemies with such precision is potentially game breaking. Perhaps the DM has encounters that require ambush or is carefully set up to force the players to think on their toes, before reinforcements surprise them, o or any number of encounters where knowing numbers, locations, and direction could lead to player abuse to the detriment of the DM. I'm not asking for it to be removed or a functional change but instead require the player to make a conscious decision about its use by limiting it in some way. Perhaps require a short or long rest before it can be used again. Perhaps it can be used only a number of times equal to the Rangers wisdom modifier before requiring a long rest. Something so that it can't be a virtual 'always' on button.