Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mephista" data-source="post: 9825203" data-attributes="member: 6786252">Winter Walker  In many ways, its a lot like Hunter, in that you're encouraged to be Hunter Mark heavy. This also pushes you towards TWFing. This inevitably means that we're going to end up comparing the two subclasses. Level 3. You get 1d4 cold damage (eventually 1d6), cold resistance, AND a partial, free Elemental Adept (cold) effect. This is before we talk about the 1d10+Ranger level THP for casting Hunter's Mark, and the inability of your Marked foe to disengage. Keeping in mind that chances are, if you run out of THP, you're likely going to be casting HM again anyways from losing Concentration, and you're likely going to be in melee both for max HM damage and to make use of the disengage-lock, this is a pretty good deal. The THP grows expnentially - you get more Marks as you level AND more THP per Mark cast. You are dealing 2 less damage on average than an equal leveled Hunter, and you don't have the know-resist-immune-vuln thing anymore, but the damage is more consistent and the divination perk was kind of game and table dependent. But overall, I would have to say that you're getting more at this level than the Hunter. The great thing about this class, though? You also qualify for Cold Caster. -1d4 from your target's saves. This could be a set up for your own Hold Person spell, or a party-play option for your local casters to pull off a better battle-shaping spell.  Because it keys off attack rolls, this is one of the two subclasses and one class that will make good use of it, the others being quicken-spell sorcerer and elemental monk. The other two are probably better with it (stunning strike and a full CC spell options). But it is still a great option to keep in mind.I admit to some disappointment that this Ranger gets Remove Curse instead of Hunger of Hadar or Sleet Storm. Its cold themed, its zone control, its perfect for a cold-based Ranger class. Sadness. Overall, the same spell choices as Hunter, though. Maybe an Ice Storm on occasion before slipping back into Hunter Marks. Level 7 is again a more survival-based feature, but this time its more of an out of combat one for the whole party. Heal everyone for 1d10 + Ranger level damage and advantage on fear; great for the rest right before the BBEG, saves your party healer some slots.  Not as individually good as Multi-attack Defense, but you're getting lots of healign and THP from this class that I don't htink it'll be a huge difference. Level 11. Stunning as a Reaction. Stunning is a great condition, especially with the speed set to 0. It synergizes with Cold Caster too, if you hit them before they hit you! That said... this is your big tier 3 damage bump, and you only get it WIS times per day. It needs to be something on par with Radiant Strikes. And I don't think this qualifies. Not in this quantity. If someone disagrees, I'd like to hear why.Level 15. Frozen Haunt.  Immunity to Cold, 2d4 damage emination. Immune to grappling, restrained, prone, some mobility. 5 extra damage and the defensive features is nice, but not game changing. Is it better than the Reaction resistance that Hunter gets? Ehh... I'd say maybe. Being grappled and tossed around is a relative weakness of the Ranger's, but hopefully you've found a solution before here, plus you've got Freedom of Movement in your pocket by now.Overall, while early game is an improvement to the Hunter, its tier 3+ game is still suffering. I'd probably recommend Winter Walker over Hunter, but neither of them for level 11+ games.</blockquote>

Verification