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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jester David" data-source="post: 7701169" data-attributes="member: 37579">I didn't participate in any previous "panic" so I wouldn't know.But giving people a bonus for going first and making it easier to go first synergies really well. And at 1st level, going first can win fights: dropping an enemy and negating damage before it even gets a turn. That's strong in and of itself, but adding the ability to just outright ignore any and all difficult terrain is really good on top of that.I'd replace advantage with adding proficiency to initiative. The end game bonus is higher, but that comes into play far later, when the alpha strike is less devastating. The low levels it is weaker, thus making it more in line with other first level features.I'd also move the difficult terrain avoidance back up to higher level. Just too good.Give the ranger a small skill bonus instead. An expertise variant, perhaps limited to survival or perception. Something that doesn't directly help kill things...The paladin's spells directly translate to higher personal damage, due to the smite. New spells mean more damage when needed. And each level has a smite spell for extra utility.The ranger doesn't have that. They can just cast hunter's mark for longer (and lose it when they get hit, since they're not proficient with Con saves). Their damage stays constant. At the very best, this is true until 17th level when they can cast swift quiver, which is useful for archers and useless for two-weapon fighters. And comes at the cost of hunter's mark. However, two weapon ranger has the same DPR at level 20 as at level 12. Even the archetype features are defensive.Ranger spells are already pretty problematic.First, the archetypal rangers (Robin Hood, Drizzt, Strider, Tanis Half-elven, Belkar Bitterleaf) are not spellcasters. Spells should be optional. Spells should be a secondary decision point. Like how warlocks pick a patron and a pact bond. Second, nothing draws attention to the "class feature" spell (hunter's mark). You need to read far deeper than a casual glance at the class (the back of the book) to find that. All rangers should just get that for free, drawing eyes to the spell. If it could be buffed in the class, that would also be cool.</blockquote>

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