D&D 5E Would it break the Ranger to give him Natural Explorer in every terrain?

[doctorbadwolf]

I’d generalize the abilities, emphasize that when in foreign terrain, the land simply teaches them how to survive in it. It’s mystical.

Then, add the UA variant feature Deft Explorer to the class, without taking anything away. Tweak as needed if you find some abilities too strong, but seriously they aren’t too strong.

Then add Favored Foe, again without any taking away. Make the no concentration part 1/day at level 1, and then Wisdom Mod/day at level 6.

 

[Immoralkickass]

But its not the same. Other classes can solve troublesome environment with magic, but likely at the cost of spell slots, and you need to consider they might not have the spell prepared/selected.

With your fix, all Rangers need to do is exist, and they just auto-win any exploration encounter.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

But its not the same. Other classes can solve troublesome environment with magic, but likely at the cost of spell slots, and you need to consider they might not have the spell prepared/selected.

With your fix, all Rangers need to do is exist, and they just auto-win any exploration encounter.

Who are you replying to?

 

[Immoralkickass]

Who are you replying to?

The OP, since i didnt quote anyone.

 

[Asisreo]

Just a reminder that a well-built ranger gets expertise in 5 skills at level 1 because of natural explorer. Take that info as you will.

 

[Asisreo]

To give context, you double prof with wis and int skills you have that has to do with your terrain (you don't need to be in your terrain, either.) You get 3 skills from being a ranger and 2 from your background.

 

[Horwath]

It just needs little tweaking and being spread across few levels

I.E.
Change rangers starting skills from 3 class skills to pick from to fixed 4 skills:
Stealth, Nature, Perception, Survival.

Move fighting style to 1st level.

At 1st level; ranger stays alert while doing some other activity,
Ranger finds twice the food while foraging.

2nd level: expertise in Survival and Nature
Ranger an move stealthy at normal pace,

6th level: expertise in Perception and Stealth
Ranger is not slowed down by natural difficult terrain

10th level: Endurance training; ranger gets proficiency in Con saves.

 

[collin]

For my ranger character in a campaign that I've been playing, I had some discussions with the DM as to what we could do to make the ranger more effective and not get too power heavy. We settled on giving the character Hunter's Mark as an ability he could use x-number of times/day before needing to take a long rest to "recharge" and reuse the ability; the number and damage die go up based on the character's ranger level. That freed up a 1st level spell slot and seemed to help with making him more effective (at least in combat) without causing imbalance with the other characters and adversaries.

 

[Shadowdweller]

Would it break every game with an emphasis on outdoor exploration? Yes.

Yeah pretty much this. It renders outdoor exploration largely irrelevant.

How so, precisely? The only things I can personally think of that would potentially lessen the experience of outdoor exploration (let alone make it irrelevant) are 1) food issues...but those are already easily circumvented with spells like Goodberry or Create Food and Water...and 2) getting lost...which I'm not sure is all that hugely important as far as outdoor exploration goes (and is probably ALSO easily circumvented with spells). I don't know, if one is worried about that latter bit you could add the rider "does not get lost in non-magical terrain" to be able to selectively make it an issue; or take into account things like illusory terrain; fairy rings in dark, brooding forests; and/or oddly dizzying flatlands.

I mean, you can always call for a survival checks to avoid dangerous areas; nature to avoid poisonous or irritating plants; or perception/investigation to avoid traps and ambushes; or just include harsh weather and force the PCs to take appropriate actions to get a long rest in and avoid a level of exhaustion. Or, you know, come up with any number of interesting, qualitative, terrain-based challenges, features, or encounters for the PCs to interact with.

 

[GlassJaw]

I'm going to get rid of the terrain for Natural Explorer entirely (same with Favored Enemy). It's clear with the Revised Ranger and Class Features UA articles that WotC is moving away from requiring that kind of choice - and I agree 100%.

I would make a hybrid of the Deft Explorer feature in UA Class Features and add additional choices based on Natural Explorer from the Revised Ranger.

I also agree that the Ranger needs to get bonus proficiencies and/or expertise in Nature and Surival.