[lights a candle] Oh, you’re still here? I’m glad for that! I
haven’t keep this tower properly maintained. Sorry, I was busy facing the most
horrendous and Challenge Rating scored beast ever - Real Life! Man, that’s a
lost fight, but we have to fight it. To complicate matters, I must confess that I
named this tower most adequately, as I see myself (again) without victims (i.e. players). So, here I'm back again to fill you with cantankerous monotone diatribes. Hope you enjoy them, dear delver!
So… Rangers for everyone's favorite second take on D&D!
OK, if the Ranger is following its tradition there are probably A LOT
of homemade 5E Rangers out there already. I actually like the official Ranger
quite enough, however I also believe that class features like Favored Enemy and
Natural Terrain are a pain in the ass, because they limit the character to
certain parts of the campaign setting (I’m tired of seeing the disappointment
on a player’s face when the party leave his Natural Terrain). So, here is so
far my “homemade” Ranger.
Except where noted, everything in the Player’s Handbook is kept.
Favored Enemy:
1) If you want something simple and direct:
Remove Favored Enemy and replace it with Hunter’s Mark. Now, that is a
1st level class feature. For simplicity’s sake keep all the mechanics in place.
It still requires a bonus action to activate and concentration but it isn’t a
spell (actually, in my opinion, stuff
like Hunter’s Mark for the Ranger and Compelled Duel for the Paladin aren’t
true spells but “hidden” class features, which I deeply hate because I prefer a
more “open” approach to game design, like 13th Age).
2) If you still like something more crunchy for Favored Enemy:
Beginning at 1st level, you have significant experience
studying, tracking, hunting and even talking to a certain type of enemy.
As a free action, choose a type of favored enemy and declare that
you’ve been studying their lore and tactics: aberrations, beasts, celestiais,
constructs, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, giants, monstrosities, oozes,
plants, or undead. Alternatively, you can select two races of humanoid, such as
gnolls or orcs (and no, you don’t have to choose both races at the same time).
You have advantage on Ability checks related to or against your favored
enemy.
You have advantage on Damage Rolls against your favored enemy. If you
use the Help action to instruct an ally to attack a favored enemy, you can
grant advantage to your ally next Damage Roll against the favored enemy.
If you don’t speak their language (and if they have one), you can
understand the basic meaning of what they’re saying and also keep a simple
conversation (the DM might allow you an Ability check, perhaps with
disadvantage, to decipher runes, written messages or more complex
conversation). If you know their language, the DM might grant you advantage for
tasks like reading lips.
You keep your current favored enemy until you use Downtime to study a
new favored enemy and switch your tactics. To choose a new favored enemy you
must have access to information about them or have survived at least one combat
against them (as always, DM’s call).
Natural Terrain: use the Unearthed Arcana’s Revised Ranger class feature.
