Min/Max Boards

Yeah, I really like how this is shaping up.

Adding in a HP limit is nice because it means you don't have to buff a monsters' saves to let it get through, which could potentially make it "immune" to other PC abilities as well. Instead, you can either add a few HP to one monster, or just throw out a bigger horde to soak up the effect--ensuring that the number of enemies you want the party to fight still get through, but the player isn't left feeling like they wasted a turn on an ability that didn't do anything.

The player in question is supposed to be part of a special order of divinely-trained monster hunters, so it makes sense they might know of a few anti-undead tricks that aren't widely known. I do think I'm going to make this an item, rather than a class feature, so other divine casters could potentially make it if they knew the formula.

Hmm, something tells me it's time to start looking at the magic item guidelines in the DMG. Hopefully there's actually something there besides "the 5e devs don't think your players should have magic items, so we didn't write rules for making them."

Thanks for the input guys!

Actually, one of my friends did most of the alchemist discoveries. I think my only contributions there were the Greater Tanglefoot Bag and all the ones at the bottom patterned off the Mephistopheles Kiss invocation. Haven't even begun looking at 5th level spells for the artificer list yet, mainly because there's so much on my plate already and 17th level is quite a ways off.

I'm not that concerned about Strong Arm breaking the conventions for thrown weapon range because to my mind, alchemist formulas are more like reskinned cantrips with better scaling. You don't track weight or ammunition, you just keep using them at-will so long as you have your spell component pouch alchemist's satchel. As cantrips, 30' is absurdly poor range, and alchemists don't get any other offensive abilities or spells so they really need something to make up the difference. I might consider dropping Strong Arm down to 60' or re-fluffing it as a special alchemist's slingshot for the sake of verisimilitude, though.

Will definitely consider those suggestions about Agonizing Alchemy, Swift Alchemy, and Greater Swiftstride.

As for Sacred Ward, I did skim through the books looking for similar spells to use for reference but apparently missed Hallow? I remember it from earlier editions but didn't see it in this one. Looking it up though, Hallow is massively more powerful than Sacred Ward. It's got twice the radius, is permanent until dispelled, works on bunch of other creatures types instead of just undead, doesn't offer a save, and has a ton of extra effects added on. Sacred Ward is literally just Turn Undead (a second level ability) with a longer duration and activation time.

I do agree I might have "underpriced" Sacred Ward, though. The duration is increased a lot more than the casting time, and the fact that it doesn't use resources could be an issue if someone decides to spend their downtime plastering these all over town. I wouldn't say it's anywhere near equivalent to a 5th level spell, but it definitely needs something else to balance it down if I want to keep it in the same ballpark as Turn Undead.

Ironically, thanks to some input from the player I'm going to have to start over on that one anyway.

The concept we're going for now is for the ability to craft a kind of divinely-infused incense that wards against undead... (Like a citronella candle for zombies) ...with the downside that breathing it for too long can have unfortunate consequences on the living as well.

Basically, they're Holy Smokes that gives you the Holy Sh--s.

This version's going to be a little tougher to balance. The side effects are intended to discourage using it for extended periods, but it's only a matter of time before someone tries to weaponize that "drawback." Add to the fact that an ongoing Turning effect usable as an action is flat out better than Turn Undead, and I really wanted to keep these abilities roughly equivalent. The player has said they'd like it to be something they could craft during downtime and give out to other people (like town guards), but that isn't an absolute requirement. They're also okay with having it require spell slots to use, so maybe a ritual spell that can be cast in combat or done as a ritual between fights, that infuses a stick of incense with this effect? I think I'd definitely prefer this be something like a spell or a craftable than a class feature, because I'd feel weird having it be something only the custom monster-hunter class I'm making can do and not, for example, Clerics--who basically specialize in this kind of thing.

Honestly I could use some suggestions, because I'm a little out of brain at the moment.

First thing that jumps out at me:

Burning Hex uses a bonus action to deal Chamod fire damage to the target of your Hexblade Curse.

Chilling Hex uses a bonus action to deal Chamod cold damage to every enemy within 5ft of your Hexblade Curse.

One is strictly better than the other, methinks. Also, might need clarification on whether Chilling Hex also affects the target of your Hexblade Curse. They are technically "within" 5ft of themselves, but the wording is ambiguous.

Not sure about Gunslinger, but Alchemist definitely needs something to be viable at later levels. A handfull of super-cantrips does not make for a balanced class.

Maybe add a some spells to their list and re-fluff them as limited use alchemical concoctions/devices?

Food for thought. It's always good to know where the stress points are when building something.

For my group, I think we're all fine with ranger+companion being a little OP, especially if it means the ranger by themselves isn't left feeling like a 5th wheel. I can always just throw another monster at the party for the beast to munch on to balance things out.

Besides, I'm going to have to deal with all of this again when the Artificer gets their clockwork pal up and running.

I'm more exaggerating for effect than arguing from ignorance.

Though I should point out that companions don't lose abilities like pounce or trample so you can still get multiple attacks per round with a companion, just not quite as reliably as you could with multiattack. Also, companions add your proficiency bonus to damage rolls in addition to their ability score modifier.

At 3rd level that makes a wolf or bear companion's damage roughly equal to a ranger with a crossbow, assuming the ranger has an 18 dex. A panther companion will do roughly 1.5x this on a pounce.

The Ranger can burn spells to increase their damage, at best getting extra d6 for three encounters out of the day, which is about half of what the DMG recommends they face. And on average, the panther still does slightly more damage on a pounce.

This gets worse as you level up, because the companion gets the same ability score increases as the ranger, has farther to go before it caps out at 20, and the proficiency bonus keeps going up as well. Granted, the ranger also gets some better spells to crank up their damage output, but those are still only usable a limited number of times.

By the time you hit level 20, the ranger gets one attack for 1d10+5 to their companion's two attacks doing 2d4+11 each. If it's a panther or there are multiple enemies within 5ft, the companion can get even more attacks--up to the number of adjacent enemies +1 If the ranger has feats, (and that is "if", since feats are an optional rule in 5e) they can get up to two attacks at 1d6+15, which is only five points more than the companion does on average. Using spells, it looks like Beast Conclave Rangers cap out at an average of 70 points (2d6+30+6d10) in a single round using Crossbow Expert, Sharpshooter, and Hail of Thorns cast with a 5th level slot. That's a little over twice what their companion can deal on average to a single target, but the ranger can only do that twice a day.

It is worth noting that while the companion can get in a lot more attacks if it's surrounded, each of those additional attacks have to target a different creature. Since Hail of Thorns deals damage over the same radius (5ft), the ranger has a higher theoretical damage output under ideal conditions. But still only twice a day compared to the companion's at-will impersonation of a furry blender.

Thanks for the feedback, TenaciousJ. That's definitely helpful in figuring out how to do this. As for using spell slots with MI, that's something I might houserule anyway, as I'm not a fan of some classes getting an advantage that other's don't merely because of a trick of wording. Still not sure about the prepared vs spells known thing, it just seems like Rangers suffer from a lack of really good spell options, which makes their limited selection bite them even harder than it does, say, the Paladin. Being able to choose your loadout based on what you expect to encounter could somewhat make up for their spells being more situationally useful in the first place.

As for dip-bait, that's less of a concern with my group. We're all relatively new to 5e, and there's not a lot of aggressive optimization going on. If anything, part of why I'm reworking the ranger is because that player doesn't want to have to juggle multiple classes to make their concept work. Though it is something to consider if I decide to post the class for larger consumption.

I will say though, you kind of have to look at the ranger and their companion seperately--because the players will. Having most of your combat capability come from your pet may be "balanced" in the overall sense, but from the player's perspective it just makes their character seem even more nerfed and useless. Instead of getting shown up by the rest of the party, now they're being shown up by the rest of the party, and their own animal companion.

You don't pick the ranger class to hide behind a pet in combat, that's a summoner's schtick. (A playstyle that seems mostly unsupported in 5e.) People pick the ranger class because they want to play a badass hunter--not a badass hunter's sidekick, which is what Beast Conclave turns you into.

So I'm working on a rework of the 5e Ranger class. Yeah, I know, me and everybody else. (Including WOTC  ) I'm still fairly new to 5e, so I thought I'd post my ideas here and get some input from people with a better undestanding of the system.

Some background:
I'm going to be running my first game of 5e soon, and one of my players expressed an interest in playing a beastmaster ranger. Of course, we quickly realized the PHB ranger sucks, and honestly the UA Beast Conclave version fixed the wrong problems: Their companion animal kicks ass but the ranger themselves still sucks in combat.

The concept we're going for is a Van Helsing/Diablo 3/Hansel and Gretel style sneaky, crossbow wielding monster hunter, but with an animal companion that serves as a mount and helps in combat. (Without overshadowing the ranger.) Obviously, this is probably going to involve tweaking the base class as well as the Archetype.

My current ideas:

• Turn Hunters Mark into a class feature - Sort of like the UA Way of Tranquility Monk's ability to use Sanctuary. Make it useable once per minute, with the duration scaled to your class level. (So it lasts for 8 hrs when you get access to 3rd level spell slots, and 24 hrs when you get access to 5th level slots.) Also, make it not require the ranger's concentration, so they can actually use their spells while it's up.
• Give Rangers the ability to cast their ritual spells as rituals - not sure how many ritual spells are on the ranger list offhand, but being able to put up Alarm over the campsite at night without blowing a spell slot would be nifty.
• Switch ranger over to a preperation model rather than "spells known", like the rest of the divine spellcasters, giving them some more flexibility.
  
• Tweak the animal companion so it works more like a ritual version of the Paladin's Find Steed spell, (ie: You summon a fey or celestial beast spirit, and re-summon the same spirit if it is 'killed.')
• Limit the companion to serving as a mount and taking the Help action. - It can give you advantage on attack rolls in combat, and advantage on things like perception checks out of combat, but doesn't actually maul things for you unless you're not there or incapacitated.
• Maybe add an upgrade at higher levels that lets the companion actually attack.
• Maybe give the companion Powerful Build so a medium character can still use their companion as a mount without requiring it to be Large, since Large companions are a pain to take with you on dungeon delves.
• Add some Paladin-style damage dealing capabilities (Divine Smite?, some of the Smite spells?) so the ranger isn't relegated to being a glorified wilderness guide.
• Let the ranger craft holy water, like a Cleric/Paladin can.
• Add a couple extra tool proficiencies, representing the ranger's self-sufficient outlook and survival training. (IE: Grabbing proficiency with Smith's, Leatherworker's, or Woodcarver's tools so they can craft and repair some of their own gear.)

At this point, I'm so far "outside the lines" that I'm not really sure how much of these changes to make or how to structure them. The game is set to start at 3rd, so ideally the main features should be online by then, other than that I could really use some feedback/ideas on how to proceed. Or, if anybody knows of an existing hombrew that already does what mine is trying to do, maybe point me in that direction so I don't waste a bunch of time trying to reinvent the wheel?

Thanks in advance.

Sorry about your grandma, Jack. I think I'll hold off posting the latest installment of my banking woes for now.

So apparently the bank has decided to 'hold' the SSI disability check I deposited, despite their clearly stated policy that deposits made inside the bank during regular business hours are immediately posted to the account and made available.

I could have used this opportunity to finally tell Wells Fargo to fuck off, but I needed to pay rent and buy food and this was the faster than trying to find a new bank or cashing the check at WalMart and having them charge me a fee.

Instead, not only do I not have access to my money, Wells Fargo is telling me that if any charges go through they'll hit me with overdraft fees despite the fact that I just put over $800 dollars into the account and never agreed to have 'overdraft protection' added to it in the first place.

Now I'm down with a cold, and can't pay my rent, bills, or buy food because Wells Fargo just STOLE my fucking disability check and are dicking around trying to decide how much of it they feel like giving back!