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View Full Version : Favoured Enemy Re-Training



Ashtagon
2010-05-24, 04:09 AM
Favoured Enemy Re-Training: Each morning, a ranger may choose to re-train his list of favoured enemies. He choose one favoured enemy type that he encountered in the previous 24 hours. His bonus against this favoured enemy type increases by +2. He must then reduce his bonus against his other favoured enemy types to restore the total bonuses to the pattern outlined in the class progression table. No bonus can be reduced by more than -2 each time favoured enemies are re-trained in this way.

For the purposes of this ability, an encounter is either three consecutive rounds of attack actions by or against that creature type (and subtype, if appropriate), or one minute of peaceful interaction or observation.

Favoured enemy re-training cannot be used to re-train favoured enemy bonuses received from other classes. However, those classes may have their own options for re-training their favoured enemy bonuses.

Example: Roderick the 5th level ranger has a +4 favoured enemy bonus against dragons and a +2 favoured enemy bonus against magical beasts. He just fought a giant, part of an advance raiding party. He knows more of them are on the way. After a night's rest, he re-trains his favoured enemy bonus to +2 against giants, losing the bonus against magical beasts. On day two, he seeks out more giants, but does not find the rest of their clan. He can't improve his bonus against giants in the following morning. On day three, however, he fights another giant. The following morning, he can increase his bonus against giants to +4. His bonus against dragons, previously +4, drops to +2, restoring the +4/+2 pattern allowed for a 5th level ranger.

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One thing that always bugged me about favoured enemy is how circumstantial it is. You either get a nice bonus, or else it is utterly irrelevant. And a decision made once every five class levels is one you are stuck with basically forever. Making this re-trainable as a matter of routine fixes that.

Altair_the_Vexed
2010-05-24, 07:32 AM
I like this, it makes sense, and it boosts a martial class, which is always good.

For fluff and verisimilitude - and for a measure of DM control - I'd add in an hour of study as part of the retraining.
If it takes a Wizard an hour to learn how to make the fabric of the universe roll over and obey her every whim, then a Ranger should be able to figure out something exploitable about the fighting style of a giant in the same time.