Some quick ranger questions from my campaign? 1. How good is lightning arrow? 2.....

[djreynolds]

A new ranger in my campaign has some questions.

1. How good is lightning arrow?

Obviously by the time I get this spell, level 8 or so, I have my extra attack.

Now the spell is bonus action to cast that lasts for a minute, but once fired anywhere in that 60 second/ 10 round window it is used up.

I can shoot or even toss a dagger or hand axe, and the spell happens and I get some damage also from the arrow or thrown object.

But do I get my second attack still? This is still technically a spell. Would I have to shoot a normal arrow first, then bonus action cast lightning arrow, and then shoot the second arrow with its lightning effects.

2. Hunter's mark, and hex affects all of my attacks versus that opponent, 1 attack, extra attack, and perhaps bonus attack. Yes? And even an AoO, if he decides he's taken enough of a beating and decides to turn tail.

3. When taking the dodge action, is this the whole action, does it just replace the attack action and thus still allow movement before, and do characters still receive a reaction and bonus action if they have one that does not necessitate a "trigger" such as off-hand strike and pole arm master require you use the attack action to get this bonus action attack.

[TheFlyingCleric]

1: Casting the spell takes a bonus action. It then activates when you make a ranged weapon attack. Activating it does not involve 'cast a spell action'; rather, you take the 'attack action' and the first weapon attack is affected by the spell. Otherwise, it's a normal attack action and you can make extra attacks as normal.
It will also activate when you make 'ranged weapon attacks' without taking the 'attack action'; e.g. AoO's.

2: Yes, they affect all of your weapon attacks. Note the concentration requirement however; you can only have one of those spells running at a time.

3: Dodge is an action that is always available to every character. It only consumes your action; your bonus actions & reactions remain free. As for bonus actions, they willalways state any conditions for when they can be used; For example, War-Domain Clerics have war priest, letting them make a weapon attack as a bonus action; but only if they took the 'attack action'. This means that if they took the dodge action instead of the attack action, they would not be able to use war priest on that turn.

[TundraBuccaneer]

1. pretty damn good, hit 1 guy hard and his buddies in front of him a swell. Also you use your bonus action to make a arrow magical. Then you use your action as normal, so yes you can make multi attack.
2. hunters mark and hex activate on hit. So ask did I hit it then yes it applies. Also note hunters mark only works on weapons.
3. If I understand you correctly, you are looking for this.
Two-Weapon Fighting
When you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon that you’re holding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different light melee weapon that you’re holding in the other hand. You don’t add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus attack, unless that modifier is negative. If either weapon has the thrown property, you can throw the weapon, instead of making a melee attack with it.

To make it more clear yes you need to take the attack action to make a attack as a bonus action when you dual wield or with the pole-arm master feat.

I hope this helped

[JellyPooga]

1) I don't rate Lightning Arrow. The AoE isn't awful, but the damage is...subpar. I know it's a case of having limited spell access and it's one of the better single-target spells a Ranger has access to, but it means giving up Concentration for an effect that's half as good (in pretty much every respect) as Fireball, also a lvl.3 spell.

Compared to Conjure Animals, Protection from Energy and Wind Wall, Lightning Arrow just doesn't have a space in my arsenal because at 9th+ level, you need to make every spell count and it just doesn't do enough to make it worth bothering with. Not for a 3rd lvl slot.

If you could get it on another classes list (Warlock, Sorcerer and Tempest Cleric come to mind), it becomes a bit of a different beast, but for a straight Ranger? I say "pass".

[djreynolds]

1) I don't rate Lightning Arrow. The AoE isn't awful, but the damage is...subpar. I know it's a case of having limited spell access and it's one of the better single-target spells a Ranger has access to, but it means giving up Concentration for an effect that's half as good (in pretty much every respect) as Fireball, also a lvl.3 spell.

Compared to Conjure Animals, Protection from Energy and Wind Wall, Lightning Arrow just doesn't have a space in my arsenal because at 9th+ level, you need to make every spell count and it just doesn't do enough to make it worth bothering with. Not for a 3rd lvl slot.

If you could get it on another classes list (Warlock, Sorcerer and Tempest Cleric come to mind), it becomes a bit of a different beast, but for a straight Ranger? I say "pass".

We have a melee beast master, and he is looking to use a hand axe or dagger and have his beast do the work after he has softened them up with a lightning axe/dagger.

But you are correct, it seems pricy and "occasional" in its usage, almost if it was designed for an ambush, and in most games, for me, its us the players getting ambushed.