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View Full Version : Faerie Irregular: A Very Irregular Ranger Subclass (PEACH)



sandmote
2018-12-14, 03:50 PM
The Faerie Irregular on the Homebrewery (https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/SkZChwiYJE)

I've been trying to set up a subclass with effects from the warlock. I realize this is thematically close to the Archfey Patron, but think the overall effect is distinct.


Eldritch Gift
When you reach 3rd level, you are granted power from your connection to the fey, and gain an eldritch invocation of your choice. When you reach 7th, 12th and 18th levels, you gain additional invocations of your choice. When you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the invocations you know and replace it with another invocation that you could learn at that level.

This does not come from a patron, and does not grant any boon. The level prerequisite for any Invocation is doubled, but uses your ranger level instead of your warlock level. Invocations that allow you to cast a spell using a warlock spell slot can be cast from any spell slot of a level equal to or higher than the spell being cast, and Wisdom is your spellcasting stat for all spells you gain from eldritch invocations.
You'll have half the Invocation a warlock has, and the ones the Faerie Irregular gets are the more generic, typically less powerful options.


Wild Power
At 3rd level, The first time you hit a creature with a weapon attack each turn, your attack pierces into your targets mind. The resulting pain deals an additional 1d6 psychic damage to your target.

You also regain a 1st level spell slot after each short rest. At 11th level, this increases to 2 1st level spell slots.
I think this is about in line with the other ranger subclasses.


Fey Nature
By 7th level, you are imbued with the unpredictable nature of the fey. You can Dodge as a Bonus Action. You also learn the druidcraft cantrip or a different druid cantrip if you already know it. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this cantrip.


Occult Archery
At 11th level, when you loose a shortbow, longbow, hand crossbow, light crossbow, or heavy crossbow, the ammunition from that weapon is imbued with the terrifying power of the feywilds. On a hit, the target must make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, that creature is frightened of you until the end of your next turn.
A status effect, in order to not grant this subclass any more raw power. So it's an in-combat benefit that doesn't grant way more damage than existing subclasses for the ranger.


Charm Survival
At 15th level, your ability with mind altering effects has grown. When a creature makes a melee weapon attack against you, you can use your reaction to interfere with their attack. That creature must make a wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. Being charmed grants disadvantage on this saving throw.

On a failure, the creature must choose a new target or lose the attack and is no longer charmed. On a success, the creature can make the attack normally, and becomes immune to this effect for 1 hour or until becomes charmed by any effect that it was not under when it made the saving throw.
It's slightly modified from the original (see below) but still grants a defensive ability without interfering with Fey Nature. High Magic has been weakened and rolled into Wild Power.

Eldritch Gift
When you reach 3rd level, you gain an eldritch invocation of your choice. When you reach 7th, 12th and 18th levels, you gain additional invocations of your choice. Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the invocations you know and replace it with another invocation that you could learn at that level.

You can't gain any Eldritch Invocations that have a pact boon or patron as a prerequisite. The level prerequisite for any Invocation is doubled, but uses your ranger level instead of your warlock level. Invocations that allow you to cast a spell using a warlock spell slot can be cast from any spell slot of a level equal to or higher than the spell being cast, and Wisdom is your spellcasting stat for all spells you gain from eldritch invocations.

Wild Power
At 3rd level, The first time you hit a creature with a weapon attack each turn, that attack deals an additional 1d6 psychic damage.

Fey Nature
By 7th level, you are imbued with the unpredictable nature of the fey. You can Dodge as a Bonus Action. You also learn the druidcraft cantrip or a different druid cantrip if you already know it. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this cantrip.

Occult Archery
At 11th level, when you hit a target with a shortbow, longbow, hand crossbow, light crossbow, or heavy crossbow, the target must make an additional Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, that creature is frightened of you until the end of your next turn.

High Magic
At 15th level, you gain two additional level 1 spell slots that you regain when you finish a short or long rest.

cesius
2018-12-15, 06:03 PM
Overall I like it a lot. I only have one suggestion. I get the reasoning behind High Magic, but it's kind of underwhelming to me at that point. I think it would have more impact, and give bit more of the pact-y feel earlier (I couldn't quite tell if you were aiming for that feel or just warlock effects so I apologize if it's the opposite of what your intent is), if it was themed into Wild Power. What do you think of:


Wild Power
At 3rd level, you gain one level 1 spell slot that you regain when you finish a short or long rest.

I think it's on par with an extra d6 damage on an attack per turn. If you'd like to keep the 'don't worry about running out of Hunter's Mark' thing for level 15 then perhaps connect it to Fey Nature and Occult Archery? Something along the lines of, "You can use a reaction to cast Hunter's Mark as a first level spell without expending a spell slot choosing a creature who has just missed you if they had Disadvantage," as Dodge and Frightened give Disadvantage to attacks. The fickle nature of it (or the time to set it up) helps keep it from being too much in my mind.

The Cats
2018-12-15, 06:46 PM
Missed a golden opportunity with the tagline. Faerie Irregular: A Fairly irregular Ranger Subclass

I'm not big on rangers but this looks solid to me balance-wise. Doesn't feel like a very cohesive identity though. As in: There's not a lot relating the different abilities to each other. Cesius's idea would link them a little better mechanically at least but there's not much of a strong thematic link either.

It's clear you're going for a fey-connection here but I'm not seeing it. Here you have some warlock stuff, then psychic damage, then speed and druid magic, then fear, then extra magic. Very little of that screams 'fey.'


I'll state a couple things about wording in the abilities since their effects all look good to me.

Eldritch Gift You don't have to state you can't take an invocation with a boon/patron prerequisite. It's a given since you don't have a boon/patron. Also you use 'additional' and 'additionally' in close succession. Could replace one with a synonym to make it read nicer.

Occult Archery Why not just say 'projectile weapons.' 'Additional' is unnecessary and implies they should have been making an original saving throw (it had me scanning the page for what forces the first save the first time I read it).

High Magic As written they start the day with the two extra slots in place, as opposed to refreshing used slots when they rest. Long as that's intentional.

All that said I'd probably let my players use this class, just fluff it however they want. It's a solid subclass (as far as I can tell. Like I said not big up on rangers), just doesn't evoke the kind of images the name represents to me.

sandmote
2018-12-15, 09:06 PM
Overall I like it a lot. I only have one suggestion. I get the reasoning behind High Magic, but it's kind of underwhelming to me at that point. I think it would have more impact, and give bit more of the pact-y feel earlier (I couldn't quite tell if you were aiming for that feel or just warlock effects so I apologize if it's the opposite of what your intent is), if it was themed into Wild Power. What do you think of:



I think it's on par with an extra d6 damage on an attack per turn. If you'd like to keep the 'don't worry about running out of Hunter's Mark' thing for level 15 then perhaps connect it to Fey Nature and Occult Archery? Something along the lines of, "You can use a reaction to cast Hunter's Mark as a first level spell without expending a spell slot choosing a creature who has just missed you if they had Disadvantage," as Dodge and Frightened give Disadvantage to attacks. The fickle nature of it (or the time to set it up) helps keep it from being too much in my mind.

That's fairly reasonable, although I'm not sure what to grant at 15th level.


I'm not big on rangers but this looks solid to me balance-wise. Doesn't feel like a very cohesive identity though. As in: There's not a lot relating the different abilities to each other. Cesius's idea would link them a little better mechanically at least but there's not much of a strong thematic link either.

It's clear you're going for a fey-connection here but I'm not seeing it. Here you have some warlock stuff, then psychic damage, then speed and druid magic, then fear, then extra magic. Very little of that screams 'fey.'

As far as I can tell, fey are tied to nature themed abilities, fear effects, charm effects, teleportation/tricky escape, illusion and to archery. Beside a bonus spell list, I'm not sure what to do to bring the subclass closer to the theme. Which I'm okay adding, I'm just wondering what you might think would scream 'fey.'


Eldritch Gift You don't have to state you can't take an invocation with a boon/patron prerequisite. It's a given since you don't have a boon/patron. Also you use 'additional' and 'additionally' in close succession. Could replace one with a synonym to make it read nicer.
I want to make that first point clear. Would "This feature grants you neither a patron nor a pact boon" work better?


Occult Archery Why not just say 'projectile weapons.' 'Additional' is unnecessary and implies they should have been making an original saving throw (it had me scanning the page for what forces the first save the first time I read it).
Doesn't that include the sling? If the list is an issue, I'd rather drop the crossbows.


High Magic As written they start the day with the two extra slots in place, as opposed to refreshing used slots when they rest. Long as that's intentional.

All that said I'd probably let my players use this class, just fluff it however they want. It's a solid subclass (as far as I can tell. Like I said not big up on rangers), just doesn't evoke the kind of images the name represents to me.
having two extra spell slots was intentional, but I think I prefer cesius' suggestion.

Given that I am effectively dropping High Magic, it might be worth granting a teleportation effect and/or enchantment effect at 15th level.

sandmote
2018-12-17, 03:41 PM
Would the following work as a replacement for High Magic?


Charm Survival
At 15th level, your ability with mind altering effects has grown. When a creature makes a melee weapon attack against you, you can use your reaction to interfere with their attack. That creature must make a wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. Being charmed grants disadvantage on this saving throw.

On a failure, the creature must choose a new target or lose the attack. On a success, the creature can make the attack normally, and becomes immune to this effect for 1 hour.

I think grant's another of the fey's traditional abilities without interfering with dodging as a bonus action.

The Cats
2018-12-17, 05:54 PM
As far as I can tell, fey are tied to nature themed abilities, fear effects, charm effects, teleportation/tricky escape, illusion and to archery. Beside a bonus spell list, I'm not sure what to do to bring the subclass closer to the theme. Which I'm okay adding, I'm just wondering what you might think would scream 'fey.'
I was trying to figure out where the teleportation/illusion was coming from but realized it's in the invocations. The reason i have a problem with thinking of invocations as fey-themed: When i think Invocations I think of stuff like Tomb of Levitistus, fiendish vigor, Devil Sight, etc. There are plenty of invocations that are fey-ish, but also a bunch that just really don't fit. Maybe if you specified which invocations can be chosen instead of throwing them all in the pile?

I've never considered archery Fey-like but I guess elves were the original fairies, and all the other mechanics you have listed are things that fey do so I guess my initial reaction was a little off-base (still think the psychic damage came out of nowhere though).

I think what tripped me up was a lack of fluff. You explain the mechanics very well but there is no attempt to weave the mechanics in with the theme. How does a connection with the feywild let you deal psychic damage? Why are creatures afraid of your arrows?



I want to make that first point clear. Would "This feature grants you neither a patron nor a pact boon" work better?
Either works fine. I think it's pretty clear without needing to state it though.



Doesn't that include the sling? If the list is an issue, I'd rather drop the crossbows.
Oh right, the sling. This was just a suggestion to cut down the word count a little, not a big issue either way. Maybe state "Any bow or crossbow"?

sandmote
2018-12-17, 09:57 PM
I was trying to figure out where the teleportation/illusion was coming from but realized it's in the invocations.
Actually I was listing what I consider generic fey abilities; it isn't all available as part of this subclass. But I was aiming for the other abilities to not overlap with the invocations, which is why those are the effects that the subclass doesn't get.


The reason i have a problem with thinking of invocations as fey-themed: When i think Invocations I think of stuff like Tomb of Levitistus, fiendish vigor, Devil Sight, etc. There are plenty of invocations that are fey-ish, but also a bunch that just really don't fit. Maybe if you specified which invocations can be chosen instead of throwing them all in the pile?
A lot of the invocations (including the ones you've listed) really only get interfered with by the fluff. There's nothing stopping you from reflufing them however much you need. I don't feel the need to bother with Fiendish Vigor or Devil's Sight, but would probably tie Tomb of Levistus to some sort of winter effect.

More relevantly, I want to have a lot of options available as part of Eldritch Gift. Fey have a lot of disparate abilities, and I want some part of the subclass to reflect that. I think limiting to certain Invocations will take away from that.


I think what tripped me up was a lack of fluff. You explain the mechanics very well but there is no attempt to weave the mechanics in with the theme. How does a connection with the feywild let you deal psychic damage? Why are creatures afraid of your arrows?

Oh right, the sling. This was just a suggestion to cut down the word count a little, not a big issue either way. Maybe state "Any bow or crossbow"?

I'll attempt to add fluff, although I'm not going to pretend to have any skill writing it.

The Cats
2018-12-17, 11:19 PM
XD hey man, sometimes a couple sentences is all it takes.

Charm Survival if the target is charmed but passes the save even with the disadvantage, do they not get immunity since they're already charmed, or do you have to re-charm them?

sandmote
2018-12-18, 12:00 AM
Charm Survival if the target is charmed but passes the save even with the disadvantage, do they not get immunity since they're already charmed, or do you have to re-charm them?

I think I've changed the language so that it makes sense and says they need to become charmed again, but i'm not sure which option would actually work better. I'm not sure being able to use charm survival every turn against a charmed opponent isn't overpowered.