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View Full Version : D&D 3.x Other Alternate Ranger Class Features: Enchanted Archery



gooddragon1
2020-01-01, 09:43 PM
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Tsunamiatunzen1
2020-01-02, 06:51 AM
Question, under Penetrating Arrow you have the line:

Any arrow that hits an enemy with damage reduction ignores up to 2 points of that damage reduction.
Yet a following line seems to contradict this statement.

Penetrating arrows are not treated as magical for the purpose of bypassing damage reduction or striking incorporeal creatures.

By my reading, this would allow a Ranger to bypass dr/adamantine, epic, silver, good, or bludgeoning. However, it would be completely negated by something as common as dr/magic.
Could I get more clarification on this?
I do like the way you're going with this, though losing favored enemy can hurt since it provides good bonuses against those specific enemies whether d&d or pathfinder.

Tsunamiatunzen1
2020-01-02, 03:26 PM
It will still work against dr/magic, but it won't completely bypass it automatically.

If an enemy has dr 10/magic and you're a 5th level ranger, you'll ignore 4 points of that, but not all of it (unless you're packing a +1 bow). I'll try to adjust the wording to make it more clear.

Also, it's a tradeoff, but probably a worthwhile one for archers.

Edit: Strangely, one less word seems to make it clearer.

OK, that does help. I would maybe suggest including the example you gave in the original post. I still had to reread it a couple of times to understand it.

Also, the bow of might seems to lose power pretty quick compared to the animal companion and it's not too expensive to get a composite bow of the required strength score. I'm a bit concerned this one won't be relevant at later levels.

Just to Browse
2020-01-07, 12:45 AM
This ACF seems like it makes the gameplay of rangers more linear & combat-focused, which I'm not a huge fan of. Most of the rangers out-of-combat contributions come in the form of: spells (many of which get used as utility), animal synergies & animal companion, tracking, and favored enemies. This ACF removes a big chunk of those abilities in exchange for combat improvements, which doesn't seem right. Making bows composite also encourages a very specific Dex/Wis/Str statline that feels a little "on-rails" for my taste. I know the intended goal here is to focus the ranger on archery, but I want to bring up my concerns here in case it sparks some ideas.

My second note on this is that the animal companion replacement is pretty weak. It starts off weaker than an animal companion and it scales worse than an animal companion as well. If you're looking for bonus damage, I think a raw damage bonus is a better way to go here.

I think the second effect would actually work better as direct enhancement bonus (like greater magic weapon) considering the Ranger's lower damage & defense. I think that sort of effect would also make some more interesting Ranger builds, because it lets Rangers go prioritize non-bonus enhancements on their bows.