Spell-less Ranger Poultices tweaks

[Snig]

Hey guys, i'm tweaking the poultices ability given to the Spell-less Ranger to include Poisons. Someone on here gave me some great guidelines and it will look something like this.

Spoiler: Poisons

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At 3rd level, you can create special herbal pastes that have harmful effects comparable to some poisons. You can spend 1 hour gathering herbs and preparing pastes to create a number of doses equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1). At any one time, you can carry a number of doses equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1). The pastes you create cannot be applied by anyone but you. After 24 hours, any pastes that you have not used lose their potency.

You can spend 1 action*(bouns action?) applying one of your pastes to a melee weapon or three pieces of ammunition, thereby expending its use. The first time a creature is hit by that weapon or piece of ammunition, it takes 1d6 poison damage for every two ranger levels you have (rounded up). In addition it must make a Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 minute (poisoned condition can be found on page 293 of PHB) at the start of each of it's turns it can attempt a save to no longer be poisoned. If the poison is not delivered within 1 minute of being applied to the weapon, it dries up and loses its potency.

The save DC for this ability is equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + you Wisdom** modifier.

So now that i've added this feature along side poultices, I can choose either poisons or poultices when I spend an hour gathering. I can make any combination of poisons or poultices as long as the total doesn't exceed my Wis modifier. For example if I had 16 wis. I could spend an hour during a short rest and collect 1 poison and 2 poultices.

Now at level 9 the spell-less ranger gets another feature called "Natural Antivenom" that buffs their poultices to now be able to cure poison in addition to healing. So I've added a stronger version of poison. At level 9 instead of suffering the poison condition on a failed save, they now suffer the paralyzed condition on a failed save.

So tying this new feature into the spell-less ranger i've also made some other balances to the class. Instead of trading out spell-casting for the battle-master archetype at lvl 2, i'm replacing battle-master with beastmaster. I think most people would agree that this is a weaker archetype then the battle-master, so I feel like the tweaks I made to poultices should help shore up the loss of damage / utility i'm missing out on from battle-master.

Now I just need a catchy name to replace Poultices with!

Any feedback is welcome. Thanks guys!

[DiBastet]

Decotions?

[Snig]

I was wondering if someone could help me with balance on this. I modeled poisons to scale with poultices, which heal 1d6 for every two ranger levels. I'm thinking it would be acceptable to scale the poison damage the same way? That would put it very close to sneak attack in terms of scaling (poison is 6d6 at lvl 10, sneak attack is 6d6 at 11), but being usable a very limited number of times, I don't really see an issue.

Any thoughts?

[DiBastet]

Seems fine, no bigger damage than paladin smite.

[SouthpawSoldier]

Have you thought about lifting specific poisons from the DMG? There's a list of poisons that be inflicted via injury; maybe as the Ranger progresses, can create a wider ranger of toxins, for specific foes (synergy with Favored Enemy?) or targeting specific saves (hallucinogenics that target WIS, for example).

On a tangent, I've done the math on the Ranger's Poultices, since I'm in love with the concept. Is it just me, or is it beat out by the Healer feat? 1d6+Prof+1HD (target) vs 1d6/2Ranger Levels. Healing Kits are cheap, and provide more uses, though you're limited to one per target per day.

I've started/discussed this a few times in other threads; Ranger Poultices vs Healer feat vs Potion crafting. When I have a little more time, I'll share some Herbalism homebrew you may find useful. Found on a Reddit thread, it's a several page PDF with lists of ingredients, additional poisons, ways to incorporate crafting and foraging checks to find them, environment rules, etc.

[Snig]

Have you thought about lifting specific poisons from the DMG? There's a list of poisons that be inflicted via injury; maybe as the Ranger progresses, can create a wider ranger of toxins, for specific foes (synergy with Favored Enemy?) or targeting specific saves (hallucinogenics that target WIS, for example).

On a tangent, I've done the math on the Ranger's Poultices, since I'm in love with the concept. Is it just me, or is it beat out by the Healer feat? 1d6+Prof+1HD (target) vs 1d6/2Ranger Levels. Healing Kits are cheap, and provide more uses, though you're limited to one per target per day.

I've started/discussed this a few times in other threads; Ranger Poultices vs Healer feat vs Potion crafting. When I have a little more time, I'll share some Herbalism homebrew you may find useful. Found on a Reddit thread, it's a several page PDF with lists of ingredients, additional poisons, ways to incorporate crafting and foraging checks to find them, environment rules, etc.

I'd love to see what you've been working on. Very interested. Please keep me posted.

[SouthpawSoldier]

I'd love to see what you've been working on. Very interested. Please keep me posted.

Not all my work, just found a lot of it when trying to find something that worked.

Maybe include aspects of this discussion on herbalism/alchemy; or this supplement.

Spoiler: Method Comparison

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Method	HP	Frequency	Cost
Potions	2d4+2 [7]	Action to drink/apply; inventory	50g in shop; Craft 25g+8hr labor
Healer's Kit w/feat	1d6+4+Target's HD [7.5+HD]	Once per Target per Rest	5g/10 use kit
Poultice	1d6/2 Preparer Level (round up)*	WIS mod/day; takes one minute to apply, 1hr/day to resupply	Foraging/ DM discretion

*Starts at 3rd; avg 14hp, +7HP every odd level. At 9th level, removes one poison condition in addition to healing.

There's also this:

Spoiler: Eberron Artificer Potions

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Infuse Potions
Starting at 2nd level, you can produce magic potions. You spend 10 minutes focusing your magic on a vial
of mundane water and expend a spell slot to transform it into a potion. Once you have expended a spell
slot to create a potion, you cannot regain that slot until the potion is consumed or after 1 week, at which
time the potion loses its effectiveness. You can create up to three potions at a time; creating a fourth
potion causes the oldest currently active one to immediately lose its potency. If that potion has been
consumed, its effects immediately end.
The spell slot you expend determines the type of potion you can create. See chapter 7 of the Dungeon
Master’s Guide for complete rules on potions.
Spell Slot Potion Created
1st Climbing, growth, or healing
2nd Mind reading or greater healing
3rd Invisibility, superior healing, or water breathing
4th Resistance