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  1. - Top - End - #1
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    Default Ranger Features: Favored Quarry & Favored Terrain

    Ranger is often considered lackluster, and while this is supposedly fixed by the subclasses having more meat to them (with some being better than others), part of what I think makes them disappointing is that their level 1 features that set them apart from other fighter-like classes are focused on the Exploration pillar, but neither that pillar or their mechanics are terribly well-supported by gameplay. A common thing throughout D&D editions has been situational bonuses and perks. Sometimes, these work well, especially if the situation comes up a lot. Favored Enemy and Favored Terrain (in 5e, Favored Terrain was called Natural Explorer) have always been slight problems, ever since they counted as features to balance against other classes, but remained situational, so other classes have more useful features all the time while these remain situational and still not too powerful.

    The 5e versions of these are even weaker.

    They have flavor, but they amount to ribbons in most cases. Even when they are overwhelmingly useful (e.g. Natural Explorer with a focus on forests in Chult negating much of the risk of travel and exploration), they feel "minor" because they happen in the space that is glossed over, and make it even easier to gloss over rather than feeling like you're engaging the game.

    So, I propose the following optional features for the Ranger, either to replace or work along side Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer. The theme I'm working with here is to try to have largely universally-applicable features that are based notionally on the kinds of creatures and terrains you're good at engaging with. Ideally they give unique abilities or unique ways to enable them, but at the least should be useful almost every session.

    I am not 100% sure on the balance, and am open to other suggestions, either for tweaks or entirely different feature options for the various entries.

    Favored Quarry
    (Level 1 Ranger Optional Feature; Enhances or Replaces Favored Enemy)
    You choose a type of favored quarry (which must match your Favored Enemy choice(s) if you have that feature): aberrations, beasts, celestials, constructs, dragons, elementals, fey, fiends, giants, humanoids, monstrosities, oozes, plants or undead. Your study and focus on these creatures has trained you in special talents needed to better pursue such prey. You choose a new Favored Quarry at 6th and 14th level. If you also have Favored Enemy, you must choose the same type(s) for both features at these levels.

    • Aberrations: You have Resistance to Psychic damage. When you roll a saving throw to end an effect, you have advantage on that saving throw.
    • Beasts: You become the ultimate predator and most elusive prey in the wilds. You learn pass without trace. It counts as a Ranger spell for you, but does not count against the number of Ranger spells you know. You may cast it once without expending a spell slot, and regain this ability after a long rest. At 5th level of Ranger, you also regain this ability after a short rest.
    • Celestials: You learn magic weapon. It counts as a Ranger spell for you, but does not count against the number of Ranger spells you know. You may cast it once without expending a spell slot, and regain this ability after a short rest. If you are wielding the weapon so enchanted, you may maintain Concentration on one other effect while Concentrating on this spell. If you cease to wield or carry the weapon for any reason, and are Concentrating on something else, you must drop Concentration on one of the effects you’re Concentrating on.
    • Constructs: Your study of automata and their rigid adherence to orders enables you to understand how their artificial or controlled minds - such as they are - think and make decisions. You can, after a minute of study, attempt Charisma-based skill checks against creatures bound to obey another’s will (such as most constructs) even if you share no language, and even if they would normally be too unintelligent to understand you. Success may result in finding a loophole in their orders or in convincing them that something you want done relates to and falls within their orders, if it is not possible to achieve more normal results from such Charisma checks. In addition, if you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you cannot do less than your proficiency bonus in damage to it. Calculate this after factoring in damage resistances and immunities.
    • Dragons: Your dedication to hunting and facing flying creatures with impenetrable hides has given you a preternatural ability to find weaknesses, both mental and physical. You may spend a bonus action to turn a weapon attack you are making into a called shot to a vital or vulnerable spot. The attack has Disadvantage, but if both rolls would hit, it is a critical strike. In addition, when you fail at tracking a creature for any reason, you may make a special Survival check, opposed by either the creature’s Stealth check or Wisdom saving throw. If you succeed, you can track it anyway, despite even impossible conditions, for up to one hour. Once you fail at this with a particular creature, you cannot succeed against that creature until you have successfully tracked it mundanely or met it in person again.
    • Elementals: When you make a weapon attack, you may suffuse the weapon with elemental energy. When you do this, choose acid, cold, fire, or lightning. The weapon’s normal damage type is replaced by the selected type. This lasts for only one attack unless you Concentrate on it, in which case it lasts for as long as you Concentrate, up to 1 hour, or until the weapon leaves your hand. You may do this once without expending a Ranger spell slot, regaining the ability after a Short or Long Rest. If you expend a Ranger spell slot, the weapon does an additional d4 of damage for every level of the spell slot expended.
    • Fey: You are proficient in Wisdom Saves and have Advantage on saving throws against effects which inflict the Charmed or Frightened conditions. At 10th level of Ranger, you cannot be Charmed or Frightened by fey, and automatically recognize when a creature you can sense by any means is fey.
    • Fiends: You learn protection from evil and good. It counts as a Ranger spell for you, but does not count against the number of Ranger spells you know. You may cast it once without expending a spell slot, and regain this ability after a short rest. If you are the target of your protection from evil and good, you may maintain Concentration on one other effect while Concentrating on this spell.
    • Giants: Due to your experience dancing about beneath the feet of your favored foes, you have learned to maneuver around all sorts of living obstacles. You can move through other creatures’ spaces freely, without spending extra movement. You still provoke OAs when leaving their reach, however.
    • Humanoids: You have proficiency with Disguise kits. Choose two humanoid races (these must be the same as the ones you chose for Favored Enemy if you also have that feature). When you disguise yourself as a member of one of those races, creatures have Disadvantage on any check to penetrate your disguise. You learn comprehend languages as a Ranger spell, and may cast it as a Ritual. It does not count against your number of Ranger spells known. If you choose humanoids a second time (at levels 6 or 14), you also learn detect thoughts as a Ranger spell without it counting against your number of Ranger spells known. If you choose humanoids a third time (at level 14), you also learn tongues as a Ranger spell without it counting against your number of Ranger spells known.
    • Monstrosities: The blend of humanoid and bestial characteristics with the strangely mutable nature of your favored foes has lent you an understanding of how to blend your magic across them. You may use any spell which specifies beasts or humanoids as valid targets to target beasts, humanoids, or monstrosities. All other restrictions still apply. At 13th level of Ranger, you gain find greater steed as a Ranger spell, which does not count against your number of Ranger spells known.
    • Oozes: You gain resistance to Acid damage. Your long experience with amorphous foes has left you with an almost paranoid perception: you never miss places where amorphous creatures could squeeze through any barrier or container. This can come in handy for sealing places against such creatures, creating prisons for them, or spotting likely trails they may have taken or warning signs of their presence. This also means you automatically detect the places where traps that dispense liquids or gasses dispense them from, though you cannot necessarily tell whether it’s a trap or a place for oozes to squeeze through (or both).
    • Plants: Your long experience dealing with creatures that easily blend in with inanimate surroundings lets you ignore the False Appearance ability of creatures such as Blights and Gargoyles. You also gain the False Appearance ability, taking an action to use a combination of clothing and props to appear indistinguishable from a plant as long as you don’t move. This does not hide you; the “plant” is obvious if you don’t take a separate effort to hide, and creatures who witnessed your “transformation” know which “plant” is you.
    • Undead: You gain resistance to Necrotic damage, and if Necrotic damage would reduce you to 0 hit points, you instead have 1 hit point, unless the Necrotic damage is enough to kill you outright. Once, when an effect other than failing three death saves would kill you, you may instead be reduced to 0 hp and begin making normal death saves. You regain this ability after taking a long rest.


    Favored Terrain
    (Level 1 Ranger Optional Feature; Enhances or Replaces Natural Explorer)
    You choose a type of terrain, which must match your terrain chosen for Natural Explorer if you have that feature. Your training in your chosen terrain has given you certain talents. You may choose an additional terrain at 6th and 10th level; these must be the same as you choose for Natural Explorer if you have that feature.

    • Arctic: You have resistance to Cold damage, and are unbothered by environmental cold.
    • Coast: You do not need to expend extra movement to swim, and are proficient with water vehicles. If you are already proficient with water vehicles, you may choose another tool or vehicle proficiency. You do not suffer penalties to attacks in water.
    • Desert: You have resistance to Fire damage, and are unbothered by environmental heat.
    • Forest: You have Advantage on Intelligence (Investigation) and Wisdom (Perception) checks involving scent.
    • Grassland: When you Dash, you gain an additional 10 feet of movement. If you are riding a controlled mount, you may extend this benefit to your it.
    • Mountain: You do not need to expend extra movement to climb, and may subtract twice your Ranger level from any damage you take from a fall.
    • Swamp: You do not need to expend extra movement to pass through difficult terrain. You have tremorsense that only operates through liquid out to 60 feet.
    • Underdark: You gain Superior Darkvision (out to 120 feet). Within the range of your darkvision, you do not suffer any penalties to perception for dim lighting.
    Last edited by Segev; 2021-01-28 at 03:14 PM.

  2. - Top - End - #2
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    Default Re: Ranger Features: Favored Quarry & Favored Terrain

    Quote Originally Posted by Segev View Post
    Favored Quarry
    (Level 1 Ranger Optional Feature; Enhances or Replaces Favored Enemy)
    You choose a type of favored quarry (which must match your Favored Enemy choice(s) if you have that feature)

    Favored Terrain
    (Level 1 Ranger Optional Feature; Enhances or Replaces Natural Explorer)
    You choose a type of terrain, which must match your terrain chosen for Natural Explorer if you have that feature.
    I would go with 'replace' so things don't get cluttered

    Going over the Favored Enemies, there's some good stuff in here. If I may make some suggestions? Apologies if i'm not as verbose.
    Quote Originally Posted by Segev View Post
    • Aberrations: You have advantage on saving throws to end ongoing effects.
    • Beasts: Beasts are never initially hostile to you, and you can add your Charisma bonus to Wisdom (Animal Handling) checks.
    • Celestials: You learn Detect Evil and Good as an extra spell known. You can cast it once without expending a spell slot and without requiring concentration, regaining the ability at the end of a long rest.
    • Constructs: You can attempt Charisma-based skill checks against creatures bound to obey another’s will even if you share no language and would otherwise be unable to understand you.
    • Dragons: You can track creatures that don't leave visible trails (such as flying or swimming creatures) at no penalty,
    • Elementals: You learn Arcane Weapon (Artificer 2019 UA) as an extra spell known. You can cast it once without expending a spell slot, regaining the ability at the end of a long rest.
    • Fey: You can automatically tell when a creature is Charmed or Frightened.
    • Fiends: You learn Protection from Evil and Good as an extra spell known. You can cast it once without expending a spell slot and without requiring concentration, regaining the ability at the end of a long rest.
    • Giants: You can move through other creatures’ spaces freely, without spending extra movement.
    • Humanoids: You learn Detect Thoughts as an extra spell known. You can cast it once without expending a spell slot, regaining the ability at the end of a long rest.
    • Monstrosities: When you cast a spell a Monstrosity type creature counts as a Beast or Humanoid type creature for the target of the spell.
    • Oozes: You gain resistance to Acid damage, and can squeeze through spaces as if you were one size category smaller.
    • Plants: You can notice creatures that are normally indiscinguishable from normal plants or mineral formations and can use the Hide action with a Disguise Kit to assume the appearance of a plant.
    • Undead: Your hit point maximum cannot be reduced and when making Death Saving Throws you die after five failures instead of three.
    Regarding Favored Environment, I can see that most involve a damage resistance. This is cool, but I think each should match the damage type dealt by dragons that usually live in each region and Favored Enemy shouldn't also give you a resistance that could clash. Perhaps something like the following:

    Terrain Adaption
    When you finish a long rest you gain resistance to one damage type according to the terrain you finished resting in, which lasts until the end of your next long rest.
    Coast/Aquatic: Thunder or Lightning
    Arctic: Cold or Force
    Desert: Fire or Radiant
    Plains/Forest: Piercing or Poison
    Highland: Fire or Cold
    Swamp: Acid or Poison
    Underground: Necrotic or Bludgeoning
    Urban: Psychic or Slashing
    Last edited by Kane0; 2021-01-28 at 05:23 PM.

  3. - Top - End - #3
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    Default Re: Ranger Features: Favored Quarry & Favored Terrain

    Thanks for the reply! I'm guessing from your suggestions that you think my proposals a bit over-the-top or too powerful?
    Quote Originally Posted by Kane0 View Post
    I would go with 'replace' so things don't get cluttered

    Going over the Favored Enemies, there's some good stuff in here. If I may make some suggestions? Apologies if i'm not as verbose.
    No need to apologize for lack of verbosity; simpler verbiage is better with rules. Commenting on each proposal:

    Quote Originally Posted by Kane0 View Post
    Aberrations: You have advantage on saving throws to end ongoing effects.
    Removed the resistance to psychic damage, I see. Too much with it? Or more to avoid overlapping with your suggestions for Favored Terrain?
    Quote Originally Posted by Kane0 View Post
    Beasts: Beasts are never initially hostile to you, and you can add your Charisma bonus to Wisdom (Animal Handling) checks.
    This seems far too situational to me, and frankly weaker than Expertise (Animal Handling) while also stacking with it, inviting multiclassing. Except Animal Handling isn't terribly well-supported, so the worth of this seems low. It might also require some additional verbiage to cover how beasts treat a party with you in it. Not being hostile to you isn't very good if they still attack your party.
    Quote Originally Posted by Kane0 View Post
    Celestials: You learn Detect Evil and Good as an extra spell known. You can cast it once without expending a spell slot and without requiring concentration, regaining the ability at the end of a long rest.
    Is detect evil and good really useful enough as a spell to be worth an entire class feature that isn't a ribbon? (The whole point here is to make Favored Enemy no longer just a ribbon.)
    Quote Originally Posted by Kane0 View Post
    Constructs: You can attempt Charisma-based skill checks against creatures bound to obey another’s will even if you share no language and would otherwise be unable to understand you.
    Being able to pierce resistance and immunity even a little bit is too much, I take it? This again feels too limited, given that it will only come up against a narrow subset of creatures. Worse, with how it's worded, you might be able to make Charisma checks, but they're still bound to obey and thus no matter how much you persuade them, they can't act on it. The wording I had before was there for the express purpose of guiding to the notion that you can find loopholes and thus get them to do things that violate the spirit of the orders (inventing the loophole OOC, if necessary).
    Quote Originally Posted by Kane0 View Post
    Dragons: You can track creatures that don't leave visible trails (such as flying or swimming creatures) at no penalty,
    I like it in theory, but again it's a little limited to very specific scenarios, and it also has the difficulty of asking a question: "What is the DC to track a creature that leaves no visible trails, if you remove the penalty for leaving no visible trail?" Even if the DM is comfortable assigning a DC to tracking a creature that flew off, how does he assess what the "penalty" was for it having flown off so that he can remove it from his DC value? I actually added the "called shot" thing to it because I felt like it needed something that could be used more regularly.
    Quote Originally Posted by Kane0 View Post
    Elementals: You learn Arcane Weapon (Artificer 2019 UA) as an extra spell known. You can cast it once without expending a spell slot, regaining the ability at the end of a long rest.
    Ah, there's now a spell that does what I wrote out. Interesting. Why only long-rest recovery of casting it without a spell slot?
    Quote Originally Posted by Kane0 View Post
    Fey: You can automatically tell when a creature is Charmed or Frightened.
    This feels like just a ribbon, and not very useful.
    Quote Originally Posted by Kane0 View Post
    Fiends: You learn Protection from Evil and Good as an extra spell known. You can cast it once without expending a spell slot and without requiring concentration, regaining the ability at the end of a long rest.
    A possible balance-point for what I proposed.
    Quote Originally Posted by Kane0 View Post
    Giants: You can move through other creatures’ spaces freely, without spending extra movement.
    I like the pithiness of this. Thanks!
    Quote Originally Posted by Kane0 View Post
    Humanoids: You learn Detect Thoughts as an extra spell known. You can cast it once without expending a spell slot, regaining the ability at the end of a long rest.
    I dunno. I know this is the "if you take it again" effect I wrote, but it honestly feels like it's not very Humanoid-related. It works as a knock-on, since it was in line with the other things. Humanoids are tricky to think of a good single thing for, though.
    Quote Originally Posted by Kane0 View Post
    Monstrosities: When you cast a spell a Monstrosity type creature counts as a Beast or Humanoid type creature for the target of the spell.
    Again, nice and pithy.
    Quote Originally Posted by Kane0 View Post
    Oozes: You gain resistance to Acid damage, and can squeeze through spaces as if you were one size category smaller.
    Oozes were one I struggled with. I actually thought of something like this, but the point here is that these are favored quarries that you learned tricks to protect yourself from or to help you hunt/deal with them. "Becoming more like them" isn't really in theme, so the "squeezing through smaller spaces" thing doesn't really feel right to me. I don't really like my existing idea for them, either, though, as it feels too situational. I'm looking for something broadly applicable that would be "oh, I see why you'd learn to do that with all the oozes you deal with," as well. I'm kind-of drawing a blank, though.
    Quote Originally Posted by Kane0 View Post
    Plants: You can notice creatures that are normally indiscinguishable from normal plants or mineral formations and can use the Hide action with a Disguise Kit to assume the appearance of a plant.
    Nice and concise. I might suggest mentioning the "freeze" feature specifically (or whatever gargoyles and twig blights have) as an example, just to make it clear to what it refers. Not sure it's not too narrow, though, now that I re-examine it. (Similar problem to the "beasts are never initially hostile towards you" one: it only applies against very specific creatures.)
    Quote Originally Posted by Kane0 View Post
    Undead: Your hit point maximum cannot be reduced and when making Death Saving Throws you die after five failures instead of three.
    I feel weird giving them a level 10 Necromancer feature at level 1. Making 5 death saves instead of 3 is pretty cool, though my original intent was to protect them from "you're just dead" effects. Undead aren't any more likely to drop you to 0 normally than anything else, but wraiths and a few others have a means of making you die, no death saves, if you hit 0. Undead DO have some of the most common ways of reducing your hit point maximum. Though in Tomb of Annihilation, the party ran across a risk of losing maximum hit points twice, and we got halfway through the final dungeon before the players told me they didn't want to play anymore (the dungeon of traps and tricks wasn't fun for them). So while the 5 death saves thing is pretty cool and broadly applicable, it's not really tied to fighting undead, and the hit point maximum being unreducible feels too narrow.

    Overall, I appreciate the thought put into it, and it seems like you're telling me I've got too much complexity and in some cases too much power in the features. I will push back that these need to be more than narrowly-applicable ribbons, though, because the whole point is to patch a feature that doesn't live up to competing level-1 features in Fighter, Paladin, or Barbarian. (And it's not like Ranger gets super-cool things at level 2 or higher that compensate. And would be bad design anyway; essentially the Ranger pays for these features by delaying his fighting style, and they just aren't worth it.)

    https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...24/unknown.png
    Regarding Favored Environment, I can see that most involve a damage resistance. This is cool, but I think each should match the damage type dealt by dragons that usually live in each region and Favored Enemy shouldn't also give you a resistance that could clash.[/QUOTE]It's an interesting idea, but I feel like that makes it a less interesting feature. I know at least two of my Favored Terrains are just resistances (and immunity to environmental cold/heat), but I feel the immunity to environmental problems is a key to making them interesting, and I also think that resistances are the most boring possibility. Hence the more active features for the others.

    Do you think the more active features too powerful? Too complicated? Or is it just that Favored Terrain seems to you to be something that should be made simpler as a secondary feature? Or am I not interpreting your thoughts on it correctly?

    Again, thanks for the ideas and comments; I am not trying to refute/argue so much as expand a discussion. I'm very open to alterations to what I've proposed, even if I'm pushing back against your proposed changes. It's not to say "no, I just want praise for mine," but to try to refine and both explain my reasoning (to fish out other possible ideas) and to try to understand yours (to help me moderate the flaws in my own).

    Thanks!

  4. - Top - End - #4
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    Default Re: Ranger Features: Favored Quarry & Favored Terrain

    Oh yeah of course. Okay so it might be beneficial for me to go back and start with some assumptions:

    - Both of these features come at level 1
    - These should fall into a somewhat standard level 1 pattern like feature + ribbon or feature + feature + ribbon (see rogue and paladin), especially since levels 2 and 3 have so much packed in
    - If both come along at the same time we want something like one active/one passive and one generic/one specific, which is useful for both power balancing and user-friendliness
    - These features shouldn't double-up with what is in the PHB nor Tasha's Alternate Features, otherwise we should just use/change those instead of positing this as another alternative feature
    - Both of these features come back at later levels so that needs to be accounted for
    - The Ranger doesn't need help dealing damage, these should definitely lean towards utility and mobility

    Also for some reason I had in my head that you picked two Favored Enemies with corresponding benefits, my bad on that part.

    So my reasoning is from the above that Natural Explorer should be the more passive, broadly applicable benefit and Favored Enemy the more active, circumstantial stuff.

    With that in mind, perhaps my incorrect 'choose 2 FEs' could actually be implemented, as the majority of the FEs would functionally be ribbons. Plus because we have 14 choices we can afford for some to be a little more broad and others a little more specific.

    Aberrations: Save-each-turn effects aren't super common, but this would apply to all of them. Arguably comparable to magic resistance since that typically only applies to spells and not creature abilities but on the other hand you need to be affected in the first place for this to be of any benefit
    Beasts: You're right, it could be monkey-pawed by a DM to essentially be useless
    Celestials: It's applicable to 6 creature types and Ranger's don't actually get casting at level 1 so I'd say it's fair to give it once per day without a slot and more importantly concentration, plus add it as a spell known for free when level 2 comes around. Duration is a bit short though.
    Constructs: Not too strong, but A) a combat benefit that I don't think is necessary and B) barely of any use. Fighting resistant/immune enemies probably won't happen in Tier 1, but even then I wouldn't expect to deal that little damage against a Resistant creature at any level. Immunity is better, but you also have other means to just have a magic weapon which 99% of the time will do the trick
    Dragons: As above don't think damage needs it, yeah this is on the more specific side like beasts but on the other hand has the right flavor IMO. The DM already has that sort of trouble as it is (I'm sure you've seen Pex post about it?)
    Elemental: Didn't want to overdo it for the same reason as just giving them free Hunter's Mark like the UA. One a day and a free spell known is plenty.
    Fey: Needed to make sure this didn't give the same benefits as just being an Elf, but also a specific ribbon that you can't find elsewhere (from my knowledge)
    Fiends: Same as celestial, kinda hard to pick out something for these
    Giants: Like Fey didn't want to double up with just being a Halfling
    Humanoids: Even tougher than Celestial/Fiends, it's just sooo generic. Bonus languages is just the stock feature so wanted to avoid that, Detect Thoughts is a good spell (and a level higher) while also being a noncombat thing so didn't include the free-concentration part
    Monstrosities: I think this hits the right level of 'ribboniness', it's very specific (you have to encounter a monstrosity AND have a spell that you want to use on it) but also very helpful in that situation. Actually come to think of it this would be useless at level 1 since you don't have spells yet, perhaps also allow Animal Handling to apply to Monstrosities (without penalty).
    Oozes: This is handy just for dungeoncrawling and such, any cramped space really. It isn't magically slipping through cracks under doors, just being able to function normally in confined spaces. Again what I would call just the right amount of ribbon
    Plants: Ironically I just had the party face a Roper last session so I tried to include the same terms the MM entry used
    Undead: You're right, the saves are too strong and widely useful. Probably drop the extra 2 death saves and include a rewording of your 'ignore immediate drop to 0' idea? Banshees man...

    I'm always an advocate of reducing complexity where possible, especially since all of these are options of an optional feature that you will at some point get multiple of (either 1 or 2 to start with plus an extra at level 6 and 14). On power, yeah I suppose these should be mostly ribbons (but useful ribbons!) balanced by the fact that you can choose exactly the one(s) you want.
    Rangers are mechanically very solid though. They get 3 skill profs, d10 HP, fighting style, extra attack, half casting and some damn fine subclasses. These two features aren't bad because they're weak, they're bad because they fail to deliver on the 'class fantasy' as I've heard some say. Natural Explorer removes gameplay where it should make you shine when it even applies, and Favored Enemy functions nothing like what you would expect with an 'enemy'

    Re favored environment, that was the idea. Because Favored Enemy makes up the bulk of the exciting, situational stuff you can have (and I argue should have) a boring but always handy benefit here. This floating damage resistance doesn't mind what race you are (which is important) and really makes level 1 seem worthwhile without being overwhelmingly strong. You are giving up Deft Explorer for this after all.

    Hope this helps!
    Last edited by Kane0; 2021-01-29 at 08:22 PM.
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    Default Re: Ranger Features: Favored Quarry & Favored Terrain

    I like your original suggestions for Favored Terrain as is. They all feel flavorful and related to the named terrains. I agree that making them all resistance based feels bland. The only thing I would change is the language for the Coast (to "You gain a swimming speed equal to your walking speed") and the language for the Mountain (to "You gain a climbing speed equal to your walking speed"). Functionally it is the same as what you have, but the language is more consistent with other features that have the same effect.
    Good job on these.

    Favored Quarry is more problematic. Since Rangers would get 3 Terrain choices and 3 Quarry choices, it doesn't seem like a good idea to give resistances for both features. Also, some of your initial suggestions would allow a 1st level character to cast a 2nd level spell, which I think is a bad idea. On the other hand, I agree that some of Kane0's suggestions for this feature don't feel like that much of an upgrade for the Favored Foe abilities in the PHB. My suggestions to try to balance these abilities (combining your ideas and Kane0's ideas where I can):
    Aberrations: You have advantage on saving throws to end ongoing effects.
    Beasts: You gain proficiency in Stealth and your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check that uses your Stealth proficiency.
    Celestials: As a bonus action you can imbue your weapon attacks with magic. For the next 1 minute all of your weapon attacks count as magical for the purpose of overcoming damage resistance or damage immunity. Once you use this ability you must complete a short or long rest before you can use it again.
    Constructs: When you interact with a creature that is controlled by another creature you can attempt to find a loophole in the creature's orders. Make a Charisma (Deception) check opposed by the creature's Wisdom (Insight) check. If you succeed you convince the creature to that taking an action or refraining from an action is consistent with its orders even if it conflicts with the intention of those orders.
    Dragons: Attacking at long range doesn't impose disadvantage on your ranged weapon attack rolls.
    Elementals: As a bonus action you can enhance your weapon attacks with elemental energy. Choose acid, cold, fire, or lightning damage. Once per turn for the next 1 minute you can 1d4 of the selected damage type to the damage when you hit with a weapon attack. Once you use this ability you must complete a short or long rest before you can use it again. (NOTE: You should not use the UA spell Arcane Weapon. It did not make the transition from UA to Tasha's Cauldron, and this was almost certainly because when you compare it to the level 3 spell Elemental Weapon it is too powerful for a level 1 spell.)
    Fey: You have advantage on saving throws against effects that inflict the Charmed or Frightened conditions. You also have advantage on Wisdom(Perception) checks to detect hidden creatures. (NOTE: Giving proficiency in an additional Saving Throw is too powerful for level 1, and is not balanced against the other Favorite Quarry options.)
    Fiends: You learn the spell Protection from Evil and Good, which counts as a Ranger spell for you, but does not count against the number of ranger spells you know. You can cast it without expending a spell slot and without requiring concentration. You must complete a long rest before you can cast it in this way again.
    Giants: You can move freely through other creature's spaces, without spending extra movement.
    Humanoids: Each time you choose Humanoids (at levels 1, 6, and/or 14) choose one of the following skills: Deception, Intimidation, or Persuasion. When you make an ability check with your chosen skill you can add your Wisdom modifier to the roll. You must choose a different skill each time you choose Humanoids.
    Monstrosities: Whenever you cast a spell, you can treat Monstrosities as Beasts or Humanoids for the purposes of determining if they are a valid target for that spell.
    Oozes: Unfortunately nothing is coming to mind for this. I'll have to think some more and see if I can come up with anything.
    Plants: You have advantage on ability checks to resist or end effects that impose the restrained condition. (NOTE: I was thinking of entangling vines when I came up with this.)
    Undead: Whenever an effect would reduce your maximum hit points, your maximum hit points are reduced by half the amount the effect would normally reduce them by. Incorporeal creatures can not move through your space and when you attack an incorporeal creature your weapon attacks count as magical for overcoming that creature's damage resistance or damage immunity. (NOTE: these abilities are very situational, but when they apply they can be very helpful.)

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    Default Re: Ranger Features: Favored Quarry & Favored Terrain

    Quote Originally Posted by kosh49 View Post
    Elementals: As a bonus action you can enhance your weapon attacks with elemental energy. Choose acid, cold, fire, or lightning damage. Once per turn for the next 1 minute you can 1d4 of the selected damage type to the damage when you hit with a weapon attack. Once you use this ability you must complete a short or long rest before you can use it again. (NOTE: You should not use the UA spell Arcane Weapon. It did not make the transition from UA to Tasha's Cauldron, and this was almost certainly because when you compare it to the level 3 spell Elemental Weapon it is too powerful for a level 1 spell.)
    On phone but that would actually be even stronger because it would stack with Hunter’s Mark or whatever else you might use your concentration on.

    If the spell is too strong take away the ‘weapon is magical’ part and/or reduce damage to 1d4.
    Last edited by Kane0; 2021-01-29 at 11:22 PM.

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    Default Re: Ranger Features: Favored Quarry & Favored Terrain

    I came up with an alternative for Elementals:
    Elementals: You learn the spell Absorb Elements, which counts as a Ranger spell for you, but does not count against the number of ranger spells you know. You can cast it without expending a spell slot. You must complete a long rest before you can cast it in this way again.

    I am still not sure what to do about oozes, there aren't that many of them and they don't have many thematic elements that you could build an ability around that could be useful for monsters other than a few specific oozes. I am getting down to 2 choices. The first is a bit complicated and feels situational, I am not sure anyone would pick this given the other options:
    Oozes: Your long experience with amorphous foes has left you with an almost paranoid perception: you never miss places where amorphous creatures could squeeze through any barrier or container. This can come in handy for sealing places against such creatures, creating prisons for them, or spotting likely trails they may have taken or warning signs of their presence. This also means you automatically detect the places where traps that dispense liquids or gasses dispense them from, though you cannot necessarily tell whether it’s a trap or a place for oozes to squeeze through (or both).

    The second is the acid resistance, which I would rather avoid since you can already get resistance to cold and fire from the Favored Terrain feature.

    I would probably go with the first option but let my players know I would consider alternatives for the Ooze if they had any ideas.
    Last edited by kosh49; 2021-01-30 at 10:00 AM.

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    DwarfClericGuy

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    Default Re: Ranger Features: Favored Quarry & Favored Terrain

    For oozes, I'd say you ignore their special abilities.

    Black Pudding: The corrosive form of black pudding doesn't dissolve your non-magical weapons (you know just how to hit them that doesn't release their internal acid). You can also attack them with a slashing weapon without worrying about them splitting (for the same reason).

    Gelatinous Cube: You have advantage on both spot Wisdom (Perception) and escape Strength checks vs gelatinous cubes.

    Grey Ooze: Corrode metal; same a the black pudding's benefit against corrosive form. Maybe have the DM note the false appearance... but there's no relevant DC or skill check listed, so I'm ok with no benefit against it.

    Ochre Jelly: Split, same as the black pudding benefit.

    Use the MM examples for any other oozes/slimes from other tomes (I didn't want to do an exhaustive search).
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    Default Re: Ranger Features: Favored Quarry & Favored Terrain

    Quote Originally Posted by Theodoxus View Post
    For oozes, I'd say you ignore their special abilities.

    Black Pudding: The corrosive form of black pudding doesn't dissolve your non-magical weapons (you know just how to hit them that doesn't release their internal acid). You can also attack them with a slashing weapon without worrying about them splitting (for the same reason).

    Gelatinous Cube: You have advantage on both spot Wisdom (Perception) and escape Strength checks vs gelatinous cubes.

    Grey Ooze: Corrode metal; same a the black pudding's benefit against corrosive form. Maybe have the DM note the false appearance... but there's no relevant DC or skill check listed, so I'm ok with no benefit against it.

    Ochre Jelly: Split, same as the black pudding benefit.

    Use the MM examples for any other oozes/slimes from other tomes (I didn't want to do an exhaustive search).
    I like the ideas here for giving some attempt at coherent things oozes do. What I'm going for with these features isn't "things that are specifically bonuses that work against the creature type," but rather "things that happen to be useful and make sense you'd have them if you face this creature a lot, but which are generically good."

    Hence, for instance, the giant one being moving through creatures' spaces, regardless of whether the creatures are giants or not. Good for maneuvering around under giants' feet, but also generically good. It can be situational, but the feature needs to be something you could theoretically use even without oozes being around.

    ...maybe something like, "You learn the shape water cantrip, and may use its shaping and moving options on creatures that are liquid or amorphous if they fail a saving through against your Ranger spell save DC."

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    Default Re: Ranger Features: Favored Quarry & Favored Terrain

    Yeah, the problem I had with the oozes is that I did not see a unifying these that would give an obvious ability that would be useful against most oozes that would still be useful against non-oozes. For instance, the only amorphous monster in the Monster Manual that are not oozes are the Gibbering Mouther, the Mimic, and the Shadow. And having shape water harm a Shadow feels strange.

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    Default Re: Ranger Features: Favored Quarry & Favored Terrain

    Quote Originally Posted by kosh49 View Post
    Yeah, the problem I had with the oozes is that I did not see a unifying these that would give an obvious ability that would be useful against most oozes that would still be useful against non-oozes. For instance, the only amorphous monster in the Monster Manual that are not oozes are the Gibbering Mouther, the Mimic, and the Shadow. And having shape water harm a Shadow feels strange.
    A similar problem exists for mostrosities; I am not thrilled with the effect I came up with being expanding spells that target humanoids and beasts to monstrosities, but... well, at least being able to use (say) animal friendship on some monstrosities is something that could theoretically be useful beyond the encounter with the monstrosity, since you made a friend/ally/minion.

    "Summon ooze" would be very weird to have for "opposing" them. And I hesitate to have the ability to have ooze bits to do things. "add acid to your weapon" or something is just more like the elemental favored quarry ability. It's hard to think of what you do to face oozes that isn't extremely customized to face specific oozes.

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    DwarfClericGuy

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    Default Re: Ranger Features: Favored Quarry & Favored Terrain

    I see... though there's no reason you couldn't make my suggestion more generic.

    Oozes: You ignore one special quality of a creature you're interacting with. Your knowledge of fighting oozes has translated to a general knowledge of how to avoid a nasty trick of common foes. After [x amount of time] observing a creature, you gain knowledge of one special ability it possesses (offense, defense or utility) and can ignore that special qualities effects.

    For instance, the Stench of a ghast; the regeneration of a troll; the Aberrant Ground of a Gibbering Mouther; the Magic Resistance of a Mind Flayer.

    Once a special ability is learned to be overcome for a specific type of monster, you can't change it.

    Might be a bit powerful if you're fighting hundreds of different types of non-beast/humanoid creatures - a limit might be necessary... I leave that to you.
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