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I'm wanting to create a ranger variant for my game. Specifically I want something that does not use magic at all.
I thought that a Rogue's Sneak Attack is a nice fit with the Ranger but only used against Favored Enemies. I thought of using the Sneak Attack as a replacement for spell casting. As such the Ranger variant would get Sneak Attack at levels 4, 7, 10, 13, 16 and 19, maxing out at 6d6.
Do you think that Sneak Attack limited to the Favored Enemies is a good trade for spells? Is it too powerful or too weak? Should it be used for all enemies, as usual, or is Favored Enemies a good balance?
Other suggestions and ideas?
I'm wanting to create a ranger variant for my game. Specifically I want something that does not use magic at all.
I thought that a Rogue's Sneak Attack is a nice fit with the Ranger but only used against Favored Enemies. I thought of using the Sneak Attack as a replacement for spell casting. As such the Ranger variant would get Sneak Attack at levels 4, 7, 10, 13, 16 and 19, maxing out at 6d6.
Do you think that Sneak Attack limited to the Favored Enemies is a good trade for spells? Is it too powerful or too weak? Should it be used for all enemies, as usual, or is Favored Enemies a good balance?
Other suggestions and ideas?
Eh, not so sure about sneak attack, it just makes Ranger feel like a rogue knockoff, it seems like for losing spellcasting Rangers ought to get something a bit more unique.
I wouldn't mind seeing the ranger get some sort of bonus to crafting weapons/ammunition, traps, or poisons specific to their favored enemies. Perhaps rangers could prepare oils and tinctures, that when applied to a weapon and used against a specific type of favored enemy, imitate various weapon enchants (Bane, Keen, Merciful, Wounding, etc.) or add a damage bonus. You could split the various effects up by level, with something like Bane at the top end, and something like Merciful or Keen at the low.
I'm wanting to create a ranger variant for my game. Specifically I want something that does not use magic at all.
I thought that a Rogue's Sneak Attack is a nice fit with the Ranger but only used against Favored Enemies. I thought of using the Sneak Attack as a replacement for spell casting. As such the Ranger variant would get Sneak Attack at levels 4, 7, 10, 13, 16 and 19, maxing out at 6d6.
Do you think that Sneak Attack limited to the Favored Enemies is a good trade for spells? Is it too powerful or too weak? Should it be used for all enemies, as usual, or is Favored Enemies a good balance?
Other suggestions and ideas?
I wouldn't be so sure about the sneak attack. Rangers can already be pretty nasty to their favoured enemies, so it might start to boarder on overkill (though I say might).
If you want the ranger to maintain the same level of versitility and power that spells grant, you'll need to provide abilities like that. Somthing like the bond mentioned in the previous post might work, similer to the paladin's weapon, though this might not work if you're hoping for a purely mundane ranger.
Perhaps a few abilities in which the ranger can make better use of the enviroment around them, like bonuses whilst in cover or difficult terrain, or somthing to help a little agaisnt exotic enemies that could apply to more than just a few racial types (like say...an AC bonus that applies against all creatures bigger then the ranger, or somthing like Mettle).
For the longest time I was so against Rangers being able to cast spells. Very recently, however, I've found that most of the ranger spells can be 'cast' to not look like spells at all. Certain spells like Tree stride can't be explained so mundanely, but most of the ranger spells can. When I looked at it this way it just made the Ranger class seem much cooler and epic.
The problem I have with the pathfinder version is that there is still combat style. I thought paizo would drop this but it's still there. Rangers have always either been acknowledged as "that bow guy" or "that drizzt guy", and I hate it. I've replaced combat style with bonus combat feats until I can figure out a better variant.