The ranger's Hunt Target needs a major overhaul

[Colette Brunel]

Mark Seifter has been trying to defend Hunt Target as a long-term investment against taking down an enemy, but I just cannot see the value in it. I have seen nothing so far that suggests that 2e combat does not reward a good alpha strike, and Hunt Target undermines an alpha strike. A weapon-user ideally wants to move and then attack twice during their first turn (even a ranged-weapon-user wants to reposition), while focusing fire together with the party against a single opponent. Why consume an action on Hunt Target when the idea is for the party to collectively neutralize a key target ASAP?

As it currently stands, Hunt Target works best when party is fighting a singular opponent that will take a long time to go down, and the party can afford to stand still and chip away at the solo enemy.

I could see this being ideal when the party gets to ambush the enemy (or otherwise see the enemy well before combat breaks out), but otherwise, it takes too many turns from the ranger for it to break even.

Perhaps Hunt Target should usable when the ranger identifies the tracks or presence of a creature, or otherwise gains confirmation of a creature's presence in the area? I think that would be a thematic expansion of Hunt Target's niche. There needs to be some semi-reliable, but not 100% reliable, means of activating it before the ranger has to attack. Naturally, this would call for a revision of the 19th-level ranger class feature as well.

[Colette Brunel]

Also, it certainly does not help that Hunt Target does not even synergize with the ranger's Double Slice. A ranger may as well ignore Hunt Target (unless there is an opportunity to freely use it before combat) and then get to Double Slicing.