| BlubSeabass |
I've played a bit with my group, and want to zoom in on the 'Monster Hunter' Ranger archetype. One of my players was excited to play one, but it turned out a bit problematic. A short summary:
- The Monster Hunter feat itself is very unlikely to trigger, and it's not strong either.
- Recall Knowledge could use more cases if it's an important part of an archetype.
- Overall bad synergy with Recall Knowledge (INT & WIS) for the Hunter.
- Ranger can be quickly action starved thanks to Hunt Target.
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Perceived goal of class:
We thought the 'Monster Hunter' Ranger would:
- Be a decent fighter
- Help the party recognize danger
- Single out hard-to-find enemies
- Help the party take down larger foes.
We found it to:
- be a decent fighter
- be helpful in recognizing (Nature) dangers
- not being able to help/guide the the team in combat
Soon enough, aside from the biggest baddies, the player felt more rewarded by doing more strides & strikes than to Hunt Target or Recall Knowledge.
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Some suggestions:
Hunt Target is already a bloated action, but it still doesn't gel very well. Lowering the penalties is ok on bigger guys, but else it won't be worth the trouble. It is, potentially, a very nice hook for a lot of cool stuff. I would go for a more focused approach to Hunt Target, while leaving abilities open for playing a 'Monster Hunter'.
(A) Hunt Target
You designate a target within 100 feet to be the focus of your adrenaline-fueled hunt. As long as all your attacks in a round are against target you’re hunting, the
multiple attack penalty you take on the second attack is –3 (–2 with an agile weapon) instead of –5, and –6 (–4 with an agile weapon) instead of –10 on the third and any further attacks in the round. You gain +2 circumstance bonus on Perception to seek, and +2 circumstance bonus on Survival to Track your target.
When your target is defeated (slain, unconscious, or accepted to surrender) or when you pick a new target while the old target is not defeated, you become Sluggish 4 for 1 minute as you lose focus over the victory or defeat of your hunt.
You can only Hunt one target at a time. If you use Hunt Target on a new target, the old target will lose it's designation.
This will make Hunt Target much more focused on taking down 1 big evil guy, as taking Sluggish 4 is not worth it for a little goblin. Hunt Target loses it's quickness, but the extra to hit can quickly make it worth the action. You could add "and add half your WIS mod to damage" for a little extra punch.
This means that all feats that are triggered on Hunt Target should only remain triggered on Hunt Target if it makes sense that this is a 'special target'. Right now, I don't really see any of them making sense like that. :(
Recall Knowledge
To tackle Monster Hunter, you need to tackle Recall Knowledge. Specifically, it would be nice to have some good guidelines for the effects of Recall Knowledge. e.g.
(A) Recall Knowledge (Enemy Target)
DC = 10 + target level, but up to the GM's descretion.
Success - Choose one subject:
- Offenses: You recall knowledge on a target's general offensive capabilities bound by type or class. If the target is special from its peers (like a minotaur that has learned to cast some spells), you won't know.
- Defenses: You recall knowledge on target's general defensive capabilities bound by type or class. If the target is special from its peers (like a minotaur that has permanent Resist Fire), you won't know.
- Habitat: You recall knowledge on the target's common day life, giving you knowledge of things like social order, pack size, or a public agenda. Special secrets will remain unknown.
Critical Success - Choose two of the above subjects. You automatically also recognize if there is something special about this target, or if it's hiding a secret.
Critical Failure - Choose one of above subjects. You recall incorrect information on this subject. Once the error is triggered, it immediately becomes obvious to you that you made a mistake.
This is just a suggestion. Since Recall Knowledge has a very interesting role in the game, I think it's deserving of a more structured play.
Monster Hunter
The goal of monster hunter is to provide aid for your friends by pointing out strategies against a monster. Aside from some funny side effects (Can I recall knowledge about a Goblin for the 100st time?) it's pretty cool to tie Knowledge rolls to effects on the field. I feel more could be done in combination with other actions. e.g. Monster Hunter allowing to add some damage for all allies based on your Recall Knowledge proficiency for that monster.
It definitely should lose the Hunt Target requirement, as I think most abilities should, and Hunt Target should grant a free Recall Knowledge.
Which brings us to the problem of the Hunter as a Monster Savant - Intelligence is a low priority stat, and 3 of the 5 recall knowledges are on Intelligence. This can be fun, but it needs the Monster Hunter to give a bit more synergy with Intelligence. The other option is to make all Monster Recall Knowledges on Nature much earlier. I personally like the idea of a ranger that studied monsters instead of pure rough experience, but that might be another class alltogether.
General other thoughts
- I think the Hunter would be the primary target for upgrades to Point Out or Assist. A free Point Out on Hunt Target would be really cool.
- Fun upgrades for Hunt Target & Monster Hunter combined could be about exploiting weaknesses (add 5 to any weakness a monster has) or taking of the edge from attacks (reaction to warn against an incoming strike, allowing an extra save to an ally).
- I haven't tried Snares yet, but I imagine they make a fun combination with the Monster Hunter!
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Anyway, just some thoughts after some play. Hope it helps!