Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana: Modifying Classes & Spell-less Rangers

WotC's Rodney Thompson takes a look at how to customize and modify character classes in the latest Unearthed Arcana article, including an example of a spell-less ranger similar to Lord of the Rings' Strider (an often asked-for class option). There are aslo notes about each of the other classes, discussing what to be careful about changing.

The article is here.

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[Morrus]

You can view the page here.

 

[Remathilis]

Liking. A bit more through than the DMG advice, with some good examples (like the 5e races section). Makes me feel better about class modifying.

 

[Zaran]

Useful. Would have been a good time to talk about Beastmaster Rangers but I guess we have to wait at least another month.

 

[Barantor]

I like that it seems more and more that WoTC wants 5E to be our game rather than a game that you have to buy all the splatbooks for. Looks like these two archetypes are also in response to the survey questions.

I also like that they added a .pdf version of the whole article at the bottom for easier reference later.

 

[Jester David]

This really feels like content tha didn't make it into the DMG for space reasons. Like the examples of the eladrin and assimar, this feels like two extra class options they wanted to included in the build-your-own section.

It's excellent stuff, a great expansion of the game. People really wanted a ranger that didn't cast spells, so this is huge. And a spontaneous divine caster is a common idea, but folding the favoured soul into the sorcerer is inspired.

I think rangers will miss the hunter's mark spell a lot, and giving that damage boost would have been nice. But I imagine the extra damage from superiority dice counts.

 

[variant]

I guess if you just wanted to replace the Ranger spells, this new one is alright. I think there are spells such as Darkvision and Longstrider that the Ranger had that should have been compensated for via abilities.

Not exactly a mundane Ranger though since it still has magical abilities like Primeval Awareness and now Call Natural Allies.

 

[MoonSong]

That's it, the favored soul is THE SORCERER, this is how the class should have been from day 1.
.
The only thiing that bothers me, is the effort I made was wasted: I worked on a spelless ranger option that used superiority dice (they started at 1d4 and scaled over time to be d10s and in number went from 3 to 7)

I even worked some unique maneuvers (inspired by 4e exploits) that were available to the ranger to aid in exploration and combat (replace martial die for superiority die):

Adrenaline rush.- When you kill or incapacitate an enemy, you can expend a martial die to roll a hit die and heal that amount of hp as a free action. Add the martial die to the gained hp.

Aggressive sidestep.- Spend a Martial die, you can Dash as an Extra action.

Evasive Counter Attack. When an enemy makes a melee attack, you use your reaction and spend a Martial die to move 5' and make a weapon attack against that enemy. Roll the die and add the result to your attack roll.

Manyshot.- When you make a weapon ranged attack, you can expend a Martial die to shoot an extra arrow, bolt or bullet with the same attack. If you hit, roll the die and add it to the damage.

Mark Prey.- As an Extra action, spend a Martial die and mark an enemy. The next attack that hits it, causes extra damage equal to the Martial die result.

Opportune Interruption.- When an enemy attacks an ally of yours, you can expend your reaction and a Martial die to attack that enemy, if you hit, the enemy has disadvantage on that attack.

Shroud in shadows.- When you are hiding, spend a Martial die, roll it and add it to your Stealth.

Unexpected Slash.- You can spend a Martial die to make an attack with a melee weapon as an Extra action. If you hit, roll the die and use it for damage instead of the weapon damage die.

Twin slashing.- You need to hold two melee weapons. As an action, expend a Martial die to attack the same enemy with each weapon -make one attack roll per weapon- if both attacks hit, add the Martial die to damage.

Wild empathy.- You can spend a Martial die, roll it and add it to any Cha check you make when interacting with animals.


Well, at least the dragonrider variant is still kosher....

 

[Sacrosanct]

.
The only thiing that bothers me, is the effort I made was wasted:

If you use it, or had fun doing it, it's not wasted. I don't think WoTC will come to your home and steal your books because you use your version over theirs.

 

[ranger69]

Good article. Interesting list of things to beware of when modifying classes, plus a new sub-class and a new class. Worth the wait.