Mastering Dungeons – Tasha’s Player and DM Bonanza 2

RPG veterans and game designers Teos Abadia and Shawn Merwin look at the game and the hobby of D&D from a variety of viewpoints: reporting the news, understanding the business, reviewing the products, and illuminating the design. Whether you're a fan, a player, a DM, or a designer, Shawn and Teos cover topics of interest to you!
Post Reply
User avatar
EpisodeBot
Posts: 1520
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:18 am

Mastering Dungeons – Tasha’s Player and DM Bonanza 2

Post by EpisodeBot »

Shawn and Teos home in on the Ranger options from Tasha’s, breaking down the variety of options for one of the most discussed classes. Then we start at Session Zero with the DM’s options, discussing the importance of starting before scratch, sometimes, and discussing safety tools in...

Read more
User avatar
Jared Rascher
Posts: 305
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2019 11:45 am
Contact:

Re: Mastering Dungeons – Tasha’s Player and DM Bonanza 2

Post by Jared Rascher »

Since I tend to kind be an easy mark for rangers, I think there have been a few inspirations for the one of the ranger's new optional ability in Tasha's.

The Pathfinder "Guide" archetype for rangers had an option where you could declare your prey a number of times per day, getting a +2/+2 bonus against that prey. I remember that because as soon as it showed up in the Advanced Player's Guide, I always took that and didn't bother with determining what I disliked in a more limited range of creature types.

I think the "determining prey" thing still works for the ranger archetype, because studying and hunting opponents is within their purview. Looking at something and thinking about how it might be similar to other prey from the past seems like a pretty legitimate "flavor" for the ranger. They get focused on running one thing to ground at a time, looking for tells and openings.

I think it would be really sad to abandon the ranger as a D&D class at a point in time where we have a great example of a spellcasting ranger for one of the first times ever, since it's hard for me to picture Geralt of Rivia and other Witchers as not being rangers.
Alphastream
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2020 7:43 pm
Contact:

Re: Mastering Dungeons – Tasha’s Player and DM Bonanza 2

Post by Alphastream »

That feels a lot like a toned-down version of 3E's favored enemy. I liked the 3E version, though it was a bit too powerful if you chose a type that came up all the time.

If I had all the power, I would remove the Hunter's Mark spell and make it a ranger feature (and, additionally, not require concentration). To me, it's a core ranger aspect, reflecting what we had in 3E (through favored enemies) and 4E (through the actual hunter's mark feature). I would also let it scale at key ranger levels. Specific subclasses could then build on it, such as extending it to a pet.

Further, I would want to see some of the great ranger spells lose concentration. Ensnaring Strike and Hail of Thorns, for example, are such great options. But you can't currently use them while you have Hunter's Mark. Even if HM was a feature, I would like to see these spells either not be concentration spells or for the ranger to be able to ignore concentration on first level spells. It's not a terrible band-aid with hunter's mark either (though I still prefer for it to be a feature).
Learn more about Dungeons & Dragons tabletop at Alphastream.org.
Learn about Neverwinter and the Lore of D&D on YouTube and Twitch.
Check out my acclaimed adventures and supplements for D&D!
Post Reply

Return to “Mastering Dungeons”