Fallen Ranger

DM Fennico
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Is it bad that I have an awful poker face?

Posts: 19

Favorite D&D Class: Warlock
Favorite D&D Race: Human
Gender: Male

Fallen Ranger Apr 16, 2019 4:56:50 GMT joatmoniac, randosaurus, and 1 more like this

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Post by DM Fennico on Apr 16, 2019 4:56:50 GMT

Hi Everyone!

To preface I'd like to say that I'm playing through Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition for the first time; and loving it! though I did accidentally turn my main character into a Fallen Ranger. This of course peaked my interest about how it could be done in 5e, but more in line with the Oathbreaker Paladin. I am also going to add that one of my players, a Hunter Archetype Ranger, committed a massive amount of murder during a prison break with the Cloudkill spell, I don't usually care about alignments, but I couldn't ignore the way she role played the situation. I already mentioned that there would be consequences without knowing about Fallen Rangers, and she said that she was ok with consequences.

My initial thoughts were to go along the path of BGEE, take her magic away, but give her the improved critical from the Champion Fighter Archetype.
The other thought I've been thinking of is to allow only necromancy and illusion(?) schools?

She is an Asmodius Teifling as well, we are playing in a fiend heavy campaign, so another option could be to lean into that flavor.

I'm open to what you all have to say!

DM Fennico

randosaurus
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Favorite D&D Class: Spellthief

Fallen Ranger Apr 17, 2019 3:30:21 GMT joatmoniac and DM Fennico like this

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Post by randosaurus on Apr 17, 2019 3:30:21 GMT

From a pure balance perspective, I don't think you should do the spells for critical trade.

For a ranger, casting is a buff & control prospect. They don't get that many spells per day, and they don't generally form the basis of their offense (Mark of the Hunter excepted).

A character will get more use out of an automatic critical bump than they will a situational spell toolbox. It would also make the class less versatile/fun.

If you look at the Oathbreaker Paladin, the new abilities are a 1:1 trade; new spells, new channels.

I think your approach of moving towards necromancy/illusion is a good one.

I would consider adding some Warlock flavor in place of the ranger spells and some of the spell-like abilities; that will definitely jibe with the Asmodeus lineage.

One other aspect of the Oathbreaker, it is really just a different 3rd level character option; it just happens to be an anti-paladin.

I'm not familiar with BGEE or the Fallen Ranger; nothing about the Hunter archetype, in particular, is necessarily Lawful or Good.

A Fallen Ranger to my thinking would be one that turns on the natural world, or becomes urbanized and remote from it.

That is to say, Rangers aren't necessarily wholesome to begin with in the RAW.

You could lean into the fiendish aspect and do something like add Pact of Chain flavor; it's the most ranger like.

The Revised Ranger features a better Beastmaster option; it adds a companion who scales with the Ranger level and the Ranger gains no other Archetype features for herself.

You could assign a lesser demon as a retainer to the Ranger; they could be a corrupting influence sent from the Abyss, charged with ensuring the Ranger is fully corrupted. Demons work well for this mechanic, as they change forms as they become more powerful; I don't actually like the idea of a 17HD panther, but that's me.

Aside from that, favored enemies could be changed to human/humanoid; that's pretty Fallen.

Primeval awareness, that could make them a manhunter; having their abilities changed to something clearly suited for ill & evil would be a bit of a punishment.

Just some thoughts. Again, Rangers aren't wholesome to begin with.

For me, I love to have a band of Lizardfolk rangers tracking the party through landscapes. They're certainly evil, yet natural.

Last Edit: Apr 17, 2019 3:32:58 GMT by randosaurus

DM Fennico
Commoner

Is it bad that I have an awful poker face?

Posts: 19

Favorite D&D Class: Warlock
Favorite D&D Race: Human
Gender: Male

Fallen Ranger Apr 17, 2019 22:09:54 GMT joatmoniac and randosaurus like this

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Post by DM Fennico on Apr 17, 2019 22:09:54 GMT

Thanks for replying! We are actually using the UA Revised Ranger, the main difference being that there is a damage buff to favored enemies.

I agree that adding the champion feature wouldn't be right, and removing the magic all together would be bad as well. BGEE removes pretty much all magic from the ranger and they turn into a worse fighter; I don't want it to get that far.

I love the idea of an Imp that is charged with watching over her and whispering evil things, but she's not interested in handling a beast companion at all, so it would be more like a sentient item.

I had the same thought as you for changing the Primeval Awareness, where instead of them being one with nature, they are seen as predators in the natural world. I am liking the idea of changing Primeval Awareness with this "Hunter's Bounty" feature I thought up of:

Hunter’s Bounty

The ranger can cast the spell hunter’s mark ritually, by incorporating some materials that have a connection to the target of the spell, this casting grants additional benefits:

- You don't have to see the target of the spell, but you must be on the same plane as the target. You must have some material component which has a close connection to the target, and you also have to have a clear image of the target in your mind.
- The mark lasts 24 hours and does not require concentration. Once the target has been killed, the spell fades after one minute.During this minute, on subsequent turns as a bonus action, you can move the the mark to another target you can see within 30 feet of you.
- You gain all of the benefits of your Favored Enemies even if your target is not one of your Favored Enemy types.
The additional damage of hunter’s mark starts at 1d6 and increases to 2d6 at 5th level, 3d6 at 9th, 4d6 at 13th, and 5d6 at 17th level.
- If you kill a creature that is marked, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Ranger level plus your Wisdom Modifier.

This should keep the flavor of the ranger, but it would be a deadly tracker. After sleeping on the warlock ability idea, I think it would be more difficult to implement smoothly than we think.

Last Edit: Apr 17, 2019 22:21:51 GMT by DM Fennico

randosaurus
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Posts: 166

Favorite D&D Class: Spellthief

Fallen Ranger Apr 18, 2019 3:42:11 GMT joatmoniac and DM Fennico like this

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Post by randosaurus on Apr 18, 2019 3:42:11 GMT

I like it.

I would cap the bonus damage on Hunters Bounty to once per turn in some way.

Rogues, for comparison, only get their sneak attack damage once per turn and have other prereqs to trigger it.

My intent for the Quasit/Imp familiar would rely on you playing the NPC.

I personally would find it funny to require the Ranger to convince the Imp to take any particular action; they may disregard or go about it the wrong way.

Your fiend-heavy campaign would have ample opportunity for it to cause mischief but that may be a burden for you the controller.

DM Fennico Commoner Is it bad that I have an awful poker face? Posts: 19 Favorite D&D Class: Warlock Favorite D&D Race: Human Gender: Male	Fallen Ranger Apr 18, 2019 5:07:41 GMT Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by DM Fennico on Apr 18, 2019 5:07:41 GMT Oh good point! I might link a feind to the party anyway regardless of the ranger at this point haha

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Fallen Ranger

Post by DM Fennico on Apr 16, 2019 4:56:50 GMT

Post by randosaurus on Apr 17, 2019 3:30:21 GMT

Post by DM Fennico on Apr 17, 2019 22:09:54 GMT

Post by randosaurus on Apr 18, 2019 3:42:11 GMT

Post by DM Fennico on Apr 18, 2019 5:07:41 GMT

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