As for coming up with the flavor for the archetype, they’ll have to use their imagination for that. When designing abilities that interact with these abilities, creators should make sure they do not add combat potency.Ĭreators should keep these guidelines in mind, and make sure they don’t make the subclass too strong or too weak at any given level. A good DM should, but creators cannot design a subclass based on the assumption that a DM will behave in a certain way. A half-elf holds one of his shamanic focus, his enemies laughs, thinking this is an easy kill, when suddenly from the focus comes a bolt of lightning, fulminating the unsuspected. An elf concentrates in its meditation, the spirits around her come forth, to protect her against preying beasts. The focus on the non-combat aspects of the game is important, because there’s no guarantee that a DM will include the specific creature-type or terrain that a ranger favors in a campaign. While travelling through swamps, forests and deserts a young human receives directions from the spirits.
This is because Dungeons & Dragons has a larger mechanical focus on combat, so that is where most balancing issues appear.
These bonuses do not give combat bonuses, they are entirely focused on the social and exploration pillars of the game. These give bonuses when interacting with enemies of a certain type and travelling through a certain type of terrain. Notable among these are the ability to choose a favored enemy and a favored terrain. The ranger class has a lot of decision points at the beginning of its progression.
