Revised Hunter's Mark. No Concentration Required.

Artist, Jimmy Lo, Senior Concept Artist of Blizzard Entertainment. Art from the Game Hearthstone. Downloaded from https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Hunter%27s_Mark

Hunter's Mark

·       Casting Time: 1 bonus action

·       Range: 90 feet

·       Components: V 

·       Duration: Concentration, Up to 1 hour

·       Classes: Ranger

 You can choose a creature you can see within range and mystically mark it as your quarry. Until the spell ends, you can deal an extra 1d6 damage to the target whenever you hit it with a weapon attack, and you have advantage on any wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Survival) check you make to find it. If the target drops to 0 hp hit points before the spell ends, you can use a bonus action on subsequent turn of yours to mark a new creature.

At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd or 4th level you can maintain your Concentration on the spell for up to 8 hours. When you use a spell slot of 5th level or higher, you can maintain concentration on the spell for up to 24 hours.

Alternatively, when you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd or 4th level, you can choose to cast this spell as a Ranger's Mark, allowing you to maintain the effect of this spell without concentration. When you cast this spell as a Ranger's Mark, using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, you can maintain the effect of this spell without concentration for up to 8 hours.

Balancing Notes

This part is a response to the Unearthed Arcana Class Feature Varients that was published in 2019.

Due to my work on the Divine Claw Ranger Subclass I've become very familiar with the Ranger Base Class Features as well as the great deal of criticism on various internet forums concerning the apparent weakness of the Ranger when compared to many other DnD classes.

During my work, I discovered the Unearthed Arcana Class Feature Variants document (link here: https://media.wizards.com/2019/dnd/downloads/UA-ClassFeatures.pdf ) that tried to resolve many of these issues.

One notable way to address these problems was the Favored Foe feature which states:

Favored Foe

(Replaces Favored Enemy)

You can call on your bond with nature to mark a creature as your favored enemy for a time: you know the hunter’s mark spell, and Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for it. You can use it a certain number of times without expending a spell slot and without requiring concentration— a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

I do not like this feature for many reasons. The main being Rangers already have a very strong early game damage dealing capability which doesn't need to be bolstered any further.

For an example, a level two variant Human Hunter Ranger with 16 strength, Polearm Master and Colossus Slayer will deal on average:

5.5 Polearm Damage
+4.5 Colossus Slayer Damage
+3.5 Hunter's Mark Damage
+3 Strength Mod Damage

And if you have a spare bonus action:

+2.5 Polearm butt damage
+3.5 Hunter's Mark Damage
+3 Strength Mod Damage

For a total of:

16.5 damage without the polearm butt attack,
25.5 damage with the polearm butt attack. 

And all of this not including potential reaction attacks that will be easy to get off with the Polearm Master Feat.

And for you classic Bow Rangers, your still pretty nasty with:

4.5 Long Bow Damage
+4.5 Colossus Slayer Damage*
+3.5 Hunter's Mark Damage
+3 Dexterity Mod Damage
+ A potential +10 damage from the Sharpshooter Feat.

All of this for an average damage of:

11 damage without Colossus Slayer
15.5 damage with Colossus Slayer
25.5 damage if you are able to hit while Sharpshooter Feat.

Compare this to a Great Weapon Master, Variant Human, Battle Master Fighter, who is capable of

7 damage with Great Sword
+4.5 Superiority Dice (4 uses per short rest)
+3 Strength Mod Damage
+10 A potential +10 damage from the Great Weapon Master Feat.

For a total of:

10 baseline damage.
14.5 when using a Superiority Dice.
20 baseline damage while using Great Weapon Master Feat.
24.5 damage if you are able to hit with the Great Weapon Master Feat.

Also Compare to a Great Weapon Master, Variant Human Paladin

7 damage with Great Sword
+9 Smite Damage 
+3 Strength Mod Damage
+10 A potential +10 damage from the Great Weapon Master Feat.

10 baseline damage.
19 damage when using Divine Smite.
20 baseline damage while using Great Weapon Master Feat.
29 damage if you are able to hit with the Great Weapon Master Feat with Divine Smite.

***

In conclusion, the level 3 Hunter Ranger has far better sustained damage then either the Paladin or the Fighter AND the Hunter Ranger's sustained damage isn't that much worse on average then a Paladin or Fighter's best Nova Damage. 

Combined with very strong utilities as a Half-Caster and access to potentially powerful combat skills such as Athletics (For grappling powerful enemies without much strength), Stealth (For sneaking and setting up Ambushes) and Survival. (For tracking foes and if the GM allows finding favorable terrain in which to sneak up and ambush foes) Rangers are no joke at low levels even if their Favored Terrain and Favored Enemy features can be somewhat situational.

But with that said. I do agree with the basic idea of giving Rangers access to some kind of way to use Hunter's Mark without concentration especially at higher levels. It is after all a massive shame that the need to maintain concentration of Hunter's Mark to keep up damage comes at the cost of being able to use other cool spells at high levels.

I think giving Rangers the option of forgoing a longer duration Hunter's Mark in exchange for not requiring concentration to use Hunter's Mark is a more elegant solution to a late game problem then modifying a fundamental feature of a Base Class. I also think my revision to Hunter's Mark is made even better as Paladins get Improved Smite (1d8 radiant damage to all attacks) at level 11 as part of their 3rd tier power spike. About the same time when Half-Casters get their 3rd level spell slots (starting at level 9).

With that said due to the Wuhan Virus running through the Americas and not being able to play test with my friends. My ability to test this theory in practice house is a little hindered. But at least on paper I think this Revision of Hunter's Mark is pretty solid as it correlates at about the same time of a third tier power spike.

Next, I'm going to be looking at Deft Explorer which as whole I like better then Favored Foe. See you then.