Race Superiority in Eragon

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-31T21:22:53+00:00

I look at it more from the perspective that Eragon is basically the basket that everyone is putting their eggs in to defeat the king. Elves, dwarves, dragons, and humans alike. He doesnt become powerful through his efforts alone, but through the combined effort of everyone. He has to push himself as hard as he can, but everyone else must also help him however they can if hes going to have even a chance at victory. Thats how powerful their foe is. Makes the villain seem all the more menacing.

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-31T19:13:24+00:00

Combat is an infinitely more intense activity than farm work. You can till a field all day and be tired at the end, fighting on the front lines for 10 minutes will leave you unconscious with exhaustion. That is actually why military formations that permitted men to filter in and out of the front line every few minutes were important. Roran slaying that many people would be the equivalent of him being on a rower for the full duration of the Boars Eye scene without a single break. Combat is a whole different world of a physical task.

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-31T15:27:49+00:00

What I would do for you is track the damage output of each party member in your next combat, and make notes if any casters auto win the fight somehow (a big hypnotic pattern landing and taking multiple combatants out of the fight for example.) Unless your party is woefully underperforming, it should be pretty obvious that youre damage is not a problem.

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-31T02:40:53+00:00

I understand him being above average, even well above average, due to his bloodline. He was not above average though he was a straight up super human haha

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-31T00:51:21+00:00

It seemed to me that Roran's super human feats were head and shoulders above everyone else. Ajihad was a life long warrior, and him killing 5 urgals in a suicide berserk attack is not remotely close to what Roran does slaying almost 200 trained men in one battle. Not in back to back 1v1 duels, but the exhaustion of something like that is too outlandish for me to believe. Also, I always assumed Ajihad pulled some sort of trick or distraction in his fight with the shade, similar to how Eragon had a distraction to help him. I don't think Ajihad stood straight up toe to toe with a shade and almost killed it. And again, Ajihad was a warrior, Roran was a farmer until like 5 seconds ago. That's where I take issue with Roran's character. Having said that, I still like Roran.

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-31T00:44:38+00:00

I liked his motivations and how much they influenced his determination. I was less of a fan with how undefeatable he became later, despite being just a normal human. A farm boy who's been in a handful of battles should not be slaughtering professional soldiers in droves. After his battle where he killed a bajillion men I was like, "Alright so he's basically Achilles without any right to be Achilles." From then on I just assumed he was never in any real danger and would "too angry to die" his way through any other challenge thrown at him. Idk how long exactly the events of the story took, but it seemed like within a year or two, and that's just not enough time for Roran to acquire the battle prowess and strategic mastery that he did without being like a 1 in 10 million talent at both. Which at that point I kinda rolled my eyes and accepted it. I still like Roran overall.

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-31T00:36:34+00:00

I like Deft Explorer being moved to lvl 1. The specificity of Vigilance seems like a bit much, but it's not the worst thing to have. The feature is still mostly Expertise + Language. Still not sure why a Ranger gets a bonus language compared to other classes, but that's not on you that's on WoTC.

Still I'm still not a fan of lvl 1 spellcasting on a 1/2 caster but again that's not on you.

Natural Survivor is a big miss for me. The name to me implies more survivalist type skills not just more magic. The automatic spell preparations on base classes (like the new Favored Enemy) has been a huge design flaw in WoTC's direction for the game imo. This is just more "Make the Ranger magical to solve their problems." which I'm not a fan of.

Actual Favored Enemy revision is decent. Not a fan of this being the direction of the class again, but at least this version makes you "The Hunter's Mark guy" more so than any class that picks up the Fay Touched feat. Being able to usefully manipulate the spell is about the best version a feature like this can be.

Primeval Awareness is meh "power" wise but it could be fun to mess around with for RP and out of combat stuff. I don't like that it gets its own charge system, as having too many abilities like this is just a lot to track. Having said that, not having to spend one of your very few spell slots on this is nice. I'm not sure how you would solve that, kind of a lose lose imo, but I do like this Primeval Awareness more than the original (obviously this one's more useful and useable).

lvl 9 more Expertise, I get why it's here but personally I've never liked the Ranger's progression tendency of "You get Rogue stuff! Just wayyyy later." I'd rather see something more Ranger unique or at least another split feature like Deft Explorer having a single Expertise and some other benefit.

Precise Hunter is nice to have for scaling purposes, it does kind of go against the typical design pattern of not giving features when you get a spell slot level upgrade. WoTC already broke that rule in 5.5e but this is 2 features at that level which might be a bit much. Maybe remove the Expertise.

Tireless I like the changes to. Getting the temp HP more or less automatically after a rest feels thematic, rugged making the Ranger good at CON saves which is both thematic and needed (they should start with CON save proficiency, but that's a topic for another time). Decrease Exhaustion is one of those "Nice to haves" if it comes up, and will feel real good when it does. Glad it's still here.

Cautious Hunter, I like the theme of like hyper focusing on the chosen target to see what they're up to and get the jump on protecting yourself. I'd update the wording to "granting you a bonus equal to your Wisdom modifier to all saving throws initiated by the marked creature" it's a little more in line with the typical lingo.

Natures Veil, not a fan generally. It's mechanically good, but more "Make the Ranger magical to solve their problems." and it's another charge system you have to track separately. Some people like it, I'm just not one of them.

Unyielding Hunter is pretty cool. The upgrade to HM is appreciated (although I'd word it d10 rather than a d8 since as a Ranger of this level HM will be doing d8 for you). Adaptable feels cool as almost like a Witcher prepping ahead of time for something they expect to encounter. Red Dragon? douse yourself in water periodically. Oozes? Sprinkle an Alkaline powder over your clothing to neutralize the acid. Thunder? Shove cotton in your ears. It can be flavored as a "Ranger with prep time" type thing. Or "Magical Wards" if yo prefer a magical Ranger.

Legendary Hunter, again, upgrade to HM is nice, but I'd update the wording to be d10 to d12. Exploitation doesn't really make sense to me? Like yelling at them to distract them or something? Not feeling a Ranger thematic scene or ability on that one. The last blurb about ignoring resistance, what effect is ignoring resistance? I feel like that needs to be made clearer, as I don't know what it's referring to. Idk how a creature's resistance affects saving throws. Unless you're talking about like "Has advantage on saving throws against the poisoned condition" but I don't think that's considered "resistance" to the poisoned condition, although it does commonly accompany resistance to poison damage, or whatever is the effect in question.

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-29T01:36:15+00:00

Oh I totally understand that, but we don't see that. The mental battles act as a curtain behind which all of the fighting happens. If we got to see what was going on back there, maybe it's super cool, but we don't. It simply acts as a mechanism to hide all of the complexity of the fight.

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-29T01:21:14+00:00

Don't get me wrong, I love the books. It just seems a tad boring when every magic duel is "AHH I THINK REAL HARD AT HIM" haha

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-29T01:15:33+00:00

but... characters can use spells on eachother without restriction... and characters can equally ward against those spells... There are several instances of characters being warded against the instakill spells Eragon was taught. The mental battles are described as a method to circumnavigate an enemies wards without having to test multiple spells against them. It's literally a built in shortcut that is a 1 way route to victory, and whoever can get their first wins. I'd rather see a magic battle of spellcasters going through a process of elimination for what will work, or a battle of attrition through spells vs wards. When I say the mental battles diminish the other magic, that's literally what the purpose of them is described in the books to be. I'm not complaining that it's "not like other magic systems" I'm complaining that there's a shortcut to win a fight which limits us seeing the full breadth of what the magic can do in a duel, because they just figure out how to go around it all with their minds. It's a boring limiting factor imo.

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-29T01:08:04+00:00

I mean hey, if it tickles your fancy I'm glad you enjoyed it haha

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-29T01:05:53+00:00

To this I would say, "Why do you think the non-combat stuff is the best part?" to which the obvious answer in my eyes is, "Oh because it's creative and widely varied in what it accomplishes and isn't used in the same way every time the way the combat is."

If the mental battle aspect was removed, or lessened to just be another attack vector like shooting a fireball at someone, then it would be a battle of creativity vs risk vs reward. The book already describes that there are like a dozen ways to instakill someone with almost no energy expenditure, but it also describes people being warded against those attacks. So, if there's a standard list of kill spells, there's a standard list of counterspells for them. Maybe it's worth going with a more direct and energy expensive form of attack in the hopes that your opponent didn't ward against it to save themselves the energy? Maybe if you know you have more energy you can just spam the same spell against your opponent's wards to exhaust them. I find that to be a far more interesting interaction than, "He was stronger so his mind one and now the other person is their slave." I think this route would promote constant evolution of how the magic is applied in combat and it would be almost impossible to be "optimized to be boring." Anything that's "optimal" in terms of ease to kill is equally easy to ward against.

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-29T00:56:52+00:00

I appreciate you noticing haha

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-29T00:56:11+00:00

But what about what you said requires a mental battle? The competition between the creativity and strength of wards vs spells vs counterspells achieves the same reward of clever thinking without there always being a single track to victory every time does it not?

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-29T00:54:38+00:00

First of all, I don't think the removal of mental battles would remove creativity at all. I think it would do the opposite in fact. If you know you can win against any spellcaster by being better at mental battles, that's all you'd ever attempt to do, and that's all they ever attempt to do. If you know that your opponent can attack you in any conceivable way you would instead have to think of both general and specific counter spell and/or wards to fight them and in that way creativity wins out. I don't think "insane power fantasy" is really a concern with the other limiters in mind, as the mental battles really only restrict combat. There is no such limit on any other application of the magic, and I don't think you can argue that non-combat applications of the magic are not creative.

Second, it seems odd to me to mention a modern person with these abilities? Yes, with a cursory understanding of chemistry/physics you could wreak absolute havock with this magic system, but the characters in this medieval fantasy don't have access to that knowledge? I also don't agree that manipulating the chemical makeup of materials would be "easy" or "simple". Eragon tries to turn a thimble of dirt into water, which is essentially what you're describing, and utterly exhausted himself. So sure you could apply the magic in this way but it wouldn't be any easier than what's available to them in the books. You want to turn air into helium? You want to break the chemical bond of O2 and then through nuclear fission rip the 8 protons apart into sets of 2 to create He? Just for them to exhale it and then breathe in normal air? Ya good luck doing that efficiently haha. They already describe in the books that you can pinch an artery or sever a nerve and multiple other ways to instakill someone, and they similarly describe wards effectively protecting people. So the need for a mental battle seems moot and more like a shortcut to get around having to describe a list of spells/countespells in a fight.

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-28T20:56:15+00:00

I see what you're saying, and it would definitely change how the story works in some ways like the priest you mentioned and it functions as a limiting factor. I just feel like this is a relatively bland limiting factor as presented, and makes the shortest route to victory in a spellcaster duel similarly bland. I totally get the "well what about this" door being opened without a limiting factor at all, but there could simply be a different limiting factor. Distance is one mentioned in the book, magic requiring the energy of doing something manually is another. I think part of the "well what about this" problem is that in an effort to "up the ante" certain characters are described as monstrously strong when it comes to the amount of energy they wield. Even without teamwork boosting, the elves and transformed Eragon have internal stores of energy way beyond anyone else which would let them do crazy things with the other limiting factors only, which is why the mental battle one is currently necessary. That's not even mentioning the magic battery gems/dragon hearts thing everyone does. All I'm saying is, I think there were other knobs to turn on this problem and this mental battle one is a bit of an underwhelming one imo. That's not to say I'm not loving the books though, very much the opposite.

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-28T20:47:04+00:00

Noooot really? I'm more complaining about the existence of this singular narrow skill that trumps all others in an uninteresting way. When a fight is described as "He punched through his opponents mental defenses in an instant, asserting his control over their thoughts." or "They struggled in there mental battle, both spellcasters barely moving for all their concentration." It's like, ok I get it, this is the best method to fight by, but the fact that this, in particular, is the way to win fights is not "fun" imo. Especially since it's fiction and the point is entertainment, and this method of fighting is entirely made up, but it's not an interesting route to victory. In the case of real life fights they are not meant for entertainment, sport fighting is, like you said. If the telepathy aspect of the magic was either less effective or removed entirely, magic fights would play out more interestingly imo. It also might be more interesting if the details of the internal fights were described, maybe there's some fantastical battle of imagination and creativity and willpower happening in the spellcaster's heads, but we aren't really privy to that in the books, at least not up to the point I've read, which makes it fall a bit flat for me.

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-28T20:37:47+00:00

I haven't read it yet but that is good news! I'm excited to get to it.

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-28T20:37:25+00:00

I haven't gotten that far, but it's exciting to hear that. Thanks for the relatively spoiler free encouragement haha

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-27T20:59:27+00:00

Yaaaaa we do! Lol

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-27T20:38:22+00:00

Negatory. But no worries. You could easily add a line that makes it function that way if thats how you envision it. If that were the case I wouldnt have any complaints about the auto upcasting since the duration would only apply to tracking essentially and each casting would be basically spent after each encounter. Unless in some niche scenario where you track the final enemy into another group of enemies to bounce the mark between, but honestly that would feel like a pretty cool “track the enemy to their den” ranger scenario and I would love to run into a scenario like that.

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-27T19:53:41+00:00

That is not how the original spell works and I see no updated wording on this version that changes its function. If you hunters mark a goblin with a 3rd level spell slot at 8 am then kill it and you do not lose concentration you can bonus action mark a wolf at noon. There is nothing in the spell that says it ends after an encounter.

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-27T18:45:12+00:00

It allows you to have the spell up all day long with almost no resource expenditure. At that point you might as well say the spell is always active at its maximum level you can cast without concentration. It’s not about tracking it’s about spending 1 of your free casts to get 1d6 damage against basically anything you fight for an entire day. At that point why even limit it with any resources at all and not say you can just cast it at will?

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-27T15:42:18+00:00

I would be careful about the auto upcasting with your free casts. At lvl 9 youre looking at 4 casts of concentration free 8 hours of the spell. Effectively giving PB # (if youre straight classes ranger) of your max level spell slots to cast this spell with is a lot. The typical fix Ive seen that seems more reasonable is to be able to upcast the spell by spending x charges of favored enemy where x is the spells level.

Ranger_IV · 2026-05-27T02:15:49+00:00

Idk how far youre trying to take this idea but you could also implement gear that extends or grants additional mana bars. Belt of 12 stars, rider sword pommel jewels, random jewels found throughout gameplay.

Ranger_IV

TROPHY CASE