Class Enhancements for Dark Ranger

[Warp]

By definition, class enhancement would enhance something your class can do. But Dark Ranger gives you an enhancement to invisibility, something that ranger cannot do. (it adds your wilderness lore to damage if you attack while invisible) Yet a Ranger cannot cast invisibility. Is there something I am missing?

[Toramino]

Originally posted by Warp:

Is there something I am missing?

A lot.
First, there is Dark Hunter T4 enhancement Smoke Bomb: Throw a bottle beneath you that explodes into a cloud of smoke and leaves you <i>Invisible</i> and Displaced for 12 seconds
Second, one Wizard level = Invisibility SLA.
And so on: pots, clickies, Invis Guard items...

[Warp]

So there is a way for a Ranger to make himself invisible. I missed the smoke bomb thing, Thank you. Both require 20 pts. in tree. Wizard, pots, clickies, and items are not ranger enhancements and your class enhancements should not be enhancements that are not of your class.

[Doug]

Originally posted by Warp:

By definition, class enhancement would enhance something your class can do. But Dark Ranger gives you an enhancement to invisibility, something that ranger cannot do. (it adds your wilderness lore to damage if you attack while invisible) Yet a Ranger cannot cast invisibility. Is there something I am missing?

More something you're adding.. which is your own definition for 'enhancements'. Enhancements enhance the class, often with abilities it DOESN'T have without them. Take Wizard, for example: Eldritch Knight gives it melee abilities it never had. Pale Master makes it undead and gives it defenses that have nothing to do with the core class.

I could find dozens of examples of things in enhancement trees that add entirely new strengths to classes if I really looked, I'm sure.

Fact is, there are lots of sources for invisibility, from spells cast by others, to items, to multi-classing.. I'd bet there are some in Epic Destiny Trees, in which case this would kick in at Epic levels. But while there may not be invisibility in the base class, there ARE things built around hiding and sneak attacks. So the idea that the class might gain benefits to those when/if the individual goes invisible fits the design of the class just fine.

[Warp]

Player A studies chess really hard, practices every day, enter tournaments and spends a lot of time honing his skills, finally the big day comes and he enters a competition and his skills win out and he wins. Congratulations, he is labeled a chess master.

Player B does none of those things, but he does know how to use a smart phone. He enters the tournament and using his clicks, wins the competition. Congratulations, he is labeled a chess master.

Winning is everything and means mean nothing.

I guess I do not understand.

[drunken.dx]

Originally posted by Warp:

Player A studies chess really hard, practices every day, enter tournaments and spends a lot of time honing his skills, finally the big day comes and he enters a competition and his skills win out and he wins. Congratulations, he is labeled a chess master.

Player B does none of those things, but he does know how to use a smart phone. He enters the tournament and using his clicks, wins the competition. Congratulations, he is labeled a chess master.

Winning is everything and means mean nothing.

I guess I do not understand.

And you don't understand how chess works.

If we're gonna nitpick...

[Taebrythn]

lol you will never learn how ddo works if you do not open your eyes to how you can do certain things. when you cast an invis scroll or wand or clicky it can be because you had umd or had the item. there are plenty of ways to become invisible to use that ability. so it's not broken.


you get 80 points to spend in your trees by the time you hit 20. so 20 points is nothing. that isn't even including racial points or tomes in general. the problem is you're not seeing potential.

[Doug]

Originally posted by Warp:

Player A studies chess really hard, practices every day, enter tournaments and spends a lot of time honing his skills, finally the big day comes and he enters a competition and his skills win out and he wins. Congratulations, he is labeled a chess master.

Player B does none of those things, but he does know how to use a smart phone. He enters the tournament and using his clicks, wins the competition. Congratulations, he is labeled a chess master.

Winning is everything and means mean nothing.

I guess I do not understand.

Well.. I don't understand how this lovely illustration applies whatsoever, so I guess that's two of us.

[Doug]

Originally posted by Warp:

By definition, class enhancement would enhance something your class can do. But Dark Ranger gives you an enhancement to invisibility, something that ranger cannot do. (it adds your wilderness lore to damage if you attack while invisible) Yet a Ranger cannot cast invisibility. Is there something I am missing?

Originally posted by Warp:

So there is a way for a Ranger to make himself invisible. I missed the smoke bomb thing, Thank you. Both require 20 pts. in tree. Wizard, pots, clickies, and items are not ranger enhancements and your class enhancements should not be enhancements that are not of your class.

Again.. not sure what the 20AP in the tree has to do with anything. If, "there is a way for Ranger to make himself invisible," then this fits your very own personal definition for enhancements (which, btw, I reiterate is NOT anyone else's). In fact, the invisibility from Smoke Bomb becomes available at Tier 4, i.e. Ranger L4, LONG before the Dark Hunter could get access to the invisibility-improving Enhancement 'Opportune Moment' which is Core 4, not available until Ranger L12. So it even fits in the progression order in which you can acquire the two: Invisibility before the Invisibility-enhancer. This is not universally true.

There are at least a few cases where an Enhancement enhances a stance that you might well not have taken (or even can't have yet taken by the time the Enhancement becomes available). There are Tier 1 and Tier 2 Enhancements in Fighter and Paladin trees that improve Stalwart Defense (Fighter)/Sacred Defense (Paladin) that you can take at L1 and/or L2.. but the stance itself is at Core 2 (Level 3). You can (and most commonly should) take some of those Enhancements before the stance becomes available so as to unlock it, since it requires a 5AP investment in the tree. BUT.. you can literally take the Enhancements (there are 6 of them, for 18 AP total) and never take the stance. Which means those AP will have literally bought you NOTHING.

Enhancements enhance the potential of your toon in various ways. How valuable, effective, and useful those ways are depend entirely on how you build your toon and what gear you use. Having an Enhancement that makes invisibility more valuable, should you encounter, purchase, or develop a means of turning invisible is potentially useful.. or not.. depending entirely on other choices the player makes. Just like those Defender Stance upgrades.

They've taken this to another level with Imbues. If you have an ability that is Imbuable (i.e. that can be improved with more Imbue dice), you can add dice to it that you get from anywhere: other trees, other classes, even Epic Destinies once you get there. They are literally designed to be additive regardless of where the base ability comes from. I think there are even spells and items that add Imbue dice.