The Horizon Walker ranger is perhaps the most unique ranger subclass thus far, swapping the classical frontiersman or hunter with something more...sci-fi?
Yes, the Horizon Walker is an inter-planar hero, one who doesn't let a little thing like physics stop him from tracking their quarry...with their ability to sniff out portals to other dimensions, the ability to convert physical damage into raw energy, and short-range teleports...the Horizon Walker is a reality-bending ranger capable of adapting to whatever bizarre threat emerges.
But the tricky thing is getting the playstyle right...and I'm somewhat stuck on the weapon style of this character. Thus far, I'm between Great Weapons or Archery...trying to maximize damage as force.
Great Weapons are...well, "great"...but the Great Weapon Mastery feat is hindered somewhat by bonus action economy...Horizon Walkers already use bonus actions too liberally to benefit from the extra attack option...plus, they'll be able to do that eventually with their subclass feature.
Archery is the smart choice...the Sharpshooter feat ensures a Horizon Walker is formidable, either from a distance or up close. If I do this, I also use crossbows...with the Crossbow Expert feat. Since that rules out the disadvantage at melee range, my teleporting Horizon Walker will "blink" to an enemy's flank, hit them point blank, and teleport away.
Best I can reason, they are a close-quarters sharpshooter, with a John Wick-esque flow to combat.
But what are some other thoughts towards Horizon Walkers and combat?
Ah the Horizon Walker is one of my personal favourite classes, now I played mine as a tiefling strength based maul user.
now for combat the planar warrior granting the extra 1d8 is nice, but turning it into force damage is also really good at ignoring resistance because ALL the damage from that attack is force, the only downside is the 30ft range and it also delays the hunters mark, but in two turns you can have hunters mark up and planar warrior each turn for some sweet damage.
Detect portal and etherealness are really kinda situational and depend on the campaign setting, but they can come in handy anytime during the campaign.
My favourite feature is the Distant strike, not only is it cool thematically it is really good mechanically for a melee fighter to reposition and even for an archer to get closer without expending movement, since Ive tried it in melee Distant strike combined with haste can give you a potential of 4 attacks per round 2 on 1 person, then teleport onto another, then teleport again, and it counts as a disengage from them all.
Then to top it off spectral defence gives the ranger some excellent defence seeing as though they'll be bouncing around through multiple enemies.
All in all the horizon walker is a mysterious type character with misty step, haste and distant strike to dart and teleport around the place, then smash someone in the back of the head with extra force damage, out of combat they are alright at getting in and out of unreachable places, and can detect which plane and how far away the big bad evil guy has teleported into to get away.
It seems to be that Horizon Walker can do very well by combining Zephyr Strike with a two-handed weapon and their 3rd level Planar Warrior force damage boost. While it takes a bonus action to cast, you're mainly keeping it on for the free disengages. If you do use heavy weapons regularly, the Savage Attacker feat might be worth it at level 12 or 16 since you won't benefit much from feats with Polearm Master or GWM.
If you are at high enough level, you might also look into a few levels of Fighter for Action Surge and the Battle Master sub-class. Most Battle Master maneuvers don't require a bonus action and further boost your damage total.
I'm a level 12 Horizon Walker. I chose Archery, because even though tons of people see this as a melee character, it comes at a cost because...
1) Haste: While an amazing spell, you have to be careful using Haste on yourself as a melee character. It takes one bad concentration check to lose your turn. Being at Ranged is safer, and Haste allows you to stay as far away as you want and pop in and out of the fight.
2) Distant Strike: I think people think of Nightcrawler here and think its a good feature for melee, but again its more Ranged to me. The teleport triggers BEFORE you take an attack, therefore being a free disengage for the ranged character. You can pull out your bow, teleport 10 feet to get out of disadvantage, and then attack. A melee will be provoking opportunity attacks unless the enemies are within 10 feet of each other, greatly restricting the feature.
Yeah, I don't like to self-Haste on melee characters. The exhaustion in the middle of combat can be brutal.
Also, it's strange that Rangers have no concentration buffs while two Wizard sub-classes do. They really ought to fix that to make melee Rangers more all-around viable.
I realize this is probably a dead thread, but so far nobody's mentioned the Dueling fighting style, which I thought sounded natural for the lack of bonus action use. Thoughts?
To be honest, as amazing as Planar Warrior is - and it is amazing - it's mostly there to pierce resistances. Most rangers will get more damage out of multiple regular base attacks than they do trying to constantly use Planar Warrior.
The exception is multiclassing. A rogue turning the entirety of their Sneak Attack for the turn into force damage, especially with a Green Flame Blade or Booming Blade tacked on from either Arcane Trickster or Magic Initiate, is a mollycobblin' that weapon-resistant fiend will not soon forget. The aforementioned Battlemaster using their maneuver dice works as well, but having done the rogue/Horizon Walker thing myself...very little is quite as Space Cowboy as turning the shot from your hand crossbow into a planar force bolt and Han Solo-ing a muthahfugger.
If one is building a straight (or even just primary) Horizon Walker, then Crossbow Expert is as busted as it ever is. A heavy crossbow hits harder than most any other single weapon the ranger gets access to, it works swimmingly with Distant Strike (provided you have the feat), and nobody ever uses them. Yeah yeah, no third bonus shot with a heavy crossbow as opposed to a hand crossbow, but you don't get that shot anyways with Planar Warrior. I would also consider checking to see if your DM is willing to let you get away with crafting/buying explosive crossbow bolts, and seeing how they might interact with Planar Warrior.
Melee-centric builds would work best with the Dueling style and a rapier, methinks. 1d8+2 fixed is the same average damage as a greataxe, and you can then switch between sword and bow freely. One level of Fighter can get you both Archery and Dueling, for a powerfully versatile character that can easily adapt to any given fight. Planar Warrior makes it especially easy, and Mobile would be equally excellent for such a build. Remember - even when you're holding a longbow, you can always kick a bastiche with your non-bow-holding foot (or punch him with your draw hand), which counts as a "melee attack" for purposes of the free Disengage from Mobile without sacrificing the other attacks you get from your Attack action. Boot whichever imp is getting in your business in the ghoulies, Disengage for free with Mobile without relinquishing your bow, then take your Planar Warrior shot at whatever is hiding behind its minions without having to worry about disadvantage.
I love Horizon Walkers, especially when they're also Scouts or Arcane Tricksters. So much fun shit you can get up to.
I need to get around to playing a HWalker eventually, thanks for the tip! It's sooooo much like Nightcrawler from the second X-Men movie once one picks up the Mobile feat.
I need to get around to playing a HWalker eventually, thanks for the tip! It's sooooo much like Nightcrawler from the second X-Men movie once one picks up the Mobile feat.
I finally got around to playing one after wanting to basically since XgtE came out. He's a blue simic hybrid with a German accent because Nightcrawler is a BAMF (pun definitely intended).
I realize this is probably a dead thread, but so far nobody's mentioned the Dueling fighting style, which I thought sounded natural for the lack of bonus action use. Thoughts?
I tend to go a little feat-crazy...and each weapon style typically has a feat, or more, to go with it.
Great Weapons - "Great Weapon Mastery" = a potential plus 10 damage spike, and the bonus action chance to attack again.
Bows / Crossbows - Sharpshooter (extra damage again, but mitigated with "Archery" fighting style), and "Crossbow Expert" allows a heavy-hitting weapon with no downside...and the appeal of a ranger shooting a monster point-blank in the face.
...the downside to these weapon styles and their feats, due to Planar Warrior, is that their bonus actions don't work if you use that feature...and then it becomes a guessing game to whether or not you should use force damage or simply add the potential damage. That damage is MIGHTY appealing, though.
Dueling is pretty handy...and the feat that goes with that is "Shield Mastery", since most would couple a shield with the single weapon for extra defense. Thing is, that also requires a bonus action for shoving enemies, meaning that you are trading damage for utility and support. They also get damage reduction on Dexterity Saving throws as a reaction, which is nice.
Dueling is certainly a safe bet for Horizon Walkers...I just lean a bit more heavily on the damage side of things. It just feels right.
To be honest, as amazing as Planar Warrior is - and it is amazing - it's mostly there to pierce resistances. Most rangers will get more damage out of multiple regular base attacks than they do trying to constantly use Planar Warrior.
The exception is multiclassing. A rogue turning the entirety of their Sneak Attack for the turn into force damage, especially with a Green Flame Blade or Booming Blade tacked on from either Arcane Trickster or Magic Initiate, is a mollycobblin' that weapon-resistant fiend will not soon forget. The aforementioned Battlemaster using their maneuver dice works as well, but having done the rogue/Horizon Walker thing myself...very little is quite as Space Cowboy as turning the shot from your hand crossbow into a planar force bolt and Han Solo-ing a muthahfugger.
If one is building a straight (or even just primary) Horizon Walker, then Crossbow Expert is as busted as it ever is. A heavy crossbow hits harder than most any other single weapon the ranger gets access to, it works swimmingly with Distant Strike (provided you have the feat), and nobody ever uses them. Yeah yeah, no third bonus shot with a heavy crossbow as opposed to a hand crossbow, but you don't get that shot anyways with Planar Warrior. I would also consider checking to see if your DM is willing to let you get away with crafting/buying explosive crossbow bolts, and seeing how they might interact with Planar Warrior.
Melee-centric builds would work best with the Dueling style and a rapier, methinks. 1d8+2 fixed is the same average damage as a greataxe, and you can then switch between sword and bow freely. One level of Fighter can get you both Archery and Dueling, for a powerfully versatile character that can easily adapt to any given fight. Planar Warrior makes it especially easy, and Mobile would be equally excellent for such a build. Remember - even when you're holding a longbow, you can always kick a bastiche with your non-bow-holding foot (or punch him with your draw hand), which counts as a "melee attack" for purposes of the free Disengage from Mobile without sacrificing the other attacks you get from your Attack action. Boot whichever imp is getting in your business in the ghoulies, Disengage for free with Mobile without relinquishing your bow, then take your Planar Warrior shot at whatever is hiding behind its minions without having to worry about disadvantage.
I love Horizon Walkers, especially when they're also Scouts or Arcane Tricksters. So much fun shit you can get up to.
I...had not considered the prospect of a Rogue / Horizon Walker multiclass.
But that is just NUTS...you trade the prospect of using a "Cunning Action" in favor of "Planar Warrior"...but you get the additional Force Damage die to save the Sneak Attack die you miss out on. And when you really need to kill that boss...
Hmph...I need to re-assess.
Mainly, I need to create a character based around the concept...maybe an inter-dimensional Thief who wants to steal artifacts from the gods themselves...or an Arcane Trickster rogue who was exposed to unstable magic and now seems to be able to discharge it at will...or just make a rogue Scout who is pretty much a Horizon Walker without the higher-level magic.
Heh. Do a Trickster with the Inheritor background, whose "inheritance" is an unknown object he/she acquired either from a previous job or from his/her mentor in the trade, perhaps. One that affects their magic and which grants them strange powers no one else in their crew has ever been able to master - or so they were told when they received the doohickus. They had to flee to keep it safe, which is where they picked up their Ranger trail skills, and now they're trying to find someone or some way to help them figure out what this thing is, why they can't seem to get away from it, and what it's doing to them.
Normally I like Trickster/Scholl of Illusion MC mixes, but Horizon Walker makes for an interesting take on the magical-rogue archetype. I did the Scout thing myself with the character that originally did this and yeah, it was basically a ranger with scout features, but that felt awesome to run too. If I had it all to do over again though, would definitely do Trickster. probably flavor their Mage Hand as reaching through the Border Ethereal, which is why it's invisible, and do other cool planar shit because I can. Would really hate not getting Ethereal Step though. Seems a shame not to have your ghostie dash.
I'm a bit late to the party, but if going GW, it might be worthy to consider using a polearm. Getting reach takes a bit of the risk away from using haste, particularly if you go PAM and Sentinel to stop them before they get to you. Sure, you're not going to use the offhand attack in most cases, but I think PAM is still a great pick, especially if you get Sentinel too.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Greetings all.
The Horizon Walker ranger is perhaps the most unique ranger subclass thus far, swapping the classical frontiersman or hunter with something more...sci-fi?
Yes, the Horizon Walker is an inter-planar hero, one who doesn't let a little thing like physics stop him from tracking their quarry...with their ability to sniff out portals to other dimensions, the ability to convert physical damage into raw energy, and short-range teleports...the Horizon Walker is a reality-bending ranger capable of adapting to whatever bizarre threat emerges.
But the tricky thing is getting the playstyle right...and I'm somewhat stuck on the weapon style of this character. Thus far, I'm between Great Weapons or Archery...trying to maximize damage as force.
Great Weapons are...well, "great"...but the Great Weapon Mastery feat is hindered somewhat by bonus action economy...Horizon Walkers already use bonus actions too liberally to benefit from the extra attack option...plus, they'll be able to do that eventually with their subclass feature.
Archery is the smart choice...the Sharpshooter feat ensures a Horizon Walker is formidable, either from a distance or up close. If I do this, I also use crossbows...with the Crossbow Expert feat. Since that rules out the disadvantage at melee range, my teleporting Horizon Walker will "blink" to an enemy's flank, hit them point blank, and teleport away.
Best I can reason, they are a close-quarters sharpshooter, with a John Wick-esque flow to combat.
But what are some other thoughts towards Horizon Walkers and combat?
Ah the Horizon Walker is one of my personal favourite classes, now I played mine as a tiefling strength based maul user.
now for combat the planar warrior granting the extra 1d8 is nice, but turning it into force damage is also really good at ignoring resistance because ALL the damage from that attack is force, the only downside is the 30ft range and it also delays the hunters mark, but in two turns you can have hunters mark up and planar warrior each turn for some sweet damage.
Detect portal and etherealness are really kinda situational and depend on the campaign setting, but they can come in handy anytime during the campaign.
My favourite feature is the Distant strike, not only is it cool thematically it is really good mechanically for a melee fighter to reposition and even for an archer to get closer without expending movement, since Ive tried it in melee Distant strike combined with haste can give you a potential of 4 attacks per round 2 on 1 person, then teleport onto another, then teleport again, and it counts as a disengage from them all.
Then to top it off spectral defence gives the ranger some excellent defence seeing as though they'll be bouncing around through multiple enemies.
All in all the horizon walker is a mysterious type character with misty step, haste and distant strike to dart and teleport around the place, then smash someone in the back of the head with extra force damage, out of combat they are alright at getting in and out of unreachable places, and can detect which plane and how far away the big bad evil guy has teleported into to get away.
Will still be one of my favourite characters.
Tank is the only class.
It seems to be that Horizon Walker can do very well by combining Zephyr Strike with a two-handed weapon and their 3rd level Planar Warrior force damage boost. While it takes a bonus action to cast, you're mainly keeping it on for the free disengages. If you do use heavy weapons regularly, the Savage Attacker feat might be worth it at level 12 or 16 since you won't benefit much from feats with Polearm Master or GWM.
If you are at high enough level, you might also look into a few levels of Fighter for Action Surge and the Battle Master sub-class. Most Battle Master maneuvers don't require a bonus action and further boost your damage total.
An interesting solution...and a great use for Savage Attacker!
I'm a level 12 Horizon Walker. I chose Archery, because even though tons of people see this as a melee character, it comes at a cost because...
1) Haste: While an amazing spell, you have to be careful using Haste on yourself as a melee character. It takes one bad concentration check to lose your turn. Being at Ranged is safer, and Haste allows you to stay as far away as you want and pop in and out of the fight.
2) Distant Strike: I think people think of Nightcrawler here and think its a good feature for melee, but again its more Ranged to me. The teleport triggers BEFORE you take an attack, therefore being a free disengage for the ranged character. You can pull out your bow, teleport 10 feet to get out of disadvantage, and then attack. A melee will be provoking opportunity attacks unless the enemies are within 10 feet of each other, greatly restricting the feature.
Yeah, I don't like to self-Haste on melee characters. The exhaustion in the middle of combat can be brutal.
Also, it's strange that Rangers have no concentration buffs while two Wizard sub-classes do. They really ought to fix that to make melee Rangers more all-around viable.
I realize this is probably a dead thread, but so far nobody's mentioned the Dueling fighting style, which I thought sounded natural for the lack of bonus action use. Thoughts?
To be honest, as amazing as Planar Warrior is - and it is amazing - it's mostly there to pierce resistances. Most rangers will get more damage out of multiple regular base attacks than they do trying to constantly use Planar Warrior.
The exception is multiclassing. A rogue turning the entirety of their Sneak Attack for the turn into force damage, especially with a Green Flame Blade or Booming Blade tacked on from either Arcane Trickster or Magic Initiate, is a mollycobblin' that weapon-resistant fiend will not soon forget. The aforementioned Battlemaster using their maneuver dice works as well, but having done the rogue/Horizon Walker thing myself...very little is quite as Space Cowboy as turning the shot from your hand crossbow into a planar force bolt and Han Solo-ing a muthahfugger.
If one is building a straight (or even just primary) Horizon Walker, then Crossbow Expert is as busted as it ever is. A heavy crossbow hits harder than most any other single weapon the ranger gets access to, it works swimmingly with Distant Strike (provided you have the feat), and nobody ever uses them. Yeah yeah, no third bonus shot with a heavy crossbow as opposed to a hand crossbow, but you don't get that shot anyways with Planar Warrior. I would also consider checking to see if your DM is willing to let you get away with crafting/buying explosive crossbow bolts, and seeing how they might interact with Planar Warrior.
Melee-centric builds would work best with the Dueling style and a rapier, methinks. 1d8+2 fixed is the same average damage as a greataxe, and you can then switch between sword and bow freely. One level of Fighter can get you both Archery and Dueling, for a powerfully versatile character that can easily adapt to any given fight. Planar Warrior makes it especially easy, and Mobile would be equally excellent for such a build. Remember - even when you're holding a longbow, you can always kick a bastiche with your non-bow-holding foot (or punch him with your draw hand), which counts as a "melee attack" for purposes of the free Disengage from Mobile without sacrificing the other attacks you get from your Attack action. Boot whichever imp is getting in your business in the ghoulies, Disengage for free with Mobile without relinquishing your bow, then take your Planar Warrior shot at whatever is hiding behind its minions without having to worry about disadvantage.
I love Horizon Walkers, especially when they're also Scouts or Arcane Tricksters. So much fun shit you can get up to.
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I need to get around to playing a HWalker eventually, thanks for the tip! It's sooooo much like Nightcrawler from the second X-Men movie once one picks up the Mobile feat.
I finally got around to playing one after wanting to basically since XgtE came out. He's a blue simic hybrid with a German accent because Nightcrawler is a BAMF (pun definitely intended).
I tend to go a little feat-crazy...and each weapon style typically has a feat, or more, to go with it.
Great Weapons - "Great Weapon Mastery" = a potential plus 10 damage spike, and the bonus action chance to attack again.
Bows / Crossbows - Sharpshooter (extra damage again, but mitigated with "Archery" fighting style), and "Crossbow Expert" allows a heavy-hitting weapon with no downside...and the appeal of a ranger shooting a monster point-blank in the face.
...the downside to these weapon styles and their feats, due to Planar Warrior, is that their bonus actions don't work if you use that feature...and then it becomes a guessing game to whether or not you should use force damage or simply add the potential damage. That damage is MIGHTY appealing, though.
Dueling is pretty handy...and the feat that goes with that is "Shield Mastery", since most would couple a shield with the single weapon for extra defense. Thing is, that also requires a bonus action for shoving enemies, meaning that you are trading damage for utility and support. They also get damage reduction on Dexterity Saving throws as a reaction, which is nice.
Dueling is certainly a safe bet for Horizon Walkers...I just lean a bit more heavily on the damage side of things. It just feels right.
I...had not considered the prospect of a Rogue / Horizon Walker multiclass.
But that is just NUTS...you trade the prospect of using a "Cunning Action" in favor of "Planar Warrior"...but you get the additional Force Damage die to save the Sneak Attack die you miss out on. And when you really need to kill that boss...
Hmph...I need to re-assess.
Mainly, I need to create a character based around the concept...maybe an inter-dimensional Thief who wants to steal artifacts from the gods themselves...or an Arcane Trickster rogue who was exposed to unstable magic and now seems to be able to discharge it at will...or just make a rogue Scout who is pretty much a Horizon Walker without the higher-level magic.
Heh. Do a Trickster with the Inheritor background, whose "inheritance" is an unknown object he/she acquired either from a previous job or from his/her mentor in the trade, perhaps. One that affects their magic and which grants them strange powers no one else in their crew has ever been able to master - or so they were told when they received the doohickus. They had to flee to keep it safe, which is where they picked up their Ranger trail skills, and now they're trying to find someone or some way to help them figure out what this thing is, why they can't seem to get away from it, and what it's doing to them.
Normally I like Trickster/Scholl of Illusion MC mixes, but Horizon Walker makes for an interesting take on the magical-rogue archetype. I did the Scout thing myself with the character that originally did this and yeah, it was basically a ranger with scout features, but that felt awesome to run too. If I had it all to do over again though, would definitely do Trickster. probably flavor their Mage Hand as reaching through the Border Ethereal, which is why it's invisible, and do other cool planar shit because I can. Would really hate not getting Ethereal Step though. Seems a shame not to have your ghostie dash.
Why you shouldn't start ANOTHER thread about DDB not giving away free redeems on your hardcopy book purchases.
Thinking of starting ANOTHER thread asking why Epic Boons haven't been implemented? Read this first to learn why you shouldn't!
I'm a bit late to the party, but if going GW, it might be worthy to consider using a polearm. Getting reach takes a bit of the risk away from using haste, particularly if you go PAM and Sentinel to stop them before they get to you. Sure, you're not going to use the offhand attack in most cases, but I think PAM is still a great pick, especially if you get Sentinel too.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
what about druidic warrior getting around to playing it