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Most rangers inDungeons & Dragonsspend their time in the wilderness, wandering the lands in search of prey or to protect travelers from becoming food for monsters. The Horizon Walker takes this one step further by traveling the planes in pursuit of threats to the mortal realm.
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In addition to possessing a supernatural ability to find planar portals, Horizon Walkers can manifest their attunement to the planes to teleport into battle and hit opponents with potent weapon attacks. If you’re looking for adventure beyond the mortal realm, here’s how to become a Horizon Walker ranger.
Horizon Walker Ranger Features
Horizon Walkers are all about expanding their horizons beyond the material plane. As such, Horizon Walkers gainHorizon Walker Magicthat offers otherworldly benefits at certain levels detailed in the below table.
Protection from Good and Evil
13th Level
17th Level
Teleportation Circle
At third level, you gain theDetect Portalability, allowing them to sense any nearby planar portals as an action. You also gain thePlanar Warriorfeature, converting all your weapon attack damage to force damage and dealing an additional 1d8’s worth as a bonus action. The enemy must be within 30 feet, and that damage increases to 2d8 at level 11.
Ethereal Stepat level seven lets you cast the Etherealness spell as a bonus action without spending a spell slot once per short or long rest.Distant Strikeat level 11 lets you teleport up to 10 feet whenever you take the attack action, and lets you attack a third creature if you attack two or more creatures initially.
Finally,Spectral Defenseat level 15 lets you use your reaction to gain resistance to an attack’s damage for that attack’s turn.
Best Species For A Horizon Walker Ranger
Any species can be an effective ranger, so feel free to choose whichever of D&D’s many species you like best. However, there area few species that offer synergistic benefits to a Horizon Walker ranger. Here are a few suggestions to consider.
Autognome
Armored Casingprovides you with all the benefits of Studded Leather armor without actually needing to find it.Build For Successis a fantastic ability that can help with any of your rolls.Mechanical Natureprovides a great resistance and advantage against being paralyzed or poisoned, andHealing Machinegives you a good reason to take Mending as a cantrip.
Bugbear
Although not as good as when paired with theGloom Stalker,Surprise Attackis still very strong for a high-Dex build. Anextra five feet of reachbe very helpful for melee-focused rangers, andcharm resistanceandDarkvisionare both great to have.
Deep Gnome
Darkvisionandstealth proficiencyare both great for rangers.Disguise SelfandNondetectionare situational spells, but good additions to your spell list.Gnomish Magic Resistanceprovides you with much-needed boosts to your non-physical saving throws.
Duergar
Enlarge/Reduceis a useful buff or debuff, butInvisibilityis the real reason to be a Duergar.Poison resistance,advantage against being charmed or stunned, andDarkvisionto 120 feet are also great perks.
Eladrin
Horizon Walkers will rarely have a free bonus action, butFey Stepprovides very useful effects for a more melee-focused build.Darkvision,charm resistance, andperceptionare also good to have.
Fairy
Faerie Fireis a fantastic combat debuff and reveals invisible creatures.Enlarge/Reduceis also good. But the real draw here isflying speedand being a tiny creature, although you won’t be able to use a longbow.
Half-Elf
Rangers wanta lot of ability score increases, and half-elves provide just that.Darkvision,charm resistance, anda pair of skillsare also good to have.
Human
Wantability score increases? Humans have lots of those. Or you could govariant humanto start with afree feat.
Harengon
You’ve likely already got a strong Dexterity score, soHare-Triggerwill often put you first in the turn order.Lucky Footworkcan help with Dexterity saving throws, andRabbit Hopcan get you out of or into sticky situations, so long as you can spare a bonus action.
Goblin
Fury of the Smallprovides a lovely damage boost that is difficult to ignore.Darkvisionandcharm resistanceare good, but you’ll have a hard time finding a free bonus action forNimble Escape.
Kenku
Rangers are often the rogue replacement for parties without them.Kenku Recallgoes a long way to providing useful skill proficiencies to keep your party rolling. Low Charisma meansMimicrywon’t be as useful, andExpert Duplicationis situational at best.
Flyingspeed,stealth proficiency, andDarkvision. What more do you need?
Thri-Kreen
Your bonus action is spoken for, so don’t expect thoseSecondary Armsto do more than carry an extra object.Chameleon Carapaceis the real prize here, providing an incredible AC boostadvantage on hide checks.TelepathyandDarkvisionare also nice perks.
Warforged
Extra armor class, askill proficiency,advantage against and resistance to poison, andimmunity to disease and sleepeffects makes warforged an excellent choice for a tough-as-nails ranger.
Yuan-Ti
Poison Sprayis garbage, butAnimal FriendshipandSuggestioncan be useful. What makes Yuan-Ti desirable isMagic ResistanceandPoison Resilience, giving you protection from the most common threats in D&D.Darkvisionis also great.
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Best Ability Scores For A Horizon Walker Ranger
Rangers can be built in three ways. The most common is toemphasize Dexterity in order to improve your ranged damagewith a bow and finesse weapon. The next is tofocus on Strength for either a two-handed or dual-wielding build. The third is totake the Druidic Warrior fighting style and focus on Wisdom with powerful spells.
Because the Horizon Walker’s Planar Warrior ability requires weapon attacks to work, the third option isn’t viable, so you shouldfocus on either Strength or Dexterity as your primary stat.Constitutionshould be your second stat, andWisdomyour third.Intelligenceis nice for a higher nature check and saving throw, whileCharisma can be completely ignored.
Whether you decide to boost Strength or Dexterity will depend on your species and what weapons you’d like to use. Both will work for the Horizon Walker, but Dexterity provides bonuses to both your armor class and damage, soit’s recommended to stick with a Dexterity-focused build if you’re new to the ranger class.
If you’re using the points buy system for D&D, agood starting ability score spreadmight look something like this:
10(+0)
16(+3)
14(+2)
8(-1)
Best Starting Equipment For A Horizon Walker Ranger
Thelongbowis the ranger’s bread-and-butter ranged attack. Expect to keep this weapon for a long time. You can pair that withtwo shortswordsortwo simple melee weapons, but the shortswords are likely to be your best option.
Scale mailwill provide you with 16 AC with a 16 Dexterity score, but disadvantage on stealth checks.Leather armorwill provide you with 14 AC, but no disadvantage on stealth. The armor you pick will depend largely on whether you expect the party to opt for stealth rather than frontal assaults.
Adungeoneer’s packprovides more useful goodies than the explorer’s pack, so pick that to start your adventure.
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Best Spells For A Horizon Walker Ranger
As a half-caster class, rangers get limited spell slots to augment their physical abilities. As such, you’ll want to get the most out of these spell slots by choosing the most potent spells.Here are a few suggestionsat each ranger level.
Cantripsare only available if taking theDruidic Warriorfighting style.
