Horizon Walker (and Shadow Dancer)

[Legildur]

My gaming group tends to downplay, to our collective detriment, the role of the point man in a dungeon crawl.

I had some wonderful success with a halfling Rogue/Dungeon Delver a while back, and now cringe as I watch the current rogue players in my 2 groups mostly be ineffective sidebits, except when it comes to detecting and disarming traps.

I was originally thinking about a dwarven ranger or rogue. Dwarf mainly for the stonecunning, darkvision, and bonus to saves versus spells and poison, and rogue for the trapfinding ability.

However, after perusing the standard Prestige Classes in the DMG, 2 of those also grabbed my attention - Horizon Walker and Shadow Dancer.

Some of the early the Shadow Dancer abilities are very nice (Hide in Plain Sight, Darkvision, Evasion, Uncanny Dodge), but has a relatively steep feat requirement (Combat Reflexes, Dodge, and Mobility) that I don't necessarily want to meet.

A Horizon Walker has a light feat requirement (Endurance, which a Rgr 3 gets as a bonus feat) and you can pick up some nifty abilities well suited to a point man (Darkvision, Tremorsense, Dimension Door etc)

Perhaps even combing SD and HW would be even better?

I've reviewed a couple of earlier threads about Horizon Walkers, but I would like to hear the experiences of anyone who has played a HW (or SD) as to whether it is worth pursuing and what builds were used to get there.

 

[Brekki]

We had an orog fighter/barbarian/HW in our group ... he had bonusses vs a lot of enemies, long range darkvision, some bonusses, and especially the dimension door to get into or out of all places and grapples.

 

[Diirk]

The +1 to hit/damage vs a particular terrain aren't all that great tho.. compared to a straight fighter, greater weapon focus + greater weapon specialization will apply to all creatures, tho are limited to 1 type of weapon.

 

[shilsen]

A Horizon Walker has a light feat requirement (Endurance, which a Rgr 3 gets as a bonus feat) and you can pick up some nifty abilities well suited to a point man (Darkvision, Tremorsense, Dimension Door etc)

Perhaps even combing SD and HW would be even better?

I've reviewed a couple of earlier threads about Horizon Walkers, but I would like to hear the experiences of anyone who has played a HW (or SD) as to whether it is worth pursuing and what builds were used to get there.

I haven't played one, but I think just going HW is good enough. I'd suggest something like a Rog2/Rgr3.

A Rog2/Rgr3/HW7 having picked the terrains Forest, Hills, Marsh, Plains, Underground and the planar terrains Shifting and Cavernous will have a +4 competence bonus to Hide, Listen, Move Silently and Spot, 60 ft. darkvision (120 ft. if the original race has darkvision already), 30 ft. tremorsense, and can dimension door every 1d4 rds.

 

[mikebr99]

I haven't played one, but I think just going HW is good enough. I'd suggest something like a Rog2/Rgr3.

A Rog2/Rgr3/HW7 having picked the terrains Forest, Hills, Marsh, Plains, Underground and the planar terrains Shifting and Cavernous will have a +4 competence bonus to Hide, Listen, Move Silently and Spot, 60 ft. darkvision (120 ft. if the original race has darkvision already), 30 ft. tremorsense, and can dimension door every 1d4 rds.

Does having...

Shifting (Planar):​

​

​

You instinctively anticipate shifts in the reality of the plane that bring you closer to your destination, giving you the spell-like ability to use dimension door (as the spell cast at your character level) once every 1d4 rounds. You gain a +1 insight bonus on attack and damage rolls against outsiders and elementals native to a shifting plane.​

​

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... allow you to dd on every plain, or just "shifting' ones?​

Mike

[later that day..]
And the DMG answers this... "you have the SU ability to use the ever-shifting nature of planes such as Limbo & the Plane of Shadow to travel faster."

So the prime material plane wouldn't apply...


ya know... this PrC just isn't very good... Much better Idea to build your scout out of a straight Ranger, straight Rogue, or a combination there of...

YMMV


Mike

 

[AuraSeer]

Does having [Shifting planar terrain] allow you to dd on every plain, or just "shifting' ones?

It works on all planes. Check the class description: "Horizon walkers take their terrain mastery with them wherever they go," "whether they're actually in the relevant terrain or not."

FWIW, I also asked this question of the Sage, and he says the DDoor ability works everywhere.

 

[Christian]

The Plane of Shadow is co-extensive with the Material Plane; if it offends your sensibilities that the HW can DD on the MP, just say he's taking a short jaunt through the PoS. YMMV.

PS. Don't let the flavor text override the rule text ...

 

[blargney the second]

Desert: You resist effects that tire you. You are immune to fatigue, and anything that would cause you to become exhausted makes you fatigued instead.

*zing!*

That's the sound of my eyebrows going up at the thought of a Rgr/Bbn/Horizon Walker...

You'd get Tireless Rage at 6th level!
-blarg

 

[mikebr99]

*zing!*

That's the sound of my eyebrows going up at the thought of a Rgr/Bbn/Horizon Walker...

You'd get Tireless Rage at 6th level!
-blarg

No big deal really... you are only able to rage once per day anyway, and barbarians aren't fatigued after rage for that long anyway.


Mike