U50 Preview 1: New Universal Enhancement Tree: Horizon Walker

Disclaimer

Everything seen on the preview server, Lamannia, is not final and is subject to change or removal before live release.

Here's your first look at Horizon Walker, a Universal enhancement tree currently slated for Update 50. Horizon Walker has popped up in a couple of editions of D&D at this point, as a variant option in 3.5e and a Ranger path in 5e. In this adaptation, the Horizon Walker is a hunter that traverses planes, hunting extraplanar enemies with a Bow. They are rugged adventurers, prepared for any kind of danger on any number of planes, and are attuned enough to Planes that they can occasionally manipulate planar alignments to avoid danger.

Focuses of this tree include:

• Single-Target Bow Damage
• Dexterity
• Avoidance defenses (dodge, incorp, etc)

Marking a Target:
The first Core in this tree works a bit like Assassin's trick; it's an Active ability that leaves an effect on your targeted enemy, and after that the things that affect Marked Targets work on that enemy. Using Marked Target on another enemy while you have an existing, living Marked Target will clear it from them. Using Improved Precise Shot and hitting other enemies before/after your Marked Target on the Bow attacks will do the attack's weapon damage to other enemies, and only do the Marked Target effects to your Marked Target (assuming they're hit by the attack).


Cores

1. Mark Target: +1 to Spot and Listen. You gain the ability to Mark one target at a time. Targets you Mark have -2 AC. (Debuffs to Marked Targets from these Core abilites do not stack with other players' Marks - Only the highest set of debuffs will apply.) Cooldown: 4 Seconds. (1AP)
2. Improved Marking: Your Marked Targets get -5% Fortification. The AC penalty your Marked Targets take increases to -4. (1AP)
3. Greater Marking: Your Marked Targets get -2 to Saving Throws. Their Fortification penalty increases to -10%, and AC penalty increases to -6. (1AP)
4. Dauntless Marking: Your Marked Target's Saving Throw penalty increases to -4, Fortification penalty increases to -20%, and AC penalty increases to -8. (1AP)
5. Dimension Door: Once per rest, you can cast Dimension Door. Activation Cost: 0 Spell Points. Cooldown: 10 Minutes. Passive: Your Marked Targets get -10% to movement speed. (1AP)
6. Horizon: +2 to all Ability Scores. You gain +10 Ranged Power, +10% Doubleshot. +2 Maximum Manyshot charges. (1AP)

Tier 1

• Weathered Gear: You have a 25/50/75% chance to negate potential item wear. (1AP/Rank)
• Opening Shot: +1/2/3[w] Bow Attack. Adds 1/2/3d6 Force damage on hit. This damage scales with Ranged Power. Cooldown: 6 seconds. (1AP/Rank)
• Eye for Accuracy: +1/2/3 to Attack with Weapons.
• Skills: +1/2/3 to Spot, Listen, and Search. (1AP/Rank)
• Conjure Arrow: SLA, as in AA tree (2AP)

Tier 2

• Walker Training I: +1 to Attack and +1 to Damage with Longbows and Shortbows. (1AP)
• Take the Opening: If Opening Shot hits a creature that is at 100% of their hitpoints, it deals an extra 1d10 Force damage for every 2 Character levels you have. This damage scales with Ranged Power. Additionally, your Force damage from Opening Shot is now applied twice when used against Marked Targets. (2AP)
• Skilled Navigator: +2/4/6 to Saving Throws vs. Traps (1AP/Rank)
• Dodge and Strike: When you tumble, you gain Ranged Power equal to half your Character level for 12 seconds. This can trigger once every 30 seconds. (1 AP)
• Favored Enemy: Evil Outsider Feat (1AP)

Tier 3

• No Step Missed: Battle Trance. Cooldown: 20 Seconds. Antirequisite: Other Trances. Charges: 5. Expend 1 Charge: You gain an Insight bonus to damage and the DC of tactical feats equal to 1/2 of your Dexterity modifier for [30/60/120] seconds. On a Vorpal weapon hit, have a chance to restore 1 Charge. (1AP/Rank)
• Two Places At Once: When you use Manyshot or Scattershot, you gain Displacement for 12 seconds. (2AP)
• Nowhere to Hide: You automatically detect nearby Secret Doors with a DC of 5 or less. This goes up by 3 for every 2 Character levels you have. (1AP)
• Planar Dodge: +1/2/3 to Dodge, +1/2/3 Maximum Dexterity while wearing light armor. (1AP/Rank)
• Ability Score: Multiselector
  
  • Dexterity: +1 Dexterity (2AP)
  • Wisdom: +1 Wisdom (2AP)

Tier 4

• Walker Training II: +1 to Attack and +1 to Damage with Longbows and Shortbows. (1AP)
• Corner the Quarry: +2/3/4[w] Bow Attack. If this is used against your Marked Target, they must make a Reflex Save (d20+your Listen skill) or be immobilized for 12 seconds. On a Vorpal hit, the target is also Stunned with no save (20sec cooldown). On bosses, this does not immobilize or stun. (1AP/Rank)
• Tenacious Hunter: Against Extraplanar creatures and Marked Targets (regardless of whether or not they are extraplanar), you deal an additional +2/4/6 damage with Longbows and Shortbows. (1AP/Rank)
• Scattershot: Ranged Bow Attack: Expend one charge to randomly select up to three different enemies at close range and shoot one arro at each of them. Each of these shots can Doubleshot. 2 second cooldown. This feat gives 3 charges, you regain 1 charge every 12 seconds you don't use Scattershot or Manyshot. (Requires a Longbow or Shortbow to use). Shares Charges and a Cooldown with Manyshot.(2AP)
• Ability Score: Multiselector
  
  • Dexterity: +1 Dexterity (2AP)
  • Wisdom: +1 Wisdom (2AP)

Tier 5

• Walker's Guidance: You and targeted ally gain Evasion and +5 to Saving Throws vs. Traps for 12 seconds. 60 second cooldown. (1AP)
• Banish the Quarry: If Corner the Quarry is used against a Marked Target, they take an additional 1d6 Force Damage per Character Level. This damage scales with Ranged Power. If the creature is Extraplanar, it must make a Will Save (d20+your Listen skill) or be Banished. (Bosses cannot be banished). (1AP)
• Feywild Attunement: +1 Competence Bonus to Threat Range and Multiplier with Longbows and Shortbows. (1AP)
• Misty Step: As Abundant Step, but you disappear. (Shares a cooldown with other abundant steps). (1AP)
• Improved Archer's Focus (as in Deepwood): Your Archer's Focus stance can now stack up to 25 times instead of 15. Passive: +10% Doubleshot. (2AP)

A few notes:

• "Bow Attacks" in this tree require a Shortbow or Longbow.
• It is fairly intended that a non-bow user could get some good use out of this tree.
• Worth noting that anyone gaining Evasion from Walker's Guidance still has to follow Evasion rules (no med/heavy armor, etc) for Evasion to work.

Known Issues

• Mark Target doesn't show anything over the targets head yet and we are going to fix that
• Mark Target is slower than we want it to be right now and we are going to fix that

So.. will scattershot and core 6 give you a total of 5 more manyshot charges, plus the base three(or is it 2..) for a total of eight manyshot/scattershot charges?

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Originally Posted by Khurse

So.. will scattershot and core 6 give you a total of 5 more manyshot charges, plus the base three(or is it 2..) for a total of eight manyshot/scattershot charges?

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No, base is 3 for both of those abilities (whether you have one or both), they are a shared pool, and the Capstone raises that pool to 5.

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Originally Posted by Steelstar

No, base is 3 for both of those abilities (whether you have one or both), they are a shared pool, and the Capstone raises that pool to 5.

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Perfect, I thought I was reading a little too much into how it was worded, but 5 should be enough..

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Originally Posted by Cocomajobo

[B]

• Walker's Guidance: You and targeted ally gain Evasion and +5 to Saving Throws vs. Traps for 12 seconds. 60 second cooldown. (1AP)

• Worth noting that anyone gaining Evasion from Walker's Guidance still has to follow Evasion rules (no med/heavy armor, etc) for Evasion to work.

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I don't really see the point of this ability if it only follows evasion rules, I guess you could use it on your pure wizard or pure arti friend but they may be wearing medium armor too. I suppose you could do T5 horizon on a ranged arti and get use out of this, but for the most part this doesn't seem very useful.

The rest is pretty cool, worried about how much force damage which scales off of ranged power we'll have though (seems like a lot, even if it's not every hit). Also somewhat worried about how powerful a dex trance may be but its strength relative to the other trances may not be as exaggerated with the reductions of power creep we'll also be seeing in U50.

Seems to be several things here that are just low skills, like they didn't know what to put in the tree to fill up space.
Clicky marking system, Detect Secret Doors as a T-3, and (+1/+1) at T-4 are just examples. This is dubious at best.

Practically, I'd see no reason to dip this tree, unless I needed a source of arrows, or was RP-ing.

nvm i give up

no dex trance huh?

first read was yep, fairly standard

i dont run bow builds, so listen to others
i dont think it may be any better than falconry with /5 ranger
probably, at least it has wis for stat
thx

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Originally Posted by Vish

no dex trance huh?

first read was yep, fairly standard

i dont run bow builds, so listen to others
i dont think it may be any better than falconry with /5 ranger
probably, at least it has wis for stat
thx

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There is a dex trance.

lol ranged

just kidding. hopefully this thing is great for our ranged brothers and sisters.

Well the tree clearly has a focus, which is good: its a single-target specialist tree, with most of its unique bonuses being tied into the Marked system. Its not something that interests me, but it might be more relevant for raiders that focus more on single-target damage.

Scattershot is a great complement to this, I'm glad you considered the need for some form of non-linear weapon-based AOE when designing this tree. I really wish there was something like that in Inquisitive too :) I think there needs to be a little more support for the Many/Scattershot mechanic though; maybe a T5 that grants +1 M/S charge on Vorpal? Just would be nice to see a fully-invested HW able to use Scatter a little more liberally than just once per 12 secs on avg. Looking at the tree, that's the one button you're probably pushing more than any other, because the Marked/Manyshot mechanic you're probably only using on bosses champs reapers.

I'm guessing Scatter will not pierce with IPS, if the randomly-selected mob happens to be behind another? But since the skill is clearly meant to be an alternative to Manyshot (three shots scattered, instead of three shots focused) and Manyshot can pierce AFAIK, I'd say maybe Scattershot should penetrate with IPS.

I think this tree will make a good complement to Deepwoods. I wonder if its enough to warrant bow builds on other classes (particularly Monks) that dont have any innate bow support of their own, the way Inqui is kind of a complete self-contained package for Xbow builds. I dont really see, e.g., Bowbards or Bowbarians having attractive builds around HW. I wonder if the ED revamp is rubbing off, and HW absorbed some of that "each tree is descended from a specific class archetype" philosophy, and HW became Universal Deepwoods Ranger.

Why based on Listen? Seems like that's just an attempt to arbitrarily make you take a skill which has no other real value. Wouldn't Spot be more in line with the tree's theme, and more synergistic for Bow users?

I'm worried about the Force damage. Its very intermittent (cf Law on your Side or Spellsword that apply to every hit), single target, only scales 100% with RP, and doesnt have super impressive base die. If it was just a T1 skill with +3d6, that'd be one thing, but as it seems like a central mechanic of the tree, I think it probably needs to be more significant.

Evasion for 12s seems counterproductive in practice. If your build doesnt have permanent Evasion already, then odds are you're wearing Medium armor for uncapped MRR. The cross-section of players who could benefit from this is probably small. And the ED preview seems like its going to make Evasion much more accessible in Shadowdancer, anyway, for Epics...and since this is a T5, it means it only has an 8-level window of practicality, even if you did build for it. I'd suggest make it perma-Evasion for you and then an active buff for others, or leave it as-is but allow it to grant temp Evasion regardless of armor - THAT would be a significant bonus for grouping, but not OP since it has limited uptime.

IDK why you keep adding On Tumble effects. There's almost no reason to ever Tumble, its an awkward mechanic. Runspeed boosts is one thing, you can Tumble as a quasi-action boost if you need to cover lots of ground...but Tumbling in combat is ponderous and breaks the flow of the fight.

Favored Enemy: make it a multiselector with Evil Outsider, Chaotic Outsider, and a new option: Mephit? There's currently no way to favor True Neutral Outsiders, it'd be a nice touch in the tree :)

No Exploding Arrow. Why are you so against EVER giving ranged martial builds any kind of circular AOE? :D Many caster trees get a "fireball" type attack in their T5s. That would really be a build-defining skill for the tree and (with Scattershot) gives the kind of targeting geometry that is really rewarded in the game right now.

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Originally Posted by droid327

I'm guessing Scatter will not pierce with IPS, if the randomly-selected mob happens to be behind another? But since the skill is clearly meant to be an alternative to Manyshot (three shots scattered, instead of three shots focused) and Manyshot can pierce AFAIK, I'd say maybe Scattershot should penetrate with IPS.

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Scattershot, like Manyshot, works with IPS.

• If you don't have IPS on, and Random Target #2 is standing directly behind Random Target #1, both of those arrows will hit #1 because arrows hit the first enemy they come in contact with.
• If you DO have IPS on in that scenario, the arrows would pass through and likely hit both of them, depending on exact positioning.

The marking feature is okay I guess? the thing is, you can't mark more than one target at the same time, but it keeps being described as marked targets, is there a way to mark more than one? that would be cool I guess, to mark a group, but with longer cooldowns

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Originally Posted by Sylveny

The marking feature is okay I guess? the thing is, you can't mark more than one target at the same time, but it keeps being described as marked targets, is there a way to mark more than one? that would be cool I guess, to mark a group, but with longer cooldowns

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You can only Mark one at a time, but anyone with Core 1 of this tree can Mark a target.

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Originally Posted by Stravix

There is a dex trance.

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The problem is that it's too high in the tree for Dexterity based melee builds. We were also teased during in the melee focused Shadai Kai preview about a Dex Trance . There is also very little worth taking on a melee build to feel like you could get access to it.

At best all you get is Eye for Accuracy: +1/2/3 to Attack with Weapons. and Favored Enemy: Evil Outsider Feat for a 13 Action Point point spend.

I don't see why it can't be tier 2 instead of tier 3 like Harper.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stravix

There is a dex trance.

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oh there is, i apologize
nice

thats what u get for a quick read

First I want to support the idea of using the skill Spot instead of Listen or the tree.

On my regard I like the tree, the idea is good, lets start from

The cores:. Usually the universal trees have their critical multiplier and extension in their core (lvl12) this helps a lot to mix the trees with builds of others clases that doesn't have a critical profile/dmg extension in their trees, but allowing the build to choose between the T5 of HW or one of the trees in their clases.

T1.- Weathered Gear: should be changed, is not really a very used enchantment at all, specially since bows don't break often, and should create the space to add one tier of 1+ dmg to bows ( to hit could be too but I'm not greedy)

T2.- Take the Opening:. I wonder if it would be posible to add two different scales one for heroic 1 dice every two levels, and one for epics, 1 dice every level to help the scaling of this ability. or at least a buff when reachhing lvl 29 or 30.
.- Dodge and Strike:. This is a personal preference, but I REALLY hate tumble mechanics... as someone said before they mess with the flow of battle a lot, and its hard and annoying to do it every combat...
but there are some "utility" that is problematic as others have said. I like the idea, but I rather have a clickie than to have to do the trumble, or maybe just add it to the mark, and keep the internal CD.

T3.-Nowhere to Hide seems a little off so high in the tree, and also need a buff, I rather have the same skill as Inquisitive but im not to invest in this to push it.

T5.- Walker's Guidance Because you are restricted to the requisites of Evasion this skill is not really that usefull considering that most non evasion characters either, almos for sure, wear medium or heavy armor, or dont have the reflex saves to make this useful anyway... This should be replace with the usual 3/3 to hit and dmg to bows that a lot of trees have in their T5.
Feywild Attunement as said before this should go to the core, you could move some of the core power here if needed, but I would like to propose a new active ability similar as aim shot that add Archer focus charges to the enemy and could add a critical extension and multiplier +2 seems right to a marked enemy.

Not overly impressed. UT's are replacing what should be done in respective class trees.

My proposal for bow users is far superior in playability than HW for sure. Too bad SSG can't get past their own desk to see where a player has better ideas than your "team".

https://i.imgur.com/ybKqBnZ.png





https://i.imgur.com/iGkhDTI.png

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Originally Posted by R1ncewind

T5.- Walker's Guidance Because you are restricted to the requisites of Evasion this skill is not really that usefull considering that most non evasion characters either, almos for sure, wear medium or heavy armor, or dont have the reflex saves to make this useful anyway...

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An idea might be to increase the duration to 20 seconds ala an action boost and than for your target apply an action boost bonus to reflex saves equal to your dex modifier. I'd also make it count your armor as one category lighter for the duration so medium can get the evasion but heavy armor can't double dip on high MRR and evasion at the same time. It would give it some use at least situationally.

Does mark the target do damage or is it just like a skill?