The Horizon Tripper (Core Melee Build)

[Saph]

Here's a character build that I've been playing with and tuning for a few months. Credit for the initial idea goes to Rachel Lorelei, and a few of the tricks are copied from Person Man's builds. The rest is the result of experimentation.

People often come to these boards looking for suggestions on how to make a character. Some of the ideas they get are good; however, I've noticed the advice tends to have a few limitations.

• It assumes too high a level. Many D&D games start at level 1 and most never go beyond level 10.
• It assumes too many books. The only material that you can really count on a player having access to is the PHB and (probably) the DMG and MM. Even Core-only can't be assumed - not everyone uses the SRD.
• Too much of the advice boils down to "play a caster". Not everyone wants to play a caster, and at low levels they aren't all that great anyway.

This is a general-purpose melee build designed to be useful in as many different types of game as possible, and IMO it's arguably the strongest core fighter available. First I'll do the build, then cover ways to adapt it depending on what you have access to.


Horizon Tripper


Levels: Barbarian 1 / Fighter 1 / Ranger 3 / Horizon Walker 10 / whatever you like for the last few levels.

Alternate route: If you're starting at level 3 or higher, you can go Ranger 1 / Fighter 1 / Barbarian 1 / Ranger 2, instead, then Horizon Walker as above. This costs you a couple of HP, but gives you more skill points - at higher levels, this is a worthwhile tradeoff.

Alternate route 2: Taking Ranger at level 1, then two levels of Barbarian, then a final level of Ranger, gives you Uncanny Dodge and slightly more hit points and skill points. However, you end up with one less feat. Swings and roundabouts.

Stats: Str > Dex/Con > Int > Wis > Cha. Try to get an Int of at least 13 - if you can't, look under Adaptions (All Core).

Race: Any, though the build I list assumes Human. If you play a race which doesn't have Favoured Class (Ranger or Any), you'll need to avoid multiclassing XP penalties by replacing one level of Ranger with Fighter and getting the Endurance feat that way instead.

Feats: In order - Combat Expertise, Improved Trip (Human bonus feat), Combat Reflexes (Fighter bonus feat), Power Attack, Track (Ranger bonus feat), Endurance (Ranger bonus feat), Diehard. This takes you up to level 6; customise to taste thereafter. If not human, take Power Attack instead of Diehard at level 6.

Class Features: You won't be getting much use out of either of the Ranger Combat Styles, so pick whichever you feel like. For the Horizon Walker's terrain mastery abilities, take Underground, Desert, Hills, and Plains. For the planar terrain mastery, your first choice should be Shifting - after that take Cavernous, Aligned, Fiery, and Cold.

Skills: Max out Survival, Listen, and Tumble (cross-class) to start with. Once you start getting Ranger levels, max out Spot and Knowledge (Geography) as well - you need 8 ranks in Knowledge (Geography) to qualify for Horizon Walker. Use your Fighter level to make sure you have 5 ranks in Jump. Spend your remaining ranks on Climb, Handle Animal, Ride, or whatever else you feel like.

Alternate route: If you're starting with Ranger, things are easier. Max out Listen, Spot, Survival, Knowledge (geography), and Tumble. That still leaves you a few skill points, which you can put into Hide and Move Silently, or something more unusual like Balance or Knowledge (Nature).

Equipment: For armour, get studded leather at level 1, a masterwork chain shirt at level 2, a mithral chain shirt at level 3, and a magic mithral chain shirt from level 4 onwards.
For weapons, get a guisarme, upgraded to masterwork and magic when possible. Also get armour spikes or a spiked gauntlet for close-in work, a ranged weapon for sniping, and a bludgeoning weapon as a backup.
For other equipment, buy potions of enlarge person. They're only 50 gold each and weigh nothing, so carry a stack of them. Also buy a masterwork tool for the Tumble skill and a wand of cure light wounds at first opportunity (probably level 3, unless you can get the rest of the party to chip in).


Explanations and Notes


With a speed of 40 from your barbarian Fast Movement, you'll probably be the fastest character in the party. Use your speed to position yourself so that enemies have to move through your reach to attack, allowing you to attack or trip them. Your AC will be low for a fighter, but enemies will have to reach you to hit you, and Combat Reflexes gives you a good chance of either killing or tripping many enemies before they get into range.

Against Large opponents you should use the first round of combat to drink a potion of enlarge person (a CL 1 potion costs 50 gold and lasts 1 minute). This increases your guisarme reach to 15-20 feet and gives you an effective bonus to your trip checks of +5; this is enough to give you good odds of tripping even big critters. Note that enlarging costs you a turn and effectively reduces your AC by 2, so only use it when you need it.

If (when) opponents get inside your reach, you have three options. You can 5-foot step and hit them, you can withdraw out of range, or you can use Tumble. Note that even though Tumble isn't a class skill for you, as early as level 3 your Tumble modifier will be 3 (ranks) +2ish (Dex) +2 (tool) +2 (Jump synergy) = +9, which gives you 75% odds of moving out of an enemy square without drawing an AoO.

You also have a bunch of other abilities to draw upon which give you things to do outside of combat:

• Skills: you'll have maxed Listen and Spot skills pretty early, and once you get the Hills and Plains terrain masteries you'll have the joint best Listen/Spot scores around, tied only with a druid. You also have Survival and Track, and a great Jump score.
• Healing: you can use a wand of cure light wounds, the standard healing item for everyone who doesn't have access to the Spell or Magic Item Compendiums.
• Class features: Shifting, see below.

The build is playable and effective from level 1, though it gets much better at level 2 (Combat Reflexes). After that you get slow, steady improvement in all areas until level 11, where you get the Shifting planar terrain mastery, allowing you to use Dimension Door at will every 1d4 rounds. The big weakness of melee characters is mobility; guess what just got solved? For extra fun, don't forget that you can bring other people with you, making you the day-long party taxicab should you feel like it.

The other Planar Terrain Mastery abilities are just bonuses. Tremorsense lets you spot invisible and burrowing enemies and be less scared of blinding, and Aligned gives you immunity to unholy blight and the very nasty blasphemy that practically every evil outsider with double-digit CR seems to have. Fire and cold resist 20 never hurts either.

From level 6 up you've got pretty much all the good core melee feats, so your choice from there is a matter of preference. Since the crappy Endurance feat is a prerequisite for the Horizon Walker class, you may as well take advantage of it by getting Diehard, allowing you to heal yourself once you've gone down. Another option is to take Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Spiked Chain) at the early levels, and wait until level 6 for Power Attack. The spiked chain does the same damage as a guisarme, but threatens at close range as well as at reach. Whether that's worth a feat is arguable. I don't generally use spiked chains with my characters, but that's more because I think the weapon's kind of silly.


Adaptions


The Horizon Tripper works with nothing but the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide. However, if you've got access to other books, you can improve it.

All Core: If everything in the SRD is allowed, then instead of Barbarian 1 / Fighter 1, go Wolf Totem Barbarian 2, giving you the Improved Trip feat for free, even if you don't have a high enough Int. Use the extra feat to get the very useful Knockdown. Hold the Line might be worth taking, too.

Complete Warrior: The Extra Rage feat is great when combined with the fatigue-immunity of the Desert terrain mastery - rage every battle with no drawbacks! You can also go the Shock Trooper route, which synergises very well with Knockdown.

Magic Item Compendium: Lots of good stuff here. Pick up the Bracers of Opportunity for the +2 to AoO's, and an Anklet of Translocation in the early levels to let you 5-foot step, full attack, and then teleport away. Too many other good items to mention.

Tome of Battle: Once Tome of Battle is allowed, you don't really need this build anymore - the whole point of the Horizon Tripper is to give you the same sort of flexibility and general fun-ness that Tome of Battle characters have without going outside core, as many DMs don't allow ToB. That said, putting Warblade into the initial few levels gives you lots of benefits for virtually no drawbacks. Warblade 1 / Wolf Totem Barbarian 2 / Fighter 1 / Ranger 1 is probably the best arrangement.


Finishing Up


Having tried a few different versions of this build in games, I think it's probably the strongest all-round PHB- and DMG-only fighter build possible. The only option that may be better is the Mounted Combat route (which has higher damage potential), but the Horizon Tripper doesn't require a mount and has better skills and out-of-combat perks.

The real reason I like this build is that it's not only effective, but fun. A big problem with fighter-type characters in core-only games is that they're boring - they have very few options except "I hit it again" and they can't do anything out of combat. This build has several more combat options and is just as happy out of combat, since having good awareness skills is usually a good way to make sure you're involved in the adventure no matter what's happening. It doesn't require much bookkeeping, it's not very complicated to play, and RP-wise, it's fairly generic, meaning that it can be adapted to most backgrounds ("wandery-fighty-type" fits most fighter character concepts).

And that's it, at least for now. I'm playing a version of this in a current game, so I might update it as the campaign progresses.

- Saph

[Rachel Lorelei]

Credit for the idea goes to me? I don't remember posting anything about this, although I am a fan of that general build for core melee.
I'd go Barbarian 1/Fighter 2/Ranger 2 for entry, myself, and wouldn't take HW past 7th.

[Frosty]

Very nice :)

Query: Why not go Ranger first level for more skill points?

[Chronos]

It should also be noted that unless you play a human or Wood Elf, you're going to be looking at multiclass penalties. Which isn't too bad, since those are probably the best two races to use for this build, anyway.

[Saph]

Credit for the idea goes to me? I don't remember posting anything about this, although I am a fan of that general build for core melee.

There was a thread a long time ago about bad classes, or bad prestige classes, or something like that. You mentioned the Barb/Fighter/Ranger/HW combination there, and I worked on it there on.

I'd go Barbarian 1/Fighter 2/Ranger 2 for entry, myself, and wouldn't take HW past 7th.

Fighter 1/Ranger 3 is strictly better than Fighter 2/Ranger 2, IMO, because HW requires the Endurance feat. Ranger level 3 gives you Endurance for free, and also gives you lots more skill points to play with. So unless you really, really want the 1 extra HP that the Fighter level gives you, there's no reason to take that level in Fighter (since you have to burn the Fighter feat on Endurance anyway).

Taking HW past 7th is arguable, but there isn't much else for a melee character in core.

Very nice :)

Query: Why not go Ranger first level for more skill points?

It's a choice between 2 extra hit points or 6 extra skill points. Ranger first is probably a better option if you're starting at a higher level. At low levels, though, the extra HP you get from Barbarian first can make a difference.

- Saph

[Sholos]

Is the only reason not to use a Spiked Chain with this that you need a feat to use it?

[Rachel Lorelei]

There was a thread a long time ago about bad classes, or bad prestige classes, or something like that. You mentioned the Barb/Fighter/Ranger/HW combination there, and I worked on it there on.

Aha, I see.

Fighter 1/Ranger 3 is strictly better than Fighter 2/Ranger 2, IMO, because HW requires the Endurance feat. Ranger level 3 gives you Endurance for free, and also gives you lots more skill points to play with. So unless you really, really want the 1 extra HP that the Fighter level gives you, there's no reason to take that level in Fighter (since you have to burn the Fighter feat on Endurance anyway).

Whoops, forgot all about the Endurance requirement.
Maybe just Ranger 1 is enough? I can't see TWF or Rapid Shot being very useful.

Is the only reason not to use a Spiked Chain with this that you need a feat to use it?

You can just use a guisarme and a spiked gauntlet instead... but you'll almost never need the gauntlet; you can just 5-foot step.

The biggest reason is that the spiked chain is totally ridiculous, though.

[Draz74]

Good guide. Almost worth stickying.

I'd just like to point out that Wild Cohort is the only non-Core thing needed to play a great Mounted Combat fighter build. Since it's free online, all DMs should have access to it (although whether they'll allow it is, of course, still up in the air).

Oh, and if the SRD is allowed, a better Tripper build can be made out of Psychic Warrior (or some combination of Psychic Warrior, Fighter dips, Ranger dips, Slayer, and War Mind) than the Adaption you mention.

[Keld Denar]

If Complete Warrior is in, and you opt Spiked Chain instead of Guisarme, 1 level of Exotic Weapon Master fleshes out the build well. Flurry of Strikes is an amazing ability, as increasing number of attacks increases damage geometrically, especially since its a 2handed attack.

Also, while the wording is a little against you, you might ask a DM if the Flurry of Strikes ability is close enough to the Flurry of Blows ability of a monk. If yes, you qualify for the Sun School tactical feat, which has all kinds of fun features. The most impessive of which is the ability to make a single attack on the tail end of a dimension door or dimension door-like ability. Since you have Shifting Mastery, essentially dim door at will, you can blink in behind someone, initiate a trip as your free attack, and then follow up with an Improved Trip attack once they are down. No one will be able to run from you without teleporting, because you'll just blink in behind them and whack em every time. The knockback ability is also kind of nice, especially since this movement provokes so you can push people past your allies for mega damage.

And Saph, no love for Aligned Planar Mastery? Immunity to all aligned spells including Blasphemy, arguably one of the strongest and most often used abilities of core evil outsiders. It works because you can emulate the planar alignment of any plane, and you take all of your terrain masteries with you regardless of your current location. You could also use items that impose negative levels (such as a Holy sword if you are evil, or an Unholy sword if you're good, for example, or different aligned artifacts or relics). Personally, I think its worth more than cold resist 20, considering unless your DM uses Frostburn, only ~2 monsters (Winterwolf/IceDevil) and ~5 core spells (Cone of Cold, Polar Ray, Chill Metal, Fire Shield (cool), Wall of Ice) use cold damage. Fire is a lot more common, so that would probably be worth it.

[kc0bbq]

A masterwork tool for tumbling kind of stretches disbelief a little bit. The SRD description of masterwork tools has to be read a bit crosseyed to justify that.

[Keld Denar]

A masterwork tool for tumbling kind of stretches disbelief a little bit. The SRD description of masterwork tools has to be read a bit crosseyed to justify that.

Queue "Robin Hood, Men in Tights" music.

Its called Spandax, and it'll help you with all of your tumbling needs.

What, they didn't have polypropaline in D&D? Not my fault!

[Draz74]

Also, while the wording is a little against you, you might ask a DM if the Flurry of Strikes ability is close enough to the Flurry of Blows ability of a monk. If yes, you qualify for the Sun School tactical feat, which has all kinds of fun features.

This strikes me as pure house rule, no Rules-As-Intended (nor RAW). I doubt many DMs will go for it ...

And Saph, no love for Aligned Planar Mastery? Immunity to all aligned spells including Blasphemy, arguably one of the strongest and most often used abilities of core evil outsiders. It works because you can emulate the planar alignment of any plane, and you take all of your terrain masteries with you regardless of your current location.

Oooh, good call! This ability is indeed usually ignored, because it doesn't do what you think it does -- and many DMs house rule it to do what they think it should do. But if you can get your DM to read it carefully and actually accept what it says, it's a very nice defensive ability.

[Reel On, Love]

A masterwork tool for tumbling kind of stretches disbelief a little bit. The SRD description of masterwork tools has to be read a bit crosseyed to justify that.

What? No it doesn't. Padding around your joints, in your armor. That way it doesn't, you know, hurt so much.

[Saph]

Whoops, forgot all about the Endurance requirement. Maybe just Ranger 1 is enough? I can't see TWF or Rapid Shot being very useful.

It's mostly for the skills. Having a high Listen/Spot, and Track/Survival, means you can contribute more out-of-combat. That said, you can scrape 8 ranks in Knowledge (Geography) with only one Ranger level if you want, which gives you a few more HP.

Oh, and if the SRD is allowed, a better Tripper build can be made out of Psychic Warrior (or some combination of Psychic Warrior, Fighter dips, Ranger dips, Slayer, and War Mind) than the Adaption you mention.

What were you thinking of? The best thing Psywarriors get for Tripping is Expansion, but you can mostly duplicate that with Enlarge potions. I suppose Force Screen would be nice.

And Saph, no love for Aligned Planar Mastery? Immunity to all aligned spells including Blasphemy, arguably one of the strongest and most often used abilities of core evil outsiders. It works because you can emulate the planar alignment of any plane, and you take all of your terrain masteries with you regardless of your current location. You could also use items that impose negative levels (such as a Holy sword if you are evil, or an Unholy sword if you're good, for example, or different aligned artifacts or relics). Personally, I think its worth more than cold resist 20, considering unless your DM uses Frostburn, only ~2 monsters (Winterwolf/IceDevil) and ~5 core spells (Cone of Cold, Polar Ray, Chill Metal, Fire Shield (cool), Wall of Ice) use cold damage. Fire is a lot more common, so that would probably be worth it.

I've never played this build at high levels, so I haven't tried that part out. As for Aligned, I missed the clause in it that makes you immune to Blasphemy. You're right, that's nice. :) Worth getting before Cold (but you might as well get both, as there are only six planar terrains to choose from). I'll edit that in.

- Saph

[Keld Denar]

This strikes me as pure house rule, no Rules-As-Intended (nor RAW). I doubt many DMs will go for it ...

Mechanically, they are almost the same ability. -2 to all attacks in a full attack for and extra attack at your highest AB. The only major difference is that now in 3.5, a monk eventually buys off this penalty, and then gains even more attacks. Regardless, mechanically, they are the same. Flavor wise, blinking behind someone to get a sucker punch is the WHOLE basis behind the Nightcrawler character of X-Men fame, and hitting someone so fiercely that they stagger backwards befits a flashing flurry of chain as much as a relentless rain of fists. You are right, it IS a house rule, which I disclaimed at the top of my post suggesting it, but its 1 word difference (Strikes vs Blows) each with similar meanings.

Plus, Sun School is a neat and flavorful feat, but no one is ever gonna take it because it pretty much requires being a monk, which is a bad deal no matter how you slice it. Why not give it a little space to run free and play with the other tactical feats that do get used, like Shocktrooper, Combat Brute, or Elusive Target?

[Chronos]

Personally, I think its worth more than cold resist 20, considering unless your DM uses Frostburn, only ~2 monsters (Winterwolf/IceDevil) and ~5 core spells (Cone of Cold, Polar Ray, Chill Metal, Fire Shield (cool), Wall of Ice) use cold damage.

Well, there's also cryohydras and a couple of kinds of dragons, plus Ray of Frost (significant if a rogue's got a wand of it), Ice Storm, and [Otiluke's] Freezing Sphere. But yeah, it's still nowhere near as common as fire.

[Swooper]

Very interesting. I didn't realise you could make builds this interesting with nothing but core Tiny nitpick though:

For other equipment, buy potions of enlarge person. They're only 50 gold each, so carry a stack of them.

For some obscure reason, these are 250gp each unlike most lvl 1 potions. See here.

[Frosty]

That's because those have a CL of 5. Buy some with CL of 1 and they're 50 gold each.

[Swooper]

Hmm, I suppose that makes sense. It doesn't say they're CL5 anywhere, though. Just implied through the potion-cost rules.

[Saph]

Hmm, I suppose that makes sense. It doesn't say they're CL5 anywhere, though. Just implied through the potion-cost rules.

My guess is that's a leftover from the previous edition. In 3.0, Enlarge and Reduce both altered a target by 10% by caster level, up to a maximum of 50%. So the standard CL for an Enlarge or Reduce scroll or potion was 5.

They changed that in 3.5, but it looks like they forgot to take it into account with the treasure generation. Anyway, Enlarge potions follow the formula like any other as far as I know.

- Saph

[Lucyfur]

Good post.

Also, it's always fun to Dimention Door 200 ft above a squishy mage and fall on top of hir. KABLAMO!

[Torger]

A few nitpicks...

What, pray tell, would a tumble tool be, aside for a rules exploitation that any conscious DM would disallow on spec?

How are you going to activate the and of CLW?

I think it's been addressed, but Enlarge Person is five times the cost you've listed, as I recall.

Kudos, though, on not using a spiked chain.

[Frosty]

Well, if MW toold don't work, magical Nikes of +2 Tumble is only 400 gold...

[Lucyfur]

Well, if MW toold don't work, magical Nikes of +2 Tumble is only 400 gold...

I lol'ed.

But really springy shoes would count for a nonmagical tumble enhancer if I was DMing.

[Azerian Kelimon]

Something to add: It would be pure houseruling, but if you could import a Dagger Whip, it's the best weapon for trippers, hands down. Up to 15' around you fully covered before you even factor Enlarge person? Oh, boy it's a wet dream.

[Keld Denar]

Something to add: It would be pure houseruling, but if you could import a Dagger Whip, it's the best weapon for trippers, hands down. Up to 15' around you fully covered before you even factor Enlarge person?

Whips and Whip Daggers don't threaten, so you can't use them in any type of lock down build.

Oh, boy it's a wet dream.

Leave your personal life at home plz.

[Azerian Kelimon]

*Checks 3.0 material*

Nope, it says Whip daggers threaten, but normal whips don't.

[Torger]

But really springy shoes would count for a nonmagical tumble enhancer if I was DMing.

How do springy shoes help you tuck and roll? You're supposed to be doing shoulder rolls out of danger, not leaping off the screen a la Gau from FF6.

[Draz74]

What were you thinking of? The best thing Psywarriors get for Tripping is Expansion, but you can mostly duplicate that with Enlarge potions. I suppose Force Screen would be nice.

Expansion is way better than Potions (except at very low levels, when its duration is too short). It doesn't cost any money; it doesn't require you to keep finding well-stocked potions shops or mages who can brew the potions for you; and its Augmentations are all very nice. (Quicken it without needing the Quicken Power feat; make its duration longer than Enlarge Person's; or another size category of growth!)

For trippers, specifically, there's not too much else. Animal Affinity will get you +4 Strength long before you can afford a Belt of Giant Strength, in case you don't have a party prepared to cast Bull's Strength on you. Prowess gives you a fallback in case you have 1 fewer Attack of Opportunity than you end up needing. And do I really need to explain the virtues of Hustle or Psionic Lion's Charge for any melee build?

But besides tripper-specific things, there are just so many great resources available to a Psychic Warrior anyway. Force Screen, like you said, is a good boost. If you really care about your AC, you can do so much more than that. How about a combination:

+1 Padded Armor of Heavy Fortification, Inertial Armor (augments well!), Force Screen, Defensive Precognition, Thicken Skin, Mental Barrier, Inertial Barrier, Greater Concealing Amorpha. Oh yeah, and Vigor.

That's a very well-protected character against physical attacks.

Or, if you want defenses vs. magic:

Defensive Precognition, (Specified) Energy Adaptation, Thought Shield/Personal Mind Blank, Psionic Freedom of Movement, Dispelling Buffer.

Or there's a few other powers that are just awesome:

• Metaphysical Weapon (better than Greater Magic Weapon)
• Prevenom Weapon
• Detect Hostile Intent
• Adapt Body

[SamTheCleric]

To answer the question on Cure Light Wounds Wands...

As cure light wounds appears on the Ranger spell list, a ranger can use a wand of it without issue.

Anyone with a spell on his or her spell list knows how to use a spell trigger item that stores that spell. (This is the case even for a character who can’t actually cast spells, such as a 3rd-level paladin.)