## <div style="color:#114405 ">Wanderer Wanderers are skilled individuals that spend most of their existence on the fringes of society. Fighters who embody this archetype feel more at home in nature than they ever would on the streets of a city. These wilderness warriors often make a living as hunters, guides, trackers, and explorers but their true calling will always lie in seeking the unknown. ### <div style="color:#114405 ">Wilderness Talent ##### Survival Techniques | Level | Technique Uses | Techniques Known | |:---:|:---:|:---:| | 3rd | 1 | 2 | | 4th | 2 | 3 | | 7th | 2 | 4 | | 10th | 2 | 5 | | 13th | 3 | 6 | | 16th | 3 | 7 | | 19th | 4 | 8 | When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you learn Survival techniques that represent your wilderness mastery. **Techniques.** You learn two techniques of your choice, which are listed under "Survival Techniques" below. The number of techniques you know at each level is shown on the Survival Techniques table above. Each time you learn a new technique, you can also replace one technique you know with a different one. **Technique Uses.** Each time you use a Survival Technique you must expend one of your technique uses. The number of uses you have at each level is shown on the Survival Techniques table above. You regain all of your expended uses when you finish a short or long rest. **Stances.** Some Survival Techniques are stances, which can be recognized by their name. Entering a stance ends all other active stances immediately. **Saving Throws.** Some of your techniques require your target to make a saving throw to resist the technique's effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows: <div style=" text-align:center;"> <div style="font-weight: 700; font-family:system-ui; display:inline-block;">Technique save DC =</div> 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier</div> \columnbreak <br> <br> <br> <br> ### <div style="color:#114405 ">Survivor Starting at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in two of the following skills of your choice: Animal Handling, Nature, Perception, Stealth, and Survival. ### <div style="color:#114405 ">Crippling Wounds Starting at 7th level, you've learned to target vital points that weaken your enemies. Once per turn, when you hit a creature with a weapon attack you may force the target to make a Constitution saving throw against your technique save DC. On a fail, choose one of the following effects: * Your attack deals an extra 1d8 damage * The target's speed is reduced by 10 feet until the end of your next turn * The target has disadvantage on the next Dexterity saving throw it makes before the start of your next turn ### <div style="color:#114405 ">Roaming Starting at 10th level, your time spent exploring the world has taught you much. Choose one of your skill proficiencies. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses the chosen skill. Additionally, your walking speed increases by 10 feet. ### <div style="color:#114405 ">Hardened Starting at 15th level, immediately after you use a Survival Technique, you may choose to gain temporary hit points equal to 1d4 + your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1). ### <div style="color:#114405 ">Endurance Also at 15th level, when you use your Second Wind feature, you may choose to regain 1 of your expended survival techniques. Once you use this feature, you must finish a long rest before you can use it again. <!-- Cool background image --> <img src='https://www.gmbinder.com/images/emccuQV.jpg' style='position:absolute; top:640px; left:0px; width: 816px' /> <!-- Full page stain --> <img src='https://watercolors.giantsoup.com/phb/phb_bottom/thumbnails/0018.png' style='position:absolute; top:0px; left:0px; width:850px' /> <img src='https://www.gmbinder.com/images/dSXQ78A.png' style='width:105px; left:650px; top:-6px; position:absolute' /> \pagebreakNum ### <div style="color:#114405 ">Inescapable Hunter Starting at 18th level, when you set your sights on a target, it's as good as dead. Gain one of the following features of your choice: * **Run to Ground.** When a creature you can see ends its turn within 30 feet of you, you can use your reaction to move up to half your movement directly towards it and make one melee weapon attack. * **Warden's Watch.** When a creature that you can see moves out of or into a 30 foot sphere centered on you, you may use your reaction to make one ranged weapon attack against the creature. ## <div style="color:#114405 ">Survival Techniques ##### Ambush Take the Hide action with advantage. Until you move, you have advantage on intiative rolls. On the first turn that you move or make an attack within the next hour, your attacks deal 1d6 extra damage to creatures that haven't acted yet. When you reach 7th level in this class the duration of this technique increases to 8 hours. ##### Animal Empathy As an action you touch a beast and focus your efforts on befriending it. If the beast is neutral or friendly towards you initially, it is friendly after this interaction. If the beast is hostile towards you initially it must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a fail, the target becomes indifferent about creatures of your choice that it is hostile toward. This indifference ends if the target is attacked or harmed by a spell or if it witnesses any of its friends being harmed. After 10 minutes, the creature becomes hostile again, unless the DM rules otherwise. When you reach 7th level in this class you can target a number of creatures within 10 feet of you equal to your Wisdom modifier instead. \columnbreak ##### Immobilizing Strike When you hit a creature with a weapon attack you may use this technique to increase the damage of the attack by 2d4 and reduce the target's move speed to 0 until the end of your next turn. This technique's damage increases to 3d4 when you reach 7th level in this class. ##### Evasive Stance As a bonus action you enter an evasive stance and gain +1 to your AC for 1 minute. While you remain in this stance, attacks of opportunity have disadvantage against you. When you reach 7th level in this class the AC granted by this technique increases to +2. ##### Grin and Bear It After you take damage you can use your reaction to gain temporary hit points equal to 1d8 + your wisdom modifier for 1 minute. The temporary hit points granted by this technique increase by 1d8 when you reach 7th level in this class. ##### Healing Salve As an action you touch a creature and apply a healing salve, it regains a number of hit points equal to 1d8 + your Wisdom modifier. This technique has no effect on undead or constructs. This technique's healing increases by 1d8 when you reach 7th level in this class. ##### Hunting Stance As a bonus action choose a creature you can see within 60 feet to be the prey of your hunt. For the next minute, your first successful attack against the chosen creature each turn deals an additional 1d6 damage. This technique's damage die increases to 1d10 when you reach 7th level in this class. ##### Exploiting Strike When you hit a creature that has it's speed reduced or cannot use its movement with a weapon attack, you may use this technique to increase the damage of the attack by 2d8. This technique's damage increases to 3d8 when you reach 7th level in this class. ##### Forage You are able to use your resourcefulness to gather suitable rations for you and your allies, when you finish a short or long rest you may expend one of your survival technique uses to find 10 rations suitable to the terrain you're in. A creature can use its action to eat one of these rations. Eating one of these rations restores 1 hit point, and the ration provides enough nourishment to sustain a creature for one day. The rations lose their potency if they have not been consumed within 24 hours after this technique has been used. <br> > * This is the **Final Version** of the *Wanderer* Martial Archetype > * Landscape Art: [Untitled](https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/mbbej/stopped_playing_skyrim_just_long_enough_to_paint/) by u/SoccerBon > * Pipe Ranger Art: [DnD- Ranger](deviantart.com/sarty96/art/Dnd-Ranger-848045970) by sarty96 > * Bow Art: [Light Bow](https://vk.com/photo-120283272_456239234) by ArtNest <img src='https://www.gmbinder.com/images/4JkFK9o.png ' style='width:970px; left:-250px; top:370px; position:absolute' /> \pagebreakNum ##### Lay Trap You spend 10 minutes creating and concealing a simple hunting trap. Choose an area on a horizontal surface that is 10 feet in diameter. A creature can identify the location of the trap by making a Wisdom(Perception) check against your technique save DC. The trap remains functioning for 24 hours at which point it collapses. When a creature touches the area you choose they may make a Dexterity saving throw against your technique save DC. On a failed save, a creature takes 3d6 piercing damage and falls prone. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage and doesn't fall prone. This technique's damage increases to 4d6 when you reach 7th level in this class. ##### Prowler's Swipe When you hit a creature with a melee attack you can use this technique to increase the damage of the attack by 2d6 and immediately move up to 20 feet in a straight line through the target as if they weren't there. This movement does not provoke opportunity attacks. This technique's damage increases to 3d6 when you reach 7th level in this class. ##### Rallying Call As a bonus action you bolster the resolve of your companions. When you do so, choose a number of friendly creatures equal to your Wisdom modifier who can see or hear you. Those creatures gain temporary hit points equal to 1d4 + your Wisdom modifier. This technique's temporary hp die increases to 1d6 when you reach 7th level in this class. ##### Skirmishing Stance As a bonus action you enter a skirmishing stance for one minute. While in this this stance, you can move 5 feet without provoking opportunity attacks immediately before or after you take the attack action. When you reach 7th level in this class the movement from this technique increases to 15 feet. ##### Snipe As an action, make a single ranged weapon attack with advantage. The weapon's normal and long ranges are doubled for this attack and if it hits, it deals an additional 1d8 damage. This technique's damage increases by 1d8 when you reach 5th level (2d8), 7th level (3d8), 11th level (4d8), and 20th level (5d8) in this class. ##### Swift Stride As an action, you lower yourself into a sprinting posture. Your speed increases by 10 feet for the next ten minutes. The speed granted by this technique increases to 15 feet when you reach 7th level in this class. ##### Tracking As an action, you spot each set of visible tracks within 20 feet of you that aren't behind total cover. For the next hour you have advantage on Investigation, Perception, and Survival checks made to follow the creature that left these tracks. When you reach 7th level in this class the duration of this technique increases to 8 hours. \columnbreak <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> ## <div style="color:#114405 ">New Feats ### <div style="color:#114405 ">Wilderness Adept You have survival training that allows you to exceed at certain wilderness activities. You gain the following benefits: * You gain proficiency in the Survival skill. If you are already proficient, your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses Survival. * You learn two survival techniques of your choice from among those available to the Wanderer archetype in the fighter class. If a technique you use requires your target to make a saving throw to resist the technique's effects, the saving throw DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier. * Using this feat, you can use a survival technique that you know once as if you were a level 1 fighter, and you must finish a long rest before you can use it in this way again. ### <div style="color:#114405 ">Tracker You are an expert at tracking down any and all creatures that seek to evade your detection. You gain the following benefits: * You gain proficiency in one of the following skills of your choice: Investigation, Perception, or Survival. * When you fail a skill check to locate a specific creature, you can use your reaction to re-roll the check. You can use this feat in this way a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. <br> <img src='https://www.gmbinder.com/images/pAPUKVQ.png' style='width:480px; left:350px; top:20px; position:absolute' /> \pagebreakNum ## Balance Notes ### Terms I will use * SR = Short Rest * LR = Long Rest * EK = Eldritch Knight * BM = Battle Master * WD = Wanderer * WotC = Wizards of the Coast ### Techniques & Spells The techniques presented by this document are similar in power level to 1st level spells initially, and 2nd level spells when you reach 7th level in this class. This will help us later as a comparison point to see just how much power this subclass is allowed to have per short and long rest. Techniques are technically slightly stronger than spells since stances can't be broken by concentration and the smite-like techniques don't consume a bonus action, but the difference is minimal. ### Two Strong 15th Level Features!? Yes! Endurance exists simply to bring Wilderness Talent in line with the other 1/3 casters and offers no new mechanical bonus, thus it is better to look at it as an extension of Wilderness Talent rather than as a separate feature. ### The Battlemaster Many may want to compare this subclass to the Battlemaster archetype of Fighter because they appear similar on the surface when they are in fact very different balance-wise. #### Class Features The only feature given by the Battlemaster Subclass that doesn't improve the Combat Superiority feature is Know Your Enemy, a non-combat feature. This is a major difference between the Wanderer and Battlemaster since, while minor, the Wanderer does give a number of passive combat benefits that don't improve it's Wilderness Talent feature. #### Maneuvers vs Techniques As mentioned above Techniques are equivalent to 1st and later 2nd level spells. On the other hand maneuvers are generally worse than spells. Even a level 1 Thunderous Smite Spell[average 7 damage] keeps up with maneuvers through all levels[max level average manuever damage = 6.5] and has a similar effect to Pushing Attack with a STR save vs a push. Maneuvers do come with the benefit that they don't cost any action economy but other than that they are outclassed by spells and should not be compared. Since Techniques fill the role of spells in this subclass it also follows that Techniques and Maneuvers should not be compared. ### The Eldritch Knight A perhaps surprising balance point for the Wanderer would be the Eldritch Knight. Since the Eldritch Knight is the only *official* Fighter Subclass which grants spells we can use it as a good balancing point since the Wanderer gives techniques scaled similarly to spells. \columnbreak #### Class Features Similar to the Wanderer, the Eldritch knight also grants minor features that work separate from or in tandem with its spellcasting feature rather than augmenting it. It adds Weapon Bond & Arcane Charge which are completely non-reliant on Spellcasting. It could also be argued that War Magic isn't limited by the spellcasting feature since it uses an infinite resource, Cantrips. #### Wilderness Talent vs Spellcasting The Eldritch Knights also gives us an official limit on how much spellcasting a fighter can do per long rest. Since the Wilderness Talent feature is essentially spellcasting balanced around short rests, we can compare how many total levels worth of spells each can cast per long rest. For example, a 10th level Eldritch Knight can cast 4 1st level and 2 2nd level spells per long rest for a total of *4 x 1 + 2 x 2 = 8* total levels worth of spells per long rest. The Wanderer will be compared when getting One Short Rest and Two Short Rests. The Wanderer gains an additional 2nd level spell per long rest at level 15 from Endurance. The comparison is as follows: ##### Total Spell Levels per Long Rest | Fighter Level | EK | WD 1x SR | WD 2x SR | |:---:|:---:|:---:|:---:| | 3rd | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | | 4th | 3 | 4 | 6 | 8 | | 7th | 8 | 8 | 12 | 16 | | 10th | 10 | 8 | 12 | 16 | | 13th | 16 | 12 | 18 | 24 | | 15th | 16 | 14 | 20 | 26 | | 16th | 19 | 14 | 20 | 26 | | 19th | 23 | 18 | 25 | 34 | **Design Philosophy.** We have an official statement on DMG p.166 which says "In general, over the course of a full adventuring day, the party will likely need to take two short rests..." While 1 Short Rest is often more realistic for most parties or adventures, it is the only official statement from WotC regarding Short Rests per day so it holds a significant amount of sway when balancing homebrew content. With this in mind I decided that the two subclasses should be equally powerful when receiving somewhere between 1 & 2 Short Rests per long rest. As we can see from the chart above, the Eldritch Knight has more total spell levels per day with 1 Short Rest while the Wanderer has slightly more total spell levels per day with 2 or more Short Rests. ### In Conclusion The Wanderer is a 1/3 caster balanced around Short Rests and re-flavored to be "spell-less." The Wanderer shouldn't be compared to the Battlemaster subclass because they function differently. When compared to the Eldritch Knight, the Wanderer comes out as similarly powerful if given the expected amount of Short Rests.