Ranger Archetype – Disaster Walker

The Floodplains is a realm of endless floods and torrential downpours. To travel the realm requires an individual to be extremely well prepared. Disaster Walker rangers are experts in traversing the most dangerous of landscapes and dealing with natural disasters on a near-daily basis. They are trained to make accurate predictions of the unpredictable and always be ready to turn a problem into an opportunity.

While most rangers make their home in a particular habitat, Disaster Walkers live in the places most would flee from. Floods, storms, blizzards, earthquakes, eruptions, and other natural disasters are where they feel most at home. They excel in aiding others through these hostile locations. In combat, they have a variety of tools that allow them to out-think and out-perform their enemies, turning a moment of danger into an opportunity for retaliation.

Disaster Walker Features

Level	Features
3rd	Educated Reaction, Special Favoured Terrain, Disaster Walker Spells
7th	Nature Dancer
11th	Reactive Recovery
15th	Disaster Relief

Educated Reaction
(3rd-level Disaster Walker feature)

At level 3 you learn to predict and react accordingly to the dangers caused by careless destruction. You gain 4 charges of Educated Reaction which refresh on a short or long rest. At the end of your turn you can spend a charge and prepare one of the following reactions:

• Quick Draw: Make a ranged weapon attack against a creature that moves within 10ft of you.
• Perimeter: Make a ranged attack against a creature that moves beyond 40ft of you.
• Prepared Dodge: Automatically succeed a dexterity or strength saving throw and move 15ft.
• Cut Back: When an enemy creature moves within 5ft of you make an attack against that creature. If you hit you can half the damage it takes and move your speed without taking an opportunity attack.
• Mind Blank: Automatically succeed a Wisdom, Intelligence or Charisma saving throw and move 15ft.
• Intercept: An allied creature within 15ft automatically succeeds a saving throw.

You can hold your Educated Reaction until the start of your next turn.

Special Favoured Terrain
(3rd-level Disaster Walker feature)

You gain Natural Disasters as an additional Favoured Terrain. This includes floods, storms, blizzards, earthquakes, eruptions, and anything else your DM qualifies as a natural disaster.

Disaster Walker Spells
(3rd-level Disaster Walker feature)

Starting at 3rd level, you learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Disaster Walker Spells table. The spell counts as a ranger spell for you, but it doesn’t count against the number of ranger spells you know.

Ranger Level	Spell
3rd	Heroism
5th	Rope Trick
9th	Leomund’s Tiny Hut
13th	Aura of Purity
17th	Far Step

Nature Dancer
(7th-level Disaster Walker feature)

At level 7 you are always prepared for the volatile nature of the world. If you are 10ft or less from the edge of an area of effect spell, trap, ability, or environmental effect that would hit you, you can use your reaction to move 5ft outside of the area, by the shortest available path.

In addition, your maximum charges of Educated Reaction increases to 6.

Reactive Recovery
(11th-level Disaster Walker feature)

At level 11 you learn to recover from mistaken preparation. When you use an Educated Reaction that does not trigger roll a d6. On a 4,5 or 6, you regain your charge of Educated Reaction.

In addition, your maximum charges of Educated Reaction increases to 7.

Disaster Relief
(15th-level Disaster Walker feature)

At level 15ft you can help your allies overcome the challenges of a natural disaster with clear supporting callouts. Allied creatures within 20ft gain may use your movement speeds and proficiencies in place of their own.

Designing the Disaster Walker Archetype

Throughout the setting of Veneon, many realms are in a constant state of natural disaster. The Floodplains with its floods, Scorching Loop with its active volcanos, Frostwoods with its blizzards, the realms of Veneon are dangerous by design, and in order to navigate these hostile environments, the players need access to skills and tools that will even the playing field a bit. That’s where the concept of the Disaster Walker Ranger archetype comes from. I wanted to give a player that is knowledgeable about the setting and its dangers, the opportunity to play a character that can alleviate these threats to a degree.

The Ranger class seemed to be the perfect fit for this. They are experts in exploration, which is an aspect of D&D that is often underutilised. The class features such as Favoured Enemy and Natural Explorer will often force them into a situation where their choices may not be useful for much of the game, or the player will require prior knowledge of the adventure to make an informed choice. The Disaster Walker archetype should resolve some of these issues by expanding the Natural Explorer feature to cover a variety of locations under a condition, rather than the terrain itself.

Alongside the exploration features of this archetype, the Disaster Walker also excels in using their highly tuned instincts to predict their enemy’s plans. The Educated Reaction feature allows the player to make use of good planning and research. By figuring out what kinds of creatures they’re dealing with and how they fight, they can make use of unique reactions based on predictions and planning. This is a feature that relies on intelligent gameplay both in and out of the game. It requires a player to have a good grasp on the rules of the game but also in-game knowledge of what their enemy can do. Because of this, I’d recommend this archetype for experienced layers, although newer players can still enjoy this archetype if they have sufficient support from their DM.

Special Favoured Terrain is a feature that allows the Ranger to take the broad concept of natural disasters as their favoured terrain, and as such, receive the benefits of Natural Explorer while travelling through locations dealing with such an issue. For the purposes of this feature, a natural disaster refers to any large-scale environmental hazard and applies both during and after the event. This does include magically caused effects if the scale of devastation is large enough. I’m not going to write a hard list of situations this will apply to as it’s up to the DM’s digression, however, I’d encourage DMs to rule on the side of the player as often as they can when it comes to this feature since if someone has taken this class, it’s likely because they want the fantasy of being an intelligent guide across ruined landscapes.

All Ranger archetypes get a few extra spells and the Disaster Walker is no different. I tried to choose options that would aid in surviving in an inhospitable environment. There’s not a whole lot to talk about otherwise though.

Nature Dancer is a 7th-level feature that allows the character to remove themselves from an AOE effect provided there is a short enough distance to the edge. This feature is designed to simulate the idea of an explorer using their instincts to leap clear of falling debris or explosive reactions. Situations they have had to deal with often when traversing areas of natural disaster.

At level 11 the Disaster Walker gets Reactive Recovery. This lets the player make attempts to regain their expended uses of Educated Reaction, should their predictions fail. As they reach higher levels it’s likely they’ll begin facing smart, more dangerous enemies which will be harder to research and predict. I didn’t want the player to feel like they’re constantly wasting their resources so this felt like a reasonable method of allowing some damage control. Plus, everyone loves a high-stakes roll!

The final feature of the Disaster Walker is Disaster Relief. A big part of the fantasy of this archetype is being a grizzled guide through the most dangerous places of this world, and this feature allows them to add a mechanical factor to that roleplaying decision. By letting nearby allied creatures make use of their speed and bonuses, they can allow their allies to reasonably travel anywhere they can!

Final Thoughts

And there you have it! A fun, thematic ranger that will prove to be a powerful ally across many of the realms of Veneon! I hope you enjoyed reading this post and can leave with some ideas for your own games! If you want to see the creative process live you can join me and the community on Twitch or Discord.

Thank you for reading and may your next session be filled with glory!