Wander forth and tame the wilds!
“A wiry human crawls through the undergrowth, cautiously creeping up on an ogre. The unkempt giant picks its teeth with a finger bone, unaware of the danger as its hunter slowly unsheathes their twin swords.
A dour-faced dwarf raises a hand to halt the adventurers behind him, attention caught at a seemingly innocuous flagstone ahead. He raises a hand and traces a complex arcane sigil in the air, muttering words of power. The divination confirms the presence of a trap, and he guides his comrades carefully around it.
A tangled mass of plant growth blocking a dirt road halts a stolen wagon full of spoils. As the goblins aboard dismount to investigate, a wolf leaps from among the trees and brings one of them down. Astride the wolf sits a gnome wielding a shortbow. She buries one of her arrows in a second goblin’s eye socket before the others have time to react.
All these and more are explorers, heroes that make it their business to understand the wilds and the dark places where monsters dwell.”
The Explorer class is a reinvention of the Ranger, reworked from the ground up with three goals in mind:
- To open up a broader range of character concepts, such as the Delver, a dungeon explorer.
- To address some aspects of the Ranger class that I was less than keen on. Chief among these was the Ranger’s reliance on magic. With the Explorer you can now build an entirely nonmagical ranger, but you also still have the option of embracing magic by selecting one of two magical archetypes!
- To remain compatible with existing Ranger archetypes, should you wish to use them.
The Explorer class contains the following:
- The full 20-level Explorer class progression, featuring a new resource: the Explorer spends exertion to improve dice rolls as well as cast magic if they have any.
- 4 archetypes—the Avenger, Delver, Ranger, and Watchkeeper (descriptions below).
- Compatibility with Ranger archetypes including (but not limited to) the Beast Master (or Beast Conclave if you prefer), Gloom Stalker, Horizon Walker, and Monster Slayer.
- A new feature for Beast Master Explorers and Rangers alike, “Friendship Beyond Death”!
- Muticlassing guidelines.
The Avenger
As an avenger, you have sworn to mete out vengeance against a creature or group of creatures that has wronged you, your loved ones, or a faction to which you belong. You might just as easily be seeking justice against the dragon or orc raiders that destroyed your village when you were a child, or a member of an ancient order dedicated to the destruction of the undead minions of a vampire lord. Whatever your background, you dedicate your life to the pursuit of methods to combat the target of your vengeance, along the way become a master at fighting other creatures like them.
The Delver
A delver is a professional treasure hunter, brave or foolhardy enough to venture into the deepest, darkest ruins in pursuit of priceless artefacts of forgotten ages. They are invaluable to adventuring parties, able to lead the group safely through the hostile wilds to crumbling castles and hidden vaults, then use their magic to divine the presence of the treasures within and shield against the dungeon’s traps. Some delvers even dare to go alone, trusting their survival to a combination of their magic, combat prowess, and a great deal of cunning.
The Ranger
Some explorers share a kinship with the forces that shape the world similar to that of a druid. To some rangers, wielding these natural forces is hereditary within their bloodline and as natural as breathing. For others, the exploration and protection of nature’s wonders is a calling rather than something they were born into. In either case, the path of a ranger is as a champion and protector of the natural world. As such, they often work together with druids and Oath of the Ancients paladins, and may even hail from the same venerable orders.
The Watchkeeper
As a watchkeeper, you respect the natural world but are ultimately not of it. You wander the wilderness so that you can shield those on the fringes of civilisation against the the fell creatures and monstrous forces that lurk just beyond their borders. You learn specialist techniques for facing monstrous enemies of all kinds, whether they be rampaging ogres, hordes of goblins, or terrifying dragons.
Check out The Explorer 2 for four new archetypes: The Bounty Hunter, The Canary, The Gravewalker, and The Guerilla!
The Explorer is available from dmsguild.com. Disclaimer: an affiliate ID is included in links from this site to OneBookShelf marketplaces, including dmsguild.com and drivethrupg.com. This means that we may receive a commission for purchase you make on those marketplaces when you visit using one of our links. Spilled Ale Studios uses this commission to contribute to the costs of developing future products.
