A Ravenous Gnoll Ranger: Building the First of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in D&D 5e

[@FlutesLoot]

I adore the idea of using Misty Step to switch mounts. That's so sick.

[@DnD_Daily]

That was definitely the idea that excited me most!

[@thonham4986]

I had a character themed around pestilence, the sometimes horseman of the apocalypse. The idea was to get contagion from death domain cleric, then take levels into shadow monk to be a nightmare to pin down.

[@benjaminfrost2780]

Very cool theme. I appreciate that you seem to focus more on themes that are fantasy fulfilling and cool/fun first and how to make it useful after.

[@DnD_Daily]

Well said! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@annaqueenofhel6229]

Goblin mixed with rat/mouse flavour if would also work

[@xvader9445]

Love it!!!!! This is like a Mongol raider that switches horses

[@rasmusborg2945]

Love the video man and the overall theme! 👌

[@DnD_Daily]

Glad you liked it!

[@PjotrFrank]

From an aesthetic POV I would probably go with the gaunt looks of a githyanki/githzerai (or custom lineage for looks only) and add the „dhampir hunger“ feature for flavor. As for class(es) I was thinking either alchemist-artificer with specialization in highly addictive drugs, or swarmkeeper-ranger for the locust vibe. The latter can also be fun for re-flavoring spells, all executed by a f*ckton of ravenous critters under your command. Heck, for all I know, you probably come up with a multiclass melange. The horseman part has to start small, by buying a gaunt and sick mare at the stables. As soon as you can somehow acquire a Summon Steed or Fly spell, you can re-flavor those by defining, your mount is forming out of a swarm of buzzing an chittering locusts. How cool is that. ;)

[@PjotrFrank]

The problem with a ranger (or druid) build for Famine, is of course the Goodberry spell, which is its conceptual antithesis in D&D terms. The „Master the Dungeon“ channel released a video about magic items a few days ago, and her example item had major famine vibes as well. kzbin.info/www/bejne/gKLRe3R_jdaeabM

[@PjotrFrank]

Yet another funny take on the Famine subject could be the Neil Gayman / Terry Pratchett route (in the Good Omens universe). Just pick the „Chef“ feat (maybe the zealot-barbarian with a religious devotion for slimness is a good fit) and refuse to feed others more than a fingernails‘ worth of your goodies. Done. kzbin.info/www/bejne/m2famoCaoqiXatk

[@Litchert]

I am so excited for this series

[@DnD_Daily]

I’m happy to hear that!

[@rab1419]

Gnolls are dope

[@aqueousconch1103]

I actually did a kobold Beastmaster build before, but opted to give my allies further advantage with the net and Gunner feat. Throw it on enemies, and have them spend an action to tear it off, waste an attack dealing slashing damage, or impose disadvantage on them. I took Gunner because my party needed more of a front liner, but taking crossbow expert for the BA attack and not wasting anything, or even sharpshooter works as well.

[@TheAncientAmbassador]

This is so cool! I think I wanna play something like this. Excited for the other Horseman videos!

[@DnD_Daily]

Yay, thank you!

[@horbi3683]

Whoohoo, what a creative build series! Looking forward to the others 🙂

[@DnD_Daily]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@DracosDiabolis]

WOOOOT WOOOT!!! Horsemen of the Apocalypse builds Wooot woot You almost made me spill my ☕️

[@DnD_Daily]

☕️

[@watcher1269]

I think of the famine horseman being more along the lines of debuffing, but you do you. I still have to figure out how to pull that off.

[@watcher1269]

I might try a swarm keeperranger and flavor it as ravens. I keep Kobold because that advantage buff is too good. From there, just a focus on spells to weaken my enemies. Bane instead of Bless from Fey Touched, and then any spells to weaken my enemy… Maybe ranger is not the best call.

[@siobhannicolson5566]

i know its not considered an official horseman, but im curious how you would do pollution from good omens! im thinking like a spore druid or death/grave cleric?

[@nicodemussmith8958]

I was today years old when I found out this channel did the four horsemen. 😱 And now I’m gonna watch all four! 😁

[@delta4135]

Interesting build for Hunter. You are like a pack that devour everything on its way. I think that there are many ways to do any of 4 Horsemen. All depends how you interpret them. Hunger can be the pack of hyenas. Or some Beast Barbarian, yea easy way out but still valliable. Conquest you can interpret as conquest of mind or just Conquest Paladin. Violence, well probably Berserker or meybe Astral Self Monk with a visual change of its Astral self feature where all of them are made from raging fire/lava. Or meybe Barbarian Storm Herald that takes all Desert base features that burns everything around. Well technicly Lightning/Thunder can be personification of Violence (Zeus or so). Death is probably the most flexible one. Death can be fast or slow, it can come it can come suddenly or all. Phantom Rogue, Warlock Undead/Undying, Death Cleric, Grave Cleric, Monk Way of Long Death

[@akmi1931]

Pestilence is actually confused with Famine and Death, as it’s taken aspects from both. In actuality, the Horseman is classically known as the Horsemen of Famine *and* Pestilence As they ride together. For the first 3 Horsemen all come before the 4th, Death.

[@joshuarawlins7793]

love the idea. love the build. I know flavor is free but resking one race to a different one seems like a big ask.

[@arron9782]

Especially with the size shift there, if you were going to reskin anything it should really be a medium creature. Reskinning the kobold so you're small and can ride the animal companion feels cheap. Also, Conquest and Violence? What happened to War and Pestilence?

[@jonathanwynes2542]

I think this is a cool build. I’m a bit concerned by the Bonus Action bloat. Between our summoned beast, shillelagh, draconic cry, and the potential of using Misty step I think there will be fights where it takes a while to ramp up and since most fights are decided early, I would be concerned about the contribution this build has. You do mention using one of your attacks to have the beast attack. This fits the theme of instilling Hunger, but it seems to relegate the PC to the roll of cheerleader a bit especially since the beast’s damage is generally more supplemental than primary. Once you do get shillelagh up, you’re still not a powerhouse, but at least you’re SAD and can contribute reasonably. It’d be a good build for tables that allow shillelagh to be precast or permacast.

[@Черныйрусский-ь7б]

Considering the messed up world we have today these builds are incredibly on point

[@ryan76043]

If you wanted to add another hyena to the pack, you could add three levels of fighter, and choose echo knight. Then the echo can ride the second mount.

[@DnD_Daily]

Love this flavor! Makes for a lot of extra teleportation too

[@bodytrainer1crane730]

Sage is great 👍!

[@zach8596]

I thought the four horsemen were famine, pestilence, war, and death

[@chaosincarna]

Might want to credit Frostgrave for that thumbnail art.

[@aaronwilcutt5802]

Does anyone know where I can find the cartoonish gnoll drawings that he uses in the video? I love the gnoll riding the hyena

[@benry007]

Not watched the video yet. I'd be tempted to go Lizardfolk wolf totem barbarian. Giving allies advantage, can reckless attack and can bonus action bite to get temporary hitpoints. Reflavour the Lizardfolk to be a gnoll. For the mount I would talk to the DM about getting a giant Hyena mount. Just using it as a controlled mount.

[@matth2283]

Violence? Conquest? I thought it was war and pestilence

[@TheDarkDragonStudios]

Conquest is correct, violence technically is not. The four horsemen from the Bible were listed as Conquest, War, Famine, and Death. War was renamed to violence for this series, and pestilence was a later interpretation of Conquest, but became the more popular version of the two.

[@scoobydoo316us]

famine gives advantage... that's what you think of? An Olympic gymnast couldn't stretch that far.