Let’s Play D&D With Aloy from the ‘Horizon’ Video Games
Get ready to fight some robotic dinosaurs because this week we’re playing D&D with Aloy from the Horizon series.
If your house is anything like mine, Horizon Forbidden West is filling every moment of downtime. We’re all pretty excited to be back in the world of one of recent memory’s best video games. But if you can’t get enough of playing as Aloy, why not add her to your next D&D adventure, too?
While this sheet won’t have spoilers for ‘Forbidden West’, it will have some for ‘Zero Dawn’.
If you’re looking to make a character that feels enough like Horizon, it’s honestly easy enough. Human, ranger, profit. But there are a lot of human rangers and a lot of little things that make Aloy who she is.
I opted for the Mark of Making human variant from Eberron, because Aloy is human but she’s also a little different. The Nora ways a lot into her character, as does the her status as a clone of a long dead engineer. And I wanted the fact that she’s a clone and therefore a little different than the other kids to matter on paper. Mark of Making also comes with a sweet ability score increase and some abilities that are very fitting for the character.
Courtesy of Guerilla Games
Ranger is the obvious choice for Aloy’s class with a Hunter subclass almost as obvious. They’re both too fitting to overlook, and while the Horizon Walker conclave would have been glib and also worked really well, it’s nothing fits quite as well as Hunter. Giants and beasts as favored enemies seemed to translate pretty well from the world of Horizon. But there really isn’t a wrong direction to go with this one depending on your game.
But Aloy isn’t just a hunter. She understands the technological world around her and crafts her own weaponry. So I duel-classed her as an Artificer. She only has two levels, so not enough to get real Artificer-y with it, but enough to get in trouble.
Courtesy of Guerilla Games
I gave her Sharpshooter and Athlete as feats instead of taking any more ability score improvements. Because honestly, I rolled pretty darn well to start. (That’s right, I roll each of these sheets out special.) Sharpsooter is the obvious choice for anyone who’s primary weapon is a ranged weapon like Aloy’s bow. And Athlete helps make all of the climbing she does look almost effortless. I considered Alert to mimic the HUD that lets her get insight on the world around her, but instead we’re relying on spells and maybe a cool custom item for that.
Speaking of spells, Aloy has quite a few. I made every effort to make sure that all of them either felt fitting for the character, or helped mimic the info she gets through her HUD. Of course, you could ask your DM for “Goggles of True Sight” or something, but I don’t know your table’s custom items dynamic.
‘Horizon Zero Dawn’ concept art courtesy of Guerrilla Games
And of course, her weapons. Her bow and spear are the biggest weapons, but every adventurer needs a knife or a dagger. And she’s got two levels of Artificer. Make all sorts of bombs and weird arrows. Go nuts.
How would you make Aloy for D&D? Have you been enjoying Horizon Forbidden West? What movie, show, game, or comics should I make character sheets from next? Let us know in the comments!
Happy Adventuring!
