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Guerilla Games' Horizon Zero Dawn introduced an incredibly skilled technology-using huntress named Aloy. Players quickly fell in love with her intuitive nature and pursuit of the truth, as well as her stealthy skills and abilities. Because of her personality and unique skillset, Dungeons & Dragons players may want to play as her or, at the very least, base a character on the Nora Outcast-turned-Seeker.

However, that uniqueness also means there's a lot for D&D players to consider if they want to authentically capture Aloy's essence. As a near-perfect clone of a brilliant scientist, Aloy is as smart and tech-savvy as she is skilled in the ways of survival. Because her skillset is so vast, creating a straight class build is nearly impossible, but fortunately, there are alternatives that can help bring her to life.

Aloy Build Summary

Race

Variant Human (Mark of Making)

Class

Ranger (Horizon Walker)

Background

Archeologist

Ability Scores (in order of importance)

Dexterity, Intelligence, Constitution, Charisma, Wisdom, Strength

Related: Horizon Forbidden West: Trailer, Plot, Release Date & News to Know

The Best D&D Race for Aloy

Horizon Aloy D&D 5e build

Aloy is a human from the Nora tribe, a culture of hunter-gatherers, so it's best to go with one of D&D's human variants -- specifically the Mark of Making Human. This variant gets an automatic +2 Intelligence boost, as well as +1 to another stat of the player's choosing. The Mark of Making are associated with manufacturing, and the additional boons they get work well with Aloy's skillset.

Mark of Making Humans gain proficiency in one set of artisan's tools of the player's choice. The Artisan's Intuition feature helps bolster Arcana and related ability checks with an additional d4. They also learn the Mending cantrip - which will work well when Aloy is attempting to fix found tech on her journeys. These humans can also cast Magic Weapon (which lasts for one hour and doesn't require concentration) and they gain access to a trove of useful spells like Identify, Tenser's Floating Disk, Fabricate and Creation, all of which can be integrated into Aloy's skills.

The Best D&D Background for Aloy

Aloy D&D 5e Build

There are a handful of backgrounds that work well for Aloy. Archaeologist, for example, grants proficiencies in Arcana and History, as well as with either the Cartographer or Navigator tools. Clan Crafter is another viable choice, as it grants the player proficiency with History and Insight, plus another set of artisan's tools, making Aloy's crafting capabilities even more pronounced. Guild Artisan may also be useful, as it provides proficiency with Insight and Persuasion and, once again, another set of artisan's tools to master.

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The Best D&D Classes for Aloy

Horizon Aloy D&D Ranger Build

First and foremost, Aloy is a Ranger. Trained in the skills of a stealthy huntress armed with a bow, starting the campaign as a Ranger will set her on her path to becoming who she was meant to be. There's a wide array of Ranger Archetypes to choose from, and while Beastmaster could work considering her affinity with the wild, Horizon Walker offers skills and magic options that can make the character feel more like Aloy.

Teleportation Circle, for example, will allow Aloy to travel to places she's been before (assuming those places also have a teleportation circle) which makes it a little more like the video game's fast travel system. Protection from Evil and Good can be used to buff Aloy and her allies against certain types of malignant beings, and the Distant Strike feature allows her to target up to three enemies in a single turn, teleporting 10 feet to a new location between arrow fires.

While the Horizon Walker Ranger class will give Aloy her survival and huntress abilities, she's also a tinkerer who uses technology. To that end, taking some levels in Artificer will replicate those aspects of her character and give her more skills like those she uses in Horizon Zero Dawn. The Artillerist Specialist gives her the ability to create unique tech objects and weapons to aid her in her explorations, complementing her other skills nicely.

Related: Dungeons & Dragons: Why Your Next Character Should Be a Yuan-Ti Pureblood

Important Ability Scores for Aloy

Aloy Horizon D&D 5e build

Because of the classes used for this build, there are two core stats players need to focus on when building Aloy: Dexterity and Intelligence. DEX contributes to how easily she can move through terrain, how stealthy she is, how well she can pick locks and contributes to her Armor Class, weapon attacks and damage bonuses. DEX also contributes to a player's initiative bonus, and the higher it is, the higher they land on the initiative tracker to attack enemies as soon as possible.

Equally important is INT, which contributes to skills like Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature and Religion. INT is also the source for Aloy's magical abilities, determining her spellcasting bonus and spell attack modifier. Checks for tinkering and creation are drawn from INT, so it's essential to make sure Aloy has plenty of smarts to make her journey believable.

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The Best D&D Feats for Aloy

Aloy shoots an arrow in Horizon Forbidden West

One of the most powerful feats for Aloy is Sharpshooter, which negates disadvantage on long range attacks and ignores up to half or three-quarters cover. It also allows the player to take a -5 penalty to their attack roll to deal an additional +10 damage on a successful hit. Keen Mind works well aesthetically and practically, granting the player +1 to their INT stat in addition to the ability to always know which way is north, when they can expect the sun to rise or set, and the ability to accurately recall anything they've heard or seen in the last month.

Alert is handy because it adds +5 to the character's initiative bonus and makes it so player's can't be surprised so long as they are conscious. Enemies also can't gain advantage against the Alert player simply because they can't see them. Since Aloy does a lot of exploring, Dungeon Delver is also useful, granting proficiency on Wisdom and INT checks to detect secret areas. They also have advantage when it comes to trap detection and resistance to damage dealt by traps. Plus, the player doesn't suffer a penalty to their passive perception when moving at a fast pace, allowing Aloy to always be in tune with her surroundings.