Eldritch Hunter

Warden Against the Things That Should Not Exist

“The cosmos whispers secrets in its void, but listening too long may unravel the mind.”

— Serenth Alveric, Keeper of the Forbidden Tome

Introduction

Eldritch Hunters are wardens against aberrations shaped by the Void Beyond, cults that bargain with impossible intelligences, and breaches through which the imprisoned Old Ones reach toward Aetheris. They may be scholars, scouts, inquisitors, monster-slayers, physicians, or survivors, but all have learned to recognize the difference between ordinary danger and a threat that can distort thought, flesh, memory, and reality itself.

An Eldritch Hunter becomes an adventurer because such threats rarely remain within the jurisdiction of one temple, archive, city watch, or hidden order—and because stopping them often demands allies who can act where institutions cannot.

Description

No single culture owns the Eldritch Hunter tradition. In Ozythralis, hunters patrol regions where planar boundaries have failed. In Sahariad, they study strange manifestations associated with the Comet of Suthakhet. Beneath other continents, they descend through the Underdark in search of Old One cults, aberrant nests, and imprisoned powers straining against ancient bonds. Elsewhere, they serve sealed university faculties, religious orders, military watch companies, occult courts, private fellowships, and discreet circles of survivors.

Training blends disciplined observation with practical survival. A novice learns to document a scene before disturbing it, distinguish ordinary fear from psychic influence, recognize impossible geometry, preserve contaminated evidence, interview witnesses without deepening their trauma, and withdraw when curiosity becomes an invitation. Field instruction may include coded correspondence, false identities, warding customs, anatomical study, emergency exorcism, and mental anchors used to test whether one’s memories and impulses remain one’s own.

The vocation prizes truth, restraint, and defiance. Eldritch Hunters believe ignorance does not make a threat less real, but they also understand that knowledge can spread corruption when handled carelessly. Their closest relationships are often built on cautious trust: archivists release records only under safeguards, temples offer sanctuary only to those who respect containment, and authorities cooperate only until politics, panic, or secrecy intervenes.

Some hunters leave formal service after their order is destroyed, compromised, or rendered powerless. Others pursue a particular entity across borders, seek a cure for a lingering mark, or follow evidence their superiors refused to believe. Whatever the cause, adventuring gives an Eldritch Hunter mobility, capable companions, and the freedom to confront a pattern before it becomes a catastrophe.

 

Ability Score Bonuses

Choose one of the following arrays. These increases are applied in addition to any species-based increases used in Aetheris.

Path	Ability Increases	Represents
The Scholar	+2 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom	Forbidden archives, arcane theory, and disciplined interpretation.
The Watcher	+2 Wisdom, +1 Dexterity	Alert patrol work, witness-reading, and resistance to subtle influence.
The Pursuer	+2 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence	Infiltration, evidence recovery, and precise action against a known quarry.

With the Game Master’s approval, you may instead increase Intelligence, Wisdom, and Dexterity by 1 each.

Hunter’s Method

Roll a d6 or choose the method that best describes your usual approach.

d6	Method
1	Archivist. You compare testimony, forbidden texts, and sealed case records until a pattern emerges.
2	Infiltrator. You enter cults and compromised institutions beneath carefully maintained false identities.
3	Tracker. You follow physical traces, magical residue, altered ecosystems, and changes in animal behavior.
4	Exorcist. You specialize in wards, banishment rites, and the cleansing of corrupted places.
5	Monster Slayer. You prepare specialized weapons and tactics for particular aberrant anatomies.
6	Witness-Reader. You interview survivors and separate manifestation from panic, deception, coercion, and damaged memory.

Eldritch Hunter Trinkets

Roll a d8 or choose a trinket connected to your investigations.

d8	Trinket
1	A meteorite shard that glows faintly beneath unfamiliar stars.
2	A tattered map marked with sites of confirmed aberration sightings.
3	A sealed vial of black ichor that pulses when exposed to magic.
4	A blackened feather etched with runes no scholar has identified.
5	A field journal containing pages written in your hand that you do not remember composing.
6	A polished bone fragment engraved with a sigil that changes when viewed in a mirror.
7	A pendant shaped like an unblinking eye that grows warm near planar distortions.
8	A plain iron ring that whispers a warning in your own voice when danger approaches.

Using This Background

The Eldritch Hunter suits characters who investigate aberrations, oppose cults, explore the Underdark, or confront the Old Ones. Wizards, Rangers, Rogues, Blood Hunters, Clerics, Warlocks, Artificers, and Paladins fit naturally, although any class can represent someone trained or scarred by the unnatural.

The hunter should recognize patterns others miss while still relying on allies, research, courage, and difficult judgment.

Campaign Themes

• Occult cases, forbidden archives, and conspiracies hidden inside respectable institutions.
• Underdark expeditions through aberrant ecologies, psychic contamination, and ancient prisons.
• Planar horror in Ozythralis, comet-linked corruption in Sahariad, or breaches elsewhere in Aetheris.
• Monster hunts where preparation matters as much as combat—and preserving compassion remains part of victory.

Example Character Concepts

• The Last Archivist. A sealed research order’s sole survivor carries its case files and unresolved debts.
• The Marked Witness. A former victim senses an aberrant power but fears the connection works both ways.
• The Penitent Infiltrator. A former cult operative uses hard-won knowledge to dismantle it from within.
• The Chasm Scout. A field hunter maps aberrant migration and warns Underdark settlements.

“We are not fearless. We are the ones who learned what fear was trying to tell us—and returned with a lantern.”

— Ilyra Venn, Warden of the Seventh Seal

 

Ability Scores: Choose one of the following arrays. These increases are applied in addition to any species-based increases used in Aetheris.

Path	Ability Increases	Represents
The Scholar	+2 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom	Forbidden archives, arcane theory, and disciplined interpretation.
The Watcher	+2 Wisdom, +1 Dexterity	Alert patrol work, witness-reading, and resistance to subtle influence.
The Pursuer	+2 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence	Infiltration, evidence recovery, and precise action against a known quarry.

Feat:

Choose one of the following Origin Feats:

Observant. Training in half-seen signs, coded warnings, and inconsistent testimony has sharpened your perception and recall.

Alert. Exposure to ambushes, infiltrators, and concealed threats has trained you to act before danger can seize the initiative.

If you already possess the selected feat, choose another Origin Feat for which you qualify. At the Game Master’s discretion, Magic Initiate (Wizard) or Skilled may serve as additional options.

Skill Proficiencies:

Skill Proficiencies: Arcana and Investigation.

Tool Proficiencies:

Tool Proficiencies: Disguise Kit, plus your choice of Alchemist’s Supplies or Calligrapher’s Supplies.

Languages: Deep Speech and one additional language connected to planar, infernal, subterranean, ancient, or regional lore. Common choices include Abyssal, Infernal, and Undercommon. With the Game Master’s approval, choose another appropriate language if needed.

Equipment: You begin with the following equipment:

• Traveler’s clothes adapted for fieldwork, including a weathered coat, gloves, and a deep hood.
• A personal ward-token, oath seal, or memorial charm tied to the person or order that began your hunt.
• A hand crossbow, 20 bolts, and a disguise kit.
• A hooded lantern, 2 flasks of oil, chalk, a small steel mirror, and 10 feet of waxed cord.
• An eldritch field journal containing case notes, coded warnings, sketches, and several deliberately blank pages.
• A sealed specimen vial, a stick of bitter incense used to test unfamiliar air, and a pouch containing 15 gp.

Suggested Characteristics

Eldritch Hunters live under tremendous psychological pressure. Some become cold and methodical; others preserve their humanity through compassion, discipline, faith, routine, or grim humor.

d6	Personality Trait
1	I cannot resist a mystery, especially when everyone else insists it should remain buried.
2	I remain unnervingly calm in the presence of the grotesque or impossible.
3	I trust evidence over instinct and record every detail before drawing a conclusion.
4	I maintain strict routines to remind myself which thoughts are truly mine.
5	I speak gently to survivors; I know how easily disbelief can become another wound.
6	I use dry humor to keep terror from taking root in those around me.

d6	Ideal
1	Protection (Good). Knowledge means nothing if it cannot be used to shield the innocent.
2	Truth (Neutral). No horror becomes less dangerous merely because people refuse to name it.
3	Discipline (Lawful). Fear, curiosity, and power must all be governed by restraint.
4	Freedom (Chaotic). No mortal should kneel to a thing that claims dominion over mind or soul.
5	Power (Evil). The secrets of the Void Beyond belong to whoever is strong enough to survive them.
6	Defiance (Any). The universe may be vast and uncaring, but I refuse to surrender my will to it.

d6	Bond
1	I carry my mentor’s final field notes and intend to finish the hunt that destroyed them.
2	A survivor I rescued depends on me, and I will not allow the darkness to reclaim them.
3	I seek an artifact rumored to seal, banish, or destroy a particular aberrant threat.
4	An order, temple, or hidden archive gave me purpose, and I still answer when it calls.
5	I owe my life to a former cultist whose information saved me at terrible personal cost.
6	Something beyond the veil knows my name; I hunt it before it can reach those I love.

d6	Flaw
1	I pursue forbidden knowledge long after wisdom tells me to stop.
2	I assume secrecy is safety and conceal dangers my allies deserve to understand.
3	I see signs of eldritch corruption even where none exist.
4	I treat people touched by aberrant influence as threats before I treat them as victims.
5	I cannot abandon a hunt, even when continuing it endangers everyone around me.
6	I sometimes listen to the whispers because, on rare occasions, they are right.

Contacts

An Eldritch Hunter rarely works entirely alone. Even the most secretive investigator eventually needs someone who can translate a dead language, examine an unnatural wound, sanctify a corrupted chamber, secure dangerous evidence, or simply believe an impossible warning.

A contact may provide research, medical treatment, discreet shelter, specialized introductions, local authority, or information about a quarry. They expect honesty about immediate risks and may withdraw their support if you conceal contamination, break containment, or use protected knowledge recklessly.

Roll a d6 or choose a contact.

d6	Contact
1	A scholar of forbidden lore who can interpret obscure planar, occult, and historical references.
2	A former cultist who trades intelligence for protection and a chance at redemption.
3	A bounty hunter who assists when a quarry is too dangerous for either of you alone.
4	A cleric or exorcist who sanctifies places tainted by aberrant influence.
5	A physician who discreetly treats unnatural wounds and biological transformations.
6	A watch officer who believes your warnings even when official authorities do not.