Order of the Veiled Fang

The Order of the Veiled Fang exists because not every monster announces itself with claws, corpses, and screams.

Some monsters become neighbors.

Some borrow familiar faces.

Some enter courts wearing borrowed titles, infiltrate military commands beneath stolen identities, manipulate lovers through enchantment, construct false memories, replace missing travelers, possess respected officials, or cloak entire crimes beneath glamour so convincingly that the victims themselves defend the predator responsible.

The Veiled Fang was created to hunt such enemies.

Its Bloodsworn are investigators, counter-infiltrators, trackers, clandestine operatives, monster hunters, occult interrogators, and specialists in supernatural deception. Their training combines hemocraft with observation, behavioral analysis, magical detection, counter-illusion techniques, controlled deception, and the study of creatures that use identity itself as camouflage.

Members of the Order understand an uncomfortable truth: to defeat deception, a hunter must understand deception.

They therefore learn skills that more traditional Bloodsworn sometimes regard with suspicion. Veiled Fangs cultivate false identities, manipulate expectations, conceal their own presence, create misleading trails, infiltrate hostile organizations, and deliberately allow enemies to believe they have been deceived.

Their doctrine does not consider deception inherently dishonorable.

The ethical question is why the lie exists.

A lie used to enslave another person is predation.

A lie told to get prisoners safely past their captors may be mercy.

A glamour used to remove another person's capacity for meaningful choice is an attack.

A disguise used to enter the glamour-maker's stronghold is a weapon.

The fox became the Order's emblem because it symbolizes intelligence, patience, adaptability, concealment, and the ability to survive in territory controlled by larger predators.

Its oldest lesson remains:

Never hunt the mask. Hunt what chose to wear it.

Origins in Aetheris

The Order traces its philosophical origins to a series of disasters remembered collectively in surviving Claret records as the Years of Borrowed Faces.

Accounts differ regarding where the first events occurred. Some traditions place them in old courts. Others describe frontier settlements. Still others claim the earliest Veiled Fang hunters operated along regions where planar boundaries allowed predatory Fey and other supernatural infiltrators unusually easy access to mortal communities.

Whatever the exact origin, the surviving accounts describe remarkably similar failures.

Hunters arrived.

Evidence pointed toward an obvious monster.

The monster was killed.

The killings continued.

Again and again, conventional investigative assumptions betrayed the hunters.

A corpse had been transformed after death.

A witness remembered events that had never happened.

A trusted magistrate was possessed.

A missing villager had returned months earlier—but something else had returned wearing their face.

A frightened child everyone dismissed was the only person whose memories had not been altered.

A hunter's own companion had been replaced three days before the investigation began.

Bloodsworn eventually realized that these enemies could not be hunted successfully by merely becoming better at combat.

The hunt itself had to change.

The earliest Veiled Fang cells therefore began teaching a new discipline centered on six questions:

What am I seeing?

What am I expected to see?

Who benefits if I believe it?

What evidence should exist but does not?

What evidence exists that should not?

What happens when the quarry realizes I know?

These principles eventually became the foundation of a formal Bloodsworn Order.

The Fox-Sigil of the Veiled Fang developed from this tradition as both badge and teaching device. Its shifting eyes, incomplete runes, severe fox imagery, and emphasis upon counter-deception embody the Order's conviction that perception must always be tested against evidence.

Today, Veiled Fang hunters are found throughout Aetheris, particularly in regions threatened by:

• hostile Fey;
• shapechangers;
• possessing entities;
• illusionists;
• supernatural infiltrators;
• cults using magical manipulation;
• fiends operating through mortal institutions;
• monsters capable of replacing or imitating people.

Their expertise makes them particularly valuable in Velmyris, where Feywild incursions and the Wild Hunt create exactly the sort of threat environment for which the Order was designed.

Philosophy and Doctrine

The Veiled Fang's philosophy is known as the Doctrine of the Second Face.

Its members are taught that everything possesses at least two faces:

the face presented,

and the truth beneath it.

The purpose of the hunter is not to distrust everything forever.

It is to learn when the two faces do not match.

1. Appearances Are Evidence, Not Truth

Veiled Fangs are never taught to ignore what they see.

They are taught not to stop there.

A disguise is information.

A lie is information.

An illusion is information.

Even a fabricated trail reveals something about the creature that created it.

If an enemy wants the hunter looking east, the important question is not merely whether east is wrong.

It is:

Why east?

1. The Inconsistency Is the Trail

Most deceptions fail in small ways.

A person knows a memory but not the emotion associated with it.

A shapechanger copies someone's appearance but favors the wrong hand.

A magical duplicate possesses the correct clothing but does not recognize habitual damage to the boots.

A glamour produces snow but no cold.

A Fey guest speaks flawless courtesy but never eats.

A corpse's wounds indicate that the blood on the floor should be somewhere else.

Veiled Fang hunters train themselves to regard contradictions as tracks.

Where another hunter follows footprints, they follow things that do not make sense.

III. A Lie Is Not Automatically Evil

This principle separates the Veiled Fang from inquisitorial traditions built around absolute honesty.

The Order does not believe truth is always morally superior to concealment.

A fugitive hiding from slavers may need a false name.

A resistance fighter may need a disguise.

A victim may deny knowledge to protect someone.

A hunter may infiltrate a cult.

The moral distinction is whether deception is being used to protect agency or destroy it.

The Order is therefore particularly hostile toward enchantment and supernatural coercion.

Stealing someone's body is terrible.

Stealing someone's ability to choose may be worse.

1. Never Let Suspicion Become Fanaticism

Every Veiled Fang eventually confronts the great danger of the Order:

Once you have discovered enough hidden monsters, everything begins to look like a mask.

The Order therefore teaches a formal principle called The Mundane Answer.

Before concluding that supernatural deception is involved, the hunter must ask whether ordinary:

• fear;
• greed;
• shame;
• trauma;
• incompetence;
• coincidence;
• corruption;
• secrecy

adequately explains the evidence.

The fox does not survive by believing every rustle contains a dragon.

Suspicion without discipline becomes paranoia.

Paranoia makes a hunter predictable.

1. Blood Remembers

The Order's most distinctive hemocraft doctrine teaches that identity leaves patterns deeper than appearance.

Bodies may change.

Voices may change.

Memories may be imitated.

But blood, magical resonance, soul-pattern, movement, and instinct often retain inconsistencies.

Members therefore use hemocraft not merely to harm enemies but to establish an occult identity signature.

The Order summarizes this doctrine simply:

Masks deceive eyes. Blood remembers.

1. Make the Deceiver Commit

A suspicious hunter who immediately reveals their suspicions often loses the quarry.

The Veiled Fang instead teaches patience.

Sometimes the best response to recognizing a lie is pretending to believe it.

Let the infiltrator continue.

Let them make another move.

Let them lead you toward their allies.

Let them become confident.

Then close the trap.

Visual Identity

Veiled Fang Bloodsworn tend toward restrained, practical equipment designed for mobility and concealment.

Common equipment includes:

• dark travel coats;
• light or medium armor;
• reversible cloaks;
• hidden weapon sheaths;
• quiet boots;
• gloves suitable for collecting evidence;
• small specimen tubes;
• alchemical testing kits;
• silver mirrors;
• notebooks;
• disguise materials;
• compact lock tools;
• blood-sample containers.

Blackened steel, silver, dark leather, and muted crimson are common.

Unlike many monster-hunting orders, Veiled Fangs frequently conceal their affiliation.

The traditional fox medallion may be worn openly during formal Order gatherings, but hunters operating in the field commonly hide it beneath clothing.

Some carry false insignia specifically so that enemies who recognize Bloodsworn traditions misidentify them.

Hemocraft Manifestation

Veiled Fang hemocraft commonly produces unusually fine crimson lines rather than broad flares of blood magic.

When activating their abilities, these lines may briefly appear:

• beneath the eyes;
• across fingertips;
• around the throat;
• along a weapon's edge;
• over the brow like a narrow fox-shaped rune.

When identifying an impostor, a hunter's pupils may briefly reflect crimson light.

Fighting Style

Their combat style is deceptive even when technically straightforward.

They feint.

Retreat deliberately.

Break line of sight.

Attack from unexpected angles.

Allow enemies to believe they missed an opportunity.

Veiled Fangs particularly favor opponents who believe stealth, invisibility, teleportation, or transformation has made them safe.

Role in Aetheris

Veiled Fang hunters occupy an unusually broad role because supernatural infiltration can appear almost anywhere.

They operate as:

• supernatural investigators;
• counter-intelligence specialists;
• monster hunters;
• occult detectives;
• infiltrators;
• trackers;
• anti-Fey operatives;
• counter-assassins;
• bodyguard investigators;
• possession specialists;
• cult infiltrators;
• intelligence consultants.

In combat, their role is primarily Striker / Controller, with strong investigative utility outside combat.

They excel against creatures that rely upon:

• invisibility;
• teleportation;
• shapechanging;
• charm;
• illusion;
• magical disguise;
• hidden movement;
• possession;
• ambush.

They are less specialized against straightforward enemies that simply stand in the open and attack.

Subclass Integration

Major Polities

Velmyris

Velmyris provides ideal operating territory for the Order.

The Wild Hunt and other hostile Fey threats frequently use:

• glamours;
• enchantment;
• altered memories;
• deceptive terrain;
• false hospitality;
• impersonation;
• supernatural bargains.

Veiled Fang Bloodsworn are consequently prized among organizations attempting to identify Fey infiltrators before an incursion becomes obvious.

Concord of Veltrion

Veltrionic authorities facing Shadowfell infiltration sometimes employ Veiled Fang investigators where entities use possession, mimicry, or disguised influence rather than overt attack.

Republic of Aurimundus

Aurimundan officials occasionally employ licensed hunters in investigations involving:

• supernatural espionage;
• cult infiltration;
• magical impersonation;
• corruption of government officials;
• hostile shapechangers.

Their methods can become politically uncomfortable when investigations reach powerful families.

Helbrann League

Helbranni military commands appreciate the Order's counter-intelligence value, particularly during Underdark expeditions or operations against enemies capable of magical infiltration.

Organizations and Guilds

Common allies include:

• Claret lodges;
• Moonveil Sentinels;
• monster-hunting companies;
• ranger lodges;
• occult investigators;
• military intelligence units;
• temple exorcists;
• counter-cult organizations;
• selected Sylvan Arsenal specialists;
• adventuring companies fighting extraplanar threats.

Their relationships with ordinary spies are complicated.

The Order respects competent intelligence work but strongly dislikes organizations that normalize magical coercion against innocent people.

Religious and Philosophical Movements

Veiled Fang Bloodsworn frequently practice Harmonic Reverence.

Common divine associations include:

Vespera, for secrets, diplomacy, messengers, and hidden knowledge.

Nerath, for truth, law, oaths, and evidence.

Felindra, when deception is used to resist tyranny or free captives.

Nytheris, for the discipline required to distinguish justified suspicion from obsession.

The Order is not inherently religious.

Its doctrine emphasizes evidence rather than revelation.

Rival Factions and Enemies

Common enemies include:

• predatory Fey;
• doppelgängers and hostile shapechangers;
• possessing entities;
• illusion-focused cults;
• enchantment specialists;
• fiendish infiltrators;
• supernatural assassins;
• intelligence networks using magical domination;
• Wild Hunt agents;
• identity thieves;
• creatures replacing mortals inside communities.

Subclass Features

Blood Hunter Level	Feature
3rd	Second-Face Discipline, Bloodmark of the False One
7th	Foxstep Counter
11th	Blood Remembers
15th	No Refuge in Glamour
18th	Rite of the Unmasked Quarry

 

Optional Subclass Techniques

The Subclass Template allows optional rites, talents, maneuvers, or similar subclass techniques. The following Blood Maledicts may be made available to Veiled Fang Blood Hunters at the Game Master's discretion.

Blood Maledict of the Open Mask

When a creature you can see within 60 feet becomes Invisible, magically disguised, or shapechanged, use your Reaction to curse it.

Until the beginning of your next turn, you know the space it occupies while within 60 feet.

Amplify: The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your Hemocraft save DC or the triggering effect is suppressed until the beginning of its next turn.

Blood Maledict of the Borrowed Voice

When a creature you can hear within 60 feet makes a Charisma (Deception) check, you may use your Reaction to curse it.

Subtract one roll of your Hemocraft Die from its roll.

Amplify: If the creature is impersonating another creature, it makes the check with Disadvantage as well.

Blood Maledict of the Broken Glamour

When a creature you can see within 60 feet casts an Illusion or Enchantment spell, use your Reaction to curse it.

The creature takes Psychic damage equal to one roll of your Hemocraft Die.

Amplify: The creature must also make a Constitution saving throw against your Hemocraft save DC. On a failure, if the spell requires Concentration, the spell immediately ends.

Blood Maledict of the Unwilling Puppet

When a creature you can see within 60 feet becomes Charmed, possessed, or magically dominated, use your Reaction and curse the creature responsible.

The affected victim immediately repeats one saving throw against the controlling effect.

Amplify: The repeated saving throw is made with Advantage.

Blood Maledict of the Closing Road

When your False One teleports, use your Reaction.

If its destination is within your walking Speed of its departure point, you may immediately teleport to an unoccupied space within 10 feet of it.

Amplify: The target must first succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your Hemocraft save DC. On a failure, its teleportation fails instead.

Playing This Subclass

The Order of the Veiled Fang is a single-target anti-deception striker with strong investigative and control tools.

It performs best when enemies depend upon mobility, concealment, supernatural manipulation, or escape.

Opening a Fight

Your usual first priority is establishing Bloodmark of the False One against the most dangerous deceptive or mobile opponent.

This gives you:

• increased damage;
• tracking;
• identity recognition;
• notification when the enemy changes form or escapes.

Second-Face Appraisal should be used when the nature of an enemy's supernatural state matters tactically.

Mid-Fight

At 7th level, Foxstep turns enemy trickery into mobility for you.

Instead of allowing the enemy to dictate distance through:

• teleportation;
• invisibility;
• hiding;
• transformation;

those actions can trigger your pursuit.

At 11th level, Blood Remembers becomes your main tactical toolbox.

Different Identity Wounds answer different enemy types.

Against a shapechanger:

Tear the Mask.

Against an illusionist:

Sever the Glamour.

Against an enchanter:

Break the String.

Against an invisible assassin:

Nail the Shadow.

High-Level Play

At 15th level, the Order becomes extremely difficult for escape-oriented enemies to shake.

At 18th level, Rite of the Unmasked Quarry temporarily turns the hunter into a direct counter to creatures whose defenses depend upon illusion, transformation, or magical evasion.

The subclass is intentionally less overwhelming against conventional martial enemies.

A troll that simply runs toward you and hits you with a tree trunk does not care very much about your mastery of supernatural deception.

That specialization is deliberate.

Strengths

The Veiled Fang excels at:

• detecting supernatural deception;
• countering invisibility;
• identifying shapechangers;
• resisting Charm;
• disrupting illusion;
• breaking magical control;
• pursuing teleporting enemies;
• tracking marked targets;
• single-target damage;
• investigative encounters.

Weaknesses

The subclass has comparatively limited:

• area damage;
• mass battlefield control;
• raw defensive durability;
• support healing;
• anti-horde capability.

It also suffers from significant Reaction competition.

Foxstep, Deny Escape, Blood Maledicts, Opportunity Attacks, and other abilities may all compete for the same Reaction.

This is intentional.

A Veiled Fang's strength comes partly from deciding which deception matters enough to answer.

Roleplaying This Subclass

Veiled Fang Blood Hunters often appear more socially adaptable than members of harsher Orders.

They may be:

• detectives;
• spies;
• scholars;
• bounty hunters;
• bodyguards;
• quiet wanderers;
• undercover monster hunters;
• investigators who maintain several identities;
• survivors of supernatural manipulation.

The Order does not demand a single personality.

Some hunters are humorous and charming.

Others are unsettlingly observant.

Some become masters of courtly conversation.

Others barely speak while watching everything.

The defining trait is controlled suspicion.

The Danger of Paranoia

The central roleplaying tension of the Veiled Fang is simple:

A hunter trained to find hidden enemies must still remember that not everyone is hiding something dangerous.

A useful character question is:

What would convince your hunter that someone is innocent?

If the answer is "nothing," the hunter has begun failing the Order's doctrine.

Identity

Another important theme is the hunter's relationship with their own identity.

A Veiled Fang may spend months using:

• disguises;
• false names;
• cover stories;
• fabricated histories.

What happens when someone begins preferring the false identity?

What if a lover knows only the disguise?

What if a hunter discovers they are more honest while pretending to be someone else?

The Order possesses entire philosophical traditions concerning this problem.

Intimacy and Trust

For an adult-oriented Aetheris campaign, Veiled Fang characters offer particularly strong themes involving trust, privacy, consent, vulnerability, and identity.

A hunter who professionally distrusts appearances may find intimate relationships extremely challenging.

Relationships might explore questions such as:

• When does protecting operational secrecy become lying to a partner?
• When does magical disguise violate another person's informed consent?
• Can someone truly consent to intimacy if they have been deceived about their partner's identity?
• When is revealing a secret an act of trust rather than tactical weakness?
• How does someone trained to investigate everyone learn to stop investigating the person beside them?

The Order's traditional answer is severe:

Consent obtained through false identity is not genuine consent when that identity would materially affect the choice being made.

Veiled Fangs trained for infiltration are therefore expected to maintain strict boundaries when operating under assumed identities.

For them, deception may be a weapon.

It must not become an excuse for exploitation.

Faction and Organization Connections

Claret Orders

Veiled Fangs regularly cooperate with other Bloodsworn traditions.

Order of the Last Hunt

The relationship is particularly strong.

The two traditions describe their difference with an old saying:

"The Crane studies the monster. The Fox makes certain it is the monster."

Last Hunters excel at:

• anatomy;
• vulnerabilities;
• tracking;
• execution.

Veiled Fangs excel at:

• identification;
• deception;
• infiltration;
• counter-glamour.

Mixed teams can be terrifyingly effective.

Moonveil Sentinels

Veiled Fangs operating in Velmyris frequently cooperate with former or active Moonveil Sentinels against Fey infiltration.

The Sentinels understand Fey threats broadly.

The Veiled Fang specializes in the moment when the threat has already entered the room.

Sylvan Arsenal

Certain Sylvan Arsenal artificers work closely with the Order to create:

• anti-glamour lenses;
• magical tracking ammunition;
• identity wards;
• illusion-sensitive devices;
• Fey-resistant equipment.

The two groups differ philosophically, but their practical cooperation can be exceptional.

Adventure Hooks

The Hunter Who Returned

A respected Veiled Fang disappears during an investigation.

Three months later they return.

Their memories are perfect.

Their blood is correct.

Their soul appears correct.

Every Fox-Sigil in the lodge nevertheless reacts to them.

The returning hunter insists the Sigils are compromised.

The Village Without Secrets

A small village in Velmyris possesses an unusual reputation.

No one lies.

No one cheats.

No one argues.

No one commits crimes.

The settlement appears peaceful.

A Veiled Fang becomes immediately suspicious.

Then discovers that the villagers genuinely believe everything they say.

The Seventh Witness

Six survivors describe a Wild Hunt attack identically.

A seventh gives a completely different story.

Every authority assumes the seventh survivor is traumatized or lying.

The Veiled Fang notices something disturbing.

The first six accounts contain exactly the same pauses.

The Friendly Fox

A mysterious Fey creature begins secretly assisting a Veiled Fang investigation.

Its information is consistently accurate.

It refuses payment.

It asks for nothing.

This is significantly more concerning than if it had demanded a price.

The Dead Man's Blood

A murder victim's blood reacts to Bloodmark of the False One.

The mark points toward a living noble.

The noble possesses the same blood.

Not similar blood.

The same blood.

Everyone Is Real

Evidence suggests that one member of an adventuring company has been replaced.

Every magical test is performed.

Every memory is checked.

Every blood sample matches.

All twenty members are unquestionably genuine.

The Fox-Sigil continues insisting there are twenty-one identities in the room.

Notable NPCs

Selene Var Ancast

Caelari Blood Hunter, Order of the Veiled Fang

A former investigator who specializes in supernatural crimes within wealthy households.

Selene is charming, elegantly dressed, and almost unnervingly good at remembering tiny personal details.

She maintains twelve established cover identities.

Three have their own tax records.

One receives invitations to noble weddings.

Selene insists this represents competent preparation rather than excessive commitment.

Asha Reed-Behind-Stone

Ocerai Blood Hunter, Order of the Veiled Fang

A wilderness counter-infiltration specialist operating in Velmyris.

Asha tracks predatory Fey that replace travelers or imitate voices in isolated woodland settlements.

She rarely wears her Fox-Sigil openly.

Instead she carries an intentionally crude wolf medallion and allows enemies to assume she belongs to another Order.

Her greatest weapon is convincing dangerous creatures that she has misunderstood them.

Corren Vey

Helkyran Blood Hunter, Order of the Veiled Fang

Corren survived possession by a supernatural infiltrator and subsequently joined the Order.

His specialty is identifying behavioral inconsistencies in possessed individuals without confronting them prematurely.

He is compassionate toward victims and merciless toward entities that use mortal bodies without consent.

Corren maintains an unusual practice:

Before entering a dangerous investigation, every member of his team writes down three private facts about themselves.

The sealed papers are used later to help establish identity.

Recently, one of Corren's papers contained a fact he does not remember writing.

Balance Notes

The Subclass Template requires consideration of intended role, damage profile, survivability, utility, resource economy, and comparisons with similar subclasses.

Intended Role

Primary: Striker
Secondary: Controller / Investigator

The Veiled Fang is designed to isolate and punish one evasive or deceptive enemy rather than dominate groups.

Damage Profile

Bloodmark of the False One grants a once-per-turn Hemocraft Die damage rider.

The rider scales at higher levels but remains:

• single target;
• once per turn;
• dependent on Crimson Rite attacks.

The 18th-level capstone increases this damage significantly for one minute, but only once per Long Rest.

This keeps sustained damage below a dedicated pure striker while providing strong tactical disruption.

Survivability

The subclass possesses comparatively limited direct defensive scaling.

Its defenses are specialized around:

• resisting Charm;
• avoiding deceptive threats;
• repositioning;
• preventing enemies from escaping.

It does not grant broad permanent resistance, AC bonuses, or significant healing.

Utility

Utility is deliberately high.

The subclass contributes substantially during:

• investigations;
• social infiltration;
• supernatural mysteries;
• tracking;
• anti-Fey scenarios;
• counter-espionage;
• possession cases.

The abilities reveal categories of deception rather than automatically solving mysteries.

This distinction is important.

Knowing that someone is magically disguised does not explain:

• who they really are;
• why they are disguised;
• whether they are dangerous;
• who hired them;
• what they want.

Investigation remains necessary.

Resource Economy

Major resources include:

• Proficiency Bonus uses of Bloodmark;
• Proficiency Bonus uses of Second-Face Appraisal;
• Proficiency Bonus uses of Foxstep;
• Blood Maledicts;
• Hemocraft;
• Reaction economy;
• once-per-Long-Rest Rite of the Unmasked Quarry.

Reaction competition serves as an important balancing mechanism.

Comparison to the Order of the Last Hunt

The two subclasses deliberately overlap in pursuit mechanics but specialize differently.

Last Hunt

Better at:

• identifying weaknesses;
• suppressing regeneration;
• anatomical debuffs;
• general monster hunting;
• straightforward pursuit.

Veiled Fang

Better at:

• illusions;
• shapechangers;
• Charm;
• possession;
• supernatural infiltration;
• false identities;
• teleporting tricksters.

The Last Hunt asks:

"How do we kill it?"

The Veiled Fang asks:

"Are we sure that's it?"

Summary

The Order of the Veiled Fang represents the Bloodsworn tradition of counter-deception.

Its hunters specialize in creatures that survive not through superior armor or brute strength, but through:

• false identity;
• invisibility;
• illusion;
• enchantment;
• possession;
• transformation;
• supernatural escape.

Mechanically, the subclass centers around Bloodmark of the False One, which establishes an occult identity signature and allows the Blood Hunter to pursue a chosen target even when that creature alters its appearance.

Foxstep Counter turns enemy trickery into movement.

Blood Remembers allows the hunter's strikes to dismantle disguise, charm, illusion, and possession.

No Refuge in Glamour makes escape increasingly difficult.

And Rite of the Unmasked Quarry temporarily renders most conventional supernatural deception nearly useless.

The Order's deeper identity, however, lies in restraint.

Its members are not taught that everyone lies.

They are taught that everyone has reasons for what they reveal and what they hide.

The hunter's responsibility is determining when secrecy becomes predation.

Because the fox's greatest wisdom is not that appearances are always false.

It is knowing when to look twice.

"If you see the teeth, prepare your weapon. If you see only the smile, prepare your questions."

Second-Face Discipline

Action Type: Passive / Bonus Action
Uses: Passive; Second-Face Appraisal uses Proficiency Bonus per Long Rest
Duration: Instantaneous / until end of your next turn
Scaling: Expanded detection at 11th and 18th level

You are trained to recognize inconsistencies in supernatural disguise.

You gain proficiency in the following skills:

• Arcana;
• Insight;
• Investigation;
• Perception;
• Stealth.

If you already have proficiency in your chosen skill, you gain Expertise in that skill.

Additionally, whenever you make an Intelligence or Wisdom ability check to:

• detect a disguise;
• recognize an illusion;
• identify signs of possession;
• investigate altered memories;
• determine whether evidence has been fabricated;
• analyze magical transformation;
• identify supernatural manipulation;

you may add your Hemocraft modifier to the check if that modifier isn't already included.

Second-Face Appraisal

As a Bonus Action, choose one creature you can see within 60 feet.

Until the end of your next turn, you learn whether that creature is currently affected by any of the following:

• magical disguise;
• shapechanging;
• possession;
• an illusion altering its appearance;
• the Charmed condition;
• magical domination or similar direct control.

You learn that something is present, but you do not automatically learn which effect.

At 11th level, you learn the general category.

At 18th level, you learn the exact applicable category or categories.

You may use Second-Face Appraisal a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus, regaining all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.

Bloodmark of the False One

Action Type: Bonus Action
Uses: Proficiency Bonus per Long Rest
Range: 120 feet
Duration: 1 hour
Scaling: Damage increases at 11th and 18th levels

You establish an occult identity signature using your own blood and the resonance of your quarry.

Choose one creature you can see within 120 feet.

That creature becomes your False One for the duration.

The mark ends early if:

• you become Incapacitated;
• the creature dies;
• you designate another creature;
• the duration expires.

While marked, you gain the following benefits.

Blood Knows Blood

You have Advantage on ability checks made to:

• track the False One;
• distinguish it from duplicates;
• detect its disguise;
• recognize evidence it deliberately falsified.

If it is within 1 mile of you and on the same plane of existence, you know its general direction.

Veil-Piercing Strike

Once on each of your turns when you damage your False One with a weapon bearing your Crimson Rite, it takes additional damage equal to one roll of your Hemocraft Die.

The additional damage is the same type as your Crimson Rite.

At 11th level, this becomes two Hemocraft Dice.

At 18th level, it becomes three Hemocraft Dice.

Mark the Change

Whenever your False One:

• becomes Invisible;
• teleports;
• changes shape;
• creates an illusionary duplicate;
• magically disguises itself;
• possesses another creature;

you immediately know that the event occurred if you are conscious and on the same plane.

You do not automatically know its new location.

Passing the Fang

If your False One is reduced to 0 Hit Points, you may designate another creature you can see within 120 feet as your False One as a Bonus Action without expending another use.

The original duration does not reset.

Foxstep Counter

Action Type: Passive / Reaction
Uses: Proficiency Bonus per Long Rest
Duration: Immediate

A Veiled Fang learns that the best response to misdirection is rarely remaining where the enemy expects.

Your Speed increases by 10 feet.

Additionally, while moving toward your False One:

• nonmagical Difficult Terrain costs no additional movement;
• moving through a space lightly obscured by fog, foliage, smoke, or similar terrain costs no additional movement.

Foxstep

When a creature you can see within 60 feet:

• becomes Invisible;
• teleports;
• changes shape;
• uses an illusion;
• successfully Hides;
• or imposes the Charmed condition on another creature;

you may use your Reaction to move up to half your Speed.

This movement does not provoke Opportunity Attacks from the triggering creature.

At any point during this movement, you may attempt to Hide if you possess suitable cover or concealment.

If you end this movement within weapon range of your False One, you may make one weapon attack against it as part of the same Reaction.

You may use Foxstep a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus and regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.

Read the Retreat

If the triggering creature teleports, you may instead choose not to move.

If you do, you know the general direction in which it appeared, provided its destination is within 1 mile and on the same plane.

Blood Remembers

Action Type: Passive / Triggered
Uses: At-will; one Identity Wound per turn
Duration: Variable

Your hemocraft now attacks the supernatural structures that allow a creature to conceal its identity.

Whenever you deal Veil-Piercing Strike damage to your False One, choose one Identity Wound below.

Only one Identity Wound may affect a creature from you at a time unless otherwise stated.

Tear the Mask

Until the beginning of your next turn, the creature cannot voluntarily:

• change shape;
• magically disguise itself.

If it is currently maintaining such an effect, the creature must make a Constitution saving throw against your Hemocraft save DC.

On a failure, the effect is suppressed until the beginning of your next turn.

Open the Eyes

Choose one creature other than yourself within 30 feet of your False One.

That creature immediately gains Advantage on its next saving throw against an Illusion or Enchantment effect created by your False One before the start of your next turn.

Sever the Glamour

Choose one Illusion spell or magical illusion currently maintained by the False One that you can perceive.

The False One must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your Hemocraft save DC or the chosen illusion ends.

If the effect normally requires Concentration, this saving throw also counts as a Concentration saving throw.

Break the String

If your False One is currently Charming, possessing, or magically controlling another creature, it must make a Constitution saving throw against your Hemocraft save DC.

On a failure, one creature of your choice affected by that influence may immediately repeat its saving throw against the effect, with Advantage.

If the effect normally allows no repeat saving throw, the affected creature instead makes a Wisdom saving throw against your Hemocraft save DC.

On a success, the effect ends on that creature.

Nail the Shadow

Until the beginning of your next turn:

• the False One cannot become Invisible;
• magical Darkness does not conceal it from you;
• if it successfully Hides, you still know the space it occupies while it remains within 30 feet of you.

Crimson Revelation

Whenever you amplify a Blood Maledict targeting your False One, you may apply one Identity Wound without first dealing Veil-Piercing Strike damage.

You may do so only once per turn.

No Refuge in Glamour

Action Type: Passive / Reaction
Uses: Passive; Deny Escape once per round
Duration: Continuous

Your Bloodmark of the False One now lasts 24 hours.

Your directional awareness functions anywhere on the same plane of existence.

Sight Beyond the Mask

Your False One gains no benefit against you from the Invisible condition if it is within 30 feet and not behind Total Cover.

You can see the creature's actual space.

If the creature is shapechanged or magically disguised, you perceive a faint translucent impression of its original form superimposed upon its current appearance.

This does not reveal every detail of its true form, but it prevents the transformation from deceiving you.

Deny Escape

When your False One that you can see attempts to:

• teleport;
• shift planes;
• become Ethereal;
• magically change shape;
• magically become Invisible;
• enter an extradimensional space;

you may use your Reaction to force it to make a Constitution saving throw against your Hemocraft save DC.

On a failure, the triggering effect fails and any spell slot, action, charge, or other resource used is expended.

On a success, the effect functions normally.

A creature that succeeds becomes immune to Deny Escape until the beginning of its next turn.

False Faces Fall

When your False One is reduced to 0 Hit Points, any magical disguise, shapechanging effect, or possession effect it is currently maintaining is suppressed until the end of your next turn.

If suppressing a possession effect would leave the possessed creature in immediate danger, the effect instead remains suspended while the possessed creature remains stable.

This feature does not permanently negate unique monster traits that require special methods to destroy.

It gives the hunter a brief opportunity to reveal what actually fell.

Rite of the Unmasked Quarry

Action Type: Bonus Action
Uses: Once per Long Rest
Duration: 1 minute

You enter the supreme hunting state of the Veiled Fang.

For 1 minute, your perception, hemocraft, and predatory instinct align so completely that supernatural deception becomes almost useless against you.

Thin crimson markings appear around your eyes.

Your movements become eerily economical.

Creatures relying upon glamour often describe the sensation of being watched from somewhere behind their own disguise.

While this Rite lasts, you gain the following benefits.

Hunter's True Sight

You gain Truesight to 60 feet.

Unassailable Mind

You are immune to the Charmed condition.

You have Advantage on saving throws against:

• Psychic effects;
• magical memory alteration;
• possession.

Perfect False One

At the beginning of each of your turns, you may designate one creature you can see within 120 feet as your False One without using an action or expending a use of Bloodmark of the False One.

You may still have only one False One at a time.

Fang of Revelation

Once on each of your turns when you damage your False One with a Crimson Rite weapon, you deal additional Force damage equal to three rolls of your Hemocraft Die.

This replaces the additional damage normally granted by Veil-Piercing Strike rather than adding to it.

Double Wound

Whenever Fang of Revelation triggers, you may apply two different Identity Wounds from Blood Remembers.

Unmasked

Your False One cannot deceive your senses through:

• invisibility;
• magical disguise;
• shapechanging;
• visual illusion;
• illusionary duplication.

You always recognize which visible creature is your actual False One unless an Artifact, deity, or similarly extraordinary force explicitly defeats Truesight.

Foxstep Without End

Foxstep no longer expends uses while Rite of the Unmasked Quarry is active.

You still have only one normal Reaction per round.

Turn the Trick

When your False One forces you to make a saving throw against an Illusion, Enchantment, or possession effect and you succeed, you may immediately move up to half your Speed without provoking Opportunity Attacks.

If you end this movement within range of your False One, you may make one weapon attack against it.

You may benefit from Turn the Trick only once per round.

The Final Reveal

If your False One is reduced to 0 Hit Points while Rite of the Unmasked Quarry is active:

1. all non-Artifact illusions or disguises affecting its appearance immediately end;
2. any shapechanging effect is suppressed until the end of your next turn;
3. you may immediately move up to half your Speed;
4. you may designate another creature you can see as your False One.

If you end this movement within weapon range of the new False One, you may make one weapon attack against it.

You may benefit from this attack only once per turn.

Once Rite of the Unmasked Quarry ends, you cannot use it again until you finish a Long Rest.