Order of The Vanguard

The order of the Vanguard believes that there is a balance between life and death, and the power over their own lifeblood can be harnessed and used far more efficiently than any other weapon or armor. This mentality has led them to hemocraft techniques which allow augmenting more than just their weapons and senses, but their armor and the blood of others as well, not only creating powerful barriers made of this pure life energy but also expelling it in a deadly barrage. The type of blood hunter who pursues this path becomes like a stalwart shield, nearly impossible to break, standing on the frontlines of battle without worry or regard for their own life.

Rite of the Defender

At the 3rd level, your crimson rite is not only a tool for your weapons but your armor as well. You may apply your crimson rite feature to shields or armor you are currently wearing and gain the following benefits:

Armor enhanced by your crimson rite grant +1 AC and grants resistance to the damage type of your rite.

Shields enhanced by your crimson rite become martial weapons with the light and versatile dealing 1d6 bludgeoning, damage when wielded in a single hand or 1d8 bludgeoning damage when wielded in both hands in addition to your rite damage.

Sanguine Barrier

Beginning at the 3rd level, your order has given you a technique that turns damage into a barrier that can be used for both offensive and defensive purposes. You gain a pool of temporary hit points with a maximum equal to twice your blood hunter level. Whenever you damage a creature with your Crimson Rite, you may add an equal amount of Crimson Rite damage as temporary hit points. Once per short rest, if you currently have no HP remaining in your sanguine barrier, you use a bonus action to expend a hit dice and add the number rolled plus your CON modifier to your sanguine barrier. This increases to twice per short rest at 9th level and three times per short rest at 14th level.

Additionally, as an action, you may expend temporary hit points up to half the size of your Hemocraft die. When you do so, make a melee spell attack with a range of 15 feet. The target takes your INT modifier plus a number of d4s of force damage equal to temporary hit points spent on the attack. When you gain the extra attack feature, you may replace a single attack with this feature.      

Crimson Rebuttal

Upon reaching the 7th level, your barrier can appear in an instant to lash out at nearby enemies, pushing them away and filling the air with an aura of crimson energy.

As an action, you may expend as many temporary hit points as your proficiency bonus to force all creatures within 10 feet of you to make an STR saving throw. On a failure, creatures take damage equal to two rolls of your hemocraft die, are pushed 10 feet away, and knocked prone. On a success, creatures take half as much damage and are pushed away, but not knocked prone.

For a number of rounds equal to your INT modifier, The are within 10 feet of you is heavily obscured by a mist which only you can see through. A creature with darkvision can't see through this darkness, and nonmagical light can't illuminate it.

You may use this feature once per short or long rest. Beginning at the 15th level you gain an additional use of this feature per rest.

Brand of Warding

Beginning at the 11th level, you gain a new type of brand designed to aid your allies rather than hinder foes. As a bonus action, you may brand a creature of your choice within 30 feet of you that you can see with your Brand of Warding for one minute.

When you activate this, you lose a number of hit points equal to one roll of your hemocraft die, as shown in the Hemocraft Die column of the Blood Hunter table.

• Whenever the branded creature takes damage, you may use your reaction to share any number of hit points from your Sanguine Barrier with it.

• In addition, all blood hunter features can be used from that creature's space as well as your own, and the branded creature is not affected by the darkness created by your Crimson Rebuttal

• You always know the location of the branded creature and may speak telepathically to them without needing to share a language. You may also perceive the world through their senses if they are willing, becoming blind and deaf while you do so.

Your brand lasts until you dismiss it, apply a brand to another creature, or finish a long rest. Your brand counts as a spell for the purposes of dispel magic, and the spell level is equal to half of your blood hunter level (maximum of 9th level spell).

Blood Curse of the Repurposed Vigor

At 15th level, you’ve honed your hemocraft to tear the vitality from your enemies and refuel your allies instead. You gain the Blood Curse of the Repurposed Vigor for your Blood Maledict feature. This doesn’t count against your number of blood curses known.

Blood Curse of the Repurposed Vigor: As an action, all creatures of your choice within 30 feet must make a CON saving throw, taking 3d6 necrotic damage on a failure or half of that on a success. All damage dealt this way is converted into a pool of health points you may distribute among any creatures of your choice within 60 feet.

Amplify. Creatures cannot reduce this damage via any resistances or invulnerability. Any creatures that fail the saving throw by more than five cannot receive healing from any source for 1 minute.

Lifeblood Aegis

Upon reaching the 18th level, your Sanguine Barrier becomes a near-invincible barricade as long as it stands. While your Sanguine Barrier has at least one hit point remaining, no single source of damage may pass through it. When you are dealt damage greater than your remaining Temporary Hit Points, you may use your reaction to cancel any excess damage (e.g. you have 4 temp and take 8 damage, you lose the 4 temp but do not take additional damage, however, any additional attacks would target your HP as normal).