This will ramble a little to get to the point, so feel free to skip down to the TL;DR.
Been doing some fuzzy long-term planning for a Life Domain Cleric I'm playing, the party just hit level 3. Looking ahead, I was hoping to grab Proficiency in Martial Weapons at some point, to upgrade to a Warhammer. But that would require either the Weapon Master Feat, which does little else for me, or multiclassing. This got me thinking about Blood Hunter. When I read the class over for the first time I was leery of the self-inflicted damage from Crimson Rite usage. But with a Life Domain Cleric's level 6 feature, Blessed Healer, you get a bonus heal on yourself when you heal others. This would provide some sustain, letting you squeeze out some extra damage without compromising your healing capability.
My thought was that, at some point after getting Cleric to level 6, I'd put 3 levels into Blood Hunter. Maybe stretch to 8 in Cleric first to get Divine Strike. Pushing to 3 in Blood Hunter would let me specialize into one of the Orders (not sure which one though...). Doing so, rather than going straight 20 Cleric, would only cost me 1 ASI/Feat, the auto-pass on Divine Intervention, the 3rd use of Channel Divinity per Long Rest, and a total of 3 spell slots -- 1 each of 5th, 6th, and 7th. I'd still reach a +6 Proficiency modifier, and the final tier of Destroy Undead (CR 4 or less). I'd gain a d4 Crimson Rite, a Fighting Style (Great Weapon Fighting or Dueling.... hm...) and a Blood Curse (so many options...). Also Alchemist's Tools to go with my Background's Herbalism Kit.
TL;DR -- Would it be viable for a Life Domain Cleric to multiclass into Blood Hunter for 3 levels? It provides some strange but interesting utility options, as well as some extra damage in melee, while costing very little from Cleric.
Bonus question.... The Order of Ghostslayers gives the additional Esoteric Crimson Rite for Radiant Damage, costing half the normal health. My race is the Variant Aasimar from the PHB, which provides Resistance to Radiant damage. Would the Crimson Rite cost, already halved by the ability granting it, be halved again by my Racial Resistance? Or is the cost simply that -- a cost -- and Resistance doesn't factor in at all?
The damage you take for activating a Rite is actual damage (rolled, has specific damage type(s)), so it follows all other rules for taking damage.
If you have resistance to the damage type, your resistance halves the damage.
Rite of the Dawn does not state that you gain resistance to radiant damage, so it does not conflict with Aasimar's Celestial Resistance.
Therefore, by RAW, you would only take 1/4th of the damage from activating Rite of the Dawn.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
I don't have much to comment on your multiclass idea, but Sigred made a few mistakes.
First off, resistances don't stack. If you have two resistances to a damage type, you still only take half damage.
Page 197 of the PHB:
Multiple instances of resistance or vulnerability that affect the same damage type count as only one instance.
Second, the damage you take on activating isn't rolled damage and doesn't have a damage type. It equals your character level (This sort of discourages multiclassing as the damage you take goes up for every non-BH level, but your rite dice stay the same.) Also, your max health is decreased by the same amount when you have the rite active.
Third, Rite of the Dawn says you take half damage from activating the rite. This results in you taking only half your character level in damage.
In conlusion, being an Aasimar has no effect on the damage you take when activating any rite, even Rite of Dawn.
I don't have much to comment on your multiclass idea, but Sigred made a few mistakes.
First off, resistances don't stack. If you have two resistances to a damage type, you still only take half damage.
Page 197 of the PHB:
Multiple instances of resistance or vulnerability that affect the same damage type count as only one instance.
Second, the damage you take on activating isn't rolled damage and doesn't have a damage type. It equals your character level (This sort of discourages multiclassing as the damage you take goes up for every non-BH level, but your rite dice stay the same.) Also, your max health is decreased by the same amount when you have the rite active.
Third, Rite of the Dawn says you take half damage from activating the rite. This results in you taking only half your character level in damage.
In conlusion, being an Aasimar has no effect on the damage you take when activating any rite, even Rite of Dawn.
The only mistake I made was mistaking the damage as being rolled. All damage has a type. The general Crimson Rite description does not specify a damage type. The specific rites do have damage types. It follows that the damage you take for activating is the same type as the rite itself. This is logical, and it follows the same logical schema as the entire rule set. Please link a source that clearly states that all Crimson Rite activation damage is a special category that doesn't have to abide by the rules of literally everything else.
Resistances do not stack. I never said they did. The damage reduction specific to Rite of the Dawn is not resistance. If it was resistance, it would specifically state that. Non-resistence damage reductions DO stack. If you have Heavy Armor Master, damage from non-magical bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing damage is reduced by 3. If you also have RESISTANCE to one of those types, the final damage is ((Damage - 3)*0.5).
The damage for a character, with resistence to radiant damage, activating Rite of the Dawn is ((character level *0.5)*0.5) or 1/4th the normal amount.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
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This will ramble a little to get to the point, so feel free to skip down to the TL;DR.
Been doing some fuzzy long-term planning for a Life Domain Cleric I'm playing, the party just hit level 3. Looking ahead, I was hoping to grab Proficiency in Martial Weapons at some point, to upgrade to a Warhammer. But that would require either the Weapon Master Feat, which does little else for me, or multiclassing. This got me thinking about Blood Hunter. When I read the class over for the first time I was leery of the self-inflicted damage from Crimson Rite usage. But with a Life Domain Cleric's level 6 feature, Blessed Healer, you get a bonus heal on yourself when you heal others. This would provide some sustain, letting you squeeze out some extra damage without compromising your healing capability.
My thought was that, at some point after getting Cleric to level 6, I'd put 3 levels into Blood Hunter. Maybe stretch to 8 in Cleric first to get Divine Strike. Pushing to 3 in Blood Hunter would let me specialize into one of the Orders (not sure which one though...). Doing so, rather than going straight 20 Cleric, would only cost me 1 ASI/Feat, the auto-pass on Divine Intervention, the 3rd use of Channel Divinity per Long Rest, and a total of 3 spell slots -- 1 each of 5th, 6th, and 7th. I'd still reach a +6 Proficiency modifier, and the final tier of Destroy Undead (CR 4 or less). I'd gain a d4 Crimson Rite, a Fighting Style (Great Weapon Fighting or Dueling.... hm...) and a Blood Curse (so many options...). Also Alchemist's Tools to go with my Background's Herbalism Kit.
TL;DR -- Would it be viable for a Life Domain Cleric to multiclass into Blood Hunter for 3 levels? It provides some strange but interesting utility options, as well as some extra damage in melee, while costing very little from Cleric.
Bonus question.... The Order of Ghostslayers gives the additional Esoteric Crimson Rite for Radiant Damage, costing half the normal health. My race is the Variant Aasimar from the PHB, which provides Resistance to Radiant damage. Would the Crimson Rite cost, already halved by the ability granting it, be halved again by my Racial Resistance? Or is the cost simply that -- a cost -- and Resistance doesn't factor in at all?
The damage you take for activating a Rite is actual damage (rolled, has specific damage type(s)), so it follows all other rules for taking damage.
If you have resistance to the damage type, your resistance halves the damage.
Rite of the Dawn does not state that you gain resistance to radiant damage, so it does not conflict with Aasimar's Celestial Resistance.
Therefore, by RAW, you would only take 1/4th of the damage from activating Rite of the Dawn.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
I don't have much to comment on your multiclass idea, but Sigred made a few mistakes.
First off, resistances don't stack. If you have two resistances to a damage type, you still only take half damage.
Page 197 of the PHB:
Second, the damage you take on activating isn't rolled damage and doesn't have a damage type. It equals your character level (This sort of discourages multiclassing as the damage you take goes up for every non-BH level, but your rite dice stay the same.) Also, your max health is decreased by the same amount when you have the rite active.
Third, Rite of the Dawn says you take half damage from activating the rite. This results in you taking only half your character level in damage.
In conlusion, being an Aasimar has no effect on the damage you take when activating any rite, even Rite of Dawn.
The only mistake I made was mistaking the damage as being rolled. All damage has a type. The general Crimson Rite description does not specify a damage type. The specific rites do have damage types. It follows that the damage you take for activating is the same type as the rite itself. This is logical, and it follows the same logical schema as the entire rule set. Please link a source that clearly states that all Crimson Rite activation damage is a special category that doesn't have to abide by the rules of literally everything else.
Resistances do not stack. I never said they did. The damage reduction specific to Rite of the Dawn is not resistance. If it was resistance, it would specifically state that. Non-resistence damage reductions DO stack. If you have Heavy Armor Master, damage from non-magical bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing damage is reduced by 3. If you also have RESISTANCE to one of those types, the final damage is ((Damage - 3)*0.5).
The damage for a character, with resistence to radiant damage, activating Rite of the Dawn is ((character level *0.5)*0.5) or 1/4th the normal amount.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.