Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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What do folks think of the UA's Monster Hunter Fighter subclass?
Fighter: Monster Hunter - DND 5th Edition
Similar to Battlemaster but with simplified maneuver list plus some other interesting pieces.
My initial reaction is...eh.
It's not really its own thing, just a slight tweak to Battle Master, and not enough actual "monster hunter" flavor. The Blood Hunter class from Critical Role fits the "monster hunter" theme a lot better.
pronouns: he/she/they
Whoa that does look cool. Is that a whole separate class?
Yes, it’s a separate class with a few subclasses.
pronouns: he/she/they
Very cool.
For my purposes I am building a 2014 rules Polearm/Sentinel Fighter (first time). So had planned to go Battlemaster, but was intrigued by Monster Hunter for a couple reasons:
The main Maneuver I know I‘d use is Precision Strike, to pair with Great Weapon Master. So that and PAM and Sentinel give me much of my juice on the battlefield. All the extra Maneuvers Battlemaster gets are cool, but if I’m taking the -5 to hit from GWM, my main need is bonus to hit.
Aside from all those extra Maneuvers, Battlemaster doesn’t get anything really. So Monster Hunter caught my eye. At least get a spell and a Maneuver to cover some weaknesses to conditions, extra skills, etc.
Battlemaster seems good to pair with something that doesn’t rely on Power Attack, so you’re more likely to land something cool.
Hi all, very cool indeed.
What I like is that MonsterHunter takes the best from BattleMaster which is PrecisionAttack. That will boost the nova round with GreatWeaponMaster + ActionSurge + PAM easily to >80damage in level 4. I would never use any other maneuver. Though BM has nice ones.
On top SuperiorWillpower adds protection against the most scary saving throws. This prevents you are shut down through conditions like charmed or frightened etc. BattleMaster doesn‘t have this. It even stacks with Bless or PeaceCleric EmbBond.
Less powerful: SharpenedSenses might come in handy when you trigger a trap and you can make sure you notice this. SharpenedAttack is a waste.
Casting DetectMagic as a ritual is really nice for a dungeon raid.
If you take spellcasting via a feat, you might(?) even scribe scrolls via the new skill arcana + tool. That compensates for casting your 1lvl spell just once.
It is great for Fighter6 builds. After that it is useless. I don’t think it is overpowered but you improve damage and get protection.
Cheers
Exactly. As good as many of the Battlemaster maneuvers are, if I take Great Weapon Master, I am most in need to buff my hit rate to offset the -5, and so with limited resources, Precision Strike is mostly what I need. The control effects will be mainly via my Sentinel hits.
That said, yes, having the option to boost saves as a maneuver is unique to Monster Hunter, and a welcome option to have in my pocket, especially for DEX & WIS saves. It synergies with Fighters Indomitable for higher-level saves, where the DC is so high, a re-roll may not help much.
Also, getting to cast Protection from Evil & Good has already worked well. Often I don’t like random spell options for martials that need to be cast in combat, since that replaces most of your attacks, but since this spell lasts 10 min, I was able to cast it when we entered a dangerous-looking crypt before we began exploring & fighting.
Monster Hunter gets a 1/lr 'Protection from Evil and Good' casting...but why is the Monster Hunter fighting Angels and Elementals in the first place??!
Worse yet, the Monster Hunter doesn't even get any special ability against Monstrosities...which is insane! 'Monster Hunter'...it is in the freakin name!!!
This spell should have been a custom 1/lr 'Protection from Monsters' class feature 'spell' that protects against Monsters (fey, aberrations, undead and monstrosities). Maybe have the spell components include holy water, piece of silver and a piece of iron.
The lvl7 'Monster Slayer' feature should be expecially potent against aberrations, fey, undead and monstrosities as well.
*Monster Slayer feature is meant to guarantee breaking concentration of any 'aberration, fey, fiend, or undead' you hit with it. That is why it has 2x dice maxed damage + the sharpened attack maneuver (which makes target do concentration checks with disadvantage).
It may be worth pointing out that this subclass appeared in one UA article from 2016 and never got actually published in any official material. Even a year ago when this thread was posted, the Monster Hunter Fighter subclass was long dead.
They did eventually publish a "Monster Slayer" Ranger subclass in Xanathar's Guide to Everything, which is much better but also wildly different.
pronouns: he/she/they