Thank you for taking the time to read this and see if you can offer some advice.
I haven't played since 3ed many years ago so I'm relearning all the classes and how everything now works.
My DM pointed me at Blood Hunter as a class to play, so that's what I started with, making a ranged based monster hunter. We are now 3rd level, and I've taken mutagen order.
Race: Variant human feat: xbow master class: Blood night level 3 Order: Mutagen.
My plan initially was go take 5 levels in Blood Hunter and pick up the 1d6 Hemocraft Die, then swap to Ranger to continue down the Monster hunter storyline of the character and picking up gloom stalker. From there I had not decided what to do so I've been doing some reading.
Having read Fighter, and in particular Battle master, how maneuvers work, it looks like so much fun, it almost makes me wish I'd just made a fighter. (I am very much enjoying the theme and story of the blood hunter though).
So I was wondering if it would make sense to stay at level 3 blood hunter, and swap right over to fighter. I know it will set me back in getting my second feat and second attack for now but long term it would be better to progress past level 5 with the fighter and get those feats/attacks with my fighter classes.
Progression would be : Blood hunter 3 - Fighter/Battlemaster 5 - Ranger/gloomstalker 3 - then continue with fighter ranks from then. (we plan to play until level 15 at least)
Or do I just pick up 5 levels Blood hunter, get 3 levels in ranger/gloom stalker, get 3 levels in fighter/battlemaster and rethink it all at level 11.
Any advice on how that build would look, how you think it would function at those levels, anything I should consider, would be appreciated.
If this is your first character since 3e I would suggest not Multiclassing. I guarantee you that it doesn’t work the way you think it will (because that’s true for 95% of people the first time they Multiclass in 5e) and you might get frustrated.
If this is your first character since 3e I would suggest not Multiclassing. I guarantee you that it doesn’t work the way you think it will (because that’s true for 95% of people the first time they Multiclass in 5e) and you might get frustrated.
hi Iamsposta,
Thanks. Was there something in what I wrote that you could point out that shows I've misunderstood something already? Please let me know, that's exactly the kind of advice I'm after. Cheers!
Preface. I can only give you this advice accurately this way, sorry for that.
Building for Fun. If you want to do this character that way, do it that way. Have fun. That’s really the point. Always do the fun thing, never the optimized thing IMHO, unless it will specifically be fun for you to do so.
Advice for Learning 5e. Don’t multiclass until your 2nd character.
Advice for Optimization. You asked for “build” advice, so this is predicated on that.
Blood Hunter wants Str/Dex, and Int. Ranger wants Str/Dex and Wis, and everybody wants Con, especially the Blood Hunter (because of the HP nomnomnom). The only stat you could really afford to have below 14 is Cha, and probably Str to focus on Dex, Con, Int and Wis. Most builds shoot for any two, three is called “MAD,” but four prime stats....
It’s my guess that you’re looking to stack the Blood Curses, Crimson Rite, etc. and Mutagencraft with Hunter’s Mark and Slayer’s Prey. And you figure with this combo you can pick up 3 Fighting Styles. Right?
Ranger’s not really bringing much to the party on this build as far as I can see. Mostly because by the time you get off all of those bonus actions, the fight will be over. And you won’t end up using all of those fighting styles nearly as much as you think you will.
Battle Master is always awesome IMHO. And brings more to the table than Ranger. But let me ask you, did you go Dex or Str for your build? Because for you I think we can maybe do better than Fighter.
If you went Dex, look at Rogue, either Swashbuckler or Scout depending on your preference as to Melee or Ranged respectively. If you went Str, take a look at Artificer, any of those subclasses might appeal to you.
Part of the fun for me is coming up with a build and I'm using the tone of the campaign as the motivation for it's direction. Monster hunting seems like the tone and so Ranger looked like a good option because of Gloom stalker. The darkvision, the hiding in darkness, and the further tracking skills, all seemed to fit the direction of the character. Fighting styles not really, I just plan to use the xbow.
Battle master was just a recent thought, because the maneuver system looks so much fun and I'd like to fit it in to give using the Xbow have more to it than just doing damage. being able to trip people or disarm them etc just makes you feel like you are actually sharp shooting and calling shots you know? Adds more realism/feel to it.
Stat wise, the DM got us to roll for them, and I rolled pretty well. I'm mainly dex but all my stats are serviceable and high enough for the multiclasses I'm considering.
Not planning to stack blood curses as I wasn't planning to take Blood hunter past level 5. So just the 1 curse, the 2 mutagens, and the 1d6 crimson rite. Honestly the class was chosen more for flavor than any desire to pursue the class into it's later levels and abilities.
Hello,
Thank you for taking the time to read this and see if you can offer some advice.
I haven't played since 3ed many years ago so I'm relearning all the classes and how everything now works.
My DM pointed me at Blood Hunter as a class to play, so that's what I started with, making a ranged based monster hunter. We are now 3rd level, and I've taken mutagen order.
Race: Variant human
feat: xbow master
class: Blood night level 3
Order: Mutagen.
My plan initially was go take 5 levels in Blood Hunter and pick up the 1d6 Hemocraft Die, then swap to Ranger to continue down the Monster hunter storyline of the character and picking up gloom stalker. From there I had not decided what to do so I've been doing some reading.
Having read Fighter, and in particular Battle master, how maneuvers work, it looks like so much fun, it almost makes me wish I'd just made a fighter. (I am very much enjoying the theme and story of the blood hunter though).
So I was wondering if it would make sense to stay at level 3 blood hunter, and swap right over to fighter. I know it will set me back in getting my second feat and second attack for now but long term it would be better to progress past level 5 with the fighter and get those feats/attacks with my fighter classes.
Progression would be : Blood hunter 3 - Fighter/Battlemaster 5 - Ranger/gloomstalker 3 - then continue with fighter ranks from then. (we plan to play until level 15 at least)
Or do I just pick up 5 levels Blood hunter, get 3 levels in ranger/gloom stalker, get 3 levels in fighter/battlemaster and rethink it all at level 11.
Any advice on how that build would look, how you think it would function at those levels, anything I should consider, would be appreciated.
Thank you again for your time.
If this is your first character since 3e I would suggest not Multiclassing. I guarantee you that it doesn’t work the way you think it will (because that’s true for 95% of people the first time they Multiclass in 5e) and you might get frustrated.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
hi Iamsposta,
Thanks. Was there something in what I wrote that you could point out that shows I've misunderstood something already? Please let me know, that's exactly the kind of advice I'm after. Cheers!
Preface. I can only give you this advice accurately this way, sorry for that.
Building for Fun. If you want to do this character that way, do it that way. Have fun. That’s really the point. Always do the fun thing, never the optimized thing IMHO, unless it will specifically be fun for you to do so.
Advice for Learning 5e. Don’t multiclass until your 2nd character.
Advice for Optimization. You asked for “build” advice, so this is predicated on that.
Blood Hunter wants Str/Dex, and Int. Ranger wants Str/Dex and Wis, and everybody wants Con, especially the Blood Hunter (because of the HP nomnomnom). The only stat you could really afford to have below 14 is Cha, and probably Str to focus on Dex, Con, Int and Wis. Most builds shoot for any two, three is called “MAD,” but four prime stats....
It’s my guess that you’re looking to stack the Blood Curses, Crimson Rite, etc. and Mutagencraft with Hunter’s Mark and Slayer’s Prey. And you figure with this combo you can pick up 3 Fighting Styles. Right?
Ranger’s not really bringing much to the party on this build as far as I can see. Mostly because by the time you get off all of those bonus actions, the fight will be over. And you won’t end up using all of those fighting styles nearly as much as you think you will.
Battle Master is always awesome IMHO. And brings more to the table than Ranger. But let me ask you, did you go Dex or Str for your build? Because for you I think we can maybe do better than Fighter.
If you went Dex, look at Rogue, either Swashbuckler or Scout depending on your preference as to Melee or Ranged respectively. If you went Str, take a look at Artificer, any of those subclasses might appeal to you.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Part of the fun for me is coming up with a build and I'm using the tone of the campaign as the motivation for it's direction. Monster hunting seems like the tone and so Ranger looked like a good option because of Gloom stalker. The darkvision, the hiding in darkness, and the further tracking skills, all seemed to fit the direction of the character. Fighting styles not really, I just plan to use the xbow.
Battle master was just a recent thought, because the maneuver system looks so much fun and I'd like to fit it in to give using the Xbow have more to it than just doing damage. being able to trip people or disarm them etc just makes you feel like you are actually sharp shooting and calling shots you know? Adds more realism/feel to it.
Stat wise, the DM got us to roll for them, and I rolled pretty well. I'm mainly dex but all my stats are serviceable and high enough for the multiclasses I'm considering.
Not planning to stack blood curses as I wasn't planning to take Blood hunter past level 5. So just the 1 curse, the 2 mutagens, and the 1d6 crimson rite. Honestly the class was chosen more for flavor than any desire to pursue the class into it's later levels and abilities.