Hello, we had a player drop out and we are replacing them with an experienced player who would like to play a Blood Hunter. Specifically a Lizard Folk one. I'm not familiar with either the race or class. The rest of the party are traditional classes / races. I'm generally cool with players pushing boundaries and trying out additions for subclasses, spells etc. I reviewed the character sheet and I'm worried it may be over powered relative to the other characters.
Is this build going to unbalance the party and the game?
For anyone who has played or DM'd the class, is there any advice on DMing the class?
I DMed a Blood Hunter in Lost Mines, so my experience is extra relevant. He’s still in the party, too but we are level 11 and in a different adventure.
The Lycan subclass is REALLY strong, especially in an adventure like Lost Mines where there are literally only 8 creatures in the entire adventure that deal anything but nonmagical Bludgeoning/Piercing/Slashing damage, in an adventure with plenty of time for short rests, even if long rests aren’t available. He was pretty busted (and still is), but most of the OPness comes from the Lycan subclass. Blood Rite is their main feature, and it’s really good, but it isn’t broken normally. With Lycan, you basically get free two weapon fighting, and both weapons get the rite. This makes their damage really good, on top of having +1 AC and damage. With defense fighting style, light armor, shield, and using a claw, they have 20 AC and 2*(8.5 slashing + 2.5 fire damage) at level 4, or in other words, basically a heavy armor fighter with defense fighting style, both a Greatsword and shield at the same time, an extra attack, an almost twice as much health thanks to resistance as well. He was basically two fighters in one.
The Lycan’s main weakness is needing an entire turn to set up, but with the durations being long enough, they can activate them before busting down a door and mitigate the weakness.
Overall, just don’t allow Lycan, and you should be fine. The character looks like they are planning on using two-handed weapons, and they didn’t even start with +3 strength. Your balance should be intact, as normally as it can be.
Hello, we had a player drop out and we are replacing them with an experienced player who would like to play a Blood Hunter. Specifically a Lizard Folk one. I'm not familiar with either the race or class. The rest of the party are traditional classes / races. I'm generally cool with players pushing boundaries and trying out additions for subclasses, spells etc. I reviewed the character sheet and I'm worried it may be over powered relative to the other characters.
Is this build going to unbalance the party and the game?
For anyone who has played or DM'd the class, is there any advice on DMing the class?
Thanks!
I DMed a Blood Hunter in Lost Mines, so my experience is extra relevant. He’s still in the party, too but we are level 11 and in a different adventure.
The Lycan subclass is REALLY strong, especially in an adventure like Lost Mines where there are literally only 8 creatures in the entire adventure that deal anything but nonmagical Bludgeoning/Piercing/Slashing damage, in an adventure with plenty of time for short rests, even if long rests aren’t available. He was pretty busted (and still is), but most of the OPness comes from the Lycan subclass. Blood Rite is their main feature, and it’s really good, but it isn’t broken normally. With Lycan, you basically get free two weapon fighting, and both weapons get the rite. This makes their damage really good, on top of having +1 AC and damage. With defense fighting style, light armor, shield, and using a claw, they have 20 AC and 2*(8.5 slashing + 2.5 fire damage) at level 4, or in other words, basically a heavy armor fighter with defense fighting style, both a Greatsword and shield at the same time, an extra attack, an almost twice as much health thanks to resistance as well. He was basically two fighters in one.
The Lycan’s main weakness is needing an entire turn to set up, but with the durations being long enough, they can activate them before busting down a door and mitigate the weakness.
Overall, just don’t allow Lycan, and you should be fine. The character looks like they are planning on using two-handed weapons, and they didn’t even start with +3 strength. Your balance should be intact, as normally as it can be.