The Crimson Rite class feature of the blood hunter includes this paragraph (emphasis mine):
As a bonus action, you imbue a single weapon with the elemental energy of a known rite until your next short or long rest. While active, attacks from this weapon deal an additional 1d4 rite damage of the chosen elemental type. Rite damage is considered magical. The rite damage die changes as you gain blood hunter levels, as shown in the crimson rite damage die column of the blood hunter table. Should your weapon leave your grip, the rite fades immediately. An active rite on a weapon thrown fades directly after the attack is complete.
My parsing of this means that as long as the blood hunter is actually holding the weapon, it is actively imbued. IF the blood hunter sheathes or releases the weapon for any reason, it is no longer imbued.
Is that correct? I find the language above slightly confusing as it seems to say both that the weapon is imbued until the next rest (period) but then says it's only imbued as long as it's actually within the blood hunter's "grip" (which strongly suggests that once it's sheathed or put down, it's no longer imbued).
With the new rewrite of the class, the rite only fades if you are not holding it at the end of your turn.
As a bonus action, you activate a crimson rite on a single weapon with the elemental energy of a known rite of your choice that lasts until you finish a short or long rest, or if you aren’t holding the weapon at the end of your turn.
So it was included in the book? Good! And good that they fixed that as well... any chance they limited the damage you take to Bloodhunter level rather than Character level while they were at it, to make multiclass Bloodhunters finally a thing?
Sounds like it's not going to be in the book, but Mercer is pushing an update to other content platforms, as well as to DnD:B. So, in theory, if you already have Blood Hunter, you will get the update to the class when the update is released, probably near the same time as the Wildmount book.
Howdy. So the Crimson Rite lasts until you are no longer holding your weapon at the end of your turn, or you take a short or long rest. Does the damage you take from activating your rite, return to you when the rite goes away?
Does anybody know? I feel like it should, but I don't see it IN the rules. When I was building the character I swear I read it that way, and now can't find whatever corner of the internet I was on in that moment.
Howdy. So the Crimson Rite lasts until you are no longer holding your weapon at the end of your turn, or you take a short or long rest. Does the damage you take from activating your rite, return to you when the rite goes away?
Does anybody know? I feel like it should, but I don't see it IN the rules. When I was building the character I swear I read it that way, and now can't find whatever corner of the internet I was on in that moment.
Thanks
No, you do not regain HP when a Crimson Rite ends. When you activate a Rite, you take actual HP damage, and that can be restored only by existing methods of restoring HP (resting, spending hit dice to regain HP, spells, etc).
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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 think the first time I read it, I understood it as "you give your essence to the weapon to deal more damage." so I guess I imagined that it would seep back into you when you stopped the rite.
Still a very cool trick. I'm not unhappy about it!
I misread the ability originally. My character goes out and meditates over the blade in the mornings, and i keep it for the day. I may change it to where i can activate it once per day, and not burn an action, the power comes when i attack and decide to use it.
Edit: i suppose i should take damage every morning, and everytime i begin to use the rite
Multiclassing as a life domain cleric with blood hunter seems to be functional, as you gain health in higher cleric levels when you heal other people, so that can at least somewhat negate the crimson rite activation and other blood hunter ability activation damage
Like, I would have preferred if it was written to explicitly only last for an encounter, as opposed to leaving the door open to lasting all day, because what it inevitably results in is either a) a gotcha moment from the DM when they're like "describe how you mounted your horse without using both hands? Ok, you're going to have to take another X damage if you want your rite back."; or b) the player going through tortuous mental gymnastics to explain how they do everything with one hand and definitely don't put down their sword! for every little mundane task, arguing defensively if the DM raises an eyebrow. Like, better to just shut the door on all of that and say "you have to take that damage at the start of each encounter" if that's what the intent is, or "you have to take that damage at the end of each short rest" if that's what the intent is, and cut out the opportunity for controversy.
Well, if you are going through a dungeon crawl, you may have many encounters that could be spaced out across a few hours, or if you were trekking through the wilderness, so maybe that needs to be rethought. But if you were doing something like climbing a wall, etc i would definitely have to give some disadvantages on checks if you want to hang on to your weapon.
Well, if you are going through a dungeon crawl, you may have many encounters that could be spaced out across a few hours, or if you were trekking through the wilderness, so maybe that needs to be rethought. But if you were doing something like climbing a wall, etc i would definitely have to give some disadvantages on checks if you want to hang on to your weapon.
I don't think it's even necessary to get that tedious with it. For me, "holding it" means "it's in your possession." If you sheathe your sword, then you're still holding it for the purposes of the feature. You activate your crimson rite at the end of your rest and, barring some unusual situation, it lasts until your next rest. There is no need to go down the "but are you really holding it?" rabbit hole unless your table just enjoys pedantry--and that's fine too as long as everyone is having fun. It's kind of like with shadow blade when it says it goes away if you drop it. If I give it to someone, it's not actually dropping it. But is that fair?
Ask yourself if it really matters from a fairness standpoint. It probably doesn't.
I see what you're saying, but i innately thought of it as "I have given some of my blood to empower this weapon" and once it was separated from that blood, the empowerment ended. Might not be the best way to look at it, because wearing gloves/gauntlets would render that undoable, but my player who is a Bloodhunter is okay with it.
That's the scale I'm going on as well. Where do you draw the line? Naked hand holding weapon = ok. Gloved hand holding weapon = probably ok. Naked hand holding sheathed weapon = maybe ok? Gloved hand holding sheathed weapon = who knows? Sheathed weapon hanging on a belt at your side = oh hell, just let them do it.
I didn't get into the weeds about it with my DM. I'm a long distance Bloodhunter. When I call my crimson rite, it makes my head light on fire. I put each arrow into the flame before I shoot it. But if I get knocked prone, we just say my flame went out. If I drop my weapon or it breaks we say the flame went out. It's not perfect, but it's pretty close to rules as written and I honestly don't mind taking the damage. I almost never get touched in combat. I'm sure I just jinxed myself though.
That's an interesting take. The blood hunters I DM for are a lycan and a mutant and both of them mix it up in melee constantly. Lycan lights his hands on fire so that kind of avoids the discussion :) But sometimes he will go 1h longsword, so he can take his attack action and swing once with longsword and once with claw, allowing him to bonus action claw attack again. In those situations, he'll double down and crimson rite his sword as well.
One of my players is running it, and it is kinda fun how worried he gets about going into hybrid form on tough battles, as he may lycan out (Order of the Lycan).
Only complaint is I wish the materials were summarized differently as it can be yough to figure out everything that happens per level, per order.
I didn't get into the weeds about it with my DM. I'm a long distance Bloodhunter. When I call my crimson rite, it makes my head light on fire. I put each arrow into the flame before I shoot it. But if I get knocked prone, we just say my flame went out. If I drop my weapon or it breaks we say the flame went out. It's not perfect, but it's pretty close to rules as written and I honestly don't mind taking the damage. I almost never get touched in combat. I'm sure I just jinxed myself though.
Yeah, I'm basically Ghostrider and we all find it delightful. Haha. I didn't think I had to point it out. Though, my face does not turn into a skull. .
Yeah, I'm basically Ghostrider and we all find it delightful. Haha. I didn't think I had to point it out. Though, my face does not turn into a skull. .
Not yet... Soon you will be fighting with a chain that delivers fire damage...
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With the new rewrite of the class, the rite only fades if you are not holding it at the end of your turn.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
So it was included in the book? Good! And good that they fixed that as well... any chance they limited the damage you take to Bloodhunter level rather than Character level while they were at it, to make multiclass Bloodhunters finally a thing?
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
I don't know about the book, but I'm talking about this.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Sounds like it's not going to be in the book, but Mercer is pushing an update to other content platforms, as well as to DnD:B. So, in theory, if you already have Blood Hunter, you will get the update to the class when the update is released, probably near the same time as the Wildmount book.
Howdy. So the Crimson Rite lasts until you are no longer holding your weapon at the end of your turn, or you take a short or long rest. Does the damage you take from activating your rite, return to you when the rite goes away?
Does anybody know? I feel like it should, but I don't see it IN the rules. When I was building the character I swear I read it that way, and now can't find whatever corner of the internet I was on in that moment.
Thanks
No, you do not regain HP when a Crimson Rite ends. When you activate a Rite, you take actual HP damage, and that can be restored only by existing methods of restoring HP (resting, spending hit dice to regain HP, spells, etc).
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.
OK. That does make sense.
I think the first time I read it, I understood it as "you give your essence to the weapon to deal more damage." so I guess I imagined that it would seep back into you when you stopped the rite.
Still a very cool trick. I'm not unhappy about it!
I misread the ability originally. My character goes out and meditates over the blade in the mornings, and i keep it for the day. I may change it to where i can activate it once per day, and not burn an action, the power comes when i attack and decide to use it.
Edit: i suppose i should take damage every morning, and everytime i begin to use the rite
Multiclassing as a life domain cleric with blood hunter seems to be functional, as you gain health in higher cleric levels when you heal other people, so that can at least somewhat negate the crimson rite activation and other blood hunter ability activation damage
Well, if you are going through a dungeon crawl, you may have many encounters that could be spaced out across a few hours, or if you were trekking through the wilderness, so maybe that needs to be rethought. But if you were doing something like climbing a wall, etc i would definitely have to give some disadvantages on checks if you want to hang on to your weapon.
I don't think it's even necessary to get that tedious with it. For me, "holding it" means "it's in your possession." If you sheathe your sword, then you're still holding it for the purposes of the feature. You activate your crimson rite at the end of your rest and, barring some unusual situation, it lasts until your next rest. There is no need to go down the "but are you really holding it?" rabbit hole unless your table just enjoys pedantry--and that's fine too as long as everyone is having fun. It's kind of like with shadow blade when it says it goes away if you drop it. If I give it to someone, it's not actually dropping it. But is that fair?
Ask yourself if it really matters from a fairness standpoint. It probably doesn't.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
I see what you're saying, but i innately thought of it as "I have given some of my blood to empower this weapon" and once it was separated from that blood, the empowerment ended. Might not be the best way to look at it, because wearing gloves/gauntlets would render that undoable, but my player who is a Bloodhunter is okay with it.
That's the scale I'm going on as well. Where do you draw the line? Naked hand holding weapon = ok. Gloved hand holding weapon = probably ok. Naked hand holding sheathed weapon = maybe ok? Gloved hand holding sheathed weapon = who knows? Sheathed weapon hanging on a belt at your side = oh hell, just let them do it.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
I didn't get into the weeds about it with my DM. I'm a long distance Bloodhunter. When I call my crimson rite, it makes my head light on fire. I put each arrow into the flame before I shoot it. But if I get knocked prone, we just say my flame went out. If I drop my weapon or it breaks we say the flame went out. It's not perfect, but it's pretty close to rules as written and I honestly don't mind taking the damage. I almost never get touched in combat. I'm sure I just jinxed myself though.
That's an interesting take. The blood hunters I DM for are a lycan and a mutant and both of them mix it up in melee constantly. Lycan lights his hands on fire so that kind of avoids the discussion :) But sometimes he will go 1h longsword, so he can take his attack action and swing once with longsword and once with claw, allowing him to bonus action claw attack again. In those situations, he'll double down and crimson rite his sword as well.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
It's a really fun class. Complicated, but fun. I let DnD Beyond random-generate a character for me, or I never would have chosen it.
One of my players is running it, and it is kinda fun how worried he gets about going into hybrid form on tough battles, as he may lycan out (Order of the Lycan).
Only complaint is I wish the materials were summarized differently as it can be yough to figure out everything that happens per level, per order.
So you are basically Ghostrider?
Yeah, I'm basically Ghostrider and we all find it delightful. Haha. I didn't think I had to point it out. Though, my face does not turn into a skull. .
Not yet... Soon you will be fighting with a chain that delivers fire damage...