Neither I haven't made it yet eating for the new one to be free supposed to be today but sadly no but yes the new version however I'm not very happy with the profane soul subclass feeling it deserves the eldetich knight spell table. But the new one for sure.
I mean, Blood Hunters aren't really built to be 'tank'-style characters. They sacrifice their life force for power and deal piles of extra damage because of it. To get them to tank up, you'd need to reduce damage they take. A barbarian level for battle rages helps as much for blood hunters as it does fighters, though action economy starts sucking when you try and rage in the same turns you Crimson Rite. Likely only really be worth it when you're engaging in a long boss fight, or have a few moments to precast your Rite.
Elsewise, order of the Mutant offers mutagens that grant you resistance to one common weapon type and vulnerability to another. Using these intelligently can result in you being resistant to the most common forms of attack your foes are employing without having to splice barbarian. Impermeable grants you resistance to piercing and vulnerability to slashing; use with a Blood Hunting archer to gain resistance to arrows fired back at you while minimizing any chances of slashing weapons being relevant. Combined with Cruelty later on, you can make three empowered bow attacks a turn off of a single Rite with resistance to the overwhelming majority of what return fire people'd sling your way would be.
Of course, that's not usually what people mean when they say "tanky"; if you want an unkillable melee bruiser that deals heavy damage, consider a dark-themed paladin instead. Blood Hunters are more skirmishy and mobile, as reflected by their lack of heavy armor proficiency and more ranger-like set-up. They're simply not built to be Stand And Deliver bruisers.
Since you are looking for something more tanky I assume you want to go into melee. I'd go for a Dex build (Rapier and shield) taking whatever +2 Dex race you want. What Int you need is more dependent on your build and curse choices, I favour only a +2 Int and taking the curses of the marked and eyeless (extra damage and defense without needing your mod). If you're in melee the Lycan is appealing but as it takes two separate bonus actions to get things set up it's a little unsatisfying. I'd probably go with Profane Soul for utility (Celestial because I like the heal) or Mutant for damage (Celerity). As long as you have a +2 Con and some defensive ability you should be okay, take Tough if you feel like you need more HP.
Since the revised version changed the damage you take to activate your right, it's basically a non issue.
The Lycan blood hunter who plays with my group has transitioned out of the tank role and is now primarily a mobile hitter. He was just taking too much damage at higher levels to keep up. The lack of heavy armor proficiency and the fact that many abilities cost hit points becomes less than optimal with the tank role after a you level into tier two and beyond. And of course there's the situation where when you get below half your hit points, you might end up attacking your allies instead of the enemy unless you manage the battlefield with that in mind.
some classes are specialized for special things. Blood hunter is one such instance. If your party makeup necessitates you the bloodhunter to be the tank. Tactically you all might want to come up with different strategies for different situations to improve survivability. I posted it in a different thread so won’t repeat here. But saw an artificer guy take a strange/unique approach to a deadly combat encounter to keep everyone alive.
(level 1s. A rogue, sorcerer, the artificer, and a Druid vs 4 panthers)
as to the d12 die for bloodhunter. No. Cause then. You’d need to balance that again by rescaling all of the entirety of the bloodhunter class for how much HP you lose, as that was specifically balanced to the d10 hit dice for bloodhunters.
that also, takes away from what is basically 1/4 the reason to be a barbarian. Since Barbarians are literally the only class that 100% is most effective always, as a strength based class.
and since Barbarians, without a really devoted effort, don’t have much use/utility out of combat. When literally any and every other class does.
barbarian being another good example of a specialized class.
Because I thought the Blood Hunter could be a great tank, at least on low levels. I have a lvl5 Halfling Order of the Mutant BH.
If you use a finesse weap and a shield you could have a AC of 18. Then using the celerity mutagen can bring it to 19 or 20. (and later when your celerity scales and you put more points in your dexterity you can go as far as 25 dex);
Your iniative is +5;
you have two attacks (+10, if you take dueling) for 1d8+1d6+5
And when you multiclass, maybe Swashbuckler Rogue or College of Swords Bard? (I'm biased here, love those subclasses)
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Also should bllodhunter fit die be a 1d12 sense the amount of ho they use to use their main abilities and powers. Any thought?
The D10 is fitting because its intended to be a risk reward class, ideally doing more damage than you take.
Are you using the old Wisdom version or the new Intelligence version?
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Neither I haven't made it yet eating for the new one to be free supposed to be today but sadly no but yes the new version however I'm not very happy with the profane soul subclass feeling it deserves the eldetich knight spell table. But the new one for sure.
I mean, Blood Hunters aren't really built to be 'tank'-style characters. They sacrifice their life force for power and deal piles of extra damage because of it. To get them to tank up, you'd need to reduce damage they take. A barbarian level for battle rages helps as much for blood hunters as it does fighters, though action economy starts sucking when you try and rage in the same turns you Crimson Rite. Likely only really be worth it when you're engaging in a long boss fight, or have a few moments to precast your Rite.
Elsewise, order of the Mutant offers mutagens that grant you resistance to one common weapon type and vulnerability to another. Using these intelligently can result in you being resistant to the most common forms of attack your foes are employing without having to splice barbarian. Impermeable grants you resistance to piercing and vulnerability to slashing; use with a Blood Hunting archer to gain resistance to arrows fired back at you while minimizing any chances of slashing weapons being relevant. Combined with Cruelty later on, you can make three empowered bow attacks a turn off of a single Rite with resistance to the overwhelming majority of what return fire people'd sling your way would be.
Of course, that's not usually what people mean when they say "tanky"; if you want an unkillable melee bruiser that deals heavy damage, consider a dark-themed paladin instead. Blood Hunters are more skirmishy and mobile, as reflected by their lack of heavy armor proficiency and more ranger-like set-up. They're simply not built to be Stand And Deliver bruisers.
Please do not contact or message me.
It’s not meant to tank but the race feats give you more options -
Dwarf with Dwarven Fortitude and use the dodge action liberally while getting in the way and doing damage through retribution effects.
Orc with Orcish Fury and rely on Relentless Endurance to survive damage.
D10 is right, only Barbarian should be D12
Since you are looking for something more tanky I assume you want to go into melee. I'd go for a Dex build (Rapier and shield) taking whatever +2 Dex race you want. What Int you need is more dependent on your build and curse choices, I favour only a +2 Int and taking the curses of the marked and eyeless (extra damage and defense without needing your mod). If you're in melee the Lycan is appealing but as it takes two separate bonus actions to get things set up it's a little unsatisfying. I'd probably go with Profane Soul for utility (Celestial because I like the heal) or Mutant for damage (Celerity). As long as you have a +2 Con and some defensive ability you should be okay, take Tough if you feel like you need more HP.
Since the revised version changed the damage you take to activate your right, it's basically a non issue.
Subscribe to our channel for character builds, roleplay and DM tips: www.youtube.com/c/dorkforge
Interested in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything? Check out our playlist on Youtube
Please feel free to message us with any requests or build challenges!
The Lycan blood hunter who plays with my group has transitioned out of the tank role and is now primarily a mobile hitter. He was just taking too much damage at higher levels to keep up. The lack of heavy armor proficiency and the fact that many abilities cost hit points becomes less than optimal with the tank role after a you level into tier two and beyond. And of course there's the situation where when you get below half your hit points, you might end up attacking your allies instead of the enemy unless you manage the battlefield with that in mind.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Not every class can be a tank.
not every class can be stealthy
not every class can do crowd control
not every Class can massively deal out damage.
some classes are specialized for special things. Blood hunter is one such instance. If your party makeup necessitates you the bloodhunter to be the tank. Tactically you all might want to come up with different strategies for different situations to improve survivability. I posted it in a different thread so won’t repeat here. But saw an artificer guy take a strange/unique approach to a deadly combat encounter to keep everyone alive.
(level 1s. A rogue, sorcerer, the artificer, and a Druid vs 4 panthers)
as to the d12 die for bloodhunter. No. Cause then. You’d need to balance that again by rescaling all of the entirety of the bloodhunter class for how much HP you lose, as that was specifically balanced to the d10 hit dice for bloodhunters.
that also, takes away from what is basically 1/4 the reason to be a barbarian. Since Barbarians are literally the only class that 100% is most effective always, as a strength based class.
and since Barbarians, without a really devoted effort, don’t have much use/utility out of combat. When literally any and every other class does.
barbarian being another good example of a specialized class.
Blank
What are the requirements of being a (good) tank?
Because I thought the Blood Hunter could be a great tank, at least on low levels. I have a lvl5 Halfling Order of the Mutant BH.
If you use a finesse weap and a shield you could have a AC of 18. Then using the celerity mutagen can bring it to 19 or 20. (and later when your celerity scales and you put more points in your dexterity you can go as far as 25 dex);
Your iniative is +5;
you have two attacks (+10, if you take dueling) for 1d8+1d6+5
And when you multiclass, maybe Swashbuckler Rogue or College of Swords Bard? (I'm biased here, love those subclasses)