Tracking is typically a survival roll. So choose a class or background or class that gives you proficiency in that skill. And make sure you don’t dump wisdom.
Now if you mean on the run like she’s hiding in a city somewhere and you need to find her (as opposed to following a trail through the forest), you should probably have investigate as well. So go for that skill and keep a decent int score. So find a class/background combination that gives you those skills, maybe throw perception in as well. And you should be good.
One idea is the Arcane Trickster Rogue. There are tons utility spells that will be very useful for what you are doing, that you will have access to. Gain proficiency in disguise kit. You can also cast Disguise Self, but the kit can save a spell slot if you have the time to apply it. To save time I'm not gong to hyperlink every spell, but like if you're interrogating someone, cast Suggestion and, "answer all of my questions fully and honestly." Charm person is only a first level spell and can have its uses, just read the fine print (they will know you charmed them and will become hostile). If you need to disappear for a while in a pinch, Rope Trick. I can go on and on.
Whether you're being stealthy and "thiefy" there are spells for that, if you are infiltrating there are spells for that, if you are investigating there are spells for that (like identify), if you are interrogating there are spells for that, etc. You can get creative with illusions. If you broke into a place and are rummaging through a desk, and the butler walks in - cast Sleep.
You're mid level so that helps, but just know you don't have endless spells and spell slots. You want to tailor your spell list to the things you will be doing, so talk to your DM.
Pump Dex and Intelligence. Choose proficiency and expertise in Investigation (for obvious reasons), and consider Insight (tell if someone is lying). SO many directions you can go with this choice. I can talk all day with ideas.
Edit: "tracking" can be literal, like following footsteps. That's a wisdom Survival check. But if you're being an actual PI hunting down a missing person, there is so much more to it than just that. If your DM says that's likely to play a big roll, consider Survival as a skill. You just only have so many AS points and proficiencies to choose. You can coordinate with a Cleric, Druid, or Ranger in the group, and see if they will take survivor.
A rogue may be pretty good for a build that emphasizes skills. Base class gets 4 skills benefiting from expertise at level 6. Insight, survival, perception, investigation, stealth, and some of the charisma based skills would be a great pool to choose from depending on what skills you want to lean into. you’d get 4 skills from your class, 2 from your background, and possibly more from your racial choice or feat selection. sneak attack keeps you offensively competitive and is easier to use with the tashas steady aim feature now potentially in play. Cunning action is wonderful when things hit the fan and you need maneuverability to stay alive be or act fast. uncanny dodge is a great defensive feature that will increase your survivability.
The inquisitive gives features that boost your interrogation features by making the floor of your insight 1d20 roll an 8 vs lying creatures. You may now use your bonus action to basically take the search action during battle if that becomes important. You also learn to spend your bonus action to read into a creature with an insight vs deception contest, and if you win you enjoy the benefits of sneak attack for 1 minute so long as you don’t have disadvantage on an attack roll. While competes to the steady aim feature, it keeps your mobility intact.
The scout may also be appropriate depending on your campaign setting. It's subclass features also seem to benefit synergistically with the steady aim feature since steady aims move penalty ends after the rogues turn, and the scouts movement reaction can still be fully utilized. This reaction feature may work well with races that give speed boosts, races like halfling that allow movement through enemy spaces, or feats that increase movement like the mobile feat. You also get automatic survival and nature proficiency and expertise which would be very useful on our tracker/bounty hunter.
the soul knife may be amazing because a lot of what your build requires is mostly accomplished through skill choices that the base rogue and background choices can almost entirely cover, but the psi-bolstered knack feature reinforces those rolls chance for success. The die, which grows in size, can be rolled when a skill check you roll fails and added to the result possibly changing it into a success. If the check still fails, you don’t lose your resource. It’s kind of like bardic inspiration you carry with you that can’t be wasted. It’s amazing. The psychic whispers lets you keep in communication with a partner during an interrogation while in the same area with the creature, who is none the wiser. Psychic blades is a weapon you will always have available to you, even when entering high security areas, and can’t be traced back to you.
You want to be a ranger. That's literally the design brief for a ranger. Take the OG favored enemy (not the new version from Tasha's) because you want to get that permanent advantage on survival (tracking) checks for whatever race your princess is. When you're in your favored terrain (again the original version), "While tracking other creatures, you also learn their exact number, their sizes, and how long ago they passed through the area." Or if you use the Tasha's version you get expertise in one of your areas of proficiency -- so something other than survival, since you've already got that for what you need. Also from Tasha's you can use the revised Primal Awareness and get several once-a-day spells that allow you to use plants and animals as spies or information sources.
You have several subclass options that fit with monster hunter, including the aptly named Monster Slayer. You get zone of truth as a subclass spell, which is good for interrogations, and you get Hunter's Sense, which helps you figure out your enemies' weaknesses, and is also very useful for being able to tell if someone is in disguise -- if they look like a human but Hunter's Sense tells you they have resistance to fire damage, you know something's probably up.
Take the urban bounty hunter background to cover any areas the wilderness-oriented Ranger doesn't get you, and you have urban and rural settings covered. The background feature gets you a network of NPCs who might have information for you, and you get thieves' tools proficiency, which is good for unlocking and locking, depending on what you need to do to the princess.
Another useful skill to have proficiency or expertise in would be persuasion, to persuade information out of people. You could also go deception, it depends on which is most appropriate regarding why you're tracking someone, but basically don't put it off the table and don't make Charisma a dump stat.
For the princess, her mother was perhaps an archfey. For the favored ennemy, it's human or fey, I suppose.
ou get thieves' tools proficiency, which is good for unlocking and locking, depending on what you need to do to the princess.
It's Sleight of Hand, no ?
The creature who ties the knot makes an Intelligence (Sleight of Hand) check when doing so. The total of the check becomes the DC for an attempt to untie the knot with an Intelligence (Sleight of Hand) check or to slip out of it with a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check.
For the princess, her mother was perhaps an archfey. For the favored ennemy, it's human or fey, I suppose.
ou get thieves' tools proficiency, which is good for unlocking and locking, depending on what you need to do to the princess.
It's Sleight of Hand, no ?
The creature who ties the knot makes an Intelligence (Sleight of Hand) check when doing so. The total of the check becomes the DC for an attempt to untie the knot with an Intelligence (Sleight of Hand) check or to slip out of it with a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check.
Picking Locks is thieves' tools by default. The sleight of hand case you mention is only related to knots. But it would still be a good skill to have for a bounty hunter... you may need to pickpocket someone to get a clue off of them, or even "putpocket" incriminating evidence if you are not the most ethical of bounty hunters.
My go-to suggestion for a bounty hunter would actually be a Vengeance Paladin. You get spells like Hunter's Mark for tracking down targets, bane and Hold Person for if you wanna try taking them in "warm...or cold", and Haste and Misty Step for running down flighty prey.
Relentless Avenger at level 7 also seems like it was basically *made* for that kind of bounty-hunter archetype. And, as a paladin, you don't necessarily need to be in service of a god, rather your Oath is the source of your power, and your determination to carry out your oath.
You could always go kinda the batman route if you wanna work your oath into the bounty-hunting too; when you were young an outlaw/criminal harmed you or sometime you loved and you swore revenge on all those like them, so now you're a hardened bounty hunter who never stops hunting until their prey is caught, and there's always more low-lifes to hunt down. That kinda thing.
You may want to bring some manacles. They cost 2gp and are probably more reliable than tying up.
As said above, if you want to play something that can track someone, all you really need is survival proficiency. Alternately, if you are looking to base your whole character concept around tracking, then Ranger will give you the most features that back that up and I'd rank a Scout Rogue a close second.
A build made by Min-Max Munchking. He really undersells the power of the build in the beginning, but I have found If you take holy weapon as one of your spells, you can dish out a solid 70 dpr. Of course that would take a long time to get, but still.
Anyway, The build is 5 levels of monster slayer ranger, the rest into war domain cleric. It would be viable with 2 levels of cleric, also.
It's a hand crossbow build, so instant cool factor, which bounty hunters have. It's fun to play, and it can serve as a paladin replacement(In damage terms, not tanking). I found a great combo is to use hold person/monster, get up close with your target, and crit every attack.
If I was the DM, I wouldn't ban this build, though it's borderline OP. I really recommend Min-Max Munchkin's channel for whenever you are in search of a fun character build. Even for when you're not looking for an optimized character build, he has a massive playlist for thematic builds that are fun to play and rather strong damage dealers, tanks, and supports.
If you don't like the idea, War cleric alone, is very strong. Vengeance Paladin would get you a kind of dark, gritty feeling like batman. As for a neutral bounty hunter who does it for the gold, like the mandalorian, Eldritch knight would be solid. And for a super genius who uses their intellect to take down their enemies, Armorer Artificer is great.
Hello, I need help to create a character. A kind of bounty hunter/monster hunter/lore hunter.
The character should be able to track a princess on the run.
. 6th level (level up 7 th level quite on early on
- 27 points buy
- all official sourcebooks allowed
- 3000 gp for expensive items and magic items
So, I search all abilities, class features or spells that permit to track a prey.
Thanks for your future answer.
Tracking is typically a survival roll. So choose a class or background or class that gives you proficiency in that skill. And make sure you don’t dump wisdom.
Now if you mean on the run like she’s hiding in a city somewhere and you need to find her (as opposed to following a trail through the forest), you should probably have investigate as well. So go for that skill and keep a decent int score.
So find a class/background combination that gives you those skills, maybe throw perception in as well. And you should be good.
One idea is the Arcane Trickster Rogue. There are tons utility spells that will be very useful for what you are doing, that you will have access to. Gain proficiency in disguise kit. You can also cast Disguise Self, but the kit can save a spell slot if you have the time to apply it. To save time I'm not gong to hyperlink every spell, but like if you're interrogating someone, cast Suggestion and, "answer all of my questions fully and honestly." Charm person is only a first level spell and can have its uses, just read the fine print (they will know you charmed them and will become hostile). If you need to disappear for a while in a pinch, Rope Trick. I can go on and on.
Whether you're being stealthy and "thiefy" there are spells for that, if you are infiltrating there are spells for that, if you are investigating there are spells for that (like identify), if you are interrogating there are spells for that, etc. You can get creative with illusions. If you broke into a place and are rummaging through a desk, and the butler walks in - cast Sleep.
You're mid level so that helps, but just know you don't have endless spells and spell slots. You want to tailor your spell list to the things you will be doing, so talk to your DM.
Pump Dex and Intelligence. Choose proficiency and expertise in Investigation (for obvious reasons), and consider Insight (tell if someone is lying). SO many directions you can go with this choice. I can talk all day with ideas.
Edit: "tracking" can be literal, like following footsteps. That's a wisdom Survival check. But if you're being an actual PI hunting down a missing person, there is so much more to it than just that. If your DM says that's likely to play a big roll, consider Survival as a skill. You just only have so many AS points and proficiencies to choose. You can coordinate with a Cleric, Druid, or Ranger in the group, and see if they will take survivor.
A rogue may be pretty good for a build that emphasizes skills. Base class gets 4 skills benefiting from expertise at level 6. Insight, survival, perception, investigation, stealth, and some of the charisma based skills would be a great pool to choose from depending on what skills you want to lean into.
you’d get 4 skills from your class, 2 from your background, and possibly more from your racial choice or feat selection.
sneak attack keeps you offensively competitive and is easier to use with the tashas steady aim feature now potentially in play.
Cunning action is wonderful when things hit the fan and you need maneuverability to stay alive be or act fast.
uncanny dodge is a great defensive feature that will increase your survivability.
The inquisitive gives features that boost your interrogation features by making the floor of your insight 1d20 roll an 8 vs lying creatures. You may now use your bonus action to basically take the search action during battle if that becomes important. You also learn to spend your bonus action to read into a creature with an insight vs deception contest, and if you win you enjoy the benefits of sneak attack for 1 minute so long as you don’t have disadvantage on an attack roll. While competes to the steady aim feature, it keeps your mobility intact.
The scout may also be appropriate depending on your campaign setting. It's subclass features also seem to benefit synergistically with the steady aim feature since steady aims move penalty ends after the rogues turn, and the scouts movement reaction can still be fully utilized. This reaction feature may work well with races that give speed boosts, races like halfling that allow movement through enemy spaces, or feats that increase movement like the mobile feat. You also get automatic survival and nature proficiency and expertise which would be very useful on our tracker/bounty hunter.
the soul knife may be amazing because a lot of what your build requires is mostly accomplished through skill choices that the base rogue and background choices can almost entirely cover, but the psi-bolstered knack feature reinforces those rolls chance for success. The die, which grows in size, can be rolled when a skill check you roll fails and added to the result possibly changing it into a success. If the check still fails, you don’t lose your resource. It’s kind of like bardic inspiration you carry with you that can’t be wasted. It’s amazing. The psychic whispers lets you keep in communication with a partner during an interrogation while in the same area with the creature, who is none the wiser. Psychic blades is a weapon you will always have available to you, even when entering high security areas, and can’t be traced back to you.
I would say "check out my unholy multiclass of barbarian/rogue/wizard, I swear the backstory makes sense", but I can't go into the details here
Ah well.
Proud poster on the Create a World thread
You want to be a ranger. That's literally the design brief for a ranger. Take the OG favored enemy (not the new version from Tasha's) because you want to get that permanent advantage on survival (tracking) checks for whatever race your princess is. When you're in your favored terrain (again the original version), "While tracking other creatures, you also learn their exact number, their sizes, and how long ago they passed through the area." Or if you use the Tasha's version you get expertise in one of your areas of proficiency -- so something other than survival, since you've already got that for what you need. Also from Tasha's you can use the revised Primal Awareness and get several once-a-day spells that allow you to use plants and animals as spies or information sources.
You have several subclass options that fit with monster hunter, including the aptly named Monster Slayer. You get zone of truth as a subclass spell, which is good for interrogations, and you get Hunter's Sense, which helps you figure out your enemies' weaknesses, and is also very useful for being able to tell if someone is in disguise -- if they look like a human but Hunter's Sense tells you they have resistance to fire damage, you know something's probably up.
Take the urban bounty hunter background to cover any areas the wilderness-oriented Ranger doesn't get you, and you have urban and rural settings covered. The background feature gets you a network of NPCs who might have information for you, and you get thieves' tools proficiency, which is good for unlocking and locking, depending on what you need to do to the princess.
Another useful skill to have proficiency or expertise in would be persuasion, to persuade information out of people. You could also go deception, it depends on which is most appropriate regarding why you're tracking someone, but basically don't put it off the table and don't make Charisma a dump stat.
Birgit | Shifter | Sorcerer | Dragonlords
Shayone | Hobgoblin | Sorcerer | Netherdeep
For the princess, her mother was perhaps an archfey. For the favored ennemy, it's human or fey, I suppose.
It's Sleight of Hand, no ?
Picking Locks is thieves' tools by default. The sleight of hand case you mention is only related to knots. But it would still be a good skill to have for a bounty hunter... you may need to pickpocket someone to get a clue off of them, or even "putpocket" incriminating evidence if you are not the most ethical of bounty hunters.
My go-to suggestion for a bounty hunter would actually be a Vengeance Paladin. You get spells like Hunter's Mark for tracking down targets, bane and Hold Person for if you wanna try taking them in "warm...or cold", and Haste and Misty Step for running down flighty prey.
Relentless Avenger at level 7 also seems like it was basically *made* for that kind of bounty-hunter archetype. And, as a paladin, you don't necessarily need to be in service of a god, rather your Oath is the source of your power, and your determination to carry out your oath.
You could always go kinda the batman route if you wanna work your oath into the bounty-hunting too; when you were young an outlaw/criminal harmed you or sometime you loved and you swore revenge on all those like them, so now you're a hardened bounty hunter who never stops hunting until their prey is caught, and there's always more low-lifes to hunt down. That kinda thing.
You may want to bring some manacles. They cost 2gp and are probably more reliable than tying up.
As said above, if you want to play something that can track someone, all you really need is survival proficiency. Alternately, if you are looking to base your whole character concept around tracking, then Ranger will give you the most features that back that up and I'd rank a Scout Rogue a close second.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
I found this a while back:
A build made by Min-Max Munchking. He really undersells the power of the build in the beginning, but I have found If you take holy weapon as one of your spells, you can dish out a solid 70 dpr. Of course that would take a long time to get, but still.
Anyway, The build is 5 levels of monster slayer ranger, the rest into war domain cleric. It would be viable with 2 levels of cleric, also.
It's a hand crossbow build, so instant cool factor, which bounty hunters have. It's fun to play, and it can serve as a paladin replacement(In damage terms, not tanking). I found a great combo is to use hold person/monster, get up close with your target, and crit every attack.
If I was the DM, I wouldn't ban this build, though it's borderline OP. I really recommend Min-Max Munchkin's channel for whenever you are in search of a fun character build. Even for when you're not looking for an optimized character build, he has a massive playlist for thematic builds that are fun to play and rather strong damage dealers, tanks, and supports.
If you don't like the idea, War cleric alone, is very strong. Vengeance Paladin would get you a kind of dark, gritty feeling like batman. As for a neutral bounty hunter who does it for the gold, like the mandalorian, Eldritch knight would be solid. And for a super genius who uses their intellect to take down their enemies, Armorer Artificer is great.