Hi! Skip this paragraph if you don't want to hear the reasoning behind this subclass and would prefer to get straight to the subclass introduction. So, I wanted to make a subclass that is truly about hunting monsters. The Monster Slayer was, in my opinion, too focused on the 'I counter all the eldritch horrors and dark creatures of the night' aesthetic and ignored the rest of the monster world. In addition, I LOVE subclasses with built-in story-focused abilities that are both mechanically strong and unique. Like the Rogue Subclass of Phantom. This led me to the idea of Trophies: literal magically generated rewards gifted by nature in commemoration of a great hunt. I know a lot of players enjoy harvesting components from their prey to parade their spoils around for bragging rights. Now, you get to do it as part of your subclass! I also thought a cool sub-theme would be the 'storytelling' aspect of hunters. In my mind, huntsmen don't just go around killing things—they also go around talking about HOW they killed something. Finally, I really tried to make sure everything ties together, which you can see below!
Trophy (Level 3): Trophies fuel your main abilities and are collected in a pretty cool and unique way, in my opinion. I do recommend allowing your players to start with max Trophies, as it is a little difficult to get more Trophies in the early levels. Although the feature is kind of gated behind Hunter's Mark, the fact that you get to do so many cool things with one feature makes it more flexible than one would think. Also, one thing I'm proud of is being able to remove Hunter's Mark with Stalk A Prey. When whoever is marked with your Hunter's Mark runs away or shouldn't be killed, you often just have to just drop Concentration on Hunter's Mark—a spell that often could last longer throughout your adventuring day. (Tip: when you consume a Trophy, don't actually get rid of it! Each Trophy can just be a narrative-based item that doesn't actually have any mechanical benefit. They can be cool lore items that can serve as chapters of your own adventuring story.)
Spin A Yarn (Level 3): Cool storytelling feature that leans towards the theme of hunting. Its a cool little niche to fill that lets you brag about your own hunts! Plus, using Wisdom for History is cool.
Spells: Hunter's Mark is self-explanatory. If you would like to use this subclass with 2024 rules, change the spell to Snare as the base class gives you Hunter's Mark already. Locate Object is a reference to being able to find your Trophy as the Trophy is a pretty unique item that is intrinsically connected to you, narrative-wised (Tip: plant a Trophy on a creature and then use Locate Object to find your Trophy!). Nondetection is a call out to how creatures protected by divination magic cannot be reviewed for immunities, resistances, and vulnerabilities. Elemental Bane is a great way to maximize your ability to detect such characteristics. Finally, Legend Lore is perfect for the storytelling theme of this subclass.
Bestiarii (Level 7): What I imagined while creating this class is how one would slay titanic beasts. You would have to duck and dodge, knowing that you're done for if you ever get caught. I wanted a defensive feature that isn't a direct port of Supernatural Defense. So I thought of how you often see hunters literally dash under, over, and around the giant monsters they are hunting and played off that. It's not that strong, but is a nice thing to have, for sure.
Thread The Needle (Level 11): This is the feature I had the most trouble with. I wanted something offensive and simple. So that's what I did. I do want a little spice, though, so I am willing to take feedback on what happens if I critically hit (or something else entirely). No other notes.
Exploit Weakness (Level 15): I knew I wanted to do something in regards to immunities, resistances, and vulnerabilities. I brainstormed a lot of ideas including ignoring resistances, treating immunities as resistances, etc. In the end, the Elemental Bane spell turned out to be perfect. Plus, I got to use Trophies for something else again!
Like all my homebrew, the character sheet functions should work properly (please let me know if something doesn’t work or is missing). Thank you for reading and please feel free to comment any sort of feedback! I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.
My thought process for Spin A Yarn is that you get to basically watch a movie. Its meant to be more underpowered roleplay feature. I WAS considering giving expertise in History as well, but I thought against it. What do you think?
As for Begin The Hunt, I do think that it could be stronger, but I'm unsure how to buff it outside of just adding Wisdom mod to attack roll and damage roll. Nothing wrong with that, but I wanted something more unique, I guess. If you could offer an idea, I would appreciate it.
My thought process for Spin A Yarn is that you get to basically watch a movie. Its meant to be more underpowered roleplay feature. I WAS considering giving expertise in History as well, but I thought against it. What do you think?
As for Begin The Hunt, I do think that it could be stronger, but I'm unsure how to buff it outside of just adding Wisdom mod to attack roll and damage roll. Nothing wrong with that, but I wanted something more unique, I guess. If you could offer an idea, I would appreciate it.
The thing about Spin a Yarn is that it's unimmersive and video-gamey. It should be something along the lines of telling a story of a past hunt (without the illusion) and granting inspiration or something.
Firstly, I have an idea for Begin The Hunt. It would become this:
Begin The Hunt. When you target a creature with a weapon attack, you can designate it as prey for 1 minute. Including this attack, your first attack each following turn against the target gains advantage. This effect ends when you target a different creature with an attack.
As for Spin A Yarn, I just wanted the feature to be a storytelling esque utility ability. Any ideas?
Firstly, I have an idea for Begin The Hunt. It would become this:
Begin The Hunt. When you target a creature with a weapon attack, you can designate it as prey for 1 minute. Including this attack, your first attack each following turn against the target gains advantage. This effect ends when you target a different creature with an attack.
As for Spin A Yarn, I just wanted the feature to be a storytelling esque utility ability. Any ideas?
It's good as a minor storytelling thing, but the illusory nature of it is a weird choice for a ranger, IMO.
I love it. Much better than the monster hunter, in my opinion, and quite fun. I do feel like Bestiarii is a bit strong, enabling great hit-and-run tactics, but other than that a bit weak up front. I do like the idea of using Spin a Yarn to trick, distract or intimidate enemies, though that is probably not the intended purpose.
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I'm just your everyday dungeon master. Ignore that jar full of souls. And those bones in the corner are just props, don't worry. I'm definitely NOT a lich. Definitely.
Yes, I like beholders. Yes, I curated an exquisite personality for commoner #2864. Yes, my catchphrase is "are you sure?"
Thank you for your comments! In regards to Bestiarii, I really wanted a unique ability, and I think I was successful.
As for Spin A Yarn, I do kind of agreewith Mauntoryx that its a bit gameified and am looking to change it, unfortunately. Do you have any ideas? I was trying to go for a more storytelling-esque flavor for the feature.
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Link: https://www.dndbeyond.com/subclasses/2701187-trophy-collector
Art By: Ihor Kotsuba (https://www.facebook.com/groups/levelup.livestream/posts/965917233618796/)
Hi! Skip this paragraph if you don't want to hear the reasoning behind this subclass and would prefer to get straight to the subclass introduction. So, I wanted to make a subclass that is truly about hunting monsters. The Monster Slayer was, in my opinion, too focused on the 'I counter all the eldritch horrors and dark creatures of the night' aesthetic and ignored the rest of the monster world. In addition, I LOVE subclasses with built-in story-focused abilities that are both mechanically strong and unique. Like the Rogue Subclass of Phantom. This led me to the idea of Trophies: literal magically generated rewards gifted by nature in commemoration of a great hunt. I know a lot of players enjoy harvesting components from their prey to parade their spoils around for bragging rights. Now, you get to do it as part of your subclass! I also thought a cool sub-theme would be the 'storytelling' aspect of hunters. In my mind, huntsmen don't just go around killing things—they also go around talking about HOW they killed something. Finally, I really tried to make sure everything ties together, which you can see below!
Like all my homebrew, the character sheet functions should work properly (please let me know if something doesn’t work or is missing). Thank you for reading and please feel free to comment any sort of feedback! I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.
I like it, although Spin a Yarn is a bit weird, and the Begin the Hunt trophy option is kind of underpowered.
My thought process for Spin A Yarn is that you get to basically watch a movie. Its meant to be more underpowered roleplay feature. I WAS considering giving expertise in History as well, but I thought against it. What do you think?
As for Begin The Hunt, I do think that it could be stronger, but I'm unsure how to buff it outside of just adding Wisdom mod to attack roll and damage roll. Nothing wrong with that, but I wanted something more unique, I guess. If you could offer an idea, I would appreciate it.
The thing about Spin a Yarn is that it's unimmersive and video-gamey. It should be something along the lines of telling a story of a past hunt (without the illusion) and granting inspiration or something.
Firstly, I have an idea for Begin The Hunt. It would become this:
As for Spin A Yarn, I just wanted the feature to be a storytelling esque utility ability. Any ideas?
It's good as a minor storytelling thing, but the illusory nature of it is a weird choice for a ranger, IMO.
I love it. Much better than the monster hunter, in my opinion, and quite fun. I do feel like Bestiarii is a bit strong, enabling great hit-and-run tactics, but other than that a bit weak up front. I do like the idea of using Spin a Yarn to trick, distract or intimidate enemies, though that is probably not the intended purpose.
I'm just your everyday dungeon master. Ignore that jar full of souls. And those bones in the corner are just props, don't worry. I'm definitely NOT a lich. Definitely.
Yes, I like beholders. Yes, I curated an exquisite personality for commoner #2864. Yes, my catchphrase is "are you sure?"
.-. .- -. -.. --- -- / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . .-.-.-
PM "Avocado" to Pug_With_Big_Weapons for a prize.
Don't touch the Jar
Thank you for your comments! In regards to Bestiarii, I really wanted a unique ability, and I think I was successful.
As for Spin A Yarn, I do kind of agreewith Mauntoryx that its a bit gameified and am looking to change it, unfortunately. Do you have any ideas? I was trying to go for a more storytelling-esque flavor for the feature.