I don't know how often people use Blood Hunters or allow them in their settings, but I've seen DMs disallow Blood Hunters because they don't understand them or don't know how to fit them into their lore. Well, here's some lore about Blood Hunters expanded from the lore in the class section of this website!
Extinct Order. The Blood Hunter Orders are very rare, or perhaps extinct. They were wiped out by people afraid of them- people who didn't understand that they were only trying to help, who feared their dark magic unlike any spellcraft. If a PC wants to be a Blood Hunter, consider how they're a Blood Hunter; perhaps the Orders are rare, but not extinct, and they come from a hidden monastery where they teach the rites, or perhaps there are only a handful of Blood Hunters left that travel the land and help people, including giving the secrets to those who need it that can carry on their legacy.
Hunter's Bane. You may have seen a reference of "Hunter's Bane," the thing that turns someone into a Blood Hunter, as both a serum and a ritual, and you aren't sure which it is. Well, good news...it's both! Hunter's Bane is a potion made of ingredients that may be rare, but not impossible to obtain. It's the actual ritual that's the hard part. Without the ritual, Hunter's Bane's unstable and dark magic within will kill whoever drinks it from the inside out. Combined with the ritual, it creates a dark event that could kill just about anyone, but if you're strong enough, you can come out the other side and become a Blood Hunter. But it's very hard, and the only thing that gives you a real fighting chance...is having a seed of darkness already in you.
Seed of Darkness. Blood Hunter Orders each utilize a different form of entity to face the evils of the world...but you start to see a pattern among them. This is because that while you can choose an Order and gain a seed of darkness, it's much better if you already have one, because then you'll gain control. A classic example is a Werewolf turning into an Order of the Lycan, so you're no longer slave to the moon and have full control over your beastial side. But Ghostslayer Blood Hunters can rise from Reborn wishing to regain fragmented memories, or a Vampire trying to control their monstrous hunger and mitigate their weaknesses, becoming a Dhampir in the process! Profane Soul Blood Hunters were once true warlocks, but with the power of Blood Magic, their pact is powerless against them: now, they're a parasite siphoning their former patron's power for themselves. Mutant Blood Hunters, well, they have no seed of darkness: they simply had the ambition and power to survive the Hunter's Bane Ritual without one. Homebrew subclasses could be created to cover a variety of topics. There are so many curses in d&d that are seen as the end of the autonomy of your character: Vampirism, Lycanthopy, Hag status, and more! But with this, you have a chance to control your curse, rather than the other way around. In my setting, the man who has returned Blood Magic to the current age after it went extinct actively goes around, giving Blood Magic to those in need of it, PC or otherwise!
Mark of the Hunter. Of course, Blood Hunters are still feared...and instantly recognizable. Taking a page out of the Witcher's book, Blood Hunter eyes are a dead giveaway. The Hunter's Bane Ritual turns your blood a dark color, and the sclera of a blood hunter (the whites of their eyes, that is) turns black. Now, in many settings, some creatures can naturally have black sclera: it's a popular design choice for tieflings. In my setting, I simply disallow anything but Blood Hunters and maybe a few other powerful creatures from having black sclera, but in other settings, you can simply reveal that the color seems different. Blood Hunter Black is simply a very dark overabundance of red, like a pool of blood that's gone dark, so it's recognizable enough to still be seen as a Blood Hunter. Some people fear Blood Hunters, other idolize them, many don't know you exist...but this will put a target on you if the wrong people see it. Particularly if you're evil.
In the Wrong Hands. Blood Magic may not strictly be a force for good, but nor should it be used for evil. The Blood Hunter orders are vastly protective of their secrets, and if word gets out that their enemies have Blood Magic...or worse, that someone is using their blood magic for dark purposes...well, they may have an entirely new hunt on their hands. Blood Hunters are not afraid to hunt down, annihilate, and burn all that ever existed of those who pervert their ways. Even in times where they war against nations and are painted the villains in history, Blood Hunters have one sacred duty: protect this world.
All who oppose that goal will be met with swift vendetta.
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I don't know how often people use Blood Hunters or allow them in their settings, but I've seen DMs disallow Blood Hunters because they don't understand them or don't know how to fit them into their lore. Well, here's some lore about Blood Hunters expanded from the lore in the class section of this website!
Extinct Order. The Blood Hunter Orders are very rare, or perhaps extinct. They were wiped out by people afraid of them- people who didn't understand that they were only trying to help, who feared their dark magic unlike any spellcraft. If a PC wants to be a Blood Hunter, consider how they're a Blood Hunter; perhaps the Orders are rare, but not extinct, and they come from a hidden monastery where they teach the rites, or perhaps there are only a handful of Blood Hunters left that travel the land and help people, including giving the secrets to those who need it that can carry on their legacy.
Hunter's Bane. You may have seen a reference of "Hunter's Bane," the thing that turns someone into a Blood Hunter, as both a serum and a ritual, and you aren't sure which it is. Well, good news...it's both! Hunter's Bane is a potion made of ingredients that may be rare, but not impossible to obtain. It's the actual ritual that's the hard part. Without the ritual, Hunter's Bane's unstable and dark magic within will kill whoever drinks it from the inside out. Combined with the ritual, it creates a dark event that could kill just about anyone, but if you're strong enough, you can come out the other side and become a Blood Hunter. But it's very hard, and the only thing that gives you a real fighting chance...is having a seed of darkness already in you.
Seed of Darkness. Blood Hunter Orders each utilize a different form of entity to face the evils of the world...but you start to see a pattern among them. This is because that while you can choose an Order and gain a seed of darkness, it's much better if you already have one, because then you'll gain control. A classic example is a Werewolf turning into an Order of the Lycan, so you're no longer slave to the moon and have full control over your beastial side. But Ghostslayer Blood Hunters can rise from Reborn wishing to regain fragmented memories, or a Vampire trying to control their monstrous hunger and mitigate their weaknesses, becoming a Dhampir in the process! Profane Soul Blood Hunters were once true warlocks, but with the power of Blood Magic, their pact is powerless against them: now, they're a parasite siphoning their former patron's power for themselves. Mutant Blood Hunters, well, they have no seed of darkness: they simply had the ambition and power to survive the Hunter's Bane Ritual without one. Homebrew subclasses could be created to cover a variety of topics. There are so many curses in d&d that are seen as the end of the autonomy of your character: Vampirism, Lycanthopy, Hag status, and more! But with this, you have a chance to control your curse, rather than the other way around. In my setting, the man who has returned Blood Magic to the current age after it went extinct actively goes around, giving Blood Magic to those in need of it, PC or otherwise!
Mark of the Hunter. Of course, Blood Hunters are still feared...and instantly recognizable. Taking a page out of the Witcher's book, Blood Hunter eyes are a dead giveaway. The Hunter's Bane Ritual turns your blood a dark color, and the sclera of a blood hunter (the whites of their eyes, that is) turns black. Now, in many settings, some creatures can naturally have black sclera: it's a popular design choice for tieflings. In my setting, I simply disallow anything but Blood Hunters and maybe a few other powerful creatures from having black sclera, but in other settings, you can simply reveal that the color seems different. Blood Hunter Black is simply a very dark overabundance of red, like a pool of blood that's gone dark, so it's recognizable enough to still be seen as a Blood Hunter. Some people fear Blood Hunters, other idolize them, many don't know you exist...but this will put a target on you if the wrong people see it. Particularly if you're evil.
In the Wrong Hands. Blood Magic may not strictly be a force for good, but nor should it be used for evil. The Blood Hunter orders are vastly protective of their secrets, and if word gets out that their enemies have Blood Magic...or worse, that someone is using their blood magic for dark purposes...well, they may have an entirely new hunt on their hands. Blood Hunters are not afraid to hunt down, annihilate, and burn all that ever existed of those who pervert their ways. Even in times where they war against nations and are painted the villains in history, Blood Hunters have one sacred duty: protect this world.
All who oppose that goal will be met with swift vendetta.