If you'll be fighting undead more than usual, Order of the Ghostslayer is amazing. Against other enemies, it's still pretty good; in the latest version the HP cost of Rite of the Dawn was halved so it's an excellent option compared to the other Rites. Otherwise, go with Order of the Profane Soul, because Order of the Mutant is terrible.
I haven't really looked at Order of the Lycan yet.
Otherwise, go with Order of the Profane Soul, because Order of the Mutant is terrible.
I am of the opinion that Profane Soul is an inferior Warlock. A lot of the powerful effects of Warlock come from the Eldritch Invocations, which are absent from Profane Soul. And like most casting specializations of non-casting classes, Profane Soul gains Spell Slots slower than actual casting classes. In exchange for this, all you're really getting over actually playing a Warlock are things from the base Blood Hunter.
Mechanically, Mutant has some interesting things you can do with it, but flavor and RP-wise, it's very Jeckle/Hyde and doesn't mesh at all with the actual Blood Hunter class.
Ghost Slayer and Lycan are the ones that really appeal to me. A player at my table plays a Lycan and he is level 7 and he definitely has some power and some weakness. But he has designed around most of his weakness and he's a good tank and a better hitter.
I really like the mutant, but I flavored the mutagens to mimic animal traits and stuff. If you want a solid subclass the Ghost Slayer is really cool.
My players didn't like that the blood hunter didn't have as many options as the other classes so I made 5 subclasses to give the class more choice, and you can find them in the link below if you want more options. I know shameless plug, but I love the class and I want it to get a lot of play and attention.
Ghostslayer seems sort of basic too me, but still a good option. Profane Soul is just a bad Warlock, Mutant's drawbacks seem to outweigh it's strengths, But Lycan is a heavy hitter. In my last campaign, I was a level 6 Lycan and me and the Monk were our (8 person) party's largest damage dealers. I'd suggest either Ghostslayer or Lycan
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“Basically, if you tell anyone, we’ll kill you. We’re pretty good at that sort of stuff”-Salros Viper, Whispers Bard, paid assassin
I think you guys might be underselling Profane Soul. It's a bad warlock if you play it like a warlock.
I definitely agree with this. Because so much is drawn directly from the Warlock, it is tempting to play them that way, and I think this is a mistake. I would argue they should be considered a twist on Eldritch Knight rather than Warlock in terms of how to play as one.
I think you guys might be underselling Profane Soul. It's a bad warlock if you play it like a warlock.
Agreed.
If the Profane Soul is a "bad Warlock" then the Eldritch Knight is just a "bad Wizard" but I've never heard anyone say that, so no.
The Profane Soul gets the Blood Hunter's Medium Armor, Shields, Weapons, Fighting Style, Crimson Rites, Blood Curses, etc. They also get to use their chosen weapon as a spell focus. Some of the Rite Focus abilities are better than others; ironically the Undying Pact gets the best one. And the Diabolic Channel ability is AMAZING.
Altogether it's a strong package; the Warlock spells are icing on the cake. Complaining about lack of Invocations misses the whole point; if you want those play a Warlock.
Reconstruction is freaking amazing. +4 HP regeneration every turn in combat at level 7? Yes, please. I'm a little slower moving? Okay, that's cancelled out by Dark Velocity in dim light or darkness.
Potency can give you a +1 to +5 to your strength score, and increases past the normal character max of 20. It does give disadvantage to Dex saves... that can be incredibly important... if you don't plan around it: Strange Metabolism lets you turn off the side effect for a minute, so when combat hits.. oh look, no disadvantage! Got a Paladin in the party? Take advantage of their aura!
Mobility is almost a no-brainer... You basically cannot be locked down now, and the only side effect is a hit to your initiative. Who cares? You might be at the bottom of the turn order, but that doesn't mean you actually miss any turns.
Aether... fly speed! Disadvantage to all strength & dexterity ability checks (skills). Sweet! The only ability checks that you're likely to need in combat are Athletics and/or Acrobatics to avoid being Grappled. What does Mobility make you immune to again?
Order of the Mutant is awesome if you carefully reflect on the conditions of your campaign setting, where your character is, what they're likely to be fighting, who your allies are, etc. I.e., if you're actually giving thought to your circumstances--as a Blood Hunter is supposed to--then you will see fantastic results.
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.
The first character I ever made, and the second I ever used, was an Order of The Lycan Bloodhunter. Bloodhunters will always be one of my favorites. Nice job Matt Mercer!
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“Basically, if you tell anyone, we’ll kill you. We’re pretty good at that sort of stuff”-Salros Viper, Whispers Bard, paid assassin
okay... so I'm new to the blood hunter class and just leveled up and took ghost slayer subclass and one of my teammates just made a point... yes we are going to be facing more undead, which, from what I read my subclass seems to be pretty suited, but my teammate asked me if I can actually hunt down ghosts. now I'm wondering and confused because everything I've read says 'ghost slayer' subclass is the best at killing undead and I'm just like "But if I swing my sword at a ghost, dose that mean I do extra damage to it or Do I have a penchant for just finding them?"
again, I'm new to this class and the game, so its properly a really stupid question to you. I mean, I know ghosts are classified as undead but dose that mean I have an easier time finding them or do I just hit them harder?
Well, all Blood Hunters are good at tracking undead, thanks to Hunter's Bane at level 1. Ghost Slayers are the best at defeating them because of 2 things: Rite of Dawn and Curse Specialist. Rite of Dawn is a Crimson Rite particularly effective against undead and Curse Specialist, aside from giving you an additional use of your Blood Curses, lets you use your Blood Curses against undead creatures without having to amplify them if they have no blood (ghost don't have a physical body to begin with), other Blood Hunters need to amplify their curses (taking damage in the process) to affect such creatures.
tldr; Blood Hunter already has the necessary tracking tools, Ghost Slayer has the best "weapons" against undead.
I am building my first Bloodhunter (Harengon) character and it is easily the most complex options-wise. This thread has helped me narrow down some of them especially the "bad warlok" and "bad wizard" comments from @TexasDevin and @JackOfAllTirades. Thank you!
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I’m looking for opinions on what everyone thinks the best order to play is and if anyone has any tips please leave them below
If you'll be fighting undead more than usual, Order of the Ghostslayer is amazing. Against other enemies, it's still pretty good; in the latest version the HP cost of Rite of the Dawn was halved so it's an excellent option compared to the other Rites. Otherwise, go with Order of the Profane Soul, because Order of the Mutant is terrible.
I haven't really looked at Order of the Lycan yet.
DICE FALL, EVERYONE ROCKS!
I am of the opinion that Profane Soul is an inferior Warlock. A lot of the powerful effects of Warlock come from the Eldritch Invocations, which are absent from Profane Soul. And like most casting specializations of non-casting classes, Profane Soul gains Spell Slots slower than actual casting classes. In exchange for this, all you're really getting over actually playing a Warlock are things from the base Blood Hunter.
Mechanically, Mutant has some interesting things you can do with it, but flavor and RP-wise, it's very Jeckle/Hyde and doesn't mesh at all with the actual Blood Hunter class.
Ghost Slayer and Lycan are the ones that really appeal to me. A player at my table plays a Lycan and he is level 7 and he definitely has some power and some weakness. But he has designed around most of his weakness and he's a good tank and a better hitter.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
I really like the mutant, but I flavored the mutagens to mimic animal traits and stuff. If you want a solid subclass the Ghost Slayer is really cool.
My players didn't like that the blood hunter didn't have as many options as the other classes so I made 5 subclasses to give the class more choice, and you can find them in the link below if you want more options. I know shameless plug, but I love the class and I want it to get a lot of play and attention.
Having fun trying to rp more.
Actually... I am familiar with your Blood Hunter subclasses. They are quite good.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Thank you, I put a lot of work and love it to them. I'm glad you like them.
Having fun trying to rp more.
Ghostslayer seems sort of basic too me, but still a good option. Profane Soul is just a bad Warlock, Mutant's drawbacks seem to outweigh it's strengths, But Lycan is a heavy hitter. In my last campaign, I was a level 6 Lycan and me and the Monk were our (8 person) party's largest damage dealers. I'd suggest either Ghostslayer or Lycan
“Basically, if you tell anyone, we’ll kill you. We’re pretty good at that sort of stuff”-Salros Viper, Whispers Bard, paid assassin
I think you guys might be underselling Profane Soul. It's a bad warlock if you play it like a warlock.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
I definitely agree with this. Because so much is drawn directly from the Warlock, it is tempting to play them that way, and I think this is a mistake. I would argue they should be considered a twist on Eldritch Knight rather than Warlock in terms of how to play as one.
Agreed.
If the Profane Soul is a "bad Warlock" then the Eldritch Knight is just a "bad Wizard" but I've never heard anyone say that, so no.
The Profane Soul gets the Blood Hunter's Medium Armor, Shields, Weapons, Fighting Style, Crimson Rites, Blood Curses, etc. They also get to use their chosen weapon as a spell focus. Some of the Rite Focus abilities are better than others; ironically the Undying Pact gets the best one. And the Diabolic Channel ability is AMAZING.
Altogether it's a strong package; the Warlock spells are icing on the cake. Complaining about lack of Invocations misses the whole point; if you want those play a Warlock.
DICE FALL, EVERYONE ROCKS!
I wholeheartedly disagree...
Reconstruction is freaking amazing. +4 HP regeneration every turn in combat at level 7? Yes, please. I'm a little slower moving? Okay, that's cancelled out by Dark Velocity in dim light or darkness.
Potency can give you a +1 to +5 to your strength score, and increases past the normal character max of 20. It does give disadvantage to Dex saves... that can be incredibly important... if you don't plan around it: Strange Metabolism lets you turn off the side effect for a minute, so when combat hits.. oh look, no disadvantage! Got a Paladin in the party? Take advantage of their aura!
Mobility is almost a no-brainer... You basically cannot be locked down now, and the only side effect is a hit to your initiative. Who cares? You might be at the bottom of the turn order, but that doesn't mean you actually miss any turns.
Aether... fly speed! Disadvantage to all strength & dexterity ability checks (skills). Sweet! The only ability checks that you're likely to need in combat are Athletics and/or Acrobatics to avoid being Grappled. What does Mobility make you immune to again?
Order of the Mutant is awesome if you carefully reflect on the conditions of your campaign setting, where your character is, what they're likely to be fighting, who your allies are, etc. I.e., if you're actually giving thought to your circumstances--as a Blood Hunter is supposed to--then you will see fantastic results.
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.
in my opinion i enjoy blood hunter
Hear Hear!
Having fun trying to rp more.
The first character I ever made, and the second I ever used, was an Order of The Lycan Bloodhunter. Bloodhunters will always be one of my favorites. Nice job Matt Mercer!
“Basically, if you tell anyone, we’ll kill you. We’re pretty good at that sort of stuff”-Salros Viper, Whispers Bard, paid assassin
okay... so I'm new to the blood hunter class and just leveled up and took ghost slayer subclass and one of my teammates just made a point... yes we are going to be facing more undead, which, from what I read my subclass seems to be pretty suited, but my teammate asked me if I can actually hunt down ghosts. now I'm wondering and confused because everything I've read says 'ghost slayer' subclass is the best at killing undead and I'm just like "But if I swing my sword at a ghost, dose that mean I do extra damage to it or Do I have a penchant for just finding them?"
again, I'm new to this class and the game, so its properly a really stupid question to you. I mean, I know ghosts are classified as undead but dose that mean I have an easier time finding them or do I just hit them harder?
Well, all Blood Hunters are good at tracking undead, thanks to Hunter's Bane at level 1. Ghost Slayers are the best at defeating them because of 2 things: Rite of Dawn and Curse Specialist. Rite of Dawn is a Crimson Rite particularly effective against undead and Curse Specialist, aside from giving you an additional use of your Blood Curses, lets you use your Blood Curses against undead creatures without having to amplify them if they have no blood (ghost don't have a physical body to begin with), other Blood Hunters need to amplify their curses (taking damage in the process) to affect such creatures.
tldr; Blood Hunter already has the necessary tracking tools, Ghost Slayer has the best "weapons" against undead.
I am building my first Bloodhunter (Harengon) character and it is easily the most complex options-wise. This thread has helped me narrow down some of them especially the "bad warlok" and "bad wizard" comments from @TexasDevin and @JackOfAllTirades. Thank you!