So I was thinking, how would one make a mage hunter character? Like silencing spell casters, dispelling magic, and getting in close to put pressure on a caster. Basically specializing in hunting casters man and monsters alike.
What would help with this? I was wondering possibly a monk for the speed and CC, then using maybe feats or radials to get the cool anti magic style? just not sure how you would make a mage hunter...
A Way of Shadow monk can cast Silence with one of their subclass abilities and then you can take the Mage Slayer feat to make them an even better mage hunter. Really can't go wrong.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
A Cleric of the Arcana Domain (maybe follower of a God who despises the abuse of magic?) is perhaps the most potent anti-magic class, and often overlooked. You would have medium armor and shield proficiency, simple weapons, and 5 cantrips at level 1 (2 from the Wizard list, hello Booming blade that explodes the mage if they run from you). Your channel divinity is basically a turn undead and banishment spell hybrid that works on celestial, elemental, fey, and fiends. You have most of the important abjuration spells, as well as the big kicker:
Spell Breaker
Starting at 6th level, when you restore hit points to an ally with a spell of 1st level or higher, you can also end one spell of your choice on that creature. The level of the spell you end must be equal to or lower than the level of the spell slot you use to cast the healing spell.
Mage casts hold person on your ally? Throw them a healing word to break the paralyze AND heal them while you're running towards the enemy mage to smack him in the face with your mace.
Outside of rare magical items, dispel magic, remove curse, counter spell, are all 3rd level spells that require a sizeable dip in a spellcaster class. Fighter (Eldritch Knight) would work as a long-term option as they could specialize their limited selection in abjuration while picking up feats like Mage Slayer and Mobile but they still wouldn't get those spells until higher levels.
Ophidimancer's suggestion of a shadow monk with mage slayer is a great option as well. If you go with that you could be the one who shuts down the mage in combat, and allow a caster in your group to dispel magics and remove curses.
If your DM allows homebrew magic items, my DM came up with a rare magical item that is amazing against mages. It's called the Cube of Silence.
It's basically a 3" cube, and it has 5 charges, regaining 1d6-1 charges at dawn. And with it, you can cast the following spells from it:
Counterspell (2 charges)
Dispel magic (2 charges)
Anti-magic field (3 charges)
It's a very specific item, and it existed in a campaign where mages were almost as rare as a unicorn. But this magic item or something like it can allow something as ordinary as a fighter to stand a chance against a high level wizard. Of course, it has its counters. Such as, a high level wizard can cast counterspell on these spells, and if you used up 3 charges, you only have 1 counter to his counter. And its pretty much guarenteed that the wizard can cast counterspell again.
But anyway, the idea of a mage slayer is pretty cool, but difficult. Hopefully this magic item will help.
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Hmm, interesting that you went for Dispel Magic and Remove Curse, but not also Counterspell. Since those are third level spells you'd really have to multiclass to get them. Clerics, Paladins, Warlocks, and Wizards get both those spells and I would recommend Cleric because at least you have Wisdom in common. Like @NathanBC suggested I would go for Arcana Domain to 6th level, making you eventually Monk 14/Cleric 6.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
The feats Mage Slayer and Sentinel, maybe Mobile if you can. Whatever you can do to get in close and don't let them get away. Monk would also be good for stuns and many attacks to break concentration.
So I was thinking, how would one make a mage hunter character? Like silencing spell casters, dispelling magic, and getting in close to put pressure on a caster. Basically specializing in hunting casters man and monsters alike.
What would help with this? I was wondering possibly a monk for the speed and CC, then using maybe feats or radials to get the cool anti magic style? just not sure how you would make a mage hunter...
Shadow monk is good for it.
gloomstalker Rangers are good for it.
essentially you want to be mobile. Be a mage slayer (feat). And have the ability to cast silence while being able to melee the crap out of a mage to kill it or keep it contained in silence.
Is there any particular reason a mage hunter cannot also themselves be a mage?
The Abjurist wizard gets big bonuses to Counterspell and Dispel Magic, both of enormous value when fighting mages. Spells like Magic Missile and Scorching Ray can trigger several concentration checks, and technically (#JesterVoice) Mage Slayer's disadvantage on concentration checks extends to any damage you deal. An Abjurist could make for an excellent countermage...but if you want to make a powerful mage-slayer build that takes full benefit of the Mage Slayer feat, then there's a definite argument to be made for a Sword or Valor bard.
Take Counterspell with a Secret, Jack of All Trades makes you better at using Counterspell and Dispel than anything but an Abjurist, and tailor your spell list to dicking with other casters. Between your martial abilities being leagues above the average wizard or sorcerer and you having full casting progression and a heavy antimagic spell list - which can include things like Silence if you want to burn another secret, but one thing a lot of people fail to remember is that blinding a caster turns off the vast majority of their enemy-targeted spells.
Blindness/Deafness is a spell on the Bard list, it is not concentration, and Wizened Wizards of Wizarding are not known for their burly CON saves.
Now sure, the Way of Shadows monk with Mage Slayer makes an excellent mage hunter. But so do other mages, when they decide to specialize in abjuration and countermagery.
I think a high level Lore Bard and Abjuration Wizards are the best at counterspelling. You can do this from range, so it doesn't sound like it's exactly what you're talking about.
If you're really focused on the idea of a melee player that gets in the face of enemy mages and using weapons to take them down, I think a Shadow Monk, a Rogue, or a Gloom Stalker Ranger would be the best. And you would need the Mage Slayer feat, of course.
Another interesting way to do it would be an Enchantment Wizard using their level 2 ability Hypnotic Gaze.
I had this great long answer for why Fighter, plus Crossbow Expert, plus Mage Slayer, and eventually Sharpshooter would be an interesting build for this type of character. Bouncing between the App for reference and my browser to write it, the browser decided to reload the page and I lost it. Clearly Human Variant works great for a build that wants 3 feats, but here's a variation with a high elf: https://ddb.ac/characters/26368316/X9Alcr
The fighter subclass isn't set in stone and can be changed to reflect your particular desires. Having a DM that's open to hand waving the free hand to load the hand crossbow to enable the bonus action while also keeping the reaction enabled not opportunity attack from mage slayer is a perk, but doesn't destroy the theme of harassing two spell casters up to 125 ft away from each other (assuming the distant one is concentrating on a spell).
I only went to level 8, but getting up to 4 attacks plus a reliable bonus action that adds your modifier is also factored in at higher levels. Still need two ASIs to max dex from this point, but that still leaves two more, perhaps Elven Accuracy and Fey Teleportation for full flavor points at level 20?
High elf blood hunter. That would be cool, especially thematically. For order, I would probably take mutant or ghostslayer, mutant as you can get proficiency in most saving throws, ghostslayer because of the general theme, and some cool abilities. But any order could work.
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High elf blood hunter. That would be cool, especially thematically. For order, I would probably take mutant or ghostslayer, mutant as you can get proficiency in most saving throws, ghostslayer because of the general theme, and some cool abilities. But any order could work.
Just a coincidence, I literally just made exactly this character for a Ravenloft PbP campaign I'm playing in right now. Ghostslayer High Elf Blood Hunter.
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Get good at grappling. Silence and antimagic fields are limited in use if the target can just move out of range. Antimagic field + grapple can take out most casters.
So I was thinking, how would one make a mage hunter character? Like silencing spell casters, dispelling magic, and getting in close to put pressure on a caster. Basically specializing in hunting casters man and monsters alike.
What would help with this? I was wondering possibly a monk for the speed and CC, then using maybe feats or radials to get the cool anti magic style? just not sure how you would make a mage hunter...
A Way of Shadow monk can cast Silence with one of their subclass abilities and then you can take the Mage Slayer feat to make them an even better mage hunter. Really can't go wrong.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Anyway to get dispel magic? And remove curse?
Monster Slayer subclass for the Ranger has a lot of what you want.
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A Cleric of the Arcana Domain (maybe follower of a God who despises the abuse of magic?) is perhaps the most potent anti-magic class, and often overlooked. You would have medium armor and shield proficiency, simple weapons, and 5 cantrips at level 1 (2 from the Wizard list, hello Booming blade that explodes the mage if they run from you). Your channel divinity is basically a turn undead and banishment spell hybrid that works on celestial, elemental, fey, and fiends. You have most of the important abjuration spells, as well as the big kicker:
Spell Breaker
Starting at 6th level, when you restore hit points to an ally with a spell of 1st level or higher, you can also end one spell of your choice on that creature. The level of the spell you end must be equal to or lower than the level of the spell slot you use to cast the healing spell.
Mage casts hold person on your ally? Throw them a healing word to break the paralyze AND heal them while you're running towards the enemy mage to smack him in the face with your mace.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Outside of rare magical items, dispel magic, remove curse, counter spell, are all 3rd level spells that require a sizeable dip in a spellcaster class. Fighter (Eldritch Knight) would work as a long-term option as they could specialize their limited selection in abjuration while picking up feats like Mage Slayer and Mobile but they still wouldn't get those spells until higher levels.
Ophidimancer's suggestion of a shadow monk with mage slayer is a great option as well. If you go with that you could be the one who shuts down the mage in combat, and allow a caster in your group to dispel magics and remove curses.
If your DM allows homebrew magic items, my DM came up with a rare magical item that is amazing against mages. It's called the Cube of Silence.
It's basically a 3" cube, and it has 5 charges, regaining 1d6-1 charges at dawn. And with it, you can cast the following spells from it:
It's a very specific item, and it existed in a campaign where mages were almost as rare as a unicorn. But this magic item or something like it can allow something as ordinary as a fighter to stand a chance against a high level wizard. Of course, it has its counters. Such as, a high level wizard can cast counterspell on these spells, and if you used up 3 charges, you only have 1 counter to his counter. And its pretty much guarenteed that the wizard can cast counterspell again.
But anyway, the idea of a mage slayer is pretty cool, but difficult. Hopefully this magic item will help.
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Hmm, interesting that you went for Dispel Magic and Remove Curse, but not also Counterspell. Since those are third level spells you'd really have to multiclass to get them. Clerics, Paladins, Warlocks, and Wizards get both those spells and I would recommend Cleric because at least you have Wisdom in common. Like @NathanBC suggested I would go for Arcana Domain to 6th level, making you eventually Monk 14/Cleric 6.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
The feats Mage Slayer and Sentinel, maybe Mobile if you can. Whatever you can do to get in close and don't let them get away. Monk would also be good for stuns and many attacks to break concentration.
Shadow monk is good for it.
gloomstalker Rangers are good for it.
essentially you want to be mobile. Be a mage slayer (feat). And have the ability to cast silence while being able to melee the crap out of a mage to kill it or keep it contained in silence.
Blank
Yuan-Ti Paladin Oath of the Ancients?
Advantage on all spell saving throws.
Aura of protection which will give you an additional +5 to saving throws if you have 20 CHA.
Aura of Warding which will give you resistance to damage from spells.
Cleansing touch if you do get effected by a spell
With your Steed, Hope to close to melee distance with mount doing dash and misty step
Is there any particular reason a mage hunter cannot also themselves be a mage?
The Abjurist wizard gets big bonuses to Counterspell and Dispel Magic, both of enormous value when fighting mages. Spells like Magic Missile and Scorching Ray can trigger several concentration checks, and technically (#JesterVoice) Mage Slayer's disadvantage on concentration checks extends to any damage you deal. An Abjurist could make for an excellent countermage...but if you want to make a powerful mage-slayer build that takes full benefit of the Mage Slayer feat, then there's a definite argument to be made for a Sword or Valor bard.
Take Counterspell with a Secret, Jack of All Trades makes you better at using Counterspell and Dispel than anything but an Abjurist, and tailor your spell list to dicking with other casters. Between your martial abilities being leagues above the average wizard or sorcerer and you having full casting progression and a heavy antimagic spell list - which can include things like Silence if you want to burn another secret, but one thing a lot of people fail to remember is that blinding a caster turns off the vast majority of their enemy-targeted spells.
Blindness/Deafness is a spell on the Bard list, it is not concentration, and Wizened Wizards of Wizarding are not known for their burly CON saves.
Now sure, the Way of Shadows monk with Mage Slayer makes an excellent mage hunter. But so do other mages, when they decide to specialize in abjuration and countermagery.
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I think a high level Lore Bard and Abjuration Wizards are the best at counterspelling. You can do this from range, so it doesn't sound like it's exactly what you're talking about.
If you're really focused on the idea of a melee player that gets in the face of enemy mages and using weapons to take them down, I think a Shadow Monk, a Rogue, or a Gloom Stalker Ranger would be the best. And you would need the Mage Slayer feat, of course.
Another interesting way to do it would be an Enchantment Wizard using their level 2 ability Hypnotic Gaze.
I had this great long answer for why Fighter, plus Crossbow Expert, plus Mage Slayer, and eventually Sharpshooter would be an interesting build for this type of character. Bouncing between the App for reference and my browser to write it, the browser decided to reload the page and I lost it. Clearly Human Variant works great for a build that wants 3 feats, but here's a variation with a high elf: https://ddb.ac/characters/26368316/X9Alcr
The fighter subclass isn't set in stone and can be changed to reflect your particular desires. Having a DM that's open to hand waving the free hand to load the hand crossbow to enable the bonus action while also keeping the reaction enabled not opportunity attack from mage slayer is a perk, but doesn't destroy the theme of harassing two spell casters up to 125 ft away from each other (assuming the distant one is concentrating on a spell).
I only went to level 8, but getting up to 4 attacks plus a reliable bonus action that adds your modifier is also factored in at higher levels. Still need two ASIs to max dex from this point, but that still leaves two more, perhaps Elven Accuracy and Fey Teleportation for full flavor points at level 20?
High elf blood hunter. That would be cool, especially thematically. For order, I would probably take mutant or ghostslayer, mutant as you can get proficiency in most saving throws, ghostslayer because of the general theme, and some cool abilities. But any order could work.
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
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Just a coincidence, I literally just made exactly this character for a Ravenloft PbP campaign I'm playing in right now. Ghostslayer High Elf Blood Hunter.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Nice!
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
Get good at grappling. Silence and antimagic fields are limited in use if the target can just move out of range. Antimagic field + grapple can take out most casters.
And Caltrops (bag of 20).
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