Order of the Archaic (V2)

If an ally falls in battle, or if an ancient burial is unearthed, they are not to be mourned; they are to be studied. Empires collapse, cities fall and temples crumble, and it is up to the Order to defend the world from those accursed creatures responsible. The weaknesses of their forebears and the strengths of the monsters that felled them are a science, practiced by the Order of the Archaic. Hunters of this order will take a brief moment to collect their thoughts before they jump forth into the fray, leading their allies from the front. Their mastery of the past will dictate their future.

Forewarned is Forearmed

Starting at 3rd level you are able to recall the myths, legends, rumours and research you have looked into, finding a creature’s weakness in them. You can spend an Action to make an Intelligence (History) check on an individual creature you can see, with a DC of 5 + the creature’s Challenge Rating, with a minimum DC of 10. You can take a Hemocraft Die worth of damage and add that roll to the History check after the DM tells you whether or not it was a success. If the roll is a success, the creature is now marked as your Interest.

The Interest’s damage vulnerabilities, damage resistances, damage immunities, and condition immunities then become known to you. Furthermore, any time you attack your Interest you can add your proficiency to any damage. You can only have one Interest at any one time, and a creature can be marked as your Interest for up to an hour before you need to repeat the check.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (a minimum of once) and regain any expended charges on a long rest.

Student of History

When you join the Order at 3rd level, you understand how to leverage the history of a creature, race, nation or the like in conversation. You can use Intelligence when rolling for Persuasion and Intimidation. You also get proficiency in History, or another Blood Hunter skill if you have this already.

Brand of the Learned

Starting at 11th level you realise the benefit in getting up close and personal with your enemy when studying it. If you hit a creature and mark it with your Brand of Castigation, the DC for Forewarned is Forearmed is now only the creature’s Challenge Rating. This does not consume a charge of Forewarned is Forearmed.

Once a Branded creature has been marked as your Interest, you get +2AC whenever your Interest makes an attack roll against you, and as a reaction you can extend this to an ally within 5ft.

Student of Archeology

By the time you reach 15th level, you have become more accustomed to ancient artefacts. As a bonus action you can activate this feature, and for up to a minute you can instantly attune to any magical item, regardless of race, class or attunement (if this item requires you to be a spellcaster, treat it as if you are an Intelligence caster). Any attunement done in this minute ends when the minute is up. At the end of any turn during this minute where you are wielding a magical item that requires attunement, you must take a Hemocraft die of damage.

You can use this feature once, and any expended uses reset after a long rest.

Blood Curse of Knowledge

At 18th level you are so well versed in hemocraft that you can peer into an enemy’s mind and read them in an instant. You gain the Blood Curse of Knowledge for your Blood Maledict feature. This doesn’t count against your number of blood curses known.

Blood Curse of Knowledge

 

As a bonus action you get to peer into the mind of a creature within 15ft, searching for any answers you seek. If they fail a Wisdom saving throw against your Hemocraft DC, you can ask the DM up to three questions, and they will answer as the creature would answer truthfully. The creature does not know their mind is being read until the Blood Curse is over, at which point they become hostile. This lasts for a maximum of ten minutes.

Amplified: This creature is instantly marked as your Interest. Until the start of your next turn this creature has disadvantage on attacking anyone but you.

Student of Time and Space

Also at 15th level your mastery over Hemocraft allows you to shift a sliver of yourself into the distant past, as if travelling through time down your bloodline. After one minute of meditating, you may take a Hemocraft Die’s worth of damage, and then you can look into the past of a place or a creature within 15ft of yourself. You can meditate in this way for a number of minutes equal to your Hemocraft score and must maintain concentration during that time, as if you were casting a spell.

Your DM decides what is the most important moment in its history, unless you have one specific moment in mind. It is up to your DM to decide how vivid these moments are based on your roll of the Hemocraft Die.

You can use this ability once per day.