Blood Hunter Conclave

Blood Hunter

Credit: Matt Mercer and laserllama | Art by Joma Cueto

When the young man's blindfold was removed he found himself in a dimly lit room surrounded by hooded figures. He stood in front of a small dais that held a vial of gleaming crimson liquid. Months of training had led him to this moment. If he survived drinking the vial, the Hunter's Bane, he would never be the same. Becoming more than human, he would finally have the power to avenge his family that lay dead all these years.

As the horde of demonic spawn lurched toward her, the aging half-elf ran her thin blade along her palm, coating it in her blood. In an instant, the blood ignited, wreathing her sword in a dark crimson flame. She fell upon the horde as a blur of dark fire and cold steel. The hellspawn would find no mercy from her today.

The strange warriors described above are Blood Hunters, occult guardians who infect and inoculate their blood with accursed power so they may hunt monsters.

Self-Sacrificing Hunters

Blood hunters are clever warriors driven by an unending determination to destroy evils old and new.
They have no formal hierarchy and their Orders are as varied as the curses they choose to bear, but they do hold one thing in common, the Hunter's Bane. Those who survive this ancient and deadly ritual are able to wield the signature sanguine magic that marks them as Blood Hunters.

This ritual permanently changes the subject, inoculating its blood with monstrous power at the expense of what makes them a normal mortal. Wherever monsters lurk, there also are Blood Hunters who are willing to sacrifice their own vitality and humanity for their cause, they protect the realms from the shadows—even as they remain ever vigilant against being drawn to the darkness that consumes the monsters they hunt.

Ancient & Sinister Rites

Wherever creatures of the darkness prowl, there are warriors who stand against them. Many Orders of Blood Hunters can trace their lineage back to ancient days. The blood magic they use is older than the divine magic of Clerics, and it serves as the legacy of dark times when mortals were forced to fend for themselves. Though their blood magic is unsettling and grim in nature, many Blood Hunters place a great deal of pride in the ancient traditions, rituals, and rites of their Occult Order.

Creating Your Blood Hunter

When creating a Blood Hunter, the most important thing to consider is why they would choose this accursed way of life. Were they the victim of a horrible monster attack and swore vengeance, no matter the personal cost? Were they trained from birth under the tutelage of an elder hunter, and forged into a relentless monster slayer? Or, were they recruited by
a secretive society for their exceptional talent at hunting?

Blood Hunter Features

Ranger Level	Hemocraft Die	Feature	curses known
3rd	d4	Hunters Bane, Blood Maledict, Crimson Rite	2
7th	d6	Grim Psychometry	3
11th	d8	Dark augmentation	4
15th	d10	Brand of Tethered Castigation	5

 

Hunter’s Bane

At 3rd level, you have survived the Hunter’s Bane—a dangerous, long-guarded ritual that alters your life’s blood, forever binding you to the darkness and honing your senses against it. You have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track fey, fiends, or undead, as well as on Intelligence checks to recall information about such creatures.

The Hunter’s Bane also empowers your body to control and shape hemocraft magic, using your own blood and life essence to fuel your abilities. Some of your features require your target to make a saving throw to resist the feature’s effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows:

Hemocraft save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier

Blood Maledict

Also at 3rd level, you gain the ability to channel—or sometimes sacrifice—a part of your vital essence to curse and manipulate creatures through hemocraft magic. You know three blood curses of your choice, detailed in the “Blood Curses” section. You learn one additional blood curse of your choice at 7th, 11th, and 15th level. Each time you learn a new blood curse, you can also choose any number of the blood curses you know and replace them with another blood curse.

Each time you use your Blood Maledict feature, you choose which curse to invoke from the curses you know. While invoking a blood curse, but before it affects the target, you can choose to amplify the curse by taking necrotic damage equal to one roll of your hemocraft die. This damage can’t be reduced in any way. An amplified curse gains an additional effect, noted in the curse’s description. Creatures that do not have blood are immune to blood curses unless you have amplified the curse.

Once you use this feature twice, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again. You can use Blood Maledict three times between rests starting at 7th level, four times starting at 11th level, and five times starting at 15th level.

Blood Curses:

As a blood hunter, you have access to a range of blood curses that can tax the resilience of any foe.

Blood Curse of Mutual Suffering

Prerequisite: 7th level

As a bonus action, you can link to a creature within 30 feet for up to a minute, forcing them to share in the pain they inflict upon you. The next time the cursed creature damages you with a weapon attack, this curse deals necrotic damage to the cursed creature equal to the damage you suffered. This curse then ends.

Amplify: This curse lasts for 1 minute, and it ignores necrotic resistance.

Blood Curse of Anxiety

As a bonus action, you harry the body or mind of a creature within 30 feet of you, making them susceptible to forceful influence. Until the end of your next turn, Charisma (Intimidation) checks made against the cursed creature have advantage.

Amplify. The next Wisdom saving throw the cursed creature makes before this curse ends has disadvantage.

Blood Curse of Binding

As a bonus action, you attempt to bind a Large or smaller creature you can see within 30 feet of you, which must make a Strength saving throw. On a failure, the cursed creature’s speed is reduced to 0 and it can’t use reactions until the end of your next turn.

Amplify. This curse lasts for 1 minute and can affect any creature regardless of size. The cursed creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the curse on itself on a success.

Blood Curse of Bloated Agony

As a bonus action, you curse a creature that you can see within 30 feet of you, causing its body to swell until the end of your next turn. For the duration, the creature has disadvantage on Strength checks and Dexterity checks, and takes 1d8 necrotic damage if it makes more than one attack during its turn.

Amplify. This curse lasts for 1 minute. The cursed creature can make a Constitution saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the curse on itself on a success.

Blood Curse of Confusion

As a bonus action, you curse a creature that you can see within 30 feet of you that is concentrating on a spell or using a feature that requires concentration. That creature has disadvantage on the next Constitution saving throw it makes to maintain concentration before the end of your next turn.

Amplify. The cursed creature has disadvantage on all Constitution saving throws made to maintain concentration until the end of your next turn.

Blood Curse of Corrosion

Prerequisite: 7th level

As a bonus action , you invoke this Curse to force one creature that you can see within 30 feet to make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is poisoned for 1 minute. It can repeat this Constitution saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.

Amplify. The effects of this Blood Rite last until the creature succeeds on the Constitution saving throw. Moreover, whenever it fails this Constitution saving throw, it takes necrotic damage equal to two rolls of your Rite Die.

Blood Curse of Exorcism

Prerequisite: 7th level

As a bonus action, you choose one creature you can see within 30 feet of you that is charmed or frightened, or which is under a possession effect. The target creature is no longer charmed, frightened, or possessed.

Amplify. A creature that charmed, frightened, or possessed the target of your curse must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or take psychic damage equal to two rolls of your hemocraft die and be stunned until the end of your next turn.

Blood Curse of Exposure

When a creature you can see within 30 feet of you takes damage from an attack or spell, you can use your reaction to temporarily weaken its resilience. Until the end of the target’s next turn, it loses resistance to all the damage types dealt by the triggering attack or spell (including for that triggering effect).

Amplify. The target instead loses invulnerability to the damage types of the triggering attack or spell, but has resistance to those damage types until the end of its next turn.

Blood Curse of Purgation

As a bonus action, you can manipulate the vitality of a creature within 60 feet to expunge corruption from their blood. The creature makes a saving throw against a Poisoned condition afflicting it with advantage.

Amplify: Your target automatically succeeds their saving throw against poison, or your target can instead make a saving throw against one other condition or disease afflicting it.

Blood Curse of the Eyeless

When a creature you can see within 30 feet of you makes an attack, you can use your reaction to roll one hemocraft die and subtract the number rolled from the creature’s attack roll. You can choose to use this feature after the creature’s roll, but before the DM determines whether the attack hits or misses. The creature is immune to this curse if it is immune to the blinded condition.

Amplify. You apply this curse to all the creature’s attack rolls until the end of the creature’s turn. You roll separately for each affected attack.

Blood Curse of the Fallen Puppet

When a creature you can see within 30 feet of you drops to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to instill that creature with a final act of aggression. You cause the creature to stand up, move up to its walking speed, and make a weapon attack against a creature of your choice within its reach.

Amplify. The target adds one roll of your Rite Die to its attack and damage roll as part of this Blood Curse.

Blood Curse of the Marked

As a bonus action, you mark a creature that you can see within 30 feet of you. Until the end of your turn, whenever you hit the cursed creature with a weapon for which you have an active crimson rite, you roll an additional hemocraft die when determining the extra damage from the rite.

Amplify. Until the end of your next turn, you have advantage on all attack rolls against that target.

Crimson Rite

Rite of the Dawn

The extra damage dealt by your rite is radiant damage. (Prerequisite: 7th level)

Rite of the Dead

The extra damage dealt by your rite is necrotic damage (Prerequisite: 7th level)

Rite of the Flame.

The extra damage dealt by your rite is fire damage.

Rite of the Frozen.

The extra damage dealt by your rite is cold damage.

Rite of the Oracle

The extra damage dealt by your rite is psychic damage. (Prerequisite: 7th level)

Rite of the Roar

The extra damage dealt by your rite is thunder damage. (Prerequisite: 7th level)

Rite of the Storm.

The extra damage dealt by your rite is lightning damage.

Grim Psychometry

When you reach 7th level, you gain a supernatural talent for discerning the secrets surrounding mysterious relics or places touched by evil. At the DM’s discretion, whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check to recall information about the sinister or tragic history of an object you are touching or your current location, you have advantage on the check. A suitably high roll might cause your character to experience brief visions of the past connected to the object or location.

Dark Augmentation

Starting at 11th level, the magic of hemocraft suffuses your body to permanently reinforce your resilience. Your speed increases by 5 feet, and you have a bonus to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution saving throws equal to your Hemocraft modifier

Brand of Tethered Castigation

At 15th level, when you damage a creature with a weapon for which you have an active crimson rite, you can channel hemocraft magic to sear an arcane brand into that creature (no action required). You always know the direction to the branded creature as long as it’s on the same plane as you. Further, each time the branded creature deals damage to you or a creature you can see within 5 feet of you, the branded creature takes psychic damage equal to twice your Hemocraft modifier (minimum of 1).

Additionally, a branded creature can’t take the Dash action, and if it attempts to teleport or to leave its current plane by any means, it takes 4d6 psychic damage and must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, the attempt to teleport or leave the plane fails.

Your brand lasts until you dismiss it or until you use this feature to apply a brand to another creature. Your brand can be dispelled with dispel magic, and is treated as a spell with a level equal to half your blood hunter level (maximum 9th level).

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.