Order of the Oldhearts

Most hunters would seldom consider themselves a true order, such as those formed with knights and such. Hunting is, after all, a messy and unsightly trade, and those compelled by oaths and honor would often rather find themselves down a cleaner road. Members of this order would disagree with such a notion.

The Oldhearts are descendants of the first hunters, when blood was once powerful. Through esoteric rites and sometimes blasphemous practices, these hunters managed to maintain that might in their veins, often at a cost. Divided now in different, once related families across the realm, many of the members of the order take pride in their lineage and choose only the most renowned of preys to build on their names.

Divided Houses

Even though the hunters of the order share a common sense of belonging as members of the Oldhearts, it has become rare to find cooperation in the latest days, thanks to the ever-increasing ramification of the bloodline that leads to upstarting, crude rivalries.

Sometimes these houses find solace in the fact that they are the sole specialists in hunting some variant of monster, like vampires, hags and devils. Other times, however, there is no such luck, and two houses might find themselves aiming to slay the same creature, ensuing disaster.

When creating a member of this order, consider talking with your dungeon master to decide if your character belongs to one of these houses and which are some of their members and quirks. Alternatively, you can also roll on the following table to determine your faction:

 

D10	House
1	The Hoslow House, known as grim and merciless vampire hunters.
2	The Greentile House, mysterious arch rivals of the shadow fae court.
3	The Bluedivan House, seaborne sailors who hunt the horrors below.
4	The House of Red Merry, whom rumors say got entangled in a deal with a powerful devil.
5	The Douloss House, honorable and pious hunters in service of their ancient god.
6	The House of Halls, ever wary of the shapechanger threat lurking in their dark forests.
7	The remnants of the House of Darkmountains, shamed for abandoning their duty as hunters ages ago.
8	The House of Colt, proud explorers who protect their ancestral lands through archery and curses.
9	The Minspike House, known for their keen intellect and great libraries about alien creatures.
10	The forgotten Veiled House, known only as a cautionary tale for those houses who would think themselves invincible.

Potent Blood

When you join this order at 3rd level, your pure blood sustains your magic better than any sacrifice. You can choose to amplify a blood curse or activate a rite without taking any necrotic damage. Once you have used this feature, you must finish a long rest before you do it again. You can use this feature twice between rests starting at 6th level, three times starting at 13th level, and four times starting at 17th level.

Paragon Hunter

Starting at 3rd level, you’ve been taught the ways of a proper hunter. You gain proficiency in one skill of your choice from the list of skills available to a Blood Hunters at 1st level. Additionally, you can cast the Detect Evil and Good spell requiring no spell slot or components, and you must finish a short rest before you can cast it this way again.

Heart of Curses

Also at 7th level, you learn an additional blood curse for your Blood Maledict feature through the knowledge passed onto you from your ancestral kin. When you finish a long rest, you can delve into the knowledge of a different kin, choosing one of the blood curses you know and replacing it with another blood curse.

Ritual of Staining

From 11th level on, you learn a ritual that creates a blood bond between yourself and one weapon. You perform the ritual over the course of 1 hour, which can be done during a short rest. The weapon must be within your reach throughout the ritual, at the conclusion of which you touch the weapon and spill blood on it.

Once you have bonded a weapon to yourself, you can activate your crimson rites whenever you draw it (no action required). You can have up to two bonded weapons. If you attempt to bond with a third weapon, you must break the bond with one of the other two.

Brand of the Grand Hunt

At 15th level, your Brand of Castigation becomes a beacon for your allies. When you brand a creature, you can choose a number of creatures equal to your Hemocraft modifier to join the hunt. Until your brand ends, those creatures always know the direction to the branded creature as long as it’s on the same plane as them, and each time the branded creature deals damage to them, it takes psychic damage equal to twice your Hemocraft modifier (minimum of 2).

Brand of the Grand Hunt

At 15th level, your Brand of Castigation becomes a beacon for your allies. When you brand a creature, you can choose a number of creatures equal to your Intelligence modifier to join the hunt. Until your brand ends, those creatures always know the direction to the branded creature as long as it’s on the same plane as them, and each time the branded creature deals damage to them, it takes psychic damage equal to twice your Intelligence modifier (minimum of 2).

Brand of the Grand Hunt

At 15th level, your Brand of Castigation becomes a beacon for your allies. When you brand a creature, you can choose a number of creatures equal to your Wisdom modifier to join the hunt. Until your brand ends, those creatures always know the direction to the branded creature as long as it’s on the same plane as them, and each time the branded creature deals damage to them, it takes psychic damage equal to twice your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 2).

Rite of the Trueblood

Upon reaching 18th level, the knowledge bestowed onto you has taught you a way to greatly empower your crimson rites at a cost. When you activate a crimson rite, you can choose for it to gain one of the following benefits.

Flood. You roll an additional Hemocraft die when determining the extra damage from the rite.

Bloodshed. Your weapon gains the reach property.

Arch. When you deal the extra damage from the rite to a target, another creature of your choice within 5 feet of the target take an equal amount of damage of the same type.

Drink. When you deal the extra damage from the rite to a creature, you gain an equal amount of temporary hit points.

You can also choose to take an additional die of necrotic damage, which can’t be reduced in any way, up to a limit of three additional dice. For every additional die of damage you take, you can choose an additional benefit. Each benefit can only be selected once.