Blood Hunter

Marred but resolute, his grimacing face dripping with sweat, a half-orc reddens a finger across his wounds to draw a glowing, ruby glyph in the air. He grips the weightless, completed sigil, twisting it to unleash dark magical energies that fire forward, cursing the stalking behemoth from within its own veins to better even the odds.

A mysterious half-elf swathed in a worn cloak and rugged leather armor carefully investigates a grizzly scene off the roadway, her eyes flashing with recognition as she meditates on the remnants of the massacre. The survivor who warily hired her withdraws with a jump as the half-elf suddenly shoots to her feet, sure in the knowledge of the culprit, where it calls home, and how little time there is to find it.

Stepping into the lightless chambers of ancient dust and lingering whispers, the halfling’s nose picks up the pungent smell of imminent danger as she hears the scraping of bone and claw on nearby stone. She winces as she runs her blade across her palm, the steel transmuting her blood into glowing runes of powerful magic, her sword suddenly engulfed in arcane flames, eager to brand and burn the flesh of her enemies.

Often feared or misunderstood, and driven by an unending drive to destroy the wicked, blood hunters are clever, arcane warriors who have bound their essence to the dark creatures they hunt to better stalk and survive their prey. Armed with the rites of forbidden blood magic and a willingness to sacrifice their own vitality and humanity for the cause, they protect the realms from the shadows, ever vigilant to avoid becoming the same monsters they choose to hunt.

Sacrifice to Preserve Life

While most of the classic schools of magical study are well known and widely respected, the less refined and macabre incantations of Hemocraft have long been forbidden and lost to most of the civilized world. Blood Hunters have reclaimed these techniques away from the judging eyes of society, finding blood magic’s esoteric nature effective against the evils that often defy the divine powers that historically hold the line.

Through careful study and practice, blood hunters have honed the rites of hemocraft into their combat prowess, forfeiting a facet of their health to infuse their weapons with powerful blood magic and summoning the elements to envelop their strikes. They can sear an arcane brand into the body of their quarry that hinders their foe’s abilities and punishes their aggression, or call blood curses upon their enemies, manipulating their bodies from the inside. Willing to suffer whatever it takes to achieve victory, these adept warriors have forged themselves into a potent force against the terrors that threaten the innocent.

A Monster to Fight Monsters

Whether driven by the wish to make a difference in a dangerous world, the need to take vengeance for a great wrong they have suffered, being inspired by witnessing the strange and powerful techniques of another blood hunter in person, or just seeking a place to belong in an uncaring world, the reasons one may take up the Hunter’s Bane and choose this life are many and varied. In joining an order of blood hunters, one is also joining a tight family bound by service to each other and the common cause. For many, this is the only family they have known or have left, so the kinship felt between members of an order is a bond neigh unbreakable.

Beyond the boundaries of the order, however, the life of a blood hunter is often not an easy one. The rituals of the Hunter’s Bane regularly leave one visibly changed and prone to unsettle common folk, and the witnessing of hemocraft can invoke a superstitious fear from even the most learned scholar. While some societies have come to accept the good deeds of the orders, many blood hunters publicly hide their nature unless absolutely necessary, feeling more comfortable in the wilds and wastes of the world where the Orders commonly train. Even so, the best work a blood hunter can do usually involves the poor and defenseless on the outskirts of society, those prone to the corrupting touch of fiends and dark intension. Braving the threat of vilification, these dark protectors wade through civilization, earning coin as mercenaries or bounty hunters, ever watching for the signs of something more nefarious beneath the surface.

In choosing this path, a blood hunter has irrevocably given a part of themselves to their cause, physically, emotionally, and sometimes morally. The orders of blood hunters practice their own unique ideals and methods, often employing techniques with dark origins that test the strength and will of these guardians. Many wrestle with the fear of losing this struggle, so a life of discipline and vigilance drives their travels as they wander the countryside in search of like-minded adventurers and whispers of dark deeds afoot.

Creating a Blood Hunter

As you create a blood hunter, the most important aspects of your character are why you were driven to this lifestyle, and why do you seek to give up everything to wallow in the dark with the evils you hunt? Did you lose a loved one to a fiendish beast and now wish to prevent others from suffering the same fate? Do you seek a sense of purpose and security, and found this among the order that has taken you in? Have you always carried a seed of darkness within you, and seek kin to watch over you and prevent you succumbing to it? Were you once a holy warrior who strayed from his faith and was cast out, but still seek to give yourself to the cause of protecting the innocent? Or are you a criminal with a dark past seeking to make amends, taking this life as a path of penance?

What is your relationship with the powers of hemocraft and the abilities it promises to grant you as you step closer to its mastery? Do you respect and fear the ancient power that surges through your veins, using them only when necessary? Do you relish in the strength it offers you, embracing your gifts and using them freely? Are you worried the superstitions are right, and this power will eventually turn you into one of the monsters you hunt? Or has your study instilled you with the confident control of mind over matter, certain you can bend these gifts to bring a brighter dawn?

Consider too that while a blood hunter belongs to an order, many strike out on their own to do their best work. What made you leave the comfort of your order? Do you intend to return, or have you decided you have more to learn in the world beyond? What do you seek in other adventurers that can help you meet your goals?

While most blood hunters follow a path of good or neutrality in their pursuits, some have fallen to the dark, seductive side of hemocraft and use their abilities for selfish and evil purposes. These deviants are always thrown from the order, and often hunted along with the creatures they once trained to fell.

The Blood Hunter

Level Proficiency Bonus Hemocraft Die Features Blood Curses Known

1st +2 1d4 Hunter's Bane, Blood Maledict 1

2nd +2 1d4 Fighting Style, Crimson Rite 1

3rd +2 1d4 Blood Hunter Order 1

4th +2 1d4 Ability Score Improvement 1

5th +3 1d6 Extra Attack 1

6th +3 1d6 Brand of Castigation, Blood Maledict (2/rest) 2

7th +3 1d6 Order Feature, Primal Rite 2

8th +3 1d6 Ability Score Improvement 2

9th +4 1d6 Grim Psychometry 2

10th +4 1d6 Dark Augmentation 3

11th +4 1d8 Order Feature 3

12th +4 1d8 Ability Score Improvement 3

13th +5 1d8 Brand of Tethering, Blood Maledict (3/rest) 3

14th +5 1d8 Hardened Soul, Esoteric Rite 4

15th +5 1d8 Order Feature 4

16th +5 1d8 Ability Score Improvement 4

17th +6 1d10 Blood Maledict (4/rest) 4

18th +6 1d10 Order Feature 5

19th +6 1d10 Ability Score Improvement 5

20th +6 1d10 Sanguine Mastery 5

Blood Hunter Multiclassing

Should you wish to multiclass into a blood hunter, the prerequisites and proficiencies gained are listed below.

Blood Hunter Multiclassing Prerequisites

Ability Score Minimum

Strength 13 or Dexterity 13, and Intelligence 13 or Wisdom 13

Blood Hunter Multiclassing Proficiencies

Proficiencies Gained

Light armor, medium armor, shields, simple weapons, martial weapons, one skill from the class’s skill list, alchemical supplies.

Blood Hunter Multiclassing with Warlock

If multiclassing Order of the Profane Soul with Warlock levels, add a third of your blood hunter levels (rounded down) to your Warlock level and consult the Warlock progression table in the Player’s Handbook for total Spell Slots, Cantrips known, and Spell Slot Level.

Variant Hemocraft Ability Score

As a blood hunter, you use your Intelligence modifier for some of your class and subclass features. However, with your DM’s permission, you can choose to instead use your Wisdom modifier for all your blood hunter features that use your Intelligence modifier by default. This does not apply to multiclassing requirements.

Class Features

As a blood hunter, you gain the following class features.

Hit Points

Hit Dice: 1d10 per blood hunter level

Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + your Constitution modifier

Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier per blood hunter level after 1st

Proficiencies

Armor: Light armor, medium armor, shields

Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons

Tools: Alchemist’s supplies

Saving Throws: Dexterity, Intelligence

Skills: Choose three from Acrobatics, Arcana, Athletics, History, Insight, Investigation, Religion, and Survival

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

a martial weapon or two simple weapons
a light crossbow and 20 bolts
studded leather armor or scale mail armor
an explorer’s pack and alchemist’s supplies

Hunter’s Bane

At 1st 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 Hemocraft modifier

(your choice between Intelligence or Wisdom)

Blood Maledict

Also at 1st 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 one blood curse of your choice, detailed in the “Blood Curses” section at the end of the class description. You learn one additional blood curse of your choice at 6th, 10th, 14th, and 18th level. Each time you learn a new blood curse, you can also choose one of the blood curses you know and replace it 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, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again. You can use Blood Maledict twice between rests starting at 6th level, three times starting at 13th level, and four times starting at 17th level.

Fighting Style

At 2nd level, you adopt a style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can’t take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.

Archery

You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons.

Blind Fighting

You have blindsight with a range of 10 feet. Within that range, you can effectively see anything that isn't behind total cover, even if you're blinded or in darkness. Moreover, you can see an invisible creature within that range, unless the creature successfully hides from you.

Defense

While you are wearing armor, you gain a +1 bonus to AC.

Dueling

When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.

Great Weapon Fighting

When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.

Interception

When a creature you can see hits a target, other than you, within 5 feet of you with an attack, you can use your reaction to reduce the damage the target takes by 1d10 + your proficiency bonus (to a minimum of 0 damage). You must be wielding a shield or a simple or martial weapon to use this reaction.

Protection

When a creature you can see attacks a target other than you that is within 5 feet of you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack roll. You must be wielding a shield.

Thrown Weapon Fighting

You can draw a weapon that has the thrown property as part of the attack you make with the weapon. In addition, when you hit with a ranged attack using a thrown weapon, you gain a +2 bonus to the damage roll.

Two-Weapon Fighting

When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack. Additionally, you may use your Crimson Rite feature on two weapons as part of the same bonus action. You take necrotic damage equal to two rolls of your hemocraft die when riteing two weapons.

Unarmed Fighting

Your unarmed strikes can deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier on a hit. If you aren't wielding any weapons or a shield when you make the attack roll, the d6 becomes a d8.

At the start of each of your turns, you can deal 1d4 bludgeoning damage to one creature grappled by you.

Crimson Rite

Also at 2nd level, you learn to invoke a rite of hemocraft that infuses your weapon strikes with elemental energy. As a bonus action, you can activate any rite you know on a weapon you’re holding. The effect of the rite lasts until you finish a short or long rest. When you activate a rite, you take necrotic damage equal to one roll of your hemocraft die. This damage can’t be reduced in any way.

While the rite is in effect, attacks you make with this weapon are magical, and deal extra damage equal to your hemocraft die of the type determined by the chosen rite. A weapon can hold only one active rite at a time. Other creatures can’t gain the benefit of your rite.

You choose one rite from the crimson rites below when you first gain this feature. You learn an additional crimson rite at 7th level, and again at 14th 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 Storm. The extra damage dealt by your rite is lightning damage.

Rite of the Dead. The extra damage dealt by your rite is necrotic damage. (Prerequisite: 14th level)

Rite of the Oracle. The extra damage dealt by your rite is psychic damage. (Prerequisite: 14th level)

Rite of the Roar. The extra damage dealt by your rite is thunder damage. (Prerequisite: 14th level)

Blood Hunter Order

At 3rd level, you commit to an order of blood hunters whose philosophy will guide you throughout your life: the Order of the Ghostslayer, the Order of the Lycan, the Order of the Mutant, or the Order of the Profane Soul, each of which is detailed at the end of the class description. Your choice grants you features at 7th level and again at 11th, 15th, and 18th level.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead.

Extra Attack

Starting at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Brand of Castigation

At 6th 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 your Hemocraft modifier (minimum of 1).

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.

Grim Psychometry

When you reach 9th level, you gain a supernatural talent for discerning the secrets surrounding mysterious relics or places touched by evil. 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. At the DM’s discretion, 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 10th 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 (minimum of +1).

Brand of Tethering

Starting at 13th level, the psychic damage from your Brand of Castigation increases to twice your Hemocraft modifier (minimum of 2). 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.

Hardened Soul

When you reach 14th level, you have advantage on saving throws against being charmed and frightened.

Sanguine Mastery

Upon reaching 20th level, your mastery of blood magic reaches its height, mitigating your sacrifice and empowering your expertise. Once per turn, whenever a blood hunter feature requires you to roll a hemocraft die, you can reroll the die and use either roll.

Additionally, whenever you score a critical hit with a weapon for which you have an active crimson rite, you regain one expended use of your Blood Maledict feature.

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 the Anxious

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 Corrosion

Prerequisite: 15th level, Order of the Mutant

As a bonus action, you cause a creature within 30 feet of you to become poisoned. 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.

Amplify. The cursed creature takes 4d6 necrotic damage when you inflict this curse, and it takes this damage again each time it fails a Constitution saving throw to end the curse.

Blood Curse of the Exorcist

Prerequisite: 15th level, Order of the Ghostslayer

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 takes 3d6 psychic damage and must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or 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 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. The creature immediately makes one weapon attack against a target of your choice within its range.

Amplify. You can first cause the cursed creature to move up to half its speed, and you grant a bonus to its attack roll equal to your Hemocraft modifier (minimum of +1).

Blood Curse of the Howl

Prerequisite: 18th level, Order of the Lycan

As an action, you unleash a bloodcurdling howl. Each creature within 30 feet of you that can hear you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or become frightened of you until the end of your next turn. If a creature fails its saving throw by 5 or more, it is stunned while frightened in this way. A creature that succeeds on its saving throw is immune to this blood curse for the next 24 hours.

You can choose any number of creatures you can see to be unaffected by the howl.

Amplify. The range of this curse increases to 60 feet.

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. The next attack roll you make against the target before the end of your turn has advantage.

Blood Curse of the Muddled Mind

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 the Soul Eater

Prerequisite: 18th level, Order of the Profane Soul

When a creature that isn’t a construct or undead is reduced to 0 hit points within 30 feet of you, you can use your reaction to offer their life energy to your patron in exchange for power. Until the end of your next turn, you make attacks with advantage and you have resistance to all damage.

Amplify. Additionally, you regain an expended warlock spell slot. Once you’ve amplified this blood curse, you must finish a long rest before you can amplify it again.

Blood Hunter Orders

A handful of secretive orders shape and define the knowledge of the blood hunters, their members all guarding unique arrays of cryptic techniques and rituals. Characters must seek out one of these orders to even be granted access to the Hunter’s Bane rite that starts each blood hunter’s journey. But only once a blood hunter has proven their dedication and worth will an order’s most powerful secrets be revealed.

Order of the Ghostslayer

The Order of the Ghostslayer is the oldest of the blood hunter orders, its members having originally rediscovered the secrets of hemocraft and refined them for combat against the scourge of undeath. Ghostslayers seek out and study the moment of death, obsessing over the mystery of the transition from life, and the unholy power that can cause the dead to rise once more. These zealous blood hunters make it their life’s work to destroy the scourge of undeath wherever it is found, tuning their abilities to engage undead creatures and those who manipulate the necromancy that creates them.

Rite of the Dawn

When you join this order at 3rd level, you learn the Rite of the Dawn as part of your Crimson Rite feature. When you activate the Rite of the Dawn, the extra damage dealt by your rite is radiant damage. Additionally, while that rite is active on your weapon, you gain the following benefits:

Your weapon sheds bright light out to a range of 20 feet.
You have resistance to necrotic damage.
When you hit an undead creature with a weapon for which the Rite of the Dawn is active, you roll an additional hemocraft die when determining the extra damage from the rite.

Curse Specialist

Starting at 3rd level, you learn to master blood curses. You gain an additional use of your Blood Maledict feature. In addition, your blood curses can target any creature, whether it has blood or not.

Aether Walk

Upon reaching 7th level, at the start of your turn, you can magically step into the veil between the planes as long as you aren’t incapacitated. You can move through other creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain, as well as see and affect creatures and objects on the Ethereal Plane. You take 1d10 force damage if you end your turn inside an object.

This feature lasts for a number of rounds equal to your Hemocraft modifier (minimum of 1 round). If you are inside an object when it ends, you are immediately shunted to the nearest unoccupied space and you take force damage equal to twice the number of feet you moved.

Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again. You can use Aether Walk twice between rests starting at 15th level.

Brand of Sundering

Starting at 11th level, your Brand of Castigation exposes a fragment of your foe’s essence, leaving them vulnerable to your Crimson Rite feature. Whenever you hit a 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. Additionally, if a branded creature has the Incorporeal Movement trait or a similar feature, it can’t move through creatures or objects while branded.

Blood Curse of the Exorcist

At 15th level, you hone your hemocraft to tear corruption from the minds and bodies of your allies—and to punish those responsible for it. You gain the Blood Curse of the Exorcist for your Blood Maledict feature. This doesn’t count against your number of blood curses known.

Rite Revival

Upon reaching 18th level, you learn to protect your fading life by reabsorbing the energy you feed to your weapons. If you have one or more crimson rites active and you are reduced to 0 hit points but don’t die outright, you can choose to have all your active crimson rites end and drop to 1 hit point instead.

Order of the Lycan

The ancient curse of lycanthropy is feared by nearly all peoples and cultures, passed through blood and seeding a host with the savage strength and hunger for violence of a wicked beast. The Order of the Lycan is a proud group of blood hunters who undergo “the Taming”—the ceremonial infliction of lycanthropy by a senior member of the order, for those who do not already carry the curse before seeking this path. These hunters then use the magic of their blood to harness the power of the monster they harbor, without losing themselves to it. Using intense will and secret blood magic rituals, members of the Order of the Lycan learn to control and unleash their hybrid forms for short periods of time. Enhanced physical prowess, unnatural resilience, and razor-sharp claws make these warriors a terrible foe to any evil that crosses their path. Yet no training is perfect, and without care and complete focus, even the greatest of blood hunters can temporarily lose themselves to their own hunger.

The Burden of Lycanthropy

Those inducted into the Order of the Lycan choose this path with conviction, understanding the terrible weight it imposes on them and the challenges it brings. Where most afflicted by the curse of lycanthropy grow wicked, deranged, and even murderous, Lycan blood hunters accept the gifts of the beast while maintaining control through intense training and the power of their blood magic. A member of the Order of the Lycan cannot spread their curse through blood unless they wish to, and one of the most sacred oaths of this order is to never infect another creature without the order’s sanction. If a member of the Order of the Lycan is ever cured of their lycanthropic curse, it brings terrible shame to their name and the order. Members who have been cleansed against their will readily return to the order to undergo a renewed initiation of the Taming, reintroducing the curse to their bodies and restoring their honor. Lycanthropy comes in many forms bound to specific beasts, with wolf, bear, tiger, boar, and rat the best-known variations. The particular strain of the lycanthropic curse defines the physical traits that manifest in a Lycan blood hunter’s hybrid transformation, even as the benefits the curse bestows remain relatively uniform.

Heightened Senses

When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you gain the improved senses of a natural predator. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell.

Hybrid Transformation

Also at 3rd level, you learn to control the lycanthropic curse that courses through your veins. As a bonus action, you transform into a special hybrid form for up to 1 hour. You can speak, use equipment, and wear armor while in this form, and can revert to your normal form as a bonus action. You automatically revert to your normal form if you fall unconscious or die.

This feature replaces the rules for lycanthropy in the Monster Manual. Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.

Hybrid Transformation Features

While you are transformed, you gain the following benefits and drawbacks:

Feral Might. You have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws, and you have a +1 bonus to melee damage rolls. This bonus increases to +2 at 11th level and to +3 at 18th level.

Resilient Hide. You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks not made with silvered weapons. Additionally, while you are not wearing heavy armor, you have a +1 bonus to AC.

Predatory Strikes. You can apply your Crimson Rite feature to your unarmed strikes, which you treat as one weapon. You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes, which deal 1d6 bludgeoning or slashing damage (your choice). This damage increases to 1d8 at 11th level.

Additionally, when you use the Attack action to make an unarmed strike, you can make one additional unarmed strike as a bonus action.

Bloodlust. If you start your turn with fewer hit points than half your hit point maximum, you must succeed on a DC 8 Wisdom saving throw or move directly toward the nearest creature and use the Attack action against that creature. If you’re concentrating on a spell or are under an effect that prevents you from concentrating (such as the barbarian’s Rage feature), you automatically fail this saving throw.

If you have your Extra Attack feature, you can choose whether to use it for this frenzied attack. If more than one creature is equally near to you, roll randomly to determine your target. Once your attack is resolved, you regain control of yourself.

Stalker's Prowess

At 7th level, your speed increases by 10 feet, and you add 10 feet to your long jump distance and 3 feet to your high jump distance. Your hybrid form also gains the following additional benefit.

Improved Predatory Strikes. You have a +1 bonus to attack rolls made with your unarmed strike. This bonus increases to +2 at 11th level and to +3 at 18th level. Additionally, when you have an active crimson rite on your unarmed strike while in your hybrid form, your unarmed strikes are considered magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Advanced Transformation

At 11th level, you learn to unleash and control more of the beast within. You can use your Hybrid Transformation feature twice, regaining all expended uses when you finish a short or long rest. Your hybrid form also gains the following additional benefit.

Lycan Regeneration. At the start of each of your turns when you have at least 1 hit point but fewer hit points than half your hit point maximum, you gain hit points equal to 1 + your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1). If you are in hybrid form, you gain these hit points before you must make the saving throw for your bloodlust.

Brand of the Voracious

Starting at 15th level, you have advantage on the saving throw for your bloodlust while in hybrid form. Additionally, your Brand of Castigation can now bind a foe to your hunter’s ferocity. While in your hybrid form, you have advantage on attack rolls against a creature branded by you.

Hybrid Transformation Mastery

At 18th level, you have mastered your inner predator. You can use your Hybrid Transformation feature an unlimited number of times, and your hybrid form lasts until you revert to your normal form, fall unconscious, or die.

You also gain the Blood Curse of the Howl for your Blood Maledict feature. This doesn’t count against your number of blood curses known.

Order of the Mutant

The process of undertaking the Hunter’s Bane ritual is a painful, scarring, and sometimes fatal experience. Those who survive are irrevocably changed—and not always for the better. Over generations of experimentation, a splinter order of blood hunters honed the way in which hemocraft alters the body, using corrupted alchemy and toxic elixirs to alter their blood even further. Over time, they have modified their capabilities in battle, becoming something beyond what they once were. Calling themselves the Order of the Mutant, these blood hunters now specialize in assessing the strengths and weaknesses of their foes, altering their biology to be best prepared for any conflict.

Mutagencraft

When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you learn to master forbidden alchemical formulas—known as mutagens—that can temporarily alter your mental and physical abilities.

As a bonus action, you consume a mutagen, whose effects and side effects last until you finish a short or long rest unless otherwise specified. While one or more mutagens are affecting you, you can use an action to focus and flush all mutagens from your system, ending their effects and side effects.

Mutagens are designed for the specific biology of the character who concocted them, and your mutagens have no effect on other creatures. They are also unstable by nature, losing their potency over time and becoming inert if not used before you finish your next short or long rest.

Mutagencraft

Blood Hunter Level Mutagens Created Formulas Known

3rd 1 4

7th 2 5

11th 2 6

15th 3 7

18th 3 8

Formulas

The number of mutagens you can concoct when you finish a rest, and the number of formulas you know, increases as you gain levels in the blood hunter class, as shown on the Mutagencraft table above. Additionally, when you learn a new mutagen formula, you can replace one formula you already know with a new mutagen formula. You choose four mutagen formulas to learn from the options detailed at the end of this subclass description, and you can concoct one mutagen when you finish a short or long rest.

Strange Metabolism

When you reach 7th level, your body begins to adapt to toxins and venoms, ignoring their corrupting effects. You gain immunity to poison damage and the poisoned condition.

Additionally, you can trigger a burst of adrenaline that lets you temporarily resist the negative effects of a mutagen. As a bonus action, you can ignore the negative side effect of one mutagen affecting you for 1 minute. Once you do so, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.

Brand of Axiom

At 11th level, your mutagenic hemocraft lets your Brand of Castigation reveal a foe’s true nature. Any illusion or invisibility in effect on a creature when you brand it ends, and the creature can’t benefit from invisibility or illusion effects while branded by you. If a creature branded by you is in an alternative form (by way of the polymorph spell, the Change Shape action or Shapechanger trait, the Wild Shape feature, and similar effects), it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or revert to its true form and be stunned until the end of your next turn. Whenever a branded creature attempts to alter its form, it must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or have the attempt fail, and it is stunned until the end of your next turn.

Blood Curse of Corrosion

Starting at 15th level, your blood curse can infuse a creature’s body with terrible toxins. You gain the Blood Curse of Corrosion for your Blood Maledict feature. This doesn’t count against your number of blood curses known.

Exalted Mutation

At 18th level, your body has adapted to produce mutagens naturally in a moment of need. As a bonus action, choose one mutagen currently affecting you. Its effects and side effects end, and you can immediately have a mutagen you know the formula for take effect in its place.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Hemocraft modifier (minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Mutagens

The mutagens that are part of your hemocraft are presented in alphabetical order. You can learn a mutagen at the same time you meet its prerequisites.

Aether

Prerequisite: 11th level

You have a flying speed of 20 feet for 1 hour. However, you have disadvantage on Strength checks and Dexterity checks during this time.

Alluring

Your skin and voice become malleable, allowing you to enhance your appearance and presence. You have advantage on Charisma checks. However, you have disadvantage on initiative rolls.

Celerity

Your Dexterity score increases by 3, as does your maximum for that score. However, you have disadvantage on Wisdom saving throws. Your Dexterity score and your maximum increase by 4 if you consume this mutagen at 11th level, and by 5 at 18th level.

Conversant

You have advantage on Intelligence checks. However, you have disadvantage on Wisdom checks.

Cruelty

Prerequisite: 11th level

When you use the Attack action, you can make one additional weapon attack as a bonus action. However, you have disadvantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws.

Deftness

You have advantage on Dexterity checks. However, you have disadvantage on Wisdom checks.

Embers

You have resistance to fire damage and vulnerability to cold damage.

Gelid

You have resistance to cold damage and vulnerability to fire damage.

Impermeable

You have resistance to piercing damage and vulnerability to slashing damage.

Mobility

You have immunity to the grappled and restrained conditions. However, you have disadvantage on Strength checks. At 11th level, you are also immune to the paralyzed condition.

Nighteye

You have darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. If you already have darkvision, its range increases by 60 feet. However, you have disadvantage on attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.

Percipient

You have advantage on Wisdom checks. However, you have disadvantage on Charisma checks.

Potency

Your Strength score increases by 3, as does your maximum for that score. However, you have disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws. Your Strength score and your maximum increase by 4 if you consume this mutagen at 11th level, and by 5 at 18th level.

Precision

Prerequisite: 11th level

Your weapon attacks score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20. However, you have disadvantage on Strength saving throws.

Rapidity

Your speed increases by 10 feet. However, you have disadvantage on Intelligence checks. At 15th level, your speed increases by an additional 5 feet.

Reconstruction

Prerequisite: 7th level

For 1 hour, at the start of each of your turns when you have at least 1 hit point but fewer hit points than half your hit point maximum, you regain hit points equal to your proficiency bonus. However, your speed is reduced by 10 feet during this time.

Sagacity

Your Intelligence score increases by 3, as does your maximum for that score. However, you have disadvantage on Charisma saving throws. Your Intelligence score and your maximum increase by 4 if you consume this mutagen at 11th level, and by 5 at 18th level.

Shielded

You have resistance to slashing damage, and you have vulnerability to bludgeoning damage.

Unbreakable

You have resistance to bludgeoning damage, and you have vulnerability to piercing damage.

Vermillion

You gain an additional use of your Blood Maledict feature. However, you have disadvantage on death saving throws.

Order of the Profane Soul

Blood hunters belonging to the Order of the Profane Soul have pushed the limits of hemocraft for use against some of the most terrifying creatures corrupting the world. Ancient fiends and cruel magic-users have long counted on their ability to meld into the background and escape those who hunt them, vanishing into noble courts without a trace, or bending the minds of the most stalwart warriors with but a glance. So the blood hunters who founded this order trusted to their resilience as they delved into the same well of corrupting arcane knowledge, making pacts with lesser evils to better combat the greater threats. And though they might have traded a part of themselves for their power, the members of this order know the benefits of that power far outweigh the price.

Otherworldly Patron

When you reach 3rd level, you strike a bargain with an otherworldly being of your choice:

The Archfey, the Fiend, or the Great Old One, detailed in the Player’s Handbook
The Undying, from Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
The Celestial or the Hexblade, from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything
The Fathomless or the Genie, from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
The Undead, from Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft

The choice you make augments some of your subclass features, as noted below.

Pact Magic

Also at 3rd level, you augment your combat techniques with the ability to cast spells. See chapter 10 of the Player’s Handbook for the general rules of spellcasting and chapter 11 of the Player’s Handbook for the warlock spell list.

Cantrips. You learn two cantrips of your choice from the warlock spell list. You learn an additional warlock cantrip of your choice at 10th level.

Spell Slots. The Profane Soul Spellcasting table shows how many spell slots you have. The table also shows what the level of those slots is; all of your spell slots are the same level. To cast one of your warlock spells of 1st level or higher, you must expend a spell slot. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a short or long rest.

For example, when you are 8th level, you have two 2nd-level spell slots. To cast the 1st-level spell witch bolt, you must spend one of those slots, and you cast it as a 2nd-level spell.

Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher. At 3rd level, you know two 1st-level spells of your choice from the warlock spell list.

The Spells Known column of the Profane Soul Spellcasting table shows when you learn more warlock spells of your choice of 1st level and higher. A spell you choose must be of a level no higher than what’s shown in the table’s Slot Level column for your level. When you reach 13th level, for example, you learn a new warlock spell, which can be 1st, 2nd, or 3rd level.

Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the warlock spells you know and replace it with another spell from the warlock spell list, which also must be of a level for which you have spell slots.

Spellcasting Ability. Your chosen Hemocraft ability (Intelligence or Wisdom) is your spellcasting ability for your warlock spells, so you use your Hemocraft ability whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Hemocraft modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a warlock spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.

Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier
Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier

BLOOD HUNTER LEVEL CANTRIPS KNOWN SPELLS KNOWN SPELL SLOTS SLOT LEVEL

3rd 2 2 1 1st

4th 2 2 1 1st

5th 2 3 1 1st

6th 2 3 2 1st

7th 2 4 2 2nd

8th 2 4 2 2nd

9th 2 5 2 2nd

10th 3 5 2 2nd

11th 3 6 2 2nd

12th 3 6 2 2nd

13th 3 7 2 3rd

14th 3 7 2 3rd

15th 3 8 2 3rd

16th 3 8 2 3rd

17th 3 9 2 3rd

18th 3 9 2 3rd

19th 3 10 2 4th

20th 3 11 2 4th

Rite Focus

Starting at 3rd level, your weapon becomes a conduit for the power of your pact with your chosen patron. While you have an active crimson rite, you can use your weapon as a spellcasting focus for your warlock spells, and you gain a specific benefit based on your chosen pact.

The Archfey. When you damage a creature with a weapon for which you have an active crimson rite, that creature glows with faint light until the end of your next turn. For the duration, the creature gains no benefit from any cover or from being invisible.

The Celestial. As a bonus action, you expend one use of your Blood Maledict feature to heal one creature you can see within 60 feet of you. That creature regains a number of hit points equal to one roll of your hemocraft die + your Hemocraft modifier (minimum of +1).

The Fathomless. You can breathe underwater. Additionally, once per turn when you damage a creature with a weapon for which you have an active crimson rite, you can reduce that creature’s speed by 10 feet until the start of your next turn.

The Fiend. While using the Rite of the Flame, if you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die when you roll the extra damage from the rite, you can reroll the die and choose which roll to use.

The Genie. As a bonus action, you expend a use of your Blood Maledict feature to give yourself a flying speed of 30 feet, which lasts for a number of rounds equal to your Hemocraft modifier (minimum of 1 round).

The Great Old One. When you score a critical hit against a creature, that creature and any other creatures of your choice within 10 feet of it are frightened of you until the end of your next turn.

The Hexblade. When you successfully target a creature with a blood curse, the next time you hit that creature with an attack while the curse is in effect, the attack deals additional damage equal to your proficiency modifier.

The Undead. When you take necrotic damage, you can use your reaction to halve that damage. In addition, your appearance changes to reflect some aspect of your patron while you have any crimson rite active.

The Undying. When you reduce a hostile creature of at least mild threat (DM’s discretion) to 0 hit points, you regain a number of hit points equal to one roll of your hemocraft die.

Mystic Frenzy

Starting at 7th level, when you use your action to cast a cantrip, you can immediately make one weapon attack as a bonus action.

Revealed Arcana

At 7th level, your patron grants you the use of a distinctive spell based on your pact. You cast this spell using any pact magic spell slot, and can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.

The Archfey. You can cast blur.

The Celestial. You can cast lesser restoration.

The Fathomless. You can cast gust of wind.

The Fiend. You can cast scorching ray.

The Genie. You can cast phantasmal force.

The Great Old One. You can cast detect thoughts.

The Hexblade. You can cast branding smite.

The Undead. You can cast blindness/deafness.

The Undying. You can cast silence.

Brand of the Sapping Scar

Upon reaching 11th level, your Brand of Castigation feature digs dark arcane scars into your target, leaving them vulnerable to your magic. A creature branded by you has disadvantage on saving throws against your warlock spells.

Unsealed Arcana

At 15th level, your patron grants you the use of an additional spell based on your pact. You cast this spell without expending a spell slot, and can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.

The Archfey. You can cast slow.

The Celestial. You can cast revivify.

The Fathomless. You can cast lightning bolt.

The Fiend. You can cast fireball.

The Genie. You can cast protection from energy.

The Great Old One. You can cast haste.

The Hexblade. You can cast blink.

The Undead. You can cast speak with dead.

The Undying. You can cast bestow curse.

Blood Curse of the Souleater

Starting at 18th level, you learn to siphon the life energy from your fallen prey. You gain the Blood Curse of the Soul Eater for your Blood Maledict feature. This doesn’t count against your number of blood curses known.

Order of the Tainted Blood

We offer a fully homebrew subclass for bloodhunter you may choose:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1wvI5LsjS1Yew1MpfRxsqa9rLYDp-mskdfRafVmavm4U/edit?usp=sharing

Homebrew Item:

Hunter's Tattoo

Wondrous item, uncommon (+1), rare (+2), very rare (+3) (requires attunement by a Blood Hunter)

This Tattoo bears the symbol of a Blood Hunter Order. While Attuned to the tattoo, you gain a bonus to Hemocraft save DC. The bonus is determined by the amulet's rarity (Profane Soul Blood Hunter's also gain a bonus to their spell attack rolls and saving throw DCs of their spells.)

While you wear this amulet, you can use your Blood Maledict feature without expending one of the feature's uses. Once this property is used, it can't be used again until the next dawn.