If you’ve never heard of blood hunters, I wouldn’t blame you, since they’re not included in any of the source books published by WotC, but I still feel like you’re missing out on a very interesting class that you could include in your future campaigns.
The blood hunter class was homebrewed by Matthew Mercer, DM of the web show Critical Role all the way back in 2015 for one of the series’ specials starring none other than Vin Diesel. Super random, right? Well, he was promoting a movie called “The Last Witch Hunter” at the time and this class was created to resemble the main character – an immortal viking who’s dedicated his life to fighting evil. The design of this class was also based on Geralt of Rivia from the Witcher books and video games.
Since that one-shot adventure, this idea of a blood hunter who excels in martial combat but also uses his own health to fuel the spells he casts has evolved into a whole standalone class. Blood hunters were updated in 2020 and then again in 2022 when many of the kinks in their mechanics were worked out and nowadays this class can be a great and innovative addition to any DnD 5e campaign.
If you want to try building your own blood hunter in DnD 5e, I’m here to help you. So let’s get started!
How to Create a Blood Hunter in DnD 5e
Let’s first look at the ability score lineup you need to create in order to make the best blood hunter you can. I would suggest putting either Strength or Dexterity as your top ability score, depending on whether you prefer to use melee weapons or focus on finesse ones. Consider both options before you decide on one since they both have their advantages as well as disadvantages and the choice you make will mostly depend on your preferred playstyle.
The score that would be second on my list is Intelligence since this ability is vital for the blood magic of this class. Constitution is also a valid choice for the second-highest ability score since it will make your character a bit more durable if you plan to focus on closed-quarters combat. Lastly, Charisma and Wisdom are great choices for dump stats.
Now let’s go over the races that fit this class. If you want to go for a standard race route, I would suggest picking a hill dwarf because of the Dwarven Toughness trait they possess. This feature increases their hit points by one every time they level up. This can come in handy when you are sacrificing your health to cast blood curses. Another good option would be a half orc since they also have a trait that increases their durability – Relentless Endurance which helps you not drop to 0 hit points once per long rest. This feature might be helpful when you are low on hit points, but desperately need to extend a few in order to cast a hemocraft spell. Also, if you’re going for a Strength build, my advice is to go for a goliath. They come with a class feature of Stone’s Endurance which lets you decrease a significant amount of damage you are dealt once per rest, which will make you less frail in combat. Also, they get a boost to Strength and Constitution too.
If you’re interested in more non-standard race options, maybe you should consider an aarakocra for the ability to fly or an air genasi. For Dexterity builds, I would suggest checking out a high elf or a stout halfling.
Class Features of a Blood Hunter
Before we go into the class-specific features of blood hunters, let’s go over some general information. This class gets a 1d10 hit die per blood hunter level and is proficient in light and medium armor, as well as shields, and simple and martial weapons. You are also profficient in alchemist’s supplies which you get as starting equipment along with an explorer’s pack.
One very interesting feature that is specific for blood hunters is called a Hemocraft die. You can use this die (the value of which increases as you level up) to deal additional damage to an enemy or the damage you inflict on yourself in order to perform certain abilities – more on that a bit later.
Let’s get into the bread and butter of the class now. In order to become a blood hunter, a person needs to undergo a ritual called the Hunter’s Bane which alters your blood and makes your senses attuned to the evil forces of the world. This gives you a few abilities that you are able to use from the 1st level – you have advantages on Wisdom checks when you’re tracking certain creatures like fey or undead and on Intelligence checks if you want to remember information about those creatures as well. Also, and more importantly, this ritual gives you the ability to control blood magic and use your own life force to fuel it.
The second feature you get when you create your character is Blood Maledict which gives you the opportunity to sacrifice your life essence (hit points) in order to cast blood curses on your enemies. In the beginning, you know one curse of your choice, but you can learn more at the 6th, 10th, 14th, and 18th levels. Once you use this feature, you have to complete a rest to be able to do it again. As you level up, you can use Blood Maledict more frequently.
You might ask yourself now – what are the blood curses and can they do anything I want? Can I make someone’s blood boil inside their body or curse them to cluck like a chicken every time they try to speak? Well, not exactly, you have to choose between the offered curses which let you inflict anxiety on a creature, make their body swell, bind or mark them, etc. Once you choose your Order, you get a few additional subclass-specific options too.
Similarly to other martial classes, blood hunters can choose their fighting style when they reach the 2nd level. Also, if you want to boost your attacks with the power of the elements, you can start doing that from this level too. Imagine shooting an arrow infused with fire damage, or cutting an enemy with a frozen blade, sounds super cool, right? Well, there is also a little bit of a catch. In order to add some elemental damage, you also need to make a sacrifice by taking necrotic damage equal to one roll of your hemocraft die.
At the 3rd level, you get to choose your subclass or Blood Hunter Order and the philosophy that will guide you through life. You can choose between the Order of the Ghostslayer, the Order of the Lycan, the Order of the Mutant, and the Order of the Profane Soul. All of these subclasses will give your character new features at certain levels.
Like with all the other classes, this one also gets the first Ability Score Improvement at the 4th level, and then again at the 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th levels. At these levels, you can improve one ability score by +2, or two abilities by +1, with the maximum being 20. You can also choose to take a feat instead of improving your abilities at these levels.
From the 5th level on, your character can attack twice during their turn, and from the 6th you get the feature Brand of Castigation which gives you the ability to brand a creature you strike with a weapon. This can come in handy because you’ll know the direction the creature’s in which helps with tracking, and you can also deal some psychic damage to it if it’s super close (within 5ft).
Starting at the 9th level you get an advantage when doing History checks on places or items touched by evil. When your character reaches the 10th level, they will get more resilient, and faster and will get bonuses to the Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution saving throws.
Staying on brand (pun intended), you also get another feature at the 13th level called Brand of Tethering that basically amplifies the psychic damage inflicted by the Brand of Castigation. Also, if the branded creature tries to dash or teleport away it will take a great deal of damage (4d6).
If somebody wants to charm or frighten you and you’re at the 14th level or higher, well then close, but no cigar – you’re immune to it. Isn’t that nifty?
You get the last, but not least class feature, Sanguine Mastery, at the 20th level. At this point, you get the ability to lower the sacrifice that’s needed to perform your blood magic by rerolling the die once and using either roll. This can save you some much-needed hit points and make you a bit more durable. An additional perk of this feature is that every time you score a critical hit you regain one use of the Blood Maledict feature.
Customization Options
I feel like this class can inspire you to make a really kick-ass backstory and truly immerse yourself in the character through some Oscar-worthy roleplay. Okay, that might be a bit too far, but hear me out.
When you decide to play a blood hunter, you need to figure out why he committed himself to the life of hunting evil forces of the world and why is he willing to sacrifice his own life force to do it. Maybe your character failed to save their loved ones from creatures who ravaged their city and now they’ve dedicated their life to saving other innocents’ lives. You can play them as a silent, brooding character with a tortured past who commits morally grey actions in order to achieve good in the world. Or you can actually do the totally opposite route, and play a happy-go-lucky character who hides his traumatic past behind his smile. If you’re really not sure what to do, watch The Last Witch Hunter and use Vin Diesel’s character as inspo, I mean, Matt Mercer already did, so why couldn’t you?
If you still want to tweak a few things, you can forgo the ability score improvements and choose feats that will upgrade your character’s abilities and make the game more fun to you, or even try your hand at multiclassing.
Your Role in a Standard DnD Party
Now that we’ve gone over all the general information about this class and you got the tips on how to create your character, I want to complete this guide by giving you some tips on which roles a blood hunter should play in a standard DnD 5e party. This is going to depend on which other members comprise a party too because you might be expected to step into a role that isn’t filled out yet, so keep that in mind when creating your character.
I believe that the best role for blood hunters would be a hit-and-run kind of character. This class is not best suited for tanking since you will most likely use up your hit points to fuel your blood curses, so leave the frontline combat to barbarians or paladins. Since your movement speed will increase at one point, you can strike and dash to dodge enemies’ attacks or even choose the archery fight style and deal damage from the distance.
