Recently updated on January 2nd, 2023 at 10:56 pm
Do you want to hunt monsters and banish evil from the world? If so, you might want to consider playing a Blood Hunter! In our DnD 5E Blood Hunter guide, we’ll discuss what the Blood Hunter class is, how to build a blood hunter and more. So, whether you’re new to the game or a good D&D player looking for information on the Blood Hunter class, you’ve come to the right place.
What are Blood Hunters?
If you’re interested in playing a blood hunter, there are a few things you should know about the class. First, let’s discuss what blood hunters are. Blood hunters are the monsters who hunt monsters, these masters of hemocraft sacrifice themselves to banish evil from this world. They use their own blood as well as that of their enemies to fuel their spells and abilities. This makes them both incredibly powerful and dangerous.
Blood Hunter class features
This wouldn’t be a true DnD 5E Blood Hunter guide if we didn’t talk about class features. So, let’s talk about some of the features of the Blood Hunter class. Blood hunters have access to two fighting styles: crossbow expert and great weapon fighting. They also have an ability called “blood maledict” which allows them to curse their enemies
Blood Hunter fighting style
As a part of the DnD 5E Blood Hunter guide, let’s talk about fighting style. The Blood Hunter’s fighting style is a big part of what makes them so dangerous. They have the ability to use their own blood as a weapon, and this gives them a lot of power.
Crossbow expert
The first fighting style is crossbow expert. This allows the Blood Hunter to make two attacks with their crossbow instead of one. This is a great option for ranged martial weapon-wielding Blood Hunters who want to deal a lot of damage quickly.
Great weapon fighting
The second fighting style is great weapon fighting. This allows the Blood Hunter to reroll any failed attack rolls with their weapons. This is a great option for Blood Hunters who want to get up close and personal with their enemies.
Blood maledict
The blood maledict is a great option for Blood Hunters who want to curse their enemies. The blood maledict can make a creature cursed for a number of rounds, and this can be very helpful in combat.
Hemocraft
Hemocraft is the Blood Hunter’s ability to use their own blood as a weapon. This gives the Blood Hunter a lot of power, but it comes at a cost. The Blood Hunter takes damage when they use this ability, and it can only be used once per day.
Blood hunting
Blood hunting is the Blood Hunter’s ability to track down and kill supernatural creatures. This is a great ability for Blood Hunters who want to hunt down vampires or werewolves.
So there you have it! That is everything you need to know about the Blood Hunter fighting style.
Blood hunter ability scores
How could this be a competent DnD 5E Blood Hunter guide if we didn’t talk ability scores? The Blood Hunter class requires a few specific ability scores in order to function properly.
- Constitution: A high constitution is important for the Blood Hunter, as they will be taking a lot of damage.
- Strength: Strength is important for the Blood Hunter, as they need to be able to deal damage to their enemies.
- Wisdom: Wisdom is important for the Blood Hunter, as it allows them to better track down and kill supernatural creatures.
So there you have it! Those are the three main ability scores that you need to focus on if you want to play a Blood Hunter.
Best Blood Hunter races
Next up on the DnD 5E Blood Hunter guide is identifying the best races to choose for your Blood Hunter. Blood hunters were built in a way that leaves them wanting for ability points. Because of that, for players who have a min/max playstyle, it’s important to choose a meaningful race when playing a Blood Hunter.
There are a few different races that work well for the Blood Hunter class. Some of the best include:
- Elf Blood Hunter – Elves have a +02 to their Dexterity, which is important for the Blood Hunter. They also have keen senses, which can be helpful when tracking down creatures.
- Halfling Blood Hunter – Halflings have a +02 to their Dexterity, which is important for the Blood Hunter. They also have Lucky, which can come in handy when you’re in a tight spot.
- Human Blood Hunter – Humans are always a solid choice for any class, and the same is true for the Blood Hunter. Humans have +01 to all of their ability scores, which can be helpful for covering up some of the Blood Hunter’s weaknesses.
- Genasi Blood Hunter – Genasi make for interesting Blood Hunters, as they have a +02 to their Constitution. They also have one of the four elements coursing through their veins, which can give them an edge in battle.
- Aasimar Blood Hunter – Aasimars have +02 to their Charisma and are celestial beings, which makes them ideal for the role of a Blood Hunter. Their radiant souls can help to drive back the forces of darkness.
- Tiefling Blood Hunter – Tieflings make great Blood Hunters due to their +02 bonus to Intelligence. Tieflings also have Infernal Legacy, which gives them resistance to fire damage. Plus, they know the languages Common and Infernal. If you’ve read our guide on the best languages to know in DnD 5E, you’ll know that that’s helpful.
Blood Hunter orders
Our DnD 5E Blood Hunter guide also covers what’s known as Blood Hunter orders. Once your Blood Hunter has reached 3rd level, they must choose an order to join. There are four orders to choose from:
- The Order of the Ghost Slayer
- The Order of the Profane Soul
- The Order of the Empty Vessel
- The Order of the Ardent Blade
Here’s what makes each of the Blood Hunter orders unique:
The Order of the Ghost Slayer
The Order of the Ghost Slayer is an order that focuses on destroying undead. Their signature ability is called “Slayer’s Counter”, which allows them to temporarily turn into an undead themselves in order to fight other undead. And it’s a good thing it’s temporary, because we all know how tricky it can be to heal undead in DnD 5E.
The Order of the Profane Soul
The Order of the Profane Soul is an order that deals with demonic forces. They have the ability to “Mark of Blood”, which allows them to mark a target and deal extra damage to them.
The Order of the Empty Vessel
The Order of the Empty Vessel is an order that focuses on using their own blood as a weapon. They have the ability to “Blood Maledict”, which curses an enemy and deals damage to them over time.
The Order of the Ardent Blade
The Order of the Ardent Blade is an order that focuses on using their blood to empower their weapons. They have the ability to “Blade Pact”, which allows them to temporarily increase their damage output.
Blood curses
Our DnD 5E Blood Hunter guide also covers the infamous blood curses.
Now, there are a variety of blood curses that provide additional benefits to your character. We’ve broken them into best, decent, and worst:
Best Blood Curses 5E
- Blood Curse of Binding
- What it does: Using a bonus action, you attempt to bind a Large or smaller creature you can see within 30 feet (must succeed on a Strength saving throw). Upon failure:
- 1. The cursed creature’s speed = 0
- 2. No reactions can be used until the end of your next turn.
- With Amplify: The curse lasts for a full minute and can affect any creature, regardless of its size. (Note: the creature can attempt to break the curse at the end of each of its turns; upon success, the curse is broken).
- Why it’s one of the best: This is slightly broken. You essentially can use a bonus action to attempt to bind a creature from distance. With Amplify, you ignore size. This is extremely useful against the squishier, high damage-output enemies that have lower strength scores on average. It also is a huge counter to flying enemies.
- What it does: Using a bonus action, you attempt to bind a Large or smaller creature you can see within 30 feet (must succeed on a Strength saving throw). Upon failure:
- Blood Curse of Corrosion
- What it does: Using a bonus action, you poison a creature within 30 feet of you. This cursed creature can make a Constitution saving throw to break the curse at the end of each of its turns.
- With Amplify: The creature takes 4d6 necrotic damage when the curse is inflicted, as well as on every failed attempt to break the curse.
- Why it’s one of the best: Guaranteed damage is always solid. With the Blood Curse of Corrosion, there is no attempt to inflict the curse. Plus, with Amplify, 4d6 is solid (especially at lower levels). Plus, if you’re fighting a squishy, high damage opponent, there’s a higher chance they’re unable to break the curse.
- Blood Curse of the Exorcist
- What it does: Using a bonus action, you allow a creature within 30 feet of you to no longer be charmed, frightened, or under a possession effect.
- With Amplify: Not only is the creature no longer under the effect mentioned above, but the creature that caused the effect takes 3d6 psychic damage and must make a Wisdom saving throw or be stunned until the end of your next turn.
- Why it’s one of the best: It’s difficult to navigate a fight when your party members are worrying about being charmed, frightened, and so on. Having a character that can not only negate that, but punish whoever’s inflicting that, is a great asset.
- Blood Curse of the Howl
- What it does: Using a full action, you unleash a bloodcurdling howl that forces every creature within 30 feet of you to make a Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of you until the end of your next turn. *If a creature fails this save more than 4 times, it becomes stunned as well. A creature that succeeds on the save is immune to the Blood Curse of the Howl for the next 24 hours.
- With Amplify: The range of Blood Curse of the Howl extends another 30 feet (60 feet in total from your character)
- Why it’s one of the best: The primary reason this is such a solid option is because of the fact that there is no limit to the number of creatures affected by the howl, and you can choose any number of creatures to not be affected. Fighting frightened creatures gives you a unique advantage in battle as well.
- Blood Curse of the Soul Eater
- What it does: Using your reaction, when a creature (not a construct or undead) is reduced to 0 hit points within 30 feet of you, offer their life energy to your patron to power your attacks. Until the end of your next turn:
- The attacks you make have advantage
- You have resistance to all damage
- With Amplify: You gain an expended warlock spell slot back. After Amplify is used, you can not Amplify again until you finish a long rest.
- Why it’s one of the best: This is such a powerful blood curse because 1) You can use it with a reaction 2) It offers benefits to your attack and damage resistance
- What it does: Using your reaction, when a creature (not a construct or undead) is reduced to 0 hit points within 30 feet of you, offer their life energy to your patron to power your attacks. Until the end of your next turn:
Decent Blood Curses in 5E
- Blood Curse of the Anxious
- What it does: Gives you advantage on every Charisma check made against the cursed creature until the end of your next turn.
- With Amplify: The creature’s next Wisdom saving throw is made with disadvantage.
- Why it’s decent: A very solid option, but slightly situational. Just advantage on Charisma is good for spellcasters using spells that require a Charisma save. If you don’t have any (or many of those), this may not be the best option.
- Blood Curse of Bloated Agony
- What it does: Using a bonus action, you cause a creature within 30 feet of you to swell. Until the end of your next turn:
- The cursed creature has disadvantage on Strength and Dexterity checks
- The cursed creature takes 1d8 necrotic damage if it takes more than 1 attack on its turn
- With Amplify: The curse lasts 1 minute. The creature is able to make Constitution saving throws at the end of its turn. Upon success, the curse is broken.
- Why it’s decent: This is also situational. If you’re planning on inflicting spells or attacks that will force Strength or Dexterity checks, this is a good option. If the creature’s Constitution is high enough, though, the curse could end quickly. Amplify would be more viable against squishier characters.
- What it does: Using a bonus action, you cause a creature within 30 feet of you to swell. Until the end of your next turn:
- Blood Curse of the Eyeless
- What it does: Using a reaction, when you see a creature within 30 feet of you make an attack, you can roll 1 hemocraft die and subtract that number from the cursed creature’s damage (attack roll).
- With Amplify: This curse is applied to every attack made by the creature, until the end of the creature’s turn. Separate rolls are made for every attack.
- Why it’s decent: This is a decent option because:
- You can use a reaction to inflict the spell
- It’s ideal when your team is about to go down, as it can limit the amount of damage a creature does
- It’s more useful at lower levels and doesn’t last very long
- Blood Curse of the Fallen Puppet
- What it does: Using a reaction, when you see a creature within 30 feet of you drop to 0 hit points, instill the creature with the ability to immediately make 1 weapon attack against a target of your choice within the attacking creature’s range.
- With Amplify: The cursed creature can first move up to half of its movement speed. You also give a bonus to the attack roll that equals your Hemocraft modified (+1 minimum)
- Why it’s decent: This curse can be inflicted with just a reaction, and some additional damage is great. This can also allow for some very interesting role play scenarios.
Worst Blood Hunter Blood Curses in 5E
- Blood Curse of Exposure
- What it does: Using a reaction, when you see a creature within 30 feet of you take damage (from either an attack or a spell), remove that creature’s resistance to all damage types dealt by the triggering attack or spell.
- With Amplify: The cursed creature has resistance to the damage types above, but loses invulnerability to those damage types until the end of its next turn.
- Why it’s one of the worst: This Blood Curse is highly situational. If your party is limited to few damage types, this could be a great choice. Most parties, however, have some variation, making this a non-useful Blood Curse at best.
- Blood Curse of the Marked
- What it does: Using a bonus action, curse a creature you can see within 30 feet of you. Until the end of your current turn, when you hit the creature with an active crimson rite weapon, add a hemocraft die to the damage.
- With Amplify: Your next attack roll is made with advantage.
- Why it’s one of the worst: This is really only useful when you already have Advantage on your attack, which means the Amplify feature isn’t useful. The extra damage could be nice, though.
- Blood Curse of the Muddled Mind
- What it does: Using a bonus action, place a curse on a creature that is currently concentrating on a spell (or using some feature that requires the creature’s concentration), within 30 feet of you. When cursed, this creature will have disadvantage on their next Constitution saving throw it makes to maintain concentration on the spell or feature that is up (before the end of your next turn).
- With Amplify: Instead of the next Constitution saving throw, the cursed creature has disadvantage on all saving throws made to maintain concentration until the end of your next turn.
- Why it’s one of the worst: Highly situational. If you know your campaign will be heavily focused on fighting spell casters that use concentration spells, this could be an option to consider. Aside from that, there are other, better options.
Blood Hunter feats
This DnD 5E Blood Hunter guide also covers feats. While leveling up, here are the specific feats that benefit a Blood Hunter:
- Heavy Armor Master: You can wear heavy armor without being penalized for it, and you gain additional damage reduction while wearing heavy armor.
- Sentinel: You gain the ability to “mark” an enemy, giving you and your allies bonus damage against that target.
- Toughness: You gain additional hit points.
Multiclassing as a Blood Hunter
Last up on the DnD 5E Blood Hunter guide, let’s talk about multiclassing. Blood Hunters can multiclass with other classes that use Constitution as their primary attribute, such as barbarians or paladins. They also work well with classes that focus on dealing extra damage to specific types of enemies, such as rogues (with the Assassin archetype) or rangers (with the Hunter archetype).
Conclusion
And that’s our DnD 5E Blood Hunter guide! We’re confident it contains everything you need to know about the Blood Hunter class in DnD. Now that you have a thorough understanding of the class, click here for some guidance on how to write a DnD character backstory.
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