Critical Role
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.
You must have an Intelligence score of 13 or higher and a Strength or Dexterity score of 13 or higher in order to multiclass in or out of this class.
Beginning 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 ability checks to recall information about them.
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 Intelligence modifier.
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.
Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action.
At 6th level, whenever you damage a creature with your Crimson Rite feature, you can choose to sear an arcane brand of hemocraft magic into it (requires no action). You always know the direction to the branded creature, and each time the branded creature deals damage to you or a creature you can see within 5 feet of you, the branded creature suffers psychic damage equal to your Intelligence
modifier (minimum of 1 damage).
Your brand lasts until you dismiss it, or you apply a brand to another creature. Your brand counts as a spell for the purposes of dispel magic, and the spell level is equal to half of your blood hunter level (maximum of 9th level spell).
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
When you reach 9th level, you have a supernatural talent for discerning the history surrounding mysterious objects or places touched by evil. When making an Intelligence (History) check to recall information about a darker past surrounding an object you are touching, or a location you are present in, you have advantage on the roll. The information gleaned often leans towards the more sinister influences of the past, and sometimes conveys visions of things previously unknown to the character on higher rolls.
Starting at 13th level, the psychic damage from your Brand of Castigation feature increases to twice your Intelligence modifier (minimum of 2). In addition, a branded creature can’t take the Dash action, and if a creature branded by you attempts to teleport or leave their current plane via ability, spell, or portal, they take 4d6 psychic damage and must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, the teleport or plane shift fails.
When you reach 14th level, you have advantage on saving throws against being charmed and frightened.
At 1st level, you gain the ability to channel, and sometimes sacrifice, a part of your vital essence to curse and manipulate creatures through hemocraft magic. You gain one Blood Curse of your choice. You learn one additional blood curse of your choice, and you can choose one of the blood curses you know and replace it with another blood curse, at 6th, 10th, 14th, and 18th level.
When you use your Blood Maledict, you choose which curse to invoke. While invoking a blood curse, but before it affects the target, you can choose to amplify the curse by losing a number of hit points equal to one roll of your hemocraft die, as shown in the Hemocraft Die column of the Blood Hunter table. An amplified curse gains an additional effect, noted in the curse’s description. Creatures that do not have blood in their bodies are immune to blood curses, unless you have amplified the curse.
You can use this feature once. Beginning at 6th level, you can use your Blood Maledict feature twice, at 13th level you can use it three times between rests, and at 17th level, you can use it four times between rests. You regain all expended uses when you finish a short or long rest.
At 2nd level, you learn to invoke a rite of hemocraft within your weapon at the cost of your own vitality. Choose one rite from the Primal Rites list below to learn.
As a bonus action, you activate a crimson rite on a single weapon with the elemental energy of a known rite of your choice that lasts until you finish a short or long rest, or if you aren’t holding the weapon at the end of your turn. When you activate a rite, you lose a number of hit points equal to one roll of your hemocraft die, as shown in the Hemocraft Die column of the Blood Hunter table.
While active, attacks from this weapon deal an additional 1d4 damage of the chosen rite’s type. This damage is magical, and increases as you gain levels as a blood hunter, as shown in the Hemocraft Die column of the Blood Hunter table. A weapon can only hold a single active rite at a time.
You learn an additional Primal Rite of your choice at 7th level, and choose an Esoteric Rite to learn at 14th level.
Upon reaching 10th level, arcane blood magic suffuses your body, permanently reinforcing your resilience. Your speed increases by 5 feet, and whenever you make a Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution saving throw, you gain a bonus to the saving throw equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of one).
Upon becoming 20th level, you honed your control over blood magic, mitigating your sacrifice and empowering your capability. Once per turn, whenever a blood hunter feature requires you to roll a hemocraft die, you can choose to reroll the die and choose which result to use.
In addition, whenever you score a critical hit with a weapon attack empowered by your Crimson Rite, you regain one expended use of your Blood Maledict feature.
As a bonus action, you magnify the adrenaline in the body of a creature within 30 feet of you, making them susceptible to forceful influence. Until the end of your next turn, all creatures have advantage on Charisma (Intimidation) checks directed at the target creature.
Amplify. The next Wisdom saving throw the target has to make before this curse ends has disadvantage. Once you’ve amplified this blood curse, you must finish a long rest before you can amplify it again.
As a bonus action, you can attempt to bind a creature you can see within 30 feet of you that is no more than one size larger than you. The target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or have their speed be reduced to 0 and they can’t use reactions until the end of your next turn.
Amplify. This curse lasts for 1 minute and can affect a creature regardless of their size category. At the end of each of its turns, the cursed creature can make another Strength saving throw. On a success, this curse ends.
When a creature you can see within 30 feet of you makes an attack roll, 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 roll succeeds. The creature is immune if it is immune to blindness.
Amplify. You apply this curse to all of the creature’s attack rolls until the end of the turn. You roll a new hemocraft die for each affected attack.
Prerequisite: 18th level, Order of the Lycan
As an action, you unleash a blood-curdling 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 they fail their saving throw by 5 or more, they are stunned while frightened in this way. A creature that succeeds on this 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 this howl.
Amplify. The range of this curse increases to 60 feet.
As a bonus action, you can mark a creature within 30 feet of you. Until the end of your turn, whenever you deal rite damage to the target, you deal an additional hemocraft die of rite damage.
Amplify. The next attack roll you make against the target before the end of your turn has advantage.
As a bonus action, you curse a creature that you can see within 30 feet of you that is concentrating on a spell. That creature has disadvantage on the next Constitution saving throw it must make 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 of spells until the end of your next turn.
As a bonus action, you curse a creature that you can see within 30 feet of you to painfully swell until the end of your next turn. For the duration of this curse, the creature has disadvantage on Strength and Dexterity ability checks, and suffers 1d8 necrotic damage if it makes more than one melee or ranged attack during its turn.
Amplify. This curse lasts for 1 minute. At the end of each of its turns, the cursed creature can make a Constitution saving throw. On a success, this curse ends.
Prerequisite: 15th level, Order of the Mutant
As a bonus action, a creature within 30 feet of you must make a Constitution saving throw or become poisoned. At the end of each of its turns, the target can make another Constitution saving throw. On a success, the curse ends.
Amplify. The cursed creature suffers 4d6 necrotic damage, and suffers this damage again every time it fails its Constitution saving throw to end this curse at the end of its turn.
When a creature you can see within 30 feet is hit with an attack or spell, you can use your reaction to temporarily weaken their resilience against it. Until the end of the turn, the target loses their resistance to the damage types of the triggering attack or spell.
Amplify. The target instead loses invulnerability to the damage types of the triggering attack or spell, having resistance to them until the end of the turn.
When a creature you can see within 30 feet drops to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to make that creature immediately make a single weapon attack against a target of your choice within its attack range.
Amplify. You can first move the cursed creature up to half their speed, and you grant a bonus to the cursed creature’s attack roll equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of 1).
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 usher their soul to your patron in exchange for power. Until the end of your next turn, your weapon attacks have advantage.
Amplify. In addition, 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.
Level | Proficiency Bonus | Features | Hemocraft Die | Blood Curses Known |
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | +2 | Hunter's Bane, Blood Maledict | 1d4 | 1 |
2nd | +2 | Fighting Style, Crimson Rite | 1d4 | 1 |
3rd | +2 | Blood Hunter Order | 1d4 | 1 |
4th | +2 | Ability Score Improvement | 1d4 | 1 |
5th | +3 | Extra Attack | 1d6 | 1 |
6th | +3 | Brand of Castigation, Blood Maledict (2/rest) | 1d6 | 2 |
7th | +3 | Order Feature, Primal Rite | 1d6 | 2 |
8th | +3 | Ability Score Improvement | 1d6 | 2 |
9th | +4 | Grim Psychometry | 1d6 | 2 |
10th | +4 | Dark Augmentation | 1d6 | 3 |
11th | +4 | Order Feature | 1d8 | 3 |
12th | +4 | Ability Score Improvement | 1d8 | 3 |
13th | +5 | Brand of Tethering, Blood Maledict (3/rest) | 1d8 | 3 |
14th | +5 | Hardened Soul, Esoteric Rite | 1d8 | 4 |
15th | +5 | Order Feature | 1d8 | 4 |
16th | +5 | Ability Score Improvemnt | 1d8 | 4 |
17th | +6 | Blood Maledict (4/rest) | 1d10 | 4 |
18th | +6 | Order Feature | 1d10 | 5 |
19th | +6 | Ability Score Improvement | 1d10 | 5 |
20th | +6 | Sanguine Mastery | 1d10 | 5 |