Errata (maybe?) - A lot of people are commenting about still needing a 13 Int to multiclass Blood Hunter, despite the fact that we can use Wisdom instead of Intelligence for other things. I personally believe that this is a result of dndbeyond coding and that the intent is for a 13 Wis to qualify for multiclassing, but I could be wrong! Be sure to check with your DM (as always) :).
I've ran into this exact issue after choosing Wis for my BH. After letting my DMs know, they were cool with me removing multiclass requirements in D&D Beyond in the "Character Preferences" section of the Character Builder. We try to build charcters for each others games that are 1) Available on D&D Beyond through the books and; 2) Make sense with the kind of game being run. Homebrew items are rarely if ever class related, and is narrowed to magic item design mostly
I spoke with them and this is their response. Hi there Sergiobii2,
The Variant Hemocraft Ability Score specifically states "you can choose to instead use your Wisdom modifier for all your blood hunter features that use your Intelligence modifier by default"
The Multiclassing requirements don't use the intelligence modifier, it is an Ability Score requirement. Because of how this is worded, the Wisdom instead of Intelligence is only for the class features where the modifier is used. The Int 13 requirement for multiclassing is still required for all Blood Hunters whether they use the variant rule or not.
If your DM is allowing this, then you can disable Multiclassing requirements under the character preferences, which will allow you to multiclass no matter your ability scores.
Sorce Customer Support Representative D&D Beyond | Wizards of the Coast
See, I asked this question on D&DBeyond before, and the answer I got is that it only changes the primary stat used for your Hemocraft modifier, and that it doesn't change multiclass requirements nor saving throw proficiencies to coincide with your Hemocraft modifier. It didn't feel right to me, but that's what I was told by one of the mods.
@@jacobyullman5005 huh appears you are right. It's str/dex and int of 13... just checked. God that's stupid why is it str/dex when the whole class is designed around wearing medium armor at best thus being dex class
I currently play a Tortle Blood Hunter Order of the Lycan. Everytime he transforms he turns into a giant spiky snapping turtle instead of a werewolf. Its super fun
Wow thats super cool! I tried to come up with a concept for the Lycan that is a bit alternative and not the good old fashioned Werewolf but havent thought of a Tortle yet thats awesome. I hope to be playing a Warforged Lycan soon which will hopefully be a funny surprise for my group.
Regarding Chult Tortle lore that actually really fits, because some Tortles are born angry and are called 'snappers' and they are outcast from society for their violent nature
One of my DM's "force cured" my Lycan through narrative (cult who hunts werewolves captured & cured me, then continued torturing me to reveal the location of my Blood Hunter org. so they could execute us as a group). Jokes on them. I escaped, and 1/2 naked with a dagger, a hand crossbow, and some traps I systematically assassinated half of them (10-12?) before setting their building on fire on the way out. I loved playing out that level of struggle, made for a great game.
My man you basically made Jon Talbain from Darkstalkers. He too feared his bloodlust and learned martial arts to control his mind (and learned how to fire a fire dragon attack called the dragon cannon). I loved that his weapon of choice were nunchucks too.
Your timing and precision is incomprehensible! I’m literally making a Lycan Blood Hunter at this moment for my campaign but was stuck. I’m definitely going with this build. Thanks, Colby!
Thank you for your sponsor plug Colby. I've been eyeing buying myself a lordship for a while, but with your discount and the Black Friday sales. I ended up buying lordships for all of my Groomsmen. It's going to be hilarious when they all open their presents and see they are officially lords.
@@mitchhaelann9215 the first one was buy one get one free, so I got 2 for around 44 USD. But after the first I got a 10$ off code that worked with the D4 discount. Making the following 4 pairs only ~34 USD each.
I really like the concept. It's very fitting for halloween. One thing I'd like to add: Since the update on the blood hunter you can use wis for your blood hunter abilities but the multiclass requirements weren't updated. Technicallly you still need 13 int to multiclass. Maybe with an lenient DM you could change multiclass requirements to 13 dex or str and 13 int or wis. Edit: I see others already said the same about the multiclass thing. Sorry for repeating. I guess most DMs would allow this
The way i balance nova vs sustained is i plot each turn on a 10 turn graph. Then i can overlay those graphs to see how pushed forward the damage is ( which is better) but also see how much it is hurt as it falls off.
A spellcaster that specializes in magic that a General Contractor would love. Move earth, fabricate, stone shaping. I can see would be an artificer, but what if the idea gets cranked to the max. Would this character eventually create the best fortified castle? An inspiration for this build is the Lord title in this video.
Less joking, a martial(ish) small-sized character that gets around not being able to use heavy weapons to still be a strong frontline melee damage dealer is a semi-popular but hard to do well character. Might be a good one.
@@Nikotheos i feel you bro. i do. i too have always wished to be a 3 foot ball of steel. but.. something you kinda have to understand is that being a tumbleweed of doom means we are limited by the strength of the winds.
I haven't even watched the whole video but I'm ready to create one more character sheet to put on top of a giant pile that I'll probably never be able to use because of the speed with which D4 creates these awesome characters. Thanks D4 ! 😊 "Woof", I suppose. )
I think the open hand monk would fit really nicely thematically here. Having the flurry of blows knock them prone/move them 15ft/eat their reaction without a ki investment is killer. Then you could pair it with mobile and maul multiple people in the same turn, which is terrifying
I was just coming to say the same thing. If you’re going to do the sustained damaged build and skip those fighter levels, five or six levels of open hand monk so you can knock your target prone reliably have to be an option worth considering. I haven’t digested all of BH but 6 levels so you get Ki-fuelled strikes seems like a good point. That’s probably enough to flurry every round through most combat situations.
@@eloisepasteur the only problem i have with mixing monk and blood hunter is itll be level 15 almost before you end up really feeling powerful. Their resources take too long to scale or be useful
@@theFunkyThumb I think that depends on your table? From the point you get martial arts, which is level 7 if you don't divert into fighter as well, you're able to get 2 rounds with four attacks per round. From level 8 you get the ability to force a dex save or knock them prone. Honestly, any time after that you can go back to Blood Hunter to get your werewolf abilities to scale faster depending on how many rounds of combat you typically have between short rests. You don't need to go to Monk 6, at Blood Hunter 7 your claws become magical, so it's really a question of how many Ki points you want, and do you want to level enough to get Stunning Strike? I would probably go Blood Hunter-5, Monk-4, then play it by ear after that. Do I need another ki point or the next blood hunter level more urgently? I'd err towards blood hunter levels, but if the fights start to get too long or too frequent I can pick up another Monk level easily enough. That ability to generate prone regularly and trigger elven accuracy is nice and your higher level abilities start to come on line a bit faster than in Colby's build, but there's no nova element.
@@eloisepasteur its totally table dependant, but i was speaking more from a "having your entire toolkit available to you" feeling powerful. Add that on top of most games starting around level 3 you just end up having a long road ahead before you had the abilities with the resources to feel totally online. In most of the games ive been in I'd personally only dip one or the other, mix monk with some druid or fighter, depending if i want raw damage or utility, and mix maybe a 2 level monk dip with the lycan, but i prefer a 2 level wizard dip for ghostslayer.
@@theFunkyThumb I think that's fair. I haven't really thought about what I'd do if I was to completely rebuild this, I was thinking about how I might tweak it, and rather than Way of Mercy Monk (which is one of my perennial favourites) just thinking it called out for the Open Hand so it keeps that "knock them prone, savage them" approach. I might be tempted to dip three levels of trickery domain cleric. Flavour my channel divinity as a howl and summon a wolf to fight alongside me! Generate advantage that way... but there are lots of other ways to go.
Really cool to see you dipping into non-official content! Maybe future videos could include some of the most popular home-brew classes on dnd beyond? I'd love to see you build Two Goblins in a Trechcoat!
What about a Inteligence focused build? Using the Armorer Artificer you could go full "Jekyll and Hyde" that way. (The medic and the Monster) Or just dip into the Way of the Astral Self Monk and be like a spiritual/possession vibe
I know we can’t build around magic items, but Eldritch Claw Tattoo is only uncommon, and adds a ton with both static features and burst/nova features!! Edit: This is what I get for commenting before I get into the home stretch 😂
Thank you for highlighting all of the secondary benefits of this build! Optimizing around damage benchmarks can be fun, but in gameplay I've found (both as a DM and player) that characters tend to work best when built around doing ENOUGH damage, rather than the MOST damage, which gives them room to shore up defenses so they can keep doing damage. The old MMO adage comes to mind: Dead characters do 0 DPS. (DPR, in this case.)
Just pointing out, there IS one official way to turn immunity into resistance, and that's the capstone of Pyromancer Sorcerer (which your builds can never get to anyway). Granted, it's limited to only fire damage, but it's an option, even if it is unique to Plane Shift: Kaladesh (one of the few official Magic the Gathering books for 5e). But hey, the fact that the newest Blood Hunter can also do this (which I didn't even realize), that really takes it up a notch. I was expecting a Monster Manual Lycanthrope build but I'm okay with this too. Great build Colby!
I'm pretty sure I'll never use hombrew content as a player or DM, but I'll watch any video that you put out that looks interesting. I have two Beast Barbarian builds I'm mulling over now: a Halfling with a Rogue multiclass, and a Shifter Moon Druid. I might not find everything you say usable in my games (this is at the 8:33 mark), but I'm sure that it will be well thought out and mechanically interesting. I know all of these videos take a significant amount of time to plan, shoot and edit, so I can appreciate your trepidation on making a product maybe less people will watch. Good luck!
I am a fresh DM and for the first run through (doing curse of strahd). I have said only core books to make things easier for me and my players as we're all first timers. However, most of the stuff my players are getting really excited about is super out there homebrew stuff because their first characters are quite vanilla. I'm super stoked to help them play those characters and think homebrew is already becoming part of the table. I think it helps people really live out their dream fantasy characters.
At level 2 take archery fighting style. It gives you a great plan b. Also I think it's great flavor. As a young werewolf you are worried about the beast within from taking over so you choose to fight from range at first.
Watch whole video out of the kindness of my heart and commenting to feed the algorithm beast. Keep up the fantastic videos, I look forward to them every week :)
I once played a blood hunter(profane)using a musket, hex and crimson rite. One of the most fun I've ever had. Especially explaining how my musket starts crackling with red electricity. It's actually kinda competitive with even a CBE hand crossbow. Especially after AC 18
Something that might be worth considering a video on: a party that consists of a level 10+ Genie Warlock (probably Dao I'd guess), a Bard with Chef, and overall a bunch of characters who are all highly dependent on short rests. (Catnap might be worthwhile but I don't believe the singing cook could boost the heals when using it lol)
Personally, I actually prefer the Int-based Blood Hunter because it makes for some interesting combinations with Artificer. It gives the character a cool inventor/monster hunter vibe which I think works together quite well. Especially with the Order of the Mutant.
"20% of you will hopefully watch this out of the goodness of your heart (despite your inability to use the character here.)" Me, who absorbs dnd content like a sponge, creating in depth characters with thick backstories at a pace akin to a Forever DM, despite having yet to play a game: I like your funny words big man, but I have never seen one outlast COMMITMENT. As I have a Guild Master Alchemist (Order of the Mutant BH) Water Genasi, I'm curious how you would use the subclass in a build. Obviously I have a preconceived image for my story driven character, but Mutant is such an odd but potentially rather useful subclass I struggle to imagine the cutting edge of efficiency for it. Would I prefer a Wisdom BH build if you did it? Yes, it makes working it into some of my characters much more straightforward. But I would be happy all the same by knowing the style of and how you maxed with the Int version to be able to warp it around into a Wis variant anyway. The real question is would you double down on a specific bundle of concoctions, or lean heavily into the versatility of the verisimilitudes of brews?
I was really shocked when he said that his first blood hunter build didn't do well it's an amazing character concept that i based my current character on (after some tweeks to fit the esthetics I had in mind) and I have been having a blast with it
It's not that well balanced and very front loaded, heres a video of the base class (treantmonk is even in the comments), there are videos of the subclasses ua-cam.com/video/mJlRk0uiD2s/v-deo.html
Trying a home brew rule for spell casters. They have no spell slots, no mana points, etc. To cast a spell each time they have to do a skill check of DC 10 +2 per spell level being cast. If they succeed, the spell goes off, if it fails, it doesnt. To make it spicy, if they make their roll by +5 they can add to the effect (usually an extra damage or healing die, etc). if they roll a nat 20, they get maximum effects. Conversely, if they miss by 5 the spell fails and they take 1D6 damage per spell level, if they crit fail, the spell targets the caster to full effects. I have also opened up meta magic to all casters, each cost +2 to spell check (+1 for sorcerors). Just started but seems okay and not overpowering. Ill have to run it for a while to see if it works over the longer haul.
Omg! Thank you for doing this build. I had mentioned in one of your previous videos how cool it would be to do a wisdom based BH. You have given me a new character concept to play!!!
As promised.... after watching the build, I am quite pleased with the build. I will say after the short multiclass dips for both monk and fighter, I was a little concerned about its route. But I did love your thematic reasons you gave for it, really provides good rp/character development opportunities. The concern came from thinking there was a fair amount of benefits from going more lvls in either, which you yourself did mention would be a viable option. But after you went further with BH (which I haven't fully dived into the mechanics of the class) it seems like the build progresses in quite a positive way with the mid tier BH abilities. Overall, as a lover of the supernatural (and Werewolves especially), I am quite pleased with "The Werewolf" build. Well done sir
if it says in the lycan that you can treat an unarmed strike as one weapon, i could see the argument that dueling applies to it? there is no requirement that your unarmed strike is made with both hands, so you could say that you are “wielding it” in one hand with no other weapons. the biggest issue remaining is the weirdness of the word wielding there but i could be convinced it applies
This plus the PsiClaw video inspired me to take my current lycan to level 5 and then multiclass into path of the beast barbarian to get the four claw attacks that way, plus reckless advantage! Thank you for the inspiration, i thought about this before but thought beast barbs also used the bonus action for the extra claw attack. im really excited to try it out (Hes also a 1'1" tall rat who turns into a 5' tall werewolf when he transforms. not important, just really love that part)
I made a man-ti from the sunken isles material reflavored as a triton that was an order of the lycan bloodhunter. Flavorwise he was a triton that was cursed by the spirit of a mantis shrimp to become the dreaded wereshrimp. Was a lot of fun.
Great video like always! I've been playing a werewolf (V.Human Straight level 14 Lycan Bloodhunter) in the campaign I'm in since early 2022 and I can 100% say that the subclass is well worth it and I got advice for anyone who knows someone whose playing a Lycan Bloodhunter or going to be playing a lycan bloodhunter themselves. It is important to treat the Lycan like a fighter rather than a Paladin / Barbarian cause speaking from first-hand experience, you can lose hp fast if you're planning on being the main frontline. So if you have a paladin, bard or cleric. They'll be your best friend, especially the paladin. •Give Bless the one who's playing the lycan to aid in those bloodlust saves. •If you have a paladin, use the range of your aura to always keep someone else closer to the Lycan, when you get your aura it has a range of 10 ft. Some enemies you can flank with it and still benefit your friend. Or if you know you're going to have a Lycan. Use a weapon with the reach property. Bloodlust is only an issue when you're the closest one to the lycan so being able to have someone else be closer to the lycan and still be able to attack is a huge boon. •If your bard gives you, the lycan, a bard die. Keep it until you make your bloodlust save.
I'm drafting up a backup character that's a little old elderly gnomish woman who is a Artificer/Profane Soul that's going crossbow expert/sharpshooter. She seems sweet like she'd bake you cookies but in the dark she does blood rites, steeling herself against the day she puts a stop to the evil cult that killed her husband of 300 years. Love to see the blood hunter content! Thank you Colby!!!
My answer to why I play is, "to have fun." But balance and fairness are key to having fun. If a player is left behind by the others, or if one player outshines the others, that's a lot harder to have fun in than a game where all the players feel equally powerful and able to affect the game.
Had a buddy who got to play a Blood Hunter / Fighter at our table once and at high levels he was going full Glorious Chainsaw Method on baddies and it was awesome. I think throwing a werewolf spin on this is super fun and flavorful. Glad you enjoyed putting this together! Badger Cory until he lets you play it in a one-shot!
speaking of immunity to resistance, there was a pyro sorcerer in the plane shift kaladesh suppliment, part of the early what would 5e in mtg worlds look like experimental content. not official but hte pyro had a high level ability that let them treat immunity as resistance and otherwise ignore resistance
For a MAD variation on this build, (More Saberwulf less Talbain) consider choosing to start as a Wildhunt Shifter to prevent anything from attacking you with advantage for a full minute. Pump Str, Con, and Wis, dump everything else. Grab the Great Weapon fighting style, a greataxe and Curse of the Marked to double up your lightning damage. Paired with Reckless Attack from Barbarian, you have a sustainable method of both gaining and denying advantage in melee combat while enjoying the need to never wear armor. Combine the Investigator background with the Observant feat (passive perception/investigation 20+ ftw!) and pick up the Blind Fighting style, for 10ft of blind sight so that nothing within melee distance can hide from you. As a bonus you can brew you own potions and alchemical substances for a variety of support options in and out of combat. Later grab Great Weapon Master for a damage bump. If taking Monk levels, snag 3 levels and take kensai to make your greataxe into a monk weapon. One thing to keep in mind is that Blood Hunter does not take well to multi-classing, as the best features are class level rather than character level dependent. I've noticed a very stark lack of backgrounds on the initial setup of each build, which feels odd. Something as simple as training in a poisoner or alchemist kit can have a drastic impact on how you approach combat. There is also a tendency to multiclass so hard that you end up losing out on feats and ability points, which are really valuable when locked into point buy.
Hi Colby! Big fan here! Awesome character concept! I just wanted to say that if your table does not allow a Blood hunter, you can still recreate a good portion of this build by swapping Blood hunter for ranger levels, although I would consider more monk levels to increase the flurry times per day. What do you think of a 3 battlemaster, 5 ranger (hunter or gloom), rest monk? Open hand would give you more chances to shove. These levels can be optimized better, this is just brainstorming.
I think you might have a problem, as far as i can tell, multiclassing blood hunter still requires Int 13 (even if you use the wisdom option). On DnD Beyond and the PDF matt has on DMs Guild, it still lists Str or Dex 13 and Int 13
That would be odd since it states: "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."
@@DnDDeepDive Is multiclassing considered a feature? I dont beleive the update allows you to gain proficiency in Wis saves (replacing int prof) either. Essentially you swap Modifiers where applicable, not scores. In the end it probably doesn't matter, just thought you'd want to know.
It absolutely is. Im playing one with the dual wielder/two weapon fighting set up and two rapiers. Being a dex based damage dealer with a 20AC at level 5 that can several times(more once i get extra attack) has been awesome. Plus with everything doing radiant damage it gets past a lot of resistances and i absolutely nuke anything undead
@@oshermdaddy2058 actually no, i only took the 2 levels in wizard and grabbed the utility spells (find familiar, detect magic, etc) the bloodhunter is kind of like the monk in that it really benefits most from having a ton of levels in it, so thats the plan. And right now i can hit for 3d8+1d4+5 every turn. And in a few more bloodhunter levels i get extra attack and then a second crimson rite meaning i can do that extra hemocraft die on both sword attacks
@@oshermdaddy2058 also, im playing an aasimar with the radiant consumption part. Also grabbed the mobile feat, so right now im a spinning beyblade of radiant death lol.
I personally like Shifter as a race if I want to explore lycanthropy in a game. My DM homebrewed some rules for my Druid who was bitten by a werewolf in one encounter. Every time my Druid wildshaped into a wolf (which was often), I had to make a WIS save or be stuck in hybrid wolf/werewolf form until I succeeded on the saving throw. Also, in combat, any time I rolled a Nat 1 or Nat 20, my Druid would transform into a werewolf from the stress, I would then have to roll a saving throw to revert back. Every successful saving throw to revert back meant my Druid was gaining control over the lycanthropy curse.
My next character is gonna be a blood hunter lycanthrope/bladesinger combo. Talking with my DM about a home brew/flavoring where we basically combine the lycanthropy and bladesong into one ability as a sort of side effect from using the blade singing ability. Very excited to give it a go.
To answer your inquiry, it was "morbid curiosity" that got me to watch this video. My table only allows WotC products that the DM has personally approved of, and in some cases, nerfed. No homebrew, just houserules. Was thinking of playing a shifter beast barbarian. Figured that would let me get something close to a werewolf or werebear. Not surprised that Matt didn't add any of the non-SRD fighting styles. It's the joys of the class not being official D&D content, but rather 3PP. Regarding the scaling, you can thank Reddit for that. Matt Mercer uploaded the blood hunter class and all of its subclasses, and the Cobalt Soul monk subclass, and allowed people to point out all of the issues. Everything was raked over the coals mercilessly. The blood hunter alone has gone through four or five revisions before finally coming to this one. It's thematically fitting that the werewolf has the wolf's trip attack thanks to Battle Master. Speaking of themes, Thriller is a good Halloween song.
perfect timing! I wanted to play a werewolf for an upcoming Halloween one shot and the spore beast just wasn't quite doing it for me. eager to see how this one plays!
If you want an official rulebook style Werewold build, you can go Longtooth Shifter and flavor the shifting as going werewolf mode. Then go into either Beast Barbarian or moon druid. With Beast Barbarian, at lvl 3, if rage and shifting are both active you can do 2 d6 claw attacks and a d8 bite attack. If you go moon druid, then if you shift while in wild shape you can combine the animals main attacks with a bonus action bite attack. Or you can combine both, take enough levels in the one you wsnt the most out of, then take levels in the other. For example, since wildshape isnt a spell, you can rage at the same time and can consider your shifting, rages, and wild shapes as multiple uses of Werewolf mode that you can save up for a long adventure or stack together
thoughts on a monk subclass: 4 elements for the flaming fists to add extra range and damage on your unarmed strikes for the cost of a ki point. Astral Self could provide Range and some better grapple checks(-1 strength to +3 wisdom) and ascendant dragon could be there for fun extra damage shenanigans.
Btw in a tweet Matt Mercer did confirm that unarmed fighting style does not work, because it does say it counts as a weapon. But it also doesn't work with dueling or two weapon fighting either. I would rule it different in my games but that's the intent
I'm currently playing a Blood Hunter in my home game. He's a Beasthide Shifter who becomes a Wereboar. My DM lets me substitute the bludgeoning or slashing damage for piercing damage to symbolize their tusks. Homebrew in general tends to be approved as long as the DM thinks its okay. Either DM, as we do have a couple
How would you optimize a Profane Soul Blood Hunter? Your vid’s have had my gears turning on how to optimize the class. Blood hunter x lvls, bladesinger 2lvls for blade song, maybe 3lvls of artificer (battlesmith?). Maybe start artificer for the con saves? The idea is having a primarily int focused character. what are your thoughts?
Added benefit. If you were in a brutal West Marches campaign where magic items and cash are thin or in a captured scenario, you are probably best off than other characters without their equipment.
Blood Hunter occupies a strange middle ground on DnD Beyond where it will still show up as a potential option even if you refuse all homebrew content. I'd probably put it in a "licensed third-party" category similar to the 3e Dragonlance stuff like the Mystic
Maybe I missed that part of the update to Blood Hunter but wouldn't you need 13 INT to multiclass ? The adjustement is as far as I can tell only affecting you being able to use WIS as a Hemocraft modifier 🤔
I love that the story reason for the monk levels is meditation and self-control, and the mechanical reason is so he can make even more attacks in a wolfy frenzy!
I wish Lycan-Order would allow to apply your rite as a part of the transformation. Because as is you'd need one BA to transform, then one BA to apply your rite and only round 3 onwards you get your full rotation going, which considering most combat encounters only last 3-4 rounds feels very slow. This of course doesn't matter all that much if you are transformed before combat, but if you plan to transform in combat for the flavor of becoming a deadly beast as soon as combat begins that doesn't feel good
I have not watched the video yet, but I am very excited for this concept because I'm currently playing a werewolf! He's a Druid (Moon) 6/Monk 2, currently. I'm interested to see how you make your werewolf...
Errata (maybe?) - A lot of people are commenting about still needing a 13 Int to multiclass Blood Hunter, despite the fact that we can use Wisdom instead of Intelligence for other things. I personally believe that this is a result of dndbeyond coding and that the intent is for a 13 Wis to qualify for multiclassing, but I could be wrong! Be sure to check with your DM (as always) :).
Their page on dndbyeond says that its multiclass requirements are 13dex and 13int or wis iirc. Kinda like multiclassing fighter is 13 dex or str
I've ran into this exact issue after choosing Wis for my BH. After letting my DMs know, they were cool with me removing multiclass requirements in D&D Beyond in the "Character Preferences" section of the Character Builder. We try to build charcters for each others games that are 1) Available on D&D Beyond through the books and; 2) Make sense with the kind of game being run. Homebrew items are rarely if ever class related, and is narrowed to magic item design mostly
I spoke with them and this is their response.
Hi there Sergiobii2,
The Variant Hemocraft Ability Score specifically states "you can choose to instead use your Wisdom modifier for all your blood hunter features that use your Intelligence modifier by default"
The Multiclassing requirements don't use the intelligence modifier, it is an Ability Score requirement. Because of how this is worded, the Wisdom instead of Intelligence is only for the class features where the modifier is used. The Int 13 requirement for multiclassing is still required for all Blood Hunters whether they use the variant rule or not.
If your DM is allowing this, then you can disable Multiclassing requirements under the character preferences, which will allow you to multiclass no matter your ability scores.
Sorce
Customer Support Representative
D&D Beyond | Wizards of the Coast
See, I asked this question on D&DBeyond before, and the answer I got is that it only changes the primary stat used for your Hemocraft modifier, and that it doesn't change multiclass requirements nor saving throw proficiencies to coincide with your Hemocraft modifier.
It didn't feel right to me, but that's what I was told by one of the mods.
@@jacobyullman5005 huh appears you are right. It's str/dex and int of 13... just checked. God that's stupid why is it str/dex when the whole class is designed around wearing medium armor at best thus being dex class
I currently play a Tortle Blood Hunter Order of the Lycan. Everytime he transforms he turns into a giant spiky snapping turtle instead of a werewolf. Its super fun
Reminds me of the old TMNT villain
Wow thats super cool! I tried to come up with a concept for the Lycan that is a bit alternative and not the good old fashioned Werewolf but havent thought of a Tortle yet thats awesome.
I hope to be playing a Warforged Lycan soon which will hopefully be a funny surprise for my group.
Regarding Chult Tortle lore that actually really fits, because some Tortles are born angry and are called 'snappers' and they are outcast from society for their violent nature
I'd like to see a D&D Deep Dive on a build meant to optimize the Lycanthropy cures.
One of my DM's "force cured" my Lycan through narrative (cult who hunts werewolves captured & cured me, then continued torturing me to reveal the location of my Blood Hunter org. so they could execute us as a group). Jokes on them. I escaped, and 1/2 naked with a dagger, a hand crossbow, and some traps I systematically assassinated half of them (10-12?) before setting their building on fire on the way out. I loved playing out that level of struggle, made for a great game.
You guys NEED to do a Halloween one shot
I second this. With the dungeon dudes and tentmonk. Epic!
Yup!
Agreed! Dungeon Dudes and this channel are my favorites!
A one shot with just the tales of anarea crew would be good too
More hybrids please! I personally like characters who perform admirably in more than one play style!
My man you basically made Jon Talbain from Darkstalkers. He too feared his bloodlust and learned martial arts to control his mind (and learned how to fire a fire dragon attack called the dragon cannon). I loved that his weapon of choice were nunchucks too.
Your timing and precision is incomprehensible! I’m literally making a Lycan Blood Hunter at this moment for my campaign but was stuck. I’m definitely going with this build. Thanks, Colby!
Thank you for your sponsor plug Colby. I've been eyeing buying myself a lordship for a while, but with your discount and the Black Friday sales. I ended up buying lordships for all of my Groomsmen. It's going to be hilarious when they all open their presents and see they are officially lords.
Nice!
How much do those cost?
@@mitchhaelann9215 the first one was buy one get one free, so I got 2 for around 44 USD. But after the first I got a 10$ off code that worked with the D4 discount. Making the following 4 pairs only ~34 USD each.
@@mitchhaelann9215 Normally starts at $50 but the black friday sale probably makes it less? Plus 10% off...
@@CardboardLord Thank you both! I think I know what to get my nephew for christmas!
I really like the concept. It's very fitting for halloween.
One thing I'd like to add: Since the update on the blood hunter you can use wis for your blood hunter abilities but the multiclass requirements weren't updated. Technicallly you still need 13 int to multiclass. Maybe with an lenient DM you could change multiclass requirements to 13 dex or str and 13 int or wis.
Edit: I see others already said the same about the multiclass thing. Sorry for repeating. I guess most DMs would allow this
One of the 80% homebrew everydamn thing. Weapons, armor, classes, subclasses, so the table has something fun and unique.
Finally! This is my favourite BH Subclass. I am excited to watch this episode!
The way i balance nova vs sustained is i plot each turn on a 10 turn graph. Then i can overlay those graphs to see how pushed forward the damage is ( which is better) but also see how much it is hurt as it falls off.
Lycanthropy, in a D&D video?! Incontheivable!
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
Anybody want a peanut?
My first character was a feral tiefling flying werewolf. It was so terribly built, I can't wait to see how it could become optimized.
A spellcaster that specializes in magic that a General Contractor would love. Move earth, fabricate, stone shaping. I can see would be an artificer, but what if the idea gets cranked to the max. Would this character eventually create the best fortified castle? An inspiration for this build is the Lord title in this video.
Clearly, your arms are telling you that it’s time to make a (marching) gnome warrior build soon! 😂. Happy Halloween 🎃!
Less joking, a martial(ish) small-sized character that gets around not being able to use heavy weapons to still be a strong frontline melee damage dealer is a semi-popular but hard to do well character. Might be a good one.
@@Nikotheos Oh god yes, i would love that!
This and the subcomments make me think of Yoda's lightsaber fighting in the prequels.
Could be called The Redcap!
@@Nikotheos i feel you bro. i do. i too have always wished to be a 3 foot ball of steel. but.. something you kinda have to understand is that being a tumbleweed of doom means we are limited by the strength of the winds.
Established Titles is awesome. Got it for my dad a couple years ago. Great gift for that person who has everything.
I haven't even watched the whole video but I'm ready to create one more character sheet to put on top of a giant pile that I'll probably never be able to use because of the speed with which D4 creates these awesome characters. Thanks D4 ! 😊
"Woof", I suppose. )
I think the open hand monk would fit really nicely thematically here. Having the flurry of blows knock them prone/move them 15ft/eat their reaction without a ki investment is killer. Then you could pair it with mobile and maul multiple people in the same turn, which is terrifying
I was just coming to say the same thing. If you’re going to do the sustained damaged build and skip those fighter levels, five or six levels of open hand monk so you can knock your target prone reliably have to be an option worth considering. I haven’t digested all of BH but 6 levels so you get Ki-fuelled strikes seems like a good point. That’s probably enough to flurry every round through most combat situations.
@@eloisepasteur the only problem i have with mixing monk and blood hunter is itll be level 15 almost before you end up really feeling powerful. Their resources take too long to scale or be useful
@@theFunkyThumb I think that depends on your table? From the point you get martial arts, which is level 7 if you don't divert into fighter as well, you're able to get 2 rounds with four attacks per round. From level 8 you get the ability to force a dex save or knock them prone.
Honestly, any time after that you can go back to Blood Hunter to get your werewolf abilities to scale faster depending on how many rounds of combat you typically have between short rests.
You don't need to go to Monk 6, at Blood Hunter 7 your claws become magical, so it's really a question of how many Ki points you want, and do you want to level enough to get Stunning Strike? I would probably go Blood Hunter-5, Monk-4, then play it by ear after that. Do I need another ki point or the next blood hunter level more urgently? I'd err towards blood hunter levels, but if the fights start to get too long or too frequent I can pick up another Monk level easily enough. That ability to generate prone regularly and trigger elven accuracy is nice and your higher level abilities start to come on line a bit faster than in Colby's build, but there's no nova element.
@@eloisepasteur its totally table dependant, but i was speaking more from a "having your entire toolkit available to you" feeling powerful. Add that on top of most games starting around level 3 you just end up having a long road ahead before you had the abilities with the resources to feel totally online. In most of the games ive been in I'd personally only dip one or the other, mix monk with some druid or fighter, depending if i want raw damage or utility, and mix maybe a 2 level monk dip with the lycan, but i prefer a 2 level wizard dip for ghostslayer.
@@theFunkyThumb I think that's fair. I haven't really thought about what I'd do if I was to completely rebuild this, I was thinking about how I might tweak it, and rather than Way of Mercy Monk (which is one of my perennial favourites) just thinking it called out for the Open Hand so it keeps that "knock them prone, savage them" approach. I might be tempted to dip three levels of trickery domain cleric. Flavour my channel divinity as a howl and summon a wolf to fight alongside me! Generate advantage that way... but there are lots of other ways to go.
Really cool to see you dipping into non-official content! Maybe future videos could include some of the most popular home-brew classes on dnd beyond? I'd love to see you build Two Goblins in a Trechcoat!
What about a Inteligence focused build? Using the Armorer Artificer you could go full "Jekyll and Hyde" that way.
(The medic and the Monster)
Or just dip into the Way of the Astral Self Monk and be like a spiritual/possession vibe
I think the perception advantage is on perception which relies on smell or hearing, not sight. Has there been a change to allow it on sight?
I know we can’t build around magic items, but Eldritch Claw Tattoo is only uncommon, and adds a ton with both static features and burst/nova features!!
Edit: This is what I get for commenting before I get into the home stretch 😂
;)
“Make sure to Lycan subscribe”
Thank you for highlighting all of the secondary benefits of this build! Optimizing around damage benchmarks can be fun, but in gameplay I've found (both as a DM and player) that characters tend to work best when built around doing ENOUGH damage, rather than the MOST damage, which gives them room to shore up defenses so they can keep doing damage. The old MMO adage comes to mind: Dead characters do 0 DPS. (DPR, in this case.)
Yes!!! Lycan Blood Hunter is something I've always wanted to play and now you have given me some ideas for my own build!
Running a Halloween one-shot on Friday night, and just convinced one of my players to play this build. We're both so excited!! Thank you for it!
Just pointing out, there IS one official way to turn immunity into resistance, and that's the capstone of Pyromancer Sorcerer (which your builds can never get to anyway). Granted, it's limited to only fire damage, but it's an option, even if it is unique to Plane Shift: Kaladesh (one of the few official Magic the Gathering books for 5e). But hey, the fact that the newest Blood Hunter can also do this (which I didn't even realize), that really takes it up a notch. I was expecting a Monster Manual Lycanthrope build but I'm okay with this too. Great build Colby!
The intros and thumbnails are just awesome good sir. Love the fun. Also I'm so going to play this in my group's Halloween one shot.
I'm pretty sure I'll never use hombrew content as a player or DM, but I'll watch any video that you put out that looks interesting. I have two Beast Barbarian builds I'm mulling over now: a Halfling with a Rogue multiclass, and a Shifter Moon Druid. I might not find everything you say usable in my games (this is at the 8:33 mark), but I'm sure that it will be well thought out and mechanically interesting. I know all of these videos take a significant amount of time to plan, shoot and edit, so I can appreciate your trepidation on making a product maybe less people will watch. Good luck!
I am a fresh DM and for the first run through (doing curse of strahd). I have said only core books to make things easier for me and my players as we're all first timers. However, most of the stuff my players are getting really excited about is super out there homebrew stuff because their first characters are quite vanilla. I'm super stoked to help them play those characters and think homebrew is already becoming part of the table. I think it helps people really live out their dream fantasy characters.
The reason most people don't know about half elf subraces is because they were from a sidebar in scag. It's really not the most popular book.
Can we just talk about that singing at the end?
At level 2 take archery fighting style. It gives you a great plan b.
Also I think it's great flavor. As a young werewolf you are worried about the beast within from taking over so you choose to fight from range at first.
Happy Halloween Colby!
I'm in the "morbid curiosity" camp for this one. Looks fun!
Unarmed and blindfighting actually make the most sense for this class.
Watch whole video out of the kindness of my heart and commenting to feed the algorithm beast. Keep up the fantastic videos, I look forward to them every week :)
Much love!
I once played a blood hunter(profane)using a musket, hex and crimson rite. One of the most fun I've ever had. Especially explaining how my musket starts crackling with red electricity. It's actually kinda competitive with even a CBE hand crossbow. Especially after AC 18
Something that might be worth considering a video on: a party that consists of a level 10+ Genie Warlock (probably Dao I'd guess), a Bard with Chef, and overall a bunch of characters who are all highly dependent on short rests. (Catnap might be worthwhile but I don't believe the singing cook could boost the heals when using it lol)
Personally, I actually prefer the Int-based Blood Hunter because it makes for some interesting combinations with Artificer. It gives the character a cool inventor/monster hunter vibe which I think works together quite well. Especially with the Order of the Mutant.
Yes, yes, and yes ;) ua-cam.com/video/RjpTehPpK1o/v-deo.html
@@DnDDeepDive Yeah I realized after my comment that I was describing your other build, haha.
@@RalphusAdolphus2
Great build Colby!
1. Awesome D&D content/build.
2. LoL reference.
3. I just watched Arcane and it was so good.
You always have great videos. Keep up the great work. :)
"20% of you will hopefully watch this out of the goodness of your heart (despite your inability to use the character here.)"
Me, who absorbs dnd content like a sponge, creating in depth characters with thick backstories at a pace akin to a Forever DM, despite having yet to play a game: I like your funny words big man, but I have never seen one outlast COMMITMENT.
As I have a Guild Master Alchemist (Order of the Mutant BH) Water Genasi, I'm curious how you would use the subclass in a build. Obviously I have a preconceived image for my story driven character, but Mutant is such an odd but potentially rather useful subclass I struggle to imagine the cutting edge of efficiency for it. Would I prefer a Wisdom BH build if you did it? Yes, it makes working it into some of my characters much more straightforward. But I would be happy all the same by knowing the style of and how you maxed with the Int version to be able to warp it around into a Wis variant anyway. The real question is would you double down on a specific bundle of concoctions, or lean heavily into the versatility of the verisimilitudes of brews?
I was really shocked when he said that his first blood hunter build didn't do well it's an amazing character concept that i based my current character on (after some tweeks to fit the esthetics I had in mind) and I have been having a blast with it
I'd definitely be interested in a Illrigger build. I've heard good things about it.
It's not that well balanced and very front loaded, heres a video of the base class (treantmonk is even in the comments), there are videos of the subclasses
ua-cam.com/video/mJlRk0uiD2s/v-deo.html
Thanks so much for a fun Halloween homebrew!
This thumbnail is amazing! Coming back to this to check to see if I’m right about the Lycan BH prediction.
Thanks to my friend Preston for his fantastic thumbnail work as always! @fuzzy-squirrel
Cheers 🥂
Trying a home brew rule for spell casters. They have no spell slots, no mana points, etc. To cast a spell each time they have to do a skill check of DC 10 +2 per spell level being cast. If they succeed, the spell goes off, if it fails, it doesnt. To make it spicy, if they make their roll by +5 they can add to the effect (usually an extra damage or healing die, etc). if they roll a nat 20, they get maximum effects. Conversely, if they miss by 5 the spell fails and they take 1D6 damage per spell level, if they crit fail, the spell targets the caster to full effects. I have also opened up meta magic to all casters, each cost +2 to spell check (+1 for sorcerors). Just started but seems okay and not overpowering. Ill have to run it for a while to see if it works over the longer haul.
Omg! Thank you for doing this build. I had mentioned in one of your previous videos how cool it would be to do a wisdom based BH. You have given me a new character concept to play!!!
I love watching these, especially with closed captions on. Our Hemocraft diet goes up to a d8 was a great visual.
Ha ha - now we're a Werewolf *and* a Vampire!
Thank you Lord Colby!
@@DnDDeepDive you might need to make a pic with a crown now.
@@vinspad3 Truth!
As promised.... after watching the build, I am quite pleased with the build. I will say after the short multiclass dips for both monk and fighter, I was a little concerned about its route. But I did love your thematic reasons you gave for it, really provides good rp/character development opportunities. The concern came from thinking there was a fair amount of benefits from going more lvls in either, which you yourself did mention would be a viable option. But after you went further with BH (which I haven't fully dived into the mechanics of the class) it seems like the build progresses in quite a positive way with the mid tier BH abilities.
Overall, as a lover of the supernatural (and Werewolves especially), I am quite pleased with "The Werewolf" build. Well done sir
Which Wizard subclass do you think is better? Chronurgy or War Mage?
All depends on what you're going for, I suppose. Survivability? War Mage. Control? Chronurgy :).
if it says in the lycan that you can treat an unarmed strike as one weapon, i could see the argument that dueling applies to it? there is no requirement that your unarmed strike is made with both hands, so you could say that you are “wielding it” in one hand with no other weapons. the biggest issue remaining is the weirdness of the word wielding there but i could be convinced it applies
Ahhh yes I'm so glad to see this! Now to complete the whole with Profane Soul and Ghostlayer ✨️👻
I knew that taking monk would only be a small dip, but part of me is still holding out for a drunk monk build one of these days🙏
This plus the PsiClaw video inspired me to take my current lycan to level 5 and then multiclass into path of the beast barbarian to get the four claw attacks that way, plus reckless advantage! Thank you for the inspiration, i thought about this before but thought beast barbs also used the bonus action for the extra claw attack. im really excited to try it out
(Hes also a 1'1" tall rat who turns into a 5' tall werewolf when he transforms. not important, just really love that part)
I made a man-ti from the sunken isles material reflavored as a triton that was an order of the lycan bloodhunter. Flavorwise he was a triton that was cursed by the spirit of a mantis shrimp to become the dreaded wereshrimp. Was a lot of fun.
Great video like always! I've been playing a werewolf (V.Human Straight level 14 Lycan Bloodhunter) in the campaign I'm in since early 2022 and I can 100% say that the subclass is well worth it and I got advice for anyone who knows someone whose playing a Lycan Bloodhunter or going to be playing a lycan bloodhunter themselves. It is important to treat the Lycan like a fighter rather than a Paladin / Barbarian cause speaking from first-hand experience, you can lose hp fast if you're planning on being the main frontline. So if you have a paladin, bard or cleric. They'll be your best friend, especially the paladin.
•Give Bless the one who's playing the lycan to aid in those bloodlust saves.
•If you have a paladin, use the range of your aura to always keep someone else closer to the Lycan, when you get your aura it has a range of 10 ft. Some enemies you can flank with it and still benefit your friend. Or if you know you're going to have a Lycan. Use a weapon with the reach property. Bloodlust is only an issue when you're the closest one to the lycan so being able to have someone else be closer to the lycan and still be able to attack is a huge boon.
•If your bard gives you, the lycan, a bard die. Keep it until you make your bloodlust save.
I'm drafting up a backup character that's a little old elderly gnomish woman who is a Artificer/Profane Soul that's going crossbow expert/sharpshooter. She seems sweet like she'd bake you cookies but in the dark she does blood rites, steeling herself against the day she puts a stop to the evil cult that killed her husband of 300 years. Love to see the blood hunter content! Thank you Colby!!!
yayyy, i still remember month ago when you told me this build was in your mind!! thanks a lot seems so cool to play Coby!!
Not watching your Videos because i won‘t be able to play the Build? Yeah thats not gonna happen any time soon 😂
Great Video as always - thanks colby ❤
Werewolf blood hunter!! Such a good build as usual!
Does paid membership come with level 3/4 DPR calculations?
Alas, no :)
Oh man, I thought you were doing a build based on the Grim Hollow transformation for a minute there 😂
My answer to why I play is, "to have fun." But balance and fairness are key to having fun. If a player is left behind by the others, or if one player outshines the others, that's a lot harder to have fun in than a game where all the players feel equally powerful and able to affect the game.
Had a buddy who got to play a Blood Hunter / Fighter at our table once and at high levels he was going full Glorious Chainsaw Method on baddies and it was awesome. I think throwing a werewolf spin on this is super fun and flavorful. Glad you enjoyed putting this together! Badger Cory until he lets you play it in a one-shot!
43:34 you get doubled high jump distance at bloodhunter lycan level 7 but step of the wind doubles that again so you can jump with the best of them
speaking of immunity to resistance, there was a pyro sorcerer in the plane shift kaladesh suppliment, part of the early what would 5e in mtg worlds look like experimental content. not official but hte pyro had a high level ability that let them treat immunity as resistance and otherwise ignore resistance
For a MAD variation on this build, (More Saberwulf less Talbain) consider choosing to start as a Wildhunt Shifter to prevent anything from attacking you with advantage for a full minute. Pump Str, Con, and Wis, dump everything else. Grab the Great Weapon fighting style, a greataxe and Curse of the Marked to double up your lightning damage. Paired with Reckless Attack from Barbarian, you have a sustainable method of both gaining and denying advantage in melee combat while enjoying the need to never wear armor. Combine the Investigator background with the Observant feat (passive perception/investigation 20+ ftw!) and pick up the Blind Fighting style, for 10ft of blind sight so that nothing within melee distance can hide from you. As a bonus you can brew you own potions and alchemical substances for a variety of support options in and out of combat. Later grab Great Weapon Master for a damage bump.
If taking Monk levels, snag 3 levels and take kensai to make your greataxe into a monk weapon.
One thing to keep in mind is that Blood Hunter does not take well to multi-classing, as the best features are class level rather than character level dependent.
I've noticed a very stark lack of backgrounds on the initial setup of each build, which feels odd. Something as simple as training in a poisoner or alchemist kit can have a drastic impact on how you approach combat. There is also a tendency to multiclass so hard that you end up losing out on feats and ability points, which are really valuable when locked into point buy.
Hi Colby! Big fan here! Awesome character concept! I just wanted to say that if your table does not allow a Blood hunter, you can still recreate a good portion of this build by swapping Blood hunter for ranger levels, although I would consider more monk levels to increase the flurry times per day. What do you think of a 3 battlemaster, 5 ranger (hunter or gloom), rest monk? Open hand would give you more chances to shove. These levels can be optimized better, this is just brainstorming.
I think you might have a problem, as far as i can tell, multiclassing blood hunter still requires Int 13 (even if you use the wisdom option). On DnD Beyond and the PDF matt has on DMs Guild, it still lists Str or Dex 13 and Int 13
That would be odd since it states: "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."
@@DnDDeepDive Is multiclassing considered a feature? I dont beleive the update allows you to gain proficiency in Wis saves (replacing int prof) either. Essentially you swap Modifiers where applicable, not scores. In the end it probably doesn't matter, just thought you'd want to know.
@@under20over40 Yeah, I can see it both ways. Feels to me almost like it's an error in dndbeyond but maybe not. Would have to ask Matt :).
Asked for this build since your first BH build. It was worth the wait.
Honestly a ghost hunter+blade singer multiclass might be pretty interesting
It absolutely is. Im playing one with the dual wielder/two weapon fighting set up and two rapiers. Being a dex based damage dealer with a 20AC at level 5 that can several times(more once i get extra attack) has been awesome. Plus with everything doing radiant damage it gets past a lot of resistances and i absolutely nuke anything undead
@@theFunkyThumb I'm assuming blade singer extra attack?
@@oshermdaddy2058 actually no, i only took the 2 levels in wizard and grabbed the utility spells (find familiar, detect magic, etc) the bloodhunter is kind of like the monk in that it really benefits most from having a ton of levels in it, so thats the plan. And right now i can hit for 3d8+1d4+5 every turn. And in a few more bloodhunter levels i get extra attack and then a second crimson rite meaning i can do that extra hemocraft die on both sword attacks
@@oshermdaddy2058 also, im playing an aasimar with the radiant consumption part. Also grabbed the mobile feat, so right now im a spinning beyblade of radiant death lol.
@@theFunkyThumb I'm assuming u went 5 for bh then 2 for blade singer? Then finished as blood hunter
Shifter/Lycan Blood Hunter/Beast Barbarian...? [Edit] Wow! Not what I expected! Well done, sir. 🙂
I personally like Shifter as a race if I want to explore lycanthropy in a game. My DM homebrewed some rules for my Druid who was bitten by a werewolf in one encounter. Every time my Druid wildshaped into a wolf (which was often), I had to make a WIS save or be stuck in hybrid wolf/werewolf form until I succeeded on the saving throw. Also, in combat, any time I rolled a Nat 1 or Nat 20, my Druid would transform into a werewolf from the stress, I would then have to roll a saving throw to revert back. Every successful saving throw to revert back meant my Druid was gaining control over the lycanthropy curse.
Dang it. I wanted a ghostslayer. :(
Glad to see you branching out a bit tho!
My next character is gonna be a blood hunter lycanthrope/bladesinger combo. Talking with my DM about a home brew/flavoring where we basically combine the lycanthropy and bladesong into one ability as a sort of side effect from using the blade singing ability. Very excited to give it a go.
Bladehowler?
To answer your inquiry, it was "morbid curiosity" that got me to watch this video.
My table only allows WotC products that the DM has personally approved of, and in some cases, nerfed. No homebrew, just houserules.
Was thinking of playing a shifter beast barbarian. Figured that would let me get something close to a werewolf or werebear.
Not surprised that Matt didn't add any of the non-SRD fighting styles. It's the joys of the class not being official D&D content, but rather 3PP.
Regarding the scaling, you can thank Reddit for that. Matt Mercer uploaded the blood hunter class and all of its subclasses, and the Cobalt Soul monk subclass, and allowed people to point out all of the issues. Everything was raked over the coals mercilessly. The blood hunter alone has gone through four or five revisions before finally coming to this one.
It's thematically fitting that the werewolf has the wolf's trip attack thanks to Battle Master.
Speaking of themes, Thriller is a good Halloween song.
Halloween one shot is great idea!
I love it. I nearly feel like I understand blood hunter mechanics.
perfect timing! I wanted to play a werewolf for an upcoming Halloween one shot and the spore beast just wasn't quite doing it for me. eager to see how this one plays!
If you want an official rulebook style Werewold build, you can go Longtooth Shifter and flavor the shifting as going werewolf mode. Then go into either Beast Barbarian or moon druid.
With Beast Barbarian, at lvl 3, if rage and shifting are both active you can do 2 d6 claw attacks and a d8 bite attack.
If you go moon druid, then if you shift while in wild shape you can combine the animals main attacks with a bonus action bite attack.
Or you can combine both, take enough levels in the one you wsnt the most out of, then take levels in the other. For example, since wildshape isnt a spell, you can rage at the same time and can consider your shifting, rages, and wild shapes as multiple uses of Werewolf mode that you can save up for a long adventure or stack together
Ok I am also a fan of Outlander and I have been intrigued by your sponsor for quite awhile actually. LOL
I'd love a Tinkerer build based on Jinx now ^^
thoughts on a monk subclass:
4 elements for the flaming fists to add extra range and damage on your unarmed strikes for the cost of a ki point.
Astral Self could provide Range and some better grapple checks(-1 strength to +3 wisdom)
and ascendant dragon could be there for fun extra damage shenanigans.
Btw in a tweet Matt Mercer did confirm that unarmed fighting style does not work, because it does say it counts as a weapon. But it also doesn't work with dueling or two weapon fighting either.
I would rule it different in my games but that's the intent
I'm currently playing a Blood Hunter in my home game. He's a Beasthide Shifter who becomes a Wereboar. My DM lets me substitute the bludgeoning or slashing damage for piercing damage to symbolize their tusks.
Homebrew in general tends to be approved as long as the DM thinks its okay. Either DM, as we do have a couple
How would you optimize a Profane Soul Blood Hunter?
Your vid’s have had my gears turning on how to optimize the class. Blood hunter x lvls, bladesinger 2lvls for blade song, maybe 3lvls of artificer (battlesmith?). Maybe start artificer for the con saves?
The idea is having a primarily int focused character.
what are your thoughts?
At the ~50" mark, your Superior Technique superiority die scales with your other superiority dice.
Added benefit. If you were in a brutal West Marches campaign where magic items and cash are thin or in a captured scenario, you are probably best off than other characters without their equipment.
Blood Hunter occupies a strange middle ground on DnD Beyond where it will still show up as a potential option even if you refuse all homebrew content. I'd probably put it in a "licensed third-party" category similar to the 3e Dragonlance stuff like the Mystic
Maybe I missed that part of the update to Blood Hunter but wouldn't you need 13 INT to multiclass ?
The adjustement is as far as I can tell only affecting you being able to use WIS as a Hemocraft modifier 🤔
Perfect timing! Have a new campaign coming up soon and I’m doing a Lycan Bloodhunter! 💪🏼 I’ve been waiting for a build like this from you!
I love that the story reason for the monk levels is meditation and self-control, and the mechanical reason is so he can make even more attacks in a wolfy frenzy!
I wish Lycan-Order would allow to apply your rite as a part of the transformation. Because as is you'd need one BA to transform, then one BA to apply your rite and only round 3 onwards you get your full rotation going, which considering most combat encounters only last 3-4 rounds feels very slow. This of course doesn't matter all that much if you are transformed before combat, but if you plan to transform in combat for the flavor of becoming a deadly beast as soon as combat begins that doesn't feel good
Youre gonna love the MJ One Show in Vegas! My roommate is a props Manager on the show, its an amazing show whether or not youre a fan of MJ!
The fighting style die gets added to the subclass die, turning all of them to ur highest die pool. As well as the martial adept feat.
I have not watched the video yet, but I am very excited for this concept because I'm currently playing a werewolf! He's a Druid (Moon) 6/Monk 2, currently. I'm interested to see how you make your werewolf...
I have a warlock who got bit and trying to figure how I want to run them