Hunter (Handbook)

*"The way of the hunter is one of mastery over the beasts of the world, an unparalleled precision in marksmanship, and the knowledge of how to survive in situations where others would perish."*— Ranger Sallina

Wild and barbaric looking, a human stalks alone through the shadows of trees, hunting the orcs he knows are planning a raid on a nearby farm. Clutching a spear in his hands, he charges in with intense fury, a large bear running at his side, roaring as he engages, cutting down one enemy after another.

Tumbling away from a cone of freezing air, a night elf finds her feet and draws back her bow to loose an arrow at the blue dragon. Shrugging off the wave of fear that emanates from the dragon like the cold of its breath, she sends one arrow after another to find the gaps between the dragon's thick scales.

Holding his hand high, a blood elf whistles to the hawk that circles high above him, calling the bird back to his side. Whispering instructions in Thalassian, he points to the owlbear he's been tracking and sends the hawk to distract the creature while he readies his bow.

## Inescapable Stalkers

From an early age the call of the wild draws some adventurers from the comfort of their homes into the unforgiving primal world outside. Those who endure become hunters. As masters of their environment, hunters are able to slip like ghosts through the trees and lay traps in the paths of their enemies. These expert marksman drop foes dead in their tracks with flawless shots from a bow, crossbow or rifle. With the ability to wield two weapons simultaneously, hunters can unleash a flurry of blows against anyone unfortunate enough to stumble into close combat with them.

The art of survival is central to the isolated life of a hunter. Hunters track beasts with ease and enhance their own abilities by attuning themselves to the feral aspects of various creatures. Hunters are known for the lifelong bonds they form with animals of the wild, training great hawks, cats, bears, and many other beasts to fight alongside them.

## Proud Rangers

The hunter is a stalker in the wilds, living on his knowledge of survival and skill with a bow or rifle. He is deeply in tune with nature, and some of its mightiest beasts are his allies. Of Azeroth's many creatures, few can resist the hunter'scall, and fewer can survive his fury. Hunters are as varied as the world's many climates, but they are universally renowned for their amazing abilities to find their prey and bring it down. Most hunters seek to aid the balance of nature along with their druidic allies. Elven rangers are not alone in their mastery of the wilderness. While an elven ranger prefers the bow, the hunter would rather get up close. A hunter is skilled in stealth, slipping through the woods like a ghost.

## The Hunters Choice

The hunter is the choice of life for those who reject societies that oppress the natural role as prey and hunter, and also reject the druidic stance that we should be healers and observers rather than active participants in the "Great Hunt". They follow a life of reverence for nature complimenting their tradition and willingness to use man-made tools. We are all tool-using creatures after all, and it is only natural to use that advantage afforded by nature to be better hunters. There are however also those hunters who prefer a more direct approach to tracking and hunting.

## Creating a Hunter

As you create your hunter character, consider the nature of the training that gave you your particular capabilities. Did you train with a single mentor, wandering the wilds together until you mastered the hunter's ways? Did you leave your apprenticeship. or was your mentor slain, perhaps you learned your skills as part of a band of hunters affiliated with a druidic circle, trained in mystic paths as well as wilderness lore. You might be self-taught, a recluse who learned combat skills, tracking, and even a magical connection to nature through the necessity of surviving in the wilds.

Is your adventuring career a continuation of your work in protecting the borderlands, or a significant change? What made you join up with a band of adventurers? Do you find it challenging to teach new allies the ways of the wild, or do you welcome the relief from solitude that they offer?

### Quick Build

You can make a hunter quickly by following these suggestions. First, make Dexterity your highest ability score, followed by Wisdom. (Some hunters who focus on melee fighting make Strength higher than Dexterity.)

# Class Features

As a hunter, you gain the following class features.

### Hit Points

* **Hit Dice:** 1d10 per hunter level
* **Hit Points at 1st Level:** 10 + your Constitution modifier
* **Hit Points at Higher Levels:** 1d10 + your Constitution modifier per hunter level after 1st

### Proficiencies

* **Armor:** Light armor, medium armor
* **Weapons:** Simple weapons, martial weapons, firearms
* **Tools:** None
* **Saving Throws:** Strength, Dexterity
* **Skills:** Choose three from Animal Handling, Insight, Investigation, Nature, Perception, Stealth, and Survival

### Equipment

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

* (a) scale mail or (b) leather armor
* (a) two short swords or (b) two simple melee weapons
* (a) a dungeoneer's pack or (b) an explorer's pack
* A longbow and a quiver of 20 arrows

## Animal Empathy

Your mastery of hunter lore allows you to establish a link to beasts and to the land around you.

You have an innate ability to communicate with beasts, and they recognize you as a kindred spirit. Through sounds and gestures, you can communicate simple ideas to a beast as an action, and can read its basic mood and intent. You learn its emotional state, whether it is affected by magic of any sort, its short-term needs, and actions you can take to persuade it to not attack.

You cannot use this ability against a creature that you have attacked within the past 10 minutes.

## Natural Explorer

You are familiar with natural environments and are adept at traveling and surviving in such regions. This grants youthe following benefits:

* You ignore nonmagical difficult terrain.
* You have advantage on initiative rolls.
* On your first turn during combat, you have advantage on attack rolls against creatures that have not yet acted.
* In addition, you are skilled at navigating the wilderness.

You gain the following benefits when traveling for an hour or more.

* Difficult terrain doesn't slow your group's travel.
* Your group can't become lost except by magical means.
* Even when you are engaged in another activity while traveling (such as foraging, navigating, or tracking), you remain alert to danger.
* If you are traveling alone with or without your pet, you can move stealthily at a normal pace.
* When you forage, you find twice as much food as you normally would.
* While tracking other creatures, you also learn their exact number, their sizes, and how long ago they passed through the area.

## Fighting Style

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

* **Archery.** You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons.
* **Close Quarters Shooter.** When making a ranged attack while you are within 5 feet of a hostile creature, you do not have disadvantage on the attack roll. Your ranged attacks ignore half cover and three-quarters cover against targets within 30 feet of you. Finally, you have a +1 bonus to attack rolls on ranged attacks.
* **Two-Weapon Fighting.** When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.
* **Great Weapon Fighting.**When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll,even if the new roll is a 1 or a 2. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to use this benefit.

## Hunter's Mark

Beginning at 2nd level, you are able to mark a target as your quarry. As a bonus action, choose a creature within 120 feet of you that you can see. The target is marked for the 1 hour, until you use this feature again, or until it dies.

The mark also ends if you fall unconscious. Once per turn, you can deal an extra 1d4 damage to that creature when you hit it with a weapon attack. The amount of extra damage increases as you gain levels in this class, as shown in the Hunter's Mark column of the Hunter table. In addition, you have advantage on Wisdom (Perception), and Wisdom (Survival) checks you make to find your mark.

## Focus

Starting at 2nd level, you learn to enter a heightened state of focus in combat. Your access to this focus is represented by a number of focus points. Your hunter level determines the number of focus points you have, as shown in the Focus Points column of the Hunter table.

You can spend these points to perform various focus features. Each focused attack must be declared before making an attack, unless otherwise specified. You can only use one focused attack per attack roll. You learn two focused attacks of your choice when you gain this feature, which are detailed under Focused Attacks below. You learn an additional focused attack of your choice at 6th, 10th, 14th, and 18th level. When you learn a new focused attack, you can also replace one focused attack you know with another from the list.

When you spend a focus point, it is unavailable until you finish a short or long rest, at the end of which your focus is regained. Additionally you regain 1 expended focus point each time you roll a 20 on the d20 roll for an attack with a weapon, or deal the killing blow to a creature of significant threat (DM's discretion).

Some of your focused attacks require your target to make a saving throw to resist the attacks effect. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows:

**Focus save DC =** 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier
### Focused Attacks

These focused attacks are presented in alphabetical order.

* **Aimed Attack.** When you make a weapon attack against a creature, you can spend 1 focus point to attempt to topple a target. On a hit, the target suffers normal damage, and must succeed Strength save or be knocked prone.
* **Carving Strike.** When you make a melee weapon attack against a creature, you can spend 1 focus point to make an attack roll against each target directly on either side of yourinitial attack. On a hit, roll damage for one target, any additional creature hit takes the same amount of damage.
* **Concussive Attack.** When you make a weapon attack against a creature, you can spend 1 focus point to attempt to dizzy your opponent. On a hit, the creature suffers normal damage and must make a Constitution saving throw or suffer disadvantage on attacks until the end of their next turn.
* **Disarming Attack.** When you make a weapon attack against a creature, you can spend 1 focus point to attempt to shoot or knock an object from their hands. On a hit, the creature suffers normal damage and must succeed on a Strength saving throw or drop 1 held object of your choice and have that object be pushed 10 feet away in the direction of your attack.
* **Disengaging Attack.** Immediately after taking the Attack action on your turn, you can spend 1 focus point to take the Disengage action as a bonus action.
* **Resorting Attack.** If a creature misses you with a weapon attack, you can spend 1 focus point and use your reaction to make a weapon attack against the creature.
* **Piercing Shot.** When you make a ranged weapon attack against a creature, you can spend 1 focus point to attempt to shoot through multiple opponents. On a hit, the creature suffers normal damage and you make an attack roll with disadvantage against every creature in a line directly behind the target within your first range increment.
* **Steady Attack.** When you make a weapon attack against a creature, you can spend 1 focus point to gain advantage on the attack roll.

## Hunter Archetype

At 3rd level, you choose to emulate the ideals and training of a hunter archetype:

* Beast Master
* Marksman
* Survival

Each detailed at the end of the class description. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 11th, and 15th level.

## Animal Companion

Beginning at 3rd level, you have strengthened your connection with animals, allowing you to bond with a creature of the natural world.

You gain a companion that accompanies you on your adventures and is trained to fight alongside you. Choose a beast that is no larger than Medium with a challenge rating of 1/2 or lower. your animal companion gains all the benefits of your Companion's bond ability. You can only have one animal companion at a time.

If your animal companion dies, you can obtain another one by spending 8 hours bonding with another animal that isn't hostile to you, either the same type of beast as before or a different one.

## Companion's Bond

Your beast companion gains a variety of benefits once loyal. The beast loses its Multiattack action, if it has one. Your companion obeys your commands as best it can. It rolls initiative like any other creature, but you determine its actions, decisions, attitudes and so on. If you are incapacitated or absent, the companion acts on its own. Your beast companion has abilities and statistics determined in part by your level. Using your proficiency bonus rather than its own. In addition to the areas where it normally uses its proficiency bonus, your companion also adds its proficiency bonus to its AC and to its damage rolls.

Your beast gains proficiency in two skills of your choice. It also becomes proficient in all saving throws.

For each level above 3rd, your beast companion gains an additional hit die and its maximum hit points increases accordingly. This is retroactive for companions gained at later levels. Whenever you gain an Ability Score Improvement, your companions abilities improve as well, applying all the rules of increasing ability scores that applies to you.

Your companions alignment changes to sharing yours.

## Ability Score Improvement

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

## Extra Attack

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

## Fleet of Foot

Starting at 8th level, when you take the Dash action, you can pass through any difficult terrain without requiring extra movement. Additionally, you are able to pass through nonmagicalplants without being slowed by them or taking damage from them if they have thorns, spines, or a similar hazard.

## Know Your Prey

At 9th level, you can glean intimate knowledge about the capabilities of your marked target. As action you can learn two of the following characteristics of your choice about the target of your hunter's mark if it's within 120 feet.

* Creature Type
* Armor Class
* Speed
* Damage Vulnerabilities
* Damage Resistances
* Damage Immunities
* Senses

Once you have gained knowledge of a creature, you can't gain more knowledge of that type of creature for 24 hours.

## Hide in Plain Sight

Beginning at 13th level, you can use the Hide action as a bonus action on your turn. Also, you can't be tracked by non-magical means, unless you choose to leave a trail.

## Honed Senses

Upon reaching 17th level, you gain preternatural senses that help you fight creatures you can't see. When you attack a creature you can't see, your inability to see it doesn't impose disadvantage on your attack rolls against it. You are also aware of the location of any invisible creatures within 30 feet of you, provided that the creature isn't hidden from you and you aren't blinded or deafened.

## Aspect of the Wild

At 20th level, you become an unparalleled hunter. Once on each of your turns, you can add your Wisdom modifier to the attack roll or the damage roll of an attack you make.

You can choose to use this feature before or after the roll, but before any effects of the roll are applied.

# Hunter Archetypes

All hunters have certain things in common, such as their love for the wilderness, or their passion for beasts. But some hunters have more than love for beasts, and others a greater love for the wild, hunters fall into three categories: Beast Master, Marksman, and Survivalist.

## Beast Master

Among the most gifted hunters, there are those who have from birth felt a profound bond with the creatures of the wild. These beast masters are drawn to the perilous primal world, invigorated by its dangerous and untamed nature. Primitive landscape becomes home. Ferocious predator becomes kin.

### Dire Tamer

Starting at 3rd level, your way with beasts are unmatched, making you able to tame Large beasts with a challenge rating of 1 or lower.

### Kindred Spirit

Beginning at 7th level, you and your animal companion form a more potent fighting team. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack on your turn, if your companion is within range, it can use its reaction to make a melee attack against the same target.

Additionally, you can use your reaction to warn your companion when an attack roll is made against it, giving it resistance to all damage dealt by the attack if it hits.

### Aspect of the Wilds

Starting at 11th level, your time spent around your animal companion have begun influencing you, granting you one of the following features of your choice.

* **Pack Tactics.** You have advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of your allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.
* **Pounce.** If you move at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hit with a melee weapon attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
* '**Rampage.** When you reduce a creature to 0 hit points with a weapon attack on your turn, you can use your bonus action to move up to half your speed and make another attack with the same weapon.

### One of the Pack

At 15th level, the 'voice' of your companion helps you to overcome grievous injuries and keep on fighting. When you take damage that reduces you to 0 hit points and doesn't kill you outright, your companion can use its reaction to call out to you. If you are within range to hear its call, you immediately gain hit points equal to your hunter level, and regain your consciousness.

Once you (and your companion) uses this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.

## Marksman

Marksmen shroud themselves in the perils of the untamed wilds, perfecting the use of weapons that are deadliest from great range. They have little interest in gaining the loyalty of beasts. Instead, they blend into the surrounding environment, surveying predators and delivering deadly shots from great distances.

### Careful Aim

Starting at 3rd level, your aim becomes deadly. As a bonus action on your turn, you can take careful aim at a creature you can see that is within range of a ranged weapon you're wielding. Until the end of your turn, your ranged attacks with that weapon gain two benefits against the target.

* The attack ignores half and three-quarters cover.
* On a hit, the weapon deals additional damage to the target equal to 2 + half your hunter level.

You can use this feature three times. You regain expended uses when you finish a short or long rest.

### Aspect of the Eagle

Beginning at 7th level, you can take Search action as a bonus action. You also gain proficiency in the Perception, Investigation, or Survival skill (choose one). If you already have proficiency in all three, you gain expertise in one of them of your choice.

### Multiattack

Upon reaching 11th level, you gain one of the following features of your choice.

* **Barrage.** You can use your action to make a ranged attack against any number of creatures within a 30-ft cone. You must have ammunition for each target as normal, and you make a separate attack roll for each target.
* **Volley.** You can use your action to make a ranged attack against any number of creatures within 10 feet of a point you can see within your weapon's range. You must have ammunition for each target, as normal, and you make a separate attack roll for each target.

### Marksman's Focus

At 15th level, when you roll for initiative and have no uses of careful aim remaining, you regain one use.

## Survival

All hunters feel a calling to the wild, but some serve as a reflection of its brutality. To them, the hunt is defined by unrelenting ferocity. Weapons of great range are thrown away for close-quarters combat.

### Predator

Starting at 3rd level, at the start of your first turn of each combat, your walking speed increases by 10 feet, which lasts until the end of that turn. If you take the Attack action on that turn, you can make one additional weapon attack as part of that action. If the attack hits, the target takes an extra 1d8 damage of the weapon's damage type.

Additionally, you add your Wisdom modifier to your initiative rolls.

### Camouflage

Beginning at 7th level, you gain the ability to cast the pass without trace spell without providing material components, but only as a ritual. You must have access to fresh mud, dirt, plants, soot, or other natural occurring materials for you to be able to do so.

### Marked Counter

Upon reaching 11th level, you gain the ability to counterattack when your marked target tries to sabotage you. If the target of your Hunter's Mark forces you to make a saving throw, you can use your reaction to make a weapon attack against the quarry. You make this attack before making the saving throw. If your attack hits, you gain advantage on your saving throw, in addition to the attack's normal effects.

### Aspect of the Beast

At 15th level, you take on an aspect of a one of the following beasts of your choice.

* **Cheetah.** When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.
* **Monkey.** When a creature misses you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to force that creature to repeat the same attack against another creature (other than itself) of your choice.
* **Turtle.** When an attacker that you can see hits you with an attack, you can use your reaction to halve the attack's damage against you.