Blood Hunter

The **Blood Hunter** is a supplementary class for Dungeons and Dragons created by Matthew Mercer. While not technically an official Dungeons and Dragons character option, the Blood Hunter was added to the Adventurer's Guild to mark the very first Finale on the server and add one of the most highly requested pieces of homebrew on the internet. Below you will find the lore and mechanical changes made to the Blood Hunter for play in the AG.

## Lore

### Born of Necessity

The jungles of Chult are, to put it mildly, dangerous. When dinosaurs, undead, foreign armies, living plants, goblins, weretigers, and a host of other foul creatures constantly threaten your life, every day becomes a struggle for survival. In the heart of the jungle, for many this struggle turns increasingly desperate. To stay alive just a little longer, to have every last edge they could eek out to survive, long ago, humans deep within the jungle turned to an art most profane. The cast out magic, that which must not be practiced. A form of magic now only discussed in hushed whispers, only written about in forbidden tomes. Hemomancy.

Hemomancy, or blood magic as it is more commonly known, was not born in the lab of an archmage. It was not gifted by the gods or granted by nature. It was found by Chultans in a distressed reach for any power they could find. Its cradle was the cutthroat kill or be killed wilds, and it was refined and developed in the nightly fight to see the next dawn. It started as a crude way to see tomorrow, and was born out of desperation.

Soon, the city of Mezro became a hub of this new profane knowledge. Chultans from around the peninsula would gather there to refine the art, mostly in dark back rooms, secluded allies, or in the shadows of the jungle itself. An emphasis was placed on the use of hemomancy in seeking out and destroying powerful threats, in hunting them down before they could cause harm to the city and its denizens. Eventually, great wielders of this magic and hunting knowledge rose among the rest, using their powers to protect the city from dangers coming from outside the city walls. These legends were the first to adopt the mantle of Blood Hunter. Each of the original blood hunters held a unique style, and soon gained followers that emulated them. These leaders and those that walked in their footsteps became the first blood hunter orders.

### Dawn of the Four Orders

Jabali Magoro, the senior most hemomancer of Mezro, focused his efforts upon ridding the jungle and the surrounding areas of the undead, and founded the order known as the order of the Ghost Slayers, famed for their blades able to bring light to even the darkest jungle nights. Kanika Jomo-Gbomo knew that powers of this world would not suffice if a blood hunter wished to maximize their advantages, and struck a pact with the 9 trickster gods. His followers did the same, founding the order of the Profane Soul. Jaali Oyinlola saw the power the weretigers of the jungle held, and vowed to find a way to control it for her own use. She did, and became the founder of the Order of the Lycan. Kito Obi was a renowned alchemist and herbalist in addition to her combat and hemomancy prowess. She drew reagents from the flowers and animals, minerals and saps of the jungle, and combined them into powerful mutagens to further enhance her body, eventually founding the Order of the Mutant.

### The Hunt Continues

As Mezro grew and time continued, the blood hunters expanded, the orders becoming powerful forces within the city. However, kind-hearted samaritans couldn’t help but wonder if the power that had helped protect Mezro could be used to protect others elsewhere. Slowly, the secrets of hemomancy, and the art of blood hunting, seeped from Mezro. First, to Port Nyanzaru, and from the port there to throughout Toril, with each new order following one of the original 4 in Mezro. At first, hunters did not hide their existence, offering their services openly (some for pay, others freely), but hemonacy was met with suspicion, hostility, and fear. Many of the first bloodhunters to leave the accepting walls of Mezro were executed by the very people they tried to protect out of fear of this new power. This eventually forced bloodhunters and their orders into the shadow, staying out of the public eye to avoid losing more of their numbers to things other than their prey.

As Mezro expanded, so did blood hunting, and soon orders covered the plane. Orders began to recruit and train locals of the regions they had spread to, welcoming many new non-Chultan hunters into their secretive fold. However, the heart of blood hunting remained in Mezro. Even after the passing of the original 4 hunters, the greatest teachers still resided in Mezro, advanced students from elsewhere would take pilgrimages, or move to the city outright to continue their training. Innovations always came from there, many hemomancy texts remained (and still remain to this day) untranslated from their original Chultan. The philosophies of hunting (most centered on a ‘survival at all cost’ mentality) were recognizably similar to Chultan teachings, and combat instruction clearly derived from Chultan origins. Geographically, blood hunting had spread through the world, but culturally, it never lost its chultan roots, despite its ranks becoming much more diverse; all the while sticking to the shadows to avoid the still present stigma against hemomancy.

### Gone in a Burst of Blue Flame

However, in 1385 (About 100 years before the present day in the guild), things changed. Mezro mysteriously disappeared. Without its hub of knowledge, its leaders, its heart, and its home, blood hunting orders across Toril were thrown into disarray. Most were disbanded, leaving lone hunters to wander the countryside. Others drastically reduced their numbers, and slinking even further away from public attention into almost non-existence. In this dark age of blood hunting, much knowledge was lost, and numbers reduced to a fraction of what they were. Yet some continued to hunt, either unknown to those they protected, disguised as other adventures, or being met with fear and scorn at every turn. It remained this way until recently.

### A New Era

After her ascension to demigodhood, the tabaxi Nettles Stinging From Afar went out into Chult, looking for the lost city of Mezro to return it to the prime material. Eventually, she located it, hidden within a demiplane out of fear of Ras Nsi. Promising to protect the city from any harm that Ras could possibly bring to it, Nettles convinced Mezro to return to the prime material, now under the protection of the new demigodess.

And in a glorious flash of divine light, Mezro returned to the world, being brought out thanks to the demigoddess Nettles. After years of contemplating, the orders of Mezro have decided they had spent long enough keeping themselves secret. Immediately upon return, many many messengers and couriers were sent out to old blood hunting contacts, bearing the message “The rise of the hunters is upon us. Bring forth your order from the shadows.”

With the return of Mezro in such a public way, the formerly hidden orders and lone wolf bloodhunters have followed the instructions of this message, making themselves known to the public, even if many still scorn them for their practice of hemomancy, rejoicing at the return of their home. Many new techniques had been mastered (including the previously unmastered esoteric rights) and hunters trained in Mezro’s demiplane. With its return, new hunters are being trained rapidly, both in Mezro and by the newly emboldened to go public orders. Additionally, some lone wolves that remember a time before Mezro’s disappearance have taken this opportunity to step out of retirement.

Blood hunting has returned to Toril.

### So You Want to Make a Blood Hunter

Here are some brief notes about how blood hunters fit into the lore of the AG

* Bloodhunting was founded in Chult out of a desperate need to survive.
* Mezro, a city deep within the Chultan Jungle, is the center of all blood hunting knowledge and culture
* Blood hunting entered a dark age for 100 years, where bloodhunting activity was incredibly limited and secretive due to Mezro disappearing (think Jedis post order 66)
* That dark age just ended recently with the return of Mezro to the prime material (Thanks, Nettles!)
* Culturally, blood hunting clings to its Chultan origins tightly, but either trained in secret during the dark age, veterans trained before Mezro’s disappearance, or recently trained after its reappearance, non-chultans can still be blood hunters, and blood hunters can be from anywhere in the world! (Think karate. It is distinctly Asian, but has many non-Asian practicers)

## Mechanics

### Adventurer's Guild Special Rulings for the Blood Hunter

The following changes have been made to the Blood Hunter in the Adventurer's Guild.

* **Fighting Style** -Blood Hunters may choose from any of the TCE fighting styles that are not limited to a single class: Blind Fighting, Interception, and Thrown Weapon Fighting.
* **Variant Hemocraft Ability Score** -You can choose to instead use your Wisdom modifier for all your blood hunter features that use your Intelligence modifier by default.

**Order of the Lycan:**

* **Bloodlust** If you begin your turn with no more than half of your maximum hit points, you must succeed on a DC 8 Wisdom saving throw, if you fail you must either move towards the nearest creature and use the attack action against that creature or end your turn while you regain control. You can choose whether or not to use your Extra Attack feature for this frenzied attack. If there is more than one possible target, roll to randomly determine the target. You then regain control for the remainder of your turn. If you are under an effect that prevents you from concentrating (like the barbarian’s Rage feature), you automatically fail this saving throw.

## The Bloodhunter on D&D Beyond and the DM's Guild

https://www.dndbeyond.com/classes/blood-hunter

https://www.dmsguild.com/product/170777/Blood-Hunter-Class