Invoking deep levels of imagination and creating a world of its own, dungeons and dragons is a game that has successfully kept a considerably large market of players for years.
Be it the school kids, teenagers, or office goers, you will find many groups of individuals gathered around a table hunched over a board or maps, standees, miniatures, and sundry such components, engaged in a heated gaming session.
If you are someone new to the D&D world, you would find it hard to discover what exactly there is which has got all these people so intensely hooked when they are not even playing it on any screen?
But once you get introduced to this world, you will get to know the vibrancy of the imagination that kicks in due to a very strong and almost perfect storyline of this amazing tabletop game that involves an immense amount of role-playing.
All the dungeons and dragons players know that there are many different classes in the game that represent the identity and skillset of the character. Each player has to pick their character at the very start of the game.
These classes gradually upgrade to higher levels based on how well the players pull off their characters’ requirements. The more accurate one plays their character, the more chances of their moving up the level is which leads to the granting of more advanced features of their class.
As a D&D player, you must also be very well aware of the fact that each edition of this game brings changes to its features and sometimes new upgrades in the classes.
Following the same pursuit, this time, the fifth edition of the game has introduced a new version of the class blood hunter, which has come to be known as blood hunter 5e.
This is what we will be talking about in this article, every important aspect that you must know before you let your imagination go wild with the red crimson and dark aura of the blood hunter.
What is a blood hunter class?
Started out as a pure translation of the character Vin Diesel played in the last witch hunter, the class came to be known as a user of forbidden magic who uses curses and magic to aid their abilities in fighting with troubled monsters.
Being the arcane casters, the blood hunters find their major weaponry in rituals and are always willing to give up their own life for the sake of hunting down the dark creatures. While in doing so, they have to avoid the pull of turning into the dark beasts they are hunting.
The class has four different orders that represent four different sects within the class who have their own rules and limitations. A blood hunter is only able to unlock his or her full potential of being a true arcane warrior when he adheres to the requirements of the order he is in.
Ghostslayer, Lycan, mutant, and profane soul are the names of the orders found in the blood hunter class.
A blood hunter is only able to proceed ahead once they successfully survive the hunter’s bane, a vile guarded ritual that sharpens the skills of the hunter against the darkness which paradoxically binds the hunter to the darkness itself.
What is new in the blood hunter 5e?
For those of you who haven’t gotten their hands on the latest fifth edition of the game, especially blood hunter 5e, and wondering what is all this hype regarding the new edition, that some are finding it not so cool while the majority are more than satisfied and happy with it, then this section is for you.
The new edition has seen a bit of change here and there that collectively makes up a significant transition. So before you get to play the new edition, you must know all the differences there are now from the old version, so that you immediately feel comfortable with the new game.
The first thing that you will notice in the 5e version is that two features have switched places, i.e. crimson rite has shifted to the second level while blood maledict now comes on the first level. Then you will observe that the hit points that previously would decrease by the use of crimson rite are no longer following the same patterns; the cost of using crimson rite is not so much anymore and it is easily manageable now.
There are now many things explained in the handbook that makes the game easy and much more comprehensible. For instance, now you will know when you will be gaining additional options as it is mentioned in the features tables.
As there weren’t enough amazing features already, the game introduces you to another feature, Brand of Castigation, at the 6th level. This is a very rare feature that can be used only once until you complete a long rest. So, you have to choose it wisely. But, it provides an easy target as it gives a chance to the player to sear the hemocraft magic brand into the creature. This allows you to inflict psychic damage to the creature when it is near you, almost at a distance of 5 feet.
On the other hand, the previously existing feature, Grym Psychometry, is now more flexible than before. Similarly, many other aspects have been rewritten or changed to some extent. For example, sanguine mastery is no longer the same, dark augmentation is the new name of dark velocity with slightly revised effects, and all the subclasses of blood hunter have been modified greatly in terms of mechanical aspect. Moreover, this version has reduced the acquisition of blood curses from 6 to 5 and a lot of new curses have been added while some got removed or altered.
Bottom line
The blood hunter 5e has so far received an open welcome by its players, thanks to its many interesting new features and a much more balanced approach. Adding a touch of intelligence to the mix, the game now gives its players the freedom of deciding for their characters.
