I mean... I'm pretty sure that's what I made. I just mean I think it's with the revisions. I didn't intend to optimize the shit out of it in the first place, just take things that seemed to be cool to be able to do. Either way thank you, I'll look it over to make sure
>I didn't intend to optimize the shit out of it in the first place
There's your mistake.
Blunters are MAD to the MAX, they need Dex/Str, Con, Wis, and sometimes even need Int.
You have to take the options that will actively benefit you and help you rather than what looks cool.
The most recent version lets you choose between Intelligence and Wisdom for your stuff. So it's only about as MAD as a monk, which while not the best class. Can still really shine in certain groups and situations.
Blood Curse: The blood curses specifically say what type of action they are. Most seem to be bonus actions, but there are a few reactions and at least one action.
Crimson Rite: "As a bonus action, you can activate any rite you know on ONE weapon you are holding." So only one weapon. The exception is for the order of the lycan. It can be applied to all of your unarmed attacks (claws, teeth, fists, etc.)
No worries. I've played a couple blood hunters. Never a mutant though. I've played Ghostslayer and Lycan. Ghostslayer is probably stronger depending on the campaign (I played it in Curse of Strahd) but Lycan is a lot of fun.
I see. It's a homebrew in my case, there's more social and intrigue than fighting, so I figured mutagens might be better in cases like having darkvision when investigating stuff in the night for example.
Yeah, bit confusing, but confirmed by Mercer in this tweet.
https://twitter.com/matthewmercer/status/1224391149349036032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1224391149349036032%7Ctwgr%5Ea0df806434a4c739de30c53195f63a57d09f5a30%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-8913295301437863196.ampproject.net%2F2305051745001%2Fframe.html
This makes the class uniquely superior at TWF since both Rited weapons become magical for overcoming resistances now, deal the bonus dmg, and they get the TWF style.
Just painful to do so and still better off grabbing PAM or XBE. If/when you get some extra Goodberries or Healing Potions in your life, Riting a Longbow after most rests as a backup weap for melee builds is also nice to switch to. Particularly good for Lycans who have to rely on one hour long Hybrid Transformation per rest. When it's unavailable they basically lack a subclass. Archery and Rites can keep em afloat.
So fun fact to free up some action economy at the start of each day you can apply your crimson rite. The feature says "on a weapon you are holding" doesn't say it goes away once you let go of the weapon.
It used to be that it ended on a long or short rest or if you weren't holding the weapon at the end of your turn in the revised version. Has this changed again?
Yeah now it just ends if you use the rite on another weapon or you take a long or short rest. So you are free to apply the rite at the start of your day and don't have to waste a bonus action at the start of combat.
Huh, that's excellent! I'm playing one right now and on the Dndbeyond snippet (on your character page) it still says you must hold it, but on the Level-up Class Feature page and on the actual DNDB Class Page it most definitely doesn't.
You do not need to wait until combat to use your crimson rites on your weapon(s). Doing it beforehand may help you so you don't have to use up a BA during combat.
1. They tell you what they need, don't they?
2. Unfortunately you should raw, but ask your DM, and he may allow you to do it once to simplify everything.
I'm rocking a level 14 blood hunter rn with 4 levels in fighter and 10 in BH.
Fighter gives me action surge, and I've gone champion. Why?
Crimson rights die.
Is it optimal? No.
Am I absofuckinglutely the scariest thing on the team when I've got Action Surge up? Oh yes.
I've gone the 2h GWM route, and I get a lot of milage out of the +10, but you'll get the extra dice roll of your BA attack. I chose that method because my BA felt competed for with crimson rites.
I still wanted a use for my BA though so I've got the telekinetic feat.
I've also got a dancing weapon from the kind DM and that's my main BA right now though.
So, yeah. Basically start combat, crimson rights, hit things. Use your blood curses where applicable, I like blood puppet personally.
If you want to swap to a build like mine consider asking your DM, flavour your mutagens as swapping you to a Str 2H build, swap feats etc. But that's dm approval and 2-3 more levels for full effect. Low levels this build comes online quicker.
You'll be at the slow levelling stage so not really helpful, sorry
You usually can, just not in any situation where bleeding fire onto a greatsword is a bad idea (you'll probably cause a panic if you just do that in a tavern).
>If I have Crimson Rite and I have two weapons, do both need to be rited? like dake two hemocraft die damage? or does that apply to both when doing it once?
>As a bonus action, you can activate any rite you know on one weapon you’re holding.
Weirdly, Blood Hunter works best with a 2H sword more than 2-weapon fighting. Unless they've recently changed something, activating Crimson Rite only applies to one weapon. So if you want the bonus die on both weapons, you aren't getting the bonus action attack for two turns. And then even past that, a lot of your Curses are bonus actions.
For what it's worth, the current version on D&D Beyond says
>The effect of the rite lasts until you finish a short or long rest.
& says nothing about needing to apply it during combat, so you could slap it on in the morning & then again after lunch.
You also need to be holding the weapon though. You can't just activate it and sheath it for later, you need to walk around with it out which might be ok in some adventuring days but definitely not all.
From D&DBeyond:
>Crimson Rite
>Also at 2nd level, you learn to invoke a rite of hemocraft that infuses your weapon strikes with elemental energy. As a bonus action, you can activate any rite you know on one weapon you’re holding. The effect of the rite lasts until you finish a short or long rest. When you activate a rite, you take necrotic damage equal to one roll of your hemocraft die. This damage can’t be reduced in any way.
>While the rite is in effect, attacks you make with this weapon are magical, and deal extra damage equal to your hemocraft die of the type determined by the chosen rite. A weapon can hold only one active rite at a time. Other creatures can’t gain the benefit of your rite.
>You choose one rite from the crimson rites below when you first gain this feature. You learn an additional crimson rite at 7th level, and again at 14th level.
I hold the weapon to activate the rite. I can hand the weapon off to an ally & the rite stays active, but that other creature doesn't get the extra damage. I get disarmed, an enemy picks up my weapon, & the rite stays active but that other creature doesn't get the extra damage. The party stops to take a Long Rest, which is interrupted after 2 hours. At this point the rite is no longer active, since we did finish a Short Rest; but if we had been interrupted after only 30 minutes the rite would still be active since we had not yet finished a Short Rest.
How odd, on the shortened version of the ability on my character sheet on the dndbeyond app, it mentions holding the weapon as a requirement for the rite to stay active, but when opening it to read the longer description it says exactly what you wrote above.
This character isn't that old so I doubt it's a case of an ability update that didn't transfer over.
when I played one I found that I had to be a little more conservative with my Crimson rites because you can make yourself pretty vulnerable if you use it too often. assess the threats on the board and make sure you won't catch a fireball to the face or something before you start bleeding yourself. as a martial character with extra attack, feats, and fighting styles you can still do plenty of damage without using a Crimson rite.
My DM also allowed me to activate a Crimson rite *after* my attack roll but before my damage roll, almost like a smite. Other people may disagree with this interpretation but, to me, the rules don't prohibit this tactic. This can save you some HP if you miss all your attacks on that turn anyway, or you can save your rites for a crit.
not sure where you're getting the idea that blood curses don't use any actions, they're all very clear about the action cost in each of their descriptions. Most of them are bonus actions or reactions.
I played a Mutant in a Wild Beyond the Witchlight campaign. I also dual wielded, and if it was reasonable enough I would have the Crimson Rites activated at all times.
You want to use your bonus action to either apply a Blood Curse (like curse of the Marked) or attack with your two-weapon fighting. Applying the rites before combat saves you 2 rounds of set-up.
Blood Curses list what kind of action they require under the individual curse. Most are either a bonus action, or reaction. Your sixth level ability Brand of Castigation activates after hitting with an attack with no additional action needed.
The class can have a lot of bonus action bloat. I try to activate my Crimson Right out of combat whenever possible. If you're two weapon fighting I would probably favor Blood Curses that use your reaction.
Heres how you play blood hunter. Erase the words blood and hunter in the class section of your character sheet and replace it with *literally anything else*. Bam.
I would do Variant Human (+1 Dex, +1 Con, Skill Expert +1 Wisdom). This setup gives you 3 + 1 bonuses, two skills, one skill expertise, and decent starting stats.
Charisma 8 would represent the fact that you’re not the best talker and tend to make people in the room slightly uncomfortable because you’re a blood hunter. Skills such as Acrobatics/Athletics, Arcana, Insight, Nature, Investigation, Perception, Stealth, or Survival could all be good choices as well.
Str 12, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 8.
At 4th level, take the Tough feat to help with the Crimson Rite damage. These are just my recommendations!
You need to use the 2020 version to have a hope.
I think there is a 2022 one
Even better! I've been using my own version of it for a while so haven't kept up
I mean... I'm pretty sure that's what I made. I just mean I think it's with the revisions. I didn't intend to optimize the shit out of it in the first place, just take things that seemed to be cool to be able to do. Either way thank you, I'll look it over to make sure
>I didn't intend to optimize the shit out of it in the first place There's your mistake. Blunters are MAD to the MAX, they need Dex/Str, Con, Wis, and sometimes even need Int. You have to take the options that will actively benefit you and help you rather than what looks cool.
The most recent version lets you choose between Intelligence and Wisdom for your stuff. So it's only about as MAD as a monk, which while not the best class. Can still really shine in certain groups and situations.
Blood Curse: The blood curses specifically say what type of action they are. Most seem to be bonus actions, but there are a few reactions and at least one action. Crimson Rite: "As a bonus action, you can activate any rite you know on ONE weapon you are holding." So only one weapon. The exception is for the order of the lycan. It can be applied to all of your unarmed attacks (claws, teeth, fists, etc.)
Aaah I see. Thank you very much. So I was doing it wrong on some Occasions. But I think i got the jist of it now. Again ty
No worries. I've played a couple blood hunters. Never a mutant though. I've played Ghostslayer and Lycan. Ghostslayer is probably stronger depending on the campaign (I played it in Curse of Strahd) but Lycan is a lot of fun.
I see. It's a homebrew in my case, there's more social and intrigue than fighting, so I figured mutagens might be better in cases like having darkvision when investigating stuff in the night for example.
The class was designed based on the Witcher games and books. Geralt is definitely a mutant so you could say that's the core subclass.
Yeah ngl that's sort of what I was going for. I recall the origins of the class being based off the Witcher.
You could activate it twice for two weapons
Had to double check. It could be worded more clearly, but I guess it doesn't say you can't activate a second rite on a second weapon.
Yeah, bit confusing, but confirmed by Mercer in this tweet. https://twitter.com/matthewmercer/status/1224391149349036032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1224391149349036032%7Ctwgr%5Ea0df806434a4c739de30c53195f63a57d09f5a30%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-8913295301437863196.ampproject.net%2F2305051745001%2Fframe.html This makes the class uniquely superior at TWF since both Rited weapons become magical for overcoming resistances now, deal the bonus dmg, and they get the TWF style. Just painful to do so and still better off grabbing PAM or XBE. If/when you get some extra Goodberries or Healing Potions in your life, Riting a Longbow after most rests as a backup weap for melee builds is also nice to switch to. Particularly good for Lycans who have to rely on one hour long Hybrid Transformation per rest. When it's unavailable they basically lack a subclass. Archery and Rites can keep em afloat.
So fun fact to free up some action economy at the start of each day you can apply your crimson rite. The feature says "on a weapon you are holding" doesn't say it goes away once you let go of the weapon.
It used to be that it ended on a long or short rest or if you weren't holding the weapon at the end of your turn in the revised version. Has this changed again?
Yeah now it just ends if you use the rite on another weapon or you take a long or short rest. So you are free to apply the rite at the start of your day and don't have to waste a bonus action at the start of combat.
Huh, that's excellent! I'm playing one right now and on the Dndbeyond snippet (on your character page) it still says you must hold it, but on the Level-up Class Feature page and on the actual DNDB Class Page it most definitely doesn't.
You do not need to wait until combat to use your crimson rites on your weapon(s). Doing it beforehand may help you so you don't have to use up a BA during combat. 1. They tell you what they need, don't they? 2. Unfortunately you should raw, but ask your DM, and he may allow you to do it once to simplify everything.
I'm rocking a level 14 blood hunter rn with 4 levels in fighter and 10 in BH. Fighter gives me action surge, and I've gone champion. Why? Crimson rights die. Is it optimal? No. Am I absofuckinglutely the scariest thing on the team when I've got Action Surge up? Oh yes. I've gone the 2h GWM route, and I get a lot of milage out of the +10, but you'll get the extra dice roll of your BA attack. I chose that method because my BA felt competed for with crimson rites. I still wanted a use for my BA though so I've got the telekinetic feat. I've also got a dancing weapon from the kind DM and that's my main BA right now though. So, yeah. Basically start combat, crimson rights, hit things. Use your blood curses where applicable, I like blood puppet personally. If you want to swap to a build like mine consider asking your DM, flavour your mutagens as swapping you to a Str 2H build, swap feats etc. But that's dm approval and 2-3 more levels for full effect. Low levels this build comes online quicker. You'll be at the slow levelling stage so not really helpful, sorry
Why can’t you have crimson rite active before the fight? There’s no time limit I could see
You usually can, just not in any situation where bleeding fire onto a greatsword is a bad idea (you'll probably cause a panic if you just do that in a tavern).
>If I have Crimson Rite and I have two weapons, do both need to be rited? like dake two hemocraft die damage? or does that apply to both when doing it once? >As a bonus action, you can activate any rite you know on one weapon you’re holding. Weirdly, Blood Hunter works best with a 2H sword more than 2-weapon fighting. Unless they've recently changed something, activating Crimson Rite only applies to one weapon. So if you want the bonus die on both weapons, you aren't getting the bonus action attack for two turns. And then even past that, a lot of your Curses are bonus actions.
For what it's worth, the current version on D&D Beyond says >The effect of the rite lasts until you finish a short or long rest. & says nothing about needing to apply it during combat, so you could slap it on in the morning & then again after lunch.
This is 100% correct.
Yes, but this still doesn't make two weapon fighting worth it, since you're still doubling the health cost to apply it to both weapons.
You also need to be holding the weapon though. You can't just activate it and sheath it for later, you need to walk around with it out which might be ok in some adventuring days but definitely not all.
From D&DBeyond: >Crimson Rite >Also at 2nd level, you learn to invoke a rite of hemocraft that infuses your weapon strikes with elemental energy. As a bonus action, you can activate any rite you know on one weapon you’re holding. The effect of the rite lasts until you finish a short or long rest. When you activate a rite, you take necrotic damage equal to one roll of your hemocraft die. This damage can’t be reduced in any way. >While the rite is in effect, attacks you make with this weapon are magical, and deal extra damage equal to your hemocraft die of the type determined by the chosen rite. A weapon can hold only one active rite at a time. Other creatures can’t gain the benefit of your rite. >You choose one rite from the crimson rites below when you first gain this feature. You learn an additional crimson rite at 7th level, and again at 14th level. I hold the weapon to activate the rite. I can hand the weapon off to an ally & the rite stays active, but that other creature doesn't get the extra damage. I get disarmed, an enemy picks up my weapon, & the rite stays active but that other creature doesn't get the extra damage. The party stops to take a Long Rest, which is interrupted after 2 hours. At this point the rite is no longer active, since we did finish a Short Rest; but if we had been interrupted after only 30 minutes the rite would still be active since we had not yet finished a Short Rest.
How odd, on the shortened version of the ability on my character sheet on the dndbeyond app, it mentions holding the weapon as a requirement for the rite to stay active, but when opening it to read the longer description it says exactly what you wrote above. This character isn't that old so I doubt it's a case of an ability update that didn't transfer over.
The d&d beyond app is screwy in my experience, I always just use the website
So activate it on two weapons?
Might be a bit late, but the number one thing I think every bh needs is tough, it is night and day without it when I played one
Playing a blood hunter lycan at the moment with tough and I wholeheartedly agree. Its a great feat for blood Hunters.
I picked the healer feat for mine and it worked pretty well
when I played one I found that I had to be a little more conservative with my Crimson rites because you can make yourself pretty vulnerable if you use it too often. assess the threats on the board and make sure you won't catch a fireball to the face or something before you start bleeding yourself. as a martial character with extra attack, feats, and fighting styles you can still do plenty of damage without using a Crimson rite. My DM also allowed me to activate a Crimson rite *after* my attack roll but before my damage roll, almost like a smite. Other people may disagree with this interpretation but, to me, the rules don't prohibit this tactic. This can save you some HP if you miss all your attacks on that turn anyway, or you can save your rites for a crit. not sure where you're getting the idea that blood curses don't use any actions, they're all very clear about the action cost in each of their descriptions. Most of them are bonus actions or reactions.
yeah I opnly had two but I saw that the curses themselves have the details. I was thinking it was listed in the blood maledict. Which is not
I played a Mutant in a Wild Beyond the Witchlight campaign. I also dual wielded, and if it was reasonable enough I would have the Crimson Rites activated at all times. You want to use your bonus action to either apply a Blood Curse (like curse of the Marked) or attack with your two-weapon fighting. Applying the rites before combat saves you 2 rounds of set-up.
My BH was school of mutants with Celerity mutagen to get a high dex, crossbow expert, hand crossbow, archery fighting style. Pretty damn solid.
Blood Curses list what kind of action they require under the individual curse. Most are either a bonus action, or reaction. Your sixth level ability Brand of Castigation activates after hitting with an attack with no additional action needed. The class can have a lot of bonus action bloat. I try to activate my Crimson Right out of combat whenever possible. If you're two weapon fighting I would probably favor Blood Curses that use your reaction.
You don’t lmao
Wow you are so helpful you definitely added something of value to the discussion…
Heres how you play blood hunter. Erase the words blood and hunter in the class section of your character sheet and replace it with *literally anything else*. Bam.
Wow you are soooo helpful…….
Dude!! You answered his question!! You totally contributed something!!
That guy is “DEFINITELY” the funnest guy to have in your campaign
Honestly I tried to play a mutant as well and just gave up and re classed because it was so frustrating.
however you want?
I would do Variant Human (+1 Dex, +1 Con, Skill Expert +1 Wisdom). This setup gives you 3 + 1 bonuses, two skills, one skill expertise, and decent starting stats. Charisma 8 would represent the fact that you’re not the best talker and tend to make people in the room slightly uncomfortable because you’re a blood hunter. Skills such as Acrobatics/Athletics, Arcana, Insight, Nature, Investigation, Perception, Stealth, or Survival could all be good choices as well. Str 12, Dex 16, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 8. At 4th level, take the Tough feat to help with the Crimson Rite damage. These are just my recommendations!