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.
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.
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!
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
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.
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.
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 😂
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. )
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!
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.
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 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 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.
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!
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.)
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)
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!
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!
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
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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 ruclips.net/video/mJlRk0uiD2s/видео.html
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
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)
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.
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
lol love the seasonal intro, and build, really want to try this one out, was trying to make a dr. jekyl/mr. hyde kind of build with a mercy monk/beast barb build, maybe i'll just go for this instead
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
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!
"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?
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
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.
Blood hunter is great for any character who can make a lot of attacks, so, crossbow expert, polearm master, action surge, whatever you use, the more attacks you get, the more you can use the crimson rite
This is fantastic! I've been thinking of doing a BH/Monk build, and this really looks like it'll work for that character. On a side note, I would like to see an Illrigger video, not as much as optimizing it but more just to get your thoughts on it. I can't find much on it where one side or the other isn't venomous in their defense or attack on it. Either way, great work on this one! Keep it up, man!
I cannot stress this enough as a DM and PC: "A "Session 0" is a life saver!" You need to be transparent with what the whole group expects. If someone has a cool idea that is bordering OP territory, I'd be clear (as a DM) to tell them that the difficulties increase as well (be it mobs, DCs, etc) "When one becomes stronk, others become stronk!" 😂
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!
One of the 80% homebrew everydamn thing. Weapons, armor, classes, subclasses, so the table has something fun and unique.
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?
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!
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!
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.
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
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.
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.
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 😂
;)
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. )
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!
Yes!!! Lycan Blood Hunter is something I've always wanted to play and now you have given me some ideas for my own build!
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.
Thanks so much for a fun Halloween homebrew!
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!
Can we just talk about that singing at the end?
Unarmed and blindfighting actually make the most sense for this class.
Great build Colby!
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.
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!!!
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.
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!!
Loved this build! Please do more like this!
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
Finally! This is my favourite BH Subclass. I am excited to watch this episode!
Asked for this build since your first BH build. It was worth the wait.
“Make sure to Lycan subscribe”
Werewolf blood hunter!! Such a good build as usual!
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!
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.
This sounds like a super fun build
I'm in the "morbid curiosity" camp for this one. Looks fun!
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🙏
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!
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?
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.)
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)
Halloween one shot is great idea!
Happy Halloween!! Thank you for your wonderful content
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!
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!
At the ~50" mark, your Superior Technique superiority die scales with your other superiority dice.
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. :)
I've had one of tge titles for years now. It's fun 😸 also love the builds ya do
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
Ahhh yes I'm so glad to see this! Now to complete the whole with Profane Soul and Ghostlayer ✨️👻
As per usual - great job Colby!
I love it. I nearly feel like I understand blood hunter mechanics.
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
Happy Halloween 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.
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.
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
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
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.
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
ruclips.net/video/mJlRk0uiD2s/видео.html
I'm 60% watching for the builds, 30% for the voice, and 10% for the biceps
😂
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
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)
Thank you Lord Colby!
@@DnDDeepDive you might need to make a pic with a crown now.
@@vinspad3 Truth!
I've had an idea of a Lycan Bloodhunter/Beast Barb Goblin that is just a FERAL little monster.
kindness of my heart view, I wouldn't normally watch homebrew but Colby convinced me.
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.
Oh man, I thought you were doing a build based on the Grim Hollow transformation for a minute there 😂
I'm loving it!
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
Spooky Colby is exactly what we didn't know we needed 😸
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 🥂
I'm so tempted to try this subclass for my new character.
Thank you for a fun video on a day i am sick
Gotta say, i do enjoy that this build has so few feats and seems really simple to build nicely
lol love the seasonal intro, and build, really want to try this one out, was trying to make a dr. jekyl/mr. hyde kind of build with a mercy monk/beast barb build, maybe i'll just go for this instead
Dang it. I wanted a ghostslayer. :(
Glad to see you branching out a bit tho!
Great as always👍🏻
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
Colby YOU are awesome! Love your vids brother! Keep it up!
He's the hairy-handed gent who ran amok in Kent.
Lately he's been overheard in Mayfair.
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.
Shifter/Lycan Blood Hunter/Beast Barbarian...? [Edit] Wow! Not what I expected! Well done, sir. 🙂
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!
"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?
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!
Yesss a spooky character!!
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
Commenting for the algorithm. Keep making cool vids about whatever you want.
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?
YES
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!
Blood hunter is great for any character who can make a lot of attacks, so, crossbow expert, polearm master, action surge, whatever you use, the more attacks you get, the more you can use the crimson rite
This is fantastic! I've been thinking of doing a BH/Monk build, and this really looks like it'll work for that character.
On a side note, I would like to see an Illrigger video, not as much as optimizing it but more just to get your thoughts on it. I can't find much on it where one side or the other isn't venomous in their defense or attack on it.
Either way, great work on this one! Keep it up, man!
the wording of the unarmed attacks, would add your dueling feat to damage
I'd love a Tinkerer build based on Jinx now ^^
I cannot stress this enough as a DM and PC: "A "Session 0" is a life saver!"
You need to be transparent with what the whole group expects. If someone has a cool idea that is bordering OP territory, I'd be clear (as a DM) to tell them that the difficulties increase as well (be it mobs, DCs, etc)
"When one becomes stronk, others become stronk!" 😂