Blood hunter

A blood hunter is a warrior who uses a rare form of magic known as hemocraft to augment their fighting abilities. Many blood hunters are associated with the Claret Orders.

History

 * See also: Claret Orders

Blood hunters originate in the continent of Wildemount. During the Marrow War, the high cleric of the Julous Dominion secretly made a pact with a devil of the Nine Hells to gain the power to repel the Dwendalian Empire. However, the bargain came at the cost of the Marrow Valley becoming overrun with devils and undead.

Seeking to protect his people, a priest named Trence Orman prayed to The Raven Queen for help, and she granted him the secrets of hemocraft magic. Using this power, Trence and his followers formed the Claret Orders and banished the devils and undead from the realm. Unfortunately, with the Marrow Valley now clear, the Dwendalian Empire was then able to advance and conquer the Julous Dominion.

The newly instated Dwendalian lords blamed the Claret Orders for inviting the fiends into the Marrow Valley. Once they were no longer welcome, the Orders went into hiding, though they never stopped protecting the lands from monstrous threats from the shadows.

Small sects of Claret Orders began wandering Tal'Dorei in the years before 812 PD; in that realm the head of the Claret Orders is a dwarven blood cleric named Teresa Dulamar, and her right hand is Hunter Jorick LaMensh, a human member of the Order of the Profane Soul.

Several blood hunters and a blood cleric split from the Claret Orders in Wildemount to follow a different path, calling themselves the Tombtakers. When their leader, a tiefling blood hunter named Lucien, was killed in 833 PD, the remaining members scattered for a couple of years and the body of Lucien rose from the grave without his memories, built his own life under the name Mollymauk Tealeaf, and eventually joined the Mighty Nein. However, after Mollymauk was slain in 835 PD, the Tombtakers' blood cleric found the body and resurrected Lucien within it, setting in motion the final chapters of Campaign 2.

Powers and abilities
Anyone who becomes a blood hunter must complete the Hunter's Bane, a ritual that alters their life's blood and gives them control over hemocraft magic.

Using this mastery of blood and life energy, a blood hunter is able to invoke blood curses, which impair their enemies in various ways such as by blinding them or by making a creature that falls unconscious lurch forward and make an attack. A blood hunter can amplify a blood curse by drawing their own blood. Doing so makes the blood curse more powerful.

Blood hunters can also empower their weapons with hemocraft. By drawing their own blood, they can wreath their weapon in elemental energy, such as fire, ice, or lightning.

Orders
Each of the blood hunter subclasses is named after one of the Claret Orders. Note that a character of any subclass is not necessarily a member of the corresponding Claret Order.
 * Order of the Ghostslayer: The oldest of the orders. Members of this order seek to study the moment of death, and use their abilities to destroy the undead.
 * Order of the Lycan: Members of this order are afflicted with lycanthropy, and undergo a ritual known as The Taming in order to control the curse and combine it with their abilities of hemocraft.
 * Order of the Mutant: Members of this order study alchemy and concoct mutagenic elixirs to enhance their bodies for combat.
 * Order of the Profane Soul: Members of this order forge pacts with otherworldly beings to gain additional magical abilities, similar to those of warlocks.

Members of the Claret Orders
The following are blood hunters who are or formerly were members of the Claret Orders.
 * Elias de Corvo, one of the most famous blood hunters of the Claret Orders.
 * Gurge Kisgregg, subclassed as Order of the Lycan as a werewolf. Left the Claret Orders upon contracting lycantrophy. Because the curse caused him to leave, he was not a member of the Order of the Lycan branch of the Orders.
 * Jorick LaMensh, subclassed as Order of the Profane Soul. Right hand of Claret Director Teresa Dulamar in Tal'Dorei.
 * Lilyana Cayd, subclassed as Order of the Lycan and a werewolf. Member of the Order of the Lycan branch in Wildemount.
 * Lucien, presumably subclassed as Order of the Ghostslayer subclass. Left the Claret Orders to become leader of the Tombtakers before dying in 833 PD.
 * Otis Brunkel, subclassed as Order of the Profane Soul. Left the Claret Orders to join the Tombtakers.
 * Tyffial Wase, subclassed as Order of the Mutant and multiclassed into fighter. Left the Claret Orders to join the Tombtakers.
 * Zoran Kluthidol, subclassed as Order of the Ghostslayer blood hunter and multiclassed into fighter. Left the Claret Orders to join the Tombtakers.

Other blood hunters

 * Benicio Lorelei, subclassed as Order of the Lycan as a werewolf. Member of the Lorelei family.
 * Chetney Pock O'Pea, subclassed as Order of the Lycan as a werewolf. Member of Bells Hells.
 * Kingsley Tealeaf, presumably subclassed as Order of the Ghostslayer. Resurrected in 836 PD during an attempt to resurrect Mollymauk.
 * Lawrence Lorelei, subclassed as Order of the Lycan and a werewolf. Member of the Lorelei family.
 * Mollymauk Tealeaf, subclassed as Order of the Ghostslayer subclass. Rose from Lucien's grave in 833 PD and was a member of the Mighty Nein in 835 PD until his death the same year.
 * Perron Brill, hunted the Moon Mistress, a night hag in Mooren Lake, around 812 PD.
 * Portia Lorelei, subclassed as Order of the Lycan as a werewolf. Member of the Lorelei family.
 * Tova, subclassed as Order of the Lycan as a werebear. Her party was captured in the Nine Hells and held prisoner in Mentiri; she was then purchased and tortured by Utugash until Vox Machina rescued her in 811 PD.

Behind the scenes
The Blood hunter class, initially called the "Witch Hunter", was created by Matthew Mercer for Vin Diesel to play in. It was based on his character from the movie The Last Witch Hunter, with inspiration from The Witcher series of books and games. Looking back on the one-shot, Matt saw potential to build a full and standalone class option that uses health as its main resource. Two months later Matt anounced a heavily updated version, which placed most of the abilities' focus on blood magic, influencing the new name — Blood Hunter. The class was published to D&D Beyond in January 2018.

The class was again significantly updated and republished in January 2020. These changes were published to D&D Beyond the next month.