Advice; Bounty Hunter

[Razormace]

Howdy!

I am looking to put together a Bounty Hunter character in an open world sandbox style campaign and I am struggling with some analysis paralysis and need some guidance.

I am looking to create a Str based character that is both skillful (tracking & locating marks) and good at combat. I am thinking fighter (EK) for the main class but I cannot decide if it would be worth it to dip a level in rogue or ranger first for the extra skills and associated goodies.

Please help!

[Specter]

I'll go beyond and say EK/Arcane Trickster. Their short spell lists, when coupled, should give you all you need. Plus you get more of the rogue's goodies, especially Cunning Action.

And I really suggest Dex-based, for better stealth and the ability to dump STR to invest elsewhere.

[Grod_The_Giant]

At least one level of Ranger is a pretty good idea, yeah. Favored Enemy and Natural Explorer are fairly weak ribbons, but they're both perfect for you. Especially Favored Enemy. Revised Ranger is even better, obviously, if UA is available.

If UA is on the table, the Scout Fighter (Kits of Old) is basically perfect-- you get a bunch of bonus skills, superiority dice you can spend on them (and on attack/AC boosts), and Natural Explorer.

[GlenSmash!]

There is an Urban Bounty Hunter background in the Sword Coast Adventurers Guide. I'd start there. Quite a few classes would work. Ranger with Humanoid Favored Enemies is what came to my mind.

[Khrysaes]

There is an Urban Bounty Hunter background in the Sword Coast Adventurers Guide. I'd start there. Quite a few classes would work. Ranger with Humanoid Favored Enemies is what came to my mind.

This is what I was going to effectively be what I was going to say.

Urban Bounty Hunter: My favorite background. Access to a choice of proficiency in some of the best skills in the game, to fill in what the class doesn't get, and Thieves tools.

Ranger/Revised Ranger: Revised is better, but with humanoid as a favored enemy, you get bonuses to tracking them, you also get an extra skill point, You don't have to take ranger very far or as your first level either and you still get the bonus skill point. IF... IF you are allowed UA, consider taking 4 Revised ranger, and see if you can take the spell-less variant too, and combine it with battlemaster fighter. This will give a good boost to your main combat mechanic and get you what I would consider the best parts of ranger without too much investment.

Rogue: If you start it at first level you get 1 extra skill over multiclassing into it, but expertise makes a lot of the skills you would want better. Str + expertise athletics is a staple among many builds.

Bard: Spells, these can help you locate and hide and do a whole slew of things. Gets +1 skill proficiency if you start or multiclass into it, and expertise and jack of all trades at third level, which would make you a better bounty hunter.

Other than that, I would suggest starting fighter or barbarian, barbarian gets advantage on STR checks when they rage, combines well with expertise athletics and grappling.

[GlenSmash!]

This is what I was going to effectively be what I was going to say.

Urban Bounty Hunter: My favorite background. Access to a choice of proficiency in some of the best skills in the game, to fill in what the class doesn't get, and Thieves tools.

Ranger/Revised Ranger: Revised is better, but with humanoid as a favored enemy, you get bonuses to tracking them, you also get an extra skill point, You don't have to take ranger very far or as your first level either and you still get the bonus skill point. IF... IF you are allowed UA, consider taking 4 Revised ranger, and see if you can take the spell-less variant too, and combine it with battlemaster fighter. This will give a good boost to your main combat mechanic and get you what I would consider the best parts of ranger without too much investment.

Rogue: If you start it at first level you get 1 extra skill over multiclassing into it, but expertise makes a lot of the skills you would want better. Str + expertise athletics is a staple among many builds.

Bard: Spells, these can help you locate and hide and do a whole slew of things. Gets +1 skill proficiency if you start or multiclass into it, and expertise and jack of all trades at third level, which would make you a better bounty hunter.

Other than that, I would suggest starting fighter or barbarian, barbarian gets advantage on STR checks when they rage, combines well with expertise athletics and grappling.

Grappling is pretty thematic on a Bounty Hunter. I like it.

[90sMusic]

If it was me, i'd go with full ranger, dex build, and use a net instead of trying to be a grappler. Nets automatically restrain large or smaller creatures just by successfully hitting them.

Using revised ranger of course. Probably go beastmaster, because you could use a wolf as your companion and use it to help you track down enemies. It has advantage on checks for smell or hearing to help you find them. Wolf also has a chance to knock them prone on every attack and always has advantage if a friendly is next to the target.

It would make a pretty sweet bounty hunter I think.

Could also use a Giant Wolf Spider as your companion because it follows all of the companion requirement criteria: Medium, beast, 1/4 CR. It has a venom that paralyzes the victim if it reduces them to 0 hitpoints, so you could keep fight your target, beat them senseless, paralyze them, and bring them back.

[Razormace]

There is an Urban Bounty Hunter background in the Sword Coast Adventurers Guide. I'd start there. Quite a few classes would work. Ranger with Humanoid Favored Enemies is what came to my mind.

100% agree


This is what I was going to effectively be what I was going to say.

Urban Bounty Hunter: My favorite background. Access to a choice of proficiency in some of the best skills in the game, to fill in what the class doesn't get, and Thieves tools.

Ranger/Revised Ranger: Revised is better, but with humanoid as a favored enemy, you get bonuses to tracking them, you also get an extra skill point, You don't have to take ranger very far or as your first level either and you still get the bonus skill point. IF... IF you are allowed UA, consider taking 4 Revised ranger, and see if you can take the spell-less variant too, and combine it with battlemaster fighter. This will give a good boost to your main combat mechanic and get you what I would consider the best parts of ranger without too much investment.

Rogue: If you start it at first level you get 1 extra skill over multiclassing into it, but expertise makes a lot of the skills you would want better. Str + expertise athletics is a staple among many builds.

Bard: Spells, these can help you locate and hide and do a whole slew of things. Gets +1 skill proficiency if you start or multiclass into it, and expertise and jack of all trades at third level, which would make you a better bounty hunter.

Other than that, I would suggest starting fighter or barbarian, barbarian gets advantage on STR checks when they rage, combines well with expertise athletics and grappling.

I am hesitant to grab rogue first level specifically because the Hit Dice doesn't support a rough and tumble character, and the saves are ass. I am in love with bards and would love to make that work, but I don't know how I would swing that and still be a good meat shield.

What I really like about the EK is that it allows the character to be tough as nails and gives me tools for different occasions. If I need to split up from my party I feel comfortable with doing so without being terrified of getting outright killed before I can escape.


Grappling is pretty thematic on a Bounty Hunter. I like it.

Actually it is a big focus of my character which is why I am focusing on a str build. I was going to go variant human and grab Tavern Brawler for sweet punches and free grapples.


If it was me, i'd go with full ranger, dex build, and use a net instead of trying to be a grappler. Nets automatically restrain large or smaller creatures just by successfully hitting them.

Using revised ranger of course. Probably go beastmaster, because you could use a wolf as your companion and use it to help you track down enemies. It has advantage on checks for smell or hearing to help you find them. Wolf also has a chance to knock them prone on every attack and always has advantage if a friendly is next to the target.

It would make a pretty sweet bounty hunter I think.

Could also use a Giant Wolf Spider as your companion because it follows all of the companion requirement criteria: Medium, beast, 1/4 CR. It has a venom that paralyzes the victim if it reduces them to 0 hitpoints, so you could keep fight your target, beat them senseless, paralyze them, and bring them back.

I am definitely sold on a strength build though you bring up strong points. The wolf sounds sick, but then I read the wolf spider stuff and now I am afraid of you...

[Razormace]

I'll go beyond and say EK/Arcane Trickster. Their short spell lists, when coupled, should give you all you need. Plus you get more of the rogue's goodies, especially Cunning Action.

And I really suggest Dex-based, for better stealth and the ability to dump STR to invest elsewhere.

I will take this under serious consideration. I will need to spend some time looking at them both to understand better how they synergize.

[Khrysaes]

I am hesitant to grab rogue first level specifically because the Hit Dice doesn't support a rough and tumble character, and the saves are ass. I am in love with bards and would love to make that work, but I don't know how I would swing that and still be a good meat shield.

What I really like about the EK is that it allows the character to be tough as nails and gives me tools for different occasions. If I need to split up from my party I feel comfortable with doing so without being terrified of getting outright killed before I can escape.



Then don't go rogue 1st level. The ONLY advantage of going rogue first level is the extra skill proficiency. Otherwise it is usually a Demerit.

A rogue level, in your build would get you expertise in athletics, which will be incredibly useful. and, while you would lose spells known, a fighter 8/rogue 12 gets the same number of asi, and if you go EK/Arcane trickster, spell slots.

Or just go for 1-8 levels, get the nice features you want, and leave it.

I would really recommend 1 level if you want to grapple though.

I would also recommend a few levels - 1-4 - of Revised Ranger. Going EK, don't go spell-less. The natural explorer, and favored enemy humanoids, and primeval awareness would help wth your tracking abilities. You would also gain 2 levels as a spell caster, which is 1 more than a fighter would get for those 4 levels. You also get a few nice spells. 5th level would get you pass without a trace, but doesn't have much bonus otherwise.

[Specter]

I will take this under serious consideration. I will need to spend some time looking at them both to understand better how they synergize.

If you check this website (http://dnd5e.github.io/grimoire/tags/wizard.html), you can check only the Abjuration, Enchantment, Illusion and Evocation schools, and see that gives you quite a bit of spells. Plus you can always get stuff like Find Familiar with your school-free spells. AT 7 will give you not only Evasion but Blur and Mirror Image, which are sweet.