Daithi
2018-05-05, 05:04 AM
Here are some thoughts on a Bounty Hunter character.
The obvious Bounty Hunter classes are the Ranger and/or Rogue. The Ranger for tracking stereotypical runners in a wilderness environment. However, many fugitives, criminals with prices on their heads, and people fleeing gambling debts or loan-sharks will likely try hiding out in city environments. The Rogue with contacts in the thieves guild would be better at tracking someone in this environment.
On the other hand, maybe the best Bounty Hunters will track their targets with magic. The obvious spell to use is Locate Creature. It's a 4th level spell, so you would need to wait until 7th level before you had access, but that's not the biggest problem. The fact that it only locates the your target if it is within 1,000 feet is the main problem. The spell does last for 10 minutes, so if you can move really quickly in 10 minutes time, then you can search an area. The Wind Walk spell doesn't require concentration, and it provides a fly speed of 300 feet. This would allow you to search about 1 square mile in 10 minutes. There is another spell called Find Creature that let's you find a target within 1 to 3 miles, but it is an Unearthed Arcana "spell" used by the Mystic class. Another option would be a homebrewed magic item, like a Compass of Locating, that duplicated the UA Mystic's spell. One last, and completely legal option, is to use Conjure Elemental with a 6th level spell slot and summon an Invisible Stalker to trackdown your target. Note that all of these spells point towards the Druid as being the best Bounty Hunter. It has access to all the above spells except the Mystic's Find Creature ability, and the Druid can morph into a wolf, bloodhound, eagle, or whatever to track a target as well. The Druid is also the only spell caster that has Wind Walk (well, the Bard could steal it too).
Even without the Locate Creature type spells, there are other spells that would be useful to a Bounty Hunter. A couple that come to mind include the Friends cantrip as well as Charm Person. Geas would be great --- compel one of his companions to help you track him down. Of course, Speak with Animals/Dead/Plants would also be helpful. Detect Thoughts is another good one (it is one of the few that is not a Druid spell).
Scrying is another spell that would be great at tracking someone down, and this is especially true if it was coupled with a spell that lets you teleport to a place you can "see". The Teleport spell is one such spell, but it has some risk. On the other hand, a Warlock that has placed Hex on a target could use Scrying and Relentless Hex to teleport within 30 feet.
Once you track down your target, you'll need to be strong enough to take him down. Dead or alive targets would be much easier dead. Personally, I'd probably start as Druid for all the spells that just seem to fit what a Bounty Hunter would need, and the ability to track as an animal. However, I would take a couple levels of Warlock to get Eldritch Blast, Agonizing Blast, and Eldritch Spear. Then take the Spell Sniper feat, and a couple levels of Sorcerer for the Distant Spell metamagic. Now your Bounty Hunter can take out targets a quarter mile away. He's the magical equivalent to Lee Van Cleef in those old Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns.
If anyone finds the above useful, great. Even better would be if anyone else has some ideas on magic that a Bounty Hunter would find useful.
The obvious Bounty Hunter classes are the Ranger and/or Rogue. The Ranger for tracking stereotypical runners in a wilderness environment. However, many fugitives, criminals with prices on their heads, and people fleeing gambling debts or loan-sharks will likely try hiding out in city environments. The Rogue with contacts in the thieves guild would be better at tracking someone in this environment.
On the other hand, maybe the best Bounty Hunters will track their targets with magic. The obvious spell to use is Locate Creature. It's a 4th level spell, so you would need to wait until 7th level before you had access, but that's not the biggest problem. The fact that it only locates the your target if it is within 1,000 feet is the main problem. The spell does last for 10 minutes, so if you can move really quickly in 10 minutes time, then you can search an area. The Wind Walk spell doesn't require concentration, and it provides a fly speed of 300 feet. This would allow you to search about 1 square mile in 10 minutes. There is another spell called Find Creature that let's you find a target within 1 to 3 miles, but it is an Unearthed Arcana "spell" used by the Mystic class. Another option would be a homebrewed magic item, like a Compass of Locating, that duplicated the UA Mystic's spell. One last, and completely legal option, is to use Conjure Elemental with a 6th level spell slot and summon an Invisible Stalker to trackdown your target. Note that all of these spells point towards the Druid as being the best Bounty Hunter. It has access to all the above spells except the Mystic's Find Creature ability, and the Druid can morph into a wolf, bloodhound, eagle, or whatever to track a target as well. The Druid is also the only spell caster that has Wind Walk (well, the Bard could steal it too).
Even without the Locate Creature type spells, there are other spells that would be useful to a Bounty Hunter. A couple that come to mind include the Friends cantrip as well as Charm Person. Geas would be great --- compel one of his companions to help you track him down. Of course, Speak with Animals/Dead/Plants would also be helpful. Detect Thoughts is another good one (it is one of the few that is not a Druid spell).
Scrying is another spell that would be great at tracking someone down, and this is especially true if it was coupled with a spell that lets you teleport to a place you can "see". The Teleport spell is one such spell, but it has some risk. On the other hand, a Warlock that has placed Hex on a target could use Scrying and Relentless Hex to teleport within 30 feet.
Once you track down your target, you'll need to be strong enough to take him down. Dead or alive targets would be much easier dead. Personally, I'd probably start as Druid for all the spells that just seem to fit what a Bounty Hunter would need, and the ability to track as an animal. However, I would take a couple levels of Warlock to get Eldritch Blast, Agonizing Blast, and Eldritch Spear. Then take the Spell Sniper feat, and a couple levels of Sorcerer for the Distant Spell metamagic. Now your Bounty Hunter can take out targets a quarter mile away. He's the magical equivalent to Lee Van Cleef in those old Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns.
If anyone finds the above useful, great. Even better would be if anyone else has some ideas on magic that a Bounty Hunter would find useful.