Ranger/Blood Hunter Multiclass in CoS?

[FillyFellow]

Hello All!,

Fairly new D&Der here. Recently joined a friend's Curse of Strahd campaign with two other newbies (the DM is incredibly flexible and understanding with newcomers and he's doing an amazing job or balancing the dangers of Barovia without overwhelming us). In the party is a Half-Elf Cleric of Life and a Half-Orc Paladin along with my Variant Human Revised Ranger (the DM allowed it) with the Undead as my favored enemy. So far he's been working well; I've been building him as a heavy crossbow wielding Van Helsing-esque glass cannon type - cliche, I know, but he's been a blast to play and pretty useful for the most part. We're just about through the Death House quest and, fingers crossed, we'll be hitting Level 3, provided we make it out alive (we're a VERY cautious group and I think playing in cagey in this world is a good plan:)

With the level 10 cap, I figured it smart to stick with the same class throughout, but I stumbled across the Blood Hunter class and was really intrigued by the flavor. Would it be worth it to add a level or two, even just for the crimson rites? I think it could easily be worked into the roleplay aspect, but didn't know if it could potentially weaken the character overall.

Greatly appreciate the guidance!

[Seekergeek]

I’ve got a level 4 blood hunter in CoS right now (had died but was raised by order of a burgomaster in one of the towns in what I can only assume was a fevered bout of DM sympathy). I was also toying with multiclassing with revised ranger after level five. To me, looking at the two classes I think if you can avoid stacking up on extra attack you’re in good shape. I ended up settling on a plan to multiclass in to rogue at level 6 but blood hunter ranger has lots of great synergy.

You may have to retroactively add the whole blood hunter rituals and whatnot to your character history depending on the nature of your table - mine doesn’t really allow for that kind of thing without character anchors for it.

[Vekon]

As the fellow above me stated towards the end of his post, Blood Hunter multiclassing can be a bit tricky. The lore/flavor of the class suggests that you'd be a part of an order, or at least learned from some teacher or source. Some DMs require that multiclassing makes sense to the character story.

On a mechanical level, Blood Hunters are essentially a glass cannon class. Having a lower amount of levels in them means having a lower Rite die, and potentially spending more HP to cast your rites. The damage you take scales off your character level, not just your Blood Hunter level. On the positive side, assuming you go the Ghostslayer Order, you'll have easy access to radiant damage which is obviously a huge help in a CoS campaign. Rite damage will stack nicely with hunter's mark and Favored Enemy.

Personally, I'd get a maximum of 3 levels in Ranger, then put the rest (up to 7) in Blood Hunter. Ghosthunter is the obvious pick, and a Gloomstalker would walk all over the poorly lit locations of Barovia.

[GlenSmash!]

Starting Ranger and switching to bloodhunter can be tricky. You could be potentially delaying Extra Attack, which is a major damage boost.

So, If it were me I wouldn't switch out of Ranger until 5+.

[JakOfAllTirades]

As the fellow above me stated towards the end of his post, Blood Hunter multiclassing can be a bit tricky. The lore/flavor of the class suggests that you'd be a part of an order, or at least learned from some teacher or source. Some DMs require that multiclassing makes sense to the character story.

On a mechanical level, Blood Hunters are essentially a glass cannon class. Having a lower amount of levels in them means having a lower Rite die, and potentially spending more HP to cast your rites. The damage you take scales off your character level, not just your Blood Hunter level. On the positive side, assuming you go the Ghostslayer Order, you'll have easy access to radiant damage which is obviously a huge help in a CoS campaign. Rite damage will stack nicely with hunter's mark and Favored Enemy.

Personally, I'd get a maximum of 3 levels in Ranger, then put the rest (up to 7) in Blood Hunter. Ghosthunter is the obvious pick, and a Gloomstalker would walk all over the poorly lit locations of Barovia.

This is exactly what I played in CoS: GhostHunter BH with a few levels of revised Ranger, Gloomstalker archetype. In short, he was awesome against undead, and decent against anything else. Two weapon fighting is risky but it pays off if you can put Crimson Rite your offhand weapon. Take the Tough feat to mitigate the extra HP loss.

[FillyFellow]

Thank you all for the info!!! Incredibly helpful.

I'd suspected the lore/backstory aspect might require some shoehorning, so I'll definitely consult the DM if its even an option.

Admittedly, I was drawn to the additional rite damage (fire most likely) and radiant damage with the Ghostslayer route, since, other than silvering my weapons, I didn't see a lot of other options for beefing up my damage. I was likely aiming to get at least 7 levels of ranger and then take the last three as BH to get to chose an order.

For my ranger, I was contemplating Monster Slayer order, but I'll debate the merits of the Gloomstalker (it does look pretty well tailored to the campaign) and see what the DM says.

Thanks again for the input!