Making a Battle Hunter

[Bannan_mantis]

I am currently designing a character with the theme of them being a lizardfolk tribal hunter who hunts in a way that is very spiritual and gains abilities from a connection to nature and animals. I was wondering at first if the druid maybe had a battle class like bladesinger or hexblade but I couldn't find much so what choices are there that would fit this? I would like to note this is within official classes and subclasses only and I am not trying to make this a ranger, more of a melee strength combatant than a fast and agile one.

[Camman1984]

This may or may not work and would require discussion with the DM.

Maybe take druid and adjust the wildshape ability. You can only use beasts you have killed and consumed some important part of. additonally instead of actually turning into the beast (which i hate anyway) you get to add one of its rules to your own whilst 'wildshaped' so if you eat a lion, you then have the ability to temporarily use the pounce ability from lion for example.

not sure how it would balance as you may end up adding abilities not meant for your form, but you also lose the ability to straight up turn into a bear with nearly unlimited hit points

[Bannan_mantis]

I can get what you mean but for now I wouldn't go into wild shape territory, I want this to be someone who is more of a martial fighter with a connection to nature than anything else so while wild shape is good it's not working with the character concept I have (sorry if I am being annoying btw.) And this is sticking to strictly official stuff so while your suggestion is cool I don't think it will be allowed

[Camman1984]

no problem, how about the monster Hunter ranger? gets skills which make him better at dealing with monsters, like watching them and knowing there strengths and weaknesses. can be built very martial as a ranger but has lots of nature based spells and ribbon abilities.

edited,

I see you didn't want to be ranger, but rangers can be built quite happily as strength based creatures so can go in melee with a big sword if required.

[McSkrag]

no problem, how about the monster Hunter ranger? gets skills which make him better at dealing with monsters, like watching them and knowing there strengths and weaknesses. can be built very martial as a ranged but has lots of nature based spells and ribbon abilities

Yeah, I was thinking a Ranger Hunter would be a good fit as well. STR based Rangers using 2-handed weapons do just fine. I could see a Lizardman using a tribal spear (with Glaive stats) and eventually getting Polearm Master.

[Rixitichil]

This sounds like a Totem Warrior Barbarian would be ideal. Strength focused warrior, with Speak with Animals and Beast Sense as rituals.
Maybe grab Ritual Caster or Magic Initiate if you want to add more spellcasting, (maybe Animal Friendship if you want to gain an animal companion,) but this sounds like a reasonable base for the type of character you want.

[McSkrag]

This sounds like a Totem Warrior Barbarian would be ideal. Strength focused warrior, with Speak with Animals and Beast Sense as rituals.
Maybe grab Ritual Caster or Magic Initiate if you want to add more spellcasting, (maybe Animal Friendship if you want to gain an animal companion,) but this sounds like a reasonable base for the type of character you want.

Good call. You could add more of the tribal flavor with your background as well.