Your best Van Helsing type monster slayers

[Grear Bylls]

Hey all!

I'm going to start running Curse of Strahd (with variations) for some friends in my church youth group, and I'm designing premade charactsers. I'm trying to set up some good Van Helsing style monster slayers to really fit the gothic horror feel. So far I've got Inquisitive Rogue, Vengeance Paladin, Celestial Warlock, Monster Hunter Ranger, and Gloom Stalker Ranger as some pregens. One of the ministers, who is also a teacher, has played before and wants to play a Vistani Death Cleric, spying for Strahd, which I've built. Please give me some other sweet monster slayers!

(P. S. Don't worry about the fact that "D&D = Satanism" thing. Most of the kid's parents played, and still do)

[viaFAMILIAR]

I just played a death cleric with the magic initiate feat for find familiar. Delivering touch spells like spare the dying/cure wounds via a poisonous snake is 😂

[Camman1984]

I have a grave cleric of the raven queen that swapped his level one domain spells for summon raven. That thing loves to dive bomb and from touch spells on the unread abominations.

That character plans on picking up some ranger levels for favoured enemy unread soon

[SunderedWorldDM]

To go through each class and make a "best monster-killer" thematic decision (I'm not looking at mechanics, just flavor, and if you want to disagree with me, go ahead):

Barbarian: I'd say Zealot, just because the 'candle of light in the unholy darkness' concept, plus the violent manic rage would make an interesting monster hunter. Maybe try a more urbane background to make this barbarian even more atypical.
Aasimar, High Elf, Dusk Elf, Goliath, Half-Orc
Bard: Whispers, obviously for the dark elements and the 'inquisition' aspect. If you wanted the one who knows all about the unholy darkness to be fought, a Lore bard would do better.
Elf, Teifling, Dragonborn
Cleric: Grave, Light, and Death are all good monster hunter flavor. But you know that already.
Shadar-Kai, Dragonborn
Druid: This one really has no good choices. Circle of the Moon is probably the least atrocious in the Gothic setting, and the utilty and offensive power of Wild Shape can be a good tool in a monster hunter's utility belt.
Elf
Fighter: Matt Mercer's Gunslinger (or any similar subclass) would work well in terms of heavy flavor. If that's not your style, a Champion would do nicely with a hulking, grim, scarred figure. Really, any scarred slab of deep-voiced muscle would work as a monster hunter in flavor.
Any race with a Strength or Con bonus
Monk: Sun Soul and Shadow Master work well. Sun Soul for the 'righteous smiter of evil', Shadow Master for the more sinister, stealthy monster hunter. But altogether, Monk isn't a great monster hunter class.
Halfling, Half-Orc, Goliath, Elf
Paladin: Conquest, Vengeance or Justice all work well. My personal recommendation is Vengeance for all the intense 'a monster killed my (insert family members/s here)' background, but it's up to you.
Aasimar, Teifling, Dragonborn, Half-Orc, Dwarf, Warforged
Ranger: There's a literal archetype called Monster Hunter. Although, most any ranger could be a good monster hunter with enough thematic roleplay. I could easily see a Horizon Walker trying to stretch the walls of Barovia's reality to escape, or a ranger with a wolf companion.
Elf, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Lizardfolk, Tiefling
Rogue: Inquisitive, yes, but also Scout for the wilderness and tracking aspect.
Any race with a Dex, Int or Wis bonus
Sorcerer: Shadow without a doubt. Don't need to think too hard for why.
Any non-human
Warlock: This is like the ranger, but two clear choices come to mind: Hexblade and Undying. Either could make interesting Barovian monster hunters with strong ties to the setting.
Teifling, Dragonborn Elf, Dwarf, Aasimar
Wizard: Necromancy seems too obvious here (and I personally don't like the archetype), so I'll recommend Abjuration instead. Your role is to protect the innocent and banish evils from the realms. I picture an old man leaning on a silver cane, angry eyebrows piercing through anyone brave enough to approach.
Human, Aasimar

Or you could have a Blood Hunter or two (also Matt Mercer). They're literally designed for this type of thing, and have many flavorful and balanced mechanics to support an intense monster hunter. Teifling, Dwarf, Warforged

Once again, just my opinion, and if you have different ideas, let me know.

EDIT: Added race suggestions for each. Note that my lists are not complete nor comprehensive. More inspiration than guidelines.

[Talyn]

Depends on which 'van Helsing' you want:

(1) Abraham Van Helsing (original Dracula) is a Knowledge Domain cleric. He knows all the weaknesses, can Turn Undead, not particularly impressive in a straight fight.

(2) Gabriel Van Helsing (from the "Van Helsing" movie) is a Ranger with Undead as favored enemy. Medium armor, tracking and wilderness survival, a mix of melee and ranged weapons.

(3) Integra Hellsing (Hellsing manga) is a Battlemaster fighter, or maybe a Vengeance Paladin.

[Drazhar]

Human V. Crossbow Expert

Gloom Stalker Ranger up to level 5; Hunter's Mark (need to track your foe), and of course Gloom Stalker is awesome in general...

Light Cleric 6-20, I mean Cleric and undead need I say more. Also, all the healing and light spells (bring light to the darkness)

Had a lot of fun with this character, especiialy during our raid on some werewolves! lol

[Vogie]

EK fighter with War Wizard 2 dip for ritual casting, a mini-shield & mini-alert. Could be played straight, or have all arcana stripped away, and the handful of spells are refluffed as integrated technology, a la Cable from Deadpool 2.

Kensai Monk, rocking a whip and Hand Crossbow. Could also double as Indiana Jones.

Ancestral Guardian Barbarian with 6 level Trickery Cleric Dip - played as a Spirit Shaman or similar, with the divine magic & trickery spells refluffed as spirits protecting and empowering him/her rather than a single divine being.

[Grear Bylls]

Liking the ideas! Could you guys also suggest some race ideas for each that would work in barovia? Also, the players are all new (except for the one), so could you keep multiclasses out, please?

[SunderedWorldDM]

Sure. Good races and why they work:
-Dwarves can be easily played as dour and intense, and most any martial class can benefit from the stats a dwarf brings to the table.
-Shadar-kai, dow and high elves are good thematic matches as far as elf subraces go. There's also plenty of homebrew content for Dusk Elves out there, which are Barovia-specific elves.
-Teiflings and Aasimar work well for thematic elements, and for caster classes. Teiflings work specifically for Warlocks, Sorcerers and Blood Hunters (which I highly recompensed unsung, again. Highly thematic and fun to play). Aasimar work for martial/divine classes.
-Kenku could be fun for many classes and characters. For example, a kenku caster who learned magic by hanging around a wizard's tower or temple for long enough to pick up on the magical vocab. Or a kenku paladin out to gain enough glory to win their voice back.
-For the same reason as dwarves, goliaths could work for an intense, hulking monster killer. Half-Orc too.
-Warforged built to kill monsters- now there's a thought.
-Humans are a thing.

If mood and theme are important to you, stay away from 'happy' races: Firbolg and Halfling. Having a character who's constantly being optimistic and cheerful destroys a horrific mood! I should know, I've been on both ends of it.