Optimizing Blood Hunter Build

[Zilen]

Hello everyone!
Hope you all are doing all fine!

As the title suggest, I looking for an advice with the build for my Blood Hunter character.
We are currently in lvl2, and our adventure is Waterdeep: Dragon Heist ( i would appreciate if you avoid any spoilers, this is the first i play this adventure)

This is my character so far:
Variant Human Blood Hunter LVL2
My stats are, with all bonuses included: 10(str) 18(dex) 16(cons) 14(int) 16(wisd) 12(cha)
Feat (Varian Human feature): Observant
AC: 16 (Studded Leather)
Weapons: 2 Short Swords and 1 hand crossbow (that is gonna be replaced for a heavy crossbow)
Crimson Rite: Rite of the Flame
Fighting style: Two Weapon Fighting
Blood Maledict: Blood Curse of the Fallen puppet


My idea was to pick Profane Soul on lvl 3 to pick Hex and Armor of Agathis/Arms of Haddar, but I m not sure which cantrip choose, meaby Blade Ward and Chill Touch?

My idea was to pick in lvl4 with the ASI one of the follow feats: Tough/Medium Armor Master/ Crossbow Expert. Again any suggestion here for these or other feat i should pick is welcome!

Thank you very much for your time!! :D

[JakOfAllTirades]

Hello everyone!
Hope you all are doing all fine!

As the title suggest, I looking for an advice with the build for my Blood Hunter character.
We are currently in lvl2, and our adventure is Waterdeep: Dragon Heist ( i would appreciate if you avoid any spoilers, this is the first i play this adventure)

This is my character so far:
Variant Human Blood Hunter LVL2
My stats are, with all bonuses included: 10(str) 18(dex) 16(cons) 14(int) 16(wisd) 12(cha)
Feat (Varian Human feature): Observant
AC: 16 (Studded Leather)
Weapons: 2 Short Swords and 1 hand crossbow (that is gonna be replaced for a heavy crossbow)
Crimson Rite: Rite of the Flame
Fighting style: Two Weapon Fighting
Blood Maledict: Blood Curse of the Fallen puppet


My idea was to pick Profane Soul on lvl 3 to pick Hex and Armor of Agathis/Arms of Haddar, but I m not sure which cantrip choose, meaby Blade Ward and Chill Touch?

My idea was to pick in lvl4 with the ASI one of the follow feats: Tough/Medium Armor Master/ Crossbow Expert. Again any suggestion here for these or other feat i should pick is welcome!

Thank you very much for your time!! :D

I'd recommend starting out with the Tough feat instead of Observant; if you want to use your Crimson Rite for two weapons, you will need the extra HP. I'm speaking from experience, having played a similar build. Also, I chose Blood Curse of the Fallen Puppet, and found it wasn't as useful as I'd hoped. Take a look at this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?505473-Preparing-for-the-Hunt-A-Blood-Hunter-Handbook) and consider some other choices. Regarding Hex: I found it rather difficult to "power up" both Crimson Rites and a Hex spell with 3 consecutive bonus actions; that's three rounds with no off-hand attack unless you can do so before the fighting starts. Totally worth it once you've got everything on, though. Blade Ward is a waste of a cantrip; Eldritch Blast is always useful, even if you don't have the Agonizing Blast Invocation. It's nice to have a backup for your crossbow, trust me!

[Zilen]

Thank you!!!
WIth more lecture of the blood curses, I can say, you are right, Fallen Puppet can be great but is VERY situational, unlike Eyeless and others. Probably i'm gonna replace it for other whenever level allow me.

I did not expect Eldritch blast to be almost equally as good as a Heavy Crossbow (i'know, the range of the crossbow is better), my dm suggest that i should take Toll the Dead instead of Eldritch Blast since is with Wisdom and can deal more damage than it if the enemy is wounded (and the dice is with you :P ), the only issue with this, is the range, is 60 feet against the 100 of Eldritch Blast.
What do you think? I kinda like more Toll the Dead.

Now i for the second cantrip, i think i'm gonna pick Green-Flame Blade, since it's basically making an attack but better.

For lvl 1 spells I think Cause Fear will be a better option than Armor of Agathys, since i think isbetter to reduce chance of getting hit than reduce the damage of the hit (i could be totally wrong about this, so please, let me know if that is the case).

Finally, yeah I'll pick Tough in lvl 4!

Again Thank you!!

[Ventruenox]

Ghostslayer is optimal for 2 weapon fighting, as activating your Crimson Rites only take half as much HP. I can't fault Profane Soul though, it just has so much flavor. Treat it more like an EK in play. Celestial pact will let you use your Blood Maledicts for healing, and Undying lets you get some HP back every time you kill something. Suggested cantrip choices: Eldritch Blast, Toll the Dead, Minor Illusion, Mage Hand, and Booming Blade.

[JakOfAllTirades]

Thank you!!!
WIth more lecture of the blood curses, I can say, you are right, Fallen Puppet can be great but is VERY situational, unlike Eyeless and others. Probably i'm gonna replace it for other whenever level allow me.

I did not expect Eldritch blast to be almost equally as good as a Heavy Crossbow (i'know, the range of the crossbow is better), my dm suggest that i should take Toll the Dead instead of Eldritch Blast since is with Wisdom and can deal more damage than it if the enemy is wounded (and the dice is with you :P ), the only issue with this, is the range, is 60 feet against the 100 of Eldritch Blast.
What do you think? I kinda like more Toll the Dead.

Now i for the second cantrip, i think i'm gonna pick Green-Flame Blade, since it's basically making an attack but better.

For lvl 1 spells I think Cause Fear will be a better option than Armor of Agathys, since i think isbetter to reduce chance of getting hit than reduce the damage of the hit (i could be totally wrong about this, so please, let me know if that is the case).

Finally, yeah I'll pick Tough in lvl 4!

Again Thank you!!

I'd take Eldritch Blast over Toll the Dead any day. Eldritch Blast does Force damage, its range is longer, and you can't add Hex damage to Toll the Dead.

[Zilen]

Ghostslayer is optimal for 2 weapon fighting, as activating your Crimson Rites only take half as much HP. I can't fault Profane Soul though, it just has so much flavor. Treat it more like an EK in play. Celestial pact will let you use your Blood Maledicts for healing, and Undying lets you get some HP back every time you kill something. Suggested cantrip choices: Eldritch Blast, Toll the Dead, Minor Illusion, Mage Hand, and Booming Blade.


Thank you!
I thought initially in ghostslayer but considering i was gonna play this character until lvl 5 and no more, i thought the features from Profane Soul were better. But now in the middle of the campaing i can tell you, i should have chosen GWF insted of TWF in terms of performance, but i love TWF so no regrets jajajaja

Now those pacts are really good in terms of keeping me alive, initially my idea was to pick The Fiend since i pick rite of the flame, but the idea of having a potion of healing once per rest It's really tempting.

Thanks for the cantrip choices!!!

And thank you for the help!

[Zilen]

I'd take Eldritch Blast over Toll the Dead any day. Eldritch Blast does Force damage, its range is longer, and you can't add Hex damage to Toll the Dead.

After reading a lot since this reply, you are right! Force damage is way better than necrotic. But if i can't add Hex damage to Toll the Dead, then there is no options here, i'm taking Eldritch Blast.
Thank you very much!!!

[JakOfAllTirades]

Ghostslayer is optimal for 2 weapon fighting, as activating your Crimson Rites only take half as much HP. I can't fault Profane Soul though, it just has so much flavor. Treat it more like an EK in play. Celestial pact will let you use your Blood Maledicts for healing, and Undying lets you get some HP back every time you kill something. Suggested cantrip choices: Eldritch Blast, Toll the Dead, Minor Illusion, Mage Hand, and Booming Blade.

Really wish that "half the HP to activate Rite of the Dawn" had been a thing back when I was playing a Ghostslayer! Kinda wonder which revision that got put in.

Or did I just miss it? It's been a couple of years.

[Ventruenox]

That revision came with version 2.0. It also granted shield proficiency. I believe it is now up to 2.1. The other big changes was the addition of Profane Soul Patrons and the option to swap Maledicts at certain levels.

[JakOfAllTirades]

That revision came with version 2.0. It also granted shield proficiency. I believe it is now up to 2.1. The other big changes was the addition of Profane Soul Patrons and the option to swap Maledicts at certain levels.

Alrighty then, I'm not crazy. I think I was playing with revision 1.8, give or take a point. And now I want to run another Ghostslayer, cuz that's an awesome upgrade!