Fighter/Blood Hunter - think I might have screwed my build?

[Heliomance]

I'm currently playing a Goliath Fighter (Rune Knight) 3/Blood Hunter (Order of the Mutant) 4. I'm not sure my build is going to work out great?

We're playing Storm King's Thunder (no spoilers please), and Goliath has been houseruled as giantkin. I wanted my character to be an expert in giant runes, thus Rune Knight, but Rune Knight felt pretty underwhelming later on, so headed into Blood Hunter. I gather that Blood Hunter is generally a dex-based class though, and I'm very much str-based - my stats are 20/8/14/14/12/10. I have the Polearm Mastery feat, and plan on taking Sentinel soon, but I'm not really sure how I ought to be playing. The multiclassing means that I only have low level Blood Hunter abilities, and they mostly seem to be underwhelming. An extra 1d4 damage from Crimson Rite is nice, but the blood curses seem fairly bad on the whole. I took Blood Curse of Bloated Agony, and haven't used it once. Mostly I get into combat, trigger Giant Might for the extra 1d6 damage, then just wail on things with my glaive. Sometimes I trigger the Rune Knight's Prophetic State rune in order to use my reactions to hand out advantage or disadvantage, mostly I just use my bonus actions to make a second attack with Polearm Master, and my reactions for attacks of opportunity.

All the actually good looking Blood Hunter class features come at later levels, and I feel I'm not going to get them because of the 3-4 levels I dropped into Fighter. All Blood Hunter is doing for me right now is letting me walk around with 23 strength because of the Mutagen of Potency, 1d4 bonus electrical damage on my attacks, and giving me a couple of proficiencies.

Have I horribly messed up? And if so, how can I best go about un-messing? All official sources allowed, I believe, no UA except Rune Knight because the DM likes how much the fluff fits with the campaign.

ETA: For runes known I took Storm and Fire, and for mutagens I took Nighteye, Potency, Sagacity, and Unbreakable. I normally keep Potency up, switching to Sagacity if it looks like we're going to go into more thinky/talky encounters rather than combat. I've used Unbreakable once, we promptly ran into a hydra whose piercing damage bites utterly wrecked me; I've not used it since because of the difficulty of predicting what sort of damage you're going to run into. I've not had a need to use Nighteye yet, I mostly picked it because I'm the only member of the party that doesn't have innate darkvision.

[cutlery]

Blood hunter multiclassing is str or dex 13; and int 13 - so focusing on either stat is fine.

I'd take one of the two to 5 ASAP for extra attack. Probably fighter if you plan to ever take fighter to 11 (for a third attack).

Whenever you multiclass, you'll have lower level abilities from each class, but that said, the damage-add of Blood Hunter isn't really the main draw - it's all the other stuff they can do.

+1d4 per attack is more than you'd usually have, and when you get extra attack that will be as many as 3d4 per round (two attacks, plus PAM bonus action attack).

That compares favorably with hunters mark or hex, but concentration isn't a problem and you don't have to use a bonus action to reapply it.

So, keep on trucking, but I'd suggest picking which of the two you want to level to 5. Extra attack from different classes doesn't stack, so I would only take one of them to 5.

Since you have two fighting styles, I'd take defense and one of dueling/greatweapon fighting/TWF. Greatweapon fighting makes the most sense with Polearm Master.


If you're feeling weak right now, it is probably because you are at character level 7 with only one attack; you've been limping along with pole arm master, but you ought to be doing more.

[Heliomance]

Blood hunter multiclassing is str or dex 13; and int 13 - so focusing on either stat is fine.

I'd take one of the two to 5 ASAP for extra attack. Probably fighter if you plan to ever take fighter to 11 (for a third attack).

Whenever you multiclass, you'll have lower level abilities from each class, but that said, the damage-add of Blood Hunter isn't really the main draw - it's all the other stuff they can do.

+1d4 per attack is more than you'd usually have, and when you get extra attack that will be as many as 3d4 per round (two attacks, plus PAM bonus action attack).

That compares favorably with hunters mark or hex, but concentration isn't a problem and you don't have to use a bonus action to reapply it.

So, keep on trucking, but I'd suggest picking which of the two you want to level to 5. Extra attack from different classes doesn't stack, so I would only take one of them to 5.

Since you have two fighting styles, I'd take defense and one of dueling/greatweapon fighting/TWF. Greatweapon fighting makes the most sense with Polearm Master.


If you're feeling weak right now, it is probably because you are at character level 7 with only one attack; you've been limping along with pole arm master, but you ought to be doing more.

I have Great Weapon Fighting and Thrown fighting styles - I have some javelins for if we have to fight flying enemies, but again, I've not used them yet. I really wanted to get Tunnel Fighter to go with Polearm Master and Sentinel, but the GM said no it's too OP :P

My current plan is to grab Fighter 4 for the second ASI/feat, for Sentinel, and then go straight Blood Hunter from then on - the later Blood Hunter abilities look far more interesting than later Fighter stuff, I'm just concerned the 4 level lag means I won't get to use them.

I'm also having the perennial D&D beatstick problem of feeling like I don't have much to do out of combat. Rune Knight's fire rune makes me incredible at crafting, on the rare occasions that comes up, and being giantkin in SKT means the DM is giving me some extra insights into giant culture and stuff that's quite useful, but other than that, pretty much all I can do is hit things. When hitting things isn't relevant I'm often at a bit of a loose end.

[cutlery]

I have Great Weapon Fighting and Thrown fighting styles - I have some javelins for if we have to fight flying enemies, but again, I've not used them yet. I really wanted to get Tunnel Fighter to go with Polearm Master and Sentinel, but the GM said no it's too OP :P

My current plan is to grab Fighter 4 for the second ASI/feat, for Sentinel, and then go straight Blood Hunter from then on - the later Blood Hunter abilities look far more interesting than later Fighter stuff, I'm just concerned the 4 level lag means I won't get to use them.

Given that you're already level 7, I'd get BH 5 before Fighter 4; extra attack is that big a deal.

You can keep Fighter 4 waiting for when you settle on a feat you just have to have. Sentinel might not be as crucial as you think; and you could put it off until BH 8; gaining more BH features in the process.

[TrueAlphaGamer]

BH is good for a 5 level dip and that's it, IMO. Their class features are so underwhelming it's painful, though I might be biased hehe.

But yeah, at this point, just level BH to 5 to upgrade your blood die to d6 and get the extra attack. Honestly just keep with BH, since you'll probably get more out of it at this point than you will with more levels of fighter.

[Heliomance]

BH is good for a 5 level dip and that's it, IMO. Their class features are so underwhelming it's painful, though I might be biased hehe.

But yeah, at this point, just level BH to 5 to upgrade your blood die to d6 and get the extra attack. Honestly just keep with BH, since you'll probably get more out of it at this point than you will with more levels of fighter.

That's what I intend to do, though I do want to grab Fighter 4 as otherwise I'm gonna be behind a feat.

Amusingly, I've found several people claiming BH is massively underpowered and Mutant is the worst order, and several claiming it's massively overpowered and Mutant is the best order. No-one seems to have an opinion in the middle...

[cutlery]

That's what I intend to do, though I do want to grab Fighter 4 as otherwise I'm gonna be behind a feat.

Amusingly, I've found several people claiming BH is massively underpowered and Mutant is the worst order, and several claiming it's massively overpowered and Mutant is the best order. No-one seems to have an opinion in the middle...

It was revised at some points, I think in early 2020; so some conversations might be about the older version.

[TrueAlphaGamer]

That's what I intend to do, though I do want to grab Fighter 4 as otherwise I'm gonna be behind a feat.

Amusingly, I've found several people claiming BH is massively underpowered and Mutant is the worst order, and several claiming it's massively overpowered and Mutant is the best order. No-one seems to have an opinion in the middle...

You might be over-rating that feat, tbh. Something like Sentinel is decent but I don't see it as necessary for your build, especially if you're pushing back a level in your new "main" class.

I think BH is a good class, especially in terms of damage output. They essentially get free Hunter's Mark on all attacks. Mutant and Lycan are the top subclasses for me. Mutant is great for 5 level dips in particular, which is why I always use it. But I think there's a lot of semi-dead levels and ribbons in their progression, which makes them really boring to me :smallbiggrin:. I suppose it's necessary for them to have so many residentsleeper features when their blood die is so strong.

[CMCC]

Can you switch out your fighter subclass? Or is that set in stone?

[Heliomance]

Can you switch out your fighter subclass? Or is that set in stone?

I really want the fluff of that subclass, a lot of the characterisation is built around it. I'd love to have taken it further, but it doesn't seem to get much at later levels. I use Giant Might and the Storm Rune a lot, though, and my backstory is being a blacksmith and master crafter for my tribe, so the Fire rune's passive is incredible for that.

[GlenSmash!]

Storm is a good Rune, but Fire is pretty weak. Hill, Cloud, and Stone are all good options though.

Multiclassing before level 5 is generally a no-no. Both fighters and BHs really on extra attack for a big damage bump at level 5. Getting one of these classes to 5 should be more important than picking up another feat.

[Heliomance]

Storm is a good Rune, but Fire is pretty weak. Hill, Cloud, and Stone are all good options though.

Multiclassing before level 5 is generally a no-no. Both fighters and BHs really on extra attack for a big damage bump at level 5. Getting one of these classes to 5 should be more important than picking up another feat.

Fire gives me expertise with all artisans tools I'm proficient with (Mason's, smith's, and alchemist's) as a passive effect. That's kind of important to my characterisation as a master crafter that studied with giants.

I'll grab BH 5 before Fighter 4 then, it's sounding like