Vampire Hunter

[GuestEleven]

Helping a player make a Vampire Hunter in our 3.5/Pathfinder game. I could use some advice for feats and any tricks or items that will help optimize him, undead will be pretty prevalent and one of the big bads is a Vampire so a little overspecialization shouldn't hurt.

He is pretty adamant on not taking Ranger, he wants to do all 20 levels in the Vampire Hunter class. For race he is playing Dhampir, he wants to use a longsword and stake as his primary weapons with a crossbow as a back up but I'm trying to convince him to swap to a warhammer so that he can get Disruptive on his weapon. He has 12 feats to work with, all 3.5 and Pathfinder official options are on the table except TOB. Here are the feats I have thought up so far.

Creature Focus
Dedicated Adversary
Nemesis
Vampire Hunter
TWF
ITWF
Power Attack

[Maat Mons]

What's the starting level? And what level will the campaign likely go to?

This is the first I've ever looked at the Vampire Hunter class. … It's not very impressive.

Well, I guess the slashing damage of the longsword will be nice against Zombies. For skeletons, I guess there's the Weapon Versatility (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/weapon-versatility-combat/) feat?

[AvatarVecna]

Wanting to play a vampire hunter? Obviously ranger.

...oh, no Ranger huh? How about Paladin?

[Gruftzwerg]

Have a look at the double hand crossbow from the kobold web enhancement (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060420a). They could be interesting.

Other than that, you need "Quick Draw" and shoulder-straps for the hand crossbows for an easy reload. You can now drop em as "free action" and have a hand free to reload the other. Drop the second and Quick Draw the first to reload it. Quick Draw the second back and you have reloaded both as free action. Further helps to switch to longsword if the situation requires it.
Finally he needs should aim for the "splitting" and "exit wound" enhancements to have some form of multi-target damage.

[AnimeTheCat]

Have you taken a look at Slayer or Inquisitor from Pathfinder? Both of those could be quite perfect for a Vampire Hunter.

Are you the DM btw? If so, might I make the argument for this player that you just allow disruptive to be put on the longsword anyway? Flavor text it as he's using the pommel to end them rightly.

[GuestEleven]

Have you taken a look at Slayer or Inquisitor from Pathfinder? Both of those could be quite perfect for a Vampire Hunter.

Are you the DM btw? If so, might I make the argument for this player that you just allow disruptive to be put on the longsword anyway? Flavor text it as he's using the pommel to end them rightly.

Sadly I'm just a fellow player and the DM is pretty bottom line on RAW. Thankfully though he has decided he prefers the warhammer and stake combo. Slayer and Inquisitor were both considerations, he decided Vamp Hunter was what he wanted though.


Have a look at the double hand crossbow from the kobold web enhancement (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060420a). They could be interesting.

Other than that, you need "Quick Draw" and shoulder-straps for the hand crossbows for an easy reload. You can now drop em as "free action" and have a hand free to reload the other. Drop the second and Quick Draw the first to reload it. Quick Draw the second back and you have reloaded both as free action. Further helps to switch to longsword if the situation requires it.
Finally he needs should aim for the "splitting" and "exit wound" enhancements to have some form of multi-target damage.

That's pretty cool, definitely pocketing it for personal use. He doesn't want to focus too hard on the crossbow, just a backup weapon and something he can fire a Heartstake Bolt out of to disable a vampire.


Wanting to play a vampire hunter? Obviously ranger.

...oh, no Ranger huh? How about Paladin?

Didn't bite on Pally or Cleric.


What's the starting level? And what level will the campaign likely go to?

This is the first I've ever looked at the Vampire Hunter class. … It's not very impressive.

He will be starting at level 6 and the campaign likely will break past 20 if possible. I agree that the class isn't crazy good, but it does have decent saves/proficiencies, FBAB, spells from the Inquisitor spell list and access to the Blessed Waters feat which makes holy water even better. Also he is new so it being a simple class isn't entirely bad.

[Biggus]

Favored Power Attack and Improved Favored Enemy from Complete Warrior might be worth considering, as might Enduring Life and Lasting Life from Libris Mortis.

[Maat Mons]

Does your game use 3.5 rules or Pathfinder rules for damage reduction? If it's 3.5 rules, you might want to make the Disruption weapon out of purple mournload. It overcomes the DR of undead as if it were both silver and cold iron. ... Actually, wait. Is there an undead other than bodak that has DR/cold iron? Maybe just stick with alchemical silver. Or that Magic of Faerun specially-hardened and treated silver that doesn't have a damage penalty, and instead gains a damage bonus against creatures vulnerable to silver. Or that Ghostwalk flat-cost (see errata) magical weapon ability that makes the weapon count as silver, but lets it actually be made of a different material.

If the dude's going the bludgeoning route, maybe see if someone in the party's willing to cast Greater Mighty Wallop on his weapon.

Does the game use 3.5 Power Attack, or Pathfinder Power Attack?

The visual of using a longsword and stake is pretty cool. It's too bad I can't find anything that would make that particular combo good. If he decides to go TWF, that's going to be a lot of investment for little payoff.

Since Vampire Hunter gives Detect Undead at will, he should trade out the Dhampir racial Detect Undead ability for something else. Maybe Dayborn, just to avoid the annoyance of tracking a situational -1 penalty. Though sundark goggles can do the same thing, and let you imagine yourself as Riddick. But the only useful alternative to Dayborn is Heir to Undying Nobility. And can he really afford to invest enough in Cha to make those SLAs land consistently?