Order of the Ghostslayer – D&D 5e Blood Hunter Subclass Guide

Hunters of undead and experts in blood curses.

At a glance

Ghostslayer features

Rite of the dawn – Lv3

How it works

You gain a crimson rite called rite of the dawn which deals radiant damage. It also causes your weapon to shed light, you to become resistant to necrotic damage and deals extra damage to undead.

Tactics

• This almost makes any other crimson rite redundant. Radiant damage is rarely resisted so unless you’re fighting celestials, this should be your go to crimson rite.
• It’s obviously better against undead with extra damage against undead and necrotic resistance. But spellcasters can also deal necrotic damage giving some benefits against them.
• It’s also good for characters without darkvision, allowing them to illuminate the dark.

Curse specialist – Lv3

How it works

You gain an extra use of your blood maledict feature and your blood curses can target creatures that don’t have blood.

Tactics

• This is obviously most beneficial against undead creatures which often don’t have blood, but could also be great against things like elementals, oozes and plants too.
• This also doubles your uses of blood curses at this level which is a significant increase.

Aether walk – Lv7

How it works

You can walk through creatures and objects for a few rounds once per short rest.

Tactics

• The best uses for this are for exploration. Getting to places you can’t normally access.
• You can also use it for a quick escape when overwhelmed by enemies or for hit and run tactics so you’re hard to target (especially if wielding a ranged weapon).
• The mechanics aren’t the clearest and I’ve seen some confusion around how this works, but I don’t think this affects how creatures interact with you. Logically, you might suggest it helps in a grapple for instance, but the mechanics don’t state this and it can start to be more powerful than I think it’s intended to be if we apply additional, logical mechanics to this. For me, this should be used in a rules as written way.

Brand of sundering – Lv11

How it works

Your crimson rite deals additional damage to creatures branded with your brand of castigation. It also stops creatures using incorporeal movement.

Tactics

• This is good for tackling ghosts and similar creatures.
• But extra damage is the main appeal. As usual, you’ll want to apply your brand of castigation on a high hit point enemy and focus attacks on that creature.

Blood curse of the exorcist – Lv15

How it works

You gain the blood curse of the exorcist which lets you end a charmed, frightened or possessed condition on a creature. If amplified, it will harm the creature that caused this condition and potentially stun them.

Tactics

• Charmed and frightened are common conditions, so while it’s technically situational, those situations aren’t rare.
• Possession is rare, but in a ghost hunting adventure, may be more common.
• Potentially stunning a creature is strong and until the end of your next turn gives you 2 opportunities to strike that creature with advantage. I’d amplify this when you can easily target the recipient of the stunning.

Rite revival – Lv18

How it works

Survive a blow that takes you down to 0HP by ending your crimson rites. This will leave you at 1HP.

Tactics

• Surviving a potential killing blow is decent, but being left with 1HP leaves you vulnerable to subsequent attacks.
• I’d also argue that this is worse than features that some species get at level 1. Half-Orcs and Orcs can do the same thing, but without ending their crimson rites which makes this feel weak for a level 18 feature.

How good is the order of the ghostslayer subclass?

The challenge with a class like this is balancing the fact that it’s themed for tackling undead while making it useful when there are no undead to fight.

Fortunately, I think Matt Mercer does a solid job of weaving in undead specific features alongside features that can be useful against anything. It’s still better in an undead focused campaign, but not underpowered outside of that either.

There are some nitpicks though. Aether walk could do with some clarity, though I think the feature as intended is good. I also think rite revival is quite weak for a capstone feature. I’d have preferred to see this grant extra hit points to reflect its higher level. Maybe hit points equal to 4 rolls of your hemocraft die or something like that would give a bit more survivability.

Otherwise, this is a decent subclass with extra damage, utility and endurance making it something of an all rounder for the blood hunter.

3/5

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Optimising a ghostslayer

Rather than altering the class substantially, ghostslayers mainly enhance what’s already there. This means that what works for most blood hunter, will generally work for ghostslayers.

Below I’ve given a load of advice on how you can build and optimise your ghostslayer character.

Ability scores

Recommended options

• Strength: I’d generally recommend that ghostslayers focus on dexterity for weapon attacks, but in theory, you can go with a strength build, but unless you use a feat for heavy armor proficiency, you’ll need to invest a bit in dexterity for your AC anyway.
• Dexterity: You’ll want this at least at 14 and probably more. If you’re going for a strength build, I’d stick to 14 to maximise on medium armor. If you’re going to be using ranged or finesse weapons then you’ll likely want this as high as you can.
• Constitution: You’ll want as much resilience as you can get, especially if you’re planning on playing a melee build or using a lot of hematurgy features (and you might be using blood curses more than other blood hunters).
• Intelligence or wisdom: You’ll want one of these to be decent, but they’re less important than your martial abilities in most cases. You can choose to use intelligence or wisdom for this. I’d tend to favour wisdom for the more common saving throws, but if you plan on multiclassing as a wizard or artificer (or going heavy on knowledge skills), then intelligence is the way to go.

Options to avoid

• Charisma: You’re very dependant on many ability scores. There’s absolutely no space for being charismatic with a blood hunter.

Ability score	Point Buy	Standard Array
Strength	8	10
Dexterity	15	15
Constitution	15	14
Intelligence	10	12
Wisdom	14	13
Charisma	8	8

Skills

Recommended options

• Acrobatics: Most ghostslayers should focus on dexterity over strength. If you are a strength build though, swap this out for athletics.
• Arcana: Good knowledge skill. If you have opted for an intelligence hematurgy ability score, then this could be valuable as there aren’t many intelligence-based classes.
• History: Another good option for an intelligence-focused ghostslayer.
• Investigation: An often used skill that’s particularly good for an intelligence-based ghostslayer.
• Religion: Similarly good option for an intelligence-focused ghostslayer.

Options to avoid

• Athletics: Take acrobatics for a dexterity build, but swap this in if you’re a strength build.
• Insight: This is more of a face skill and as you’re definitely not a good party face, I wouldn’t bother with this.
• Survival: Not a hugely used skill and you already get advantage on this sometimes.

Race

I’d consider the following when picking a race for a ghostslayer:

• Toughen up: You’re going to be hurting yourself and probably throwing yourself into harm’s way too. The more hit points, resistances and other protective traits you can grab, the better.
• Damage dealing: You’re also there to deal damage. Any race that can enhance this will be useful.
• Innate spellcasting: Most ghostslayers will have a decent wisdom or intelligence score making them a solid option for innate spellcasting.
• Stealthiness: Most blood hunters should have a good dexterity but lack the skills for things like stealth, perception and sleight of hand that go hand in hand with stealthiness. And yet blood hunters make a good fit for a potential scout or stealth role. If you lack a party rogue, you could use your race (and your background or feats) to have a blood hunter compensate in this area.

Recommended options

• Bugbear: Great option for dexterity builds. It makes the most of your high dexterity with stealth proficiency and bonus damage when you attack before an opponent. Long limbs are great for better reach too.
• Duergar: Invisibility is great for a high dexterity class without stealth proficiency. You also get some handy resilience features.
• Hill Dwarf: Wisdom and constitution ability score increases suit a blood hunter well and you get extra HP to aid your durability.
• Hobgoblin: Blood hunters benefit from the support of allies as well as being close to others to dole out damage on those that attack allies. The hospitality fey gift is especially useful as hematurgy can just drain your temporary hit points which can easily be replenished. You’ll make plenty of attacks rolls and saving throws so chances to turn failures into successes is very useful too.
• Human (variant): A skill of your choice can give you some scout skills and a feat is very useful and will sometimes compensate for the slightly lower ability score with an increase from the feat.
• Goblin: Extra damage on creatures larger than you is useful and a bonus action to disengage can be good for hit and run tactics which can be useful for your durability.
• Goliath: You’re mainly here for the damage reduction which will help you last longer in combat. Cold resistance is useful here too.
• Orc: Survive a bit longer when knocked to 0HP. This does combine with rite revival too so you can use this initially to keep your crimson rites working a little bit longer. You also get dash as a bonus action to get to your enemies sooner and temporary hit points suit a blood hunter nicely for more durability.
• Shifter: Regular temporary hit points and you can take beasthide for higher AC and even more temporary hit points. Wildhunt also makes you more durable by preventing advantage on attacks rolls.
• Simic Hybrid: Constitution increase plus another ability score increase of your choice will suit you well. I’d go for the carapace enhancement for extra AC.
• Warforged: +2 constitution and another ability score increase are great for a blood hunter. You also get +1 AC, some resistances and a skill and tool proficiency (allowing you to partially fill the role of a rogue).
• Yuan-ti Pureblood: Advantage against spells saving throws makes you very resilient to any kind of saving throw plus you’re tough against poison. The innate spellcasting isn’t much help, but you’re not really here for that.

Backgrounds

You’ll mainly want your background for some extra skills. I’d recommend trying to grab things like stealth, sleight of hand and perception to make you into something of a scout, especially if you’re going for a dexterity build.

Below I’ve included the backgrounds that work well for a ghostslayer.

Name	Skill proficiencies	Tool proficiency	Languages	Equipment
Imvestigator	2 of insight, investigation or perception	Disguise kit, thieves’ tools	None	Magnifying glass, evidence from a past case, common clothes, 10gp
Sailor	Athletics, perception	Navigator’s tools, vehicles (water)	None	A belaying pin, 50ft of silk rope, lucky charm, common clothes, belt pouch containing 10gp
Urchin	Sleight of hand, stealth	Disguise kit, thieves’ tools	None	Small knife, city map, pet mouse, token to remember your parents by, common clothes, pouch containing 10gp

If you do really want to go down the route of a scout, the urchin background gets you the closest to fulfilling that ambition.

Feats

Instead of taking an ability score improvement, you can opt to take a feat (if your DM allows it). A variant Human can also take a feat at first level and some DMs will grant these to characters at level 1.

I’d suggest the following feats for a ghostslayer:

• Defensive duelist – Grab a rapier and shield, invest in dexterity and this will give you reactionary protection to turn hits into a miss.
• Fey-touched – Misty step works well for moving where you need to be. I quite like the idea of grabbing hex or hunter’s mark for a blood hunter for greater damage. For more ways to optimise for this feat, check out my fey-touched guide.
• Gunner – Allows you to use firearms alongside your extra attack. A pistol and a shield could work nicely and you can use it capably in close combat.
• Heavily armored – Proficiency with heavy armor will let you completely ignore dexterity if you want to go with a strength build.
• Lucky – Turn potential successes or failures in your favour with an extra d20 roll. Great option for any class.
• Mage slayer – Get better at dealing with spellcasters.
• Mobile – Great for hit and run tactics if you don’t want to be left too vulnerable.
• Sentinel – Great if you’re going to be working with allies to get some extra opportunity attacks.
• Shadow-touched – 2 free castings of spells expands your spell uses nicely and invisible is a great option for a possible scout.
• Sharpshooter – Great option for ranged blood hunters that want to attack from a greater distance.
• Shield master – Great for shield wielding blood hunters to increase your durability.
• Skilled – Great way to help you fulfill your potential as a scout class.
• Tough – More hit points is a great option for the often damaged blood hunter.

Weapons

Technically, ghostslayers are proficient in whatever weapons they choose. Part of your decision here will come down to whether you’re focused on strength or dexterity. I’d generally suggest a dexterity build which means wielding ranged or finesse weapons.

I’d suggest opting for the following approaches:

• Sword and shield: Generally, playing it safer is best as you’ll often be hurting yourself. A shield will help here. Grab a rapier as the highest damage finesse weapon for a dexterity build or a longsword for a strength build.
• Ranged: Grab a longbow for your highest damage projectile that can take advantage of your extra attack. Things like crossbows, pistols and muskets can do more damage, but rely on reloading. There are feats for this if you want to go this route and a pistol can be wielded with a shield if you have the gunner feat.
• Two handed weapons: Your highest damage option. Go for a great sword but just be aware, you’ll sacrifice defence for damage output with this build. Especially as you’ll have to lean more into strength and being shield-less.

Two weapon fighting is usually poor on a blood hunter. You’ll often have your bonus action occupied with other features and things like your crimson rite will only work on one of your weapons (unless you want to use it twice which means double the damage to you).

Armor

I’d generally opt for medium armor until your dexterity hits about 18-20, at which point, you can switch to light armor and potentially outperform medium armor.

Grab a breastplate if stealth is important for you or halfplate if it isn’t. Once your dexterity is high enough, you can take studded leather instead.

I’d usually opt for a shield for a ghostslayer too for the extra durability.

Other class guides

Not sure a ghostslayer is for you. Not to worry. Why not check out one of our other class and subclass guides.