Monster Hunter, Variant (3.5e Class)

“	All these Trophies...... I'm gonna need a bigger Den.	”
—Rengar, Leonin Monster Hunter

Monster Hunter

A Monster Hunter is exactly that, a hunter. He lives to hunt powerful prey and then uses that prey to hunt even stronger. They tend to work alone or in small groups depending on their mark.

Making a Monster Hunter

A Monster Hunter is a man of the land, he lives and gains power from the creatures he slays, his power grows as his accomplishments grows. A Monster hunter is bad in communication, he can be easily talked down and cannot lie for the life of him, he is born and bred in the wilderness.

Abilities: A Monster Hunter's primary stat is Intelligence. It's secondary stats would be Strength and Desterity.

Races: Any.

Alignment: Any.

Starting Age: Moderate

Table: The Monster Hunter

Hit Die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special Skills
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+0	+2	+0	+2	Magical Mastery, Crafter's Affinity
2nd	+1	+3	+0	+3	Hunter's Skill, Hunter's Instinct
3rd	+2	+3	+1	+3
4th	+3	+4	+1	+4	Magical Mastery +1, Bonus Feat
5th	+3	+4	+1	+4
6th	+4	+5	+2	+5	Imbue Instinct +1
7th	+5	+5	+2	+5	Imbue Ability +1
8th	+6/+1	+6	+2	+6	Magical Mastery +2, Bonus Feat
9th	+6/+1	+6	+3	+6
10th	+7/+2	+7	+3	+7	Imbue Power +1, Crafter's Mastery
11th	+8/+3	+7	+3	+7	Hunter's Prowl
12th	+9/+4	+8	+4	+8	Magical Mastery +3, Imbue Instinct +2, Bonus Feat
13th	+9/+4	+8	+4	+8	Imbue Ability +2
14th	+10/+5	+9	+4	+9	Hunter's Mark
15th	+11/+6/+1	+9	+4	+9	Imbue Power +2
16th	+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10	Magical Mastery +4, Bonus Feat
17th	+12/+7/+2	+10	+5	+10	Lone Hunter
18th	+13/+8/+3	+11	+5	+11	Imbue Instinct +3
19th	+14/+9/+4	+11	+6	+11	Imbue Ability +3
20th	+15/+10/+5	+12	+6	+12	Magical Mastery +5, Imbue Power +3, Bonus Feat
Class Skills (6+ Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Appraise (Int) Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Rope (Dex).

Class Features

The majority of a Monster Hunter's class features focus on crafting the remains of creatures and enhancing the crafted gear further. All of the following are class features of the Monster Hunter.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The Monster Hunter is not proficient in any Weapons, Armors or Shields, and cannot take proficiency feats.

Crafter's Affinity/Mastery: A first level Monster Hunter has a natural proficiency with any gear she crafts. The Monster Hunter also gains Weapon Focus with any weapon she crafts at level 10. To craft gear, the Monster Hunter must have participated in killing the creature it is made from. Others may not use gear crafted by a Monster Hunter.

Magical Mastery: A monster hunter has the ability to craft superior gear through the remains of magical creatures. At first level she can craft Masterwork equipment (DC 20). Every four levels there after this bonus increases by +1 (DC +5) allowing him to craft magic items and are treated exactly as such for the purposes of dealing damage. These items do not glow and are not magical in any way.

Hunter's Skill: A monster hunter gains a +4 bonus on checks to track creatures or forage.

Hunter's Instinct: A monster hunter's instincts guide him, making him more fierce. you gain a +4 to initiative checks, and you are always aware during surprise rounds.

Imbue Instinct: At Sixth level the Monster hunter is able to feel and draw from the natural instincts of the creatures he crafts into items. Items crafted by the Monster Hunter give competence bonuses to the wielder based on the the creature's highest skills. The amount and power of these skills increase from +1 of the creature's highest skill, to +2 from the creature's two highest skills at 12th level, and again at 18th level to +3 of the creature's three highest skills. The skills are drawn from the creature whose remains contributed the most to the crafted item.

Imbue Ability: At Seventh level the monster hunter is able to draw natural abilities of creatures into items he crafts. Every six levels thereafter she can imbue another ability into the item from the same base creature. The abilities placement in items must make sense: i.e. regeneration must be placed on armor, attacks must be placed in weapons, etc. Imbuing abilities requires a craft check of 10 + the creature's HD to succeed. If failed, other abilities may be put into the free space, but the same power may not be tried again.

Imbue Power: Starting at Tenth level the monster hunter can imbue supernatural powers and or spells into her crafts. Her caster level for such spells is the Hunter's Class level at the time the item was created 1/2 + Int Modifier. Every five levels thereafter she can imbue an additional cast per day or new spells from the same base creature. The times per day cannot exceed the amount the base creature could cast. Nor can she imbue any spells who's spell level is greater than 1/2 her Monster Hunter Class level. Imbuing powers requires a craft check of 10 + the creature's HD to succeed. If failed, other abilities may be put into the free space, but the same power may not be tried again. All saving throw DCs are based on Int.

Hunter's Prowl: At Eleventh level the monster hunter can prowl through nature unseen looking for its next prey, you may as a full-round action choose to jump out of combat a distance of 5ft x Strength modifier, gaining Total-Concealment. This effect ends the second you make an attack against an enemy, and enemies may make a spot or listen check (opposed hide) to find you sooner.

Hunter's Mark: At Fourteenth level, any attack made by the monster hunter using his crafted gear marks his target for 1d4 rounds, dealing 1 ongoing Bleed damage per round. Every additional successful attack refreshes the duration and increases the Bleed damage by 1 point.

Lone Hunter: The monster hunter performs better without teammates and gains a +4 to AC and all saves when there are no allies adjacent to him, and can no longer be flanked. This does not stack with an armor enhancement.

Monster Hunter Homes Monster Hunters who create a home for themselves gain several benefits. To establish a home, the monster hunter must spend a month collecting monster parts and other materials in a wilderness area, and then another month constructing the home. This time can be reduced by one week (to a minimum of one week for gathering and one for constructing) per person who helps them. This home may not be made within a day's walk of "civilized" settlements. A Monster Hunter with a home may store extra items and materials there for later use. This storage may not exceed more than one ton of items.

If a monster hunter desires, they may install crafting stations to speed crafting time. These cost one day of gathering and one day of crafting to make, and shorten crafting times by 1d4+Int mod days, to a minimum of one day.

Monster Hunter homes will always contain a bed, the storage area, a cooking pit, a well, and a location where a stable (two days to construct) may be added if the character acquires a mount or pets. If it is on water, a dock can be constructed (costs two days). Rudimentary external defenses may be constructed (two days). Otherwise, no extra buildings or rooms may be added on (eg. no library).

A party of player characters may make their own dwellings around a Monster Hunter home, but if they begin to attract followers, they lose all benefits of the home, and must abandon it. A Monster Hunter may not have more than one home at a time.

Monster Hunter Code Monster Hunters may not use equipment that they did not craft themselves, nor own more than is stored in their own home or on their person. Monster Hunter homes must not be made closer than one day's walk away from "civilization" (communities of rangers, nomads, druids, or the like so not count as civilization). Monster hunters may have up to one mount, and two pets, which they must have trained themselves.

Ex Monster Hunters

A Monster Hunter who multiclasses into any other class or breaks the code of conduct may not gain more levels in Monster Hunter, and may not make new Monster Hunter gear.

Epic Monster Hunter

Table: The Epic Monster Hunter

Hit Die: d10

Level	Special
21st
22nd	Bonus Feat
23rd
24th	Imbue Instinct +4 Bonus Feat
25th	Imbue Ability +4, Magical Mastery +6
26th	Imbue Power +4
27th
28th	Bonus Feat
29th
30th	Magical Mastery +7
6 + Int modifier skill points per level.

Bonus Feats: The epic Monster Hunter gains a bonus feat (selected from the list of epic Monster Hunter bonus feats) every 3 levels after 20th.

Epic Monster Hunter Bonus Feat List: Blinding Speed, Combat Archery, Distant Shot, Epic Endurance, Epic Prowess, Epic Speed, Epic Toughness, Fast Healing, Improved Manyshot, Legendary climber, Legendary Rider, Legendary Tracker, Perfect Health, Perfect Two-Weapon Fighting, Storm Of Throws, Swarm Of Arrows, Two-Weapon Rend, Uncanny Accuracy

Human Monster Hunter Starting Package

Weapons: Deer Bone Dagger, Composite Short Bow.

Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 10 + Int modifier.

Skill	Ranks	Ability	Armor Check Penalty
Climb	4	Str	—
Craft	4	Int	—
Craft	4	Int	—
Craft	4	Int	—
Handle Animal	4	Cha	—
Jump	4	Str	—
Knowledge	4	Int	—
Listen	4	Wis	—
Move Silently	4	Dex	—
Search	4	Int	—
Spot	4	Wis	—
Survival	4	Wis	—
Tumble	4	Dex	—
Use Rope	4	Dex	—

Feat: Point Black Shot

Bonus Feats: Rapid Shot.

Gear: None

Gold: 10g.

Campaign Information

Playing a Monster Hunter

Religion: Monster Hunters Tend to not believe in gods, or occasionally believe in deities of Nature.

Other Classes: Monster hunters tend to get along best with Rangers and Druids. Tend to dislike Rogues.

Combat: Plays as an archer or fighter would.

Advancement: To increase combat potential, fighting and ranger classes. To increase people relation skills, a rogue.

Monster Hunter's in the World

“	Another man may take knowledge from a victory. We take everything from a victory.	”
—Praetoir, Elven Monster Hunter

Daily Life: Spends his day in the wilds. Seeking prey, living off the land.

Organizations: Monster Hunters tend to run very small villages, occasionally hunting in groups to fell powerful prey.

NPC Reactions: As would Druid.

Monster Hunter Lore

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (Nature) can research Monster Hunters to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

Knowledge (Nature)

DC	Result
5	Monster Hunters live off the land.
10	Monster Hunters use every bit of a kill.
15	Monster Hunters can disappear at will.
20	Monster Hunters create rare and powerful weapons.

Monster Hunters in the Game

Monster Hunter can work as crafters outside of battle, and as rangers within combat. Players might stumble across a Monster Hunter Village while wandering the wilderness.

Adaptation: Ranger Variant.

Sample Encounter: Monster Hunter village deep in the wilderness.

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