D&D 5E [5e] Trying to build an Illidan inspired character, help D:

[Ravinsild]

I often like to challenge myself with converting an existing thing, such as a character, or class, from another game into D&D just to see how well the official mechanics of the game can pull it off.

I was recently thinking about Illidan himself and his incarnations in Warcraft 3, World of Warcraft and Heroes of the Storm. I figured I'd sort out what the key points of Illidan/Demon Hunters are and came up with the following list:

- Spectral Sight (basically Dare Devil's powers. He can't "see" but for all intents and purposes he has super sight with magic eyes that let him see demons especially well)
- Fire Aura (DH in WoW, as well as certain talents in HotS and a main basic ability in WC3, a DoT dealing aura for fire damage)
- Twin Blades (Dual Wielding, always and forever.)
- Stickiness (Mostly in HotS, but also DH in WoW can just stick to a target with hyper mobility)
- Evasion (In Heroes and in WC3 especially, but also DH in WoW have a way to boost defense and dodge attacks for a short period of time)
- Turning Into A Demon (I don't think anything in D&D can do this)
- Flying (In WC3 the demon form had wings, in WoW he could fly in the trailer and in his boss fight, and in HotS he can 'fly' as a demon, and DH in WoW can glide for a long time)

I think those highlight the main points of a demon hunter so I set my mind to seeing how I could build one in D&D. I came up with something like 6 Hexblade Warlock Pact of the Blade and 14 Monster Slayer Revised Ranger.

Invocations like "Relentless Hex" to teleport to your cursed target as a bonus action for "stickiness" and Devil's Sight which gives you magical sight to see very well in addition to the magical "war glaives" (AKA like...short swords or long swords or w/e) dual-wielding.

Two-Weapon Fighting talent and of course the Greater Favored Enemy of Fiends. The extra spells such as Protection from Good and Evil are thematic toward thwarting demons, plus spells like Misty Step from the Warlock enhances the "hyper mobility" fantasy of the Demon Hunter.

Spectral Eye from the Monster Slayer class feature adds the specialization in hunting and killing demons.

Relentless Slayer counters any attempt of the being to escape on success which feels similar to Illidan's "The Hunt" spell in Heroes of the Storm in the sense that you can see and somewhat "get to" the being from far away with the right invocations or spells, and they can't escape, making it feel like you're omnipresent to such prey. Again a point for "Stickiness"

I figure Feral Tiefling and focusing on Dex and Cha and picking "support" type spells from the Ranger list such as Jump and Longstrider, etc would make the most sense. I also replaced the Infernal Heritage with "Wings" and thus you're essentially always in "Demon Form" as a Tiefling with no real "transformation".

I think some of the features enhance the fantasy from both Warlock (Hexblade) and Ranger (Monster Slayer especially, which I believe replaced earlier iterations?) to make this a very Illidan/Demon Hunter type character that can easily favor and focus on killing evil and especially demons/devils.

I'm not sure if the pairings are right. I think going to 10 or more in hexblade gives the "evasion" feeling that Demon Hunters have but there could be other ways to access it.

So far I've managed through race to snag Flight and "Demon Form" in a sense, Twin Blades (Dual-Wielding) from the pact and just weapon choices, Spectral Sight from class features, and stickiness through features and spells.

I lack the fire damage aura and evasion qualities however.

How would you build a demon hunter?

 

[Adelmo Bonfanti]

For immolation aura, there's fire shield, the spell... I don't think the Lock gets it but then, there also is Hellish Rebuke which both locks and tieflings get although i think being winged removes the infernal heritage feature (i might be wrong, i dont have the SCAG atm). Its not the same but its alike, it costs you one reaction and 1 spell slot for warlock or 1/day for Infernal heritage, tho.

For evasion, there is not much we can do w/o investing heavily on rogue's or monk's levels (7 levels) i'd go for monk since, instead of disengage as bonus action, which can or cannot be evasiveness depending on your PoV, you get to go dodge as bonus for 1 ki point. Going for Rogue, on the other hand, gives you uncanny dodge which halves the dmg you receive from 1 attack. Both classes get the Evasion feature at 7.

Other Evasion combo, if you may, is Devil's Sight + Darkness (lock spell, also a defensive CD from DH in WoW) unless your opponent has blindsight or anything that allows it to see or perceive in magical darkness (as devil's sight).

There are far more evasion combos out there but most of them rely heavily on spells and as a warlock you only get 1 spell slot at lvl 1, 2 slots from 2 to 10, 3 from 11 to 16, and 4 thereafter. Pretty limited to rely on those slots to use blur + darkness + w/e else you need (like Hex).

On a second inspection, you can also go swashbuckler and emulate the Dash + Vengeful Retreat build from WoW's DH since the Swashbuckler 3rd level feature allows you to move around a target you've Attacked w/o provoking AoO. I say emulate cause eventho there is a Dash action, it does not deal damage nor it increases your speed. And as for Vengeful Retread you just............. Walk away, hehehe. You could throw in some acrobatics to make it look cool lmao. Now, doing this would most likely make you loose the Monster Hunter's features since you want the Uncanny Dodge and Evasion features. (5th and 7th levels, respectively).

Other than that, you will need the War Master feat to use the war glaives and still be able to cast spells without dropping one of them.
Oh! And you can ask your DM if he/she allows the origin point for Elderitch Blast to be your Eyes instead of your hands (Single Target Eye Beam with NO CD but also, not as much dmg as in wow haha).

I forgot about Investiture of Fire(EEvil) which emulates exactly what immolation aura does plus a line AoE. Hope it helps.

 

[Zmajdusa]

Hexblade is definitely the way to go, for at least 9 levels. After that you have a few options, wizard, monk, ranger, or fighter. Depending on how in love you are with dual wielding, a bladesinger could really help you out, same for kensai.

 

[Aldarc]

Illidan does not really translate well to D&D. Demon Hunters are basically unarmored warlock-monks/rogues. Demon Hunters work in WoW because WoW reduces all class specs to SAD. but stretching yourself ascross the desired classes in D&D, especially the warlock and monk, runs the risk of making you too MAD.

 

[ClockworkNinja]

Winged tiefling bladepact warlock seems like the way to go. Invocations cover things like super darkvision or casting while holding weapons.

 

[John Bravo1]

So this post is heckin old but I've actually successfully managed to build a Demon Hunter.





Feral Tiefling winged variant



Starting stats using the point buy system.

Choosing your 1st level class will determine your saves and your skill choices



Str=10 Dex=14+2 Con=14 Int=9+1 Wis=13 Cha=13



Revised Ranger Hunter Conclave to level 12

Favored enemy: Humanoids

Greater Favored: Fiends

Hoard breaker

Multi-attack defense

Whirlwind Attack

Dual Wielder and Mobile Feats

Ability Improvement +2 Dex



Ranger Spells I chose utility spells and buffs or spells that didn't require a save DC. Or at least very few of them as the spell DC at level 20 is a 15 for this character. Hunters Mark, Zephyr Strike, Pass without a Trace, Absorb Elements, and Nondetection



Fiend Blade Pact Warlock to level 8. (Because Demons)

Dark One's Blessing for some healing

Dark Ones Own Luck to help with saving throws

Invocations: Armor of Shadows, Devil sight, Eldritch sight, Eldritch Smite

Cantrips: Green Flame Blade, Booming Blade, Eldritch Blast (in case you need a ranged attack)



Warlock Spells that I chose were mostly for escape and Defense. Expeditious retreat, Darkness, Summon Lesser demons, Vampiric Touch, Misty step, Dimension Door and Mirror Image. I have Shadow of Moil and Hunger of Hadar too.

Ability Improvement +2 Dex +2 Con



Final Stats



Str=10 Dex=20 Con=16 Int=10 Wis=13 Cha=13





You could totally go unarmored with Mage Armor 13+ Dex (5) + Dual Wielder 1= AC of 19.

AC 23 against a creature with multi-attack hits you with its first attack.

Dual Wielding Longswords 1d8+5 normal 6-13 damage/Swing. Three (Four if multiple targets) swings 18-39 (24-42) damage/ Round.

Favored enemy will add +4 to damage each swing

Use Eldritch Smite 1d8/Spell slot level (4th) you would add 4d8 force damage to one attack.

GFB will add 3d8+1 to an attack, bonus action to attack with the off-hand.





What do you guys think?

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Fiend pact warlock is the way to go. Revised ranger should be replaced by monster hunter ranger.

Green flame blade does not work with two weapon fighting.
Paladin avenger instead of ranger could work too. Only problem: neither fighting style is useful for illidan.