D&D 5E 5e Vampire Hunter/Slayer - How would you do it?

[Sacrosanct]

My vote is to have 6 levels of shadow monk in there somewhere. Why? Because yesterday we just fought a vampire and two spawn and you know what ability was the game changer? Shadow step. Vampires and spawn love to grapple (because of their bite) and are very good at it. Since vampire lairs are almost always in shadow or darkness, this ability can almost always be used. There were 4 times yesterday where I was grappled and on my turn shadowstepped behind them. Not only do you get free, but your next attack has advantage.

So something like a shadow monk/paladin or SM/cleric would be pretty darn effective.

 

[Fortress13]

I'm liking Sacrosanct's idea. Shadow monk/paladin sounds really interesting thematically.

 

[Staccat0]

Hiya!

How would I do it? Easy...

Me: "Hey, DM, I want to make a vampire-slayer type character, can we do that?"
DM: "Uh, sure. What class were you thinking?"
Me: "I'm thinking maybe a Ranger, or maybe Fighter/Thief multiclass?"
DM: "Ok, lets get brainstorming!"

That's how I would do it.

You are asking to make a very specific, very specialized, very setting-dependent type of character. Simply put, you will need the buy-in from your DM. So work with him/her and that way, no matter what class or race you come up with, the DM will design the campaign around this whole "fighting undead" theme. Well, that is of course, if he/she and everyone else at the table wants to play in that kind of campaign.

If not... then I' afraid that no mater what type of class, feat, race, whatever combo you come up with, it is NOT going to work out the way you want. You'd be the guy dressing up as Darth Vader, going to a costume party where the host said that the theme is Lord of the Rings and to dress appropriately.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

Eh, any DM who tells me "no" can be replaced.
It's for a podcast I produce.
Anyway, it looks like I'll be running the game and offering pre-gens so now I'm in charge of just making some weird characters.

 

[Xombiemike]

I just joined this forum to say I'm writing my first module. It's Castlevania mashed with Ravenloft. There are some cool ideas here!

 

[Xombiemike]

How about just going fighter and swap out some of the features to get what you want for some balanced replacements?

Do you think this is fair balance in place of the Fighting Style choice?

Whips & boomerangs are 1 die size larger for damage.
Holy water, hand axes and daggers can be thrown in place of taking movement in a turn.

Or maybe because I'm running Curse of Strahd in Fantasy Grounds with modified plot as Castlevania, I can just make some house rules for the campaign that allows those for free, just to make those items more attractive.

Thoughts?

 

[Xeviat]

Paladin or Fighter subclass is my vote, depending on how religious the character is and how magical the world is.


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[Gradine]

I don't quite understand why Rogue or Monk are in the mix; it's been a while since I've played a a new Castlevania game but I don't really associate "Belmont" with "agile" or "fleet-footed".

I'll echo what was said above about Fighter being a perfect choice, especially for the older Belmonts (Simon and Trevor). These guys were basically about hitting things with a whip and chucking crap at enemies. Depending on how much you care about what kind of armor you wear, you can emphasize strength or dexterity accordingly. Dex works with everything but thrown axes; Str works with everything but thrown vials (and possibly whatever you decide to do with the cross as a thrown weapon).

Now Richter, with his item crashes and movement-based abilities, gets a little more complicated. I'd go Vengeance Paladin myself, but I think a case can be made for Ranger/Cleric (Light or Tempest). Definitely more light armor & dex based.

 

[BookBarbarian]

I'm not that familiar with Castlevania, but my Vampire hunter would start out with the Haunted One background from Curse of Strahd. it fits thematically has Stakes in the starting equipment.

Revised Ranger with Undead favored Enemy, Vengance Paladin, and just about any Cleric would great. If using UA you could try the Monster Hunter fighter. If homebrew is an option the Bloodhunter class is very thematic.

 

[Luis Antonio Pelozo]

Race: Human (variant), take the Theologian feat.
Background: Haunted (gives you the vampire killer kit and all the quirks).
Class: Ranger (take the undead as your favored enemy), level up to 3rd lvl and choose the monster slayer conclave.

Voliá!