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Hunt or Be Hunted


Without further ado, the Hunter…

The Hunter is a person who is singularly devoted to finding and slaying creatures of the dark. The Hunter possesses a driving vendetta against the supernatural and unmatched skills dedicated to their destruction.

What the Hunter Does

  • In a nod to some of the derring-do that Peter Cushing laid down as Dr. Van Helsing, the Hunter gets Mighty Deeds and is quite good at them.
  • The Hunter can cast rudimentary rituals and also turn the unholy, although the Hunter is not as good at either as the Polymath.
  • The Hunter starts out with a good selection of weapon trainings -- the best in the game. And the option to become a sort of weapons master is definitely open to this class.
  • The Hunter is always alert and is rarely caught off-guard by the forces of eeeevil.
  • The Hunter is a master at infiltration and sabotage and has a nifty little MacGuyver sort of ability that is one of my favorites in the game.
  • The Hunter is armed with a weapon of unique ability that can strike fear in the hearts of the unholy.


Where to Go From Here

Of all the classes, the Hunter is the one most defined by where the player chooses to customize. A player could certainly apply a broad spectrum to upgrades and have a generalist that might be reminiscent of someone like Lara Croft. Or a player could focus in on specific areas to upgrade and wind up with a Weapon Master or more of a Ritualist or a guy with a fancy silver sword or whip or something whose legend carries almost as much renown as his own. The Hunter also lends itself to a MacGuyver type of character that may be okay at combat and such but is generally more useful at breaking and entering lairs, crypts and tombs.

Inspiration

The Hunter is a fun one. It's inspirations are fairly obvious. There's a bit of Peter Cushing's Van Helsing here. As well as MacGuyver. Captain Kronos and the Bellmonts from Castlevania. Solomon Kane. Lara Croft.

I'd said initially that I would explain how, say, Captain Kronos and Solomon Kane might be created from this class. Well, it's not as hard as one might imagine. Kronos is obviously dumping his upgrades into his weapon and probably weapon trainings. Maybe some infiltration too. Whereas Solomon Kane would dump his upgrades in being alert, turning the unholy and some weapon training.

It really is that simple. And what's encouraging is that I'm playtesting a group at the moment that features a Hunter. And she's working really well. Sort of the Swiss Army Knife of the group. I don't know where this player going to take her Hunter (although my bet thus far would be she'd go the Ritualist route). But it's nice to see something translate so well into play.

Other Uses

If using the Transylvanian Adventures rules and classes outside of the setting or genre, Hunters are a bit like a Paladin/Thief. I know that sounds nutty. But it's true. In the same way that a Ranger is kind of a Fighter/Thief or a Bard is a Wizard/Thief, the Hunter translates really well as a Paladin/Thief. Have fun with that.

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