Imperial Hunter

Imperial hunters are darakhul or dhampirs that have not adapted well to ghoul society. Preferring the solitude of the Underworld’s dangerous caverns, these rangers devote themselves to tracking, hunting, and capturing or killing humanoids of all kinds. They primarily operate as scouts and slavers yet they are mostly left to their own devices. They hunt for flesh and bone and reveal in finding new, unexplored caverns of the Underworld.

To aid them in their tasks and to stave off a bit of the loneliness their role can bring, imperial hunters often create and train undead companions to fight and hunt beside them. The ghoul bat is the most common companion, but many undead beasts of the Underworld and surface world have been seen in the service of the imperial hunters.

Though the majority of imperial hunters work directly for the empire, there are many who operate outside of it, reveling more in the discovery of the unknown and in the general hunt for the living than in being slavers for the empire. Some find work on the surface as mercenaries or assassins for those who don’t mind working with the undead. Wherever they roam, imperial hunters are skilled at finding and capturing or killing living creatures.

Restriction: Darakhul or Dhampir

You can choose this ranger archetype only if you are a darakhul or a dhampir.

Imperial Hunter Magic

Starting at 3rd level, you learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown in the Imperial Hunter Spells table. The spell counts as a ranger spell for you, but it doesn’t count against the number of ranger spells you know.

Imperial Hunter Spells

| Level Spells
3rd bolster undead
5th stench of rot
9th mortal insight
13th keening wail
17th contagion

Undead Companion

Starting at 3rd level, you gain a ghoul bat as an undead companion that accompanies you on your adventures and is trained to fight alongside you.

Alternatively, you can infuse the body of a deceased Medium or smaller beast that has a challenge rating of 1/4 or lower with some of your necrotic essence, making the beast your undead companion instead of the ghoul bat. This process takes 8 hours and can be done during a long rest. See the Undead Beast Companion sidebar for the beast’s adjusted statistics after you infuse it with your necrotic essence.

Whether a ghoul bat or an undead beast, your undead companion is friendly to you and your companions, and it obeys any commands that you issue to it. In combat, it shares your initiative and takes its turn immediately after yours. Your undead companion can move and use its reaction on its own, but, if you don’t issue any commands to it, the only action it takes is the Dodge action. You can use your bonus action to direct it to take the Attack, Dash, Disengage, Help, Hide, or Search action.

Add your proficiency bonus to your undead companion’s AC, attack rolls, damage rolls, Wisdom saving throws, and to any saving throws and skills in which it is proficient. Your undead companion’s hit point maximum is equal to its Constitution modifier + your Wisdom modifier + five times your ranger level. Your undead companion doesn’t have Hit Dice and can’t spend Hit Dice during a short rest to regain hit points. When you regain hit points from magical healing, your undead companion regains hit points equal to half that amount. In addition, when you spend Hit Dice during a short rest to regain hit points, you can apply those hit points to yourself or your companion. You use your Constitution modifier when calculating the hit points regained, and effects that increase the healing of your Hit Dice, such as a bard’s Song of Rest, still apply. Your undead companion regains all its hit points at the end of a long rest, as normal.

If your undead companion has died within the last hour, you can touch it to infuse it with some of your necrotic essence as an action and revive it, as long as you expend a spell slot of 1st level or higher. It returns to unlife after 1 minute with all its hit points restored. If it has been dead for longer, you can revive it at the end of a long rest or create a new undead companion from the remains of an appropriate beast, as detailed in this feature. You can have only one undead companion at a time. If you create another, the previous one immediately dies.

Hunter’s Strike

Starting at 7th level, your bond with your undead companion strengthens, allowing it to strike right as you do. When you hit a target within 5 feet of your undead companion, your companion can use its reaction to make one melee attack against that target. If the attack hits, your companion’s attack deals an extra 1d8 necrotic damage.

In addition, your undead companion’s attacks now count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Undying March

Beginning at 11th level, you can call your undead companion to you (no action required by you). If you do, your companion uses its reaction to move up to its speed toward you. Alternatively, when you or your companion take damage, you can use your reaction to move up to your speed toward your companion. When moving in this way, you and your companion don’t provoke opportunity attacks.

In addition, when you spend Hit Dice during a short rest to regain hit points, both you and your companion regain that number of hit points. You no longer have to choose which of you regains the hit points.

Shared Undeath

At 15th level, your connection to your undead companion has become so strong that you share the strength of each other’s unlife. When you take damage that isn’t radiant, you can use your reaction to transfer half of the damage to your undead companion, if your companion is within 30 feet of you. Alternatively, when your companion takes damage that isn’t radiant, you can use your reaction to transfer half of the damage to yourself, if your companion is within 30 feet of you.

In addition, when your undead companion is within 1 mile of you, you can use an action to sense what it is sensing, seeing through its eyes and hearing what it hears. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses. You can use an action to end the connection.

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