Castlevania on D&D

I don't usually love franchises in video games. A few have got my attention, from time to time. Assassin's Creed was one, but they lost me when Desmond story arc came to an end. And the movie? Well, I rather don't go there.

Netflix's Castlevania Poster

Another one I can consider myself a fan is Castlevania. Even thou I fell for it with Symphony of the Night, and I've not played all the games—specially the original, which I have tried but not played thru to the end. However, the theme is one of my favorite themes in fiction and gaming. And the music! OMG!
Lately, I've been working on a game design for 5th edition that I would likely try to publish via Kickstarter in the future. Is a thing I've been wanting to get going for a while now, based on this theme I said I love: gothic fantasy. So this project for the 5th edition of D&D is not just a setting, I want it to be a stand-alone game, and my main ingredients are the campaign setting I most love: Ravenloft, the plane I like the most: Innistrad, and one of the aforementioned gaming franchise: Castlevania. That's right, I'm aiming for a Ravenloft-Innistrad-Castlevania mash up I like to call Gothic Fantasy Action. Because I don't want a Gothic Horror genre, where the atmosphere and the story swallow helpless protagonists... the horror, the horror! Don't get me wrong, I love that kind of stories too, but not for this project. Nope, what I want are bad ass hunters—tragic perhaps, but not helpless—figthing fire with fire while trying to keep the corruption within themselves at bay. That's why I'm going for an action oriented system like 5th edition.

Now, imagine my excitement when I see the news that Netflix is working on a Castlevania animated series! I'm trying to keep my expectations low, though, and hoping for the worst so I can be happily wrong.
Nevertheless, I take this hype opportunity to share with you some advances of this project of mine. I present to you the first 10 levels of the Night Hunter class, with the Hunting Tradition of the Holy Whip. Yeah! Killing night creatures Castlevania style baby!

Night Hunter

Level	Proficiency Bonus	Features
1st	+2	Hunting Tradition, Signature Weapon
2nd	+2	Enemy of the Night, Hunter Sense
3rd	+2	Hunting Tradition feature
4th	+2	Ability Score Improvement
5th	+3	Extra Attack
6th	+3	Night’s Nemesis
7th	+3	Thrill of the Hunt, Hunting Tradition feature
8th	+3	Ability Score Improvement
9th	+4	Hunter’s Mark
10th	+4	Steel Determination

Class Features

As a night hunter, you gain the following class features.

Hit Points

Hit Dice: 1d10 per night hunter level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier per night hunter level after 1st

Proficiencies

Armor: Light armor
Weapons: Simple weapons, martial weapons
Tools: None
Saving Throws: Constitution, Charisma
Skills: Choose three from Arcana, Athletics, Insight, Investigation, Perception, Religion, Stealth, and Survival

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) leather armor, (b) scale mail (if proficient), or (c) chain mail (if proficient)
• (a) a light crossbow and 20 bolts or (b) any simple weapon
• (a) a hunter’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack
• Your signature weapon, two daggers, and a shield (if proficient)

Hunting Tradition

At 1st level, you commit yourself to a hunting tradition: the Way of the Holy Whip, the Way of the Silverblade, and the Way of the Sacred Light, all detailed at the end of the class description. Each tradition specializes in hunting creatures from one of the three Realms of the Night. Your tradition grants you features at 1st level and again at 3rd, 7th, 11th, and 15th level.

Signature Weapon

Beginning at 1st level, you learn a sacred ritual that creates a unique bond between yourself and a signature weapon determined by your hunting tradition. The ritual takes 1 hour to complete, and it can be performed during a short or long rest. The weapon must be within your reach throughout the ritual.
Once the weapon is bonded, you can’t be disarmed of that weapon unless you are incapacitated. In addition, you always know the distance and direction between you and your bonded weapon.
You can create a new bond to another weapon by performing again the bonding ritual. Doing so will break the bond to your current signature weapon.

Enemy of the Night

Beginning at 2nd level, you have significant experience studying, tracking, and hunting creatures from the Realm of the Night that corresponds to your hunting tradition.
You gain a +2 bonus to weapon damage rolls against such creatures. Also, you have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) checks to track those creatures, as well as on Intelligence checks to recall information about your Realm of expertise.

Hunter Sense

When you reach 2nd level, you have learned to identify and even feel the noxious presence of your favored prey. As an action, you can open your awareness to detect creatures from the Realm of the Night that corresponds to your hunting tradition. Until the end of your next turn, you know the location of any such being within 90 feet of you that is not behind total cover. You are able to identify the kind (skeleton, vampire, ghoul, etc.) of any creature whose presence you sense, but not its identity (the vampire Lord Vladimir, for instance).
You can use this feature a number of times equal to 1 + your Charisma modifier. When you finish a long rest, you regain all expended uses.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature, neither can you increase your Virtue score with it.

Extra Attack

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Night’s Nemesis

At 6th level, you have become a deadlier enemy of the creatures from the Realm of the Night you hunt. Your bonus to damage rolls against such creatures increases to +4.
Additionally, you have advantage on saving throws against the effects and abilities used by those creatures.

Thrill of the Hunt

Starting at 7th level, your determination and excitement for the hunt allow you to move quickly and focus in the pursue of your prey. You can take a bonus action on each of your turns in combat. This action can be used only to take the Dash, or Disengage action.

Hunter’s Mark

Starting at 9th level, you can use your bonus action to choose a creature you can see within 90 feet from you and mark it as your quarry. As long as the creature lives, you deal an extra 1d6 damage to the target whenever you hit it with a weapon attack, and you have advantage on any Wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Survival) check you make to find it.
If the target drops to 0 hit points the link is gone, and you can again use your bonus action to mark a new creature. Also if for some reason you want to break the link to a marked creature that still lives, you can do so after you finish a short rest.

Steel Determination

Starting at 10th level, you gain proficiency on Wisdom saving throws.

Hunting Tradition: Way of the Holy Whip

Hunters that follow the Way of the Holy Whip hunt creatures from the Realm of the Grave. Undead creatures with physical form—walking corpses, hungry ghouls and thirsty vampires. Their weapon of choice is the holy whip, a hallowed weapon enhanced by secret alchemic rites, which they use with great grace and speed.

Signature Weapon: The Holy Whip

Your signature weapon is the whip. Starting at 1st level you get the following benefits with your signature weapon, as long as you are not wearing medium or heavy armor, nor wielding any other weapon or shield:

• You can roll a d6 instead of the normal damage of your whip. This damage increases to d8 when you reach 11th level in this class.
• When you use the Attack action with a whip in your turn, you can make another attack with it as a bonus action.
• While you are wielding a whip, creatures provoke an opportunity attack from you when entering the reach of your whip.

Monster Slayer

Starting at 3rd level, your tenacity can wear down the most potent foes. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, the creature takes an extra 1d8 damage if it’s below its hit point maximum. You can deal this extra damage only once per turn.

Flame Whip

At 7th level, you learn an alchemic formula to imbue your whip with fire for a short period of time. As a bonus action you can ignite your whip, dealing an extra 1d6 fire damage. While ablaze, the whip sheds bright light in a 20 foot radius and dim light for an additional 20 feet. The flames last 1 minute, after that you’ll have to imbue your whip again. Each time you want to imbue your whip with the formula—including the first time—you must perform the bonding ritual.