Hunter Stalker (5e Background)

This content deviates from 5e standards. Its use could dramatically alter campaigns, take extreme care.

Caution - Here there be monsters! This content intends to provide a different experience, or goes beyond the scope of the anticipated subjects and situations, than the 5e rules were intended to handle. Some portions of the content below may not be what you expect from traditional game content. When implementing this content, DMs and Players should read over all the information carefully, and consider the following specific notes of interest:

This background is heavily flavored to be both combat and stealth focused. As such, it grants a weapon proficiency instead of a tool proficiency.

Hunter Stalker

The art of stalking is one used not only for animals, but also people. Such is the art that you have perfected. In many ways, you can claim mastery over these methods. You can trail beasts as well as human targets. Even other hunters themselves are not able to hide from you, though you can certainly conceal yourself from them. This sort of stealth is earned through incredibly arduous training that combines erasing one's presence and blending in with surroundings. Few can call themselves hunter stalkers, a title given to the best of sneaky headhunters.

There are a few ways one becomes a hunter stalker. Usually, it is training through the venues of assassination that make this possible. Such stealth is honed through tracking even the most wary of prey. Those trained as spies have a similarly tooled skillset. There are also tales of hunters who grew tired of beasts and looked towards more able and elusive game to hunt... However your character became a hunter stalker, be sure to think about the reason why as well. Hunter stalkers sometimes do their stalking for the thrill. A few use their skills as paparazzi or spies to sell information. Some have personal goals, perhaps intending to find a specific person who might have eluded them before.

Skill Proficiencies: Stealth, Survival

Weapon Proficiencies: longbow, shortbow, blowgun

Languages: Undercommon

Equipment: A hunting knife, a trophy from your most memorable hunt, a set of traveler's clothes, and a belt pouch with 5 gp

Specialization

Hunter stalkers utilize their skills for a variety of means. While many of them have sapient targets, the scope of this new quarry differs based on the tastes of the individual. Some find it useless and boring to pursue humanoids, for example. Others find monstrosities abhorrent and so do not pursue them. The quarry they seek is usually for a particular end, not simply for sustenance as is normal hunting. The specialization for hunter stalkers is therefore a mix of the hunter's tastes in prey, as well as what they want to do with the information and results gleaned from stalking.

d6	Specialization
1	Spying and committing espionage for political entities
2	Playing paparazzi
3	Keeping an eye on a target as a bodyguard
4	Hunting bounties
5	Maintaining and surveying a territory
6	Testing your own prowess for sport

Feature: Relentless Pursuit

Someone in your past is marked as your target. You have stalked and hunted but they still elude your grasp somehow. In your training and development as a peerless hunter stalker, you have gleaned a plethora of information on their person and whereabouts. You are aware of roadways and paths this person of interest may have taken, as well as the nations they passed. As part of your pursuit, you might know who they were associated with, as well as who might be able to help you find them. Discuss with your DM how you might incorporate this knowledge into your adventure, as this is a personal goal often of hunter stalkers.

Suggested Characteristics

When they aren't totally consumed by their thirst for the hunt, hunter stalkers have an otherwise variable personality. Many grew up with harsh training to attain their skill,s which may mean they are colder or more disconnected compared to the normal person.

d6	Personality Trait
1	I just enjoy the simple life of hunting.
2	I see unnatural creatures as prey worth my blade.
3	I got bored of hunting normal prey and thought of hunting something smarter, because I am worth a challenge.
4	Those I hunt are, to me, a means to an end to serve my purposes.
5	I hate to be wasteful. Travel light, I always say.
6	I like to be lax, even when doing my job.

d6	Ideal
1	Pacifist. I like to use my skills to watch... not harm. (Good)
2	Freedom. I enjoy the freedom and self-sufficiency of hunting for myself. (Chaotic)
3	Power. I feel powerful as I watch people who cannot see me in turn... even as I sneak up on them for the kill. (Evil)
4	Apathy. I don't think what I do is wrong. There are worse things out there. (Neutral)
5	Watcher. No one who can commit evil should be allowed to walk without supervision. (Lawful)
6	Ambitious. I just want to challenge my skills and attain new heights. (Neutral)

d6	Bond
1	I have a deep admiration and respect for nature.
2	The animals I kill are going to help me survive, and I thank them for there sacrifice.
3	I feel a brotherhood with fellow hunters.
4	I have become attached to my weapons, and do not want to part with them.
5	I think people just have their reasons in life. Far be it for me to interfere.
6	I believe people are similar, ultimately, to beasts, given how I track them.

d6	Flaw
1	I like to use my skills for lecherous activities...
2	I prefer to kill all those I stalk, as they are weak and stupid to me.
3	I have no qualms about anything I do, be it spying on an innocent little girl, or killing her.
4	I treat other people like prey, without need of my respect.
5	I'm socially inept due to spending most of my time hiding and observing, and do not know or understand most social constructs.
6	I sometimes act territorial like an animal... I even "mark" my territory.

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