Hunts Those Who Prey on the Innocent
You have settled into the oldest work in the world: standing between a predator and the person it intends to consume. You track, you identify, you close in, and when the moment is right, you finish what needs finishing. The targets vary: a Hungry gone feral, a Hollow that will not accept its obligation, a bargain-maker with a rising body count, a human with appetites the law has decided to ignore. The work does not vary much.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
- Pick one other PC. You saved their life, or someone close to them, on a previous hunt. They know what you did and they know what it cost.
- Pick one other PC. They are the line you will not cross. If a hunt requires harming them, the hunt ends; the creditor of that contract will have to find another hunter.
- Pick one other PC. They have, at least once, questioned whether a specific target of yours deserved the end you gave them. The question has not gone away.
- Pick one other PC. When you fight alongside them, your first attack in any encounter is eased by one step.
Additional Equipment: A kit suited to your work, chosen with the GM: a weapon specifically prepared for one category of supernatural target (silvered, salted, inscribed, consecrated, or equivalent), along with a small set of ancillary tools (binding cord, tracking instruments, a journal of past targets) that reflect how you actually do the job.
GM Intrusion: The prey is not the predator you thought it was, or the predator is in turn being hunted by something further up the chain, or a target you thought you had finished has resurfaced in a worse condition and remembers you clearly.
Geas: When confronted with credible evidence that a being is actively preying on people without consent, you cannot walk away. You may delay, you may prepare, you may plan, but you may not abandon the hunt: the obligation that keeps you effective also keeps you committed. You have an inability on tasks involving ignoring a known predator, talking yourself out of a confirmed hunt, or accepting bribes, arguments, or circumstances that would leave a predator free to continue.
Minor Effect Suggestion: You learn one concrete, useful fact about your target that you did not previously know: a weakness, a habit, a place it will soon be, or the identity of someone it considers important.
Major Effect Suggestion: Your target is briefly unsettled by the recognition that you have its measure; its next action against you is hindered by two steps.
Tier 1
Combat Prowess: You are practised in physical combat. Your attacks with weapons deal 1 additional point of damage. Enabler.
Mark the Prey (1 Intellect point): You study a creature within long range for a moment, cataloguing gait, sound, trail, and residue. For the next 24 hours, you are trained in tasks involving tracking, identifying, and predicting the behaviour of that specific creature, and your attacks against it are eased. If you lose sight of the creature, you can still find its trail with an appropriate task. Action to initiate.
Tier 2
Cunning Attack (2 Speed points): You strike from a position of advantage: from concealment, on an unsuspecting target, or against a creature you have Marked. The attack deals 3 additional points of damage on a hit. Action.
Tier 3
Ability Choice. Choose either Know Their Kind or Silent Approach as your tier 3 ability.
Know Their Kind: Choose one category of supernatural being: the Hollow, the Hungry, the Shaped, the Threaded, the Kindled, or a specific non-Marked category agreed with your GM (ghosts, bound spirits, feral bargain-makers, and so on). You are trained in all tasks involving identifying, tracking, resisting, and attacking members of that category. Against such beings, your Mark the Prey ability requires no Intellect cost. Enabler.
Silent Approach: You are trained in stealth tasks, and you are specialised in stealth tasks when closing on a creature you have Marked. A creature you have Marked cannot detect you through ordinary means while you are stationary. Enabler.
Tier 4
Ability Choice. Choose either Prepared Armament or Relentless as your tier 4 ability.
Prepared Armament (3 Might points): You ready a weapon for a specific category of target, briefly infusing it with salt, silver, consecration, or a similar material appropriate to the prey. For the next ten minutes, attacks with that weapon against that category deal 3 additional points of damage and bypass the target’s usual Armour against physical attacks. Action to initiate.
Relentless: Once per day, when you or an ally within immediate range takes damage sufficient to end the fight, you may immediately take an additional action on your current turn. You do not feel the wound until the encounter is resolved. Enabler.
Tier 5
Unflagging Pursuit: You recover from the ten-hour recovery roll in one hour instead. A creature you have Marked cannot evade your pursuit through ordinary means: you always know its approximate direction and distance while it remains within the same region. If the trail is severed by supernatural interference, you are trained in tasks to recover it. Enabler.
Tier 6
Ability Choice. Choose either Decisive Blow or The Work Finished as your tier 6 ability.
Decisive Blow (6 Might points): You strike a creature you have Marked with the full weight of your preparation. The attack deals 10 additional points of damage and, if the target has already taken any damage in the current encounter, ignores Armour. Action.
The Work Finished (7 Intellect points): You bring a hunt to its proper end. If you land a successful attack against a creature you have Marked that would reduce it to zero in one of its Pools, the creature cannot return through the ordinary means available to its kind: a Hollow does not rise again, a Hungry does not regenerate, a bargain does not renew. Supernatural effects that would specifically prevent this require a level 8 or higher working to override. Enabler applied as part of the finishing attack.