Hello magic casters of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the 47th episode of our first level spells series. Today we are gonna be taking a look at hunter’s mark dnd 5e which is oddly similar to the last video we did in all honestly it is for this series.
The hunter’s mark is usable exclusively on the ranger’s spell list there are other ways to get it but it’s always gonna be found on the ranger spell list and it is found in the players handbook. That being said, this is essentially almost identical to hex 5e in a couple ways, only styled more towards the ranger 5e.
There is a little bit of controversy over it as well, i’ll get into that later. That being said, let’s take a look at its mechanics. So that we can understand what does hunter’s mark do in d&d?.
Table of Contents
Mechanics
- Level: 1st
- Casting Time: 1 Bonus Action
- Range/Area: 90 ft
- Components: V
- Duration: 1 Hour (Concentration)
- School: Divination
- Attack/Save: None
- Damage/Effect: Bludgeoning (…)
The cast time is a very nice a bonus action, the range is also a decent 90 feet. The duration is one hour and it is a concentration spell meaning it can only have one of these up at a time and the effect at a glance is as followed:
Mark a target: You deal an extra 1d6 damage to them, and you have advantage on perception and survival checks to find them. Upon the targets death, you can change the target of your choice as a bonus action. Really cool stuff!
At higher levels: if you use a third or fourth level spell slot. It lasts for eight hours and at 5th level or above it lasts for 24 hours which is great. The components are just verbal and in that way it is superior to hex and then the school is a divination. Which is an interesting thing, in any case let’s move on to the full description here. You can also read the difference between hunter’s mark vs hex.
Description:
You choose a creature you can see within range and mystically mark it as your quarry. Until the spell ends, 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 before this spell ends, you can use a bonus action on a subsequent turn of yours to mark a new creature.
At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd or 4th level, you can maintain your concentration on the spell for up to 8 hours. When you use a spell slot of 5th level or higher, you can maintain your concentration on the spell for up to 24 hours.
My goodness! Pretty cool stuff, i like the way it’s flavored i think that’s really unique and mechanically it’s not the worst either. That being said, i’m gonna kind of note the controversy here. Also read zephyr strike 5e.
The controversy is whether or not the target knows they’ve been marked, i would say not for a couple reasons. Firstly you bark it as your quarry implying that this is some kind of a magical spell that affects both you and the target not exclusively the target. Also read this does hunter’s mark crit.
Secondly wizards is really good in 5e for letting you know when a creature knows it’s been affected, the friends cantrip is a great example of that, it literally says it misspelled. In this case it doesn’t say. So personally i’m gonna rule on the side of they don’t know.
Your DM might disagree and i’d go with whatever their ruling is but as written i think i can make a stronger case for them not knowing. It is pretty cool stuff though. That being said, let’s move on to some alternative uses.
Alternative Uses
The alternative uses would be about the same as they were for hex. And it’s because the spells function almost identically the same. Things like gladitorial combat would greatly benefit this. So any form of competition just because you don’t have to maintain that 90 feet and it can last for 24 hours.
I suppose as well a DM could also use this to have a NPC follow and track down a particular enemy for various story implore later various reasons. So there is that too, yeah i really do like this i think there’s a lot of flavor here. Is it overpowered and broken not overly not i don’t think so at least. But does it have a lot of good flavor to it and is it useful still…yes! Without a shadow of a doubt.
Conclusion
That being said guys! Thank you so much for checking out today, i really do appreciate it. I really enjoyhearing from you so if you have any ideas, cool uses or any thoughts, comments or concerns please put it down in the comments below, i really do appreciate it. That being said guys, i hope you all have a wonderful day and as always happy casting.