The Stalker — Full Class Document

The Stalker

A class for those who hunt with patience, a bow, and a bonded spirit at their side

"You will not hear me. You will not see the one who walks at my side. You will know only that the snow has gone red, and that it was always going to."

A Stalker is the deadliest hunter most people will ever cross — the tracker who never loses a trail, the archer who waits three days for one shot and does not miss it, the warrior who walks into a war camp and walks out with a name crossed off a list. They hunt with bow, blade, and instinct, and they never hunt alone: a fate-spirit walks beside them in the shape of a beast.

Two ideas hold the class together, and everything feeds them. The Quarry is the single life you mark for death; while it is marked you and your companion strike it harder and you can never lose its trail. The Bonded Companion is the spirit that hunts as an extension of your own will — it fights when you fight, costs you nothing to command, and cannot be taken from you for good. Bow, beast, and stalk are not three things to juggle. They are one act.

The Edge and the Instinct

Your two abilities are Dexterity and Wisdom. Dexterity is the edge — the steadiness of your draw and the speed of your strike. It sets your attack rolls and your damage. Wisdom is the instinct — the read of a trail, the prickle at the back of the neck before the ambush. It governs your perception, your survival, the saves that keep a predator's nerve when lesser hunters break, and the save DC your quarry must beat when your techniques pin, hobble, or break it. A Stalker who is all reflex and no instinct sets a perfect trap and cannot spring it; one who is all instinct and no reflex sees the kill coming and cannot make it.

The Stalker has no spell list. Its depth in a fight comes instead from Hunter's Techniques — a pool of dice you spend on precise, deadly maneuvers — and from the bond you share with your companion. Everything you do, you do by craft.

Class Table

Level	Prof.	Features	Quarry Die	Techniques	Hunter's Dice
1	+2	Bonded Companion, Mark Quarry, Weapon Mastery, Hunter's Techniques	1d6	2	2
2	+2	Fighting Style	1d6	3	4
3	+2	Hunting Tradition	1d6	3	4
4	+2	Ability Score Improvement	1d6	4	4
5	+3	Extra Attack	1d8	4	5
6	+3	Tradition feature	1d8	4	5
7	+3	Natural Predator	1d8	5	5
8	+3	Ability Score Improvement	1d8	5	5
9	+4	Relentless Hunter	1d8	5	6
10	+4	Tradition feature	1d8	6	6
11	+4	Coordinated Predation	1d10	6	6
12	+4	Ability Score Improvement	1d10	6	6
13	+5	Evasion, Ghost in the Wild	1d10	7	7
14	+5	Tradition feature	1d10	7	7
15	+5	Death from the Treeline	1d10	7	7
16	+5	Ability Score Improvement	1d10	8	7
17	+6	Predator's Focus	1d12	8	8
18	+6	Unbroken Bond	1d12	8	8
19	+6	Epic Boon / ASI	1d12	9	8
20	+6	Apex Predator	1d12	9	8

Class Basics

Hit Points

Hit Die: d10
1st Level: 10 + CON modifier
Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + CON

Proficiencies

Armor: Light, medium, shields
Weapons: Simple, martial
Tools: None
Saves: Dexterity, Wisdom
Skills: Choose 3: Animal Handling, Athletics, Insight, Investigation, Nature, Perception, Stealth, Survival

Equipment

(a) a longbow and 20 arrows or (b) a martial weapon and a shield
(a) two shortswords or (b) any simple weapon
(a) leather armor or (b) studded leather
An explorer's pack
A trophy taken from your first kill

Primary Abilities

Dexterity — your attack rolls and your damage. The edge of the hunt.
Wisdom — your tracking, your awareness, your saving throws, and your Hunter's Save DC. The instinct of the hunt.

Hunter's Save DC

8 + proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier.

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Core: Mark Quarry

As a bonus action, you mark one creature you can see within 60 feet as your quarry. The mark lasts 1 hour, requires no concentration, and ends early only when you choose a new quarry or the marked creature dies. While a creature is your quarry:

The first time on each of your turns that you or your companion hit it, the attack deals extra damage equal to your Quarry Die (1d6, rising with the class table). Each of you triggers this separately, so a well-coordinated turn lands it twice.
You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) and Wisdom (Survival) checks made to find or follow it, and you always know its direction while it is within 1 mile of you.
When your quarry drops to 0 hit points, you can mark a new creature you can see as a free action. The hunt does not pause for the dying.

Core: Bonded Companion

A bonded spirit has bound itself to you — a fate-spirit that walks the world in the shape of a beast, tied to your soul and your fortune. It is not a pet you tamed but a partner that shares your hunt, and it hunts as an extension of your own will. It uses the Bonded Spirit stat block below, and its defenses and damage scale with you as you grow.

In combat, the bonded spirit takes its turn immediately after yours on your initiative count, and obeys your commands. The rules that make the bond work:

On its turn the bonded spirit can move up to its speed and use its reaction freely. It takes the Dodge action unless you command otherwise.
When you take the Attack action, you can command the bonded spirit to make one attack — it makes that attack as part of your action or on its own turn (your choice), and it costs you no action and no bonus action. You and the spirit strike as one.
You can instead use your bonus action to command it to take a different action: Dash, Disengage, Dodge, Help, or use a special trait.
If the bonded spirit drops to 0 hit points, it is not slain — its borrowed shape unravels and the spirit withdraws to the place between worlds. It reforms at full hit points beside you at the end of your next short or long rest, at no cost. To call it back sooner, in the thick of a fight, you can spend a bonus action and one Hunter's Die; it reforms beside you with hit points equal to half its maximum. The bond cannot be broken by killing the body, because the body was never the point.
When it reforms after a long rest, you may have it return in a different beast-shape (see Companion Forms) — a spirit is not bound to one face.

Bonded Spirit

Medium fey (bonded fate-spirit) — scales with your Stalker level

Armor Class 13 + your proficiency bonus

Hit Points 5 × your Stalker level (minimum 10)

Speed 40 ft. (or choose climb, swim, or fly 40 ft. — see Companion Forms)

STR14

DEX16

CON14

INT6

WIS13

CHA7

Saving Throws & Skills Adds your proficiency bonus to all saving throws and to Perception and Stealth.

Damage & Conditions Immune to poison and the charmed, frightened, exhaustion, and poisoned conditions.

Senses passive Perception 12 + proficiency; darkvision 60 ft.

Spirit Form. The bonded spirit is a manifested spirit: it needs no air, food, drink, or sleep. Its attacks count as magical for overcoming resistance and immunity. If banished or forced out of a space it cannot occupy, it withdraws and reforms beside you as described above.

Pack Bond. The bonded spirit shares your Quarry, dealing the Quarry Die bonus on its own per-turn schedule, and has advantage on attacks against any creature within 5 ft. of you.

Bite / Talon / Gore. Melee Weapon Attack: proficiency bonus + your Dexterity modifier to hit, reach 5 ft. Hit: 1d8 + your Dexterity modifier piercing damage. (The die rises to 1d12 at 11th level — see Coordinated Predation.)

Companion Forms

The bonded spirit can wear any of these shapes; the form sets its movement and gives one minor knack, and it can take a new shape when it reforms after a long rest. Reflavor freely.

Form	Movement	Knack
Wolf / Hound	Walk 40 ft.	On a hit, it can knock a Large-or-smaller target prone (target's choice of STR save vs your Hunter's DC).
Great Cat	Walk 40 ft., climb 30 ft.	Advantage on the first attack each combat against a creature that hasn't acted.
Raptor / Hawk	Walk 10 ft., fly 50 ft.	Relays what it sees; you gain advantage on Perception checks relying on sight while it flies above.
Boar / Ram	Walk 40 ft.	When it moves 15+ ft. straight at a target before hitting, the hit deals +1d4 and pushes 5 ft.
Serpent / Lizard	Walk 30 ft., swim 40 ft.	On a hit against your quarry, the target has disadvantage on its next attack.

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Hunter's Techniques

At 1st level you gain a pool of Hunter's Dice (d8s, shown on the class table) and learn a number of techniques. You regain all spent dice on a short or long rest. Most techniques spend one die; a die's roll is added where the technique says. You learn more techniques as you level, and may swap one for another whenever you gain a Stalker level. Many techniques are sharpest against your quarry.

Techniques fall into three disciplines: Strike (the kill), Stalk (the approach), and Survival (the wild and the nerve).

Strike Techniques

Hobbling Shot1 die · part of an attack

Add the die to the attack's damage. The target's speed is halved until the end of its next turn.

Pinning Shot1 die · part of an attack

Add the die to damage. The target must succeed on a Strength saving throw against your Hunter's Save DC or be restrained until the end of its next turn.

Disorienting Shot1 die · part of an attack

Add the die to damage. The target has disadvantage on the next attack roll it makes before the start of your next turn.

Coordinated Strike1 die · no action

When you hit a creature, your companion immediately makes one attack against it — in addition to its normal attack — adding the die to that damage.

Reaping Volley1 die · no action

When you reduce a creature to 0 hit points with a weapon attack, make one additional weapon attack as part of the same action and add the die to its damage.

Heartseeker1 die · before you roll

Declare it before an attack against your quarry. The attack's critical hit range improves by 2 — to 19–20, or to 18–20 if you already score a critical hit on a 19 — and you add the die to the damage.

Stalk Techniques

Vanishing Step1 die · bonus action

Attempt to Hide even with no cover or concealment, so long as you are at least lightly obscured or standing behind your companion. Add the die to the Stealth check.

Ghoststep1 die · no action

Your movement this turn does not provoke opportunity attacks, and you ignore difficult terrain. Add the die to your speed in feet for the turn.

Predator's Patience1 die · reaction

When a creature you can see comes within range of an attack you have readied, or moves within 30 ft. of you while unaware, make one weapon attack against it and add the die to the damage.

Misdirection1 die · bonus action

Command your companion to draw the eye. Until the start of your next turn, you have advantage on Stealth checks and on the first attack you make against any creature within 5 ft. of your companion.

Survival Techniques

Reading the Trail1 die · reaction

Add the die to a Wisdom (Survival), Wisdom (Perception), Intelligence (Nature), or Intelligence (Investigation) check — including one you have already rolled but before you learn the result.

Hunter's Nerve1 die · reaction

Add the die to a saving throw you make. If the save is against being frightened or charmed, you make it with advantage as well — a predator does not flinch.

Beastspeak1 die · bonus action

Your companion takes the Dash, Disengage, Dodge, or Help action immediately and regains hit points equal to the die. You may use this even on the turn you command its attack.

Weather the Wild1 die · reaction

When you or an ally within 30 ft. takes damage, reduce it by the die plus your Wisdom modifier. You harden them to the blow the way the wild hardened you.

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Class Features

Level 1 — The Bond

Bonded Companion. A bonded spirit — a fate-spirit in the shape of a beast — has bound itself to you. See Core: Bonded Companion for the full rules and stat block. In short: it attacks for free when you take the Attack action, you command it with a bonus action, and when its shape is destroyed the spirit simply reforms beside you after a rest.

Mark Quarry. As a bonus action, mark a creature you can see as your quarry. See Core: Mark Quarry. You and your companion deal bonus damage to it, you can never lose its trail, and on its death you may mark another for free.

Weapon Mastery. Your training with a hunter's tools lets you use the mastery property of two kinds of weapons of your choice with which you have proficiency, such as a Longbow and a Shortsword. Whenever you finish a Long Rest, you can practice weapon drills and change one of those choices.

Hunter's Techniques. You gain 2 Hunter's Dice and learn two techniques. See Hunter's Techniques. You learn a third technique — and your pool grows to 4 dice — at 2nd level.

Level 2 — The Hunt's Discipline

Fighting Style. Adopt a style: Archery (+2 to ranged attack rolls), Defense (+1 AC while wearing armor), Dueling (+2 damage with a single one-handed weapon and no other weapon), Two-Weapon Fighting (add your ability modifier to the off-hand attack's damage), Pack Hunter (while you and your companion are both within 5 ft. of the same creature, you each gain +1 to attack rolls against it, and your companion adds your proficiency bonus to its damage), or Coordinated Volley — while your companion is within 5 ft. of a creature, you gain +1 to ranged attack rolls against it, and your companion adds half your proficiency bonus (rounded down) to its damage against it. Coordinated Volley is Pack Hunter for the bow: the same trap, stepped down one notch because you spring it from range instead of standing in it.

Hunter's Dice. Your pool grows to 4 dice and you learn a third technique. See Hunter's Techniques.

Level 3 — Hunting Tradition

Choose a Hunting Tradition — the Pack-Bound, the Shadewalker, or the Winterwarden — which grants features now and again at 6th, 10th, and 14th level.

Level 4 — Ability Score Improvement

Increase one ability score by 2, or two scores by 1 each (max 20), or take a feat.

Level 5 — Extra Attack

You can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. Your companion still makes its one attack alongside the action.

Level 7 — Natural Predator

The instincts of a born hunter sharpen into something uncanny.

You can't be surprised while you are conscious, and you have advantage on initiative rolls.
The first time you hit any creature in a combat, the attack deals an extra Quarry Die of damage — the ambush, whether or not the target is your marked quarry.
You and your companion cannot be tracked by nonmagical means, and you ignore nonmagical difficult terrain in natural surroundings.

Level 9 — Relentless Hunter

Your quarry gains no benefit from being invisible or hidden against you — you sense it precisely while it is marked. In addition, once on each of your turns, if you miss your quarry with a weapon attack, you can reroll the attack.

Level 11 — Coordinated Predation

Your companion has learned to fight in true concert with you. It still makes a single attack on your Attack action, but it now strikes with the full weight of the bond: its damage die rises to 1d12, and once on each of your turns, when you hit your quarry, your companion's next attack against that quarry before the end of the turn is made with advantage. (A Pack-Bound Stalker's two bonded spirits each gain the larger die.)

Level 13 — Evasion & Ghost in the Wild

Evasion. When you are subjected to an effect that allows a Dexterity save for half damage, you take no damage on a success and half on a failure.

Ghost in the Wild. You can move at a normal pace while staying stealthy, you can attempt to Hide whenever you are at least lightly obscured, and no nonmagical effect can track your movement.

Level 15 — Death from the Treeline

Your attacks score a critical hit against your quarry on a roll of 19 or 20. In addition, you have advantage on every attack roll you make against a creature that cannot see you — not merely the first.

Level 17 — Predator's Focus

Your Quarry Die reaches its peak (1d12), and your focus can split without dulling: you can have two quarries marked at once. Each is tracked independently, and you and your companion deal the Quarry Die bonus to each on the normal once-per-turn schedule. When either quarry dies, you may mark a replacement for free.

Level 18 — Unbroken Bond

The bond between you and your companion can no longer be severed by a single blow. Your companion gains your Evasion and your saving-throw proficiencies, and cannot be reduced below 1 hit point except by an attack that also drops you. You know its location, condition, and direction at any distance while on the same plane.

Level 19 — Epic Boon / ASI

Take an ability score improvement, a feat, or an epic boon of your DM's choosing (the Boon of the Night Spirit, granting see-in-darkness and a bonus-action Hide, fits the Stalker well).

Level 20 — Apex Predator

You are the thing the wild itself is afraid of.

Once on each of your turns, an attack that you or your companion makes against a quarry at or below half its hit points is an automatic critical hit.
You can use Mark Quarry as a free action once per turn.
When you roll initiative with no Hunter's Dice remaining, you regain 2.

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The Pack-Bound "I am never alone, and neither is my enemy."

Some Stalkers bond with a single spirit. You bonded with the idea of the pack. Your spirit is not a tool you direct from behind a bow — it is your equal in the kill, and in time it is not alone either. You fight at the heart of the hunt, spirit and Stalker moving as a single predator with many teeth.

Level 3 — Bonded Pair

Your companion gains the benefits of the Pack Hunter fighting style even if you didn't choose it (and a second time if you did). You both have advantage on attacks against any creature within 5 ft. of the other of you — true pack tactics. Once on each of your turns, your companion can take the Help action as no action when it is within 5 ft. of your target.

Level 6 — Two as One

Shared Hide. When your companion would take damage, you can use your reaction to take half of it yourself instead.

Second Fang. A second bonded spirit answers your bond (a lesser spirit: hit points equal to 3 × your Stalker level, otherwise using the standard stat block). It acts on your initiative and attacks only when you command it with a bonus action. Only one of your bonded spirits deals the Quarry Die on a given turn.

Level 10 — Alpha's Command

Your second bonded spirit no longer needs a bonus action to join the kill: when you take the Attack action, both of your bonded spirits can each make one attack (no action required), freeing your bonus action for techniques and commands. In addition, once on each of your turns, when one of your companions hits your quarry, you can use your reaction to have your other companion move up to its speed and make one attack against that quarry.

The pack's strength is numbers and position, not a flurry from each beast. Like every bonded spirit, each of yours makes a single attack — but you field two of them, and Bonded Pair already lets them strike with advantage while they flank a foe together. Two beasts biting once apiece from two directions keep a turn fast to resolve and still leave the enemy surrounded.

Level 14 — The Whole Pack

Your companions share your Evasion and your Natural Predator protections. While both companions are within 30 ft. of your quarry, the quarry has disadvantage on saving throws against your techniques. Once per long rest, a companion that drops to 0 hit points returns to your side with half its hit points at the start of your next turn, rather than after a rest.

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The Shadewalker "You were dead the moment you stopped looking over your shoulder."

You do not fight battles. You end them before they begin. The Shadewalker is the patient killer — the one who marks a name across a crowded hall, who is never where the blade lands, who leaves a war camp quieter than they found it. Your hunt is a single perfect strike, and then silence again.

Level 3 — First Blood

First Blood. Once on each of your turns, when you hit a creature that hasn't yet acted in the combat, or any creature while you are hidden or it cannot see you, the attack deals an extra Quarry Die of damage. This stacks with the quarry bonus.

Silent Mark. You can use Mark Quarry without giving yourself away — marking never reveals your position or breaks your stealth, and you may mark a creature you can see even through a crowd.

Level 6 — Fade

When you take the Attack action, you can attempt to Hide as part of that action if you have any cover or are even lightly obscured. In addition, immediately after you reduce a creature to 0 hit points, you can move up to half your speed without provoking opportunity attacks.

Level 10 — No Witnesses

You have advantage on attack rolls against any creature that cannot see you. While you are hidden, your critical hit range against your quarry becomes 19–20. Once on each of your turns, you can spend a Hunter's Die to turn a hit against a quarry that is unaware of you into a critical hit.

Level 14 — The Long Dark

As a bonus action in dim light or darkness, you become effectively invisible until you attack, cast a light, or step into bright light — no die required. And when you reduce your quarry to 0 hit points while hidden, you immediately mark a new quarry within range and may make one weapon attack against it as part of the same turn.

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The Winterwarden "The cold is hers. So am I."

You hunt in the name of the goddess of the winter chase — she of the bow and the high cold passes. You are the protector at the head of the trail, the one who breaks the storm so the others can follow, who marks the beast that threatens the pack and draws its fury onto your own shield. The cold does not touch you. It answers to you.

A Note on the Goddess. The Winterwarden is written for a deity of the winter hunt — a cold, wild patron of the bow and the high passes. Swap in your own pantheon's name and domain freely; nothing breaks if she is a god of the deep woods, the high mountains, or the long night instead.

Level 3 — Mark of the Goddess

Mark of the Goddess. When you mark a quarry, you and each ally who can see you have advantage on the first attack roll each of you makes against that quarry. In addition, each of you gains temporary hit points equal to your proficiency bonus — but a creature that gains these temporary hit points can't do so again until it finishes a short or long rest.

Cold-Hardened. You gain resistance to cold damage. You and your companions ignore the effects of extreme cold and harsh weather, are not slowed by snow or ice, and do not suffer exhaustion from a forced march through the wild.

Level 6 — Warden's Mark

Your quarry is drawn to you and punished for looking elsewhere. While it can see you, your quarry has disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures other than you. When your quarry attacks an ally within 30 ft. of you anyway, you can use your reaction to make one weapon attack against it.

Level 10 — The Hunt Provides

Once per long rest, as a bonus action, you call on the goddess. For 1 minute:

You and allies within 30 ft. have advantage on Wisdom saving throws and cannot be frightened.
Attacks you and your companion land on your quarry deal an extra Quarry Die of cold damage.

While you lead a journey, you and your companions can never become lost and ignore the effects of difficult natural terrain.

Level 14 — Spear of Winter

When your quarry is reduced to 0 hit points, winter answers. Each creature of your choice within 15 ft. of it takes cold damage equal to your Quarry Die and has its speed halved until the end of its next turn, and you and each ally within 30 ft. gain temporary hit points equal to your Stalker level. Once per short or long rest.

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Technique Summary

Technique	Discipline	Cost / Timing	Effect
Hobbling Shot	Strike	1 die, on attack	+die dmg, speed halved
Pinning Shot	Strike	1 die, on attack	+die dmg, STR save or restrained
Disorienting Shot	Strike	1 die, on attack	+die dmg, target disadv. on next attack
Coordinated Strike	Strike	1 die, no action	Companion makes a bonus attack
Reaping Volley	Strike	1 die, no action	Extra attack on a kill
Heartseeker	Strike	1 die, pre-roll	Crit range vs quarry improves by 2 + die dmg
Vanishing Step	Stalk	1 die, bonus action	Hide without cover, +die to check
Ghoststep	Stalk	1 die, no action	No OAs, ignore terrain, +die speed
Predator's Patience	Stalk	1 die, reaction	Ambush attack + die dmg
Misdirection	Stalk	1 die, bonus action	Adv. on Stealth & first strike near companion
Reading the Trail	Survival	1 die, reaction	+die to a skill check
Hunter's Nerve	Survival	1 die, reaction	+die to a save, adv. vs fear/charm
Beastspeak	Survival	1 die, bonus action	Companion takes an action + heals die
Weather the Wild	Survival	1 die, reaction	Reduce damage to an ally by die + WIS

Multiclassing

Prerequisite: Dexterity 13 and Wisdom 13.

Proficiencies gained: Light armor, martial weapons, and one skill from the Stalker skill list.

The Bond on a multiclass: If you take the Stalker as a secondary class, your companion's hit points equal 5 × your Stalker level only (not your total character level), but it still attacks for free when you take the Attack action.

Extra Attack does not stack: As normal, the Extra Attack from this class doesn't combine with Extra Attack from another. Your companion's free attack on the Attack action works regardless of the source of that action.

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