Hunt of the Velvet Predator
The closer the trail draws, the quieter the hunter becomes.
Lore Overview
The Velvet Predator listens to the space between footsteps. Every narrowing gap becomes a promise of action, every held breath a choice about when to strike. Choose this conclave to play a mobile striker who corners dangerous quarry through patience rather than brute force. Your discipline belongs to monster hunters, fugitive trackers, and rescuers who must reach danger before it reaches the vulnerable.
Anticipation sharpens pursuit. You may build Arousal by closing a meaningful gap, then choose whether to carry that pressure or spend Libido on an immediate interception. Release becomes a change of position rather than a punishment added by this subclass. Your own pressure drives the hunt; you do not need to impose Arousal on an enemy.
Subclass Features
| Stalker Level | Feature |
|---|---|
| 3rd | The Narrowing Trail |
| 3rd | Ritual and Social Identity |
| 7th | Patient Interception |
| 11th | No Empty Chase |
| 15th | The Hunt Opens |
The Narrowing Trail
3rd-Level Subclass Feature
Anticipation narrows the world to the next honest approach.
As a bonus action, designate one hostile creature you can see within 90 feet as your quarry for 1 minute. This ends early if you designate another quarry, are incapacitated, or the quarry dies. You can designate a quarry PB times per long rest. Once on each of your turns, if you move at least 15 feet using your movement and finish that movement closer to your quarry than you began, the next weapon hit against it that turn deals an extra 1d6 damage of the weapon’s type. Moving back and forth does not qualify unless your final position is at least 15 feet closer than your starting position. The extra damage becomes 1d8 at level 11.
Veiled Play. Once on each of your turns when you qualify for The Narrowing Trail’s extra damage, you may gain 1 Arousal before making the attack. If you do, your movement does not provoke opportunity attacks from your quarry for the rest of that turn. Resolve any resulting Climax before continuing.
Unveiled Play. When you hit your quarry and deal The Narrowing Trail’s extra damage, you may spend 1 Libido to reduce its speed by 10 feet until the start of your next turn. This reduction does not stack with itself. You may instead reduce your own Arousal by 1, to a minimum of 0, without spending Libido.
Ritual and Social Identity
3rd-Level Subclass Feature
A shared trail teaches companions how to follow without haste.
During a short rest, you may spend 10 minutes studying a physical trail token or a map with willing companions. Choose one participant other than yourself; before their next long rest, they can add 1d4 to one Survival check to follow the route or trail discussed. Only one such blessing from you can remain unused. No intimacy or Libido expenditure is required. Socially, you excel at reconstructing movements and asking patient questions; your features do not detect lies or expose a creature’s private emotional life.
Veiled Play. When the trail study ends, you may gain 1 Arousal to give the chosen companion advantage on its next EROSave before its next long rest. Each companion can receive this benefit once per long rest.
Unveiled Play. When the trail study ends, you may spend 1 Libido to let the chosen companion reduce Arousal by 1. Each companion can receive this reduction once per long rest.
Patient Interception
7th-Level Subclass Feature
Patience recognizes the moment a quarry begins to escape.
You gain proficiency in Survival or Insight. If already proficient in both, choose another Stalker skill. While tracking a creature whose tracks you have personally examined, you have advantage on checks to determine whether it doubled back or laid a false trail; this does not defeat magical concealment. When your quarry you can see within 30 feet moves at least 10 feet away from you, you may use your reaction to move up to half your speed toward it after that movement resolves, without provoking opportunity attacks from it. You cannot pass through obstacles or occupied spaces.
Veiled Play. When you use Patient Interception, you may gain 1 Arousal to move an additional 5 feet toward your quarry.
Unveiled Play. After that movement, you may spend 1 Libido to make one weapon attack against the quarry if it is within the weapon’s normal reach or range. This is not the Attack action and does not trigger Extra Attack or The Narrowing Trail’s once-on-your-turn damage.
No Empty Chase
11th-Level Subclass Feature
Even a missed strike can preserve the pursuit’s direction.
Once on each of your turns, when you miss your quarry with a weapon attack after qualifying for The Narrowing Trail, you may move up to 10 feet toward it without provoking opportunity attacks from it. If you then make another weapon attack against that quarry before your turn ends, add 1d4 to that attack roll. This grants no additional attack.
Veiled Play. When adding this die, you may gain 1 Arousal to use 1d6 instead.
Unveiled Play. You may spend 1 Libido when adding this die to use 1d8 instead; choose only one die improvement.
The Hunt Opens
15th-Level Subclass Feature
Release turns the gathered chase into a decisive opening.
Once per short or long rest, when your quarry hits you with an attack, you may use your reaction after taking the damage to move up to half your speed without provoking opportunity attacks from that quarry, then make one weapon attack against it if it is within normal reach or range.
Veiled Play. Once per long rest, after your own Climax resolves while a quarry is designated and you are conscious, you may move up to your speed without opportunity attacks, requiring no action. This grants no attack or additional Call of the Wild activation.
Unveiled Play. Once per long rest, after your own Climax resolves, you may spend 1 Libido to restore one expended quarry designation and immediately designate one hostile creature you can see within 90 feet as your quarry without an action. This grants no movement, attack, or additional Call of the Wild activation.
Additional Information
Combat Identity
Pursuit striker who closes distance and chooses when to commit.
Desire Identity
Anticipation, restraint, and release shape the timing of the hunt.
Class Integration
You gain these features at Stalker levels 3rd, 7th, 11th, 15th. This subclass works through Pursuit and the class’s hunting features. Use the costs, triggers, limits, and recovery stated in the individual features and parent class.
Stalker Pursuit Integration — 3rd Level.
Your quarry remains separate from Favored Enemy and does not change its creature types. Once on each of your turns when a Stalker class feature other than this conclave grants you Arousal while you can see your quarry within 90 feet, you may move 5 feet toward it without provoking opportunity attacks from it. This uses no action and does not itself qualify for The Narrowing Trail’s required movement.
Ritual and Social Use
Agree on the purpose and limits of a pursuit before following the trail. The Ritual and Social Identity feature gives the applicable observance and its complete benefits; this guidance adds no additional ritual reward.
Example of Play
Example: You begin 40 feet from your quarry, advance 20 feet, and choose the Veiled Play Arousal gain. Your first hit deals the extra pursuit damage. If using Unveiled Play, you may spend Libido to slow the quarry, or lower your Arousal without paying. Your next turn asks a different question: can you create another genuine approach, or should you hold position?
Additional Rules
Canonical Release.
In Veiled Play, when a feature says to gain 1 Arousal, add 1 to your current total. Do not replace your current total with a named emotional state. At 6 Arousal, resolve the applicable Climax Effect, reduce Libido by 1 when Libido is being tracked, and reset Arousal to 0. In Unveiled Play, also apply the website’s Arousal stage effects and normal limit of 3 Arousal gained during a single turn. A feature requiring an Arousal gain grants its associated benefit only if you actually gain that Arousal. Resolve a triggered Climax before continuing; it cannot be cancelled retroactively by reducing Arousal.
These features do not add automatic healing or Exhaustion to every Climax. Use the applicable Climax Effect and current Depletion rules. At 0 Libido, you are Depleted; you can still act and use features without an unpaid Libido cost. Further Climax while Depleted follows the core rules for Exhaustion risk. You cannot spend Libido you do not have. These subclasses neither invent a new Call of the Wild activation nor increase its permitted uses. Their release benefits modify the aftermath of the same Stalker culmination.
Agency and Presentation.
Arousal can represent anticipation, vigilance, or emotional resonance, with scenes described at the table’s preferred intensity. No feature reveals private desires, establishes attraction, compels intimacy, or changes consent. Hostile quarry selection denotes tactical pursuit. It carries no claim over a person. Ritual participation and shared emotional effects require willing participants.
Play Modes and Desire Resolution
Classic Play. Use the baseline feature and any expressly stated Classic alternative, without Arousal or Libido. A feature that only modifies Desire has no additional Classic effect.
Veiled Play. Use the baseline and the feature’s Veiled paragraph. Add each stated Arousal gain to the creature’s current total; never assign Composed, Stirred, or Overwhelmed or replace its existing pressure. Resolve Climax immediately at 6. Do not use the Unveiled paragraph.
Unveiled Play. Use the baseline and the feature’s Unveiled paragraph, together with the website’s full Arousal, Libido, Climax, and Depletion rules. Do not inherit the Veiled paragraph. A Libido expenditure requires enough Libido to pay it. Spending the final point does not disable benefits without a Libido cost.
Each feature retains its stated actions, targets, duration, resource costs, and recharge. Changing play modes restores no uses. A gain-dependent benefit requires the Arousal actually to be gained. Unless explicitly excepted, a creature gains at most 3 Arousal per turn; reductions cannot go below 0. Resolve Climax before continuing a feature or applying any after-Climax benefit: the applicable Climax Effect, 1 Libido loss where tracked, Arousal reset to 0, then applicable aftermath triggers. Healing and Exhaustion occur only when an applicable rule grants or imposes them. An EROSave is the creature’s choice of Constitution or Wisdom saving throw, including proficiency only if proficient in that save. Basic Desire Actions retain their one-per-round limit unless an explicit feature overrides it.
Unless a feature expressly states otherwise, this subclass’s EROSave DC is 8 + PB + your Wisdom modifier. PB means proficiency bonus.
Deity Alignment
This conclave may resonate with Rhaziel, the Divine Stalker, through patient pursuit and disciplined attention. Worship is not required; the tradition can arise through wilderness training, personal conviction, or trust earned on the trail.
Rules reference: Mechanics of Desire · Desire Matrix Design Doctrine.
Possible personal devotional affinities include Delavira through the meaning of distance and anticipation. These are optional thematic interpretations, not requirements for this subclass, additional powers, or a claim over another being.
Stalker class · Moontrail Warden · Bonded Hunt · Subclass directory · Mechanics of Desire
