DnD Hexblood 5e lineage guide

If you’re looking to play a DnD Hexblood 5e as your next character, you’ve come to the right place. The Hexblood have weird, witchy origins, hag magic in their blood, and some interesting abilities to take advantage of. This guide will teach you their lore, explain their gameplay features, and suggest some good Hexblood classes you could try.

The first thing we should get out of the way is that Hexblood is not quite a DnD race, but rather a lineage, one of a couple introduced in the DnD book Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. A lineage can be superimposed on top of a race, providing new abilities, and a brand new look. Let’s go into more detail…

What is a Hexblood 5e?

A Hexblood 5e is a fey creature connected to hags, and physically transformed by that connection. It is one of the lineages introduced in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. Alongside the Dhampir 5e and the Reborn 5e, the Hexblood is a magical transformation that can affect your character, replacing your existing race. You could choose to begin a DnD campaign as a fully-fledged Hexblood, or events might cause you to become one over the course of a game.

According to DnD lore, Hexbloods are infused with the fey magic of hags. Perhaps you were created by hags to eventually become one yourself through an irreversible ritual. Or you might have been swapped at birth by the fey, or become a Hexblood after a run in or deal with a hag, DnD druid, witch, or some other magic user.

However you ended up a Hexblood, the results will be the same. You’ll gain some otherworldly abilities, from dark vision to very talented toe nails, but also see a few physical side effects. Hexbloods are marked by their connection to the supernatural, just like the Tiefling 5e.

Rather than pointy horns, a Hexblood gets a living, garland-like crown wrapped round their head (which could be made of bone, horn, or perhaps even plant matter). They also have unusual skin colors (perhaps greenish or purplish), pointy ears, and long hair that’s impossible to cut short (it quickly grows back to full length).

Hexblood 5e traits

Here are the key Hexblood 5e traits:

Note that if you swap out a pre-existing race for the Hexblood lineage then, rather than choosing two proficiencies of your choice, you can choose ‘Ancestral Legacy’ to keep the proficiencies you gained from this race. You also keep that race’s climbing, walking, and swimming speed.

Hexblood 5e features

What else can hag blood help you do? Well, Hexbloods have 60 ft Darkvision, so no worrying about torches for you. But that’s not so very special; there are some more unique tricks up the Hexblood’s sleeve.

Eerie Token

For instance, your body parts behave rather oddly. With the Eerie Token feature, usable once per long rest, you can harmlessly remove a tooth, lock of hair, or finger/toe nail and pour a little magic into it. You retain a connection to that part of you, giving you a couple of different options.

Firstly, you can give the Eerie Token to someone (hopefully someone you know well, or handing them a lock of hair or tooth may seem pretty weird). You’ll then be able to send that person a message provided they’re within 10 miles. You’re restricted to a character-count of 25 words, however, so be terse.

Furthermore, you can use up the token to enter a trance and transport your senses to wherever it is – provided it’s within 10 miles. This lets you see and hear whatever is around the body part, just as if you were there yourself. The trance lasts up to 1 minute, and afterwards, the token withers away.

Thankfully, your bits regrow with each DnD long rest, so you won’t have to have a hideous, gappy smile from overuse.

Hex Magic

Pick Intelligence, Charisma, or Wisdom as your spellcasting ability. You gain the inherent ability to cast Disguise Self or Hex once per long rest. If you’re a Wizard 5e or other spellcasting class, you also know these spells, and can use your regular spell slots on them.

Hexblood 5e classes

There are no wrong answers, but these Hexblood 5e classes have particular synergy.

Rogue

Erm, hello? Disguise Self? A built-in bug/hidden camera? Do we really need to explain why the Rogue 5e is a good option here?

Warlock

Another obvious choice for a Hexblood is to play a Warlock 5e, with a powerful hag as your Archfey patron, to keep the witchy, fey vibes going. But whatever Warlock patron you prefer, selecting this DnD class makes good sense.

That’s because, given the Warlock’s limited number of spell slots, it’s very nice to have a couple of in-built spells to use, before you fall back on unlimited Eldritch Blasts.

Fighter

The Fighter 5e is the class that can best take advantage of the Hexblood’s Hex spell. That’s because Hex adds a little bit of bonus damage to your attacks on a target, and the Fighter gets lots and lots of bonus attacks. 1d6 extra necrotic damage on each one really adds up.

For more, interesting character creation options, check out the best DnD feats, and the best DnD backgrounds.