Hunters

=Overview= Though typically ranged attackers, what makes a hunter a hunter are the nature based powers they've been granted. Some, including the Mano, have impressive sight capabilities. Others can be inspired by nature to increase their own physical abilities or the abilities of those around them ("animal buffs"). They are designed to live off of the land and seek out their prey easily, often trained in survival skills.

The hunter base is located at the edge of southwestern Everea, carved into the cliffside overlooking the sea like this illustration to the right so handy-dandily depicts. Keep your metals protected because salt erosion can be an issue!

Organization of the hunter's guild is fluid. At any given time there may be one person, several persons, a great number of persons, or no persons on base. Usually, there's at least the one person, but the hunters obviously have no qualms with unannounced departures.

Administrative duties (what precious little that exist) are handled by a pair of hunters that rotate four times a year at the beginning of each season. The Summer pair consists of:

Sierra Priddy: that "bitches get shit done" gif? Her. Assertive, organized, detail-oriented. Support. Cassidy Hayes: not one to fit into social situations very well. Capable, but reticent. Friendly, but flimsy. Combat.
 * Players who have done quests for her have heard of her outspoken, flirtatious brother, Aeir. He is a druid.
 * Accompanied by a Saftan wolf named... Safta.
 * Saffy for short.
 * Players who have done quests for him have heard of his one-sided crush on a spellsword. Her name is never mentioned.

=History= Xumurdad's fall and further devouring left but two organs remaining, and the uterus and penis of the dual-gendered weren't going to get eaten anytime soon. Except, of course, by the first Mano, who had heard of the virility found within the organ. His choice to devour the penis of Xumurdad bestowed upon him forever-sight, and so his followers lusted after the ability to strike any target with perfect accuracy.

The Guild is at best scattered, at worst a rag-tag set of loners that occasionally share a meal.

An unknown incident left the Hunters stationed in the dead center of the Holy Land but with a bit of a distrust for the Holy itself, leading an interesting contrast. Most Hunters dread visiting home-base, and find themselves out of place in religious talk. They're a bit more simple, and find strict organization shifty, at best.

The current Mano is Jordan Hayes.

=Members=
 * Mano: Jordan Hayes
 * Chisaki Andrews
 * Noelle Kendall (DECEASED)
 * Rayu Barozu
 * Alexandr 'Sascha' Holloway (DROPPED)

=Headcanon=

Skills
Alacrity of the Hawk: buff, temporarily increase dexterity/aim.

Constitution of the Bear: buff, temporarily increase status resistance bonus.

Mongoose's Resolve: Dampens the effects of poisons.

Rabbit's Luck: Buffs movement speed (few sec duration).

Viper's Call: Buffs critical hit rate (few sec duration).

Vitality of the Boar: buff, temporarily increase vitality.

Wisdom of the Owl: buff, temporarily increase the ability to not be a dumbass.

(unnamed): buff, temporarily increase hearing/awareness.

Phantom Shot: convert mana reserve into a physical arrow/bullet.

Dragon's Bone: summon the skeletal remains of one of the last three monsters killed, temporary ally
 * Unlocked to all skill builds at level 75
 * Quest-based

Do Hunters have stealth abilities?
Sort of. Passively, they're naturally adept at blending in with their surroundings. Actively, they can become effectively invisible against their environment.

Enchanted Ammunition (Mini)
Because the enchantments are carried on physical projectiles flying at high speeds (especially bullets), anti-enchantment equipment usually cannot work fast enough to nullify the enchantment on the projectile before it strikes/enters the target.

For example, Alex wearing anti-holy rings: the anti-holy enchantment will trigger as soon as a holy spell is directed at him, dampening its effects based on the strength of the anti enchantment. However, if he were to be hit by a holy-enchanted bullet, the anti enchantment would lag, and he would be hit with the full strength of the enchantment on the bullet before the anti-holy rings have a chance to drain the effects.

There are two ways to enchant ammunition: through actual enchantment and through forging. The latter is more prevalent with arrows, while the former is more prevalent with bullets.

An element-based weapon will also bestow that same element onto plain, neutral ammunition. You don't want to combine a weapon and ammo from opposing elements.

Phantom Shot (Mini)
phantom shot -- an arrow/bullet composed of mana ^original skill in the game

In real life, the ability can be expanded to create an complete bow and arrow/firearm and round, but the mana pull is intense and generally wouldn't be used unless it's a last resort or something. The way I'm going to play it is that the idea just doesn't occur to alts because they're so used to only being able to conjure the shot.

Requires technical knowledge of the weapon they're conjuring. (ex. Noelle could conjure a bow, but not a firearm.)

Sight (Mini)
Hunters develop very sharp eyesight. With experience, a hunter will become more sensitive to movement in their periphery and gain the ability to locate a target at greater distances. When Zenderael was a game, experience corresponded with level.

Most hunters are able to see through skills meant to hide the user: an assassin or a rogue's Cloak; a druid blending into their surroundings; a mage's Vanish, though this is considerably more difficult due to the nature of that particular spell.

The Mano's "forever sight" allows all of the above, with the additional ability to view organic matter down to the molecular level and to see through organic matter. For example, if a person were wearing a cotton tunic, then the Mano would be able to see through that person. If that person were wearing chainmail, then the Mano would not be able to see through them.

Support (Yoiko)
The animal based buffs don't call animal spirits, like a druid, but are more a power born of observation. They take in the way nature works and adapt it for themselves, etc. It takes a kind of mana power and is much like magic, but for the most part is enhancing something a person can already do and sharpening the senses.

For example, Rayu can't heal/cure diseases and poisons, but he can boost the body's ability to deal with it or slow down the effects while it does.

They also have similar debuffs in attacks to cripple opponents and lower their stats or poison/sleep them, but it's all power born of mimicry and knowing where to strike. This may or may not look fancy with ethereal animal cues depending on the hunter. I like them okay.

I have also played Rayu with a kind of supernatural tracking skill at times. He can only keep an eye out for one kind of creature at a time (undead, beasts, demons, humans, etc), but it gives him a sort of radar when they get near, even if they are stealthed. It gets more precise the closer they are.

Mount Summoning (Yoiko)
Some hunters (maybe support? Rayu did this) have the ability to call a mount from the forests, or whatever their chosen specialty nature habitat is. This at one point involved a quest to earn the animal's trust, and outside of game mechanics would still involve a few sessions of "I'm not going to eat you" reassurance. They are usually limited in where they can be called and where they will land, most needing a natural environment and/or refusing to go too close to densely human populated areas. ... Or this is all some kind of subtrope of general animal taming, idk.