Huntsman Summon

1. Power Leveling

The Huntsman - appears as a humanoid of masculine demeanor, but unknown race, unknown gender. The Huntsman is armed with a great boar hunting spear, a large compound hunting bow, and a hunter's knife. They are wearing a mix of green and brown leather and hide armor pieces, a large green cloak, and a helmet that obscures their face and is decorated with the antlers of a stag deer. To summon the Huntsman the summoner need only be able to cast beginning level magic and have made the trek to just one shrine/hunting lodge dedicated to the Huntsman.

The Master of the Hunt - armed and garbed as the Huntsman, but the Master of the hunt is 20% larger, has increased stats, and is accompanied by 1D3 servitor spirits. The Master of the Hunt has a rack of elk antlers on their helmet, and can be summoned with beginning to intermediate magical power and the summoner must have visited 2-3 of the shrines dedicated to the huntsman. Alternately, if such travel is not possible, spending an amount of time as a caretaker of a shrine or hunting lodge will suffice.

1 - The Huntsman's steed, a large chestnut horse with green riding tack and the teeth of fearsome beasts woven into its mane

2 - The Huntsman's hound, a large hunting dog, twice the size of a normal member of the species, answers only to the Master

3 - The Huntsman's falcon, an eagle sized hunting falcon.

The Lord of the Hunt - appears as a centaur, melding the form of the master of the hunt and their steed into a single beast, stats are impressive, as are weapons. The Lord of the Hunt has a giant's hunting bow, a giant's boar spear, and a flaming great sword (for dealing with those pesky regenerators). The Lord of the Hunt also has moose antlers, and is attended by 1D3 normal huntsmen. These act as their retinue, stalkers, flushers, and otherwise trap setters and supporting spearmen or archers. The Lord of the Hunt is not to be trifled with and requires intermediate magical power to summon, and the summoner must have visited at least 5 shrines or lodges dedicated to the huntsman, or served as a Shrine Guardian and caretaker for a minimum of a year. As per the Master of the Hunt, the Lord of the Hunt can be accompanied by servitors, and the Lord is always attended by 1D6+1 hunter's hounds.

The God of the Hunt - the most powerful manifestation of the Huntsman is its divine form, the God of the Hunt. The God of the Hunt appears as a sinuous green dragon with the wings of an eagle and several sets of antlers forming a crest around the head and running halfway down the neck. The God of the hunt can only be summoned for a great and dire purpose, generally the hunting of a foe so great and powerful that it is finally worthy of the huntsman's full and true power. The Divine Hunter can at will call forth any number of servitors, huntsmen, and masters of the hunt to serve as it's hunting party. It can also call forth members of the great and terrible ancient race, gigantic versions of mundane beasts, or even mythical beasts to become part of it's wild hunt.

Servitors

The Huntsman has a number of servitors, most are straight forward, the horse, the hound, and the hawk, are all just exemplary or oversized versions of normal animals. Facing a huntsman hound is no different than facing a dire wolf. Not that that makes anything better, of course. There are other servitors who bow to the huntsman and can be conditionally summoned by a summoner who has access to the Master of the Hunt form of the Huntsman. Most such summons are basic level, and can be done more than once, or more than one can be summoned at a time.

The Hound - having access to a giant dog can be useful for hunting, tracking, or standing guard while exhausted adventurers-upon-return catch much needed sleep. Once summoned, the summoner will need to name each hound they call, and make specific offerings of meat or blood to the hounds, this can come from their own supplies, or the first cut from a fresh kill.

The Horse - horses are fast and reliable travel and the steeds of the huntsman can pass through any natural environment unimpeded, be it blazing desert, thorn choked forest, or boot sucking morass. They also instinctively know the lay of the land and can take their riders to a specific place (take us to the Crofter's Chapel in the Deepwood) or to a general request (take us to fresh water).

The Hawk - calling a hawk demands strength, courage, and a leather gauntlet. The summoner must have a minimal proficiency in falconry to summon the Hawk, which will then act as per the Hound, albeit capable of flight, and can non-verbally communicate with the summoner, as per the spell clairvoyance.

The Yale - a beast of the hunt, the Yale can be summoned as a sacrificial hunt, requiring the summoner and their hunting party to stalk and slay the great deer beast WITHOUT the aid of the Huntsman's magics. If they are worthy, the Yale will allow itself to be slain, and the summoner and company may claim it as their own, and can have a huntsman feast. No trophies may be taken in this hunt. No magic may be used either. These are the rules of the hunt.

2. Stat Boosting

The Huntsman is associated with the stats of Wisdom, Perception, and Endurance/Constitution. A hunter is wise, keen eyed, and can go for days without eating. Summoners of the Huntsman may borrow these to increase their own stats on a temporary basis.

3. Talent/Skill/Knowledge Boosting

Hunting as a skill, obviously.

Tracking

Survival

Animal/Beast/Monster Lore

Local Terrain/Area Lore

Trapping, as in animal trapping not making dungeon traps

Hide

4. Hybrid Form

Invoking the Form of the Huntsman allows the spirit of the Huntsman to fuse with the summoner, turning them into an avatar of the Huntsman. They will gain the form and appearance of the Huntsman but will retain their face, personality, and the objectives they had before the fusion, but will take on the spirit of the hunt, and will quickly pursue their prey. The main advantage of the hybrid form is not just the obvious boost in stats and abilities, but that these will last a much longer time than the normal summoning spell. The hybrid form can be held for a minimum of an entire scene, and as long as an entire day. This can see the hybrid cover a massive amount of ground and in the case of an extermination, slay a massive number of the chosen creature to be killed.

The Huntsman favors the use of the Hybrid Form when the Summoner has the need for the Huntsman's prowess for sustained action, such as cleaning goblins out of the woods, or stalking enemies rather than beasts or prey animals.

5. Boons and Favors

The Huntsman is best sought for boons and favors related to hunting and survival. This can be asking for sustenance in hard times, or asking for a glorious hunt worthy of a great warrior king. The Huntsman also bears powerful and magical weapons such as the Huntsman's hunters bow (Compound Bow +3/+5 vs specific prey) boar spear (Long Spear +3), or permanent servitors, gaining the service of such a creature until such time as it is slain or perishes from mortality, whence it returns to the Huntsman.

The Immortal Hunt - the last boon a summoner can ask of the Huntsman is to join the Huntsman. This only comes near the end of life, after a summoner has visited all of the Huntsman's shrines, and served as a guardian for a bare minimum of year, and has participated in the Great Hunt. Then, if chosen, the summoner will be lifted from mortality and installed as one of the God of the Hunt's new Huntsmen.

6. Domain

The Huntsman has a number of Shrines and Hunting Lodges dedicated to it. These shrines and lodges are always removed from civilization, and located into semi-remote locations. These locations are well known for being excellent places to hunt, so long as the hunters make offerings and prayer at the shrine and show reverence for nature, and for the sanctity of the hunt. A shrine is typically a collection of offered trophies taken from hunts, items taken from poachers, and other useful things left behind. It isnt uncommon for the offerings to not be hunting related at all, but represent something that the hunter has given up, a token of their previous life before hunting, and something they give away because they no longer need it. There are items and things that represent abandonment of noble privilege, clerical duty, bondage to a guild or craft, tokens of social status, and so forth.

The shrines and the lodges have caretakers. Most of this is keeping up the grounds, and removing offerings that would spoil. The caretakers also mind the land around the shrines and lodges, and keep them healthy. This mostly involves driving off would be poachers, fighting off incursions from civilization, and watching for evil, blight, corruption, and other supernatural threats to the land. Some caretakers are family affairs, and some shrines have cottage trades associated with them, usually leather tanning, leather and hide armorers, bow and arrow makers, jewelry makers, bone carvers, and such. These trades tend to operate in a gray area, not quite being religious, but also not really being guild/profit oriented.

7. Great Summon

Not for the feint of heart, the Great Summons of the Huntsman call forth the most terrifying and powerful of the ancient race, gigantic versions of normal animals, but themselves imbued with terrible cunning, some innate magical power, and some with their own servitors. Examples of the Great Summon, only available at the highest levels of magical power and devotion to the sacred hunt, would include the Dread Wolf Fenris, the Giant Wolf that Swallows the Sun and Moon or Nidhogg the Devouring Worm, the Beast of Night. The Great Summons require powerful and legendary magical weapons and artifacts to slay.

Which brings the question, why in the name of the Gods would a sane person summon these behemoths of myth and nightmare? The appearance of such a beast is enough to route armies, or to lay waste to cities, trample down castles, and so forth. The Great Summon is the ultimate weapon of the Huntsman against the greatest enemy of the hunt and hunter, civilization and agrarian economics. A Great Summon unleashed against a target is going to tear through it like the demigod of destruction that it is. It doesnt matter if it is a Camelot of knights in armor, or a blood soaked orc camp, or even a forest of elves. The Great Beasts appear and rampage, and it is the sacred duty of the summoners and the Huntsmen to slay said beast.