Practically speaking, if given a medieval/reneissance level of technology, what equipment should/would a professional monster hunter use? If we assume 'Monster' to mean something big, dangerous, and of animal level intelligence.
I'd assume some sort of spear or polearm, and a shorter slashing hand weapon with a buckler, light to medium armor (to give you some protection but not weigh you down because that plate isn't going to help much if a stygian bull gores you), and a crossbow or arquebuise?
Just picture a big game hunter. A pack of animals to flush it out or to use as bait. A black man to help you find your way. A big crossbow and a nice hat.
Depends on the size, but I would look toward a the same thing people used to hunt scary stuff like bears and boars.
Which would be spears designed to stab into them, prevent them from pushing along the spear to get at you, and sturdy enough that it won't snap like a twig if you brace it against the ground. Combine that with a ballista, harpoons, and similar things.
A horse. A big fucking horse. The closest equivalent your setting has to a big fucking horse.
A monster Hunter in a setting utilizing only renaissance technology would rely on tactics more so than anything, but the tools he uses those tactics through would probably be siege equipment. I expect that a team of hunters would be accompanying him, and they would predominantly be trying to lure the beast into a trap with ballista and cannons, shit that normally takes a set up time for massive damage
Beyond that, look at things like mammoth hunting, where large groups of men bled massive beasts to death using spear chucking
>rugged waterproof clothing
>traps
>well-trained pack animals and hunting/coursing animals
>a weapon big enough to take it down
I had a big game hunter in a setting. Obsessed with his equipment, a big ass crossbow that fired a nasty arrow, and his shadowy hunting dogs (imagine canine skulks). The dogs would run and force the animal towards the hunter and bam! knock em down.
Alternative to this idea: Can you be riding a monster yourself?
I keep thinking "how do I do tabletop monster hunter"?
Just look towards what people used to hunt giant things in real life. Horses? Elephants? Whales? All good examples.
Alternatively, if you can tame and mount a monster, things get a lot easier.
GURPS
Specifically with the extra rules from Combat Writ Large and The Last Gasp, plus gear from Low-Tech and Fantasy-Tech; creating weapons uses rules from The Material Difference and Low-Tech Companion 2 and, if you're really mean, The Broken Blade. Characters have a starting budget of 400 points.
All things considered, it worked out pretty well. I'd like to run it again with a more experienced group, though.
Nets, traps, spears, ranged weapons (bows, crossbows), dogs, friends.
For some breeds, sure. For most, though, you're better off using the monster as a hunting dog than a mount; that way, the monster and the quarry can duke it out without you being tied to one of the combatants.
Bombs, bait, poison, bear traps, peppermint/strong smells, foghorn/strong sound, nets, spears, rope, hunting crossbows, assorted dung/piss, horse, cart, hunting dog, and MAYBE a portable ballista to setup up well before the hunt.
Numbers.
A Monster Hunter should be leading a large, trained team. Formation and use of heavy weaponry is their preferred strat. Cannons set up and operated by an artillery team in the back, a group of pikers in the front acting mainly as deterrents. During travel and tracking, everyone carries the gear, so unless you're going through favorable terrain where weighed down pack animals can easily pass, pack light. If you are in such conditions, pack up tower shields for your frontliners, a slim chance at surviving a hit is better than no chance but keeping the dozen+ men forming the barrier well equipped is difficult, and take some large team-operated missile projectors like the Chinese triple crossbow.
Beyond that it's all about positioning the monster. Bait, stealth brush/snow/etc covering for your cannons and men if feasible, fire barriers, or very careful planning goes into it. The Monster Hunter himself, the guy in charge, needs to know his cannons really damned well and have a good sense of timing and distance.
In case you miss every shot, have the pikers equipped with fireworks or whatever the monsters they may encounter can be repulsed by ready to go in case it ignores the danger of spikes and charges.
Never fight a flying monster in its preferred terrain. Either rig up its nest while it's out or fight it from well equipped city walls.
A gun or some sort of powerful crossbow. When/if it gets close a shield and spear. If that's not your style then something like a Zweihander just for the reach advantage. Always have knives to aid in a grapple in case the monster gets on top of you so you can put out its eyes. A flail could be good too if you need blunt damage but reach is your best friend in the end.
Also poison. Never underestimate the power of poison on your weapons. Put it to sleep before it sees you so you can lop its head off.
camouflaged blind with the ballista set up would be pretty legit. Bait the monster with it's favorite food in to a clearing with your blind set up just in the tree line. BAM dead.
>Practically speaking, if given a medieval/reneissance level of technology, what equipment should/would a professional monster hunter use?
Massive arbalest/small ballista, maul, metal spike, and a mallet. Use the ballista to either kill or subdue large monsters (essentially use them like harpoons), use the maul to cripple its legs, and if something is too big to be finished with a maul or ballista climb onto its neck and drive a metal spike into the base of its skull.
>When/if it gets close a shield and spear.
Depends on the size. I doubt a shield would do much to stop a charging elephant and a long spear isn't too useful, a formation is required to effectively stop a charging animal. Best suggestion when something charges is to just dodge and disable it.
Mostly nets traps and poisons.
Then when it comes to weapons: greatclubs, great-sabres/swords,spears, crossbows and bows.
Short weapons would do jack shit to monsters the size of a horse.
Armour would be most likely a breastplate + lamelar armour covering other areas and a nice sallet helmet.
The real answer is bait and a whole lot of poison. Of course, its a boring answer, but its the correct one.
>a whole lot of poison
>boring
Do you even alchemy senpai?
...
Strike!
A Monster Hunter supplement is even in the works, but titanic monsters is already in core.
Where to begin?
>Silver weaponry
>Blessed water from multiple religions
>Holy symbols
>Cold iron wesponry
>Bite proof armor
>Incendiary weapons
>Salt
>Chalk for drawing seals
>Crossbow to maintain distance
>Boar hunting spear
Something rules light, fast paced, and narrative focused. It preserves the pace of the games.
Envenomed weaponry, range, traps, and a lot of time on your hands.
All these people talking about wading into melee with a fucking zweihander and shit are off their goddamn rocker, this is animal hunting and their daily life not a fucking action movie.
You want maximum rewards for minumum risk in a reliable manner. Cavemen didn't try to armwrestle mammoths to death, they spooked the herd and forced a stampede off a cliff or into unstable ground where they would be helpless targets.
Pit traps, lures, bait, a lot of preparation and healthy distance from the target is what you want. If you're killing a fucking T-rex, better find something that can put a T-rex to sleep or outright kill it.
You want the medieval giant monster equivalent of elephant tranquilizer and a safe way to apply it.
That's one of the more satisfying parts of the Witcher games. Even on the hardest difficulty, fights are very easy if you spend the time to properly prepare for them. Get the right potions for the environment you'll be fighting in, pack the right blade oils, research what the enemy is vulnerable to, craft enough bombs and traps to put down whatever comes your way.
Only a sucker fights unprepared.
>MUH PRACTICAL REALISM!!!
>Monster Hunter
You set yourself for dissapointment. Big game hunting is about ambushes and traps set up days before you even expect to see the animal.
Bullfighting is more adventurous and lidia bulls are bred to die easy.
Nigga, a normal boar is gonna fuck you up through 9/10 out of those. A dire boar is gonna ruin you so bad your grandchildren's grandchildren will be born with swinophobia.
If I'm fighting fucking lightning MH dinosaurs? Get a team together and litter a square kilometer with leg-shattering pitfall traps, and jab it to death with long spears