Hey man, I really think you should go with a Frontier Trapper type monster hunter, a Jeremiah Johnson kind of guy. The fur trappers had all sorts of interesting doohickeys that could be turned into monster trapping devices. They also carried a ton of extra gear and provisions due to the harsh elements they were exposed to, meaning you get to pack on a ton of monster related items and still remain convincing, instead of just looking over burdened. In fact, many carried large backpacks that could potentially be chock full of monster hunting paraphernalia. I think the fur trapper idea gives you a ton of interesting options for your imagination to really run wild seeing as on a very basic level they had the same job, capture/kill interesting creatures/animals.
As for the other options, I may be alone on this but I am sick to death of Steampunk outfits and I think you are right in that a modern day monster hunter will be confusing and limit what you can actually put on the costume seeing as a modern day hunter would need to not attract that much attention. Obviously go with what YOU are interested in, but keep in mind that you have the chance to do something really different and unique which is a welcome change in the sea of Ironman/Batman/Halo/Steampunk costumes we have all come to know incredibly well.
In fact, your idea to do a Wild West monster hunter inspired me to do this sketch for you to show you what I am kind of talking about as far as Frontier Monster Hunter goes!
[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/69/scan4mn.jpg/]
[IMG]http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/5383/scan4mn.jpg[/URL][/IMG]
To explain some of the things in the image:
- I gave him a tri-corner hat to show a conneciton to a civilised world, seeing as you said he might take requests from the church.
- He is wearing standard Fronteirsy dress, with the big duster shoulder pads covered in a string of garlic for vampire defense and dangly leather pieces.
- One belt has stakes for Vampire killing, the other has different types of crosses for different types of demons/monsters.
- Main belt has all kinds of pockets for herbs, spices, and other witchcrafty charms like Mars42 suggested.
- In the right hand is a pistol for demon/vampires as it can shoot stakes and holy water filled bullets (I included three different sizes for different types of demonic creatures). I drew it so it was engraved with angelic looking flourishes and angel wings on the barrel and chamber. Also, you always gotta include the Rosary.
- In the left hand is a pistol for werewolf hunting, including teeth, werewolf engravings, and a cut off bob of a werewolf's tail.
- The calf portion of most Frontiersman seems to always have been wrapped in big thick pillowy materials so for the left leg it is a werewolf pelt and the right it is a broken dragon/gargoyle wing.
For the sake of keeping the sketch readable I didn't include a big backpack full of monster hunting gear, or that awesome staff Jannix Quinn mentioned.
I hope this is helpful in some way, even if you don't go with a Frontier type character.
