Raining Blood - The Bloodrager's Guide to Pleasing the Metal Gods


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Grand Lodge

Most people who take sacred tattoo also take fates favored to up it to +2 luck on saves.

They also pick up jingasa of the fortunate soldier for +2 luck AC and 1/day crit negation.

They could pick up a luckstone if they want to up the other things by +2


So, with regards to Bloodrider, quick question: Do Supernatural abilities count as Spell-like abilities?

I don't know if it's been asked yet or not. I'm hoping to hell it's a yes, but I don't have any clue.


The monster codex turns out to have a feat that is really really good for bloodragers with an intimidation focus.

First is hurtful. Whenever you intimidate an opponent within melee reach with intimidate, you get to attack them as a swift action. Combine with Cornugon Smash for fun times, and completely blow Arcane strike out the water for swift action economy. Only drawback is if you deal no damage the demoralize ends. Prereqs are obscenely easy: Power Attack (Str requirement is same as Power Attack so redundant).

There are a couple semi-useful teamwork feats, and a feat the lets you use feint with intimidation instead of bluff, but Hurtful is the big deal

Also got a new spell, ironskin, which functions like barkskin (2nd lvl spell) but starts at +4 NA enchancement ant tops out at +7, but only lasts min/lvl instead of 10 mins/lvl.

Major_Blackhart wrote:

So, with regards to Bloodrider, quick question: Do Supernatural abilities count as Spell-like abilities?

I don't know if it's been asked yet or not. I'm hoping to hell it's a yes, but I don't have any clue.

No, they are separate ability categories.


Ahh, then Bloodrider isn't as good unless you combine it with Primalist maybe. That way the beast of burden can get benefit of rage powers.


A few question about the bloodrider.

Does the feral mount ability qualify the bloodrider for the monstrous mount feat?

2nd is there a way to get rage powers on their mount?

3rd is there a way to counter the druid level -4 on the mount?

Silver Crusade

Two things to consider,

Will saves are needed for mind-affecting spells. Mind-affecting spells are subject to SR. Untouchable Rager gets SR and since he doesn't need Charisma anymore, points in more places.

Miss chance is easier to get and maintain than AC. Mistmail gives 20% concealment for only 2250. Ring of Invisibility; 20,000. Spells from friends?


Could someone give me the best run-down for a Dwarven Primalist Bloodrager who's main concept is being a mage hunter? Stat array is 18, 16, 14, 14, 12, 12 before racial modifiers. Ideally I would like his primary weapon to be a Dwarven Longhammer, and a Cestus as his up-close weapon(though I'm open to other options) and I'd like to incorporate a throwing axe(s) into his concept as well if possible. Steel Soul and Glory of Old seem as if they should be a given, and we are starting at 3rd level, so feats, rage powers,ect are what I'm asking for. Bloodline is Arcane, as his grandfather was a powerful forge-mage(wizard blacksmiths in our dwarf kingdom) Any advice is appreciated, thanks in advance!


Will this guide be updated with new bloodlines, specifically the Kuthite bloodline and Black Blood?


I'd rate blood conduit higher. It's actually very good in my opinion.

I haven't seen any discussions on it, but there are 2 things that stand out for me:

1. You use the action after hitting, and it uses your attack roll as the roll for the spell hitting. This means if you roll a 20 on an attack or a trip you can go ahead and use up the spell and get a crit on that as well, and you never "waste" the spell (though of course you could always just hold the charge).

2. There is no limit on the spell being cast being a standard action spell. You can modify it with metamagic without increasing the cast time.


I wonder if gear be included in the guide as well. Would like to see some suggestions.


Has anyone tried Bloodrider with Eldritch Heritage? Would you consider something like the Orc or Protean bloodline as something that could add to the Bloodrider's power and ability?


Will this guide be updated for abilities and such regarding the Bloody Knuckle Rowdy?


For builds, I suggest one that focuses on gaining as much reach as possible, then throwing penalties on anyone hit by an AoO, as Bloodrager is awesome at this.

Combine Aberrant Bloodline with Longarm (through Greater Bloodrage when your level is high enough) and Enlarge Person (through an Aberrant Tumor familiar, as it is not a legal spell for Greater Bloodrage) already win the reach Olympics for you with no in combat time spent on your part while using just CRB+ACG. From there you can stack on Dazing Assault (APG) and stop anyone you hit in their tracks.


I know you rated Abyssal bloodline low, but it is actually quite useful if you take the Rageshaper archetype.

The first three levels are kinda rough-just two 1d6 claw attacks. Meh, I know. However, once you hit 4th level, things start getting fun. You enlarge for a +2 to Strength and a -2 to Dexterity. Just a simple bump, I know. However, if you play a tiefling, you can take the Maw racial trait, giving yo a bite attack. Enlarged, you have three attacks at full BaB that deal 1d8 damage.

But wait! There's more. You can apply Rageshaper's Bestial Aspect feature to the claws, increasing their damage to 2d8! In addition, once you hit 5th level, you gain Furious Transformation, which increases the bonus from Enlarge Person by 2. You can also take Improved Natural Weapon (bite) to increase your bite attack to 2d6. Cool, right?


This guide is pretty out of date at this point; my opinions on some of the bloodlines have changed and there are some new toys for Bloodragers (being able to swap your 1st level power for a familiar makes bloodlines like Abyssal more appealing for general use, for example).

I'll have to find some time to revise it eventually.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber

Does anything feel like the Magus VMC is really good here? Spellstrike can be used with frostbite, shocking grasp, or frigid touch. The arcanas are almost as good as a feat and arcane pool is fantastic.


Well, kinda. You simply don't have the slots to spam spellstrikes the same way a Magus can. Arcanas are great tho, we are in agreement there.

Also there's that weird RAW interaction with blood conduit.


The Doomkitten wrote:

I know you rated Abyssal bloodline low, but it is actually quite useful if you take the Rageshaper archetype.

...

But wait! There's more. You can apply Rageshaper's Bestial Aspect feature to the claws, increasing their damage to 2d8! In addition, once you hit 5th level, you gain Furious Transformation, which increases the bonus from Enlarge Person by 2. You can also take Improved Natural Weapon (bite) to increase your bite attack to 2d6. Cool, right?

Can you please clarify? How does Furious Transformation increase the bonus from Enlarge person by two? Are you talking about demonic bulk? If so, I don't see how furious transformation does anything for it. Extend spell doesn't do anything for demonic bulk, I don't think.


I was looking over the bloodrager and think I've found a super tanky build
Crossblooded with the destined and dragon bloodlines for the luck bonus to ac and saves and the natural armor bonus.

Steelblood for the heavy armor and ever increasing max dex bonus.

Take the fates favored trait for a better luck bonus.

If allowed take the figher vmc for even more armor mastery
And the improved natural armor feat multiple times.

For a very nice armor class before any magic comes into play not to mention crazy high saves before stats and cloaks of resistance and amulets of natural armor come into play.


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

I don't think this guide is being updated currently, but I'm pretty sure I saw an faq or errata allowing dragon disciple to work with the bloodrager draconic bloodline, finally. Worth mentioning, even if you only go 4 levels for +4 str, +2 natural armor, breath weapon, bite, and bonus feat; at the cost of 1 BAB and 1 caster level.


Pathfinder Starfinder Maps, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Yes, there is an FAQ that specifically talks about how the blood of dragons ability increases draconic bloodrager bloodline powers.


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So, any chance this guide will be updated for the latest archetypes and builds out there?


I would love an update to this guide as well

Liberty's Edge

Thank you for this. Is there a way to get the nanite bloodline abilites for a bloodrager?

Liberty's Edge

Having already made a pretty effective aberrant bloodrager NPC a year or two ago, I decided to use (pieces of) this guide for another bloodrager NPC. Got some feedback! And also some thoughts for future guide extensions.

Should have gone steelblooded (with NPC gear, it's quite difficult to buff AC enough to avoid hits). Even with HP buffed out the wazoo (up to 150 or so) and 7 mirror images, the melee tore right through. I've seen steelbloods in action and honestly? There's no reason not to do steelblood, in almost every case.
Demonic bulk is pretty good, even for humanoids. While enlarge person is available to bloodragers, they only get three first-level slots per day at 10th level, and it's convenient to have one that happens whenever you're fighting. That said, the auto buffs for Arcane bloodline are wayyyyy better. Not sure how it interacts with polymorph spells but it SEEMS like a good way to make Small beast shapes Medium without needing someone else to cast a spell on you.
Spells: Gonna do a quick rundown of the most valuable ones that I've actually played with. I mostly know the core spells so those get the magnifying glass.

  • 1st: Important buffs: shield, expeditious retreat, and protection from good/evil. Get to the fight quickly and try to make yourself less of a neon target. Feather fall (MAYBE touch of the sea or mount). Save or suck spells like color spray and ear-piercing scream are good situationally, but a bloodrager's save DCs aren't good enough to invest heavily. Damage spells like burning hands should be ignored.
  • 2nd: As always, glitterdust. Buffs should be mirror image, and maybe false life, bull's strength, and/or bear's endurance. Since defense was such a problem for this build, I'd swap in cat's grace and ablative barrier. Animal aspect seems like a nice swiss army utility spell. From this level onward I ignored all save or suck and blast spells because the bloodrager just does NOT have the charisma.
  • 3rd: Fly is the first spell I picked up. Since spell storing armor is a thing, I gave this bloodrager vampiric touch . . . and then completely forgot to have it activate when she was attacked. If the party doesn't already have haste, I'd pick that up. Protection from energy is good for you. Keen edge wouldn't do shit on this build, but for a 2her it's a nice buff. Monstrous physique i and beast shape i come in at this level - I kind of overlooked them for this build, but I think they could've proved useful.
    Save the utility spells (greater animal aspect, water breathing) at this level for the prepared casters to pick up. Force hook charge and chain of perdition could be situationally useful, but the bloodrager still doesn't really have enough spells known for them. Sleet storm and stinking cloud are good enough that they're worth going out of your niche for; of the two I'd pick the former, so you don't have to worry about save DCs. Just stand outside the storm and wait for the enemies to stagger out one by one. Though, with the Aberrant bloodline you can abuse the f!&$ out of stinking cloud: At 8th level, you become immune to the sickened and nauseated conditions.
A moderately high Dex is fun for Combat Reflexes shenanigans. Didn't get to make use of those in this fight but it was killer with the aberrant bloodrager from earlier. Depending on the build, basically good feats like Improved Init, Iron Will, Weapon Focus, Power Attack, Arcane Strike, Great Fortitude, and Toughness will be useful. For the natural attacker, I picked up Multiattack, Improved Natural Attack (claws), and Rending Claws, but honestly she didn't get to rend even once.

Overall, seems like abyssal is a big step down from aberrant. I should've focused on polymorphing over armor spikes, but even so the vulnerabilities were too great.


No equipment guide?


I want to take the opportunity given by this thread being active again to thank Arachnofiend for creating the guide. I found it useful. I use guides not to optimize my NPCs, but to understand the class better to make a realistic NPC.

I created a bloodrager NPC with a homebrew archetype in my Iron Gods campaign when the PCs asked the unstatted NPC Val Baine to join their party. Her background suggested a barbarian/wizard/gunslinger mix, and bloodrager seemed the closest class to that. I chose the Elemental Air bloodline for just the reason Arachnofiend gave, "The main draw for this bloodline is the 8th level power." One PC was a strix, and eventally having a second flier in the party seemed appropriate. As the GM, I declared that the Elemental Air bloodline made Val enough like a sylph that after gaining flight during rage at 8th level, she quailified for Airy Step and Wings of Air for permanent flight.

Gark the Goblin's comments above from September 2016, "Demonic bulk is pretty good, even for humanoids. While enlarge person is available to bloodragers, they only get three first-level slots per day at 10th level, and it's convenient to have one that happens whenever you're fighting," illustrates an aspect of bloodrager spellcasting that I have also observed in the rangers I played. They don't have enough spells to rely on the spells. Instead, spells are just icing on their cake. Val Baine relies on her weapons for offense. Spellcasting was for defense and utility. She prefers spells with duration of at least 1 minute per level, too: Mount, Shield, Protection from Evil, Bullet Shield, Resist Energy, See Invisibility, Burrow, Greater Magic Weapon, Heroism, Beast Shape II, and Shocking Image. She buffs in advance, so surprisingly has never used the Greater Bloodrage ability to autocast a 1st- or 2nd-level spell on herself during bloodrage.

DoubleBubble asked, "No equipment guide?" Sorry, I cannot help there. Val's equipment choices reflect her setting and my houserules. I let Robes of Arcane Heritage work on bloodragers, too, so Val wears such a robe underneath a mithril armored coat. She wields an admantine +1 sawtooth saber (adamantine because she fights robots) and packs a pistol, firedrake pistol, and laser pistol. She carries a Bottle of Air to supplement her Burrow spell. That is not typical bloodrager gear.

Liberty's Edge

Well, she didn't finish the guide. This one has a bit about equipment.

But yeah, it's basically barbarian gear. Don't forget the cha-boosting items and extend rods (make your buffs last so much longer). And a 2h weapon (or at least one you CAN 2h if you want to - I'm playing a low-level bloodrager right now who wears a shield before entering rage). It does vary with your archetype choice and your bloodline, though. Steelbloods want that good good full plate and abyssal only need a backup non-rage weapon for their first few levels. Aberrant can abuse the f%&* out of reach by picking up a glaive or something, but they and fey also want to crit fish so a falchion is good.


Gark the Goblin wrote:

Well, she didn't finish the guide. This one has a bit about equipment.

But yeah, it's basically barbarian gear. Don't forget the cha-boosting items and extend rods (make your buffs last so much longer). And a 2h weapon (or at least one you CAN 2h if you want to - I'm playing a low-level bloodrager right now who wears a shield before entering rage). It does vary with your archetype choice and your bloodline, though. Steelbloods want that good good full plate and abyssal only need a backup non-rage weapon for their first few levels. Aberrant can abuse the f~$@ out of reach by picking up a glaive or something, but they and fey also want to crit fish so a falchion is good.

Thanks, I would like to see more. There are just not enough guides for this awesome class...


“The powerful music of the past, you almost made us forget it. Almost. Today we shall hear it again, the music of the free people. From the singing of our blades through your flesh, to the pounding of our fists into your skull. For the honor of Bladehenge, for the freedom of its people, and for the glory of its METAL!
-Lars Halford from the game Brütal Legend

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