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In my bi-weekly D&D 3.5 game, I play a LN Diviner. Last session he gained his 3rd level in Blood Magus. The last few sessions I've been interested in expanding the roleplaying aspect of blood magic. I've toyed around with the idea of describing some of the most common (phb) spells that I prepare, in ways that reinforce the concept of "Blood Mage". For example: for power word: blind, I want to describe it as if I'm taking the blood from the opponents eyes; ray of enfeeblement as a beam of negative energy that allows me to control the blood flow to the creatures muscles; enervation as a negative ray that allows greater control of the creatures blood, restricting flow to his mind and body; and vampiric touch, most obviously, "vampire hands" comes to mind..
These are the sort of ideas I had in mind, but want to take it further than just that.. I like thinking outside the box, and in this case, the mechanics of the game, and just want to be more than a mage that does a couple things with blood (as the prc abilities allow)..
For example, in our game, one thing I'd like to be able to do is draw an arcane symbol with my own blood, for the sole purpose of being able to strengthen the wall it's drawn upon, while serving as a visual warning. Like a big "Forbidden! Go no further!" written in blood, that has the added benefit of making the wall stronger than usual.
What are everyone's thoughts and ideas on this matter? Also, are there any sources (PRPG or 3.5) that touch upon blood magic, other than the prestige class I'm currently taking?
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Everyone is too busy reading the APG PDF to even look at the boards! :)
I have been tinkering in the back of my mind with blood magic and true name magic for some time.
I have several ideas of what I would LIKE it to do, but there is balance issues.
For blood magic I have considered things like cutting yourself and bleeding (causing 1 point of CON damage) which allows you to maximize your spell, or some other meta magic effect.
Again sacrificing a point of CON would allow a damaging spell to be treated as if it critted automatically.
All of my effects relied upon CON loss to work. The thing is that it doesn't have to be YOUR blood, it could be the blood of a victim as well.
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Hey Krome! Thanks for answering! =)
Ja, I realize now that everyone is busy. I had a question for you about a month ago, I think, in another thread, that I think you missed
Your Sorcerers and Wizards use different spell lists? Would you mind explaining what you did? I'm very curious about this. Also, what about your other spellcasters (bard, druid, paladin, ranger)?
Anyway, thanks for the ideas. Do you know if there was any published material for 3.5 (or PRPG) that touches on the subject? A google search only revealed one 3.0 source called "Spells & Magic" by Bastion Press that has a PrC and some feats based on the idea, but that's it.
I don't know what "it" is that i'm looking for, but I'll know when I see it. It would also help if my DM wasn't wierd about roleplaying something differently than what's typical according to the books.
When my Diviner died, I had a backup character all ready to go. My backup was a Half-Orc Barbarian/Fighter (shock trooper). In game, however, he looked like a great human warrior, with over-pronounced lower canines, and looked to be stronger than the average human. I though this would be great for RPing, but it took my DM quite a while to understand what was going on, after explaining it many times before.
Anyway, I'm off to bed for the night. I'll most likely have a dream about being a blood mage.. again.. lol
Two things:
The Genius Guide to Feats of Spellcasting, which is Pathfinder compatible, has the amazing Blood Mage feat. It gives you access to additional spells, but you have to earn blood marks (by taking damage) to cast them. It's the simplest, most balanced blood magic rules I have ever come across.
2. The Pathfinder core rules has magic walls in the environment chapter, and how to make them. You might be able to convince a GM to use those for 3.5 as blood magic, since they'd let you use your mark-wall-with-blood idea.
My 3.5 books mostly sit in a dusty box now, so all my advice is Pathfinder oriented. Sorry I cant help more.