Hey there everyone, Alexander here.
A little while ago, I finished Bioware's " Dragonage: origins" and aside from a lack of voice acting on my character's part, I had a lot of Fun.
That however Is besides the point, What I'm really interested in is a way of using a system of magic that involves using the blood of living creatures as a power source.
This system, while powerful, needs to not be unbalancing, and though I hope the rules I've got here will suffice, I'd Love some feedback from the Community before I bring it into my game.
With that said, Let's begin!
Feat: Bloodmage
Prerequisite: caster level 1, ( only people who can do magic can use bloodmagic)
Special: this feat may only be awarded by the DM after appropriate plot development, It is impossible for someone to learn Bloodmagic on their own.
Benefit: The character may now begin the journey on the long and painful road of blood magic. This process begins by either creating or finding a grimoire. In order to create a Grimoire, the Player must, over one week, collect the grisly materials that will go into the construction of the tome. this process involves dealing a total of 2d6 damage to living creatures(this can include yourself) as you harvest skin, carve bone, and stitch with sinew. There is no setback if the creature dies during this process.
To finish crafting the Grimoire, the Aspiring Bloodmage must make a Bookbinding check, DC 15, paying 50 sp for needed materials. This check represents the week's worth of effort, culminating in an hour long ritual where the bloodmage deals 1d6 damage to themselves as they let their blood flow into the bindings of their new Grimoire. If the check fails, all the specially harvested materials are wasted, and the Grimoire fails to hold together. the 50sp worth of bookbinding materials may be used again in further bookbinding checks. If the check fails, the Bloodmage must begin to harvest materials anew.
If the bloodmage wishes to Bind a Grimoire constructed by another, they must undertake an hour long ritual, during which they make a spellcraft check = 15+ the highest level bloodspell in the Tome, as well as dealing themselves 1d6 damage per the highest level spell in the book. If the attempt fails, the secrets of the book remain hidden from the caster for another week.
If the bloodmage finishes either of the rituals, they find themselves able to recall and record the dread secrets of blood magic from their new tome, which functions exactly like a spellbook, except for the fact that bloodspells may be inscribed inside it. A bloodmage may have a number of Grimoires equal to their HD.
to write a bloodspell into a Grimoire, a mage follows the same rules as inscribing any other spell. however, in addition to paying the material component, they must also use an ammount of their own blood, spilled during the hours of inscription.
a bloodmage may inscribe any spell they know that is on the bloodmage spell list into the grimoire. They may also do this with any spells on scrolls or used in the creation of magic items that they have determined with the usual spellcraft check.
A bloodmage may prepare a number of bloodspells per day equal to their usual base spells per day ( not including domain spells, or bonus spells). Regular spells and bloodspells do not stack for the number of spells prepared per day,
However, in order to prepare these blood spells, a Bloodmage must consume life energy equal to the energy used up by the spell. This is represented as a " blood pool," a floating tally of points that the bloodmage has access to when preparing spells.
when preparing spells, the bloodmage enters an hour long trance, in which they must sacrifice a number of living creatures. for every HD of creatures the Bloodmage sacrifices, They add a point to the blood pool, and at the end of the ritual, they may spend a number of blood points to prepare each spell, equal to that spell's level. When this ritual ends, the bloodmage mage loses all bloodpoints from the blood pool, but may set aside a number equal to their level into a bloodpoint reserve.
the bloodmage may keep a total number of Points in reserve equal to twice their HD, either saving them for later, or calling upon them to aid in times of need.
At any time, as a standard action, a bloodmage may shed their own blood in order to gain access to the bloodpool.
the bloodmage may deal themselves 1d6 damage per blood point they wish to spend, in order to cast a spell, with the spell's level being the number of bloodpoints needed in order to cast.
alternitively, a Bloodmage could apply any metamagic feat they know to a spell, by dealing themselves 1d6 damage per level of the spell after it's modification, and paying the number of bloodpoints equal to the spell levels added.
well then, that's it everyone. That's my prototype, I'd love it if i can get some comments, or any advice on how to make it better.