| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Here is my attempt at re-creating the Blood Magic of Dragon Age.
Note: This document assumes all "mages" are of the wizard class; the words can simply be used interchangeably (all other casters being banned for setting purposes).
I've been looking for something like this. Blood Magic was one of my favorite things in Dragon Age and I really like how you turned it in to feats. The spells are nice but the list seems a bit small to me.
Also, in the games it states that any spell cast with blood magic is stronger than a spell cast normally, have you thought about maybe incorporating that into a third feat?
I'd probably use sorcerers rather than wizards if you want to set a Pathfinder game in the world of Dragon Age.
Dragon Age mages learn a limited number of spells and can cast them repeatedly.
@ Faust XIII: No, I hadn't really considered that. Perhaps something like Spell Focus (and Greater Spell Focus), but only for spells with the [blood] descriptor? That might do.
@ Umbral Reaver: I hear you. Mechanically, sorcerer would seem to fit better, but thematically (with their gathering together in schools and what not), they seem more like wizards to me. Perhaps the two classes should be blended together... something like the "sage" wildblooded/bloodline?
@ Umbral Reaver: I hear you. Mechanically, sorcerer would seem to fit better, but thematically (with their gathering together in schools and what not), they seem more like wizards to me. Perhaps the two classes should be blended together... something like the "sage" wildblooded/bloodline?
Frankly, I'd think you're wrong there, In dragon age, people who have magic, are born as such, controlling it is a matter of education, however they are all born with the power. so they would be sorcs.
However because of the magic in blood mechanics are so ingrained in the idea that there are multiple bloodlines in pathfinder. it makes little sense in a dragon age campaign. Since you'd only have the arcane bloodline.
Most of the alternative classes and prestige classes that deal with blood also rely a lot on the bloodlines system.
So you are going to do a lot of class editing regardless.
The dhampir racial wizard class would be the only base class to empower spells with lost blood. if you use those class abilities as guidelines (power scaling wise) and then simply remove the "necromancy spells" and replace them with "blood spells" you'd be fine. having them replace bloodline abilities seem a reasonable tradeoff
After some playtesting, I've come to the conclusion that blood magic, as presented here, is probably too good for a 1st-level character.
The playtest character was optimized around blood magic, and so had high Constitution, the Toughness feat, and a familiar granting him hit points (the toad). His hit points were as follows:
6 (HD) + 3 (Con) + 3 (Toughness) + 3 (familiar) + 1 (favored class) = 16.
He could pretty much cast all day, considering 1 hit point wasn't very costly for him. Obviously, this was not my intention. Then again, blood magic should be powerful... just, not that powerful.
Options include:
The playtest character was optimized around blood magic, and so had high Constitution, the Toughness feat, and a familiar granting him hit points (the toad). His hit points were as follows:
6 (HD) + 3 (Con) + 3 (Toughness) + 3 (familiar) + 1 (favored class) = 16.He could pretty much cast all day, considering 1 hit point wasn't very costly for him. Obviously, this was not my intention. Then again, blood magic should be powerful... just, not that powerful.
for one, DA with familiars? really? also in DA its very normal for mages to keep casting al day. You should also not think of it as overpowered. Social wise. no one would be comfortable with a malificar around. rogue mages are one thing, blood mages another. the fact that he cant really show of his powers, and that he'd be hunted constantly if anyone ever found out are penalties enough really
@ Diekssus: The more I think about it, the more that it seems that the two classes should be merged for use in a Dragon Age campaign. A "quick fix", like I mentioned earlier, would be to say that all mages are sorcerers with the "sage" wildblooded/bloodline (since they're pretty similar in flavor to a wizard).
for one, DA with familiars? really?
The "sage" wildblooded/bloodline would fix that, as it trades the sorcerer's arcane bond for a blasting ability (an arcane bolt, as it happens, which seems to fit thematically with Dragon Age's mage class).
You should also not think of it as overpowered. Social wise. no one would be comfortable with a malificar around. rogue mages are one thing, blood mages another. the fact that he cant really show of his powers, and that he'd be hunted constantly if anyone ever found out are penalties enough really
Definitely a balancing factor in and of itself, and not to mention that using blood magic shifts one's alignment towards evil. Thus, it's likely not as much a player option as it is tool for the DM (a blood mage NPC, for example, would make for a pretty good nemesis).
Well , in DA blood magic was simple broken, 0% chance to resist that stun even on highest difficulty setting ... that was simple amazing.
I may have understood wrong here , but it seems to me you want to remove spells per day and trade it for damage? That would make this the most powerful spell caster in the game, by far , a pretty much limitless spell caster ... even if you made the spell a full round action (since you actually simple decide when to use this), you are creating a monster there lols.
It doesn't replace spells per day, it provides the option to sacrifice hit points in lieu of expending a spell slot. Essentially, extra spells--which, yes, is incredibly powerful (especially if you have a reliable source of healing).