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Hello, hello, everyone!
As is usual for the family, my mother got pneumonia right on schedule this year and was out or partially out for three weeks. As she's doing the art for The Brewer, the Baker, and the Remedy-Maker, which was slated to debut on Kickstarter somewhere around February next year, there needs to be something placed in the schedule to buy her time.
I've decided to pick up on the excitement generated by a bloodlines side project and use Kickstarter as a means to grow a book of bloodlines and related feats to the size the community demands.
The Problem
With the advent of the bloodrager, the bloodline rules have gotten very restrictive. If a player ever wants to make a sorcerer/bloodrager, there's really no choice. If X sorcerer, then X bloodrager. While good for flavor's sake, it's not good for creativity, which is the primary pillar upon which 3rd edition Dungeons and Dragons and the even more player-friendly Pathfinder Roleplaying Game are situated.
The Solution
The Big Book of Bloodlines is exactly what it says on the tin, a listing of 100+ sorcerer and bloodrager bloodlines designed both to deepen and broaden the scope of flavor and mechanical conceits available to their associated classes.
Delving Deeper
The Big Book of Bloodlines delves deeper with subbloodlines. Unlike subdomains and alternate focused schools, a subbloodline is its own beast. Rather than swapping out one or two abilities, a subbloodline shares nothing but core theme with its parent and is a full-blooded (pardon the pun) bloodline with its own special mechanics, tricks, and flavor.
Why should such a thing exist? When rolling a multiclass sorcerer/bloodrager, a player must match bloodlines, but with subbloodlines, he is also granted the freedom to choose any two subbloodlines that are associated with the same parent bloodline. This expands build choice greatly.
Example Subbloodlines:
Undead - parent bloodline
-Banshee
-Lich
-Vampire
-Zombie
(Note: With the above design, there are 25 possible multiclass builds for an undead sorcerer/bloodrager, and five times as many distinct options for a non-multiclass individual.)
Broadening the Scope
In addition to creating subbloodlines for each of the bloodlines Paizo already supports, The Big Book of Bloodlines widens the scope of bloodlines, as well, with new parent bloodlines, such as Ethertouched, Onmyoji, Tainted, and more.
The Big Book of Bloodlines will launch early in the first quarter of 2015 with its core backer level set at around $12, with higher levels available for those who want some one-on-one time getting their own bloodlines developed by yours truly.
Are you only interested in getting an idea published and don't really care if I simply take the idea and run with it? Pitch it below!
As I'm running Kingmaker, I'd love to see fey and similarly-themed bloodlines. Boogeyman, satyr, nymph, dryad, springheel jack, unicorn, norn, etc. But I'm not a designer even in the amateur sense, so I'd be happy to see someone just take the idea and do what they feel is best.
Would the 'core' pledge be likely to include a coupon for at-cost printing, as was the case with Strange Magic? This sounds like the kind of thing I'd love to have on my shelf and hand out to potential sorcerers in my games, and my players are more likely to read a physical book than a digital one.
Also hope your mother's doing alright. Pneumonia's nasty stuff.
As I'm running Kingmaker, I'd love to see fey and similarly-themed bloodlines. Boogeyman, satyr, nymph, dryad, springheel jack, unicorn, norn, etc. But I'm not a designer even in the amateur sense, so I'd be happy to see someone just take the idea and do what they feel is best.
Would the 'core' pledge be likely to include a coupon for at-cost printing, as was the case with Strange Magic? This sounds like the kind of thing I'd love to have on my shelf and hand out to potential sorcerers in my games, and my players are more likely to read a physical book than a digital one.
Also hope your mother's doing alright. Pneumonia's nasty stuff.
Thanks for the support. I'll send it her way! Yes, she'll get better, but she's stubborn and is used to a lifetime of fighting her way through infectious disease. In the last decade or so, it's gotten to the point that her weakening immune system coupled with her sense of duty nearly kills her every time it's serious, and it's gotten to the point where you can almost set your calendar by the yearly pneumonia episode.
If you look over the bloodlines available to the bloodrager (definitely the smaller list), I'd expect two or three subbloodlines for each bloodline, plus whatever I can sneak into two camps. Lich can be arcane and undead, for example. If any of your fae ideas can sneak into two camps, there's a better chance they will see inclusion.
Oh, and yes, the core pledge gets you PDF and coupon for one at-cost hardcover copy. I can give you a printing quote once I know how many bloodlines get stretched or high-level backed in.
Would still like to see a radiant/light bloodline, darkness bloodline, and antipodist/edgewalker (combo of the 2) themed sort of bloodline.
Besides that, onmyoji/spirit/kami themed would be cool too and fit the setting I'm working on. Notice you mentioned one of those above so happy to hear it is already being considered.
For dragon bloodline, could consider maybe imperial/outer/primal types of dragons for it. If not different enough, drake/woundwyrm/wyvern/basilisk might be good options. Jabberwocky bloodline would fit under fey and dragon.
Would love to see an elemental bloodline based on a phoenix personally.
Also a fey bloodline based on Tane (also jabberwocky above mentioned already) or more specific ones. Plus another one toward Norn which are awesome.
Some of the cool stuff will have to hide behind the stretch goal wall, of course. 100 bloodlines is very easy to reach, particularly when you need a sorcerer variant and a bloodrager variant for each one.
Darn! Hope it goes well then.
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If any of your fae ideas can sneak into two camps, there's a better chance they will see inclusion.
I think the Jabberwock could fit into both Fey and Dragon. It's listed as a dragon, but it certainly has a very strong fey influence. Norn could also potentially fit into Fey and Destined. Dryad could be both Fey and Verdant, Satyr could be Fey and Maestro... And there are plenty of aquatic fey, such as the Rusalka, that could be fey/aquatic.
Oh my god, a nuckelavee bloodline would be brilliant. I love those terrifying things so damn much.
Finished bloodlines
Dryad (fae, verdant)
Lich (arcane, undead)
Vampire (undead)
Zombie (undead)
Next up
Pixie (arcane, fae)
Selkie (aquatic, fae)
Finished bloodlines
Alchemical (elemental - acid or fire, nanite)
Backfired Wish (destined, djinni, efreeti)
Jabberwock (dragon, fae)
Pixie (arcane, fae)
Puddling (arcane, deep earth)
Siren (aquatic, maestro)
Some others - can't think of them
Next up
Banshee (maestro, undead)
Nuckelavee (???)
Can't wait to see Jabberwock and Pixie!
Hmmm Nuckleavee would be fey and something. It's aquatic so I'd consider that one. Otherwise pestilence perhaps?
It's aquatic, fey, undead, and disease-ridden all at once. The flavor easily produces a bloodline. The "parent bloodlines" line item will be the hardest part this time - going more than three matches feels tacky.
The jabberwock was quite fun to write. Every ability directly references the poem in some way, shape, or form. I know this is one of those things that typically gets a no-no, but the creature has been lifted from that source, so I think it's an exception.
Amusingly, people believe the poem's nonsense word "manxome" is a portmanteau of "manly" and "buxom". Accordingly, the jabberwock has all sorts of fun with gender mixing while giving you natural weapons and a "spring attack breath weapon", among other crazy toys.
As for being compelled to wait, I just doublechecked. You've got Drive access - look and enjoy!
How about bloodlines based on Sin magic? Gluttony, Wrath, etc. That might be too close to Paizo idea territory there, but if not, I think that might be interesting.
Certainly! A fan from these very boards approached me wanting to be part of this (as this individual goes by four names that I know of, I forget which one is used around here) and went as far as to throw some bloodlines at me without even asking for payment. This is the exact area of flavor that he's working on, and we have a "bonuses to attacking the opposite gender" bloodline based on whatever those misogynistic blue gorilla demons are called.
Now, since he's doing this because he wants to and not because he's being paid, I haven't gone as far as to formally confirm a role or anything with him. He's throwing text down when he wants to, and I'm ridiculously grateful for the help. If he wanders off, I'll pick up the sins concept and keep running with it.
Edit: Come to think of it, I'm not sure he's even a he!
Alright - nuckelavee parent bloodlines are: abyssal, aquatic, pestilence
It's effectively a crop-wilting, man-eating demonic water horse, after all.
Alright, that's the one! Hello there, Lindley/Ray/Chimp/Sasha!
I'm definitly in with the sin bloodline idea, and virtues would be interesting too :-)
Is this Kickstarter on already? Did I miss it?
Hey there, Oliver!
Interjection Games has settled on a "skipping Christmas quarterly schedule" for Kickstarters, meaning you'll have the chance to buy in on cool hardcover books in March, June, and September of each year, with the product either being done or almost done before the next Kickstarter gets rolling. Given the way the schedule goes, the September Kickstarter will be the yearly highlight.
I apologize for the confusion, by the by. I was going to be more ambitious with my schedule, but a certain German knocked some common sense into me.
Given forum advertising added $0 to the last Kickstarter, I've also locked in front page advertising on d20pfsrd.com for each campaign month. We'll see if that ends up being a net positive!
Here's a tentative schedule!
March - The Big Book of Bloodlines
June - The Brewer, the Baker, and the Remedy-Maker
September - Ultimate Tinkering
Thanks for the quick response, I'm glad I didn't miss that kickstarter :-)
Btw, don't underestimate forum advertising, your last thread here (if that's what you are refering to) did put me onto the ethermancer/composition/truename-train. So at least a few of those dollars did come from the forum :-)
Oh, HERE, certainly. According to Kickstarter, a full third of my take last time was from the Paizo forums. ENworld? RPGgeek? Nothing at all - so I'm not doing it again. Endzeitgeist brought in about $125 with a plug that disseminated itself throughout the internet nicely, and another $100 came from people talking about me on their personal blogs. The rest was the Kickstarter community itself.
Finished Bloodlines
Nuckelavee - Abyssal, Aquatic, Pestilence
Ethertouched - Aberrant, Starsoul
Next up
Banshee
Constellations - Destined, Harrow, Starsoul
Cosmic Dreamer - Dreamspun, Starsoul
Concepts look promising, 'specially the 'Sin" Bloodlines. i shall postpone my Seven Deadlies games till they are out.
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Haven't actually gotten past flavor yet, Jonathon. I decided to make today my day off for the week after getting horribly stuck on the Cosmic Dreamer (sub)bloodline. That one is going VERY Lovecraft "Shadow Out of Time" and should be a good option for dark/horror environments.
Oh man. I'm swooning here. :D
So... would this include some new spells? I think some new spells for bloodlines lacking thematic spells might be cool....
The Familiar Folio has an option for Bloodline Familiars, it would be great if that could be covered too!
So... would this include some new spells? I think some new spells for bloodlines lacking thematic spells might be cool....
I haven't made new spells yet, but I have made several new feats that are specific to bloodlines. I've also gone and ripped the very idea of bloodlines up in several cases by giving something other than spells or feats in place of bonus spells and bonus feats.
Here's the very best example so far.
Dryad
Bonus Feats: None.
Whenever you would gain a bonus feat, you choose one of the following aspects to add to your list of aspects instead.
Acidbite (Su): Corrosive lichens lie upon the ground. Creatures that end their turn occupying a square covered by your vegetation take 1 point of acid damage, plus an additional point of acid damage for every four bloodrager levels you possess.
Mint (Su): Sprigs of refreshing mint pop into being. Creatures that threaten a square covered by your vegetation may bend over, grab some mint, and eat it as a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity. That creature gets fast healing 1 for rounds equal to your Charisma modifier. These benefits end immediately if you stop bloodraging. Starting at 15th level, eating mint grants fast healing 2 instead. You must be at least 9th level to select this aspect.
Whistleroot Tubers (Su): A small colony of whistleroot tubers, effectively potato-like plants that explode to spread their seed once they reach maturity, digs into the earth. Creatures that end their turn occupying a square covered by your vegetation take 1 point of bludgeoning damage and are dazzled and deafened for 1d4 rounds with a DC 10 + 1/2 your bloodrager level + your Charisma modifier Fortitude save to negate the deafened effect. You must be at least 9th level to select this aspect.
(Of course, add many more options.)
And that feeds into this.
Bloodline Powers: Your verdant heritage is embodied in an affinity for all that is green and growing.
Greenwalker (Su): At 1st level, whenever you are bloodraging, your movement leaves behind a trail of newly-grown vegetation covering the ground of all squares through which you pass. (If you move through water, you leave seaweed or an algal bloom in all squares through which you move, but if you move through the air, there is no trail of plants left behind.) This vegetation lasts for 1 round before wilting and becoming useless. Any amount of fire damage dealt to a square wilts vegetation in that square immediately.
As a swift action, this vegetation takes on your choice of one of the following aspects until the beginning of your next turn.
Green Thumb (Su): At 4th level, at the beginning of your turn whenever you are bloodraging, your vegetation spreads to the space you occupy, as well as all squares adjacent to the space you occupy.
The Familiar Folio has an option for Bloodline Familiars, it would be great if that could be covered too!
Hey, this stuff is awesome! Yes, it'll make for an excellent match for some of the stuff I'm doing. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!
Interesting! I've liked the stuff I've got from Interjection Games. I'll watch for this one to come up. March, you say?
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March, yes.
Quick rundown of the business model for this one.
$15 nets you the PDF and a coupon for the hardcover at cost (Before backers grow it, I expect this to be about $9 to print.)
$2000 gets the project off the ground. Every $100 thereafter gets another bloodline added to the book. At $5,000, all backers get a copy of the onmyoji and a bunch of oriental bloodlines that use petitions and talismans get added to the mix.
Higher backer levels add bloodlines to the book. This ranges from +$20 for a simple bloodline to +$35 for something akin to the ridiculousness that is the full dryad bloodline. Examples will be shown in the campaign.
All bloodlines purchased must be subbloodlines of existing Paizo bloodlines unless enough bloodlines are bought at once to justify making it its own thing. That would be the $175 "Give me the book, six bloodlines, and some art from an artist" bundle. Broken down, it gives a sorcerer bloodline, a bloodrager bloodline, two sorcerer subbloodlines, and two bloodrager subbloodlines. Two of those can be the complex sort, more if you have really cool ideas and get me excited. Depending on the quotes I get for this project for art, that may go up.
Alright, Cosmic Dreamer is nailed down - except for the bonus feats. Moving on to Constellations, then I'll look into that whole "virtue bloodlines" concept.
I'm quite proud of this one. It's effectively "embrace destiny" ramped up to 11 with the ability to store and use some dozen rolls (2d4, 2d6, 2d8, 2d10, 2d12, 2d20) each morning by level 20, plus the ability to spend spell slots to add more d20s to the mix. Beyond that, there's writing scrolls in your sleep, adding confusion to spells, and retroactive luck bonuses to saving throws against things that would kill you. Very low on the "hit with things" scale for a bloodrager bloodline.
March, yes.
Quick rundown of the business model for this one.
$15 nets you the PDF and a coupon for the hardcover at cost (Before backers grow it, I expect this to be about $9 to print.)
$2000 gets the project off the ground. Every $100 thereafter gets another bloodline added to the book. At $5,000, all backers get a copy of the onmyoji and a bunch of oriental bloodlines that use petitions and talismans get added to the mix.
Higher backer levels add bloodlines to the book. This ranges from +$20 for a simple bloodline to +$35 for something akin to the ridiculousness that is the full dryad bloodline. Examples will be shown in the campaign.
All bloodlines purchased must be subbloodlines of existing Paizo bloodlines unless enough bloodlines are bought at once to justify making it its own thing. That would be the $175 "Give me the book, six bloodlines, and some art from an artist" bundle. Broken down, it gives a sorcerer bloodline, a bloodrager bloodline, two sorcerer subbloodlines, and two bloodrager subbloodlines. Two of those can be the complex sort, more if you have really cool ideas and get me excited. Depending on the quotes I get for this project for art, that may go up.
Sweet! That's more of an answer than I expected! I'll set myself a reminder to watch for this one.
I am especially interested in the Constellations (sub)bloodline, as I have a seer/stargazer character in mind who gains her insight from the stars themselves even communicating with them.
Hopefully the Constellations (sub)bloodline covers this idea in some way.
As I wrote it, Constellations quickly shifted to "linking the party together in a terrestrial constellation and sharing information/abilities with each other". I've removed harrow from the parent bloodlines and will try again for your flavor of choice with something similar.
Yep, this is so up my alley. I love sorcerers, and new bloodlines are my favorite things. Can't wait to back this project.
Finished Bloodlines:
Constellations
Unicorn
Next Up:
Thinking on the "Virtues" series
Edit: Actually, help me out here. What makes sense for parent bloodlines for unicorn?
Looking through my ideas notebook - also on deck.
Lycanthrope bloodline with variants for wererats, werewolves, werebears, and werebeavers. Gameplay is quick and sneaky, fast and bloody, tanky and brutal, and waking up in a heap of sawdust with a horrible hangover and a finished log cabin beside you, respectively.
I think Unicorns would be fey, verdant, or celestial. The verdant and celestial stretch it a bit. Unicorns bond to and protect the forest. Unicorns use strong positive energy effects. You could go either way.
Fey is the most likely since they scream out first world.
Good call, Adam/Luthorne! As for the way I ran with it, it's four healing or support abilities, a Dex bonus while bloodraging, and aligned weapons with a damage bonus.
Fey/Celestial would have been my first inclination too. Do they get to grow a horn while bloodraging? hehe.
Really wish my finances would allow me to toss a lot of cash at this when it goes live. >,< Hopefully after I suppose if you still allow after the fact donations.
Hopefully after I suppose if you still allow people to shut up and give you their money whenever it's convenient for them.
Fixed that for you, and we can work something out, chief.
Alright, update on the advertisement front. Though there will be a preview available as part of the Kickstarter campaign, www.d20pfsrd.com will be given a few exclusive bloodlines to show off in their March newsletter. Sign up for the newsletter if you want more content to play with before Google Drive opens up after the campaign!
Also, a preview of some more of the weird mechanics in The Big Book of Bloodlines!
Runner of the Apocalypse (Ex): At 12th level, whenever you are bloodraging, feats that grant you a numerical bonus while you are mounted also grant you that bonus while you are on foot. Feats that grant a bonus to your mount or grant you the ability to interact with your mount in a special manner still do not apply for the simple reason that you have no mount while on foot. Additionally, if you have an ability or feat that applies to mounted charges, you may gain its benefits when making a charge on foot.
Channeled Blast (Sp): At 4th level, you may channel your inherent arcane power in such a way that it simulates the raw power of the ether. As a standard action, you may expend a bloodrager spell of any level to produce a ray of energy. Make a ranged touch attack with a range of 60 feet, dealing 1d3 points of bludgeoning damage per bloodrager level you possess, to a maximum of four times the spell level of the spell expended, plus additional bludgeoning damage equal to your Charisma modifier.
Bonus Spells: None. Whenever you would gain a bonus spell, you instead choose one of the following manifestations. Whenever you use the channeled blast bloodline power, you may add a single manifestation to the resulting blast at no additional cost.
Visions of Doom (Su): At 8th level, the fleeting visions that assail you begin to intrude upon you in waking dreams. Whenever an effect that allows a saving throw would kill you, you receive a retroactive +1 luck bonus to your saving throw against this effect. If this would result in the saving throw being a success, you retroactively make your saving throw. This bonus increases to +2 at 16th level.
Terrestrial Constellation (Su): At 1st level, whenever you can see the open sky, you form a constellation with all allies within 15 feet. You know the positions of each ally in the constellation, as the know direction spell. Further, starting at 8th level, you know their vital details, as the status spell. At 16th level, this ability's range increases to 30 feet.
The range of terrestrial constellation doubles at night.
Finished Bloodlines:
Lycanthrope
-werebear
-werebeaver
-wererat
-werewolf
Reworked Bloodlines:
Constellations
Unicorn
Up Next:
Diligence
Temperance
Alright, fellas. We're rapidly approaching 50 bloodrager bloodlines and I'm looking for input on the following topics.
1: What other bloodlines would you like to see? Bear in mind starchild, undead, and fey are pretty much at capacity currently. More content can happily wedge their way into pretty much anything else.
2: I'm having trouble fitting the seven virtues/sins into parent bloodlines. Does anyone have a suggestion for these?
soooooooo no room for a ravener(Dragon,Undead) then?
The sins are divided into demons aren't they? (Lust for succubus and so on). Perhaps Abyssal bloodline?
Though I think the blessings and sins deserve to be their own parent bloodlines instead of as alternate bloodlines for Abyssal and Celestial.
soooooooo no room for a ravener(Dragon,Undead) then?
I can do one, but some other mix of dragon would be more optimal. I only have 50 slots base, and I want to make sure all Paizo bloodlines (except ghoul sorcerer, which I'm ruling as undead/arcane) lights up with at least 2 options on the bloodrager side of the fence.
@Luthorne, Adam
Yes, they are, and Abyssal and Celestial are going to be outright glutted as a result. Those secondaries are good, though, and I think it salvages the idea.