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Magic is weird. Bloodlines aren't just genetics. Draconic bloodline could just be because your parent worked for a dragon, spending a lot of time in proximity. A rakshasa bloodline could be because you have a wicked soul- one that may one day be capable of reincarnating as a rakshasa. Perhaps you were blessed or cursed at a young age, or born under the right cosmic alignment. A bargain your parents struck, or even one you did.
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Magic is weird. Bloodlines aren't just genetics. Draconic bloodline could just be because your parent worked for a dragon, spending a lot of time in proximity. A rakshasa bloodline could be because you have a wicked soul- one that may one day be capable of reincarnating as a rakshasa. Perhaps you were blessed or cursed at a young age, or born under the right cosmic alignment. A bargain your parents struck, or even one you did.
True but when i was thinking about a rakshasa, it would basically be under the assumption that said rakshasa was a Pagala.
Pagala: Traitors. This caste is reserved for rakshasas who have become chaotic or good, and is the most shameful form of life to rakshasa thinking. Pagala are allowed to live only if they can be swayed back to the proper lawful evil way of life; otherwise they are hunted and killed.
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Obviously, the final decision is between you, your GM, and your fellow players at the table. But...
As QuidEst offers, there are more ways than just direct ancestry to explain why PCs have magic bloodlines. Either Blood of Angels or Blood of Fiends offers additional reasons why a PC ends up a aasimar or tiefling without direct ancestry, and those would likely be valid reasons for having similar bloodlines. A PC with a Fey or Shadow bloodline might have been conceived/born/raised near leylines, ground consecrated to such a Power or Deity, or a portal/dimensional weakness to related planes. The PC's parents might they themselves have frequently cast/manifested spells/powers that left an imprint on their aura/soul/DNA. Or they may have encounter a related artifact or been cursed before the PC was conceived/born.
Speaking of rakshasas, I included a plothook in the atropocustra/addiction devil entry of the Wayfinder Bestiary (it's free!) that you and your GM could easily modify as an explanation for family/clan having a bloodline.
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*looks other way, whistling casually*
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Have the character or one of his ancestors be the subject of a magical experiment. Insane wizards are always trying to create weird slaves. Your character could be the “failed” result of a wizard attempting to create a half fiend. He used a Rakshasa instead of a demon or devil. Since the experiment was a failure he had no interest in your character and sold him to someone else.
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In addition to the good points above, I might further add that a character's heritage or occult origins don't have to be so clear and crisp.
Golarion (or Faerun, or Eberron, or your typical campaign setting) is a place with a lot of magic, a lot of supernatural creatures, a lot of weird stuff... and they've been around for a long time. It might not be that your father was a demon (or made a demonic pact, or had a demonic artifact). Maybe it was your great-great-great-great-great grandfather, and you just got (un)lucky with a recessive gene throwing up for some reason.
Essentially, it is entirely plausible for the character themselves not to know why they have a certain eldritch heritage.
Your great grandfather sold the soul of his first born to a devil. Then your grandfather sold THEIR firstborn's soul to save themself. Naturally your mother...
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No one is descended from an android and yet there is an android bloodline.
Really, the bloodline part can be construed as fluff at need. Though personally, I think every single sorcerer with the maestro bloodline needs to ask their parents about what bards they knew ;) I did an oracle for a PbP that eventually got EH for the undead bloodline, not because she was descended from the undead but because of various events like dying in a temple of an evil death god, getting raised, spending way too much time in necromantically-infused dungeons, slaughtering undead, etc.
No one is descended from an android and yet there is an android bloodline.
I hate to spoil Blade Runner 2049 for you, but.
Lol. Well, no one is descended from one in Golarion.
I hate to spoil Blade Runner 2049 for you, but.No one is descended from an android and yet there is an android bloodline.
Replicants aren't androids, though. They're more like made-to-order clones.
That depends on your PC's race, class, and goals. What do you want the PC to be able to do?
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That depends on your PC's race, class, and goals. What do you want the PC to be able to do?
Ok Summary and footnotes.
Half Elf, Brazen Deceiver, Infiltrator,Spy,Face,Spellcaster/Debuffer, You get the idea.
This would ideally be for an intrigue heavy game, where she would often infiltrate places on her own and either come out with some big price, information, or alternative routes of getting into places. By level 8 she would have dirge of doom on constantly using it as a softener for her shadow spells, while indirectly helping the party.
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** spoiler omitted **
An android is a human appearing robot. A robot is a machine that is programmed and designed to function like a human in form or activity. Replicants are biological machines designed to appear human and subject to programmed constraints. Therefore, replicants are androids. See also the title of the original source material.
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How is a human not a machine programmed and designed to function like a human?
I talk about this with sorcerers a little bit over here:
http://www.handbookofheroes.com/archives/comic/family-ties
The most relevant bit is this quote from the 5e handboook: “the touch of a demon, the blessing of a dryad at a baby’s birth, or the taste of water from a mysterious spring” are all listed as possible origins for a sorcerer.
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True but when i was thinking about a rakshasa, it would basically be under the assumption that said rakshasa was a Pagala.
That makes for the story element right there.
A rakshasa was sent to seduce a kindly priest or holy warrior into wickedness, but became so entwined in their life, infiltrating whatever serene sanctum they lived in, that they found themselves strangely moved, becoming ever more like their target in an attempt at 'fitting in' and dragging them astray. A year and a day passed, and the rakshasa only succeeded in making their target 'fall' by meeting them halfway and abandoning evil, having lived the 'charade' of being a kindly mentor and friend to the holy person so long and so convincingly that the lie became truth.
The 'fallen' mortal was touched by the rakshasa's nature, in the same way that the rakshasa had been 'corrupted' by the mortal they'd meant to corrupt, so that their children carried some hint of this strange connection to the rakshasa that joined their famous ancestor's faith in an attempt to make them fall.
It's been generations, and few, if any, know the truth of this ancient drama, but it serves as a possible 'origin story' for a person to take the rakshasa bloodline, without any sexytime shenanigans having taken place.
And then there's the old standby, magical experimentation with rakshasa blood goes horribly awry, as some aging researcher tries to make themselves immortal, and instead taints themselves with rakshasa traits, that pass down to their eventual children. :)
I happen to love the shadow bloodline, my vote goes that direction Malik.
Darkness shenanigans and all :)
Do you want to play with people's minds? Go with the Rakshasa bloodline.
Do you want to be super stealthy? Go with the Shadow bloodline.
It is all a matter of which is your priority.
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True but when i was thinking about a rakshasa, it would basically be under the assumption that said rakshasa was a Pagala.That makes for the story element right there.
A rakshasa was sent to seduce a kindly priest or holy warrior into wickedness, but became so entwined in their life, infiltrating whatever serene sanctum they lived in, that they found themselves strangely moved, becoming ever more like their target in an attempt at 'fitting in' and dragging them astray. A year and a day passed, and the rakshasa only succeeded in making their target 'fall' by meeting them halfway and abandoning evil, having lived the 'charade' of being a kindly mentor and friend to the holy person so long and so convincingly that the lie became truth.
The 'fallen' mortal was touched by the rakshasa's nature, in the same way that the rakshasa had been 'corrupted' by the mortal they'd meant to corrupt, so that their children carried some hint of this strange connection to the rakshasa that joined their famous ancestor's faith in an attempt to make them fall.
It's been generations, and few, if any, know the truth of this ancient drama, but it serves as a possible 'origin story' for a person to take the rakshasa bloodline, without any sexytime shenanigans having taken place.
And then there's the old standby, magical experimentation with rakshasa blood goes horribly awry, as some aging researcher tries to make themselves immortal, and instead taints themselves with rakshasa traits, that pass down to their eventual children. :)
...I like this. I like this a lot..the first one not so much the second one.
** spoiler omitted **An android is a human appearing robot. A robot is a machine that is programmed and designed to function like a human in form or activity. Replicants are biological machines designed to appear human and subject to programmed constraints. Therefore, replicants are androids. See also the title of the original source material.
Electric Sheep!
How is a human not a machine programmed and designed to function like a human?
But nothing says they have to be 'humane'.
I'm actually using the eldritch heritage feats as the catalyst for the bloodline itself. The PC has been corrupted by a Blight and took the Eldritch Heritage feats(Verdant bloodline) and now any of their descendants will either be a sorcerer or a bloodrager with a thematically appropriate bloodline. :)
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Electric Sheep!** spoiler omitted **An android is a human appearing robot. A robot is a machine that is programmed and designed to function like a human in form or activity. Replicants are biological machines designed to appear human and subject to programmed constraints. Therefore, replicants are androids. See also the title of the original source material.
Hmm. Android summoner, electric sheep eidolon....