Talk:Blood Magic (5e Feat)

Next step, I'll make some spells that will only be able to be cast by using the blood mage feat and sacrificing life. Lemiel14n3 (talk) 12:27, 11 October 2015 (MDT)

Really interesting, but a mite OP as-is. Bonus actions don't even work that way (Reactions do), but that doesn't matter much because snagging one of those slots during someone else's turn is one of the things that feel OP. I think it generally just feels like this has too many goodies and moving parts. Knowlessman (talk) 16:24, 21 January 2016 (MST)

I was trying to make a flavorful parallel between the description of Dragon Age's Blood magic. In mechanics it was just burning health for mana, but the story behind it made it seem like this cool, but evil, route to incredible power. But yeah, nerfing it might be a good next step. Lemiel14n3 (talk) 22:30, 22 January 2016 (MST)

Let's say I know the spell heal. I take 6d8 + (lets say 4) damage. Average is 31 damage. I gain a 6th level slot. I cast heal on myself. The net effect is that I gain about 40 hit points "for free". I now no longer need to use hit dice to recover hit points.

Let's say I've gained immunity to necrotic damage - even if just temporarily for 1 minute - I can now gain a huge number of spell slots at no detriment. If I'm permanently immune to necrotic damage, I have infinite spell slots. I guess the only downside is that I can't cast spells that require concentration.

Hit-point-loss-for-benefit effects need very careful restrictions to avoid being abusable.

Damage-creature-for-benefit effects also need to be carefully worded. "...damage is dealt to a creature with blood flow..." What kinds of creatures? How much damage? Can I just slash up a bunch of farmland animals in my downtime to gain as many 1st level slots as I like? Marasmusine (talk) 00:25, 23 January 2016 (MST)

Idea, maybe make the resource hit dice instead, and limit it to 4th level slots. Marasmusine (talk) 05:49, 23 January 2016 (MST)

I like the hit dice idea, but that doesn't gel with stealing blood from others.

And the cost should stack, filling a 1st-level slot takes 1d8, filling a second takes an additional 2d8 (3d8 total), filling a 3rd takes another 3d8 (6d8 total) etc.

Yeah, unfortunately there's not really a set barrier for "intelligence," ideally the benefit would only apply for creatures with souls, aka intelligent life.

Lemiel14n3 (talk) 09:06, 23 January 2016 (MST)

I think two nerfs the temp spell slots should have (in addition to the concentration) are a set time limit and that the damage decreases your HP maximum by that much until after you've used that slot; Geek & Sundry did a similar thing, I think, with the Witcher class they made for D&Diesel. Not sure how best to word that in a way that clearly but concisely disallows the Heal glitch mentioned above, though. Maybe it could decrease it by that much until the next time you complete a long rest; maybe a short rest, but I dunno.

Also, I think I'd just take the "steal blood" thing right out; could be too tricky to make not ridiculous. Also, I think the spells (which are also probably OP, though I'm going off of what somebody who used this told me) should be worded such that you don't just get them, but they're added to the list of spells you can have. Wizards, sorcerers, and warlocks will all notice this difference, I'm pretty sure. Knowlessman (talk) 12:36, 23 January 2016 (MST)

Honestly not sure if the damage needs to include the spellcasting ability mod. Also, maybe it could just be a d6 or d8 per slot? Or, if you want it to involve hitdice, you can make an additional cost be that you spend a hitdie to get the slot, in addition to the damage and HP drain.

Uh, by the way, I changed "self aware" to "Int 6 or higher." Should I have said 5, 7, or another particular number, or should this be a requirement in the first place? :/ Knowlessman (talk) 19:49, 25 January 2016 (MST)

I added the spellcasting ability modifier to completely tie it to your ability to cast spells, and so there's a greater minimum to damage received. And I wanted to add self aware because the power in the blood comes from the power of your soul and animals (ostensibly) have no souls. Although, now that I'm thinking about it, I should look at liches, they steal souls for their phylacteries so I should see what statistic is used there. Lemiel14n3 (talk) 21:37, 26 January 2016 (MST)

Whether or not animals possess souls in a given work is... kinda random, really. :/ They do in RWBY, they have "white" souls in Elder Scrolls while sapient creatures have "black" souls, and... I dunno, they do or don't in other works that aren't coming to mind at the moment. I think if you keep the power level of the bit that uses other creatures' blood low enough, you don't really have to care about whether or not it's coming from an animal. Although, I guess one potential exploit could be having a pet, animal companion, familiar, or party member for that matter, "donate" a small cut's worth of blood for a slot or two. Then we'd get into having to specify it being a hostile creature, or an attack that's dealing lethal damage, or what have you. ...And there's the complicated bit I was talking about before. :/ It's an interesting idea; I just don't really know if there's a way to make it work without making it more complicated than it's worth. Knowlessman (talk) 01:46, 27 January 2016 (MST)

Hey all, just adding my take on the feat that I think would complete it aka balance which is my goal for 5e articles.
"You may use an action and take one hit die per spell level+your spellcasting ability modifier of necrotic damage to gain a temporary spell slot of the chosen level. This damage cannot be reduced or ignored by resistances or immunities. Your hit point maximum is reduced by the damage you received until you take a short rest. Maintaining this spell slot requires concentration."
I think the bonus action to combine temporary spells into higher levels is a added work at the table. This would provide a smooth process for higher level spells with slightly less penalty (not taking spellcasting ability modifier for each time its used). At the moment, I think reduced hit point cap is harsh but won't touch until there's better knowledge about the feats "power level" BigShotFancyMan (talk) 12:45, 18 October 2017 (MDT)