Z's Blood Magic (5e Sourcebook)/Mechanics

Blood Magic Mechanics

Here are the basic mechanics of my Blood Magic system.

Table: Hemocraft

Hemocraft Level	Proficiency Bonus	Hemocraft Die	Sacrifice Points	Rites
				Sacraments Known	Rites Known
1st	+2	(1)d4	2	1	2
2nd	+2	(1)d4	2	2	3
3rd	+2	(1)d4	2	2	4
4th	+2	(1)d4	2	2	5
5th	+3	(2)d6	3	3	6
6th	+3	(2)d6	3	3	7
7th	+3	(2)d6	3	3	8
8th	+3	(2)d6	3	3	9
9th	+4	(2)d6	5	4	10
10th	+4	(2)d6	5	4	10
11th	+4	(3)d8	5	4	11
12th	+4	(3)d8	5	4	12
13th	+5	(3)d8	6	5	12
14th	+5	(3)d8	6	5	13
15th	+5	(3)d8	6	5	13
16th	+5	(3)d8	6	5	14
17th	+6	(4)d10	7	6	14
18th	+6	(4)d10	7	6	15
19th	+6	(4)d10	7	6	15
20th	+6	(4)d10	7	6	15

Hemocraft

Each blood magi has a special die, known as a Hemocraft die, used to measure their power. This die begins as a d4, but increases in size as you grow stronger and able to endure greater sacrifice, as shown on the Hemocraft Die column of the Hemocraft table above. Any time an ability calls for your Hemocraft die, use the size of die noted on the table for your Hemocraft level.

You determine your Hemocraft level by adding together all your levels in the Cardinal class, and one-third (Rounded down) of your levels in subclasses that grant access to the Hemocraft feature. Use this total to determine the size of your Hemocraft die, and your number of Sacrifice Points, but not the number of Sacraments and Rites you may know.

Additionally, when you reach your 5th character level, when you Rend, you may roll your Hemocraft Die twice, totaling the results. This increases to 3 rolls when you reach your 11th character level, and to 4 rolls when you reach your 17th character level. Just like the power of a Cantrip you know, this is based on your total level, not your level in Hemocraft classes.

Rend Ichor

The main mechanic of your Hemocraft Die is to Rend yourself, sacrificing your life force in order to achieve a goal, be it a dice roll, or the activation or amplification of a Hemocraft ability. If a feature allows you to Rend to a type of roll, you Rend yourself according the feature's description, by rolling your Hemocraft Die to determine both the amount of life force you sacrifice, and the resulting power of the sacrifice.

As you gain strength, even not as part of a Hemocraft class, you can begin to harm yourself further and further for greater power, by rolling your Hemocraft die more than once when you rend. When you Rend yourself, you may roll your Hemocraft die a number of times up to the number in parentheses shown for your Character Level in the Hemocraft Die column of the Hemocraft table above, and totaling them together to find the Rend Result.

The type of Rend Bonus granted to you in exchange for harming yourself in this way depends on whether the Rend is Minor or Major, as follows:

• Minor Rend: Traditionally, Minor Rending is applied to d20 rolls (Such as ability checks or attack rolls).

When you Minor Rend, you use the following steps.

• Minor Rend Roll: Roll your Hemocraft die, and record the result. If your Hemocraft level is 5th or higher, you may roll your Hemocraft Die more than once each time you Rend.

• Minor Rend Result: Your Rend Result is the total number you rolled on your Rend Roll. You lose hit points equal to your Rend Result.

• Minor Rend Bonus: The Rend Bonus generated by a Minor Rend is equal to +1, +1 for every 5 hit points you sacrificed to the Rend.

Major Rend

• Major Rend: Usually, Major Rending is reserved for instances when smaller dice would be affected (Such as damage rolls).

When you Major Rend, you use the following steps.

• Major Rend Roll: Roll your Hemocraft die, and record the result. If your Hemocraft level is 5th or higher, you may roll your Hemocraft Die more than once each time you Rend.

• Major Rend Result: Your Rend Result is the total number you rolled on your Rend Roll. You lose hit points equal to your Rend Result.

• Major Rend Bonus: The Rend Bonus generated by a Major Rend is equal your Rend Result for that Major Rend.

Regardless of the type of roll you Rend to, unless otherwise specified, you can choose to Rend either before the roll is made, or after the roll is made, but before you know if it is a success or a failure, at your discretion. Hit points lost during a Rend are not damage in a traditional sense, and thus the loss cannot be mitigated or reduced in any way.

Unless a feature specifically says you can Rend to a particular type of roll and whether the Rend you are allowed to perform is Major or Minor, you cannot Rend to that type of roll. You can Rend any amount of times per turn or per round, but you cannot rend more than once for a feature unless the feature's description specifically denotes it.

Enervation and Decay

Your sacrifice of life force causes your inner flame to sputter, and struggle to regain momentum. Once you Rend, you suffer from debilitation effects for a short time, making it difficult to get back on your feet immediately. Many a blood mage user has fallen prey to overzealous use of their own power. The two effects are known as Enervation and Decay.

Enervation prevents you from regaining hit points while under its effects.

Decay causes all hit points you regain to be reduced by half (Rounded down).

Upon Rending yourself, you suffer from Enervation until the beginning of your next turn, and from Decay until one minute has passed since the last time you chose to Rend yourself.

Injury Level

Some blood magic abilities change based on how many hit points the user is missing. This is measured in the creature's Injury level. There are four Injury Levels, defined as follows.

Uninjured

A creature is Uninjured when it's current hit points are equal to its maximum hit points.

Bloodied

A creature is Bloodied when it's current hit points are less than its hit point maximum.

Wounded

A creature is Wounded when it's current hit points are equal to or less than one-half of it maximum hit points. Wounded replaces Bloodied.

Critical

A creature is Critical when it's current hit points are equal to or less than its number of Hit Dice, plus it's Constitution modifier. Critical replaces Wounded.

Corpse Magic

Each creature that possesses the Hemocraft feature gains access to Corpse Magic, as some blood magic abilities allow or require you to harvest blood from a creature's remains. However, there are several limitations on this.

• Range: First, the creature's remains must be close to you. You may affect a corpse up to 5ft away for every point of proficiency bonus you possess - 10ft away at +2, 15ft at +3, and so on; This is your Corpse Magic range. If affecting more than one corpse with a single harvesting ability, all targeted corpses must be within your Corpse Magic range of both you and of each other in order to affect them all.

• Age: Second, the corpse's age comes into question, as over time, blood loses its potency, beginning the moment it leaves one's body, or the moment one's body is no longer occupied by their soul. You can gain no benefit from harvesting the blood of a creature that has been dead for more than 1 minute, unless otherwise specified by an ability.

• Blood: Third, the corpse must be of a creature that possesses some form of blood or similar fluid within its body in order for you to harvest any such liquid. You cannot harvest blood from the remains of a Construct or Undead creature, unless the DM specifies otherwise - For example, the corpse of a vampire that has recently fed may be eligible, despite being Undead. Likewise, if there is no blood within a corpse - Such as a corpse you have already harvested, or, for example, the remains of a humanoid that has been bled dry by a vampiric creature - Then you cannot harvest blood from that corpse.

• Size: Fourth, the corpse's size is of importance, as too small a creature cannot possess enough blood on its own to harvest. An average Medium creature's corpse can be harvested once, but the number of times an oddly sized corpse can be harvested varies, as shown on the table below. In order to successfully complete a harvest, you must drain the essence from enough corpses to at least equal one full harvest (Such as 4 Tiny corpses, 2 Small corpses, 2 Tiny corpses and one Small corpse, etc).

Corpse Size	Maximum Number Of Harvests
Tiny	1/4
Small	1/2
Medium	1
Large	2
Huge	3
Gargantuan	4

• Potency: And finally, the creature's life force must be strong enough to fuel the magic you're using it to fuel - And, just like a fire requires more and more fuel to continue burning the larger it grows, your magic requires that you harvest stronger and stronger creatures as you and your magic grow stronger. Thus, before harvesting a creature, ask your DM if it seems to your character's instinct that the creature is strong enough to harvest, based on your level and the creature's CR, as shown on the table below. If a creature's CR is less than the CR listed on the table for a character of your level, you can gain no benefit from harvesting its blood.

Character Level	Minimum Enemy CR
1st-4th	1/4
5th-7th	1
8th-10th	2
11th-13th	3
14th-16th	4
17th-19th	5
20th+	6

Sacraments

As a blood magi, you learn how to use your blood to perform sacred - Or profane - Rites of hemocraft magic, awakening a primal connection within yourself, binding a magical force to your blood; These forces are called Bloodborne Sacraments. You can unleash this force sparingly by merely living, but spilling your blood amplifies it further, allowing you to create spectacular effects at the cost of a little pain. You gain access to Sacraments as shown in the Sacraments Known table of the Hemocraft table above. When you gain access to a Sacrament, you also gain access to the Will that belongs to that Sacrament, and its Sign, if any.

Each Sacrament contains many different Rites, which are specific blood magic effects you can learn, much like spells. You learn Rites as shown in the Rites Known column of the Hemocraft table above. You must meet a Rite's prerequisites in order to learn it. You automatically gain access to the Will of every Sacrament you possess, as well as its Sign, if any, and you can learn your Rites from any Sacrament you possess.

Each time you gain a level in a class with the Hemocraft ability, you may choose one Rite you know and replace it with another Rite you meet the prerequisites for.

Sacrifice Casting

Some blood magic features will grant you access to Sacrifice Points. These points represent your ability to convert your life force into raw magical energy. You can spend these points to achieve a variety of magical effects. Any feature that gives you access to Sacrifice Points grants you the following abilities.

• Sacrifice Points: You possess a specified number of Sacrifice Points, as shown for your level. You can never have more Sacrifice Points than your specified maximum; When more than one feature grants you access to Sacrifice Points, they do not stack; Instead, you use the largest amount, unless a feature specifically states that the Sacrifice Points it grants stack with Sacrifice Points granted by other features. You regain all expended Sacrifice Points when you finish a long rest. When you expend one or more Sacrifice Points, for each point you spend, you lose hit points equal to one roll of your Hemocraft die. Additionally, upon expending one or more Sacrifice Points, you suffer the effects of Enervation until the beginning of your next turn, and from the effects of Decay for 1 minute, as if you had chosen to Rend yourself.

• Sacrificial Rending: When you Rend yourself, you can choose to expend one Sacrifice Point. In doing so, you roll your Hemocraft die one additional time for that Rend, adding the result to the Rend Result, increasing both the Rend Bonus and the number of hit points you lose, in place of the normal hit point loss incurred by expending a Sacrifice Point.

• Sacrificial Casting: When you cast a spell, you may choose to cast it by expending a requisite amount of Sacrifice Points, instead of expending a spell slot. When you spend the requisite number of Sacrifice Points, the spell is cast as if from a spell slot of the corresponding level, as shown on the table below. You cannot use Sacrificial Casting to cast a spell as if from a spell slot of 6th level or higher, and you can only cast a spell as if from a spell slot of a level for which you possess at least 0* spell slots; For example, you can only replicate a 3rd-level spell slot if you possess at least 0* 3rd-level slots.

Spell Slot Level	Sacrifice Point Cost
1st	2
2nd	3
3rd	5
4th	6
5th	7

Temporary Sacrifice Points

Some effects grant you a number of Temporary Sacrifice Points, siphoning magical energy from the life force of a creature other than yourself. These function in the same way as ordinary Sacrifice Points, but when you expend a Temporary Sacrifice Point, you do not lose hit points, nor do you suffer Enervation or Decay, as the cost has already been paid by another creature. Temporary Sacrifice Points typically last for a set amount of time, and disappear if not used before then.

Additionally, whenever you Rend yourself, you can choose to expend a number of Temporary Sacrifice Points not exceeding the number of Hemocraft die you would normally be able to roll for that Rend. For each Temporary Sacrifice Point you expend, one Hemocraft Die rolled as part of that Rend does not cause you to lose hit points. If this causes you not to lose any hit points to a Rend, you do not suffer Enervation or Decay from that Rend.