Warlord Flavor (Blood of Kings)

The following occurred to me after someone well kept on insisting Warlords couldn't be martial that their healing had to be magic, and couldn't see how could they influence other players without magic etc etc ... Well I thought this a question of flavor and honestly Warlords can indeed be quite magical arguably when they describe martial power as "Martial powers are not magic in the traditional sense"... they were also saying not entirely mundane.

Most of the time I really like Warlords specifically for let's call it naturalistic flavor and for their tactics (Tactical being my favorite type with Alexander the Great) but sometimes I want to drench it with the flavor of Arthurian Myth and that of bloodlines dripping with "magic."

The Blood of Kings

Bloodline magic is an age old concept far older than its association with D&Ds sorcerers (which is indeed akin to the Daemonic heritage of Merlin and other spell caster's). In fact the idea of being descendants of Dragons and Gods, Daemons and Fae is very common in legend and myth and carries with it a magic both potent and sublime.


This is the kind of magic where true oaths can bring back the dead and your magic item only responds to those of your blood and oaths of allegiance create brotherhoods whose unity grants them power. It might involve fated companions and is often focused through marks of authority. It can involve influence of followers, and those under your jurisdiction or whom you have mastered by force of arms. It could involve your lands health and prosperity being influenced by yours like ancient Celtic Kings. It might include Fate and Destiny manipulation and it's price is often marked in units of charity or service to your fellow man.

This magic is not that of a spell caster in any classic sense and is more subtle than any sorcery. It is the Magic when Uther smashes caldwych/excalibur in to the stone and declares only he and his will have it. Its the magic which causes Aragorns hand to catalyze a weed in to a healing herb. Its the magic when the bearer of the Sword of Truth drives his companions in to a berzerkergang. Its the magic which causes Arthur's enemies to crown him king in spite of their own desires and its focused through his famous Sword of Kingship and again Aragorn calling in the oaths of the unforgiven dead.

From the ancient Greek - hero which were almost entirely half-gods to the royal lines of many real world places which attribute their kingship and nobility with blood of Dragon's and Gods to those like Aragorn who invokes his bloodline to great and epic effect more than once in Tolkien's chronicles to Arthurian Legend where you have Galahad/Lancelot blood descendants of Joseph of Arimathea and who's skin turns aside thorned plants and resists boiling heat with confidence to Gawaine and his family bearing a fae blood-line granting a gift of sun born strength each with empowered and awakened blood.

In a world where oaths are bindings of magic it is warlords who are creators of paladins and shamans the creators of spirit warriors.

Blurring the lines, is it a magic item, is it an item that teaches the ritual? or just a component of the ritual?

[MENTION=82504]Garthanos[/MENTION], your cut-and-paste job formats as an image, with a nonfunctional scroll bar. Hence, we can only see part of your new homebrew.

darkbard said:

[MENTION=82504]Garthanos[/MENTION], your cut-and-paste job formats as an image, with a nonfunctional scroll bar. Hence, we can only see part of your new homebrew.

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Nods I know I am still a bit ambiguous about how I want to work three versionings. Since there are three cost levels for resurrection I was thinking of tying this better in to the story. (but with the cost tied to Karma it's a bit abstracted anyway)

When it is first implemented its done as a 3Day other world quest through a large cauldron... If you lack the Karma points/gold for the (resurrection it may require the afterlife journey regardless). None of the methods work on anything but the Heroic (you cannot just fix it if you killed someone you shouldn't have). I am thinking a season instead of a moon cycle for the length of time the hero can be dead.

One thing of note if I am going to have a "raise the dead" or equivalent, I want that functionality to be positively screaming awesome in flavor not just function.

The 3 Day casting is intended for the initial quest or one to teach a new practitioner or for the difficult case where you lack sufficient Karma (gold) .

The 1 Hour casting is primarily intended for Epic Tier and under mostly ideal conditions.

I am way way too verbose on this think I caught something from @Tony Vargas

Of course if I do an actual book layout I can put flavor text around the powers and practices etc if I desire and cram less LOL

You might consider Themes and Paragon Paths that would act as precursors to Demigod or Feyliege or Legendary Monarch or other Epic Destinies that fit that mould.

Tony Vargas said:

You might consider Themes and Paragon Paths that would act as precursors to Demigod or Feyliege or Legendary Monarch or other Epic Destinies that fit that mould.

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Gotta remember in D&D land that resurrection and similar pretty over the top stuff is happening already by level 8....

As far as pure flavor goes them sorcerers are tapping magical blood-lines at level one too.