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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silveras" data-source="post: 1292776" data-attributes="member: 6271">Part 1: Bloodline changesBirthright Conversion part 1: BloodlinesFirst, I wanted to separate the mechanics from the setting; second, I needed to adapt to the 3rd Edition rules. At the core of Birthright are the bloodlines, so that is where we need to start. Bloodlines----------------------------------------------------GeneralI disliked the random factor of Bloodlines in the original presentation. A feat-based system  made much more sense to me. However, the Bloodline score is integral to the Domain management system, so I could not abandon it without finding a suitable replacement. Another element of the original presentation which did not work for me was the assignation of powers. I needed to separate the powers from the specific gods of Cerilia, and I needed a way to easily add more powers as new deities entered the mix. My homebrew world has a great many deities, each very active in one or two regions and less so in others, so there would be occasional need to add new Derivations and Powers. Further, it seemed to me that over the centuries of having Blooded regents in charge, people would have found a way to describe the ranks of Bloodline Strength, and to have organized ways of tracking the increase or decrease of strength within a Blooded family. Enter the Heralds, as specialists in record keeping on these topics. They know many family secrets (like which nobles kept sneaking out to tryst with commoners), and keep them in their vaults of records. The nobles are a little afraid to cross them, now, because of those records. The Heralds probably know which farmer with a surprisingly strong Bloodline is actually the lost heir (or sibling of the current heir) of a major family. What that means is that the grades of Bloodline Strength are well-known to the people. Everyone knows that House D'Marco is a Great House, but House Alesson is of Minor status, and because Alesson's leaders took many peasant lovers, there are many Tainted families in their lands. The gradation is based on something the people could see and measure: the number and potency of Bloodline Powers you display (not Bloodline Score). So, each of the Bloodline Feats is tied to a pattern of powers, and the overall number and potency of powers matches up pretty well to a specific Bloodline Strength. There is still some variation, but it is not all over the board like the original rules. I also added the Bloodline to the people's vocabulary. A Bloodline, in this sense, means that members of a particular family sharing the same origin and ancestry all have the same powers. If children have a weaker Strength than their parent's, when they raise it, they will gain the same powers as their parent with the dominant Bloodline. Which brings me to some other new terms relating to Bloodlines: the Diurshegh and the Durishegh. The Diurshegh is the current "Head of the Family" for a particular Bloodline, and the Durishegh is the "next in line," the designated Heir. Cadet (new) branches of the family are created when someone in the family other than the Diurshegh leaps past the powers defined for his/her family. If House Alesson has only been at 'Major' at its strongest, and some young adventurer pushes his/her personal powers to match the requirements to be defined as Great, that character "splits off" and becomes the root of a new Bloodline. The Bloodline may end with that character if there is no marriage and progeny; if there is a marriage and progeny, the new family is noble and considered a cadet branch of the character's original family. The question of marriage may vary from campaign world to campaign world -- some will view the marriage to legitimize the offspring as necessary; other worlds may not need that technicality. If a character obtains more powers, or loses some powers, such that his/her Strength now matches a different category, AND that increase or decrease is passed on to the next generation, at that point the Heralds will "officially" change the Bloodline's description in their records. This in no way prevents the character from enjoying the benefits of increased Bloodline Strength or suffering the penalties of its decrease; it just keeps the positions of the Blooded families more stable. Blood AbilitiesTo reflect the greater variety of source deities, and to standardize the process of creating Blood Abilities, I adopted these rules. Minor Blood Abilities are virtual feats (like automatic proficiency in the deity's favored weapon, for example, or Track), a bonus to skill checks, or once daily use of a 0 or 1st level spell appropriate to one of the source deity's Domains. Major Blood Abilities include once daily use of level 2 or level 3 spells, twice or thrice daily uses of level 1 spells; or at-will, permanent, or continual use of level 0 spells. Likewise, the granted power of a domain would be suitable for use as a major ability.Great Blood Abilities include once daily use of level 3 or level 4 spells; once weekly use of level 5 spells; multiple daily use of level 2 or level 3 spells; or at will, permanent, or continual use of level 0, level 1, and /or level 2 spells. Caster LevelBecause many blood abilities are based on spells, it can be important to know the Caster Level of the effect. [Code]Ability Rank    Normal Caster LevelMinor             5Major             10Great             15True             20[/Code]An additional Feat, Improved Blood Ability, allows the caster level to rise with the Scion level, capped at the next rank. Bloodmark, Bloodform/BloodtraitI came to regard these as the same ability in different degrees, and one that is to some extent present in ALL Scions. So I gave Bloodmark to the Scion class as a feature at 1st class level -- ALL noble families in my world have a characteristic marking their status. The chance of Bloodform or Bloodtrait becoming active depends upon the bloodline strength of the character. Tainted bloodlines have only a 10% chance of it being active, Minor bloodlines have a 25% chance, Major bloodlines have a 35% chance, Great bloodlines have a 45% chance, and True bloodlines have a 55% chance. This is checked again each time the character increases his/her bloodline after 1st level (so a character with a Great bloodline at 1st level has a single check at 45%, not one each at 10%, 25%, 35% and 45%; however, a character who had a Major bloodline at 1st level and who raised it to Great at 3rd level would have to make 2 checks – one at 35% {at 1st level} and the second at 45% {at 3rd level}).Once active, the transformation must be embraced to increase bloodline strength or gain additional abilities. The DM and the player should work out just what sort of form the character is changing into, and determine the progression of changes to reach that ultimate form. The progression of form changes includes all those of a lower category.</blockquote>

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