Consensus on Bolstering Blood

[Rith the Wanderer]

Is there any consensus or custserv response out there for certain applications of the Blood Mage ability Bolstering Blood (PHB pg 169). It allows you to deal damage to yourself before you cast an encounter or daily spell and whenever "the power you use deals damage you deal extra psychic damage equal to the damage you dealt to yourself." Now whenever it deals damage seems to imply that if you use it on something like, evards black tentacles and it deals damage, it deals that extra damage. This means you can get a lot of mileage out of it.

Others I have talked to (in my group, not on forums) claim that this works for ongoing damage as well. I think this doesn't really work because the spell put a status there (ongoing damage) and then the staus deals the damage, not the spell. But mostly because I think that would be ridiculously damaging with 3 or 4 ongoing damage 5's on a person from you are dealing an extra 11 damage each per round.

Is there a custserv answer and/or general consensus on either of these applications of bolstering blood (or any other cool application I haven't though of?).

 

[DemonLord57]

Is there any consensus or custserv response out there for certain applications of the Blood Mage ability Bolstering Blood (PHB pg 169). It allows you to deal damage to yourself before you cast an encounter or daily spell and whenever "the power you use deals damage you deal extra psychic damage equal to the damage you dealt to yourself." Now whenever it deals damage seems to imply that if you use it on something like, evards black tentacles and it deals damage, it deals that extra damage. This means you can get a lot of mileage out of it.

Others I have talked to (in my group, not on forums) claim that this works for ongoing damage as well. I think this doesn't really work because the spell put a status there (ongoing damage) and then the staus deals the damage, not the spell. But mostly because I think that would be ridiculously damaging with 3 or 4 ongoing damage 5's on a person from you are dealing an extra 11 damage each per round.

Is there a custserv answer and/or general consensus on either of these applications of bolstering blood (or any other cool application I haven't though of?).

I don't know about a consensus, but my interpretation is that it works in general, but would not work with the ongoing damage, for the reason that you stated. Once an effect is in place, it is not part of the spell anymore, it is simply an effect. (This is my interpretation, if anyone has any rules text to back this up or contradict it, please post)

 

[Boco]

As far as I understand it, you add the extra damage once per target. So if you did 11 to yourself, and you Fire Shroud a crowd of like 6 guys, each of them takes 1d8+Int+11 damage, but then they only get ongoing 5 fire. And if you did Flaming Sphere against one guy, you'd do 2d6+Int+11 damage, then 1d4+Int damage, and not 2d6+Int+11 and then 1d4+Int+11. And of course Blood Pulse would do 2d6+int+11 and then 1d6 per 5' and definitely not 1d6+11 per square.

 

[DemonLord57]

As far as I understand it, you add the extra damage once per target. So if you did 11 to yourself, and you Fire Shroud a crowd of like 6 guys, each of them takes 1d8+Int+11 damage, but then they only get ongoing 5 fire. And if you did Flaming Sphere against one guy, you'd do 2d6+Int+11 damage, then 1d4+Int damage, and not 2d6+Int+11 and then 1d4+Int+11. And of course Blood Pulse would do 2d6+int+11 and then 1d6 per 5' and definitely not 1d6+11 per square.

I don't know about those. It depends on whether the damage is still considered part of the spell. I don't think the ongoing damage keeps the source of damage (though I could be wrong), but I would say that the Flaming Sphere and Blood Pulse do.

In any case, you cannot combine it with Psychic Lock, since Bolstering Blood specifies that you deal the extra psychic damage, and not the power.

 

[Rith the Wanderer]

As far as I understand it, you add the extra damage once per target. So if you did 11 to yourself, and you Fire Shroud a crowd of like 6 guys, each of them takes 1d8+Int+11 damage, but then they only get ongoing 5 fire. And if you did Flaming Sphere against one guy, you'd do 2d6+Int+11 damage, then 1d4+Int damage, and not 2d6+Int+11 and then 1d4+Int+11. And of course Blood Pulse would do 2d6+int+11 and then 1d6 per 5' and definitely not 1d6+11 per square.

Well do you have any rule reasons why the flaming sphere(or any other spell) wouldn't take the extra damage? I mean it does say "when the power you use damages a target." I think with the ongoing damage there definitely is a reason to say no extra damage (besides how ridiculous it would be).

I also think there is good reason to say that blood pulse would deal 1d6 per square +11 damage (not 1d6+11 per square) as the wording on blood pulse seems to be more easily interpretable as one big damage as opposed to several little damages, and it too would be ridiculously over powering(paired with bolstering blood) if it was the several little damages.

However I think saying it only does it once ever is in disagreement with the rules. If you have some reason why you think the bolstering blood entry implies that the damage is only applied once, I'd be happy to hear it (its really hard to word that without coming across sarcastic, I am 100% sincere, I would like to see it).

 

[Rith the Wanderer]

I don't know about those. It depends on whether the damage is still considered part of the spell. I don't think the ongoing damage keeps the source of damage (though I could be wrong), but I would say that the Flaming Sphere and Blood Pulse do.

In any case, you cannot combine it with Psychic Lock, since Bolstering Blood specifies that you deal the extra psychic damage, and not the power.

I agree with you. That's a good catch with the wording to prevent repeated psychic lock abuse.

 

[HenryBlatbugIII]

Some powers add modifiers to attack rolls or damage rolls. These modifiers apply to any roll of the dice, but not to ongoing damage or other static, nonvariable effects.

According to this, the extra damage would apply to Flaming Sphere's 1d4+Int damage, but not to ongoing damage (e.g. Acid Arrow) or static damage. (e.g. the lingering effect of Cloud of Daggers)

 

[Rith the Wanderer]

According to this, the extra damage would apply to Flaming Sphere's 1d4+Int damage, but not to ongoing damage (e.g. Acid Arrow) or static damage. (e.g. the lingering effect of Cloud of Daggers)

Good catch, that seems like pretty much a definite no on the ongoing damage being affected, even if one did argue that it kept its "source" (the spell you cast).

 

[James McMurray]

My Blood Mage has been using Bolstering Blood for Flaming Sphere and Blood Pulse for a while now, and it's incredibly nasty. With single burst spells the damage I take isn't always worth it, but when the spell is going to hit multiple enemies multiple times, I do it every chance I get. It's given me a lot more punch than I'd have otherwise.

For the record, Bolstering Blood + Blood Pulse + Turn Undead is funny.

 

[Boco]

I've been basing my claims on CustServ's preliminary ruling, which says that zones and conjurations don't benefit and that the extra damage only applies once per target.

See this thread for an extended debate.