PrC: icky bloodsucking necromantic magey guy

[Inconsequenti-AL]

I guess there's 3 ways to look at it...

1. No Con = No casting without a sacrifice. Ouch! Harsh.

2. Drains lifeforce = Eats away Charisma instead of Con. This would 'hurt' them quite a lot to use, as IIRC, it powers most undead abilities... Would unfortunately make sorcerors cry.

3. Can use as they like. Frankly, how many PCs are going to make themselves undead just to escape some part of component costs. How many GMs would let them.

I think transforming into one of the undead temporarily would be pretty difficult... IIRC, only Shapechange can do that and has a component cost over 1000Gp by itself...

Personally I'd lean towards 2. - I like the ideas of allowing the Blood Mage to cast if their 'caught short' of blood, but also 'forcing' them into making sacrifices... for PCs it's what they've taken the class for. For BBEGs, it makes them all the nastier - how many players are going to like the guy after finding a few hundred sacrficed villagers corpses!

 

[hong]

Now on my D&D page:

http://www.zipworld.com.au/~hong/dnd/bloodmage.htm

Thanks, people!

 

[The Great Bear King]

Thanks guys!

Comments on comments:

- This is more for my own campaign than general use, although suitability for the latter is a standard I usually try to adhere to. IMC there's no 9th level spells, no PHB druids and I use slightly different spell lists. Also this class is meant more for NPCs than PCs, so the usual considerations of balance are less of a factor (if you take this class IMC, basically that means you've gone bad and are now an NPC).

- The extra spells are treated just like an expanded spell list. You don't get them for free if you're a sorc, you get to choose them when you go up a level. Ditto for wizards and their free spells. Not sure what's the best way to word this, but you know what I mean.

- Healing and resurrection magic is Conjuration, not Necro. It might make sense that you should beable to resurrect as well as kill people if you have the power over life and death, but as D&D is structured, raising people is different to killing them. The spell list does include goodies like unholy aura and blasphemy, and finger of death and enervation.

- PHB druids might benefit more than straight clerics or wizards in terms of the additional spells, but they would also lose wildshape and the other funky druid abilities. Hopefully it should balance out.

- Neutrality is not something I'd envisage a bloodmage holding on to for long, but that's just me. If you wanted, you could play a very Vampire-ish campaign featuring cult members who have to kill to keep their powers. Lots of angst potential there.

- Haven't thought overmuch on the really expensive spells. The table is taken straight from the tainted sorc in Unearthed Arcana (itself based on the maho-tsukai in OA). Maybe a linear, open-ended scale of some sort might be better? That could make spells like wish totally infeasible, though.

Necromancy: Spells that manipulate, create, or destroy life or life force. A necromancy specialist is called a necromancer.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

What part of "I use slightly different spell lists" passed you by?

If Hong's redefined what Necromancy does to exclude the creation of life, objecting that Necromancy no longer covers the creation of life is a bit silly.