Two new magic items

[Jürgen Hubert]

The fact that a bloodstone need not be touched to be used to control the magic item seems... troubling. It has a certain flair to it, but I'm not conivnced it's a good choice. It effectively means that the bond can never be broken: you just have to place the bloodstone in a place so secure that anyone able to break in would be several CRs above your level - if he can do that, you're no match to him anyways.

Yes, it is very hard to break the bond if the creator is careful. But I consider this to be a feature.

It can happen all too easily that if the PCs manage to defeat some foes, they acquire some very powerful loot that the DM is unprepared for. Bloodstones allow the DM to better control the amount of powerful magic items (and wealth) the party can acquire - yet still make it possible to equip his NPC villains with powerful stuff. And if the PCs are greedy enough to try to find the bloodstones and thus break into some very well guarded vaults... well, that just offers more opportunity for adventures!

And of course, PC-created items can likewise be protected from abuse by thieves - but the PCs have to plan ahead where to hide the bloodstones. And this, too, can lead to further adventures if the DM does things right...

I'm imagining Joe Shmoe, the operator of the construction golem from the Royal Mines, going mad and ordering his golem to destroy the city. The local wizards were unable to aid the populace as the golem was all but immune to their magic and Joe hid the bloodstone in his aunt's appartment. Hmmm :\

And this is precisely why Joe Shmoe will see the bloodstone only once - when he bonds with it. There's no way his superiors will let him keep it - once he bonds with it, it goes off to the vault where only senior officials can get it. And if he gets out of hand... well, his superiors can stop him with a dispel magic fast enough.