[3.5e Bloodline Guide] What in the Nine Hells is a Bloodline?

You know Wolverine's claws? Imagine they were made of liquid blood, that kept it's form, and was sharp, instead of even sharper, harder adamantium.

I think whatever their working on is a bit like that, but you can take the blade right out, and wield it like a sword, or club, or axe, or whatever, and gains extra power based on whatever bloodline you have.

For example, if you're descended from a Balrog, or a Fire Elemental, or something, you're going to be able to wreath your blood-sword in flames. If your great grand pappy was a Vampire, you're going to be able to heal wounds by inflicting wounds on others, or inflict negative levels, or something. If you think it's Christmas all the fr*****g time, your sword is going to taste like peppermint. Or something, maybe it gives you extra bonus feats.

Can't wait to see what you come up with

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Originally Posted by flabort

You know Wolverine's claws? Imagine they were made of liquid blood, that kept it's form, and was sharp, instead of even sharper, harder adamantium.

I think whatever their working on is a bit like that, but you can take the blade right out, and wield it like a sword, or club, or axe, or whatever, and gains extra power based on whatever bloodline you have.

For example, if you're descended from a Balrog, or a Fire Elemental, or something, you're going to be able to wreath your blood-sword in flames. If your great grand pappy was a Vampire, you're going to be able to heal wounds by inflicting wounds on others, or inflict negative levels, or something. If you think it's Christmas all the fr*****g time, your sword is going to taste like peppermint. Or something, maybe it gives you extra bonus feats.

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If you think it's Christmas all the time, odds are you've taken the feat to get you a Candy Cane weapon. Still, sounds interesting.

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Originally Posted by Pyromancer999

If you think it's Christmas all the time, odds are you've taken the feat to get you a Candy Cane weapon. Still, sounds interesting.

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Well, yes. That does seem more likely.

Still, I suppose you two are working on a PrC or something that does something similar?

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Originally Posted by flabort

Well, yes. That does seem more likely.

Still, I suppose you two are working on a PrC or something that does something similar?

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Well, it's more Morph Bark working on the PrC, with me just being a Bloodline reference and a person to bounce ideas off of. Mainly I just saw the Hemoscribe class and thought of the disccussion on this thread and mentioned the idea of such a PrC to Morph Bark in a PM.

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Originally Posted by Merchant

Using blood as a weapon I've seen from not a book but different prestige classes. Granted a few might have come from DnD Wiki. In regards to your class though. Maybe the Blood King could simply use his/hers BP to create a weapon or armour.

http://www.mangareader.net/blood-soul/1/27

(Just quick info on this manga. Main guy has been killing people with his sword and the blood of his victims soaks into his sword and creates a tribal like design on it. This page and the few following it simply shows the applications he uses for his blood. Another note this guy is a vampire and one of his soon to be victims calls him "Blood Ruler" which struck accord with this class)

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Seems to me that Deadman Wonderland might fit a bit better if you're talking about a series in which blood is used as a weapon. Almost everyone important does so, in a variety of different forms.

Owrtho

Omg. I forgot deadman wonderland. Been awhile since they came out with new episodes. But yes blood weapons blood projectiles. I see the dragon being fairly easy with elemental properties being added to the weapons. Fang dragon would have further critical enhancement. Blood dragon NA bonus, blood tail. I hate stepping on toes of the ozodrin and harrowed but I line the idea of becoming even further similar to the source of your blood line. Actually it would be redundant with the harrowed and ozodrin. Cant even figure out an angel form. Tuessa it Sony work

Hemoscribe is awesome though and i'm just geeking over a gestalt Blood king and hemoscribe. I love the greenbound ability and van picture king smearing his blood and watching as all those flying creatures go splat and yhen the blood just rises and flies and slithers rapidly towards the king ap he can use another ability.

Apologies for the double post but I believe this one has more concreteness than my last post which is full of praises and gibberish.

I realized that for this "blood weapon" idea has potential for feat chains and even a prc, but I personally love base classes over prcs (simply because prcs also rock and then I have to make a choice over two awesome ideas). Anywho, "blood weapons" should be given to the Blade Child bloodline "gift". The ability to make weapons that are used for the discpline(s) that the blade child knows. For example, my favorite, the Black Rain discipline. The idea of forming two guns out of your blood and opening a a barrage of (blood?) bullets blows my mind and screams cool idea for an awesome class.

It is also a nice plus to know that you will never be unarmed.

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Originally Posted by Merchant

Apologies for the double post but I believe this one has more concreteness than my last post which is full of praises and gibberish.

I realized that for this "blood weapon" idea has potential for feat chains and even a prc, but I personally love base classes over prcs (simply because prcs also rock and then I have to make a choice over two awesome ideas).

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Eh, not really, feat-chain-wise. It takes a lot more than one would think for a viable feat-chain. Still, I can see maybe a bloodline-based feat or two for my Bladesworn feat-chain, and the Hemoscribe PrC will probably be a bit more than that.

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Anywho, "blood weapons" should be given to the Blade Child bloodline "gift". The ability to make weapons that are used for the discpline(s) that the blade child knows. For example, my favorite, the Black Rain discipline. The idea of forming two guns out of your blood and opening a a barrage of (blood?) bullets blows my mind and screams cool idea for an awesome class.

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I forget the exact location of it, but I know that there's a feat somewhere on here that lets you turn your mind blade into one of the weapons for one discipline you know.

In lead-up to making a class involving bloodlines, I tried to make a bloodline. Anyone have any comments on it?

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Originally Posted by Morph Bark

In lead-up to making a class involving bloodlines, I tried to make a bloodline. Anyone have any comments on it?

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Looks okay, although if you don't have a Ki or Power Point pool, you're not getting the most you can out of this bloodline.

I have a request for someone not exactly to do all the homework involved in this for me (I will take all the help i can get though) but more or less "assist" me in making my weird bloodline that can be pseudo taken at any level. I am just afraid of botching my work up and want some help from the "pros" if you know what i mean. btw linky if you are kind enough to assist.

I decided i wanted to make a bloodline myself, so here's the Phrenic Bloodline

Spoiler

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{table=head]Level|Minor|Intermediate|Major
1|||Autohypnosis +2
2||Autohypnosis +2|Naturally Psionic
3|||Intelligence +1
4|Autohypnosis +2|Naturally Psionic|Phrenic Talent 1
5|||Phrenic Affinity +2
6||Intelligence +1|Telepathy
7|||Concentration +2
8|Naturally Psionic|Phrenic Talent 1|Phrenic Talent 2
9|||Wisdom +1
10||Phrenic Affinity +2|Subconscious Focus
11|||Phrenic Affinity +4
12|Intelligence +1|Telepathy|Phrenic Talent 3
13|||Psicraft +2
14||Concentration +2|Mindsight
15|||Charisma +1
16|Phrenic Talent 1|Phrenic Talent 2|Phrenic Talent 4
17|||Phrenic Affinity +6
18||Wisdom +1|Eternal Focus
19|||Use Psionic Device +2
20|Phrenic Affinity +2|Subconscious Focus|Phrenic Talent 5[/table]

Naturally Psionic: A Phrenic has a natural wellspring of psionic energy within them. A Phrenic gains one power point every four levels, two levels, or each level depending on Bloodline strength.

Phrenic Talent: Each time this ability is gained, the Phrenic gains a psionic power. The first time this ability is gained the Phrenic can only choose a first level power. Every two times this ability is gained the Phrenic can select a power of one level higher. The manifester level for these powers is equal to a quarter, half, or your character level depending on bloodline strength.

Telepathy (Su): Upon gaining this ability, the Phrenic gains the ability to speak telepathically with any creature with a language within 5ft/level.

Subconcsious Focus (Ex): A Phrenic can spend a full-round action attempting to focus its subconscious. A subconscious focus works just like a normal psionic focus. Focusing its subconscious works just like focusing to gain a normal psionic focus, except the Concentration DC to gain it is 25 instead of 20.

Mindsight: The Phrenic gains the Mindsight feat (Lords of Madness pg126)

Eternal Focus (Ex): A Phrenic's mind is constantly focused from constant conditioning, the Phrenic is treated as always being psionically focused. This eternal focus cannot be expended, but the Phrenic can spend three power points to use an ability or feat that requires a psionic focus.

We can make requests, you say? Well, in that case, I would like to request a Mundane Bloodline.

That is to say, someone who is so utterly normal that his existence practically warps reality around him to be more sensible and practical. Someone who is so utterly ordinary that he seems bizarre and out of place by contrast to everyone else.

Wow, looks like I've got some catching-up to do. I apologize for my absence, life has been really busy lately and I haven't had a lot of time for brewing. Hopefully I should start having a lot more free time soon so I can post my back-log of bloodlines and other bloody material.

He... he's BACK! Halleluiah!

Never left :smallbiggrin:

I've been monitoring the Homebrewer's Play-by-Post, but haven't had much time for aside from that. Again, trying to find some.

Today I posted the Blood Chameleon bloodline that I mentioned a month ago. I currently have The Ready and Destined Protectorn all typed up, but I have some worries about them. Namely a few abilities of each. "The Ready" focuses on.. well... being ready for stuff. A bonus to initiative seems pretty inuitive, as do many other abilities, but I'm afraid it's too good for SA characters. The bonus isn't massive, but it's not negligible either. The Destined Protector I'm even more concerned about as they directly relate to combat, as most of my bloodlines to do not. An early and key ability is that to enter "Ward Stance" as a full-round action. While an inidividual is in Ward Stance, they gain the benefit of their own Protective Aura (Early ability, minus to attacks to increase adjacent allies' AC by an equal amount, max 5 or BAB), cannot move, and must spend a move-action each round to maintain the Stance. While in the Ward Stance all of the Protector's threatened spaces are considered difficult terrain to enemies. Some friends of mine pointed out ways this could be abused, despite how it makes them a sitting duck. A later ability is called "Destiny Bond" that allows the protector to Bind with a willing individual within Close range and take half of any damage they take. Not really sure how powerful that is. I want to work these out before I post the lines. Thoughts?

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Originally Posted by Welknair

And I'm totally fine with you using that. In general, if you are making bloodline-based homebrew, feel free to reference or utilize any of my other bloodline-homebrew.

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I recall you once upon a time giving permission to make a PrC based on the blood king. This is the closest thing I can find, and may I use it in the current PrC contest, with your permission?

Odds are I won't actually use it, though, as my well of inspiration is currently... dry. :smallfrown: I can't come up with anything right now. And that is quite... quite... :smallmad: Err.... MAGIC-LICH-HAND EQUIVALENT TO HULK, SMASH PUNY COMPUTER! :smallfurious::furious:

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Originally Posted by Welknair

I am also aware that Sorcerers in PF have "Bloodlines". These and those are entirely different. Seriously. The PF Sorcerer's Bloodlines are class features, for Boccob's sake. These are independent of class. Also note the little "3.5e" in the title. Now stop mixing the two up.

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Have you ever considered something that melds the PF sorcerer bloodlines and your own fix? For example, I'm wondering what it would be like if you granted some of the spells PF sorcerers get as spell-like abilities to regular bloodlines.

The fluff could be something like "Sorcerers are people who, rather than devote themselves to swords or magic or spirituality, have chosen to explore the limits of their own mystical heritage, and hence why they exhibit much stronger bloodline traits than others."

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Originally Posted by Deepbluediver

Have you ever considered something that melds the PF sorcerer bloodlines and your own fix? For example, I'm wondering what it would be like if you granted some of the spells PF sorcerers get as spell-like abilities to regular bloodlines.

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Seems a bit exclusive to PF, while Bloodlines are more for 3.5. Also, the two aren't that similar.

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The fluff could be something like "Sorcerers are people who, rather than devote themselves to swords or magic or spirituality, have chosen to explore the limits of their own mystical heritage, and hence why they exhibit much stronger bloodline traits than others."

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Bold stuff = Blood King.

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Originally Posted by Pyromancer999

Seems a bit exclusive to PF, while Bloodlines are more for 3.5. Also, the two aren't that similar.

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I definitely realize they are very different; I was just asking if it had ever been considered. Plus, I figured some spell-like abilities might be a nice way to make up for those three empty levels that discourage so many players.

Personally, I never really liked the half-dragon/half-ooze/half-cat-girl templates that seem to pop up anywhere you look. It's probably just a quirk of mine, but in a game where you can shoot fireballs out your elbows I still feel drawn to the RL version of cross-breed creatures; i.e. prone to health problems and most likely sterile, NOT "the best of both parents".
Just because a creature can shapeshift into a human (or other creature) doesn't mean you actually BECOME that creature.

I know it's sort of odd, then, that I really like the idea of bloodlines as a replacement. Instead of thinking of it purely biological sense, I prefer it to be more like a mystic ritual performed by arch-mages and demi-dieties using ancient (and forbidden) magic to graft the essence of another creature into your family tree. Then this bloodline manifests itself more or less strongly through the ensuing generations.

Rather than "grandpa slept with a dragon", it becomes "rumors have swirled around your family for decades, but no one ever really made much of it. Just because you had to trim your fingernails every week or they would grow thick and sharp, into almost-like claws, doesn't make you that much different. And it was only a few years ago that you realized not everyone could see as well on a moonless night as they could in daytime. And you've been having these odd dreams, where you can breathe fire, just like a dragon! What sillyness! Still, maybe it wouldn't hurt to talk with your great-aunt Alesaice, who despite having a perpetual green tinge to her skin is healthy and spry at the age of 102."

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Bold stuff = Blood King.

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That seems like a version of Welknair's Mudblood-bloodline on steroids. But I feel that (and again, I realize this is personal) mixing to many bloodlines should have an escalating chance of madness, from all the conflicting natures pressing on your mind. That's just my own personal fluff.

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Originally Posted by Deepbluediver

I definitely realize they are very different; I was just asking if it had ever been considered. Plus, I figured some spell-like abilities might be a nice way to make up for those three empty levels that discourage so many players.

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The thing with the three empty levels though, is that with Welknair's version of it, you still get to advance in BAB and your saves(or at least that's how it looks to me), and you also still get that level's bloodline benefit. Also keep in mind that Bloodlines are more of a long-term investment. I personally believe that the benefits of bloodlines exceed three levels by 20th, but again, bloodlines are more of a long-term investment rather than a short/instantaneous investment, like feats and such.

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Personally, I never really liked the half-dragon/half-ooze/half-cat-girl templates that seem to pop up anywhere you look. It's probably just a quirk of mine, but in a game where you can shoot fireballs out your elbows I still feel drawn to the RL version of cross-breed creatures; i.e. prone to health problems and most likely sterile, NOT "the best of both parents".
Just because a creature can shapeshift into a human (or other creature) doesn't mean you actually BECOME that creature.

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To be fair, half-anything only gets to be somewhat like their parent. Also, as has been explained for dragons, at least, is that some creatures(like dragons) have DNA that's compatible with most anything, and their offspring are somewhat virile along the same measure.

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I know it's sort of odd, then, that I really like the idea of bloodlines as a replacement. Instead of thinking of it purely biological sense, I prefer it to be more like a mystic ritual performed by arch-mages and demi-dieties using ancient (and forbidden) magic to graft the essence of another creature into your family tree. Then this bloodline manifests itself more or less strongly through the ensuing generations.

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That's pretty much a fluff measure, so you can have that be the case if you want in your games.

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Rather than "grandpa slept with a dragon", it becomes "rumors have swirled around your family for decades, but no one ever really made much of it. Just because you had to trim your fingernails every week or they would grow thick and sharp, into almost-like claws, doesn't make you that much different. And it was only a few years ago that you realized not everyone could see as well on a moonless night as they could in daytime. And you've been having these odd dreams, where you can breathe fire, just like a dragon! What sillyness! Still, maybe it wouldn't hurt to talk with your great-aunt Alesaice, who despite having a perpetual green tinge to her skin is healthy and spry at the age of 102."

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But Grandpa DID sleep with a dragon. That's how the bloodline cropped up. Again, this sounds just like a personal fluff issue, so you can change the fluff how you want. This doesn't necessarily mean that everyone else has to agree with you. Fluff is just something that can be changed from person to person.

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That seems like a version of Welknair's Mudblood-bloodline on steroids. But I feel that (and again, I realize this is personal) mixing to many bloodlines should have an escalating chance of madness, from all the conflicting natures pressing on your mind. That's just my own personal fluff.

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Well, Welknair did make the Blood King. Still, personally, I just feel that bloodlines would influence a personality. Sure, there's a bit of draconic/heroic/whatever nature in them, but that doesn't necessarily mean they have a full-blown dragon and hero and something else inside them duking it out for control.

Could i request what skills, abilities, and affinities a Luck-Based Inherent Bloodline would have?

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Originally Posted by EdroGrimshell

Could i request what skills, abilities, and affinities a Luck-Based Inherent Bloodline would have?

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I have no clue. I know that one of the ability scores would be Cha, and another could be Dex, but I can't place the last... Wisdom? Strength?

Affinities: Anyone who is currently benefiting from a luck bonus to something, or who naturally has Luck rerolls.

And I think the skills would have to include Bluff, Tumble, and Balance, but that's just me.

Now the question is, what about a Fighter-Based Inherent Bloodline?

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Originally Posted by Amechra

I have no clue. I know that one of the ability scores would be Cha, and another could be Dex, but I can't place the last... Wisdom? Strength?

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I'd say the last would be Int, for cleverness.

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Now the question is, what about a Fighter-Based Inherent Bloodline?

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Abilities: Str, Dex, Con
Affinity: Any martially-inclined being

OR

Any creature with fighter feats


Skills: Intimidate, Climb, Jump

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Originally Posted by Amechra

I have no clue. I know that one of the ability scores would be Cha, and another could be Dex, but I can't place the last... Wisdom? Strength?

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I'd say the last would be Int, for cleverness.

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Now the question is, what about a Fighter-Based Inherent Bloodline?

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Abilities: Str, Dex, Con
Affinity: Any martially-inclined being

OR

Any creature with fighter feats


Skills: Intimidate, Climb, Jump

I now see a character...

He is a Fighter 20, with the ACF that swaps the bonus feats for Sneak Attack as a Rogue. He also has a Major Inherent Bloodline (Fighter).

Congrats, he lost 1 Fighter feat, and gained SO MUCH MORE!

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Originally Posted by Amechra

I now see a character...

He is a Fighter 20, with the ACF that swaps the bonus feats for Sneak Attack as a Rogue. He also has a Major Inherent Bloodline (Fighter).

Congrats, he lost 1 Fighter feat, and gained SO MUCH MORE!

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Quite frankly, the Fighter could use it. Although again, that's only usable if within the DM's discretion.

This DM gives discretion; it would at least be more interesting than Standard Fighter//Inherent Fighter.

21 Fighter bonus feats? Madness.

Literally, if you take that feat in the Ozodrin thread that treats all fighter feats as Aberrant feats, and then take one of the Aberrant feats that scale by the number of Aberrant feats that you have...

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Originally Posted by Amechra

I now see a character...

He is a Fighter 20, with the ACF that swaps the bonus feats for Sneak Attack as a Rogue. He also has a Major Inherent Bloodline (Fighter).

Congrats, he lost 1 Fighter feat, and gained SO MUCH MORE!

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Quite frankly, the Fighter could use it. Although again, that's only usable if within the DM's discretion.