I Request Homebrew Help 3.5 & 4.0 (I'm gonna get this done right!)

[TechnOkami]

Heya people of GitP, I have finally come to the realization that I basically need help crunching this out in such a way that will be potentially balanced, and I need brains frankly stronger than mine to make such shenanigans appear.

I need help making a Blood Mage.

I have tried this at least twice before, both unsuccessful, and I have resurged my interest after receiving help on a mechanics concept for the Blood Mage that I think will be absolutely fun and significantly interesting.

Basically: the spells that a Blood Mage casts are strengthened by the LESS health he has. Now, yeah, you would think that a Blood Mage should have ridiculous amounts of health and just be able to troll over anything they see, but to be honest, that is so insanely difficult to do reasonably in a non-overpowered/underpowered way that it's better just to scrap the idea entirely. With the more powerful for less idea ability, it creates an entirely new aspect of gameplay. The Blood Mage doesn't WANT to be healed because his low health increases the power of his spells. This fixes everything which made making a Blood Mage difficult and annoying. However, I frankly don't know how to handle the whole "less health = power" thingy, and I need some help.

Ideally, I'd like this to be made for both 3.5 and 4.0, because I play both and enjoy both, but that's one or the other, and it will be far easier to do it for 4.0 than 3.5, so if anything I'm harboring more support for a 3.5 Bloodmage.

[NeoSeraphi]

Easy way to do this (3.5). The blood mage has d12 HD, and every time you cast a spell, you consume 1d4 hit points per spell level. This is always full lethal damage that bypasses damage reduction and regeneration.

For every 12 points of damage the blood mage has taken, his caster level with his spells increases by +1. For every 24 points of damage the blood mage has taken, the DC of his spells increase by +1. The blood mage is a Con based caster, and his saves and minimum ability score for casting spells are both based on his Constitution score. The blood mage does not have spells per day, instead he can cast however many spells he likes as long as he has the hit points for it.

The blood mage can never recover hit points lost through casting spells with the fast healing ability or similar effects, such as lesser vigor. Normal curative magics work normally.

There. Sound good?

[TechnOkami]

Easy way to do this (3.5). The blood mage has d12 HD, and every time you cast a spell, you consume 1d4 hit points per spell level. This is always full lethal damage that bypasses damage reduction and regeneration.

For every 12 points of damage the blood mage has taken, his caster level with his spells increases by +1. For every 24 points of damage the blood mage has taken, the DC of his spells increase by +1. The blood mage is a Con based caster, and his saves and minimum ability score for casting spells are both based on his Constitution score. The blood mage does not have spells per day, instead he can cast however many spells he likes as long as he has the hit points for it.

The blood mage can never recover hit points lost through casting spells with the fast healing ability or similar effects, such as lesser vigor. Normal curative magics work normally.

There. Sound good?

So... for every 12 hp lost, +1 to spell DC. For every 24 hp lost, another +1, so that would mean that the first time the blood mage loses 24 hp, it would get a +3 to its spell dc, right? I suppose that could work... I was hoping for something along the lines of "be able to cast more powerful spells that does awesome amounts of damage" rather than that, but if I'm trying to keep this balanced, that makes sense. I think it would be easier to do this in 4.0 than 3.5, at least the whole "reach x hitpoints and gain x abilities" or something along those lines.

Also, I know this is MAD, but I think it would be better to keep the Blood Mage as an Int based caster who sacrifices his hitpoints to cast his spells. If this doesn't happen, then I would feel it would be very silly and not make very sense that some barbarian dwarf who focuses con and has absolutely no intelligence would be able to cast spells, even if this type of magic is unorthodox within the spheres of magic to begin with.

[NeoSeraphi]

No, for every 12 hit points lost, +1 caster level. And for every 24 hit points lost, +1 to the DC. So, say you're a 5th level blood mage. You have 60+5*Con hit points (Since you're Con-based, let's assume 20 Con at 5, so 85 hit points). You cast a fireball spell, which would normally have a DC of 18 and deal 5d6 points of damage, but your hit points are currently at 22. You've lost 63 hit points, which means you get +5 to your Caster level and +2 to your DC, meaning your fireball spell deals 10d6 points of damage and has a DC of 20.

See?

[Seerow]

For a 4e version I'd make it based off healing surges. For every healing surge the blood mage has consumed for the day, he gains +x damage. Give an ability or two that consumes a healing surge for a instant gratification benefit (say recharge an encounter power or empower an at will), and you have a pretty decent setup.

[TechnOkami]

For a 4e version I'd make it based off healing surges. For every healing surge the blood mage has consumed for the day, he gains +x damage. Give an ability or two that consumes a healing surge for a instant gratification benefit (say recharge an encounter power or empower an at will), and you have a pretty decent setup.

(sorry for the lateish post) Um, no, I don't like that idea. I think where he gains some ability or series of abilities he can't normally use except when certain amounts of his health is gone though sounds more feasible.

No, for every 12 hit points lost, +1 caster level. And for every 24 hit points lost, +1 to the DC. So, say you're a 5th level blood mage. You have 60+5*Con hit points (Since you're Con-based, let's assume 20 Con at 5, so 85 hit points). You cast a fireball spell, which would normally have a DC of 18 and deal 5d6 points of damage, but your hit points are currently at 22. You've lost 63 hit points, which means you get +5 to your Caster level and +2 to your DC, meaning your fireball spell deals 10d6 points of damage and has a DC of 20.

See?

Ok, sorry about the mistake. And... that... seems too powerful, just right off the bat. Also, I'll need to do some fiddling, but there should be a specific spell list which the blood mage can cast from. Let me see if I can dig it up...

Here we are.
Spell List

Spoiler

Show

0 Level Spells:
Daze
Detect Magic
Detect Poison
Disrupt Undead
Read Magic

1st Level Spells:
Cause Fear
Charm Person
Command
Deathwatch
Detect Undead
Doom
Expeditious Retreat
Hide From Undead
Hypnotism
Inflict Light Wounds
Longstrider
Mage Armor
Obscuring Mist
Ray of Enfeeblement
Sleep
Summon Monster I

2nd Level Spells:
Daze Monster
Death Knell
Delay Poison
Desecrate
Enthrall
Gentle Repose
Hold Person
Inflict Moderate Wounds
Status
Summon Monster II
Touch of Idiocy

3rd Level Spells:
Animate Dead
Bestow Curse
Command Undead
Contagion
Dispel Magic
False Life
Remove Disease
Scare
Speak With Dead
Summon Monster III
Vampiric Touch

4th Level Spells:
Black Tentacles
Death Ward
Dimensional Anchor
Fear
Fly
Gaseous Form
Inflict Critical Wounds
Neutralize Poison
Poison
Slow
Solid Fog
Summon Monster IV

5th Level Spells:
Blight
Command (Greater)
Contact Other Plane
Disrupting Weapon
Dismissal
Dominate Person
Fatigue
Hold Monster
Inflict Light Wounds (Mass)
Planar Binding
Plane Shift
Rise Dead
Slay Living
Summon Monster V
Symbol of Pain
Symbol of Sleep
Telepathic Bond
Teleport

6th Level Spells:
Antilife Shell
Banishment
Circle of Death
Create Undead
Dispel Magic (Greater)
Eyebite
Forbiddance
Harm
Inflict Moderate Wounds (Mass)
Planar Ally
Summon Monster VI
Symbol of Fear
Symbol of Persuasion
Undeath to Death
Word of Recall

7th Level Spells:
Control Undead
Destruction
Disintegrate
Finger of Death
Hold Person (Mass)
Power Word Blind
Regenerate
Repulsion
Symbol of Stunning
Symbol of Weakness
Teleport (Greater)
Waves of Exhaustion

8th Level Spells:
Antimagic Field
Antipathy
Binding
Charm Monster (Mass)
Clone
Create Greater Undead
Dimensional Lock
Horrid Wilting
Inflict Critical Wounds (Mass)
Planar Ally (Greater)
Planar Binding (Greater)
Power Word Stun
Prying Eyes (Greater)
Spell Immunity (Greater)
Summon Monster VIII
Symbol of Death

9th Level Spells:
Astral Projection
Dominate Monster
Energy Drain
Gate
Hold Monster (Mass)
Implosion
Mage's Disjunction
Power Word Kill
Soul Bind
Summon Monster IX
Trap the Soul
True Resurrection
Wail of the Banshee