Blood Mage, designing one for my campaign.. Options

[wizwyrm]

So I'm creating a blood mage for my campaign, and I'm wondering what kind of spells or abilities they should have, etc.

[Ancient History]

Sacrificing is a must, and Invoking is very common. I like mine with blood fetishes and weapon foci.

[wizwyrm]

what about a blood adept...cannibalize sounds like a lot of fun for me *evil laughter*

[Ancient History]

Possibly. Keep in mind that not every blood magician is a completely evil bastard or an Aztlaner religious fanatic arcano-terrorist (note to self: never use that term ever again).

[wizwyrm]

Possibly. Keep in mind that not every blood magician is a completely evil bastard or an Aztlaner religious fanatic arcano-terrorist (note to self: never use that term ever again).

I'm intending them to be at an auction where the party is trying to steal a device that reverses the victim's blood-flow. Needless to say the blood mage is trying to get the same device and I kind of want them to be "boss-ish." I'm wondering if they should have brought backup...a group of Ghouls or something.

[AKWeaponsSpecial...]

Well, how about a vampire Black Mage Tradition blood mage? Definitely Sacrifice, Invocation would make sense, maybe Ally Summon (or whatever it is lol) Superior Build, possibly with an Ally Blood Fire Spirit (Perhaps the Ally Spirit should be Inferior, and have a Fire/Smoke aura....Anyhoo!), probably would have Manabolt, Fireball, Deflection, Chaotic World, Orgy(? Makes sense to me, perhaps he's decided that using the distracting force that is orgasm would be the perfect time to drop a fireball. For the evulz, as it were.), Stealth, Invisibility, Blast Wall, Demolish Guns (to make his enemies less....potent.)
Power Focus, Summoning Focus, perhaps the ally spirit in a Weapon Focus (sacrificial dagger?)
Just a suggestion, of course.....

[Neraph]

I drew up an interesting Oni kannushi who wore Red Samurai armor and dual wielded a F4 Weapon Focus Katana (IIRC) and a F5 Spellcasting (Combat) Focus Katana, fought using Aikido (+1 Full Parry) with the Watchful Guard and Offhand Training (Blades), mixed with Sangre y Acero (+1 DV for Blades) with Two-Weapon Style and Riposte, and favored the Manabolt, Stunball, Shadow, and Physical Double Image to mess with people. With Sacrifice and at least Item Attunement (with the katanas), this makes for one seriously dangerous mystic adept. The one I drew up also had Shielding and Absorbtion.

Oh yeah, and Electro-Shock Shuriken. Grab a shuriken, add on the Advanced Saftey (Electro Shock), and have fun! You could also do the Self Destruct, but to each his own.

Here's something else to think about: If you fight indoors using a Mystic Adept (or just adept) and take the Blind Fighting maneuver and Adept Power, you should theoretically get pretty close to only a -1 penalty for fighting in full darkness. Cut the lights on them and wtfpwn them.

[toturi]

Oh yeah, and Electro-Shock Shuriken. Grab a shuriken, add on the Advanced Saftey (Electro Shock), and have fun! You could also do the Self Destruct, but to each his own.

I thought Advance Safety options are Smartguns Only?

Nartaki Nosferatu Mystic Adept with Sacrifice, Invoking, Cannibalise and Power Bleed.

[Ravor]

Well, if you use the orginal rules, a pack of Bloodizallas is a must. ( Did they ever errata that bullshit? It's been awhile since I checked. )

[kzt]

Nothing says "We are so screwed" like a force 37 blood spirit.

[Ravor]

Why only one? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/vegm.gif)

[Mordinvan]

pretty sure its been fixed to 1.5 times original force.

[Ravor]

Seriosuly though, despite the sterotypes that Blood Mages have to live with, all in all they probably aren't much different then any other Mage, with just a few extra options to round out their abilities.

[Hagga]

Masking, quickened "detect life" spell of a VERY high force. You might want to try illusions - very, very detailed illusions, or shapechange spells - to make them THINK they've killed him, but instead they've just butchered an innocent. Or not, perhaps have him hooded, with bodyguards - each bodyguard sculpted to look like him, Awakened and masked. Adepts, maybe.

I whipped up (mystic adept) one with a custom metamagic when It was my turn to GM. An advanced metamagic based on sacrificing and absorption - basically, he could kill someone and retain the charge in his aura indefinitely. He had all four of the normal blood metamagics, and a great deal of skill in infiltration, with gear to back it up - there is nothing scarier than someone who can toss spells at you with no drain while remaining undetectable using MUNDANE means. It was like something out of "Alien". Only time I've ever seen a player deliberately role play cutting the bastard into quarters, burning it and burying the remains face down below a crossroad.

[Bitten the Bug]

Masking, quickened "detect life" spell of a VERY high force. You might want to try illusions - very, very detailed illusions, or shapechange spells - to make them THINK they've killed him, but instead they've just butchered an innocent. Or not, perhaps have him hooded, with bodyguards - each bodyguard sculpted to look like him, Awakened and masked. Adepts, maybe.

I whipped up (mystic adept) one with a custom metamagic when It was my turn to GM. An advanced metamagic based on sacrificing and absorption - basically, he could kill someone and retain the charge in his aura indefinitely. He had all four of the normal blood metamagics, and a great deal of skill in infiltration, with gear to back it up - there is nothing scarier than someone who can toss spells at you with no drain while remaining undetectable using MUNDANE means. It was like something out of "Alien". Only time I've ever seen a player deliberately role play cutting the bastard into quarters, burning it and burying the remains face down below a crossroad.

Me like..

Wizwyrm, you gave me another spin I have to try out on my players. If you hear a heartfelt groan and insane giggles from Up North in Scandinavia, you bet it is my players.. Domo arigato!

[Neraph]

I thought Advance Safety options are Smartguns Only?

..... Not fair.

Anywho, another one I had was a troll western drake adept with Cannabalize and Power Bleed who had eated a vampire for its regen, a barghest for its Improved Sense (Ultrasound), and a devil rat for its Immunity (Toxins). It had also buffed up all his physical stats to Augmented Max, and used a Blast Exotic Weapon (Breath). Even if they took no damage, the party members still got knocked down.

[Prime Mover]

Street Magic Errata, p2

Essence drained by blood spirits is treated as a force modifier, at a ratio of 1:1. Force can be raised in this manner to a maximum modified value equal to 1.5 times the spirit's force when initially summoned.

[Screaming Eagle]

Blood mage SCREAMS Sacrifice - Invoking and Invoke Great Form Blood Spirits are the next 2 "High priority" metamagics, not nessasrily the ones they will take, but ya.

IF this is a villan - and it sounds like it is:
Spells that are not TOO effective that can scare the pants off the PC's:

Turn to Goo (seriously, Turn to GOO!!)
Forbode (force 6+ and a sustaining focus or quickened, I love it when the Sami can't shoot straight because of the TERROR, if your blood mage doesn't have quickening maybe someone in his magical group does, yes this is a blatant opening for later vengance plots)
Agony (this is espesially mint IF the Blood mage has quickening and has incapasitiated a PC enough to spend the time to quicken it)
Elemental wall - Acid (yes I'm being a jerk)
The "Drain insane" spells - stacking elemental effects on indirect combat or elemental manipulation spells - Sonic and Electric is one of my favorites, not the best use of your bonus drain dice by a long shot... but BOOM!

The few times I get to use them I also tend to have a bound spirit at nearly the highest reasonable force hanging around with standing orders to "kill everyone near me when I die or am KNOCKED unconcious, continue for 10 minutes or until you tire of killing, whichever is greater".

A spirit pact with a free blood spirit to get the essence drain power, Hidden life for the villan that just won't die. Regeneration if you want to see something delightfully unpleasant.

IF you go Mystic Adept - well Canabliase is fun, a power pact to up their magic rating to buff out their spell castiong a summoning up to snuff... yes I'm a fan of the magical villans abusing the hell out of the Spirit Pact rules.

[Ol' Scratch]

Okay, I have to ask: Can you even be a Blood Mage without Sacrifice? I'm pretty sure that's what makes you one in the first place. Sure, you can call yourself one without it, but that doesn't make you one anymore than being a cannibal makes you a ghoul.

That said, any metatype that has access to the Regeneration power will make truly bad-ass Blood Mages. Since the Physical damage inflicted isn't magical in and of itself, Regeneration shouldn't have a problem patching it up. So these types of characters will have far greater ease using Sacrifice to supercharge their spellcasting and summoning abilities. Throw in the Absorption metamagic technique and every spell the "good guys" throw at them will allow them to throw back even more powerful spells. All without needing a single focus or anything other than a plain pocket knife or box cutter. Add on Masking to keep a low profile and they're golden... and you can have all three of those metamagic techniques at the second grade of Initiation. So it's not that difficult to do, either.

Most Shapeshifters, some HMHVV-Infected, some Free Spirits, and most Possession-based Traditionalists with Invoking all have the ability to gain Regeneration. And if you don't want to go that route, a Trauma Damper and Platelet Factories (and maybe even the 4th Edition version of the Guardian Angel nano-first aid kit thingie) will be almost as good.

[Screaming Eagle]

Okay, I have to ask: Can you even be a Blood Mage without Sacrifice? I'm pretty sure that's what makes you one in the first place. Sure, you can call yourself one without it, but that doesn't make you one anymore than being a cannibal makes you a ghoul.

As one of the corrupted, "blood mages" could be aspected to get bonuses from the appoprate background counts while not having the metamagic... yet... in theory.

In practice I agree, sacrifice is pretty defining of the character type. However I can see making a villan who is "figuring it out" who sacrifices people and animals but doesn't yet get mechanical benifits for the metamagic but benifits from the generated background count.

Question: does this make him more or less horrifing?

[Ascalaphus]

I figure a blood mage is scarier because of what he does, than what he is. A drake+troll+vampire+penguin+blood mage is ridiculous.

Take the time to think about how he arranges for sacrificial victims; how he deals with the bodies afterwards. How does he dress, how does he and his minions react to what they're doing?


I'm thinking now about a man, with a somewhat sad face. He doesn't really enjoy his job, he even knows that it's wrong - but he does it anyway, because he needs the power it generates, for Ideal X. It's clear that he'd rather not to, but for the Cause he'll arrange for kidnappings. He wears surgical clothing, trying to keep the whole thing hygienic and all. He has earplugs because he can't seem to get used to the screaming.
The victims have to be conscious, otherwise the emotional charge won't help to power the magic. He'd really rather sedate them, but that doesn't work. (When they hack his computers, they find his research notes.)
He agonizes over his choice of victims, trying to pick people that won't be missed, and whose life isn't so great anyway. He'll pick them up and give them a nice few last days. He'll clean them up, feed them and make their last days better than those before. And then he'll sacrifice them.
He has nightmares about his job; you can see it by the bags under his eyes and his weary look.

[Screaming Eagle]

OK Ascalaphus, that is rather win. That is rather win alot.

Into the roladex it goes...

[Ascalaphus]

I measure my success by my players' reactions. I've gotten them howling for the blood of recurring NPCs, and they get a real kick when they finally succeed in hurting them.

Hmm, maybe a blood mage who's really good at slipping away when things go sour.. they'll have to face him a couple of times before they can come up with an ambush he can't escape from. Give him some creepy things like a spell to turn yourself into a big pool of blood that can slither through cracks in the wall and reform on the other side, maybe.
Anytime he has a big shootout, he needs to do major sacrifice afterwards to refuel. Letting him get away then acquires a moral dimension; a failed hit means ten innocents die for nothing...
He doesn't even have to be all that deadly, as long as he's good at getting away and doing something nasty every time he shows up. Useful if you want to get your players shelling out nuyen for specialty weaponry just to finally get him.

And there's of course the dimension when he starts working against the players; when he orchestrates a gang hit on them just to collect some drops of their blood afterwards and uses them for ritual magic.
Make the guy a genetics wizkid; he'll take DNA samples of the PCs and use every dirty trick in the book to get them into trouble.

[Hagga]

You could try some custom spells. Something like.. say, exsanguinating a corpse and restoring health equal to the body of the victim. That'd look gory and be useful.