Help - Search - Members - Calendar
Full Version: Can you take blood spirits as a flaw?
Dumpshock Forums > Discussion > Shadowrun
emo samurai
For the whole "this kind of spirit hates me" flaw, can you take blood spirits? They're probably going to be rare in anything but an Aztlan-based campaign. They are, however, much more powerful than normal spirits if the person resurrected is any good at all. So can I take it, even if blood spirits never pop up? And do you recommend it?
Jaid
you can take it if your GM allows it.

personally, in the event that your campaign includes the possibility of blood spirits, i would allow it. if your campaign does not include anything that is not published in SR4 yet, then i would not allow it (at least until blood spirits become a possibility).

or, in other words, it depends on your GM.
FrankTrollman
Aren't Blood Spirits rather likely to be translated as a template placed on other spirits rather than a spirit type in and of themselves?

And don't they already hate you?

-Frank
Jaid
well, presumably the blood spirits will hate you more than they hate everyone else.

also, as far as how they will implement blood spirits, i expect we'll find out when they publish it, not before. although that certainly would be one good way of handling it.
emo samurai
Are blood spirits supposed to be really-ultra-powerful?
FrankTrollman
I can't tell you how it will work in SR4, I don't even know. But in previous editions, Blood Spirits were basically weaker than other spirits at the same Force. They had less powers and an additional weakness - they lost Essence over time (having to drain Essence from creatures just to stay alive). However, they weren't the same Force as other spirits, because when summoning a blood spirit you could choose to have some or all of the drain experienced by someone you were sacrificing.

Now, in SR4, the fact that a creature has Essence Drain automatically means that it has the power of Boosted Magic, with a maximum bonus equal to its starting Essence (which would be its Force). So I think you're looking at Blood Spirits with a Force in the 6-9 range that automatically get to add their Force 3 times to their spirit powers instead of just twice, which makes them crazy-go-nuts.

But I don't know what the specifics are going to be, that's just extrapolation from the basic book.

-Frank
Apathy
QUOTE (FrankTrollman @ Dec 25 2005, 02:36 PM)
I can't tell you how it will work in SR4, I don't even know. But in previous editions, Blood Spirits were basically weaker than other spirits at the same Force. They had less powers and an additional weakness - they lost Essence over time (having to drain Essence from creatures just to stay alive). However, they weren't the same Force as other spirits, because when summoning a blood spirit you could choose to have some or all of the drain experienced by someone you were sacrificing.

Now, in SR4, the fact that a creature has Essence Drain automatically means that it has the power of Boosted Magic, with a maximum bonus equal to its starting Essence (which would be its Force). So I think you're looking at Blood Spirits with a Force in the 6-9 range that automatically get to add their Force 3 times to their spirit powers instead of just twice, which makes them crazy-go-nuts.

But I don't know what the specifics are going to be, that's just extrapolation from the basic book.

-Frank

Actually, I always thought of Essence Drain as a pretty scary ability in SR3.
QUOTE (PAoNA)
This power allows a being to drain the Essence from another, adding the points to its own rating. The being may increase iits Essence Rating up to twice the maximum for its type.

So, if I can summon a force 6 blood spirit, and then feed it an innocent bystandard, it's effectively a force 12 blood spirit. This would mean that all its stats got boosted by 6.
ElFenrir
I'd allow it if i was using them. But the question is, would you WANT it? Pissed off regular spirits are bad enough...pissed off blood spirits, whoa...

but then again, if your character annihilated a small group of Azzie mages....it might fit!
FrankTrollman
Force and Essence are not the same thing. Essence Draining is scary because it causes permanent damage, it didn't actually cause spirits to gain Force.

The creature's Essence is its Force, its Force is not necessarily its Essence.

-Frank
Ryu
That quality applied to blood spirits is a surefire way to "conjure" them into your campaign. What with giving the GM evil ideas and all.
emo samurai
So then I'll just get a specialization in banishing them. 2 karma attribute for a 10 BP bonus. Sounds suitably unfair.
Mr.Platinum
Oh if they asked i would give in kind, but i'm pretty tough on all my groups.
Draco
Heh, if a character selected that flaw then I'd probably make them regret it big time... like by having wraiths, shedim, horrors and the like included as well.
emo samurai
QUOTE
Heh, if a character selected that flaw then I'd probably make them regret it big time... like by having wraiths, shedim, horrors and the like included as well.


That would be assuming that you don't want the character to have an actually playable game. And how powerful ARE horrors? I've heard they're practically invincible and have all kinds of insane powers.
Jaid
it really depends on the horror.

some horrors are unstoppable juggernauts where you may as well just start rolling up a new character now.

and some of them are just really really really tough.

of course, i would suspect that with the limited mana available now, the crazy powerful ones probably wouldn't be quite as crazy powerful, but that's just speculation really.

and for the record, wraiths, shedim, and horrors are not blood spirits, and thus would not really apply to the flaw in question.
emo samurai
Playing on a flaw so blatantly also seems quite unprofessional.
Draco
Yeah, I was just lumping other malevolent types with blood spirits to increase the frequency and severity of the flaw having an effect.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.
Dumpshock Forums © 2001-2012