I want to create a blood mage for an upcoming game, but the RAW just isn't balanced for a PC. How can I have cool blood mage flavor without making him overpowered?

See the sidebar on pg 138 of Street Magic.

One word notoriety.

I think the biggest issue I would have is does the rest of the group want to deal with someone like that?

I would be concerned about playing a blood mage unless the whole team I was running with were very very supportive and back you up 100%


And even then I would be paranoid as there is a massive bounty on your head from the Draco lot who will pay up for your body.


Bloody mages have always been to me a good bad guy or a possible role play thing later down the line.

In the game I ran nt to long ago I had the team hunt a blood mage for the bounty which was no walk in the park as I had built him up as a prime runner for them. But at the end of the day they were fired up for it as blood mages are treated as bad a toxic's

You're not really a blood mage unless you:
1) take a blood metamagic.
2) use the Calling rules to summon blood spirits.

Unless you use either of those, you're just a sadistic mage, and there's nothing wrong with them (aside from the normal view on sadists, anyways).

I was planning on possibly using Sacrifice, but I'm not sure I could talk my GM into it. I'd forgotten about Calling; I'll have to look it up.

Don't forget my signature and the guide to owning your own Bloodmourne.

How are you planning to deal with the small but oddly significant million nuyen bounty for you at the Draco foundation?

Get a clone, kill him and collect your own bounty?

wont work

the clone will not have a blood mage astral imprint for two reasons

1) its a clone they dont get to awaken so it isnt a mage let alone one worth the bounty
2) its a clone it has not lived the life the mage has and been changed by it (its arguable that life alters your astral imprint somewhat as many things rules wise change it so becoming a blood mage should leave a mark just like being a torturer should)

Can you do a brain transplant with your clone? You should be able to with the level of med-tech around. Then you just clone yourself a new body and transplant the brain. This would not extend your life signifigantly since your brain will still age and suffer from any normal degenerative processes. But it should let you turn in that Aura.

Of course the surgery will be expensive, never mind....

I would be the happiest doc on earth if I had a blood mage come in and try to do that surgery. He goes under, I call the Draco Foundation in, he wakes up in a mage cell and I am a million richer.

Just like Carlos the Jackal, but with the blood magic.

Except no where in assensing does it say, "and find out what metamagic feats the character knows".

If your trying to make a character more balanced, just dont specialize the skills too much, and make the blood aspect a minor part of your character. Have them use their own blood, or others but draw parrellels to other traditions/religions so it doesnt seem so much like 'Blah, im a blood mage and am going to sacrifice you' but more like 'damn, i really need to cast this spell without dying so my team can survive, well here goes*slit wrist*'. Roleplaying it and having the rest of the players on board could make it workable, will be hard though (unless your gm decides to make it easy for you, which would be a waste of a good opportunity)



But it can tell you about their traditions Im pretty sure, plus I think both Toxic and Blood Mages have their astral sigs altered once they shift, like insect shamans and people touched by shadow spirits. I dont have my book on hand so I cant say for sure though.

Why exactly are you trying to do this?
What does it bring to the campaign?

To be a blood mage you have to be a big unbalanced.

What are blood spirits, exactly? Which book are they detailed in?

It's a Ghost Cartels campaign, and I wanted to make someone not just amoral, but actively immoral. I might just go classic Faustian, but blood magic is just so kewl

In that case, I can't recommend Neraph's Bloodmourne enough. Banishing is.. not so fabulous and there's nothing quite as entertaining as splitting spirits (that don't do what you tell them to) up the middle.

Awesome mental image ^_^

Actually the reason it won't work is because the bounty is for live blood mages, to study the effects of blood magic on the user. Same thing with toxic shaman.


Why can't you do a faustian blood mage? You'll have your own spirit at hand (literally) with Bloodmourne, so it's not like you have to look far for Spirit Pacts. Also, with a Bloodmourne's power added to yours you really don't have to worry about those pesky bounty hunters. Especially not if you're a Nosferatu, being able to pump your Magic rating 6 points higher all the time. Magic 10 out of the box, a slew of powers, mystic adept so you can tailor your abilities every 12 hours, take a Charisma-based tradition to synergize with your Nosferatu powers...

I can provide a sample template if you want.


I have the biggest nerd-crush (platonic) right now. I now am highly recommended.

EDIT:

I don't think I'll be allowing most infected in my game. At least not anything with more than 1 IP as a baseline.

I have no problem with Infected, because they have a cost that seems to be balanced. The amount of work to get an Infected to the same level as a non-infected is ridiculous, except for the number of tricks I've learned.

where in my post did I mention metamagics?


My points were you cant use a clone because most importantly it wont awaken, and while more abstract in the rules the imprint would not have that taint of blood magic. I mentioned nothing about metamagic in any way.

It is a common occurrence in the fluff to imply bad stuff effects your aura which would mean a clone wouldnt have the same aura as it has not gone though the same things as the original but point two is mostly beaten by point one which is the main show stopper to faking up the body.

Not only that but a clone, while not awakened, can still be used as a Ritual Link to the original.

I'm not really against the clone not having the aura of the origional, but I don't see anything in the blood magic section which staples a pink neon sign to your soul saying "Blood magic". There is no real way anyone should know you're a blood mage unless they see you using blood magic

Considering the potential abuses of Sacrifice ("I summon an army of F12 spirits of man in my off time, killing a few bums to take no drain, and have them cast all my spells for me"), I might just go with Calling blood and shadow spirits. I love the Calling rules; I wish they had been used as the core spirit summoning mechanic.

I just see something like that as getting you killed pretty fast. I'm pretty sure blood magic leaves a 'stain' on the body which could be detrimental to your MO. Also you're likely going to burn through services with those spirits of man pretty fast. Keep in mind, while you might be able to handle the drain, you are not likely to beat them on the binding checks very easily. They have 24 dice.

F12 might be excessive, but my basic premise is still valid.

I'll be using the Black Magic tradition, and the spirit selection sucks pretty hard. Any ideas for creative uses of said spirits (Fire/Water/Earth/Air/Man)?

Don't forget about Blood Fetishes from page 14 of Digital Grimoire, if it is at your disposal.

I have reached a new threshold of evil.

Before, he was pretty twisted. He had a blood fetish for manipulation spells (levitate and control thoughts), and another for detection spells. He liked to torture people. Still, pretty boring.

Then I gave him a new Interests skill.

Singing (+2 Filk & Musical Theater)

MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Is his name Sweeny Tod?

Except the biggest flaws are things like being hunted. The problem with those kind of flaws is they are also flaws on the rest of the party. How exactly did the street sam get a power up because you decided to take hunted by everyone on earth.

I actually like that spread of Spirits myself...

Keep the Faith

Even thought it's exactly the same as the basic Hermetic Tradition, just in a different order?

Even though... But I tend to re-Sleeve the descriptors depending upon my Traditions, so even though they are just the Standard 4 Elements + Man, they are recast as various stereotypical Manipulator types (Devils/Demons Imps, etc.) who try to turn thigs to their advantage...

At least for me, it makes the spirits more interesting if they actually take on the flavor of the Tradition as a whole.

Keep the Faith