Here's to you, Mr. Welkneir [Bloodline]

[Amechra]

Cursed in the Blood
http://www.jchristopherwhite.com/images/God%27s%20withered%20rose.jpg

It's a well-known fact that, for ever person in world who got lucky when they had a dragon for their Grandpa, there has to be someone who was equally unlucky; after all, all that good fortune has to be balanced out SOMEHOW.
[Away from the fluff: This is a "negative" bloodline, as it were. As such, it reduces the effective strength of another bloodline, for the purpose of Bloodline costs. So a Minor Cursed in the Blood mixed with a Major Dragon Descendant bloodline would only cost as much as an Intermediate Dragon Descendant Bloodline.]

{table=head] Level |
Minor |
Intermediate |
Major

1 | | | Skill 1 -2
2 | | Skill 1 -2 | Bonus Flaw
3 | | | Ability 1 -1
4 | Skill 1 -2 | Bonus Flaw | Bleeder
5 | | | Bloodline Affinity -2
6 | | Strength +1 | Curse 1/Adventure
7 | | | Skill 2 -2
8 | Bonus Flaw | Bleeder | Energy Weakness
9 | | | Ability 2 -1
10 | | Bloodline Affinity -2 | Curse 2/Adventure
11 | | | Bloodline Affinity -4
12 | Ability 1 -1 | Curse 1/Adventure | Spell Acceptance
13 | | | Skill 3 -2
14 | | Skill 2 -2 | Curse 3/Adventure
15 | | | Ability 3 -1
16 | Bleeder | Energy Weakness | Open Mind
17 | | | Bloodline Affinity -6
18 | | Ability 2 -1 | Curse 4/Adventure
19 | | | Skill 4 -2
20 | Bloodline Affinity -2 | Curse 2/Adventure | Acceptance of Failure
[/table]

Skills 1-4 -2: The Curse in the Cursed in the Blood's blood prevents them from ever reaching their true potential; as such, they receive a -2 penalty at the proper levels to the skill that they have the highest modifier for; a skill may only receive this penalty once, after which the next highest skill is lowered, and so on.

Ability 1-3 -1 Just like with skills, the Cursed in the Blood has every piece of fate riding against them; they receive a -1 to their highest ability score at the listed points; an ability score may only receive this penalty once, after which the next highest ability score is lowered, and so on.

Curse: A Cursed in the Blood's misfortune does not only apply to themselves; it gradually leaks out, tainting their allies as well.
The DM or any player has the right to call a "curse" at any time. If they do so, one important action taken that session MUST result in trouble for the one attempting it (An attempt to woo the princess could end in imprisonment, opening a door reveils a cunningly hidden trap, and so on and so forth.)
For every unused Curse that the Cursed in the Blood has, all player characters are treated as if they have 1 negative level, even if they would otherwise be immune to negative levels; these negative levels last as long as a Curse is unused and never result in Level Drain.

Bonus Flaw: Sadly, those with cursed blood are not perfect; they receive a single Flaw (see Unearthed Arcana for details) of the DM's choice; they do not gain a bonus feat for this flaw.

Bleeder: Hemophilia is sadly common among those with less than perfect blood; they cannot stabilize without magical aid once they drop below 0 HP, and have a 50% chance of treating every attack as if it had the Wounding special quality.

Bloodline "Affinity": How would you treat a "relative" that reminds you of how easily you could have been a reject as well? A Cursed in the Blood receives the listed penalty to all social interaction checks with creatures who have bloodlines.

Energy Weakness: Not only does their blood leave their body easily, it weakens them in general; they receive a bonus to the damage they take from a single energy type equal to 1/4x, 1/2x, or 1x their bloodline strength.

Spell Acceptance: The curse forces the cursed one to accept other magic that may affect them; a Cursed in the Blood automatically fails all saves against the effects of spells.

Open Mind: Even the mind of a Cursed in the Blood conspires against them; if they ever gain immunity to mind-affecting abilities, treat that instead as if they had only a 50% chance to negate the effects of a mind-affecting ability.

Acceptance of Failure: A Cursed in the Blood has become consigned to the fact that they are complete and utter failures; as such, they now fail ALL d20 rolls on a roll of natural 1, and they do not succeed automatically on a natural 20.
----
Yes, Curse is essentially the players giving the DM permission to make their actions bite them in their ass.

As always, PEACH away!

[Welknair]

Wow, I didn't expect someone else to go off and make it. I don't have time to read through it in detail now, but I certainly intend to.


And not to nitpick or anything, but my name is Welknair, not Welkneir. :smalltongue:

Edit:



Ability 1-3 -1 Just like with skills, the Cursed in the Blood has every piece of fate riding against them; they receive a -1 to their highest ability score at the listed points; an ability score may only receive this penalty once, after which the next highest ability score is lowered, and so on.


Nice. That certainly makes it a detriment to all types of characters. Though MAD characters would probably suffer the most as all of the stuff that matters to them will be hit, whereas SAD characters only get a single -1. Not to mention, that -1 will likely be made up by one of the boosts from their positive bloodline.



Energy Weakness: Not only does their blood leave their body easily, it weakens them in general; they receive a bonus to the damage they take from a single energy type equal to 1/4x, 1/2x, or 1x their bloodline strength.


Do you mean to say that they take an amount of additional damage equal to 1/4, 1/2 or 1X their level, depending on bloodline strength, or that they take an amount of additional damage equal to 1/4, 1/2 or 1X the amount they would usually take? I would assume the latter, but it's not really clear. And with the former that means at higher levels 0-level spells really hurt.



Spell Acceptance: The curse forces the cursed one to accept other magic that may affect them; a Cursed in the Blood automatically fails all saves against the effects of spells.


Ouch. I mean... Ouch. That's like... Ouch. "Set all saves to +0. Wait, no. Just scribble out that section of your character sheet. You won't need it again. You just fail them." That has to be one of the harshest aspects of this curse. Complete vulnerability to all spells hurts a lot.