Blood Priest - Divine Spellcasting Class

[Sriseru]

I'm working on a race that draws a lot of inspiration from Aztec culture, and as such I felt that I needed a more fitting divine spellcaster class than your average cleric. Thus I created the blood priest class, but I feel like I need some feedback in case I made them too unbalanced.

Blood Priest
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aztecwarriorbw_1806.jpg
The blood priest's companions held the struggling victim down on the altar as he carefully sliced open the abdomen of the sacrifice. He reached inside, tore out the heart while still beating, and then held it up towards the sky to honor his god, and he did this with such swiftness that the victim was still alive and conscious to witness it before expiring.

While sacrifice is a part of several religions, blood priests takes it to another level in order to please the gods and gain their favor. Outsiders may view this kind of devotion as thoroughly evil, and while some blood priests do perform these sacrifices for their own gain, many others do it to better serve their gods or to help their community. In fact, most blood priests consider it a great honor to be sacrificed to the gods.
In their own communities, the blood priests are seen as any other cleric, but outsiders tend to be aghast by the sight of these priests who are often more or less covered in blood and who, at times, wear the flayed skins of their sacrificial victims.
Role: Unlike clerics, blood priests are not front line combatants and instead focus on casting spells and aiding their allies. Preparation is very important for a blood priest, as many of their abilities take time and concentration before they are ready to be used. Most importantly, however, most of a blood priest's class abilities require living humanoids to sacrifice before they can be used, thus her party need to be able to capture their enemies in order to take advantage of the blood priest's strengths.
Alignment: A blood priest's alignment must be within one step of her deity's, along either the law/chaos axis or the good/evil axis.
Hit Die: d6.

Class Skills
The blood priest's class skills are Appraise (Int), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (nobility) (Int), Knowledge (planes) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).
Skill Ranks per Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Class Features
The following are class features of the blood priest.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A blood priest is proficient with the club, dagger, heavy crossbow, light crossbow, and quarterstaff, but she's not proficient with any type of armor or shield.

Aura (Ex): A blood priest of a chaotic, evil, good, or lawful deity has a particularly powerful aura corresponding to the deity's alignment.

Spells: A blood priest casts divine spells which are drawn from the cleric spell list. Her alignment, however, may restrict her from casting certain spells opposed to her moral or ethical beliefs. A blood priest must choose and prepare her spells in advance.
To prepare or cast a spell, a blood priest must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a blood priest's spell is 10 + the spell level + the blood priest's Wisdom modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a blood priest can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on one of the tables below. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Wisdom score.
Blood priests offer their prayers and some of their blood to their deities in return for spells. Each blood priest must choose a time when she must spend 1 hour each day performing her bloodletting ritual. During this ritual the blood priest cuts herself and either scatters her blood on the ground or collects it with paper which is then burnt. Once the blood priest has performed her ritual she regains her daily allotment of spells.
A blood priest may prepare and cast any spell on the cleric spell list, provided that she can cast spells of that level, but she must choose which spells to prepare during her daily bloodletting ritual.

Domain: A blood priest may select any one of her deity's domain or subdomain. As long as they are of a level she can cast, a blood priest may always prepare any of the spells from her chosen domain or subdomain as if they were part of her cleric spell list. She also gains the powers of that domain or subdomain.

Orisons: A blood priest follows the exact same rules on orisons as a cleric.

Spontaneous Casting: A good blood priest (or neutral blood priest of a good deity) can channel stored spell energy into healing spells that she did not prepare ahead of time. The blood priest can "lose" any prepared spell that is not an orison or domain spell, or that was gained through her sacrifice ability, in order to cast any cure spell of the same spell level or lower (a cure spell is any spell with "cure" in its name).
An evil blood priest (or neutral blood priest who worships an evil deity) can't convert prepared spells to cure spells but can convert them to inflict spells (an inflict spell is any spell with "inflict" in its name).
A blood priest who is neither good nor evil and whose deity is neither good nor evil can convert spells to either cure spells or inflict spells (player's choice). Once the player makes this choice, it cannot be reversed.

Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells: A blood priest can't cast spells of an alignment opposed to her own or her deity's. Spells associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaotic, evil, good, and lawful descriptors in their spell descriptions.

Bonus Languages: A blood priest's bonus language options include Celestial, Abyssal, and Infernal (the languages of good, chaotic evil, and lawful evil outsiders, respectively). These choices are in addition to the bonus languages available to the character because of her race.

Sacrifice (Su): At 1st level, a blood priest can sacrifice humanoids to gain extra spells. Once per day, a blood priest can perform a sacrificial ritual to gain a blood spell. This blood spell can then be spent to cast any one spell from the cleric spell list or any of her deity's domains or subdomains, provided that the spell is of a level that she can cast. Additionally, the blood priest may add any one metamagic feat to the spell when cast, even if she doesn't possess that feat. This spell is otherwise treated like any other spell cast by the blood priest, including with respect to casting time, duration, and other effects dependent on the blood priest's level. This spell cannot be modified by more than one metamagic feat, nor can it be modified by other abilities.
The sacrificial victim must be a living humanoid and fully conscious during the ritual, and to complete the ritual the blood priest must extract the victim's heart. The ritual requires the blood priest's full concentration and as such it cannot be performed during combat.
A blood priest can use this ability twice per day (i.e. sacrifice 2 people to gain 2 blood spells) at 5th level, three times per day at 10th level, four times per day at 15th level, and five times per day at 20th level.

Astronomy (Ex): At 2nd level, a blood priest is always able to determine her direction in relation to the celestial poles by looking at the stars. In addition, she can determine the current date by observing the stars for 1 hour. This ability can only be used on clear nights and the blood priest must be able to observe the sky without interruption.

Divine Touch (Su): At 2nd level, a blood priest can channel the power of her deity to heal wounds or harm foes. This ability can be used a number of times per day equal to 1/2 her blood priest level + her wisdom modifier.
By expending one use of this ability, a good blood priest (or one who worships a good deity) can channel positive energy and touch a creature to heal it of 1d6 points of damage, plus an additional 1d6 points of damage for every 2 blood priest levels she possesses above 2nd (to a maximum of 10d6 at 20th level). Using this ability is a standard action (unless the blood priest targets herself, in which case it's a swift action) that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Alternatively, the blood priest can use this ability to harm an undead creature, dealing the same amount of damage she would otherwise heal with a melee touch attack. Using divine touch in this way is a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity. Undead do not receive a saving throw against this damage.
An evil blood priest (or one who worships an evil deity) can channel negative energy to instead deal damage to living creatures with a melee touch attack and heal undead creatures with a touch.
A neutral blood priest who worships a neutral deity uses this ability as a good blood priest if she chose to spontaneously cast cure spells or as an evil blood priest if she chose to spontaneously cast inflict spells.

Sacred Feast (Su): At 3rd level a blood priest can imbue the flesh of her sacrificial victim with her deity's power by spending a blood spell. Anyone who eats of the sacrifice's flesh that day is treated as if the blood priest had cast on them the highest cure spell that she is capable of casting. This ability can only be used once per day, and someone can only benefit from the healing magic of the flesh once per day. The flesh can only heal those who consume it on the same day as the sacrifice took place.

Wear Skin (Su): At 7th level, when using her sacrifice ability for the first time that day a blood priest can choose to imbue her sacrificial victim's skin with her deity's power instead of gaining a blood spell. If she then flays her victim and wear their skin, she will gain a +3 bonus to her caster level and to her effective blood priest level when determining how often she may use divine touch. This bonus lasts for as long as she wears it, to a maximum duration of 20 days. In addition, a blood priest gains a +4 circumstantial bonus to Intimidate skill checks while wearing the skin. Flaying her victim takes 1 hour and requires the blood priest's full concentration.
A blood priest cannot use her sacrifice ability while wearing a skin, and if she takes it off the skin will be ruined and will no longer provide any bonus.
A blood priest can use this ability once per day. At 12th level the skin will provide a +4 caster level bonus, and at 17th level the skin will provide a +5 caster level bonus.

Interpret Stars (Su): At 8th level, a blood priest can consult the stars to gain information as if she had cast Legend Lore. A blood priest can only interpret the stars at night and with a clear sky, and doing so will take 1d4 hours without any interruption.
The blood priest focus on a question about some person, place, or object as she studies the stars. She must then succeed on a caster level check (1d20 + 1 per caster level; maximum +25) against DC 20 to gain only vague information on the subject.
At 13th level, a blood priest can choose to do a caster level check against DC 25 to gain incomplete information on the subject.
At 18th level, a blood priest can choose to do a caster level check against DC 30 to gain vital (yet not necessarily complete) information on the subject.
A blood priest can use this ability once per day.


Blood Priest


Level
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Special


1st
+0
+0
+0
+2
Aura, sacrifice 1, domain, orisons


2nd
+1
+0
+0
+3
Astronomy, divine touch 1d6


3rd
+1
+1
+1
+3
Sacred Feast


4th
+2
+1
+1
+4
Divine touch 2d6


5th
+2
+1
+1
+4
Sacrifice 2


6th
+3
+2
+2
+5
Divine touch 3d6


7th
+3
+2
+2
+5
Wear Skin 1


8th
+4
+2
+2
+6
Interpret Stars 1, divine touch 4d6


9th
+4
+3
+3
+6



10th
+5
+3
+3
+7
Sacrifice 3, divine touch 5d6


11th
+5
+3
+3
+7



12th
+6/+1
+4
+4
+8
Wear Skin 2, divine touch 6d6


13th
+6/+1
+4
+4
+8
Interpret Stars 2


14th
+7/+2
+4
+4
+9
Divine touch 7d6


15th
+7/+2
+5
+5
+9
Sacrifice 4


16th
+8/+3
+5
+5
+10
Divine touch 8d6


17th
+8/+3
+5
+5
+10
Wear Skin 3


18th
+9/+4
+6
+6
+11
Interpret Stars 3, divine touch 9d6


19th
+9/+4
+6
+6
+11



20th
+10/+5
+6
+6
+12
Sacrifice 5, divine touch 10d6






Spells per Day


Level
0
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th


1st
3
2
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—


2nd
4
3
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—


3rd
4
3
2
—
—
—
—
—
—
—


4th
5
4
3
—
—
—
—
—
—
—


5th
5
4
3
2
—
—
—
—
—
—


6th
5
4
4
3
—
—
—
—
—
—


7th
6
5
4
3
2
—
—
—
—
—


8th
6
5
4
4
3
—
—
—
—
—


9th
6
5
5
4
3
2
—
—
—
—


10th
6
5
5
4
4
3
—
—
—
—


11th
6
6
5
5
4
3
2
—
—
—


12th
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
—
—
—


13th
6
6
6
5
5
4
3
2
—
—


14th
6
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
—
—


15th
6
6
6
6
5
5
4
3
2
—


16th
6
6
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
—


17th
6
6
6
6
6
5
5
4
3
2


18th
6
6
6
6
6
5
5
4
4
3


19th
6
6
6
6
6
6
5
5
4
4


20th
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
5
4
4

[Thealtruistorc]

Neat idea, certainly, but it lacks flexibility.

I would personally drop the domains and buff the HD back to d8 with 3/4 BAB, seeing as a priest would probably still be fairly durable (particularly in central american cultures, where I've read the priesthood required strenuous tests of endurance).

The blood sacrifices can likely be expanded upon, though. I advise being able to use it more regularly and with a greater variety of spells (maybe once per day per spell level, with options not from the typical cleric list). Maybe you cloud use the organs of your sacrifices to buff your casting BoVD-style.

[Sriseru]

Alright, I've made some changes to the class.
Would anyone care to leave some feedback? :)

[khadgar567]

Alright, I've made some changes to the class.
Would anyone care to leave some feedback? :)
maybe make blood spell based around sacrifices hit dice instead of only one spell per day and give player chance to impromptu sacrifice his opponent to regain some of his spells

[Sriseru]

Hmm... alright, I've buffed the blood spell and made it more flexible as well as more powerful.

[Sriseru]

Alright, I've added a new ability called "Divine Touch", which will allow the blood priest to serve as a better healer.

[Sriseru]

No one wants to give me some critique?

[Lord of Shadows]

The homebrew setting I use has a version of Orcs that this would be perfect for. They are based on Aztec/Central/South American history, and use sentient sacrifice. I can see this being a perfect fit.

One thing, though, we are using Pathfinder RPG rules, and so I might have to swap out the Divine Touch for Channel Energy. Not sure, it's just something that is different.

Otherwise it looks OK, although I am not too sure anyone would want to play one, unless of course they played an "Orrk" in the game here.

I like the idea and the execution (so to speak), I'll give it a thumbs up.
.

[Sriseru]

Thank you, and I'm glad you like it. :D

I'm still going to make a few changes to the blood priest, though. Namely, I think I'll swap out Divine Touch with a slightly nerfed version of Channel Energy, and I'm going to give the blood priest a larger spell list with a few more combat-oriented spells.

[khadgar567]

I like the idea and the execution (so to speak), I'll give it a thumbs up.
.

Sriseru I thing lord of shadows agree with me for impromptu sacrifice( two turns time( first turn full round action grapple then second turn sacrifice to regain spells) so why not add it so class look more solid

[Lord of Shadows]

Thank you, and I'm glad you like it. :D

I'm still going to make a few changes to the blood priest, though. Namely, I think I'll swap out Divine Touch with a slightly nerfed version of Channel Energy, and I'm going to give the blood priest a larger spell list with a few more combat-oriented spells.

I suppose which one is used could depend on the ruleset - Divine Touch for 3.5, Channel Energy for PFRPG. I don't know if I'd tinker with the spell list any, at least not the default one used every day. Having blood sacrifice grant access to "other" spells seems appropriate, though, and even appears frequently in fantasy/sci-fi literature. Perhaps multiple sacrifices could allow access to ever more powerful "other" spells...
.

[Lord of Shadows]

Sriseru I thing lord of shadows agree with me for impromptu sacrifice( two turns time( first turn full round action grapple then second turn sacrifice to regain spells) so why not add it so class look more solid

I can see there being some form of "immediate" sacrifice allowing access to a spell or ability. It should probably have a check associated with it, such as Spellcraft or Knowledge: Religion, to make it balanced.
.

[khadgar567]

I can see there being some form of "immediate" sacrifice allowing access to a spell or ability. It should probably have a check associated with it, such as Spellcraft or Knowledge: Religion, to make it balanced.
.
actually the first turn grapple needs check then maybe spell craft or knowledge: religion on second turn either works long as Dm agrees also I think pc needs to find a decent enemy with good hit dice like maybe two dice bigger then theirs

[Lord of Shadows]

actually the first turn grapple needs check then maybe spell craft or knowledge: religion on second turn either works long as Dm agrees also I think pc needs to find a decent enemy with good hit dice like maybe two dice bigger then theirs

Hmmm... Actually it may take two turns, one to Grapple and one to Pin, especially if what follows is some form of ritual bloodletting. Then the ritual requires a Spellcraft or other Skill check to perform successfully. Scaling the power with the HD of the target grappled is an interesting idea, I can see it giving the user access to a "power bump,' whether it is a higher spell level, or whatever.

[khadgar567]

Hmmm... Actually it may take two turns, one to Grapple and one to Pin, especially if what follows is some form of ritual bloodletting. Then the ritual requires a Spellcraft or other Skill check to perform successfully. Scaling the power with the HD of the target grappled is an interesting idea, I can see it giving the user access to a "power bump,' whether it is a higher spell level, or whatever.
or last exit before the total party kill

[Sriseru]

Look, khadgar and Lord of Shadows, I'm not adding impromptu sacrifice.
It doesn't fit thematically with Mesoamerican sacrificial rituals. The blood priests (in my homebrew setting, at least) would consider the act of sacrificing people during battle to be sloppy, wasteful, and an insult to their gods.
Mechanically, the blood priest already has more daily spells than any other prepared spellcaster, and none of the official spellcasting classes have a "regain spell" ability, so I do not see a good reason why I should add one to this class.

Now, could we please drop this matter?

[Lord of Shadows]

Look, khadgar and Lord of Shadows, I'm not adding impromptu sacrifice.
It doesn't fit thematically with Mesoamerican sacrificial rituals. The blood priests (in my homebrew setting, at least) would consider the act of sacrificing people during battle to be sloppy, wasteful, and an insult to their gods.
Mechanically, the blood priest already has more daily spells than any other prepared spellcaster, and none of the official spellcasting classes have a "regain spell" ability, so I do not see a good reason why I should add one to this class.

Now, could we please drop this matter?

Uhm... Ok. Up until this point you have said nothing one way or the other about "immediate" sacrifice, only that you wanted feedback, and my posts on the subject were only responding to posts from khadgar567. If something is absolutely out of consideration, that is fine, but we had no idea. Is there anything else that is "taboo" that we should know about?
.

[Sriseru]

Uhm... Ok. Up until this point you have said nothing one way or the other about "immediate" sacrifice, only that you wanted feedback, and my posts on the subject were only responding to posts from khadgar567. If something is absolutely out of consideration, that is fine, but we had no idea. Is there anything else that is "taboo" that we should know about?
.

Sorry, I didn't mean to come off as harshly as I did. :/
Khadgar and I discussed his idea via PM prior to this, so my post was mostly directed towards him. But I apologize if I hurt or offended anyone.

I do welcome all feedback and ideas, as long as everyone accepts that I may not implement all of them.

[Lord of Shadows]

OK, fair enough.

Just reading through it again, I stopped on the Metamagic language under "Sacrifice" where - if I am reading this right - at 1st level any Metamagic feat can be applied to a blood spell. That seems a bit overpowered. Perhaps something that allows any Metamagic feat with a level adjustment no greater than the Blood Priest's current level? That would allow access to +4 level feats at Level 4, still a bit much but at least not +4 at Level 1.

[Lord of Shadows]

Under Astronomy, perhaps allow this:

"she can determine the current month by observing the stars for 10 minutes, or the exact date by observing the stars for 1 hour."

[Lord of Shadows]

Under Wear Skin, perhaps change the duration (some skin would be more resilient than others):

"to a maximum duration of 1d20 days."