PDA

View Full Version : D&D 3.x Class Hematomancer (3.5 Blood Mage PrC)



Zaydos
2015-09-30, 10:49 AM
HEMATOMANCER

"Blood is life. I control the blood. So I control your life." Tenos, a Hematomancer

Hematomancers are mages who have learned the arcane arts related to that thing which is essential to most life, blood. They work with it, master it, use it as their shield and sword, and some even claim they can steal it to prolong their own life. Whatever the truth a hematomancer is a mage who understands the flow of life, and who wields its most valuable resource to their own power. Their blood is a thing of power which empowers their allies and destroys their enemies, even storing magical forces within to be released later when needed.


Becoming a Hematomancer

To become a hematomancer one must study the body, blood, and the magic within blood. Many hematomancers learn from dark and cryptic grimoires penned by others of their art. Others travel among hobgoblins, petitioning their great masters to teach them the art of blood magic, but few hobgoblin hematomancers are willing to teach it to outsiders.

Prerequisites:
Skills: Heal 4 ranks, Knowledge (Arcana) 9 ranks, Knowledge (Religion) 4 ranks.
Feats: Improved Toughness
Alignment: Any non-Good.
Spells: Ability to cast at least one arcane 3rd level or higher Necromancy spell and at least one arcane 2nd level or higher Divination spell.
Special: Must have blood.

Class Skills
The Hematomancer's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are: Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Knowledge (Religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).
Skills Points at Each Level: 2 + int

HD Type: d8.


LevelBase Attack BonusFort SaveRef SaveWill SaveSpecialSpells
1st
+0
+2
+0
+2Blood Whip, Spread Blood-
2nd
+1
+3
+0
+3Augury in Blood, Blood Cloak+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
3rd
+1
+3
+1
+3Steal Life's Blood, Stolen Youth+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
4th
+2
+4
+1
+4Blood Spell+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
5th
+2
+4
+1
+4From Blood Life+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class


Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: A Hematomancer’s weapon is blood. They have no need of, and gain no new, Weapon or Armor Proficiencies.

Spellcasting: Standard casting boilerplate, with no spellcasting gained at level 1.

Blood Whip (Su): A Hematomancer's blood is laced with sorcerous powers, coming to life when spilled. Whenever a Hematomancer takes damage their blood wells from the wounds. As a standard action a Hematomancer may lash out with this blood. This deals damage equal to one creature equal to the damage the Hematomancer has taken since the end oftheirlast turn. A Reflex save (DC 10 + 1/2 character level + Int or Cha modifier) is allowed to halve this damage.

Spread Blood (Su): A Hematomancer may allow others to partake of their blood to provide mystic benefits. Doing so takes a standard action on their part (and whatever action is used to cut the Hematomancer) inflicts one 1 point of Constitution damage to the Hematomancer. The recipient gains +2 to Strength and Dexterity, and the Hematomancer may cast spells with a range of personal or touch on the target from up to Close range; if the Hematomancer casts a personal range spell on another creature this way they are allowed a Will save and spell resistance to resist. As a standard action you may cause this blood to rebel within another creature inflicting 2d6 damage to it per character level you possess (Will halves) and ending this effect. Otherwise this effect lasts until the Constitution damage inflicted in its creation is healed and you may choose for this Constitution damage to resist healing as if drain (toggling this choice on/off is a free action). If a creature inflicts Constitution damage to a Hematomancer by drinking their blood they may choose to grant it these benefits, if they do they may revoke them damaging them in the same way, if they do not they may still cause the blood to rebel but the damage is halved.

Augury in Blood (Sp): A Hematomancer is able to see the future in the spilling of blood. Beginning at 2nd level a Hematomancer may use Augury or Divination as a spell-like ability a number of times each day equal to your Hematomancer level. To do so requires them to kill a living creature with a coup de grace using a slashing weapon. If the creature is non-sentient (Int 2 or less) this duplicates an Augury spell, if they are sentient (Int 3+) this duplicates a Divination spell. Reading the blood requires 10 minutes after the sacrifice is made. The Hematomancer's caster level for this effect is equal to their highest arcane caster level. A creature must have blood to be a viable sacrifice for this effect.
Should I put a HD minimum on Divination to make it where you aren't getting 4th level spell with 25 GP material component 2/day at Lv 7 by killing random mooks?

Blood Cloak (Su): A Hematomancer is able to defend themselves through releasing their blood in a shielding cloak. Beginning at 2nd level a Hematomancer may sacrifice their blood inflicting Constitution damage to themselves (this constitution damage cannot be reduced or negated, if they have no Constitution they may not use this ability, unless they are a vampire in which case they may instead sacrifice hp equal to their character level) as an immediate action to gain one or more of the following advantages. They may gain a bonus to AC equal to 1/3 their character level, an equal bonus to saves, or an equal amount of resistance to all damage regardless of the source (this functions as energy resistance or damage reduction but it applies to all damage even weapon or magical, energy or untyped, including effects that normally bypass DR). They may choose to sacrifice multiple points of Constitution to select multiple options from the list or the same choice multiple times (its effects stack).

Steal Life's Blood (Su): A Hematomancer is able to drain a creature's last heart beat through their magic when it ends their life. Beginning at 3rd level if a Hematomancer reduces a creature to negative hit points with a spell it dies instead of being reduced to dying. In addition whenever a Hematomancer kills a creature with a spell they regain hit points equal to the slain creature's hit dice.

Stolen Youth (Su): A Hematomancer can steal more than just momentary vitality from a creature's death. Beginning at 4th level a Hematomancer may ritualistically sacrifice an adult or younger creature of their species in a ritual circle of specially prepared candles or burning incense, to do so requires the creature to be in the center of the circle and fatally coup de graced. If the Hematomancer does this they do not age for 1 year, or if the slain creature was a virgin their aging is reversed one year down to a minimum of adulthood. If the slain creature is revived while the Hematomancer is alive the creature is aged by 10 years, the same happens immediately if the Hematomancer is revived. The special ingredients to create the circle and candles/incense cost 500 GP to buy and prepare, this includes the requisite goats to be drained of blood, their meat fed to wild canids.

Blood Spell (Su): A Hematomancer is able to work magic into their blood. Beginning at 4th level when a Hematomancer casts a spell that targets only themself or a spell which is an emanation or burst from themselves in all directions they may choose to make it a Blood Spell. When a Hematomancer uses a Blood Spell the effects do not take place immediately, instead it is stored in their blood until one of four conditions, chosen when the spell is cast, takes place: The Hematomancer is reduced to 10 or less hit points; the Hematomancer dies; the Hematomancer is reduced to less than one quarter hit points; the Hematomancer loses 1/2 their current hit points in a single round. At this point the spell immediately activates as a free action (like a spell cast with Contingency). If you imbue a creature with power through the Spread the Blood ability you may allow a Blood Spell to enter it that way (this blood spell can even be something harmful such as a self-targeted Finger of Death). In which case it activates on that creature under the same conditions that it would have activated on you (if that creature is reduced to 10 hp, 1/4th health, or loses half their current hp in 1 round). If you revoke your blessing from a creature with a blood spell you may choose to have the Blood Spell be dismissed (and lost entirely) or activate on the creature immediately. No creature may have more than 1 Blood Spell in it at a time. When you prepare new spells or regain spell slots all Blood Spells that are inactive are dismissed unless you choose to expend the spell slots for them again as part of repreparing spells.

From Blood Life (Su): A Hematomancer lives in their blood, and as long as it flows they can be reborn. Beginning at 5th level a Hematomancer can be revived with Resurrection via a single drop of blood without suffering level loss. In addition if any creature carries the Hematomancer's blood in them via Spread Blood not only do they retain its benefit the Hematomancer can draw upon their vitality to restore the mage's own. The Hematomancer chooses one such creature, though if the chosen creature dies the Hematomancer may elect another and so forth. Each day the target creature takes 1 point of Constitution drain. When the target has taken Constitution drain this way equal to the Hematomancer's own Constitution score (even if some or all of the drain is healed) the Hematomancer emerges from their body in the form of blood, dealing 1 damage per level to the host creature. The Hematomancer is considered an ooze and can take no actions for the 1 minute required for their body to fully reform and for them to be wholly resurrected at 1 hp per character level. This ends the link with the creature from which the blood emerged and all Constitution drain dealt this way is immediately replaced with Constitution damage.


Hematomancers in the World

"There's just somethin' not right with that mage. How long has he had those fresh baby cheeks? And that smell. He always stanks of dried blood. And those eyes, like they're sizing me up for the kill."

Hematomancers are usually a secluded lot among humans, many humans finding their magical talents distasteful or disturbing and rumors of their rituals to steal the life blood of others to prolong their own lives circulating as well. Among hobgoblins who originally developed the techniques they are much better received. There the ritual of Stolen Youth is often institutionalized as hobgoblin society accepts sacrificing the weak to prolong the lives of their more valued members of society. Hematomancers in hobgoblin society often become powerful military necromancers, justifying their immortality with their power.
Daily Life: For many non-evil hematomancers life is simply a day to day struggle against the baseline assumption that you have turned to blood magic out of dark pacts with entities hostile to human life and that you want to kill people in their sleep to steal their youth. For most hematomancers, however, life is simply the day to day struggle to fulfill your dark pacts with entities arguably hostile to human life, to find someone you can ritualistically sacrifice this year to keep yourself from aging that won't make people realize you're an immortal blood mage, and to occasionally remember to feed your pet zombies not that they need it but it makes them so happy.
Notables: Giruk the Bloodless is a hobgoblin hematomancer of some renown, said to be longer lived than an elf his political connections alone make him a force to be reckoned with and his arcane might is enough to have turned the tides of wars.
Organization: Most human hematomancers are isolationists. Hobgoblin hematomancers are often trained in the Sanguine Order, learning powerful magic in an extremely harsh and strict regime which drums out several students who end up feeding the immortality of the teachers.


NPC Reactions

Hematomancers are known to perform youth stealing rituals, openly in hobgoblin lands and suspected of such in human lands. This leads to them being usually met with fear or hatred, and the occasional lynch mob.

nonsi
2015-10-06, 01:42 PM
.
That's a nice set of blood powers. Blood magic is hard to pull off, and you did a good job here.

Augury in Blood is a repeating motif that I never saw receiving an expression in D&D.
It's nice that someone's covering that angle, but along with Stolen Youth, those two have Witchcraft written on them more than Hematomancy.


[EDIT]: Come to think of it, animal sacrifice could be used for several effects, not just divination (healing, hallucination, enchantment, disease...)

Zaydos
2015-10-06, 05:29 PM
.
That's a nice set of blood powers. Blood magic is hard to pull off, and you did a good job here.

Augury in Blood is a repeating motif that I never saw receiving an expression in D&D.
It's nice that someone's covering that angle, but along with Stolen Youth, those two have Witchcraft written on them more than Hematomancy.


[EDIT]: Come to think of it, animal sacrifice could be used for several effects, not just divination (healing, hallucination, enchantment, disease...)

I stuck with the more classic effects so as not to get too broad. Augury was more via viscera than blood, but I felt it fit close enough, and Stolen Youth got in because of stories like those about Elizabeth Bathory of using blood as a means to restore youth, Dracula appearing old only to grow young again when fed, and things like the research from earlier this year that found you could reverse the effects of aging in old mice with transfusions of young blood.