Blood Magic: Basic Spells

Blood Magic: Basic Spells

Back in the day, I made a sorcery-based subsystem for Blood Magic. It even saw play a couple of times, and the results were satisfying. While it isn't really intended for PCs, the rules must exist for NPCs as well. Now that I'm touching up all the spellcasting traditions in my setting, I reached blood magic, and I left the mechanics intact, but I had to tweak the existing spells a bit. Unlike shadow magic and all the previous spellcasting traditions that now have separate spell list posts, this one not only will have a spell list, but also its own spells that are not tied to Wizardry. This post has some basic spells that were part of the original post.

Absolute Madness
Keywords: Area (Leveled), Resisted (Will).
Full Cost (Short-Range): 39 points for level 1 + 5 points/additional level.
Full Cost (Ranged): 44 points for level 1 + 5 points/additional level.
Casting Roll: Will.
Cost: 1 HP.
Casting Time: 2 seconds.
Range: Unlimited (-1/yard) - Unlimited (standard).
Duration: 30 minutes.
 
Every sapient creature in the area that wasn’t specifically excluded by the caster gains the Bad Temper (6), Berserk (6) with Battle Rage, and Bully (6) disadvantages if it fails to resist. The spell itself does not provoke violence, but any action such as a friendly shoulder pat or an insult can trigger the disadvantages. The affected area is cylindrical in shape and has a height of 4 yards.
Statistics: Affliction 1 (Will; Accessibility, Only on sapient beings, -10%; Area Effect, 2 yards, +50%; Based on Will, +20%; Costs Hit Points, 1 HP, -10%; Disadvantage, Bad Temper (6), Berserk (6) with Battle Rage, Bully (6), +70%; Extended Duration, 10x, +40%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Lesser Mana Sensitivity, -5%; Malediction 1, +100%; No Signature, +20%; Selective Area, +20%; Takes Extra Time 1, -10%) [39]. The Ranged version replaces Malediction 1, +100% with Malediction 2, +150% [+5]. Additional levels add more Area Effect (+50%) [+5/level].
 
Agonize
Keywords: Resisted (HT).
Full Cost (Touch): 23 points.
Full Cost (Short-Range): 26 points.
Full Cost (Ranged): 31 points.
Casting Roll: Will.
Cost: 1 HP.
Casting Time: 1 second.
Range: Touch - Unlimited (-1/yard) – Unlimited (standard).
Duration: 6 seconds.
 
You cause the subject’s blood to move around violently in the blood vessels, sending the subject into agony (p. B428) if he fails to resist. This spell can only affect living creatures with blood.
Statistics: Affliction 1 (HT; Accessibility, Living creatures with blood only, -20%; Agony, +100%; Costs Hit Points, 1 HP, -10%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Lesser Mana Sensitivity, -5%; Malediction 1, +100%; Melee Attack, Reach C, -30%; No Signature, +20%; Reduced Duration, 1/30, -30%) [23]. The Short-Range version removes Melee Attack, Reach C, -30% [+3]. The Ranged version replaces Malediction 1, +100% with Malediction 2, +150% [+5].
 
Blood Binding
Keywords: None.
Full Cost: 41 points.
Full Cost (Lesser): 14 points.
Full Cost (Greater): 124 points.
Casting Roll: Will, rolled as a Quick Contest against the summoned being’s Will.
Cost: 2 HP.
Casting Time: 10 minutes.
Casting Time (Lesser): 10 minutes.
Casting Time (Greater): 1 hour.
Range: 10 yards.
Duration: Hours equal to margin of victory on Quick Contest of Will.
 

Each time you cast this, you summon an outsider (worth 75% or less of your point value) from the Lower Planes or from the Far Realm (you choose the plane when casting this spell). The GM will create this being, but you can request one that meets broad criteria. If there is no such being on the chosen plane, the spell fails. Alternatively, if you know a specific being you want to call, you can summon it (although if you do not have its True Name or some equally significant identifier, you are at -5 on the casting roll). A penalty applies based on the planar “distance”: There is no distance penalty for creatures that are currently on the same plane of existence. Adjacent dimensions impose -3, increasing by -3 for every intervening dimension. The Prime Material Plane is considered adjacent to the Astral Plane, and the Astral Plane is adjacent to the Outer Planes, where most of the outsiders come from. Thus, preparations that mitigate the penalty usually are required. The Symbol Drawing (Summoning Circles) skill can be used to lower or remove this penalty, but never provides a net bonus. Drawing a summoning circle requires a solid surface, drawing implements, and ten extra minutes of work. Success lowers the planar distance penalty by margin of success. The circle can be used multiple times, but works only for a single plane chosen during the drawing. However, you may draw a universal circle by rolling at -4.

The summoning itself requires 10 minutes of preparation and ritual. At the end of the casting, you must pay 2 HP and make a Quick Contest of Will against the outsider to force it to appear. If you are victorious, the outsider arrives. It then makes a reaction roll. On Poor or worse, treat it as an Unwilling Ally – it will obey you, but try to subvert your commands or otherwise act against your interests. If the reaction is Neutral or better, it will serve you reasonably faithfully. You can replace this reaction roll with a suitable Influence skill, which varies depending on what type of entity you summon. Unusual skills may apply for this purpose – Law (Diabolic Contract) for devils, Merchant for yugoloths, Ritual Magic (Blood Magic) for demons, and so on.

You can also summon outsiders to answer questions, but once the outsider is done answering your questions, it departs to its home plane. Treat this as a Contact Group with an appropriate knowledge category, an effective skill of 18, and a reliability that depends on the reaction roll: Unreliable for Poor or less, Somewhat Reliable on a Neutral reaction, Usually Reliable for Good, and Completely Reliable for Very Good or Excellent reactions. You can use this spell this way no more than once per day. The summoned being answers the first question at its full effective skill, and each subsequent question is at a cumulative -2 penalty. If the outsider cannot answer immediately, but can provide the answer later, which can happen due to a failed skill roll or unreliability, you will have to resummons this exact outsider later to get the answer later, at the usual -5 penalty if you do not know its True Name.

Unlike most spells with a duration, this spell must be maintained; thus, unless you can cast simultaneous spells, using another spell will immediately dismiss the summoned being. However, there is no HP cost to maintain this spell, only to cast it. A summoned being is vulnerable to being dispelled, banished, or warded off with occult techniques. If it is killed, you must wait 24 hours before using this spell again; if dismissed, you must wait five minutes.

Two other versions of this spell summon beings of different potency. Lesser Blood Binding calls forth an outsider worth up to 25% of your point value. Greater Blood Binding calls an outsider worth up to 150% of your point value, and requires one hour to cast. For the purpose of providing information, treat creatures summoned with the Lesser version as having an effective skill of 12, while Greater Blood Binding provides effective skill 21.

Statistics: Ally (Fiend or Far Realm entity; Built on 75%; Constantly; Adjustable, Can provide information, +150%; Conjured, +100%; Immediate Preparation Required, 10 minutes, -45%; Lesser Mana Sensitivity, -5%; Maximum Duration, hours equal to margin of victory, -5%; Ranged, +40%; Reduced Range, 1/10, -30%; Requires Quick Contest of Will, -15%; Special Abilities, +50%) [41]. Lesser Blood Binding has Ally, built on 25%. Greater Blood Binding is built on 150%, and increases Immediate Preparation Required to 1 hour, -75%. Notes: The Maximum Duration limitation is priced based on Maximum Duration, 12 hours. As a special effect, this spell breaks rules by allowing free maintenance, but this is offset by imposing a HP cost to cast and dimensional “range” penalties.
 
Blood Spear
Keywords: Missile, Obvious.
Full Cost: 10 points.
Casting Roll: None. Use Innate Attack (Projectile) to hit.
Cost: 1 HP.
Casting Time: 1 second.
Range: 50 yards.
Duration: Instantaneous.
 
You conjure a blood spear and hurl it at a single target. This is a ranged attack with Acc 3, 1/2D 10, Max 50. It deals 1d+2 impaling damage, can be blocked or dodged, but not parried.
Statistics: Impaling Attack 1d+2 (Blockable, -5%; Costs Hit Points, 1 HP, -10%; Increased 1/2D, 2x, +5%; Lesser Mana Sensitivity, -5%; Reduced Range, 1/2, -10%) [10].
 
Boiling Blood
Keywords: Resisted (HT).
Full Cost (Touch): 18 points.
Full Cost (Short-Range): 20 points.
Full Cost (Ranged): 22 points.
Casting Roll: Will.
Cost: 1 HP.
Casting Time: 1 second.
Range: Touch – Unlimited (-1/yard) - Unlimited (standard).
Duration: Instantaneous.
 
This spell makes the subject’s blood boil. If the subject fails to resist, he takes 1d non-incendiary burning damage, ignoring external DR. Once the victim loses 1/3 of his HP to this spell, he begins to experience terrible pain (p. B428) until he heals above this threshold. This spell only works against living creatures with blood.
Statistics: Burning Attack 1d (Accessibility, Living creatures with blood only, -20%; Based on HT, +20%; Costs Hit Points, 1 HP, -10%; Lesser Mana Sensitivity, -5%; Malediction 1, +100%; Melee Attack, Reach C, -30%; No Signature, +20%; Symptoms, 1/3 HP, Terrible Pain, +180%) [18]. The Short-Range version removes Melee Attack, Reach C, -30% [+2]. The Ranged version replaces Malediction 1, +100% with Malediction 2, +150% [+2].
 
Cause Fear
Keywords: Resisted (Will).
Full Cost: 30 points for level 1 + 10 points/additional level.
Casting Roll: Will.
Cost: 1 HP.
Casting Time: 1 second.
Range: 10 yards.
Duration: Instantaneous.
 
The subject, who must be a sapient (IQ 6+) creature, becomes frightened. If the caster wins in the Quick Contest of Will, roll 3d for the result of a Fright Check, as usual, and add the caster’s margin of victory. The victim gets +1 per Fright Check after the first within 24 hours. Regardless of the result, he becomes immune to this caster’s Cause Fear for one hour. Each additional level of this spell imposes -1 to the Fright Check. For example, with Cause Fear 4, the subjects must make Fright Checks at -3.
Statistics: Terror (Accessibility, Only sapient creatures, -10%; Active, +0%; Costs Hit Points, 1 HP, -10%; Lesser Mana Sensitivity, -5%; Presence, +25%) [30]. Additional levels add -1 to the Fright Check [+10].
 
Frozen Blood
Keywords: Resisted (HT).
Full Cost (Touch): 19 points.
Full Cost (Short-Range): 22 points.
Full Cost (Ranged): 27 points.
Casting Roll: Will.
Cost: 1 HP.
Casting Time: 1 second.
Range: Touch - Unlimited (-1/yard) – Unlimited (standard).
Duration: Instantaneous or 3 minutes; see text.
 
You freeze the subject’s blood, physically stunning him. He may roll against HT each second to recover as normal. If you win by 5 or more, or if the subject rolls a critical failure on this initial resistance roll, the subject becomes paralyzed for 3 minutes instead. This spell can only affect living creatures with blood.
Statistics: Affliction 1 (HT; Accessibility, Living creatures with blood only, -20%; Costs Hit Points, 1 HP, -10%; Fixed Duration, +0%; Lesser Mana Sensitivity, -5%; Malediction 1, +100%; Melee Attack, Reach C, -30%; No Signature, +20%; Secondary Paralysis, +30%) [19]. The Short-Range version removes Melee Attack, Reach C, -30% [+3]. The Ranged version replaces Malediction 1, +100% with Malediction 2, +150% [+5].
 
Locate Blood
Keywords: Information.
Full Cost (Basic): 35 points.
Full Cost (Improved): 45 points.
Casting Roll: Per. Use IQ for analysis.
Cost: 1 HP.
Casting Time: 4 seconds.
Range: Unlimited (standard) – Unlimited (long-distance).
Duration: Instantaneous.
 
This spell detects sources of blood. The GM rolls against the caster’s skill (plus Talent), applying range penalties to the nearest substantial source of blood. The caster may exclude any specific blood sources he wishes. Success reveals the exact location of the blood source, but does not allow follow-up spells to be cast on it.
If the detection roll is successful, the GM makes a second roll against the caster’s IQ. Talent applies here but range penalties do not. Success reveals what the blood source is, if the caster is familiar with it, or gives a more vague description, if the caster is not familiar with it.
The basic (35-point) version of this spell takes standard range penalties. The improved (45-point) one uses long-distance modifiers.
Statistics: Detect (Blood; Costs Hit Points, 1 HP, -10%; Lesser Mana Sensitivity, -5%; Precise, Nontargeting, +90%; Selective Effect, +20%; Takes Extra Time 2, -20%) [35]. The improved version adds Long-Range 1 (+50%) [+10].
 
Locate Blood Mages
Keywords: Information.
Full Cost: 22 points.
Casting Roll: Per. Use IQ for analysis.
Cost: 1 HP.
Casting Time: 1 minute.
Range: Unlimited (long-distance).
Duration: Instantaneous.
 
This spell detects blood mages. The GM rolls against the caster’s skill (plus Talent), applying long-distance penalties (p. B241) to the nearest blood mage. The caster may exclude any specific blood mages he wishes. Success reveals the exact location of the blood mage, but does not allow follow-up spells to be cast on it.
If the detection roll is successful, the GM makes a second roll against the caster’s IQ. Talent applies here but range penalties do not. Success reveals the level of Sorcerous Empowerment (Blood) and Talent of the detected blood mage.
Statistics: Detect (Blood Mages; Costs Hit Points, 1 HP, -10%; Immediate Preparation Required, 1 minute, -30%; Lesser Mana Sensitivity, -5%; Long-Range 1, +50%; Precise, Nontargeting, +90%; Selective Effect, +20%) [22].
 
Lower Plane Shift
Keywords: Obvious.
Full Cost: 40 points.
Casting Roll: IQ-3 or Plane Skill (see text).
Cost: 1 HP or more (see text).
Casting Time: 10 seconds.
Range: Self.
Duration: Instantaneous.
 
The spell allows you to transport yourself to a Lower Plane (Acheron, Baator, Gehenna, Hades, Carceri, Abyss, Pandemonium), to the Far Realm, or back to the Material Plane from the aforementioned ones. To activate the spell, you must visualize your desired destination (you must have visited that place before), concentrate for 10 seconds, and make a casting roll. The casting roll depends on your familiarity with the plane of destination. Once you have visited a plane via a naturally occurring portal, a critical failure, or by “hitching a ride” with another planeswalker, you can memorize its “feel” by concentrating and spending character points to "learn" that plane as an IQ/Easy skill (the so-called Plane Skill). This process takes one hour per point you wish to spend. Use this skill when shifting to that plane in the future. Memorization is optional, but if you choose not to memorize a plane, you must roll against your IQ at -3 to attempt to shift to that plane.
If successful, you will arrive at your intended destination. However, if you fail, you will not be transported anywhere. In the case of a critical failure, you will end up in an unintended location chosen by the GM.
If you are carrying equipment heavier than your Basic Lift, then you make your casting roll at a penalty equal to twice your Encumbrance level. On a failed roll with margin of failure lower than this penalty, you shift planes but leave excess cargo behind; on a critical failure, you lose 1 point of IQ for each Encumbrance level you attempted as you “burned out” that part of your brain temporarily. This temporarily lost IQ recovers after you sleep.
When shifting to a coterminous or a separate plane, you arrive with a deviation of 1dx100 miles.
The HP cost of this spell depends on the “planar distance.” To shift between two different layers of the same plane, spend 1 HP. To shift between two bordering planes (such as the Abyss and Pandemonium), spend 2 HP. Spend one additional HP per each additional degree of “removal.” Shifting to the Far Realm requires you to spend 10 HP regardless of your plane of origin.
To cast this spell, you must hold a small, forked metal rod. The size and metal type dictates to which plane of existence or alternate dimension the spell sends you.
If you wish to visit planes that you have not been to before, you must discover a natural portal, critically fail, or "hitch a ride" with another planeswalker. If you are in physical contact with another character that is traveling between planes, you can "hitch a ride" even if the character initiating the shift does not want company. Only the person initiating the shift makes a casting roll; wherever they end up, you do too.
Optionally, you may overload this spell to transport other willing beings in physical contact with you. Your casting roll will be at -5 per additional target, and your casting will cost an additional 2 HP. You can offset this penalty (but never get a net bonus) by voluntarily spending additional HP; each HP cancels -1 in penalties. If you roll a critical success, you recover all HP spent on this casting. A critical failure strains your spellcasting ability; the spell automatically fails, you lose 1d HP, and all your magical powers shut down for 1d seconds. You may buy off this penalty as a Hard technique for each plane.
Statistics: Jumper (World; Costs Hit Points, -5%; Drift, Variant, -40%; Improved, +10%; Lesser Mana Sensitivity, -5%; Limited Access, Lower Planes and Far Realm, -25%; Nuisance Effect, Cannot hurry the jump, -5%; Requires an appropriate forked metal rod, -15%; Uncertain Encumbrance, +25%) [40].