Regarding the Blood Magus

[kewell1000]

I have a few questions and wonderings about the Blood Magus class.

First of all I was under the impression that the feat you recieve at the first level (Blood Component) gave your character +1 to spell DC. Apparently it doesn't. (I'm not sure if that is a bug or not)
It might give you +1 to Caster Level but I wouldn't actually know that.
But the description of the feat is this:
"Using this ability deals the blood magus 1 point of damage but raises spell's save CL by 1."
Raises spells's save CL by 1. Either the missing +1 to DC is a bug or the description needs to be altered so it's not so confusing.

My second question is why the feat "Blood Magic" is not given to the Blood Magus.
That is frankly beyond me. In my oppinion no other Class would be more inclined to get this feat than the Blood Magus and from the feats prerequisites you can only get this feat by being a 9th level Spirit Shaman or through Magical Discovery.
If a Blood Magus had the chance through a DM given RP event or something could attain the feat that would of course be more fun but still a Blood Magus should have access to this particular feat in my view.

Thanks in advance.

[Rasael]

Hello,

I'll try to answe this concisely because I'm a bit busy, so forgive me if I miss anything!

-DC wise spell power and Blood magic add casterlevels, which count to gaining DC. They do not add DC points as such unless this is explicitly mentioned. The spell save CL affects any casterlevel affected variables, such as spell resistance, dispels and the determination of your DC. It can in short generate epic DC points if you boost your casterlevel, but it does not give you DC points apart from that.

-Blood Magic in the sense of the Blood Magus represents a distinct tradition of sacrificing virgins, friends and whoever you can capture, as well as drawing on your own life's blood in a limited fashion. This specialization is in no small part the reason that the Blood Magi are on considered reputationally on par with such infamous people as Necromancers and Demon or Devil worshippers. The core truth of the class is that power comes at a price, sometimes terrible. Its abilities are meant to tempt the character into using them and taking the class, but using those abilities is considered inherently evil and renders you kill on sight. This only applies to the abilities beyond level 3 which hurt other creatures.

-The Blood Magic feat the spirit shaman uses is the opposite of that tradition and focusses entirely on drawing on the caster's life blood. It is a form of self sacrifice to empower his spells. This ability is not inherently evil.

-Scarrification allows you to store spells on your skin in the form of scars. A higher level scar is bigger than a smaller level spell. Level 9 spells are generally stored on your chest or back due to their size. These scars are stored at your casterlevel and DC. Normal scrolls do not store the caster's casterlevle and DC, they are generally below level 20 CL.

-Blood Draught and Scarrification are cheaper than their regular PnP variants scribe scroll and brew potion.

-Class abilities are not inherently meant to empower the environment. We construct classes so that they offer interesting roleplay oppertunities, add gameplay elements or are otherwise interesting. We also usually follow the PnP layout of the class. Abilities and PRCs are however subject to balancing against the regular CR expected at any level, to avoid rendering the environment without any form of challenge. The emphasis is thus on diversity of options available to players