Bloodwalk is broken 2015-01-11

[metaquad4]

Yeah, I did notice that. So, teleporting through dimensional anchors/wards has been fixed, and if they make it so the person you mark has to give you their consent (instead of consent upon teleport) that would also work way better (since, as Nomster pointed out) since, yes on my blood magus too I used it as an escape technique (that is one of its major uses). Having to wait for someone (a possibly AFK person, rendering it useless in that event) to say "yes" heavily detracts from that. Someone could also be given a message, letting them know they have been bloodwalked to.

As far as the bloodwalking infront of guards thing, A) If consent for the teleport is given, this makes no difference, guards can still be bloodwalked infront of, and B) You can still do a myriad of things in front of guards. These are all metagaming, and are covered under the rules already.

So, suggestion: Remove the consent upon teleport, instead add:
A) A warning message saying you have been bloodwalked to by someone.
and
B) Consent upon marking someone, as opposed to consent upon teleportation.

[DM_Xzar]

I know nothing of blood walk or blood mages. Can I read up on some of the lore on their abilities somewhere? I'd appreciate a link.

How does marking someone's blood work from a lore perspective? PCs could actually mark other PCs without consent and just teleport to them without them being aware? When was this ability introduced? So many questions.

[Progressive-Psy]

PCs could actually mark other PCs without consent and just teleport to them without them being aware?

I've always found this so stupid..

"Hey I'm gonna take your blood, without you noticing"

[Rasael]

PCs could actually mark other PCs without consent and just teleport to them without them being aware?

I've always found this so stupid..

"Hey I'm gonna take your blood, without you noticing"

You don't need to take some one's blood. What you need is a device to let you link to the targeted blood, created with your own blood.

Ofcourse some people do roleplay it as 'taking someone else's blood', but then respecting the restriction that calls into being (acquiring said blood) is up to your own roleplay as well.

It works exactly the same as the hostile Blood Walk / Blood Burst ability. You don't need to have the target's blood, you just need to know / remember it. There is a forgotten realms novel about Blood Mages and Hoarite Vengenace takers if you'd like to read more about the class.

[DM_Xzar]

I'm still very much in the dark here. What is this device that let's you link to the target's blood? How does a Blood Mage know / remember a target's blood without touching the target? Can they just smell it? I'd love to read up on this sort of stuff, so if you could post some info or some sort of link on this novel, that would be much appreciated!

[Nomster]

Please do post about the novel. I know there is a FR novel about Blood Magic but I forgot the title, it was mentioned once before on the forums. Might be the same one I am think of?

How one marks someone is very vague. Most people do not read novels and some do not even consider them to be proper lore. I have RPed it as taking someone's blood, and I tend ask consent OOCly (or ask when I have an actual intention to use it). If people do it differently, I would just explain it as they learned blood magic differently.

There is some more info, which Rasael put together on the BGTSCC wiki.
http://bgtscc.wikia.com/wiki/Blood_Magus

[grymhild]

Bloodwalk(Su): At 10th level, the blood magus is perfectly attuned to the song of blood. He gains the supernatural ability to transport himself great distances via the blood of living creatures. Once per day as a standard action, he can seamlessly enter any living creature whose size equals or exceeds his own and pass any distance to another living creature in a single round, regardless of the distance separating the two. The blood magus merely designates a direction and distance ("a living creature 20 miles due west of here"), and the bloodwalk ability transports him to a destination creature as close as possible to the desired location. He can’t specify a named individual as the end point unless he has previously obtained a sample of that creature’s blood, preserved in a small vial that must be carried on the blood magus’s person.

The entry and destination creatures need not be familiar to the blood magus, but they must be alive and possess blood in their veins. (Thus, plants and the more bizarre outsiders are not eligible targets.) The blood magus may not use himself as an entry creature. If the intended entry creature is unwilling, he must hit with a melee touch attack to enter. When exiting a creature, the blood magus chooses an adjacent square in which to appear. Entering and leaving a creature is painless, unless the blood magus wishes otherwise (see below). In most cases, though, the destination creature finds being the end point of a magical portal surprising and quite unsettling. If he desires, the blood magus can attempt to make a «bloody exit» from the destination creature. If the creature fails a Fortitude save (DC 18), the exiting blood magus takes on solidity a little too soon. He bursts forth explosively from the creature’s body, dealing 16d6 points of damage. The blood magus must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 13) or take 2d4 points of damage from the shock of his exit.

Except where noted above, this class feature resembles the dryad’s ability to move from tree to tree (see Monster Manual, page 79).

[grymhild]

Bloodwalk (Su): At 10th level, a blood magus becomes perfectly attuned to the song of blood. He gains the supernatural ability to transport himself great distances via the blood of living creatures. Once per day as a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity, he can seamlessly enter any living creature (except an elemental, ooze, plant, undead, or other creature without blood or a similar fluid) whose size equals or exceeds his own and pass any distance to another living creature on the same plane in a single round, regardless of the distance separating the two. A blood magus merely designates a direction and distance (“a living creature twenty miles due west of here”), and the bloodwalk ability transports him to a destination creature as close as possible to the desired location. He can’t specify a named individual as the endpoint unless he has previously obtained a sample of that creature’s blood and has it preserved in a vial that he carries.

The entry and destination creatures need not be familiar to the blood magus. A blood magus cannot use himself as an entry creature. If an intended entry creature is unwilling, he must make a successful melee touch attack to enter. (A missed touch attack does not use up the ability for that day.) When exiting a creature, a blood magus chooses an adjacent square in which to appear. Entering and exiting a creature is painless unless a blood magus wishes otherwise (see below). In most cases, though, the destination creature finds being the endpoint of a magical portal surprising and quite unsettling.

If he desires, a blood magus can attempt to make a bloody exit from the destination creature. He bursts forth explosively from the creature’s body, dealing 10d6 points of damage unless the creature makes a Fortitude save (DC 10 + blood magus’s class level + blood magus’s Con modifi er). When he makes a bloody exit, a blood magus must succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude save or be stunned for 1 round from the shock of his expulsion.

[grymhild]

Based on those two examples (one from 3rd edition and one from 3.5) I would say that a Bloodmage needs the blood of a creature in order to travel to it.

Taking the blood of someone should notify the pc whose blood is being taken -- and not just a server message that gets lost buried in combat or doesn't show up if the combat log is turned off.

Taking blood should also probably:

• do at least 1 pt of damage (I'd prefer CON damage)
• require either PC consent or PVP
• (optional) make the vials of blood get "used up" from a successful bloodwalk

[Karond]

Please do post about the novel. I know there is a FR novel about Blood Magic but I forgot the title, it was mentioned once before on the forums. Might be the same one I am think of?

How one marks someone is very vague. Most people do not read novels and some do not even consider them to be proper lore. I have RPed it as taking someone's blood, and I tend ask consent OOCly (or ask when I have an actual intention to use it). If people do it differently, I would just explain it as they learned blood magic differently.

There is some more info, which Rasael put together on the BGTSCC wiki.
http://bgtscc.wikia.com/wiki/Blood_Magus

The novel is called "Bloodwalk", written by David James. I've it, I just need to finish it. Then, I'll post whatever info I can find. I bought it just to get more info on bloodmages so...

[Aeb Ankor]

Bloodwalk
Type of Feat: Class Ability
Prerequisites: Blood Magus 10th level
Specifics: The blood magus attains the supernatural ability to transport himself over great distances via the blood of living creatures. Once per day, as a standard action, he can seamlessly enter any one living creature whose size equals or exceeds his own and pass any distance to another living creature in a single round, regardless of the distance separating the two. If he desires, the blood magus may attempt to make a "bloody" exit from the destination creature. He bursts forth explosively from the creature's body, dealing 16d6 points of damage unless the target passes a fortitude save. (15 + Class Level + Blood Magus's con modifier)
This ability can be used to mark a person, to travel to this person as if by teleport or to attack a person.
Use: Selected

A blood magus merely designates a direction and distance (“a living creature twenty miles due west of here”), and the bloodwalk ability transports him to a destination creature as close as possible to the desired location. He can’t specify a named individual as the endpoint unless he has previously obtained a sample of that creature’s blood and has it preserved in a vial that he carries.

Based on this part of the information no consent is needed nor personal knowledge of an individual's blood to Bloodwalk, simple as saying to yourself "Human (or elf) in/ near the cloakwood 5000 miles away" and pop your ability to seek and know blood finds a blood target and you emerge. The target gets no choice, defense or damage, unless the Blood Mage chooses to burst forth.

he can seamlessly enter any one living creature

seamlessly: adjective, 1 having no seams. 2 .smoothly continuous or uniform in quality; combined in an inconspicuous way.

The blood magus attains the supernatural ability 'to Blood Walk'

Does this not mean a Blood Mage may smoothly immerge and emerge without breaking the boundry (seams) of the skin in a uniform (complete) and inconspicous way?

To select an individual target then knowing their blood by having access is not overly hard... the server is full to brimming with adventurers that fight and bleed on nearly a daily basis. It depends on how pure or clean of blood you need:

Dirty blood from the pool of it after a fight? The ground is covered most days in a trail easy enough to not need trackers.

How about just the left over blood that is covering the weapons of your foes whom you just slaughtered? Can't a Blood Mage just wipe it off of the discarded weapons from your kills.

Dried or Set blood on clothing, backpacks, discarded bandages, or hospital linens? Blood mages would follow you to the laundry after returning to the city or to the healer 's tent or infirmary where a simple bribe to a commoner gets access to the bloody rags.

How about a Blood Mage whom is just a regular Doctor, Healer or Cleric as their day job? They could gather a person's blood with hardly a bit of concern. Sell it to the other known friendly blood mages might even be possible.

There is a millions ways to gather your character's blood unnoticed and unasked. Permission should not be needed and only in a personal pvp or RP iteraction is it realistic to consider your character knows when a blood mage might have access to their blood, especially if you are bleeding badly, unconsious, delirious from painful wounds or dead. The blood you left on the entire scene of a battle is not in the forefront of your mind. You the player are then metagaming that your character knows a blood mage is near by, that blood mages even really EXISIST, that the character knows of the powers a blood mage can use if they have the blood, etc. etc. Acting like your character really cares at all except in the most knowledgable scholors or neurotic obessed clean freak OCD constant hand washer and 3 times a day bather would consider it a valid risk.

Blood Mages are extremely RARE and people are lazy and unconcerned about their spilled blood in most cases. You don't know a person IS a blood mage to have even a shred of concern.

You say 'But my character would know or be suspicious if another person just appeared beside them!' Really??? I can think of many ways a character might walk right next to your character unknoticed. This is a world with multiple forms of invisibility, etherealness, abilities to hide in the shadows (litterally), to cloud or control the mind...

You say 'But, but my character would FEEEEEL it if someone took my blood or emerged from my body!'. Don't you personally have mysterious pains or pinpricks or scrapes or pimples that you feel on a daily basis and pay such little heed to them unless it needs real care?? Haven't you ever felt nothing and then noticed a drop or two of blood on your hand/ arm and just licked it off like 'no big deal'?

I think myself as a normal human being and I am 44 years old, in my life I have had 100's of stitches and staples, a half dozen surgeries (4 in the last 2 years) and multiple sports/ work/ car accident related injuries that were bloody or even left pools of blood... people don't really care about what happens to spilled blood except a concern of disease or yuckiness to have it moved away from themselves.

A Blood Mage can and might USE your character for Bloodwalk and the character is likely to not even know it happened... You the player knowing is different and if you use that info in character then YOU are the one breaking immersion and metagaming.

Requiring consent makes the coolest Blood Mage ability boring and nearly useless. My Blood Mage's runes are worthless token filling valuable inventory slots for nothing since rarely will a PLAYER consent to a bloodwalk. It makes a Blood Mage less fun, less interesting and less of a reason to play that character.

Bloodwalk is THE prime supernatural ability and cool factor of makiing this an interesting class to play

Bloodwalk (Su): At 10th level, a blood magus becomes perfectly attuned to the song of blood. He gains the supernatural ability to transport himself great distances via the blood of living creatures. Once per day as a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity, he can seamlessly enter any living creature (except an elemental, ooze, plant, undead, or other creature without blood or a similar fluid) whose size equals or exceeds his own and pass any distance to another living creature on the same plane in a single round, regardless of the distance separating the two. A blood magus merely designates a direction and distance (“a living creature twenty miles due west of here”), and the bloodwalk ability transports him to a destination creature as close as possible to the desired location. He can’t specify a named individual as the endpoint unless he has previously obtained a sample of that creature’s blood and has it preserved in a vial that he carries.

The entry and destination creatures need not be familiar to the blood magus. A blood magus cannot use himself as an entry creature. If an intended entry creature is unwilling, he must make a successful melee touch attack to enter. (A missed touch attack does not use up the ability for that day.) When exiting a creature, a blood magus chooses an adjacent square in which to appear. Entering and exiting a creature is painless unless a blood magus wishes otherwise (see below). In most cases, though, the destination creature finds being the endpoint of a magical portal surprising and quite unsettling.

If he desires, a blood magus can attempt to make a bloody exit from the destination creature. He bursts forth explosively from the creature’s body, dealing 10d6 points of damage unless the creature makes a Fortitude save (DC 10 + blood magus’s class level + blood magus’s Con modifi er). When he makes a bloody exit, a blood magus must succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude save or be stunned for 1 round from the shock of his expulsion.

Bloodwalk(Su): At 10th level, the blood magus is perfectly attuned to the song of blood. He gains the supernatural ability to transport himself great distances via the blood of living creatures. Once per day as a standard action, he can seamlessly enter any living creature whose size equals or exceeds his own and pass any distance to another living creature in a single round, regardless of the distance separating the two. The blood magus merely designates a direction and distance ("a living creature 20 miles due west of here"), and the bloodwalk ability transports him to a destination creature as close as possible to the desired location. He can’t specify a named individual as the end point unless he has previously obtained a sample of that creature’s blood, preserved in a small vial that must be carried on the blood magus’s person.

The entry and destination creatures need not be familiar to the blood magus, but they must be alive and possess blood in their veins. (Thus, plants and the more bizarre outsiders are not eligible targets.) The blood magus may not use himself as an entry creature. If the intended entry creature is unwilling, he must hit with a melee touch attack to enter. When exiting a creature, the blood magus chooses an adjacent square in which to appear. Entering and leaving a creature is painless, unless the blood magus wishes otherwise (see below). In most cases, though, the destination creature finds being the end point of a magical portal surprising and quite unsettling. If he desires, the blood magus can attempt to make a «bloody exit» from the destination creature. If the creature fails a Fortitude save (DC 18), the exiting blood magus takes on solidity a little too soon. He bursts forth explosively from the creature’s body, dealing 16d6 points of damage. The blood magus must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC 13) or take 2d4 points of damage from the shock of his exit.

Except where noted above, this class feature resembles the dryad’s ability to move from tree to tree (see Monster Manual, page 79).

[Nomster]

I have not had anyone not consent to taking blood & Blood Walking. I try to be respectful about it, OOCly.

You cannot really compare the RL view of blood with FR's. Blood can be used for scrying etc, and probably numerous other rituals. A commoner or some fighter type may not be aware but mages and the like most likely would be.

[Isen Isdjorn]

Bloodwalk character consent does not even seem to work in any way. I tested bloodwalk with 4 different willing player's characters. All told me it never displayed a message that asked to allow consent. Each said the only message they recieved was that the request for bloodwalk has exprired in the combat log.

Bloodwalk still works on monster type npc (not those of individuals ie. Pirate, Jorn, Waitress, etc.)

Asking consent is a bummer and ruins my idea of how bloodwalk should work or how other PC might be aware of the act. It makes a huge flaw in adding metagame knowledge to the PC target when none is needed. RP out the situation and allow the target of bloodwalk/ blood magic knowledge to do this IN character and legitamitely, without forcing the blood mage to rely on some ooc message that 'outs' them as a blood user and then the targeted character's 'player' can deny consent, while still gaining the metagame knowledge of the blood mage's existence.

[Isen Isdjorn]

Here is an old thread about the staff side information on blood magic

Subject: Blood Magic.

This is the reference material we have staff side. Keep in mind that the DM team may alter or supplement it. Or they may tell you things from the perspective of an NPC who believes something different, or believes something wrongly. Or who is withholding information. And so on. Your characters will NOT know this. The information is entirely out of character. But it helps to understand the background so that you can see where you might come into contact with Blood Magic and Blood Magi.

Blood Magic is very old, as old as life and magic. It is a form of specialized necromancy that focuses on the manipulation of life's vital element: blood, through which magic can be empowered and the normally required ingredients may be substituted. For blood magic to be potent the sacrifice must be voluntary (the way spirit shamans use it on themselves if they have the feat), which is why victims are often manipulated or enspelled. Potent power can also be drawn from spilled blood and bleeding wounds, whether internally or external so long as the magic can access it. This is how Blood Magi normally power their spells, by injuring victims and drawing on their blood, reserving the more demanding sacrifices for rituals.

Because of how Blood Magic works the specialized field of the Blood Magus is a moral slippery slope. Despite not being inherently evil it produces many power crazed madmen and women, contributing to the bad reputation necromancy in general is known by. The fact that many evil monster races practice crude forms of blood magic and associated ritual sacrifice cements this reputation as practically beyond redemption.

Ever since the Mulhorandi people and their pantheon arrived on Faerun Blood Magic has been the domain of Set and has been almost exclusively practiced in the far east. With the ascension of Bhaal as part of the dead three Blood Magic has however begun to become less rare in the rest of Faerun, largely because Bhaal has been competing with Set to draw it into his portfolio. Blood Magic is now shared between the deities' portfolio's, neither possessing it exclusively. This is a source of continuous strife between Set and Bhaal, through it will not prevent them from allying temporarily if expedient. Finding practicing Blood Magi among Bhaal's faithful is quite common these days as those with a talent for the arcane are encouraged to take the easy path power that it promises. Blood Magic is still also practiced by those unaffiliated with Set or Bhaal, but these practitioners find themselves under their deific manipulations to tempt them into acts of wanton evil and lust for power or mayhem.

In the eastern nations of Mulhorand, Unther and Thay Blood magic is considered especially barbaric and unstable because of its more public historical record. Instead of having been largely restricted to use by monster races there have been repeated historical incidents involving power-crazed cabals of Blood Mages. In Mulhorand the practice is considered an unforgivable sin and implies links to Set. In Thay there are known cabals of mages who practice blood magic though the field of study is excluded from the school of Necromancy by ancient decree.

Thayan Blood Magi are not affiliated with any school of magic and are normally evicted once their dabbling becomes known, or is not immediately abandoned. Such Red Wizards normally live on the fringe of thayan society and are considered unsavory company at best. While most Thayans are perfectly happy to do business with Blood Mages it is always the sort of business others shouldn't know about. As a consequence many Blood Mages work as assassins or spies and face the risk of disappearing themselves if their employer wishes to tie up any loose ends. A particular animosity exists with the school of Necromancy, which wishes to eradicate the practice of Blood Magic for the unsavory reputation it attaches to necromancers and because of the mages which the promise of power tempts from its ranks.

-----
Due to Set's initial exclusive incorporation of Blood Magic into his portfolio many literary sources are Mulhorandi in origin. Cabals of blood mages are outlawed in Mulhorand and barely tolerated in Thay because of their tendency towards wanton slaughter and the ritual sacrifice of fellow mages.

It is likely for that reason that students of Blood Magic on the Sword Coast may procure access to old Mulhorandi or Thayan sources, be it independently, through the manipulations of Bhaal, or of Set.

Blood Magic remained relatively obscure in ancient Netheril, the craft having been cataloged in Xinnizer's guide to the obscure Art which details exotic forms of magic, including Elven, but focusing in particular on primitive humanoid races. Xinnizer catalogued Blood Magic as being a form of ritual sacrifice practiced by various Orc and Goblin tribes in his day.

More detail is provided in Khuzon Delvind Dachar's account of Mulhorandi sects undermining the moral fabric of the Empire. In his account, known as Khuzon's warning, he describes blood magic in considerable detail, which led some to question whether the author had been involved first hand and was a remorseful reformist. While insightful and revealing a link to Set as well as some of the underlying magical principles the book does not provide any detail on the necessary preparation for the described (horrific) rituals and vile deeds. It is by this book that most Faerunian scholars know of the subject as it has been remarkably well preserved and copied many times by later generations seeking to strengthen the empire against Set's depredations. Such copies have inevitably also made their way to the Sword Coast, and though rare they are not impossible to acquire for people of means.

[Layla0340]

Bloodwalk character consent does not even seem to work in any way. I tested bloodwalk with 4 different willing player's characters. All told me it never displayed a message that asked to allow consent. Each said the only message they recieved was that the request for bloodwalk has exprired in the combat log.

Hopes they mention on the class build page this is long term broken.