Base Class: Sorcerer
A confluence of bloodlines, so rare that is happens maybe once in an age, your magics are so unique that your true abilities are unknown to all but the deepest of scholars. Power is as natural to you as breathing. Your magic is as much a part of you as the blood in your veins. You find that you are able to use your blood to bolster your magics, to empower them, using your own life’s blood to reach new heights of incredible magical powers. You will quickly realize, however, that most people you meet in life will find this ability frightening, causing some to treat you with suspicion, with fear, or perhaps maybe even outright hatred. They will use your magics to explain their bad luck in life, even if it actually has nothing to do with their apples spoiling early, their child being born with a cleft palette, or the love of their lives running away with someone else. Because blood magics are considered taboo by nearly all societies, it has become associated with evil practices involving necromancy and sacrifice. Because of this, you must keep your magics secret, away from the eyes of those superstitious of such things.
Unfortunately, now that your magics are growing into their power, your body has begun to express your innate magic by bloodletting in a specific spot on your body. The amount of blood is inconsequential and does no actual harm to you, but it may be noticeable to anyone nearby. This bloodletting takes place every time you use sorcery points, as well as any time that your blood magic bolsters a spell that you cast. Choose from the list below, or roll a d6 to determine where on your body your bloodletting occurs:
- On the palms of your hands in some arcane pattern.
- As tears of blood that fall from your eyes.
- As a spot over your heart that might soak through your clothing
- As spots of blood at your temples, just enough to drip like tears down the sides of your face.
- From the skin along your forearms, perhaps in some eldritch pattern.
- As small streams of blood that fall from your ears.
Level 3: Eldritch Blood
The magic in your blood manifests as a resilience to pain and damage. Your Hit Point maximum increases by 3, and it increases by 1 whenever you gain another Sorcerer level. Because of your eldritch blood, any cantrip you cast that does damage will receive a bonus to damage equal to your Charisma modifier. When you cast ANY of the spells found on your Blood Magics table below, you will experience the bloodletting. If you are bleeding in any way, whether through your own bloodletting or due to an injury, your body will become your spell focus. This removes any need of any mundane material component for your spells.
Level 3: Blood Magics
When you reach a Sorcerer level specified in the Blood Magic Spells table, you thereafter always have the listed spells prepared.
| Sorcerer Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 3 | Bane, Detect Evil and Good, Faerie Fire, Hellish Rebuke, Arcane Lock, Rope Trick |
| 5 | Bestow Curse, Remove Curse |
| 7 | Death Ward, Faithful Hound |
| 9 | Contagion, Raise Dead |
Level 6: Blood Glyphs
At 6th level, you gain the ability to use your own blood to draw magical glyphs, painting them onto a hard surface with your finger. These glyphs will remain until the desired circumstance occurs to release the magic. Creating this glyph requires 2 minutes of uninterrupted concentration, plus additional time if the spell chosen exceeds 1 action. No larger than 1 square foot in size, you trace your blood glyph either on a surface (such as a table or a section of floor or wall) or within an object that can be closed (such as a book, a scroll, or a treasure chest) to conceal the glyph. You decide what triggers the glyph when you cast the spell. For glyphs inscribed on a surface, the most typical triggers include touching or standing on the glyph, removing another object covering the glyph, approaching within a certain distance of the glyph, or manipulating the object on which the glyph is inscribed. For glyphs inscribed within an object, the most common triggers include opening that object, approaching within a certain distance of the object, or seeing or reading the glyph. Once a glyph is triggered, this spell ends. You can further refine the trigger so the spell activates only under certain circumstances or according to physical characteristics (such as height or weight), creature kind (for example, the ward could be set to affect aberrations or drow or redheaded halflings), or by alignment. You can also set conditions for creatures that don’t trigger the glyph, such as those who say a certain password. You can only create two glyphs per short rest.
When you inscribe the glyph, choose explosive runes or a spell glyph.
Explosive Runes. When triggered, the glyph erupts with magical energy in a 10-foot-radius sphere centered on the glyph. The sphere spreads around corners. Each creature in the area must make a Dexterity saving throw. A creature takes 5d8 necrotic damage on a failed saving throw, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Spell Glyph. You can store a spell that you know in the glyph by casting it as part of creating the glyph. The spell can target a single creature or an area, but will never exceed a 10 feet radius if the spell's area of effect exceeds this size. The spell being stored has no immediate effect when cast in this way. When the glyph is triggered, the stored spell is cast. If the spell has a single target, it targets the creature that triggered the glyph. If the spell affects an area, the area is centered on the creature that activated the glyph. If the spell summons hostile creatures or creates harmful objects or traps, they appear as close as possible to the intruder. If the spell requires concentration, it lasts until the end of its full duration. All area of effect spells will have a radius of 10 feet.
When you reach 10th level, the radius of the chosen effect increases to 20 feet. When you read 15th level, the radius of the chosen effect increased to 30 feet.
Level 14: Blood Circle
Beginning at 14th level, you can conduct a ritual that takes 10 minutes to perform. Using your own blood (causing yourself 2d6+4 damage), you must draw 12 small runes on a flat surface (a floor, a large rock, a wooden dock, the deck of a ship, etc.) in the general shape of a circle that does not exceed 10 feet in diameter. Once complete, the bloody runes will begin to glow, bright enough to cast dim light out another 10 feet. You can only ever have one Blood Circle at a time. Sitting in the center of the circle created by your runes, you can conduct one of the following:
- Cast Magic Circle. Unlike the general spell, however, you can choose to affect specific types of celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, or undead. You can also choose to have the spell affect plants or beasts of your choice. Unlike the spell, your magic circle will only be 10 feet in diameter.
- Summon a Hezrou that will remain for 1 minute. The demon will not be friendly toward you or your allies, but it cannot enter your circle and will not be able to bring harm to all within the circle. It will attack with reckless abandon anyone it sees outside the circle. At the end of one minute, the demon will be sent back to where it came from.
- Cast Scrying, Arcane Eye or Locate Creature
- Cast Greater Restoration upon one humanoid who is also within the circle.
Level 18: Blood Path
At 18th level, you gain the ability to expand the power of your Blood Circle. After creating your circle, you can cast one of the following spells:
- Plane Shift - Only creatures who stand within your Blood Circle will be transported to the chosen plane.
- Teleport - Only creatures who stand within your Blood Circle will be teleported with this spell.
- Word of Recall - Your blood circle will become the designated destination of the spell when you give the final activating word.
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