Blood Shadows

Upon choosing this path at 3rd level, you gain the Blood Dice pool, representing the hemomantic energy coursing through your veins. You can expend Blood Dice to empower attacks, teleport through blood, focus your strikes, or manipulate locks and mechanical contraptions. Using your own blood comes at a cost: each die spent deals damage to you, reflecting the personal risk of your power.

Blood Veils excel in both combat and subtle subterfuge. Their Blood Lockpick allows them to manipulate locks or traps remotely, while Crimson Shadow grants unparalleled stealth and the ability to obscure themselves with a faint crimson afterimage. As you advance, your hemocraft fuses permanently with your body: your attacks deal necrotic damage, you can regain vitality from kills, and you gain the ability to sense blood in living creatures nearby.

At higher levels, your abilities evolve into spectacular feats of precision and survival. Hemomantic Mastery allows long-range teleportation through blood while striking enemies, and Crimson Ascendance, your capstone feature, grants incorporeality, permanent blood filaments for combat and utility, and heightened resilience in the heat of battle.

Blood Veils are patient predators, blending stealth, engineering, and hemomantic power. They are perfect for second-story thieves, trap specialists, and strategic assassins who use both ingenuity and forbidden blood magic to dominate the shadows.

Key Features:

Blood Dice: Spend dice to activate hemomantic techniques, taking damage as a drawback.

• Blood Pick: Bonus Action to manipulate locks and small devices with blood.

• Crimson Shadow: Stealth enhancement and subtle distraction with crimson afterimages.

• Hemorrhage Strike, Vein Step, Crimson Focus: Blood-powered combat maneuvers.

• Living Weapon (Level 9): Necrotic damage bonus, vampiric healing, and blood sense.

• Hemomantic Mastery (Level 13): Enhanced teleportation and combat versatility.

• Shadow Ascendance (Level 17): Capstone feature granting incorporeality, blood filaments, and improved defenses.

Blood is both your weapon and your liability; mastery of the Crimson Shadow requires careful calculation, precise timing, and the willingness to sacrifice a part of yourself to gain the upper hand.

Level 3: Blood Dice

You have a pool of Blood Dice equal to your proficiency bonus.

Spend 1 Blood Die to activate hemomantic techniques (Hemorrhage Strike, Vein Step, Crimson Focus).
Drawback
Take 1d4 damage per die spent. Cannot reduce this damage.

Scaling
Die type upgrades
Level 9 → d8     Level 13 → d10     Level 17 → d12

This pool refreshes after a long rest. DM can allow a roll (disadvantage) equivalent to the proficiency bonus to replenish during a short rest.

Level 3: Hemorrhage Striking

Passive
When you hit with a Sneak Attack
Spend 1 Blood die to reroll one Sneak Attack die.
You must take the new result.

Drawback
Take 1d4 damage
Scale the dice

Veiny Step

Bonus Action
Spend 1 Blood die

Teleport up to 15ft into a space containing blood (fresh wounds, corpses, spatters) 
As long as you have sight of the blood, you may teleport to it or an adjacent square of your choice.

Drawback:
Take 1d4 damage 
Scale blood die
Increased range
level 9 → 25ft     level 13 → 35ft     level 17→ 50ft

 

Crimson Focus

Bonus action 
Spend 1 Blood dice

Gain advantage on your next attack roll before the end of your turn

Drawback
Take 1d4 damage

Scale Blood die 

Level 3: Blood Pick

Bonus Action
Cost 3HP

Gain advantage on Dexterity check for 1 minute
When you successfully pick a lock or disarm a trap, you regain 1d6 HP as you reabsorb the energy expended
As your blood seeps into the lock or mechanism, “tasting” its inner structure. For the next hour, you can sense any traps, hidden compartments, or pressure mechanisms within 30 ft, as if under the effects of Detect Traps.

If you get 1 - 2 or 3 on both rolls, the filament splinters and twists back into your hand.
Take 2d6 damage

Level 3: Sanguine Afterimage

Bonus Action

Gain advantage on Dexterity checks for 1 minute

You create afterimages made of blood.
Enemies are imposed disadvantage on attacks targeting you.
They must succeed on an Illusion Saving throw against DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Dexterity modifier

Bleeding Edge

Passive
Once per turn, when you hit with a melee weapon, your attack deals 1d6 necrotic damage.

If you are below half HP, the damage is increased to 2d6 necrotic damage.

Vampire Reflex

Passive
When you kill a creature with a melee attack, regain HP equivalent to Con modifier + half your rogue level

Level 9: Blood Sense

Passive
Gain advantage on Perception checks and insight to locate creatures with blood within 30ft or read creatures that have blood.
You have this ability, even through barriers, though you cannot see the creature.
You cannot be surprised by creatures.

Level 13: Sanguine Reflex

Reaction
When a creature you can see makes an attack against you, you can use your reaction to take 1d6 damage and gain a +5 bonus to your AC against that attack.

If the attack still hits, you take half damage from the attack instead.

Additionally, while you are below half your maximum hit points, you have advantage on Dexterity saving throws and checks.

Level 17: Hemomantic Mastery

Passive
You take half damage from self-inflicted hemomancy.
When you roll initiative and have no Blood Dice remaining, you regain 1 Blood Die.
Whenever you kill a creature with a weapon attack, you regain 1 Blood Die (and 1d6 HP if none remain)


Reaction
When you take damage, you can use your Reaction to blur your body, forcing the attacker to make a Wisdom saving throw (DC 8 + Prof + Dex).
On a failure, the attack instead hits a Sanguine Afterimage, taking no damage.