I was working on a few things this morning and was thinking about how one of my players, an Eldritch Knight, often runs out of spells. (Mostly because he is 1 of 2 spellcasters and uses a lot of them for utility rather than combat.) I was looking at items and things to increase the number of spells or options he might be able to use and got an idea for "Blood Magic"
It goes like this: Once a player is out of spell slots they can sacrifice their own wellbeing to continue casting. For every level of spell slot, roll and expend a Hit Die from your pool and take that as damage. You can only cast prepared and known spells. You cannot cast spells of a higher spell slot than your level allows. You cannot cast a spell with a level exceeds the remaining hit die in your pool
Example: A level 5 Wizard has run out of spell slots and decides to cast a Fireball (Spell slot level 3). The player must first roll 3d6 and take that as damage, as well as remove 3 hit die from his hit die pool. (5 - 3 = 2 hit die left) Then they may cast the spell as normal.
I understand that this is messing with the core rules and could be overpowered. I do think it is balanced fairly as it costs in recovery as well as survivability. Plus for spells like Scorching Ray, they are running the risk of missing. But I was just curious what other DMs thought. I will likely try this out to see what happens. I might not tell my players I have this rule and let them discover it. It would not be the first time I have had players ask me if they can try to cast without a spell slot.
I like the idea of expending hit dice, but I would definitely link it to an item—probably a demonic or infernal item at that. One that starts to whisper to the knight about how he could increase his power further if he started using other people’s life essence. Add a wisdom saving throw after each long rest to resist giving in to the demon/devil after he’s had the item for some number of days or used it some number of times before the knight really starts heading down a corrupt path. That also gives a hook for a potential quest to free the knight from this cursed item. Or a potential multi class into warlock if he decides to align with the demon/devil. Lots of fun possibilities.
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Harry Hoblin, the happy goblin, doin' all of the goblin things
He likes murder, loot, and pillage; he's doin' all of the goblin things
He'll eat your puppies and your babies; he's doin' all of the goblin things
Yea making it a cursed item offered by a devil seems like a neat idea.
Curse: you are unwilling to part with this item. If you expend all of your hit dice, you die and your soul is instantly sent to the Nine Hells, where you become a lemure after 1d4 days.
The Aberrant Dragonmark feat already has something like this. It gives a 1st level spell, which can be upcast by expending a hit dice (per level upcast), rolling it, and taking the damage. It doesn't give extra spells like in your example, but it's close enough. In my Eberron campaign I have two PCs that use it and it balances fine, because they only have so many hit dice, and only get half back on a long rest. They have learned to use it sparingly.
yea, an item would probably be best. Just as an idea, Im always partial to enchanted tattoos. maybe he find a book that, when touched, sends the ink slithering into the person's skin? That way it couldn't be knocked off during battle.
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I was working on a few things this morning and was thinking about how one of my players, an Eldritch Knight, often runs out of spells. (Mostly because he is 1 of 2 spellcasters and uses a lot of them for utility rather than combat.) I was looking at items and things to increase the number of spells or options he might be able to use and got an idea for "Blood Magic"
It goes like this: Once a player is out of spell slots they can sacrifice their own wellbeing to continue casting. For every level of spell slot, roll and expend a Hit Die from your pool and take that as damage. You can only cast prepared and known spells. You cannot cast spells of a higher spell slot than your level allows. You cannot cast a spell with a level exceeds the remaining hit die in your pool
Example: A level 5 Wizard has run out of spell slots and decides to cast a Fireball (Spell slot level 3). The player must first roll 3d6 and take that as damage, as well as remove 3 hit die from his hit die pool. (5 - 3 = 2 hit die left) Then they may cast the spell as normal.
I understand that this is messing with the core rules and could be overpowered. I do think it is balanced fairly as it costs in recovery as well as survivability. Plus for spells like Scorching Ray, they are running the risk of missing. But I was just curious what other DMs thought. I will likely try this out to see what happens. I might not tell my players I have this rule and let them discover it. It would not be the first time I have had players ask me if they can try to cast without a spell slot.
I would make this into an item, rather than a rule to be used by everyone. And I would impose a strict limit on the level of spell slot regained.
Plus, just one hit die would barely phase a fighter. I’d do a percentage of health, rather than a flat roll of 1-10.
I do like your idea though.
I like the idea of expending hit dice, but I would definitely link it to an item—probably a demonic or infernal item at that. One that starts to whisper to the knight about how he could increase his power further if he started using other people’s life essence. Add a wisdom saving throw after each long rest to resist giving in to the demon/devil after he’s had the item for some number of days or used it some number of times before the knight really starts heading down a corrupt path. That also gives a hook for a potential quest to free the knight from this cursed item. Or a potential multi class into warlock if he decides to align with the demon/devil. Lots of fun possibilities.
Harry Hoblin, the happy goblin, doin' all of the goblin things
He likes murder, loot, and pillage; he's doin' all of the goblin things
He'll eat your puppies and your babies; he's doin' all of the goblin things
Yea making it a cursed item offered by a devil seems like a neat idea.
Curse: you are unwilling to part with this item. If you expend all of your hit dice, you die and your soul is instantly sent to the Nine Hells, where you become a lemure after 1d4 days.
The Aberrant Dragonmark feat already has something like this. It gives a 1st level spell, which can be upcast by expending a hit dice (per level upcast), rolling it, and taking the damage. It doesn't give extra spells like in your example, but it's close enough. In my Eberron campaign I have two PCs that use it and it balances fine, because they only have so many hit dice, and only get half back on a long rest. They have learned to use it sparingly.
yea, an item would probably be best. Just as an idea, Im always partial to enchanted tattoos. maybe he find a book that, when touched, sends the ink slithering into the person's skin? That way it couldn't be knocked off during battle.