I have created a homebrew campaign and my players have spent 3 long sessions in it and are now at lvl 2. In the last game i managed to get them in a possition where one of my main NPCs was in total control of the situation, She took a drop of blood from my poor players as an insurance for them not to betray her.
Well now i dont know what te f to do, im a relativly inexperienced DM and i think that i have heard that having someones blood can be used in a official spell for 5e. Does anyone know if that is the case or not?
I would love some help with this as i want to play them like the puppets the are, but with legit spells.
I assume you mean the characters, not the players. That would certainly be some hardcore mood setting on game day.
But to answer your question, I think the most interesting thing to do with the blood of level 2 characters that doesn't involve torturing them from afar would be for the NPC to either bluff (deception or intimidation) them with made up potential dangers or else to use it to track the characters in some way. It doesn't even have to be magical. "Once my hound gets a sniff of your blood, it can track you down no matter how far you run!"
Oh my bad, I think DMG p.666 has some guidance on the proper incense and length of dagger to use in ritual sacrifice to Baphomet at the gaming table.
Back to the characters, I know Matt Mercer did something like this (but never specified exactly why--which makes it even more mysterious) in the second Critical Role campaign when the party was working for a mysterious figure known as "The Gentleman" earlier in the story. It definitely gave the party a few WTF looks and discussions.
(now look, im not very experienced, but still) personally i'd just use it as either a bluff, such as improving that she'll pull some mad shizzle involving the blood or have her use actually use a powerful spell that you hombrewed if you like that, but really, if you're homebrewing, the world is your plaything! do whatever you want with the blood!
You don't have to have anything happen now. Your villain could be defeated but the samples are missing. You're the GM, you can just make something up as far as some spell or effect requires the PC blood.
Tracking
Cloning
Torture (be careful with this one)
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"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
Psychological Freakery is always my go-to. Evil Twins are a close second.
Maybe the NPC has a plan to create a set of Rivals for our adventurers, twisted abominations created using their Blood and energy from the Shadowfell. They could be exact equals- same sheets and everything. From appearance, to equipment, the Anti-Party has all of the Party’s stuff, along with the Party having it too.
In terms of RAW, having a material link will help with Dream and Scrying, and can be used as a material component for Reincarnate or Simulacrum. A drop of blood appears to be inadequate for a Clone. There may be other similar spells, I haven't searched through all the spells in the game.
You could also never tell them what the blood is for, just continually imply it's something really bad. If forced to come up with something in case they call your bluff, then you can always come up with some dark blood magic stuff, but your players will probably be more afraid of it if they never actually know.
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I have created a homebrew campaign and my players have spent 3 long sessions in it and are now at lvl 2. In the last game i managed to get them in a possition where one of my main NPCs was in total control of the situation, She took a drop of blood from my poor players as an insurance for them not to betray her.
Well now i dont know what te f to do, im a relativly inexperienced DM and i think that i have heard that having someones blood can be used in a official spell for 5e. Does anyone know if that is the case or not?
I would love some help with this as i want to play them like the puppets the are, but with legit spells.
I assume you mean the characters, not the players. That would certainly be some hardcore mood setting on game day.
But to answer your question, I think the most interesting thing to do with the blood of level 2 characters that doesn't involve torturing them from afar would be for the NPC to either bluff (deception or intimidation) them with made up potential dangers or else to use it to track the characters in some way. It doesn't even have to be magical. "Once my hound gets a sniff of your blood, it can track you down no matter how far you run!"
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Yes that´s a great idea, They are already scared shitless of her so just using it for some psycological leverage would be fun.
And of course it was my player´s blood, not their Characters. I have putt it in a pentagram what now?
Oh my bad, I think DMG p.666 has some guidance on the proper incense and length of dagger to use in ritual sacrifice to Baphomet at the gaming table.
Back to the characters, I know Matt Mercer did something like this (but never specified exactly why--which makes it even more mysterious) in the second Critical Role campaign when the party was working for a mysterious figure known as "The Gentleman" earlier in the story. It definitely gave the party a few WTF looks and discussions.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
That must be where i got it from!
Thank you for the help!
(now look, im not very experienced, but still) personally i'd just use it as either a bluff, such as improving that she'll pull some mad shizzle involving the blood or have her use actually use a powerful spell that you hombrewed if you like that, but really, if you're homebrewing, the world is your plaything! do whatever you want with the blood!
You don't have to have anything happen now. Your villain could be defeated but the samples are missing. You're the GM, you can just make something up as far as some spell or effect requires the PC blood.
Tracking
Cloning
Torture (be careful with this one)
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Psychological Freakery is always my go-to.
Evil Twins are a close second.
Maybe the NPC has a plan to create a set of Rivals for our adventurers, twisted abominations created using their Blood and energy from the Shadowfell. They could be exact equals- same sheets and everything. From appearance, to equipment, the Anti-Party has all of the Party’s stuff, along with the Party having it too.
Extended Signature! Yay! https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/off-topic/adohands-kitchen/3153-extended-signature-thread?page=2#c21
Haven’t used this account in forever. Still a big fan of crawling claws.
In terms of RAW, having a material link will help with Dream and Scrying, and can be used as a material component for Reincarnate or Simulacrum. A drop of blood appears to be inadequate for a Clone. There may be other similar spells, I haven't searched through all the spells in the game.
You could also never tell them what the blood is for, just continually imply it's something really bad. If forced to come up with something in case they call your bluff, then you can always come up with some dark blood magic stuff, but your players will probably be more afraid of it if they never actually know.