Blood Mage
Prestige Class Option Practitioners of blood magic have a fearsome reputation,
not wholly unearned. Whether they turn to the forbidden art
in a quest for greater power and magical understanding or
out of desperation, promising themselves that they will only
use it as a last resort, few blood mages manage to avoid being
corrupted by the powerful forces they seek to control.
Fugitives and Furtive Scholars
Many a mage on the run has turned to blood magic to avoid
detection or capture. Their dabbling in this taboo form of
magic usually compounds their crimes, shunting them
further from society. Meanwhile, well-regarded mages, eager
to increase the breadth of their magical understanding,
occassionally begin to study blood magic in secret. For as
long as they can keep their new hobby hidden, these mages
are able to remain in good standing, but the more they draw
on their own lifeforce to fuel their magic, the more likely they
will forget their good intentions.
Creatures with blood
For the purpose of blood mage class features, a
creature is considered to have blood if it is of a
type other than construct, elemental, ooze, plant,
or undead and does not have the Living Construct
trait (or similar). In your game, other creatures may
be added to this list of bloodless creatures, or
specific creatures with the listed types or traits
may be considered to have blood. If so, these
exceptions should be discussed and enumerated
before play starts.
Prerequisites
In order to become a blood mage, you must meet the
following prerequisites (in addition to the multiclassing
prerequisites for your existing classes):
Running through an alley to escape his pursuers, a human Constitution 15.
wizard finds himself cornered. As the town guard closes in, Your body must be strong enough to withstand the
the wizard takes out a dagger and stabs it through his palm. constant drain on your lifeforce that using blood magic
Channelling the blood flowing out of his wound, the wizard entails.
controls the mind of one of his would-be captors, causing the Must have blood.
guard to turn on his comrades and giving the fugitive time to
escape. Your character must be of a race and creature type that
Bleeding from dozens of wounds, a half-elf warlock surveys has blood.
the hobgoblin corpses strewn around her. Closing her eyes, Spellcaster.
she reaches her hands out, draining her fallen foes of their
life force. She laughs quietly to herself as the cuts and gouges Blood magic is a tool used to enhance a spellcaster's
in her flesh begin to close. abilities. You must be able to cast at least one spell of 3rd
Two dragonborn siblings are fighting together when the level or higher to become a blood mage.
brother is struck by an arrow and falls to the ground. Quickly, Dark Secrets.
he reaches out his hand towards his sister. She screams in The techniques and rituals used in blood magic are not
agony as her life force is drained. Badly weakened, and with widely available or easy to discover on one's own. A
only moments before being overwhelmed by her attackers, spellcaster wishing to become a blood mage must
she looks in confusion and anger as her now uninjured typically find another practitioner willing to teach them or
brother channels his new-found vitality and disappears a tome that contains the secrets of blood magic.
through an arcane portal.
Blood Mage
----Spell Slots per Level----
Level Features Spells 1st 2nd 3rd
1st Blood Magic, Canvas of Flesh Charm Person 2 -- --
2nd Feast of the Fallen Tasha's Hideous Laughter 3 -- --
3rd Resilient Blood, Sacrifice Hold Person 4 2 --
4th Blood Thrall Enthrall 4 3 --
5th Maleficar, Sanguine Strength Hypnotic Pattern, Vampiric Touch 4 3 2
When you cast a spell using blood magic, you cut into your
Class Features flesh to bring forth your blood. You ignore any somatic and
As a blood mage, you gain the following class features material components of the spell and you do not expend a
spell slot. Instead, you take necrotic damage as indicated in
Hit Points the Blood Magic Spellcasting table and your hit point
Hit Dice: 1d8 per blood mage level maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the damage
Hit Points per Level: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constituion modifier taken. This reduction cannot be reduced or negated in any
per blood mage level way and lasts until you finish a long rest. This necrotic
damage cannot be reduced or negated in any way and
Proficiencies bypasses temporary hit points and other protective effects
Weapons: Daggers that have a hit point total.
Saving Throws: None Blood Magic Spellcasting
Skills: None Slot Level Necrotic Damage
Equipment 1st 2d8
When you take your first level of blood mage, you acquire a 2nd 3d8
dagger if you did not have one already.
3rd 5d8
Blood Magic 4th 6d8
Preparing and Casting Spells 5th 7d8
The Blood Mage table shows how many spell slots you have
to cast your spells of 1st level or higher. You regain all Spellcasting Ability
expended spell slots when you finish a long rest. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for your blood mage
You automatically prepare all blood mage spells that are class features, blood mage spells, and spells you cast using
available for you to cast, as indicated in the Blood Mage table. blood magic since the power of your magic comes from
Casting a blood mage spell doesn't remove it from your list of expending your own life force. You use this ability whenever a
prepared spells. blood mage class feature, blood mage spell, or a spell you cast
using blood magic refers to your spellcasting ability. In
Casting Spells Using Blood Magic addition, you use this ability's modifier when setting the
Alternatively, you may cast a spell that does not require costly saving throw DC for a blood mage class feature, blood mage
material components and that you know and have prepared spell, or spell you cast using blood magic and when making
using blood magic (it need not be a blood mage spell). The an attack roll with one.
spell slot level used to cast a spell this way must be a level for Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your
which you have spell slots and may not be higher than your Constitution modifier
blood mage level. Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus + your
In order to cast a spell using blood magic, you must be Constitution modifier
holding a melee weapon that deals slashing or piercing
damage and have a free hand. If you do not have a free hand Spellcasting Focus
before casting the spell, you may sheath or stow the weapon If you have a spellcasting focus granted by one of your other
in order to fulfill these requirements (sheathing or stowing classes, you may also use it as a spellcasting focus for your
the weapon occurs during the action of casting the spell, but blood mage spells.
still counts as interacting with an object if it otherwise
would).
The corpse must be from a creature that has blood
The corpse must have been dead for less than 24 hours
Variant Rule: Daggers and Blood The corpse must be of a Small or larger creature
Magic The corpse cannot have been affected by this ability before
Because daggers are central to the iconography of
blood magic, you may want to relax some of the
At 4th level, you have become an expert in this dark form of
blood magic spellcasting rules when the blood
sustenance. This ability now uses a bonus action instead of
mage is using a dagger in order to encourage their an action.
use. Using this variant rule, you do not need to be At 5th level, you can shape the life force of the dead into
holding the dagger you use for your blood magic as healing energies. When you use this ability, you may choose
long as it is readily available. In casting the spell, to regain an amount of hit points equal to the amount by
you are assumed to draw the dagger, cut yourself, which your maximum hit points increased (your hit point
and then sheath or stow it, but doing so does not maximum is restored before you regain hit points). You
count as interacting with an object. cannot regain hit points in this way again until you finish a
long rest.
Canvas of Flesh Feast of the Fallen and
The repeated mutilation of your flesh has caused your body to Unconscious Creatures
develop regenerative powers. When you take your first level of Feast of the Fallen only affects creatures who are
this class, any scars that are less than a year old heal dead. Generally, when a monster is reduced to 0 hit
completely. Whenever you take a short or long rest, any cuts, points, they are considered dead, but this may be
gouges, or other superficial wounds that are less than 24 handled differently. Therefore, it is important to
hours old heal completely on finishing the rest. You may clarify how monsters and NPCs reduced to 0 hit
concentrate on a specific wound at the beginning of the rest points will be treated before a player decides
to have your healing powers ignore it during that rest. whether to take levels in this class.
Feast of the Fallen
At 2nd level, your mastery of blood magic allows you to draw Resilient Blood
out the life force from the recently deceased. As an action, At 3rd level, your blood rejects mundane ailments. You are
you drain nearby corpses and your hit point maximum immune to diseases. Any diseases you already had are cured.
increases by 1 for each hit die from each corpse affected by
this ability up to your usual hit point maximum. In order to Sacrifice
gain this benefit from a corpse, the following conditions must
be met: At 3rd level, your drive for power engenders betrayal. As an
action, you reach out to an ally with blood you can see within
Most of the corpse must be within 60 feet of you (the 60 feet. The ally must make a Constitution saving throw.
corpse does not otherwise need to be intact) On a failed save, the ally takes 4d8 necrotic damage and
their hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to
the damage taken. This reduction cannot be reduced or
negated in any way and lasts until your ally finishes a long
rest. You regain hit points equal to half the damage taken.
On a successful save, the ally does not take damage, and
you do not regain any hit points. Even if they succeed on the
saving throw, your ally is aware that you have used this ability
on them.
At 5th level, you revel when the spark of life is extinguished
or diminished. If your ally is killed or knocked unconscious by
this ability and you regain hit points, you regain hit points
equal to the damage taken.
Players, Characters, and Sacrifice
The blood mage's Sacrifice feature can be an
important tool in their arsenal, but it also has the
potential to anger not just the target character, but
that character's player. For this reason, it is
important that anyone wishing to play a blood
mage discuss the choice with their group and set
expectations for this feature's use. Remember: "It's
what my character would do" is never an excuse.
Blood Thrall
At 4th level, your mastery of your own blood extends to the
blood of others. As an action you perform the steps in using
blood magic to cast a spell with a 4th level spell slot. Choose
a creature with blood you can see within 30 feet. The
creature must make a Constitution saving throw.
If the creature fails its saving throw, the creature's will is Blood Mages & Multiclassing
partially subsumed under your own. For the duration of this As a prestige class, levels in blood mage are only
effect, the creature must spend its turn trying to attack the available through multiclassing. Blood mages are
nearest creature it can sense that is hostile to you and may considered full casters, the equivalent of wizards,
not willingly attack or endanger you or your allies. Roll for the purposes of multicasting spell slots.
initiative for the creature, which has its own turns (you do not
roll initiative if the creature was already in the initiative
order). In addition, the creature counts as an ally for the
purpose of the blood mage class feature Sacrifice.
You must concentrate on this ability as if concentrating on
a spell. If your concentration is broken, the effect ends.
Otherwise, the effect ends after 1 minute.
At the end of each of the creature's turns, it can repeat the
saving throw, ending the effect on a success. On a failed save
it takes 1d6 necrotic damage.
If the creature succeeds on its initial saving throw or when
the effect ends, the creature takes 4d6 necrotic damage.
Maleficar
At 5th level, you have mastered blood magic, but your mastery
has changed you. You gain the following flaw:
I am persecuted because of my greatness
Sanguine Strength
At 5th level, your study and practice of blood magic has
fortified your life force to unnatural levels. Your Constitution
increases by 2 and your maximum Constitution score is now
22 unless it was already 22 or higher.
Examples and
Clarifications
This section is meant to help in understanding the mechanics
of the blood mage. It is not part of the rules for the blood
mage class and any contradictions between this section and
the rules should be resolved in favor of the rules.
Blood Magic Spell Slot Examples
A character with 5 levels in wizard and 2 levels in blood
mage may use blood magic to cast spells using 1st or 2nd
level spell slots. Even though they have 3rd level spell
slots, their blood mage level is not high enough to cast
spells with 3rd level spell slots using blood magic.
class design by Axertz
A character with 9 levels of warlock and 5 levels of blood v0.2
mage may use blood magic to cast spells of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, images in order of appearance
or 5th level. They have 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level spell slots 'Blood Mage' by SineAlas on DeviantArt
from their levels in blood mage and 5th level spell slots http://sinealas.deviantart.com/art/Blood-Mage-578151867
from their levels in warlock, but no 4th level spell slots. 'blood magic....ooor ..so i started drawing a head' by
nebezial on DeviantArt
Blood Magic Spellcasting Examples http://nebezial.deviantart.com/art/blood-magic-ooor-so-i-
A blood mage is holding a glaive (and nothing else). They started-drawing-a-head-376717656
take a hand off of the glaive so that they have a free hand. 'Blood Mage' by weremoon on DeviantArt
They cast a spell using blood magic. As part of casting the http://weremoon.deviantart.com/art/Blood-mage-
spell, they cut themselves with the glaive. They may grab 184561425
the glaive with their free hand after casting the spell (using title unknown by Steve Argyle
an object interaction). http://steveargyle.com
A blood mage is holding a longsword and a shield and
casts a spell using blood magic. As part of casting the
spell, they cut themselves with the sword. They must then
sheath or stow the sword in order to meet the
requirement of having a free hand. Because they used
their object interaction to sheath or stow the sword, they
may not draw the sword during the turn they cast the spell.
Using the 'Daggers and Blood Magic' Variant Rule:
A blood mage is holding a quarterstaff (and nothing else)
and also has a dagger readily accessible. Before casting
the spell, they take a hand off of the quarterstaff so that
they have a free hand. They cast a spell using blood magic.
As part of casting the spell, they draw the dagger, cut
themselves with it, and then sheath or stow the dagger.
They may grab the quarterstaff with their free hand after
casting the spell (using an object interaction).
A blood mage is holding a morning star and a shield and
also has a dagger readily accessible. Before casting the
spell, they stow the morning star so that they have a free
hand. They cast a spell using blood magic. As part of
casting the spell, they draw the dagger, cut themselves
with it, and then sheath or stow the dagger. Because they
used their object interaction to stow the morning star, they
may not draw the morning star during the turn they cast
the spell.
