Bloodlines from Unearthed Arcana.

[kirinke]

To me, these bloodline things look like they take the place of Aasimar and other ECL +1 sub-races. They also look like a pretty sane and reasonable alternative. What do you guys think?

 

[HellHound]

We've been using them, but the downside is they still hurt dedicated spellcasters a lot more than they hurt combat-oriented characters.

We liked them enough that we have written a bunch of new ones, four of which will be in an upcoming product.

 

[kirinke]

I've just been glancing over them and they do sound alot better than the ECL +1 adjustments. From the looks of it, it merely lowers a dedicated spell-caster's level by one at least for number of spells/power purposes. Which would work fairly well if you're going with a med-low magic campaign. And you do get some benefits from the spell-casting loss.


Could somebody please explain the rules applying to them a bit better than the book?

 

[HellHound]

I would...

But my copy of Unearthed Arcana is upstairs, and I'm a lazy sod.

 

[Arcane Runes Press]

We've been using them, but the downside is they still hurt dedicated spellcasters a lot more than they hurt combat-oriented characters.

I think there's possibilities in twin expressions of each bloodline, one for non-caster types, and one for dedicated spellcasters.

It would take a bit of work and tweaking, but I see possibilities in UA-style bloodlines that give caster level increases/bonuses to channeled, bloodline-appropriate spells, or spell schools.

Bonus spells (maybe).

Alternative means of casting certain spells, yadda yadda, and so on and so forth.


I

 

[Turanil]

What do you guys think?

I am unable to understand how this bloodline stuff works in terms of game mechanics. I would be glad to get some explanations.

 

[Klaus]

Basically, there are 3 strengths of Bloodlines: Minor, Medium and Major. The stronger the line, the more powers you gain as you level (for instance, the Major bloodlines give you almost one bonus/ability per level, for 20 levels). You get the benefits on top of everything your character gains from class levels.

The catch is, at certain intervals you have to "burn" a level to keep accruing bloodline benefits. If you do not "burn" those levels by the time a certain character level rolls along, you suffer some drawbacks.

In the end, this works as an "acquired" level adjustment. You burn one level for Minor, two for Medium and 3 for Major.

Of course, this is all IIRC.

 

[Silveras]

To expand on what Klaus said:

The levels you "burn" are essentially empty levels. You gain no class benefits from them (skill points, attack or save bonuses, class abilities, etc., except that spell effects and class-based abilties based on level "gain").

Consider a single-class Rogue with a Major bloodline. His level advancement would look like this:

Char Level Class Level
1 Rogue 1 Rogue abilities Bloodline abilities HD, Skill points, BAB
2 Rogue 2 Rogue abilities Bloodline abilities HD, Skill points, BAB
3 "bloodline" (Uncanny Dodge)
4 Rogue 3 Rogue abilities Bloodline abilities HD, Skill points, BAB
5 Rogue 4 Rogue abilities Bloodline abilities HD, Skill points, BAB
6 "bloodline" (Uncanny Dodge)
7 Rogue 5 Rogue abilities Bloodline abilities HD, Skill points, BAB
8 Rogue 6 Rogue abilities Bloodline abilities HD, Skill points, BAB
9 Rogue 7 Rogue abilities Bloodline abilities HD, Skill points, BAB
10 Rogue 8 Rogue abilities Bloodline abilities HD, Skill points, BAB
11 Rogue 9 Rogue abilities Bloodline abilities HD, Skill points, BAB
12 "bloodline" (Uncanny Dodge)
13 Rogue 10 Rogue abilities Bloodline abilities HD, Skill points, BAB
14 Rogue 11 Rogue abilities Bloodline abilities HD, Skill points, BAB
15 Rogue 12 Rogue abilities Bloodline abilities HD, Skill points, BAB
16 Rogue 13 Rogue abilities Bloodline abilities HD, Skill points, BAB
17 Rogue 14 Rogue abilities Bloodline abilities HD, Skill points, BAB
18 Rogue 15 Rogue abilities Bloodline abilities HD, Skill points, BAB
19 Rogue 16 Rogue abilities Bloodline abilities HD, Skill points, BAB
20 Rogue 17 Rogue abilities Bloodline abilities HD, Skill points, BAB

Because the Uncanny Dodge is partially based on class levels (higher level Rogues can flank lower-level Rogues), it gains from the bloodline levels.

 

[Greylock]

I'm getting ready to try out a Bloodline for the first time, and yes, that describes it about right. I'd rather be playing something nifty out of one of my rapidly expanding D20 library, but most of the stuff that grabs me has a LA+, and that doesn't float well in a campaign starting at level 1. So, bloodlines, here we go. I'm looking foward to it.

 

[Turanil]

Okay, I understand the system better now, but still find it clunky... I would much prefer racial levels ala paragon.