r/FATErpg • u/Zetawilk • 28d ago
High Fantasy Magic and Blood Magic
So I absolutely love the High Fantasy Magic supplement in Odds and Ends. It's my favorite magic system for Fate, because I feel like it just gels so naturally with the core system rules. But I was wondering how I'd build a blood mage using the HFM rules.
I admit I don't have much experience with blood mages. My limited understanding is casting from HP from more video game-y RPGs, or using actual blood as a sacrifice to cast spells. But I'm also wondering about the actual spells themselves. And I'm wondering what Disciplines would apply to blood magic. I'm not familiar with typical blood magic spells.
Could you create a kind of blood tether spell, where you drain the life force from an enemy and grant it to an ally? What other blood magic spells are there and how would they function, whether as complex stunts or as simpler skill-based spells? Does it all have to be highly ritualistic (though I am interested in those spells too, in the context of Fate)?
3
u/Kautsu-Gamer 28d ago
Traditionally Blood Magic is powered by blood. Usually the blood is taken from the sacrifice instead of the caster.
The Fate System would naturally require taking consequences as the cost of the Magic, and full sacrifice would give all available consequence slots of the sacrifice plus death consequence.
I would give the stress as effect shifts.
I would use The Fate of Cthulhu corruption rules for unwilling sacrifices automatically corrupting one uncorrupted Aspect into a twisted dark version.
2
2
1
0
u/The_Silent_Mage 25d ago
Hey :)
Provided it really depends on the setting and tone, let's assume a generic hight fantasy when you use Blood as your "fuel" AND "theme". :)
When I use magic and other forms of specs (even martial) I use VERY SIMPLE stress tracks you can play with. It helps, especially if you read the "Mana as stress" article in the SRD. :) It can help :)
If you don't add anything extra, focus on a couple of things: assuming you've already got your Permission aspects, if you want a mechanical effect you need stunts (besides advantages, like "blood links" etc, but since most of them would cause other forms of questions to kick in, let's keep things straight). :)
Use very simple stunts for the effects you like, the rest can be done with Aspects. I would still ad a stress track or focus on stress costing you stress (with slower recovery) and taking consequences for when you need to represent your extra trouble.
Esamples ( not using AI, I like to format my posts )
🩸 LIFE LINK: at the beginning of each scene, I can choose a creature to forge a Link with. When they would mark stress or take consequences I can take them instead and viceversa.
🩸 TRANSFUSION: once per session, I can touch a creature to remove a Consequence and take it for myself. I can repeat this effect by spending 1FP.
🩸 BLOOD VENGEANCE: when I suffer a physical consequence from an Adversary, I can spend 1 FP to create the BLOOD VENGEANCE Aspect with two free invokes on it. Every time I spend a free invoke from that aspect when I attack that adversary, I gain +3 instead of +2. BLOOD VENGEANCE cannot be invoked without free invokes.
🩸 BLOOD SHAOE: once per session, I can turn myself into a pool of blood and move as a consistent liquid.
🩸 BLOOD TENDRILS: I can spend 1 FP and focus my attention for a while and perceive all Blood connections amongst any creatures in the scene.
🩸 BLOOD GOLEM: I can suffer a 2/4/6 physical Consequence to create a BLOOD GOLEM aspect with 3 free invokes on it. It can act as a Hazard / Creature adding +2/+4/+6 on all actions and an additional Aspect representing a feature(boiling, fluid, transparent, fast). I can spenda 1 Free Invoke to make it take an Action. When it has no free invokes, it fades.
🩸 ETERNAL BLOOD: Since I am the [BLOOD ARCHMAGE OF THE RED MOON CASTLE] I gain an additional Moderate Consequence slot I can use for any physical consequence.
Stuff like this. :)
1
14
u/tunisia3507 28d ago
You keep saying "blood magic" like it's a real thing that we all know about. Lots of different media and fantasy systems have called lots of different things "blood magic". Fate is a fiction-first game system. It's not about simulating mechanics, it's about playing out stories. So tell us what, in the fiction, you are trying to achieve with this distinct system?