New Spells: Minor Blood Magic III
Links: PDF | D&D Beyond: Hemokinesis, Blood Reading
“Let us discover not just the prince’s location, but whether there is power in royal blood after all. Now, who will volunteer? The king? Or the queen…?”
Not all blood magic was invented for combat! Today’s spells might not be a blood mage’s first choice for defending themselves (or perhaps capturing victims), but the utility they provide to an adventuring hemomancer is difficult to ignore!
Hemokinesis is a cantrip in the same vein as shape water, gust, control flames, and mold earth, but manipulating blood instead of one of the four elements. While blood may at first seem like a more restricted form of water manipulation, this spell offers two unique benefits for its restricted targeting. The first is apparent upon reading the spell: like with gust, hemokinesis can be used to push a creature within range, but for its restriction to targets with blood, the spell gains the advantage of being able to push in any direction. The other benefit is that blood within a creature can be targeted for the first three options if that creature is dead. Thus, the second option, which enables the caster to animate the blood at their control, allows the spellcaster to manipulate a dead body like a puppet. Hemokinesis is a “Weekend-at-Bernie’s” spell!
The second spell, Blood Reading, is a long-form utility spell used to ascertain useful information about a creature through the magical investigation of their blood. Though blood reading is a blood spell, it isn’t only for blood mages. Divination through blood is a classic archetype of fantasy magic, used by holy mystics and villainous witches alike. Perhaps you use this spell to chase down a fleeing assassin, who you managed to bloody before her escape. Perhaps you use it to determine the true heir from the three men each claiming to be the lost prince. Perhaps you use it for noble research into the nature of a new plague, or for nefarious research into the magical applications of the blood of a pit fiend or a newborn fey. Regardless of your intentions, it is advised that you keep your blood reading out of the public eye. Even when it is performed with good in mind, showing your blood magic to the common folk is likely to get you burned at the stake.
The blood magic in The Impermissicon is designed to be appealing both to those who wish only to dabble in blood magic and those who desire to be full-fledged dedicated blood mages. With new blood spells, feats, subclasses, and more, the compendium will offer players the exact amount of blood magic they want, however much that is. We want to enable the classic blood mage story, that of a mage seeking power for reasonable goals who starts using blood magic as a minor curiosity, then delves deeper and deeper into it as they are pressed by the circumstances of their adventure to seek greater and greater power at any cost. That’s why these blood magic options are designed to work well together, but to be just as powerful when taken without specializing into blood magic at all.
Links: PDF | D&D Beyond: Hemokinesis, Blood Reading
