Play Your Next 5E D&D Game as a Blood Magic Expert

Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted tap into blood magic and discuss whether the concept is evil by its very nature when it comes to fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Also Ted crushes one of the best video intros to date, so it’s worth a watch for this alone. But did you know Nerdarchy already put together our ideas for a 5E D&D blood magic expert? In fact there’s more than one iteration of blood magic floating around. So let’s get into it.

The blood is the life for a 5E D&D blood mage

If the idea of blood magic in 5E D&D gets your blood pumping we’ve got some sanguinous surprises for you. First up for those spellcasters willing to pay any price for power we’ve got a simplified generic blood magic system you can drop right into your games elsewhere on the website here. This alternative spellcasting feature speaks closely to what Dave and Ted discuss in the video — the concept of using your 5E D&D character’s hit dice to fuel their magic.

Next up we followed a conversation about what 5E D&D race makes the best blood hunter by taking the popular class created by Critical Role’s Matt Mercer and breaking down the features into individual modules for Dungeon Masters to repurpose. The class and subclasses package a tremendous number of neat abilities useful for punching up those antagonists, rewarding characters with unique boons and so forth. These fun and functional resources await your discovery right here.

Finally there’s the Blood Mage Sorcerous Origin originally created by Nate the Nerdarch way back in the day. You can find this subclass in Secrets of the Vault: Lost Lore Vol. 2 along with elemental templates to slap on any creature, a magical disease affecting a creature’s fate, arachnomancy spells and a second Sorcerous Origin, the Aberrant Bloodline. You can pick up the PDF in Nerdarchy the Store here. And since signing up for Nerdarchy the Newsletter snags you a special coupon for $9.99 off your cart you can add it to your collection essentially free.

If you’re curious about the vein Nate took to explore his own ideas about blood magic for 5E D&D here’s the Blood Mage Sorcerous Origin from Lost Lore presented in full. Nate’s penchant for wordiness is legendary around here so take into consideration. Enjoy!

Sorcerous Origin — Blood Mage

Art by Joma Cueto

Power of the Blood. Though many are born with a knack for learning magic, few have the arcane might of the magus flowing through their very veins. Magical accidents, lineage, rituals, and more esoteric means can all lead one to the calling of magic by the blood while very few master it. Those who learn to harness this magical might to its fullest are known as blood mages.

Fueled by Blood

The magic is in the blood and when it is utilized to enact sorcery, your vitality temporarily suffers. Starting at 1st level, you can tap into the wellspring of your magical blood to invoke your blood magic features. As a reaction you can spend 1 Hit Die to activate one of your Fueled by Blood features. You may only have one Fueled by Blood feature active at a time.

As your sorcerer level increases the amount of hit dice you can spend on your Fueled by Blood features increases. At later levels you can to spend additional hit dice in the same round: 2 at 5th level, 3 at 11th level, and 4 at 17th level. If a feature has a duration, each additional hit die you spend doubles the maximum duration.

You gain the following Fueled by Blood feature at 1st level.

Vigor. Roll a Hit Die and add your Constitution modifier, regain that many hit points (minimum of 1). You also gain an amount of temporary hit points equal to your Charisma modifier.

Choose 1 additional blood magic feature from the list below at 1st level. You gain 2 additional Fueled by Blood abilities at 6th and 18th level.

Disrupt. You gain the power to disrupt the functions of other living beings by applying deleterious blood magic on others. Choose a target you can see within 30 ft. For 1 minute, you deal an extra 1d6 necrotic damage to the target whenever you hit it with an attack.

Enhancement. You gain the power to ignore your own physical and mental limits through the magic that resides within you. Choose one of the following effects; you gain that effect for 1 minute.

• You have advantage on Constitution checks. You also gain 2d6 temporary hit points, which are lost when the effect ends.
• You have advantage on Strength checks, and your carrying capacity doubles.
• You have advantage on Dexterity checks. You also don’t take damage from falling 20 feet or less if you aren’t incapacitated.
• You have advantage on Charisma checks.
• You have advantage on Intelligence checks.
• You have advantage on Wisdom checks.

Enrichment. You can affect your own prowess by channeling your vitality to enrich your body. You may increase your Strength, Dexterity, Constitution or Charisma by 2 for 1 hour.

Infuse. Your spells gain an eldritch potency. When a spell you cast hits a target you may spend 1 Hit  Die to increase the damage of the spell. Roll your hit die and add your Charisma modifier (minimum 1). The spell deals additional necrotic damage equal to the result.

Living Link. You gain the power to release your focus on a spell without the spell dissipating. You may spend a number of hit dice equal to a spell’s level, if able. If you are concentrating on a spell, you can release concentration without the spell ending, up to the maximum duration of the spell. Regardless of the remaining duration, if you die the spell ends immediately (if you are unconscious, the spell will continue until the spell’s duration ends).

Power. You gain the power to consume a sliver of your vital essence and transform it into spell power. You gain 1 sorcery point. You cannot exceed your maximum sorcery points.

Transfusion. You gain the power to affect others’ vitality by sharing some of your own. Select a target you can see within 60 ft and spend a hit die. The target regains hit points equal to the result of your hit die plus your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1).

Warding. You gain an understanding of the inherit magical protections are able to shrug off the effects of other spellcasters and magical beings. When you make a saving throw against a spell of magical effect, add your Charisma modifier to the roll.

Leverage in Sacrifice

Beginning at 1st level you can use your blood to fuel rituals. Early on you came to understand that your blood is power and by using it to draw complex sigils and symbols in rituals you can gain the attention of otherworldly beings.

You gain a ritual book with two 1st-level spells of your choice from the cleric’s spell list with some restrictions. The spells you choose must have the ritual tag. Charisma is the your spellcasting ability for these spells. If you come across a spell in written form, such as a magical spell scroll or a spellbook, you might be able to add it to your ritual book. If the spell is found on the cleric’s spell list, the spell’s level can be no higher than half your level (rounded up), and it must have the ritual tag.

The process of copying the spell into your ritual book takes 2 hours per level of the spell, and costs 50 gp per level of the spell. The cost represents material components you expend as you experiment with the spell to master it, as well as the fine inks, mixed with your blood, that you need to record it.

Thickening of the Blood

As your power and understanding of it grows so too does your eldritch might. At 6th level you gain 2 additional Fueled by Blood abilities. Starting at 6th level you also gain all of your hit dice back after a long rest rather then the standard amount.

Waxing and Waning

The more power runs through you the greater the channels grow but the greater the channels the greater the strain on your essence. Starting at 14th level you gain access to the following abilities.

Waxing. You gain the ability to cast a second spell this round of 5th level or lower. This spell can be augmented by metamagic abilities just as if it was the first spell you cast this round. When you gain this ability you gain the following restrictions. You may not cast more than 2 spells in a round (cantrips don’t count). Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

Waning. Each time this feature is used you gain a level of exhaustion plus an additional level of exhaustion for each time this ability was used since your last long rest. You gain the ability to cast a second spell this round (of any level that you are able to cast). This spell can be augmented by metamagic abilities just as if it was the first spell you cast this round. If this power is used to cast a spell above 5th level, you gain one additional level of exhaustion. For example if you cast a 5th level spell using Waxing after casting an 8th level spell the same round, you will have no adverse effects. If you then cast a spell later by using Waning to cast a 7th-level spell that round, you gain 2 levels of exhaustion.

Drawing in the Power

You have trained your blood to attract magical energies from the surrounding environments with great efficacy. Starting at 18th level, when your magical vitality is low you can draw in more from the world around you. If you start an encounter with zero Hit Dice you immediately gain 4 Hit Dice.

More 5E D&D blood magic

What do you think about this iteration of blood magic for 5E D&D? Do you like the idea of any spellcaster having the option to fuel their magic with blood as an alternative spellcasting procedure? Should every class have a blood magic subclass option? Does the Blood Mage sorcerer look fun to play? Oh, and one last thing if you’re in the market for a creepy blood themed monster try springing a blood rime on adventurers, which you can find right on the website here. Sound off in the comments!