I`ve been mulling something over for a few weeks now and I`m curious what

folks in the BR community think about the idea that instead of using ECL,

character levels, etc. to balance the BR bloodline system one could just

consider it inventory and come up with a system of balancing it from

that. That is, a bloodline and blood abilities might be assigned a certain

gp value and that could be computed into the character`s effective level

for the purpose of adventure design, CR, etc. Using such a system of

balancing bloodline one could go with a system very similar to the original

bloodline system (or one could have whatever expansions on the system that

one likes) with no effect on the overall character class system. There`d

be no need to portray bloodline as an ECL, character class, or whatever 3e

mechanic one prefers. The bloodline system could then remain outside the

character class system on the whole--and still be balanced by being

factored into the character`s overall equipment.



Since many blood abilities function like magic items it would be feasible

to base gp values on that, or one could come up with a more general

system. There are no existing rules that I`ve seen for determining what

the effect of having more or less equipment in one`s inventory than is

typically assumed that I`ve seen, but there are a few simple methods for

doing that. Furthermore, since one can increase, decrease or lose one`s

bloodline relatively easily, and the increments of increase/decrease are

much more subtle on the whole than the rather broad character class/ECL

system it seems more prudent to utilize the more general system of

inventory. Lastly, since one can lose bloodline entirely, it seems like it

shouldn`t be equated to XP since any loss has to be justified somehow

through that system.



Each point of bloodline score might be worth 100gp (just as an example)

while blood abilities might be rated according to their strength; minor =

500gp; major = 1,000gp; great = 2,000gp. A character with major, 38

bloodline, two minor and one major abilities then might be considered to

have 38 x 100 = 3,800 + 500 + 500 + 1,000 = 5,800gp worth of "equipment" on

his person (plus any actual equipment s/he carries.) That total value can

then be compared to the amount of money that is "standard" for such a

character to determine an overall EL for the purpose of determining encounters.



No worrying about bloodline`s ECL, XP costs to gain the appropriate "level"

in a scion character class, no need to portray bloodline as anything other

than what it probably is best described as--something extraneous to the

character class system itself.



Thoughts?



Gary