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Thread: regency

  1. #1
    finnsson
    Guest

    regency

    Hi,

    got some questions about bloodlines.

    1. If an intelligent tree killed a blooded person, would that tree then
    become blooded (like the boar that killed a noble, but this time it's a
    tree...)?

    2. Around how strong is a god's blood strength? 1000 for great and 300
    for lesser?

    3. Who's bloodline did the old gods have? Their own or did they gain
    their bloodline like the new gods received their bloodlines?

    4. Don't you think the spell "blood drain" is a bit to powerful? Let's
    say the Magian would like to increase his blood strength. Then he'll use
    some spell to find a person with a bloodline (to find a noble person
    would probably be enough, since most nobles got a bloodline). Then he'll
    cast "teleport without error" (in the middle of the night when the
    person is asleep) and then he'll cast "blood drain".

    //Finnsson

  2. #2
    Gary V. Foss
    Guest

    regency

    finnsson wrote:

    > Hi,
    >
    > got some questions about bloodlines.
    >
    > 1. If an intelligent tree killed a blooded person, would that tree then
    > become blooded (like the boar that killed a noble, but this time it's a
    > tree...)?

    Man, I'm really curious about the story behind this! What happened? A treant
    committed bloodtheft? Man, that's beautiful.....

    Anyway, unless you have something special in mind for this event, I would say
    no it would not become blooded. IIRC, the description of the Boar describes
    the events that gave that creature a bloodline as "unique". Of course, there
    seems to have been a few other "unique" events that created similar blooded
    creatures, so if you have something in particular in mind for the blooded tree
    then go ahead with it.

    > 2. Around how strong is a god's blood strength? 1000 for great and 300
    > for lesser?

    Personally, I think gods have bloodlines starting out at 101 for a new
    demi-gods and ranging up to 1,000 for a greater god who is the head of a
    pantheon.

    > 3. Who's bloodline did the old gods have? Their own or did they gain
    > their bloodline like the new gods received their bloodlines?

    I think the old gods got their bloodlines the old fashioned way. That is, they
    either went through the ranks of godism (or whatever it is called) or simply
    were born with them.

    > 4. Don't you think the spell "blood drain" is a bit to powerful? Let's
    > say the Magian would like to increase his blood strength. Then he'll use
    > some spell to find a person with a bloodline (to find a noble person
    > would probably be enough, since most nobles got a bloodline). Then he'll
    > cast "teleport without error" (in the middle of the night when the
    > person is asleep) and then he'll cast "blood drain".

    Yeah, blood drain is a bit much. But the big problem is with teleporting in
    general when it comes to BR. I mean, just about anyone who can teleport
    (relatively few people thankfully) could teleport into the bedroom of a blooded
    person and commit bloodtheft on them, right? They could do something like that
    right and left if they wanted to get their blood strength up. People try to do
    this all the time in PBeMs. It's never been a problem for me in a face-to-face
    game, but everyone seems to want to do it all the time on-line. Weird, huh?

    Gary

  3. #3
    Pieter Sleijpen
    Guest

    regency

    Gary V. Foss wrote:
    >
    > finnsson wrote:
    >
    > > Hi,
    > >
    > > got some questions about bloodlines.
    > >
    > > 1. If an intelligent tree killed a blooded person, would that tree then
    > > become blooded (like the boar that killed a noble, but this time it's a
    > > tree...)?
    >
    > Man, I'm really curious about the story behind this! What happened? A treant
    > committed bloodtheft? Man, that's beautiful.....
    >
    > Anyway, unless you have something special in mind for this event, I would say
    > no it would not become blooded. IIRC, the description of the Boar describes
    > the events that gave that creature a bloodline as "unique". Of course, there
    > seems to have been a few other "unique" events that created similar blooded
    > creatures, so if you have something in particular in mind for the blooded tree
    > then go ahead with it.
    >
    > > 2. Around how strong is a god's blood strength? 1000 for great and 300
    > > for lesser?
    >
    > Personally, I think gods have bloodlines starting out at 101 for a new
    > demi-gods and ranging up to 1,000 for a greater god who is the head of a
    > pantheon.
    >
    > > 3. Who's bloodline did the old gods have? Their own or did they gain
    > > their bloodline like the new gods received their bloodlines?
    >
    > I think the old gods got their bloodlines the old fashioned way. That is, they
    > either went through the ranks of godism (or whatever it is called) or simply
    > were born with them.
    >
    > > 4. Don't you think the spell "blood drain" is a bit to powerful? Let's
    > > say the Magian would like to increase his blood strength. Then he'll use
    > > some spell to find a person with a bloodline (to find a noble person
    > > would probably be enough, since most nobles got a bloodline). Then he'll
    > > cast "teleport without error" (in the middle of the night when the
    > > person is asleep) and then he'll cast "blood drain".
    >
    > Yeah, blood drain is a bit much. But the big problem is with teleporting in
    > general when it comes to BR. I mean, just about anyone who can teleport
    > (relatively few people thankfully) could teleport into the bedroom of a blooded
    > person and commit bloodtheft on them, right? They could do something like that
    > right and left if they wanted to get their blood strength up. People try to do
    > this all the time in PBeMs. It's never been a problem for me in a face-to-face
    > game, but everyone seems to want to do it all the time on-line. Weird, huh?
    >
    > Gary

    Luckily you can only teleport into an area that you know and I would
    never invite a wizard of that magnitude into my sleeping room :-) Of
    coarse, they could scan the room, but that would be easy to block
    (though expensive). Most of the time I assume any regent with a
    reasonable powerfull court wizard (around 8th lvl or higher) knows about
    this and will have made some minor preperations. Besides, a really
    paranoid regent just places loyal bodyguard in his own sleeping room or
    just that simple alarm spell. The fuss that that creates, might give any
    regent enough time to flee through a secret exit. By then it would be to
    late for the powerful wizard to do anything without causing a lot of
    destruction.

    Remember, that most other regents would react quite aggressive to such
    tactics. Probably more agressive then the USA to the fact that India and
    Pakistan have nuclear weapons. The Magian wants to form alliances before
    striking either Min Dhousai or Khourane. There is no way that someone
    would ally with him if he was known to use such tactics.

    Pieter Sleijpen

  4. #4
    Gary V. Foss
    Guest

    regency

    Pieter Sleijpen wrote:

    > Luckily you can only teleport into an area that you know and I would
    > never invite a wizard of that magnitude into my sleeping room :-) Of
    > coarse, they could scan the room, but that would be easy to block
    > (though expensive). Most of the time I assume any regent with a
    > reasonable powerfull court wizard (around 8th lvl or higher) knows about
    > this and will have made some minor preperations. Besides, a really
    > paranoid regent just places loyal bodyguard in his own sleeping room or
    > just that simple alarm spell. The fuss that that creates, might give any
    > regent enough time to flee through a secret exit. By then it would be to
    > late for the powerful wizard to do anything without causing a lot of
    > destruction.

    I generally assume that non-magic users or non-priests are unable to work magic, but
    they have a basic understanding of how it works, especially nobles. That is, that
    spellcasters must spend time memorizing spells and that once they are used they are
    forgotten, that certain things block spells, what spell components are, etc. I can't
    waterski, for instance, but I understand how it works. Similarly, a mage may not
    know how to fence, but he understands the basic concept of fencing, so I think it
    makes sense that a fighter would be able to understand the basics of what a
    spellcaster does without understanding the intricacies of actual spellcasting.

    Despite the fact that BR is a "low-magic setting" (I've argued that it isn't really
    low-magic at all, but that's an already well-debated topic, so let's skip it, eh?) I
    think magic is still common enough for people to understand the basics of how
    spellcasting functions, even if they cannot practice it themselves. Especially
    nobles who would have some sort of education process as part of their upbringing.

    > Remember, that most other regents would react quite aggressive to such
    > tactics. Probably more agressive then the USA to the fact that India and
    > Pakistan have nuclear weapons. The Magian wants to form alliances before
    > striking either Min Dhousai or Khourane. There is no way that someone
    > would ally with him if he was known to use such tactics.

    These are good points. A mage doing stuff like that would probably start earning a
    lot of ire. IF he was found out, that is.... If *I* were a high level mage and
    going to commit such an act, I'd cast a couple of preperatory spells on myself to try
    to keep that from happening. Things like invisibility, alter self, maybe even
    polymorph self to help hide my identity. The Magian is already a pretty powerful
    guy, so attacking him might be kind of tough, but if he used a little sublety he
    could probably get away with a lot for a long time. If I were the Magian I'd try to
    make it look like someone from Djafra or Merasa did it, or one of those enigmatic
    elven nations. Those elves often hate humans and they use a lot of magic..... That
    way he could gain bloodstrength, dispose of one potential threat, and sow distrust
    amongst his opponents.

    The other thing to consider is that there are quite a few (relatively speaking)
    blooded individuals running around who aren't regents. If a mage was out to increase
    his bloodstrength by bloodtheft, why bother picking on guys with all the protection
    and resources of a domain ruler? I'd go after the "lesser" blooded nobles. Sure,
    you might only get a point from the act, but you may be able to scrag the whole
    family in a single night.... That might make it worthwhile (from a hideously evil
    standpoint, that is.)

    Gary

  5. #5
    Alexander MacLeod
    Guest

    regency

    >> 4. Don't you think the spell "blood drain" is a bit to powerful? Let's
    >> say the Magian would like to increase his blood strength. Then he'll use
    >> some spell to find a person with a bloodline (to find a noble person
    >> would probably be enough, since most nobles got a bloodline). Then he'll
    >> cast "teleport without error" (in the middle of the night when the
    >> person is asleep) and then he'll cast "blood drain".
    >
    >Yeah, blood drain is a bit much. But the big problem is with teleporting in
    >general when it comes to BR. I mean, just about anyone who can teleport
    >(relatively few people thankfully) could teleport into the bedroom of a blooded
    >person and commit bloodtheft on them, right? They could do something like that
    >right and left if they wanted to get their blood strength up. People try to do
    >this all the time in PBeMs. It's never been a problem for me in a face-to-face
    >game, but everyone seems to want to do it all the time on-line. Weird, huh?
    >

    You must remember, that even with Teleport Without Error, the
    Magian can't just say, "Hmm, think I'll teleport into Queen Banira
    bint Hamilah el-Reshid's bedchamber tonightÅ*." He has to know exactly
    where her castle is, and exactly where her bedroom is in that castle,
    and it couldn't hurt to know how the furnature is arranged in the
    room. This doesn't prevent teleportation, but should cause it to be a
    little less frequent (and have Espionage actions as precursers).

    Alexander


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  6. #6
    Mark A Vandermeulen
    Guest

    regency

    On Sun, 18 Apr 1999, Gary V. Foss wrote:

    > Man, I'm really curious about the story behind this! What happened? A treant
    > committed bloodtheft? Man, that's beautiful.....
    >
    > Anyway, unless you have something special in mind for this event, I would say
    > no it would not become blooded. IIRC, the description of the Boar describes
    > the events that gave that creature a bloodline as "unique". Of course, there
    > seems to have been a few other "unique" events that created similar blooded
    > creatures, so if you have something in particular in mind for the blooded tree
    > then go ahead with it.

    I agree--if it makes sense for your story, then run with it. I would,
    however, suggest that sap runs slower than blood, and so it might take
    some time for any overt sign of "change" to come over the tree/treeant,
    just to give you a reasonable excuse for leaving your PC's in suspense
    about the outcome.

    > Yeah, blood drain is a bit much. But the big problem is with teleporting in
    > general when it comes to BR. I mean, just about anyone who can teleport
    > (relatively few people thankfully) could teleport into the bedroom of a
    blooded
    > person and commit bloodtheft on them, right? They could do something
    like that
    > right and left if they wanted to get their blood strength up. People
    try to do
    > this all the time in PBeMs. It's never been a problem for me in a
    face-to-face
    > game, but everyone seems to want to do it all the time on-line. Weird,
    huh?

    I've always thought that BR needed a Mason kit, either as a magician or as
    a priest. That is, someone that a regent or wealthy person could hire to
    construct their houses/castles/towers etc. using certain tried and true
    magical methods for preventing just this sort of nastiness. Afterall, if
    PC's can think of it now, no doubt they could have thought of it 1000
    years ago, and in that time SOMEONE would have researched a way to prevent
    it.

    My idea is to either have priests enscribe sigils on the doors/threshholds
    of people's houses to keep ghosts and magic away for a year (probably used
    mostly by the middle and lower classes), or to have a cadre of
    specially-trained alchemist-magicians who have researched a wide variety
    of Abjuration spells so that they can be cast at 1st or 2nd level in
    exchange for greatly exagerated casting times and material components. And
    therefore, you can build a castle whose keep is resistant to ghosts,
    immaterial and etheral creatures, whose council chamber is Proofed against
    Divination, and whose master bedroom is Designed around the Sigil of
    Anti-teleportation. Would also introduce the proficieny Mason Lore or some
    such, which would allow you to "read" a piece of architecture to tell what
    penalties or bonuses different kinds of magic would have there.

    But, like so many others of my ideas, I just haven't had time to flesh it
    out. Anyone want to help?

    Mark VanderMeulen
    vander+@pitt.edu

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