Blood Spirits

[Jonathan Picklesimer]

On Sat, 3 May 1997, mhale wrote:

> Blood Spirits are the remnants of the past owners of bloodlines, e.g. a
> regent my commit bloodtheft upon another regent thereby gaining part of
> his/her bloodline. Blood spirits haunt a bloodline but usually only in
> cases where the bloodspirit was murdered etc. This makes an excellent
> starting point for any adventure where the haunted regent must somehow
> appease the bloodspirit, or lay it to rest.
>
This sound like the spectral scion from the Rjurik Highlands campaign.

jsp

[Undertaker]

At 12:03 AM 5/3/97 +1000, Martin Hale(mhale@tpgi.com.au)wrote:
>
>Blood Spirits are the remnants of the past owners of bloodlines, e.g. a
>regent my commit bloodtheft upon another regent thereby gaining part of
>his/her bloodline. Blood spirits haunt a bloodline but usually only in
>cases where the bloodspirit was murdered etc. This makes an excellent
>starting point for any adventure where the haunted regent must somehow
>appease the bloodspirit, or lay it to rest.
>

To develop this even further you might want to pick up a copy of the
Ravenloft supplement "Van Richten's guide to Ghosts", and/or if you can get
the boxed set for RL look into the rules they have for Insanity(prehaps the
Bloodspirit is slowly driving the character insane).

Using VRs guide I have come up with this basic template for a Bloodspirit:

Bloodspirit(3rd Magnitude, Incorporeal Spirit)

Appearance: Corrupted (appears as a translucent rotting corpse)
Origin: Vengeance
Int: Varies (usually High)
AC: -2(4 if opponent is Ethereal)
MV: 16
HD: 9
THACO: 12
#AT: 1
Dmg: N/A
SA: See Below
SD: See Below
MR: Standard
ML: Special

A Bloodspirit looks much as it did in life except that it has the appearance
of the body rotting in a grave. A Bloodspirit has all the standard spell
immunities that other Ghosts have, and can only be struck by +2 or better
weapons(or +1 if the opponent is Ethereal). Also they can completely Heal
all damage done to them within one round, but must remain inactive for at
least the next 40 minutes afterward. Bloodspirits are normally
invisable(thier AC is -6/0 when in this state), and only become visable
during certain circumstances. Those are covered below.

Bloodspirits have several other abilities in common. A Bloodspirit will
dwell near the individual thier haunting at all times. Using thier abilty to
Cause Despair on the character they haunt or someone near him. They do this
at least once per day, but never more then 3 times in a 24 hour period.
Anyone who comes within 100 feet of the spirit can be targeted. The target
must make a Save vs. Magic or suffer a -2 penalty to all thier Attack rolls,
Saving Throws, and Proficiency checks, for the next 24 hours. The effect is
not cumulitive, but continued bouts of Despair will make a character slowly
become consumed by thier depression. Divide the characters Con by 3 round
down, and everytime that many consecutive days pass under the effects of the
Bloodspirit's Despair the character must Make a Save vs. Magic(modified for
high Wis. and the effects of the Despair)or permantly lose 1 point of
Wisdom. Example: Olaf has a 13 Con. and is haunted by a Bloodspirit. Every
4(13/3=4.33, rounded down comes to 4)consecutive days that he is under the
Despair caused by the Bloodspirit he must make a Save vs. Magic or lose a
point of Wisdom. If a characters Wis. drops to 0 they lose all will to live,
and must be restrained from taking thier own lives. Wis. can be regained
using a Restoration spell, at a rate of 1 point per spell.

Every evening when the haunted character goes to sleep there is a 25% chance
that the Bloodspirit will become visable and awaken the character by coming
in contact with him/her. This touch will Cause Revulsion in the target. The
character comes awake with an intense feeling of illness, and must make a
Save vs. Magic. If the character fails they become uncontrolably sick, and
they suffer a -4 penalty to all thier Attack rolls, Saving Throws, and
Proficiency checks, for the next 24 hours. Any Healing spell, even a minor
one will cancel this effect. They can only do this once per night, but the
penalty is cummulative with the Bloodspirits Despair ability. And don't
forgot to keep track of how much sleep a PC loses during these attacks, lack
of sleep could be a problem all in its self.

The last common ability of Bloodspirits is triggered when a haunted
character uses thier BAs. When such a character uses any of thier BAs the
Bloodspirit becomes visable and attacks them. Everyone else present must
make a Save vs, Magic or flee in Fear for the next 1d6+4 rounds. If the
Bloodspirit successfully hits the character the PC must Save against the
Revulsion(as above, and note this can be done even if the Bloodspirit used
its touch within the past 24 hours), but this is the least of the characters
problems. The touch will also Drain 1 point from the characters Strength,
Consitution, and Dexterity. There is no limit to how many times this may
happen. The points can be regained with a Restoration spell(1 for each
point), or they will return at a rate of 1 point per stat per month.
Although as each Stat is to go up the character must make a Save vs. Death
Magic(each Stat is rolled for individually), any Save that is failed leaves
that particular Stat permanetly Drained.

If a bloodspirit is destroyed in combat it will reform within a month. The
only way to be rid of it forever is to somehow appease its lust for
vengeance. How this is to be done is unique to each Bloodspirit. Also many
Bloodspirits have abilities from thier former Race or Class, and many have
unique Vunerabilities and Invunerabilities that are related to thier deaths.
And of course even slain they often have access to some of thier BAs from
when they once lived. No two Bloodspirits are ever alike, but pity any soul
cursed to live with this dark legacy.
Undertaker, richt@metrolink.net

"War is a matter of vital importance to the State;
the province of life or death;
the road to survival or ruin.
It is mandatory that it be thoroughly studied."
-Sun Tzu,(The Art of War)-

[Undertaker]

Ooops, I forgot to mention Bloodspirits can not be Turned.
Undertaker, richt@metrolink.net

"War is a matter of vital importance to the State;
the province of life or death;
the road to survival or ruin.
It is mandatory that it be thoroughly studied."
-Sun Tzu,(The Art of War)-

[Krazy Kat]

On Sat, 3 May 1997, mhale wrote:

> Blood Spirits are the remnants of the past owners of bloodlines, e.g. a
> regent my commit bloodtheft upon another regent thereby gaining part of
> his/her bloodline. Blood spirits haunt a bloodline but usually only in
> cases where the bloodspirit was murdered etc. This makes an excellent
> starting point for any adventure where the haunted regent must somehow
> appease the bloodspirit, or lay it to rest.

Sounds remarkably like the Spectral Scion described in Rjurik Highlands
campaign suplement. It's on page 96 if you have that book. Perhaps you
could develop what you are looking for from that data.
- -Ken

[Diana L. Paxson]

Thanks for the ideas on Blood Sprits. Early on in my campain I had a PC
get brutaly lucky and off the Chimaera with one of the 12 "Bloodsilver"
weapons scattered throughout Cerilia, and I've been looking for ways to
"haunt" him with that fortuitous bit of luck...

Grendel Todd