The Curse of Azrai`s blood

[KAI BESTE]

> Jaime T. Matthew wrote:
> > If a scion kills a blooded character with Azrai's bloodline, there is
> > a small chance that they will be tainted. They have a good chance
> > (based on their bloodline strength) to resist the corrupting effect.
>
> How do the game-mechanic handle this idea? Rolling dice, I suspect,
> but what rule's would you give it?

There isn't any general rule. The adventure "Horns of Droene" from
"Legends of the Hero-Kings" has a rule for a single instance, but you
could adapt it. The propability for corruption should depend on the
PC's bloodline strenght and the bloodline strenght of his opponent. I
don't have my notes at hand, so this is just off the top of my head.
IMC the chance is 10% per difference in blood strenght (tainted,
minor, major, great, true), plus half the difference in blood points.
If the player has lived true to the ideals of goodness (good alignment
or whatever), the chance is halfed, as the curse of Azrai doesn't
have as strong a hold on him (I don't have evil PCs IMC).
If the player happens to be cursed by Azrai's blood, he has to fight
evil impulses at every important decision, and use of Azrai's blood
abilities slowly transforms him into an awnshegh.

> > This works under the presumption that committing Blood Theft is
evil.
> > The very act opens up the player to the evil god's energies. At the
> > very least, killing is required....
>
> I disagree, bloodtheft for the sake of bloodpoints is indeed an evil
> act, bloodtheft by chance is not. Let me explain: on one adventure
> some time ago we encountered an evil wizard who could regenerate and
> had green blood, could transform himself into a golden cat. As we
> tried to kill the dude, he only scoffed at our 'insignificant' tries
> to harm him (even chopped of his arm, which he picked up an attached
> it right away as if it had never come off), so my PC had the idea
> (since we were all on the losing side and hopes of winning were low):
> why not try to strike his heart, he ought to have one. And by freak
> accident I immedeately rolled a 20 on the attack die, so I struck him
> in the heart. Aye he was blooded and I got some points.
>
> Question, is this an evil act? Would, if he was Azrai blooded (I
> don't know) this increase the chances of being affected (I only had
> 11 bloodpoints)?

No, it isn't evil. Seeking out blooded NPCs and killing them for the
sake of bloodpoints is evil, but hunting down an evil awnshegh and
killing him isn't necessarily, if you kill him for the good of the
people, not for his bloodline. Defending yourself against an attacker
and killing him by piercing his heart isn't different from killing
him in another way.
If this was an evil act (because you attacked and killed him for his
bloodlin, or whatever reason), it would definately increase your
chance of being affected. If you had used the rule from "Horns of
Droene" you almost certainly would have been affected.

just my 2 CP,
Kai

[Cec Stacey]

>
> If a scion kills a blooded character with Azrai's bloodline, there is
> a small chance that they will be tainted. They have a good chance
> (based on their bloodline strength) to resist the corrupting effect.
>
> If a scion commits blood theft (killing the scion of Azrai with a
> blow to the heart [intentional or otherwise]) they have a much
> greater chance of having their bloodline tainted by the act. This is
> much harder to resist than merely killing the scion.
>
> The determining factor is the number of blood points absorbed by the
> scion from the scion of Azrai.
>
> This works under the presumption that committing Blood Theft is evil.
> The very act opens up the player to the evil god's energies. At the
> very least, killing is required....
>
> Jaime


I just thought of an ideal way to handle it. Go by percentages of Azrai to
Other BL points. Then, every time there's a positive change in the Azrai
score, figure out the percentage Azrai's blood is of the whole, and roll
that as a percentage chance of a change. Eg. - Mr. Boffo the Marvelous has
a BL of 18 of Vorynn, and bloodthefts an awnsheighlin for 2 pts. He now
has a BL of 20, of which 2 are Azrai. That's 10% - you rolls the dice, and
you takes your chances. If the 10% comes up, you've got a budding
awnsheighlin on your hands. You could also force checks periodically (such
as every domain turn) to reflect that evil, evil blood trying to dominate
its host. It'll make people more hesitant to bloodtheft awnsheighlin. And
it's a simple way for those who want to make it risky.
.

[Dominic Reynolds]

>I just thought of an ideal way to handle it. Go by percentages of Azrai to
>Other BL points. Then, every time there's a positive change in the Azrai
>score, figure out the percentage Azrai's blood is of the whole, and roll
>that as a percentage chance of a change. Eg. - Mr. Boffo the Marvelous has
>a BL of 18 of Vorynn, and bloodthefts an awnsheighlin for 2 pts. He now
>has a BL of 20, of which 2 are Azrai. That's 10% - you rolls the dice, and
>you takes your chances. If the 10% comes up, you've got a budding
>awnsheighlin on your hands. You could also force checks periodically (such
>as every domain turn) to reflect that evil, evil blood trying to dominate
>its host. It'll make people more hesitant to bloodtheft awnsheighlin. And
>it's a simple way for those who want to make it risky.

I like the idea of this, as blood theft in itself is not a thing that most
people
would consider. A person seeking to slay an Awnsheighlin to defend their
people and rid the world of the taint of Azrai, should not be thinking I
can gain
its latent power here. That is not a selfless act of heroism, and therefore
can be discouraged with this rule.
dominicreynolds@dial.pipex.com

[Nadastor]

At 23.02 25/05/97 -0300, you wrote:
>
>
>>
>> If a scion kills a blooded character with Azrai's bloodline, there is
>> a small chance that they will be tainted. They have a good chance
>> (based on their bloodline strength) to resist the corrupting effect.
>>
>> If a scion commits blood theft (killing the scion of Azrai with a
>> blow to the heart [intentional or otherwise]) they have a much
>> greater chance of having their bloodline tainted by the act. This is
>> much harder to resist than merely killing the scion.
>>
>> The determining factor is the number of blood points absorbed by the
>> scion from the scion of Azrai.
>>
>> This works under the presumption that committing Blood Theft is evil.
>> The very act opens up the player to the evil god's energies. At the
>> very least, killing is required....
>>
>> Jaime
>
>
>I just thought of an ideal way to handle it. Go by percentages of Azrai to
>Other BL points. Then, every time there's a positive change in the Azrai
>score, figure out the percentage Azrai's blood is of the whole, and roll
>that as a percentage chance of a change. Eg. - Mr. Boffo the Marvelous has
>a BL of 18 of Vorynn, and bloodthefts an awnsheighlin for 2 pts. He now
>has a BL of 20, of which 2 are Azrai. That's 10% - you rolls the dice, and
>you takes your chances. If the 10% comes up, you've got a budding
>awnsheighlin on your hands. You could also force checks periodically (such
>as every domain turn) to reflect that evil, evil blood trying to dominate
>its host. It'll make people more hesitant to bloodtheft awnsheighlin. And
>it's a simple way for those who want to make it risky.
>.


Yes, it can be a cool system but i think that ruins a great campaign flavor,
the quest of killing the gorgon, who, we know, has 100 % azrai blood, so if
an hero, let's say Michael Roele, would kill the gorgon it will surely being
an awnsheighlin, the greatest and most dangerous. So nobody will try anymore.

Ah... don't say that pcs don't know that, they're not stupid, before killing
the gorgon they have surely killed other awnsheighlin and knew the side effect.


Nadastor, Wizard of the Black Robes
"The power of a man is not in his hands, but in his eyes !
His life is not into his body, but into his mind !
The world is not around him, but is in him !"

[Cec Stacey]

> I don't see bloodtheft on azrai scion as evil...
> after all, they are monsters! In ADD, you kill monsters in order to get
> some xp.This is not considered as evil (even paladins act like this).
> i believe that gaining bloodpoints can be considered to some extent as
> "gaining xp" (it's a "reward" for the death of monsters).
> Corrupting effect of azrai's blood should be enterly tied to the GM's
> will: why should you roll the dice for such a decision in your game?
> it would make such drastic changes that it may lead to some unwanted
> conequences.i believe that is "playing with fire":
> a GM should always have a absolute control on the major event occuring
> in is game.
>
>
You misunderstood me. I wasn't saying that bloodtheft is evil - I equate
it to the Immortals in Highlander fighting to be the last, to win the
"prize". What I meant, and you can't argue, is that the blood itself is
evil. It carries the taint, the divine essence of the incarnation of evil
- - Satan of Cerilia if you will. And within the setting, there are numerous
tales, stories, and factual relations of this evil blood consuming its host
and metamorphasizing into an awnshelghlin. (IMO, the changeover process
completely changes the personality of the person, therefore "killing" the
original personality, and creating a new one).
As for the random dice roll to see if the tainted blood of evil incarnate
takes over its host, it's a roll I suggest the DM makes for the character
secretly. That way the changeover process can be gradual, and a skilled DM
can ensure that the character doesn't even realize what's happening until
it's too late. And used properly, this won't destroy a campaign - the die
roll can be fudged, just like any other. As a DM, I must admit that I
fudge about 60% of my die rolls (sorry Trevor - it makes for a better
storytelling game, though!) in order to carry the story line throuought the
game. This is especially important for BR, which I find to be more story
intensive, role playing oriented than any other setting so far (except
maybe Dragonlance - definitely second place though).
So having said that, you don't even need to do a die roll as a DM.
There's an interesting thing called "DM fiat" whereby the outcome is
dictated - not dependent upon die roll. This is ultimately the best for a
structured story line, but it does require an imaginative DM who can create
structured, "random" seeming events to keep the game from sounding too much
like a play script. (Maybe I just shot my original post to hell, but I
stand by both ideas, depending upon circumstance).
The best advice, as told many times before, is just do what feels right.

[Augustin du Payrat]

Cec Stacey wrote:
>
> >
> > If a scion kills a blooded character with Azrai's bloodline, there is
> > a small chance that they will be tainted. They have a good chance
> > (based on their bloodline strength) to resist the corrupting effect.
> >
> > If a scion commits blood theft (killing the scion of Azrai with a
> > blow to the heart [intentional or otherwise]) they have a much
> > greater chance of having their bloodline tainted by the act. This is
> > much harder to resist than merely killing the scion.
> >
> > The determining factor is the number of blood points absorbed by the
> > scion from the scion of Azrai.
> >
> > This works under the presumption that committing Blood Theft is evil.
> > The very act opens up the player to the evil god's energies. At the
> > very least, killing is required....
> >
> > Jaime
>
> I just thought of an ideal way to handle it. Go by percentages of Azrai to
> Other BL points. Then, every time there's a positive change in the Azrai
> score, figure out the percentage Azrai's blood is of the whole, and roll
> that as a percentage chance of a change. Eg. - Mr. Boffo the Marvelous has
> a BL of 18 of Vorynn, and bloodthefts an awnsheighlin for 2 pts. He now
> has a BL of 20, of which 2 are Azrai. That's 10% - you rolls the dice, and
> you takes your chances. If the 10% comes up, you've got a budding
> awnsheighlin on your hands. You could also force checks periodically (such
> as every domain turn) to reflect that evil, evil blood trying to dominate
> its host. It'll make people more hesitant to bloodtheft awnsheighlin. And
> it's a simple way for those who want to make it risky.
> .
> ************************************************** *************************
> > I don't see bloodtheft on azrai scion as evil...
after all, they are monsters! In ADD, you kill monsters in order to get
some xp.This is not considered as evil (even paladins act like this).
i believe that gaining bloodpoints can be considered to some extent as
"gaining xp" (it's a "reward" for the death of monsters).
Corrupting effect of azrai's blood should be enterly tied to the GM's
will: why should you roll the dice for such a decision in your game?
it would make such drastic changes that it may lead to some unwanted
conequences.i believe that is "playing with fire":
a GM should always have a absolute control on the major event occuring
in is game.

Augustin du payrat
Email: rachid.eljanati@galeode.fr