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  1. #1

    Some questions about bloodline

    Hello,

    Can somebody help me please, I just want to ask a few things about birthright so that I can use the rules in my campaign.

    It says that if a scion dies of natural causes, the bloodline goes to the land or their heir. Does this mean that scions who's fathers haven't died don't have any bloodline score, or does it increase?
    If children are born with a bloodline, and the bloodline always increases after their father dies won't that result in exponential growth?

    Is this how bloodtheft works?

    24*5 (120 RP) Then, the target bloodline score is increased once by spending 25 points, then 26, 27, 28, 29

    making the final bloodline from killing a scion of equal level 28? Doesn't that mean that gaining a great bloodline isn't very hard, it just means killing a few scions?

    Since I expect my campaign to be long running, should I replace the 5x for regency with 2.5x?

    If somebody usurps, does that mean they're accepted as king (unless the land deems them as unworthy?), since I am playing epic six, the king will be level six and will be able to be killed by the players. What are the implications of this?

    Thanks in advance,
    Chris.
    Last edited by Chris232; 04-11-2013 at 07:45 AM. Reason: Title

  2. #2
    Administrator Arius Vistoon's Avatar
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    hi,

    when parent have children, the children can have bloodline if one of they parent have (died or not died).

    if the died people have a bloodline 24 with a major strengh and the killer have a bloodline 25 with a major strengh :
    24*5 = 120 RP go outside the body of the died people, but only 25*2 = 50 RP can be taken by the killer (the other 70 RP go to the next people in the area or animal or stone or somethething else)
    So the killer go from bloodline 25 to bloodline 26 (50-26= 24 RP left but it's not enough to raise the bloodline score to 27)
    Now if the killer have a bloodline with great strengh, only half has taken because the strengh is one degre more than the died (if it's 2 degre more, nothing was taken).
    So in this case (bloodline great), only 25 RP was gained and it's not enough to raise bloodline (need 26) which stay at 25.

  3. #3
    Site Moderator AndrewTall's Avatar
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    It depends on the rule-set that you use of course, but:

    A baby is born with a bloodline that it inherits from one or both parents, much as it inherits any other trait such as height, hair colour, or sunny disposition.

    Sometimes a bloodline lies dormant for generations, or is only inherited via the Land's choice decades or centuries after its originator scion died, this generally happens to weak bloodlines or those where the potential inheritors are unworthy/reject their godly heritage, such bloodlines may only manifest if the scion does something fairly epic and re-awakens the spark of godhood in their soul - usually in someone who also personifies some aspect of the dead god's persona.

    When a scion dies they usually pass their bloodline to their heir, either someone they have chosen and "locked onto" with an investiture ceremony, or someone who gains the bloodline through the land's choice. At this point the heir either increases their existing bloodline (possibly having a change in the dominant lineage) or gains one from scratch.

    So a typical regent had 2 "inheritances" of bloodline - one at birth, and another at 15-30 when their parent died, many may have had 3 (one from each parent) and some more (inheritances from relatives who died without issue and chose them as heir).

    The two types of inheritance are completely unrelated in mechanical terms, one basically being like eye or hair colour, and the other a Highlander-style power-up.

    I generally held the view that if both parents were blooded (and knew it) then the one with senior noble rank would pass their bloodline to the "chosen child" to keep the bloodline strong and assist them in their rule, but the other might pass their bloodline back to another of their original family so that several families retained a high bloodline strength and to reinforce the view that bloodline is seen as a "family asset" by the nobility - commit bloodtheft and the scion hasn't just offended the churches by committing sacrilige (depending on how it was done, who to, penance made, etc), they've stolen from every noble related to the victim - which is generally any noble with a desire to pursue a grudge given the ability of heralds to find old family relations and in-breeding amongst scions.

  4. #4
    Thankyou for the replies they make sense.

    One more question. When you kill a person and the RP isn't enough to increase your bloodline score, do you keep the RP or is it all wasted?

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    Senior Member Jaleela's Avatar
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    Please identify the ruleset that is being referenced. I am assuming in at least one case it's 3.x and not the original 2ed.
    d'estre bons et leaulx amis et vrais ensemble et de servir l'un 'autre envers et contre tous

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Jaleela View Post
    Please identify the ruleset that is being referenced. I am assuming in at least one case it's 3.x and not the original 2ed.
    I am using: 3.x

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    Site Moderator AndrewTall's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chris232 View Post
    If children are born with a bloodline, and the bloodline always increases after their father dies won't that result in exponential growth?
    Theoretically, if nothing bad ever happened, bloodlines would slowly increase by a few points a generation along the line of inheritance with various weaker lines popping up from 2nd, 3rd, etc children until the distance from the main bloodlines left the bloodline to weak to be inherited and the tainted bloodline simply petered out.

    In practice random events often cause a regency or even bloodline loss (particularly losses in war and other large losses of holdings) while slowly saving regency in order to convert RP into bloodline tends to be very hard when a feud with another regent can turn ever turn into a regency point sucking quagmire of contest and opposed actions.

    Quote Originally Posted by Chris232 View Post
    If somebody usurps, does that mean they're accepted as king (unless the land deems them as unworthy?), since I am playing epic six, the king will be level six and will be able to be killed by the players. What are the implications of this?

    Thanks in advance,
    Chris.
    All that the usurpation means is that the scion has claimed the bloodline, to take the holdings requires either the consent of the previous regent or to have conquered the domain and then the successful casting of an investiture realm spell - and even then the new regent may find that not everyone recognises their rule.

    Think of it like this, the proper inheritance is a huge public ceremony with the new ruler publicly anointed by the former and introduced to the people and court over the course of years,so everyone knows that the new regent is "supposed" to rule them and they have probably had years to accept the idea of the new regent taking over.

    The further you go from this "ideal" the more problems the new regent risks having, vassals, lieutenants and the court generally may resent or even oppose the new regent, former allies of the domain may refuse to continue their alliance - or try to put a "proper" heir on the throne.

    So if your PCs decide to randomly murder the king and usurp the king's bloodline, then they can expect to be treated as criminals who murdered the king. As a note, even nobles who were enemies of the former king may not support the PCs - all kings have a vested interest in ensuring that people who make a habit of killing kings are discouraged from repeating their offence!

    I tend to take the view that while the nobles may secretly support bloodtheft (particularly if they want to do it) it is socially unacceptable to do so outside of specific situations (such as war) since otherwise scions would never go out and would certainly never congregate. To encourage scions to socialise (and therefore encourage roleplay opportunities) I make indiscriminate bloodtheft seen in a similar manner to we see rape or crimes against children - something done by monsters. In BR of course the blood of Azrai is noted for its ability to corrupt and those who commit bloodtheft in the manner of an awnsheghlien may in time become one - a monster in body as much as in soul.

    Since bloodlines relate to the old gods I tend to see the priesthoods as having quite a proprietary view of them, passage of a bloodline (such as in usurpation) without clerical blessing is therefore seen very negatively by the clergy. Some priesthoods (i.e. Belinik's) may not have a problem with usurpation in itself, but would require a formal duel or other open contest of strength to have been held while other churches might have strict laws and codes to say when a duel may lawfully result in usurpation - failure to adhere to such codes might require penance in order to avoid censure (which could mean transferring regency to the family from whom a bloodline was "stolen" sufficient to allow them to regain their lost bloodline strength, transfer of holdings, GB's, or some other act that furthers the church's agenda).

    Of course it depends on how you want to play it, if you want to keep it simple and not roleplay the court, vassals, etc then you could simply have any holdings taken switch sides and follow the new regent without question - it all depends on how much you want to deal with the "social" side of domain rule.

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