Cerilian Dragons?

[irdeggman]

at the moment, I dont have a problem with his true bloodline. I have no doubt he will have a backstory worthy of his bloodline, and he paid his level adjustments for it. In addition, he is well aware of his weakness as an adventurer in comparison to the other PCs(who are each 10th level), and his blood abilities arent as "munchy" as they couldve been.

Aside from that, he justifies that he is one of the originals, very close to the explosion at Deismaar. He has the Long Life(great) ability as well. His concept centers around his corruption, and his charcter is Lawful Evil. His background falls within the realm of at least believeability, so I have no problem with it at the moment.

In addition, I havent played Birthright in 10 years, so alot of this material is new to me again. The systems and ideas of 3.5 D&D arent new to me at all.

It is your game and if it makes sense to you then go with it.

The "revised" and sanctioned Chap 2 (bloodlines) no longer has a "level adjustment" for bloodline strength so make sure you are using the correct version of Ch 1 and 2 (for 3.5). Chapters 1 and 2 are up to 3.5 standards now (the sanctioned versions that is) - the rest of the BRCS is pretty much still a 3.0 version so it should be looked at in that light.

There is currently no scion level for a true bloodline, again since it should be so very rare for a PC.

You can add another level to the existing Azrai one (since his PC is of Azrai derivation).

See attached for a 3rd scion class level I worked up a while ago.

Now something that is of key importance though - just being present and in the immediate presence of the deities' death is not sufficient (nor was it in 2nd ed) to justify a True bloodline. This is a core concept of the BR bloodline system to keep in mind.

In order to justify having a True Azrai bloodline the character had to be on par in loyalty, personality and performance to The Gorgon, The Spider and Rhoube. They were in the immediate vicinity and were some of Azrai's greatest generals, along with the 2 that ascended to godhood (Krisha and Belnik). That is something to keep in mind and hold tight to. If his PC was not on the same level as those 5 then he doesn't deserve a True bloodline. He would have a Great one if only due to his proximity to the battle - but a scion can never acquire a True bloodline by actions only by being present (and meeting the specified criteria) or by being a direct descendant of one that did.

There is another possibility to "justify" the True bloodline, but that one relates to Azrai's "chosen" (basically the Lost). That one is much, much harder to justify for a PC though.

I would ask yuo to give serious thought about the ramification of allowing a PC to have a True Bloodline though and to make sure it fits with the "history" of the setting. Again, it is your game so you can "tweak" things as you see the need.

[Starmage21]

thanks for that table.

Actually, I downloaded the PDF only without looking at the other stuff (thought it was older) and had it printed for my reference. So far ive been going off of that.

Aside from that, the player's background states that his bloodline originally came from Andurias (I think) and that it was later corrupted do to all of the awnshegh slaying that soon followed. It was the corruption of his blood that helped his fall to evil (PC is aiming at blackgaurd levels once he gains enough experience). Its Mikal's PC though, Ive only got the footnotes so far, he would likely have the most complete version of that story so far. To me, it falls within the realm of believability, so its acceptable.

*edit*
Isnt it also possible that a True bloodline can be gained by following the process detailed in the BRCS? He could raise his bloodline by 4 and attempt a quest that would add to his image, and thus increase his bloodline strength?

[Mikal]

Hi everyone. True blooded person in question here. I think there's some misunderstanding going on. The character in question was in fact at desimaar and was a true bloodline of ANDURIAS during it. Lawful good, and fit the ideals of his god totally. Became an Erhshiegh. Spent several centuries hunting down awnsheigh that he could face. eventually he faced a true blooded awnsheigh, and Azrai's curse was finally able to take over his derivation, a sort of attack on one who'd been able to resist the curse for centuries due to his pure blood.

If you want I can print out the full backstory I have thus far

[Fizz]

Hi everyone. True blooded person in question here. I think there's some misunderstanding going on. The character in question was in fact at desimaar and was a true bloodline of ANDURIAS during it. Lawful good, and fit the ideals of his god totally. Became an Erhshiegh. Spent several centuries hunting down awnsheigh that he could face. eventually he faced a true blooded awnsheigh, and Azrai's curse was finally able to take over his derivation, a sort of attack on one who'd been able to resist the curse for centuries due to his pure blood.

If you want I can print out the full backstory I have thus far

Um, but why would his bloodline derivation change? You don't become an awnshegh just by defeating other awnshegh. You can gain bloodline strength but the derivation stays the same.

The only way i can think of to change your bloodline derivation to Azrai's is a nasty little spell devised by the Magian.


-Fizz

[Starmage21]

If you Usurp (or worse, commit Bloodtheft), your derivation can change.

*edit*
And whats worse, its much easier to be changed to Azrai. In general, your party fights foes who will challenge them, and that means theyre usually higher level, or have potent abilities(enough to be able to deal with 4 characters). A blood check against a foe who has a bloodline strong enough for a PC to gain from Usurping will usually yeild bloodline corruption.

[Mikal]

Which is what happened with this character

[Fizz]

If you Usurp (or worse, commit Bloodtheft), your derivation can change.

*edit*
And whats worse, its much easier to be changed to Azrai. In general, your party fights foes who will challenge them, and that means theyre usually higher level, or have potent abilities(enough to be able to deal with 4 characters). A blood check against a foe who has a bloodline strong enough for a PC to gain from Usurping will usually yeild bloodline corruption.

Hmmm... just found it Chapter 2 of the BRCS. This must be a mechanic for 3e, as i don't recall this being possible in the original 2nd Ed. I'll have to go look that up.

This means your character there must've been facing some serious bad-ass awnsheghlien. Sounds like it's epic adventuring.


-Fizz

[Mikal]

Hmmm... just found it Chapter 2 of the BRCS. This must be a mechanic for 3e, as i don't recall this being possible in the original 2nd Ed. I'll have to go look that up.

This means your character there must've been facing some serious bad-ass awnsheghlien. Sounds like it's epic adventuring.


-Fizz

Well, like i said, backstory. He WAS at Desimaar and was a hard core ershiegh for the first few hundred years. he recently came back out of 'retirement' per se to achieve his plan that came up when he got corrupted by Azrai

[irdeggman]

Hmmm... just found it Chapter 2 of the BRCS. This must be a mechanic for 3e, as i don't recall this being possible in the original 2nd Ed. I'll have to go look that up.
-Fizz

Legends of the Hero Kings pg 70 had a mechanic for changing bloodline to Azrai.

Book of Regency (pg 24-25) had a similar mechanic for becoming an Awnghie follwoing bloodtheft.

[irdeggman]

Hi everyone. True blooded person in question here. I think there's some misunderstanding going on. The character in question was in fact at desimaar and was a true bloodline of ANDURIAS during it. Lawful good, and fit the ideals of his god totally. Became an Erhshiegh. Spent several centuries hunting down awnsheigh that he could face. eventually he faced a true blooded awnsheigh, and Azrai's curse was finally able to take over his derivation, a sort of attack on one who'd been able to resist the curse for centuries due to his pure blood.

If you want I can print out the full backstory I have thus far

Alright which true blooded Azrai awnsheigh? There are only a few of those and they are all specifically listed. Remember that in the early days Azrai's scions fed off of each other, which is why there are so few of the higher blooded ones.

Second, using the BRCS sanctioned Ch 2 mechanics this really should not be all that possible.

While this bloodline usurpation may seem an easy way to increase a scion’s blood power, it does come with its risks. When a scion absorbs the bloodline essence of a scion with a bloodline score higher than his, then he faces the risk of the victim’s bloodline derivation effectively overwhelming his own. It is actually possible for a scion’s bloodline derivation to change as the new, more powerful bloodline grounds itself in the slayer’s body. This can only occur if the slayer absorbs the maximum RP (twice his current bloodline score) during usurpation. If this happens, then the scion must make a contested bloodline check or change the derivation of his bloodline to the newly absorbed derivation.

If your PC started out with a True Anduiras bloodline - which aspect of the deity was the PC most closely associated with?

There would have been tremendous stories of his greatness in battle and leadership prior to Deismaar. That would put him on par with Haelyn and Roele as far as status goes. This means that the Gogon would have targeted him preferentially very early on since the PC would have represented someone that his "brothers" had a powerful pier/ally.

This is one of the reasons why it is a really bad idea to allow a PC to have a True bloodline - it requires a large rewrite in the established history of the setting. All characters with True bloodlines should be significant to the history of the setting.

There is a character in Ruins of Empire (pg 74) that might be a template for the "type" of PC you want. Teodre Profiev, a paladin of Haelyn with a major Azrai bloodline. I think there is another character listed with an Azrai bloodline that he is "fighting" - I just can't remember who or where he was listed.