At 11:24 AM 2/22/2003 -0600, Lord Shade wrote in the "Re: [BIRTHRIGHT]
Draft 0.0 Birthright skills and feats" thread:

>I strongly agree with Michael, IN PRINCIPLE. I hate the fact that you have
>to be weaker than a normal adventurer in order to be a better regent. 2e
>Birthright did not have that tradeoff, and "hero-king" was a viable
>character concept.

I agree. It`s part of making bloodline an ability score IMO. At first
blush I think it sounds like a good idea for a 3e conversion but when it
gets right down to it expressing bloodline as an ability score (and
attaching it to the point buy method of character generation) has several
problems, such as:

1. Bloodlines become expressed in a range from 8-18--which is effectively a
range of 1-11, a substantial difference in permutations from the original
bloodline system.

2. Because of the way bloodline is purchased we lose the lower "tainted"
bloodline strength.

3. As you note, spending points on bloodline as an ability score means the
character "pays" for his bloodline by having lower ability scores in other
ability scores, meaning that if one were to examine the blooded nobles of
greater bloodlines, sans that bloodline, they wind up being less impressive
characters that other non-blooded characters. A character like Darien
Avan, for example, if generated using this system`s mechanic would be a
rather anemic guy with a HUGE bloodline. As a result, there are guidelines
for "great heritage" but if one weren`t expressing bloodline as an ability
score one`s great heritage is factored into the bloodline.

4. The ability score mechanic operates in conjunction in many ways with
other aspects of 3e/D20 which the BR 3e conversion`s bloodline system
largely ignores. For instance, if the Noble PC class presented in that
text had more abilities based on bloodline, making that ability score the
"primary ability score" of the character class it would make more sense to
express bloodline as an ability score, but since it doesn`t, and since
other aspects of the game that rely on bloodline (the domain level,
bloodtheft, etc.) aren`t particularly more reliant upon the ability score
mechanic, expressing bloodline as an ability score doesn`t have much
relevance to the rest of the 3e/D20 mechanics.

5. Using bloodline as an ability score ties it in with the other ability
score mechanics of 3e so, for instance, a character can now raise his
bloodline a point every 4 character levels. Now, this is a change that
makes sense--if bloodline is an ability score. As originally
conceptualized, however, bloodline was separate from character features
like levelling up. It was a semi-divine, extraordinary system of powers
and abilities that interacted primarily with the domain level, but also at
the adventure level by granting special abilities and to a lesser extent
with other blooded characters in the sense that they could perform
bloodtheft on one another. That was it, though. Bloodline represented a
"higher order" of character features that did not generally interact with
other, adventure-level game mechanics because it was a bridge between the
adventure level and the domain level at which a character could become, to
paraphrase Hamlet, "like a god" in that their divine right to rule was
embodied by their birthright. If expressing bloodline as an ability score,
however, it makes sense that one should be able to raise it like any other
stat as a character levels up--even though that wasn`t the original
idea. It doesn`t break the system or anything, but it is a substantial
change in the way the bloodline system works, one that need not necessarily
be there, and one that IMO reduces the significance of the bloodline (and
the rest of the setting along with it) by equating one of the fundamental
aspects of the setting with strength or dexterity.

There are advantages to expressing bloodline as an ability score, but none
of them are IMO particularly compelling and often have ambiguous benefits:

1. A quick and easy connection to ability the score modifier system for use
when determining things like the DC needed to resist blood abilities.

Rebuttal: At first this seems like a very necessary mechanic for a 3e
conversion, but in fact if you go through the list of blood abilities there
aren`t that many that use the ability score modifier. For those occasions
when some sort of modifier is necessary, however, there are other ways of
coming up with one, some of which might actually make more sense. Using
ability score for bloodline there are modifiers possible in the range of
+10, which is substantially higher than the typical ability score modifier
for 3e. Since bloodline is a pretty mercurial stat characters with such
scores could easily exist, leading to issues of balance.

2. Expressing bloodline as an ability score allows the DM to balance
characters and gauge ECL.

Rebuttal: It does look that way, but in actuality I don`t think it works
out very well. ECL is better exemplified by a point value based on the
equivalent of hit dice, BAB, damage or other values that can be equated to
class features. The ECL numbers presented in the BR 3e Playtest text don`t
necessarily equate very well to actual character levels. I haven`t seen
any of the particular math behind those numbers, and such numbers are often
hazy to begin with, so I could be wrong in that assessment.

In the spirit of suggesting an alternate rather than merely critiquing the
material in the conversion, here`s another way of handling bloodline that,
I think, will be more satisfactory to all parties. It borrows "mechanics"
from both the original rules and the ability score mechanic. Please bear
in mind that this is a first draft sort of post.

Step #1: Roll bloodline strength. Bloodline strength is determined just
like any other ability score using whatever die roll method (3d6, 4d6
ignore lowest, etc.) the DM prefers for character generation, he can use
the point buy method if he likes, though that would result in the loss of
most low bloodlines. Subtract 2 for a range of 1-16. The result of this
roll (or points) determine two things. The first is the bloodline strength
of the character on the table below:

Score Strength
1+ Tainted
4+ Minor
8+ Major
12+ Great
16+ True (This be 18+ with an optional background feat called something
imaginative like... oh, "Improved Bloodline" or something that gave the PC
+2 on his bloodline strength score.)

Step #2. The result is also used to determined bloodline strength
score. Roll d6 for each point of the "bloodline strength" roll above. A
bloodline strength roll of 14 on the aforementioned roll means the player
should roll 14d6 to get his bloodline strength score; a range from 14-84
with an average of 49. An "average" roll of 9 on the previous bloodline
strength roll would result in a bloodline score of 9d6, or 9-54 with an
average of 31 or 32.

Step #3. Determine bloodline derivation.

Step #4. Determine blood abilities. Now, I`ve never liked the original
blood abilities table on p22 of the Rulebook. I would suggest that
something like this makes much more sense:

Score Abilities
1-10 1 minor
11-20 2 minor
21-30 1 minor, 1 major
31-40 2 minor, 1 major
41-50 2 minor, 2 major
51-60 2 minor, 1 major, 1 great
61-70 3 minor, 1 major, 1 great
71-80 2 minor, 2 major, 1 great
81-90 3 minor, 2 major, 1 great
91-100 2 minor, 2 major, 2 great

This table could be continued indefinitely for those rare characters with a
bloodline score greater than 100.

Anyone have thoughts on this?

Gary

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