Possible Error in Sanctioned Chapter 2?

[gazza666]

As far as mechanics go, increasing the potency from "tainted" to "minor", and so on, make sense. What doesn't make sense is that many in-character concepts are tied to those terms, which I believe (thus being my opinion) should be reserved for the original potency of the bloodline. Those with "Great" bloodlines can trace their ancestry to those who were standing in the middle of the battle, while someone with a "tainted" bloodline can only trace it back to someone on the periphery of the explosion of power, people who were, for all practical purposes, non-combatants, injured, or fleeing.

In your opinion, can gods grow and ebb in power? That's a fundamentally similar question. There are numerous myths throughout many cultures wherein a godling grows in strength (eg Hercules, after completing the 12 tasks) or loses power (arguably the titans, to use Greek mythology again, after Zeus is born). The "Time of Troubles" Forgotten Realms novels even established that this can happen in a D&D setting, and the old D&D Immortals rules even allowed them as PCs.

Now, of course, to say that some cultures have gods capable of becoming more or less powerful is not by any means to prove that the Cerilian universe is automatically required to possess similar traits. One could use the example of Mount Deismaar to support either side of the argument, frustratingly: you could say that it proved gods can die and ascend (thereby establishing that gods can indeed change in power: dying is a pretty radical decrease in power, while ascension to godhood is a radical increase); alternatively, you could suggest that since the gods created on that day have not changed in power since, that the power level is in fact fixed (and merely transferable).

But if you accept that gods can grow or dim in Cerilia, then it seems fair to say that scions - who are, essentially, godlings - should also be capable of changing their power level.

[irdeggman]

From Ch 2:

Bloodlines have three primary characteristics. A scion's bloodline derivation (Anduiras (And), Azrai (Az), Basaïa (Ba), Brenna (Bre), Masela (Ma), Reynir (Re), or Vorynn (Vor)) specifies the old god whose divine power flows in the veins of his family. A scion's bloodline strength (minor, major, great, or true) describes the purity of the scion's family's bloodline. A scion's bloodline score describes the power of a specific scion's divine essence. The manifestations of a bloodline are known as blood abilities.
This chapter presents the game rules necessary for characters that are scions of divine bloodlines. You can choose for your character to begin play as either a non-blooded character or as a scion of a divine bloodline. Regardless of your decision, your character can come from any level of society.
Throughout this text the phrase bloodline is used for simplicity to describe the game mechanic components of the bloodline. In actuality a bloodline is traced to a specific family. For example the Avan bloodline follows the genetic patterns of that family alone, it is not simply a composite of An, Gr, XX (for actual score). Otherwise game mechanics-wise a scion with the same statistics could claim the Avan bloodline. A bloodline cannot be usurped but it can be destroyed by usurpation. A bloodline can only be transferred via Investiture and it can be inherited by birth. There is more detail on family bloodlines in the familial heritage section later.

Also it should be noted that the mechanics for increasing a bloodline strength were pretty much taken from the Book of Regency that allowed the same thing in pretty much the same manner with the same restrictions.

[epicsoul]

In your opinion, can gods grow and ebb in power? That's a fundamentally similar question. There are numerous myths throughout many cultures wherein a godling grows in strength (eg Hercules, after completing the 12 tasks) or loses power (arguably the titans, to use Greek mythology again, after Zeus is born). The "Time of Troubles" Forgotten Realms novels even established that this can happen in a D&D setting, and the old D&D Immortals rules even allowed them as PCs.

Now, of course, to say that some cultures have gods capable of becoming more or less powerful is not by any means to prove that the Cerilian universe is automatically required to possess similar traits. One could use the example of Mount Deismaar to support either side of the argument, frustratingly: you could say that it proved gods can die and ascend (thereby establishing that gods can indeed change in power: dying is a pretty radical decrease in power, while ascension to godhood is a radical increase); alternatively, you could suggest that since the gods created on that day have not changed in power since, that the power level is in fact fixed (and merely transferable).

But if you accept that gods can grow or dim in Cerilia, then it seems fair to say that scions - who are, essentially, godlings - should also be capable of changing their power level.

If following this thought, my advice for you is this: hunt down a copy of WOTC's The Primal Order, now OOP. Built for multiple game systems, it fits into BR extremely well. Gods ebb and flow in power based on the amount of their followers, as well as the amount of temples dedicated to their name (hey, look at that: BR has a temple rating system built in!), and their age as gods... thus, elder gods are more powerful, but lacking followers, can be overcome by newer gods with more followers. Rules include things such as conquering planes and creating new gods, or servitors/minions and imbuing them with abilities.

I use The Primal Order for other things too - such as justifying the limitation of clerical magic. Gods have to expend energies daily to grant their priests powers, and thus, a younger god can't afford to have too many spell casting priests... thus, clerical magic is also rare in BR for me (though not as rare as arcane) as the gods are only 1500 years old.