Bards of the college of blood learn how to imbue their performance with the ancient and powerful magic of blood, draining their own life force to fuel their spells.
Ancient Lore
Blood magic is ancient as the world itself, being one of the first form of enchantment developed – due to its facility in use – and as such one of the most powerful. When spellcasters were at their very beginning, the magic flows seemed too great to be channeled through their own body, thinking that such power would inevitably kill them.
The blood magic was intended at this scope: use the blood as the catalyst to cast the spells thought it. With time, the false conviction that magic was so dangerous resulted outdated, but not the blood magic, that continue its existence as a tool to twist the flow of power in unnatural ways, without any – or at most not lethal – consequences.
Subclass Features
By choosing the Blood college, you gain the following features at levels 3rd, 6th and 14th.
Blood Magic
Starting from the 3rd level when you choose this college, you learn how to imbue your spells with your own blood. Choose two Metamagic options from the sorcerer class.
You can use only one Metamagic option on a spell when you cast it, unless otherwise noted.
Instead of expending sorcery points to use these options, you twist your spells using blood. To use a metamagic option you need to expend an amount of hit dice equal to the number of sorcery points required for it. When you do so, roll those dice, sum them together, and you suffer that much necrotic damage.
At 11th and 17th level you can choose another Metamagic option to be part of this trait.
Sadistic Inspiration
Also at 3rd level, when a creature rolls one of your bardic inspiration die, it can choose to roll it again, and use the new result. If that creature does, it takes the higher result of the two dice as necrotic damage.
A creature must use this feature before the DM tells if the throw was successful or not.
Blood Loss Tolerance
Starting from the 6th level, your body starts to be attuned to dark magic. You gain resistance to necrotic damage (including the damage you do to yourself with your blood magic and sadistic inspiration traits).
Additionally, you are immune to spells and effects that would knock you unconscious, and you automatically succeed on sawing throw that would reduce you directly to 0 hit points (as the banshee’s Wail trait would).
Bloodbending
At 14th level your mastery over blood let you control other peoples.
As an action, you can expend one use of your bardic inspiration to choose a number of creatures equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one) within 120 ft. of you.
To be eligible for this effect, a creature needs to have listened at your voice or at your performance for at least 1 minute. Each of those creatures make a Charisma sawing throw against your spell save DC.
On a failure, a creature is subjected to one of the following effects of your choice (all creatures are subjected to the same effect) for the next 10 minutes.
- Bloody Anger. The target’s anger is aroused, as its blood boils in its vein. That creature becomes testy, edgy and unkind towards each creature it can see, treating all kind of speech as a defiance. However, it won’t enter a fight unless it already intend to do so.
- Inert Laziness. That creature is subjected on the effect of the Calm Emotion spell, and loses interest in what it was doing for the duration, becoming lazy and relaxed.
- Body Control. You take control over that creature’s body. You control that creature during each of its turns, choosing whatever it moves, and which action it takes. It can’t however use any multiattack option it has (if it has some), and you can’t force it to cast a spell or cantrip it knows. Also, it won’t move in any dangerous terrain, and you can’t force it to harm itself.
The last option is the most difficult to maintain. You need to expend your action on each of your subsequent turn to continue speaking or performing to keep the effect active. If you lose concentration on it (as concentrating on a spell) the effect also ends. Finally, a creature can repeat the sawing throw at the end of each of its turns, or whenever it takes damage, ending the effect on itself on a success.
If one of these effect ends for a creature, or a creature succeeds the throw to resist or end the effect, it is immune to it for the next 24 hours. However, it do not know that you use magic over it, and its memories about the time while it was under this effect are hazy and vague, as awakening from a dream.