Interesting day today, had lots of discussion about the Bloodstone name and mechanic.
Now after lots of discussion and thinking things through plus further discussion with people who are truly neutral and before today hadn't heard of any of the games I play, it is currently agreed that we're sticking with Bloodstone for the name. It's simple, describes perfectly what it is, and is the type of name a group of superstitious miners would name a rock they find that is bright red.
- there is a possibility of Blood Shard, but that depends on if I shift the lore in a slightly different direction.
But what do Bloodstones do? Are they the same as was described this morning?
Well I'm super excited to reveal that no! They don't do what was said this morning.
There are some important changes, the first is that you no longer have a stash of Bloodstone that you use and build as the campaign progresses. No, now you start and finish with three! Only these three.
These are my Bloodstones!
There are many like them
But these ones are mine!
Without my Bloodstones I am nothing,
Without me my Bloodstones are nothing!
So how do you get Bloodstones back? They replenish!
As you use Bloodstones, you drain them of their power, but Bloodstones feed on carnage, and if you can satisfy their blood-lust they will allow you to use them again.
How? You might remember from my post this morning I mentioned that when rolling to hit, a 6 provides you with a Critical Hit on the Damage Profile. But what happens if you score a 6 on the Damage Profile? Well other than high damage, you also now replenish 1 Bloodstone. In other words, 1 in 6 damage rolls will also provide you with a Bloodstone.
What can you use them for?
Well as you will now be replenishing Bloodstones quite regularly they don't need to be as strong. To account for this, if you use a Bloodstone to hit with an attack you simply gain another d6, however you can roll this AFTER the actual attack, so if you are already hitting and don't want to spend the Bloodstone, you don't need to.
In these situations you can use as many as you want, and each will let you roll 1d6 extra to hit.
You can also heal with them, like hitting it is 1d6 per Bloodstone, and each die rolled generates either 1-3=1HP 4-5=2HP 6=4HP
You can also use them to resurrect players who have died, doing so requires 2 Bloodstones.
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So why was a token system kept? It was simple in the end, despite coming up with some great ideas, none of them allowed for solo-player resurrection, where as a token system does.
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You mentioned a possible shift in lore earlier and the name Bloodshard, care to elaborate?
Ok, ok.
So currently Bloodstones are harvested from the Crypts, but what if there was only one Bloodstone?
What if when the Sheriff returned from recapturing New Fairbank all those years ago he brought with him a massive crystal of immeasurable power, and from this crystal the Sheriff chips off three shards which he gives to new fortune seekers when they arrive at New Fairbank?
These shards are but a fraction of the power of the Bloodstone itself, but allow normal people to still perform amazing feats that wouldn't normally be possible, like bringing the dead back to life for example.
It's a subtle change but one that has far reaching implications. After all we've always knew that the Sheriff kept the peace in New Fairbank, and it was him and The Law alone that kept the schools of magic from going to war with each other, what if the reason behind all of that was because he held in a secret location the most powerful weapon mankind has ever seen?
Anyway, I hope you like the changes to the rules and if you prefer the new lore please let me know and I can easily make it official.
Until next time, stay safe and I'll see you cryptside!
- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley
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