Blood magic: channelling your HP into spells

Homebrew Toys #9

This system is inspired by the tales of the society of witches from Chiloé, a large island in the south of Chile. It is part of a “smaller” project I’m working on. Something that grew organically from posting and revising my homebrew. Something that sprouted from finding some lost lines, sketches of an idea, of making an OSR game inspired by this island full of mysteries and overflowed by myths.

This system is thought to be tied to the system of Blood as HP that I wrote about in a previous post. But if you would rather not use that system (in which your blood is divided into five colours and the colour balance is set by what you eat) any time that I refer to a colour you can omit it, and any time I say Blood, or Blood point, you can replace it by HP.

Now here it is, my first approach to this system of witchcraft using the powers of your Blood.

Blood magic

Witches, worshippers of the spirit of flesh and blood, have deciphered the secrets of blood and the power within.

If you share their goals and survive their trials, you will be accepted as one of them.

As a member of their ranks, you will learn their secrets, and they will instruct you about the ways of witchcraft and blood.

To become an adept of flesh and blood, you have to enter a cave and cry for their help. Then one of them will receive you and present to you two trials.

Your first trial is staying under a waterfall for six days and six nights.

Your second trial is to call seven times to the spirit of flesh and blood, by feeding with your blood an underground river.

Then you will be guided to the forum of La Mayoría, hidden in the Underbelly (a network of underground caves and tunnels) and there your final trial will be presented to you.

This is your last chance to retreat from the path of blood and witchcraft.

Your final trial is to hunt a black wolf, and wash your body with their blood.

Then your guide will teach you the first secret of blood and flesh. Each consecutive secret will be revealed to you after using the secrets you already know in a task dictated by La Mayoría.

First secret

To create your magic, you need to bond yourself with the spirit of flesh. Their miracles are the spells you can weave. The spirit of flesh always answer if you call it with your blood.

To bond in oath with the spirit of flesh you need to cut the skin of the chest of a dead person, and with it create a cloak (manuñ), and then spill 1d8 of your Blood (red colour) in it, to dye it red.

This is the first step to be a witch. This skin cloak uses one slot.

When you spill Blood on it, you can:

• Take the form of an animal: You have to spill on the cloak 1 Blood point of each of the colours that the animal you desire to take the form has in its Blood. You will be stuck in this form until the next time the sun crosses the horizon.¹

• Fly: You have to spill 8 points of your Blood on the cloak, all of them of colour black. You can fly as long as you can hold your breath.

• Open any door: By spilling 3 points of your Blood: red, green, and black.

• Invisibility: By spilling 3 points of your Blood: blue, green and red. You will be invisible as long as you can hold your breath.

Second secret

Bones can be commanded by your will. If you spill 1d8 points of Blood over the bones of a corpse, you can control them as a servant until the sun rises through the horizon. Bones can behave as weapons 1d4. They do everything by your CHA.

Third secret

You can control the black Blood of a living being by using your Blood. You can command them to do one thing against their will by spilling your Blood over their skin. You need to use 1d10 – Black-Blood-they-have points of Blood to control them (minimum 1). You can’t command them to kill themselves.

Fourth secret

A guide will teach you to create your book of flesh. In it, you will store your hexes and spells. This book uses two slots, as it is a heavy book made from the flesh of creatures from the Underbelly (at the bottom there is a small list of creatures).

For each creature from the underbelly that you hunt, you will be able to use their skin to make one page of your book.

Each page allows you to use your blood to access the power of the creatures to whom the skin belonged to.

Fifth secret

Magical mutations of the blood.

1. Blood Goliath (construct) → With your flesh under the pale moon glow, feed 1d10 of your Blood to a clay bowl full of mud. Then engrave a face on the outside of the clay bowl and a name on its inside. Whenever you speak this name a Blood Goliath will rise. It will rot and die when the sun crosses the horizon.

2. Blood shift → Transmute the white Blood of any creature into black Blood. You have to spill on their face 1d4 of your Blood.

3. Vicissitude → Alteration and augmentations of flesh and bone. Bleeding 1d6 of Blood on a bone knife, you can shape flesh and bone like if they were clay. Any alteration that you make to create something that works as a weapon do 1d4 damage. If you work upon any previous alteration that can be used as a weapon, they now do 1d6 damage. These alterations when used depend on the attributes of the being to whom the altered body belongs to.

4. Blood and flesh patchworks (construct) → Magical mutations and fusion of creatures. You can merge animals with your Blood. You have to sew the animals together with thread bathed in 1d10 of your Blood. The animals will fuse into a mutation. All of their Blood will become black Blood and will stay black forever. They will behave as a wild animal.

5. Memory of the death → If you eat the brain of the dead, you can experience their memories back to 1d6 days.

6. Blood weapon → You can make a weapon out of your Blood. The amount of Blood you use determines the weapon die: 4 Blood → d4, 6 Blood → d6, 10 Blood → d10, 12 Blood → d12, 20 Blood → d20. To use this weapon you use your CHA.

   The weapon crumbles to dust when the sun crosses the horizon.

7. Resurrection → You can steal a soul from death itself. You must sacrifice six animals, each night for six nights, and bathe in their blood the body of the one you desire to resurrect. At least one of the animals must be of the same species as the dead one. All of them have to be of comparable size to the one you desire to resurrect. When the dead awakens, for the next six nights you have to feed 1d6 of your Blood to them, or they will become a ghoul.

8. Mutation of the body → If all your Blood is black, you can have your body permanently changed by offering your body to the spirit of flesh and blood.

   At dusk, you must bleed into a river 2d6 point of your Blood. Then you will fall into a deep sleep. Out of the river will come a spider that will weave a cocoon that will cover you completely. At dawn, your body will have changed.

   Roll 1d20 to know what has changed. If you get twice the same change, you bleed out all your Blood.

   1 Your eyes become entirely black, and you can see in darkens.
   
   2 You get horns, and they do damage as two daggers.
   
   3 Your skin becomes scales, and it protects you like studded leather armour.
   
   4 Your legs become goat legs, and you can jump twice as high, and your hooves do damages as hammers.
   
   5 Your skin becomes red. People becomes more easily afraid of you, and animals more susceptible to your command.
   
   6 Your nails become thick and long, made of gold, they do damage as swords.
   
   7 Your face expands into a muzzle, your sense of smells increases when hunting, and you can smell fear.
   
   8 You get long pointy ears, you have keen hearing, and you can sense the slightly changes in the wind.
   
   9 Your eyes iris become purple, and you can read minds.
   
   10 Your hands grow in size, you can conjure flames in their palms.
   
   11 Your teeth grow thick and large, they do damage as swords.
   
   12 Your breath becomes a green mist, it can corrode armour.
   
   13 Your eyes iris become yellow, and you can see through mist.
   
   14 When you speak, whispers repeat what you said, you easily can 
   scare any animal.
   
   15 You get a long tail ended on a ball with spines, it does damage as a sword.
   
   16 Your body gets extremely long and gaunt, you can move two times faster.
   
   17 Your torso elongates and become flexible as a snake, you can transform your body into mist.
   
   18 Your skin gets covered in fur. You can become a cat, a wolf, or a bat.
   
   19 Your eyes iris become red, and you can charm anyone who looks at them directly.
   
   20 You grow in size and your muscles become thicker, you are twice as big as before and twice as strong.

If you use any of these secret to do damage, you are using CHA, as it is your presence that determines the strength of your magic.

Constructs of your magic do everything with your CHA. If you use a construct in combat, they behave as weapons d4.

Mark of the Underbelly: beasts and the power of their skin

The Underbelly is a network of underground tunnels and caves that were once the resting place of the giant snake Trentren Vilu.

All the Blood the beasts of the underbelly have is white.

1. Ciafilo / Great one eye bird / Blood 5 / STR 1 – CON 1 – DEX 4 – INT 2 – CHA 0 – WIS 2 / beak 1d4, exalt or appease emotion.

   Skin power: Exalt or appease one emotion of one animal per 1 Blood (red).

2. Piguchen / Large, two-headed flying serpent / Blood 20 / STR 4 – CON 4 – DEX 3 – INT 1 – CHA 4 – WIS 2 / Speed 50 / large fangs 1d6, misty form.

   Skin power: See through mist as long as you can hold your breath, 1 Blood (black).

3. Ruthilus / Marble flesh tiny mole / Blood 3 / STR 2 – CON 3 – DEX 0 – INT 1 – CHA 2 – WIS 0 / Speed 35 / sharp nails 1d4, merge with stone.

   Skin power: Hear trough stone per 1 Blood (green) — Hide in stone while holding your breath per 2 Blood (red)

4. Ramalan / Elongated, 3 feet plant sentient being / Blood 7 / STR 0 – CON 1 – DEX 2 – INT 1 – CHA 1 – WIS 2 / Speed 45 / thorns 1d4, grow bigger +2 physical attributes.

   Skin power: Heal one body condition by one hour of sunlight, per 1d4 Blood (green)

5. Smailidion / Erratic matter-shifting winged rodent / Blood 5 / STR 0 – CON 1 – DEX 3 – INT 1 – CHA 0– WIS 1 / Speed 50 / fire form 1d6, change material.

   Skin power: Gaseous limb while you hold your breath, per 1 Blood (blue).

6. Armacharta / Skin letter-thinker paper armadillo / Blood 5 / STR 0 – CON 0 – DEX 2 – INT 2 – CHA 1 – WIS 2 / Speed 45 / Paper cut 1d4, shape-shifting.

   Skin power: Transcribe what is read to one’s own flesh, per 1 Blood (black).

7. Nubaricat / Small translucent cloud-walker fairy cat / Blood 8 / STR 1 – CON 0 – DEX 3 – INT 1– CHA 1 – WIS 1 / Speed 50 / wind gust 1d6, cloud form.

   Skin power: Walk on clouds, per 1 Blood per minute (blue).

8. Mylgadilac / Great starry purple fur sloth / Blood 8 / STR 2 – CON 3 – DEX 0 – INT 0– CHA 2– WIS 3 / Speed 35 / claws 1d4, confusing visions reverie (-2) condition.

   Skin power: Glance into the dreams of an animal you touch, per 1d4 Blood (black).

9. Critavia / Hive mind of small solar wind surfers spring diamonds / Blood 6 / STR 1 – CON 1 – DEX 1 – INT 1 – CHA 0– WIS 1 / Speed 40 / springs points 1d4, coordinate swarm 3d6, posses and command dead body.

   Skin power: Fire resistance, per 1 Blood (red) — Be two: give life to recently small dead body and be one mind in two bodies for one day, per 2d4 Blood (black).

10. Magraid / Wise huge red flying fish / Blood 4 / STR 0 – CON 0 – DEX 2 – INT 3 – CHA 1 – WIS 3 / Speed 45 / calm one emotion while speaking, confusing riddle - confused (-1d4) condition.

    Skin power: Haunting riddle, people become obsessed with finding the solution, per 2d4 Blood (black).

11. Rialoma / Animal corpse posses by red fungi / Blood 10 / STR 3 – CON 3 – DEX 3 – INT 0 – CHA 0 – WIS 1 / Speed 50 / fangs-claws-horn 1d4, spore contamination – sick (-2) condition.

    Skin power: Spore breath, force the dizziness (-1d4) condition upon everyone close, and in front of you, per 1d4 Blood (red).

12. Camahueto / three horned black goat / Blood 10 / STR 4 – CON 3 – DEX 2 – INT 0 – CHA 0 – WIS 0 / Speed 50 / horns 2d8, spore contamination – sick (-2) condition.

    Skin power: Forget any condition for 1d4 hours, 2 Blood (black) — Powerful jump, three times your height, 1 Blood (blue).

1. The list of animals I use for this is the one on this post. But if you prefer not to use this list, or the system where your HP is your Blood with five different colours, then you can use any list of animals. You can transform into any animal from your list if you bleed as much HP into the cape as the HP of the animal you want to take the form of.