Dungeon Masters Guild
Browse Categories
$ to $















Back
pixel_trans.gif
Blood Magic (5e) Pay What You Want
Average Rating:4.0 / 5
Ratings Reviews Total
130 4
79 6
56 5
18 4
8 1
Blood Magic (5e)
Click to view
You must be logged in to rate this
pixel_trans.gif
Blood Magic (5e)
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Jayden M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/20/2023 18:31:25

I absolutely love the flavor, but everything is underpowered. Should remove at will from Charming Gaze feature from BLOOD THRALL:DARK GIFT.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Blood Magic (5e)
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Deacon W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/02/2023 16:02:44

Tons of fun! Only suggestion is to add more info for NPCs using Blood Magic!



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Blood Magic (5e)
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by patrick m. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/25/2020 05:12:20

IjustI didn't like it maybemaybe others. butthere isisno accounting for



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Blood Magic (5e)
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Zeke G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/06/2019 16:36:46

Blood Magic is a supplement which provides four new subclasses (barbarian, fighter, sorcerer, & wizard), the half-spawn subrace, ten new spells, and four new magic items which revolve around the theme of blood and sanguine power. The flavor provided for the archetypes is interesting, though it feels like there is a lot of it (flavor, characteristics, alignment, religion, and background for each) and I wish the flavor had been relocated to the page(s) containing the actual class archetype itself to minimize confusion and keep everything for each subclass all in one place (I found myself scrolling up and down a lot in the PDF). Seeing as this supplement (an Adamantine Best-Seller!) doesn't have any thorough reviews, I thought I'd offer some more specific feedback on the content of the supplement:

The Barbarian Primal Path of Bloodrage Savage is fun and thematic, but the Eager for Blood feature seems pretty powerful (a free rage as part of a reaction under certain circumstances) and the Blood Rage feature doesn't get upgraded at higher levels, making it a pretty lackluster feature in tier two and three characters.

The Fighter Archetype Blood Thrall is pretty interesting, and I actually think I'd love to play one in a Curse of Strahd or Innistrad campaign. Seems on the powerful side but not overpowered to me.

The Sorcererous Origin King's Blood is really cool, but it seems like a lot of mechancs for a player to keep track of on top of sorcery points and would require a lot of DM-Player communication on enemy type to ensure it is succesful.

The Wizard Arcane Tradition of Blood Magic comes with two versions. I very much appreciate Joshua Raynack's transparency in his inclusion of both versions and I think they both seem incredibly fun and unique (though I agree with him that Version 1 feels a bit overpowered). Regardless, there are some really interesting features and a lot of potential for great roleplay built into the class itself.

The Half-Spawn subrace is really interesting, and takes on something that few subraces do: strong features balanced with significant downsides that are thematically appropriate and fit into existing game mechanics.

The spells are just dripping with gore and flavor. I love Blood Quill and have used a similar mechanic as an item in my homebrew game, and think that it suits the themes of the Wizard class. Blood Rage is a fun spell akin to Enlarge, though it does not describe what to do if the target's weapon damage is already a d12 (should it increasse to d20? Add an additiona d4? Something else?). Boiling Blood and Caustic Wound are both cool and seem balanced, though Crimson Blade is even more powerful than the infamous Shadow Blade and is almost certainly overpowered, as it's hard to say if giving up hit dice to cast it is a suitable downside. Reaping Strike is an interesting spell that seems like a very cool addition to the Ranger's toolkit.

Last in the supplement are the awesome magic items. I'm a sucker for a good cursed magic item, and Joshua delivers on that front. Both Blood-Dreader and the Sanguine Blade are powerful weapons with very interesting curses that could add fun layers to any campaign. Blood Leech is also a great weapon that may cause some melee fighters to carefully consider their options before rushing into battle against powerful or heavily armored foes. Finally, the Potions of Cruor are a necessary addition to any campaign that utilizes elements of this supplement, and Joshua demonstrates great foresight including them here.

Overall, this is an awesome supplement chock-full of great material that, with careful consideration from players and DMs, could contribute greatly to any campaign. The layout and production are top-notch (I particularly love the wax seal page numbers) and the art perfectly contributes to the overall tone of the supplement. Despite some of my criticisms, the overall level of effort and careful consideration that went into this supplement is highly commendable and really shines through in the final product. I will definitely offer this supplement as an option to my players in the future.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Blood Magic (5e)
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Aaron M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/27/2018 00:30:55

the sorcerous origin of king's blood had me very very excited when reading about its description, but the subclass is incredibly disappoiting. it has practically nothing to do with what it is described to be, nor does it have anything to do with BLOOD MAGIC. the focus seems to be on a concept called "life sparks" which are fragments of a slain creature's soul, not blood. not only that, but for a subclass that is described as seeking powerful bloodlines, only a single VARIANT feature (not even an actual feature, but an optional one!) describes this! i adore the concept, but the execution is severely lacking..



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Blood Magic (5e)
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Travis L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/09/2018 01:56:00

I very much enjoyed Blood Magic. I feel like the class options and new races presented herein are well balanced. The design and layout are strong, the concept is great, and I loo forward to integrating these tools into a future campaign!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Wwll worth the suggested PWYW price! Pick up YOUR copy TODAY!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Blood Magic (5e)
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by A customer [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/03/2016 05:28:44

Absolutley love the item! The only reason I didn't give 5 stars is it is missing a little information and has some strange wording issues that need to be fixed.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Blood Magic (5e)
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Ted S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/11/2016 12:12:38

The concept of Blood Magic has always been one that interested me and I recall there being a few prestige classes from older editions that had that flavor. One of my viewers actually requested that I do a review of it, so I highlighted it in my ongoing weekly video series, DMs Guidl Spotlight. Keep up the good work! http://www.nerdimmersion.com/dd-5e-dms-guild-spotlight-blood-magic/



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Blood Magic (5e)
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by A customer [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/09/2016 22:08:58

This is a good quality product that is much more comprehensive than many other supplements. The blood magic is especially very nice and the comprehensive implementation across the different classes is a nice touch.

I'm not an expert at class balancing, so other reviews should be used for that, but these .pdfs show a high degree of effort and fully expand on the initial design concept.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Blood Magic (5e)
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Jonathan W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/14/2016 21:14:45

Seems ok from first read but still seems to be unbalanced but some people like play that way.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Blood Magic (5e)
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Francesco R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/23/2016 04:31:47

Liked it, but I find it a little too complicated and not-so-fine balanced. But for the cost is a great have! =)



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Blood Magic (5e)
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Jonathan S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/21/2016 17:34:11

Fun supplement for people who enjoy the thematic elements of blood magic, and definitely powerful enough to see use. It contains two versions of an Arcane tradition, a sorcerous origin, and a Fighter Archetype, and all look appealing and fun at first glance.

The Fighter Archetype I think needs just a little work to give it more individuality, since some of the later abilities feel a bit disconnencted from the flavor of the whole. It's starting ability on the other hand is exactly what I want out of a dark, bloodthirsty Fighter.

The Sorcerous Origin is by far the most creatively original of the three, utilizing a different and unique style of blood magic that I won't spoil but is a little complicated and quite different than what I was expecting. It's an interesting concept but I think it needs some work to be less high-maintanence and stronger, since the other Sorcerous Origins are very strong comparitively.

The Arcane Tradition is more along the lines of what I expected, executed nicely and with plenty of useful powers. The first version may be a little overpowered depending on your campaign, so keep that in mind. The author uses Hit Dice in some very interesting ways, which is very thematic but also very powerful if your playgroup is fond of trying to break things.

I'll update this review in the future after getting a chance to playtest all the features included in the PDF, but for now I'll just that that this is worth a couple bucks if you like the idea of Blood Magic, and while it isn't a flawless attempt it certainly performs as advertised.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Blood Magic (5e)
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by manolo d. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/13/2016 16:57:43

This booklet is finely set up and covers interesting concepts, but i feel not much effort was spent in overall balancing of the character options. Blood Magic v1 seems fairly overpowered, given that the caster is using a resource (hit dice) otherwise rarely used. Blood Magic v2 is more appealing, even if the bonuses granted by the blood points/rituals seems negligible in comparison with the other static features. I was surprised that both version didn't include an instantaneous penality to hit points for the caster. Seems to me that both options could use a simplification revamp. The Sorcerer King's blood origin is what i liked most, a refreshing take to the standard sorcerer and balanced, synergic features. I would have preferred a different capstone to keep the unique sparks features based on encounters, but this is a matter of personal taste. The blood thrall is ... just meh. I could easily fit this as a bodyguard NPC in any evil encounter, but as player you would have really limited options with this archetype. All in all an interesting reading of concept, but loosely refined. As a master i would use this with caution, rework some features before using them, and just wouldn't allow some of this content in the form it is now.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Blood Magic (5e)
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Stephen m. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/08/2016 01:06:19

Disappointed. From Mike Mearls' review and some comments below I was expecting a class that boosted itself by spending hit dice. Either I got the wrong product or it was changed before I downloaded the edition with that mechanic. Now the Blood Magic arcane tradition just uses a watered down sorcery point mechanic with some "blood fluff."



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Blood Magic (5e)
Publisher: Dungeon Masters Guild
by Raymond D. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/18/2016 23:37:08

To be honest I felt the wizard build was clearly overpowered, I wouldn't allow it in my game. The extra uses for Hit Dice is a neat idea, but it feels like getting something for nothing. The sorcerer build wasn't bad, but I feel like it gives the player too much to keep track of, different kinds of sparks on top of sorcery points invites a lot of meta game thinking. A little more fine tuning would have been a good idea.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Displaying 1 to 15 (of 20 reviews) Result Pages:  1  2  [Next >>] 
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif Back pixel_trans.gif
0 items