Bloodlines workbook

[Ohlaak (Alan)]

I concur with Bob. This hasn't been an issue before, so it doesn't necessarily need a change. Nonetheless, the idea is interesting.

[Ruideside/OM (RP)]

I honestly can't see any benefit to it, other than to establish thresholds for increasing (or, Sera spare us - decreasing) the strength of one's bloodline, which was something missing from the original, in which case it comes down to messing with the cut off points of each strength category (speaking of which, for the love of all that is holy - keep the term "Tainted", it adds such a nice slap to the face to having dick-all in the way of a bloodline

Now the maximums one can roll according to the original BR books are as follows:
Tainted: 16
Minor: 30
Major: 48
Great: 64

So it looks to me as though the cut offs should be more along the lines of: 20/35/55/70 (or maybe 75 - after all we are talking about advancing to a "True" bloodline", that will mean even the best roll will still leave you having to work towards that increase

[X-Tornilen/SM (Alexander)]

Could number of powers, modifiers for these powers and so on not be wholly dependent on bloodline strength and the categories - Tainted, Minor, Major, Great, and True - be something that is used as an inaccurate term in game?

The idea of a nasty surprise - expecting your opponent to be of a Major bloodline and therefore inferior to you - and then finding he/she is the equivalent of True bloodline, that is a cool idea.

We don't even need them for ECL purposes: At strength 15+ you get +1 ECL and so on. They're just categories.

If the term has a game-mechanical effect, I think it should be very clearly defined. That does not exclude it being less clearly defined in the game world. In the setting, those terms are something historians, bloodline scholars and so on throw around. The only way to accurately determine someone's BS is through magic and you need the subject present to do that (unless we're talking powerful scrying magic), so only a small number of people actually have accurate information on anyone's BS.

[Ruideside/OM (RP)]

If the term has a game-mechanical effect, I think it should be very clearly defined.

Oh my! You would have hated D&D back in the early 70s, NOTHING about it was clearly defined. And the bloodline strengths are very clearly defined already - just not in terms of a nice proportional correlation to bloodline score, and there is a very good reason for that.

[Stjordvik Traders/SH (Tristan)]

I'm with Bob, I don't think that there is a role-playing (or game) benefit to having a defined non-overlapping range for bloodline levels/scores.

I prefer the variable and overlapping nature of the original Birthright tainted/minor/major/great bloodlines with the actual score simply being a mechanic used for the maximum regency generated.

If a bloodline to ECL modifer is used then set a simple equation, BS/X rounded down is the ECL modifier (and then argue about the X).

[X-Points East]

OoC:

Suggestion:

Bloodline Score of 1-10 = Weak Bloodline.
Bloodline Score of 11-30 = Minor Bloodline.
Bloodline Score of 31-60 = Major Bloodline.
Bloodline Score of 61-100 = Great Bloodline.
Bloodline Score of 101+ = True Bloodline.