Pure Blood Magic

[Seidou Satone]

Since a bunch of folks have asked, here are the rules.

Taken from Imperial Histories

GM’s Toolbox: Pure Blood Magic
Primitive blood magic, as it was practiced at the Dawn of the Empire, was not maho and did not carry any risk of Taint or social stigma. Almost all spells of that era were powered by blood sacrifice, since shugenja had not yet gained a true understanding of the Elemental kami and did not know how to importune them for help.0 In game terms, any shugenja from the first two chronological portions of the Dawn of the Empire must perform blood sacrifice in order to cast spells. The shugenja must cut or otherwise injure himself to draw blood, suffering Wounds in an amount equal to the Mastery Level of the spell. (This injury/bleeding should be treated as part of the Complex Action required to cast the spell.) Spells cast in this manner cannot normally benefit from Raises unless additional blood is spilled (the same amount for each Raise) to enhance the power of the sacrifice. Much early blood magic was ritual, with multiple spellcasters joining together and contributing their blood to the effort. The GM can represent this in any situation where two or more shugenja know the same spell and work together to cast it. In such circumstances, one shugenja should be designated as the “lead” caster; he receives a Free Raise for his Spell Casting Roll for each additional shugenja who joins in the ritual and sacrifices the appropriate blood. Ritualized voluntary blood sacrifice, often with the participation of non-spellcasters, was also used for a variety of general blessings and prayers, such as entreating the Fortunes for a good harvest. These are not really spells as such, although the GM can allow some minor mechanical benefits from them if it seems appropriate. During the third portion of the Dawn of the Empire, the presence of kansen from the Festering Pit begins to disrupt the traditional blood magic rituals, while the rise of Shintao ushers in a new and better way to entreat the kami. The GM may represent this by increasing the TNs for blood magic spells as the kansen begin to disrupt the pure magic. PCs may even begin to run the risk of Taint, although the initial risk of corruption will be small (Earth roll at TN 5 or 10 to resist, depending on GM judgment).

[Canary]

Thank you. Stickied.