Other user's assetsAll the assets in this file belong to the author, or are from free-to-use modder's resources
Upload permissionYou are not allowed to upload this file to other sites under any circumstances
Modification permissionYou must get permission from me before you are allowed to modify my files to improve it
Conversion permissionYou are not allowed to convert this file to work on other games under any circumstances
Asset use permissionYou must get permission from me before you are allowed to use any of the assets in this file
Asset use permission in mods/files that are being soldYou are not allowed to use assets from this file in any mods/files that are being sold, for money, on Steam Workshop or other platforms
Asset use permission in mods/files that earn donation pointsYou are not allowed to earn Donation Points for your mods if they use my assets
Author notes
This author has not provided any additional notes regarding file permissions
File credits
This author has not credited anyone else in this file
Donation Points system
Please log in to find out whether this mod is receiving Donation Points
This is my fourth Grim Hollow subclass, and since blood magic is probably the most fascinating type of magic there is, what better way to capture its raw nature than a primal blood druid? Comes with half a dozen Sangromancy spells unique to this subclass! Some of the aspects of these spells were too difficult to implement, sadly. You can see the original iterations by following the link above, and read about how I chose to implement them below.
Originally, this subclass and the Sangromancy spells use hit dice to power their spells and abilities. Since hit dice aren't used in BG3, I had to come up with a similarly impactful way to sacrifice your own vitality, which I translated into taking direct damage. I realized that you don't have to specify the damage type when taking damage, so it shouldn't be affected by resistances or immunities. The whole idea is to have a high risk–high reward playstyle by lowering your own potential of survival to further lower the potential of survival in your enemies as well. Since the Druid hit die is a d8, I decided to translate the hit dice rolled for offensive effects as d8s, while the hit die cost for activating spells and features is set at a d4, since d8s are quite punishing as self-inflicted damage. I found this to be a reasonable middle-ground. If it doesn't work out in practice, let me know and I'll see if I can tweak it.
SUBCLASS FEATURES
CIRCLE SPELLS
3rd level: Hold Person, Sense Lifeblood 5th level: Reanimate, Sanguine Poppet 7th level: Circle of Scarlet, Dark Sacrament 9th level: Dominate Person, Mortality
When you choose this circle at 2nd level, when a creature you can see within 18m of you dies, you can use your Reaction to claim the last vestiges of its vitality. You regain 1d8 hit points. When you do, you can craft a creature you can see within 18m of you a number of temporary hit points equal to your Druid level.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier, regaining all expended uses at the end of a Long Rest.
NOTES Triggers an interrupt that heals you for 1d8, to offset some of the damage you take to power your spells. You can't do it an infinite amount of times, but your Wisdom modifier should be high enough anyway. You can always target yourself with the temporary hit points spell that you unlock as a temporary spell to offset it even more.
At 6th level, you learn a rite that invokes the power within a creature's blood. As an Action, you can expend one use of your Wild Shape class feature to drive yourself or an ally within 1.5m of you into a blood frenzy which lasts for 1 minute. The affected creature gains the following benefits:
• It gains Resistance to non-magical Bludgeoning, Piercing and Slashing damage.
• It gains Darkvision to a range of 18m and Advantage on Perception checks.
• It can roll a d8 in place of the normal damage of its unarmed strike. When it takes the Attack action on its turn, it can make one attack with its unarmed strike as a Bonus Action.
• Its speed increases by 3m.
• It can't speak or cast spells.
NOTES An animalistic rage which you can invoke within yourself or an ally. Once you've awoken their bloodrage, you can't simply turn it off, so keep that in mind if you want to be able to cast spells!
Starting at 10th level, those under the effect of your Blood Rite can sacrifice a piece of their own vitality to enhance their capacity for destruction. Once on each of its turns when a creature under the effect of your Rite of the Blood Moon feature makes a damage roll, it can take 1d8 Slashing damage to add an additional 1d8 to the attack's damage roll.
NOTES Simple and to the point.
Starting at 14th level, you can use your Reaction to fully exsanguinate a corpse, conjuring a Water Elemental composed of its blood and bound to your service. The elemental remains in your service until your next Long Rest or until it's reduced to 0 hit points, at which point it collapses into a pool of blood.
Once you conjure an elemental with this feature, you can't use the feature again until you finish a Long Rest.
NOTES *Requires a mod that allows levelling past level 12.* The original version would allow you to cast it just as a creature dies, but like with other similar spells and features in BG3, it's a spell that you manually activate that costs of Reaction. Other than that, it simply creates a Water Elemental that looks like it's made of blood, with all the regular abilities of a Water Elemental in the game.
BONUS 2nd LEVEL SPELL
As part of casting this spell, you must take 2d4 damage. When you do, you can sense the lifeblood flowing within creatures you can see. For the duration of the spell, when you deal damage to a creature whose current hit points are equal to or below half their maximum hit points, you deal an additional 2d8 bonus damage.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell with a 4th or 5th level spell slot, you can maintain concentration on this spell until your next Long Rest.
NOTES The original version of this spell lets you sense whether creatures are related by blood, but since that's impossible to implement in this game (and also would be quite unnecessary), I ditched that part of the spell and kept the bonus damage.
BONUS 3rd LEVEL SPELLS
As part of casting this spell you must take 3d4 damage. When you do, you can return a dead companion to life with 1 hit point. In addition, the creature gains 3d8 temporary hit points for 14 turns.
At the start of each of the target creature’s turns, it takes 1 Necrotic damage. While the creature has any temporary hit points granted by this spell it moves with unnatural vigor, gaining a +2 bonus to all Ability Checks, Attack Rolls, and Saving Throws. Once it loses all remaining temporary hit points granted by this spell or when the spell ends, the creature gains a level of Exhaustion.
NOTES Originally, the Circle of Blood unlocks a spell called Blood Bond, which is a mix of being way too complicated and positively useless in BG3. I exchanged it for the other 3rd level spell Reanimate, which is a Revivify-esque spell that allows you to resurrect companions, at a price. The original iteration has you lose 1 temporary hit point every turn, but that's way too annoying to implement so I set a 14 turn duration (average of 3d8, the amount of temporary hit points granted) so that even if you manage to negate the consistent damage ping one way or another, you'll still get the detrimental effects, e.g. Exhaustion, which gives you Disadvantage on all Saving Throws until your next Long Rest. I don't intend to implement a complete Exhaustion system for this spell alone, so the first stage will have to do.
As part of casting this spell, you must take 3d4 damage. When you do, you animate the blood shed by casting this spell to form a Sanguine Poppet under your control.
Your Sanguine Poppet has an AC equal to 10 + your Proficiency Bonus + your Spellcasting Ability Modifier and 30 hit points. If your Sanguine Poppet is ever reduced to 0 hit points, the spell ends immediately.
As an Action, you can cause the poppet to self-destruct in an explosion of blood, ending this spell and dealing 3d8 Necrotic damage to each creature within 9m of the poppet unless they succeed on a Constitution Saving Throw, in which case they take half as much damage.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, you take an additional 1d4 Slashing damage while causing the explosion to deal an additional 1d8 Necrotic damage for each spell slot level above 3rd.
NOTES The original spell lets you animate an object, which is the material component of the spell, but since material components aren't used in BG3, I flavored it as animating your own blood into a blood ooze. It doesn't do much on its own, but if you manage to set off the explosion (unlocked by a temporary spell), you can inflict a decent amount of damage in a large radius. The original spell has an explosion radius of 9m, which is absolutely huge in BG3, so I set it at 6m instead, which should be more than enough.
BONUS 4th LEVEL SPELLS
As part of casting this spell, you must take 4d4 damage. When you do, choose a point on the ground within range. A crimson pillar erupts from the ground in a 5m radius and 30m high cylinder centered on the point you chose. Each creature within the cylinder must make a Constitution saving throw. On a success, the creature takes 4d8 Necrotic damage. On a failure, the creature takes an additional 4d8 Necrotic damage. As you sap the life force of the targets, you gain 15 temporary hit points.
NOTES Simple and to the point. You deal a guaranteed 4d8 Necrotic damage to targets within the radius, and those who fail their save will take an additional 4d8, which is my way of implementing "it [the creature] must expend and roll four hit dice of its own". The 15 temporary hit points aren't much, but it offsets some of the damage dealt to you by casting it in the first place while leaving some left over. Originally, the spell grants you 5 temporary hit points per creature who fails their save, but I don't think that's possible to implement in an elegant way.
As part of casting this spell you must take 4d4 damage. If you do, make a melee spell attack against a creature in melee range. On a hit, you deal 6d8 Necrotic damage to the target. If this damage causes the creature to be reduced to 0 hit points, it immediately dies and you gain one of the following Dark Blessings of your choice.
• Unassailable. You have Advantage on all Saving Throws. • Unbreakable. Your size increases by one category (from Medium to Large for example), you gain a number of temporary hit points equal to your Constitution modifier at the start of each of your turns, and your weapon attacks deal an additional 1d4 damage. • Unerring. Your Proficiency Bonus increases by 2.
Your Dark Blessing lasts until your next Long Rest or when you are reduced to 0 hit points, whichever happens first. When you take Radiant damage while you have a Dark Blessing, you take an additional 1d4 Radiant damage.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, the melee spell attack damage increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 4th.
NOTES The original spell deals 4d8 Necrotic damage + the amount of hit dice expended by the target. I tried to balance this to 6d8 total, which should still feel significant enough to possible kill a target to get a Dark Blessing. If you manage to pull it off three times, you can get all three Dark Blessings! Lucky for you, the extra Radiant damage doesn't stack.
BONUS 5th LEVEL SPELL
As part of casting this spell you must take 5d4 damage. When you do, choose an Aberration, Celestial, Elemental, Fey, or Fiend within range and condemn it to a taste of mortality. The creature must succeed on a Charisma Saving Throw or have its current and maximum hit points reduced by 5d8.
Additionally, for the duration of the spell, a creature that fails the Saving Throw has all their ability scores reduced by 3, its creature type changes to Humanoid in addition to its other creature types, and it takes an additional 1d4 Necrotic damage each time it takes damage.
If a creature affected by this spell is reduced to 0 hit points, these changes become permanent and the creature dies. This final effect of the spell can only be reversed if the creature is restored to life and targeted by a remove curse spell or similar magic.
NOTES This one proved the most difficult to implement, but I still wanted it in the game because there are enough creatures of the type affected by this spell to make it really interesting. First, the original spell replaces the creature type to Humanoid, which isn't possible to do in BG3 as far as I know, so I simply added the Humanoid tag to the target. This makes it possible to e.g. cast Hold Person on the target, and other spells that affect Humanoids. Second, I struggled really hard to make it possible to implement the removal of immunities and resistances, which would be easy enough to create an aura that causes your allies to ignore immunities and resistances, but the game didn't want to limit it to targets that have the Mortality status effect. Thus, I added a significant-but-not-too-powerful reduction in all ability scores instead to simulate the taste of mortality. Other than that it works fine! I also don't know if a creature that happens to have Remove Curse will try to remove this, but that remains to be a spicy element to potentially deal with.
POTENTIAL ISSUES/DISCLAIMERS
• Can't come up with any right now, but I'll add them here in case anything pops up.
1. Start BG3 Mod Manager and press the "Open Mods Folder" button on the top bar, or press Windows + R and type %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Larian Studios\Baldur's Gate 3\Mods\. 2. Open "CircleOfBlood.zip" and place "CircleOfBlood.pak" in the Mods folder. 3. Refresh the mod list in BG3 Mod Manager by pressing F5, and move the mod from inactive mods to active mods in the mod manager window. If you encounter any issues, try placing it further down in the load order. Make sure you use the "Public" profile. 4. Click "Save Load Order to File" in the top bar and launch the game.
