I’ve been listening to a lot of the Court of Swords podcast lately, so I assume that its recent blood-transfusion stories have a lot to do with where the ideas for these magic items came from. Anyway, over in Twitter I wrote: Since wizards can capture spells from enemy wizards or share them with friendly wizards, it might be really cool if sorcerers could use blood transfusions and magical syringes to gain a rare new spell from another sorcerer.

Sorcery-Themed Magic Items | Sorcerous Blood

Needle of Sorcery
Wondrous item, rare

This mithral needle is 5 inches long and wickedly sharp. Typically, 1d4+2 needles of sorcery are found together.

As an action, you can use the needle on one willing or helpless creature within reach that you can see, or a creature that has been dead for less than 1 minute. The needle extracts a dram of the creature’s blood and transfers it to a container of your choosing. The needle turns to dust after use. If that creature is, or was, able to cast spells as a sorcerer, you can drink the blood as a bonus action to gain 1d4+1 sorcery points, if they have the Font of Magic feature of the sorcerer class.

Lesser Vial of Spell Knowledge
Wondrous item, uncommon (requires use by a bard or sorcerer)

You gain a new spell and temporarily lose access to one you already know when you drink a sorcerer’s blood from this vial. A white spell-rune glows within the oozing red liquid.

If a sorcerer’s blood is poured into this vial (which requires a needle of sorcery), you can drink from the vial as an action. You learn the name of one spell of each spell level that the sorcerer knows. You can choose one of those spells and replace a spell that you know with it. The spell has to be a sorcerer spell for them but doesn’t have to be a bard or sorcerer spell for you. You must be able to cast spells of that level, but it doesn’t count against the number of spells you know. This substitution lasts until you drink from another vial of spell knowledge or finish a long rest.

Greater Vial of Spell Knowledge
Wondrous item, rare (requires use by a bard or sorcerer)

You gain a new spell when you drink a sorcerer’s blood from this vial. A white spell-rune burns within swirling crimson.

If a sorcerer’s blood is poured into this vial (which requires a needle of sorcery), you can drink from the vial as an action. You learn the name of one spell of each spell level that the sorcerer knows. You can choose one of those spells and add it to your known spells. The spell has to be a sorcerer spell for them but doesn’t have to be a bard or sorcerer spell for you. You must be able to cast spells of that level, but it doesn’t count against the number of spells you know. You retain the spell until you drink from another vial of spell knowledge.

Superior Vial of Spell Knowledge
Wondrous item, very rare (requires use by a bard or sorcerer)

You gain 3 new spells when you drink a sorcerer’s blood from this vial. A searing white spell-rune shines within the roiling ruby liquid.

If a sorcerer’s blood is poured into this vial (which requires a needle of sorcery), you can drink from the vial as an action. You learn the name of one spell of each spell level that the sorcerer knows. You can choose three of those spells and add them to your known spells. The spell has to be a sorcerer spell for them but doesn’t have to be a bard or sorcerer spell for you. You must be able to cast spells of that level, but it doesn’t count against the number of spells you know. You retain the spell until you drink from another vial of spell knowledge.

Draught of the Lost Lineage
Potion, very rare (requires use by a sorcerer)

This bottle contains the blood of a sorcerer who belonged to a powerful magical lineage. The lineage is extinct, but the vial is still incandescent with its power. When you drink this vial, roll 1d4 on the table below. The effects last until you finish a long rest or drink another draught of the lost lineage.

d4 – Result
1 – Your current and maximum sorcery points increase by 1d10+1.
2 – When you suffer damage from a spell, you can spend 2 sorcery points to halve that damage.
3 – Choose and gain one additional form of metamagic.
4 – When a creature fails a saving throw against a spell you cast, you can spend 1 sorcery point to make a melee weapon attack as a bonus action. If this attack hits, it deals additional fire damage equal to your Charisma modifier.

Design Notes

I’m drawing on Bioshock and V:tM Diablerie and creepy mad science labs from many kinds of fiction. I think there’s probably a cleaner presentation of the vials of spell knowledge that doesn’t repeat quite as much text, but this is a blog post, not a final publication, so I’m not going to sweat it too much here. I really like the idea that a sorcerer could use needles of sorcery to store a bunch of sorcery points and use or sell them. Sorcerer’s blood getting traded on in a magical market is my kind of thing.

I didn’t come up with the best way to do it while I was writing this, but in theory I’d like to add items that interact with each sorcerous origin somehow. This one’s from a draconic sorcerer so it does this.

Letting bards use the vials of spell knowledge is a nod to the fact that they operate on spells known in the first place (and I couldn’t honestly tell you why – bards collecting lore and songs is at least as reasonable as making their magic innate), and also to their Magical Secrets features. It’s absolutely intended that they can grab some extra sorcerer spells for a time.

The line “The spell has to be a sorcerer spell for them but doesn’t have to be a bard or sorcerer spell for you.” is about letting you cheat your way into cleric spells, if you get a Divine Soul’s blood into a vial.

I don’t have an incredibly clear story that I’m trying to tell with the draught of the lost lineage, and that weakens the concept a bit. In general I’m trying to say that this lineage really was Just Better but is now gone, because they got more of everything than the thin bloodlines (hi again, V:tM) of present-day sorcerers. The through-line point of this whole post is that sorcerers don’t get nearly enough story emphasis, and I want to see people get their hands dirty hanging whole storylines on sorcery and how the world responds to it.

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