DM Q&A: Race: Bard/Sorcerer Bloodlines

[spiritofaphoenix]

I understand that monster races are not playable on this server, but I was wondering what a bard/sorcerer could claim their bloodline to be for being the reason they possess natural, arcane, abilities. Rather than having a draconic bloodline, could a sorcerer claim to have a celestial, abyssal, fey, genasi, ect. bloodline.

I imagine no character would know for sure, but I imagine stories might be passed down to a character saying, "your great-great-great-great grandmother was an Angel", may passed down through the generations. Although the character or others they tell may not even believe the story.

So my question is can we claim our bards/sorcerers to have a unique bloodline and if so how unique? I am asking for the how unique part more so for others than myself. I think the bloodlines I listed are fine, but anything like a bard with a Hyrdra's bloodline might be a bit much.

In addition to the above question, how far back should the relative be who created the unique bloodline. I imagine father or mother might be a bit much, but how about as a grandparent or further back?

[Munroe]

Any originating ancestor for a sorcerer's bloodline that isn't of the base race should be multiple generations back.

FRC not only does not allow half-celestials and half-fiends, but we don't allow aasimar or tieflings either. Any weird ancestry for a sorcerer's background should be so thinly diluted that the descendant couldn't ping as having a unique bloodline.

Generally speaking, it should be functionally impossible to determine what kind of special arcane ancestry a sorcerer has through direct examination. (Unless they're gnomes, in which case their gnomish ancestry can be easily concluded.)

Note that dragon disciples may not begin as half-dragons either, but as members of their base race. They use their arcane powers to manifest their ancestral traits with time and effort.

[spiritofaphoenix]

Nov 8, 2011 4:58:40 GMT -5 Munroe said:

Any originating ancestor for a sorcerer's bloodline that isn't of the base race should be multiple generations back.

FRC not only does not allow half-celestials and half-fiends, but we don't allow aasimar or tieflings either. Any weird ancestry for a sorcerer's background should be so thinly diluted that the descendant couldn't ping as having a unique bloodline.

Generally speaking, it should be functionally impossible to determine what kind of special arcane ancestry a sorcerer has through direct examination. (Unless they're gnomes, in which case their gnomish ancestry can be easily concluded.)

Note that dragon disciples may not begin as half-dragons either, but as members of their base race. They use their arcane powers to manifest their ancestral traits with time and effort.

Thank you for the response. I assumed that as long as I did not make the bloodline incredibly obvious by physical description, I would be allowed to have my character claim to have a believable bloodline as a verbal explanation passed down her family history for the reason she has arcane abilities. I will be writing the characters story for a few months before I make the actual character (Due to college I likely won't have much time to log into the server when it comes back up).

I thought I'd at least make sure that it was alright for my character to claim to have a bloodline that is not draconic, so I would not write out the story then be told I could not have my character make such claims. The bloodline will likely only be mentioned anyway, nothing as strange as a pixie sensing the watered down, fey, bloodline somewhere in my character, or my character sprouting wings and sprinkling pixie dust all over the place. Just something simple like, "my mother once told me that I had a relative long, who had been a genasi".