Blood Blades

I don't know how that thief did it, alls I know is that he started bleeding, and suddenly he had a knife.

--Statement taken from a Theran Guard after the escape of one of his prisoners.
 

Blood blades are a form of Blood Magic for Earthdawn. They offer the ultimate in concealable weapons, at a price of course. When using a Blood Blade a character must inflict a variable point wound on his/her arm(though gamemasters can choose to let a T'Skrang use it's tail). Note that this wound must be self inflicted. When this wound is inflicted the weapon itself turns into Blood and and enters the characters bloodstream. This leaves a scar, that always looks like it's about ready to bleed. When the character needs the blade a trail of blood trickles down from the scar and forms in the characters hand. (or wherever the blood lands) Note that damage caused by the Blood Blade cannot be healed until the blade is out of the bloodstream.

The following charts show the types of weapons available as Blood Blades, the damage that must be done to enter the bloodstream, and the number of turns it will take the blood blade to reform

 Knife
1 point of damage  1 turn
 Dagger
 2 points of damage  2 turns
 Short Sword
 4 points of damage  3 turns
 Broadsword
 8 points of damage  4 turns

Note that Windlings must double damage for all blood blades.

Some blood blades are Thread items and have magical properties beyond normal blood blades. All Short and Broad Sword blades should be considered Thread items. Note also that several people(Most notably the Thieves of Kratas) know about blood blades, and as of such know to look for the scar.

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By P. Baumgart