Blood promise

[Banjo666]

Character A & B swear a Blood Promise.
Character A fails to fulfill his promise when he has the opportunity to do so, he takes two Blood Wounds and the 4 points of Stain become permanent.

Does Character B still have to fulfill his promise or is the promise null and void once A renegs

Cheers, Chris

[ukhata]

does A end his quest?
does B stay on it?
is it included in the promise that when one fails the other one is released?
too many questions to give a single answer.

[Banjo666]

OK, Characters A & B make a blood promise.
A promises to shave his head every Friday.
B promises to cut his nails every Monday.
Now I know the promise is farcical but it is to illustrate the point.

So A fails to shave his head on a Friday, gets 4 points of permanent damage and 2 Blood Wounds.
Does B still have to cut his nails ?

[Telarus_KSC]

(Ignoring the fact that the example isn't dangerous or heroic) Rules as written state that B must fulfill his side of the promise.

That's not the best example, tho (repeating an action every week for a year and a day is a heavy promise). The examples in the book are "Go do this heroic/dangerous thing and then meet me here with the loot after a specific time." If one side breaks their promise, that means their trade deal has fallen through, but it's doesn't mean the other party is off the hook from the Blood Magic's perspective...

[thezombiekat]

[Telarus_KSC]

This is why wording is so important in Blood Magic ( and mythic contracts in general). Party B botched his "translate my end of the bargain into legalese" roll.

If Party B had started his promise with "Once you have returned to me with your wyvern skins..." it would play out differently, in my game, than if the promise was "I will deliver 3 wyvern skin cloaks..."

[arma]

This goes into the philosophical, but if it's broken, it's broken, doesn't exist any more. Why would the other party be bound to it?
Granted, the rules don't make that very clear.

However, you can also set parameters for how it works to choose the role such blood magic plays in your games. If the other party has to stick to it, it's really a two-sided sword, or be used for gritty effects such as someone swearing an oath with the intention to violate it, attacking the other and accepting the wound believing the other guy wouldn't strike back... ;D

[Telarus_KSC]

That's how the example in the book reads to me. Neither character trusts the other at all, or a blood promise wouldn't even be necessary. In fact, the Thief refuses to even give direction or lead a team to get into the dragon's den (to keep the entrance his own secret). The blood promise give each character a bit of magical leverage over the other, in exchnage for a +1 mod on a Talent or ability they will use to fulfill the promise.

Other types Blood Oaths would be used for different things...