Thaumaturgy Paths

Biothaumaturgy

This bizarre path reputedly has its roots in the secret tomes of the inscrutable Black Hand. Over the past few years, its esoteric secrets have spread among certain cabals of Tremere, who regard it as a curious mixture of Hermetic science and genetics. Biothaumaturgy concerns itself with the manipulation of life energies. In the laboratories of inspired biothaumaturges may be found strange creatures almost out of myth, veritable Frankenstein’s monsters and less wholesome creations.
Although it is not considered a “taboo” path, Biothaumaturgy is nonetheless strange and unsettling to those who observe its results. Biothaumaturgy does not require the expenditure of blood points to create its magic. Rather, the powers of this path take one week per level to complete at Levels One and Two, and one month per level to complete at Levels Three through Five. Biothaumaturgy also requires the thaumaturge to have a laboratory where he may conduct his experiments. This need be nothing more complex than a doctor’s table and a few sharp knives, but it may be as complex as the “mad scientist” affairs of pulp fiction, with steaming alembics and crackling generators.

1 • Thaumaturgical Forensics

The thaumaturge may take a tissue sample from a living, dead or undead creature and ascertain its distinguishing characteristics. A wealth of information may be gleaned from this sample, including information that “normal” forensics and genetics would not yield, such as age, generation, clan, etc.

2 • Thaumaturgical Surgery

The thaumaturge uses his knowledge of magic and physiology to aid a body in its regenerative capacity. Even the most grievous wounds may heal more quickly if aided by this sorcerous art. Aggravated damage becomes lethal, lethal damage becomes bashing and bashing damage becomes easily slept-off fatigue (and vanishes completely). Note that the actual surgery does not take the above-mentioned two weeks to finish, but recuperation times account for that period.

3 • Lesser Animation

The thaumaturge mystically endows a dead lifeform with magical energy and imparts to it a rudimentary set of instructions. The resultant creations carry out their orders to the letter; biothaumaturges use this power to populate their havens with deathless guard dogs and other, quirkier “pets.”
This power affects plants and simple animals — nothing more than a single tree or dog per use. If the effect is successful, the animated creation may be given a one-sentence command, which it will fulfill until destroyed. Minor variations on the subject may even be made — a thorn thicket could be animated to move slowly toward intruders to entangle them, or an animate cat could be given a set of larger, permanently extended claws that do additional damage. Creatures animated in this fashion immediately crumble to dust if stricken by sunlight, and suffer double damage from fire.

4 • Greater Animation

At this level, the thaumaturge has refined her knowledge to allow her to animate more complex creatures. Even human corpses and large animals may be given the “spark of life” with this power. Certain lifeforms are probably beyond the capacity of this power — zombie whales sound fairly foolish. This power also allows minor changes to be made to the subjects, or allows major changes to be made to lesser subjects. For example, an animate human corpse may wield a bone-hook instead of a hand, or a rat might be able to fly with a pair of leathery gargoyle-wings made from the bones and skin of birds and infants.
A human animated in this manner retains none of his original “self.” This power merely animates the corpse; it does not reunite the spirit with the body.

5 • Cognizant Construction

The pinnacle of Biothaumaturgy, this power bestows a dead creature animated through one of the lesser powers of this path with a semblance of the intelligence it had in life. Animated animals possess a malicious cunning while higher lifeforms gain a shrewd ability to reason deductively rather than satisfy rote commands.
Although this power gives an animation a base intelligence, the creature nonetheless still serves the orders it is given by its creator. A creature animated via Cognizant Creation has Mental Attributes of one less than it possessed in life (but never below 1). This won’t be creating any undead geniuses, but the story effect is that it creates an animated monster capable of reasoning. A Cognizant Construction won’t mindlessly fight to its second death if it sees a better or cleverer way of routing foes, and it will be capable of other deductive tasks as well.

Path of the Levinbolt

Medieval Tremere experimented with harnessing lightning itself, but their understanding proved only rudimentary. Without knowledge of electricity, thaumaturges could only rely on a simple ability to hold and discharge energy. Furthermore, other paths like the Lure of Flames proved more useful in their struggle to establish the clan's place. For these reasons, the Path of the Levinbolt faded to obscurity through the Dark and Middle Ages, and remained hidden away in grimoires until the Victorian Age.
The birth of science and understanding of electricity revitalized the Path of the Levinbolt--the combination of mystical astrology with a rational understanding allowed thaumaturges to rebuild and rechannel its principals. No longer did thaumaturges have only some limited skill in charging themselves with lightning; now they could arc, focus and handle the very elements! Older practitioners spent minutes collecting the energy necessary to charge this Path’s discharges, but modern thaumaturges could gather the electricity in mere seconds, to direct as they chose. As a thaumaturge collects the energy of the Levinbolt, she often takes on an electrical aspect: sparks my play at her fingertips, or a purplish halo may seem to surround her hands as a warning of storms to come. Mighty discharges often result in a sort of flaring afterimage like a photo negative as the powerful lightning makes a stark contrast to surrounding darkness.

• Spark

Novice thaumaturges can build up a tiny static charge, enough to make a noticeable snap with a touch. Such a discharge poses little threat to healthy targets, though the energy can ruin delicate electronics or stun an unlucky victim. System: The thaumaturge simply touches a target (after the requisite blood expenditure and Willpower roll by the player) and releases the spark. The electricity can snap from any part of the caster’s body, so a thaumaturge might give an unpleasant surprise to someone touching her. The resulting discharge inflicts two dice of electrical damage (generally lethal). The time required to draw out the electricity varies with the successes scored: with one success, the vampire might need a turn or three to accumulate the energy; with three successes, only a couple of seconds; with five successes, instantly. The caster must use the power immediately after invoking the magic.

•• Illuminate

Neonates sometimes derogatively refer to this effect as the “40-watt Tremere,” right up until they’ve felt its sting. The thaumaturge summons enough electricity to cover her hand or arm in arcing bolts. This power can charge a battery or briefly run a small device, or even leave a nasty burn on a touched subject. System: Each success scored on the player’s Willpower roll translates to approximately one turn of power sufficient to run a handful of lights or a small electrical device. Alternately, the thaumaturge can shock someone by touch as with the Spark power, but for four dice of (lethal) electrical damage; such a use immediately discharges the energy. The current created with this power is not strong enough to force its way through less-than-ideal conductors, though, and simply inflicts electrical damage on raw metals, woods or other matter in the form of a burn. The thaumaturge can alternately allow the electricity to spark about her hand, eyes, head or the like; this creates illumination about equal to a dim light bulb, and obviously gives a two-point bonus to Intimidation rolls against unassuming victims (like mortals). In conjunction with a Dexterity + Crafts roll (difficulty 7), the thaumaturge could even use his fingers to perform crude metal welding, though this can easily heat metal enough to inflict aggravated damage to the caster.

••• Power Array

Like a looming thundercloud, the thaumaturge holds the waiting fury of lightning. Although the vampire cannot create or direct a charge strongly or accurately enough to launch actual bolts of electricity, she can conduct power through other substances or even absorb nearby energies. System: As with lesser levels of this path, the thaumaturge can discharge a shock of electricity, this time up to six dice of lethal damage; the charge remains active for a number of turns equal to the number of successes scored by the player on the initial roll. With this power, the thaumaturge can also send the power through any conductive substance touched; a metal sword (with a similarly metal handle) could carry the thaumaturge’s electric touch--the bolts of lightning would literally snap across the blade into the target touched. The thaumaturge could also briefly power a large device or continue to power a small device for the duration of the effect. Though perhaps an ignominious use, a sorcerer could conceivably find himself needing just a minute to look into an unpowered computer’s files, to override an electrical lock or to start a dead car battery. Other power sources offer alternatives: the thaumaturge can choose to channel other electrical energies through herself if desired, which lets her draw power out of a car battery or power line without injury and without counting against her own power generation. By touching both power source and subject, the thaumaturge can act as a near-perfect conductor without any harm to herself.

•••• Zeus’ Fury

Accomplished thaumaturges can not only absorb electrical power, but shape and redirect it. The vampire may arc lightning from her body to nearby targets or hold a potent charge that raises hair on end and sparks with suppressed energy. System: The successes scored by the player determine the number of turns that the vampire can harness Zeus’ Fury. The character holds a total of 10 dice of electrical power, which can be discharged through touch or in arced bolts in any combination desired--so the player could choose to spend four dice of damage in a touch attack, and then arc the remaining six dice into a bolt of lightning the next turn. As with lesser levels of power, a touch can fuel or overload electrical devices. The thaumaturge directs hurled bolts with Perception + Science (difficulty of 6 plus the range in yards--up to a maximum of 10, at the maximum range of 4 yards).

••••• Eye of the Storm

The thaumaturge becomes a shifting, sparking pillar of electrical power. Her merest glance can prove dangerous, her touch explosively fatal. The energy channeled in the Eye of the Storm can tear apart a mortal body or spectacularly detonate all but the most heavily shielded electrical components. Wood, metal, plastic and similar materials combust dramatically with contact, burn or even sublimate. System: At this level of mastery, the vampire can discharge 14 dice of damage by touch or launch lesser bolts of electricity as with Zeus’ Fury, above. Materials or entities that come in contact with the thaumaturge automatically suffer one die of lethal electrical damage each turn (this does not count against the usual dice pool, and adds to touch damage). The sparking, glowing form of the thaumaturge becomes a veritable halo of energy, and onlookers suffer from the excessively bright light and flashing afterimages (which can increase the difficulty of most tasks simply due to the distraction). The nimbus discharges at a rate of one die per turn unless otherwise spent, or unless a number of turns elapse equal to the successes scored by the player on the initial roll.

Thaumaturgical Countermagic

This is less of a path than it is a separate Discipline, as the power to resist Thaumaturgy can be taught independently of Thaumaturgy., even to those Kindred who are incapable of mastering even the simplest ritual. However, the techniques of Thaumaturgical Countermagic are not officially taught outside Clan Tremere for obvious reasons. Any non-Tremere who displays the ability to resist Thaumaturgy quickly becomes the subject of potentially fatal scrutiny from the entirety of Clan Tremere.
System: Thaumaturgical Countermagic is treated as a separate Discipline. It cannot be taken as a character’s primary path, and a rating in it does not allow the character to perform rituals. The use of Thaumaturgical Countermagic is treated as a free action in combat and does not require a split dice pool. To oppose a Thaumaturgy power or ritual, a character must have a rating of that power or ritual (which means that rituals of six or greater cannot ever be countered with this power). The player spends a blood point and rolls the number of dice indicated by the character’s Thaumaturgical Countermagic rating (difficulty equal to the difficulty of the power in use). Each success cancels one of the opposing thaumaturge’s successes.
Thaumaturgical Countermagic can only be used against Tremere Thaumaturgy at fool effectiveness. It works with halved dice pools against non-Tremere blood magic and mortal "hedge wizardry,"and is completely against non-vampiric magics and powers.
Thaumaturgical Countermagic can be learned by characters who are unable to learn Thaumaturgy (e.g. those with the Merit Magic Resistance). Any non-Tremere character with a rating in this power automatically gains the Flaw Clan Enmity (Tremere), receiving no freebie points for it. This power cannot be taken during character creation and cannot be spontaneously developed. It cost the same as any other non-Clan Discipline to use.

• Two dice of countermagic. The character can attempt to cancel only those powers and rituals that directly affect him and his garments.

•• Four dice of countermagic.

••• Six dice of countermagic. The character can attempt to cancel a Thaumaturgy power that affects anyone or anything in physical contact with him.

•••• Eight dice of coutnermagic.

••••• Ten dice of countermagic. The character can now attempt to cancel a power or ritual that targets anything within a radius equal to his Willpower in yards, or one that is being used or performed within that same radius.

Path of Corruption

These powers must be used on a victim within arm’s length. Followers of Set may learn this path without knowing Thaumaturgy.

• Contradict
Roll: Manipulation + Subterfuge, difficulty Willpower + 1
The vampire may cause a victim to do the opposite of what she was originally going to do.

•• Disfiguration

Roll: Intelligence + Disguise, difficulty 8
The vampire may alter the facial appearance of a target. This may be used to make someone look better, worse, or just different. The difficulty to use this power for impersonation is 10.

••• Change Mind

Roll: Manipulation + Empathy, difficulty Willpower + 1
The vampire may choose a Demeanor, and force a victim to adopt it, for the following time periods:
1 suc. one turn.
2 suc. one day.
3 suc. one month.
4 suc. one year.
5 suc. permanently.

•••• Cripple

Roll: Willpower, difficulty Courage + Fortitude + 3
The vampire can make a victim effectively paraplegic, for the following time periods:
1 suc. one turn.
2 suc. one day.
3 suc. one month.
4 suc. one year.
5 suc. permanently.

••••• Corrupt Soul

Roll: Charisma + Empathy, difficulty Willpower + 3
The vampire may choose a Nature, and force a victim to adopt it, for the following time periods:
1 suc. one turn.
2 suc. one day.
3 suc. one month.
4 suc. one year.
5 suc. permanently.

Movement of the Mind
Roll: Willpower, difficulty [level of power used] + 3
By spending a blood point, the vampire may telekinetically lift or manipulate things as if she were holding them in her own hands. At level three, the vampire is assumed to be able to telekinetically move herself, even if she exceeds 200 pounds. The level of the effect (the weight of the object being moved) is limited to the number of successes on the Willpower roll.
• one pound
•• twenty pounds
••• two hundred pounds
•••• one quarter-ton
••••• one half-ton

Neptune’s Might

• Eyes of the Sea

Roll: Perception + Occult, difficulty 7
By looking into a standing body of water, the vampire may see past occurances in that body of water. The amount of time by which the vampire can see into the past is as follows:
1 suc. one day.
2 suc. one week.
3 suc. one month.
4 suc. one year.
5 suc. ten years.

•• Jail of Water

Roll: Dexterity + Survival, difficulty 6
Resist: Strength, difficulty 8
The vampire may command water to rise, and trap a target. The vampire may dissolve the jail at will, but a target may only be in one of these jails at a time. This power must be used near a large amount of water.

••• Dehydrate
Roll: Willpower, difficulty 8
Resist: Stamina + Survival + Fortitude difficulty 9
The vampire may pull water out of a target, leaving exit wounds. Humans so injured lose one health level per success, and vampires so injured lose one blood point per success. To take an action the next turn, the target must roll Courage, difficulty 6, and score three more successes than the vampire scored. Failure means that she is in too much pain to act.

•••• Flowing Wall

Roll: Willpower, difficulty 6
By spending three willpower points, and touching a standing body of water, the vampire may make a wall of water. Supernatural creatures must score three successes on a roll of Strength + Courage, difficulty 9, to cross this barrier. The vampire may dissolve the barrier at will.

••••• Blood to Water

Roll: Willpower, difficulty Humanity + 3, to 10
By touching a victim, the vampire may convert one of the victim’s blood points to water for each success. This is fatal to mortals, and vampires lose one die from all pools for each blood point lost this way. When the vampire sleeps, the water disappears, but the blood does not return.

Lure of Flames

Roll: Willpower, difficulty [level of power used] + 3
By spending a blood point, the vampire may create a flame, anywhere within line of sight, that will not burn anything until released. She must also roll Perception + Alertness to place it anywhere other than her own body. The level of the effect (the size of the flame) is limited to the number of successes on the Willpower roll.
• candle flame
•• hand of flame
••• torch flame
•••• large bonfire
••••• large forest fire

Blood Thaumaturgy

• A Taste for Blood

Roll: Perception + Occult, difficulty 7
By touching the blood of a vampire, the vampire may make an approximation as to the last feeding time, the amount of blood left in a vampire, her rough generation, etc.

•• Blood Rage

Roll: Dexterity + Subterfuge, difficulty Willpower
The vampire may force a vampiric victim to spend one blood point per success, and may decide how the blood is spent.

••• Blood of Potency

Roll: Manipulation + Survival, difficulty 8
The vampire may temporarily reduce her generation. Each success either reduces the vampire’s generation by one, or adds one hour to the time period for which it is reduced.

•••• Theft of Vitae

Roll: Intelligence + Medicine, difficulty Willpower
The vampire may steal blood from a victim, at a rate of one point per success. The difficulty is to use this power is 6 against a non-living source (IE a plasma bag).
••••• Cauldron of Blood
Roll: Willpower, difficulty [blood points to be burned] + 4
The vampire may boil some of the blood of another vampire or mortal, which will burn all at once. This causes one aggravated wound per blood point boiled, in addition to blood loss.

Spirit Thaumaturgy

• Evil Eye

Roll: Manipulation + Intimidation, difficulty Humanity
The vampire may inflict one botched die per success on the victim any time during that scene. These botches can be accumulated, and added to any roll, in any number, but any unused by the end of the scene are lost.

•• Spirit Sight

Roll: Perception + Occult, difficulty Willpower
The vampire may see spirits in whatever form they have taken, and may even communicate with them.

••• Spirit Slave

Roll: Willpower, difficulty 6
Resist: Willpower, difficulty 6
The vampire may demand a service of a spirit in her presence, and if the spirit is capable of this task, it must perform it. The spirit is free to leave afterward.

•••• Fetishes

Roll: Willpower, difficulty Willpower
Resist: Willpower, difficulty Willpower
The vampire can force a spirit to inhabit an object, where it will become a permanent slave. She automatically loses one Humanity for doing this, if the spirit was not willing.

••••• Journey

By spending a willpower point, the vampire may leave her body, and roam the physical world as a spirit. In this form, she may be attacked as a spirit, but not physically, and may use mental disciplines. She is generally visible, and appears naked, unless she uses Obfuscate.

Weather Control

Roll: Willpower, difficulty [level of power used] + 3
By spending a blood point, the vampire may create weather anomalies. She must also roll Manipulation + Survival, difficulty dependent on the typical likelihood of the weather pattern being perpetrated. (Lightning on a sunny day in Kenya is difficulty 9; fog in London is difficulty 3.) In the event of lightning, treat the strike as a firearm, doing ten dice of damage. The level of the effect (the magnitude of the weather anomaly) is limited to the number of successes on the Willpower roll.
• fog
•• rain
••• storm
•••• wind
••••• lightning

Gift of Morpheus (Sabbat)

• Cause Sleep

Roll: Manipulation + Empathy, difficulty Willpower + 3
The vampire may put a victim to sleep. If the target is a vampire, a willpower point must also be spent.
1 suc. the victim loses one die from all pools next turn.
2 suc. the victim loses one die from all pools next turn.
3 suc. the victim goes to sleep.

•• Mass Slumber

Roll: Charisma + Leadership, difficulty 8
The vampire may affect several victims with the power Cause Sleep. Interpret successes as per Cause Sleep.

••• Enchanted Slumber

Roll: Intelligence + Subterfuge, difficulty Willpower
The vampire may put a victim to sleep, and name an event that must occur that will enable the victim to awaken. If the target is a vampire, a willpower point must also be spent. If the event does not occur, the victim will stay asleep for up to the following time periods:
1 suc. one turn.
2 suc. one night.
3 suc. one week.
4 suc. one month.
5 suc. one year.

•••• Dreamscape

Roll: Wits + Dreaming, difficulty Willpower
The vampire may project her own image into a dream, but has no control over the dream other than by her own actions within it. The vampire must have a belonging of the victim to use this power.
••••• Master of Dreams
Roll: Manipulation + Dreaming, difficulty 7
Resist: Manipulation + Dreaming, difficulty 7
The vampire may start changing the target’s dreams, once she has entered them by using Dreamscape. If the target is a vampire, a willpower point must also be spent. Once this power has been used, the target may also change her dreams with resistance rolls, and both characters may act in the dream as if they were awake. If either character dies in this dream, the character also dies for real.

Biothaumaturgical Experimentation (Black Hand)

This power is as much science as thaumaturgy, and a laboratory, with a lot of esoteric equipment is necessary. Assume that a single roll represents a week of work, and an expenditure of $1000 per level of the power being used.

• Thaumaturgical Forensics

Roll: Intelligence + Medicine, difficulty 5
The vampire can learn things about a target from a piece of hair, skin, blood, or other tissue. Things that can be learned by this power include age, sex, race, clan, generation, tribe, Garou gifts, vampiric diablerie, infernal diablerie, disciplines, Vicissitude infection, etc.

•• Animal Experimentation

Roll: Intelligence + Medicine, difficulty 8
The vampire may alter an animal. Each success represents one attribute dot, two abilities dots, one instinct, one behavior pattern, one aspect of the creature’s niche in the ecology (such as diet or habitat), or one feature that can be added, removed, or modified. The Storyteller must approve all such changes.

••• Thaumaturgical Surgery

Roll: Wits + Medicine, difficulty 7
The vampire may heal two levels of normal damage, or one level of aggravated damage, done to a target, per success. This power may not be used twice on the same injury. The surgery takes an hour; the recovery time is one week.

•••• Human Experimentation

As Animal Experimentation, but may be used to alter mundane humans.

••••• Supernatural Experimentation

As Animal Experimentation, but may be used to alter vampires, mages, mummies, werecreatures, spirits, faeries, etc.

Elemental Mastery

• Elemental Strength

The vampire may spend two willpower points to increase all of her physical attributes by one. This power costs one willpower point per turn.

•• Wooden Tongues

Roll: Wits + Linguistics, difficulty 7
The vampire may communicate with, and get the impressions of, inanimate objects.

••• Animate the Unmoving

Roll: Willpower, difficulty 7
The vampire may animate and control otherwise inanimate objects. This power costs one willpower point per turn, and will not make an object perform tasks of which it would be incapable even if it could move.

•••• Elemental Form

Roll: Stamina + Repair, difficulty 6
The vampire may turn into an inanimate object of size roughly equal to her own. At least three successes are required to be able to use disciplines in this form.

••••• Summon Elemental

Roll: Manipulation + Science, difficulty 8
The vampire may summon an Elemental. With a roll of Charisma + Intimidation, it may even follow her instructions...

Path of Conjuring

The vampire may not summon an object larger or heavier than herself with any power on this path.

• Summoning the Simple Form

Roll: Intelligence + [ability], difficulty 6
By spending a willpower point, the vampire may create a simple, featureless object with no moving parts. She must spend a willpower point each turn to prevent it from disappearing.

•• Permanency

Roll: Intelligence + [ability], difficulty 6
By spending a willpower point and three blood points, the vampire may permanently summon a simple, featureless object with no moving parts.

••• Magic of the Smith

Roll: Intelligence + [ability], difficulty 7
By spending a willpower point and five blood points, the vampire may summon a complex object with moving parts. The quality and functionality of the object depends on the degree of success on the above roll.

•••• Reverse Conjuration

Roll: Willpower, difficulty Willpower
By spending twice as many willpower points as the target did, the vampire may dissolve the conjuration of a target. The above roll is used as a roll to resist the Conjuration roll

••••• Power over Life

Roll: Intelligence + Empathy / Animal Ken, difficulty 8
By spending ten blood points, the vampire may summon a creature that will intelligently follow her instructions. However, this creature will slowly become more insubstantial, and in a month will have faded away.

Hidea Iman: Gifts of Faith (Possessed by the Hajj of the Middle East)

The Hajj use this Thaumaturgic path to emulate True Faith. It is the only path they practice and is available to them only. There are two rites that are unique to the Hajj as well; both are known only to Tarique and Mazen. The first is the ward that dampens the Keening; the second is a "blessing" that allows an Ashirra to enter a Muslim holy site, even Mecca and Medina, for one night.
Most Hidea Iman rituals require lenghty preparation; futhermore, the user must be absolutely pure (he cannot even have had a Humanity check called for during the past 24 hours).

• Saut Allah

Roll: Charisma + Leadership, difficulty 6
Through one hour of chanting the Hajj can verbally inspire his followers and grant them an extra point of temporary Willpower.

•• Nuzra Allah

Roll: Willpower, difficulty targets Willpower.
By Maintaining eye contact the Hajj can prevent one attacker from assaulting him.

••• Ruh Allah

Roll: Charisma + Leasership, difficulty targets permanent Willpower.
The successes are subtracted from 10. Once the target's Humanity rating is reached, the frenzy is quelled.
By reciting a prayer, the Hajj can attempt to bring someone out of a frenzy.

•••• Ghadub Allah

The same as Nurza Allah, the Hajj no longer needs to maintain eye contact in order to stop an attack. Only one opponent can be so affected.

••••• Kubda Allah

Roll: permanent Willpower, difficulty targets permanent Willpower.
After establishing eye contact, the Hajj can demand that an opponent submit. Successfully attacked opponents who do not submit suffer 2 levels of nonaggrivated damage (they feel an outside force crushing them) per success the Hajj makes. If they do submit, they will no longer be able to attack the Hajj for the duration of the evening.