Thaumaturgy (1/2)

Thaumaturgy encompasses blood magic and other
sorcerous arts available to Kindred. The Tremere Clan
is best known for their possession (and jealous hoarding)
of this Discipline. The Tremere created Thaumaturgy
by combining mortal wizardry with the power
of vampiric vitae, and as a result it is a versatile and
powerful Discipline. Although there are whispers of
the existence of Tremere antitribu in the Sabbat, other
Clans in the Sword of Caine have also researched and
developed access to such mystical might. Nevertheless,
the Tremere of the Camarilla remain this Discipline’s
masters.
Like Necromancy, the practice of Thaumaturgy is
divided into paths and rituals. Thaumaturgical paths
are applications of the vampire’s knowledge of blood
magic, allowing her to create effects on a whim. Rituals
are more formulaic in nature, most akin to ancient
magical “spells.” Because so many different paths and
rituals are available to the arcane Tremere, one never
knows what to expect when confronted with a practitioner
of this Discipline.
When a character first learns Thaumaturgy, the player
selects a path for the character. That path is considered
the character’s primary path, and she automatically
receives one dot in it, as well as one Level One
ritual. Thereafter, whenever the character increases
her level in Thaumaturgy, her rating in the primary
path increases by one as well. Additional rituals are
learned separately, as part of a story; players need not
pay experience points for their characters to learn rituals
up to the level equal to their overall rating in Thaumaturgy,
though they must find someone to teach the
rituals in question. Path ratings never exceed 5, though
the overall Thaumaturgy score may. If a character
reaches a rating of 5 in her primary path and increases
her Thaumaturgy score afterward, she may allocate her
“free” path dot to a different path. (Experience costs
are covered on p. 124.)
Many Kindred fear crossing the practitioners of
Thaumaturgy. It is a very potent and mutable Discipline,
and almost anything the Kindred wishes may be
accomplished through its magic.
Thaumaturgical Paths
Paths define the types of magic a vampire can perform.
A vampire typically learns his primary path from
his sire, though it is not unknown for some vampires to
study under many different tutors.
As mentioned before, the first path a character learns
is considered her primary path and increases automatically
as the character advances in the Discipline itself.
Secondary paths may be learned once the character
has acquired two or more dots in her primary path, and
they must be raised separately with experience points.
Furthermore, a character’s rating in her primary path
must always be at least one dot higher than any of her
secondary paths until she has mastered her primary
path. Once the character has achieved the fifth level
of her primary path, secondary paths may be increased
to that level.
Each time the character invokes one of the powers
of a Thaumaturgical path, the thaumaturge’s player
must spend a blood point and make a Willpower roll
against a difficulty equal to the power’s level +3. Only
one success is required to invoke a path’s effect — path
levels, not successes, govern the power of blood magic.
Failure on this roll indicates that the magic fails. A
botch causes some kind of loss or catastrophic backfire,
such as losing a Willpower point (or dot!), spontaneous
combustion, or accidentally letting a living statue
run rampant. Thaumaturgy is an unforgiving art.
Various Sects and Clans have different access to each
path, but unless the Storyteller decides otherwise, it is
assumed the Tremere have some access to all of them.
(“Having access” does not mean the same thing as “easily
gained,” especially within the Tremere power structure.)
The paths start with one of the most common
(The Path of Blood), and thereafter are presented in alphabetical
order. (The unusual “path” of Thaumaturgical
Countermagic is also presented, although it is considered
a separate Discipline – see p. 228 for details.)


The Path of Blood
Almost every Tremere studies the Path of Blood as
her primary path. It encompasses some of the most fundamental
principles of Thaumaturgy, based as it is on
the manipulation of Kindred vitae. If a player wishes to
select another path as her character’s primary path, the
Storyteller may require additional reasoning (though
choosing a different path is by no means unheard of).

• A Taste for Blood
This power was developed as a means of testing a
foe’s might — an extremely important ability in the
tumultuous early nights of Clan Tremere. By merely
touching the blood of his subject, the caster may determine
how much vitae remains in the subject and, if
the subject is a vampire, how recently he has fed, his
approximate Generation and, with three or more successes,
whether he has ever committed diablerie.
System: The number of successes achieved on the
roll determines how much information the thaumaturge
gleans and how accurate it is.

•• Blood Rage
This power allows a vampire to force another Kindred
to expend blood against his will. The caster must
touch her subject for this power to work, though only
the lightest contact is necessary. A vampire affected
by this power might feel a physical rush as the thaumaturge
heightens his Physical Attributes, might find
himself suddenly looking more human, or may even
find himself on the brink of frenzy as his stores of vitae
are mystically depleted.
System: Each success forces the subject to spend one
blood point immediately in the way the caster desires
(which must go towards some logical expenditure the
target vampire could make, such as increasing Physical
Attributes or powering Disciplines). Note that blood
points forcibly spent in this manner may exceed the
normal “per turn” maximum indicated by the victim’s
Generation. Each success gained also increases the
subject’s difficulty to resist frenzy by one. The thaumaturge
may not use Blood Rage on herself to circumvent
generational limits.

••• Blood of Potency
The thaumaturge gains such control over his own
blood that he may effectively “concentrate” it, making
it more powerful for a short time. In effect, he may
temporarily lower his own Generation with this power.
This power may be used only once per night.
System: One success on the Willpower roll allows
the character to lower his Generation by one step for
one hour. Each additional success grants the Kindred
either one step down in Generation or one hour of effect.
Successes earned must be spent both to decrease
the vampire’s Generation and to maintain the change
(this power cannot be activated again until the original
application wears off). If the vampire is diablerized
while this power is in effect, it wears off immediately
and the diablerist gains power appropriate to the caster’s
actual Generation. Furthermore, any mortals Embraced
by the thaumaturge are born to the Generation
appropriate to their sire’s original Generation (e.g., a
Tenth-Generation Tremere who has reduced his effective
Generation to Eighth still produces Eleventh-
Generation childer).
Once the effect wears off, any blood over the character’s
blood pool maximum dilutes, leaving the character
at his regular blood pool maximum. Thus, if a
Twelfth-Generation Tremere (maximum blood pool
of 11) decreased his Generation to Ninth (maximum
blood pool 14), ingested 14 blood points, and had this
much vitae in his system when the power wore off, his
blood pool would immediately drop to 11.

•••• Theft of Vitae
A thaumaturge using this power siphons vitae from
her subject. She need never come in contact with the
subject — blood literally streams out in a physical torrent
from the subject to the Kindred (though it is often
mystically absorbed and need not enter through the
mouth).
System: The number of successes determines how
many blood points the caster transfers from the subject.
The subject must be visible to the thaumaturge
and within 50 feet (15 meters). Using this power prevents
the caster from being blood-bound, but otherwise
counts as if the vampire ingested the blood herself.
This power is spectacularly obvious, and Camarilla
princes justifiably consider its public use a breach of
the Masquerade.

••••• Cauldron of Blood
A thaumaturge using this power boils her subject’s
blood in his veins like water on a stove. The Kindred
must touch her subject, and it is this contact that simmers
the subject’s blood. This power is always fatal to
mortals, and causes great damage to even the mightiest
vampires.
System: The number of successes gained determines
how many blood points are brought to boil. The subject
suffers one health level of aggravated damage for
each point boiled (individuals with Fortitude may soak
this damage using only their Fortitude dice). A single
success kills any mortal, though some ghouls with access
to Fortitude are said to have survived after soaking
all of the aggravated damage.


Elemental Mastery

This path allows a vampire limited control over and
communion with inanimate objects. Elemental Mastery
can only be used to affect the unliving — a vampire
could not cause a tree to walk by using Animate
the Unmoving, for instance. Thaumaturges who seek
mastery over living things generally study paths such
as The Green Path (p. 215).

• Elemental Strength
The vampire can draw upon the strength and resilience
of the earth, or of the objects around him, to increase
his physical prowess without the need for large
amounts of blood.
System: The player allocates a total of three temporary
bonus dots between the character’s Strength
and Stamina. The number of successes on the roll to
activate the power is the number of turns these dots
remain. The player may spend a Willpower point to
increase this duration by one turn. This power cannot
be “stacked” — one application must expire before the
next can be made.

•• Wooden Tongues
A vampire may speak, albeit in limited fashion, with
the spirit of any inanimate object. The conversation
may not be incredibly interesting, as most rocks and
chairs have limited concern for what occurs around
them, but the vampire can get at least a general impression
of what the subject has “experienced.” Note
that events which are significant to a vampire may not
be the same events that interest a lawn gnome.
System: The number of successes dictates the amount
and relevance of the information that the character receives.
One success may yield a boulder’s memory of a
forest fire, while three may indicate that it remembers
a shadowy figure running past, and five will cause the
rock to relate a precise description of a local Gangrel.

••• Animate the Unmoving
Objects affected by this power move as the vampire
using it dictates. An object cannot take an action that
would be completely inconceivable for something with
its form — for instance, a door could not leap from
its hinges and carry someone across a street. However,
seemingly solid objects can become flexible within reason:
Barstools can run with their legs, guns can twist
out of their owners’ hands or fire while holstered, and
humanoid statues can move like normal humans.
System: This power requires the expenditure of a
Willpower point with less than four successes on the
roll. Each use of this power animates one object no
larger than human-sized; the caster may simultaneously
control a number of animate objects equal to his Intelligence
rating. Objects animated by this power stay
animated as long as they are within the caster’s line of
sight or up to an hour, although the thaumaturge can
take other actions during that time.

•••• Elemental Form
The vampire can take the shape of any inanimate
object of a mass roughly equal to her own. A desk, a
statue, or a bicycle would be feasible, but a house or a
pen would be beyond this power’s capacity.
System: The number of successes determines how
completely the character takes the shape she wishes
to counterfeit. At least three successes are required for
the character to use her senses or Disciplines while in
her altered form. This power lasts for the remainder of
the night, although the character may return to her
normal form at will.

••••• Summon Elemental
A vampire may summon one of the traditional spirits
of the elements: a salamander (fire), a sylph (air),
a gnome (earth), or an undine (water). Some thaumaturges
claim to have contacted elemental spirits of
glass, electricity, blood, and even atomic energy, but
such reports remain unconfirmed (even as their authors
are summoned to Vienna for questioning). The
caster may choose what type of elemental he wishes to
summon and command.
System: The character must be near some quantity
of the classical element corresponding to the spirit
he wishes to invoke. The spirit invoked may or may
not actually follow the caster’s instructions once summoned,
but generally will at least pay rough attention
to what it’s being told to do. The number of successes
gained on the Willpower roll determines the power
level of the elemental.
The elemental has three dots in all Physical and
Mental Attributes. One dot may be added to one of
the elemental’s Physical Attributes for each success
gained by the caster on the initial roll. The Storyteller
should determine the elemental’s Abilities, attacks,
and damage, and any special powers it has related to
its element.
Once the elemental has been summoned, the thaumaturge
must exert control over it. The more powerful
the elemental, the more difficult a task this is. The
player rolls Manipulation + Occult (difficulty of the
number of successes scored on the casting roll + 4),
and the number of successes determines the degree of
control:
Successes - Result
Botch - The elemental immediately attacks
the thaumaturge.
Failure - The elemental goes free and may
attack anyone or leave the scene
at the Storyteller’s discretion.
1 success - The elemental does not attack its
summoner.
2 successes - The elemental behaves favorably
toward the summoner and may
perform a service in exchange for
payment (determined by the
Storyteller).
3 successes - The elemental performs one service,
within reason.
4 successes - The elemental performs any one task
for the caster that does not jeopardize
its own existence.
5 successes - The elemental performs any task that
the caster sets for it, even one that
may take several nights to complete
or that places its existence at risk.


The Green Path

The Green Path deals with the manipulation of
plant matter of all sorts. Anything more complex than
an algae bloom can theoretically be controlled through
the appropriate application of this path. Ferns, roses,
dandelions, and even ancient redwoods are all valid
targets for this path’s powers, and living and dead plant
matter are equally affected. While not as immediately
impressive as some other more widely practiced paths,
the Green Path (sometimes disparagingly referred to as
“Botanical Mastery”) is as subtle and powerful as the
natural world which it affects.

• Herbal Wisdom
With a touch, a vampire can commune with the
spirit of a plant. Conversations held in this manner are
often cryptic but rewarding — the wisdom and experience
of the spirits of some trees surpasses that of the
oracles of legend. Crabgrass, on the other hand, rarely
has much insight to offer, but might reveal the appearance
of the last person who trod upon it.
System: The number of successes rolled determines
the amount of information that can be gained from the
contact. Depending on the precise information that
the vampire seeks, the Storyteller might require the
player to roll Intelligence + Occult in order to interpret
the results of the communication.
Successes - Result
1 success - Fleeting cryptic impressions
2 successes - One or two clear images
3 successes - A concise answer to a simple query
4 successes - A detailed response to one or more
complex questions
5 successes - The sum total of the plant-spirit’s
knowledge on a given subject

•• Speed the Season’s Passing
This power allows a thaumaturge to accelerate a plant’s
growth, causing roses to bloom in a matter of minutes or
trees to shoot up from saplings overnight. Alternately,
she can speed a plant’s death and decay, withering grass
and crumbling wooden stakes with but a touch.
System: The character touches the target plant. The
player rolls normally, and the number of successes determines
the amount of growth or decay. One success
gives the plant a brief growth spurt or simulates the effects
of harsh weather, while three noticeably enlarge
or wither it. With five successes, a full-grown plant
springs from a seed or crumbles to dust in a few minutes,
and a tree sprouts fruit or begins decaying almost
instantaneously. If this power is used in combat, three
successes are needed to render a wooden weapon completely
useless. Two successes suffice to weaken it, while
five cause it to disintegrate in the wielder’s hand.

••• Dance of Vines
The thaumaturge can animate a mass of vegetation
up to his own size, using it for utilitarian or combat purposes
with equal ease. Leaves can walk along a desktop,
ivy can act as a scribe, and jungle creepers can strangle
opponents. Intruders should beware of Tremere workshops
that harbor potted rowan saplings.
System: Any total amount of vegetation with a mass
less than or equal to the character’s own may be animated
through this power. The plants stay active for one turn
per success scored on the roll, and are under the complete
control of the character. If used for combat purposes, the
plants have Strength and Dexterity ratings each equal
to half the character’s Willpower (rounded down) and
Brawl ratings one lower than that of the character.
Dance of Vines cannot make plants uproot themselves
and go stomping about. Even the most energetic
vegetation is incapable of pulling out of the soil and
walking under the effect of this power. However, 200
pounds (100 kilograms) of kudzu can cover a considerable
area all by itself….

•••• Verdant Haven
This power weaves a temporary shelter out of a sufficient
amount of plant matter. In addition to providing physical
protection from the elements (and even sunlight), the
Verdant Haven also establishes a mystical barrier which
is nearly impassable to anyone the caster wishes to exclude.
A Verdant Haven appears as a six-foot-tall (twometer-
tall) hemisphere of interlocked branches, leaves,
and vines with no discernible opening, and even to the
casual observer it appears to be an unnatural construction.
Verdant Havens are rumored to have supernatural
healing properties, hut no Kindred have reported experiencing
such benefits from a stay in one.
System: A character must be standing in a heavily
vegetated area to use this power. The Verdant Haven
springs up around the character over the course of three
turns. Once the haven is established, anyone wishing
to enter the haven without the caster’s permission
must achieve more than the caster’s original number of
successes on a single roll of Wits + Survival (difficulty
equal to the caster’s Willpower). The haven lasts until
the next sunset, or until the caster dispels or leaves it.
If the caster scored four or more successes, the haven is
impenetrable to sunlight unless physically breached.

••••• Awaken the Forest Giants
Entire trees can be animated by a master of the
Green Path. Ancient oaks can be temporarily given
the gift of movement, pulling their roots from the soil
and shaking the ground with their steps. While not as
versatile as elementals or other summoned spirits, trees
brought to ponderous life via this power display awesome
strength and resilience.
System: The character touches the tree to be animated.
The player spends a blood point and rolls normally.
If the roll succeeds, the player must spend a blood
point for every success. The tree stays animated for one
turn per success rolled; once this time expires, the tree
puts its roots down wherever it stands and cannot be
animated again until the next night. While animated,
the tree follows the character’s verbal commands to
the best of its ability. An animated tree has Strength
and Stamina equal to the caster’s Thaumaturgy rating,
Dexterity 2, and a Brawl rating equal to the caster’s
own. It is immune to bashing damage, and all lethal
damage dice pools are halved due to its size.
Once the animating energy leaves a tree, it puts
down roots immediately, regardless of what it is currently
standing on. A tree re-establishing itself in the
soil can punch through concrete and asphalt to find
nourishing dirt and water underneath, meaning that it
is entirely possible for a sycamore to root itself in the
middle of a road without any warning.


Hands of Destruction

This Path is practiced most commonly by the various
thaumaturges of the Sabbat. Though it is not widely
seen outside that Sect, a few Camarilla Tremere have
managed to learn the secrets of this path over the centuries.
The Hands of Destruction has an infamous history,
and some Tremere refuse to practice it due to rumors
that it is demonic in origin.

• Decay
This power accelerates the decrepitude of its target,
causing it to wither, rot, or otherwise break down. The
target must be inanimate, though dead organic matter
can be affected.
System: If the roll is successful, the inanimate object
touched by the thaumaturge ages 10 years for every
minute the Kindred touches it. If the vampire breaks
physical contact and wishes to age the object again,
another blood point must be spent and another roll
must be made. This power does not affect vampires.

•• Gnarl Wood
This power warps and bends wooden objects.
Though the wood is otherwise undamaged, this power
often leaves the objects completely useless. This power
may also be used to swell or contract wood, in addition
to bending it into unwholesome shapes. Unlike
other powers of this path, Gnarl Wood requires merely
a glance rather than physical contact.
System: Fifty pounds or twenty-five kilograms of visible
wood may be gnarled for each blood point spent
on this power (the thaumaturge may expend as much
blood as she likes on this power, up to her per-turn
generational maximum). It is also possible to warp
multiple visible objects — like all the stakes a team of
vampire-hunters wields.

••• Acidic Touch
The vampire secretes a bilious, acidic fluid from any
portion of his body. The viscous acid corrodes metal,
destroys wood, and causes horrendous chemical burns
to living tissue.
System: The player spends one blood point to create
the acid — the blood literally transmutes into the volatile
secretion. One blood point creates enough acid to
burn through a quarter-inch or half a centimeter of steel
plate or three inches (seven centimeters) of wood. The
damage from an acid-augmented hand-to-hand attack
is aggravated and costs one blood point per turn to use.
A thaumaturge is immune to her own acidic touch.

•••• Atrophy
This power withers a victim’s limb, leaving only a desiccated,
almost mummified husk of bone and skin. The effects
are instantaneous; in mortals, they are also irreversible.
System: The victim may resist the effects of Atrophy
by scoring three or more successes on a Stamina + Athletics
roll (difficulty 8). Failure means the limb is permanently
and completely crippled. Partial resistance
is possible: One success indicates that the difficulty of
any roll involving the use of the arm increases by two,
though these effects are still permanent with regard to
mortals. Two successes signify that difficulties increase
by one. Vampires afflicted by this power may spend five
blood points to rejuvenate atrophied limbs. Mortals are
permanently crippled. This power affects only limbs or
parts of limbs (arms, legs, hands); it does not work on
victims’ heads, torsos, etc.

••••• Turn to Dust
This fearsome power accelerates decrepitude in its
victims. Mortals literally age at the mere touch of a
skilled thaumaturge, gaining decades in moments.
System: Each success on the roll ages the victim by
10 years. A potential victim may resist with a Stamina
+ Courage roll (difficulty 8), but must accumulate
more successes than the caster’s activation roll — it’s
an all-or-nothing affair. If the victim succeeds, he does
not age at all. If he does not acquire more successes
than the thaumaturge, he ages the full amount. Obviously,
this power, while it affects vampires, has no detrimental
effect on them (they’re immortal). At most, a
Kindred victim grows paler and withers slightly (-1 to
Appearance) for one night.


The Lure of Flames

This path grants the thaumaturge the ability to conjure
forth mystical flames — small fires at first, but
skilled magicians may create great conflagrations. Fire
created by this path is not “natural.” In fact, many vampires
believe the flames to be conjured from Hell itself.
The Lure of Flames is greatly feared, as fire is one of the
surest ways to bring Final Death upon a vampire. See
“Fire” (p. 297) for more information on how vampires
suffer from flame.
Fire conjured by The Lure of Flames must be released
for it to have any effect. Thus, a “palm of flame” does
not burn the vampire’s hand and cause an aggravated
wound (nor does it cause the caster to frenzy) — it
merely produces light. Once the flame has been released,
however, it burns normally and the character
has no control over it.
System: The number of successes determines how
accurately the vampire places the flame in his desired
location (declared before the roll is made). One success
is all that is necessary to conjure a flame in one’s
hand, while five successes place a flame anywhere in
the Kindred’s line of sight. Less successes mean that
the flame appears somewhere at the Storyteller’s discretion
— as a rough rule of thumb, the thaumaturge
can accurately place a flame within 10 yards or meters
of themselves per success.
Individual descriptions are not provided for each
level of this path — fire is fire, after all (including potentially
causing frenzy in other vampires witnessing
it). The chart below describes the path level required
to generate a specific amount of flame. To soak the
damage at all, a vampire must have the Fortitude Discipline.
Fire under the caster’s control does not harm
the vampire or cause him to frenzy, but fires started as
a result of the unnatural flame affect the thaumaturge
normally.
• Candle (difficulty 3 to soak, one
health level of aggravated damage/
turn)
•• Palm of flame (difficulty 4 to soak,
one health level of aggravated
damage/turn)
••• Campfire (difficulty 5 to soak,
two health levels of aggravated
damage/turn)
•••• Bonfire (difficulty 7 to soak, two
health levels of aggravated damage/
turn)
••••• Inferno (difficulty 9 to soak, three
health levels of aggravated damage/
turn)


Neptune’s Might

Vampires are rarely associated with the ocean in
most mythologies, and most Kindred have nothing
to do with water in large quantities simply because
they have no reason to do so. Nevertheless, Neptune’s
Might has enjoyed a small, but devoted, following for
centuries among Camarilla thaumaturges. This path is
based primarily around the manipulation of standing
water, although some of its more disturbing effects depart
from this principle.
Once a character reaches the third level of Neptune’s
Might, the player may choose to specialize in either
fresh water or salt water. Such specialization lowers all
Neptune’s Might difficulties by one when dealing with
the chosen medium but raises them by one when dealing
with the opposite. Blood is considered neither fresh
nor salty for this purpose, and difficulties in manipulating
it are unaffected.

• Eyes of the Sea
The thaumaturge may peer into a body of water and
view events that have transpired on, in, or around it
from the water’s perspective. Some older practitioners
of this art claim that the vampire communes with the
spirits of the waters when using this power; younger
Kindred scoff at such claims.
System: The number of successes rolled determines
how far into the past the character can look.
Successes - Result
1 success - One day
2 successes - One week
3 successes - One month
4 successes - One year
5 successes - 10 years
The Storyteller may require a Perception + Occult
roll for the character to discern very small details in the
transmitted images. This power can only he used on
standing water; lakes and puddles qualify, but oceans,
rivers, sewers, and wine glasses do not.

•• Prison of Water
The thaumaturge can command a sufficiently large
quantity of water to animate itself and imprison a subject.
This power requires a significant amount of fluid
to be fully effective, although even a few gallons can be
used to shape chains of animated water.
System: The number of successes scored on the roll
is the number of successes the victim must score on a
Strength roll (difficulty 8; Potence can add to this roll)
to break free. A subject may be held in only one prison
at a time, although the caster is free to invoke multiple
uses of this power upon separate victims and may dissolve
these prisons at will. If a sufficient quantity of
water (at least a bathtub’s worth) is not present, the
difficulty of the Willpower roll to activate this power
is raised by one.

••• Blood to Water
The thaumaturge has now attained enough power
over water that she can transmute other liquids to this
basic element. The most commonly seen use of this
power is as an assault; with but a touch, the victim’s
blood transforms to water, weakening vampires and
killing mortals in moments.
System: The character must touch her intended victim.
The player rolls Willpower normally. Each success
converts one of the victim’s blood points to water. One
success kills a mortal within minutes. Vampires who
lose blood points to this power also suffer dice pool
penalties as if they had received an equivalent number
of health levels of injury. The water left in the target’s
system by this attack evaporates out at a rate of one
blood point’s worth per hour, but the lost blood does
not return.
At the Storyteller’s discretion, other liquids may be
turned to water with this power (the difficulty for such
an action is reduced by one unless the substance is particularly
dangerous or magical in nature). The character
must still touch the substance or its container to use
this power.

•••• Flowing Wall
Tales of vampires’ inability to cross running water
may have derived in part from garbled accounts of this
power in action. The thaumaturge can animate water
to an even greater degree than is possible with the use
of Prison of Water, commanding it to rise up to form a
barrier impassable to almost any being.
System: The character touches the surface of a
standing body of water; the player spends three Willpower
points and the normal required blood point and
rolls normally. Successes are applied to both width and
height of the wall; each success “buys” 10 feet/three
meters in one dimension. The wall may be placed anywhere
within the character’s line of sight, and must be
formed in a straight line. The wall lasts until the next
sunrise. It cannot be climbed, though it can be flown
over. To pass through the barrier, any supernatural being
(including beings trying to pass the wall on other
levels of existence, such as ghosts) must score at least
three successes on a single Willpower roll (difficulty 9).

••••• Dehydrate
At this level of mastery, the thaumaturge can directly
attack living and unliving targets by removing the
water from their bodies. Victims killed by this power
leave behind hideous mummified corpses. This power
can also be used for less aggressive purposes, such as
drying out wet clothes — or evaporating puddles to
keep other practitioners of this path from using them.
System: This power can be used on any target in the
character’s line of sight. The player rolls normally; the
victim resists with a roll of Stamina + Fortitude (difficulty
9). Each success gained by the caster translates
into one health level of lethal damage inflicted on the
victim. This injury cannot be soaked (the resistance
roll replaces soak for this attack) but can be healed
normally. Vampires lose blood points instead of health
levels, though if a vampire has no blood points this attack
inflicts health level loss as it would against a mortal.
The victim of this attack must also roll Courage
(difficulty equal to the number of successes scored by
the caster + 3) to be able to act on the turn following
the attack; failure means he is overcome with agony
and can do nothing.


Movement of the Mind

This path gives the thaumaturge the ability to move
objects telekinetically through the mystic power of
blood. At higher levels, even flight is possible (but be
careful who sees you…). Objects under the character’s
control may be manipulated as if she held them — they
may be lifted, spun, juggled, or even “thrown,” though
creating enough force to inflict actual damage requires
mastery of at least the fourth level of this path. Some
casters skilled in this path even use it to guard their
havens, animating swords, axes, and firearms to ward
off intruders. This path may frighten and disconcert
onlookers.
System: The number of successes indicates the duration
of the caster’s control over the object (or subject).
Each success allows one turn of manipulation, though
the Kindred may attempt to maintain control after
this time by making a new roll (she need not spend
additional blood to maintain control). If the roll is successful,
control is maintained. If a thaumaturge loses or
relaxes control over an object and later manipulates it
again, her player must spend another blood point, as
a new attempt is being made. Five or more successes
on the initial roll means the vampire can control the
object for duration of the scene.
If this power is used to manipulate a living being, the
subject may attempt to resist. In this case, the caster
and the subject make opposed Willpower rolls each
turn the control is exercised.
Like The Lure of Flames, individual power levels are
not provided for this path — consult the chart below
to see how much weight a thaumaturge may control.
Once a Kindred reaches a rating of 3, she may levitate
herself and “fly” at approximately running speed,
no matter how much she weighs, though the weight
restrictions apply if she manipulates other objects or
subjects. Once a Kindred achieves 4, she may “throw”
objects at a Strength equal to her level of mastery of
this path.
• One pound/one-half kilogram
•• 20 pounds/10 kilograms
••• 200 pounds/100 kilograms
•••• 500 pounds/250 kilograms
••••• 1000 pounds/500 kilograms


The Path of Conjuring

Invoking objects “out of thin air” has been a staple
of occult and supernatural legend since long before the
rise of the Tremere. This Thaumaturgical path enables
powerful conjurations limited only by the mind of the
practitioner.
Objects summoned via this path bear two distinct
characteristics. They are uniformly “generic” in that
each object summoned, if summoned again, would look
exactly as it did at first. For example, a knife would be
precisely the same knife if created twice; the two would
be indistinguishable. Even a specific knife — the one a
character’s father used to threaten her — would appear
identical every time it was conjured. A rat would have
repeated “tiled” patterns over its fur, and a garbage can
would have a completely uniform fluted texture over
its surface. Additionally, conjured objects bear no
flaws: Weapons have no dents or scratches, tools have
no distinguishing marks, and cellphones all look like
they just came out of their packaging.
The limit on the size of conjured objects appears to
be that of the conjurer: nothing larger than the thaumaturge
can be created. The conjurer must also have
some degree of familiarity with the object he wishes
to call forth. Simply working from a picture or imagination
calls for a higher difficulty, while objects with
which the character is intimately familiar (such as the
knife described above) may actually lower the difficulty,
at the Storyteller’s discretion.
When a player rolls to conjure something, the successes
gained on the roll indicate the quality of the
summoned object. One success yields a shoddy, imperfect
creation, while five successes garner the caster a
nearly perfect replica.

• Summon the Simple Form
At this level of mastery, the conjurer may create
simple, inanimate objects. The object cannot have any
moving parts and may not be made of multiple materials.
For example, the conjurer may summon a steel
baton, a lead pipe, a wooden stake, or a chunk of granite.
System: Each turn the conjurer wishes to keep the
object in existence, another Willpower point must be
spent or the object vanishes.

•• Permanency
At this level, the conjurer no longer needs to pay
Willpower costs to keep an object in existence. The
object is permanent, though simple objects are still all
that may be created.
System: The player must invest three blood points
in an object to make it real.

••• Magic of the Smith
The Kindred may now conjure complex objects of
multiple components and with moving parts. For example,
the thaumaturge can create guns, bicycles,
chainsaws, or cellphones.
System: Objects created via Magic of the Smith are
automatically permanent and cost five blood points
to conjure. Particularly complex items often require a
Knowledge roll (Crafts, Science, Technology, etc.) in
addition to the basic roll.

•••• Reverse Conjuration
This power allows the conjurer to “banish” into nonexistence
any object previously called forth via this
path.
System: This is an extended success roll. The conjurer
must accumulate as many successes as the original
caster received when creating the object in question.
This can also be used by the thaumaturge to banish
object she created herself with this Path.

••••• Power Over Life
This power cannot create true life, though it can
summon forth impressive simulacra. Creatures (and
people) summoned with this power lack the free will
to act on their own, mindlessly following the simple
instructions of their conjurer instead. People created
in this way can be subject to the use of the Dominate
power Possession (p. 155), if desired.
System: The player spends 10 blood points. Imperfect
and impermanent, creatures summoned via this
path are too complex to exist for long. Within a week
after their conjuration, the simulacra vanish into insubstantiality.


The Path of Corruption

The origins of this path are hotly debated among
those who are familiar with its intricacies. One theory
holds that its secrets were taught to the Tremere by demons
and that use of it brings the practitioner dangerously
close to the infernal powers. A second opinion
has been advanced that the Path of Corruption is a
holdover from the days when Clan Tremere was still
mortal. The third theory, and the most disturbing to
the Tremere, is that the path originated with the Followers
of Set, and that knowledge of its workings was
sold to the Tremere for an unspecified price. This last
rumor is vehemently denied by the Tremere, which automatically
makes it a favorite topic of discussion when
the matter comes up.
The Path of Corruption is primarily a mentally and
spiritually oriented path centered on influencing the
psyches of other individuals. It can be used neither to
issue commands like Dominate nor to change emotions
in the moment like Presence. Rather, it produces
a gradual and subtle twisting of the subject’s actions,
morals, and thought processes. This path deals intimately
with deception and dark desires, and those who
work through it must understand the hidden places
of the heart. Accordingly, no character may have a
higher rating in the Path of Corruption than he has in
Subterfuge.

• Contradict
The vampire can interrupt a subject’s thought processes,
forcing the victim to reverse his current course
of action. An Archon may be caused to execute a prisoner
she was about to exonerate and release; a mortal
lover might switch from gentle and caring to sadistic
and demanding in the middle of an encounter. The results
of Contradict are never precisely known to the
thaumaturge in advance, but they always take the form
of a more negative action than the subject had originally
intended to perform.
System: This power may be used on any subject
within the character’s line of sight. The player rolls as
per normal. The target rolls Perception + Subterfuge
(difficulty equal to the number of successes scored by
the caster + 2). Two successes allow the subject to realize
that she is being influenced by some outside source.
Three successes let her pinpoint the source of the effect.
Four successes give her a moment of hesitation,
neither performing her original action nor its inverse,
while five allow her to carry through with the original
action.
The Storyteller dictates what the subject’s precise
reaction to this power is. Contradict cannot be used in
combat or to affect other actions (at the Storyteller’s
discretion) that are mainly physical and reflexive.

•• Subvert
This power follows the same principle as does Contradict,
the release of a subject’s dark, self-destructive
side. However, Subvert’s effects are longer-lasting than
the momentary flare of Contradiction. Under the influence
of this power, victims act on their own suppressed
temptations, pursuing agendas that their morals
or self-control would forbid them to follow under
normal circumstances.
System: This power requires the character to make
eye contact (see p. 152) with the intended victim. The
player rolls normally. The target resists with a roll of
Perception + Subterfuge (difficulty equal to the target’s
Manipulation + Subterfuge). If the thaumaturge scores
more successes, the victim becomes inclined to follow
a repressed, shameful desire for the length of time described
below.
Successes - Result
1 success - Five minutes
2 successes - One hour
3 successes - One night
4 successes - Three nights
5 successes - One week
The Storyteller determines the precise desire or
agenda that the victim follows. It should be in keeping
with the Psychological Flaws that she possesses or
with the negative aspects of her Nature (for example,
a Loner desiring isolation to such an extent that she
becomes violent if forced to attend a social function).
The subject should not become fixated on following
this new agenda at all times, but should occasionally be
forced to spend a Willpower point if the opportunity to
succumb arises and she wishes to resist the impulse.

••• Dissociate
“Divide and conquer” is a maxim that is well-understood
by the Tremere, and Dissociate is a powerful tool
with which to divide the Clan’s enemies. This power
is used to break the social ties of interpersonal relationships.
Even the most passionate affair or the oldest
friendship can be cooled through use of Dissociate, and
weaker personal ties can be destroyed altogether.
System: The character must touch the target. The
player rolls normally. The target resists with a Willpower
roll (difficulty of the thaumaturge’s Manipulation
+ Empathy). The victim loses three dice from
all Social rolls for a period of time determined by the
number of successes gained by the caster:
Successes - Result
1 success - Five minutes
2 successes - One hour
3 successes - One night
4 successes - Three nights
5 successes - One week
This penalty applies to all rolls that rely on Social
Attributes, even those required for the use of Disciplines.
If this power is used on a character who has
participated in the Vaulderie or a similar ritual, that
character’s Vinculum ratings are reduced by three for
the duration of Dissociate’s effect.
Dissociate’s primary effect falls under roleplaying
rather than game mechanics. Victims of this power
should be played as withdrawn, suspicious, and emotionally
distant. The Storyteller should feel free to require
a Willpower point expenditure for a player who
does not follow these guidelines.

•••• Addiction
This power is a much stronger and more potentially
damaging form of Subvert. Addiction creates just that
in the victim. By simply exposing the target to a particular
sensation, substance, or action, the caster creates
a powerful psychological dependence. Many thaumaturges
ensure that their victims become addicted to
substances or thrills that only the mystic can provide,
thus creating both a source of income and potential
blackmail material.
System: The subject must encounter or be exposed
to the sensation, substance, or action to which the
character wants to addict him. The thaumaturge then
touches his target. The player rolls normally; the victim
resists with a Self-Control/Instinct roll (difficulty
equal to the number of successes scored by the caster
+ 3). Failure gives the subject an instant addiction to
that object.
An addicted character must get his fix at least once
a night. Every night that he goes without satisfying his
desire imposes a cumulative penalty of one die on all of
his dice pools (to a minimum pool of one die). The victim
must roll Self-Control/Instinct (difficulty 8) every
time he is confronted with the object of his addiction
and wishes to keep from indulging. Addiction lasts for
a number of weeks equal to the thaumaturge’s Manipulation
score.
An individual may try to break the effects of Addiction.
This requires an extended Self-Control/Instinct
roll (difficulty of the caster’s Manipulation + Subterfuge),
with one roll made per night. The addict must
accumulate a number of successes equal to three times
the number of successes scored by the caster. The victim
may not indulge in his addiction over the time
needed to accumulate these successes. If he does so, all
accumulated successes are lost and he must begin anew
on the next night. Note that the Self-Control/Instinct
dice pool is reduced every night that the victim goes
without feeding his addiction.

••••• Dependence
Many former pawns of Clan Tremere claim to have
felt a strange sensation similar to depression when not
in the presence of their masters. This is usually attributed
to the blood bond, but is sometimes the result of
the vampire’s mastery of Dependence. The final power
of the Path of Corruption enables the vampire to tie
her victim’s soul to her own, engendering feelings of
lethargy and helplessness when the victim is not in her
presence or acting to further her desires.
System: The character engages the target in conversation.
The player rolls normally. The victim rolls
Self-Control/Instinct (difficulty equals the number of
successes scored by the caster + 3). Failure means that
the victim’s psyche has been subtly bonded to that of
the thaumaturge for one night per success rolled by the
caster.
A bonded victim is no less likely to attack his controller,
and feels no particular positive emotions toward
her. However, he is psychologically addicted to
her presence, and suffers a one-die penalty to all rolls
when he is not around her or performing tasks for her.
Additionally, he is much less resistant to her commands,
and his dice pools are halved when he attempts
to resist her Dominate, Presence (or other mental or
emotional control powers), or mundane Social rolls.
Finally, he is unable to regain Willpower when he is
not in the thaumaturge’s presence.

Thaumaturgy (2/2)


The Path of Mars

Those rare Sabbat who have retained Thaumaturgical
talents have turned their focus to the assistance of the
Sect in times of war. This path has proven useful, turning
the tides of several confrontations with elder vampires.
The path adopts a very martial stance, whereas
other blood magics tend to have subtler, less violent effects.
It is rumored that some Camarilla Tremere have
learned this path, but very few of them have the right
temperament to wield this path effectively.

• War Cry
A vampire on the attack can focus his will, making
him less susceptible to battle fear or the powers of the
undead. The vampire shouts a primal scream to start the
effect, though some thaumaturges have been known to
paint their faces or cut themselves open instead.
System: For the duration of one scene, the vampire
adds one to his Courage Trait. Additionally, for the
purposes of hostile effects, his Willpower is considered
to be one higher (though this bonus applies only to the
Trait itself, not the Willpower pool). A character may
only gain the benefits of War Cry once per scene.

•• Strike True
The vampire makes a single attack, guided by the
unholy power of her Blood. This attack strikes its foe
infallibly.
System: By invoking this power, the player need
not roll to see if the vampire’s attack hits — it does,
automatically. Only Melee or Brawl attacks may be
made in this manner. These attacks are considered to
be one-success attacks; they offer no additional damage
dice. Also, they may be dodged, blocked, or parried
normally, and the defender needs only one success (as
the attacks’ number of success is assumed to be one).
Strike True has no effect if attempted on multiple attacks
(dice pool splits) in a single turn from one character.

••• Wind Dance
The thaumaturge invokes the power of the winds,
moving in a blur. She gains a preternatural edge in
avoiding her enemies’ blows, moving out of their way
before the enemy has a chance to throw them.
System: The player can dodge any number of attacks
with her full dice pool in a single turn. This advantage
applies only to dodges — if the character wishes to attack
and dodge, the player must still split her dice pool.
This power lasts for one scene.

•••• Fearless Heart
The vampire temporarily augments his abilities as a
warrior. Through the mystical powers of blood magic,
the character becomes a potent fighting force.
System: Fearless Heart grants the vampire an extra
point in each of the Physical Attributes (Strength,
Dexterity, and Stamina). These Traits may not exceed
their generational maximums, though the player may
use blood points to push the character’s Traits even
higher. The effects last for one scene, and a character
may gain its benefits only once per scene. The vampire
must spend two hours in a calm and restful state following
the use of Fearless Heart, or lose a blood point
every 15 minutes until he rests.

••••• Comrades at Arms
This ability extends the power of the previous abilities
in the path. It allows any of the earlier effects to be
applied to a group such as a pack or War Party.
System: The player chooses one of the lower-level
powers in the path, invoking it as normal. Afterward,
he touches another character and (if the roll for Comrades
at Arms is successful) bestows the benefit on her
as well. The same power may be delivered to any number
of packmates, as long as the rolls for Comrades at
Arms are successful and the thaumaturge pays the appropriate
blood costs.


The Path of Technomancy

The newest path to be accepted by the Tremere
hierarchy as part of the Clan’s official body of knowledge,
the Path of Technomancy is a relatively recent
innovation, developed in the latter half of the 20th
century. The path focuses on the control of electronic
devices, from cellphones to laptops, and its proponents
maintain that it is a prime example of the versatility of
Thaumaturgy with regards to a changing world. More
conservative Tremere, however, state that mixing
Tremere magic with mortal science borders on treason
or even blasphemy, and some European Regents have
gone so far as to declare knowledge of Technomancy
grounds for expulsion from their chantries. The Inner
Council did approve the introduction of the path into
the Clan’s grimoires, but has yet to voice any opinion
on the conservative opposition to Technomancy.

• Analyze
Mortals are constantly developing new innovations,
and any vampire who would work Technomancy must
be able to understand that upon which he practices his
magic. The most basic power of this path allows the
thaumaturge to project his perceptions into a device,
granting him a temporary understanding of its purpose,
the principles of its functioning, and its means of operation.
This does not grant permanent knowledge,
only a momentary flash of insight which fades within
minutes.
System: A character must touch the device in order
to apply this power. The number of successes rolled determines
how well the character understands this particular
piece of equipment. One success allows a basic
knowledge (on/off and simple functions), while three
successes grant competence in operating the device,
and five successes show the character the full range of
the device’s potential. The knowledge lasts for a number
of minutes equal to the character’s Intelligence.
This power can also be used to understand a nonphysical
technological innovation — generally a piece
of software — at +2 difficulty. The character must
touch the computer on which the software is installed
— simply holding the flash drive or CD-ROM is not
enough. Software applied remotely to a device (such
as through an app store) also cannot be analyzed until
it is installed.

•• Burnout
It is usually easier to destroy than to create, and sensitive
electronics are no exception to this rule. Burnout
is used to cause a device’s power supply (either internal
or external) to surge, damaging or destroying the
target. Burnout cannot be used to directly injure another
individual, although the sudden destruction of
a pacemaker or a car’s fuel injection control chip can
certainly create a health hazard.
System: A character can use this power at a range
of up to 10 times her Willpower in yards or meters,
although a +1 difficulty is applied if she is not touching
the target item. The number of successes determines
the extent of the damage:
Successes - Result
1 success - Momentary interruption of operation
(one turn), but no permanent
damage.
2 successes - Significant loss of function; +1
difficulty to use using the device for
the rest of the scene.
3 successes - The device breaks and is inoperable
until repaired.
4 successes - Even after repairs, the device’s
capabilities are diminished
(permanent +1 difficulty to use).
5 successes - The equipment is a total write-off;
completely unsalvageable.
Large enough systems, such as a server cluster or
a passenger aircraft, impose a +2 to +4 difficulty (at
Storyteller discretion) to affect with this power. Additionally,
some systems, such as military and banking
networks, may be protected against power surges and
spikes, and thus possess one to five dice (Storyteller
discretion again) to roll to resist this power. Each success
on this roll (difficulty 6) takes away one success
from the Thaumaturgy roll.
Burnout may be used to destroy electronic data storage,
in which case three successes destroy all information
on the target item, and five erase it beyond any
hope of non-magical recovery.

••• Encrypt/Decrypt
Electronic security is a paramount concern of governments
and corporations alike. Those thaumaturges
who are techno-savvy enough to understand the issues
at stake have become quite enamored of this power,
which allows them to scramble a device’s controls mystically,
making it inaccessible to anyone else. Encrypt/
Decrypt also works on electronic media; a DVD under
the influence of this power displays just snow and static
if played back without the owner’s approval. Some neonates
have taken to calling this power “DRM.”
System: The character touches the device or data
container that he wishes to encrypt. The player rolls
normally. The number of successes scored is applied as
a difficulty modifier for anyone who attempts to use the
protected equipment or access the scrambled information
without the assistance of the character. The caster
can dispel the effect at any time by touching the target
item and spending a point of Willpower.
This power may also be used to counter another
thaumaturge’s use of Encrypt/Decrypt. The player rolls
at +1 difficulty; each success negates one of the “owner’s.”
The effects of Encrypt/Decrypt last for a number of
weeks equal to the character’s permanent Willpower
rating.

•••• Remote Access
With this power, a skilled thaumaturge can bypass
the need for physical contact to operate a device. This
is not a form of telekinesis; the vampire does not manipulate
the item’s controls, but rather touches it directly
with the power of his mind.
System: This power may be used on any electronic
device within the character’s line of sight. The number
of successes rolled is the maximum number of dice
from any relevant Ability that the character may use
while remotely controlling the device. (For instance, if
Fritz has Technology 5 and scores three successes while
using Remote Access on a keypad lock, he can only
apply three dots of his Technology rating to any rolls
that he makes through any use of the power.) Remote
Access lasts for a number of turns equal to the number
of successes rolled, and can only be used on one item
at a time.
If an item is destroyed while under the effects of Remote
Access, the character takes five dice of bashing
damage due to the shock of having his perceptions
rudely shunted back into his own body.

••••• Telecommute
A progressive derivation of Remote Access, Telecommute
allows a thaumaturge to project her consciousness
into the Internet, sending her mind through
network connections as fast as they can transfer her.
While immersed in the network, she can use any other
Technomancy power on the devices with which she
makes contact.
System: The character touches any form of communications
device: a cellphone, 3G-equipped netbook,
Wi-Fi tablet, or anything else that is connected directly
or indirectly to the Internet. The player rolls normally
and spends a Willpower point. Telecommute lasts for
five minutes per success rolled, and may be extended by
10 minutes with the expenditure of another Willpower
point. The number of successes indicates the maximum
range that the character can project her consciousness
away from her body:
Successes - Result
1 success - 25 miles/40 kilometers
2 successes - 250 miles/400 kilometers
3 successes - 1000 miles/1500 kilometers
4 successes - 5000 miles/8000 kilometers
5 successes - Anywhere in the world
While in the network, the character can apply any
other Path of Technomancy power to any device or
data with which she comes in contact. A loss of connection,
either through the destruction of a part of the
network or simply a loss of cell signal, hurls her consciousness
back to her body and inflicts eight dice of
bashing damage.
A character traveling through the Internet by means
of this power can use her Path of Technomancy powers
at a normal difficulty. Using any other abilities or powers
while engaged thus is done at a +2 difficulty.


The Path of the Father’s Vengeance

This path, based loosely on a powerful thaumaturge’s
interpretations of the Book of Nod, devotes itself to delivering
justice to the race of Cainites. Each power supposedly
has some precedent in the parables of the ancient
book, and focuses on teaching the lessons of Caine
via the power of blood magic. Use of this path is hotly
debated in the Sabbat, as some consider it tantamount
to claiming to hold Caine’s right over all vampires oneself.
Camarilla vampires don’t have the same knowledge
of the Book of Nod that the Sabbat do, but the path is
not entirely unheard of in Tremere chantries.
The power of this path comes not only from the
magic of blood, but also incantation of verses from the
Book of Nod. For any of these powers to take effect,
the caster must speak the actual condemnation. For example,
to invoke the third-level power, the caster must
state plainly to his target that she may eat only ashes.
The subject must generally be able to hear the caster
for these powers to take effect, though writing them
and showing them to the subject will do.
These powers apply to vampires only. They do not affect
mortals, ghouls, or any other supernatural creatures.

• Zillah’s Litany
Zillah, the wife of Caine, unknowingly drank from
her husband and sire three times, thus becoming bonded
to him. This power reveals existing blood bonds and
Vinculi to the thaumaturge.
System: If the subject has any blood bonds or Vinculi
to other vampires, this power reveals them to the
caster. Although the caster may not know the vampires
in question, this power does reveal the names and
gives rough psychic impressions of the individuals in
question.

•• The Crone’s Pride
This power inflicts the curse of the crone, who bound
Caine to her as he fled his wife’s spurning. Hideously
ugly, the crone had to resort to trickery to get others to
help or serve her.
System: This power reduces the target’s Appearance
to zero. All Social rolls during this time generally fail,
unless the character attempts to intimidate or browbeat
the subject. This power lasts for one night.

••• Feast of Ashes
Primarily used against wanton or excessive vampires,
this power temporarily removes a vampire’s dependency
on blood. While some would say this negates the
Curse of Caine, it reduces the vampire to little more
than a wretched scavenger, as he must consume literal
ashes, though he gains little sustenance from them.
System: The victim of this power can no longer consume
blood, vomiting it up as he would mortal food or
drink. Instead, the victim can eat only ashes, and the
“blood points” he gains from this may be used only to
rise each night. Ashen “blood points” may not be used
to power Disciplines, raise Attributes, or feed ghouls
(though actual blood points in the character’s body at
the time this power is invoked may still be used for
such). One blood point’s worth of ash is roughly one
pint or half-liter, and any ash will do — cigarette ash,
campfire leftovers, or vampire corpses destroyed by fire
or sunlight. This power lasts for one week.

•••• Uriel’s Disfavor
This power invokes the darkness of the Angel of
Death. All but the dimmest of light causes the subject
excruciating pain, and some artificial forms of bright
light may even damage the vampire. Uriel delivered
God’s curse on Caine, shielding him in the blackness
of his wings.
System: The presence of any light makes the subject
uncomfortable, and bright light of any kind — flashlights,
headlights, etc. — inflict one health level of aggravated
damage on the character for every turn he remains
under its direct focus. Most vampires who suffer
this curse elect to sleep for the duration, hiding away in
the darkness of their havens until they can walk again
among the living without pain. This power lasts for
one week.

••••• Valediction
Many Sabbat rightfully fear this power, though very
few have ever seen it used. It levies a punishment for
breaking one of Caine’s greatest commandments —
the ban against diablerie. As most Sabbat attain their
power and station through some measure of diablerie,
they must reconcile their beliefs with the admonitions
of Caine, and this power engenders a great sense of humility.
System: When this power takes effect, the subject
immediately reverts to her original Generation. This
change may entail losing points in certain Traits due to
generational maximums. This power lasts for one week,
after which any Traits reduced to higher-Generation
maximums return to normal. It takes three turns to speak
the full verse that implements this power’s effects.


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 the simplest ritual. Though
the techniques of Thaumaturgical Countermagic are
not officially taught outside Clan Tremere, unofficial
methods are likely to exist. 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, although it uses the usual rules
for Thaumaturgy (including experience costs and the
fact that it is limited to only five levels). 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 Thaumaturgical Countermagic
rating equal to or greater than the rating of that power
or ritual. 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 is only at full effectiveness
when used against Thaumaturgy. It works with
halved dice pools against Necromancy and other mystical
Disciplines, and is completely ineffective 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. Whether the character has Thaumaturgy as
an in-Clan power or not, it costs the same as any other
non-Clan Discipline to learn.
• Two dice of countermagic. The
character can attempt to cancel only
those powers and rituals that directly
affect him, his garments, and objects
on his person.
•• 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 countermagic.
••••• 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 meters, or one
that is being used or performed within
that same radius.


Weather Control

Command over the weather has long been a staple
power of wizards both mortal and immortal, and this
path is said to predate the Tremere by millennia. The
proliferation of usage of this path outside the Clan tends
to confirm this theory; Weather Control is quite common
outside the Tremere, and even outside the Camarilla.
Lower levels of this path allow subtle manipulations,
while higher stages of mastery allow a vampire to
call up raging storms. The area affected by this power is
usually rather small, no more than three or four miles
(five to six kilometers) in diameter, and the changes
the power wreaks are not always immediate.
System: The number of successes rolled indicates
how long it takes the weather magic to take effect.
One success indicates an entire day may pass before the
weather changes to the thaumaturge’s liking, while a
roll with five successes brings an almost instant effect.
The difficulty of the Willpower roll necessary to invoke
this power may change depending on the current
local weather conditions and the weather the character
is attempting to create. The Storyteller should impose
a bonus (-1 or -2 difficulty) for relatively minor
shifts, such as clearing away a light drizzle or calling
lightning when a severe thunderstorm is already raging.
Conversely, a penalty (+1 or +2 difficulty) should
be applied when the desired change is at odds with the
current conditions, such as summoning the same light
drizzle in the middle of the Sahara Desert or calling
down lightning from a cloudless sky.
If the character tries to strike a specific target with
lightning, the player must roll Perception + Occult
(difficulty 6 if the target is standing in open terrain,
8 if he is under shelter, or 10 if he is inside but near a
window) in addition to the base roll to use Thaumaturgy.
Otherwise the bolt goes astray, with the relative
degree of failure of the roll determining where exactly
the lightning strikes.
Effects of the power default to the maximum area
available unless the caster states that he’s attempting
to affect a smaller area. At Storyteller discretion, an
additional Willpower roll (difficulty 6) may be required
to keep the change in the weather under control.
Weather Control is not the sort of power that lends
itself well to indoor application. While certain of
the path’s uses (changes of temperature, high winds,
and possibly even fog) do make a certain amount of
sense in interior settings, others (precipitation of any
sort, lightning) don’t. The difficulty for all rolls to use
Weather Control indoors is at +2, and the Storyteller
should feel free to disallow any proposed uses that don’t
make sense.
Individual power descriptions are not provided for
this path, as the general principle is fairly consistent.
Instead, the strongest weather phenomenon possible at
each level is listed.
• Fog: Vision is slightly impaired and
sounds are muffled; a +1 difficulty is
imposed on all Perception rolls that
involve sight and hearing, and the
effective range of all ranged attacks
are halved.
Light breeze: A +1 difficulty is
imposed on all Perception rolls that
involve smell.
Minor temperature change: It is
possible to raise or lower the local
temperature by up to 10 degrees
Fahrenheit or 5 degrees Celsius.
•• Rain or snow: As Fog, but
Perception rolls are impaired to a
much greater extent; the difficulty
modifier for all such rolls rises to +2.
In addition, the difficulty on all Drive
rolls increases by two.
••• High Winds: The wind speed
rises to around 30 miles per hour or
50 kilometers per hour, with gusts of
up to twice that. Ranged attacks
are much more difficult: + 1 to
firearm attacks and +2 to thrown
weapons and archery. In addition,
during fierce gusts, Dexterity rolls
(difficulty 6) may be required to
keep characters from being knocked
over by the winds. When gale-force
winds are in effect, papers go flying,
objects get picked up by the winds
and hurled with abandon, and other
suitably cinematic effects are likely.
Moderate temperature change: The
local temperature can be raised or
lowered by up to 20 degrees
Fahrenheit or 10 degrees Celsius.
•••• Storm: This has the effects of both
Rain and High Winds.
••••• Lightning Strike: This attack inflicts
10 dice of lethal damage. Body armor
does not add to the target’s dice pool
to soak this attack.

THAUMATURGIC RITUALS

Rituals are Thaumaturgical formulas, meticulously
researched and prepared, that create powerful magical
effects. Rituals are less versatile than paths, as their effects
are singular and straightforward, but they are better
suited to specific ends.
All thaumaturges have the ability to use rituals,
though each individual ritual must be learned separately.
By acquainting herself with the arcane practice
of blood magic, the caster gains the capacity to manipulate
these focused effects.
Thaumaturgical rituals are rated from 1 to 5, each
level corresponding to both the level of mastery of
Thaumaturgy the would-be caster must possess and the
relative power of the ritual itself. Unless stated otherwise,
a ritual requires five minutes per level to cast.
Casting rituals requires a successful Intelligence
+ Occult roll, for which the difficulty equals 3 + the
level of the ritual (maximum 9). Only one success is
required for a ritual to work, though certain spells may
require more successes or have variable effects based
on how well the caster’s roll goes. Should a roll to activate
a ritual fail, the Storyteller is encouraged to create
strange occurrences or side effects, or even make it
appear that the ritual was successful, only to reveal its
failure at a later time. A botched ritual roll may even
indicate a catastrophic failure or summon an ill-tempered
demon.
Rituals sometimes require special ingredients or reagents
to work — these are noted in each ritual’s description.
Common components include herbs, animal
bones, ceremonial items, feathers, eye of newt, tongue
of toad, etc. Acquiring magical components for a powerful
ritual may form the basis for an entire story.
At the first level of Thaumaturgy, the vampire automatically
gains a single Level One ritual. To learn
further rituals, the thaumaturge must find someone
to teach him, or learn the ritual from a scroll, tome,
or other archive. Learning a new ritual can take anywhere
from a few nights (Level One ritual) to months
or years (Level Five ritual). Some mystics have studied
individual rituals for decades, or even centuries.


Level One Rituals

Bind the Accusing Tongue
This ancient ritual is said to have been one of the
first developed by the Tremere and a primary reason
for the lack of cohesive opposition to their expansion.
Bind the Accusing Tongue lays a compulsion upon
the subject that prevents him from speaking ill of the
caster, allowing the thaumaturge to commit literally
unspeakable acts without fear of reprisal.
System: The caster must have a picture or other image
or effigy of the ritual’s target, a lock of the target‘s
hair, and a black silken cord. The caster winds the cord
around the hair and image while intoning the ritual’s
vocal component. Once the ritual is complete, the target
must score more successes on a Willpower roll (difficulty
of the caster‘s Thaumaturgy rating + 3) than the
caster scored in order to say anything negative about
the caster. The ritual lasts until the target succeeds at
this roll or the silk cord is unwound, at which point the
image and the lock of hair crumble to dust.

Blood Rush
This ritual allows the vampire to create the sensation
of drinking blood in himself without actually feeding.
The ritual can be used for pleasure, but it is more often
used to prevent frenzy when confronted with fresh
blood. The vampire must carry the fang of a predatory
animal on his person for this ritual to work.
System: Performance of the ritual results in the
Beast being kept in check automatically. Blood Rush
allows the vampire to resist hunger-based frenzy for up
to one hour, at which point the Cainite feels hungry
again (assuming he did before). This ritual takes only
one turn to enact.

Communicate with Kindred Sire
By enacting this ritual, the caster may join minds
with her sire, speaking telepathically with him over
any distance. The communication may continue until
the ritual expires or until either party ends the conversation.
The caster must possess an item once owned by
her sire for the ritual to work.
System: The caster must meditate for 30 minutes
to create the connection. Conversation may be maintained
for 10 minutes per success on the activation
roll.

Defense of the Sacred Haven
This ritual prevents sunlight from entering an area
within 20 feet (six meters) of this ritual’s casting. A
mystical darkness blankets the area, keeping the baleful
light at bay. Sunlight reflects off windows or magically
fails to pass through doors or other portals. To
invoke this ritual’s protection, the caster draws sigils in
her own blood on all the affected windows and doors.
The ritual lasts as long as the thaumaturge stays within
the 20-foot (6-meter) radius.
System: This ritual requires one hour to perform,
during which the caster recites incantations and inscribes
glyphs. One blood point is required for this
ritual to work.

Deflection of Wooden Doom
This ritual protects the caster from being staked,
whether she is resting or active. While this ritual is in
effect, the first stake that would pierce the vampire’s
heart disintegrates in the attacker’s hand. A stake
merely held near the caster is unaffected; for this ritual
to work, the stake must actively be used in an attempt
to impale the vampire.
System: The caster must surround herself with a circle
of wood for a full hour. Any wood will work: furniture,
sawdust, raw timber, 2’ x 4’s, whatever. The circle
must remain unbroken, however. At the end of the
hour, the vampire places a wooden splinter under her
tongue. If this splinter is removed, the ritual is nullified.
This ritual lasts until the following dawn or dusk.

Devil’s Touch
Thaumaturges use this ritual to place curses upon
mortals who earn their ire. Using this ritual marks an
individual invisibly, causing all those who come in
contact with him to receive him poorly. The mortal is
treated as the most loathsome individual conceivable,
and all who deal with him do everything in their power
to make him miserable. Even bums spit at an afflicted
individual, and children taunt him and barrage him
with vulgarities.
System: The effects of this ritual last one night, disappearing
as the sun rises. The mortal (it doesn’t work
on vampires) must be present when the ritual is invoked,
and a penny must be placed somewhere on his
person (in a pocket, shoe, etc.).

Domino of Life
A vampire wanting or needing to simulate a human
characteristic can do so once Domino of Life is cast. For
one entire night, the vampire can eat, breathe, maintain
a normal body temperature, assume a human flesh
tone, or display some other single trait of humankind
she desires. Note that only one trait can be replicated
in this fashion. The vampire must have a vial of fresh
human blood on his person to maintain this ritual.
System: Using this ritual adds one die to the caster’s
dice pools when attempting to pass as human. Unless
onlookers are especially wary, the Domino of Life
should fool them into thinking the caster is mortal —
not that they should have any reason to suspect otherwise.

Engaging the Vessel of Transference
This ritual enchants a container to fill itself with
blood from any living or unliving being who holds it,
replacing the volume of blood taken with an equal
amount previously held inside the container. When
the ritual is enacted, the vessel (which must be between
the size of a small cup and a one-gallon/four-liter jug) is
sealed full of the caster’s blood and inscribed with the
Hermetic sigil which empowers the ritual. Whenever
an individual touches the container with his bare skin,
he feels a slight chill against his flesh but no further
discomfort. The container continues to exchange the
blood it contains until it is opened. The two most common
uses of this ritual are to covertly create a blood
bond and to obtain a sample of a subject’s blood for
ritual or experimental purposes.
System: This ritual takes three hours to enact (reduced
by 15 minutes for each success on the casting
roll) and requires one blood point (although not necessarily
the caster’s blood), which is sealed inside the
container. The ritual only switches blood between itself
and a subject if it is touched with bare skin — even
thin cotton gloves keep it from activating.
Individuals with at least four dots in Occult recognize
the Hermetic sigil with two successes on an Intelligence
+ Occult roll (difficulty 8).

Illuminate the Trail of Prey
This ritual causes the path of the subject’s passing
to glow in a manner that only the vampire can see.
The tracks shine distinctly, but only to the eyes of the
caster. Even airplane trajectories and animal tracks
shine with unhealthy light. The ritual is nullified if the
target wades through or immerses himself in water, or
if he reaches the destination of his journey. The caster
must burn a length of white satin ribbon that has been
in her possession for at least 24 hours for this ritual to
take effect.
System: The thaumaturge must have a mental picture
of or know the name of her prey. The individual’s
wake glows with a level of brightness dependent on
how long it has been since he passed that way — old
tracks burn less brightly, while fresh tracks blaze.

Incantation of the Shepherd
This ritual enables the caster to mystically locate all
members of his herd. While intoning the ritual’s vocal
component, he spins in a slow circle with a glass object
of some sort held to each of his eyes. At the end of the
ritual, he has a subliminal sense of the direction and
distance to each of his regular vessels.
System: This ritual gives the character the location
(relative to him) of every member of his Herd. If he
does not have the Herd Background, Incantation of the
Shepherd locates the closest three mortals from whom
the caster has fed at least three times each. This ritual
has a maximum range of 10 miles or 15 kilometers times
the character’s Herd Background, or five miles (eight
kilometers) if he has no points in that Background.

Purity of Flesh
The caster cleanses her body of all foreign material
with this ritual. To perform it, she meditates on
bare earth or stone while surrounded by a circle of 13
sharp stones. Over the course of the ritual, the caster
is slowly purged of all physical impurities: dirt, alcohol,
drugs, poison, bullets lodged in the flesh, and tattoo
ink are equally affected, slowly rising to the surface of
the caster’s skin and flaking away as a gritty gray film
that settles within the circle. Any jewelry, makeup, or
clothes that the caster is wearing are also dissolved.
System: The player spends one blood point before
rolling. Purity of Flesh removes all physical items from
the caster’s body, but does not remove enchantments,
mind control, or diseases of the blood.

Wake with Evening’s Freshness
This ritual allows a vampire to awaken at any sign
of danger, especially during the day. If any potentially
harmful circumstances arise, the caster immediately
rises, ready to face the problem. This ritual requires the
ashes of burned feathers to be spread over the area in
which the Kindred wishes to sleep.
System: This ritual must be performed immediately
before the vampire goes to sleep for the day. Any interruption
to the ceremonial casting renders the ritual ineffective.
If danger arises, the caster awakens and may
ignore the Humanity/Path dice pool limit rule for the
first two turns of consciousness. Thereafter, the penalty
takes effect, but the thaumaturge will have already risen
and will be able to address problematic situations.

Widow’s Spite
This ritual causes a pain, itch, or other significant
(but not deadly) sensation in the subject. Similar in
effect to legendary “voodoo doll” effects, this ritual is
used more out of scorn or malice than actual enmity. In
fact, it requires a wax or cloth doll that resembles the
target, which bleeds when the power takes effect.
System: The ceremonial doll must resemble, however
rudely, the victim of the ritual. It produces no mechanical
effect, other than a simple physical stimulus.
The caster may determine where on the subject’s body
the pain or itch appears.


Level Two Rituals

Blood Walk
A thaumaturge casts this ritual on a blood sample
from another vampire. Blood Walk is used to trace the
subject’s Kindred lineage and the blood bonds in which
the subject is involved.
System: This ritual requires three hours to cast, reduced
by 15 minutes for each success on the roll. It
requires one blood point from the subject. Each success
allows the caster to “see back” one Generation (to a
limit of the Fourth Generation — the Third Generation
do not give up their secrets so easily), giving the
caster both the true name of the ancestor and an image
of his face. The caster also learns the Generation and
Clan or bloodline from which the subject is descended.
With three successes, the caster also learns the identities
of all parties with whom the subject shares a blood
bond, either as regnant or thrall.

Burning Blade
Developed during Clan Tremere’s troubled inception,
Burning Blade allows a caster to temporarily enchant
a melee weapon to inflict unhealable wounds on
supernatural creatures. While this ritual is in effect, the
weapon flickers with an unholy greenish flame.
System: This ritual can only be cast on melee weapons.
The caster must cut the palm of her weapon hand
during the ritual — with the weapon if it is edged, otherwise
with a sharp stone. This inflicts a single health
level of lethal damage, which cannot be soaked but
may be healed normally. The player spends three blood
points, which are absorbed by the weapon. Once the
ritual is cast, the weapon inflicts aggravated damage on
all supernatural creatures for the next few successful attacks,
one per success rolled. Multiple castings of Burning
Blade cannot be “stacked” for longer durations.
Furthermore, the wielder of the weapon cannot choose
to do normal damage and “save up” aggravated strikes
— each successful attack uses one aggravated strike
until there are none left, at which point the weapon
reverts to inflicting normal damage.

Donning the Mask of Shadows
This ritual renders its subject translucent; her form
appears dark and smoky, and the sounds of her footsteps
are muffled. While it does not create true invisibility,
the Mask of Shadows makes the subject much
less likely to be detected by sight or hearing.
System: This ritual may be simultaneously cast on a
number of subjects equal to the caster’s Occult rating;
each individual past the first adds five minutes to the
base casting time. Individuals under the Mask of Shadows
can only be detected if the observer possesses a
power (such as Auspex) sufficient to penetrate Obfuscate
3. The Mask of Shadows lasts a number of hours
equal to the number of successes rolled when it is cast
or until the caster voluntarily lowers it.

Eyes of the Night Hawk
This ritual allows the vampire to see through the
eyes of a bird, and to hear through its ears. The bird
chosen must be a predatory bird, and the vampire must
touch it when initiating this ritual. At the end of this
ritual, the caster must put out the bird’s eyes, or suffer
blindness herself.
System: The vampire is able to mentally control
where the bird travels for the duration of the ritual.
The bird will not necessarily perform any other action
than flight — the caster cannot command it to fight,
pick up and return an object, or scratch a target. The
bird returns to the vampire after finishing its flight. If
the vampire does not put out the bird’s eyes, she suffers
a three-night period of blindness. This ritual ceases effect
at sunrise.

Machine Blitz
Machines go haywire when this ritual is cast. It
takes effect instantly and lasts as long as the vampire
concentrates on it. This ritual may be used to kill car
engines, erase flash drives, drain the battery of a cellphone,
stop life-support machines, et cetera. Essentially,
Machine Blitz stops any machine more complex
than a rope-and-pulley. The thaumaturge must have a
scrap of rusted metal in her possession for this ritual to
work, though some vampires use a variant that requires
a knot steeped in human saliva to be untied.
System: This ritual only stops machines; it does not
grant any control over them. The effects of this ritual
are invisible and appear to be coincidental.

Principal Focus of Vitae Infusion
This ritual imbues a quantity of blood within an
object small enough for the vampire to carry in both
hands. (The object may not be any larger than this,
though it may be as small as a dime.) After the ritual
is conducted, the object takes on a reddish hue and
becomes slick to the touch. At a mental command, the
caster may release the object from its enchantment,
causing it to break down into a pool of blood. This
blood may serve whatever purpose the vampire desires;
many thaumaturges wear enchanted baubles to ensure
they have emergency supplies of vitae.
System: An object may store only one blood point of
vitae. If a Kindred wishes to make an infused focus for
an ally, she may do so, but the blood contained within
must be her own. (If the ally then drinks the blood, he
is one step closer to the blood bond). The ally must be
present at the creation of the focus.

Recure of the Homeland
The vampire calls on the power of the earth to heal
grave wounds she may have received. The thaumaturge
must use at least a handful of dirt from the city or town
of her mortal birth and recite a litany of her mortal
family tree as she casts this ritual.
System: The Cainite must mix the earth with two
points of her own blood to make a healing paste. One
handful will heal one aggravated wound, and only one
handful can be used per night. This ritual can only be
used on the vampire who knows it.

Ward Versus Ghouls
Wary Tremere created this ritual to protect themselves
from the minions of vengeful rivals. By invoking
this ritual, the caster creates a glyph that causes great
pain to any ghouls who come in contact with it. The
Kindred pours a point’s worth of blood over the object
he wishes to ward (a piece of parchment, a coin,
a doorknob, etc.), and recites the incantation, which
takes 10 minutes. In 10 hours, the magical ward is complete,
and will inflict excruciating pain on any ghoul
unfortunate enough to touch the warded object.
System: Ghouls who touch warded objects suffer
three dice of lethal damage. This damage occurs again
if the ghoul touches the object further; indeed, a ghoul
who consciously wishes to touch a warded object must
spend a point of Willpower to do so.
This ritual wards only one object — if inscribed on
the side of a car, the ward affects only that door or
fender, not the whole car. Wards may be placed on
weapons, even bullets, though this usually works best
on small-caliber weapons. Bullets often warp upon firing,
however, and for a ward to remain intact on a fired
round, the player needs five successes on the Firearms
roll.

Warding Circle versus Ghouls
This ritual is enacted in a manner similar to that of
Ward versus Ghouls, but creates a circle centered on
the caster into which a ghoul cannot pass without being
burned. The circle can be made as large and as permanent
as the caster desires, as long as she is willing to
pay the necessary price. Many Tremere chantries and
havens are protected by this and other Warding Circle
rituals.
System: The ritual requires three blood points of
mortal blood. The caster determines the size of the
warding circle when it is cast; the default radius is 10
feet/3 meters, and every 10-foot/3-meter increase raises
the difficulty by one, to a maximum of 9 (one additional
success is required for every increase past the number
necessary to raise the difficulty to 9). The player spends
one blood point for every 10 feet/3 meters of radius and
rolls. The ritual takes the normal casting time if it is to
be short-term (lasting for the rest of the night) or one
night if it is to be long-term (lasting a year and a day).
Once the warding circle is established, any ghoul
who attempts to cross its boundary feels a tingle on his
skin and a slight breeze on his face — a successful Intelligence
+ Occult roll (difficulty 8) identifies this as
a warding circle. If the ghoul attempts to press on, he
must roll more successes on a Willpower roll (difficulty
of the caster’s Thaumaturgy rating + 3) than the caster
rolled when establishing the ward. Failure indicates
that the ward blocks his passage and inflicts three dice
of bashing damage, and his next roll to attempt to enter
the circle is at +1 difficulty. If the ghoul leaves the
circle and attempts to enter it again, he must repeat
the roll. Attempts to leave the circle are not blocked.


Level Three Rituals

Clinging of the Insect
This ritual allows the caster to cling to walls or ceilings,
as would a spider. She may even crawl along these
surfaces (as long as they can support her). Use of this
power seriously discomfits mortal onlookers. The character
must place a live spider under her tongue for the
duration of the ritual (though the spider may die while
in the thaumaturge’s mouth without canceling the
power).
System: The character may move at half her normal
rate while climbing walls or ceilings. This power
lasts for one scene, or until the vampire spits out the
spider.

Flesh of Fiery Touch
This defensive ritual inflicts painful burns on anyone
who deliberately touches the subject’s skin. It requires
the subject to swallow a small glowing ember, which
does put off some vampires with low pain thresholds.
Some vain thaumaturges use this ritual purely for its
subsidiary effect of darkening the subject’s skin to a
healthy sun-bronzed hue.
System: Flesh of Fiery Touch takes two hours to cast
(reduced by 10 minutes per success). It requires a small
piece of wood, coal, or other common fuel source,
which ignites and is swallowed at the end of the ritual.
The subject who swallows the red-hot ember receives
a single aggravated health level of damage (difficulty 6
to soak with Fortitude). Until the next sunset, anyone
who touches the subject’s flesh receives a burn that inflicts
a single aggravated health level of damage (again,
difficulty 6 to soak with Fortitude). The victim must
voluntarily touch the subject; this damage is not inflicted
if the victim is touched or accidentally comes in
contact with the subject.
This ritual darkens the subject’s skin to that which
would be obtained by long-term exposure to the sun in
a mortal. The tone is slightly unnatural and metallic,
and is clearly artificial to any observer who succeeds in
a Perception + Medicine roll (difficulty 8).

Incorporeal Passage
Use of this ritual allows the thaumaturge to make
herself insubstantial. The caster becomes completely
immaterial and thus is able to walk through walls, pass
through closed doors, escape manacles, etc. The caster
also becomes invulnerable to physical attacks for the
duration of the ritual. The caster must follow a straight
path through any physical objects, and may not draw
back. Thus, a Kindred may walk through a solid wall,
but may not walk down through the earth (as it would
be impossible to reach the other side before the ritual
lapsed). This ritual requires that the caster carry a shard
from a shattered mirror to hold her image.
System: This ritual lasts a number of hours equal to
the number of successes scored on a Wits + Survival
roll (difficulty 6). The caster may prematurely end the
ritual (and, thus, her incorporeality) by turning the
mirror shard away so that it no longer reflects her image.

Mirror of Second Sight
This object is an oval mirror no less than four inches
(10 cm) wide and no more than 18 inches (45 cm) in
length. It looks like a normal mirror, but once created,
the vampire can use it to see the supernatural: It reflects
the true form of Lupines and faeries, and enables
the owner to see ghosts as they move though the Underworld.
The caster creates the mirror by bathing an
ordinary mirror in a quantity of her own blood while
reciting a ritual incantation.
System: The ritual requires one point of the vampire’s
blood. Thereafter, the mirror reflects images of
other supernatural creatures’ true forms — werewolves
appear in their hulking man-wolf shapes, magi glow in
a scintillating nimbus, ghosts become visible (in the
mirror), and so on. Sometimes, the mirror also reveals
those possessed of True Faith in clouds of golden light.

Pavis of Foul Presence
The Tremere joke privately that this is their “ritual
for the Ventrue.” Kindred who invoke the Presence
Discipline on the subject of this ritual find the effects of
their Discipline reversed, as if they had used the power
on themselves. For example, a vampire using Presence
to instill fear in a Kindred under the influence of this
ritual feels the fear herself; a vampire summoning the
caster is instead drawn to the thaumaturge’s location.
This ritual is an unbroken secret among the Tremere,
and the Warlocks maintain that its use is unknown
outside their Clan. The magical component for this
ritual is a length of blue silken cord, which must be
worn around the caster’s neck.
System: This ritual lasts against a number of effects
equal to the successes rolled, or until the sunrise after
it is enacted. Note that the Presence Discipline
power must actually succeed before being reversed by
the ritual. As such, only powers that specifically target
the caster (and thus, require a roll to succeed) can be
reversed — “passive” powers such as Majesty are not
affected.

Sanguine Assistant
Thaumaturges often need laboratory assistants whom
they can trust implicitly. This ritual allows the intrepid
vampire to conjure a temporary servant. To cast the
ritual, the thaumaturge slices open his arm and bleeds
into a specially prepared earthen bowl. The ritual sucks
in and animates whatever random unimportant items
the wizard happens to have lying around his workshop
— glass beakers, dissection tools, pencils, crumpled papers,
semiprecious stones — and binds the materials
together into a small humanoid form animated by the
power of the ritual and the blood. Oddly enough, this
ritual almost never takes in any tool that the caster
finds himself needing during the assistant’s lifespan,
nor does it take the physical components of any other
ritual nor any living thing. The servant has no personality
to speak of at first, but gradually adopts the
mannerisms and thought processes that the thaumaturge
desires in an ideal servant. Sanguine Assistants
are temporary creations, but some vampires become
fond of their tiny accomplices and create the same one
whenever the need arises.
System: The player spends five blood points and
rolls. The servant created by the ritual stands a foot
(30 cm) high and appears as a roughly humanoid shape
composed of whatever the ritual sucked in for its own
use. It lasts for one night per success rolled. At the end
of the last night, the assistant crawls into the bowl used
for its creation and falls apart. The assistant can be reanimated
through another application of this ritual; if
the caster so desires, it re-forms from the same materials
with the same memories and personality.
A Sanguine Assistant has Strength and Stamina of
1, and Dexterity and Mental Attributes equal to those
of the caster. It begins with no Social Attributes to
speak of, but gains one dot per night in Charisma and
Manipulation until its ratings are equal to those of the
caster. It has all of the caster’s Abilities at one dot lower
than his own. A Sanguine Assistant is a naturally
timid creature and flees if attacked, though it will try to
defend its master’s life at the cost of its own. It has no
Disciplines of its own, but has a full understanding of
all of its master’s Thaumaturgical knowledge and can
instruct others if so commanded. A Sanguine Assistant
is impervious to any mind-controlling Disciplines or
magic, so completely is it bound to its creator’s will.

Shaft of Belated Quiescence
This ritual turns an ordinary stake of rowan wood
into a particularly vicious weapon. When the stake
penetrates a vampire’s body, the tip breaks off and begins
working its way through the victim’s flesh to his
heart. The trip may take several minutes or several
nights, depending on where the stake struck. The stake
eludes attempts to dig it out, burrowing farther into the
victim’s body to escape surgery. The only Kindred who
are immune to this internal attack are those who have
had their hearts removed by Serpentis.
System: The ritual takes five hours to enact, minus
30 minutes per success. The stake must be carved of
rowan wood, coated with three blood points of the
caster’s blood, and blackened in an oak-wood fire.
When the ritual is complete, the stake is enchanted to
act as described above.
An attack with a Shaft of Belated Quiescence is performed
as with a normal stake: a Dexterity + Melee
roll (difficulty 6, modified as per the normal combat
rules; the attack does not need to specifically target the
heart) with a lethal damage rating of Strength + 1. If
at least one health level of damage is inflicted after the
target rolls to soak, the tip of the stake breaks off and
begins burrowing. If not, the stake may be used to make
subsequent attacks until it strikes deep enough to activate.
Once the tip of the stake is in the victim’s body, the
Storyteller begins an extended roll of the caster’s Thaumaturgy
rating (difficulty 9), rolling once per hour of
game time. Successes on this roll are added to the successes
scored in the initial attack. This represents the
tip’s progress toward the victim’s heart. A botch indicates
that the tip has struck a bone and all accumulated
successes are lost (including those from the initial attack
roll). Removing the part of the body where the tip
impacted (such as a Tzimisce turning into blood or a
vampire cutting off their arm) may stop the tip’s progress,
depending on the number of successes acquired
and the Storyteller’s discretion. When the shaft accumulates
a total of 15 successes, it reaches the victim’s
heart. This paralyzes Kindred and is instantly fatal to
mortals and ghouls.
Attempts to surgically remove the tip of the shaft
can be made with an extended Dexterity + Medicine
roll made once per hour (difficulty 7 for Kindred and 8
for mortals). The surgeon must accumulate a number
of successes equal to those currently held by the shaft
in order to remove the tip. Once surgery begins, however,
the shaft begins actively evading the surgeon’s
probes, and its rolls are made once every 30 minutes for
the duration of the surgery attempt. Each individual
surgery roll that scores less than three successes inflicts
an additional unsoakable level of lethal damage on the
patient.
Shaft of Belated Quiescence may be performed on
other wooden impaling weapons, such as spears, arrows,
practice swords, and pool cues, provided that
they are made of rowan wood. It may not, however,
create a Bullet of Belated Quiescence.

Ward versus Lupines
This wards an object in a manner identical to that of
the Level Two ritual Ward Versus Ghouls, except that
it affects werewolves.
System: Ward versus Lupines behaves exactly as does
Ward versus Ghouls, but it affects werewolves rather
than ghouls. The ritual requires a handful of silver dust
rather than a blood point.


Level Four Rituals

Bone of Lies
This ritual enchants a mortal bone so that anyone
who holds it must tell the truth. The bone in question
is often a skull, though any part of the skeleton will
do — some casters use strings of teeth, necklaces of
finger joints, or wands fashioned from ribs or arms. The
bone grows blacker as it compels its holder to tell the
truth, until it has turned completely ebony and has no
magic left.
This ritual binds the spirit of the individual to whom
the bone belonged in life; it is this spirit who wrests
the truth from the potential liar. The spirit absorbs
the lies intended to be told by the bone’s holder, and
as it compels more truth, it becomes more and more
corrupt. If summoned forth, this spirit reflects the sins
it has siphoned from the defeated liar (in addition to
anger over its unwilling servitude). For this reason,
anonymous bones are often used in the ritual, and the
bone is commonly buried after it has been used to its
full extent. A specific bone may never be used twice
for this ritual, though different bones from the same
corpse can.
System: The bone imbued with this magical power
must be at least 200 years old and must absorb 10 blood
points on the night that the ritual is cast. Each lie
the holder wishes to tell consumes one of these blood
points, and the holder must speak the truth immediately
thereafter. When all 10 blood points have been
consumed, the bone’s magic ceases to work.

Firewalker
This ritual imbues the vampire with an unnatural resistance
to fire. Only a foolish vampire would actually
attempt to walk on or through fire, but this ritual does
grant an advanced tolerance to flame. Some Sabbat use
this ritual to show off, while other thaumaturges use
it only for martial concerns. To enact the ritual, the
caster must cut off the end of one of his fingers and
burn it in a Thaumaturgical circle.
System: Cutting off one’s finger does not do any
health levels of damage, but it hurts like hell and requires
a Willpower roll to perform. This ritual may be
cast on other vampires (at the expense of the caster’s
fingertips...). If the subject has no Fortitude, he may
soak fire with his Stamina for the duration of this ritual.
If the vampire has Fortitude, he may soak fire with
his Stamina + Fortitude for the duration of the ritual.
This ritual lasts one hour.

Heart of Stone
A vampire under the effect of this ritual experiences
the transformation suggested by the ritual’s name: his
heart is completely transmuted to solid rock, rendering
him virtually impervious to staking. The subsidiary
effects of the transformation, however, seem to follow
the Hermetic laws of sympathetic magic: The vampire’s
emotional capacity becomes almost nonexistent,
and his ability to relate to others suffers as well.
System: This ritual requires nine hours (reduced by
one hour for every success). It can only be cast on oneself.
The caster lies naked on a flat stone surface and
places a bare candle over his heart. The candle burns
down to nothing over the course of the ritual, causing
one aggravated health level of damage (difficulty 5 to
soak with Fortitude).
At the end of the ritual, the caster’s heart hardens
to stone. The caster gains a number of additional dice
equal to twice his Thaumaturgy rating to soak any attack
that aims for his heart and is completely impervious
to the effects of a Shaft of Belated Quiescence (see
p. 237). Additionally, the difficulty to use all Presence
or other emotionally manipulative powers on him is
increased by three due to his emotional isolation. The
drawbacks are as follows: the caster’s Conscience/Conviction
and Empathy scores drop to 1 (or to 0 if they
already were at 1) and all dice pools for Social rolls except
those involving Intimidation are halved (including
those required to use Disciplines). All Merits that
the character has pertaining to positive social interaction
are neutralized. Heart of Stone lasts as long as the
caster wishes it to.

Splinter Servant
Another ritual designed to enchant a stake, Splinter
Servant is a progressive development of Shaft of Belated
Quiescence. (The two rituals, however, are mutually
exclusive.) A Splinter Servant consists of a stake
carved from a tree which has nourished itself on the
dead. The stake must be bound in wax-sealed nightshade
twine. When the binding is torn off, the Splinter
Servant leaps to life, animating itself and attacking
whomever the wielder commands — or the wielder, if
she is too slow in assigning a target. The servant splits
itself into a roughly humanoid form and begins singlemindedly
trying to impale the target’s heart. Its exertions
tear it apart within a few minutes, but if it pierces
its victim’s heart before it destroys itself, it is remarkably
difficult to remove, as pieces tend to remain behind
if the main portion is yanked out.
System: The ritual requires 12 hours to cast, minus
one per success, and the servant must be created
as described above. When the binding is torn off, the
character who holds it must point the servant at its
target and verbally command it to attack during the
same turn. If this command is not given, the servant
attacks the closest living or unliving being, usually the
unfortunate individual who currently carries it.
A Splinter Servant always aims for the heart. It has
an attack dice pool of the caster’s Wits + Occult, a
damage dice pool of the caster’s Thaumaturgy rating,
and a maximum movement rate of 30 yards or meters
per turn. Note that these values are those of the caster
who created the servant, not the individual who activates
it. A Splinter Servant cannot fly, but can leap
its full movement rating every turn. Every action it
takes is to attack or move toward its target; it cannot
dodge or split its dice pool to perform multiple attacks.
The servant makes normal stake attacks that aim for
the heart (difficulty 9), and its success is judged as per
the rules for a normal staking (see p. 280). A Splinter
Servant has three health levels, and attacks directed
against it are made at +3 difficulty due to its small size
and erratic movement patterns.
A Splinter Servant has an effective life of five combat
turns per success rolled in its creation. If it has not
impaled its victim by the last turn of its life, the servant
collapses into a pile of ordinary, inanimate splinters.
Three successes on a Dexterity roll (difficulty 8) are
required to remove a Splinter Servant from a victim’s
heart without leaving behind shards of the stake.
Ward versus Kindred
This warding ritual functions exactly as do Ward
versus Ghouls and Ward versus Lupines, but it inflicts
injury upon Cainites.
System: Ward versus Kindred behaves exactly as
does Ward versus Ghouls, but it affects vampires rather
than ghouls. The ritual requires a blood point of the
caster’s own blood and does not affect the caster.


Level Five Rituals

Blood Contract
This ritual creates an unbreakable agreement between
the two parties who sign it. The contract must
be written in the caster’s blood and signed in the blood
of whoever applies their name to the document. This
ritual takes three nights to enact fully, after which both
parties are compelled to fulfill the terms of the contract.
System: This ritual is best handled by the Storyteller,
who may bring those who sign the blood contract
into compliance by whatever means necessary (it is
not unknown for demons to materialize and enforce
adherence to certain blood contracts). The only way
to terminate the ritual is to complete the terms of the
contract or to burn the document itself — attempts to
add a clause forbidding burning the contract have resulted
in the contract spontaneously combusting upon
completion of the ritual. One blood point is consumed
in the creation of the document, and an additional
blood point is consumed by those who sign it.

Enchant Talisman
This ritual is the first taught to most Tremere once
they have attained mastery of their first path. Create
Talisman allows the caster to enchant a personal magical
item (the fabled wizard’s staff) to act as an amplifier
for her will and thaumaturgical might. Many talismans
are laden with additional rituals (such as every ward
known to the caster). The physical appearance of a
talisman varies, but it must be a rigid object close to
a yard or a meter long. Swords and walking sticks are
the most common talismans, but some innovative or
eccentric thaumaturges have enchanted violins, shotguns,
pool cues, and classroom pointers.
System: This ritual requires six hours per night for
one complete cycle of the moon, beginning and ending
on the new moon. Over this time, the vampire carefully
prepares her talisman, carving it with Hermetic
runes that signify her true name and the sum total of
her thaumaturgical knowledge. The player spends one
blood point per night and makes an extended roll of
Intelligence + Occult (difficulty 8), one roll per week.
If a night’s work is missed or if the four rolls do not
accumulate at least 20 net successes, the talisman is
ruined and the process must be begun again.
A completed talisman gives the caster several advantages.
When the character is holding the talisman, the
difficulty of all magic that targets her is increased by
one. The player receives two extra dice when rolling
for uses of the character’s primary path and one extra
die when rolling for the character’s ritual castings. If
the talisman is used as a weapon, it gives the player
an additional die to roll to hit. If the thaumaturge is
separated from her talisman, a successful Perception +
Occult roll (difficulty 7) gives her its location.
If a talisman is in the possession of another individual,
it gives that individual three additional dice to roll
when using any form of magic against the talisman’s
owner. At the Storyteller’s discretion, rituals that target
the caster and use her talisman as a physical component
may have greatly increased effects.
A thaumaturge may only have one talisman at a
time. Ownership of a talisman may not be transferred
— each individual must create her own.

Escape to a True Friend
Escape to a True Friend allows the caster to travel to
the person whose friendship and trust she most values.
The ritual has a physical component of a yard-wide/
meter-wide circle charred into the bare ground or
floor. The caster may step into the circle at any time
and speak the true name of her friend. She is instantly
transported to that individual, wherever he may be at
the moment. She does not appear directly in front of
him, but materializes in a location within a few minutes’
walk that is out of sight of any observer. The circle
may be reused indefinitely, as long as it is unmarred.
System: This ritual takes six hours a night for six
nights to cast, reduced by one night for every two successes.
Each night requires the sacrifice of three of the
caster’s own blood points, which are poured into the
circle. Once the circle is complete, the transport may
be attempted at any time. The caster may take one
other individual with her when she travels, or a maximum
amount of “cargo” equal to her own weight.

Paper Flesh
This dreadful ritual enfeebles the subject, making
her skin brittle and weak. Humors rise to the surface
and flesh tightens around bones and scales away at the
slightest touch. Used against physically tough opponents,
this ritual strips away the inherent resilience of
the vampiric body, leaving it a fragile, dry husk. The
thaumaturge must inscribe his subject’s true name
(which is much harder to discern for elders than it is
for young vampires) on a piece of paper, which he uses
to cut himself and then burns to cinders.
System: This ritual causes the subject’s Stamina and
Fortitude (if any) to drop to 1 each. For every Generation
below Eighth, the subject retains one extra point
of Stamina or Fortitude (keeping Fortitude first, though
she may not exceed her original scores). For example, a
vampire of the Fourth Generation with Fortitude targeted
by Paper Flesh would drop to a Stamina + Fortitude
score of 6 (assuming the score was 6 or more to
begin with). This ritual lasts one night.

Ward versus Spirits
This warding ritual functions exactly as Ward versus
Ghouls, but it inflicts injury upon spirits. Several other
versions of this ward exist, each geared toward a particular
type of non-physical being.
System: Ward versus Spirits behaves exactly as does
Ward versus Ghouls, but it affects spirits (including those
summoned or given physical form by Thaumaturgy Paths
such as Elemental Mastery). The material component
for Ward versus Spirits is a handful of pure sea salt.
The other versions of this ward, also Level Five rituals,
are Ward versus Ghosts and Ward versus Demons.
Each of these three Level Five wards affects its respective
target on both the physical and spiritual planes.
Ward versus Ghosts requires a handful of powdered
marble from a tombstone, while Ward versus Demons
requires a vial of holy water.