Discipline Powers

Eye of the Szlachta (Animalism ••••• •)
Many Fiends can possess the lowly beasts of the wild,
but some few can ride any ghoul who shares their blood.
By locking eyes with her ghoul, the Fiend can transfer her
soul into the creature. Although some Tzimisce consider
such intimate contact with their servants distasteful,
sometimes it is necessary to calm a rampaging vozhd in
a disposable vessel. More than one Fiend has faked their
death in the body of a cleverly fleshcrafted ghoul.
System: Use the system for the Animalism power
Subsume the Spirit (V20, pp. 131-132).

Flesh Bond (Animalism ••••• ••••)
At this level of Animalism, the vampire develops an
extraordinary bond with the “lower” creatures. She can
now physically merge with animals, becoming one flesh.
System: With a roll of Stamina + Animal Ken (difficulty
7), the character can absorb smaller animals into his
very being. She may release the animals at will. Each
creature thus absorbed forces the character to spend one
of his blood points for every five points in the animal’s
blood pool (see V20, pp. 388-391, for some examples); a
character can thus bond with 20 rats — each of which is
worth 1/4 a blood point — by spending one of her own
blood points. The vampire cannot feed to regain any blood
points spent in this manner until the character releases
the animals. At any time, the character can ingest the
absorbed creatures, acquiring their collective blood pool.
The exsanguinated corpses of the animals are then spat
out of the vampire’s body.
While the character cannot physically absorb a larger
creature, she can meld his body with such a creature by
making a successful Stamina + Animal Ken roll (difficulty
7) and spending one blood point. Thus, she can merge
her body into that of a charging Kodiak bear and move
around during the day within it. Note that the character
has no control over the animal with which she has merged
unless she has also used Subsume the Spirit (V20, p. 131)
upon it.
A successful use the Aura Perception (V20, p. 135)
upon a character or creature who has “riders” will notice
an unusual tinge to the subject’s aura.

Ecstatic Agony (Vicissitude ••••• •)
Pain is transformative. Pain awakens primal potential
in the tortured flesh. A Fiend with this ability delights in
every slash of the blade and caress of bullet, transmogrifying
agony into physical prowess and incredible displays of
Caine’s Gifts.
System: After spending two Willpower points, the
character becomes empowered by pain. Add his wound
penalties to all non-reflexive actions involving a Physical
Attribute or use of a Discipline. As the character heals,
this bonus wanes. Treat Incapacitated and Final Death
normally. This power lasts for one scene.

Kraken’s Kiss (Vicissitude ••••• ••)
The Fiend’s face erupts into a mass of tentacles, a foot
in length and similar to that of a squid. These tentacles
can be used to grasp and constrict a foe. Moreover, in
place of a squid’s suckers are rows and rows of fanged,
drooling mouths, permitting incredibly rapid blood drain.
System: The vampire spends a Willpower point and
rolls Stamina + Medicine (difficulty 8). Success enables
formation of the tentacles with no loss of sensory abilities.
The tentacle mass can be used in melee (difficulty 5;
Strength +2 damage). A successful hit indicates a grab.
Feeding begins on the same turn as the initial grab, and
for each success scored on the attack roll, one additional
blood point can be drained from the victim each turn, as
dozens of mouths bite and suck. To break the grip, the
victim must score three more successes than the vampire
in an extended contest of Strength.


Combination Disciplines

Birth the Vozhd (Animalism ••••• •, Vicissitude ••••• •)
While the creation of vozhd was once the sole province
of koldunic ritual, Tzimisce who have mastered both
fleshcrafting and control of the Beast Within can build
vozhd as well. This power requires at least 15 ghouls
(although 20 or more is preferable). First, the Tzimisce
fleshcrafts the ghouls together, forging the bodies into
a single entity. The Fiend feeds the corporate mess a
concoction of the intermingled blood of the ghouls,
creating something like a Vinculum among them. This
bond in place, the Fiend uses Animalism to coalesce the
minds of the ghouls into one insane and imperfect Beast
that drives the vozhd to crush or devour everything in sight.
System: After the Tzimisce collects enough ghouls, roll
her Intelligence + Medicine (difficulty 9) to determine
how quickly she constructs and “masters” the vozhd.
With one success, the process takes as long as a year; with
five, it might only take a month. The Fiend can make
further Vicissitude modifications to his creation; raise
the difficulties of such Discipline rolls by two to reflect
the size and complexity of the creature. Botches result in
a nonviable dead creature or a frenzied, uncontrollable
vozhd. Also note that vozhd, driven by their flawed Beasts,
are notoriously difficult to control. Raise the difficulty
of all Animalism rolls involving a vozhd by three.
This power costs 36 experience points to learn.

Body Armory (Protean •••, Vicissitude •••)
This power enables the vampire to form wicked weapons
from her own body. The vampire may create sword blades,
axes, and even spiked mauls. These weapons do terrible
damage to their targets. Many Tzimisce make sword-arms,
knife-bladed knuckles, and the like, but more dramatic
implementations are possible.
System: This power costs two blood points per weapon
(though larger weapons like two-handed swords and
great axes cost four), and the player must roll Dexterity +
Medicine (difficulty 7). Each weapon takes two turns to
form (larger weapons take three turns). Weapons created
in this manner cause aggravated damage.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.

Chaining the Beast (Animalism •••, Dominate •)
As lords of the land, able to influence the minds of
humans and animals alike, the Fiend gains special insight
into controlling and cowing even the Beast. The Tzimisce
can now Dominate a frenzied vampire more easily.
System: This power allows the player to use the Dominate
Discipline (see V20, p. 151) on a vampire suffering frenzy
or Rötschreck and ignore the normal penalties for doing
so (V20, p. 297).
This power costs 16 experience points to learn.

Ears of the Bat(Auspex •, Vicissitude •)
The vampire grows long, pointed ears and achieves
echolocation, much like a bat. She can “see” in pitch
darkness and that sense extends 360° around her, leaving
no blind spots for would-be ambushers to exploit.
System: The player must spend a blood point and roll
Intelligence + Medicine (difficulty 7). While manifesting
the ears, the character gains -3 difficulty on all hearing rolls
and suffers a +1 difficulty to all Social rolls with mortals
unless she takes steps to hide her ears.
This power costs 6 experience points to learn.

Flaying Touch (Potence ••, Vicissitude ••)
With this cruel power, a Tzimisce can tear away a victim’s
skin as easily as removing a robe, all without disturbing
the muscles and other tissue beneath. The Fiend simply
grabs a handful of skin and pulls it away or surgically
slices it with the artful caress of a fingertip. Regardless of
the method used, the target suffers excruciating pain and
begins bleeding profusely from the exposed flesh. Even if a
target somehow survives the blood loss, the area of skinless
flesh soon becomes infected. Even Cainites suffer under
this agony, though they do not have to fear blood loss.
System: This power requires the same roll as a
conventional use of Fleshcraft, though the difficulty is
always one higher than normal (maximum difficulty 9).
The vampire need not restrain the victim as long as he
strikes exposed skin (requiring a Dexterity + Brawl roll as
usual), in which case the activation roll is reflexive. Each
success inflicts one level of lethal damage, which may be
soaked (if the victim can soak such damage) at difficulty
8. If the damage exceeds the victim’s Stamina, she can
only writhe and scream in pain for the rest of the turn.
Mortal victims continue bleeding profusely from their
exposed skin, suffering a number of levels of bashing
damage each minute equal to the initial damage. Once any
of the original damage is healed or the wound is stanched
(Dexterity + Medicine, difficulty 9), the bleeding slows
to one level of damage per hour. Only when the original
injury is completely healed does the bleeding stop.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.

Soul Decoration (Auspex ••, Obfuscate •••)
The body and soul are linked. Outer change brings
inner change (and vice versa). The body’s experiences can
be summed up in the aura, but this phenomenon is the
product of physical forces. By physically adjusting certain
locations on the body — chakras, joints, erogenous zones,
and the like — a Tzimisce with this power can “paint”
whatever aura he chooses. The aura artist uses tools such
as needles, clamps, and electric shock to work such change.
System: Aura crafting is a sensitive and precise art
and requires at least ten minutes of uninterrupted work.
After spending three Willpower points, the player makes
a Perception + Empathy roll. The difficulty of this roll
is equal to the subject’s current Willpower — stronger
personalities resist alteration. The number of successes
indicates how completely the aura can be changed to the
Tzimisce’s specifications.
Successes - Result
1 Success - Can alter primary color
2 Successes - Can alter secondary color
3 Successes - Can alter psychological state (frenzied,
psychotic, etc.)
4 Successes - Can conceal or falsify diablerie and magic
use
5 Successes - Can conceal or falsify natural condition
(vampire, shapeshifter, ghost, etc.)
The deception lasts one night per success. During this
time, the aura doesn’t change to reflect new conditions
in its owner. This power changes only the aura, not the
subject herself. At the Storyteller’s discretion, the subject
may feel token emotions to match her new colors. She
might feel somewhat distrustful if her aura was painted
light green, for instance.
This power costs 21 experience points to learn.

The False Drink (Auspex •, Vicissitude •••••)
Some independent elder Fiends who pay lip service
to the Sabbat developed this trick. Using a heightened
self-awareness and vitae control, the Tzimisce is able to
divert imbibed blood to a discrete cavity within her body.
The compartmentalized blood is not absorbed into the
vampire’s system, and thus, the blood bond or Vinculum
can be secretly avoided. The vampire can then vomit up
the unwanted blood at her leisure.
System: Upon drinking the blood, the player must roll
Intelligence + Medicine (difficulty 8). Failure means the
vampire accidentally absorbs the imbibed blood as normal,
affecting any blood bond or Vinculum as per normal. Botching
the roll causes the vampire to vomit the imbibed blood, along
with half of her own blood pool, in a messy spray.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.

Wound Sculpting (Fortitude •••, Vicissitude ••)
A vampire with this power may vastly accelerate her
healing by concentrating and willing flesh to mold back
to its original form.
System: The player spends one blood point and rolls
Wits + Medicine (difficulty 8). Each success heals one level
of lethal or bashing damage. Each wound level requires
one minute of uninterrupted work.
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.