Thaumaturgy

The Discipline of Thaumaturgy encompasses blood magic and other sorcerous arts. Thaumaturgy is the unique possession of the Tremere and one of its most jealously guarded secrets. Certain Kindred rumors even speak of mystic cabals of Tremere that hunt down those thaumaturges who are not members of the Warlocks' clan. Clan Tremere created this Discipline by combining mortal wizardry with the power of vampiric vitae. Though its existence is not widely known by mortal mages and wizards, it is seen as a disreputable aberration of true magick by those familiar with it.

Thaumaturgy is a versatile and powerful Discipline. Like Necromancy, its practice is divided into two parts: paths and rituals. Thaumaturgical paths are applications of the vampire's knowledge of blood magic, allowing her to create effects at her whim. Rituals are more formulaic in nature, most akin to the ancient magical "spells" of bygone nights. 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 score in the primary path increases by one as well. Rituals are learned separately, as part of a story; players need not pay experience points for their characters to learn rituals, though they must find someone to teach the rituals in question.

Path ratings never exceed Level Five, though the overall Thaumaturgy score may. If a character reaches Level Five in her primary path and increases her Thaumaturgy score afterward, she may allocate her "free" path dot to a different path. Thaumaturges may create their own paths (through player and Storyteller collaboration) once they achieve the sixth level of Thaumaturgy. Many vampires (wisely) fear the Discipline of Thaumaturgy. It is a very potent and mutable Discipline, and almost anything the Kindred wishes may be accomplished through its magic.

System: Whenever a character wishes to invoke 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 of 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 means the blood magic fails, while a botch signifies that the character loses a permanent Willpower point.


The Path of Blood

Level 1A Taste for Blood
By tasting the blood of the subject, the thaumaturge 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 recently committed diablerie.
System: The number of successes achieved on the roll determines how much information the thaumaturge gets and how accurate it is.

Level 2Blood Rage
A thaumaturge need only touch their victim for this power to work. The thaumaturge may force a vampiric victim to spend one blood point per success, and may decide how the blood is spent.
System: Each success forces the subject to spend one blood point immediately in the way the thaumaturge desires. Note that blood points forcibly spent in this manner exceed the normal "pre turn" maximum dictated by generation. Each success gained also increases the subject's difficulty to resist frenzy by one.

Level 3Blood of Potency
The thaumaturge gains such control over his own blood that he can "concentrate" it, making it more powerful for a short time. Essentially he may temporarily lower his own generation with this power. The power may be used only once per night.
System: Successes earned on the Willpower roll must be spent both to decrease the vampire's generation and to maintain the change. One success allows the character to lower his generation by one step for one hour. Each success grants the Kindred either one step down in generation or one hour of effect.
Once the effect wears off, any blood over the character's blood pool maximum dilutes, leaving the character at his regular blood pool maximum.

Level 4Theft of Vitae
A thaumaturge using this power may siphon vitae from a subject. She need never come incontact with the subject as blood literally streams out in a physical torrent from the subject to the Kindred. It is often mystically absorbed and need not enter through the mouth.
System: The number of successes determines how many blood points the Tremere transfers from the subject. The subject must be visible to the thaumaturge and within 50 feet. The use of this power is like drinking from a subject, therefore if used three times on the same Kindred, it creates a blood bond! The use of this power is obviously quite spectacular, and Camarilla princes can justifiably consider its public use a breach of the Masquerade.

Level 5Cauldron of Blood
This power allows a thaumaturge to boil a subject's blood in their veins like water on a stove. The Kindred must touch their subject, and it is this contact that simmers the subject's blood. If used on a mortal it always proves fatal, and it causes great damage to even the mightiest of vampires.
System: The numer 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 is required to kill a mortal, but there are some tales of ghouls surviving.

The Lure of Flames

This paths grants the thaumaturgy the ability conjure mystical flames - small fires at first, but in the hands of skilled magicians entire conflagrations may be called forth. This path is greatly feared, as fire is one of the surest ways to bring Final Death upon a Vampire.
Fire created by this path is not "natural," with many Kindred believing the flames are to be conjured from Hell itself.

Fire conjured with this path 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 - it merely produces light. Once the flame is released it burns normally and the character no longer has control over it.

System: The number of successes determines how accurately the thaumaturge places the flame in his desired location. One successes is all that is necessary to conjure a flame in one's hand, while five successes places a flame anywhere in the Kindred's line of sight.

Level 1 — Candle (soak difficulty 3, one health level of aggravated damage/turn)
Level 2 — Palm of Flame (soak difficulty 4, one health level of aggravated damage/turn)
Level 3 — Campfire (soak difficulty 5, two health levels of aggravated damage/turn)
Level 4 — Bonfire (soak difficulty 7, two health levels of aggravated damage/turn)
Level 5 — Inferno (soak difficulty 9, three health levels of aggravated damage/turn)

Movement of the Mind

This path allows the thaumaturge to move objects telekinetically using the mystic power of his blood. At higher levels even flight is possible (but remember the Masquerade). 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 the fourth level or greater.

System: The number of successes indicates the duration of the thaumaturge's control over the object (or subject). Each success allows one turn 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 thaumaturge loses or relaxes control over an object and later manipulates it again, her player must spend another blood point.
If this power is being used to manipulate a living being, the subject may attempt to resist. In this case, the thaumaturge and the subject make opposed Willpower rolls each turn the control is exercised.

Once a Kindred reaches level three, she may levitate herself and "fly" at approximately running speed, no matter how much she weighs. Once a Kindred achieves Level Four, she may "throw" objects at a Strength equal to her level of mastery.

Level 1 — one pound
Level 2 — twenty pounds
Level 3 — two hundred pounds
Level 4 — one quarter-ton
Level 5 — one half-ton

Path of Conjuring

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. Also, conjured objects bear no flaws: Weapons have no dents or scratches, tools have no distinguishing marks, and computers have featureless casings.

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 may actually lower the difficulty, at the Storytellers description.

When the thaumaturge rolls to conjure something, the successes gained on the roll indicate the quality of the summoned object. One success is a shoddy, imperfect creation, while five successes give the thaumaturge a nearly perfect replica.

Level 1Summoning the Simple Form
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.

Level 2Permanency
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.

Level 3Magic of the Smith
The Kindred may now conjure complex objects of multiple components and with moving parts. For example, the thaumaturge may create guns, bicycles, chainsaws, or cellular phones.
System: Objects created are permanent objects and cost five blood points to conjure. Particularly complex items often require a Knowledge roll (Crafts, Science, etc.) in addition to the basic roll.

Level 4Reverse Conjuration
This power allows the conjurer to "banish" 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.

Level 5Power over Life
At this level of mastery the thaumaturge cannot creature true life, but they can summon forth some truly impressive simulacra. Creatures (and people) summoned with this power lack the free will to act on their own. They instead mindlessly follow simple instructions given by their conjurer.
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.

Hands of Destruction

With the destruction of the Sabbat Tremere, this path is largely lost. However over the centuries a few Camarilla Tremere have managed to learn the secrets of this path. The Hands of Destruction has some infamous history, and some Tremere refuse to practice it due to rumors that it is demonic in origin.

Brutal and painful, this path provides thaumaturges with offensive capabilities not found in other, less martial paths. It embodied the nature of its Sabbat wielders, existing solely to cause entropy and decay.

Level 1 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 touch by the thaumaturge ages 10 years for every minute the Kindred touchs it. If the vampire breaks physical contact and wishes to age the object again, another blood point and roll must be made.

Level 2 Gnarl Wood
This power warps and bends wooden objects, but leaves the wood otherwise undamaged, often leaving the wooden object completely useless. This power can be used to swell or contract wood, in addition to bending it unwholesome shapes. Unlike other powers of this path, Gnarl Wood requires merely a glance rather than physical contact.
System: Fifty pounds of visible wood may be gnarled for each blood point spent on this power (the thaumaturgy may expend as much blood as she likes on this power, up to her per-turn generational limit). It is also possible to warp multiple visible objects, say all the stakes an opposing team of vampire hunters wield against you.

Level 3 Acidic Touch
The thaumaturge may secret a bilious, acidic fluid from any portion of his body. This vicious acid corrodes metal, destroys wood, and causes horrendous chemical burns on living tissue.
System: The player spends blood to create the acid, the thaumaturge's blood transmuting into the volatile secretion. One blood point creates enough acid to burn through a quarter-inch of steel plate or three inches 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 their own acidic touch.

Level 4 Atrophy
This power can wither 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 the difficulties involving the use of the arm increase 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; it does not work on victims' heads, torsos, etc.

Level Five Turn to Dust
This fearsome power accelerates decrepitude in its victims. Mortals literally crumble to dust at the mere touch of a skilled thaumaturge, aged beyond death and into putrefaction.
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 thaumaturge's activation roll. 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. At most, a Kindred victim withers slightly (-1 to Appearance) for one night.

Elemental Mastery

Cleaned for Revamping

Level 1Elemental Strength

Level 2Wooden Tongues

Level 3Animate the Unmoving

Level 4Elemental Form

Level 5Summon Elemental

Path of Corruption

Cleaned for revamping.

Level 1Contradict

Level 2Disfiguration

Level 3Change Mind

Level 4Cripple

Level 5Corrupt Soul

Neptune’s Might

Cleaned or revamping

Level 1Eyes of the Sea

Level 2Jail of Water

Level 3Dehydrate

Level 4Flowing Wall

Level 5Blood to Water

Spirit Manipulation

Cleaned for revamping

Level 1Hermetic Sight

Level 2Astral Cant

Level 3Voice of Command

Level 4Entrap Ephemera

Level 5Duality

Weather Control

Cleaned for revamping

Level 1 Fog
Level 2 Rain or Snow
Level 3 High Winds
Level 4 Storm
Level 5 Lightning Strike

Biothaumaturgy

Biothaumaturgy concerns itself with the manipulation of life energies. In the laboratories of inspired biothaumaturges one can find strange creatures out of myth, veritable Frankstein's monsters and less wholesome creations. It is considered a "taboo" path, Biothaumaturgy is nonetheless strange and unsettling to those who observe its results.

Biothaumaturgy does not require the expenditure of blood points to create its magic. Rather, the powers of this path take one week per level to complete at Levels One and Two, and one month per level to complete at Levels Three through Five. It also requires the thaumaturge to have a laboratory where he may conduct his experiments. This needs to be nothing more complex than a doctor's table and a few sharp knives, but it may be as complex as the "mad scientist" affairs in pulp fiction, with steaming alembics and crackling generators. Working with a crude lab may add two to the difficulty, while a high-grade facility might lower the difficulty by two.

Level 1Thaumaturgical Forensics

The thaumaturge may take a tissue sample from a living, dead, or undead creature and ascertain its distinguishing characteristics. Much information can be gleaned from this sample, including information that "normal" forensics and genetics would not yield, such as age, generation, clan, etc.
System: Each success on the activation roll yields one piece of simple information about the subject (including plants). This information is limited to physical characters of the subject - Thaumaturgical Forensics can be used to determine gender, clan, traces of diablerie and the like, but it will not reveal if a given subject killed an individual or where she kept her trove of personal belongings.

Level TwoThaumaturgical Surgery

Gift of Morpheus

Cleaned for revamping

Level 1Cause Sleep

Level 2Mass Slumber

Level 3Enchanted Slumber

Level 4Dreamscape

Level 5Master of Dreams

See also Thaumaturgical Rituals

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License