Name: Jason Aguilera Age: 73 (Looks to be in his 30's) Height: 6'2 Occupation: Hunter Type: Human/Ghoul
Group Affiliation: The Horsemen Of War/ The Ra-Ahau Clan: N/A Sect: N/A
Weapon(s): Range of both semi and fully automatic firearms including MP-5's, Baretta's, assortment of Shot Guns and his trusted ceremonial battle ax, Covenant.
Special Abilities: As a Ghoul, Jason possesses about half the strength, speed, reflexes and senses of a full fledged Kindred, all depending on the generation of vampire he feeds off of at any given time. He is also a skilled martial artist and trained soldier stemming from his time in the jungles of Vietnam.
Bio:
Jason Aguilera was born in October of 1949 to Miguel Raphael Aguilera, a wealthy businessman who owned several wineries and his wife Priscilla. From a very early age, Jason displayed traits of severe anti-social behavior and exhibited many classic traits of a born psychopath, although he would go undiagnosed for most of his life. The boy would go on to develop a morbid fascination with fire that would bloom into full blown pryo-mania by the time he reached his early teens. In 1969 as the war in Vietnam heated up, Jason was drafted into the Army at only the age of twenty. While on tour, the young man witnessed ground horrors that only fed his psychopathy. Before too long, he would sneak into the holding barracks of Veit Cong prisoners and brutally set their jail cells on fire, burning the hapless occupants to death without ever getting caught. After five years in combat and advancing to the rank of Second Lieutenant, Jason returned to the States and shortly thereafter left The Army entirely.
Looking to re-create the adrenaline rush and sense of brotherhood he felt during the war, Jason joined a particularly violent biker gang who called themselves The Horsemen of War. With the Horsemen, he engaged in a number of illegal and murderous activities, which suited him quite well. Than one night in 1981, his life would change forever when he met a beautiful woman named Cassidy Ravanna. Jason and a few of his biker friends were performing a set with a local rock band, while Cassidy sat in the audience. Cassidy was drawn inexorably to Jason both physically and to his rebellious aura. After the show, she began to frequent the Horsemen’s biker club and the two quickly struck up an intense relationship. What Jason didn’t know was that Cassidy was a vampire, specifically one of the Clan Brujah. She revealed her true nature to her lover, eventually feeding him some of her blood and effectively Ghouling him in the process. However there’s was a strange and unique bonding of Domitor and Ghoul. Although Jason indeed became dependent on Cassidy’s Vitae, he retained much of his own dominant will and independent attributes. Cassidy on the other hand, became more devoted to her lover and the pair seemed to emulate a traditional romantic couple, but while Jason seemed to be devoted to Cassidy’s blood, Cassidy was devoted to him. An example of Jason’s dominant will began to manifest as he began to crave Vitae more and more. Jason began to stalk the nights not looking for people, but for vampires to feed off of. Knowing how to spot the creatures as a result of his time spent with his Domitor and using his natural psychopathic tendencies and training as a soldier, he became an active Hunter of the Kindred, albeit to feed his own selfish addictions.
A major turning point came only a few years after the two had met, which set the course for the rest of Jason’s life. A few upper echelon Brujah figured out that this new night stalker was indeed a Ghoul of Cassidy and they went to end the threat once and for all. A virulent fight ensued with Cassidy choosing her lover over the rest of her Clan but tragically resulting in her Final Death through sunlight. Cassidy’s demise seemed to break something in Jason. He developed his own twisted philosophy of merging his addiction to Vitae with avenging his lost love. Over the years Jason has become an adept and skilled Hunter all the while adopting a pseudo religion in a mix of both Egyptian and Mayan mythology based in sun worship. Since vampires greatest weakness lies in sunlight, Jason has taken to viewing the celestial body as a god in it’s own right. Jason has started a fledgling cult that doubles as a coterie of Hunters he has named The Ra-Ahau, a combination of the Egyptian and Mayan sun gods respectively.
After a few decades of honing his craft at hunting vampires, sustaining himself on their coveted Vitae, Jason’s life would take another interesting turn. Finding himself starved of vampire blood, Jason brashly attacked one of the Nosferatu Clan, planning to feed on the creature. He was interrupted by Drake Cadessian, a centuries old Nosferatu Elder. In his hubris and vast over confidence, Jason foolishly challenged the Elder to open combat. Although he put up a decent fight, the Hunter was soundly defeated. However Cadessian spared Jason’s life because the Hunter reminded him so strongly of his long lost son and because he had a degree of appreciation for Jason’s bravado. Over time the two developed a quasi bond of mutual respect with each other, the Elder vampire seeing Jason as almost a mirror image of his human son, Jake. Cadessian has even gone as far as teaching Jason a few Nosferatu disciplines to better defend himself against other vampires, and although they often find themselves on opposing ends, the two do have a degree of genuine affection for one another.
Knowledges
Academics: 1
Computer: 2
Enigmas
Investigation
Law
Medicine
Occult
Rituals: 1
Science: 1
Technology
Backgrounds
Fetishes - Klaive: 4
Level Four, Gnosis 6
The signature weapon of the Garou Nation, klaives are fetish daggers of a singular design, made to be used in Homid, Glabro, or Crinos form with equal ease. Klaives are rare weapons made from the purest silver, treasured and passed down from hero to hero. A werewolf
who carries a klaive loses one point from his effective Gnosis rating, thanks to the silver. A war-spirit is usually bound into the klaive, allowing it to inflict aggravated damage even to non-Garou foes.
Pulling a klaive on another werewolf is considered a grave action, for a klaive duel is almost always to the death. Nonetheless, such duels have always been dangerously common, and this practice shows no sign of abating even in the Final Days. Elders complain that too many of these sacred artifacts are in the ranks of reckless youths quick to use them for mundane tasks or to spill kin-blood; young werewolves
argue that too many klaives are kept hidden away for rituals and great quests, when they could be better put to use against Black Spiral Dancers and other foes.
The difficulty to attack with a klaive is 6, and it inflicts Strength + 2 aggravated damage. Werewolves cannot soak this damage unless in their breed form.
Resources: 3
Renown
Glory: 2
Honor: 1
Wisdom:
Merits and Flaws
Seldom Sleeps - 2
Whether due to a strong constitution, a frenetic nature, or even a hint of ancestral magic in your blood, you require significantly less sleep than the average Garou. While rest is still required after exertion, sleep is seldom necessary. One hour a night is fine, and even an hour
every three days won’t make you more than a little bleary eyed. You are not immune to sleep-causing supernatural effects, and you must still rest (no combat and no efforts requiring rolls) after using taxing rituals or Gifts. You are not always perky, bright-eyed, and bushy-tailed, but you suffer no penalties or ill effects from remaining awake for extended periods.
Danger Sense - 3
You’ve got a knack for knowing when something bad is about to happen. When you are in danger but not aware of it, the Storyteller should make a secret roll against your Perception + Alertness; the difficulty corresponds to the immediacy of the danger. If the roll succeeds, you are given a sense of foreboding. Multiple successes may refine the feeling and give an indication of direction, distance, or nature of the threat.
Ward (younger sister) - 3
You are devoted to protecting someone, perhaps a close friend or relative from the days before your First Change. This may be a child (or wolf cub) that relies upon you for care as well as protection. Or it can be an adult who, because of their connection to you, finds themselves exposed to dangers beyond what they can handle themselves. It could even represent a small pack of wolves who rely on you to protect them from human and supernatural predation. Regardless, your Ward’s path is firmly tied to yours in some way, and they have a knack
for finding themselves in the middle of trouble, looking to you to save the day.
Hunted - 4
A dedicated werewolf hunter has targeted you as his quarry, convinced that you are a monster out of legend bent on preying upon humans. (He’s not, of course, entirely wrong.) Anyone you know, including your pack members or humans you are close to, may be in danger from the hunter. While your nemesis desires the elimination of all werewolves, his primary focus is on you. As fate would have it, the Delirium has no effect on your pursuer. He is also intelligent and resourceful, far more likely to set nasty traps for you than to blunder into any pitfall you leave for him.
Rage: 6
Rage points are spent at the beginning of a turn, in the declaration stage. You can spend Rage only in times of stress. A Garou can use Rage in the following ways:
• Frenzy: Frenzy is the violent outburst, the untamed savagery, the animal instinct for blood and brutality that lurks in the heart of every werewolf. Whenever a player gets four or more successes on a Rage roll, the character enters a frenzy. See Frenzy on p. 261 for more information on the causes and resolutions of frenzies.
• Extra Actions: A player can spend Rage to give her character extra actions in a single turn. However, a Garou cannot spend more Rage points for actions in a turn than half of her permanent Rage rating. See p. 266.
• Changing Forms: A Player may spend a Rage point for his character to change instantly to any form he desires, without having to roll Stamina + Primal-Urge. See p. 285.
• Recovering from Stun: If a character loses more health levels in one turn than his Stamina rating, he is stunned and unable to act in the next turn. By spending a Rage point, the werewolf can ignore the effect and function normally.
• Remaining Active: If a character falls below the Incapacitated health level, a player can use Rage to keep her character going. Doing so requires a Rage roll (difficulty 8). Each success heals a health level, regardless of the type of wound. A player may attempt this roll only once per scene. If this roll fails, the character doesn’t recover. However, this last-ditch survival effort has its price. Like all Rage rolls, the character is still subject to frenzy. The wound will also remain on the Garou’s body as an appropriate Battle Scar.
• Beast Within: Occasionally, a Garou is more a snarling monster than man or beast, and she must pay the price for it. For every point of Rage a character has above her Willpower rating, she loses one die on all social-interaction rolls. People, even other werewolves, can sense the killer hiding just under her skin, and they don’t want to be anywhere near it.
• Losing the Wolf: If a character has lost or spent all his Rage and Willpower points, he has “lost the wolf,” and he cannot regain Rage. The Garou cannot shift to anything except his breed form until his Rage returns. The character must regain at least one Willpower point before he can recover any Rage.
Gnosis: 4
Much as Rage fuels battle and the physical world, the uses of Gnosis tend toward affecting insight and the spirit world.
• Rage and Gnosis: A player cannot use both Rage and Gnosis in the same turn, whether spending points or rolling the Trait. The only exceptions are certain Gifts that demand both to function. These two forces are very powerful, and the Garou’s body is not strong enough to pull the power from these two natures simultaneously. For example, a werewolf cannot spend Rage for multiple actions and activate a fetish in the same turn.
• Carrying Silver: For every object made of or containing silver that a character is carrying, she loses one effective point from her Gnosis rating. More potent objects will cause the character to lose more. Luckily, this effect is only temporary, and it lasts only a day after the silver is discarded. More information on the effects of silver is on p. 256.
• Using Gifts: Many of the Gifts the spirits have bestowed upon faithful Garou call for Gnosis expenditures and/or rolls.
• Fetishes: Gnosis is used to attune or activate fetishes. See p. 221 for more information on fetishes.
Willpower: 6
Of all the Traits werewolves possess, Willpower is one of the most frequently rolled and spent because of the many ways it can be utilized.
• Automatic Successes: Spending a Willpower point on an action gives the player one extra success on any roll. Only one point can be spent this way each turn, but the success is guaranteed. Spending Willpower in this way completely negates the effects of a botch. Some do not allow a character to spend Willpower, including damage rolls or any roll to activate Gifts.
• Uncontrollable Urges: Garou are instinctual creatures, and can find the Beast within reacting to stimuli without conscious thought. The Storyteller may inform you that your character has done something from a primal urge, like getting away from fire or attacking a creature of the Wyrm. A Willpower point can be spent to negate this gut reaction and keep the Garou right where he is. On rare occasions, the player must keep spending Willpower points until the character removes himself from the situation or runs out of Willpower.
• Halting Frenzies: As mentioned previously, a character flies into a frenzy whenever her player rolls more than four successes on a Rage roll. This situation can be averted if the player spends a Willpower point to remain in control. More information on frenzies can be found on p. 261.
• Fighting On: When a werewolf is injured, her wounds can make it hard for her to concentrate, represented by wound penalties to her actions. By spending a point of Willpower, she can ignore the wound penalties on a single roll.
Homid
No change to base stats
Difficulty 6
Essentially a human being, the Homid form allows Garou to move through man’s world more or less unseen. Metis and lupus Garou still possess their regenerative abilities and their vulnerability to silver in this form, while homid Garou do not; for them, silver feels uncomfortable, and wounds heal with surprising quickness, but the obviously uncanny effects remain absent. Aside from possible scars or body art, a Homid form werewolf appears to be a typical person. Even so, this thin disguise still betrays the predatory Beast underneath if you dare to look close enough (see The Curse, p. 262).
In this bestial throwback form, the werewolf looks like an unusually tall, feral, muscular person. A Garou shifting into Glabro essentially doubles (or perhaps triples) his body weight and adds between six inches to a foot onto his normal height. Clothes strain and tear, but do not shred… yet. His teeth and nails thicken and sharpen, and while they’re not especially powerful, they add to the werewolf’s intimidating presence. Hair grows; brows slope; the werewolf’s posture hunches with predatory intent. A Glabro werewolf can speak, but not well. Even soft words sound guttural and harsh.
This living embodiment of Rage combines the most terrible elements of man and wolf. Towering roughly nine feet tall, the slavering Crinos monster features a wolf-like head gigantic fangs and horrific claws; long, powerful arms; thick skin and bones; heavy fur; and a large wolf-tail for balance and body language. Its awful mouth can barely speak human words, though it can bay and howl with deafening eloquence. Though a Crinos werewolf can speak the Garou tongue, its surging Rage reduces most sentiments to kill, Kill, and KILL!
Werewolf fur usually favors the striped or mottled markings of normal wolves, combined with the hair color (and sometimes even style) of a Garou’s Homid form. Tribal identity is most obvious in Crinos form, where the features, fur color and body language often reveal the differences between a Bone Gnawer, a Silver Fang, a Black Fury, and a Wendigo. Many Garou decorate themselves with dedicated jewelry
and other markings that symbolize their tribal pride. The dice-pool penalties to Manipulation and Appearance do not affect spirits or other Garou, just humans and similar entities (vampires, mages, changelings, etc.). Crinos is not a form for casual contact. Even the metis, who are born in this shape, bristle with murderous fury when this war-wolf manifests.
Hispo
Str: +3 (6)
Dex: +2 (6)
Sta: +3 (6)
Man: -3 (0)
+1 die to Bite Damage
Difficulty 7
The primal nightmare of ancient man, a Hispo werewolf recalls the titanic dire wolves that ran wild in the Impergium. Only slightly smaller than Crinos form Garou, the Hispo shape boasts extra-large teeth for additional biting damage. While it can stand briefly on two legs, this form is essentially a four-legged beast. Although it has no hands and cannot speak (save a few words in the Garou tongue), the primal wolf has keen senses and amazing speed. In game terms, a Hispo Garou reduces all Perception-based difficulties by one, adds another die to the usual bite damage, and requires the character to spend a Willpower point to speak a word or two of vaguely-comprehendible human speech. Tribal identity may still be obvious in this form, if only from facial features, stance, and the color-patterns of the werewolf’s fur.
To all appearances a large normal wolf, the Lupus form enjoys sharp senses, great speed and endurance, and the ability to slip through the wilderness more or less unseen. Some Garou (especially among the Bone Gnawer tribe) appear more dog-like than wolf-like in this form — a trait other werewolves despise, although it comes in handy when blending in with man’s world.
In game terms, a Lupus-form Garou can bite for aggravated damage, but inflicts only lethal damage with his claws. Lupus-breed werewolves inflict only lethal damage with either attack in this shape, and cannot employ their mystic healing powers in Lupus form. Perception-based difficulties, though, are reduced by two, and the wolf-form can run at twice the character’s normal human speed. Although it can speak a garbled form of the Garou tongue, this form communicates almost totally through body language and typical wolf vocalizations. The werewolf’s tribal identity might seem obvious in the wolf’s facial features, posture and fur; all other decorations, however, disappear unless they’ve been strapped, pierced, or tattooed on the wolf itself.
Humans are creatures of the city, raising their steel and glass nests high into the sky. This Gift allows a homid to easily scale the concrete canyons and navigate the tangled back alleys and rooftops of the urban landscape. Some lupus derisively refer to this Gift as “Climb Like an Ape.” It is taught by an ancestor-spirit or an urban city-spirit.
System: The player spends a point of Rage. For the rest of the scene, the character may climb urban features at her full movement speed, and the difficulty of all Athletics rolls to navigate through cities (running down cluttered alleys, climbing the side of buildings, leaping from rooftop to rooftop) is reduced by two.
In ancient times, Ahroun warriors made common cause with the spirit-Queen of Bees. As her own hive-children rallied to protect her, so too did the Garou fight in defense of Gaia, and the Queen decreed that they should be properly equipped for the fight. This Gift, taught by a bee-spirit in recognition of that alliance, allows the Ahroun to transform her claws into hooked and barbed spurs.
System: The player spends one Rage. The next successful claw attack the character makes buries her claws into the victim, where they stick after breaking free from the werewolf’s fingertips. Until the victim takes the time to pull them out (which takes a full turn), they suffer +2 difficulty to all actions. The Garou’s claws take a full turn to regenerate.
This Gift sharpens the werewolf’s senses to an incredible degree. She enjoys the olfactory and auditory acuity of a wolf whenever she is in Homid and Glabro forms, along with superior night vision. In Crinos, Hispo and Lupus, her senses become preternaturally potent, allowing sensory feats that border on precognition. Sudden loud noises, bright lights or overwhelming scents can be disorienting, however. Wolf-spirits teach this Gift.
System: The player spends a Gnosis point to activate this Gift for a scene. In Homid and Glabro, the werewolf’s Perception difficulties decrease by two and she may roll Perception + Primal-Urge to perform uncanny sensory feats such as tracking by scent. In Crinos, Hispo, and Lupus, Perception difficulties decrease by three (this is not cumulative with the ordinary Lupus-form Perception bonuses) and the werewolf gains an extra die to Primal-Urge dice pools.
The Fury calls up a thick, eerie fog that obscures vision and unnerves her opponents. The Fury can see through her own fog with no difficulty. A fog-spirit teaches this Gift.
System: The player makes a Gnosis roll, with the difficulty depending on humidity and closeness to a body of water (a lake shore might be difficulty 4, while a desert would be 9). Those other than the Fury who are enveloped in the fog lose half of their dice on all Perception
rolls (round up). All those enveloped within the fog also lose one die from all Willpower rolls, save the Fury and her packmates.
EXPERIENCE CHART
Trait Cost
Attribute current rating x 4
Ability current rating x 2
New Ability 3
Gift Level of Gift x 3
Gift from other breed/auspice/tribe Level of Gift x 5
Rage current rating
Gnosis current rating x 2
Willpower current rating
Name: Casey Moore
Gender: Female
Clan: Tremere
Clan Disciplines: Auspex, Dominate, Thaumaturgy
Generation: 9th
Nature: Director
Demeanor: Autocrat
Concept: College Professor
Affiliation: Camarilla
Age: 140 (appears to be 35)
Virtues and Blood Pool
Conscience: 3
Self-Control: 4
Courage: 3
Humanity: 7
Willpower: 10
Blood Pool: 14 - 2pt per turn
• A vampire may spend one blood point to heal one normal (bashing or lethal) health level of damage. Characters must be resting and relatively inactive for this healing to take place, though this recovery is rapid: One blood point per turn may be spent to heal one health level, though vampires of lower Generations may heal as many health levels per turn as they can spend blood points.
Note that blood expenditure is the only way that vampires can heal wounds. Just as their immortality prevents the Kindred from aging and dying naturally, so it also inhibits the recuperative processes natural to a living body.
• A player may spend one blood point to increase a single Physical Attribute (Strength, Dexterity, Stamina) by one dot for the duration of the scene. The player must announce at the beginning of the turn that he is doing this. A player may spend as many blood points on
increasing Physical Attributes as the vampire may use in a turn (based upon Generation), but may only freely increase these Traits up to one higher than their generational maximum (i.e., a Tenth-Generation vampire may increase Traits to a maximum of 6). With effort, a
character may increase a Physical Attribute to above this limit, but each dot above the limit lasts for only three turns after the character stops spending blood.
This enables vampires to perform truly amazing physical feats, such as throwing cars, moving preternaturally quickly, and withstanding blows that would fell trees. Note: No character may increase Physical Attributes above 10.
• A vampire may give a number of blood points to another Kindred, thereby enabling the recipient to use the blood as if it were her own. This is often a grisly prospect, as the “donor” must open his own vein and physically deliver the blood to the needy Kindred. Of course, if a vampire is ever in a situation in which she needs blood, she’s likely all out of it herself, and may frenzy and take too much from the donor. Blood gifts should be given with care.
If a vampire (or mortal) partakes of another Kindred’s blood three times, she becomes bound to that vampire through the mystical properties of vitae. This is known as the blood bond. For more on blood bonds, see p. 286.
• A vampire may gift a mortal or animal with a dose of his vitae, allowing the mortal in question to inject or ingest it. For so long as the mortal retains the Kindred vitae in her system, she is considered a ghoul (see the Appendix, p. 496, for more on ghouls).
• Though most vampires (with the exception of Nosferatu) appear much as they did in life, they still display certain corpselike features; for example, their skin is unnaturally cold and grows more ashen with age, and they do not breathe. By spending a variable number of blood points, a vampire may will himself to appear more human for a scene: flushing his skin, drawing breath, even becoming capable of engaging in sexual intercourse (this last, while helpful in certain types of feeding, in no way means that the vampire may inseminate a mortal or become pregnant; a corpse is still a corpse, after all). Performing these actions for a scene requires an expenditure of blood points equal to (8 minus Humanity); thus, Kindred with Humanity ratings of 8 or higher may accomplish these feats automatically, while vampires with low Humanity find the process exceedingly arduous.
Only vampires with Humanity may use blood in this manner; vampires on a Path have forsaken their human sides entirely.
Willpower is a very versatile Trait, so make sure you understand how to use it.
• A player may spend one of her character’s Willpower points to gain an automatic success on a single action. Only one point of Willpower may be used in a single turn in this manner, but the success is guaranteed and may not be canceled, even by botches. By using Willpower in this way, it is possible to succeed at a given action simply by concentrating. For extended rolls, these extra successes may make the critical difference between accomplishment and failure.
Note: You must declare that you are spending a Willpower point before you make an actual roll for a character’s action; you can’t retroactively cancel a botch by spending a Willpower point at the last minute. Also, the Storyteller may declare that a Willpower point may not be spent on a given action (such as attacking in combat).
• Sometimes, the Storyteller may rule that a character automatically takes some action based on instinct or urge — for example, stepping back from a chasm or leaping away from a patch of sunlight filtering through a window. The Storyteller may allow a player to spend a Willpower point and avoid taking this reactive maneuver. It should be noted that the impulse may return at the Storyteller’s discretion; a player may need to spend multiple Willpower points over the course of a few turns to stay on task. Sometimes the urge may be overcome by the force of the character’s will; at other times, the character has no choice but to follow his instinct (i.e., the character runs out of Willpower points or no longer wishes to expend them).
• A Willpower point may be spent to prevent a derangement from manifesting, with the Storyteller’s permission. Eventually, if enough Willpower points are spent (as determined by the Storyteller), the derangement may be overcome and eliminated, as enough denial of the derangement remedies the aberration. Malkavians may never overcome their initial derangement, though Willpower may be spent to deny it for a short period of time.
• By spending a Willpower point, wound penalties can be ignored for one turn. This allows a character to override pain and injury in order to take one last-ditch action. However, an incapacitated or torpored character may not spend Willpower in this manner.
Weaknesses:
Tremere dependency on blood is even more pronounced than that of other Kindred. It takes only two draughts of another vampire’s blood for a Tremere to become blood bound instead of the normal three — the first drink counts as if the Tremere had taken two drinks. (For more information on the blood bond, see p. 286). The elders of the Clan are well aware of this, and seek to impart loyalty to the Clan by forcing all neonate Warlocks to drink of the (transubstantiated) blood of the seven Tremere elders soon after their Embrace.
Dominate: 1 - pg 159
Thaumaturgy: 4 - pg 220
Dominate is one of the most dreaded of Disciplines. It is a vampire’s ability to influence another person’s thoughts and actions through her own force of will. Dominate requires that the vampire capture her victim’s gaze (see p. 152); as such, it may be used against only one subject at a time. Further, commands must be issued verbally, although simple orders may be made with signs — for example, a pointed finger and forceful expression to indicate “Go!” However, the subject won’t comply if he can’t understand the vampire, no matter how powerful the Kindred’s will is.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, vampires to which Dominate comes naturally tend to be from willful, domineering Clans. The Giovanni, Lasombra, Tremere, and Ventrue all consider an iron will to be a boon, and are eager to impose that iron will on any who would move against them.
The vampire locks eyes with the subject and speaks a one-word command, which the subject must be obey instantly. The order must be clear and straightforward: run, agree, fall, yawn, jump, laugh, surrender, stop, scream, follow. If the command is at all confusing or ambiguous, the subject may respond slowly or perform the task poorly. The subject cannot be ordered to do something directly harmful to herself, so a command like “die” is ineffective.
The command may be included in a sentence, thereby concealing the power’s use from others. This effort at subtlety still requires the Kindred to make eye contact at the proper moment and stress the key word slightly. An alert bystander — or even the victim — may notice the emphasis. Still, unless she’s conversant with supernatural powers, the individual is likely to attribute the utterance and the subsequent action to bizarre coincidence.
System: The player rolls Manipulation + Intimidation (difficulty equals the target’s current Willpower points). More successes force the subject to act with greater vigor or for a longer duration (continue running for a number of turns, go off on a laughing jag, scream uncontrollably). Remember, too, that being commanded to against one’s Nature confounds the use of this power. Being told to “sleep!” in a dangerous situation or “attack!” in police custody may not have the desired effect, or indeed, any effect at all.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
Rituals - pg 238
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.
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.
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.
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.
Health Levels
Health Level / Dice Pool Penalty Movement Penalty
Bruised / 0 / Character is only bruised and suffers no dice pool penalties due to damage. Hurt / -1 / Character is superficially hurt and suffers no movement hindrance. Injured / -1 / Character suffers minor injuries and movement is mildly inhibited (halve maximum running speed). Wounded / -2 / Character suffers significant damage and may not run (though he may still walk). At this level, a character may only move or attack; he always loses dice when moving and attacking in the same turn. Mauled / -2 / Character is badly injured and may only hobble about (three yards/meters per turn). Crippled / -5 / Character is catastrophically injured and may only crawl (one yard/meter per turn). Incapacitated / Character is incapable of movement and is likely unconscious. Incapacitated vampires with no blood in their bodies enter torpor. Torpor / Character enters a deathlike trance. He may do nothing, not even spend blood, until a period of time has passed. Final Death / Character is killed permanently.
Experience Costs
Trait - Cost
New Ability - 3
New Discipline - 10
New Path (Necromancy or Thaumaturgy) - 7
Attribute - current rating x 4
Ability - current rating x 2
Clan Discipline - current rating x 5
Other Discipline - current rating x 7
Secondary Path (Necromancy or Thaumaturgy) - current rating x 4
Virtue - current rating x 2
Humanity or Path of Enlightenment - current rating x 2
Willpower - current rating
Human-like appearance, art by Blvnka on Tumblr.Name: Alun Pritchard
Gender: Male
Clan: Tzimisce
Clan Disciplines: Vicissitude, Animalism, Auspex;
Generation: 9th
Nature: Guru
Demeanor: Penitent
Concept: Grieving Priest
Affiliation: Independent
Age: 138 (His appearance in human form reminds distinctly of a mid 40-ties man)
Backgrounds
Domain: 2
Generation: 4 - 9th
Security: 2 - The Church has been in a spot of bother recently, so the doors and crypt have been locked with stronger locks.
Flaws
Smell of The Grave: 1
Eerie Presence: 2
Cloaked in Shadow: 3
Virtues and Blood Pool
Conscience: 4
Self-Control: 4
Courage: 2
Humanity: 8
Willpower: 2 + 6 = 8
Blood Pool: 8 + 2 =10 - 2pt per turn
• A vampire may spend one blood point to heal one normal (bashing or lethal) health level of damage. Characters must be resting and relatively inactive for this healing to take place, though this recovery is rapid: One blood point per turn may be spent to heal one health level, though vampires of lower Generations may heal as many health levels per turn as they can spend blood points.
Note that blood expenditure is the only way that vampires can heal wounds. Just as their immortality prevents the Kindred from aging and dying naturally, so it also inhibits the recuperative processes natural to a living body.
• A player may spend one blood point to increase a single Physical Attribute (Strength, Dexterity, Stamina) by one dot for the duration of the scene. The player must announce at the beginning of the turn that he is doing this. A player may spend as many blood points on
increasing Physical Attributes as the vampire may use in a turn (based upon Generation), but may only freely increase these Traits up to one higher than their generational maximum (i.e., a Tenth-Generation vampire may increase Traits to a maximum of 6). With effort, a
character may increase a Physical Attribute to above this limit, but each dot above the limit lasts for only three turns after the character stops spending blood.
This enables vampires to perform truly amazing physical feats, such as throwing cars, moving preternaturally quickly, and withstanding blows that would fell trees. Note: No character may increase Physical Attributes above 10.
• A vampire may give a number of blood points to another Kindred, thereby enabling the recipient to use the blood as if it were her own. This is often a grisly prospect, as the “donor” must open his own vein and physically deliver the blood to the needy Kindred. Of course, if a vampire is ever in a situation in which she needs blood, she’s likely all out of it herself, and may frenzy and take too much from the donor. Blood gifts should be given with care.
If a vampire (or mortal) partakes of another Kindred’s blood three times, she becomes bound to that vampire through the mystical properties of vitae. This is known as the blood bond. For more on blood bonds, see p. 286.
• A vampire may gift a mortal or animal with a dose of his vitae, allowing the mortal in question to inject or ingest it. For so long as the mortal retains the Kindred vitae in her system, she is considered a ghoul (see the Appendix, p. 496, for more on ghouls).
• Though most vampires (with the exception of Nosferatu) appear much as they did in life, they still display certain corpselike features; for example, their skin is unnaturally cold and grows more ashen with age, and they do not breathe. By spending a variable number of blood points, a vampire may will himself to appear more human for a scene: flushing his skin, drawing breath, even becoming capable of engaging in sexual intercourse (this last, while helpful in certain types of feeding, in no way means that the vampire may inseminate a mortal or become pregnant; a corpse is still a corpse, after all). Performing these actions for a scene requires an expenditure of blood points equal to (8 minus Humanity); thus, Kindred with Humanity ratings of 8 or higher may accomplish these feats automatically, while vampires with low Humanity find the process exceedingly arduous.
Only vampires with Humanity may use blood in this manner; vampires on a Path have forsaken their human sides entirely.
Weaknesses:
The Tzimisce are inextricably tied to their domains of origin, and must rest in the proximity of at least two handfuls of “native soil” — earth from a place important to her as a mortal, such as the soil from her birthplace or the graveyard where she underwent her Embrace. Each night spent without this physical connection to her land limits all of the Tzimisce’s dice pools to one-half, cumulatively, until she has only a single die in her pool. The penalty remains until she rests for a full day amid her earth once more.
Animalism: 1
Thaumaturgy: 4
The Beast resides within all creatures, from scuttling cockroaches to scabrous rats up through untamed wolves and even powerful Kindred elders. Animalism allows the vampire to amplify his intensely primordial nature. He can not only communicate with animals but can also force his will upon them, directing such beasts to do as he commands. As the vampire grows in power, he can even control the Beast within mortals and other supernaturals.
This power is the basis from which all other Animalism abilities grow. The vampire creates an empathic connection with a beast, thereby allowing him to communicate or issue simple commands. The Kindred locks eyes with the animal, transmitting his desires through sheer force of will. Although it isn’t necessary to actually “speak” in chirps, hisses, or barks, some vampires find that doing so helps strengthen the connection with the animal. Eye contact must be maintained the entire time; if it’s broken, the Kindred must re-establish contact to continue communication. The simpler the creature, the more difficult it becomes to connect with the animal’s Beast. Mammals, predatory birds, and larger reptiles are relatively easy to communicate with.
Tzimisce practice a strange Discipline known as Vicissitude that allows them to twist the skin and bone of their victims. In many cases, they refine their fleshly arts by practicing upon themselves, but they just as frequently use it upon their lackeys and retainers, turning their boyars and szlachta into monstrous thralls. Vicissitude itself is a much misunderstood Discipline, and debates over its origins occasionally plunge the Clan into vicious partisan rivalries.
Vicissitude is the signature power of the Tzimisce, and is rarely shared outside the Clan (though it is known to some other Cainites of the Sabbat). Similar to Protean in some ways, Vicissitude allows vampires to shape and sculpt flesh and bone. When a Kindred uses Vicissitude to alter mortals, ghouls, and vampires of higher Generation, the effects of the power are permanent; vampires of equal or lower Generation can choose to heal the effects of Vicissitude as though they were aggravated wounds. A wielder of Vicissitude can always reshape her own flesh. The wielder must establish skin-to-skin contact and must often manually sculpt the desired result for these powers to take effect. This also applies to the use of the power on oneself. Tzimisce skilled in Vicissitude are often inhumanly beautiful; those less skilled are simply inhuman.
A vampire with this power may alter her own bodily parameters: height, build, voice, facial features, and skin tone, among other things. Such changes are cosmetic and minor in scope — no more than a foot (30 cm) of height gained or lost, for example. She must physically mold the alteration, literally shaping her flesh into the desired result.
Alter muscle, fat, and cartilage
This terrible power allows a vampire to manipulate bone in the same manner that flesh is shaped. In conjunction with Fleshcraft, above, this power enables a Vicissitude practitioner to deform a victim (or herself) beyond recognition. This power should be used in conjunction with the flesh-shaping arts, unless the vampire wants to inflict injury on the victim
Kindred use this power to become hideous and deadly monsters. The vampire’s stature increases to a full eight feet (two and a half meters), the skin becomes a sickly greenish-gray or grayish-black chitin, the arms become apelike and ropy with ragged black nails, and the face warps into something out of a nightmare. A row of spines sprouts from the vertebrae, and the external carapace exudes a foul-smelling grease.
Alun Pritchard, born on September 27th in the year 1884, was a Welshman of grandioso upbringing. His father and mother were known nobility in the United Kingdom, which oft drew attention to their firstborn son. Alas, he would not rise to exceed their expectations. For early in his life, he was seduced by the divinity of the Church. He began to work immediately, drawing upon the vast wealth and knowledge of the library in order to become a priest. Shunned by his, then family. The young man, abandoned by his family, had been emboldened to continue his studies with more fervor than ever. In the shortest breath of the world, Alun Pritchard became a devoted scholar of the Church. He gave it his all to serve his locality, becoming moderately known by its' inhabitants. So known that after 20 years of excommunicado from his family, they returned to him with tears in their eyes. He saw this as the greatest blessing from his Lord. But his happiness would soon be cut short. A fiendish fiend with eyes that feed upon misery found the feal man alone one day in his church. This hungry, diabolical creature confronted him with its horrid appearance. He tried to struggle, but his human strength was weak against vampiric might. He fell that day. Or at least, that is what he told himself.
He awoke with pale skin, a dry mouth, and a devilish hunger for blood. His Sire stood over him with a vexing grin before the monster fled from his sight. Leaving behind only a note which it used to mock him for his faith and damning him to a new kind of Hell.
Alun broke down, but no tears flowed as he was newly dead. He sobbed in the crypt of the Church for an entire night, before finally succumbing to the urge to feed. One of the clergymen was the victim, Alun fed and fed until he was almost dry. But through sheer will, he managed to cease this evil act. He wondered deeply how could this had happened to him. It took an entire year of self-penitence, doubt, hate, and near-destruction before Alun realised his true calling. This had been a test from the lord. His mind recites his teachings. With this newfound inspiration, Alun set to work. He aided all who came before him and ceased the acts of evildoers.
But as time marched on, the decades changed those around him. He realised that he could no longer remain in Wales and so with his dirt, he traveled to new pastures to help those in need. He found himself in Royal Haven in an abandoned church. A perfect place to rest and recuperate. And he remained there forever more.
Knowledges
Academics:
Computer:●
Enigmas ●●
Investigation ●●●●
Law ●
Medicine
Occult ●●●
Rituals: ●
Science: ●
Technology ●●● +Security
Backgrounds
Resources: ●●●●
Allies: ●●
• Maury Jenkins, Kinfolk Police Chief
• B-Bop42, the Hacker
Contacts: ●
• Black Market
Renown
Glory: 3
Honor: 4
Wisdom: 6
Merits and Flaws
You recognize the inner qualities of those around you, good or bad, and are not often fooled. Those using Subterfuge or similar deceits against you raise their difficulty by two, and you reduce your own difficulties by two when trying to figure someone out.
Rage: ●●●●●
Rage points are spent at the beginning of a turn, in the declaration stage. You can spend Rage only in times of stress. A Garou can use Rage in the following ways:
• Frenzy: Frenzy is the violent outburst, the untamed savagery, the animal instinct for blood and brutality that lurks in the heart of every werewolf. Whenever a player gets four or more successes on a Rage roll, the character enters a frenzy. See Frenzy on p. 261 for more information on the causes and resolutions of frenzies.
• Extra Actions: A player can spend Rage to give her character extra actions in a single turn. However, a Garou cannot spend more Rage points for actions in a turn than half of her permanent Rage rating. See p. 266.
• Changing Forms: A Player may spend a Rage point for his character to change instantly to any form he desires, without having to roll Stamina + Primal-Urge. See p. 285.
• Recovering from Stun: If a character loses more health levels in one turn than his Stamina rating, he is stunned and unable to act in the next turn. By spending a Rage point, the werewolf can ignore the effect and function normally.
• Remaining Active: If a character falls below the Incapacitated health level, a player can use Rage to keep her character going. Doing so requires a Rage roll (difficulty 8). Each success heals a health level, regardless of the type of wound. A player may attempt this roll only once per scene. If this roll fails, the character doesn’t recover. However, this last-ditch survival effort has its price. Like all Rage rolls, the character is still subject to frenzy. The wound will also remain on the Garou’s body as an appropriate Battle Scar.
• Beast Within: Occasionally, a Garou is more a snarling monster than man or beast, and she must pay the price for it. For every point of Rage a character has above her Willpower rating, she loses one die on all social-interaction rolls. People, even other werewolves, can sense the killer hiding just under her skin, and they don’t want to be anywhere near it.
• Losing the Wolf: If a character has lost or spent all his Rage and Willpower points, he has “lost the wolf,” and he cannot regain Rage. The Garou cannot shift to anything except his breed form until his Rage returns. The character must regain at least one Willpower point before he can recover any Rage.
Gnosis: ●●●●● ●
Much as Rage fuels battle and the physical world, the uses of Gnosis tend toward affecting insight and the spirit world.
• Rage and Gnosis: A player cannot use both Rage and Gnosis in the same turn, whether spending points or rolling the Trait. The only exceptions are certain Gifts that demand both to function. These two forces are very powerful, and the Garou’s body is not strong enough to pull the power from these two natures simultaneously. For example, a werewolf cannot spend Rage for multiple actions and activate a fetish in the same turn.
• Carrying Silver: For every object made of or containing silver that a character is carrying, she loses one effective point from her Gnosis rating. More potent objects will cause the character to lose more. Luckily, this effect is only temporary, and it lasts only a day after the silver is discarded. More information on the effects of silver is on p. 256.
• Using Gifts: Many of the Gifts the spirits have bestowed upon faithful Garou call for Gnosis expenditures and/or rolls.
• Fetishes: Gnosis is used to attune or activate fetishes. See p. 221 for more information on fetishes.
Willpower: ●●●●● ●●
Of all the Traits werewolves possess, Willpower is one of the most frequently rolled and spent because of the many ways it can be utilized.
• Automatic Successes: Spending a Willpower point on an action gives the player one extra success on any roll. Only one point can be spent this way each turn, but the success is guaranteed. Spending Willpower in this way completely negates the effects of a botch. Some do not allow a character to spend Willpower, including damage rolls or any roll to activate Gifts.
• Uncontrollable Urges: Garou are instinctual creatures, and can find the Beast within reacting to stimuli without conscious thought. The Storyteller may inform you that your character has done something from a primal urge, like getting away from fire or attacking a creature of the Wyrm. A Willpower point can be spent to negate this gut reaction and keep the Garou right where he is. On rare occasions, the player must keep spending Willpower points until the character removes himself from the situation or runs out of Willpower.
• Halting Frenzies: As mentioned previously, a character flies into a frenzy whenever her player rolls more than four successes on a Rage roll. This situation can be averted if the player spends a Willpower point to remain in control. More information on frenzies can be found on p. 261.
• Fighting On: When a werewolf is injured, her wounds can make it hard for her to concentrate, represented by wound penalties to her actions. By spending a point of Willpower, she can ignore the wound penalties on a single roll.
Homid
No change to base stats
Difficulty 6
Essentially a human being, the Homid form allows Garou to move through man’s world more or less unseen. Metis and lupus Garou still possess their regenerative abilities and their vulnerability to silver in this form, while homid Garou do not; for them, silver feels uncomfortable, and wounds heal with surprising quickness, but the obviously uncanny effects remain absent. Aside from possible scars or body art, a Homid form werewolf appears to be a typical person. Even so, this thin disguise still betrays the predatory Beast underneath if you dare to look close enough (see The Curse, p. 262).
In this bestial throwback form, the werewolf looks like an unusually tall, feral, muscular person. A Garou shifting into Glabro essentially doubles (or perhaps triples) his body weight and adds between six inches to a foot onto his normal height. Clothes strain and tear, but do not shred… yet. His teeth and nails thicken and sharpen, and while they’re not especially powerful, they add to the werewolf’s intimidating presence. Hair grows; brows slope; the werewolf’s posture hunches with predatory intent. A Glabro werewolf can speak, but not well. Even soft words sound guttural and harsh.
This living embodiment of Rage combines the most terrible elements of man and wolf. Towering roughly nine feet tall, the slavering Crinos monster features a wolf-like head gigantic fangs and horrific claws; long, powerful arms; thick skin and bones; heavy fur; and a large wolf-tail for balance and body language. Its awful mouth can barely speak human words, though it can bay and howl with deafening eloquence. Though a Crinos werewolf can speak the Garou tongue, its surging Rage reduces most sentiments to kill, Kill, and KILL!
Werewolf fur usually favors the striped or mottled markings of normal wolves, combined with the hair color (and sometimes even style) of a Garou’s Homid form. Tribal identity is most obvious in Crinos form, where the features, fur color and body language often reveal the differences between a Bone Gnawer, a Silver Fang, a Black Fury, and a Wendigo. Many Garou decorate themselves with dedicated jewelry
and other markings that symbolize their tribal pride. The dice-pool penalties to Manipulation and Appearance do not affect spirits or other Garou, just humans and similar entities (vampires, mages, changelings, etc.). Crinos is not a form for casual contact. Even the metis, who are born in this shape, bristle with murderous fury when this war-wolf manifests.
Hispo
Str: +3 (6)
Dex: +2 (6)
Sta: +3 (6)
Man: -3 (0)
+1 die to Bite Damage
Difficulty 7
The primal nightmare of ancient man, a Hispo werewolf recalls the titanic dire wolves that ran wild in the Impergium. Only slightly smaller than Crinos form Garou, the Hispo shape boasts extra-large teeth for additional biting damage. While it can stand briefly on two legs, this form is essentially a four-legged beast. Although it has no hands and cannot speak (save a few words in the Garou tongue), the primal wolf has keen senses and amazing speed. In game terms, a Hispo Garou reduces all Perception-based difficulties by one, adds another die to the usual bite damage, and requires the character to spend a Willpower point to speak a word or two of vaguely-comprehendible human speech. Tribal identity may still be obvious in this form, if only from facial features, stance, and the color-patterns of the werewolf’s fur.
To all appearances a large normal wolf, the Lupus form enjoys sharp senses, great speed and endurance, and the ability to slip through the wilderness more or less unseen. Some Garou (especially among the Bone Gnawer tribe) appear more dog-like than wolf-like in this form — a trait other werewolves despise, although it comes in handy when blending in with man’s world.
In game terms, a Lupus-form Garou can bite for aggravated damage, but inflicts only lethal damage with his claws. Lupus-breed werewolves inflict only lethal damage with either attack in this shape, and cannot employ their mystic healing powers in Lupus form. Perception-based difficulties, though, are reduced by two, and the wolf-form can run at twice the character’s normal human speed. Although it can speak a garbled form of the Garou tongue, this form communicates almost totally through body language and typical wolf vocalizations. The werewolf’s tribal identity might seem obvious in the wolf’s facial features, posture and fur; all other decorations, however, disappear unless they’ve been strapped, pierced, or tattooed on the wolf itself.
Humans are creatures of the city, raising their steel and glass nests high into the sky. This Gift allows a homid to easily scale the concrete canyons and navigate the tangled back alleys and rooftops of the urban landscape. Some lupus derisively refer to this Gift as “Climb Like an Ape.” It is taught by an ancestor-spirit or an urban city-spirit.
System: The player spends a point of Rage. For the rest of the scene, the character may climb urban features at her full movement speed, and the difficulty of all Athletics rolls to navigate through cities (running down cluttered alleys, climbing the side of buildings, leaping from rooftop to rooftop) is reduced by two.
The werewolf’s form becomes a shimmering, indistinct blur, as though seen through heavy cataracts — even in the midday sun. The Ragabash is not truly invisible, however, and if spotted, this Gift’s protection fails until the observer is distracted. A chameleon- or ermine-spirit teaches this Gift.
System: The player rolls Manipulation + Stealth (difficulty 8). Each success increases the difficulty of all Perception rolls made to detect him by one for the rest of the scene.
All of the Weaver’s works are connected through the same web, the same song. The Glass Walkers exploit this truth to draw more power from the modern profusion of technology, making their devices compatible with almost everything. A Net Spider teaches this Gift.
System: The player spends one Willpower point. For the next day, any computer the Glass Walker uses — no matter how simple — becomes fully compatible with any other digital device, regardless of obstacles such as different operating systems, lack of physically compatible access ports, or even the complete absence of any means of receiving or interpreting a wireless signal. Generally, Glass Walkers use this Gift to turn their smart phones into omni-compatible access keys to computer networks, security feeds, and even car GPS systems.
Many Glass Walkers regard the gun as the ultimate sign of the power of the modern age, and make pacts with the spirits to assure that their firearms do not become useless, primitive clubs in the midst of battle. A technological spirit or war-spirit teaches this Gift.
System: The player spends a point of Gnosis. For the rest of the scene, any gun the Glass Walker fires won’t run out of ammunition, so long as it had ammo to begin with.
Burst restrictions are still recommended with automatic
weapons to keep the gun from overheating and jamming.
EXPERIENCE CHART
Trait Cost
Attribute current rating x 4
Ability current rating x 2
New Ability 3
Gift Level of Gift x 3
Gift from other breed/auspice/tribe Level of Gift x 5
Rage current rating
Gnosis current rating x 2
Willpower current rating
Your actions drew the attention of a demonic entity. Maybe you deliberately sought it as a means to gain power, or perhaps it wheedled its way into your existence and now won’t let go. The entity became a patron of yours, offering guidance when sought and assistance against your foes. One night it will turn on you and demand something. You will be unable to refuse its request. Until that time, your patron counts as three dots in Mentor and two dots in Allies.
Early Riser(1pt)
No one can explain it, but you seem to have the ability to work on less rest than your fellow vampires. You always seem to be the first to rise and the last to go to bed even if you’re been out until dawn. Your Humanity or Path score is considered to be 10 for purposes of deciding when you rise each evening. Vampires with this Merit cannot take the Deep Sleeper Flaw.
Acute senses: Sight(1pt)
One of your senses is exceptionally sharp, be it sight, hearing, smell, touch, or taste. The difficulties for all tasks involving the use of this particular sense are reduced by two. This Merit can be combined with the Discipline of Auspex to produce superhuman sensory acuity.
Flaws:
Monstrous: (3pts)
Your physical form was twisted during the Embrace, and now reflects the Beast that rages inside you. Characters with this Flaw appear to be savage monsters and have Appearance ratings of zero. Nosferatu and other bloodlines whose weaknesses cause them to start off with Appearance zero cannot take this Flaw.
Plague of Demons: (4pts)
No matter what, demons are constantly drawn to the Baali. Once in a while, this can be a benefit (Baali with this Flaw are at -1 difficult to summon a particular demon), but most of the time these nefarious spirits are distractions. They scream in the Baali’s ear, tug at her clothes, or screw with her possessions… and always at the worst possible moment. The character is at +1 difficulty for any rolls involving Perception. Further, once per session, the Storyteller can convert one of the Baali’s dice rolls into a botch.
• A vampire may spend one blood point to heal one normal (bashing or lethal) health level of damage. Characters must be resting and relatively inactive for this healing to take place, though this recovery is rapid: One blood point per turn may be spent to heal one health level, though vampires of lower Generations may heal as many health levels per turn as they can spend blood points.
Note that blood expenditure is the only way that vampires can heal wounds. Just as their immortality prevents the Kindred from aging and dying naturally, so it also inhibits the recuperative processes natural to a living body.
• A player may spend one blood point to increase a single Physical Attribute (Strength, Dexterity, Stamina) by one dot for the duration of the scene. The player must announce at the beginning of the turn that he is doing this. A player may spend as many blood points on
increasing Physical Attributes as the vampire may use in a turn (based upon Generation), but may only freely increase these Traits up to one higher than their generational maximum (i.e., a Tenth-Generation vampire may increase Traits to a maximum of 6). With effort, a
character may increase a Physical Attribute to above this limit, but each dot above the limit lasts for only three turns after the character stops spending blood.
This enables vampires to perform truly amazing physical feats, such as throwing cars, moving preternaturally quickly, and withstanding blows that would fell trees. Note: No character may increase Physical Attributes above 10.
• A vampire may give a number of blood points to another Kindred, thereby enabling the recipient to use the blood as if it were her own. This is often a grisly prospect, as the “donor” must open his own vein and physically deliver the blood to the needy Kindred. Of course, if a vampire is ever in a situation in which she needs blood, she’s likely all out of it herself, and may frenzy and take too much from the donor. Blood gifts should be given with care.
If a vampire (or mortal) partakes of another Kindred’s blood three times, she becomes bound to that vampire through the mystical properties of vitae. This is known as the blood bond. For more on blood bonds, see p. 286.
• A vampire may gift a mortal or animal with a dose of his vitae, allowing the mortal in question to inject or ingest it. For so long as the mortal retains the Kindred vitae in her system, she is considered a ghoul (see the Appendix, p. 496, for more on ghouls).
• Though most vampires (with the exception of Nosferatu) appear much as they did in life, they still display certain corpselike features; for example, their skin is unnaturally cold and grows more ashen with age, and they do not breathe. By spending a variable number of blood points, a vampire may will himself to appear more human for a scene: flushing his skin, drawing breath, even becoming capable of engaging in sexual intercourse (this last, while helpful in certain types of feeding, in no way means that the vampire may inseminate a mortal or become pregnant; a corpse is still a corpse, after all). Performing these actions for a scene requires an expenditure of blood points equal to (8 minus Humanity); thus, Kindred with Humanity ratings of 8 or higher may accomplish these feats automatically, while vampires with low Humanity find the process exceedingly arduous.
Only vampires with Humanity may use blood in this manner; vampires on a Path have forsaken their human sides entirely.
Obfuscate: 1
Daimonion: 4
Obfuscate is the uncanny ability for Kindred to conceal themselves from sight, sometimes even in full view of a crowd. An Obfuscated vampire doesn’t actually become invisible, however — rather, he is able to delude observers into believing that he has vanished. Obfuscate also allows Kindred to change their features and conceal other people or objects.
Remain hidden so long as you do not move
These are the mysteries of the Baali, black arts torn whole and beating from the sorcerer-kings of ancient cultures and prehistoric civilizations, incoherent memories passed from tome to tongue, hearkening to times of oblivion. They are sibilant secrets in which all begins to end and begin again. With every new night and novice brought into the circle, the telling grows shorter.
This power allows the Baali to see into the soul of his or her victim in order to ferret out said victim's greatest moral weakness.
Once the Baali has mastered reading a subject’s darkest secrets, he can reach into the victim’s mind and twist what he finds there. The shock of feeling one’s most deeply held beliefs and darkest fears manipulated can send the victim into catatonia or fits of panic.
Not all of the Baali’s powers are designed for manipulation and subtlety. The Demons can also call up the fire from the realms of their infernal patrons, hurling it at their enemies in exultation of the Outer Dark. This fire spreads and burns normally, but at the moment of creation it is black and cold, as though drawn from a place where terrestrial physics do not apply.
With this power, the Baali combines his ability to read the psyche of a victim with the ability to summon up matter from the Outer Dark. Psychomachia pits a victim against the most dangerous, shameful parts of her own subconscious.
Alexander Sidorov was born the youngest in a family of 7, and, from a very early age possessed a lust for life that refused to be quenched. From as early as six years of age he would follow his father to his workshop and ask incessant questions about how everything worked. By age 12 he could already work a wrench as well as any mechanic, and he dreamed grand dreams, of leaving his drab hometown of Ufa and seeing the world, just him, some luggage and a car.
Such dreams are far from uncommon among children, of course, but Alexander just couldn’t quite leave his behind. If anything, the more he saw of the ugliness of the real world-the sunken, drained faces of his adult siblings, eroded over several long shifts, the increasingly worrying coughing of his overworked father, and his mother’s rising stack of empty bottles-, the further he retreated. Hands behind a steering wheel, endless sunset as far as the eye could see, some music playing on the radio-that’s where he belonged. That’s where he would end up, sooner or later, right?
Alas, as with all dreams, that, too, had to end. And when his father finally passed from an illness he never had time to look into, and his mother followed suit soon afterwards after consuming copious amounts of wood alcohol, there was no longer the option of retreat. Suddenly overwhelmed by the weight of reality crashing down on him, he stood no chance. He managed to scrape by for a month or two, getting a job as a factory worker and taking up drinking, much like his dear mum had before him, but even that was not going to work. One evening, after his shift, he downed the last of his vodka and resolved that he just couldn’t go on. He trudged on through the empty streets, all the way to the bridge, and he cried for the last time. He cried for his family, for his shattered dreams, for the grey hell he had been consigned to from the moment he was born. He cried and cried and cried until he could no more, and then, he made ready to jump, looking behind him one last time.
And there, inches from him, stood a red haired woman, with a smile that would chill the blood of even the bravest of men. Then she leapt on him, and he struggled only for a moment before the ecstasy of the kiss overwhelmed him
Alexander took his death quite well-after all, it was not like he had any particular ties to mortality anyway, while in death he had found not only a new family, of sorts, in the form of others similarly undying, but also his sire, a being of immense charisma and beauty who commanded them all with great authority. Sure, she asked him to consume some of her own blood(or vitae, as she called it), and sure, he had to harm his fellow man, sometimes, to sustain himself, but he was willing to overlook all of that. And when armed men or other undead came for them he fought back with his newfound power, jealously protecting his love.
Yet this too, did not last-for eventually the deeds asked of him became too depraved for even the blood bond to excuse. However, his regnant was just as capable of using the stick alongside the carrot. His mind was assailed by terrible visions of the hell that awaited him after the final death, his visage was twisted and malformed, and his corpus wracked with injury and agony until he complied.
Through a stroke of luck, he was able to escape-not due to his own skills, but as a result of an attack by a Garou pack. He has been on the run since, never staying in one place for long, always trying to evade Garou, Kindred blood hunts, and mortal hunters