Blood Sorcery

BLOOD SORCERY

Thaumaturgy | Quietus | Koldunism | Akhu | Nahuallotl | Sadhana

The Tremere maintain that Blood Sorcery, or “Thaumaturgy” as they call it, was their invention. To hear the Banu Haqim give their version, “Quietus” was their blood right long before the Tremere became vampires. Other clans make the same statements. While its origins are murky, the dreaded nature of Blood Sorcery is not. Few Kindred trust the wielders of a power that can manipulate the vitae in their veins and turn Blood into poison.

Unlike other Disciplines, which could be described as advancing organically through the victims chosen by the vampire, practitioners of Blood Sorcery require teachers. The Tremere once relied on their pyramidic clan hierarchy to arrange tutelage for neonate apprentices, while the Banu Haqim stress the sire-childe relationship as being the best form of mentorship. These nights, many a Child of Haqim washes up in Europe or America far from their sire, and with the Pyramid broken Tremere neonates frantically search through moldy tomes and palimpsests for scraps of true lore. Genuine masters of this Discipline develop their own Rituals, though many guard them from others, revelling in the mystery surrounding their unknown cache of abilities. To practice Blood Sorcery is to twist one’s own Blood into submission. Any form of this power reminds a vampire that they’re far from human, as no mortal could wield magic in this way.

CHARACTERISTICS

• Type: Sorcery

• Masquerade Threat: Low - High.
  The individual appearance of the powers and Rituals in Blood Sorcery varies as widely as their effects.

• Blood Resonance: Sanguine.
  Although not inherent in the Blood itself, Blood Sorcery responds eagerly to blood from human occultists, sorcerers, and cult leaders, as well as hemophiles and bibliophiles.

Blood Sorcery is a special Discipline in that it both confers powers, like other Disciplines, and also unlocks the ability to perform Rituals up to and including the level the user holds in the Discipline. Ghouls of Blood Sorcerers or thin-bloods drinking from Sanguine temperaments gain temporary access to the Discipline powers, but not to Rituals. Its regular powers seem comparatively weak, but the versatility of the Rituals more than compensates, assuming the user can learn them. At character creation, a player can choose one Level 1 ritual if they have at least one dot in Blood Sorcery. Characters can buy new rituals at the cost of the ritual’s level x 3 experience points. Learning new Rituals during play requires both experience and time. Expect a Ritual to take at least the square of its rating in weeks to learn.

LEVEL 1

CORROSIVE VITAE

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Blood Sorcery •

Altering the properties of some of their own Blood, the user can make it highly corrosive to dead substances, able to corrode most items down to steaming sludge, given enough time and Blood shed.

Cost: One or more Rouse Checks

System: No additional skill roll is required. The user concentrates for a turn and forces Blood through an open, usually self-inflicted, wound. The user then spills their Blood on a nonliving object (except unliving flesh such as that of the Kindred) to corrode and decompose it. Each Rouse Check corrodes approximately 35 cm of matter in all directions from the splash; this takes approximately five minutes (longer on soft metals like copper or cast iron). Harder metals such as alloys and steel merely scar and pit; whether they meaningfully weaken remains at the Storyteller’s discretion. (This power might corrode through handcuff chains given enough time and vitae.)

Duration: N/A

_{Core Book, pg. 272}

A TASTE FOR BLOOD

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Blood Sorcery •

By tasting a drop of blood, the user can discern certain basic traits of the one to whom it belongs.

Cost: Free

Dice Pools: Resolve + Blood Sorcery

System: The user dabs the blood on their tongue and makes a Resolve + Blood Sorcery roll (Difficulty 3). With a win, the user can determine the resonance and intensity of the blood if human. They can also identify whether the blood belongs to a mortal, ghoul, vampire, or other supernatural creature (it may not necessarily be able to identify the supernatural creature if not Kindred or ghoul). Tasting vitae also determines the relative Blood Potency (and thus the likely generation band) of the vampire. A critical win also reveals whether the subject has ever committed diablerie, and the generation (within one) of the vampire. If the user knows of the supernatural creature in question, they can identify the specific supernatural creature on a critical win after tasting the blood.

Duration: N/A

_{Core Book, pg. 273}

SHAPE THE SANGUINE SACRAMENT

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Blood Sorcery •

Learned only by the most ostentatious of Tremere, this power is used to manipulate blood or vitae into finely crafted images — whether entertaining your fellows at Elysium with gaudy magician's tricks or diverting flowing rivulets into painstakingly precise Hermetic sigils.

Cost: Free (or One Rouse Check if using own Blood)

Dice Pools: Manipulation + Blood Sorcery

System: Using a measure of blood or vampiric vitae, the user may channel their master of Blood Sorcery to influence the very essence of the blood itself, to obey the user's whim. By making a successful Manipulation + Blood Sorcery roll, the user may craft the blood into any shape or image they desire. Complexity of the image varies by difficulty — a simple message of "Help!" or a basic polygonal shape may only be at Difficulty 2, while a lengthy diatribe or an intricate sculpture may be Difficulty 4 or higher. Failure on this roll means the blood fails to form the desired shape or does not respond at all — a Critical Success not only form the desired image, bu negates the need for any further rolls to change its shape for the duration of the scene.

Duration: For the remainder of the scene, unless dispelled by the user.

_{Winter's Teeth, vol. 3}

LEVEL 2

EXTINGUISH VITAE

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Blood Sorcery ••

The user can intentionally remove the unlife-giving properties of some of the Blood in another vampire, stoking their Hunger as the victim’s inner reserves curdle into impotence.

Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Intelligence + Blood Sorcery vs Stamina + Composure

System: The user rolls a contest of Intelligence + Blood Sorcery vs the Stamina + Composure of a target vampire in line of sight while concentrating for a turn and gesturing subtly. A win increases the target’s Hunger by one while a critical win increases it by two. The victim can discern who afflicts them if they can see the user while making an Intelligence + Occult vs Wits + Subterfuge roll.

Duration: N/A

_{Core Book, pg. 273}

LEVEL 3

BLOOD OF POTENCY

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Blood Sorcery •••

The vampire can concentrate their Blood, increasing its potency temporarily.

Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Resolve + Blood Sorcery

System: The user makes a Resolve + Blood Sorcery roll against a Difficulty of 2 + their Blood Potency. A win increases their Blood Potency by one for that scene; a critical win increases it by two. The vampire can use this power to exceed their generation limit on Blood Potency during its duration.

Duration: One scene or one night

_{Core Book, pg. 273}

SCORPION'S TOUCH

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Blood Sorcery •••

The vampire can transmute some of their Blood into a paralyzing poison, capable of affecting mortals and vampires alike. They can use this ichor to coat bladed weapons, or even spit it at a target. Scorpionated Blood incapacitates affected mortals, while hampering vampires if not necessarily rendering them helpless. Specific breathing and biofeedback exercises practiced by some secret societies form the best defense against this Blood, aside from Fortitude.

Cost: One or more Rouse Checks

Dice Pools: Strength + Blood Sorcery vs Stamina + Occult or Fortitude

System: The user concentrates for a turn and forces Blood through an open, usually self inflicted, wound. Each Rouse Check worth of poison made takes a turn and emits enough Blood to coat one bladed melee weapon stickily or to fill one mouthful to be spat at a foe. Spitting poison at someone involves a Dexterity + Athletics attack roll (which can be dodged like any ranged attack), although vampires have been known to French kiss a victim and transfer the poison that way. Even more subtle vampires scorpionate their Blood to poison would-be diablerists: drinking poisoned Blood from the vein guarantees a hit! Aside from such vein-to-fang transmission, however, scorpionated Blood is a contact poison that sublimes away in liquids and is too viscous to inject with a syringe. The user cannot poison beverages with it or (thanks to the pressure differential) inject it by their own bite. Arrowheads and bullets carry too little Blood to use this power with ranged weapons; the effect does not last long enough for the user to fill hollow bullets with scorpionated Blood.

If the poison hits, the user rolls a contest of Strength + Blood Sorcery vs Stamina + Occult. (Vampires with Fortitude may resist with Stamina + Fortitude.) If the user wins, the poison does the margin in Aggravated Health damage to mortals and in non-halved Superficial Health damage to vampires. A mortal who takes even one point of damage collapses unconscious.

Duration: The poison remains potent for one scene

_{Core Book, pg. 273}

LEVEL 4

THEFT OF VITAE

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Blood Sorcery ••••

Through mystical means the vampire opens a wound in a major artery of a mortal victim, blood shooting out through the air in a stream toward the open mouth of the user. This has the additional effect of keeping the mortal subdued as if in the throes of the Kiss, and the wound closes by itself once the effect ends, whether the victim expired or not. This power is extremely spectacular and a potential Masquerade breach while in progress, but once ended leaves no traces.

Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Wits + Blood Sorcery vs Wits + Occult

System: The user makes a beckoning gesture toward a mortal target in line of sight and rolls their Wits + Blood Sorcery vs Wits + Occult. A win opens an arterial wound, and the vampire can start feeding from across the room. (A target wearing full-body protection such as a hazmat suit merely bleeds ecstatically out into the suit.) The user can do nothing else while feeding, but they can feed at twice the normal speed (at triple speed on a critical win) thanks to the sorcerous pressure of this power.

Duration: One feeding

_{Core Book, pg. 274}

LEVEL 5

BAAL'S CARESS

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Blood Sorcery •••••

The vampire can transmute their Blood into an extremely aggressive poison, lethal to mortal and Kindred alike.

Cost: One or more Rouse Checks

Dice Pools: Strength + Blood Sorcery vs Stamina + Occult or Fortitude

System: This power uses the same system (and its poison has the same restrictions) as Scorpion’s Touch (p. 273), with increased damage.

If the poison hits, the user rolls a contest of Strength + Blood Sorcery vs Stamina + Occult. (Vampires with Fortitude may resist with Fortitude in lieu of the Occult Skill.) If the user wins, the poison does the margin in Aggravated Health damage to mortals and vampires alike. A mortal who takes even one point of damage dies instantly.

If a vampire target takes Aggravated damage from this poison, the user rolls the contest again; on a win, the vampire enters torpor when next they go to sleep.

Duration: The poison remains potent for one scene

_{Core Book, pg. 274}

CAULDRON OF BLOOD

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Blood Sorcery •••••

This gruesome power lets the user boil the blood of a victim in their own veins, causing massive damage and excruciating pain. While there are more efficient ways to kill, few methods approach this level of cruelty.

Cost: One Rouse Check and gain one (or more) Stains

Dice Pools: Resolve + Blood Sorcery vs Composure + Occult or Fortitude

System: The user pays the cost and touches the victim (Dexterity + Athletics in combat or similar situations), rolling a contest of Resolve + Blood Sorcery vs Composure + Occult. (Vampires with Fortitude may resist with Composure + Fortitude.) On a win, each point of margin causes one point of Aggravated damage in the victim. Mortals taking at least one point of damage die screaming. Vampire victims add 1 Hunger per point of damage inflicted, until Hunger is at 5.

Duration: One turn

_{Core Book, pg. 274}

RITUALS

Unless otherwise noted, performing a ritual requires a Rouse Check, five minutes per level to cast, and a winning Intelligence + Blood Sorcery test (Difficulty = Ritual level + 1). Rituals usually require additional ingredients, though some need only the uninterrupted concentration of the user, and often involve the mingling of Blood with ingredients chosen according to the principles of sympathetic magic or alchemy. Unless otherwise stated the caster can only perform beneficial rituals on themselves.

Wards:
The Tremere employ Wards extensively, basing them on their Hermetic traditional sigils. Banu Haqim Wards usually involve gematriac or abjadic writing, rather than occult symbols, but the methodology remains the same in both cases. Wards consist of a glyph or line of script keyed to repel a single type of supernatural, called “the trespasser” in these rules. When touched, they cause something like an electric shock to the trespasser’s mind and body, imparting both physical burns and a sudden bout of sheer terror. The ward does not work on forced contact – a warded sword will not trigger the ward when striking a trespasser, but it will if a trespasser tries to pick it up.

Wards can only cover a space about a meter across: for example, a caster cannot ward a whole car, but they can ward a steering wheel.

Do not make the Ritual roll until the first time the trespasser touches the Ward, triggering its effect. Gloves or other garments offer no protection. If the caster wins the Ritual test, the victim suffers one point of Aggravated Health damage. On a critical win, damage for this Ward is three points of Aggravated damage. The caster does not need to make the Ritual roll for each trespasser touching the Ward, only the first. Anyone affected who wants to touch the warded object again must spend a point of Willpower and then win a Stamina + Resolve test (Difficulty 4, or 7 for a critical-success Ward) to make the attempt.

Sense the Unseen (Auspex 1) can detect a Ward with a contest of Intelligence + Auspex vs the caster’s Intelligence + Blood Sorcery.

Warding Circles:
A Warding circle resembles a regular Ward, painted on the ground or floor. It requires three times the ritual ingredients of a regular Ward of the same type. Knowledge of one Ward does not convey knowledge of its corresponding Warding circle, or vice versa. Trespassers who attempt to cross a Warding circle suffer its effect. Unless the caster inscribes the Warding circle “pointing inward” around the trespasser in the first place, it does not block attempts to leave the circle.

Its rules differ from regular Wards in a few respects: It costs three Rouse Checks worth of Blood to paint the circle and pentacles, which can cover up to a three-meter radius. It takes one full night to cast and a Ritual roll made at the time (at +2 to Difficulty) if the caster wants it to last a year and a day; otherwise it dissipates at dawn.

When the trespasser attempts to cross the circle, roll a contest of Intelligence + Blood Sorcery vs the trespasser’s Willpower. (If the Storyteller or player wrote down the result of the original Ritual roll used to cast a year-long Warding circle, they can use that result here.) If the Warding circle fails, the trespasser can enter it. If the caster wins, the trespasser takes three points of Superficial Health damage (three points of Aggravated damage on a critical win) and cannot enter. The trespasser must spend a point of Willpower to attempt to enter the circle again. If the trespasser wins the contest, enters the circle and leaves it again, they must repeat their half of the contest (the caster’s initial result remains) to re-enter it.

LEVEL 1

BLOOD WALK

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Blood Sorcery •

This Ritual expands upon the power A Taste for Blood allowing the user to learn more details about the subject studied, assuming the subject is a vampire.

Ingredients: A silver cup filled with Blood from the subject. (One Rouse Check’s worth).

Process: The user mixes their Blood with the subject’s and repeats an incantation over the cup, spending an roughly an hour.

System: A win on the Ritual roll (see General Systems) allows the user to learn the generation and name of the subject as well as the subject’s sire. A Critical Win also informs the user of any Blood Bonds active on the subject, as regnant or thrall.

_{Core Book, pg. 276}

CLINGING OF THE INSECT

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Blood Sorcery •

The vampire gains the ability to cling to walls like a grotesque insect or spider.

Ingredients: A living spider.

Process: The caster fills a vial with their own Blood and crushes the spider into it, mixing the ground bits with the Blood before ingesting it. (This does not refund any Hunger gained.) The caster can only perform this ritual on themselves; others gain no benefit from drinking the mixture.

System: A successful Ritual yields the ability to cling to walls and ceiling for a scene, while a critical win extends the duration to a whole night. The caster must cling to the surface with both hands and feet; they move at approximately half their usual rate.

_{Core Book, pg. 276}

CRAFT BLOODSTONE

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Blood Sorcery •

This Ritual results in a Bloodstone, a magical tracker to which the caster always knows the direction as well as general distance. As the Camarilla retreats from modern technology, this previously neglected Ritual has seen a resurgence in use.

Ingredients: A pebble of iron ore or a small magnet and a liter of blood from any source in a silver bowl.

Process: The user spills their Blood into the blood in the bowl and then recites a chant over it for an hour, repeating the chant over the next two nights. The pebble (or magnet) absorbs the blood over the three nights; upon successful completion, the liquid appears translucent.

System: Make the Ritual roll at the end of the third night. On a win the caster attunes their mind to the Bloodstone. The caster can unerringly sense the direction and distance to the stone. This effect lasts until the Bloodstone is destroyed or a week has passed. A caster can have and keep track to a number of stones up to their Resolve.

_{Core Book, pg. 276}

WAKE WITH EVENING'S FRESHNESS

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Blood Sorcery •

Performed before dawn, this ritual allows the caster to awake at any sign of danger, fully alert as if awake during the night.

Ingredients: The burnt bones and feathers of a rooster.

Process: The caster mixes the ashes with their own Blood, drawing a circle with the mixture around their place of sleep.

System: Do not make a Ritual roll unless true danger appears. If the caster is threatened during the day, make the Ritual roll then, with the caster rousing on a win. For the duration of the scene the vampire ignores the daytime penalties for staying awake. On a critical win, the effects last until the following dawn.

_{Core Book, pg. 276}

WARD AGAINST GHOULS

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Blood Sorcery •

Wary Tremere created this ritual to protect themselves from the minions of vengeful rivals. This ward uses the standard rules for Wards (p. 275).

Ingredients: Nothing apart from the usual requirement of the caster’s Blood.

_{Core Book, pg. 276}

COAX THE GARDEN

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Blood Sorcery •

This Ritual allows the caster to bring plant life, such as roots, grass, and tree branches to act in their defense.

Ingredients: Human blood, poppy seeds.

Process: The vampire casts a concoction of human blood and poppy seeds onto the earth, and in doing so rouses all plant life within a 5 yard/meter diameter. While these plants are rarely lethal in their attacks, they can successfully disable and alarm their victims.

System: A win on the Ritual roll following the casting of the Ritual ingredients animates the plant life. The affected flora causes a two-dice penalty to physical dice pools for those caught in the range of the Ritual, as plants trip and grip them. Victims who stay in the area for longer than a turn must make a Dexterity + Athletics roll (Difficulty 3), or be grappled and suffer one point of Superficial Health damage for each turn ensnared. If the caster achieves a critical win, the damage from plant attacks doubles. On a total failure, the plants attack the caster. The plants will target anyone who isn’t the caster. They remain active until the end of the scene.

_{Cults of the Blood Gods, pg. 55}

DAMPEN THE FEAR

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Blood Sorcery •

This Ritual allows the caster to briefly douse their natural vampiric fear of fire.

Ingredients: A holy object, such as a crucifix, bible, or Qur’an.

Process: The vampire must burn the holy symbol before walking into, past, or otherwise interacting with fire. The object does not need to be destroyed, just exposed to the fire.

System: A successful Ritual roll following the burning of the holy object grants the character +2 dice on all rolls relating to resisting Rötschreck. A critical win results in the character needing to make no terror frenzy rolls at all. The power wears off once the scene ends.

_{Cults of the Blood Gods, pg. 67}

LETTER WARD

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Blood Sorcery •

Ingredients: Pigeon blood, wax, dog blood.

Process: The letter writer, who need not be the sorcerer, pens a missive in pigeon blood and clearly addresses the recipient. The sorcerer then melts wax and mixes it with dog’s blood to seal the letter.

System: The sorcerer makes the Ritual roll when anyone other than the recipient opens the letter. The victim suffers one point of Aggravated Health damage if the caster wins the Ritual roll, or three points of Aggravated damage on a critical win, and the letter destroys itself in a burst of flame.

Once the Letter Ward is triggered, anyone wanting to open the letter must roll Stamina + Resolve at Difficulty 4 for a normal Ward, or Difficulty 7 for a critical-success Ward.

_{Let the Streets Run Red, pg. 77}

BLOODY MESSAGE

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Blood Sorcery •

Ingredients: Mirror, sufficient human blood to write the message, UV light.

Process: The practitioner designates a type of individual in their mind — e.g., mortal, ghoul, vampire, male, a child, unemployed — and bathes a mirror in UV light. The sorcerer writes a message on the mirror with a fingertip, using human blood as the ink. The message appears on another reflective surface (a mirror, polished glass, water) the practitioner has seen before and can mentally recall, when the designated type of individual passes by.

System: The sorcerer makes the Ritual roll when enchanting the designated surface. For every success the practitioner rolls, the message will repeat for each new individual of the chosen type who passes the surface. The message clears itself from the surface as soon as it’s been read once. It appears in the handwriting and language in which the sorcerer wrote it.

_{Let the Streets Run Red, pg. 77}

HERD WARD

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Blood Sorcery • or •••

Ingredients: Scorpion poison, sufficient vitae to provoke a Rouse Check.

Process: The sorcerer mixes scorpion poison with their own vitae to draw the ward. The vampire can ward a single kine at level 1, or at level 3 inscribe the ward on a door so all who stay within the ward for that night are protected.

System: The sorcerer makes the Ritual roll when another vampire tries to feed on the warded kine. The transgressor suffers one point of Aggravated Health damage if the caster wins the Ritual roll, or three points of Aggravated damage on a critical win.

Once the Herd Ward is triggered, a Kindred still trying to drink from the kine must roll Stamina + Resolve against Difficulty 4 for a normal Ward, or 7 for a critical-success Ward.

_{Let the Streets Run Red, pg. 77}