Thin-Blood Alchemy

THIN-BLOOD ALCHEMY

Cooking | Homebrew | The Craft | Mash | Kineticism

The thin Blood of the latest generations holds barely any power of its own. But certain thin-bloods have learned to use it as a catalyst, awakening the latent power in everything from human trauma to gasoline. Born of the street drug scene and cocktail culture as much as it w as uncovered by instinct or in moldering medieval texts, thin-blood Alchemy may be the defining art of the next-millennium lick. By blending strongly resonant human blood, and sometimes other substances, with their own vitae, Alchemists can counterfeit a wide range of powers from other Disciplines – and some unique powers of their own. Rumors already abound of specific elixirs that grant the ability to walk in sunlight, commune with Antediluvians, or achieve Golconda. But for now, the street-level cookers have all they can do to stay out of the Court’s sight – plenty of elders consider Alchemy nothing but watered-down diablerie.

Alchemy can counterfeit some Blood Sorcery powers (those that affect the caster’s Blood), but not Rituals. The Storyteller can rule any other power off-limits to Alchemy if they worry about game balance or the plausibility of the fiction – and reverse themselves later if they wish, or hint at unique recipes developed in Switzerland or hidden in a Cairo library. The Discipline is young, and thin-bloods have hardly explored every possible working or tasted every possible cocktail.

CHARACTERISTICS

• Type: Alchemy

• Masquerade Threat:
  Varies as widely as the powers it counterfeits and the method used.

• Blood Resonance:
  Required for each formula and varies accordingly.

All formulae require vitae from the Alchemist and human blood of the correct Resonance. The Resonant human blood can be stored in a blood bag, or in a Starbucks to-go cup for that matter. The specific amount needed depends on the degree of the donor’s Resonance and on the Storyteller’s whim.

In these rules, “power level” always refers to the level of Alchemy involved, not the level of the power counterfeited with the formula.

All formulae have a cost to distill, and then the cost to activate. The distillation cost reflects the fact that all formulae include the Alchemist’s own vitae: A single Rouse Check. Activation cost for a formula is the same as using the power normally: free, or some number of additional Rouse Checks.

Once activated, the Alchemist makes a distillation roll to determine how effective the particular mixture was. Each version of Alchemy builds a different dice pool for the distillation roll. The more successes, the more effective the mixture.

Some powers require their own dice rolls to take effect, or to measure the degree of success. The Alchemist makes those rolls where needed, substituting their rating in Thin-Blood Alchemy for the specific Discipline rating where relevant.

To learn a new formula requires research time, whether the Alchemist spends it poring through libraries or in meditation or on tasting expeditions or performing laboratory experimentation. Players should write down which formulae their character already knows, and any special ingredients it requires. A character receives a formula for free for each dot in Thin-Blood Alchemy and can purchase additional formulae with experience and experimentation.

DISTILLATION METHODS

Thin-bloods have no intrinsic Disciplines, but can put a dot in Thin-Blood Alchemy if they take the Thin-blood Alchemist Merit at character creation. Any thin-blood vampire can later learn Thin-Blood Alchemy at the in-clan experience rate, even if they didn’t take the Thin-Blood Alchemy merit. Learning a new formula from a recipe or teacher takes the formula’s level in weeks. Researching a new formula from scratch takes the Formula’s level squared in weeks.

When the first dot in Thin-Blood Alchemy is gained, the Alchemist chooses their method. This is the way they perform their distillation. Learning a different method means starting from scratch, essentially counting it as a separate Discipline. In this case, formulae for one method do not apply to other methods known, and the same formula must be learnt separately for each method. As a rule, Thin-Blood Alchemy formulae either resemble short-term powers inherent in the blood of, or one-shot elixirs bled out by, the alchemist or their mortal athanor.

ANTHANOR CORPORIS

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The Alchemist uses their own body as the athanor, or alchemical furnace. This might be a bio-feedback routine, the result of an initial elixir consumed at initiation, or simply intuitive understanding of how resonances interact. Ingredients usually consist of different types of resonance mixes, requiring the Alchemist to sample the blood of multiple victims to get just the right blend.

The Alchemist drinks the different types of resonant blood required and the process is performed within their veins with a distillation roll of Stamina + Alchemy, together with a Rouse Check.

Only one power can be active at a time, and a new power must be distilled before it can be activated. This usually takes at least three turns of concentration, during which the Alchemist can do nothing else.

CALCINATIO

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The Alchemist uses the body of a human as the athanor, adjusting their biophysical state by means of emotional pressure and spoken incantations. (Some practitioners of Calcinatio use drugs on their subjects instead.) The Alchemist then feeds their Blood to the chosen human, paying the distillation cost, and makes the distillation roll with Manipulation + Alchemy.

The human’s entire body distills the formula. The Alchemist then drinks their blood to use the power (required Hunger slaked equals power level minus 1).

The Alchemist can only distill one power per victim, though the victim retains the formula within them as long as they’re kept in the same emotional state; each power takes as long to activate as it takes to drain that quantity of blood (p. 212).

FIXATIO

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Lacking the physical or social predilections of the other methods, the Alchemist uses a conventional athanor such as a kiln, a metalworking furnace, a meth cooker, a repurposed propane tank, or the like. This method most resembles “classical” alchemy: the Alchemist pours their Blood as well as inert, usually rare, ingredients into the athanor, pays the distillation cost, and distills them inside it with an Intelligence + Alchemy roll.

The resulting formulae are fixed, meaning that the Alchemist can carry them around on their person and imbibe them to activate their power. (Roll the distillation roll upon consumption, not upon production.) However, without a laboratory, they cannot make any more – at most, they might be able to “one-pot” a weak (Level 3 or less) formula using a pressure-cooker or other field expedient. Using such unsuitable equipment reduces the distillation dice pool by 2 dice.

The Alchemist can carry a number of fixed formulae (of any level) equal to their Wits or Dexterity – keeping the vials safe, stable, hidden, and leakproof is not a trivial task. (The Storyteller can decide if each vial takes up the space of a syringe, a can of Red Bull, or a thermos.) The Alchemist can store a number of fixed formulae (of any level) equal to twice the sum of Alchemy plus their dots in Haven: a refrigerator is almost a necessity. Fixed does not necessarily mean shelf stable, after all.

The Alchemist can activate one power per turn.

Athanor Corporis alchemists who brew oneshot elixirs inside their body can tap themselves for another dose once per night without making another Distillation roll, as long as they keep the mix of the source blood the same: no feeding on different Resonances, and don’t let yourself get to Hunger 5. Tapping Calcinatio athanors for elixirs does 1 Aggravated Health damage per Formula level per dose, but also doesn’t require another Distillation roll unless the athanor’s mental balance or food intake changes significantly.

Elixirs with negative effects on the user can create feedback in Athanor Corporis alchemists: once they’ve bled out a dose of Blue State or Martian Purity, for example, it’s very much in their interest to drink a shot of sanguine to slosh the formula in their own veins instead of suffering the effects accidentally on their next Rouse Check.

SIDE EFFECTS

When a true vampire uses a formula, the formula's creator makes a Rouse Check and rolls a Distillation roll as normal — it's their Blood, not the user's that makes or breaks the brew's effects. Formulae that depend on a Thin-Blood Alchemy rating use five minus the true vampire's Blood Potency, but never more than the Alchemy rating of the cook. If the alchemist has Catenating Blood (VtM, pg. 183), the vampire also takes a step towards a Blood Bond.

True vampires are unable able to safely imbibe Thin-Blood Alchemy, and will suffer varying misfortunes. After the distillation roll, the Storyteller rolls a die and consults the Wheel of Misfortune Table to find out what side effects the vampire suffers. Side effects begin immediately after the formula's effect ends.

LEVEL 1

BODY PAINT

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •

This formula allows the alchemist to create tattoos with personal touches beyond human tattoo artists. Sometimes, an alchemist’s client can customize their ink further. The alchemist creates a shiny, dark brown fluid that stays in liquid form until painted or tattooed onto mortal or vampire skin. The alchemist tattoos the target or reaches out and massages the flesh as the liquid dries, shaping it into unique patterns.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, choleric mortal blood, tattoo inks, henna, marker fluid, or any substance that stains skin.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Dexterity + Craft; Stamina + Resolve

System: On Distillation rolls with 1–3 successes, the body paint dries faster, and the alchemist must Win a Dexterity + Craft test at Difficulty 3 to finish their work before drying. On Distillations with 6 or more successes, the target may reshape the tattoo any time after a week with a Stamina + Resolve Test at Difficulty 5. The alchemist may change the fluid’s colors at will while working, as can the target if they’re able to reshape their tattoo.

Duration: Permanent, unless erased by flesh colored Body Paint.

_{Blood Sigils, pg. 73}

CHECKOUT TIME

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •

Thin-bloods traveling great distances face challenges. Being shipped as a literal corpse can, for the clever, mitigate them.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, phlegmatic mortal blood, embalming fluid, myrrh, a toad’s skull.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

System: The alchemist writes a span of times and dates on the subject’s left arm in Roman numerals. The subject can be the alchemist themself. At the starting time, the subject enters a deep torpor and cannot be awakened until either the ending time transpires, or someone rewrites the ending time. Coming out of this slumber does not require a Rouse Check. While in this state, the recipient is indistinguishable from a corpse. They have no aura, they don’t need to make nightly Rouse Checks, and they don’t take damage from any accidental exposure to sunlight or similar banes.

Duration: The written time span determines the duration, but cannot exceed nine nights.

_{Blood Sigils, pg. 74}

ELEVATE

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •

When you’re at the party and feeling like a thrill, go find the guy by the bathrooms. No, not the guy selling speed and molly to sweaty dancers. The other guy, the one that stands way too still. He’s got the regular stuff, but he’s also got tabs of El if you know to ask. El makes the whole world feel elevated to thin-bloods: colors, sounds, tastes, and energy all shift and intensify. It’s a pure shot of dopamine that makes everything faster, fresher, and way more fun.

It’s not just in your mind, either: your reflexes really are faster, your eyes do see farther, your feet move quick and sure to the beat. Thin-bloods who’ve taken El can be identified by the slightly glassy tinge to their eyes and the bubbly energy that lets them dance until dawn. Regular Kindred can get the effect by drinking from someone who’s taken El, just like any other drug.

While Humanity 8 or higher vampires with Blush of Life can get high without recourse to alchemy, the fact that thin-bloods have developed a workaround for this aspect of the vampire curse angers older Kindred. In this, as in daywalking and so much else, the thin blood of the Mercurians carries potential advantages. If players go looking for sangrias or party brews, someone almost always has El for sale.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, sanguine mortal blood, fermented chocolate, rice vinegar, black coffee, often some kind of fun street drug.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Stamina + Alchemy

System: Whoever consumes the formula instantly feels a rush of warmth and pleasure flowing through them, relaxing their muscles and quickening their nerves. They get a +1 on any Dexterity dice that they roll during the scene. El also can act as a carrier for regular street drugs, although the effects shift unpredictably if usually toward ecstatic stimulation. Badly made El makes the user feel great, but actively degrades Dexterity with a −1 penalty.

Duration: One scene

_{Blood Sigils, pg. 74}

FAR REACH

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •

This formula allows the alchemist to use their mind to grab, hold, and push objects or people without touching them. While few can employ enough mental force to actually cause direct harm, a clever applicant can find many ways to get an opponent into, or themselves out of, harm’s way.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, choleric human blood, melted nylon fibers or a grated refrigerator magnet or weird nootropics ordered off the internet.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Resolve + Alchemy vs Strength + Athletics

System: The alchemist can lift, push, or pull a physical object or person under 100 kg, within their sight and closer than 10 meters. The object moves swiftly, but not rapidly enough to injure a person with the blow; the object may break if it is fragile. The exception: knives or other small metal tools, which the alchemist can wield with a Resolve + Alchemy test, at a two dice penalty because of the need for precision. A knife used this way does only one point of extra damage.

Trying to move someone actively resisting requires a contest of Resolve + Alchemy vs Strength + Athletics. On a win, the alchemist can pull the victim within grabbing or clawing range, or throw them one meter for each point of margin on the contest, doing an equal amount of Superficial damage. They land prone. Keeping someone or something floating in mid-air requires a Resolve + Thin-Blood Alchemy (Difficulty 3) roll every turn. Fine manipulation (such as pulling the pin of a grenade) requires a Wits + Alchemy roll at a suitable Difficulty, as determined by the Storyteller.

Duration: One turn unless held (see above).

_{Core Book, pg. 284}

FOOD STAIN

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •

Resembling ketchup, this elixir places a mark on a person who consumes it or is anointed with it. The alchemist can easily tell whether anyone later drinks the blood of the marked individual.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, melancholic mortal blood, some highly colored flavoring such as BBQ sauce, mustard, cheez-puff flavor dust, etc.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

System: If someone — mortal or Kindred — is marked by consuming or contacting this goo, the next individual who feeds from them becomes obvious to the alchemist who made it. Obvious means that if they see that person, hear them or smell them, they know. In the rare case that the alchemist has at least Auspex 2, they become aware the instant the feeding occurs. Moreover, for about an hour after, they know the direction toward the drinker, though not distance.

Duration: Once created, the mystic potential of the substance persists until consumed or applied, but it starts to smell pretty bad after a week, even if refrigerated.

_{Blood Sigils, pg. 74}

GAOLER'S BANE

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •

By imbibing this formula, the alchemist enables their body to accomplish unbelievable feats of contortion and dislocation, allowing for escape from even the most cunning of physical restraints.

Ingredients: The alchemist's blood, sanguine human blood, two weeks' worth of contents of a regularly used grill's grease trap.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

System: Upon activating this ability, the alchemist can twist, bend, or stretch their bodies in minor wats to free themselves from physical bonds or grapples. Dexterity + Larceny checks for the purpose of slipping one's self free of handcuffs, zip-ties, or other ligatures get a two-dice bonus. Additionally, any Strength + Brawl rolls made to escape a grapple also receive a two-dice bonus.

Duration: One scene or until voluntarily ended.

_{Winter's Teeth, vol. 2}

HAZE

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •

This formula creates a field of mist that follows the user, rendering them more difficult to target with ranged weapons and concealing their identity.

Ingredients: In addition to the alchemist’s Blood and phlegmatic human blood, dry ice or cigar smoke or auto exhaust

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Resolve + Alchemy vs Strength + Athletics

System: Upon activation a cloud of mist-like vapor surrounds the alchemist, masking their features and obscuring their silhouette. Anyone attempting to identify the user or hit them with ranged weapons suffers a two-dice penalty to their pool. The user can extend the cloud to encompass a group of up to five people by making another Rouse check.

Duration: One scene or until voluntarily ended.

_{Core Book, pg. 285}

MERCURIAN TONGUE

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •

The alchemist can speak the native language of the mortal whose blood they used in the formula, and the native languages of those they feed from until they next sleep.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, blood of a mortal who speaks a different native language than the alchemist, the tongue of a fish or bird, hot sauce from another country, and copper filings.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

System: The alchemist can speak the native language of the mortal whose blood they used in the formula. By spending a Willpower point and feeding from a mortal, they can switch their new language to that mortal’s native language.

Duration: One night, or until the alchemist feeds from someone with the same native language as the alchemist.

_{Players Guide, pg. 103}

PLUG-IN

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •

The alchemist is able to produce a low-level electrical current from their body, powering lights, chargers, or other devices.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s blood, sanguine blood, liquid nitrogen, tungsten shavings, and a broken battery.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Resolve + Alchemy

System: Make a Resolve + Alchemy test (Difficulty 2). On a success, the alchemist fills with electrical currents that can be used to power small devices, such as a smartphone, a personal computer, or a light bulb. These currents power the item by touch; it loses power when contact stops.

Duration: If lighting a room: one scene. If powering a device, until it reaches half battery charge.

_{Players Guide, pg. 103}

PORTABLE SHADE

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •

Portable Shade, or even more irreverently, “suntan lotion,” is a formula developed by Cainites on the Path of the Sun to augment a thin-blood’s already substantial resistance to sunlight to near mortal levels. While it doesn’t render the subject completely immune, it extends the time they can endure daylight while masking immediate burns sustained by the sun.

Ingredients: Blood of the Alchemist, sanguinic mortal blood, fresh plant leaves. Some alchemists also use various off-the-shelf sunblock ointments in the mix, though it is unknown whether they contribute significantly to the formula.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Stamina + Alchemy

System: Make a Stamina + Alchemy test when ingesting the formula. The user is able to endure sunlight without taking damage for a number of hours equal to the number of successes on the test. At sunset, make another test with the same pool, this time with a Difficulty equal to the number of hours spent in daylight. A failure causes the user to sustain a level of aggravated damage, while a total failure has them sustain two, as the accumulated sunlight boils the Blood in their veins.

Duration: A number of hours equal to a Stamina + Alchemy test, or the next sunset, whichever comes first.

_{Sabbat Sect Book, pg. 53}

SPEAK FROM THE HEART

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •

Known as message in a butthole in California, this creates an elixir that is, to all appearances, some flavor of soda. Some patsy, usually mortal, drinks the soda. The next vampire who drinks the patsy’s blood receives the message.

Ingredients: A soft drink, the alchemist’s Blood, melancholic human blood, mercury, ink or paint.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

System: The alchemist imprints the message while brewing the soda. Grape soda can carry seventy-one words or less. Orange reveals a sketched image in the drinker’s mind for about a minute. Lemon-lime conveys a brief but vivid emotional sensation. It’s possible that a mortal who drank the carrier’s blood would also get the effects, but no one’s run that experiment.

Duration: The messages take about sixty seconds. They persist in the carrier until death, or until someone drinks their blood.

_{Blood Sigils, pg. 75}

WHIFF-ITS

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •

Some Kindred are rumored to be able to sniff out a particular resonance. Among the Duskborn, others have learned to sniff out the resonance (or lack thereof) of true Kindred and distinguish the most potent among them.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s vitae, phlegmatic or sanguine human blood, cologne or perfume, fresh compost, ammonia, crushed fingernails from an animal.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

System: When used, the potion grants the alchemist heightened olfactory abilities. For the next night, the alchemist can catch the scent of the Kindred with the highest Blood Potency in the area (as determined by the Storyteller). If there are multiple Kindred who share the same Blood Potency in the area, success on a subsequent Resolve + Awareness test at Difficulty 3 allows the alchemist to distinguish between individual Kindred and follow their trail. Kindred sealed in containers might likewise require a similar test to detect, with a Difficulty determined by the Storyteller.

Duration: Until dawn

_{Gehenna War, pg. 50}

LEVEL 2

At level 2, the Alchemist can develop formulae to counterfeit level 1 powers of other Disciplines. Each of these formulae take at least a week to research.

ADVANCED TORPOR

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Thin-Blood Alchemy ••

This Formula induces torpor. For thin-blooded, it’s a last resort mending coma.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, choleric and phlegmatic mortal blood, neem extract, diazepam, diphenhydramine, chamomile flower.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

System: The alchemist creates (or for other Distillations, they or their vessel bleeds) a bright pink, watery fluid. Mixing this substance with mortal blood creates an elixir that causes its imbiber to immediately fall into torpor. This torpor lasts as long as if they have entered it through ordinary means.

Unlike regular torpor, a vampire in Advanced Torpor always has a Rouse Check re-roll while under its effects, whether it’s for the day passing or for mending any damage. Should the vampire end their Advanced Torpor not at Hunger 5, they may keep their current level of Hunger when they awaken. All vampires in Advanced Torpor mend as a vampire, even if a Thin- Blood Flaw otherwise makes that impossible.

If the vampire’s Hunger rises above Hunger 5 while in Advanced Torpor, the vampire enters regular torpor for the remaining portion of their torpor, and standard rules apply.

• Athanor Corporis: The alchemist can tap their vein once per night until their next feeding or reach Hunger 5. There is no further Distillation cost.

• Calcinatio: If the vessel survives the tap, the alchemist can tap them again in one week. The vessel takes 5 Aggravated Health damage per tap.

Duration: Until the target awakens from torpor.

_{Blood Sigils, pg. 75}

BLACKLIGHT SURPRISE

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Thin-Blood Alchemy ••

The sun is the bane of the undead, but this formula can lend Phoebus’ hideous strength to a common UV flashlight or blacklight bulb, for the Kindred unlucky enough to be downrange of it.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, sanguine and choleric mortal blood, sunflower seeds, hand sanitizer, Luminol.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

System: A UV source smeared with Blacklight Surprise does 1 point of Aggravated damage every turn its light hits a vampire. It provokes fear frenzy like sunlight does. Kindred who already take damage from UV take an extra point.

Duration: At least one hour, plus an additional hour for every success the alchemist scores with the dice. If the light source breaks, the formula burns off.

_{Blood Sigils, pg. 75}

BLUE STATE

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Thin-Blood Alchemy ••

A mind-altering elixir with a sludgy cobalt color, when fed to a target or applied to their skin, it forces them to grudgingly and obsessively contemplate the next wrong thing one of their friends or allies does.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, melancholy and phlegmatic mortal blood, cobalt.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

System: Someone under the effects of Blue State cannot forgive. The next time a friend or ally violates the target’s Convictions, the target takes 1 Stain. A mortal target merely holds a seemingly unreasonable, intractable grudge.

Duration: The Stain remains until the characters have, at least, a very uncomfortable conversation.

_{Blood Sigils, pg. 76}

ENVELOP

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Thin-Blood Alchemy ••

This formula creates a field of mist that follows the user, rendering them more difficult to target with ranged weapons and concealing their identity.

Ingredients: In addition to the alchemist’s Blood and phlegmatic human blood, dry ice or cigar smoke or auto exhaust

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Resolve + Alchemy vs Strength + Athletics

System: Upon activation a cloud of mist-like vapor surrounds the alchemist, masking their features and obscuring their silhouette. Anyone attempting to identify the user or hit them with ranged weapons suffers a two-dice penalty to their pool. The user can extend the cloud to encompass a group of up to five people by making another Rouse check.

Duration: One scene or until voluntarily ended.

_{Core Book, pg. 285}

FRIENDS LIST

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Thin-Blood Alchemy ••

This formula allows the alchemist to see the connections between mortals and Kindred. This shows as a thin, silver thread that connects between them, giving the alchemist an idea of whom a mortal may have a connection to.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, phlegmatic blood, the eyes of a whippoorwill or owl or other nocturnal bird, and a silver thread.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Intelligence + Alchemy

System: Upon activating this power, the alchemist makes an Intelligence + Alchemy test to see a thin, silver thread connecting a mortal to a vampire they have some sort of connection with. (Obviously, no thread is shown if the mortal isn’t connected to Kindred.) If the vampire is not physically close the alchemist can follow the thread.

Stronger connections require fewer successes to see – a ghoul might only require one success, but a distant contact or ally up to five. A mortal with multiple vampire relationships displays the strongest thread first, but the alchemist can see all of them with enough successes.

Duration: One scene

_{Players Guide, pg. 104}

MIRROR OF TRUST

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Thin-Blood Alchemy ••

This mixture, when imbibed by the Alchemist, makes them compelling and attractive, overwhelming other blankbodies’ self-control and encouraging them to speak honestly and frankly, especially in response to direct questions.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Ingredients: The Alchemist’s Blood, sanguine human blood, truth serum, a white chrysanthemum taken from a grave.

System: The Alchemist has 3 extra dice on Persuasion or Intimidation rolls to make another person or blankbody be honest with them.

Duration: One hour

_{Second Inquisition, pg. 46}

RED'S FLAMIN' HOT SAUCE

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Thin-Blood Alchemy ••

This formula, discovered by accident, turns any amount of spilled or drawn blood or vitae into a dangerous accelerant. This concoction is capable of turning blood-bags into Molotov cocktails, and an otherwise enticing feeding opportunity into a potential death traps.

Ingredients: The alchemist's blood, choleric human blood, 2 mL of canola oil, a dash of lemon juice, cayenne seasoning.

System: Contrary to most formulas, this formula is not imbibed by the user, but added to inert or spilled blood. Adding it to any amount of human blood, or vampiric vitae, creates a heavily flammable slurry. While this does not automatically cause the blood to combust, any introduction of flame to the spilled blood creates a slow-burning, yet powerful, inferno. This fire cannot be extinguished for the duration of the effect, though fires spreading from it can. For each success gained from the distillation roll, the alchemist creates one usage of this power.

Duration: The formulas are preserved until used. The blood-fires last for an entire scene, or potentially longer, depending on the fire's surroundings.

_{Winter's Teeth, vol. 2}

LEVEL 3

At level 3, the Alchemist can develop formulae to counterfeit level 2 powers of other Disciplines. Each of these formulae take at least a night to distill and at least one month to research.

BLEED OUT

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••

Hunting down and subduing a victim poses significant risk for the Duskborn, and they take their unlives into their own hands with each hunt they embark upon. This commonly accepted truth ensures the thin-bloods work together wherever possible to keep themselves well-fed.

This Formula was born from the frustration of having to hunt in packs but never having sufficient blood to go around. After the Duskborn feeds this alchemical concoction to their unlucky catch, the victim starts bleeding profusely, until eventually, every organ liquefies to provide sustenance for the horde of hungry predators encircling them as they painfully bleed out every ounce of fluid.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, Melancholic human blood, diuretics, energy drinks, cornflower

Distillation Cost: One Rouse Check

Activation Cost: Free

System: The alchemist vomits the formula into the victim’s mouth (Athanor Corporis), forces the victim to drink it from the vessel’s mouth (Calcinatio), or forces the victim to drink from the elixir container (Fixatio). Once the victim consumes the formula, the alchemist makes the activation test to determine the results. On a failure, the victim simply dies; their blood feeds one vampire as normal. On a total failure, their blood turns septic and can feed nobody. On a win, victims choke and drown on their own blood over an agonizing hour. This death provides enough blood to feed an entire coterie of Duskborn (and only Duskborn — true vampires can’t stomach the blood), reducing everyone’s Hunger to zero. Every participant gains at least one Stain from the act. The remains must be properly disposed of, as the resultant sack of skin and bones is bound to rouse suspicion.

_{Tattered Facade, pg. 107}

CHEMICALLY-INDUCED FLASHBACK

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••

Prerequisite: Concoct Ashe

By melting down a vampire’s possessions (the more important the better) during Ashe creation, an alchemist infuses the drug with memories from the destroyed vampire.

Ingredients: A melted-down object belonging to the destroyed vampire.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check in addition to the cost of using Ashe

System: When using Concoct Ashe, this formula may be used to imbue remains with the memories of the vampire they once formed. When consumed, this altered Ashe provokes a Willpower test at a Difficulty of 1 + the destroyed vampire’s Blood Potency. On a win the user immediately enters a Memoriam (see Vampire: The Masquerade p. 311), reliving an important memory of the destroyed vampire’s past rather than their own. This scene is resolved normally using their own stats, but the shifted perspective will be valuable. If they are meditating in a place of calm at the time they consume the Ashe, the thin-blood adds a one-die bonus to all dice pools during the Memoriam.

_{Cults of the Blood Gods, pg. 45}

CONCOCT ASHE

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••

The process of creating the Ashe drug is a form of Blood Alchemy in itself, and generally takes place in a laboratory or workshop due to the need for an open flame and metal filings.

Ingredients: A destroyed vampire’s ashes, an open flame reaching 1,500°C, aluminum filings.

Dice Pools: Intelligence + Thin-Blood Alchemy

System: The vampire’s ashes are contained in a vessel heated by an open flame and then mixed with aluminum filings. Each success on the distillation roll produces a single Ashe dose. On a total failure, the sample is ruined and a Beast Shard (see p. 39) emerges in the area.

When consumed, all Ashe allows a thin-blood to access more of the power in vitae and ash than is usually within their grasp. Their Blood Potency counts as 1 for the purposes of Blood Surges and Discipline Rouse Check re-rolls until the end of the chapter. The drug is far from lacking in downsides however, see Ashe Addiction (see p. 46).

ASHE ADDICTION...

Every time a thin-blood takes Ashe, they suffer one Superficial Willpower damage and make a Rouse Check. If they take any Aggravated Willpower damage while experiencing the effects of Ashe, they must roll to resist a hunger frenzy (Difficulty 2) as they suddenly crave the vitae, experiences, and powers of other vampires. This frenzy is pointed at other Kindred. If the vampire ingests any vitae as a result of their frenzy, they recover a point of Aggravated Willpower damage but their Hunger rating increases by one. Addiction to Ashe can be a paralyzing circle of needing more and more blood to survive and Ashe to continue experiencing the buzz of power.

_{Cults of the Blood Gods, pg. 45}

DEFRACTIONATE

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••

This formula results in a homeopathic elixir. When added to fractionated medical-supply blood, the elixir returns it to freshness, allowing vampires without the Iron Gullet merit to obtain nutrition from it.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, sanguine and melancholic human blood, O-negative human blood (only a few ml), moldy spinach, hot black coffee, sodium octanoate

System: The alchemist taps their vessel (Calcinatio), or their own vein (Athanor Corporis) to get the Defractionate elixir if they do not use Fixatio. For each success on the distillation roll, they get enough elixir to turn one blood bag (slakes 1 Hunger) from fractionated to unfractionated blood. Any vampire can consume this blood and slake Hunger with it.

• Athanor Corporis: The alchemist can tap their own vein once per night for this elixir until their next feeding, or until they reach Hunger 5. They need not pay the distillation cost again.
  
  
• Calcinatio: If the vessel survives the tap, the alchemist can tap them again in a week for more elixir. They need not pay the distillation cost again, but the vessel pays the Health cost (3 Aggravated damage) each time they are tapped.

_{Core Book, pg. 285}

DIAMOND SKIN

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••

For all their potential, the thin-blooded are fragile, at least compared to other vampires. This elixir is designed to balance the scales, letting alchemists take hits straight on, survive long falls, and maybe even talk shit to the local Sheriff and walk away clean. It also gives an alchemist’s skin a gorgeous shine underneath neon lights, which is its own kind of perk. This formula is less reliable than Tank (Vampire: The Masquerade Players Guide, p. 105), but can last and protect longer depending on the alchemist’s skill.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, melancholic human blood, ground up granite, diamonds, or ceramics, lotion or oil.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

System: A number of Aggravated damage points equal to the alchemist’s successes on the Distillation roll become Superficial damage to the user. This only affects physical damage from slashes, punctures, or impact; it has no effect against fire, sunlight, sorcery, or acid.

Duration: Until the margin is used up; on a critical win on the Distillation roll, the effect lasts for one scene.

_{Blood Sigils, pg. 76}

FANG-STINGER

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••

This poison can be injected into a mortal’s bloodstream, dealing no damage to them (through the miracle of alchemical transformation) but inflicting considerable pain on a blankbody who feeds from them. Other variations create different effects: babbling incoherence (and inability to use some Disciplines), indifferent calm, etc.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Ingredients: The Alchemist’s Blood, choleric human blood, foxglove, absinthe, laundry detergent or phosgene

System: The victim makes a contested Stamina + Resolve roll vs. the Alchemist’s Resolve + Alchemy (7 dice). If the victim wins, the serum has no effect. For every success the Alchemist wins by, the victim takes 2 levels of Aggravated damage.

Duration: One day

_{Second Inquisition, pg. 47}

FIRESKIN

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••

Originally created to safely superheat Athanor Corporis, the Fireskin formula allows Kindred — and mortals brave enough to gulp it down — to literally plunge into fire without fear. The key ingredient of salamander (p. 134) bone tastes like horrible, bitter ash, but when the drinker chokes it down, it briefly lends its original fiery sympathies.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, powdered elemental salamander bone, tobacco, sulfur.

System: Whoever drinks the Fireskin formula feels like their skin and the air around them is strangely cold — at odds with the little flames that start to lick up and down their skin. The fire doesn’t spread from them, but their body is superheated and painful to the touch. They do +1 fire damage when they strike with their body (only the additional damage counts as fire), and can increase that to +2 if they manage to grapple someone. Fire does no damage to the user during this period, but cold damage is doubled.

Duration: One scene

_{Blood Sigils, pg. 76}

FREEZER FLUID

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••

When ingested by or injected into a blankbody, this serum freezes their limbs, making them clumsy and possibly even helpless. Wood absorbs it; plastic remains inert; it sublimes rapidly from metal. Hunters either covertly inject it into their targets or soak their stakes in it. Targets get a Wits + Awareness roll to avoid drinking it in a beverage (Difficulty 2 for non-foaming beverages; Difficulty 3 for beer).

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Ingredients: The Alchemist’s Blood, melancholy and phlegmatic human blood, echinacea, possum scent glands, local anaesthetic or ricin

System: The victim makes a Contested Stamina + Resolve roll vs the Alchemist’s Resolve + Alchemy (7 dice). If the victim wins, the serum has no effect. For every success the Alchemist wins by, the victim loses 2 dice from all physical dice pools.

Duration: One scene

_{Second Inquisition, pg. 47}

HOSPITAL CHAINS

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••

Hospital Chains keeps Kindred and mortals from recovering from injuries. Because sometimes, when you teach someone a lesson, you want to give them a study aid to make sure it sticks. The elixir takes the form of stringy red spittle to be expectorated or splashed on the victim.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, phlegmatic mortal blood, a sample from a fatal carcinoma, hydrofluoric acid.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Distillation Roll vs. Stamina

System: Once Hospital Chains touches an injured person, they cannot clear physical injury by any means. Blood is Roused in vain; hospital visits yield no improvement, only bills.

Duration: The restriction on improvement lasts for 2 days per point of margin; on a critical win, it lasts 2 days for each success on the Distillation roll.

_{Blood Sigil, pg. 76}

MANDAGLOIRE

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••

Also called “The Funk” by alchemists who copy and adjust the formula. The alchemist is able to make their blood emit a noxious gas that causes a rigid paralysis to mortals and supernatural creatures alike.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pool: Stamina + Alchemy vs. Stamina + Resolve

Ingredients: The alchemist’s blood, phlegmatic blood, human fat, candle wax, ether, sesame oil, iron sulfate or verdigris, and borax.

System: Tapping the athanor’s vein emits a pungent stench when spilled that fills a room (or a house on a critical win). Mortals who fail to resist enter a full-body paralysis state, a waking coma, for the rest of the scene. Supernatural creatures who fail feel the effects of rigor mortis: a two-dice penalty on all Physical rolls from intense cramping.

Fixatio: The potion can be slipped into a drink or meal as a poison, or burned to act as a paralyzing fragrance, above.

Duration: Three turns

_{Players Guide, pg. 104
Replaces "Blood of Mandagloire"}

MARTIAN PURITY

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••

The name refers not to Martian in the extraterrestrial sense, but to the Roman god Mars and his association with iron, the choleric principle and similar mystical correspondence.

With that cleared up, this spell cures blood-borne illnesses by expelling them via one’s pores as ignited, flaming gas. Some Princes who’ve learned about this stuff insist on inflicting it on suspected plague-rats in their domains, citing Masquerade concerns and offering weak apologies for the unpleasantness as a Hound or other court functionary stands by with a fire extinguisher.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, choleric mortal blood, iron filings, gunpowder ash.

System: This only works on a mortal or Kindred carrying a blood-transmissible infection. When consumed, the elixir forces the impurity out through their skin, outgassing through the pores of the back. It ignites on contact with air, doing 2 points of Aggravated damage to the carrier. It is up to the Storyteller whether this works on individual supernatural infections.

Duration: Two rounds

_{Blood Sigils, pg. 77}

MASK OFF

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••

Militant thin-bloods use this formula to hit true vampires where it hurts: their precious Masquerade. The formula shows to best advantage in gatherings where Kindred and kine mix.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Distillation roll vs target’s Stamina + Resolve

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, choleric and melancholic mortal blood, ground mustard seed, lemon juice, amphetamines, ground match heads.

System: The alchemist creates (or for other Distillations, they or their vessel bleed) a yellowreddish paste. When loaded into an explosive and detonated, it creates an acrid gas that covers an area 3 by 6 meters, roughly the size of a large meeting room. The explosion and the gas inflict no damage, but any true vampires with the Blush of Life caught in the blast must make a contest of their Stamina + Resolve versus the alchemist’s Distillation roll. Any true vampires that lose the contest have their Blush of Life instantly, painfully come to an end for all to see. They also cannot use Blush of Life for the rest of the night.

On Distillation rolls between 1–3 successes, true vampires that lose the contest have a few moments to hide before the gas takes effect. On a critical win on the Distillation roll, true vampires that lose the contest must also make a Fury Frenzy check at Difficulty 2.

Duration: One scene

_{Blood Sigils, pg. 77}

ON-DEMAND SUNBURN

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••

A dread tool of the Path of the Sun, On-Demand Sunburn traps sunlight in the very body of its user, enabling them to unleash it as a destructive force through their own skin, searing themselves and their prey in a sizzling embrace. While the damage done by a single user is not enough to incinerate a vampire, a group of self-immolating Heliophiles can spell doom for fledglings and elders alike.

Ingredients: Blood of the Alchemist, choleric mortal blood, gold shavings, mercury, as well as assorted halogens (usually chlorine or bromide). The formula also needs to be subjected to sunlight for several hours before use, and alchemists employing athanor corporis usually “juice up” on Portable Shade (see above) for this.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: None

System: On activation, the alchemist becomes an unliving battery of sunlight with a single charge seething in their veins. They can unleash this charge at will, inflicting aggravated damage upon themselves and another vampire whom they’ve successfully achieved skin contact with, as their own skin smolders and blackens. The user takes two levels of aggravated damage, while the victim suffers an amount equal to their Bane Severity, as if exposed to daylight for a full turn. If the victim has the means to reduce the damage (such as through Fortitude) they can do so. If the formula isn’t activated before then, the power automatically activates at the first sunset after ingestion, causing two levels of aggravated damage to the user.

Duration: Until unleashed or next sunset, whichever comes first.

_{Sabbat Sect Book, pg. 53}

PROFANE HIEROS GAMOS

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••

To the Alchemist, rebirth and renewal are not locked behind the ritual of sacred union between two opposites. Through the power of their mercurial vitae the Alchemist can help shape a human body to match the mental self image or desired shape held by the consciousness within it.

With the help of rare reagents the Alchemist can even defy one of the fundamental curses of the vampiric condition by altering the unchanging state to which the undead revert to in their daysleep. This specific formula can be imbibed by mortals or vampires other than the Alchemist, after their ritual purification and deep meditation on their own idealized, or desired, form.

This knowledge makes the expertise of the Alchemist a valuable and desired commodity even to those Kindred who loathe their very existence. Duskborn openly offering services like these are more likely to be coerced to work or kidnapped than paid handsomely.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, melancholic and phlegmatic human blood, entheogenic substances

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check or One point of Aggravated Health damage for mortals

Dice Pools: Stamina + Resolve

System: Whoever imbibes the formula mixed with a Rouse Check worth of their own blood instantly falls into a catatonic fever dream until the following night, the depths of their psyche plumbed for their personal idealized form, or a form strongly desired. The effects of Profane Hieros Gamos are limited to the external morphology of the human form, the body refusing transformations too outlandish and fantastical to be without the wondrous spectrum of human anatomy.

The imbiber makes a Stamina + Resolve roll against a difficulty of 8 minus the successes on the distillation roll. If the imbiber is a vampire, they add their Bane Severity to the difficulty of the check.

On a win, the transformation process is successful and their physical body molds to the desired shape. A critical win can grant and remove Merits and Flaws of the Looks category, though like all Advantages they need to be paid for with Experience points (p. 180). A messy critical or a bestial failure might cause a new Flaw to manifest, ranging from Repulsive, Obvious Predator, Stigmata or even Organovore as the Beast interferes with the transformation.

Not even the blood of the Duskborn can spare the Nosferatu from their Bane, the process incorporating the clan's hideous affliction despite the user's mental image.

Duration: Permanent until performed again.

_{Core Book, pg. 286}

RUMOR

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••

Alchemists frequently use this formula during negotiations to try and sway at least one person to their side; however, it can be easy to spot if anyone is paying close enough attention. Rumor allows the alchemist to make a statement and convince one person to agree with them on that statement.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Ingredients: The alchemist’s blood, phlegmatic blood, pepper, oil, and graphite or mercury.

Dice Pool: Manipulation + Alchemy vs Wits + Awareness

System: Upon activation, the alchemist makes a statement and invites the target to agree, e.g. “I heard you plan to invest in the new mortuary downtown. Is that true?” On a win, the target agrees and continues to believe they agreed to the statement of their own free will. To get the target to actually act on their agreement (e.g., sign investment papers) usually requires a further Manipulation + Subterfuge (or similar) contest, but the alchemist can add their margin on the Alchemy contest to their pool in that contest.

Duration: One scene, and thereafter until something (or someone) persuasively contradicts the target’s agreement (“I would never have agreed to that! I must have been drugged!”).

_{Players Guide, pg. 105}

SARAIMU

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••

This formula creates a sentient blob of slime to serve the alchemist and the other vampires whose vitae it comes from as a familiar. It must be created using Fixatio; saraimu created using other methods imprint too strongly on their athanor to be useful as servants.

Ingredients: A cup of vitae each from three vampires including the alchemist, baking powder, crushed chalk (optional, for a soft voice), iron nails (for strength), battery acid (for oomph)

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Resolve + Alchemy

System: The alchemist combines the ingredients by heating up the three cups of vitae in the athanor and adding baking powder and chalk. As the mixture bubbles, they stir in the nails, and when they add the battery acid and activate the mixture, it hisses aggressively and comes to something resembling life. The blob familiar is approximately the size of a football. Its personality takes a bit from each of the vampires whose Blood it was made from, and it can speak in simple, fragmented sentences. It probably calls the alchemist mommy or master.

The blob is affectionate but slimy and inherently unstable. It can perform many simple tasks, including spying, fetching things, and tasks around the alchemist’s lab. It knows it’s incomplete and longs to be back inside the bodies where it came from. It never sleeps and tries to burrow inside its masters while they do, assuming it’s not currently out on a mission for them. It has many rows of short, sharp nail-teeth.

Duration: The blob falls apart one to three weeks after it was created. The Storyteller may roll a die to determine the exact time. If its masters die before it does, the saraimu knows enough alchemy to prolong its existence until it can find — and burrow its way into — a new alchemist.

Saraimu
Standard Dice Pools: Physical 4, Social 1, Mental 1 Secondary Attributes: Health 6, Willpower 3 Exceptional Dice Pools: Awareness 4, Stealth 6 Disciplines: Thin-Blood Alchemy 1 Special: Its iron teeth do +1 Aggravated damage. The saraimu takes damage as a Thin-Blood vampire. It heals completely overnight when inside one of its masters. General Difficulties: 3 / 1

_{Tattered Facade, pg. 107}

TANK

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••

The alchemist can use this formula to help strengthen their resistance against damage, albeit only temporarily.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, choleric blood, oaked wine or bourbon, and Kevlar fibers or cement or ground tortoiseshell.

System: The first time the alchemist sustains damage in a scene, reduce the damage by five. The formula then expires.

Duration: Until the alchemist takes damage or the scene ends.

_{Players Guide, pg. 105}

TLC

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••

The acronym stands for This Lick Cares or possibly Tastes Like Chicken. This formula creates a powder that imbues blood of living animals with the mystical qualities of mortal blood that the Beast craves. For vampires looking to avoid feeding on mortals as their blood strengthens, this formula is a must. This powder commonly appears in any big redworking scene’s black market.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, animal blood, choleric mortal blood, nettles, iron pieces, meat glue.

System: The alchemist creates (or for other Distillations, they or their vessel bleed and must sift out) a bluish-brown powder. Feeding the powder to an animal allows a vampire to feed on the animal as if it were a human. For every success on the Distillation roll, the alchemist can enrich enough animal blood to slake one point of Hunger, although only the largest dogs can slake more than 1 point of Hunger without dying. Horses, cattle, and other large mammals contain enough blood to slake 8–10 points of Hunger, if it’s dosed with TLC. Killing an animal under the effects of TLC cannot slake a vampire’s Hunger to 0.

_{Blood Sigils, pg. 77}

TROLL THE PIOUS

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••

The pus-colored paste produced by this formula resembles the nontoxic glue given to pre-school children and has a similar waxy smell. Wiped on an object, a person or a location, it induces feelings of disquiet and unease in the religious. Those rare folks with True Faith experience even worse outcomes.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, melancholic mortal blood, used hot tub water, cornstarch, a body hair from a living green-eyed natural redhead.

System: The procedure produces enough goo to wax about three square meters of floor — you can rub it into carpet, but it’s messy— or anoint one person all over, or smear a dozen books or about half the tools in a small workshop. Anyone who believes in a benign higher power, or whose profession involves religion, feels uneasy when in a waxed location, or when their attention is drawn to an anointed object. This is sufficient to give a one-die penalty to Social and Mental pools, and to Physical pools requiring close concentration. People with True Faith take a two-dice penalty and also have horrible hallucinations that feel like profound insights into the nature of evil but are actually expressions of their own fears and prejudices. To be fair, it is possible the fears of the truly faithful really could provide insights into evil. This penalty does not affect any pool (such as resisting vampires) to which they would add their True Faith, however.

Duration: On a location, one dose lasts a couple of months. On an object, two months if no one touches it, one month if it’s handled infrequently, a week if it’s handled often. On a person, a dose lasts three days, and on the first day their skin looks waxy and oily.

_{Blood Sigils, pg. 78}

LEVEL 4

At Level 4, the Alchemist can develop formulae to counterfeit level 3 powers of other Disciplines. At this level, all formulae also require a drop of vitae from a vampire of a matching clan or from one who already possesses the counterfeited Discipline. These formulae take at least three nights to distill and at least three months to research.

AIRBORNE MOMENTUM

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Thin-Blood Alchemy ••••

This formula enables the alchemist to lift themselves from the ground, achieving a state of swift flight or floating. They can fly in any direction, including up or down, though their carrying capacity is limited.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, choleric and sanguine human blood, champagne, bird blood, helium, scopolamine or belladonna extract

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Strength + Alchemy vs Strength + Athletics (if resisted)

System: The potion enables the alchemist (and only them) to fly or hover at approximately running speed. The flier can carry a human-sized mass, though their speed drops to walking speed. Grabbing and carrying aloft an unwilling subject or pulling the flier to the ground both require a contest between the alchemist’s Strength + Alchemy and the other’s Strength + Athletics.

Duration: One scene

_{Core Book, pg. 287}

JUICE BOX

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Thin-Blood Alchemy ••••

More than a few Kindred of lower generations have longed for the ability to make use of Thin-Blood Alchemy Formulae. Juice Box gives them the option to do so without excessive risk of harm or the need to keep the Mercurian around long, though it can be argued that the requirement of methuselah Blood shifts that risk onto the alchemist. For a similar formula that shifts the element of risk to the imbiber, see Blood Sigils, p. 80.

Ingredients: The ingredients required for the original formula, methuselah vitae, and an empty juice box, complete with traces of concentrated fruit juice.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

System: The alchemist distills the target formula as normal, but includes methuselah vitae in the concoction before performing additional treatment to it. Once distilled, the brew must rest in the juice box for 24 hours before activation. The result allows any Duskborn or Kindred to benefit from the brew created by the alchemist. All activation costs, dice pools, and duration apply per the original blood alchemy formula.

Duration: As target formula

_{Gehenna War, pg. 51}

COPYCAT

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Thin-Blood Alchemy ••••

Mercurians might not be able to turn into mist or mesmerize onlookers into overlooking them, but Copycat’s the next best thing. Chugging the brew makes the user’s face blur to look like the face of the "donor" whose blood they added to it—even their hair changes color. Unfortunately it’s not an exact copy. The planes and shape of the face don’t mask easily, and the donor’s friends and family would be able to tell it wasn’t them in a well-lit room— the face has a sort of uncanny valley look to anyone who knows it very well, and the hair isn’t quite right. But it’s a surefire way to slip away in a crowd or a party, or even as a quick disguise somewhere where someone doesn’t know the face at all.

Adding to the difficulty, there has to be some resonance between the alchemist’s Blood and the donor blood when the two are drawn for the formula to work: some alchemists take psychedelics with their donor, others eat the same meals that night. Sex, or particularly exciting interactions such as a swordfight or performing together, can also align the two bloods.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, choleric and phlegmatic mortal blood, mirror glass, donor blood, Boquila trifoliolata leaves, chameleon skin.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Strength + Alchemy vs Strength + Athletics (if resisted)

System: Upon drinking, the user feels the unpleasant sensation of something wet and sticky oozing to cover their face. That feeling remains for the next twenty minutes, slightly itchy and tight as the Copycat brew slowly loses potency. When it’s finally through, a slightly itchy white residue like dry glue is left over the skin.

For those who know the donor by sight, telling the drinker from the donor requires an Intelligence + Awareness test against a Difficulty equal to the Distillation roll’s successes.

Duration: Twenty minutes (usually one scene if you’re smart).

_{Blood Sigils, pg. 78}

DISCIPLINE CHANNELING

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Thin-Blood Alchemy ••••

Prerequisite: Concoct Ashe

Counterfeiting Disciplines is part and parcel of Thin-Blood Alchemy’s use, but the ability to channel a Discipline from the ashes of a deceased vampire is a form of necromantic Alchemy, at least according to Dr. Mortius and the Duskborn who practice it. Those who practice this Alchemy find themselves able to use any one of the destroyed vampire’s Discipline powers, even if they typically wouldn’t have access to powers of this level.

Ingredients: Crushed leaves from the indigo plant.

Activation Cost: The same as the channeled power.

Dice Pools: The same as the channeled power.

System: When using Concoct Ashe, this formula may be used to imbue remains with the abilities of the vampire they once formed. When consumed, this altered Ashe provokes a Willpower test at a Difficulty of the destroyed vampire’s highest Discipline rating. On a win, the thin-blood gains the use of a single Discipline power that the destroyed vampire possessed, until the end of the chapter. Use the destroyed vampire’s Discipline rating whenever a channeled power calls for one. The Storyteller may state the Disciplines and specific powers the deceased vampire held so the alchemist can choose from a list, or if the alchemist has a power in mind they can request it from the Storyteller. The Storyteller has final say. On a critical win the thin-blood gains the use of two Discipline powers that the destroyed vampire possessed.

_{Cults of the Blood Gods, pg. 46}

HALF-LIVING CONDUCTOR

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Thin-Blood Alchemy ••••

This formula grants the alchemist protection from one of the most primal forces of nature: lightning itself. Compared to the ever-present threat of fire or sunlight, lightning and electrical currents are usually the least of a vampire’s worries. In the hands of an alchemist, it can become a deadly weapon.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, choleric and sanguine mortal blood, molten conductive metal (gold, silver, copper, and aluminum are popular choices), ground rubber, rainwater from a thunderstorm.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Stamina + Alchemy

System: The alchemist is immune to all physical damage taken from any electrical source, be it lightning, tasers, live wires, or a supernatural ability. Upon exposure to an electrical current, the alchemist may choose to redirect the current. They amplify the incoming electricity in their body and shoot it out in an arc from their fingertips, mouth, or eyes.

Using electrical redirection in a conflict is a ranged attack using Dexterity + Alchemy. It inflicts margin + 2 in Superficial Health damage for vampires and in Aggravated Health damage for mortals.

On Distillation rolls with 1–3 successes, the alchemist is protected from electrical forces, but their redirected electrical attacks do no additional Health damage. On Distillation rolls with 6 or more successes, the alchemist’s body bursts with electrical power. Their attacks inflict Aggravated Health damage to mortals and supernaturals alike.

Duration: One scene or until voluntarily ended.

_{Blood Sigils, pg. 79}

RED STATE

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Thin-Blood Alchemy ••••

A hypnotic ointment or potion that erases the specific memories of an ally or associate’s misdeeds. Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, sanguine and phlegmatic mortal blood, iron oxide.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

System: When applied or consumed, this places the subject in a peculiar state of moral forgetfulness. The next time someone close and trusted violates the drugged person’s Convictions or commits an act against them, those memories simply do not take. It slips free of the mind like amnesia, and cannot be restored. Being told, "Saphir killed your sister, man! Why are you still friends with him?!?" sounds fake and makes no sense. The very notion that the crime might have occurred fades within moments.

Duration: Permanent until the target imbibes a choleric Dyscrasia.

_{Blood Sigils, pg. 79}

SHORT CIRCUIT

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Thin-Blood Alchemy ••••

An alchemist can use this formula to overload the batteries in any electronic or electrical equipment, including car batteries or the fuses of a building.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, battery acid, melancholy blood, and salt water.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

System: By making a Rouse Check and touching the equipment (or metal connected to it) the alchemist automatically and silently shorts it out. This allows an alchemist to, for example, cause a blackout of an entire building by touching a power outlet, or a car by brushing against its body.

_{Players Guide, pg. 105}

TOXIC PERSONALITY

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Thin-Blood Alchemy ••••

The alchemist secretes powerful, caustic bile from their pores and orifices, corroding metals, wood, and living tissue. The alchemist activating this ability may touch and manipulate the bile while not being affected by it.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, choleric blood, potash or lye, animal spleen, cheesecloth, and iodine.

Activation Cost: One or two Rouse Checks

Dice Pools: Strength or Dexterity + Alchemy vs. Dexterity + Athletics

System: When active, the power allows the alchemist to corrode any material in seconds by simply making contact with it and gains +2 damage on brawl attacks as their mere touch becomes acid. (As the alchemist controls how and where they excrete the acid their own clothes are usually unaffected.) The Storyteller is the final arbiter on the extent of damage caused but the acid is supernaturally strong and far more potent than that produced by Corrosive Vitae (see Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 273).

The alchemist may make a second Rouse check to projectile vomit the bile as an attack (Strength + Alchemy during melee, Dexterity + Alchemy for a ranged spitting attack). On a win, the bile does the margin +3 in Superficial Health damage (Aggravated to mortals).

Athanor Corporis or Calcinatio: The alchemist or vessel can only hold this formula after distillation for a week before they begin to look sickly: blue veins popping against their pale skin, and the skin itself sagging low on their bodies. After a month, the bile corrodes the Calcinatio vessel if not tapped.

Fixatio: The container of the bile slowly corrodes, falling completely apart in Alchemy + 4 weeks.

Duration: One scene

_{Players Guide, pg. 105}

VITAE MSG

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Thin-Blood Alchemy ••••

A formula that makes consumption of blood even more pleasurable already has a built-in market. Kindred are treacherous and vindictive by nature though, so this ointment is also used to get particular vampires to feed from particular vessels—to establish Blood Bonds, make someone into a plague carrier, or set up the consumption of some other formula. Needless to say, a lot of Ventrue love this stuff.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, sanguine mortal blood, MSG, powdered sugar, knockoff (not genuine) Chanel No. 5.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

System: The production process yields a clear, watery liquid that smells faintly of vanilla and jasmine. It does nothing until it is rubbed onto the skin of a person or animal, causing that being to inflame vampiric thirst. Any vampire who sees or smells anyone who has Vitae MSG on them feels an intense desire to feed on them. They can resist this urge with a point of Willpower, or by accepting an additional point of Hunger. If the vampire spends more than thirty minutes in the presence of the anointed one after that, they must feast — or else spend another Willpower, or accept more Hunger. The compulsion partially offsets the Ventrue Bane — blue bloods can feed from the person enhanced by Vitae MSG by spending 1 Willpower less if they aren’t in their preferred category.

Duration: Once someone is anointed, the desire lasts until the next dawn, if they survive.

_{Blood Sigils, pg. 79}

LEVEL 5

At level 5, the Alchemist can develop formulae to counterfeit level 4 powers of other Disciplines. These formulae take a month to distill and at least three years to research.

AWAKEN THE SLEEPER

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••••

This formula results in an elixir which, when added to human blood, can awaken a vampire from Torpor.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, choleric or sanguine human blood, adrenaline, ammonium carbonate, hartshorn, caffeine or benzedrine, melatonin

System: The alchemist taps their vessel (Calcinatio), or their own vein (Athanor Corporis) to get the Awaken the Sleeper elixir if they do not use Fixatio. They then mix the elixir into human blood. For each success above 2 on the distillation roll, the elixir can awaken a vampire of that Blood Potency.

• Athanor Corporis: The alchemist can tap their own vein once per night for this elixir until their next feeding, or until they reach Hunger 5. They need not pay the distillation cost again.
  
  
• Calcinatio: If the vessel survives the tap, the alchemist can tap them again in a week for more elixir. They need not pay the distillation cost again, but the vessel pays the Health cost (5 Aggravated damage) each time they are tapped. The Alchemist can also simply feed the vessel’s blood to the sleeper directly.

Duration: One scene

_{Core Book, pg. 287}

BEAST MODE

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••••

Every Duskborn knows that their vampiric powers are weaker than those of a true Kindred. This formula allows a thin-blooded vampire to temporarily gain the physical acumen of a far older vampire, assuming they can gain access to that vampire’s Blood.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s vitae, choleric or sanguine human blood, vitae of Blood Potency 4+, phenylcyclohexyl piperidine, adrenaline injector, spoiled two percent milk, sodium bicarbonate

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

System: Beast Mode imbues the alchemist with access to a single level 5 power from the Disciplines of Celerity, Fortitude, or Potence, counting that Discipline rating as 5 for the duration of the formula. When consumed, the alchemist must succeed on a Willpower test (Difficulty 2) to avoid frenzy. The Kindred whose vitae was used in the distillation must possess the power’s associated Discipline at level 5 or the brew fails.

Duration: One scene

_{Gehenna War, pg. 51}

DA BOMB

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••••

This Formula transforms a mortal vessel into a walking time bomb. This murderous concoction spells certain death for whoever drinks it but is just as lethal for those unlucky enough to be caught in the blast radius.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, Sanguine human blood, accelerants, matchstick heads, grains of sand from a sand timer

Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pool: Resolve + Alchemy vs. Willpower pool + Blood Potency

System: This Formula is very temperamental and only works when imbibed by mortals (or brewed directly in a mortal via calcinatio). Once consumed, the potion remains in the drinker’s system for a week, during which time the mortal feels nauseous and unwell. The alchemist can activate the Formula at any time by making a Rouse Check, but if not activated while still potent, it passes harmlessly from the drinker’s system.

When activated, the victim experiences a turn of panicked awareness, before exploding in a torrent of gore. Those within close range take Aggravated damage equal to twice the victim’s Stamina, while those further away halve that. Any vampires caught in the blast must also test for Hunger Frenzy at Difficulty 3.

Duration: One week

_{Tattered Facade, pg. 108}

FLOWERING AMARANTH

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••••

This form of shared diablerie draws virtue from the vitae of a full-blooded Kindred into the alchemist and their assistants.

Ingredients: Blood from the alchemist and participating thin-bloods (up to three thin-bloods total), juice of red amaranth flowers from a plant fertilized with blood, pulverized leeches, hydrogen sulfide, and neon.

Activation Cost: Everyone participating must roll one Rouse Check

Dice Pool: Resolve + Alchemy vs. Willpower pool + Blood Potency

System: The alchemist and up to two other participants tie a silk cord around their wrists, connecting them in a triangle surrounding a fullblooded Kindred target, also so bound. The alchemist rolls Resolve + Alchemy; each additional thin-blood participant can add one die to the pool by spending 2 Willpower. If the full-blood resists, they use their Willpower pool + Blood Potency. On a win, the participating thin-bloods gain one dot in one of the target’s core clan Disciplines, determined randomly. (On a critical win, the alchemist can choose the Discipline.) They cannot learn or purchase this Discipline higher than the first dot, but in other respects can use it as though they were full-blooded Kindred. They do not gain generation, but still lose 1 Humanity and gain the black-veined aura of diablerie.

Duration: One scene

_{Players Guide, pg. 106}

MOMENT OF CLARITY

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••••

The alchemist is able to temporarily submerge their vampiric instincts, harnessing the power of the Beast to support, rather than disturb, their mental acumen. For a short while they can reach superhuman levels of intellect and concentration while also avoiding bestial interference in their actions.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, phlegmatic blood, cadmium, nootropics, and ash from burned pages of a meaningful text to the alchemist (scripture, favorite childhood novel).

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

System: Upon activation, the alchemist gains mental clarity, their wits sharpen, and the Beast is temporarily sated. They add four dice to Mental or Discipline Skill pools, and can add four dice to Mental resistance checks against Disciplines requiring them: Dominate, Animalism, Presence, Auspex, and their amalgams. They are also immune to Messy Criticals and frenzy, if susceptible to the latter.

Duration: One scene

_{Players Guide, pg. 106}

SATURN'S FLUX

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Thin-Blood Alchemy •••••

This is a drug that breaks Blood Bonds, which is a pretty big deal. Some authoritarian domains that rely on the Bond and the threat of it execute without trial just for possession, even if you’re “just holding for a friend.” Others confiscate it for their own use while forbidding it to Kindred without clout. Still other domains insist on a Prince’s prerogative to control all access to it, so that the court can strip Bonds inconvenient to those in power. It’s already politically complicated. It does not help that you have to freebase it.

Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, phlegmatic mortal blood, lead, laxative, horse hair.

Activation Cost: One Rouse Check

System: The process yields a thumbnail sized pellet, crackly and gray. To gain the effect, smoke it in a steel pipe on a bed of ash, taking precautions as Kindred must for dealing with a small open flame. Within twenty-four hours of ingestion, the smoker literally shits out the Blood Bond — painful and bloody but not injurious for mortals. Kindred, with withered digestive tracts, take a point of Aggravated damage as the unwholesome influence resists expulsion.

Duration: As mentioned above, the effect kicks in within a day’s span of ingestion — sometimes waking Kindred from daysleep with agonizing cramps. Until used, the pellet seems to stay fresh indefinitely. Given that this stuff has only been around two years, it may just be that its shelf life has not yet been reached.

_{Blood Sigils, pg. 80}