Assamite Sorcery/Dur-An-Ki clarifications

[Ascanio Giovanni]

This thread supersedes the previous thread entitled Dur-An-Ki/Assamite Sorcery for Review - First Wave.

Assamite Sorcery is indistinct from Dur-an-Ki and they are, in fact, the same discipline. Assamite sorcery, however, is a subsection of Dur-an-Ki which the Assamite clan has kept as a private collection, unlike the more openly available Dur-an-Ki, the regional blood magic of the Middle East which is practiced by many clans.


Hunter’s Winds

• This path has a unique relationship with the ritual Pebble from the Mountain. The effects of this path may be cast by the Sorcerer into the Pebble and then held in abeyance to be activated later by the holder of the pebble.
• The holder of the Pebble may hold a number of effects of this path in abeyance equal to his current Willpower score.
• When casting an effect into the Pebble, the Sorcerer must make all necessary rolls and expenditures as if he were casting the effect normally.
• The abeyance effect is in the Pebble’s holder, not the Pebble itself, though it is triggered by the use of the Pebble.
• All previously cast abeyance effects not yet triggered at the sunrise following their casting fade from the holder.
• Activating an abeyance effect requires no expenditures or rolls on the part of the Pebble holder. However they do still take a mental action to activate.

O Scent of Deception

• A successful change in scent will completely negate the ability to track by scent alone.
• If scent is being used in conjunction with other senses to track the user, this power imposes a +2 difficulty on the tracking check due to confusion and the inability to rely on scent.
• A botch imposes a -2 difficulty on all attempts to track the individual by scent.


OO Chameleon Skin

• Any movement faster than a slow walk (2 yards per turn) breaks this effect.
• The effect lasts for the full scene, even if broken, so if the user becomes still again, the effects resume.
• As the power is lasting for the scene, no additional blood expenditure is needed to blend into a different background.
• The Perception + Stealth roll to change backgrounds does benefit from Auspex.
• If this power is activated through Pebble from the Mountain or Touch the Earth, the beneficiary must make the Perception + Stealth roll to change backgrounds, not the Sorcerer, as the Sorcerer cannot see the background to be blended with.

OOO Unassuming Pose

• A crowd is defined as a close proximity group of 3 or more people.
• Any effect sufficient to pierce Obfuscate 3 will pierce this power.
•Nothing forbids a user from using both Obfuscate and this power, thus necessitating observers to see through both effects.
• People looking through cameras at the user of this power are affected the same way as those looking through cameras at an Obfuscated individual. They are affected during the same scene the power is being used, but the recording remains clearly if reviewed later.
• People viewing the crowd may still view the crowd with suspicion. Observers simply will not pick the user out of the crowd as an individual.

OOOO Whiff of Khalif

• Characters under the effect of Whiff of Khalif will take no actions unless directly threatened, in which case they may take a defensive action as normal which breaks the effect.
• All targets of this power makes a Wits + Alertness roll at difficulty 7, opposed by the user's activation roll. The target's resisted roll subtracts successes from the user's activation roll.

OOOOO Ghost Body

•This power does not transport the user into any alternate dimension or realm, instead rendering the subject immaterial and invisible within the material realm.
•Disciplines, rituals and any other mystical effect already in effect when this power is activated are suppressed for the duration the user is immaterial, reactivating when he rematerializes.
•Entering and exiting the Ghost Body requires a mental action, even when activating from a Pebble from the Mountain.
•The user may be detected by Seeing the Unseen as if detecting a Spirit or Wraith. For level comparison, compare the user's Hunter's Winds rating against the detector's Auspex. Note that a successful detection does not allow the detector to see the user, only sense a presence. This is normal per Seeing the Unseen rules in Auspex.
•Since the user has no access to any disciplines while this power is active, no attempt may be made to pierce Obfuscate of any level while this power is active.

[Webmonkey]

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[Skir]

Covenant of Nergal

Even though this power invokes disease, the powers of this path affect vampires.

Each dot of Fortitude gives +1 die to resist the powers of this Path.

This power has no effect on any character with a higher level of Covenant of Nergal than the user.

Attribute loss from this path does not stack with any other kind of Attribute loss, such as from Quietus or Thanatosis, EXCEPT for Maskim's Touch.


Covenant of Nergal 1: Maskim's Touch

This power does not actually require touch, but its range is about one pace, or 2 feet.

This power does stack with other Attribute loss powers.

Covenant of Nergal 2: Breath of Ereshkigal

The caster may spend a variable amount of blood, up to the amount successes scored. This power causes the target to lose 1 from each Physical Attribute per turn for an amount of turns equal to the successes.


Covenant of Nergal 3: Nergal's Blessing

This path treats Mortuus 5's disease as a "severe" disease.

This power can purge the infection of Vicissitude if the infected hasn't purchased any levels of the Discipline yet. Like AIDS, it takes 3 applications to cure.

Covenant of Nergal 4: Nergal's Wrath

A vampire victim of this power can spend blood reflexively to heal during their sleep.

Vampires under the effects of this power have the Infectious Bite flaw.

Covenant of Nergal 5: Ill Wind

Attribute loss from this power is considered to reduce the victim's "generation limit" for the purposes of maximum Attributes.



The Evil Eye

In stressful or intense situations, the storyteller may invoke this power without the character's permission. The player may spend a Willpower point to resist using their Evil Eye.

Only one instance of any given level of this power may be used on a given target by a given vampire. Other levels of the Path or the same power cast by a different ashipu will still work.

This path's difficulty to detect with Perception + Occult is 8. If you score 3 or more successes, the victim may attempt to dispel the curse. Any character with True Faith can pray over the victim and immediately end the curse. The victim may also roll wits + Occult difficulty 8 and subtract their successes from the ashipu's.

The time scale scales for these powers to complete may be longer to facilitate LARP play, up to a maximum of 2 months rather than the 1 week most powers give.

The majority of powers in this path target the victim's Backgrounds and cause loss to them. Damage to the victim's background is not refunded as exp.

All curses in this power create a politically or practically dangerous situation, not the damage itself, which is created indirectly by invoking that peril. It is possible in each situation that the user will suffer no damage at all, though this is unusual.

The Evil Eye 1: Humiliation

For every two successes rolled, round up, the victim suffers a scandal that has the risk of losing 1 Prestige or Sect Status. The scandal isn't guaranteed to cause the victim to lose this status - they may politick out of it, and land on their feet, but the scandal should be of significant magnitude that this outcome is imminently possible if not prevented correctly.

The Evil Eye 2: Loss

This path removes at maximum one dot of Resources, and ALSO an item of emotional significance. If no such item applies, instead the victim loses a dot of Herd, a Retainer or their Haven.

The Evil Eye 3: Peril

These perils are not guaranteed death - they are merely guaranteed danger. The victim may get out the situation easily, but they may not.

The Evil Eye 4: Enemy

The exact spread of the damage to the backgrounds vs Enemy gained is determined by the Storyteller.


The Evil Eye 5: Chashm Zakhm


This power requires that the user of the ability make a direct comment to the victim, be it praise insult or expression of astonishment, the content isn't totally important but the direct verbal attention is.

The damage for this power happens one turn after the power is used.

This power can also be used on objects such as cars, doors, artwork, etc.



Music of the Spheres

Melpominee and Music of the Spheres cannot add to one another's effects.

This path requires either singing or a performance with another instrument - all of its power is transmitted through sound.

This path requires Performance 3 or greater to use.

The effects of the music produced by this path are obviously magical in nature to any who hear them. If hidden within normal music, the listeners get a Perception + Occult roll difficulty 5 + Successes scored to understand that the music has arcane power.

Music of the Spheres 1: Song of Mercury

This power simply acts as a counterspell to other Music of the Spheres powers while it continues to play.

Music of the Spheres 2: Song of Venus

The effect of this power is identical to the Presence power Awe, except you can designate a different character to have it.

The user of this power may also use this on themselves, though they must continue to sing or play instruments to maintain the effect.

Music of the Spheres 3: Song of Mars

This power inspires rabid anger and resentment in its targets, and is explained as "Awe in reverse." To that end, nothing the target says seems reasonable, and all attempts by the subject of the power to persuade the affected individuals of anything, even reasonable things, automatically fails. The subject of the power and every action they take and any argument they make or position they support seems totally unreasonable, dangerous, and unquestionably unacceptable.

The subject of the power need not be present to affect the crowd with this anger, but the power only lasts about an hour, so it does little direct good for the user to enchant people who have no means to act against their rival within the next hour.

The ashipu can spend the Willpower point to cause all enchanted individuals to make a Difficulty 7 Frenzy check at any time during that hour, and they may do this more than once. The target of the frenzy will be the subject of the power.

The performance that inspires this power need not actually obviously indicate the person in question. It can be a simple musical piece laced with the power of Song of Mars, and without the requisite success on the Perception + Occult roll, they will not understand that the performance was magical or why they hate the subject of the Song of Mars.

Music of the Spheres 4: Song of Jupiter

The effects of Song of Jupiter block all new uses of Presence while the music continues only.

The other effects of the power, the +2 to resist all forms of mental coercion and -2 to Frenzy difficulties, continue for an hour after the music stops.

Music of the Spheres 5: Song of Saturn

The Courage test provoked is a Rotschreck test and so requires 5 successes to fully resist.





Whispers of the Heavens

•Seeing the night sky does not require the Sorcerer to be outside. Viewing it through a window or skylight is acceptable. He must view the night sky with his own eyes. Digital reproductions do not count.

O Map the Skies

•The information about the location the caster is in all must come from the caster's own mind. If he knows nothing about the location he is in, this power will give him his relative coordinates but no more.

OO Read Heaven's Plans

•The scale of this power is reduced for LARP play. This power may see only 1 month into the future per success on the roll.
•The content of this power is solely dependent on the Storyteller's best guess as to what will happen. Storytellers themselves do not possess this path and cannot know the future with all certainty.

OOO Call Down the Hunter's Moon

•Treat the effects of the opportune moment as though the caster had tested up a number of times equal to his successes on this power on a World of Darkness check. Mundane circumstances seem to just go right for the subjects in all aspects related to the task. The target's ghouls might away or asleep, the power might go out, all witnesses might suddenly decide to go elsewhere. This power cannot directly countermand any action or decision made by another player.
•When this is cast, the Storyteller will tell the caster when the opportune moment will occur. For the sake of LARP play, the opportune moment should occur sometime within the next 3 months.
•Until the opportune moment passes, the Sorcerer will get the same result from subsequent uses of this power for the same event.
•If anyone else is using another divination power to look into this possible event, he must score as many successes as the Sorcerer to gain foreknowledge of this upcoming event. Otherwise they fail to see the same perfect moment that was seen by the first sorcerer.

OOOO Trace the Soul's Favor

•This power can only give mechanical information about a target's sheet or surveys. This includes, in addition to the listed examples, a character's feeding style, notable merits or flaws, and any life-changing events recorded in storyteller information.

OOOOO Ripples on the Sea of Stars
•See Presence 4 Summon for requirements on a person you have met. The same restrictions apply to this power.
•With 5 successes the sorcerer may use any power of Assamite Sorcery or Dur-An-Ki (including rituals) that does not require touch or eye contact.



Sada Ghadub Allah (Echoes of Allah's Wrath)


•This path is also part of Sihr.
•This path only functions for Kindred on the Road of Heaven or the Path of Community in the same manner as Sihr.
•Unlike the other powers converted from Sihr, the sorcerer does not take the +2 difficulty with this path.
•At Storyteller's discretion, uses of this path accepted willingly as penance may grant tenet points depending on the Path.

O Curse of Lifeless Mien

•Creative activities includes all Craft and Performance rolls. Other activities may be affected at Storyteller discretion.
•If cursed with this power with an ongoing Craft in progress, the crafting time required increases by double the amount of time the victim is cursed for.

OO Curse of Heavenly Dolor

•Characters who already have a weakness to faith such as the Baali combine this with that weakness, effectively quadrupling the effects of Faith upon them.

OOO Curse of Unfettered Rage

•Mortals subjected to this power frenzy at the same difficulties as vampires.
•Treat a ghoul who is overdosing as a vampire for the purposes of this power.
•Werewolves instead lower their difficulties of Rage rolls by 2 (as their system makes that easier to frenzy).

OOOO Curse of Boundless Thirst

•The blood replaces the need for water as well as food.
•Unless told, the victim does not know he is sustained on blood. Unless also cursed with with Curse of Unfettered rage, the mortal will not hunger frenzy. Unless the mortal actually encounters blood he will likely slowly starve to death. If he encounters blood (sees it, smells it or tastes it) it makes him ravenously hungry for the blood, which tastes and feels amazing.
•Blood costs for Cainites are increased by 1, not doubled. This means any effect that causes the Cainite to spend more than one blood only costs an additional one. The extra blood cost is subject to generational maximums.

OOOOO Curse of Forbidden Sol

•Mortals who take aggravated damage from sunlight take the damage as lethal as mortals cannot take aggravated damage.

[Ascanio Giovanni]

Awakening the Steel

A Sorcerer's rating in Awakening the Steel cannot exceed the user's Crafts or Melee abilties.

This path is designed for edged weapons, but other weapons will function at +1 difficulty.

Awakening the Steel 1: Confer with the Blade

The sorcerer can get all information from the weapon in a single mental action, however long it takes to actually transmit and understand the information ooc.

3 or more successes on this power decreases the dif of the next ritual magic to enhance the blade by 1.

Awakening the Steel 2: Grasp of the Mountain

This power can be used to cause any blade (or other weapon at +1 difficulty, per usual) to fly to the caster's hand. It does not need to be dropped or disarmed first for this effect to work. The blade cannot be being wielded by any other character. The activation roll to do this still counts as successes to resist being disarmed.

Awakening the Steel 3: Pierce Steel's skin

This attack only works on metal.

Rather than the effect listed in the book, this power means that any damage striking the target counts as 2 damage instead of 1 for the purposes of destroying metal armor. It does not halve damage against normal targets or stop its damage when the target's armor is destroyed. It simply allows the sword to carve through metal armor more easily.

The rules for breaking armor are as follows, from VtM: Revised pg 209:

"If the damage rolled in a single attack equals twice the armor's rating, the armor is destroyed." With this power active, the rule essentially changes to "If the damage rolled in a single attack equals the armor's rating, the armor is destroyed."

While the power is in effect (one turn per success rolled) the sorcerer may cut through nearly any inanmate metal object without rolling. He can slash through the engine block of a car and on through the axil, he can slash through a metal door or wall, slice beams and girders to bits, and even simply parry gigantic light posts or cars being swung at him with Potence where he would ordinarly not be able to Parry. If needed, assume that the sorcerer can, in regards to damaging metal, produce a Feat of Strength rating equal to their Strength + Potence + Melee score. None of these effects ever dull the edge of or damage the blade.

Awakening the Steel 4: Razor's Shield

If attempting to parry a burst fire, autofire or strafe or other stream of projectiles, they can all be attempted to be parried at once just as a normal single shot would be.


Awakening the Steel 5: Strike at the True Flesh

This power is primed for a number of turns equal to succeses, but ends after one successful strike against a target.

Quietus poisons on the blade are not effective during Strike at the True Flesh, and are considered enhancements to the blade.

This power forces the user to soak with their BASE stamina, and so ignores any blood spent to increase the stat, as well as ignores their Fortitude Discipline.

[Webmonkey]

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