Arachnea

By Raoul "Violence" Borges (paercebal@hotmail.com) for the Black Widows bloodline. Inspired by Feryn's Arachnosdiscipline.

Description

Arachnea is the Spider Discipline and is the reason behind the Black Widows' name. This discipline is a new and secret one. No Black Widow will teach it to anyone. The only medium to learn it is trough Diablerie. It's a Discipline of Venom and Webs. With the discipline Animalism, A Black Widow can affect spiders and with higher levels create powers related to spiders and venom, like the power to transform into a large black spider. The active powers of this Discipline are:

the ability to Soak damage taken from toxins, venoms, and the like: Normal Damage is Soaked like: Stamina+Arachnea+(Fortitude if possessed). Aggravaded Damage is Soaked like: Arachnea+(Fortitude if possessed).

The possibility to not be affected by glue and the like: Add the Arachnea score to any Dice Roll to try to free herself of any sticky substance.

Everyone learning Arachnea will be afflicted with the Tattoo's Weakness of the Black Widow but with no Choice of location or size. Roll a d10 and consult the following table.

1	Evident Tattoo (like the 5 point Flaw)
2-3	Indiscret Tattoo (like the 2 point Flaw)
4-7	Normal Tattoo (like the normal Black Widow Weakness)
8-9	Discreet Tattoo (like the 2 point Merit)
10	Invisible Tattoo (like the 5 point Merit)

Note: "Black Widow" indicates the vampire while "black widow" means the spider.

* Spider Climb

The Black Widow can climb walls, sticking to vertical, and even horizontal walls with her hands and feet. She can even glue a little object to her hand (or feet), if she wants to hide it from a search.

System: Automatic. Costs 1 Blood Point. The power lasts for the Scene. She is glued to the surface with a strengh equal to her actual Strengh+Potence. The Black Widow can use this power to cling to someone with more efficiency. If the Black Widow is climbing walls and the like, ignore all 1's: In normal conditions, she can't fall.

** The Black Widow's Kiss

The Black Widow can inject venom in the system of anyone she is biting if she so chooses. The venom is actually a very small quantity of Blood that she transforms into poison. The victim is then paralysed. If the Black Widow uses the power of her Blood (using 1 Bloodpoint) she can kill her victim.

System: Rule Dexterity+Medicine or Toxicology, Diff: 6. If the Black Widow succeeds in biting her victim (in fight conditions, she must make 1 Damage), and uses this power, the Black Widows roll (Dexterity+Medicine or Toxicology, Diff:6). Each success "steals" one die from any Dice Roll of the victim (he can try to Soak this normal "virtual damage"). The victim gains one lost dice per hour after the "bite." If the Black Widow use one Bloodpoint while biting, the victime is affected like before, but the Damage is real (and not virtual) and Aggravated. A Black Widow isn't affected by her own Venom and can drink poisoned blood. However, she can't inject venom and drink blood the same time.

*** The Arachnid's Web

The Black Widow has developed claws (non-aggravated damage) that she can retract as she wants. But more importantly, she have developed between the claws and the fingers little spinerets. She can spin strong threads of silk, and the like. The problem is that this silk is like snow in the sun...

System: Automatic, X Bloodpoints. The damage of the claws are Strength, non aggravated. The Black Widow can make with 1 Bloodpoint one silk cord of 20 meters, or webs (cube's side of 1 meter) with 3 points of Strength, Stamina, and Health Levels (0,-1,-2, Destroyed). The web cannot soak aggravated damage (or damge inflicted by a Black Widow's claws).

The Black Widow can concentrate Blood points: using 3 Bloodpoints, she can make a 60 meters cord with 3 points of Strengh/Stamina/Health (0/-1/-2/Destroyed) or three cubic meters of web with the same stats, or she can concentrate it to make a 20 meters cord with 9 points of Strangh/Stamina/Health (0/-1/-2/-3/.../-8/Destroyed), or one cubic meter of web with the same Stats.

**** The Crawling Death

The Black Widow can assume a form like the one of the Ananasi Tribe (Garou Player Guide). It's formed by thousands of black widows spiders. The awareness of the Black Widow is distributed among all the spiders. She can attack someone whose only option is trying flee!

System: Automatic. Cost: 1-3 blood points. It takes 4 - (blood points spent) turns to achieve the transformation (minimum one turn). Any attack made by the Crawling form is made normally (using the stats of the Black Widow) but the attacks can't be dodged! Any local attack is ineffective (killing one spider won't change anything), though wide area affects work normally. The problem is that the Black Widow can't use her blood to augment her physical Attributes or Heal Damage. Note that only one spider needs to survive for the vampire to survive. However, if reduced to only one spider the Black Widow must heal an aggravated point of damage to return to human form and even then she will be considered incapacitated (though she can then heal normally).

***** Death Caress of the Ermordenung

The Black Widow can kill now with only one touch. This power isn't active in the Crawling Death form. Her skin become even paler (baby face become a normal vampire, a normal vampire become like a Cappadocian from Dark Ages and a Cappadocian becomes bluer and her lips turnpurple) while this power is active. Any one touching her (skin to skin) will be affected by the venom.

This power is effective against characters who attack her and touch her, or any character she touches, even if it is an attack. If a Gangrel attacks Catherine with his claws, he would have to soak aggravated damage equal to Virulence. If Catherine attacks the same Gangrel with her Protean Claws, the Gangrel would have to soak damage for the claws, and then for the Virulence (nasty!)

System: Cost: 3 Blood points, Willpower, Diff:6 The Black Widow must use 3 Blood points and make a Willpower Roll (difficulty: 6). the number of success is the "Virulence" of the Venom. Any one touching her, dead or alive, mortal or awakened, will take X Aggravated Damage (X = the Virulence of the Venom). She is imune to her own power, and while this power is active, to any Death Caress of another Black Widow. If the Black Widow thinks (the Player shouldn't know the number of successes) the Venom isn't sufficiently powerful, she can re-initiate the power. The final Virulence is the greater one.

Special Powers

The following special powers (see Vampire: the Dark Ages) can only be learned by being taught by someone who knows how to use them.

Requirements: 20 XPs, Arachnea 3 and Vicissitude 3

Description: The Black Widow can make a Cocoon (2 cubic meters of web) and use it to heal herself or someone else. She must put one Bloodpoint for the Cocoon, and X Bloodpoints which will be used in the healing. The Blood Cocoon will heal first (by entering the "victim" system trough the skin) the Aggravated Damage (2 Blood Points per Aggravated Damage) and then the Normal Damage (1 per 1). The remaining Blood will enter the skin of the Victim and add to her bloodpool. It takes some time to heal (1 hour per Health Level). Note that it is a good medium to make Blood Bonds!

Requirements: 18 XPs, Arachnea 4 and Protean 2

The Black Widow can create one spider per 2 Bloodpoints (one to create it, and one for the Bloodpool of the Spider). She can control it without any problem and see through the spider's eyes. Note that the Spy Spider can use Arachnea 1, 2 and 3 (the Spider can create any web she wants to move herself). But if the Black Widow dies, the Spy Spider dies too (different from the Crawling Death). If the Spider is absorbed by the Black Widow, she may add the remaining Blood point to her Blood pool. The Spy Spider dies after 24 hours if not fed with Vampiric Blood.

More than one Spider can be created at the same time, but only one is active at the same time; the others are torporous . . . and vulnerable.