Path of the Iron Heart

By Ian Turner (12 October 1996)

Description

This path is a greatly modified form of Scott Williamson's Path of Steel. As with all Paths, make a Willpower roll with the difficulty equal to the level of the Path being used +3.

* Iron for Blood

For each success, the caster may add one Soak Die to a separate pool, each Die acting as a point of Fortitude in that it can soak damage from Fire, Sunlight, Garou or Faith. However, the reason that these Dice are kept separate is that each one can only be used once! Like true Fortitude, adding one of these Die to a Soak roll allows the Thaumaturgist's actual Stamina Dice to be used against Aggravated damage, making this power (and the Tremere using it) tougher than it appears! This power cannot be re-initiated until all of the Soak Die from the previous use are spent or the remaining Dice from the previous casting are abandoned (they go away, he ends the spell, presumable because he knows that he will need a lot more than them and must re-initiate the power) by the caster. Any Soak Dice not expended by the end of the scene are lost.

** Punishing the Weak

For each success the caster can add one Strength Die to a separate pool, each Die being able to be used to break a grapple, punch a foe, swing a sword or batter down a door. However, the reason that these Dice are kept separate is that each one can only be used once! This extra damage is only Aggravated if the attack that it accompanies (such as a Bite) is Aggravated. This power cannot be re-initiated until all of the Strength Dice from the previous use are spent or the remaining Dice from the previous casting are abandoned (they go away, he ends the spell, presumable because he knows that he will need a lot more than them and must re-initiate the power) by the caster. Any Strength Dice unused at the end of the scene are lost.

*** Girding for War

At the cost of one Blood Point, this power can be invoked. Any successes allows the caster to make any Soak Dice or Strength Dice gained from one of the previous two powers last for the duration of the scene, in toto! He must activate this power twice if he wishes to affect both Strength Dice gained and Soak Dice, expending two actions and two Blood Points.

**** Fortifying the Flash

At the cost of one Blood Point, this power can be invoked. Any successes allows the caster to make any Soak Dice or Strength Dice gained from one of the first two powers count as automatic successes! He must activate this power twice if he wishes to affect both Strength Dice gained and Soak Dice, expending two actions and two Blood Points. This power can be combined with the previous one (at the cost of 4 Blood Points over 6 turns!) to devastating effect!

***** Armouring the Soul

At the cost of one Blood Point, this power can be invoked. Each success adds one to the difficulty of affecting the user's mind, soul or spirit with any Kindred Disciplines, Garou Gifts, Mage Spheres, Wraith Arcanoi, Changeling cantrips, etc. The effect vanishes at scene's end. Difficulty can never exceed 10. This power may not stop some powers, but it will often minimize their effects.