Sovereignty in Battle

By Graham Tunnicliffe (g.tunnicliffe@easynet.co.uk)

Description

This Thaumaturgical path was developed by the Tremere Gianluca Valiani. He had been working closely with the Chicago Chantry on an extended mission in Los Angeles and, having spent a lot of time in the City of Angels fending off psychotic Sabbat Vampires, he realised that he needed an edge when the fighting got up close and personal. One of his coterie, a Malkavian named Callum Pearson suggested a flame thrower, but he decided to work on a path which could keep him alive a little longer in a fight, and also use his opponents strengths against them. Throughout the description, the masculine form has been used, this is for illustrative purposes only.

* Combat Sense

With this ability, the Thaumaturgist becomes better able to judge the ebb and flow of combat around him. Each dot in the path will give the Thaumaturgist an additional die when determining initiative. On a botch, the Thaumaturgist automatically acts last.

** Telling Blow

When the Thaumaturgist has attained this level of mastery, he can execute melee strikes with much more vigour, causing a greater degree of damage to his foe. The Thaumaturgist makes a Strength + Melee as normal to hit and if a hit is scored, any successes are added to the die pool rolled for damage, in much the same way as for firearms. If the damage is aggravated, then all dice in the die pool will cause aggravated. On a botch, no damage is caused and furthermore the Thaumaturgist must make a Stamina roll (difficulty 6) or take one health level of damage from over stretching himself.

*** Skin of Stone

Using this ability, the Thaumaturgist is able to move blood within his body to cushion damage inflicted upon him. By making a Stamina + Survival roll (Difficulty 6) the Thaumaturgist may add any successes to his Stamina for purposes of soaking. If the Thaumaturgist has any levels of Fortitude, then he may expend a point of Willpower to enable these successes to be used to soak aggravated damage. On a botch, the Thaumaturgist receives no chance to soak any damage.

**** Mind Leech

With this power, the Thaumaturgist is able to probe the mind of an opponent and temporarily affect his ability in combat. The Thaumaturgist can "leech" knowledge away from his opponent and use his own knowledge against him. The Thaumaturgist must make a Perception + Empathy roll with a difficulty equal to the target's Willpower. For every success, the Thaumaturgist is able to "leech" one dot from any of his opponents combat related skills and use them in that combat turn only. The victim can make a Willpower roll with a difficulty equal to the number of successes to shrug off the effect on him, but the Thaumaturgist will still enjoy the benefits of the insight into his opponent's style. (Note: unless the Thaumaturgist has celerity, he will need to split his dice pool to perform this ability). Example, the Thaumaturgist with a melee skill of 3 is fighting a Brujah with a melee skill of 5, a dodge of 3 and a Willpower of 5. The Thaumaturgist employs this power and gains five successes. He chooses to leech four points from the Brujah's melee skill and 1 from his dodge. This gives the Thaumaturgist a revised melee skill of 7 and a dodge of 1. The Brujah has revised skills of melee 1, dodge 2. The Brujah then makes a Willpower roll against a difficulty of 5 and scores 3 successes. He adds these to his melee. This gives a final skill of melee 4 dodge 2 for the Brujah. The Thaumaturgist's skills remain melee 7 dodge 1. If this skill is used in subsequent turns against the same opponent, he gets increasingly harder to affect. For each turn after the first, the opponent get a bonus of 1 dot to his Willpower for the purposes of determining the Thaumaturgist's successes and for determining his chance to shrug off the effect. On a botch, the opponent may "leech" skills from the Thaumaturgist. He may leech a number of combat related dots equal to his perception + empathy divided by 2. This skill may also be used in non-combat related situations, but a botch does not allow the intended target to "leech". If used upon a willing target, the Thaumaturgist automatically succeeds with a number equal to his total dice pool, or he may roll. (Players choice).

***** Automaton

This is the most potent power in the path, as it allows the Thaumaturgist to take control of an enemy's body and use it in whatever manner he desires. Although the body will not commit acts of violence upon itself, it can be used to attack friends and allies. (Just perfect for when that big Crinos decides to take your head off!). The Thaumaturgist must make a Manipulation + Empathy roll, with a difficulty equal to the target's Willpower + 4. (Maximum 10). Each success allows the Thaumaturgist complete control over the target for one turn. The target can make a Willpower roll with a difficulty equal to the Thaumaturgists Manipulation + Empathy. Each success will negate one success achieved by the Thaumaturgist. The Thaumaturgist may undertake no other action while he is directing the Automaton, but may control a number of Automatons equal to his manipulation score at any one time, he may also release Automatons from control at any time. On a botch, the Thaumaturgist is incapable of any action for a number of turns equal to his empathy rating.