Thaumaturgy Revised (version 2)

By Brandon Quina (lore@tmgbbs.com). Refer to Thaumaturgy Revised by Martin Terman.

Author's Notes

Here's the way that I use Thaumaturgy, both vampiric and other hedge wizards. I hope you like, and I don't get flamed too badly. This version of thaumaturgy was inspired by Martin Terman's (mfterman@access.digex.com) Thaumaturgy Revised whose version I enjoyed very much.

Paths to Power

Paths are meerly a path to power, not power in itself. Someone with five dots in the Path of Blood can now learn rotes and rituals up to level five. A vampire with two dots in the Path of Blood may be a lot more dangerous than he appears.

Paths are cheaper than a full discipline, because you still have to buy the effects of the path, but disciplines aren't as flexible as a path. A person with two dots in a path could very well have 12 rituals and/or rotes for that path. You will probally note that it is possible for some of the rotes and rituals to duplicate various powers from other disciplines. That is intentional; afterall, it's cheaper in many ways to get the discipline if all you want is that power.

Costs

New Thaumaturgy Path:	7
Thaumaturgy Path:	Level x 4
Ritual:	Level of ritual x 1
Rote:	Level of rote x 2 + 1
General Ritual:	Level of ritual x 3

Note: All rotes are part of a path, so there are no general rotes.

Rituals and Rotes

This is the main difference between the work of Martin Terman and my work. A ritual is a magic effect that takes time, and certain ingrediants or conditions to take effect. A rote, is a magic effect that is near instantaneous and requires no special conditions. It merely happens. The other disciplines are exclusively rotes, most of them with one rote per level until you reach the sixth circle of said discipline.

Some rituals and rotes are stuffed within certain paths. Indeed, most of them are. However there are some that are open to all who practice thaumaturgy; these are the general effects. They cost more than other effects, but are universal and powerful.

New Background: Thaumaturgy

Your character has a knowledge of Thaumaturgy and is, in effect, a hedge mage. He also has some rotes and/or rituals for his path that he is studying. Note: you must have a path rating to have this background, either through the numina or the discipline paths..

*	You have three exp worth of rituals and rotes.
**	You have six exp worth of rituals and rotes.
***	You have nine exp worth of rituals and rotes.
****	You have twelve exp worth of rituals and rotes.
*****	You have fifteen exp worth of rituals and rotes.

You cannot have a path level unless you have either a rote or a ritual in the level below it. (i.e. If you have 3 in Necromancy, you have to have a rote or ritual for levels one and two).

A freebie point is the equivalent to 3 experience points of rotes and rituals. I wouldn't bother using freebie's to increase the background, as it has no other use rather than buying rotes and rituals, and freebie points do that just as well.

Mortals and Thaumaturgy

This discipline is learnable by mortals and other supernatural beings. Indeed, despite popular beliefs, the Tremere are merely masters and perfectors of the discipline, not its creators.

The Discipline

As you may have noticed, Thaumaturgy is not a discipline at all, and should not be written on your character sheet. Rather thaumaturgy is a collection of hedge wizard paths.

New Numina/Merit: Thaumaturgy

7pt Merit

You now possess one dot in the path of your choice (Though not the path of blood; that's a Vampire only path). You may learn and use effects from that path, and general paths. The costs to raise the paths, buy new paths, and buy rituals and rotes are the same as for vampires. This is listed as a merit as well for other supernatural creatures, though it is exceedingly rare for other beings to be hedge mages.