Ghouling the Dead
Some may feel that allowing wraiths to become ghouls through Feast of the Dead smacks of powergaming or crossover butchery. There are two major concerns with allowing such a creature to exist in the World of Darkness: stylistic and game balance issues. While this section is meant to address those concerns, remember that in the end you, the Storyteller, are the sole authority on what is and is not possible within your chronicle. If for any reason you decide that ghouled wraiths are unecessary, unbalancing or even outright silly, simply disregard them entirely.
Stylistically, some Storytellers may feel that the idea of a ghouled wraith is simply ludicrous. Wraiths are the disembodied souls of the dead, and as such they have no biology to speak of. They are psychological and spiritual entities, but no longer physical beings, so there is no immediately apparent reason as to why vampire blood, even blood transmuted to ectoplasm through Necromancy, should have any effect on them whatsoever.
However, the Nocturnal Path is, thematically, the process of becoming more like a wraith. As such, the fourth level power allow a necromancer to transmute his vitae into an ectoplasmic state, and while no longer technically blood, this emotion-rich ether is still infused with the Curse of Caine. It resembles the Pathos possessed by wraiths to such an extend that the vampire may actually transfer such energy directly to wraiths in a manner similar to the creation of a ghoul (or empowerment through the Usury Arcanos). With cursed Pathos in its system, a wraith reacts in much the same way that a mortal does when ingesting vitae: the ghost is infused with strength and vitality, but is also easily agitated and quickly becomes addicted to the vampire’s blood.
So while the blood may have been converted into emotional energy, it still retains the mystical qualities of vampiric vitae, including the ability to ghoul and blood bond. This is not possible through the Vitreous Path directly, because the energy taken straight from ghosts cannot be processed in the usual fashion by the vampiric system: it can still be used in a number of ways similar to blood points (in terms of fueling powers, for instance), but the energy does not carry the bonding or transmutational properties of vitae. The Nocturnal Path, however, can convert ghostly Corpus into spectral vitae in the same way that it can convert human blood.
In terms of game balance, it may seem as if allowing wraiths to access Disciplines and a vampiric Blood Pool on top of their Pathos and Arcanoi is an overpowering combination. However, when the situation is examined a little more carefully, it should be apparent that game balance is much less of an issue than it appears at first.
For starters, the spectral blood points gifted through the Nocturnal Path take up space in a wraith’s Pathos Pool, rather than forming a new point pool for the ghost to tap. Hence, a wraith will still have a maximum of 10 Pathos. These spectral blood points act exactly like Pathos, meaning that they offer no inherent benefits to the ghoul-wraith beyond the ability to learn Vampiric Disciplines (a capacity already open to the Risen in at least a limited capacity).
Secondly, while all ghoul-wraiths receive a free dot in Potence, that’s where the benefits stop. They are, of course, capable of learning Disciplines like any ghoul, which means that they are most likely restricted to first level powers possessed by their Domitor. In a few rare cases, a ghoul wraith may be able to learn second, or even third level disciplines, but the Domitor would have to be of a sufficient Generation to allow this. Even in these cases, a new Discipline costs 20 experience points to purchase for the first level, and Current Rating x25 points for each additional level: these are experience points that the wraith could have spent to purchase additional Arcanoi which can mimic many low-level Discipline powers at a fraction of the cost.
Next, consider the significant penalties to becoming a ghoul. A wraith recieves an additional point of Angst for each spectral blood point it ingrests from a necromancer, and these points do not ablate when the spectral Vitae is expended by the wraith, so frequent feeders will quickly succumb to their shadows. On top of this rapid accumulation of Angst, a wraith’s Psyche receives a +1 difficulty to all rolls made to resist its Shadow’s manipulation (including Catharsis rolls), as the vampiric curse makes the ghost much more prone to its dark impulses, and the ghost’s Eidolon rating is reduced. Lastly, wraiths are still subject to the blood bond, and as such they will quickly fall under the command of the vampire who supplies them with their spectral Vitae.
So the most likely outcome of such a blasphemous union of dead plasm and the undead curse is a blood-craving Spectre. Note that if a ghoul-wraith does become a Spectre, any blood bonds it may have formed immediately dissipate, although it is likely that the bond may linger in the form of a Dark Passion focusing on bringing the necromancer to Final Death. As such, the situation is hardly beneficial from the vampire’s perspective, either.
