Lore of the Wild
Description: The Lore of the Wild is the Lore that allows the Angel to command flora and fauna, giving plants abilities they do not normally have.
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- ● WILDERNESS SENSE
The Devourer gains an immediate sense of the surrounding area, building a map in her mind of the region's natural features, the plants and animals that inhabit the place, as well as the location of any interlopers that the local fauna consider a threat.
System: Roll Perception + Survival. Demons in the area can attempt to avoid detection through a resisted Willpower roll (difficulty 7). If your roll succeeds, your character gets a detailed mental map of her surroundings to which she can refer as needed, along with the approximate locations of nearby animals and people. Although this evocation works best in wilderness areas, it can also be used in urban settings at a difficulty of 8. Your Devourer can gain insight into a given area within a radius of miles equal to her Faith score. The effects of the evocation last for the duration of the scene.
Torment: Monstrous demons who perform this evocation transmit their murderous nature to the surrounding area, causing the flora and fauna to react inimically to human trespassers. Any animals in the area react aggressively to trespassers, attacking them if they are able. Athletics or Survival rolls must be made for intruders to avoid harm or to escape attack, using the Devourer's Torment score as the difficulty.
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- ●● QUICKEN GROWTH
The Devourer can fuel rapid and unchecked growth in the local plant life. Trees shoot skyward, vines swell, fissures spread through any object to which they are rooted and briars envelop their surroundings.
System: Roll Stamina + Survival. The Devourer focuses on a specific plant and causes it to increase in size by a number of cubic yards equal to the successes you rolled, all within the space of a single turn. Vines or roots inflict a like number of damage points to physical structures with which they are in contact (consider each success a Strength point and compare the results to the Feats of Strength chart. Objects caught within the growth radius are swallowed up. The plant remains overgrown and causes damage for a number of turns equal to the successes you rolled.
Torment: Monstrous demons cause a plant to grow and entwine any living beings within reach, strangling or ripping them apart. For every living being within the plant's growth area, roll a number of dice equal to your Devourer's Willpower. Treat this as a grapple attempt, which victims can attempt to parry or dodge as normal. If the attack is successful, roll a number of damage dice equal to the Devourer's Torment. Each success inflicts a level of lethal damage.
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- ●●● COMMAND THE WILD
The Devourer can direct the rapid growth of local plants by force of will, affecting the environment in specific ways according to the demon's plan.
System: Roll Intelligence + Survival. Your character can affect a number of plants equal to her Faith score. Each plant grows a number of cubic yards equal to the successes you rolled, and expands in the direction and configuration specified by your character. If plant growth is directed at a specific structure, take the number of successes rolled and compare them to the Feats of Strength chart to determine the damage inflicted on objects.
Torment: In addition to directing their growth, monstrous demons cause the affected plants to become inimical to flesh and blood, sprouting needle-like thorns and poisonous sap. The exact manifestation is determined by the Storyteller, but a successful Dexterity + Athletics (or Survival) roll must be made for anyone attempting to move through the area, lest they suffer a number of dice of lethal damage equal to the demon's Torment.
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- ●●●● POSSESS PLANT
The demon can take over the living essence of one or more plants, making them extensions of his will. The plants move with supernatural speed and strength, performing any action the Devourer desires.
System: Spend one Faith point and roll Stamina + Survival. The Devourer can control a number of plants equal to the successes rolled. Plants affected by this evocation must remain rooted in place, but they can perform any other action within the limits of their physical composition and size. A rose bush can entangle a victim, or ivy can pull apart the wall to which it's anchored. The effects of the evocation last for the duration of the scene. Consider the plants to have a Strength score equal to your demon's Willpower and refer to the Feats of Strength chart to determine the damage the plants can do to items. That same number of dice is used to make attack and damage rolls when the plants attack living targets, doing bashing damage.
Torment: Monstrous Devourers spread the taint of their Torment through any plants they control, destroying them from within and reducing them to lifeless husks within minutes. Each possessed plant suffers one health level of damage per turn that cannot be soaked. As a rule of thumb, assume that a given plant has one "health level" per cubic foot of volume. When all the plant's health levels have been consumed, the plant dies.
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- ●●●●● MUTATE PLANT
The Devourer can manipulate a plant's composition and form at will, creating new, specialized breeds according to her desires.
System: Spend one Faith point and roll Intelligence + Survival. Your character can alter or add a new plant characteristic per success rolled. Alterations include increased metabolism (heightened speed of growth), thick bark or tough skin and thorns. These successes can be generated as part of an extended roll over a period of days (one roll per day), as the demon "tinkers" with her creation. The effects of the evocation persist for a number of days equal to your character's Faith score, or they can be made permanent by expending one temporary Willpower point.
Torment: Monstrous demons who use this evocation create plant life with a taste for blood. Make a Willpower roll with the difficulty equal to your character's Torment. If the roll fails, the plant's metabolism mutates spontaneously, developing natural weapons that allow it to kill and feed on living beings — including the demon herself. The plant's attack and damage dice pools equal your character's Torment, and damage is lethal.
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NINURTU, THE VISAGE OF THE WILD
The angels of the wilderness manifest as an amalgam of the flora they command and the fauna that thrive beneath their aegis. Their skin is commonly covered by a fine pelt similar to a deer's, and they often possess hooves instead of feet. Their bodies are powerfully muscled, and their eyes change colors like the seasons, ranging from pale gray to deep summer green.
The Visage of the Wild confers the following special capabilities:
• Enhanced Senses: The character's five senses are heightened to superhuman levels, lowering the difficulties of Perception rolls by two.
• Chameleon Skin: The demon's skin allows it to blend with its surroundings. The difficulties of all Stealth rolls decrease by one if the demon is on the move; two if it's standing still.
• Pass Without Trace: The difficulties of the character's Stealth rolls decrease by two, and her passage does not disturb the surrounding environment in any way. She leaves no footprints and disturbs no foliage.
• Extra Health Levels: The character's vitality provides three extra Bruised health levels for the purposes of absorbing damage.
Torment: Monstrous Ninurtu are darker of hue, and their eyes take on the color of the silver moon. They swell in size, and their appearance exudes the kind of forbidding menace of the deep forests or the high mountains.
The Visage of the Wild confers the following high-Torment special capabilities:
• Thorns: The demon's shoulders, chest and arms are covered with needle-sharp, black thorns that inflict one level of aggravated damage to any attacker who successfully strikes or grapples the demon in unarmed combat.
• Increased Size: The character's body grows to a third again its own height, adding the following bonus traits: +1 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +1 Stamina.
• Extra Limbs: The demon grows a prehensile tail. A prehensile tail is half your character's height, uses only half his Strength (rounded down) to lift objects and allows him to hang suspended.
• Venom: The demon's saliva contains an intoxicating form of venom that affects a victim's will. If a victim is exposed to the demon's saliva (through an open wound, a kiss), she loses one Willpower point per point of the demon's Torment unless a successful Stamina roll is made (difficulty 7). If the victim loses all of her Willpower in this fashion, she falls into a death-like coma. The effects of the venom last for a number of days equal to the character's Torment.
