Path of Pestilence
- Description
While hate may bring a thaumaturge to the Path of Pain and pride to the Path of the Unspoken, nihilism brings the desperate and forsaken to the Path of Pestilence. A subconscious desire to destroy everything, even themselves, drives the practitioners of this art to revere all that is vile and corrupt. Beneath the filth and decay, the practitioners of the Path of Pestilence long for the final kiss of death, but they are often too raven to end their own existences. Instead, they satisfy their urge by inflicting pain and suffering on others = killing them through wasting diseases, plagues and cancers born from the thaumaturge's own self-loathing and misery
Once learned, the Path of Pestilence warps the minds and bodies of its practitioners. They become infatuated with decay and drawn to torment. Like carrion, they flock to places where despair reigns supreme, all too pleased to indulge in its agony. They forget everything that once brought them joy, able only to focus on their wasting desires. Their bodies, too, become host for different viruses and plagues. This telltale sign, known as the Rot, is near impossible to hide or disguise - further pushing the thaumaturge underground.
- Hell's Price:
The Rot
Upon attaining the first level in this path, the thaumaturge develops the Infectious Bite flaw (see Vampire: The Masquerade p. 297) but earns no additional points for it. Once the thaumaturge progresses to level three and beyond, his body becomes riddled with disease and viruses - acquiring the Disease Carrier Flaw (see Vampire: The Masquerade p. 298) for no points as well. At undefined intervals, a new sickness manifests (both the illness and the frequency are up to the Storyteller), which is impossible to conceal unless the thaumaturge spends a point of blood every night to "heal" the symptoms temporarily.
- System: Blood Expenditure & Willpower Roll +3 difficulty
- Skill to Power Ratio
Rank I: Illness
Although he is still only a student in the Path of Pestilence, the thaumaturge with this power can make his victim succumb to symptoms that are common among many illnesses. With a simple touch, the victim can suddenly develop a fever, chills, internal bleeding, stomach cramps, vomiting, nausea and even open sores. The effects are never long lasting, but they are nonetheless debilitating and unpleasant to experience.
System: Illness requires the thaumaturge to touch his victim. The player may then roll as normal, while the victim rolls Stamina + Survival against a target number equal to the thaumaturge's Path of Pestilence rating + 3. If the victim scores more successes, Illness fails to take effect. However, if the thaumaturge acquires more successes, each success subtracts one form the victim's Physical Attributes or Appearance, at the thaumaturge's choice. If any Physical Attribute drops to below zero, the victim falls unconscious and remains bedridden. This power can affect vampires, but they can spend a blood point to nullify the effect of Illness. Each point of blood used reduces the Attribute penalty by one.
Illness cannot be healed normally, but the victim recovers a point in each Attribute every four hours.
Rank II: Infection:
At this stage of understanding, the thaumaturge can infect a victim's wounds causing further injury and even death. With the right incantation, maggots will burrow deep into flesh, gangrene will set in and other complications arise from even the most incidental of cuts. Among mortals, Infection usually spells a death sentence - even with modern medical attention.
System: Evoking the right incantation (and succeeding at the appropriate Willpower roll as well as spending blood) allows the thaumaturge to infect a normal wound. As long as the victim has suffered a wound recently (whether bashing, lethal or aggravated), the thaumaturge can use Infection to cause an additional level of aggravated damage per individual wound. Mortals cannot soak this damage, and only vampires with Fortitude can try to resist.
Rank III: Miasma:
A thaumaturge this far advanced in the Path of Pestilence is usually riddled with countless diseases and sores allowing him to exhale a noxious gas from his mouth and pores. the resulting miasma affects all creatures that breathe, while vampires are blinded by it.
System: If the player spends a blood point and succeeds at his Willpower roll, the thaumaturge exhales a cloud of diseased breath around himself. The cloud lasts for a number of turns equal to the thaumaturge's Stamina rating and expands at a rate of five feet per turn. Players of characters caught in the miasma must roll Stamina (difficulty 6). Those who succeed can do little except move out of the miasma cloud. If they fail, all difficulty ratings increase by one for each success scored on the casting Willpower roll for the duration of the turn. Furthermore, for every two successes the thaumaturge rolled, those affected by Miasma suffer one health level of bashing damage (round down). This damage can be soaked with Stamina. Vampires take no damage. Instead, they suffer the difficulty penalty if they failed their Stamina roll.
Rank IV: Parasitic Possession
This strange and unnerving power allows the thaumaturge to take control of an organism riddled with disease. As long as the target its currently suffering from a viral or other infection - even something as innocuous as a common cold - the infernalist can command the host's body as if it were her own. The thaumaturge can use Parasitic Possession on any visible organism (anything form insects to large mammals), but is not restricted to living beings. With this power, the infernalist can literally raise the dead, animating the parasites inhabiting the carcasses.
System: Parasitic Possession has a number of distinct applications, however, all require the standard blood point and Willpower roll. Commonly, this power allows the thaumaturge to take control of a victim's body to perform an action of his choice. If used in this manner, each success translates into a single physical action that the victim must perform. The target can resist by spending a Willpower point to nullify one forced action. Dead "hosts" may not spend Willpower to resist, but Kindred may.
Alternatively, infernalists can use this power to summon and command pestilential insects and small vermin. Each success determines the size of the swarm called. However, the thaumaturge can issue only simple commands such as attack, eat all food or bite.
1 success: One tiny animal (a rat), a few insects.
2 successes: One small animal (a raccoon), a small swarm (a one-foot cube).
3 successes: One medium-sized animal (a dog or wolf), a medium swarm (a three-foot cube)
4 successes: One large animal (a horse), a large swarm (a five-foot cube)
5 successes: One massive animal (a bear), a veritable plague of insects.
For more information on swarms, see pages 304-305 of Vampire: The Masquerade.
Finally, the thaumaturge can animate a single dead organism, as long as it is a host to insects or to her parasites. Once animated, the thaumaturge can issue a single, simple command, which the carcass follows until Parasitic Possession wears off. successes determine how long the body remains animated:
1: 1 turn
2: 5 minutes
3: 1 hour
4: 3 hours
5: Until sunrise
Rank V: Vector
Mastery of the Path of Pestilence grants the thaumaturge the ability to infect a target with any virulent disease. Once infected, the victim succumbs to the virus almost instantaneously, exhibiting all the symptoms and accompanying agony in a matter of minutes.
System: Vector is a devastating power. If successful, the thaumaturge infects his target with a disease of his choice, which then plagues the victim for a duration dictated by the infernalist's Willpower successes. Victims are allowed a Stamina roll (difficulty 8) upon contracting the disease. Should they fail, they succumb to the accelerated effects of the disease, suffering a number of health levels of bashing damage equal to the thaumaturge's total successes, plus whatever the disease itself imposes upon the sufferer. For mortals, death is almost guaranteed with Vector.
The disease imparted by Vector has a supernatural duration, so it is unaffected by medicine or hospitalization, but medical science may allow characters to heal the damage they suffer from it. Healing disciplines will abate health levels of damage, but not the disease itself unless the user of the healing effect knows that Discipline at a higher level than the thaumaturge imparting the Vector.
1 success: 1 night
2 successes: 1 month
3 successes: 1 year
4 successes: 7 years
5 successes: Permanent.
Players of Cainites may add Fortitude to their Stamina roll. should their characters fail, they contract the symptoms of the disease for the duration of Vector, but instead of losing health levels, they loose blood points.
Finally, there is a chance that witnesses and those who come in contact with the victim may contract the disease in question and become carriers. Any living being within a 10-foot radius must roll Stamina (difficulty 6) or contract the disease normally. Such "secondhand" infections are normal, and they may be healed and treated as such.
