Scorpion's Touch

Quietus 2

By changing the properties of her blood, the vampire may create powerful venom that strips her prey of his resilience. This power has acquired a terrible reputation among the Christian vampires who have faced Assamite warriors (and their blood-coated blades) in Iberia and the Levant. The poison can also be delivered by a deadly spit or by coating a seemingly innocuous object (a favorite tactic of vizier assassins).

System: To convert a bit of the character's blood to poison, the player spends the number of blood points she wishes to convert (up to a maximum of her Stamina) and rolls Willpower (difficulty 6). If the roll is successful, the poison is ready. It remains potent until the next dawn or until it is used. When the poison contacts a victim's skin, that character's player rolls Stamina (+ Fortitude, if any) and the character immediately loses a number of levels of Stamina equal to the number of blood points of poison minus successes on the Stamina roll. This loss lasts for a duration based on the successes on the original Willpower roll:

Successes	Duration
1 success	1 turn
2	1 hour
3	1 day
4	1 month
5	Permanent (but the player may buy Stamina back with experience)

If a mortal's Stamina falls to 0 through use of Scorpion's Touch, she becomes terminally ill and loses immunity to disease, her body succumbing to sickness within the year unless she somehow manages to increase her Stamina again. If a Cainite's Stamina falls to 0, the vampire enters torpor and remains that way until one of her Stamina points returns. If a Cainite is permanently reduced to 0 Stamina, she may recover from torpor only through mystical means. Assamites are immune to their own poison, but not the blood-venom of other Assamites.

Afflicting a target with the poison requires getting it on his skin. This can be done through various surreptitious means (such as smearing an object or pooling it in the mouth for a "kiss of death") or in combat. In combat, it may be smeared on hands or on a blade, or spat directly at the target. Smearing it on hands or a weapon requires an action to prepare and then a successful Brawl or Melee roll (the poison cannot be coated in thrown or missile weapons, which shed it in flight). Spitting the poison requires the player to make a Stamina + Athletics roll (difficulty 6). No more than two blood points' worth of poison may be expectorated, and a Cainite may spit a distance of 10 feet for each point of Strength or Potence the character possesses.