Soul of the Serpent
Thanks in part to the living asp residing in her stomach, the acting Tremere regent in Cairo (Syliva Kilver) has developed a Thaumaturgical path of her own over several decades of intense study and experimentation - a discovery she firmly believes to be her own. The path exemplifies and embodies the perfection of the serpent's form, and it is functionally the same as any other Thaumaturgical path.
In truth, the path was inspired and driven by members of the Court of Dreams, who are trying to find ways around the inexplicable ban on the functioning of Akhu Sorcery within the boundaries of Egypt.
1) Serpent Sense
The most basic level allows the Thaumaturge to access the considerable olfactory prowess of the serpent, granting accurate sensitivity to all smells for the duration of the scene. the possible effects are varied, from allowing the thaumaturge to identify poisons and poisoned foods by smell, to effectively letting her "see" in the dark.
System: Although supernatural darkness (such as Obtenebration) still affects the character, it does so to a much lesser extent, simply imposing upon her a mere one-die penalty to all actions taken within the area of effect. Note that use of this power causes the ophidian character's hearing to suffer commensurately, imposing a +2 difficulty on all related challenges until the Serpentine Sense is no longer active.
2) Scaleskin
When this application of the path is invoked, the user's outer layers of skin become smooth and scaly like those of an anaconda or other river snake, allowing for greater flexibility on land as well as considerable freedom of movement through water.
System: The character's effective Dexterity increases by one dot (potentially exceeding normal attribute maximums), and she gains the ability to pass through any opening large enough for her head. In addition, swimming in this form is exceptionally efficient, allowing the user to travel through water at normal land speed. While use of this power is obvious (to say the least) it does allow for some nick-of-time escapes from handcuffs and other difficulty situations.
3) Venom Curse
The Tremere can transform her own vitae into a deadly poison capable of blinding the eyes of nearby opponents, like that of a spitting cobra.
System: The character coughs a point of vitae into her mouth, where ti transforms mystically into a deadly blood-venom. The vampire then spits the venom at any one opponent within range (equal to three feet per dot of Strength + Potence). The player rolls Dexterity + Athletics (difficulty 7) to target the eyes, and the opponetn may attempt to dodge. If the attack roll succeeds, the target must immediately engage in a resisted Stamina + Occult roll (difficulty 6) with the Warlock. If the target accumulates more successes, he overcomes the venom's effects and retains his eyesight. If not, he remains blind until the venom has run its course.
The blindness lasts for one hour per net success on the resisted Stamina + Occult roll (that is, the Tremere's successes minus the target's successes). Supernatural targets can conceivably shorten this time. Vampires may spend blood points to reduce the duration on a one-for-one basis. Lupines will regenerate the blindness in short order, reducing the duration to accumulations of minutes rather than hours. The blood-venom is extremely toxic to mortals, however, who are blinded for life unless they receive immediate medical attention (within an hour). Thankfully, this supernatural venom is quite thin, and its potency cannot be maintained outside of the Thaumaturge's body.
4) Touch of Typhon
The blood wizard can now metamorphose her entire forearm and hand into a deadly asp, complete with a writhing, venomous snake head.
System: Effective range is only five feet, but the bite of the serpent "arm" is deadly, doing Strength +1 dice of aggravated damage to anyone struck in combat (on a standard Brawl attack, although successes beyond the first do not add to the damage dice pool). Mortals bitten thus must immediately succeed in a Stamina roll (difficulty 7) or die within (Stamina + 5) minutes from the snake head's virulent toxin.
If a mortal is killed in this way, the venom begins to seep out of the corpse's wounds shortly thereafter, carrying the unfortunate mortal's essence along with it. The blood-venom then pools nearby, slowly coagulating to form a small supernatural asp under the control of the Warlock. From that point forward, that mortal's soul knows no peace until such time as its new "body" is killed, thus freeing the tortured spirit within.
5) Form of the Hydra
This powerful incantation - the ultimate plateau of achievement for one studying this path - allows the Warlock to transform instantly into a writhing mass of vipers, her body erupting in a spectacular shower of black, red, green and gold.
System: The player must spend two blood points to effect the change, which takes three turns to complete. During this time, the character may take no other action, and no transition of any kind is apparent in her form. At the end of the turn, her body simply bursts into a number of vipers equal to the maximum number of blood points the character can hold. (For example, an 8th generation Tremere using this power would explode into 15 separate snakes.) Alternatively, the player may opt to transform instantaneously, but she does so at a cost of five blood points rather than two.
Individuals assuming the Form of the Hydra are nearly impossible to destroy. Every last viper must first be located, as the Thaumaturge may reform later if even a single serpent remains. This transformation lasts until the Warlock wills herself to assume normal form once again, which takes another three turns.
