The Path of Phobos
- Description
This path allows infernalists to wield the fears of their victims as a weapon. Practitioners of this path mystically tap into the depths of their victims' psyches, prying the terrors from their minds and making them seem very real. Many more sophisticated Sabbat infernalists prefer this path over physical ones, as they enjoy the sublime effects of using the subjects' own fears against them rather than vulgar, brutal displays of fire and demonic servants.
Infernalists using this path often experience nightmares and night terrors, which result from the many horrible memories they have leached from their victims. Storytellers should make Manipulation + Empathy rolls (difficulty 7) for characters who use the Path of Phobos more than once in a given story. The number of successes indicates how long the character must cope with the sea of stolen terrors roiling in her own mind. Botching results in the nightmares not only recurring for a week, but draining an additional nightly blood point from the vampire, due to the lack of sound sleep. Such is the price of hellish insight.
Successes versus Duration of Effect
- 1 success One Week
- 2 successes Five Days
- 3 successes Four Days
- 4 successes Two Days
- 5 successes One Day
- Hell's Price: Demonic Nightmares...
The very dream-forces that the character uses upon others ravage their way through his own mind while he sleeps. Any character who learns this path at any level acquires the Nightmares Flaw, but receives no additional points for it. Woe be it to the Kindred who already has the Nightmares flaw before learning this path...
- System: Blood Expenditure & Willpower Roll +3 difficulty
- Skill to Power Ratio
Rank I: Invisible Stalkers - This power causes the victim to feel extremely paranoid. Subtle shapes and shadows move in and out of the victim's vision, tormenting her by lurking just beyond her range of sight.
System for Invisible Stalkers
The infernalist can use this power on any target within his view. For the duration of the effect, the subject becomes noticeably upset and preoccupied, which should be role-played. The victim must make a Courage roll (difficulty 5 + the number of successes the thaumaturge garnered) to take any action other than looking for the imagined stalkers. If the character enters combat while under the effects of Induce Fear, she loses one die from all dice pools (provided she even makes the Courage roll), as her invisible stalkers distract and disconcert her.
Successes versus Duration of Effect
- 1 success - - One Turn
- 2 successes - - Five Minutes
- 3 successes - - One Hour
- 4 successes - - One Night
- 5 successes - - Two Nights
Rank II: Delusions of Dread - This power turns suspicion to dread, as the flitting shadows become visible threats. The victim feels that something terrible is about to happen unless she leaves the area quickly. She might imagine she sees the flash of a gun barrel or hears the clicking of hard-soled shoes on the pavement just behind her. She might even believe she smells her pursuer's sweat or feels his damp breath on the back of her neck.
System for Delusions of Dread
The nagging sense of discomfort in the back of the character's mind becomes more tangible. Mortals must make a successful Courage roll (difficulty 7) to keep from fleeing the area in terror. Vampires must make the same roll, but if they fail, they enter Rötschreck. The dark thaumaturge must see her victim for this power to work.
Rank III: Personal Terrors - The infernalist can draw out his victim's fear and present him with it. The victim sees that which terrifies him the most. If he fears spiders, he may imagine spider webs brushing his face and hands as thousands of illusory arachnids scuttle across his flesh. He may hear them skittering across the floor or clicking their horrid chelicerae. To the victim, the effects are simply illusions.
System for Personal Terrors
The Willpower roll to activate this power also determines how long its effects last. Should the terrorized character wish to take any action, a Courage roll (difficulty 7) is required to allow her to shake off her fear, otherwise she simply cowers, feebly hiding from her imagined object of terror. Botching this Courage roll results in a derangement, preferably suited to the fear visiting the victim. The infernalist must see his victim in order to use this power.
Successes versus Duration of Effect
- 1 success - - One Turn
- 2 successes - - Five Minutes
- 3 successes - - 30 Minutes
- 4 successes - - One Hour
- 5 successes - - One Night
Rank IV: The Week of Horrors - The victim's most deep-rooted fear reveals itself to the infernalist with this power, who then forces the victim to deal with it head-on. The fear plagues the victim in every waking moment, and often in his sleep as well. A person afraid of drowning would feel the air thicken and coagulate in his throat and lungs, until he cannot take a breath, for example, while a person afraid of vampires may see fanged nemeses in his coworkers or lurking behind every corner. Eventually, the victim becomes so exhausted that he is unable to rise and face a new night of swarming horrors.
System for The Week of Horrors
This power lasts for a week, during which the victim suffers his fear at every turn. Weakened by his constant state of fear, the character cannot spend Willpower, and the player makes all Willpower rolls as if his permanent rating is three lower (to a minimum of 1). The dark thaumaturge must see his victim to activate this power, but once it takes effect, it works regardless of whether or not he maintains a line of sight.
Rank V: Hell's Hunter - This power enables the infernalist to temporarily feed on fear as through it was blood. This experience gives a euphoric high stronger than conventional feeding, but it is a dangerous practice if used too frequently. The dark thaumaturge converts the pure emotional charge drawn from the victim's terror into a mystical substitute for vitae. This power may have something to do with old legends of vampires being able to 'smell' fear.
System for Hell's Hunter
As long as a dark thaumaturge with this power has a victim in sight, he may attempt to gain sustenance from that victim's fear. The victim must have cause to be afraid of something or someone while the infernalist practices this power, but those fears may not be caused by any other applications of this path.
The number of successes equals the 'fear pool' the Cainite takes from the victim. This pool may be spent like blood pool, but must be used before sunrise. Any unused points disappear at that time.
In addition to the lost Willpower point, a botch means that the infernalist gets no "fear pool" from the victim, and cannot use the power on that victim again for 24 hours.
