Difference between revisions of "Neptune's Might"
m (1 revision) |
|
(No difference)
|
Latest revision as of 19:09, 3 January 2014
Back to Thaumaturgy Paths
Vampires are rarely associated with the ocean in most mythologies, and most Kindred have nothing to do with water in large quantities simply because they have no reason to do so. Nevertheless, Neptune's Might has enjoyed a small, but devoted, following for centuries among Camarilla thaumaturges. This path is based primarily around the manipulation of standing water, although some of its more disturbing effects depart from this principle.
Once a character reaches the third level of Neptune's Might, the player may choose to specialize in either fresh or salt water. Such specialization lowers all Neptune's Might difficulties by one when dealing with the chosen medium but raises them by one when dealing with the opposite. Blood is considered neither fresh nor salty for this purpose, and difficulties in manipulating it are unaffected.
1) Eyes of the Sea
The thaumaturge may peer into a body of water and view events that have transpired on, in or around it from the water's perspective. Some older practitioners of this art claim that the vampire communes with the spirits of the waters when using this power; younger Kindred scoff at such claims.
System: The number of successes rolled determines how far into the past the character can look.
1 success: One day
2 successes: One week
3 successes: One month
4 successes: One year
5 successes: 10 years
2) Prison of Water
The thaumaturge can command a sufficiently large quantity of water to animate itself and imprison a subject. This power requires a significant amount of fluid to be fully effective, although even a few gallons can be used to shape chains of animated water. Mortals subjected to this power's effects can drown if the thaumaturge is not careful (or if she she desires it), and even vampires can be crushed by extreme pressure thus brought to bear.
System: The number of successes scored on the roll is the number of successes the victim must score on a Strength roll (difficult 8; Potence adds to successes) to break free. A subject may be held in only one prison at a time, although the thaumaturge is free to invoke multiple uses of this power upon separate victims and may dissolve her own prisons at will.
If a sufficient quantity of water (at least a bathtub's worth) is not present, the difficulty of the Willpower roll to activate this power is raised by one.
3) Blood to Water
The thaumaturge has now attained enough power over water that she can transmute other liquids to this basic element. The most commonly seen use of this power is as an assault; with but a touch, the victim's blood transforms to water, weakening vampires and killing mortals in moments.
System: The character must touch her intended victim. The player rolls normally. Each success converts one of the victim's blood points to water. One success kills a mortal within minutes. Vampires who lose blood points to this power also suffer dice pool penalties as if they had received and equivalent number of health level injury. The water left in the target's system by this attack evaporates out at a rate of one bloodpoint's worth per hour, but the lost blood does not return.
At the Storyteller's discretion, other liquids may be turned to water with this power (the difficulty for such an action is reduced by one unless the substance is particularly dangerous or magical in nature). The character must still touch the substance or its container to use this power.
4) Flowing Wall
Tales of vampires' inability to cross running water may have derived from garbled accounts of this power in action. The thaumaturge can animate water to an even greater degree than is possible with the use of Prison of Water, commanding it to rise up to form a barrier impassable to almost any being.
System: The character touches the surface of a standing body of water; the player spends three Willpower points and the normal required blood point and rolls normally. Successes are applied to both width and height of the wall; each success "buys" 10 feet in one dimension. The wall may be placed anywhere within the character's line of sight, and must be formed in a straight line. The wall lasts until the next sunrise. It cannot be climbed, though it can be flown over. To pass through the barrier, any7 supernatural being (including beings trying to pass the wall on the other levels of existence) must score at least three successes on a single Willpower roll (difficulty 9.
5) Dehydrate
At this level of mastery, the thaumaturge can directly attack living and unliving targets by removing the water from their bodies. Victims killed by this power leave behind hideous mummified corpses. This power can also be used for less aggressive purposes, such as drying out wet clothes - or evaporating puddles to keep other practitioners of this path from using them.
System: This power can be used on any target in the character's line of sight. The player rolls normally; the victim resists with a roll of Stamina + Fortitude (difficulty 9). Each success gained by the thaumaturge translates into one health level of lethal damage inflicted on the victim. This injury cannot be soaked (the resistance roll replaces soak for this attack) but can be healed normally. Vampires lose blood points instead of health levels, though if a vampire has no blood points this attack inflicts health level loss as it would against a mortal. The victim of this attack must also roll Courage (difficulty of the number of successes scored by the thaumaturge +3) to be able to act on the turn following the attack; failure means he is overcome with agony and can do nothing.