Path of Pain
- Description
Physical discomfort fuels this path: In the right hands, the Path of Pain can flay flesh from the body, shatter bones and rupture internal organs with a single look or word. Infernalists who practice this path derive as much pleasure from inflicting pain as their victims suffer. However, pain is also an opiate - an addiction that requires the thaumaturge to subject himself to intense torture and agony. Only by reaching the depths and depredations of sadomasochism can a thaumaturge unlock the true potential of this wicked art. Ritual scarring and maiming is common among practitioners of the Path of Pain, who often walk a fine line between self-mutilation and self-destruction.
- Hell's Price:
Upon learning the third level in this path, the infernalist is addicted to pain, needing it almost as much as vitae. Whenever the thaumaturge takes a single health level of damage, he will do nothing to stop the source of the injury unless the player spends a Willpower point. However, if the character suffers a single health level from a weapon, attack or effect that causes a variable amount of damage, she will not necessarily have to withstand it again. Note that htis effect applies only to a single health level. A character will not stand idly by while being mauled by a Gangrel whose player just happened to roll poorly, for example, nor will she perforce tempt a gunman to shoot her again in hopes of suffering only one health level of damage.
The pain addiction is insidious, however. It applies to Path of Pain powers that require the thaumaturge to inflict health levels of damage on himself, but only when the player fails his initial Willpower roll. If such is the case, the thaumaturge will continue inflicting the same number of health levels he sacrificed every turn until the player spends a Willpower point.
The character will indulge his addiction to a maximum of three times consecutively in each situation. Note that a character will not do so if it would render him Incapacitated.
Example: Vaughan tries to evoke Shattering. Before his player rolls Willpower and spends a blood point, Vaughan breaks a finger (one health level of damage) to initiate the casting. When it comes time to roll, however, the player fails the Willpower roll. Every turn afterward, Vaughan, lost in the throes of pain, will continue to inflict a health level of damage to himself unless his player spends a Willpower point. He keeps it up until he does it thrice more or would risk becoming Incapacitated.
- System: Blood Expenditure & Willpower Roll +3 difficulty
- Skill to Power Ratio
- Rank I: The Numbing
Broken bones, torture and ritualistic scarring are a source of delight for many on the Path of Pain. Thaumaturges studying this path must first learn how to control and resist their instincts to avoid pain. Once mastered, the Numbing allows the infernalist to explore the limits of pain without becoming weakened or incapacitated by it. However, overriding the Beast's instincts to avoid pain has caused many dark thaumaturges to destroy themselves - literally reducing their bodies to ashes.
System: For each success scored on the Willpower roll, the thaumaturge can ignore the dice poo and movement penalty for one health level of damage. This effect lasts for a scene. The Numbing does not work with wound penalties incurred from aggravated damage.
- Rank II: Anguish
A thaumaturge on the Path of Pain can flood his target with sensations of pain without having to actually wound her. Although the injuries are not real, the pain is. With a simple touch, the thaumaturge can send his victim reeling in agony to the point of rendering her unconscious or even comatose due to shock.
System: The practitioner needs to touch his target in order to use this power (possibly requiring a Brawl roll, at the Storyteller's discretion). If the character does so, the player can roll Willpower and spend a blood point as normal. For every success, the target suffers the dice pool penalty associated with losing the equivalent number of health levels (starting with Hurt, not Bruised), but he doesn't suffer actual damage. When used against mortals, nothing can be done to stop the pain. If the target reaches Incapacitated, she falls unconscious. Vampires and supernatural creatures can try to resist by rolling Willpower. Each success on this roll cancels one of the thaumaturge's successes. A vampire may be Incapacitated by this pain, but it will not force him into torpor. Furthermore, a point of blood heals one level of Anguish "damage." The effects of Anguish last for a scene otherwise.
- Rank III: Shattering
At this level, the thaumaturge can break bones and rupture organs, crippling his victim. the resulting cacophony of compound fractures and bursting organs are, more often than not, the last sounds the victim ever hears.
System: The thaumaturge can use this power on any one target within eyesight. To invoke Shattering, he must sacrifice a health level in order to channel the pain to the target. Once he does so, a point of blood and a successful Willpower roll completes the process. For each success, the thaumaturge inflicts a health level of lethal damage that cannot be soaked. Vampires can roll Willpower to resist the effects of the Shattering; each success on the victim's Willpower roll negates one success of the thaumaturge. Additionally, creatures with the ability to do so (Kindred, ghouls, etc.) may spend blood points to heal the damage as normal.
- Rank IV: Agony Within
This terrifying power allows the thaumaturge to create hooked tendrils out of his target's own blood that course through his veins and rip him to shreds. In some extreme cases of this power's use, the blood-barbs actually burst the victim's flesh, ending his life in a gory display.
System: In addition to the the blood point expenditure and Willpower roll, this power may require the thaumaturge to wound himself to create the blood chains. For each health level of bashing damage that the thaumaturge inflicts on himself (minimum one), the player can add one to the total number of successes from the Willpower roll. This total is then applied as lethal damage to the victim, as the blood tendrils bite into and rend the hapless victim asunder from within. Mortals cannot soak Agony Within damage, and vampires may only use Fortitude. However, the target is allowed a Willpower roll with a difficulty equal to (6+ the number of health levels that the thaumaturge inflicted upon himself [maximum 10]). For every two successes on the Willpower roll (round down), reduce the damage of Agony Within by one.
- Rank V: Hundred Deaths
The ultimate expression of pain known to practitioners of the Path of Pain, Hundred Deaths lacerates the victim with countless deep cuts that constantly heal and reopen. The pain drives the victim insane before killing him outright.
System: Hundred Deaths requires the thaumaturge to inflict upon himself a single aggravated wound, achieved by the player succeeding a Willpower roll (difficulty 6) first. If successful, the player can then roll Willpower and spend a blood point to evoke Hundred Deaths. Each success inflicts one health level of aggravated damage on the target, which can be soaked only with Fortitude. The pain debilitates the target completely, rendering her shocked by pain and unable to do anything, including heal herself, without the expenditure of a Willpower point. If the victim does not receive medical attention or some form of supernatural healing, she will suffer an additional health level of lethal damage every night for each unhealed level of aggravated damage that remains.
