Rend the Osseous Frame
This terrible power allows a vampire to manipulate bone in the same manner that he shapes flesh. In conjunction with Transmogrify the Mortal Clay, this power enables the Cainite to warp a victim (or himself) beyond recognition. When used alone, it can inflict traumatic injury. Tzimisce often use this power to transform dogs and other beasts into terrible hellhounds and their mortal servitors into szlachta, monstrous war-ghouls used to guard havens or strike terror into foes on the battlefield.
System: When using this power in conjunction with Transmogrify the Mortal Clay, the player makes a Strength + Body Crafts roll (using the previously delineated difficulties). Cainite victims who wish to "heal" their disfigurements must do so as if they were aggravated wounds, even though no actual levels of damage are done.
The Cainite may instead use Rend the Osseous Frame as a weapon, without the complementary fleshcrafting arts. Each success scored on a Strength + Body Crafts roll (difficulty 7) inflicts one level of lethal damage to the victim, as his bones rip, puncture and slice their way out of his skin. Vampire victims may soak the lethal damage, but their bones are still warped and misaligned. This may cause problems with movement or sight, for example, and putting the bones back is also treated as healing aggravated wounds.
The vampire may use this power on himself or others to form spikes or talons of bone, either on the knuckles or feet as offensive weapons or all over the body as defensive "quills." IN the former case, the recipient takes one level of lethal damage. In the latter, the subject takes a number of levels of lethal damage equal to five minus the number of successes. (A botch kills a mortal subject, or sends a vampire into torpor.) This damage may be healed normally. Knuckle or foot spikes inflict Strength +2 lethal damage in combat, while defensive quills inflict a hand-to-hand attacker's Strength in lethal damage unless the attacker scores three or more successes on the attack roll. (The quill-bearing defender still takes damage normally.) The quills also add two to all damage rolls for grapples or body slams.
The most fearsome attack possible with this power collapses the victim's ribcage, piercing her heart with her own bones. While this does not send a vampire into torpor, it does cause the affected vampire to lose have her blood points, as the seat of her vitae ruptures in a shower of gore. Mortal victims die instantly. This attack must be declared before the attack is rolled, and it requires five successes on the Strength + Body Crafts roll to succeed. The victim still loses the blood points if she soaks all the lethal damage.
