Post by Admin on Apr 22, 2016 23:14:27 GMT
The Nightshade Path (Necromancy)
Developed by the Drakaina, this Path of Necromancy studies natural cycles, including the savage interplay of life and death. All life is a manifestation of entropy, a chaotic miracle punctuating Creation’s flow toward destruction. When rot claims a body, it impregnates the flesh with insects and lush plants, and its stench calls scavengers who sustain themselves with death’s bounty. Vampires demonstrate how this process can be arrested and manipulated, for Kindred stand suspended at the moment of death, before nature blesses them with the power to decompose and feed living things. The black seed lies dormant within them, but they can encourage its growth in others, manipulating rot and staining life with the ghostly essence.
Although the Drakaina developed the Path, they don’t hoard it — it’s the Dark Mother’s gift, to share with all who worship her. Any Bahari necromancer may learn it from a Drakaina teacher. Lilin Nagaraja practice this Path in increasing numbers because it unifies the life and death principles in ways anticipated (but never realized) by their Idran forebears.
• Tend the Body Garden Modern forensics makes it possible to determine time of death with remarkable accuracy — a frightening prospect for Kindred with bodies to hide. On the other hand, sometimes it’s better for people to find corpses before rot takes them. Presenting evidence that elder Kindred have suffered the Final Death is sometimes difficult to come by, as their bodies rapidly molder into nondescript ash. A necromancer with this power overcomes these difficulties. She can speed up or slow the process of decay, turning a dead mortal into a bloated host for flies in seconds or nullifying the decay of Final Death.
System: The player spends one blood point as the vam-pire lets some of her blood drip on to a corpse, and rolls Wits + Occult (difficulty 6). Successes allow the vampire to accelerate or arrest decomposition as follows:
Successes Delay or Accelerate Rot by:
1 Up to one day
2 Up to one week
3 Up to one month
4 Up to one year
5+ Storyteller’s discretion
The vampire may use this power on mortals and animals as long as the remains have not been substantially scattered. It may be used on Kindred no longer than one turn after they’ve met Final Death. Corpses that recently belonged to the living change according to local conditions, so that one stored in a dry place might mummify, while another that rests on soil quickly sprouts plants and maggots. Living things that feed from the dead are quickened or held in stasis as the corpse is, provided they’re plants, fungi, or no larger than a scarab beetle. Kindred under Final Death wither and fall to dust without attracting such organisms.
•• Witch’s Fruit Every plant relies on death to grow. Rotting things enrich the soil, and the trees, vines, and grasses drink up necrotic echoes along with vital nutrients. A necromancer can awaken this death aura by exposing their fruits to her blood. She awakens and concentrates their trace necrotic energies so that anyone who consumes them can sense and touch the Shadowlands.
System: The player spends a blood point while the vampire touches edible plant matter. No roll is required. The first living creature to eat this tainted meal falls into a waking, ambulatory trance for a scene, during which she may see into the Shadowlands, hear its denizens, and even touch and be touched by ghosts. The target may not make physical contact with buildings and other objects that were never alive, and may not be dragged into the Tempest or any other place that has no corresponding location in the living world. Tainted plant matter rots by the next sunrise and loses the ability to impart this state.
Witches’ fruits are mild hallucinogens. Twisted visions of ghosts and long-fallen buildings disorient mortals under their influence. This normally imposes +2 to difficulties to perform any actions except for Willpower rolls while affected. Creatures who are familiar with supernatural phenomena don’t suffer this penalty.
••• Raise the Green One Tales of Kid, Osiris, and the Green Man all describe beings who were brought back from death and clothed in verdant color. Isis raised Osiris to become a symbol of rebirth and growth, and neopagans say Green Man ico-nography remembers the god who is slain by Winter and reborn in the Goddess’ womb. Nightshade necromancers channel these legends into the act of raising a corpse bound and strengthened by plant matter. Leaves cover its skin and strong vines supplement its rotted sinews. The living shell grants speed and self-preservation instincts not seen in other animated dead.
System: The player rolls Wits + Occult (difficulty 8). He spends one Willpower point and one blood point while concentrating on a corpse that lays upon or within fertile soil. If the roll succeeds, red-tinged vines, branches, and leaves envelop the corpse, and it rises to do the necro-mancer’s bidding. The necromancer may only raise the Green Ones one at a time, and may never have multiple Green Ones active at the same time.
Green Ones are stronger, faster, and possess better instincts than most zombies. Their traits are Strength 4, Dexterity 4, Stamina 4, Athletics 2, Brawl 3, and the equivalent of 2 dots of Fortitude, as their damp bodies resist injuries. Bashing damage inflicts half damage to a Green One. Like vampires, they suffer bashing damage from gunfire. Unlike ordinary zombies, they act in stan-dard initiative order.
•••• Wails and Whispers As the necromancer’s understanding deepens, she explores the wavering barrier between life and death. When she screams like a banshee, she can lure a soul to its demise, increasing the chance of a fatal injury. When she whispers like a mother to her child, she can fix a soul in the lands of the living, even when it occupies a body that should be dead.
System: The vampire concentrates on a target, screaming or whispering as her intentions dictate. (The target does not need to be able to hear the vampire.) The player spends one point of Willpower and rolls Wits + Occult (difficulty 8). If she wishes to lure her target closer to death, each success adds one level of lethal damage to the total inflicted by the next injury he suffers in that scene. If she wishes to prevent the target from dying, each success sets aside one level of damage (of any kind) from the next injury the target suffers during the scene, but this benefit only lasts until the end of the scene, after which the set aside damage returns. The target suffers injury but doesn’t feel its effects, up to and including death, until the scene ends and the damage returns. Note that the Storyteller can rule that very large amounts of damage may cause death due to total or near-total destruction of the body, regardless of this power’s effects.
••••• Chthonic Womb At the apex of this Path, a necromancer combines murder and fertility to give birth to the ghost of a mortal she has slain. She drinks the victim’s blood to grab hold of his soul, and after dispatching him, traps it within her. At a later time, she may call it forth as a ghost to do her bidding.
System: The vampire must drink at least one point of a mortal victim’s blood, but may kill him using another method. Another person or incident may cause the mor-tal’s demise, but the necromancer must make physical contact with him at the moment of death. At that point the player spends one point of Willpower and rolls Wits + Occult (difficulty 8). If the player succeeds, the soul occupies the vampire’s body in a dormant state for up to one month per success. (Aura Perception or similar powers will reveal the presence of the dormant soul, which might be mistaken for a form of possession.) The necromancer may store multiple souls this way, but “twins,” “triplets,” and more tax the “mother’s” energy. Each soul stored beyond the first drains one additional blood point when the vampire awakens each night.
At any point before the soul leaves her body, the vampire may summon it forth to manifest with either the traits of a recently deceased ghost (see V20, p. 385) or those it possessed in life, along with a recently deceased ghost’s supernatural abilities. It must perform three services for its “mother.” After that, the soul is free to move on to its ultimate destiny. If the ghost is commanded to perform any task that would traumatize a mortal (typically, those which would risk a Humanity check in a vampire with that trait at 7) it may, at the Storyteller’s discretion, treat the necromancer as a “fetter,” an object that the ghost fixates upon and uses as a tie to the living world. This gives the ghost the ability to haunt the necromancer until it is banished. The necromancer may always simply dismiss the soul when it appears, or even command it to leave her body while the soul still slumbers.
Developed by the Drakaina, this Path of Necromancy studies natural cycles, including the savage interplay of life and death. All life is a manifestation of entropy, a chaotic miracle punctuating Creation’s flow toward destruction. When rot claims a body, it impregnates the flesh with insects and lush plants, and its stench calls scavengers who sustain themselves with death’s bounty. Vampires demonstrate how this process can be arrested and manipulated, for Kindred stand suspended at the moment of death, before nature blesses them with the power to decompose and feed living things. The black seed lies dormant within them, but they can encourage its growth in others, manipulating rot and staining life with the ghostly essence.
Although the Drakaina developed the Path, they don’t hoard it — it’s the Dark Mother’s gift, to share with all who worship her. Any Bahari necromancer may learn it from a Drakaina teacher. Lilin Nagaraja practice this Path in increasing numbers because it unifies the life and death principles in ways anticipated (but never realized) by their Idran forebears.
• Tend the Body Garden Modern forensics makes it possible to determine time of death with remarkable accuracy — a frightening prospect for Kindred with bodies to hide. On the other hand, sometimes it’s better for people to find corpses before rot takes them. Presenting evidence that elder Kindred have suffered the Final Death is sometimes difficult to come by, as their bodies rapidly molder into nondescript ash. A necromancer with this power overcomes these difficulties. She can speed up or slow the process of decay, turning a dead mortal into a bloated host for flies in seconds or nullifying the decay of Final Death.
System: The player spends one blood point as the vam-pire lets some of her blood drip on to a corpse, and rolls Wits + Occult (difficulty 6). Successes allow the vampire to accelerate or arrest decomposition as follows:
Successes Delay or Accelerate Rot by:
1 Up to one day
2 Up to one week
3 Up to one month
4 Up to one year
5+ Storyteller’s discretion
The vampire may use this power on mortals and animals as long as the remains have not been substantially scattered. It may be used on Kindred no longer than one turn after they’ve met Final Death. Corpses that recently belonged to the living change according to local conditions, so that one stored in a dry place might mummify, while another that rests on soil quickly sprouts plants and maggots. Living things that feed from the dead are quickened or held in stasis as the corpse is, provided they’re plants, fungi, or no larger than a scarab beetle. Kindred under Final Death wither and fall to dust without attracting such organisms.
•• Witch’s Fruit Every plant relies on death to grow. Rotting things enrich the soil, and the trees, vines, and grasses drink up necrotic echoes along with vital nutrients. A necromancer can awaken this death aura by exposing their fruits to her blood. She awakens and concentrates their trace necrotic energies so that anyone who consumes them can sense and touch the Shadowlands.
System: The player spends a blood point while the vampire touches edible plant matter. No roll is required. The first living creature to eat this tainted meal falls into a waking, ambulatory trance for a scene, during which she may see into the Shadowlands, hear its denizens, and even touch and be touched by ghosts. The target may not make physical contact with buildings and other objects that were never alive, and may not be dragged into the Tempest or any other place that has no corresponding location in the living world. Tainted plant matter rots by the next sunrise and loses the ability to impart this state.
Witches’ fruits are mild hallucinogens. Twisted visions of ghosts and long-fallen buildings disorient mortals under their influence. This normally imposes +2 to difficulties to perform any actions except for Willpower rolls while affected. Creatures who are familiar with supernatural phenomena don’t suffer this penalty.
••• Raise the Green One Tales of Kid, Osiris, and the Green Man all describe beings who were brought back from death and clothed in verdant color. Isis raised Osiris to become a symbol of rebirth and growth, and neopagans say Green Man ico-nography remembers the god who is slain by Winter and reborn in the Goddess’ womb. Nightshade necromancers channel these legends into the act of raising a corpse bound and strengthened by plant matter. Leaves cover its skin and strong vines supplement its rotted sinews. The living shell grants speed and self-preservation instincts not seen in other animated dead.
System: The player rolls Wits + Occult (difficulty 8). He spends one Willpower point and one blood point while concentrating on a corpse that lays upon or within fertile soil. If the roll succeeds, red-tinged vines, branches, and leaves envelop the corpse, and it rises to do the necro-mancer’s bidding. The necromancer may only raise the Green Ones one at a time, and may never have multiple Green Ones active at the same time.
Green Ones are stronger, faster, and possess better instincts than most zombies. Their traits are Strength 4, Dexterity 4, Stamina 4, Athletics 2, Brawl 3, and the equivalent of 2 dots of Fortitude, as their damp bodies resist injuries. Bashing damage inflicts half damage to a Green One. Like vampires, they suffer bashing damage from gunfire. Unlike ordinary zombies, they act in stan-dard initiative order.
•••• Wails and Whispers As the necromancer’s understanding deepens, she explores the wavering barrier between life and death. When she screams like a banshee, she can lure a soul to its demise, increasing the chance of a fatal injury. When she whispers like a mother to her child, she can fix a soul in the lands of the living, even when it occupies a body that should be dead.
System: The vampire concentrates on a target, screaming or whispering as her intentions dictate. (The target does not need to be able to hear the vampire.) The player spends one point of Willpower and rolls Wits + Occult (difficulty 8). If she wishes to lure her target closer to death, each success adds one level of lethal damage to the total inflicted by the next injury he suffers in that scene. If she wishes to prevent the target from dying, each success sets aside one level of damage (of any kind) from the next injury the target suffers during the scene, but this benefit only lasts until the end of the scene, after which the set aside damage returns. The target suffers injury but doesn’t feel its effects, up to and including death, until the scene ends and the damage returns. Note that the Storyteller can rule that very large amounts of damage may cause death due to total or near-total destruction of the body, regardless of this power’s effects.
••••• Chthonic Womb At the apex of this Path, a necromancer combines murder and fertility to give birth to the ghost of a mortal she has slain. She drinks the victim’s blood to grab hold of his soul, and after dispatching him, traps it within her. At a later time, she may call it forth as a ghost to do her bidding.
System: The vampire must drink at least one point of a mortal victim’s blood, but may kill him using another method. Another person or incident may cause the mor-tal’s demise, but the necromancer must make physical contact with him at the moment of death. At that point the player spends one point of Willpower and rolls Wits + Occult (difficulty 8). If the player succeeds, the soul occupies the vampire’s body in a dormant state for up to one month per success. (Aura Perception or similar powers will reveal the presence of the dormant soul, which might be mistaken for a form of possession.) The necromancer may store multiple souls this way, but “twins,” “triplets,” and more tax the “mother’s” energy. Each soul stored beyond the first drains one additional blood point when the vampire awakens each night.
At any point before the soul leaves her body, the vampire may summon it forth to manifest with either the traits of a recently deceased ghost (see V20, p. 385) or those it possessed in life, along with a recently deceased ghost’s supernatural abilities. It must perform three services for its “mother.” After that, the soul is free to move on to its ultimate destiny. If the ghost is commanded to perform any task that would traumatize a mortal (typically, those which would risk a Humanity check in a vampire with that trait at 7) it may, at the Storyteller’s discretion, treat the necromancer as a “fetter,” an object that the ghost fixates upon and uses as a tie to the living world. This gives the ghost the ability to haunt the necromancer until it is banished. The necromancer may always simply dismiss the soul when it appears, or even command it to leave her body while the soul still slumbers.