Sadhana: Rasayana

[Phsycodelic]

Sadhana: Rasayana ( Alchemy )

Assamites, Followers Of Set, Tremere

A vampiric version of Hindu sorcery, practised by the Daitya and other Indian vampires.

Sadhana paths all call for Willpower rolls. A sadhu evokes all path magic by sheer force of will because that's how she believes ascetic magic works: If you gain enough merit through your austerities, what you wish comes true. Most Sadhana rituals call for an Intelligence + Occult roll from the player, just like every other style of Thaumaturgy. The exceptions, like Rakta-Maya rituals of hypnotic illusion, are noted in their sections.

Unlike Hermatic magus, a sadhu needs to learn an additional Ability besides Occult. Sadhana's austerities demand that a practitioner also develop the Secondary Skill of Meditation. A sorcerer cannot employ path magic at a higher level than her Meditation Trait, though she may perform rituals of a higher level. She still knows her primary path to the level of her full Thaumaturgical mastery; she simply lacks the spiritual force or focus to use it. When her player raises the character's Meditation Trait, she can use the path to the higher level. Note: This applies to ALL paths learned in this line, including ones "imported" from other paths.

Meditation has many uses in its own right, in accordance with an Indian adept's overmastering will. At the Storyteller's option, a sadhu's player can substitute an Intelligence + Meditation roll for a path power's Willpower roll – but at the cost of the power taking as much time as a ritual of the same level. Meditation is not quick.

Thaumaturgy has some of its roots in the early practices of Hermetic alchemy, which concerned itself with changing the properties of given ideals. Indeed, much of Thaumaturgy's codified structure and basic principles are very similar to those of alchemy.

In the near-millennium that has passed since the Tremere's earliest efforts with blood magic, alchemy has fallen by the wayside, however. Modern technology makes possible almost anything this path can do and far more - it is easier and more reliable to mine for gold, for example, than it is to create it by transmuting other materials. Still, old habits die hard among vampires, and the Tremere are no exception. A few elders still practice this path, and of these, some still teach it to their childer to illustrate the basic tenets of modern blood magic.

Setite Sorcery botches, regardless of school, cause the sorcerer to acquire an intense photophobia. When exposed to extremely bright lights, the sorcerer must roll for Rötschreck against a difficulty of (4 + the sorcerer's Path rating). Setite lector-priests do not suffer this effect. [Rites Of The Blood - Page 132]

[ 1 - 5 ] Alchemy Levels 1 - 5 ( Blood Magic: Secrets Of Thaumaturgy - Page 68 )

System: The number of successes on the activation roll determines how radically a thaumaturge may alter a given compound's form. He need not use all his successes - a thaumaturge wishing to effect only a simple change of form need not turn lead into gold if he accumulates five successes. The thaumaturge must, however, acquire at least the minimum number of successes suggested by the table below to generate the effect he seeks.

Changing one element into another requires familiarity with both elements. One cannot suddenly decide he wants to change a balloon's worth of helium into a sphere of solid titanium if he has never dealt with either of those elements before. Simply knowing an atomic number is not enough to warp the laws of nature so radically. It is worthwhile to note, however, that Alchemy makes no distinction between naturally occurring and man-made elements - it affects Einsteinium as readily as it affects carbon.

Note also that this path has fallen out of practice because it is less useful in modem nights than it was in the past. Transmutations create Hermetic "ideals" rather than perfect real-world resources which cannot be broken down into lesser constructs. A hunk of gold is a hunk of gold - an attempt to cast coins with it will reduce the hunk to a pile of inert sludge. Before you ask - yes, this means your Tremere anarch will not be able to create nuclear bombs by turning the prince's shoes into uranium. There's nothing wrong with converting lead into gold and selling that hunk of gold to someone else, however - caveat emptor!

Note: Storytellers are encouraged to apply this principle to the use of the Path of Conjuring as well. Characters who try to conjure "antimatter" or create weapons of mass destruction magically should be subtly but reasonably discouraged.

Also, use of this path assumes the thaumaturge works with the elements in a laboratory-style (or at least controlled) environment. No vampire will be able to walk down the street and turn the iron in people's blood to helium with a simple touch.

A vampire's knowledge of Alchemy determines how greatly she may change a given element.

Note: Consider the level of the ability the same for the amount of successes required to do that particular ability as well (a level 5 ability requires 5 successes).

Level	Effect
1	Simple changes in form: Solid to liquid, liquid to gas, etc.
2	Complex changes to form: Liquid to a specific shape of solid, water to separate hydrogen and oxygen gas clouds, etc.
3	Complicated changes to form: Water to breathable oxygen and loose hydrogen, compounds into separate rate elements, etc.
4	Minor shifts in composition: Such as adjusting an element's atomic number up to five greater or less than its original designation.
5	Miraculous shifts in composition: Such as turning lead into gold or nitrogen into radium.