Post by Phsycodelic on Nov 19, 2016 1:10:46 GMT
Thaumaturgy: Weather Control ( The Breath Of Set )
Assamites, Followers Of Set, Tremere
Assamites, Followers Of Set, Tremere
Like Necromancy, the practice of Thaumaturgy is divided into paths and rituals. Thaumaturgical paths are applications of the vampire's knowledge of blood magic, allowing her to create effects on a whim. Rituals are more formulaic in nature, most akin to ancient magical "spells." Because so many different paths and rituals are available to the arcane Tremere, one never knows what to expect when confronted with a practitioner of this Discipline.
When a character first learns Thaumaturgy, the player selects a path for the character. That path is considered the character's primary path, and she automatically receives one dot in it, as well as one Level One ritual. Thereafter, whenever the character increases her level in Thaumaturgy, her rating in the primary path increases by one as well. Additional rituals are learned separately, as part of a story; players need not pay experience points for their characters to learn rituals up to the level equal to their overall rating in Thaumaturgy, though they must find someone to teach the rituals in question. Path ratings never exceed 5, though the overall Thaumaturgy score may. If a character reaches a rating of 5 in her primary path and increases her Thaumaturgy score afterward, she may allocate her "free" path dot to a different path.
Many Kindred fear crossing the practitioners of Thaumaturgy. It is a very potent and mutable Discipline, and almost anything the Kindred wishes may be accomplished through its magic.
Paths define the types of magic a vampire can perform. A vampire typically learns his primary path from his sire, though it is not unknown for some vampires to study under many different tutors.
As mentioned before, the first path a character learns is considered her primary path and increases automatically as the character advances in the Discipline itself. Secondary paths may be learned once the character has acquired two or more dots in her primary path, and they must be raised separately with experience points. Furthermore, a character's rating in her primary path must always be at least one dot higher than any of her secondary paths until she has mastered her primary path. Once the character has achieved the fifth level of her primary path, secondary paths may be increased to that level.
Each time the character invokes one of the powers of a Thaumaturgical path, the thaumaturge's player must spend a blood point and make a Willpower roll against a difficulty equal to the power's level +3. Only one success is required to invoke a path's effect - path levels, not successes, govern the power of blood magic. Failure on this roll indicates that the magic fails. A botch causes some kind of loss or catastrophic backfire, such as losing a Willpower point (or dot!), spontaneous combustion, or accidentally letting a living statue run rampant. Thaumaturgy is an unforgiving art.
Various Sects and Clans have different access to each path, but unless the Storyteller decides otherwise, it is assumed the Tremere have some access to all of them. ("Having access" does not mean the same thing as "easily gained," especially within the Tremere power structure.) The paths start with one of the most common (The Path of Blood), and thereafter are presented in alphabetical order. (The unusual "path" of Thaumaturgical Countermagic is also presented, although it is considered a separate Discipline).
[ 1 - 5 ] Weather Control Levels 1 - 5 ( Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition - Page 228 )
Command over the weather has long been a staple power of wizards both mortal and immortal, and this path is said to predate the Tremere by millennia. The proliferation of usage of this path outside the Clan tends to confirm this theory; Weather Control is quite common outside the Tremere, and even outside the Camarilla. Lower levels of this path allow subtle manipulations, while higher stages of mastery allow a vampire to call up raging storms. The area affected by this power is usually rather small, no more than three or four miles (five to six kilometers) in diameter, and the changes the power wreaks are not always immediate.
System: The number of successes rolled indicates how long it takes the weather magic to take effect. One success indicates an entire day may pass before the weather changes to the thaumaturge's liking, while a roll with five successes brings an almost instant effect.
The difficulty of the Willpower roll necessary to invoke this power may change depending on the current local weather conditions and the weather the character is attempting to create. The Storyteller should impose a bonus (-1 or -2 difficulty) for relatively minor shifts, such as clearing away a light drizzle or calling lightning when a severe thunderstorm is already raging. Conversely, a penalty (+1 or +2 difficulty) should be applied when the desired change is at odds with the current conditions, such as summoning the same light drizzle in the middle of the Sahara Desert or calling down lightning from a cloudless sky.
If the character tries to strike a specific target with lightning, the player must roll Perception + Occult (difficulty 6 if the target is standing in open terrain, 8 if he is under shelter, or 10 if he is inside but near a window) in addition to the base roll to use Thaumaturgy. Otherwise the bolt goes astray, with the relative degree of failure of the roll determining where exactly the lightning strikes.
Effects of the power default to the maximum area available unless the caster states that he's attempting to affect a smaller area. At Storyteller discretion, an additional Willpower roll (difficulty 6) may be required to keep the change in the weather under control.
Weather Control is not the sort of power that lends itself well to indoor application. While certain of the path's uses (changes of temperature, high winds, and possibly even fog) do make a certain amount of sense in interior settings, others (precipitation of any sort, lightning) don't. The difficulty for all rolls to use Weather Control indoors is at +2, and the Storyteller should feel free to disallow any proposed uses that don't make sense.
Individual power descriptions are not provided for this path, as the general principle is fairly consistent. Instead, the strongest weather phenomenon possible at each level is listed.
| Successes | Result |
| 1 | Fog: Vision is slightly impaired and sounds are muffled; a +1 difficulty is imposed on all Perception rolls that involve sight and hearing, and the effective range of all ranged attacks are halved. |
| 1 | Light Breeze: A +1 difficulty is imposed on all Perception rolls that involve smell. |
| 1 | Minor Temperature Change: It is possible to raise or lower the local temperature by up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit or 5 degrees Celsius. |
| 2 | Rain Or Snow: As Fog, but Perception rolls are impaired to a much greater extent; the difficulty modifier for all such rolls rises to +2. In addition, the difficulty on all Drive rolls increases by two. |
| 3 | High Winds: The wind speed rises to around 30 miles per hour or 50 kilometers per hour, with gusts of up to twice that. Ranged attacks are much more difficult: + 1 to firearm attacks and +2 to thrown weapons and archery. In addition, during fierce gusts, Dexterity rolls (difficulty 6) may be required to keep characters from being knocked over by the winds. When gale-force winds are in effect, papers go flying, objects get picked up by the winds and hurled with abandon, and other suitably cinematic effects are likely. |
| 3 | Moderate Temperature Change: The local temperature can be raised or lowered by up to 20 degrees Fahrenheit or 10 degrees Celsius. |
| 4 | Storm: This has the effects of both Rain and High Winds. |
| 5 | Lightning Strike: This attack inflicts 10 dice of lethal damage. Body armor does not add to the target's dice pool to soak this attack. |
