Sense the Sin
The novitiate first learns the art of unmaking where the seeds of chaos are strewn - from within. This power allows the Baali to see into the heart of a person, unearthing his flaws - his shortcomings, his vulnerabilities, his exploitable weaknesses.
System: The player rolls Perception + Empathy against living or undead beings, difficulty equal to the subject's Self-Control + 4. If successful, the Baali can sense the subject's greatest weakness. The depth and significance of this information are dictated by the degree of success; one success might determine a low Virtue, weak Willpower or a poorly defended avenue of approach, whereas two might yield a closely-guarded secret or a conversational misstep. Three or more yields a central Derangement or formative trauma from the subject's past.
Fear of the Void Below
The disciple's power has progressed from the ephemeral to the tangible. Through the use of this Discipline, she may project into listeners' minds the beginnings of obvlivion - the nameless, formless, terrors of the night, the unknown and the inevitability of nonbeing.
System: The Baali must first employ Sense the Sin to discern the tragic flaw of the target. She must then speak to the target(s), playing upon his inadequacies, the inescapable consequences of his shortcomings and the certain nothingness that must follow faliure. A successful Wits + Intimidation roll (difficulty of the subject's Courage +4) drives the victiminto quavering fits of tremulous terror (one success), mindless panic-borne flight similar to Rötschreck (two successes) or even unconsciousness (three or more successes). All effects last for the remainder of the scene. Kindred subjects may resist with a courage roll (difficulty of the Baali's Willpower) that garners more successes than the Baali - they are accustomed to dealing with their Beasts.
Conflagration
Through focus and force of will, the adept summons forth something of the essence of Beyond… the briefest trickle of otherworldly power. This sinister "black fire" has been known to manifest as an imperceptible distortion of time and space, an incandescent halo of etheral light, even the semblance of eldritch flame - all of which, of course, leave observers eerily reminded of traditional guises of the infernal…
System: The player spends a blood point. This creates a bold of black flame that inflicts one die of aggrevated damage; more blood points may be spent to increase the size and damage of the flame. Such fires are fleeting and dissipate at the end of the turn in which they are summoned, unless the Baali spends blood points over several turns, gradually creating a larger flame. The player also rolls Dexterity + Occult (difficulty 6) to hit his target, who may dodge as normal, unless the circumstances prevent it. Vampires confronted with this black fire make Rötschreck tests as if confronted with a similar quantity of normal flame.
Psychomachia
At length the Baali, having grasped something of nature of fervor and the frailty of flesh, takes on the power to ravage a victim's unconscious, forcing his innermost passions and perversions into palpable physical form - the stuff of nightmare.
System: The vampire, spinning the nightmare from an individual hell of the victim's own making (after using Sense the Sin, above), forces the subject's player to roll her lowest Virtue (difficulty 6). Faling this roll pits the target against an apparition summoned from her darker self, visible and material to the subject only - for instance, an abusive father, a long-dead lover, perhaps a childhood boogeyman or (for Kindred victims) even the Beast itself. A botch indicates that the target has been overwhelmed and frenzies - or, worse, becomes possessed by her inner demons.
This imaginary antagonist should be wholly narrated, or assigned Traits equivalent or slightly inferior to the victim's, at the Storytellers option. All injuries sustained by the target in such an encounter are illusory (substitute catatonia or torpor for death as appropriate) and vanish upon the phantasm's defeat or the Baali's loss of concentration.
Condemnation
Calling on forbidden pacts, forgotten powers and a legacy of blighted ritual dating back to prehistoric times, the Baali may call down a curse upon his enemies. The least of such afflictions cripple; the greatest have become stuff of legend.
System: An intelligence + Occult roll (difficulty equal to the subject's Willpower) dictates the length and severity of the curse; success must be split between both these effects, as follows.
1 Success — Up to one week; "No voice shall be lent your lying tongue."
2 Successes — One month; "Sicken and wither, infidel… a babe's weakness upon you."
3 Successes — One year; "Reap this bitter harvest; - may your closest friends turn foe."
4 Successes — Ten years; "Barren be thy seed and the loins of all your line."
5 Successes — Permanent; "The mark of doom - all you touch or love must fail."
At any time, the Baali may choose to end the curse, though few have ever done so. Storytellers should feel free to invent creative story-appropriate curses; similarly, abuse (including but not limited to overuse) should be met with automatic faliure or distortion beyond the curse's original intent.
Summon the Herald of Topheth
[VSH]
Call the Great Beast
[VSH]
