Vicissitude
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Vicissitude competes with the Madmens gift of Dementation for the title as the most harrowing power of the unliving. Cainites of Clan Tzimisce consider this Discipline their true gift, which allows them to reshape living or unliving flesh. Neonates might call attention to the similarities between Vicissitude and Protean, but ancillae and those who are familiar with both the Gangrel and Tzimisce recognize the truth.

Protean allows a Gangrel to manifest certain aspects of the Beast for the world to see. Vicissitude by contrast, allows the Tzimisce to visit his foulest perversions upon otherwise innocent victims and present them for the world to see. All Vicissitude powers require at least a moments physical contact. Some require considerably longer periods of time, in order to physically sculpt flesh and bone into the proper shapes. Vicissitude cannot be used to heal damage, though. That takes vitae, in the case of vampires, or time, in the case of mortals. And some of the reshaping that Tzimisce perform upon their victims takes time to heal into its new form, in the same way that a broken bone must reknit, and it might do so at an odd angle if it is setincorrectly.

Typically, changes made by Vicissitude are permanent, with a couple of caveats. First, a victim of lower generation than the Cainite using Vicissitude can heal any changes as though they were aggravated wounds. Second, Vicissitude can be used to undo changes wrought by that power but such a thing might take time and a great deal of work. Finally Vicissitude cannot permanently undo the horrid aspect of a Nosferatu, the deathly pallor of a Cappadocian, the inky blackness of an elder Assamites flesh or the animalistic features of a Gangrel who has frenzied overmuch. Those features are intrinsic aspects of the victims blood and return after a days rest. Vicissitude is part of Gods curse on Caine because it replaces the ability to create and nurture new living things with the hideous compulsion to reshape Gods creation in a twisted new image.

Those Cainites on the Road of Heaven rarely use this power, but it is popular among former butchers and peasants, as well as those who grew up in the shadow of Tzimisce holdings. Some Tzimisce fanatics follow a Road of Metamorphosis that uses Vicissitude as part of its holy (or unholy) sacraments. They are even said to worship in a horrific temple known as the Cathedral of Flesh.

Malleable Visage

A Fiend with this power may alter his own bodily parameters: height, build, voice, facial features, hair and skin tone, among other things. Such changes are cosmetic and minor in scope no more than a foot of height can be gained or lost, for example. He must physically mold the alteration, literally shaping his flesh into the desired result.

System: The player must spend a blood pointfor each body part to be changed, then roll Intelligence + Body Crafts with a difficulty of 6. To duplicate another person requires a Perception + Body Crafts roll with a difficulty of 8 instead. Five successes are required for a flawless copy; fewer successes leave flaws ranging from minute to glaringly obvious. The player may increase his Cainites Appearance trait with Malleable Visage, but the difficulty of the Intelligence + Body Crafts Roll is 10, and a botch permanently decreases the Attribute.

For those who do not habitually flesh craft themselves, these changes in Appearance are permanent. To Tzimisce and other rare Vicissitude wielders, Appearance can vary wildly from sunset to dawn. It is limited only by the Cainites imagination and his generational trait limit.

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