Systems Blood Call: This ritual creates a limited psychic link between two willing characters. If either character is destroyed, the other will know instantly and will have a clear but fleeting vision of the manner of the character’s demise -for instance, whether the character fell honorably in the performance of a contract, or was fatally tricked or betrayed. The ritual costs each participant two Blood Points (though only one of them need actually know the ritual), and takes an hour to complete. Level Five Ritual Light of Vengeance: By spending a Blood Point and using the resulting blood to filter a light source (by smearing it on the lens of a flashlight, for example), the character can turn any artificial light source into a temporary weapon with almost the potency of sunlight. Any Kindred struck by the filtered light must roll Stamina + Fortitude as if struck by a direct ray of sunlight; the difficulty of the roll is equal to the character’s Thaumaturgy score. The effect lasts until the blood dries (2-10 minutes, depending on the amount of heat generated by the light source), and the ritual itself takes three turns. Wounds caused by this means are not aggravated wounds. Level Six Ritual Evade Curse: One of the first successes of the tajdid research program, this ritual enables the character to tolerate the blood of other Kindred for a short time. The ritual takes five minutes while feeding, and the effects last a number of turns equal to the successes on a Stamina + Occult roll (difficulty of the number of Blood Points taken + 2). The Kindred Blood Points should be marked with a“T” on the character sheet; they will be the first Blood Points to be used for healing, Quietus powers, Thaumaturgy rituals, or other purposes. On the next turn, the character’s immunity to the Curse ends; remaining Blood Points which are marked with a “T” are lost, and the character suffers an equal number of aggravated wounds. Level Seven Ritual Healing Blood: By meditating for 10 minutes without any interruption, the character can use Blood Points to heal aggravated wounds. Healing takes place at the rate of one Blood Point per health level, with no Willpower expenditure required and no limit to the number ofhealth levels that may be recovered per day. Systems Assamite assassins use a variety of techniques in stalking and dispatching their quarry, and some expansion of the combat systems given in the Vampire rulebook and The Players Guide is necessary to cover them. Storytellers should feel free to disallow any or all of these systems. Aiming Under certain circumstances, a character may aim a shot at a specific area of the target’s body; most commonly, the head or the heart. There are rules for aimed blows in The Anarch Cookbook that cover aiming at the head, limbs and chest; the difficulty modifier to hit the heart is +3, rising to +5 if the target has the Misplaced Heart Virtue from The Players Guide. When dealing with missile weapons there are additional modifiers for circumstances, as follows: Circumstances Difficulty Modifier Aiming at limb on far side of body Target walking Target running Target running and dodging Target area behind soft cover * An aimed shot may only be made against a body area which is behind soft cover (e.g. drapes, a lacquer screen, a thin wooden door) if the firing character can see enough of the target’s body to be able to judge the position of the target area. The Storyteller is the final arbiter in such circumstances. +3 or more* Aimed Bursts If a called shot is made with an automatic weapon set for a three-round burst, only the first round may be a called shot. The second and third rounds are handled normally, since recoil prevents their being aimed as carefully as the first. Surprise Attacks The easiest target is a target taken unawares - stabbed from behind or shot from ambush. To gain the advantage of surprise, the victim must be entirely unaware ofthe assailant’s presence, or must be off-guard andunable to see the assailant ready the weapon (if any) and wind up to the attack. Victims who are caught off-guard but see the assailant preparing to attack may roll Wits + Brawl (difficulty of the assailant’s Dexterity + Stealth) in order to take some action before the attack. If the victim wins, the assailant loses the difficulty Aiming Effects The following aiming difficulties are reprinted from The Anarch Cookbook. Head - Difficulty: +3, Damage: A Wounded result means unconsciousness for a mortal, but a vampire is only stunned and cannot do anything that turn. A Crippled result means the vampire is stunned until she successfully rolls Stamina (difficulty 8). Incapacitated means the vampire’s neck is broken paralyzed until she can spend enough Bloo restore herself to the Crippled level. If th sharp and the damage is one more than bring the vampire to Incapacitated, then is decapitated - the Final Death. Hands/Arms - Difficulty: +3/+2, Damage: A Wounded result means hi weapons in that hand ca dropped, the fingers will on a pistol, etc. If the we result means the limb is limb must be recovered an the vampire spends himself to at least M racy: +1, Damage: A Wounded ans shock: The rol of her blood. Wounded result (stunned for the turn), and her ribs broken on a Mauled result (neither of these results bother a vampire). If the vampire is attacked from behind and the result is one more than needed to Incapacitate, then the spine is broken, and she is paralyzed until she can spend sufficient Blood Points to restore herself to the Crippled level. modifier for attacking with surprise, and if the victim botches the roll, he or she is rooted to the spot with shock and surprise, unable to take any action of any kind that turn. Missile Fire: A sniper firing on an unaware target reduces the difficulty rating of the shot by two. Melee Combat: A character backstabbing an unsuspecting target reduces the difficulty rating of the attack by er may choose to ‘trade’ one, two or all of tra damage points, on a one-for-one basis. ssailant’s opportunity to place a blow with greater care when attacking with surprise. For example, the has approached a victim undeckstab with a dagger. His Melee ould be of little benefit to him g of the attack by 3 points - he ithout the difficulty modifierof darkness reduces the difficulty of all It increases the difficulty of all other ess unless in total rkness, the character’s other senses the lack of visual input, halving all p Characters with the Protean power G1 as well as in normal daylight. Some technological devices counteract darkness to a greater or lesser extent. Image intensifiers (also known as owl eyes and star scopes) work by concentrating the small amount of light that is available from the night sky, but are useless underground or in other circumstances where there is no natural light to intensify. Passive infrared sen build up an image; sensi heat of a mouse at a range of heat will register on , and an image can be swamped by background ‘noise’ unless ambient tempera-
