With this frightening power, the Daimoinon user combines her ability to read the spiritual faults of a victim with her ability to summon up the energy of the infernal planes. Psychomachia gives life to an individual’s deepest psychological wounds, pitting their target against the most dangerous, shameful parts of her own subconscious.

Spend 1 Blood and use your standard action to make an opposed challenge against your target, using the Daimoinon test pool. If successful, an illusionary manifestation of your target’s anguish and sin appears within arm’s reach of the subject of your power. This incarnation may be the subject’s abusive father, a long-dead lover, a childhood bogeyman, or some other manifestation of her inner wounds. Whatever its form, the malefic anima immediately turns upon your target and seeks to do her harm.

The target of Psychomachia can interact with and be wounded by her malefic anima as if it were a normal creature. You can also see the Psychomachia manifestation, but you cannot interact with it. Other individuals cannot see or interact with this spiritual incarnation and have no means of determining if it is there or targeting it with attacks or powers.

A malefic incarnation created by Psychomachia is a 5-point Stock NPC with 10 points of Blood. It possesses the powers Feral Claws and Heightened Senses, but does not have access to other Auspex or Protean powers. It has specializations in your choice of two of the three standard Physical disciplines (Potence, Celerity, and Fortitude). Additionally, you may select three other skill focuses for the manifestation to possess. Psychomachia cannot be activated during Celerity rounds, but a malefic incarnation that possesses the Celerity focus can take Physical actions during Celerity rounds.

When Psychomachia ends, the manifestation dissipates into foul-smelling, sulfurous smoke, which only you and the target can sense. This occurs after five minutes, when the malefic incarnation takes 5 points of damage, or if your target is torpored or rendered unconscious. You can only have one Psychomachia manifestation in existence at any one time. Using the power a second time, even if on another target, dissipates the first incarnation of this power.