Vicissitude

• Malleable Visage

  Level 1

  With this power, a fleshcrafter can alter her appearance, shaping her flesh and tissue to match the visage of another individual. The person to be mimicked in this fashion may be someone specific, or the visage may be a random assortment of features, as you desire.

  Spend 1 Blood and expend five standard actions to modify your body. Malleable Visage requires you to physically sculpt your features, pulling and twisting the flesh beneath your hands. This power can be used to alter your features to any appearance within a normal human range. You can alter your face, size, sex, skin, or hair color, as well as adding or subtracting distinguishing marks. You can alter your height by up to one foot up or down, but you cannot become something that is not human, such as an animal, and you cannot rearrange your organs. Malleable Visage can modify your voice, if you spend an additional Blood when you activate this power.

  To believably mimic a specific individual’s appearance, you must have at least 2 dots of the Medicine skill and you must study that individual from multiple angles for at least five minutes, learning her facial expressions, how she moves, and other distinctive qualities. You might be able to mimic someone’s face after studying a photograph, but your disguise will not fool people who have ever met your target, as you do not know enough to successfully exemplify that person. To believably mimic another character’s voice, you must have at least 3 dots of the Medicine skill, and you must listen to her talk for at least five minutes as she uses a variety of words and phrases. Listening to a recording of that voice is not enough for a true replication; your disguised voice would not have the depth necessary to fool anyone who has ever spoken directly to the person you are impersonating.

  Alternately, you can use this power to give yourself a more beautiful, if slightly alien, appearance. When used in this way, you suffer a -2 penalty to your Social attribute, but gain the Appearance focus.

  Malleable Visage is not a transformative power, but its effects only apply to your normal form. If you use a transformative power, the effects of Malleable Visage do not transfer to your transformed shape.

• Fleshcraft

  Level 2

  The flesh of other creatures is putty in your hands, shifting and stretching as you will it. You can perform drastic alterations to the flesh and organs of any creature you touch.

  If the target is willing, you can spend 1 Blood and expend five standard actions to change another individual’s appearance exactly as you would by using Malleable Visage.

  In combat, you can expend a standard action and spend 1 Blood to make a Brawl-based attack augmented by Vicissitude. If your attack succeeds, you viciously smear, twist, or remove hunks of the target’s flesh, inflicting 1 point of normal damage. This damage cannot be reduced or negated, and cannot be increased or modified by other powers. You cannot increase the damage from this attack by using Potence, and you cannot upgrade the damage to aggravated damage by using Feral Claws or similar powers.

  Like the other powers of Vicissitude, Fleshcraft requires you to physically mold your target’s body into the desired shape.

  Fleshcraft is not a transformative power, but its effects only apply to your normal form. If you use a transformative power, the effects of Fleshcraft do not transfer to your transformed shape.

• Bonecraft

  Level 3

  At this level of mastery, you can shatter bone with a touch, lengthening or shortening it as you will. The secrets of anatomy and the physical form are yours to command, and you have the capacity to cause terrible harm — or create twisted playthings of flesh and bone.

  Spend 1 Blood and expend five standard actions to radically alter your form or the form of another character who is either willing or unable to move. Using Bonecraft, you can shift or remove bones, muscle groups, nerve endings, and internal organs, warping a physical body into a drastically different, and potentially anatomically improbable, shape. When you use Bonecraft on yourself or another individual, assign one of the following effects to your target. No character can be affected by more than one application of Bonecraft at a time.

  • Extra Limbs: Sacrifice 2 health levels in order to grow one or more extra limbs. Once per turn, you can expend your simple action to cause these extra limbs to attack. Attacks from the extra limbs use your normal attack test pool, but do not receive bonuses from disciplines. For example, you cannot use Potence to augment an attack made by your extra limbs. These extra limbs cannot be used during Celerity rounds.

  • Tough: Sacrifice up to 3 points of your Physical attribute to gain an equal number of health levels. These health levels are all in the Healthy wound track.

  • Transformed Biology: Your heart (and/or other organs) are in unusual places. You cannot be staked, and you may be difficult to kill. Separating your brain from your heart still causes you to meet Final Death, but it can be difficult to behead a vampire who keeps her brain in an unusual place.

  • Crippled: You morph your target into a shape incapable of fighting, or, in some cases, moving. You can rob your victim of her simple action, her standard action, or both.

  • Body Weaponry: Sacrifice 1 health level in order to transform a part of your body into a weapon. Build the weapon normally, using the rules for creating weapons. Your body weaponry cannot be disarmed, and if it is broken, you can reform it by spending 1 point of Blood.

  Health levels and attribute points sacrificed to uses of Bonecraft cannot be regained until the Bonecraft is undone. Like the other powers of Vicissitude, Bonecraft requires you to physically mold your target’s body into the desired shape.

  Bonecraft is not a transformative power, but its effects only apply to your normal form. If you use a transformative power, the effects of Bonecraft do not transfer to your transformed shape.

• Horrid Form

  Level 4

  Your body is capable of transforming into a horrible, mutated abomination, warping and twisting into an H.R. Giger-like monstrosity. You may develop spikes of bone across parts of your body, cloak yourself in fur or hair, develop numerous eyes, or anything else your twisted mind can imagine.

  Spend 1 Blood and expend a standard action to transform into a massive, inhuman monster. While in Horrid Form, you suffer a -3 penalty to your Mental and Social attributes, but you also receive the Strength Physical attribute focus, and a +3 bonus to your Physical attribute when making brawling attacks. Additionally, your brawling attacks infl ict aggravated damage, while you are in Horrid Form.

  Horrid Form is a transformative power and cannot be combined with other transformative powers.

• Blood Form

  Level 5

  If you concentrate briefly, you can cause your body to liquefy into a pool of blood. In this state, you can still act and register the world around you. You are a liquid creature in a world of those confined to a solid state.

  Spend 1 Blood and expend a standard action to transform into a pool of blood. While in Blood Form, you cannot spend Blood, talk, activate powers, or physically attack, but you are also immune to Physical attacks from sources other than fire and sunlight. You can be injured by non-Physical attacks, and you can be harmed by flaming weapons, such as a torch or a road flare; however, incendiary ammunition passes through your form too quickly to inflict damage. If hit by a flaming weapon, such as a torch or a road flare, you can spend 1 point of Blood to extinguish that flame in the moment it strikes you.

  Your Blood Form is semi-gelatinous, but cannot maintain a solid form. It is not human-shaped and cannot appear to walk or talk. While in Blood Form, other characters can attempt to drink you. To do so, an attacker must make a Brawl-based challenge using her Physical attribute + Brawl versus your Physical attribute + Dodge. If successful, the attacker drinks 1 point of your Blood. If you run out of Blood while in this transformation, either from someone drinking your vitae, or from your expenditure of Blood points, you immediately meet Final Death. Characters who have very little vitae left in their Blood pools should be cautious about transforming into Blood Form.

  In this form, you can pass through any crack, hole, or aperture that liquid could normally transverse. You cannot pass through solid objects or airtight passages, nor can you travel through planes of glass, as you do not condense. You also cannot fly, though you can travel along tilted or raised surfaces, such as up a wall. You take no damage from falling.

  While in Blood Form, you are formed of liquid vitae and do have a tangible physical presence. You can be touched by anyone who passes her hand through your form, and you can touch other individuals by flowing in the target’s direction. Touching, or being touched, may require a Brawl attack. Blood Form is a transformative power and cannot be combined with other transformative powers.

• Breath of the Dragon

  Level 6

  With this power, you shape your inner organs into an organic, supernatural furnace. Like the dragons of ancient tales, you roar a gout of flame upon your enemies, incinerating everything in a small radius.

  Spend 2 Blood and expend your standard action to breathe fire on your opponents. Breath of the Dragon can target up to three characters standing within three steps of each other. All targets must be within six steps of you.

  To attack with Breath of the Dragon, use your Physical attribute + Athletics versus the target’s Physical attribute + Dodge. If you succeed, this power inflicts 4 points of fire damage. Fire causes aggravated damage to vampires. Breath of the Dragon can be used during Celerity rounds, but you must pay the cost for each attack.

  When targeting multiple enemies with this power, you must make a separate opposed challenge against each of the defenders. Should you spend a point of Willpower to retest any of these opposed challenges, you also gain that retest for the remainder of the opposed challenges, without spending further Willpower. If you spend Willpower to retest after some challenges are resolved, you cannot go back to previous challenges you’ve lost and apply that Willpower retest retroactively.

• Acid Blood

  Level 6

  Those who master the powers of Vicissitude can transform their bodies beyond human capacity, shaping their own flesh and blood into a thing of supernatural beauty or cruel mockery. With this power, the vampire’s skill with Vicissitude has become so adept that her very blood can defend against those who would defile her.

  Once you purchase this power, your character’s blood permanently becomes a potent acid. This condition does not harm your character, but will injure others who come into contact with her vitae.

  Anyone who drinks your blood immediately takes 3 points of aggravated damage per point of Blood ingested. This damage cannot be reduced or negated. Anyone who attempts to diablerize you, even if you have no points of Blood left in your Blood pool, must make a challenge using her Physical attribute + Survival versus your Physical attribute + Occult. If the diablerist succeeds in this challenge, she takes 5 points of aggravated damage and successfully diablerizes you. If the diablerist fails this challenge, she is immediately destroyed as your heart’s blood dissolves her from the inside out. You remain intact.

  Because anyone drinking your blood takes damage, Acid Blood can make it difficult (but not impossible) to Embrace new childer or maintain ghouls. If a character with Acid Blood is using the Blood Form power, she can spend 1 Blood per turn to do 3 points of aggravated damage to anything or anyone touching he r. This includes anyone she has grappled; the Grapple does not cause damage, but anyone you touch is continually burned by your Acid Blood. If multiple people are touching you when you activate this effect, a single use of this power will burn up to four individuals, causing each of them 3 aggravated damage.

  Note that characters who run out of Blood while in Blood Form immediately meet their Final Death.

• Cocoon

  Level 6

  Given enough time and privacy you can spin your own protective cocoon by secreting a jelly-like substance from your skin composed of liquefied bone and congealed blood. The revolting enclosure hides you from the outside world allowing you to repair yourself at an accelerated rate. Like a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly, you emerge as a new creature, completely healed.

  Spend 3 points of Blood and 3 standard actions to excrete a supernatural cocoon that covers your entire body and protects you from attack. While within the Cocoon you gain a number of restorative and protective powers. Every minute spent in the Cocoon converts 1 level of aggravated damage you have incurred to normal damage. If you have no aggravated damage you instead heal 1 level of normal damage every minute. For every 30 minutes in the Cocoon, you regain 1 spent Willpower point. While within the Cocoon you cannot be supernaturally observed by powers such as Clairvoyance. In addition, upon leaving the cocoon any previous familiarity others have established with you are reset.

  From the inside of the Cocoon, you have limited visibility to your surroundings. While you cannot see or hear, you will sense if anyone approaches within 3 steps, or if the Cocoon takes damage.

  Once crafted, the Cocoon has a number of health levels equal to your total number of Vicissitude powers, including elder powers, luminary powers, and techniques. If a Cocoon loses all of its health levels, its benefits end and you can be attacked as normal. You may choose to affix a Cocoon to its surroundings as you create it. If you do, it cannot be moved for as long as it has health levels remaining.

• Virtuoso del Corpo

  Level 6

  Although some vampires decry the notion that Vicissitude is an art, the Tzimisce say such closed-minded critics are held back by a perspective rooted in humanity or a weak stomach; both of which they can fix. For you, your mastery of the body sculpting powers of Vicissitude has reached a truly elite level. Indeed, Tzimisce of such skill are highly sought after, both by supplicating clients and as artists whose creations never fail to amaze and entertain. Interesting, creative or especially ironic applications of Virtuoso del Corpo have been known to bring macabre artists great acclaim.

  Once learned, these powers are added to your list of Boncraft effects and are considered Bonecraft powers for all purposes.

• Azhi Dahaka

  Level 7

  The ultimate goal of a Seeker is Azhi Dahaka – the penultimate state of shape mastery named after a Persian god. While some conjecture that this state is philosophical in nature akin to a state of mind similar to Golconda, others believe that it is an achievable state of physical preeminence and mental impermanence gained through a deeper understanding of Vicissitude. The Seekers who practice this power have declared it the highest expression of their art, believing it capable of granting spiritual communion with the Eldest.

  Once learned, this power is always active. You gain every attribute focus. Any powers or flaws that remove focuses, such as Total Insanity or the Stolen Potential flaw, still apply.

  Once per night, you may also spend 3 uninterrupted standard actions to reassign your bonus attribute dots from one attribute category to another. For example, if you had 4 bonus attribute dots in the Physical category, you could reassign 2 to the Mental category and 2 to the Social category. When you do this, you may also change your Archetype. However, you may still only gain a benefit from your Archetype once per hour. Changing your Archetype does not reset this effect. Each night upon waking you will revert to the original attribute and bonus attribute dots recorded on your character sheet, along with your recorded Archetype.

• Ravenous Conglomeration

  Level 7

  By loosening the cohesion of your own muscles and skin you can defy the natural boundaries of shape, evolving into a superior hybrid composition of multiple forms. You may alter this form to suit your needs, choosing among the various shapes within your repertoire. Most who look upon the form of a Ravenous Conglomeration find it terrifying in the extreme; the fuel for nightmares and horror films. You, however, see it for what it is — the very essence of Vicissitude made manifest.

  Once learned, this power is always active. You are no longer bound by the rule limiting you to a single major transformation power at a single time. Instead, you may assume up to 2 major transformations simultaneously, becoming a horrifying gestalt of monstrous features. You may also choose to combine the effects of your Bonecraft alterations with another major transformation, though retaining your Bonecraft effects in this way counts as one of your major transformations. You may not activate the same power twice.

  You may also spend 4 points of Blood and a simple action to activate any number of your transformation powers instead of paying their individual blood and action costs. This activation is subject to your limits above.

  If one of your assumed forms renders you immaterial or unable to attack, such as Blood Form, Mist Form, or Tenebrous Form, your combined form is unable to attack.

  Example: Roscoe, Paladin to Regent Temoch, is challenged to monomacy by the head of the Ultraconservatives. As the contest begins, Roscoe spends 4 points of Blood and his simple action to activate Ravenous Conglomeration. Roscoe may choose to activate up to 2 major transformation powers, or he may activate one major transformative power and substitute a number of Bonecraft alterations up to his maximum in exchange for another major transformation. He may also activate any number of minor transformations as well. In addition to his Vicissitude powers, Roscoe also has 4 dots of Protean. He chooses to activate Horrid Form, Shape of the Beast, Feral Claws, and Eyes of the Beast, erupting into a terrifying amalgamation of fur, muscle, and claws with burning red eyes.