Dark Thaumaturgy

Dark Thaumaturgy is expressly infernal blood magic. Unlike Tremere Thaumaturgy, it is not a Discipline developed through study and blood refinement but a power granted through pacts with demonic entities. Practitioners are infernalists — vampires who have bargained away parts of their soul for power.

Key systemic differences from Thaumaturgy:

• Dark Thaumaturgy cannot be taught through normal instruction; it requires a demonic source
• Those with mystical senses (Auspex, True Faith) can detect the infernal signature of these powers being used
• Infernalists using Path of Phobos risk absorbing their victims’ terror — see path description
• Fires of the Inferno cannot be soaked without the Fortitude Discipline

The Fires of the Inferno

Practitioners conjure balefire from their hands in jets or globes. The malignant green flame is drawn from an infernal source, and anyone with mystical senses who witnesses its conjuring will recognize the infernal origin. Fire is one of the surest ways to bring Final Death to a vampire — balefire greatly amplifies this threat.

Fire under the caster’s control does not harm the infernalist or cause frenzy, but fires started as a result of the unnatural flame affect the thaumaturge normally. The number of successes on the activation roll determines placement accuracy (declared before the roll).

Soak requirement: To soak the damage at all, a vampire must have the Fortitude Discipline. Non-Fortitude vampires cannot soak balefire.

Path of Phobos

Infernalists tap the depths of their victims’ psyches, extracting and manifesting their genuine fears. Sophisticated Sabbat infernalists favor this path for its psychological precision — using a subject’s own terrors against them rather than vulgar demonstrations of force.

Nightmare risk: Infernalists who use this path risk absorbing their victims’ stolen terrors. Any character using Path of Phobos more than once in a given story must make a Manipulation + Empathy roll (difficulty 7). Failure means the character relives the nightmares of their victims each night — waking soaked in blood sweat, costing an extra blood point to rise. The number of successes on this consequence roll determines how long the nightmare bleed persists (1 success = one week; 5 successes = one day).

● Induce Fear

Cost: — | Dice Pool: Standard activation vs. target’s Willpower | Duration: See table

The infernalist harnesses infernal power to instill paranoia. Subtle shapes shimmer at the edge of the victim’s vision. The victim becomes noticeably preoccupied. To take any action other than searching for the imagined stalker, the victim must make a Courage roll (difficulty 4 + activation successes, max 9). All dice pools are automatically reduced by 1 for the duration.

Activation: The infernalist must concentrate, gesture toward the victim, and chant an invocation.

●● Spook

Cost: — | Activation: Must see victim; whisper a prayer to Hell

Transforms paranoia into dread. The victim senses something terrible is about to happen unless they flee immediately. Mortals must succeed at a Courage roll (difficulty 7) to remain in the area. Vampires must make the same roll; failure triggers Rötschreck.

●●● Terrorize

Cost: — | Activation: Concentrate and gesture toward victim

Draws out the victim’s specific fear and presents it to them. The victim sees, hears, smells, and feels whatever terrifies them most — entirely real to the victim, invisible to onlookers. The terrorized subject must succeed at a Courage roll (difficulty 7) to act; otherwise, they cower helplessly. Botching the Courage roll results in a permanent derangement suited to the specific fear triggered.

●●●● Fear Plague

Cost: — | Activation: Must see victim; loudly curse them | Duration: One week

The infernalist tastes the victim’s most deep-rooted phobia and forces continuous submersion in it. The victim experiences the fear every waking moment — drowning victims feel air thicken in their lungs, vampire-fearing victims see fanged nemeses everywhere. The victim becomes so exhausted that rising to face a new night is a struggle.

For the duration, all Willpower rolls are made as if the character’s permanent rating is three lower than normal (minimum 1).

●●●●● Leech of Fear

Cost: 1 WP from victim per use | Activation: Victim must be in sight and genuinely afraid of something; that fear cannot be caused by other applications of this path

The infernalist converts pure emotional terror into a mystical substitute for vitae. Each success on the activation roll generates one “fear pool” point. Each point may be spent exactly like a blood point — beyond normal Generation limits. The fear pool must be utilized before sunrise or it dissipates. On a botch, the infernalist gets no fear pool and cannot use the power on that victim for 24 hours.

The Taking of the Spirit

By calling upon hellish power, this path strips temporary Willpower from the victim, reducing them to an almost soulless automaton. This path functions on vampires and mortals alike. Some infernalists have built entire servant legions through repeated application.

Activation: The infernalist loudly invokes the legions of Hell, then touches the target. If the target is unwilling, a Dexterity + Brawl roll may be required to make contact.

Contested roll: Manipulation + relevant Ability vs. target Willpower (infernalist difficulty 8, target difficulty 8). Each success the target accumulates cancels one of the infernalist’s.

If the target accumulates more net successes: The target resists. Their mind is hardened — the Taking of the Spirit cannot be used against this target again for one full year.

If the infernalist accumulates net successes: The target’s Willpower is stripped to zero. The victim does the infernalist’s bidding, staring blankly forward in a zombie-like state until they recover one dot of Willpower. If the infernalist dies, the victim regains all lost Willpower immediately.

On an infernalist botch: The infernalist loses Willpower points equal to their mastery of this path. These return at one per night. If all points are lost, the infernalist may come under the control of otherworldly forces.

Willpower recovery rate (determined by infernalist’s path rating):

Blessings of the Great Dark Mother

A Thaumaturgy path of Bahari ashipu (sorcerers). Draws on Lilith’s spirit-beast children — Serpent, Owl, Cat, and Dragon — to disrupt and sever infernal and demonic bonds. Used by the Order of Moloch against infernalists.

Activation: 1 Blood Point + Manipulation + Occult vs. target’s current Willpower (unless otherwise noted).

Note: This path severs bonds and pacts, not blood bonds. It also cannot undo infernal pacts — only spiritual bonds.

● Cradlesong

Cost: 1 Blood Point | Pool: Perception + Occult, difficulty = highest Willpower among targets in range

Sing, speak, whistle, or play an incantation. All infernal pacts, spiritual pacts, voluntary and involuntary bonds (including blood bonds) become perceptible to the caster. Each ashipu perceives them differently — as threads of colored light, as music, as scent. Electronic amplification extends the effective range.

●● Kessep (Silver Serpent)

Cost: 1 Blood Point | Pool: Manipulation + Occult vs. target’s Willpower

Invoke the argent serpent of purification. Severs one selected infernal or spiritual bond the target holds. Cannot sever blood bonds or undo infernal pacts with the Pentad. Success frees the enthralled spirit or demon — which may then take whatever action it chooses toward its former owner.

●●● Sotheq (Twilight Owl)

Cost: 1 Blood Point | Pool: Manipulation + Occult vs. target’s Willpower

Invoke the twilight owl of silence. All infernal and spiritual bonds the target holds go silent — the target can no longer issue commands to bound spirits/demons or receive commands from entities that hold them. 4+ successes: extends this silence to any vampire at the other end of a blood bond the target holds.

●●●● Allah (Night Cat)

Cost: 1 Blood Point per spirit/demon | Pool: Manipulation + Occult vs. target’s Willpower (rolled separately for each)

Invoke the shadow-pelted cat. Assault all of the target’s lesser servitor bonds simultaneously. Each success on a given roll frees that bound spirit or demon. Failure on any roll: the entity learns precisely who attempted to sever its leash.

●●●●● Memo (Ocean Dragon)

Cost: 1 Blood Point | Pool: Perception + Occult vs. target’s current Willpower

Invoke the great dragon. Each success reveals detailed knowledge of the target’s principal infernal pact — what compelled the bargain, the nature of the pact, any infernal investments or gifts. Spectacular success: reveals the True Name of the target’s demonic patron; make a contested Manipulation + Occult roll against the demon’s permanent Willpower. Ashipu success: severs the bond between infernalist and patron. Demon success: bond intact. Failure at any point in this sequence: the patron perceives the ashipu and learns substantial information about her.