Custom Combination Discipline / Technique

A character with this Combination Discipline elevates their capacity for violence to an awe inspiring rampage. The character instinctively weaves through the worst of a firefight to deliver brutal, pinpoint accurate blows with guns or knives. Their footwork becomes like a dance, coupled with the quick staccato gun shots, most gruesome of fast paced knife tricks and the cacophony of lamentations made by their eviscerated enemies becomes a show stopping sensation that can leave even the most jaded Toreador hypnotized... If they can keep from shying away from all that gore.

System - By spending a Blood trait and a point of Willpower, the character enters a trance. While in this state, the character deals an extra level of damage when making attacks using any gun or knife. Furthermore, attacks with guns may utilize a "Range Retest" by spending a mental trait regardless of how close their target is and whether or not they are able to return fire. Finally, once each turn, the character may spend a Willpower trait to make an additional attack at the end of the turn. This attack must use a gun or knife. A character may not make more additional attacks this way than they have levels of the Performance Ability in a single night.

Requirements: Path of Blood 2, Lure of Flames 3

Activation: 1 Blood

Duration: Scene or Hour

XP Cost:  9

The ancient enemies of Clan Tremere are the Tzimisce, well known for their use of blood, and turning into pools of blood, sometimes to acid.  The Tremere have taken this advantage and turned it into a disadvantage for their enemies by expanding on their mastery of blood by causing their own vitae to become the bane of Kindred existence the moment it leaves their own body.  Expanding on this, Bloodfire can also be used to prevent their own vitae from falling into the hands of their enemies, the Thaumaturge may cause discarded, or stored Kindred blood to catch fire. 

This power only works on Kindred Blood.

While activated, the eyes of the thaumaturge will appear to have dancing flames for irises, and their skin will take on a ruddy hue, and with the slightest touch or a focused glance cause Kindred blood to become flammable and ignite as if it was gasoline gaining the incendiary trait.

Should any of the Thaumaturge’s own vitae leave their body, such as from wounds, theft of vitae, or someone drinks their blood, the blood will immediately ignite and turn to ash.  Anyone within melee distance of the Thaumaturge must make a static physical challenge (difficulty 7 traits) to dodge (Dodge retest) or take 1 aggravated damage per blood trait from the fire as it burns to ash.  The Thaumaturge is magically immune to damage from their own Bloodfire, but is not immune to any subsequent fire the Bloodfire may cause. 

If the blood is outside of a body or vessel, such as on the ground, discarded, a pool of blood, splattered on the walls, no challenge is necessary. 

If within an inanimate vessel, such as a bottle, a clay pot, a vessel of transference, or principle focus of vitae infusion  a static mental challenge (difficulty 7 traits) is necessary for it to ignite as many visible vessels as the thaumaturge’s Occult skill.   If the object is in use by another, a mental challenge against the physical traits of the wielder is necessary.

This power cannot be used on a target unless they are a body of blood, such as in Vicissitude: Bloodform, and if so, a physical challenge if touched, or a mental challenge against their physical traits if gazed upon is necessary. If successful the blood will catch fire immediately causing 2 aggravated damage per turn to the bloodformed individual, requiring a rotschreck check at a -2 penalty.   This lasts until the bloodformed individual resumes physical shape again.

- The PC must have at least Fame x2 , Academics: Art Criticism x3 and Expression x3.
- Toreador only.

Description:
You know exactly what everyone is expecting when you show up to the exposition. They look with the corner of their eyes while you move piece by piece, and any expression or sound you make people start to guess what you have in your mind. What are you thinking about the Artists and their creations? You finish your visit and go away, but you simply can’t forget about one specific thing you saw there. They were right, EVERYONE must know about this, only you can say to the world what being an Artist really means, and deeply you know: they are all captured by your presence and anxiously waiting for your opinion.

System:
This combo represents the canalization of Toreador’s power to get the attention of the crowd and now use it to point at another subject, highlighting the good (or bad) qualities of an Artist. It manipulates the Auspex ability to perceive the emotions attached to a determined object, using this perception to give to the created piece of critic the desired emotions, that of Awe and Entrancement of the Toreador Presence, to influence the viewer's opinions about the subject.

Touching someone’s reputation isn’t a light task, and demands effort from the one using the power of this combo as well. The use of this demands the expenditure of a temporary Willpower point, to represent the effort of the Art Critic for the production of the evaluation of an Artist’s production. The Art Critic must be exposed to at least one piece of art of the target PC, and then produce an Art Criticism (Role play it!). This production needs to be written by the Player, and must be presented to the public in the words of the Art Critic (eg. send over an e-mail list, read aloud in a live event, etc.) representing the spread of the opinion and the attention being pointed out to the target PC (the Artist).

After that, the target PC is considered to have a +1 level of Fame representing the buzz caused by them with the Art community; Also, a criticism piece contains the opinion about the Artist's competence, and so, how people will perceive them now. The Art Critic must choose a good or bad reputation for the Artist, and in doing so, the target PC will now be perceived with a higher (good review) or lower (bad review) social standing, in other words, the Artist is considered temporarily having the equivalent of the Reputation merit or the Notoriety flaw (with all normal implications of these), and having 1 point lower or higher clan prestige if being a Toreador PC, when on Social interactions. All effects have a temporary duration of 1 month, and the Willpower point expended to activate the power cannot be recovered by the Critic while the effects last.

Restrictions:
- The Combo cannot be used in a self-evaluation.
- The Combo doesn’t strip or add Status/Prestige, it is a temporary and virtual perception (People really want to be around or acquire Art from this person after what has been said about them, for example).
- As this may be used in PCs outside the Critic's chronicle, the effects over the target PC must be approved by their STs to have the mechanical effect (but the STs can’t block the Art criticism from being published or said IC, this is not an automatic cross-chronicle redline tool, only the mechanical effects can be negated if the STs says so).
- The use of the combo doesn’t protect the Art Critic from any consequences of his criticism about the other PCs being said in public at large (so, choose your words and targets wisely).

This power allows the Gangrel to temporarily change their animalistic features into their original human form. This power works against all forms of observation or recording.

After spending a Willpower trait, and 1 Blood trait, the user burns a number of Mental Traits equal to the number of Beast Traits/features they wish to disguise. Body Control lasts for one (1) hour, but can be continued for a another hour by spending another trait of blood to fuel the Protean side of the combo. The Gangrel morphs into their original human looking form until this power is 'renewed,' they let it run out or turn it off. Willingly ending this power requires only a thought, but costs nothing.

Anyone using Auspex on the Gangrel will, if they win the challenge, notice that some kind of Obfuscate is being used, but since the change is physical, they will only see a blurry shimmering effect, like heat shimmer over asphalt, surrounding the Gangrel's features.