Disciplines

Cadaverous Animation

This Path centers on the creation and control of Unliving Minions from dead bodies.

Level 1 - Morbid Homunculus

Animate a bodypart as a servant that can perform minor tasks and act as a psychic scout.

System: Spend 1BP and roll Charisma + Occult (difficulty 6). Success animates the creature, failure simply wastes the blood point spent, but a botch rots the intended homunculus into dust. Once created, a homunculus remains active for one night per success, but it can be re-animated by applying this power again. While within a quarter mile, the homunculus can communicate what it "sees" and "hears" back to you. No matter its physical form, the homunculus can sense its surroundings about as well as a mouse. It has similar intelligence, able to follow simple commands given through its telepathic bond with its creator.

Level 2 - Corpse Servant

Reawaken a dead body as a slow-moving, dim-witted creature good only for manual labor and simple tasks.

System: Spend 1BP and roll Manipulation + Occult (difficulty 6). Success animates the creature, failure simply wastes the blood point spent, but a botch rots the corpse into dust. Once created, a servant remains active for one night per success, but it can be re-animated by applying this power again. The servant is intelligent and dextrous enough to understand orders and carry out basic tasks like cleaning, building, carrying and guiding visitors. It cannot, however, move quickly or with enough skill to present any serious danger in combat. It could only harm those utterly unable to defend themselves or flee. Corpse servants cannot speak, and are not intelligent enough to write. At best they can moan and gesture. They are able to receive verbal orders, though.

Level 3 - Skeletal Knight

Raise a corpse as a quick-moving warrior capable of doing battle.

System: Spend 2BP and roll Stamina + Occult (difficulty 8). Success animates the creature, failure simply wastes the blood points spent, but a botch rots the corpse into dust. Once created, a servant remains active for one night, but it can be re-animated by applying this power again. Once animated, the knight will attempt to go on a rampage and must be subdued with a Willpower roll (difficulty 7). Success tames it, forcing it to follow orders. It is intelligent and able to fight, but cannot communicate any more than a corpse servant can. If a knight moves more than 100 yards from you, it will go berserk and attempt to kill any living thing within its sight. Re-establishing command takes a full action and another Willpower roll. This can only be done within arm's reach of the creature.

Level 4 - Death Eternal

Empower your dead minions so that they will enduring until destroyed.

System: By touching a creature animated with any other power of this Path, you can imbue it with a more permanent form of animation. Spend 1 BP and 1 WP, then roll Stamina + Occult (difficulty 6 for homunculi, 7 for servants and 8 for knights). If you succeed, that minion will no longer expire when its magic runs out. It will endure until destroyed by physical damage. If you botch the activation roll, the a homunculus or servant will be destroyed immediately, collapsing into dust. Botching uses of this power that attempted to affect skeletal knights will instead turn the knight against you and render it impossible to control until it is destroyed.

Level 5 - Army of Darkness

Multiply the power of your earlier summonings so that you can create multiple homunculi, servants or knights at once.

System: When activating any of the first three powers of this Path, you may choose to double the blood point cost of that ability and raise the difficulty by 1. If you do so, the number of creatures animated is increased to two per success on the activation roll. These creatures last only a single night, and cannot be affected by Death Eternal. Otherwise, the creatures follow all the normal rules for their type.

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