Healing

 

This Praxis covers the treatment and care of living creatures, from small animals to humans. Like other paths, the specific style of practice must be specified when this art is learned. Some common examples include acupuncture, laying on hands or naturopathic herbalism. Unless otherwise specified, any applications of this Praxis require physical contact with your patient (you may need to win a Physical Challenge to get your hands on an unwilling target), and difficult workings may require an Extended Mental Test. In addition, a character may only benefit from this path once per scene. This path cannot heal aggravated wounds.

 

Basic:

 

Assessment

You begin as a healer by learning to diagnose your patient. Make a static Mental Test to determine the general state of a creature’s health (how many Health Levels of damage it is currently suffering), including the presence of any illnesses or injuries. You may even be able to pick up on certain Physical Flaws, gaining one such detail for each success on an Extended Simple Test. In addition, sorcerers with an appropriate Lore are able to determine what type of creature a given subject is: mortal, shapeshifter, changeling, vampire, mummy, etc. If the sorcerer does not possess the necessary Lore, she will certainly notice something odd about her patient but might not understand why the pallid person talking to her is registering to her senses as dead. 

 

Soothing Touch

Once you know how to evaluate a patient, you start to learn how to treat minor aches and pains. At this level, you may cure stun damage completely and heal normal damage down to Bruised. In addition, you may help an Incapacitated character regain consciousness, though the actual injuries remain. When applied to a mortal character who is Mortally Wounded, this power will stabilize the injury, preventing the person from slipping further toward death.

 

Intermediate:

 

Still Mind

Sorcerers who study this path learn how to treat the mind as well as the body. This spell allows you to free a target from the liabilities of one Derangement for the remainder of the game session. By winning a Mental Challenge, you may alleviate any natural or magically induced insanity, including the effects of the MindBending Praxis or the Shadows spell: Touch of Darkness. In the case of Derangements created by the vampiric Discipline of Dementation, the healer must spend a Mental Trait to make the spell effective. If the sorcerer loses the challenge, she must (at Storyteller discretion) make a second Mental Challenge. If she loses again, Dementation reaches out and slaps her with its diseased touch, and she gains one Derangement for the rest of the game session.

Alternatively, the sorcerer may attempt to bring another character out of frenzy by winning a Social Challenge. If you are successful, your target immediately returns to normal and will not frenzy again for the remainder of the scene. Unlike other applications of this Praxis, Still Mind may be cast at range. In any case, if you fail in your attempt, you may not use this power again on the same individual for the remainder of the current storyline.

 

Deep Cure

You are now capable of treating more severe injuries, restoring up to twoHealth Levels of normal damage even if your target is Incapacitated. However, subsequent attempts to repair a single wound provide no additional benefit.

If cast as a proper ritual, you are able to reduce the long-term recovery times for major injuries or illnesses. Even life-threatening diseases and injuries are not beyond your care, though some cures may take hours or even days to effect.

 

Advanced:

 

Deep Healing

There is little beyond the scope of your healing abilities now. Normal applications of this power allow you to restore up to three Health Levels of normal damage or a single aggravated wound. However, like previous spells on this path, multiple attempts to repair the same injuries will have no additional effect.

 

Master:

 

Touch of Life

At the Master level, nothing is beyond your healing abilities. You may regenerate nerves, repair internal organs or even cause seemingly incurable illnesses to go into remission, although it takes an immense amount of time and energy. You must be treating the patient for a full month and may take no other actions during that time. If you stop before the time is up, all the previous effort is considered wasted and you must start again.

If a patient is at Incapacitated, you may repair all outstanding injuries with an Extended Mental Challenge for each level until you fail. Your talents even extend beyond that, however. If your target is below Incapacitated, you may return her to Wounded, regardless of how much damage she has suffered. If the person has died or been Embraced, you may not attempt to heal her - this Praxis is reserved for the living.