Life Stealing

 

Often used as a form of punishment, this art allows you to drain the very life and spirit from a being. Whereas the lesser effects are merely harmful to the target, the higher-level applications may be used to your benefit or to help some other willing recipient. Sorcerers who employ this Praxis must be clear in their intentions, for feeding off the lifeforce of others has been known to taint the soul. Careless use of these powers may require you to forfeit a temporary Humanity Trait, whereas more malicious applications may result in a permanent loss.

Put simply, this is a nasty art. Like Hellfire, those sorcerers who make use of this power are often accused of trucking with the infernal and can command a great deal of fear-driven respect. Unlike Hellfire, though, this art can be used subtly in many unpleasant ways. In older times, those victims withering under continued Life Stealingattacks were often treated as victims of vampires. Certain applications of this power have no effect on vampires, Risen or materialized wraiths - one cannot steal what is not there.

 

Basic:

 

Sapping the Will

This art allows you to dampen an opponent’s will. If you can defeat your target in a Mental Challenge, you may prevent him from spending any Willpower for the rest of the scene. Alternately, your opponent may forfeit a Willpower Trait, which may not be recovered for the remainder of the game session.

 

Weakening the Body

By winning a Mental Challenge against the victim’s Physical Traits, you can temporarily drain two of his Physical Traits. This may be turned into an Extended Challenge in the normal manner. By spending a Willpower point, you may instead choose to inflict one Health Level of normal damage for each success on the Extended test. However, you may not take your opponent below Wounded. This spell has no effect on vampires or Risen, and the effects last only for the duration of the scene.

 

Intermediate:

 

Stealing the Breath

This power allows you to drain the life force from a target and use it to heal yourself. For each success on an Extended Mental Challenge against the victim’s Physical Traits, you may drain one Physical Trait from your opponent and use it to restore one Health Level of normal damage. The Extended Challenge ends when you lose a test, regardless of how much damage is healed, or when you heal all damage. If performed as a full ritual, this effect may be used to heal a companion. The lost Physical Traits are gone for the remainder of the game session and will return at the beginning of the next game. This spell has no effect on vampires or Risen.

 

Draining the Body 

Similar to the previous effect, this spell allows you to steal an Attribute Trait from your target and gain it yourself. You must enter into a Mental Challenge with your opponent, although he may defend with whatever category he chooses. If your challenge is successful, you gain whatever Trait your opponent used in defense. This Trait is considered yours for the remainder of the game session. It will return to your opponent at the beginning of the next game. If you lose the challenge, the spell fails and you lose the Trait you bid. This spell has no effect on vampires or Risen.

 

Advanced:

 

Theft of Power

This forbidden spell allows you to steal mystical energy (such as Mana Traits, Gnosis or Glamour) from a target, transferring it to yourself. You must have either the innate potential for that sort of power (due to being Kinfolk or kinain, for example) or have at least two Traits in the appropriate Lore.Even then, if you have no way to spend this energy, the act has little more effect than spite. If your target has no other Traits to drain, you may opt to drain Willpower, using these Traits to replenish your own reserve. You may not take more than your maximum Trait capacity.

Each use of this spell requires a Willpower Challenge against your target's permanent Trait rating (Mana, Gnosis, Glamour or Willpower). If you are successful, you may steal one Trait of the appropriate type plus one additional Trait for each Mental Trait you spend. You may transfer only as many Traits as the target has remaining. A Kinfolk or kinain may not raise their Gnosis or Glamour ratings above their normal maximums with this spell. Once the pool is full to maximum, the rest is considered spillover and vanishes. Your victim may not replenish these lost Traits for the remainder of the game session, and you hold onto your prize until the Traits are used or you go to sleep.

 

Master:

 

Vacant Mind

This spell literally rips information from the mind of your victim. Each success on an Extended Mental Challenge allows you to remove one Ability Trait (or other specific memory) from your target, transferring it to yourself. These Traits last for the remainder of the game session, at which point they revert to the original owner. However, if this spell is performed as a proper ritual, the effects are permanent.