Mend Bending

 

This dark Praxis moves beyond the scope of mere communication or mental influence and instead allows you to play upon the weaknesses that pervade your opponent’s subconscious. Those sorcerers in league with darker powers usually study this art, though some other disturbed individuals have been known to possess it. Unlike Mentalis, this art can lead a person to violate his Nature or harm himself, depending on the effect and the instability instilled. Any use of this power requires you to defeat your opponent in a Mental or Social Challenge. Repeated uses of this power may also cause you to lose Humanity at your Narrator’s discretion.

 

Basic:

 

Pushing Buttons

This power allows you to bring certain psychological imbalances to the fore, activating certain psychological and Mental Flaws (such as Nightmares or Hatred) or provoking a Derangement. You may also invoke frenzy in any creature susceptible to that state. Finally, you may elect to draw out the weaknesses inherent in a character’s personality or intellect. If your target has an appropriate Negative Social or Mental Trait twice or more, you may force him to experience that limitation to a greater extent. If your target suffers from none of these limitations, he must act out his archetypal Nature, temporarily ignoring his Demeanor. Any application of this power lasts for one scene.

 

Psychosis

You are able to use your influence to inflict some unbalance upon your target. You may bestow a Psychological or Mental Flaw (chosen randomly by the Narrator) for the duration of a scene.

 

Intermediate:

 

Confusion

This spell shrouds a target’s mind, scrambling his thoughts and rendering coherent action very difficult. Each success on an Extended Mental or Social Challenge allows you to bestow two of the following Negative Traits upon your opponent: Dull, Forgetful, Oblivious or Witless. These effects last for the remainder of the scene.

 

Mind Wipe

Beyond merely muddying the intellectual waters, you are able to drain knowledge directly from the mind of your target. There are two applications of this spell, eachof which requires a Mental Challenge. You may not perform both on a single target.

First, you may permanently block any single memory from your opponent’s mind. This could be anything from his name to the fact that he is married. You may even remove one entire scene that occurred earlier in the chronicle. The victim will eventually be able to relearn this information, though not for the remainder of the game session.

Alternately, you may block access to one Praxis for a scene or a specific Ability, spell or ritual for the remainder of the game session. Though these powers and Traits are not removed, the target may not call upon them for the duration of the effect.

 

Advanced:

 

Dementia

This dangerous spell allows you to shake an opponent’s sanity. By figuratively crawling inside a person’s mind, you may implant up to seven Traits” worth of psychological Flaws and Negative Traits for a scene or half that many (round down) for the remainder of the game session. This act is almost as unsettling to the caster as it is to the target, requiring you to forfeit a temporary Humanity Trait regardless of the spell’s success.

 

Master:

 

Destroying the Will

This dark spell targets a person’s psychological foundation. By defeating your opponent in a Willpower Challenge, you may reduce his permanent Willpower rating by one. Though this Trait may eventually be bought back with experience, the target may never purchase any beyond that. His confidence is shattered and it will take years for him to recover. If the subject loses his last Willpower Trait, he dies. This spell may be performed against an individual no more than once per storyline. By the way, lose one permanent Humanity Trait for the callous act if it succeeds, more if your Storyteller decides you should. Lose a temporary Humanity Trait if the spell fails.