Mind's Eye Theatre - Vampire The Requiem.pdf - RoseRed

crúac • theban sorcery
If the Storyteller desires an even stricter limitation on sorcery, he may choose to
say that a character simply cannot have more dots in a particular sorcery than her
current Status rating within that covenant. Thus, if a character has Covenant Status
(Lancea Sanctum) 2, she cannot learn Theban Sorcery 3 at all until she fi rst improves
her Covenant Status by at least another dot. She is simply not well known or trusted
enough within the covenant to be granted access to those secrets. This variant of the
rule allows strong Storyteller control and ensures that sorcery does not become too
powerful too quickly, but it comes at the expense of some player freedom and might
also weaken the balance between the covenants to a degree.
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THEBAN SORCERY
Theban Sorcery is the miraculous magic practiced by members of the Lancea Sanctum.
According to the covenant, it is a tradition of magic taught (or stolen, depending on to
whom one listens) by an “avatar of God.” The practice is said to have been received when
early members visited Thebias in northern Egypt with a contingent of Christian soldiers
during the reign of Diocletian, after Longinus had vanished from the world. The Discipline
has decidedly judgmental overtones, combining a focus on Biblical elements (rains
of blood, plagues of locusts, the vengeance of God) with a very overt and occult reliance
on righteousness.
Theban Sorcery is as jealously guarded as anti-Sanctifi ed factions widely believe, if not
more so. While few Lancea Sanctum hit squads lurk in the shadows to whack non-Sanctifi ed
vampires who seem to be able to use the Discipline, few covenant members want to see their
divinely inspired powers taken for granted. The Lancea Sanctum isn’t foolish. It makes its
mystical knowledge available “on loan” if the covenant has something to gain.
Vampires who leave the Lancea Sanctum for other covenants invariably take their knowledge
with them, but fi nd it all but impossible to increase it, no matter what occult connections
they might have. A character must have at least one dot of Covenant Status (Lancea Sanctum)
in order to learn Theban Sorcery. A player who takes at least one dot worth of that Merit at
character creation may spend one of his character’s three Discipline dots on Theban Sorcery
if he wishes. This expenditure does not count as an in-clan Discipline expenditure, however.
Any time a player wants to increase his character’s Theban Sorcery score, the vampire must
still have at least one dot of Covenant Status (Lancea Sanctum) to do so.
Cost: Uses of Theban Sorcery always cost one Willpower point. Willpower is critical to use
of the Discipline. It invokes the soul of the Kindred who performs a ritual. Willpower spent in
this manner does not add the +3 bonus to activation draws. Indeed, because one may spend
only one Willpower point per turn, a Willpower point may never be spent to augment Theban
Sorcery draws unless specifi ed otherwise. Willpower merely makes the magic possible.
Additionally, Theban Sorcery rituals require certain items to be used or consumed to activate
the powers. These components are known as offerings. Practitioners believe these items are
offered in sacrifi ce to God, Longinus or to whomever provides the actual manifestation of
the power. Attempts to invoke Theban Sorcery without suitable offerings simply fail outright.
Offerings are completely consumed upon the invocation of a ritual, leaving behind nothing
but a handful of nondescript ash or dust. Unless noted otherwise, any invocation of Theban
Sorcery breaks Obfuscate and the sacrifi ce of the ritual offerings has to be made in plain
sight. If a character is already under the effects of Theban Sorcery, the same power can’t be
used on her again for added effect until the fi rst use has worn off.
Like Crúac, Theban Sorcery does not have the same linear progression that other Disciplines
do. A character’s mastery dictates the highest level of rituals that he may learn. Rituals are
bought with experience points. For example, a character with two dots of Theban Sorcery can