This Discipline is the proprietary Discipline of the
demonic Baali; Baali are not known for their ability to work with others
and therefore do not make suitable companions. Their power is that of the
Devil himself, and through the use of Daimoinon they draw upon the forces
of Hell to demoralize and cripple their enemies. It is for this reason
that all Cainites stand united in their hatred of the Baali, whose lust
for power threatens to undermine vampire society.
BASIC
System: By making a Perception+Empathy roll against a difficulty of the target's Self-Control + Instinct (+4), the Baali can sense the subject's greatest character flaw, be it a low Virtue, a weak Willpower, a Derangement or whatever. The Storyteller should use discretion should the "flaw" be something without a stat, such as the subject's guilt at having killed her sire. LEVEL 2 Fear
of the Void Below
System: The Baali must first use Sense the Sin (above) to discern the tragic flaw of the target. She must then speak to the target, telling him of his inevitable damnation. If the Baali makes a Wits + Intimidation resisted roll against the target's Courage (+4), the victim falls into Rotschreck; if the Baali scores three more successes, the target collapses in panic. INTERMEDIATE
System: The player spends a blood point. this creates a bolt of black flame that inflicts one die of aggravated damage; more blood points may be spent to increase the size and damage of the flame. Such fires are fleeting and dissipate at the end of the turn in which they are summoned, unless the Baali spends blood points over several turns, gradually creating a larger flame. The player also rolls Dexterity + Occult (difficulty 6) to hit his target, who may dodge as normal, unless circumstances prevent it. Vampires confronted with this black fire make Rotschreck tests if confronted with a similar quantity of normal flame. Flames of the Netherworld
System: The Baali Throws a blast of hellfire that does one die of damage per Blood Point spent. Striking an intended target requires a Dexterity + Occult roll with a difficulty dependent on range. This eldritch fire does aggravated damage. LEVEL 4 Psychomachia
System: The victim must roll his greatest weakness (i.e., lowest Virtue) against a difficulty of 8 or fly into a frenzy; any Derangement possessed by the victim manifests itself violently. ADVANCED
System: By making an Intelligence + Occult roll against a difficulty equal to the target's Willpower, the Baali may cast a curse on the target. One of the target's Traits, chosen by the Baali, drops to zero for a duration dependent on the number of successes: 1 success - One night
Condemnation
System: An Intelligence + Occult roll (difficulty equal to the subject's Willpower) dictates the length and severity of the curse; successes must be split between both these effects as follows: 1 success -- up to one week; "No voice shall be lent your
lying tongue"
At any time, the Baali may choose to end the curse, though few have ever done so. Storytellers should feel free to invent creative or story-appropriate curses; similarly, abuse (including but not limited to overuse) should be met with automatic failure or distortion beyond the curse's original intent. LEVEL 6 Ignore the
Searing Flames
Concordance
System: The most typical manifestation of this power incorporates immunity to the damaging effects of fire, though other equivalently powered assets maybe available at the Storyteller's discretion. Most of these tributes take the form of left-handed "gifts" with unforeseen consequences (a telltale bronze tint to flame resistant flesh; an inhuman homunculus that must be fed from a third nipple; a vestigal set of wings; visible talons or horns that cannot be conealed, etc.). This power may be purchased more than once for concurrent divestments...at still greater cost to body and soul. (Indeed, the current shaitan is said to have been so gnarled and twisted by the Masters as to be no longer even remotely mistakeable for human.) Note that certain banes of the Cainite race -- piety, dependency on blood for sustenance, etc. -- may not be overcome by this power under any circumstances. In the end, it is up to the Storyteller's discretion as to what the Baali may or may not withstand. Glimpse the Great Gulf Beyond
When this power is invoked, the Baali literally uses his will to force cracks in the walls of reality. Through those cracks come the sights, sounds, smells and other aspects of existence outside of reality as most know it. While exactly what comes through from the other side varies from moment to moment (blashphemous whispers one second, a charnel stench and the howls of the damned the next), the impact on the target is always tremendous. A sepnding of Willpower causes this power to go into effect. Results vary from nothing at all happening, to the victim being shaken but unharmed physically, to losing willpower and having to defend against Rotschreck, to losing consciouness with willpower, to falling into catatonia for an hour and losing willpower, to becoming severely mentally incapacitated to the point of permanent gibbering idiocy. It can leave the victim with a random derangement, and can be temporary or permanent depending upon the severity of the victim's trauma. LEVEL 7 Summon the
Herald of Hell (aka Summon the Hearald of Topeth)
Demons
Form can vary wildly-some demons are beautiful seductresses, others reptilian horrors. The demon may be summoned without the hour-long ritual or the sacrifice, but the Baali must spend six blood points and the demon will be uncontrolled-it may well decide to drag the Baali down to Hell with it for her temerity. LEVEL 8 Contagion
Great Curse
LEVEL 9 Call the
Great Beast
LEVEL 10 Open
the Way
Fortunately, all three attempts have failed. The past is of no moment to the Baali, however, as they maintain that such setbacks only postpone the inevitable. It will not be long, faithful Baali claim, before they release the ultimate darkness to ravage the face of the earth. Even though this power is in fact a normal power of the Discipline of Daimoinon, the intense formality of its use has become so that it is psychologically impossible to exercise this ability without an extensive ritual to "prepare" the Opener. In fact, this power would function perfectly well without the ritual, trappings and such, if there were a Baali who did not beleive in such, yet none among the Baali fail to believe in this, although other Cainites possessed of this Discipline perhaps do not believe in the trappings. |