NECROMANCY    Necromancy is at once a Discipline and a school of magical learning, all dedicated toward the command of the souls of the dead. It has some similarities to Thaumaturgy in that, rather than being a strict linear progression of powers, Necromancy consists of several "paths" and accompanying "rituals." Well-trained and puissant vampiric necromancers can summon the dead, banish or imprison souls, and even reinsert ghosts into living - or unliving - bodies. Needless to say, the study of Necromancy is not widespread among the Kindred, and its practitioners - primarily Giovanni Kindred - are shunned or ignored whenever possible.    Over the centuries, the various schools of vampiric Necromancy have diversified, leaving three distinct paths of necromantic magic available to Cainites. All necromancers first learn the socalled Sepulchre Path, then extend their studies to the Bone Path or the Ash Path as time and opportunity permit. The Sepulchre Path is always considered a vampire's "primary" path; it increases automatically as the vampire increases her overall Necromancy. The Bone and Ash Paths must be bought separately.    Like Thaumaturgy, Necromancy has also spawned a series of rituals. While not nearly so immediate in effect as the basic poers of Necromancy, Necromantic rituals can have impressive long-term effects. Unsurprisingly, the elements of a Necromantic ritual are things like long-buried corpses, hands from the cadavers of hanged men, and so on, and so obtaining suitable materials can be quite difficult. Scarcity of supply limits the fequency of Necromantic rituals, giving cause for many other Kindred to breathe a metaphorical sigh or relief.    System: A Cainite necromancer must learn at least three levels in the Sepulchre Path before learning her first level in either of the other Paths. He must then achieve mastery (five levels) in the Sepulchre Path before aquiring any knowledge of the third path. The Sepulchre Path Level 1 Insight    This power allows a necromancer to stare into the eyes of a corpse and see reflected there the last thing the dead man witnessed. The vision appears only in the eyes of the cadaver and is visible to no one except the necromancer using Insight.    System: Roll Perception + Occult (8 for formerly living creatures and 10 for unliving ones) as the vampire stares into the target's eyes. The successes determine the clarity of the vision; a botch shows a necromancer her own Final Death, which can induce Rötschreck.    This power cannot be used on the corpses of vampires who reached Golconda, or those in whom advanced decomposition has already set in. 1 success A basic sense of the subject's death. 2 successes A clear image of the subject's death and the seconds preceding it. 3 successes A clear image, with sound, of the minutes preceding death. 4 successes A clear image, with sound, of the half-hour before the subject's demise. 5+ successes Full sensory perception of the hour leading up to the target's death. Level 2 Summon Soul     The power of Summon Soul allows a necromancer to call a ghost back from the Underworld, though for conversational purposes only. In order to perform this feat, the Giovanni must meet certain conditions: -- The necromancer must know the name of the wraith in question, though an image of the wraith obtained via Psychometry will suffice. -- An object with which the wraith had some contact in life must be in the vicinity. If the object is something of great importance to the ghost, the chances for success in the summoning increase dramatically (-2 difficulty).    NOTE: This bonus applies for all powers of the Sepulchre Path.    Certain types of ghosts cannot be summoned with this power. Vampires who achieved Golconda before their Final Deaths, or who were diablerized, are beyond the reach of these summons. Likewise, many ghosts of the dead cannot be called - they are destroyed, unable to return to the mortal plane, or lost in the eternal stom of the Underworld.    System: Roll Perception + Occult (7/ghosts Willpower[if known]). The successes indicate the tractability of the summoned spirit and how long the summoned wraith remains in the vicinity of his summoner. Summoned ghosts are visible and audible to the vampire who summoned them, and remain so up until the time the summoning wears off. Ghosts who wish to be summoned may voluntarily appear.    For each question the vampire asks the summoned spirit, a die/"summoning success" should be rolled secretly (6). At least one success is needed in order to keep the wraith around long enough to answer the question.    If a vampire botches a summoning roll, she calls forth a malevolent ghost (known as a spectre), which immediately sets about tormenting its summoner. Level 3 Compel Soul    With this power, a vampire can command a ghost to do his bidding for a while. Compel is a perilous undertaking and, when used improperly, can endanger vampire and wraith alike.    System: In order to compel a wraith the vampire must successfully summon it. Before the wraith has left the scene of the summoning, the vampire must roll Manipulation + Occult (Willpower). The wraith can spend Pathos (ghostly equivalent of blood; assume a pool of 7 for all ghosts) to combat the compulsion; each point spent removes one of the vampire's successes. The vampire may attmept to compel a wraith multiple times during a single summoning.    For each success the necromancer achieves a greater degree of control over the wraith. The breakdown is as follows: Failure The compulsion of the summoning ends and the wraith is free to leave. Many wraiths take the opportunity to assault their would-be masters as they depart. 1 success The wraith must remain in the vicinity and refrain from attacking any creature without the necromancer's consent. 2 successes The wraith is bound to remain and answer any questions truthfully, though the question had best be phrased carefully. 3 successes The wraith is forced to remain and answer any questions truthfully, without evasion or omission. 4 successes The wraith must remain, answering truthfully any questions asked from it. It must perform any services commanded by its new master, though it is bound only by the letter of the command, not the spirit. 5+ successes The wraith is trapped, obeying the spirit of the vampire's commands to the best of its abilities.    Compel holds a ghost for one hour per success. If the vampire wishes, she can expend a WP to keep the wraith under the compulsion for an extra night. The expenditure of a permanent Willpower point on the vampire's part binds the wraith for a year and a day. Level 4 Haunting     Haunting bind a summoned ghost to a certain location or, in extreme cases, an object. The wraith cannot leave the area to which the necromancer binds it without risking self-destruction. A wraith attempting to leave the area of a haunting must make a Willpower (10; 2 successes needed) roll or take a level of aggravated damage; if the wraith runs out of health levels, it is hurled deep into the Underworld to face destrucion.    System: Roll Manipulation + Occult (Willpower if targets resists; otherwise 4). Each success ties the wraith to a particular spot of the necromancer's choosing for a night; with the expenditure of a WP, that becomes a week. Expenditure of a permanent Willpower point extends the duration for a year. Level 5 Torment     It is through the use of this power that elder Giovanni convince bound ghosts to behave - or else. Torment allows the vampire to strike a wraith as if he himself were in the lands of the dead, inflicting damage on the wraith's ectoplasmic form. The vampire remains in the real world, however, so he cannot be struck in return by the wraith.    System: The vampire rolls Stamina + Empathy (Willpower) and reaches out to "touch" the wraith. Each success inflicts a level of lethal damage on the wraith. Should the wraith lose all health levels, it immediately vanishes into what appeares to be a doorway to some hideous nightmare realm. Ghosts "destroyed" thus cannot reappear near the real world for a month. Level 6 Zombie     System: The vampire may create a zombie from a body that has been dead for less than eight hours. This zombie has one more point in each of Strength and Stamina than the original body, and a Dexterity of one. Zombies can only move at ten feet per minute, and must be fed one blood point daily. Level 7 Severing the Ties of Death (Giovanni Clanbook)    Severing the Ties of Death allows the Necromancer to remove a wraith wholly from the Shadowlands against the spirit's will. In essence, the Necromancer pierces the Shroud, pulls the wraith from the other side, and places him in a holding vessel. A wraith thus removed is no longer affected by events occurring in the Underworld; he no longer exists there.    This power is used to contain and store wraiths for "later use." By using this power, the Necromancer prevents the wraith from being rescued by other wraiths, carried away by the Tempest, or affected by other inconvenient eventualities.    System: Using this power requires a BP if the wraith is an unwilling subject. Roll Intelligence + Occult (local Shroud rating). If the roll is successful, the Giovanni extracts the wraith utterly from the Underworld, and may place him in a vessel for as long as she wishes.    While contained within the vessel, the wraith is unaffected by any environmental factors; he is essentially trapped, a part of neither the physical world nor the Underworld. Once per night, he may attempt escape by spending a WP and rolling Wits + Occult (Necromancer's Willpower). Success indicates that the wraith flees the vessel and returns to the Underworld.    Note that this imprisonment does not protect a wraith from the Shadow; it is conceivable that the wraith may sink into Oblivion during his incarceration. Soul Stealing    The vampire may force a soul out of its body, treating it as a spirit.    System: Roll Manipulation + Occult (Willpower + Occult). The unoccupied body deteriorates as if dead or in torpor, and the spirit must spend a willpower point to return to it. In the meantime, the spirit treats its body as a fetter, and has no Arcanos. The difficulty is 6 if the victim is willing. Level 8 Soul Exchange     The vampire may switch souls between two bodies.     System: Roll Manipulation + Occult (7). At least as many successes are requred as the sum of the targets' Willpowers. Both victims must be within eyesight of the subject, and within ten feet of each other. Level 9 Inurement    Using Inurement is a last-ditch effort on the part of the Necromancer in her blackest hour. By giving up her soul the moment before Final Death claims her, the vampire may voluntarily become a wraith.    The simple fact that this power exists is a source of concern for many Giovanni, who are not convinced that the diablerized soul of Cappadocius was fully consumed by Augustus.    System: The vampire must carefully prepare some object of great sentimental value to herself. This will become the Fetter which prevents her from discorporating once she enters the Underworld. Over the course of preparation, 20 WPs must be "invested" in this object - the Kindred contemplates the meaning of the object and its value to her soul.    Thereafter, the vampire may spend a WP and slough off the mortal coil, becoming a wraith as her body crumbles to dust. Possession    The vampire may place a willing spirit into a body that has been dead less than thirty minutes.    System: Roll Willpower (6). Five or more successes are needed and the ghost may resist with a Willpower (6) roll. This power may be used on any dead body other than that of a vampire without a roll. Level 10 Death Pact    By having a mortal victim sign an appropriate contract in her own blood, the vampire may bind the mortal, effective after death... but she must serve the mortal until then.    System: Roll Intelligence + Occult (6). Once the mortal has died, the vampire may demand service from them once for each success in the initial roll.     The Bone Path Level 1 Tremens    Tremens allows a necromancer to make the flesh of a corpse shift once. An arm might suddenly floop upward, a cadaver might sit up, or dead eyes might abruptly open.    System: To use Tremens, the necromancer must spend and roll 1 BPDexterity + Occult (6). The more successes the more complicated an action can be inculcated into the corpse. One success allows for an instantenous movement, such as a twitch, while five allow the vampire to set up specific conditions under which the body animates. Under no circumstances can Tremens cause a dead body to attack or cause damage. Level 2 Apprentice's Brooms     With Apprentice's Brooms, the necromancer can make a dead body rise and perform a simple function. The cadavers thus animated to not attack or defend themselves if interfered with, but instead attempt to carry out their given instructions until such time as they are rendered inanimate. Generally it takes dismemberment, flame or something similar to destroy the corpse animated in this way.    System: A roll of Wits + Occult (7) and the expenditure of both 1 BP and 1 WP are all that is necessary to animate corpses with Apprentice's Brooms. The number of corpses animated is equal to the number of successes. The necromancer must then state the task to which she is setting her zombies. The cadavers turn themselves to their work until they finish the job (at which point they collapse) or something (including time) destroys them.    Bodies energized by this power continue to decay, albeit at a much slower rate than normal. Level 3 Shambling Hordes    Shambling hordes creates exactly what you think it might: reanimated corpses with the ability to attack, albeit neither very well nor quickly. once primed by this power, the corpses wat - for years, if necessary - to fulfill the command given them. The orders might be to protect something or attack immediately, but they will be carried out until every last one of the decomposing mosters is destroyed.    System: Spend 1 WP, then spend 1 BP for each corpse the necromancer wishes to animate. After that roll Wits + Occult (8); each success allows the vampire to raise another corpse from the grave. Each zombie can follow one simple instruction.    NOTE: Zombies created by Shambling Hordes will wait forever if need be to fulfill their functions. Long after the flesh has rotted off the mystically animated bones, the zombies will wait... and wait... and wait - still able to perform their duties. Level 4 Soul Stealing This power affects the living, not the dead. It does, however, temporarily turn a living soul into a sort of wraith, as it allows the necromancer to strip a soul from a living - or vampiric - body. A mortal exiled from his body by this power becomes a wraith with a single tie to the real world: his now-empty body.    System: Spend 1 WP, then make a contested Willpower (6) roll against the intended victim. Successes indicate the number of hours during which the original soul is forced out of its housing. The body itself remains autonomically alive but catatonic.    This power can be used to create suitable hosts for Daemonic Possession. Level 5 Daemonic Possession    Daemonic Possession lets a vampire insert a soul into a freshly dead body and inhabit it for the duration. This does not turn the reanimated corpse into anything other than a reanimated corpse, and one that will irrevocably decay after a week, but it does give either a wraith or a free-floating soul (say, that of a vampire using Psychic Projection) a temporary home in the physical world.    System: The body in question must be no more than 30 minutes dead, and the new tenant must agree to inhabit it - a ghost or astral form cannot be forced into a new shell. Of course, most ghosts would gladly seize the opportunity, but that's a different matter. Should the vampire, for whatever reason, wish to insert a soul into another vampire's corpse (before it crumbles to ash), the necromancer must achieve five successes on a resisted Willpower roll against the original owner of the body. Otherwise, the inerloper is denied entrance.    NOTE: The soul can use whatever physical abilities his new home possesses, and whatever mental abilities he possesses in his current existence. He cannot use the physial abilities of his old form, or the mental abilities of his new one. The Ash Path Level 1 Shroudsight    Shroudsight allows a necromancer to see through the Shroud, the mystical barrier that separates the living world from the Underwoeld. By using this power, the power can spot ghostly buildings and items, the landscape of the so-called Shadowlands, and even wraiths themselves. However, the odds are that an observant wraith will notice when a vampire suddenly starts staring at him, which can lead to unpleasant consequences.    System: Roll Perception + Alertness (7). The effects last for a scene. Level 2 Lifeless Tongues    Where Shroudsight allows a necromancer to see ghosts, Lifeless Tongues allows her to converse with them effortlessly. Once Lifeless Tongues is employed, the vampire can carry on a conversation with the denizens of the ghostly Underworld without spending BPs or causing the wraiths to expend any effort.    System: Spend 1 WP and roll Perception + Occult (6). This power also grants the effects of Shroudsight, so the vampire can see with whom, or what, she is conversing. Level 3 Dead Hand    Similar to the Sepulchre Path power Torment, Dead Hand allows a necromancer to reach across the Shroud and affect a ghostly object as if it were in the real world. Ghosts are solid to necromancers using this power, and can be attacked. Furthermore, the necromancer can pick up ghostly items, scale ghostly architecture (giving real-world bystanders the impression that she's climbing on air!) and generally exist in two worlds. On the other hand, a necromancer using Dead Hand is quite solid to the residents of the Underworld - and to whatever weapons they might have.    System: Spend 1 WP and roll Wits + Occult (7). For each scene the vampire wishes to remain in contact with the Underworld, she must spend a BP. Level 4 Ex Nihilo    Ex Nihilo allows a necromancer to enter the Underworld physically. While in the lands of the dead, the vampire is essentially an extra-solid ghost. She maintains her normal number of health levels, but can be hurt only by thingss that inflict aggravated damage on ghosts (weapons forged from souls, certain ghostly powers, etc.). A vampire physically in the Underworld can pass through solid objects (at the cost of one health level) and remain "incorporeal" thus for a number of turns equal to her Stamina. On the other hand, vampires present in the Underworld are subject to all of the Underworld's perils, including ultimate destruction. A vampire killed in the Deadlands is gone forever, beyond even the reach of other necromancers.    System: Using Ex Nihilo takes a tremendous toll on the necromancer. To activate this power, the vampire must first draw a doorway woth chalk or blood on any available surface. (NOTE: Doors can be drawn ahead of time for exactly this purpose.) The vampire must then spend two WPs and two BPs, then make a Stamina + Occul (8) roll as the vampire attempts to open the chalk door physically. If she succeeds, the door opens and the vampire steps though into the Underworld.    When the vampire wishes to return to the real workd, he needs merely to concentrate (and in the meanwhile spent another WP and roll Stamina + Occult (6)). A vampire who is too deeply immersed in the Underworld may need to journey to a place close to the lands of the living in order to cross over. Vampires who wander too far into the lands of the dead may be trapped there forever.    Vampires in the Underworld can't feed upon ghosts; their only sustenance if the blood they bring with them. Level 5 Shroud Mastery    A bit of an exaggeration, Shroud Mastery is the ability to manipulate the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead. By doing so, a necromancer can make it easier for bound wraiths in her service to function, or make it nearly impossible for ghosts to contact the material world.    System: To exercise Shroud Mastery, the necromancer must pend two WPs, then states whether she is attempting to raise or lower the Shroud. Then she makes a Willpower (9) roll. Each success raises or lowers the difficulties of all nearby Wraiths' actions by one, to a maximum of 10 or a minimum of 3. The Shroud reverts to its normal strength at a rate of one point per hour thereafter. The Mortuus Path (Guide to the Sabbat)    The proprietary path of the Harbingers of Skulls, this path allows the necromancer to manipulate the actual state of undeath for personal utility and offensive applications. Level 1 Reaper's Shroud    This power allows the Cainite or the subject of her choice to take on the semblance of death. Skin stretches tight over bones, flesh grows pale and sallow and joints seize as the body grows rigid. This power may be used to "play dead" and look like part, or to curse another with the appearance of the walking dead.    System: The vampire must touch her target for this power to take effect. If the Necromancer assumes this form, merely spend a BP. If attempting to use this power on another, spend a BP and roll Stamina + Occult (Stamina + 3). The effects of this power last until the next dawn or dusk, when the shriveled individual slowly regains her normal state over the course of an hour. While under the effects of Reaper's Shroud, the subject loses two points from her Dexterity and Appearance Traits (to a minimum of 1). Vampires may spend two BPs to revers the effects of Reaper's Shroud. Level 2 Blight    This power allows the vampire to accelerate the aging and decrepitude proccess in her intended victim. The subject suffers the effects of old age: brittle bones, dry and thin skin and various rheumatic pains among others. Some victims have even acquired certain ailments normally experienced by the elderly, including bone deseases and arthritis.    System: The vampire must touch her intended victim. Then roll Manipulation + Medicine (Willpower) and spend one WP. If this roll is successful, the target suffers the debilitating effects of advanced age. For the duration of this power (until the next dusk or dawn), the target, Cainite or otherwise, must subtract three points from all Physical Attributes (to a minimum of 1). Vampires and ghould affected in this manner may still spend BPs to increase their Physical Attributes.    Mortals who undertake stressful activity while affected by Blight run the risk of heart failure. For each round the mortal continues strenuous activity, he must make a Stamina (6) roll. If the roll fails, the mortal suffers a heart attack. Level 3 Resume the Coil    This power allows vampires to wrench themselves free from death's long slumber. A vampire who possesses this level of mastery may throw off the darkness of torpor or aid another in doing so.    System: Spend two WP. Then make a Willpower (10 - Humanity/Path) roll. Obviously, the vampire uses her own rating if attempting to rouse herself from torpor. If the vampire wishes to awaken another Cainite in torpor, she must touch that vampire. If the vampire so raised entered torpor because of a lack of blood, she awakens with one BP in his veins. Level 4 True Death    The Necromancer may temporarily cheat the Curse of Caine, albeit briefly, by becoming truly dead. While invoking this power, the vampire suffers none of the traditional banes against vampires. He is burned by sunlight, holy water does not harm him, and he does not rise from the dead each night. She has literally become a corpse.    System: There is no cost to assume the corpse-body, but awakening from the slumber requires two BPs. While the vampire is in corpse form, she may obviously take no actions, nor may she use any Disciplines, even "automatic" ones like Fortitude. The corpse-vampire does not consume blood nightly - she retains the same amount of blood as she did when she entered the state of True Death (remember that it costs two BPs to leave the state), which may prove damning should anyone cut her open in the interism. A vampire who has been staked through the heart is still paralyzed when she returns to vampiric consciousness. This power has no maximum duration, other than the time the vampire chooses to remain dead. Level 5 Mercy for Seth    Named after mortals - the Children of Seth - this power causes a victim to contract a virulent plague, similar to the epidemics of the 11th-15th centuries (the Black Plague, the Red Death, etc.). This illness causes death within 24 hours for mortals and sends vampires to torpor within the same period of time. Mortal victims of plague exhibit terrible plague symptoms - sunken eyes, bleckened limbs, bloody sweat and excretions, swollen nodes and weeping lesions.    System: The vampire touches her victim, then spend a BP (which must come in contact with the victim to communicate the plague) and a WP. Also roll Stamina + Occult (Willpower). Success indicates that the vampire has afflicted her victim with plague, who dies or succumbs to torpor within 24 hours. The Vitreous Path (Sorytellers' Guide)    The proprietary path of the Nagarajah, allows for more refined control over Wraiths than even the Sepulchre Path and its mastery even allows a vampire to gain sustenance from them. The Cenotaph Path (Giovanni Clanbook (Revised))    A rare path mainly practiced by the African Ghibberti family of the Giovanni which allows the necromancer control and even reassignment of a wraith's fetter.