Vampire: The Masquerade 3rd Edition Koldunic Sorcery Reference Thread

[ahenobarbi]

Follow up to Vampire: The Masquerade 3rd Edition Disciplines Reference Thread

Compared to Thaumaturgy Koldunic Sorcery has a few disadvantages:
There are fewer paths (only 6 compared to some 40 thaumaturgy has),
Koldunic Sorcery uses more attributes (for different paths: Stamina, Perception, Wits, Manipulation, Charisma, and Intelligence for rituals) than Thaumaturgy (Intelligence for rituals, Willpower for path powers) which means you will need to spend more XP to be effective.
Koldunic rituals have higher DC to cast by 1 if you don’t have Koldunism specialty in Occult.
There are fewer Koldunic rituals,
There is less variety in effects, most are combat focused (but there are a few nice effects with out of combat uses).

But it has a few things going for it:

1. The Way of Spirit allows use of other Koldunic powers in its range (up to 8 km). So if your story teller allows this and doesn’t nerf the path, Koldunic Sorcery is very scary combat-wise. If it’s allowed but nerfed it’s still very powerful on NPCs who (like many Old Clan Tzimisce) tend to sit in one place and can adjust their surroundings to make this useful.
2. It has a couple of 1st level rituals which regenerate willpower.
3. 3rd level ritual Invoke the Greater Sign of Power reduces DC of all Koldunic casting by 2. It also increases DC of all other rolls by 1 so you don't want to have it on all the time.
4. It has a few rituals at levels 2, 3, and 5 which allow you to trade favors with progressively more powerful spirits.

It has the following paths:

• The Way of Spirit. Sensory omniscience and ability to use Koldun at range. Good on its own, greatly increases usefulness of other paths.
• The Way of Earth. Combat focused. Immobilize enemies, deal some damage, buff your stamina, heal wounds (including aggravated).
• The Way of Air. Walkie-talkie, couple debuffs, fast transport, create a storm.
• The Way of Water. Illusion, sleeping in water, water walking, summoning water elementals, creating whirpools.
• The Way of Fire. Stop being afraid of fire. Also 4 ways to deal damage.
• The Way of Sorrow. Short term debuffs.

And some rituals.

[ahenobarbi]

Attribute: Charisma
Source: DA Rev Player_s Guide to High Clans 189.

This way has a harder roll than others: DC is 4 + effect level (instead of the usual 3 + effect level).
Also you have to spend a willpower point to activate this so it’s much more costly to use (and this prevents using willpower to get an auto-success).
And you must have “Koldunism” specialty in occult to learn this path at all.

But it has two effects which are very much worth the higher price tag. For 1 h per success on the activation roll:
1. You get “sensory omniscience” in the area of effect. You can see, hear, smell, and even tastes everything at once. This lets you detect spirits and intruders, to get their details you must roll Wits + Alertness (DC by storyteller).
2. You can use other koldunic powers in the area of effect.

Area of effect is 15m (⏺) / 100m (⏺⏺) / 400m (⏺⏺⏺) / 1.6km (⏺⏺⏺⏺) / 8 km (⏺⏺⏺⏺⏺), + 16 km for each ⏺ above 5.

Both effects are very powerful. Sensory omniscience lets you check things out without getting to them directly / line of sight. Even at ⏺ (15m) it allows for things like listening on conversations in another room.

Using other koldunic powers with extended range is great. It lets you attack from behind a wall, which makes counterattack much harder. At higher levels it lets you attack from a range at which the enemy is likely to have problems responding. It also allows you to communicate over distance (Way of Air ⏺) and use illusions (Way of Water ⏺) over distance. Communication is not that useful (in a modern setting). I think illusion might be nice. Or you can ruin someone's night with Way of Sorrow from a safe distance.

Note that going with this above level 5 adds to difficulty of social rolls (+1 DC for every 2 dots above ⏺⏺⏺⏺, caps at DC 9) so you might not want to take more dots. So if you’re playing a character who might be taking 6th dot in Koldunic Sorcery you might not want this as your primary path.

[ahenobarbi]

Attribute: Stamina
Source: V20 - Core Rulebook 448.

This way has very nice combat-centric effects. It also has two disadvantages:

• Most effects require the target to stand on soil. Which you can arrange if you’re an old clan Tzimisce defending their own domain. But if you’re not controlling where combat is taking place it’s likely that you will not be able to use those powers.
• It’s based of natural stamina. Blood buff and increases from other disciplines don’t count. https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=25884061&postcount=8”]I don’t think you want to increase your stamina much[/URL] so this is costly. I think that second level power of this path mitigates this but your storyteller might disagree.

Individual powers:

⏺ Grasping soil. range: 30m. The target must be on soil. You can choose between:
- Keeping the target trapped in place for 2 rounds / success (can free itself by getting 5 success on extended strength + survival roll (DC 6)) and
- Dealing 1 lethal damage per success.
Immobilizing enemies is nice. There are easier ways to deal damage from distance but combined with The Way of Spirit this is very nice.

⏺⏺ Endurance of Stone. +2 stamina for scene on success. “These dots are considered part of the character’s natural Stamina” so I think this buffs other powers of this path. In that case it makes the path pretty good. Otherwise it’s mediocre (blood buff uses 2 blood to increase your stamina by 2 but doesn’t cost XP and doesn’t require any rolls).

⏺⏺⏺ Hungry Earth. Improved version of ⏺ Grasping soil. It’s harder to free oneself (DC 8 to free and target must get 5 successes in one roll, extended). It deals 1 lethal each round. Activation DC is higher so you’ll get fewer successes on activation roll. Duration is shorter (higher activation DC and 1 round per success) but in practice I’d expect this to last longer (because roll to escape is much harder). Also the victim is covered by earth so they can’t see which prevents them from taking some actions.

Seems very nice in combat, if you can use it. As usual much nicer with increased range from The Way of Spirit.

⏺⏺⏺⏺ Root of Vitality. Spend as much blood as you want, make the activation roll, heal the amount of damage depending on the amount of blood spent and number of successes on the activation roll:
- bashing uses 1 blood, 1 success, takes 1 round,
- lethal uses 1 blood, 1 success, takes 1 minute,
- aggravated uses 1 blood, 2 successes, takes 1 hour.

This seems mostly useful for speeding up healing of aggravated damage.

⏺⏺⏺⏺⏺ Kupala’s Fury. You have to spend a willpower point in addition to the usual blood point. This power causes an earthquake which deals 10 dice of damage in an area sized from 1 house (1 success) to a neighborhood / stadium-sized-structure (5 successes). Cannot decide to affect a smaller area than rolled. 10 dice of damage seem kind of weak for 5th level power which requires spending a blood point, a willpower point, and a difficult roll. It can be useful “buildings of concrete and steel may grow cracked and pitted with superficial damage from the shaking earth” which might be enough to disrupt wards of a chantry.

[ahenobarbi]

Attribute: Perception.
Source: V20 - Core Rulebook 449.

Level 3 is a good combat debuf. Level 4 is a stylish and practical way to travel. Otherwise doesn’t seem very good.

⏺ Breath of Whispers. Discrete communication with a 1.5 km range, hear back responses. Doesn’t seem very useful in a modern setting. It takes until 4th dot of The Way of Spirit to (barely) increase range of this power.

⏺⏺ Biting Gale. Blizzard with up to 100m radius. Does 1 die bashing damage per turn, gives -2 dexterity penalty, halves movement speed. Lasts as long as concentration (only reflexive actions allowed). Effect is not very strong on its own but the long duration is nice. It would work nicely in combination with The Way of Spirit for like a Tzimiztsce defending their haven on top of a mountain (which doesn’t have much soil to use with The Path of Earth but has plenty of rocks which force dexterity checks).

⏺⏺⏺ Breeze of Lethargy. Wind in 60m radius for 2 rounds / success causes lethargy: must roll Stamina + Survival (DC 8) every 10 minutes. On failure die pools for physical actions and movement speed are halved. On botch the victim falls asleep / into light torpor for the scene.

Duration is weird here. It lasts 2 rounds (or 6 seconds) per success so I don’t expect this could last more than 2 minutes. But the roll is made every 10 minutes of exposure. Probably something to clarify with your storyteller.

It is a nice debuff to soften enemies before an encounter (which is easier if you have The Way of Spirit).

⏺⏺⏺⏺ Ride the Tempest. Move through open space at 400 kph as a wind. Neat. Seems like a good escape method (at least if you’re outdoors). You move fast and are hard to detect in transit. Presumably The Way of Spirit doesn’t apply to this power.

⏺⏺⏺⏺⏺ Tempest. Spend 1 willpower (in addition to usual 1 blood). It takes 6 success count hours for the storm to form. The storm lasts 1h per success. Exposure causes cold damage (1 die unsoakable/5 minutes), there is a lot of lightning. You can spend a willpower point and make a roll (perc + occult, dc 6) to direct lightning which causes 10 die lethal damage.

This is slow to start. Unless you get 6+ successes on the activation roll (which is hard, even if you use Invoke the Greater Sign of Power ritual to lower DC of the roll to 6) it will take an hour or more. So it’s not very good for doing immediate damage. But it is useful if there is something you want destroyed in a few hours. Ability to direct lightning is nice. Still for a level 5 power which costs both blood and willpower to use and requires difficult roll to activate this seems underwhelming.

[ahenobarbi]

Attribute: Wits
V20 - Core Rulebook 450.

⏺ Pool of Lies. Create a 3d illusion which can speak over a body of water. I don’t like illusions. But I know some people love them. You need to arrange for some water to use this but I think this can be done. Like most powers this is much better if you combine this with The Way of Spirit. Illusions are short lived (1 turn per success) but can be extended by making a roll at DC + 1 (until you fail a roll).
⏺⏺ Watery Haven. No blood cost. Merge with water and sleep. Perc + Alertness DC 8 roll allows spotting the sleeping vampire. This is a nice option to have.
⏺⏺⏺ Fog Over Sea. Walk on water for 1 scene or 1h per roll. This could allows for things like quick escape. But also there are many options to get flight which is better.
⏺⏺⏺⏺ Minions of the Deep. Spend 1 willpower, make a roll, spend blood. Summons elementals. They get 1 aggravated damage per 1h out of water, heal 1 per turn in water. Disappears at sunrise. Seems good way to get disposable combat minions.
⏺⏺⏺⏺⏺ Doom Tide. Spend 1 will. Create 1 whirlpool / success. They drown living, trap undead for a scene (unless target wins against whirpools 15 strength). Seems very situational because mostly enemies won’t want to get into water. Unless you’re using this to defend your island or something.

[ahenobarbi]

Attribute: Manipulation.
Source: V20 - Core Rulebook 452.

⏺ Fiery Courage. No blood or activation, always-on. Reduce DC of resisting Rötschreck from fire by paths level. Neat.
⏺⏺ Combust. 1 level aggravated damage / success. +2DC (so 7) vs living and unliving targets. Decent damage. Combined with The Way of Spirit (to increase range and prevent counterattacks) or The Way of Earth (to keep enemies in place) or The Way of Air (to slow enemies down) or the Invoke the Greater Sign of Power ritual (to lower DC back to 2) it can be quite effective.
⏺⏺⏺ Wall of Magma. 3m tall, 3m radius (different shape +1DC). Approaching the wall requires courage roll (DC 8), causes 1 level aggravated damage. Direct contact: 3 damage, 9 soak DC. Koldun takes no damage from proximity (does on contact). Lasts 2 turns per success. Seems like an effective way to block enemies off.
⏺⏺⏺⏺ Heat Wave. 5 levels lethal damage. In addition to damage, vampires lose 5 blood. Nice. Vampires can soak lethal damage but most will run out of blood quickly if you apply it to them. Like ⏺⏺ Combust this gets better if combined with Spirit, Earth, or Air.
⏺⏺⏺⏺⏺ Volcanic Blast. Costs 1 willpower (in addition to 1 blood). Lava spills for 1 turn / success. Flows for double that. Contact inflicts at least 3 aggravated damage. Description doesn’t specify how big the eruption is. Seems more destructive than 5th level powers of Earth, Air and Water. On the other hand contact with ⏺⏺⏺ Wall of Magma also deals 3 aggravated damage and the 3rd level power is easier to control so I’m not sure how useful this power is in practice.

[ahenobarbi]

Attribute: Manipulation.
Source: VTM 3ed Revised - Clanbook Tzimisce 63.

This is different than other ways:

• DC of activation roll is victims permanent willpower rating (not the usual power level + 3).
• You spend a willpower point (and by my reading you don’t spend any blood).
• Victim can use 1 willpower to overcome an effect.
• On botch you experience the effect of 5-success power.

Those are big disadvantages to me. Especially “you spend 1 willpower” combined with “victim can spend 1 willpower to ignore the effect” sounds to me like it’s costing you more than the victim. In some circumstances it might be good (for example you can prevent someone from using willpower to do something you don’t like).

⏺ The Frustrations of Nestrecha. Eye contact. Spend 1 will. Roll Manipulation + Koldunism. for 1 turn / success victim can’t use willpower to activate disciplines or auto-succed.
⏺⏺ The Insults of Krivda. Make an insult. Causes frenzy to attack the koldun (supernaturals with a beast can roll at DC to control frenzy 5 + number of successes on the activation roll).
⏺⏺⏺ The Weeping of Kruchina. Target cries uncontrollably for 1 turn/success. When crying the victim can’t perform actions that need concentration. Vampires lose 1 blood per turn of crying.
⏺⏺⏺⏺ The Misfortune of Chernogolov. Spend 1 will, roll. For 1 turn/ success target gets -2 successes on rolls. Botches should be extra painful.
⏺⏺⏺⏺⏺ The Starvation of Marena. 2 bashing damage (soaked normally) per success. Additionally vampires lose 1 blood point per success.

[ahenobarbi]

Roll Intellignce + Occult, DC 3 + level, spend 1 blood point.
Rituals take at least 5 minutes per level, unless noted otherwise.

There are some very good rituals here. My favorites are:

• Beast That Feeds on Dreams. Level 1, regain a willpower point
• Reawakening Dead Water. Similar to the above. Level 1, regain 1 willpower point (you want both because of differences in their details).
• Rouse the Elemental Spirit. Level 2, Bargain with a weak spirit.
• Conjure Spirit. Level 3, offer an exchange to a more powerful spirit.
• Invoke the Greater Sign of Power. Level 3, strong buff for Koldunic sorcery. But with drawbacks
• Pool of Secrets, level 4. Look at a place you have visited or a person you’ve talked to. (this one only made the list because I felt like I should have at least one from each level)
• Conjure Demon, level 5. Get a favor from a powerful demon of the old country. Which you will have to repay.

Level 1
Beast That Feeds on Dreams
Feed a predatory animal 1 blood point. It looks for a child. When it finds a child, the caster regains 1 willpower. If the same child is fed for 3 consecutive nights it dies.

Very good. Willpower is very useful. Especially if you can arrange for the animal to have an easy time finding children you can use this to fuel significant willpower expenditure.
Hospitality
Awake spirits of items in a single structure (from a small cottage to a castle). You can talk to them. If you treat them well they’ll warn you of intruders.

Very good for defending your haven.
Reawakening Dead Water
Mix blood with stagnant water, drink it. On success don’t vomit and regain 1 willpower. Might be cast only 1 per night.

Regaining willpower is very good. And it’s less hassle than the Beast That Feeds on Dreams ritual.
Ritual of Death’s Embrace
Slowly embrace someone. Drink 1 to 3 points of victims blood and feed them the same amount of your blood. They don’t turn into a ghoul but slowly die of anemia.

You can create a vampire who is blood bound to you but doesn’t get to be a ghoul in the meantime. Doesn’t seem worth the effort.
Level 2
Blood of Flame
Until the end of the night the cost of healing is doubled. Mortal who drinks your blood dies. Supernaturals who drink it get 1 point of unsoakable aggravated damage per blood point.

Good to have if you’re worried about someone draining you. Note that there is level 6(!) power of Visicitude with similar effect (permanent, which has drawbacks but doesn’t increase healing cost).
Invoke the Lesser Sign of Power
Only takes 1 turn to use. No blood cost. Casters eyes glow in a way corresponding to the caster's highest path. -2 DC for intimidate and leadership rolls vs mortals who can see the eyes. Effects last until the end of the night.

This has a drawback of making mortals aware that you’re supernatural so I wouldn’t go around with this active all the time (I mean you can use glasses but it’s suspicious and you might lose them). Also it works only against mortals. Mostly I don’t expect problems with working those rolls on mortals. But short casting time means you can use this in a moment when you need it. Nice option to have.

Rouse the Elemental Spirit
Bargain with weak nature spirits. You offer them blood in return for service. Most spirits perform only a short task. More involved or dangerous tasks require a good social roll and cost a lot of blood.

Spirit minions are always good, even if they’re weak.
Level 3
Conjure Spirit
Draw the attention of a powerful spirit. Make an offering (blood, other things of value to spirits) in exchange for service. Spirit doesn’t bargain. It accepts the offer and drinks the blood or leaves. So it’s important to learn how to make an appropriate offer.

Very good. Spirit might be even more powerful than you. Learning how to make good offers seems like good use of the weaker ritual (Rouse the Elemental Spirit).
Invoke the Greater Sign of Power
Appearance changes to reflect your favored element. Get effects of the Invoke the Lesser Sign of Power ritual. DC of all Koldunic castings are reduced by 2. All other rolls have difficulty increased by 1. Lasts until dawn.

This is very good buff when you need it. But it has a pretty downside.
Sentinels of the Haven
More powerful version of the 1st level ritual Hospitality. Spirits can move objects in your haven (only one at the same time though).

Nice. Very convenient, you don’t have to walk around grabbing things and opening doors. You don’t have to rely on ghouls or electronics to do that. Also you can have things like a panic room which only opens from inside (or if you ask the spirit of the door to open).
Level 4
Merging of Souls
Summon a minor spirit and trick it to accept blood offering thats in the gullet of a ghoul. Takes 1 hour, blood and soil in which you rested. Inflicts 5 dice of lethal damage on the ghoul and warps its flesh. Appearance of the ghoul drops to 0. It gets +3 Strength and Stamina. Ghoul uses up 1 blood point at each sunrise. If it ever uses all of its blood it dies and the spirit escapes.
Pool of Secrets
A pool of brackish water show a present image centered on a targeted person (with whom you must have talked to before) or place (to which you must have been to before). Works for up to 1 hour per succees. You can release the vision and resume it later (until the duration runs out).

This is somewhat similar to level 6 power of Auspex Clairvoyance but noticeably weaker (longer cast time, need some water, only image, can’t use auspex through this one). It’s useful but definitely not as good.
Refuge of the Thirsty Grave
Similar effect to the power of Protean 3, Earth Meld. You stay submerged until you make a successful Strength + Survival roll (DC 6). You can try once per hour. Earth drinks 1 blood point from you per day.

It's a little annoying that you don’t wake up when you want. And not so good for escaping, it takes 20 minutes. Well it’s cheaper than learning protean 3 so I’d rather have it than not. On the other hand it’s level 4 so it’s likely you have better uses for your time. And it might not be cheap.
Level 5
Conjure Demon
Make an offering of blood to summon a mighty demon of the Old Country. Its powers usually exceed the koldun’s by far. Koldun may request a favor from a demon and offer a favor in turn. Often demons want an unspecified payment at a later date.

I mean. They are powerful. But you’ll also be in debt.
The Inmost Tug
No blood sacrifice. No complicated procedures. One word and one gesture. Roll Manipulation + Empathy (DC target’s Willpower). The target must be under full blood oath to the caster. Turn the intense love and devotion into lust, friendship or something yet more perverse. The change lasts until sunrise. No range limit.

It doesn’t seem very useful.
Nemesis of the Living Earth
Casting takes from midnight to sunrise. Names a target as an enemy of nature. All elements turn against the victim. Only death or forgiveness of the koldun may lift the curse.

Sounds like a strong debuf. And permanent. Just make sure you don’t cast it on someone who will kill you to lift it.
Level 6
Create Vozhd
Level-Six Ritual
Combine at least 15 ghouls filled up with your vitae. Chant continuously while employing Vicissitude to mold the ghouls into a single composite being. Another individual may perform the actual sculpting (if you don’t have Vicissitude). This process takes a number of hours equal to the ghouls used minus seven. Can’t take breaks.

Vozhd are powerful but you’re not going to use them anywhere where mortals will be able to spot them. You could also take a level 6 power to do this instead of a ritual. Ritual seems like a cheaper way.