The Path of Phobos
| This path is subtle in most of its manifestations, and its effects are usually difficult to recognize as blood magic in action. This is because the Path of Phobos, rather than creating horrifying images or inducing artificial emotions, releases and magnifies fears that were already lurking within its victims' minds. While this path is not an overtly powerful one, many cunning infernalists prefer it as they can use its effects as a source of social and psychological leverage. It is all the more powerful because its illusions exist entirely within the victim's mind, and thus Auspex cannot penetrate them as it can the specters of Chimerstry. The Path of Phobos uses the Intimidation Ability for retests. All powers of this path require you to be within line of sight of your victim to apply them though some effects may persist after activation regardless of where your victim is. The Path of Phobos is not without its drawbacks. Continued use of it often results in the infernalist sharing her victims' unearthed fears. You may use Path of Phobos twice per night without any danger. However, on the third and every subsequent use of a power from this Path, you must succeed in a Static Mental Challenge against a number of Traits equal to the number of times that night you have used the path. If you fail, you are afflicted with the Flaw Nightmares (Laws of the Night, p. 117) for the next week and you lose an additional Blood Trait for every night that this lasts. If you fail three such tests in the same night, you permanently gain the Flaw Phobia (Laws of the Night, p. 117). The Storyteller determines the object of this phobia; it should be related to the fears of one or more of the victims on whom you have used Path of Phobos during that night. |
| basic path of phobos |
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Induce Fear | |
You can induce a mild paranoia in your victim. She feels as if she is being watched constantly. Menacing figures hover at the edges other vision, never coming fully into view. Make a Static Mental Challenge against your subject's permanent Mental Traits to Induce Fear in your victim. If you succeed, she is affected for the remainder of the scene. While under the effects of Induce Fear, she must make a Courage Virtue Test against two Traits to take any action that exposes her to her unseen stalkers. She is also down one Trait on all tests she makes in combat due to the distraction imposed by "having to watch her back."
| Spook |
The implicit terrors of Induce Fear become explicit with Spook. Your victim experiences minor hallucinations that portray an imminent attack that he will be powerless to resist. A police officer might see the flash of a gun barrel from the window of a burned-out apartment building while a Gangrel elder might hear the heavy footfalls of Lupines in war-form just around the comer. Whatever form these sensations take, they add up to the overburdening impression that your victim must flee at once lest he fall prey to whatever menaces him. Issue a Mental Challenge. If you win, your target must leave the area immediately. Additionally, a Cainite victim of this power must win a Courage Virtue Test against three Traits or enter Rotschreck. The compulsion to avoid the area lasts for one hour; the frenzy subsides in five minutes.
intermediate path of phobos
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Terrorize | |
You can now summon illusions of your victim's worst fears that, to her, are indistinguishable from reality. No one else can perceive them, but they are immediate threats to her, and so omnipresent that they all but paralyze her. If she is afraid of heights, the floor seems to fall away from her; if she fears snakes, a hundred cobras slither into the room and surround her. You are not automatically aware of what fear you have unearthed with this power though you may be able to infer it from your victim's reactions by winning a Social Challenge (retest with Empathy or Subterfuge). To Terrorize your victim, bid a number of Mental Traits equal to her number of Courage Traits and defeat her in a Mental Challenge. If she loses, she must either succeed in a Courage Virtue Test against a four-Trait difficulty or spend a Mental Trait to take any action except cowering in fear. Terrorize lasts for the rest of the scene.
| Fear-Plague |
Through this power, you may draw your subject's deepest fears out of his mind, examine them and hurl them back at him. They then haunt him at every turn, stalking his mind and denying him any sort of peace. A criminal might constantly hear police cars pulling up; a Pander who believes in occult conspiracy theories may see mysterious sigils scrawled on walls wherever he goes. These omens and experiences are so all-pervading as to seriously affect the victim's mental equilibrium. To inflict Fear-Plague on a target, spend a Willpower Trait and defeat him in a Mental Challenge. If you win, he cannot spend Willpower Traits for any purpose that does not directly complement his Nature or directly affect him immediate chances for survival as he perceives them. These effects last for one week. Your victim must be within your line of sight when you activate this power though its effects persist regardless of where he is.
advanced path of phobos
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Leech of Fear | |
The diets of demons are many and varied. Some feed on blood like Cainites while others subsist on such diverse substances as the breath of infants or the remains of dead murderers. With this power, you may feed on other individuals' fears, drawing sustenance as if they were mortal vitae. You may use this power on any given individual once per night. She must be within your line of sight, and she must be currently afraid of or intimidated by something or someone (though this power will not work if the fear is an artificial product of another Path of Phobos power). Spend the usual Blood Trait to activate Leech of Fear and make a number of Simple Tests equal to six minus your target's number of Courage Traits. Each such test that you win or tie is one Fear Trait that you may add to your Blood Pool. Fear Traits function exactly like Blood Traits, except that all unspent Fear Traits disappear at sunrise.