Concepts

Antitribu Shovelhead

You were an accountant before the Watts Riots. You think it’s important to remember that for some reason. You don’t remember what the trigger was (something racial maybe?), but you’re pretty sure it was really cover for a Crusade. That’s what the Sabbat calls it when they march into a city, grab some handy locals, hit them with a shovel, and feed them some blood before burying them alive. Well, not alive. You were definitely dead when you dug yourself out of the grave.

​

They said you were an Assamite, and you were as surprised as anyone was when you survived the Crusade. Once you realized you were a goddamned vampire, you thought about killing yourself. It was the right thing to do. But before you had the chance, you got into a scrape with the one of the local Camarilla vamps, and you drained the bitch dry. Goddamn. It was better than coke, even better than sex. So you decided that you were probably damned anyway. Might as well see if there’s any more of that “vee-tay” for the taking. 

​

Contract Assassin

You were 14 the first time you killed a man. Granted, it was your own father and it was because you were tired of his disgusting touch in the night. Unfortunately, the penalty for murder was harsh under Moroccan law, even when the “victim” was a child molester. Luckily, for you, someone thought your actions were both justified and skillful. He visited you in jail and offered you freedom and power you’d never dreamed of provided that you were willing to kill again... and again. 

​

Your sire was not a part of the Web of Knives, which was why he was even considering a female. You gathered that he wanted to prove a point to his political rivals. Three years later, he was sufficiently satisfied with your skills with a gun, a knife, a bottle of poison, or your bare hands to bestow the Embrace. You’ve been proving his point ever since, usually for one million USD per kill.

​

Crypto-Kabbalist

The Leopards have always defended Israel. Once that meant using swords, then guns, and then jet airplanes. You used to do it with numbers and computer programs as one of Mossad’s top computer analysts. Then, an Assamite sorcerer recruited you to see if it was possible to do Kabbalah-based numerology rituals with computers. You’re still working on that, but you’ve become a pretty good sorcerer in your own right, and despite your ostensible loyalty to the Assamites, you haven’t ignored the chance to use your powers on behalf of the Nation of Israel when you can.

 

Demon Hunter
 

You were a little girl the first time you saw a djinni (well, you thought it was a djinni). You had awoken to a strange noise and crept into your parents’ room to see what it was. You gasped as you saw the boy with bright red skin floating in mid-air over your parents’ bed. He looked at you and giggled. Then he set your parents on fire. Everyone else said it was a bomb, one of many that fell on Beirut during Lebanon’s civil war. You knew differently and devoted yourself to learning everything you could about the djinn, the efrit, and the other evil spirits of the Middle East. Your studies led you to the Children of Haqim and your devotion (as well as your unusual ability to see dematerialized spirits) eventually led to the Embrace. Now, you wander Lebanon and Syria as you will, ignoring the violence of the kine in your search for the evil spirits that fatten themselves on it, spirits that you either bind into your service or destroy in the name of Allah and Haqim.

 

Dispossessed Anarch
 

You never asked for the Embrace, and you certainly never asked to be Embraced as an Assamite warrior. From the start, you wanted nothing to do with your weird Clan of crazy Islamist killers. Luckily, your sire wasn’t in the Web of Knives, so he didn’t cart you off to be brainwashed. He was just a warrior who thought he’d found a kindred spirit (so to speak) in a French Legionnaire serving in Algiers. He taught you just enough to survive, and other Kindred you encountered taught you where to go. A year later, you were in L.A... just in time for the Sabbat to attack. You fought back and helped out as you could, and you even saved the unlife of an important Anarch Baron. He repaid you by bringing you into his crew and by not asking any questions about your occasional use of Quietus.

​

Envoy to the Camarilla
 

In life, you were a Jew whose work with the Danish Resistance led to becoming an Israeli intelligence operative after your post-war emigration. In death, you discovered that you had joined a Clan that was hostile towards women, towards Westerners, and increasingly towards Jews. Your fellow viziers were all right, but your parents had told you stories about what it was like in the 1930s before everything went to hell, and you could see the writing on the wall. When one of Tegyrius’s people started to sound you out about joining their conspiracy, you interrupted him to tell him quite a few things you’d already figured out that he didn’t know. Then you asked what you could do to help. That’s how you ended up here in a Camarilla stronghold, posing as a Toreador neonate. You play the part of a glittering and somewhat vapid socialite while you look for ways to ingratiate yourself to the Prince, ways that can open doors for everyone else who’s looking to get out. 

 

Ice Queen
 

The Thousand Meter Club doesn’t have many members to begin with, but unlike much of the Clan, it is surprisingly accepting of women. Of course, you’re used to competing against men successfully. You and women like you fought for Mother Russia and for the Revolution against the Nazis. Your specialty was the sniper rifle, and with over fifty confirmed kills, you were damned good at it. By the war’s end, you’d been recruited into a much better fighting force by your sire, a woman with skin the color of midnight who watched you kill four Germans who never had a clue where you were. “Magnificent,” she said as the last one’s head disintegrated. You’ve traveled with her ever since serving as her protégé, her bodyguard, and her occasional lover. 

 

Mujahid
 

In life, you were a member of the Republican Guard who fought in the Iran-Iraq War during the 1980s. The conflict between the governments bored you, as did the conflict between Sunni and Shia. You were a soldier, you were paid to kill, and you were good at it. Sometimes, it bothered you when your fellow soldiers looked at you like a monster, but that was their weakness, not yours. After the war was over, you mustered out and were looking for work when a man showed up at your home. Without even introducing himself, he spat in your face and then tossed you a knife. Even though you were armed and he was not, he still beat you senseless. Despite that, he still smiled at you and said you had potential. Then he showed you his fangs and asked whether you wanted to be a killer or a victim. You never hesitated. You never will. 

​

Oil Company Executive
 

In life, you were a minor relative of an Arab oil sheik, not connected enough to be wealthy in your own right, but close enough to get a good education, including a business degree from America. You graduated just in time for the 1973 Oil Crisis, which briefly put OPEC on top of the world. It didn’t last — the 1980s saw a massive collapse in oil prices — but by then your place in the Saudi Arabian national oil company, Saudi Aramco, was secure. More importantly, your reputation as a savvy and ruthless businessman preceded you; so much so, it attracted the attention of a vizier elder who was having some problems grasping the intricacies of the energy sector as it applied to late twentieth century geopolitics. He needed your expertise and offered immortality in exchange, a bargain you found quite satisfactory. Tonight, you split your time between the boardrooms of Riyadh and the pleasure palaces of Dubai. There are deals to make in both venues. 

​

The Seer
 

You were nine when you first had a vision of the future. You were fifteen when your vision told you how and where  you would die. You were seventeen when your vision told you that your death was not your end but your true beginning. You were eighteen and a woman when you left your home in the south of Morocco for Egypt, where you wandered the nights until you found a particular apartment that called out to you. You knocked on the door, and when a tall man with ebony skin opened the door, you smiled and said, “I am ready to die, master.” You have not had any more visions since your Embrace, but you took to Assamite Sorcery as though you were destined for it... which, of course, you know that you were. 

​

Merits and Flaws
 

Sectarian Ally (1pt. Merit)
You have a close friend in one of the Kindred sects. Perhaps you are a warrior who is in touch with one of the antitribu, a vizier who shares common business interests with some Camarilla Ventrue, or a sorcerer who corresponds with one of the rare blood magicians of the Anarch Movement. Your ally can help you navigate the currents of their sect, but they might want something in exchange from time to time.

​

Thousand Meter Killer (1pt. Merit)
You have proven yourself worthy to join the Thousand Meter Club through your remarkable skill with the sniper rifle. The difficulty of all rolls associated with sniping is reduced by -1. You also double the normal range when using a sniper rifle as a weapon.

 

Outcast (2pt. Flaw)
Your have rejected the ethos of the caste into which you were Embraced. Perhaps you are one of the few viziers or sorcerers to support the Web of Knives or pursue the Path of Blood. Perhaps you are a warrior who has little stomach for combat, preferring instead to be a diplomat or a student of the occult. Perhaps you made some kind of public spectacle that revealed your disdain for your fellow caste members. Your sire now rejects you, as do the other members of your caste. The difficulty of all Social rolls against members of your caste is at +2. 

 

Broken Antitribu (3pt. Flaw)
You are one of those most pitiful things — an Assamite antitribu who still labors under the Tremere Curse. You have pledged yourself to the Sabbat, but you cannot perform diablerie and can only partake of Kindred vitae already transubstantiated through the Vaulderie. As a result, the difficulty of all Social rolls against other Sabbat members is at +2.

 

Multiple Curses (3pt. Flaw)
In addition to the normal curse imposed upon you by your caste or sect, you suffer one additional one associated with the Assamite Clan. Most likely, you are a rare vizier or sorcerer within the Sabbat who suffers the Baali Curse in addition to your normal caste-imposed curse, but at the Storyteller’s discretion, other combinations may be possible. 

​

Discipline Powers

The most common powers associated with the Quietus Discipline are in V20, pp. 203-209. In general, the warriors favor these powers for their combat applications. However, a vizier seldom has need to kill an enemy by spitting in his face and a sorcerer even less so. Accordingly, below are alternate versions of the common Quietus powers available to the vizier and sorcerer castes — only the modifications to the powers listed in V20 are presented here. The player of a vizier or sorcerer character must decide when purchasing the individual power whether to take the traditional version associated with the warriors or the caste-specific version. 

 

Sorcerer Quietus
 

• Silence of Death
Despite no one being able to hear her, the sorcerer can still speak. While this may seem a meaningless distinction, many applications of Assamite Sorcery require verbal incantations, which this power allows the sorcerer to use without drawing attention to herself.

​

•• Scorpion’s Curse (Scorpion’s Touch)
The sorcerer version of Scorpion’s Touch is Scorpion’s Curse. It allows the sorcerer to place a ward on a solid  surface such as a door, a section of floor, or even a small object such as a box or a letter. The sorcerer may ward any object or area up to her Intelligence dots in square yards/meters. A few seconds after the power is activated, the blood ward fades and can only be spotted with a Perception + Awareness roll (difficulty 9) or a Perception + Investigation roll (difficulty 7). The ward lasts for a number of days equal to her Occult dots before dissipating, but while it lasts, anyone who touches the affected area or item is targeted by the Discipline just as though a warrior using Scorpion’s Touch had successfully touched him. The sorcerer immediately rolls and can spend blood, as per Scorpion’s Touch (V20, pp. 203-204).

 

••• Dagon’s Call
The sorcerer and vizier equivalents for Dagon’s Call both work the same. Instead of ravaging the target’s body, the Assamite harrows the mind. Mechanically, this power works the same as the warrior version except as follows: First, the roll is the Assamite’s Manipulation versus the target’s Intelligence. The difficulty for both rolls is the other’s permanent Willpower. Second, instead of inflicting lethal damage, each net success for the Assamite strips the target of temporary Willpower. If the Assamite spends a Willpower point and continues to roll even after the target has lost all her temporary Willpower, additional successes strip the target of one dot of permanent Willpower. This represents the most damage that this power can inflict in a single night regardless of successes, but a target who has lost all of her Willpower dots through use of Dagon’s Call on successive nights is reduced to a mindless husk. As with the warrior version, the Assamite need not be within the target’s presence to trigger this attack. 

 

•••• Baal’s Caress
The sorcerer version of Baal’s Caress is less useful for slaying enemies than for smiting demons. With this power, the sorcerer can spend one point of blood that he smears across his eyes. For the rest of the scene, the sorcerer can perceive dematerialized spirits and similar creatures as if they were material. If he spends additional points of blood to coat a melee weapon such as a dagger or sword, that weapon can strike such targets and harm them normally despite their intangibility. 

 

••••• Taste of Death
The sorcerer equivalent to Taste of Death works exactly the same as the warrior equivalent, except that the attack only targets dematerialized spirits and the like as if they were solid. This is if the sorcerer has already used Baal’s Caress to make himself capable of perceiving such beings. 

 

Vizier Quietus
 

• Silence of Death
Once the zone of silence is activated, the vizier can decide whom, if anyone, can hear him when he speaks. Thus, while the power is active, he can allow one or more people to hear him while no one else can. More importantly, he can deliver instructions backed by Presence or Dominate without anyone else noticing. 

​

•• Ishtar’s Touch (Scorpion’s Touch)
The vizier version of Scorpion’s Touch is Ishtar’s Touch. Instead of yielding a deadly poison, this power converts the vizier’s blood into a touch-activated narcotic that puts the victim into an inebriated state under which he is more vulnerable to Presence, Dominate, and even mundane Social manipulation. The vizier’s player must spend a variable number of blood points (up to their Generation maximum) and roll Willpower, (difficulty 6). If the roll succeeds and the vizier touches the target’s exposed skin, the tainted blood passes into the target’s blood stream through the skin. The target must then roll Stamina + Fortitude (difficulty 6) — each success subtracts from the successes rolled for the vizier. If any of the vizier’s successes remain, the power takes effect. While the effect lasts, the target is unable to spend Willpower to resist mental or social manipulation by the vizier, and the difficulties for all rolls by the vizier for such manipulation (whether natural or supernatural) are reduced by the number of blood points spent, to a minimum of 4. This effect only lasts while the target remains in the vizier’s presence, after which he will come to his senses. However, if the vizier returns to the victim’s presence, she will automatically fall back into her addled state.
This debility lasts for a duration determined by the vizier’s successes as follows.
Successes Result
1 One turn
2 One hour
3 One day
4 One month
5 One year

 

••• Dagon’s Call
As per the sorcerer equivalent above.

 

•••• Baal’s Caress
The viziers are rarely as eager to slay their opponents as the warriors are. Subjugation is much more desirable. The vizier may coat a weapon with her vitae just as the warrior does with her version of this power. However, on a successful strike, the blow does not inflict any damage at all. Instead, success on the damage roll causes the target to lose a point of temporary Willpower. More importantly, if the target loses all of his temporary Willpower by Baal’s Caress, he temporarily becomes fully blood-bonded to the vizier. This effect only lasts for a single scene, but during that time, the target responds to the vizier as if he had drunk the vizier’s blood three times. If the target is already bound to another vampire, he may roll Willpower (difficulty 7) to resist commands from the vizier that conflict with the wishes of his regnant as he understands them. Ironically, Tremere, due to their Clan weakness, are particularly vulnerable to this power, and will remain under the effect of the temporary blood bond for the remainder of the night rather than a scene. 

​

••••• Taste of Bliss (Taste of Death)
Unlike the distasteful and caustic version of this power used by the warriors, the vizier equivalent is Taste of Bliss. Instead of spitting out a deadly acid, the vizier softly exhales a fine reddish mist towards the target. The vizier may target someone up to 10 feet (3 meters) away per dot of Strength and Potence he possesses. Hitting the target requires a Stamina + Athletics roll, (difficulty 6). If the attack hits, the vizier’s player rolls two dice per blood point spent, and the difficulty is the target’s current Willpower. Each success strips the target of one point of temporary Willpower, and if the target loses all of her Willpower, she treats the vizier as if she has a full blood bond to him until the sun rises. Moreover, if the attack succeeds in causing the target to lose even one point of Willpower, treat the attack as if the target had actually consumed a point of blood for normal blood bonding purposes. 

 

Combination Disciplines
 

If a combination Discipline power lists a caste-specific version of Quietus as a requirement, only the exact power listed must be of the caste type. For example, if the requirement is “Quietus (Vizier Caste) •••••,” then the character only needs to have Taste of Bliss — the other four Quietus powers can be any combination of default or vizier-specific Quietus. If no caste-specific version is mentioned, any version of Quietus will suffice as a prerequisite. 

 

Baal’s Sight (Auspex ••, Quietus (Sorcerer Caste) ••••)
Oft times, the demon hunters of the sorcerer caste lack the time to activate the spiritual sight associated with Baal’s Caress. This power removes the requirement that they do so. System: Upon learning this power, the sorcerer gains the permanent ability to see dematerialized spirits and the like. There is no roll and no cost for doing so, and this counts as part of the requirement for the sorcerer version of Taste of Death (p. 27). However, the power permanently alters the sorcerer’s eyes, rendering them disturbingly bloodshot as if he had a permanent infection in both eyes. In addition, any spirit in the sorcerer’s presence will intuitively sense that he can see them, which some spirits find offensive. This power costs 18 experience points to learn.

​

Draught of the Soul (Auspex ••••, Quietus •••••)
This power is largely a relic of the nights before the Tremere Curse. While many Assamite elders still know it, Draught of the Soul is useless to those who cannot drink the blood of other Cainites. The antitribu can still make use of it, however, and if the Tremere Curse is ever lifted, all Assamites will have the potential to drink the full and exact memories of their victims instead of just their souls. System: This power can only be used when an Assamite commits diablerie. The player spends a number of Willpower points equal to the victim’s Intelligence and then rolls Willpower (difficulty equal to the victim’s permanent Willpower plus one for every Derangement she had; maximum 9). If the roll is successful, the player gains one experience point for every Skill, Talent, and Knowledge in which the victim’s rating was equal to or greater than that of the character. The bonus experience points can only be spent to improve Skills in which the victim’s rating equaled or exceeded that of the Assamite. These experience points should be kept in a separate pool. At the Storyteller’s discretion, the character may also be able to access specific memories of the victim, usually while in a dreamlike state. If the player’s roll botches, the character gains a permanent derangement, usually one previously held by the victim if appropriate. This power costs 27 experience points. 

 

Eyes of Alamut (Auspex ••••, Quietus •••)
This power allows for a most cunning surveillance. The Assamite must touch the target to activate the power. If successful, then for the next hour per success, she can see through the target’s eyes and hear through his ears. System: To activate Eyes of Alamut, the player must spend a Willpower point and roll Perception + Awareness (difficulty is target’s current Willpower). This power can only be used to scry on someone who the Assamite has physically touched, and the connection only lasts for an hour. A target who also has Telepathy (Auspex ••••) may notice the fact that someone is riding his senses with a successful Perception + Occult roll (difficulty 6). Such a character automatically realizes the intrusion if the Assamite uses Command From Afar (p.262) and the control attempt is unsuccessful. This power costs 21 experience points to learn. 

 

Eyes of Blades (Auspex ••, Celerity •••)
The Assamite can use her preternatural speed to evade or parry a flurry of attacks. System: At the start of the character’s combat turn, the player spends two blood points and one Willpower point. This does not count as activating Celerity for a turn. During this turn, the character may take no action other than self-defense, but she can defend herself with her full dice pool (whether dodging or parrying) against every attack made against her on that turn. This power costs 15 experience points to learn. 

 

Forced March (Celerity ••, Fortitude ••) 
Forced March allows the Assamite to cover ground quickly. This power cannot be used in combat but can aid the Assamite in moving with great speed without the debilitating vitae cost of conventional Celerity. System:The Assamite spends a number of blood points equal to half his Celerity rating, rounded up. For a number of hours equal to his Fortitude, the Assamite multiplies his normal running speed by his Celerity rating. Thus, an Assamite with Fortitude ••• and Celerity •••• who could normally run at around four miles per hour (six kph) could use this power to run at a speed of 16 miles per hour (25 kph) for up to three hours. This power costs 12 experience points to learn. 

 

Honeyed Words (Auspex ••, Presence •)
The viziers are preternaturally skillful at telling their listeners what they want to hear. So skillful, in fact, that a vizier sometimes doesn’t even need to know what he’s talking about. This power assures the vizier that, no matter what words tumble out of his mouth, they are always the perfect response. System: The player must roll Manipulation + Expression (difficulty 6). For the remainder of the scene, the difficulty for all rolls to persuade, manipulate, or interrogate a single target through mundane conversation are reduced by the number of successes rolled to a minimum of 4. Additionally, the Storyteller (or player if this power is used against a player’s character) must advise the vizier’s player if the vizier is in danger of saying anything that might offend, confuse, or worry the target. It is possible to use this power to baffle someone with highly technical jargon that the vizier himself doesn’t understand at all. This power costs 9 experience points to learn. 

 

Shadow Feint (Celerity ••, Obfuscate ••)
Shadow Feint combines the characteristics of Celerity and Obfuscate to blur the perceptions of the Assamite’s enemies. System: At the beginning of any turn in which the Assamite has activated Celerity and in which her first action is an evasive one, the player may spend an additional blood point to activate Shadow Feint. For the rest of the turn, the difficulty of all rolls to target the Assamite increase by +2, to a maximum of 9. This is an Obfuscate power and cannot affect any vampire whose Auspex exceeds the Assamite’s Obfuscate. This power costs 12 experience points to learn.

 

Assamite Weaknesses 
 

Given the diversity of the Assamites and the unusual number of curses levied against them over their history, we’ve spelled them out for you here. 

 

The Curse of Growing Darkness
 

All Assamites suffer from this. For younger Assamites, this is a minor inconvenience — after a century, most Caucasians will look vaguely well-tanned, most Arabs and Middle Easterners will look dusky, and most Africans will have ebony skin. After three to five centuries, the skin tone becomes distinctly unnatural. There are, after all, no ethnicities in the world whose skin tone is literally jet-black, which is common among Assamite elders. An Assamite elder who is more than five centuries old suffers a +1 difficulty to Social rolls among mortals due to his unusually dark skin tone. An elder who is more than a thousand years old suffers a +3 difficulty and looks distinctly inhuman, though not as disturbing as the typical Nosferatu or Tzimisce. Both of these penalties can be overcome with appropriate levels of Obfuscate. 

 

Most Assamites think this curse is an inversion of the minor curse on the other Clans, who generally grow paler as time passes. The Amr, who for some reason is immune to this curse, is of the opinion that the Curse of Growing Darkness was the original curse levied on the Clan by Caine, and that the other various Clan weaknesses came later. The Baali Curse or the Curse of Hunger This curse — an unquenchable thirst for Kindred vitae — currently afflicts only the Assamite antitribu (as described in V20, p. 429). Until the imposition of the Tremere Curse, it afflicted many of the warrior caste and a few members of the vizier and sorcerer castes. Now the curse has spread. Although this curse is presently dormant in mainline Assamites, if the Tremere Curse were lifted, it would likely return with a vengeance. In such a case, the Curse of Hunger would automatically take root in all warrior caste Assamites. For viziers and sorcerers, suffering this curse on top of their normal caste curses constitutes a three-point Flaw. 

 

The Curse of Obsession
 

This curse afflicts the vizier caste. Its origins are unknown, and it may date back to the Second City. It manifests as an Obsessive-Compulsive disorder (as described in V20, p. 434). The Curse of Prominence This curse afflicts the sorcerer caste. The Amr claims that this “curse” is actually benign and that it is merely a natural result of their magical heritage, rather than a punishment levied against the caste. It manifests as an unusually vivid aura that marks all sorcerers as having magical power in the eyes of anyone with Auspex or comparable mystic senses, (as described in V20, p. 434). 

 

The Tremere Curse or the Curse of Blood
 

This curse afflicts all Assamites other than the antitribu. It causes Assamites to suffer a deadly allergic reaction to the consumption of Kindred vitae, (as described in V20, p. 49). If Ur-Shulgi rises, it is likely he will lift this curse as his first act. 

 

New Dur-An-Ki Ritual:
 

From Marduk’s Throat (Level Five)

This ritual is the means by which Assamites can continue to reduce their Generation despite the limitations imposed by the Tremere Curse. It is also the mechanism by which the sorcerer caste maintains some influence and control over the Clan despite their small numbers, as the ritual’s difficulty means that only very experienced sorcerers can use it. The sorcerer creates an alchemical substitute for vampiric blood, allowing an Assamite who drinks enough to decrease her Generation. The ingredients include a wide variety of chemicals, herbs, and other exotic materials, but the most important ingredient is Kindred blood. To reduce the drinker’s Generation by one level, the potion must incorporate a number of blood points from vampires of lower Generation than the drinker equal to four times the maximum blood point value of the desired Generation. For example, an Assamite who sought to reduce her Generation from Eighth to Seventh would need to procure twenty-eight points of blood from Kindred whose own Generation was Seventh or lower. Regardless of how much vitae that is, the result of the alchemical process will evaporate down into a thick sludgy material that the imbiber must consume in a single attempt. The potion is foul, and requires the imbiber to successfully roll Willpower (difficulty 9). If that roll succeeds, the Assamite must then successfully assimilate the blood into her body. This requires an extended Willpower roll (difficulty 9), seeking 15 successes for a new Generation. Failures don’t stop the process, but they do deal six dice of lethal damage apiece (soaked normally). Assimilation is so painful and distracting that any attacks made against her during this time face a difficulty of only 2.