The Path of Levinbolt

Medieval Tremere experimented with harnessing lightning itself, but their understanding proved only rudimentary. Without knowledge of electricity, thaumaturges could only rely on a simple ability to hold and discharge energy. Furthermore, other paths like the Lure of Flames proved more useful in the struggle to establish the clan's place. For these reasons, the Path of the Levinbolt faded to obscurity through the Dark and middle Ages, and remained hidden away in grimoires until the Victorian Age.

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The birth of science and understanding of electricity revitalized the Path of the Levinbolt - the combination of mystical astrology with a rational understanding allowed thaumaturges to rebuild and rechannel its principles. No longer did thaumaturges have only some limited skill in charging themselves with lightning; now they could arc, focus and handle the very elements! Older practitioners spent minutes collecting the energy necessary to charge this Path's discharges, but modern thaumaturges could gather the electricity in mere seconds, to direct as they chose. As a thaumaturge collects the energy of the Levinbolt, she often takes on an electrical aspect: sparks may play at her fingertips, or a purplish halo may seem to surround her hands as a warning of storms to come. Mighty discharges often result in a sort of flaring afterimage like a photonegative as the powerful lightning makes a stark contrast to surrounding darkness.

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• Spark
Novice thaumaturges can build up a tiny static charge, enough to make a noticeable snap with a touch. Such a discharge poses little threat to healthy targets, though the energy can ruin delicate electronics or stun an unlucky victim. Individual descriptions are not provided for each level of this path — fire is fire, after all (including potentially causing frenzy in other vampires witnessing it). The chart below describes the path level required to generate a specific amount of flame. To soak the damage at all, a vampire must have the Fortitude Discipline. Fire under the caster’s control does not harm the vampire or cause him to frenzy, but fires started as a result of the unnatural flame affect the thaumaturge normally. 

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System: The thaumaturge simply touches a target (after the requisite blood expenditure and Willpower roll by the player) and releases the spark. The electricity can snap from any part of the caster's body, so a thaumaturge might give an unpleasant surprise to someone touching her. The resulting discharge inflicts two dice of electrical damage (generally lethal). The time required to draw out the electricity varies with the successes scored: with one success, the vampire might need a turn or three to accumulate the energy; with three successes, only a couple of seconds; with five successes, instantly. The caster must use the power immediately after invoking the magic.

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•• Illuminate
Neonates sometimes derogatively refer to this effect as the "40-watt Tremere," right up until they've felt its sting. The thaumaturge summons enough electricity to cover her hand or arm in arcing bolts. This power can charge a battery or briefly run a small device, or even leave a nasty burn on a touched subject.

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System: Each success scored on the player's Willpower roll translates to approximately one turn of power sufficient to run a handful of lights or a small electrical device. Alternately, the thaumaturge can shock someone by touch, as with the Spark power, but for four dice of (lethal) electrical damage; such a use immediately discharges the energy. The current created with this power is not strong enough to force its way through less-than-ideal conductors, though, and simply inflicts electrical damage on raw metals, woods or other matter in the form of a burn. The thaumaturge can alternately allow the electricity to spark about her hand, eyes, head or the like; this creates illumination about equal to a dim light bulb, and obviously gives a two-point bonus to Intimidation rolls against unassuming victims (like mortals). In conjunction with a Dexterity + Crafts roll (difficulty 7), the thaumaturge could even use his fingers to perform crude metal welding, though this can easily heat metal enough to inflict aggravated damage to the caster.

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••• Power Array
Like a looming thundercloud, the thaumaturge holds the waiting fury of lightning. Although the vampire cannot create or direct a charge strongly or accurately enough to launch actual bolts of electricity, she can conduct power through other substances or even absorb nearby energies.

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System: As with lesser levels of this path, the thaumaturge can discharge a shock of electricity, this time up to six dice of lethal damage; the charge remains active for a number of turns equal to the number of successes scored by the player on the initial roll. With this power, the thaumaturge can also send the power through any conductive substance touched; a metal sword (with a similarly metal handle) could carry the thaumaturge's electric touch - the bolts of lightning would literally snap across the blade into the target touched. The thaumaturge could also briefly power a large device or continue to power a small device for the duration of the effect. Though perhaps an ignominious use, a sorcerer could conceivably find himself needing just a minute to look into an unpowered computer's files, to override an electrical lock or to start a dead car battery. Other power sources offer alternatives: the thaumaturge can choose to channel other electrical energies through herself if desired, which lets her draw power out of a car battery or power line without injury and without counting against her own power generation. By touching both power source and subject, the thaumaturge can act as a near-perfect conductor without any harm to herself.

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•••• Zeus' Fury
Accomplished thaumaturges cannot only absorb electrical power, but shape and redirect it. The vampire may arc lightning from her body to nearby targets or hold a potent charge that raises hair on end and sparks with suppressed energy.

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System: The successes scored by the player determine the number of turns that the vampire can harness Zeus' Fury. The character holds a total of 10 dice of electrical power, which can be discharged through touch or in arced bolts in any combination desired - so the player could choose to spend four dice of damage in a touch attack, and then arc the remaining six dice into a bolt of lightning the next turn. As with lesser levels of power, a touch can fuel or overload electrical devices. The thaumaturge directs hurled bolts with Perception + Science (difficulty of 6 plus the range in yards -up to a maximum of 10, at the maximum range of four yards).

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••••• Eye of the Storm
The thaumaturge becomes a shifting, sparking pillar of electrical power. Her merest glance can prove dangerous, her touch explosively fatal. The energy channeled in the Eye of the Storm can tear apart a mortal body or spectacularly detonate all but the most heavily shielded electrical components. Wood, metal, plastic and similar materials combust dramatically with contact, burn or even sublimate.

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System: At this level of mastery, the vampire can discharge 14 dice of damage by touch, or launch lesser bolts of electricity as with Zeus' Fury, above. Materials or entities that come in contact with the thaumaturge automatically suffer one die of lethal electrical damage each turn (this does not count against the usual dice pool, and adds to touch damage). The sparking, glowing form of the thaumaturge becomes a veritable halo of energy, and onlookers suffer from the excessively bright light and flashing afterimages (which can increase the difficulty of most tasks simply due to the distraction). The nimbus discharges at a rate of one die per turn unless otherwise spent, or unless a number of turns elapse equal to the successes scored by the player on the initial roll.