Discipline Powers

This power is the leverage that the Tremere have used for years to tarnish the Salubri’s name. The Warlocks claim that the Salubri use this power to remove the souls of their victims, alter them in horrible ways, or simply consume them and then make mindless slaves from the blasted husks. The truth is that the Cyclops use this power to rebuild a target’s tattered soul, at the expense of their own mental fortitude.

The Salubri draws the subject’s soul out of his body, and into the vampire’s third eye. There, the vampire repairs the soul. During this time, the target’s body is vacant, but alive. It obeys the Salubri’s commands (and the vampire must command it to eat and drink, or else it will starve — repairing the soul is not a quick undertaking).

By a similar process, the character can cleanse a person, place, or object of demonic or evil influence. This isn’t a simple banishment, however. It is a battle, pitting the Salubri’s moral and spiritual purity against whatever malign entity is present. If the Salubri loses the contest, she might lose her own soul in the process.

System: This power may be used to draw out the soul of any character except those with Humanity or Path ratings of 1 or 0 or those who follow particularly inhuman Paths of Enlightenment – some souls are beyond redemption. The player rolls Stamina + Empathy (difficulty of 12 minus the subject’s Humanity or Path rating). A botch gives the Salubri the subject’s derangement for the remainder of the scene. The Salubri must make eye contact with the subject and the subject must be willing to be subjected to this power.

A soul drawn out in this manner becomes part of the Salubri’s soul while the healing process takes place. She may return it to its proper body at any time. While the soul is within the Salubri, she may spend a permanent Willpower point to restore a point to the subject’s Humanity or Path rating. The Salubri may restore a maximum number of points equal to her Empathy rating, and may not raise the subject’s Humanity or Path higher than the sum of his relevant Virtues (for example, a character subscribing to Humanity with Conscience 3 and Self-Control 3 could not have his Humanity raised above 6 in this manner).

While a soul is being held by the Salubri, its body is an empty husk, comatose or in torpor, with no motivating force within it. A soul whose body is killed immediately vanishes, its disposition unknown to any (although the Salubri strongly suspect that souls that vanish in this manner are completely and irreversibly destroyed). Killing the body of a drawn-out soul may warrant a Conscience or Conviction roll if the killer knows of the soul’s absence, at the Storyteller’s discretion.

If used to draw out a demon, the player spends a Willpower point if the subject is willing and the corrupting agent does not resist (a rare occurrence). If the subject is possessed by a conscious entity, the demon (or other foreign consciousness) fights the Salubri for dominance. This takes place via an extended, contested roll of the Salubri’s Humanity or Path versus the opponent’s Willpower (each party’s difficulty is equal to the other’s current Willpower). The winner is the first one to achieve three net successes more than the other. If the player fails, the attempt at purification also fails. If the player botches, the demon takes over the Salubri’s body. This purification cannot be used on oneself and has no effect on the Beast or an alternate personality.

Once the initial removal has been successfully performed, the player spends a second Willpower point. The Salubri thrusts the demon into a nearby item, animal, or person, trapping the demon in the selected vessel. This must be accomplished within two turns of the Purification and the target must be within physical reach. If this cannot be accomplished, the demon is likely to go free… or find another suitable vessel (such as the Salubri). If the vampire places the demon in a being who is likely to suffer from its presence, the player must make an immediate Conscience or Conviction roll (difficulty 8) if the Storyteller believes that the character’s morality would object. A botch, in addition to the normal consequences, releases the demon into the world.