Born too far from Caine to fully share his curse, the Mercurian thin-bloods must claw their way into the dark world – or find a way out. (Thin-Blood Alchemy)
Thin-Blooded
Organization
Abilities
Disciplines
Thin-Blood alchemy - Discipline
Mixing blood, emotion and other ingredients to create powerful effects
Characteristics
All formulae require vitae from the Alchemist and human blood of the correct Resonance (p. 226). The Resonant human blood can be stored in a blood bag, or in a Starbucks to-go cup for that matter. The specific amount needed depends on the degree of the donor’s Resonance and on the Storyteller’s whim.
In these rules, “power level” always refers to the level of Alchemy involved, not the level of the power counterfeited with the formula.
All formulae have a cost to distill, and then the cost to activate. The distillation cost reflects the fact that all formulae include the Alchemist’s own vitae: A single Rouse Check. Activation cost for
a formula is the same as using the power normally: free, or some number of additional Rouse Checks.
Once activated, the Alchemist makes a distillation roll to determine how effective the particular mixture was. Each version of Alchemy builds a different dice pool for the distillation roll. The more successes, the more effective the mixture:
Some powers require their own dice rolls to take effect, or to measure the degree of success. The Alchemist makes those rolls where
needed, substituting their rating in Thin-Blood Alchemy for the specific Discipline rating where relevant.
To learn a new formula requires research time, whether the Alchemist spends it poring through libraries or in meditation or on tasting expeditions or performing laboratory experimentation. Players should write down which formulae their character already knows, and any special ingredients it requires. A character receives a formula for free for each dot in Thin-Blood Alchemy and can purchase additional formulae with experience and experimentation.
■ Masquerade Threat: Varies as widely as the powers it counterfeits and the method used.
■ Blood Resonance: Required for each formula and varies accordingly.
Ingredients:
The listed ingredients for each formula are suggestions. Each thin-blood alchemist develops their own proprietary formulae, often writing the recipes down in code just as the medieval alchemists did. The alchemist’s own Blood is the only unvarying ingredient in all alchemical formulae, although almost all of them also require human blood of a specific Reso- nance. Cold or clotted blood can work in a formula if the alchemist has enough of it.
Ingredient need not be physical – a specific experience or emotion caught in the blood can be just as powerful as rare research chemicals.
The Storyteller should modify the dice pool up or down by one or two dice based on the quality of the ingredients – and perhaps by the originality if the player comes up with suitably nasty or bizarre things for their Alchemist to use. As a rule of thumb:
■ Add one die for very rare or expensive ingredients (ones that require at least a story to source or Resources dots higher than the level of the formula); subtract one die for cheap substitute ingredients you can buy at a big-box retailer. (Many formulae include easily available industrial chemicals or foods as standard ingredients; invoke this penalty only when the characters substitute such things for a superior ingredient listed.)
■ Add one die for very potent or magical ingredients, such as unicorn horn, red mercury, human blood with a Dyscrasia, werewolf blood, or vitae with Blood Potency two levels higher than the level of the formula; subtract one die for medical bagged blood, melted- down candles from the New Age shop, or other faux magics.
■ Add one die for player creativity in suggesting ingredients, especially if sourcing them gets them into trouble or otherwise advances the story.
Distillation methods:
When the first dot in Thin-Blood Alchemy is gained, the Alchemist chooses their method. This is the way they perform their distillation.
Learning a different method means starting from scratch, essentially counting it as a separate Discipline. In this case, formulae for one method do not apply to other methods known, and the same formula must be learnt separately for each method.
Athanor Corporis:
The Alchemist uses their own body as the athanor, or alchemical furnace. This might be a bio-feedback routine, the result of an initial elixir consumed at initiation, or simply intuitive understanding of how resonances interact. Ingredients usually consist of different types of resonance mixes, requiring the Alchemist to sample the blood of multiple victims to get just the right blend.
The Alchemist drinks the different types of resonant blood required and the process is performed within their veins with a distillation roll of Stamina + Alchemy, together with a Rouse Check.
Only one power can be active at a time, and a new power must be distilled before it can be activated. This usually takes at least three turns of concentration, during which the Alchemist can do nothing else.
Calcinatio:
The Alchemist uses the body of a human as the athanor, adjusting their biophysical state by means of emotional pressure and spoken incantations. (Some practitioners of Calcinatio use drugs on their subjects instead.) The Alchemist then feeds
their Blood to the chosen human, paying the distillation cost, and makes the distillation roll with Manipulation + Alchemy.
The human’s entire body distills the formula. The Alchemist then drinks their blood to use the power (required Hunger slaked equals power level minus 1).
The Alchemist can only distill one power per victim, though the victim retains the formula within them as long as they’re kept in the same emotional state; each power takes as long to activate as it takes to drain that quantity of blood (p. 212)
Fixatio:
Lacking the physical or social predilections of the other methods, the Alchemist uses a conventional athanor such as a kiln, a metalworking furnace, a meth cooker, a repurposed propane tank, or the like. This method most resembles “classical” alchemy: the Alchemist pours their Blood as well as inert, usually rare, ingredients into the athanor, pays the distillation cost, and distills them inside it with an Intelligence + Alchemy roll.
The resulting formulae are fixed, meaning that the Alchemist can carry them around on their person and imbibe them to activate their power. (Roll the distillation roll upon consumption, not upon production.) However, without a laboratory, they cannot make anymore – at most, they might be able to “one-pot” a weak (Level 3 or less) formula using
a pressure-cooker or other field expedient. Using such unsuitable equipment reduces the distillation dice pool by 2 dice.
The Alchemist can carry a number of fixed formulae (of any level) equal to their Wits or Dexterity – keeping the vials safe, stable, hidden, and leakproof is not a trivial task. (The Storyteller can decide if each vial takes up the space of a syringe, a can of Red Bull, or a thermos.) The Alchemist can store a number of fixed formulae (of any level) equal to twice the sum of Alchemy plus their dots in Haven: a refrigerator is almost a necessity. Fixed does not necessarily mean shelf-stable, after all.
The Alchemist can activate one power per turn.
At Higher levels of Thin Blood Alchemy:
Level 2:
At level 2, the Alchemist can develop formulae to counterfeit level 1 powers of other Disciplines.
Each of these formulae take at least a week to research.
Level 3:
At level 3, the Alchemist can develop formulae to counterfeit level 2 powers of other Disciplines.
Each of these formulae take at least a night to distill and at least one month to research.
Level 4:
At Level 4, the Alchemist can develop formulae to counterfeit level 3 powers of other Disciplines.
At this level, all formulae also require a drop of vitae from a vampire of a matching clan or from one who already possesses the counterfeited Discipline. For example, to counterfeit Shapechange the Alchemist needs vitae from a vampire with Protean or from a Gangrel. The Gangrel would not have to possess Protean 3, or even have Protean at all; the power is in the Blood, not the specific vampire.
As noted above, this drop does not cost the donor any Health, nor does it convey a Blood Bond. That said, Alchemists generally only get such donations as the result of a major Boon – or because the donor has some truly horrible and dangerous mission they are attempting to inveigle the Alchemist’s coterie into carrying out.
These formulae take at least three nights to distill and at least three months to research.
Level 5:
At level 5, the Alchemist can develop formulae to counterfeit level 4 powers of other Disciplines.
These formulae take a month to distill and at least three years to research.