Blood Gift of Permutation

The Blood Gift of Permutation is a power used by vampires in order to master their own bodies, allowing them to reshape themselves into various forms, most commonly into animals.

## Mechanics

Permutation functions by drawing on a connection to spirits. Vampires draw upon the spirit of the earth to allow them to meld with and move through it, and upon the spirits of animals by drinking their blood. The earth is the more important of the two, as vampires subconsciously draw upon its knowledge of beasts and even the elements to transform themselves.

## Powers

### New Blood Gifts (Levels 1-2)

* **Earthmeld (Level 1):** The first ability any wielder of Permutation masters, the power of Earthmeld enables a vampire to forge a connection with the earth, using the ancestral memories of Cain, who was once tied to it so closely. This enables a vampire to sink seamlessly into the ground, as if it were water. They can do this with any natural earthen material, be it dirt, stone, or sand, but not with processed ones, such as concrete. This ability can essentially be used to "swim" through the ground, though the pace is quite slow, no more than a walking speed.
* **Feral Sense (Level 1):** The use of this ability enables a vampire to twist one of their sensory body parts, such as their eyes, nose, or ears, to enhance the correlating sense to the level of a beast they have previously fed upon. When they have fed on an animal with a sense of sight, smell, etc, which is superior to a their default senses, they can manifest such a creature's eyes, for instance, to gain access to the same level of keen eyes they do.
* **Primal Weaponry (Level 1):** A relatively simple and common power, this ability allows vampires to enhance the limited natural weapons their human forms possess. They lengthen their nails into razor sharp talons, and extend their mouths and the teeth within into terrible, monstrous maws well suited to biting. Such weaponry is capable of tearing through flesh, both mundane and magical, with ease, and any injuries they inflict are supernaturally difficult to heal.
* **Beast Sense (Level 2)**: While Feral Sense allows a vampire to enhance their own senses to the degree of an animal’s, the Beast Sense allows them to take on a sense they were never previously capable of, such as echolocation or thermal senses. In order to use this ability, the vampire must have fed on the subject animal.

* **Bestial Aspect (Level 2)**: Using this ability, a vampire can partially metamorphose their bodies to take on the traits of creatures they have fed upon. This might include hollow bones and feathers to glide with, an armored shell, a prehensile tail, or a form suited for swimming.

### Common Blood Gifts (Levels 3-4)

* **Shapechange (Level 3):** When a vampire attains this power after mastering the Bestial Aspect and any necessary Beast Senses, they become able to transform into an animal, so long as they have consistently consumed the blood of the animal whose form they wish to take. The forms this ability allows for are limited in that there cannot be too great a size disparity, elsewise the form they take will be balanced between them (for instance, trying to turn into a wolf will cause their wolf form to be very large, while a bear form would be quite small). Additionally, they are limited at this stage to transforming into predatory mammals, and that they only have one default form when taking the shape of an animal, lacking the ability to customize its features. When Shapechanging, the vampire gains any abilities that animal possesses, which are complemented by any physically enhancing Blood Gifts they wield, while retaining their vampiric weaknesses. The claws and teeth of the form they take inflict wounds which are supernaturally slow to heal.
* **Transmogrify (Level 4):** An advancement on the power of Shapechange, this ability enables a vampire to transform into multiple animals, and take on the shape perfectly. Now, they only need consume the blood of an animal once, and can take on far more disparate forms, including those of birds or even fish. Elsewise, the ability functions exactly like Shapechange.

### Elder Blood Gifts (Levels 5-7)

* **Earthswim (Level 5):** This advanced version of Earthmeld gives a vampire the ability to swim through the earth, with their speed totally unhampered. Additionally, the power also allows the elder who possesses it to take other individuals into the earth with them. While at first glance, the power seems unimpressive, the ability to make a quick escape into the ground or to rapidly rise up at enemies and drag them beneath the earth cannot be gainsaid, especially when it comes to creatures who need to breathe.
* **Mistform (Level 5):** This power enables a vampire to transform themselves into a cloud of mist, roughly equal in mass to their body. While in this form, they become impervious to physical weaponry, though they in turn cannot attack anyone. They can move about through the air with speed equal to their normal movement rate, though they can pass through solid objects and fly. The vampire is still harmed by the sun as they would be normally, but damage from fire merely forces them back into their natural shape. This power is quite taxing to call upon, and most vampires who use it can only do so for short bursts.
* **Swarmform (Level 5):** Swarmform, gained after mastering the ability of Transmogrification, enables a vampire to transform their body into a swarm of small beasts, such as bats or rats, whose total mass is roughly similar to their body. When moving about in Swarmform, the animals that compose it can move independently, although they must remain together. If any one organism of the Swarmform is damaged, this translates to a wound on the vampire in their ordinary form.
* **Bloodthorn (Level 6):** An elder vampire with this ability has the chance to use the supernatural damage her claws can inflict from a distance. Using Bloodthorn, they may project spikey, clawlike protrusions from anywhere on their body, which are damaging just as Claws are. While the vampire does not lose any body mass from expelling Bloodthorns, they do need to expend the magic of their blood to conjure them.
* **Form Mastery (Level 6):** This power advances on the Swarmform, enabling a vampire to customize the features of any animal form they take. In addition, they also no longer need to taste the blood of an animal to transform into them, but can now do so solely by looking at them.
* **Landslide (Level 6):** Another advancement on the powers of the earth, this enables a vampire Earthswimming to take a portion of the earth around them wherever they go. This earth is completely under their control, surrounding their body, enabling them to wash over enemies in a tide of sand or impale them with flowing spikes of rock. The amount of mass that the elder can take with them varies based on their Permutation mastery.
* **Monstrous Form (Level 7):** Once a vampire has gained Form Mastery, they may take on the forms of animals they have never seen, transforming themselves into new, horrific monstrosities. Many elders who achieve this power take on shapes similar to Skinchanger forms.
* **Reveal Shape (Level 7):** Employing this ability, a vampire who has physical contact with another shapeshifter, or has touched their body with their own blood, may force them to revert to their natural state. This power works on Skinchangers, other vampires, or transformed mages, and lasts so long as the elder vampire using the ability wills it.

### Ancient Blood Gifts (Levels 8-9)

* **Embodiment (Level 8):** This ability, said to have been developed by a Firstborn vampire, enables the undead to live again. When activated, a vampire can truly become a creature of their choice, not just assume their shape, but become them. This means that a vampire can become a living creature, capable of eating, drinking, excreting, even siring offspring, all while utterly bereft of the weaknesses of vampirism. However, this means that the vampire completely loses the benefits of their undead condition, including all their powers. They revert back to their vampiric state any time they wish, or if they suffer an injury that would kill whatever they are Embodied as. Unfortunately, even the most powerful wielders of this ability cannot sustain it for long.
* **Homunculus (Level 8):** The use of this ability enables a vampire who has mastered Bloodthorn to project more of themselves. In this case, they can grow an animal from their body, such as a rat or bird. Whatever the creature, it functions as an extension of the vampire themselves, enabling to see through it and employ any Blood Gifts that the animal's form allows for, as if they had Transmogrified themselves into that shape. All the while, their true body can do whatever they please.
* **Merge with the Land (Level 8):** The power to Merge with the Land is a massively potent tool in an ancient's arsenal, as it allows them to not only meld with the earth, but disperse their bodies across a wide swath of it, into tiny, pebble sized chunks. When used in concert with Landslide, this power can make fighting the ancient akin to fighting the earth itself, as great waves of the ground strike at whatever foe faces them. However, while this ability is extremely potent, it makes the vampire very vulnerable in that if any of the tiny pieces of their body are damaged, they will be forced to revert to their ordinary shape, and be immensely disoriented, allowing an enemy the opportunity to inflict devastating harm upon them,
* **Dual Body (Level 9):** The use of this power enables a vampire to be in two places at once. By using it, the vampire replicates the effects of Homunculus, only instead of making an animal, they make an identical copy of their own body. The vampire's power is then split equally between their two forms, which otherwise can operate just as they would normally, with the benefit of both bodies being aware of what the others are doing. The Dual Bodies can rejoin at any time by making physical contact, but if one is destroyed, the power contained is lost, and the vampire must spend centuries attempting to regain it.
* **Epic Form (Level 9):** A titanically potent expression of shapeshifting power, the Epic Form enables an ancient vampire to take on a truly legendary shape, gaining epic size and summoning Arboreal spirits into their bodies to fuel mystical powers. For instance, it is possible to take on the form of a dragon, taking in spirits of fire which enable the vampire to breathe flame, and give them great resistance to fire themselves.

### Primordial Blood Gifts (Levels 10-11)

* **Blood of the Phoenix (Level 10):** A vampire who achieves this astounding power becomes virtually immortal. Whenever they suffer injuries that inflict the True Death upon them, their body crumbles to ash, like any other vampire. A few days later, however, they form a new body, with new features, though they retain access to all their powers. However, the memories of all their experiences are lost, and they essentially gain a new identity.
* **Force Shape (Level 10):** Vampire possessing this power can force any being who has ingested their blood into an animal form and hold them there, regardless of whether or not they normally have shapeshifting abilities. The vampire may transform them into any form they themselves can take.
* **Army of One (Level 11):** A devastatingly potent ability, Army of One ironically is known only by one individual, and one who is almost unwilling to use it. This power replicates the effects of Dual Body, but rather than the vampire producing a new body for themselves, they can simply transform any other vampire who possesses their blood into an exact copy of themselves via integrating the effect of Force Shape. These newly created bodies, unlike a Dual Body, does nothing to weaken the vampire using Army of One, with each body having their full might at their command.