Obeah

The bloodline known in modern nights simply as the Salubri is actually descendant of one half of the ancient Clan. In bygone nights, one might have spoken of “healer” and “warrior” Salubri. In the modern nights, the last vestiges of the warrior Salubri are the antitribu of the Clan, and practice their Discipline of Valeren . The rest of the bloodline know the Discipline of Obeah. This Discipline allows the Salubri to judge and even improve a subject’s health. As the vampire grows more powerful, Obeah lets her heal a target’s soul directly. It is this power that forms the basis of the “soulsucker” charge that dogs the bloodline these nights.

This Discipline gives its practitioners a third eye in the center of the vampire’s forehead when the Kindred masters the second level of Obeah.

## Powers

### **• Sense Vitality**

With a touch, the Salubri can instantaneously read a target’s injuries. She may learn how much damage a target has incurred, and therefore make a guess at what must be done to save him. This power can also be used for diagnostic purposes — useful for a victim who can no longer speak.

System: The Salubri must touch the target to see how close to death she is. He must then make a Perception + Empathy roll (difficulty 7). One success on this roll identifies a subject as a mortal, vampire, ghoul, or other creature. Two successes reveal how many health levels of damage the subject has suffered. Three successes tell how full the subject’s blood pool is (if a vampire) or how many blood points she has left in her system (if a mortal or other blood-bearing form of life). Four successes reveal any diseases in the subject’s bloodstream. A player may opt to learn the information yielded by a lesser degree of success — for example, a player who accumulates three successes may learn whether or not a subject is a vampire as well as the contents of his blood pool.

Alternately, each success on this roll allows the player to ask the Storyteller one question about the subject’s health or health levels. “Was he drugged?” or “Are his wounds aggravated?” are valid questions, but “Did the Sabbat do this?” or “What did the Lupine who attacked him look like?” are not. The Salubri may use this power on herself if she has injuries but has somehow lost the memory of how the wounds were received.

Additionally, at the cost of one blood point, the Salubri may use Empathy for a roll instead of Medicine.

### **•• Anesthetic Touch**

The vampire can ease a target’s pain or place him into a deep, soothing sleep with nothing but a touch. This power is intended to heal the pain or succor the mind of willing targets, but the character can, with some effort, employ the power against someone who does not wish it.

System: If the subject is willing to undergo this process, the player spends a blood point and makes a Willpower roll (difficulty 6) to block the subject’s pain. This allows the subject to ignore all wound penalties for one turn per success. A second application of this power may be made once the first one has expired, at the cost of another blood point and another Willpower roll. If the subject is unwilling for some reason, the player must make a contested Willpower roll against the subject (difficulty 8).

To put a mortal to sleep, the same system applies. The mortal sleeps for five to 10 hours — whatever his normal sleep cycle is — and regains one temporary Willpower point upon awakening. He sleeps peacefully and does not suffer nightmares or the effects of any derangements while asleep. He may be awakened normally (or violently).

Kindred, including the Salubri herself, are unaffected by this power — their corpselike bodies are too tied to death.

### **•• Augury of Sickness**

This power allows the Salubri to go beyond Obeah or Valeren’s ability to determine wounds and reveal the fine damage caused by illness and disease. While best used by a medically-trained Salubri, even novices find the power useful.

System: The Salubri holds his hands above the patient, and the third eye gently teases out a vision of the afflicted tissues made of pure light (neonate Salubri delightfully describe them as holograms). The player rolls Perception + Medicine (difficulty 7). Each success reveals one fact about the illness, including likely developments and symptoms and potential avenues of treatment. Additionally, once augured, the vampire may use Corpore Sano (V20, p. 469) to cure the disease outright, at a difficulty determined by the commonality and virulence of the disease (difficulty 5 for the common cold, difficulty 7 for most forms of herpes or chicken pox, or difficulty 9 for Ebola or HIV).

### **••• Corpore Sano**

The Salubri can heal wounds with a laying-on of hands. The subject feels a warm, tingling sensation over the affected areas as pain leaves the body and flesh knits. The vampire’s third eye opens during this process.

System: This power works on any living or undead creature, but the character must touch the actual injury (or the closest part of the victim’s body, in the case of internal injuries). Each health level to be healed requires the expenditure of one blood point and one turn of contact. Aggravated wounds may also be healed in this manner, but the vampire must spend two blood points instead of one for each aggravated health level.

### **•••• Ending the Watch**

Ancient tales record Enochian Salubri walking the night streets, freeing those mortals ravaged by vampiric excess from pain. The death watch were respected for their knowledge and power, garnered by preserving elements of a dying mortal’s soul within their own.

Ending the Watch can be used only on a dying mortal or one who truly, without coercion, wishes for death. Generally, the mortally wounded or the elderly are targets of this power, but torture victims or those suffering deeply from depression are equally viable. Even in these nights, the Tremere continue to speak of this power with dread, calling the Salubri soulsuckers to all who will listen.

System: The Salubri spends a Willpower point and lays a hand over a valid target’s heart, peacefully and painlessly killing them. The player then rolls the character’s Perception + Empathy (difficulty 7); upon a success, the target’s soul is absorbed, remaining within the Salubri and visible via Auspex as a bright white vein in the aura. With the soul’s vitality residing inside the Salubri, she knows much of what the dying mortal did — interesting secrets, passwords, or personal minutiae. She may recall specific facts of the target’s memory (“What is the bank password?”), requiring an Intelligence + Empathy roll (difficulty 5) for each significant fact. She may also consume the soul; for each success on the original roll, she may heal herself of one level of lethal or bashing damage. A botch on either roll inflicts a level of aggravated damage as the soul bursts free of the Salubri’s. The Salubri may hold a number of souls within her equal to her Generation Background.

### **•••• Hanged Man's Blessing**

Even among the scoundrels and outlaws in the West there are, on rare occasions, a few souls who would try and right the wrongs of those unjustly condemned. The Salubri are exceedingly scarce in the world, but the frontier has become an ideal place to hide as few Warlocks are willing to pursue them into the lawless territories. With frontier justice often being as corrupt as it is swift, some have adapted their healing gifts to stave off the call of death just long enough to give the victim a second lease on life. Or at least a running start when their aggressors realize that frontier justice was not as final as they assumed.

System: A Kindred may spend 2 Blood Points and make a Charisma + Medicine roll (Difficulty 7). The Kindred selects one creature or person that is at Crippled Health level or below. For every success rolled, the target may benefit from a +1 die bonus to their next Soak roll. This bonus remains for either the scene or until the creature’s Health level recovers to Bruised, whichever happens first. A side effect is that damage that would normally kill the mortal creature or person appears to do just that. All mundane attempts to discern if the target is living or dead make them appear lifeless.

### **•••• Shepherd’s Watch**

The Salubri with this level of mastery of Obeah can create an invisible barrier between those under his care and those who would do them harm. The Salubri himself must stand among his charges as he generates this barrier; he cannot defend them from afar. Enemies armed with guns or other ranged weapons can still attack, but none may approach closer than a few paces. System: The player spends two Willpower points.

Erecting this barrier is a standard action, but maintaining it from turn to turn or dropping it is a reflexive action. The invisible barrier extends to about a 3-yard/ meter radius from the character, and no one outside that barrier may cross it while she maintains the power. Those within it at its creation may leave and return, however. The barrier moves with the Salubri. It cannot be maintained at a distance.

Those who wish to cross the barrier from the outside, whether friendly or hostile, must best the character in an extended, resisted Willpower roll (difficulty equals the opponent’s current Willpower for the Salubri, and the Salubri’s current Willpower for the opponent). The opponent may cross the barrier as soon as he accumulates three more net successes than the Salubri.

### **••••• Mens Sana**

With this power, the Salubri can heal madness, quieting inner demons and bringing a soul to peace. Indeed, ancient stories of the Salubri state that Saulot used this power to bring sweet, if temporary, relief to his “brother” Malkav. Other, more recent stories claim that Saulot caused Malkav’s madness in the first place.

System: The player spends two blood points and rolls Intelligence + Empathy (difficulty 8). The use of Mens Sana takes at least 10 minutes of relatively uninterrupted conversation. Success cures the subject of one derangement of the Salubri player’s choice. This power cannot cure a Malkavian of his core derangement, though it alleviates its effects for the rest of the scene. A botch inflicts the same derangement on the Salubri for the rest of the scene. This power may not be used by the Salubri to cure her own derangements.

### **••••• • Father’s Judgment**

The Blood is Caine’s gift. The Salubri pronounce judgment on those who misuse it. His third eye glowing as silver as Raphael’s soft halo, the Unicorns renders a portion of the target’s vitae inert, blocking them from powering their Disciplines or healing their undead frame by sheer effort of will. The target feels their blood seize within them, clotting into dead dark chunks. Even powerful elders fear repeated use of this power.

System: The Healer spends a Willpower point and rolls Manipulation + Medicine or Empathy (difficulty 7) against a target of a Cainite within line of sight, contested by the victim’s Willpower roll (difficulty 9). For each success on the roll, a blood point in the target’s pool is rendered unusable for any purpose – healing, Disciplines, ghouling, or anything else. The target may spend one point of Willpower per blood point to unclot their vitae, but otherwise may not spend or discharge the dead blood in any way.

### **••••• • Unburdening the Bestial Soul**

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.

### **••••• •• Blissful Gaze**

The mere presence of a Salubri Healer heralds victory. To those within her gaze, wounds knit themselves together, and even a steel kiss tastes sweet.

System: This power enhances Gift of Sleep and Healer’s Touch. The third eye’s light spears out, lancing through the target, and both powers no longer require touch to be used, merely a line of sight. In addition, Gift of Sleep can be used to reverse wound penalties for its duration, instead providing bonus dice as the target is flooded with ecstasy and anticipation of the Salubri’s touch.

### **••••• •• Renewed Vigor**

At this level of power, the Salubri no longer has to repair a target’s body wound by wound. With a touch and a moment’s concentration, she can restore the body to full health.

System: The Salubri touches the target and spends a full turn concentrating. The player spends a point of Willpower. At the end of the turn, the target is healed of all damage, including aggravated damage. If the character attempts any other action but the laying of hands during this turn, the Willpower point is lost and no healing occurs. The Salubri can use this power on herself.

### **••••• ••• Rayzeel’s Song**

Music soothes the savage breast. Voice and instruments heal the soul and confer focus. Rayzeel is said to have crafted the Song to draw Saulot out of depression after the Baali Wars. Salubri who hail from Judeo-Christian traditions call this power King David’s Blessing. When playing music appropriate to the situation (a wistful string tune is appropriate for most situations, though a jaunty flute-and-drums combination before battle gets the soul singing along), the Salubri focuses the souls of all involved on the task at hand.

System: Playing an appropriate composition is Charisma + Performance (difficulty 7) and requires a Willpower point for every three listeners affected by the Discipline. If the Salubri is singing to the accompaniment of another, both players must make the Performance roll. Accompanist botches removes successes from the Salubri’s efforts, potentially resulting in a botch.

If the Salubri is attempting this before individuals healing others (including addressing Derangements), going into battle, or entering tense negotiations, each success on Rayzeel’s Song lowers the difficulty by one for all situation-relevant rolls during the scene for any listeners so affected (minimum difficulty 4).

Failing or botching Rayzeel’s Song is unpleasant for all concerned; failure increases the difficulty for all situation-relevant rolls by one, while a botch increases the difficulty by two. A botch also inflicts a single level of lethal damage as the subject violently rejects the music and suffers internal convulsions. Medieval thought holds that disharmony invites ill luck and malicious spirits, and the botch may carry serious social repercussions.

### **••••• ••• Safe Passage**

The Salubri radiates a non-threatening aura, altering the minds of those around her to seem safe, pleasant, and harmless. Crowds unconsciously part for her, pursuers lose interest, and passers-by are willing to provide assistance. In the event that someone does attempt to do her harm, the rest of the crowd may even protect her.

System: This power is always activate, though the Salubri can turn it off if she so desires. While Safe Passage is active, anyone in a crowd (defined as more than 10 people in close proximity) who wants to harm the Salubri must engage in a contested Willpower roll with the vampire’s player (difficulty 6). If the pursuer wins, he may do as he wishes. If the vampire wins, her net successes act as a dice pool penalty on any hostile action the pursuer chooses to take. This manifests as lost interest in the vampire (the pursuers wonders why he is chasing this person rather than doing something more interesting).

Safe Passage can also assist a Salubri in finding help or shelter. The player rolls Charisma + Expression difficulty 7). Each success reduces the difficulty of a subsequent, appropriate Social roll by one. This affects only attempts to gain seemingly harmless or innocent assistance, such as a place to stay or advice on the bad parts of town — a Salubri won’t be able to get automatic weapons or low-grade heroin more easily with this power. The effects of this power last until the next sunrise. Safe Passage affects only those who know the Salubri casually or not at all. Anyone who has known her long enough to form an opinion of her cannot be touched by this power.

### **••••• •••• Heaven’s Gate**

The apex of Valeren involves miraculous healing of body and soul, even reversing death itself. The third eye flares gold, forming a bright halo around the Salubri as he gently traces lines around the chakra points of the corpse. The subject’s soul reconstitutes itself, merges with the Salubri, then flows outward from the third eye to visibly reintegrate with the body. With a gasp, the mortal is resurrected, death wounds healing as life is restored.

System: This power may only be used on an individual dead less than a week, who did not die of old age and whose soul was not consumed or destroyed in some manner via Necromancy or Warrior Valeren (or similar effects). It cannot be used to reverse the Embrace. Only the subject’s head is necessary for the resurrection, but it must remain relatively intact, with most pieces present. The elder spends two Willpower points and five blood points, and rolls Willpower (difficulty 8). Success reconstitutes the subject’s soul (wraiths disappear and reappear near the Salubri, transformed by the power), reborn within the body. The Salubri’s blood spirals outward and heals the death wounds, regenerating the body to perfect health. Forever after, the subject retains traces of the Salubri’s blood, making her a revenant. She recalls the time spent as a wraith (if any), but any spiritual trauma suffered fades into a bright, healing light.

### **••••• •••• Unburden the Flesh-Clad Soul**

Some few Salubri elders can (or could, at least) achieve an understanding of the soul that allowed them to free it from its fleshly confines. The character allows a willing subject’s soul to fly free, able to explore the world as an astral projection and transcend that existence whenever it wishes.

System: The vampire and a willing subject must both enter a deep meditative trance for a minimum of one uninterrupted hour as the Salubri performs the ritual necessary to separate soul from flesh without damaging either. During this period, the player spends a number of blood points equal to twice the permanent Willpower of the subject. At the end of the ritual, the subject’s body slips into a coma and dies by the end of the night. Many Tremere and other cautious Kindred warn that the Salubri may misrepresent themselves and convince others to volunteer for a “release” from mortal concerns, when in truth they wish to trap the soul in another plane of existence.

The subject’s soul is released from her body and enters the astral plane (such as the Auspex power Psychic Projection on p. 138). This separation is permanent and irreversible. The subject is treated as an astrallyprojecting character in terms of rules mechanics. However, she no longer has a silver cord and no longer needs one, as she exists independently of her body. If she is reduced to zero Willpower through astral combat, she loses one point of permanent Willpower and re-forms after a year and a day at the place where this power was used upon her. A character reduced to zero permanent Willpower is destroyed forever. This power may only be used upon mortals (excluding mages) and vampires who are in Golconda, and the subject must have a full understanding of what this ritual entails — including its permanence and the impossibility of a reversal. The body of a vampire who is Unbound decays at sunrise. It is possible to drink the blood remaining in the vampire’s body, but no benefits are gained from an attempt at diablerie. Any attempt to Embrace the body of an Unbound mortal automatically fails. The free-flying soul may choose to dissipate, moving on to whatever awaits beyond death, at any time (and is therefore not a ghost). The Salubri may use this power on herself, provided she is in Golconda.