Golconda

From: "e elizabeth bartley"
Subject: Alternatives to Golconda

House Rules! House Rules!

This is designed for the first edition rules, under which:

Hunger Frenzies were resisted by Conscience.
Rage Frenzies were resisted by Self-Control.
Fear Frenzies were resisted by Courage.

Additionally, rolls to avoid losing Humanity were made on whichever of
the three virtues the character had proven a lack of.

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Elisa Liansa Toril, 4th Generation Ventrue, a spiritual leader of the
Inconnu, to her Childe Martil, shortly after Martil reached Golconda

As there are three ways to resist the Beast when it tries to seize
one, so are there three ways to defeat it. These are the three Paths.
One of these, the Path of Conscience, you have walked already, as have
I. The others are the Path of Control and the Path of Courage. I
have walked the Path of Control to its end; indeed, I helped invent
it. There are those who walk the Path of Courage, but none have yet
completed it, unless Saulot did in letting the whelp of Tremer kill
him.

Do not in any way confuse these Paths with the barbarities which the
Sabbat calls Paths. Our Paths - True Paths if you must - are the
fulfillment of Humanitas. Theirs are a replacement for it.

So think, my childe, and think well, whether Golconda will always be
enough for you. It is peace, yes, and great acheivement. But there
are other worthy possibilities.

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The Path of Control, or the Path of Self-Control, is an incremental
path. Someone who follows it without first having finished the Path
of Conscience or the Path of Courage will slowly find themselves
better and better equipped to resist Frenzy until finally they can
avoid it whenever they wish.

The character can stay at "able to avoid Frenzy at will" indefinitely.
If the character consistently goes to an effort to resist Frenzy, at
some point after that, suddenly (*snap*) resisting Frenzy is no longer
an effort. The character need never Frenzy and need never exercise
conscious effort to avoid doing so. He *can* Frenzy, however: at
will. These Frenzies are under somewhat better control than the
usual; the character can act as if he had spent Willpower every third
turn without spending Willpower, and any Willpower spent on
controlling Frenzy has doubled effect. Furthermore, the character can
end the Frenzy at any time.

This is usually assumed to be the end of the Path, and indeed it is as
far as the normal means of following the Path will take you. There
are a tiny handful of people who know otherwise; there is one further
step, which can only be reached by giving yourself a rather vicious
test. This test is something like Sulpice, which is why all but one
of those finishing the Path of Control had previously reached
Golconda. If one fails the test, one loses all benefits the Path had
granted. If one succeeds, one's grasp of the Path is complete (in
game terms, Self-Control will never drop below 5, nor will the
character lose Humanity when checking against Self-Control, and the
character retains the benefits of the Path so long as Humanity does
not drop below 3).

The requirements for the Path of Control require enormous ability to
control oneself, as well as a firm dedication to doing so for its own
sake. Additionally, if the Beast's hold is too strong it must be
weakened before one can firmly set foot on the path.

In game terms, a character must have a Self-Control of five to start
the Path of Self-Control, and a Humanity of five before he can start
on this Path, and he must maintain his Self-Control and Humanity at or
above five. (Unless he reaches the end of the path, in which case
benefits as above.) To make any significant progress on this Path,
you must have complete instructions -- but once you've been told how
to follow the Path, you're on your own; others are not needed and
cannot help.

If all goes well, it takes twenty points of Willpower to reach the
point in the path where one can always resist Frenzy, and ten more to
reach the point where no effort is needed and Frenzy can be
controlled. All rarely goes well, however; slips on the Path of
Self-Control are exceedingly common. Fortunately, they are setbacks
rather than disasters; one loses progress and Frenzy becomes harder to
control, but the character can simply resume progress.

Reaching the true end of the Path requires something more. First, the
character must have or somehow acquire the Iron Will merit and
Meditation at 5 or greater. Then the character must pay 10 points of
Willpower, one at a time at a minimum rate of one per day, without any
other expenditure of Willpower and all of them regained through the
Meditation ability. Then the character spends a day in trance testing
himself, and succeeds or fails.

If the character succeeds, he has reached the end of the Path. The GM
may arbitrarily grant bonuses to resisting attempts to control you
beyond the Iron Will merit. Additionally, your vampiric control is
heightened and your vampiric potential increased. You may increase
your Attributes and Abilities up to 10.

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The character must have displayed enormous Courage before he can even
set foot on the Path of Courage; minimum Courage _6_, but Humanity can
be as low as 1.

The Path of Courage is transvered backwards: one first develops the
Courage and then fills in the details of why one has it.

If one reaches the end of the Path of Courage, the character need
never roll for Frenzy. He may if he chooses, but no additional
benefits in Frenzy are gained. The character also gains the
Self-Confident Merit. Furthermore, the character's Blood Pool and
Blood/Turn are increased to 50/10 (Third Generation).

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Reaching the end of any of the three Paths grants some Vampiric
ability at Antideluvian levels. (Disciplines can be boosted to 10
through Golconda.) Reaching the end of two Paths brings both
appropriate abilities to Second Generation levels. Reaching the end
of all three Paths brings all Vampiric potentials to the maximum
possible: First Generation.

- Beth Bartley


From: V052Q3ZQ@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu
Subject: Salubri path

This is the Path of Soul Freedom for the Salubri, guys. It's function is to
replace humanity with something more appropriate to the particular needs of the
Salubri. It can't be taken by any other clan.

It is the Salubri's ultimate goal to give freedom to as many souls as
possible. This means both pure and corrupt souls. If corruption is truly the
goal of a soul, and a corrupt soul is in need, it is the salubri's job to help
the soul.

Level 10: At this stage, the Salubri acts as a mediator, trying to ensure the
freedom of all other souls at the same time. If a Salubri with this level sees
a soul in need, they must make a conscience check (varying difficulty- a ten
for close friends, a 6 for worst enemies) If they fail, they _must_ do hat
they can to help the soul. This includes healing and/or giving blood to a
vampire in Torpor. The Salubri can also not attack anyone who is acting
according to the will of her own soul. This does not include servants, ghouls,
Dominated or Presenced people. It does include the person who is manipulating
them. With a person who is acting out the will of another, the Salubri may
attack, but only if it involves to restoration of the person's soul (eg:
paralyzes them in order to "repair" them.)

Level 9: Similar, except the highest difficulty for the conscience check is a
nine, and the character can use willpower not to act. Also, the Salubri can
paralyze an enemy without doing more to help him. (the assumption: I'll leave
him and go for the guy who's doing it to him. Free him all the faster.)

Level 8: The Salubri can actually use guns, knives, etc. (They can barely bear
to look at them at other levels.) They can defend themselves without using
their powers, using weapons instead. The difficulty continues to go down for
the conscience check, although it never falls below a six.

Level 7: The Salubri can chose to help one group or another (ie: the party) by
deciding that the "enemy" is too lost to be saved by any way other than death.
(once a Salubri reaches this level of Soul Freedom, they are at serious risk
of falling off the path to Golconda).

Level 6: Using the same rationalization as above, the Salubri can attack back
when she sees her group getting hurt. The Salubri becomes increasingly less
concerned with others' souls, her soul, and more concerned with her powers.
At this point, the Salubri may desire to learn out of clan disciplines, but
_not_ Thaumaturgy.

Level 5: The Salubri can be at the front lines of the attack without feeling
remorse at the possibility that she may be "freeing souls" sooner than they
want to be freed.

Level 4: (no Salubri should get this far. Period.) The Salubri can horde her
powers, only helping those she finds deserving. At this point, she can
consider making progeny without making them kill her. She may even want to,
the better to create an army of people devoted to protecting her. Willpower is
automatically, permanently lost when the Salubri sinks to that level, and goes
down a point for every level after this one.

Level 3: The Salubri can bargain off her powers (as in: If you let me live,
Prince, I will steal souls for you. At this point, the Salubri is no longer
concerned with her own soul, but she is very concerned with her immortal
"life", not wanting to lose it at any cost. At this point, other Salubri begin
to take notice of the character and begin to spread the word of her corruption.

Level 2: The Salubri is now able to learn Thaumaturgy. She doesn't give a damn
about anyone unless she is made to give a damn by whatever bribes or favors
they can offer her. Other Salubri begin searching for the character, with the
intent of purifying her soul. The Salubri PC considers this purification to be
the equivalent of death.

Level 1: The Salubri can no longer be played. She simply sits in her overly
protected haven, giving out her powers to those who agree to kill off the
Salubri chasing her. She is clinging desperately to unlife.

That's it guys! Comments welcome, flames aren't.