Spiritus

Spend 1 point of Blood and use your simple action to open your eyes to the spirits and the Umbra. You can now see and converse with any spirit that happens to be active near you within the Penumbra. However, if they realize that you can see them the spirits can attempt to supernaturally hide from you by using gifts such as Blur of the Milky Eye. With concentration this power also gives you the ability to see fully into the Umbra from the Material Realm. Wyld Eyes lasts 1 hour, although it may be reactivated at the conclusion of its duration by spending an additional point of Blood and a simple action. This power allows you to see spirits, but not wraiths or other types of supernatural creatures. Wyld Eyes does not pierce supernatural powers of concealment, such as Obfuscate or Blur of the Milky Eye, but it may be combined with other sensory powers such as Heightened Senses. While most spirits will hide from or ignore a Vampire, Beast Spirits are generally interested in those that practice Spiritus, having rarely encountered a vampire that can truly interact with spirits and their world. As such, Beast Spirits are the most receptive to attempts at communication, often choosing to speak in a tongue akin to feral whispers. In this manner an Ahrimane can communicate with a willing Beast Spirit. Other spirits rarely communicate or interact with the undead.

By spending a downtime action, you can draw out a Beast Spirit, converse with it, and begin the bonding process to form a companionship. The Beast Spirit companion you gain can either be the spirit of a real animal that exists within your line of sight or a roaming Beast Spirit from the Umbra that is not native to your lands. The Beast Spirit manifests within one step of you in either the physical realm or the Umbra, and it is willingly bound to you. The spirit is your ally and is built using the Animal Retainer rules. The stock level of this Animal Retainer is equal to the number of Spiritus powers the Ahrimane possesses, including techniques and elder powers. The spirit can understand you and will attempt to fulfill your verbal requests. You may only have one active Beast Spirit at a time through the use of this power. Alternatively, you may spend a point of blood and your standard action to give an order to any Gaffling spirit within your line of sight. If you succeed in an opposed challenge, you can force the spirit to answer one question or perform a singular simple task. The spirit answers basic questions truthfully, but unfamiliar concepts may confuse it. You can reasonably expect answers to the following types of questions: - What is your purpose? - Has anything interesting happened around you? - What did the person who ran by moments ago look like? - Has anyone been fighting here recently?

Once purchased the following benefits are always active: your brawl and melee attacks can damage spirits in the umbra even if they have not manifested (though you must still be able to see them through powers such as Wyld Eyes); and you may feed on the Gnosis of spirits in the same way you can feed on the blood of humans. For every Gnosis drained you gain a Blood point. In addition, you may spend 1 Blood and a simple action to imbue your brawl attacks with spiritual energies. This manifests as a set of spiritual claws made of brilliant glowing moonlight. These claws do aggravated damage and stack with the Feral Claws' Wits focus if you have that Protean power. When striking spirits, the claws do one additional level of damage. This ability lasts for one hour or until you end its effects.

Spend 1 Blood and a simple action to attune yourself to the Umbra. Doing so allows you to touch the spirit realm and call upon a Beast Spirit and the life of the Umbra to enhance your physical form. Select two of the following qualities when activating this power: - Bear Strength: You receive an additional +1 bonus to Brawl-based attack test pools. - Stride of the Gazelle: Increase your movement by 1 step for each action spent on movement. - Falcon's Eye: Gain a +1 bonus on all challenges involving your Investigation Skill. - Speed of the Hare: Gain a +1 bonus to your initiative. - Agility of the Fox: You gain a +1 bonus to Dodge-based defensive test pools. - Chameleon Camouflage: Gain +1 bonus on all challenges involving your Stealth Skill. In addition, as long as your Beast Spirit remains within 10 steps of you, she also benefits from the qualities you selected. Mantle of Atira is a major transformative power and cannot be combined with other transformative powers. However, you may combine it with Spiritwalker as an exception to the rules governing major transformations. You may end this transformation at any time by spending a simple action.

Spend a Blood and a standard action to wholly bond with your Beast Spirit. Your physical form merges with the Beast Spirit into a singular spiritual entity. Thereafter, you appear as an anthropomorphic version of your Beast Spirit and you have a faint glowing aura displaying your spiritual symbiosis. While in this form you gain 3 Healthy wound levels, the benefits of any Animal Retainer qualities your Beast Spirit possesses, and the Attribute focus it possesses. You may continue to spend your blood to power your disciplines and techniques. While bonded with your Beast Spirit you are still considered a vampire (and not a spirit or animal), but you only take lethal damage from sunlight. In addition, while bonded with your Beast Spirit you may spend 5 full turns in chant and spend one of your Beast Spirit's Gnosis to cross the Gauntlet travelling into or out of the Umbra. This power can only be maintained for one hour. When the power ends the vampire is ejected into the physical world and the Beast Spirit coalesces back into the umbra. Spiritwalker is a major transformative power and cannot be combined with other transformative powers. However, you may combine it with Mantle of Atira as an exception to the rules governing major transformations. You may end this transformation at any time by spending a simple action.

Spend your simple action and 1 point of Blood as you ritualistically prepare yourself for a hunt. For the next hour your Physical attacks against that target gain the Accurate and Brutal qualities. In addition, you may choose to employ either the Harrying or Encumbering Fetish Quality to all unarmed attacks. - Encumbering: When you successfully strike a target, she receives a -2 penalty to her next turn's initiative for each point of blood you spend. Multiple applications of this effect are not cumulative. - Harrying: A target successfully struck takes one fewer step the next time she uses an action to move per point of Blood you spend. Multiple applications of this effect are not cumulative; a target can move again normally after she spends one penalized action for movement. If you succeed in striking a target while under the effects of Killer Instincts, that target becomes supernaturally marked by fiery blue vengeance spirits. Only you and those who can see across the Gauntlet can see these vengeance spirits. While so marked, she cannot hide from you using mundane or supernatural means nor can she hide from others who can see across the Gauntlet. As part of this effect, your target cannot benefit from concealment in total darkness or from supernatural sources, such as Shroud of Night, as the flames give away her location to any who can see them. In such cases, she may be targeted without the need for the Fighting Blind combat maneuver. If she escapes the combat, you receive a +3 wild card bonus to any challenge to track her down. This benefit lasts until the next sunset or sunrise, whichever is longer.

You have unlocked the full potential of your Beast Spirit companion. Your Beast Spirit companion gains 3 Healthy wound levels, 5 additional Gnosis, and it may choose an additional discipline specialization from its available choices. In addition, if your stock rating 6 or higher Beast Spirit companion has a discipline specialization, it may gain a single elder power from that discipline. The elder power available depends on the type of Beast Spirit as set forth below. - Aggressive Animals: Potence: Force; Potence: Flick; or Potence: Reckless Fury. - Curious Animals: Obfuscate: Phantom Hunter; Auspex: Psychic Drain; or Auspex: Clairvoyance. - Defensive Animals: Fortitude: Personal Armor; Fortitude: Repair the Undead Flesh; or Fortitude: King of the Mountain.

Spend 3 Blood and your standard action to call out to all nearby spirits as you command your quarry to flee, designating up to 3 targets. Make an opposed challenge using the Spiritus test pool. Should you spend 1 point of Willpower to retest any of these opposed challenges, you also gain that retest for the remainder of the opposed challenges, without the need to spend further Willpower. If you spend the Willpower to retest after some challenges are already resolved, you cannot go back to previous challenges that you lost and apply the Willpower retest retroactively. If you succeed, your targets become marked by the spirits of the hunt. Those marked immediately lose the ability to communicate, which includes the ability to speak or produce sound, send text messages, or use sign language, and any telepathic links they are a part of immediately sever. They cannot initiate or relent to Telepathy or similar powers of communication for as long as this power is in effect. Further, they cannot benefit from any beneficial powers from others, such as Cloak the Gathering, Corpore Sano, or Madrigal, and may only use their own powers until they have successfully fled the area. In addition, your opponents are unable to be targeted by the Assist Defender or Assist Attacker mass combat tactics. These effects last for 15 minutes or until the target successfully fair escapes. As you activate this power, you must designate the area the target is to withdraw from. You may designate an area as small as the room or the building you are in, an area up to 4 square blocks in an urban setting, or an area up to 1 square mile in a wilderness setting. Once your target successfully leaves the area, the effects of this power cease. However, if your target returns to the designated area within the duration of the power, the effects take hold once again, persisting until she either leaves or the power's duration ends. Finally, you may give the target some amount of time to leave, choosing to deliberately delay the onset of this power. For example, you may wish to give your target to the count of 10. If you do, the power's duration begins immediately, but has no effect until you may spend a simple action to enact its effects; this applies even if your target is not within your line of sight.