These are the mysteries of the Baali, black arts torn whole and beating from the sorcerer-kings of ancient cultures and prehistoric civilizations, incoherent memories passed from tome to tongue, hearkening to times of oblivion. They are sibilant secrets in which all begins to end and begin again. With every new night and novice brought into the circle, the telling grows shorter.

Rank 1 - Sense the Sin

A real mark always convinces himself. The most dangerous Baali aren’t the ones that use extortion, threats, or over displays of power; the most dangerous Demons simply know how to talk their victims into cutting their own throats. This power allows the Baali to find a target’s particular vice.

System: The player rolls Perception + Empathy against living or undead beings; the difficulty is equal to the subject’s Self-Control or Instincts +4. If success- ful, the Baali can sense the subject’s greatest weakness. The significance of this information is dictated by the degree of success: One success might determine a low Virtue, weak Willpower, or a poorly defended avenue of approach, while two might yield a closely guarded secret or conversational misstep. Three or more yields a central derangement or formative trauma from the subject’s past.

Rank 2 - Fear of the Void Below

Once the Baali has mastered reading a subject’s dark- est secrets, he can reach into the victim’s mind and twist what he finds there. The shock of feeling one’s most deeply held beliefs and darkest fears manipulated can send the victim into catatonia or fits of panic.

System: The Baali must first employ Sense the Sin (above) or use some other method to discern the tragic flaw of the target. She must then speak to the target, playing upon his inadequacies and the inescapable consequences of his shortcomings. A successful Wits + Intimidation roll (difficulty of the subject’s Courage +4) drives the victim into fits of terror (one success), mindless panic-borne flight similar to Rötschreck (two successes), or even unconsciousness (three or more successes). All effects last for the remainder of the scene. Kindred targets may resist with a Courage roll (difficulty equal to the Baali’s Willpower) — they are accustomed to dealing with their Beasts. If the Kindred target garners more successes than the Baali did on her original roll, he resists the power completely.

Rank 3 - Conflagration

Not all of the Baali’s powers are designed for manipu- lation and subtlety. The Demons can also call up the fire from the realms of their infernal patrons, hurling it at their enemies in exultation of the Outer Dark. This fire spreads and burns normally, but at the moment of creation it is black and cold, as though drawn from a place where terrestrial physics do not apply.

System: The player spends a blood point. This creates a bolt of black flame that inflicts one die of aggravated damage; more blood points may be spent to increase the size and damage of the flame. Such fires are fleeting and dissipate at the end of the turn, unless the Baali continues to spend blood points on Conflagration over several turns, gradually creating a larger flame. The player also rolls Dexterity + Occult (difficulty 6) to hit his target, who may dodge as normal. Vampires con- fronted with this black fire make Rötschreck tests as if confronted with a similar quantity of normal flame.

Rank 4 - Psychomachia

With this power, the Baali combines his ability to read the psyche of a victim with the ability to summon up matter from the Outer Dark. Psychomachia pits a victim against the most dangerous, shameful parts of her own subconscious.

System: The vampire, after learning the targets trag- ic flaw (such as after using Sense the Sin, above), forces the subject’s player to roll her lowest Virtue (difficulty 6). Failing this roll pits the target against an apparition summoned from her darker self, perceptible to the sub- ject only. The target may see or feel his abusive father, a long-dead lover, a childhood bogeyman, or (for Kin- dred victims) even the Beast itself. A botch indicates the target has been overwhelmed and frenzies — or, worse, becomes possessed by his inner demons.

This imaginary antagonist may be wholly narrated, or assigned Traits equivalent or slightly inferior to the victim’s, at the Storyteller’s option. All injuries sus- tained by the target in such an encounter are illusory (substitute catatonia or torpor for death as appropriate) and vanish upon the phantasm’s defeat or the Baali’s loss of concentration.

Rank 5 - Condemnation

The Baali levies a curse upon the victim. The more skillful in her dark studies the Baali has become, the more dire the curse is likely to be. Legend states that some Baali can wield curses so foul that the victims at- tempt suicide after a single night — only to find that they can no longer die.

System: An Intelligence + Occult roll (difficulty equal to the subject’s Willpower) dictates the length and severity of the curse. Successes must be split be- tween both these effects, as per the sidebar below.

The player must split successes between effect and duration – curses with zero successes allotted to dura- tion last for one night. For example, if the Baali’s player rolls four successes, she can inflict a two-success curse for one month, a three-success curse for up to week, or a four-success curse for one night. At any time, the Baali may choose to end the curse. Storytellers should feel free to invent creative or story-appropriate curses.