by Dark Whispers (26 Nov 94)
This path is kown by the Avengers of Diedne bloodline.
Akin to the Hermetic Path of Elemental Mastery, this form connects the Thaumaturgist to nature, allowing communication and control over living plants and low life forms. It does not allow control over organic materials that are not alive, however.
[1] The Voice of the Mother: This power allows the Thaumaturgist to speak with plants, insects, and other lower forms of life. Although these beings have little concern for anything but their own survival, the use of this power allows the Thaumaturgist to interpret impressions from these beings.
System: The Thaumaturgist rolls Wits + Linguistics (difficulty 7) to see if she can interpret the impressions that she is being given. The more successes, the more information can be understood.
[2] The Mother's Influence: This power gives the Thaumaturgist limited control over plants and lower life forms. She can cause vines to snake out and grab opponents, and she may direct a swarm of insects towards an opponent. The life forms which are being controled must be in the near vicinity of the Thaumaturgist.
System: The Thaumaturgist must make a Manipulation + Survival roll versus a difficulty of 7. The more success gained on the roll, the more control that the Thaumaturgist gains over the being that she is influencing. The being to be controlled must be within line of sight.
[3] Call to Arms: By using this power the Thaumaturgist is able to summon lower forms of life, and has gained enough control over plants to enable her to bond them into new forms. At this level, the Thaumaturgist could draw upon the plantlife around her to create a Wall of Thorns, or a new form of tree. There must be enough live organic material surrounding the Thaumaturgist to make up the new form; beyond that, the only thing required is the thaumaturgist's imagination.
System: There are two systems, one for summoning lower life forms, and another for bonding plants. To summon lower forms of life, the thaumaturgist must make a Charisma + Survival roll against a difficulty of 6 (although this may be higher depending on the area). The number of success rolled determines the number of beings that will show up, as well as from how far they will come. It may also represent the control over which the Thaumaturgist has over the summoning (ie they wish to summon wasps instead of all insects), and the summoning will be heard for approximatly 500 yards per success. All lower forms of life that are summoned will respond to the call.
To Bond Plants, the Thaumaturgist rolls Manipulation + Survival, the number of successes indicating how well the bonding occurred, and how large the new form may be. This power will never make a plant more intelligent than it already is, and it cannot be made to make a plant perform instinctive actions that it would not have before the bonding (ie turning a Rose into a Venus Fly Trap).
[4] One with Nature: This power is very similar to the Protean power of Earth Meld, and indeed those who possess it may meld with the earth. However, the thamaturgist who utilizes this power may also meld with other natural forms which are large enough to hold her (ie trees and large rocks). This form must be solid, and it cannot have spaces (like bushes).
System: This power requires a roll of Stamina + Survival (difficuly 7). If she is successful, then the thaumaturgist melds with the form. The downside of this power is that any damage that the form takes while the Thaumaturgist is within it is also taken by the Thaumaturgist. More than one user of this power has been known to perish in a Forest Fire.
[5] Stream of Life: This power allows the Thaumaturgist to draw upon the life force of a plant or lower life form to replenish her own life force and heal herself. It may also be used to help the Thaumaturgist replenish her Blood Pool.
System: If the Thaumaturgist touches the form, she may heal one level of health for every level that the form possess. This causes one level of damage for every one that the Thaumaturgist heals, and the form will become sickly and die within a matter of minutes. If the Thaumaturgist wishes to use the life force of the form to replenish her blood pool, she must roll Stamina + Survival, and will gain one blood point per success, at the cost of one health level of damage to the form that she is draining. This is almost always fatally traumatic to the form, and even if they still possess some of their life force, they almost always wither away and die. To the nature loving users of this path, this is a power of last resort.
Note: Yes, 'lower life forms' include everything from single-celled life forms all the way to insects. This path can be used to control bacteria and viruses, as well as algae, lower mollusks and arachnids. This allows the Thaumaturgist to effectivly summon diseases...however, the Thaumaturgist may be as affected by these viruses and bacterium as the opponents they are attempting to subdue.