[ajardoor]

Another RPM style, this one is a rough draft for a style of magical serial killers;
------

Thanatovore

11 points.

This is a "Left-Handed" Style of magic - it is the domain of evil people who murder others for power.
The magical practices of a Thanatovore is that of a serial killer - cowardly skulking in the shadows, waiting out a potential victim, carefully setting them up to die, swooping in to loot the body (in a sense) and, finally, disposing of the evidence.
Although the Stylist will learn of certain ways to destroy people and objects, to both murder and get away with murder, a Thanatovore really starts to show their depravity when they mess with the already deceased. Abusing the ghosts of their victims is standard, but mere practice for the mastery of Thanatovore ambitions; studying the secret of the Death Eater's Draught. This grim elixir allows the warlock to prepare a person's metaphysical shape for easy violation - the Thanatovore kills the drinker and then invasively draws in the necrotic energies surrounding the corpse, absorbing a large cache of magical resources for quick access later.
The scope of the style covers rituals that destroy matter, directly harm people, brew the Death Eater's Draught, enslave ghosts and gather information about death and ghosts.


Required Skills: Thaumatology; Hidden Lore (Undead); Alchemy; Poisons.

Required Paths: Path of Undead; Path of Magic; either Path of Body or Path of Matter.

Required Ritual Masteries: See Ghosts; Command Ghost; one of Amplify Injury, Death Touch, Destroy Forensic Evidence, Hunger or Weaken Blood.

Perks: Secret Material (Death Eater's Draught); Life-Force Burn; Mighty Spell (Death Touch); Power Casting (Brew Death Eater's Draught); Spell Duelist; Secret Spell (Brew Death Eater's Draught, Death Touch, Command Ghost); Shortcut to Power (Death Touch); Discreet Ritual (any); Covenant of Rest; Intimidating Curses; Frightening Side Effects (Death Touch); Corpse Smart; Rule of 17 (any); Sanctum; Secret Mage.


Secret Material: Death Eater's Draught
This potent magical beverage will quietly make a certain small hole in the drinker's soul for a little while - it does not harm him in any other way (most mix the Draught in with mundane poison, of course). If the drinker is killed while the Draught is affecting him, a Thanatovore may then use the opportunity to touch the corpse and absorb the mystical death energies - effectively granting the Thanatovore a reserve of spell energy (completely separate from his usual reserve that is equal to his Magery x 3) equal to however much spell energy the victim would be usually worth as an involuntary sacrifice. The reserve is spent like a normal mana reserve, but can only be "recharged" through more Draught-flavoured murders. The cap on how much energy can extracted this way is equal to the Thanatovore's Path of Undead skill times five. The GM is free to rule that any murder victims would try to haunt the Mage as ghosts, sensing full well how the Mage has violated them on a metaphysical level in order to gain power. Not to mention the possibility of the death energies automatically tainting the spell with quirks and an aura that is effectively incriminating magical evidence to a Mage with The Sight. Some GMs may feel it thematically appropriate for Thanatovores who have absorbed these energies to be able to spend spare Character Points of their own and gain positive traits their Draught victims had in life instantly (gaining training in a skill, for instance) - essentially, a kind of mystical plagiarism. This isn't soul stealing, just copying information. Any victim with the Covenant of Rest perk cannot be affected by the Draught.

Some dark rumours claim that a mysterious entity from the depths of somewhere else strikes bargains with select Thanatovores; spread a certain recipe of its variant Draught, and it will let the Mage "take a cut of the profits" - supposedly, the entity's recipe, if followed and with the right (mundane and harmless) ingredients, WILL brew a Death Eater's Draught, even if the brewer isn't a Mage or aware of what they're doing. Once brewed and drank, it's a simple matter of killing the unsuspecting victim so both the entity and the Thanatovore get a taste of death's power. Some say that the special recipe has been slipped into cookbooks or leaked to suicidal people along with instructions on poisoning one's self.

Brewing Death Eater's Draught counts as a ritual that creates an elixir that requires the perk to actually perform.


Ritual: Brew Death Eater's Draught
Spell Effects: Lesser Create Magic + Greater Create Magic + Lesser Control Undead.
Inherent Modifiers: None.
Greater Effects: 1 (x3).

Anyone drinking this elixir must resist or, for the duration, be vulnerable to having their dead body (if killed somehow) harvested for necrotic energy by a Thanatovore.

Typical Form: potion.
Typical Ingredients: butcher's knives, human teeth, hunting knives, vulture beaks, embalming fluid, scarab beetles, cow meat, maggots, gravestones/tombstones, ectoplasm.
Typical Brewing: Lesser Create Magic (6) + Greater Create Magic (6) + Lesser Control Undead (5) + Duration, 30 minutes (2). 57 energy (19x3).


OPTIONAL TRAITS
Advantages: Spirit Empathy; Alternate Identity (Illegal); Anatomist; Dark Walker; Mortalist.
Disadvantages: Bloodlust; Callous; Obsession (any); Secret (Serial killer); Social Stigma (Criminal Record); Enemies (any); Lifebane; Frightens Animals.
Skills: Expert Skill (Thanatology); Forensics; Holdout; Sleight of Hand; Occultism; Acting; Fast-Talk; Stealth.