Naturae's Touch

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.