This power is what separates the pious monsters that descend from the unique blend of Orthodox tradition and Slavic folklore from the pious monsters of the Lancea Sanctum. The precise origin of this Discipline is unclear, however. The Tismanu claim it is the result of divine Orthodox faith transferred to the Blood when the first Tismanu was Embraced by a vampire decades or more before Dracula’s damnation. The name, Eupraxia, was given to the power much later. Other Dragons claim that, while the Tismanu existed as a lineage of vampire-monks prior to the foundation of the Ordo Dracul, the bloodline didn’t gain its mystical powers (and, so, its status as a genuine bloodline) until after the cursing of Dracula. Tonight, it’s little more than an academic debate. The Tismanu named this Discipline after Vlad Dracul’s mistress, the mother of Dracula’s half-brother, Vlad the Monk. After giving birth to Vlad Dracul’s illegitimate son, she devoted her life to worship, retreated to a nunnery and changed her name to Eupraxia. Eupraxia is a supportive and empowering Discipline. Its effects benefit other Kindred, in addition to the Tismanu himself, much as the priests and monks of Wallachia protected and supported the nobility and peasantry alike. Several of Eupraxia’s powers have a darker side as well, but such is the nature of dealing with the souls and wills of cursed and undead monsters.
A vampire with this power is capable of sharing the strength of his will directly with others of his kind. The devout force of the Monk’s faith can be felt as a tangible, empowering rush of confidence, certainty and resolve. This power represents the Tismanu’s burgeoning ability to mystically connect with the soul of another vampire — or the empty space where a soul should be.
Cost: —
Dice Pool: This power requires no roll to use. Simply by speaking to his subject in a clear, supportive voice the Tismanu can use a Willpower point of his own to augment another character’s dice pool, Defense or resistance trait (see the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 133). This power allows the subject to enjoy the benefits of more than one Willpower point per turn, but it does not allow the Tismanu to spend more than one Willpower point on that turn. The user of this power is effectively donating his opportunity to use Willpower in that turn to another character. A Willpower point donated through the use of this power cannot be combined with Willpower points from any other sources. That is, a single dice pool or resistance trait can benefit from only one Willpower point at a time.
Example: Adelphos, a Greek Tismanu vampire, is looking on through a chain-link fence as his fellow Dragon, Jake, is being attacked by bloodthirsty ghouls. Jake has already spent his own Willpower point on an attack made earlier in the turn, but the ghouls keep coming. Adelphos grips the fence in his hands. “Jake,” he says, his voice calm and low. “Focus. Have faith.” Adelphos spends a Willpower point to add two to Jake’s Defense.
Action: Reflexive
This, the most essential spiritual power of the Tismanu, soothes the souls of other monsters and helps to restore a vampire’s ability to face the world with confidence and strength of will. A Tismanu who uses this power becomes a figure of faith and personal strength for another Kindred. With a calming or encouraging dialogue, the Tismanu can stir up the personal power a vampire needs to rise above madness or regain the will to go on. As a result of the time the subject spends talking with the Tismanu, she feels soothed, calmed and more in control of herself.
This power can be used on mortals, ghouls and other supernatural creatures, as well, but Tismanu customarily restrict its use to other Kindred. When used on mortals or ghouls, the dialogue required by this power often leads to feeding.
Cost: —
Dice Pool: Presence + Empathy + Eupraxia
Action: Extended (subject’s Blood Potency + 5 successes; each roll represents 20 minutes of conversation or confession)
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: A dramatic failure indicates that the Tismanu has accidentally stirred up dreadful or monstrous feelings in his subject. At the Storyteller’s discretion, an effect of the subject’s derangements may manifest itself in some way (by invoking the Social penalty of Suspicion, for example), or the subject may suffer a -2 penalty to rolls to resist frenzy for the rest of the scene.
Failure: The Tismanu’s efforts simply aren’t enough to help the subject.
Success: The Tismanu provides some spiritual relief to the subject. The Tismanu can either temporarily diminish the weight of the subject’s derangements or restore a Willpower point, as described below.
Exceptional Success: The Tismanu’s inspiring efforts truly reinvigorate the subject, who may enjoy both of the beneficial effects described below, if applicable.
When a Tismanu character activates this power, he attempts to grant his subject one of the following two benefits, affecting either Humanity or Willpower. A subject must be able to see or hear the Tismanu directly to be affected by this power. A single creature cannot be the subject of this power more than once per night. This power has no effect on a subject who’s been given over to the Beast, such as a vampire of Humanity 0 or in the midst of frenzy. The Tismanu can turn this power on himself, provided he meets all of the previously described conditions.
The Tismanu character can provide his subject with moral support, enabling her to overcome a derangement. If the subject has failed a roll and acquired a new derangement that same night, the Tismanu grants her a second chance at the derangement roll she failed — if she succeeds on this re-roll, her new derangement fades away by the time she wakes the next night. If the subject is struggling with a pre-existing mild derangement, the Tismanu allows her to ignore its effects for the rest of the scene. Subjects suffering from a severe derangement have its effects reduced to a mild state for the rest of the scene. Only one of the subject’s derangements can be muted at a time in this way, no matter how many derangements the subject may be suffering from overall.
Alternately, the Tismanu can restore a single Willpower point to the subject. This power does not allow the subject to possess Willpower points in excess of her Willpower dots.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
+2 Power is turned on a vampire with whom the user has a blood tie.
— Subject is a vampire, ghoul or mortal of Humanity 6 or higher.
-2 Subject can see or hear the user, but not both.
-2 Subject is a non-vampiric supernatural creature.
-3 Subject is currently resisting frenzy.
-1 Subject is at Humanity 5.
-2 Subject is at Humanity 4.
-3 Subject is at Humanity 3.
-4 Subject is at Humanity 2.
-5 Subject is at Humanity 1.
As the Tismanu’s mystic power progresses, he becomes able to help others fight off the supernatural powers of other monsters. With the strength of his pious devotion, the Tismanu fortifies the soul of a subject, warding off occult forces and evil magic. Should the Tismanu’s subject already be the victim of a persistent spell or supernatural power, he might be freed of that power’s evil hold, as the Tismanu pits this Discipline against the hostile power in a new contest for dominance. The Tismanu must be able to touch his subject to use this power.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Resolve + Occult + Eupraxia
Action: Instant or contested; resistance is reflexive
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The subject is not aided by this power and cannot be the subject of it again until the next sunset.
Failure: The subject is not aided by this power, but the Tismanu can try again.
Success: The subject gains a bonus equal to the user’s dots in Eupraxia to resist the next supernatural power leveled against him during the scene. This bonus applies to contested actions and resistance traits alike. If the subject was already under the effects of another supernatural power, the user frees him from it, rather than granting a bonus for future use.
Exceptional Success: A success, except the subject gains the bonus against the next two attempts to target him with an unwanted supernatural power. If the subject was already under the effects of another supernatural power, then extra successes are their own reward, enabling the user to overcome more potent powers.
When applied to subjects under the effects of another supernatural power (such as a vampire possessed by a Numen-using spirit), Grace of Eupraxia allows the Tismanu to cancel the power’s effects. To do so, the Tismanu must succeed at a contested action, pitting his Intelligence + Occult + Eupraxia against the dice pool of the hostile power being opposed. The user of the original supernatural power (for example, the Ventrue who Mesmerized the subject nights earlier) does not actually participate in this roll unless she is present in the scene (as in the case of a possessing spirit); the Storyteller simply uses that character’s traits to define the power’s dice pool for the contested action. If the Storyteller knows how many successes were scored on the original action to activate the power in question, she may choose to use those as the total for the Tismanu to overcome. Note that the Tismanu is the challenging character in this contested action, so if the roll results in a tie, the power being opposed continues to affect the subject.
Example: Adelphos believes his ally, Alana, has been cursed by a sorcerer. He intends to free Alana with Eupraxia. He sits her in a chair and, following Orthodox custom, dabs olive oil on her face and into a nearby bowl of water. While doing so, he activates Grace of Eupraxia, and his player rolls Intelligence + Occult + Eupraxia to oppose an unknown dice pool from an unknown sorcerer. The Storyteller, knowing Alana is the subject of the Theban Sorcery ritual Malediction of Despair, checks her notes and finds that the Sanctified sorcerer achieved four successes on his Intelligence + Academics + Theban Sorcery roll to activate the curse. If Adelphos’ roll generates five or more successes, the curse will be broken…
Powerful Tismanu turn their ability to affect the mystical powers of other supernatural creatures into an ability to affect the creature itself. With this power, the Tismanu can repel unwelcome creatures and create an area of refuge around himself. Unwelcome subjects, whether mortal or supernatural, must overcome the Tismanu’s fearsome spiritual might to enter this area of refuge.
Cost: 1 Willpower per scene
Dice Pool: This power requires two rolls on behalf of the Tismanu: an invocation roll that defines the area of refuge, and an effect roll that opposes those who attempt to enter the area. The dice pool for the invocation roll is Presence + Intimidation + Eupraxia. The dice pool for the effect roll is the same, opposed by the subject’s Resolve + Blood Potency.
Action: Instant and contested; all contested actions are reflexive.
Roll Results
The result of the invocation roll determines the size of the area that subjects can be forbidden to enter. The more successes scored, the larger the area of refuge. (To be sure an area of a certain size is achieved with the invocation roll, subtract one die per step up the area of effect table; then even a single success indicates the desired amount of space becomes the Tismanu’s area of refuge.) The exact shape of the area of refuge is determined by the character, who must stay within it to make use of this power. If the Tismanu leaves the area of refuge and returns to it in the same scene, he may resume his use of the same area.
Successes Space
1 success 5 sq. yards
2 successes 10 sq. yards
3 successes 50 sq. yards
4 successes 250 sq. yards
5 successes 1000 sq. yards
Once the area of refuge has been successfully determined and invoked, the Tismanu makes an effect roll. The successes achieved on the effect roll become the defensive score of the area of refuge. Unwelcome subjects flee the area of refuge when it is invoked unless they achieve more successes on an immediate, reflexive Resolve + Blood Potency roll than were scored on the effect roll. As long as the Tismanu is within the area of refuge, no creature may enter the area of refuge (or cause an object to enter it) without first winning a similar contested action. Unwelcome subjects who manage to enter the area of refuge suffer two points of bashing damage for each success the Tismanu achieved on the effect roll.
The Tismanu can allow any subjects he wishes to enter without attempting the contested action, but once a subject is granted admittance, she can no longer be repelled from the area of refuge.
At the Storyteller’s discretion, the Tismanu may maintain an existing area of refuge over multiple scenes (without making a new invocation roll) by paying the Willpower cost again in the next scene. No Tismanu can maintain more than one area of refuge at a time.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
+2 The area to be defined is a part of the user’s haven.
+2 The area to be defined is an enclosed space, like a room or shed.
+1 The area to be defined is Orthodox holy ground.
— The area to be defined has some sort of clear perimeter, such as a hedgerow or a line of columns, but is not truly enclosed.
-2 The area to be defined has no physical edge-markers. It is a field, a portion of a larger space or a shapeless stretch of forest.
-2 The area to be defined is the site of current fighting or combat.
Masters of Eupraxia are able to exert a degree of control over the Beast residing in all Kindred, much as an exorcist exerts control over a possessing demon. According to the philosophy of the Tismanu, this power is meant to be used to alleviate the suffering of a vampire at the claws of his own Beast. The Tismanu seldom reveal the second application of this power, but it can also be used to stir the Beast from its lair within a vampire’s will. A Monk of Dracula with this power can exorcise a vampire’s Beast, driving it out from the hollows of the will into the empty spaces of the undead soul (thereby separating it from the flesh) or luring it out into the vampire’s body (and provoking frenzy).
The subject of this power must be able to clearly hear the Tismanu’s voice, so that his own Beast is able to hear it. The words the Tismanu uses to admonish or provoke the Beast clearly reflect the Monk’s intent (“Don’t stand for that, Andrew. Kill him!”) but might not be recognized as the medium of a supernatural power until it is too late.
Cost: 1 Willpower per roll
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Empathy + Eupraxia – subject’s Resolve
Action: Extended. Each roll represents one turn of vocal rebuking or provocation. One Willpower point must be spent on each roll, to convey the user’s voice into the subject’s soul, to the Beast itself. Damage done to the user during this extended action does not penalize future rolls (though wound penalties apply as normal).
If the Tismanu attempts to activate this power subtly, so that his subject doesn’t realize the source of the influence angering or soothing her Beast, the subject and any onlookers may make a reflexive Wits + Occult roll, opposed by a reflexive Manipulation + Occult roll on behalf of the Tismanu. By winning this contested action, the subject or onlooker sees that the Tismanu is the source of the Beast’s influence. Otherwise, she may continue to suspect, but cannot be sure.
This power makes extensive use of the standard frenzy rules on p. 178 – 181 of Vampire: The Requiem.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The Tismanu’s own Beast is roused by the attention focused on another’s. The Tismanu must resist frenzy as though he had been betrayed by a partner in a deal (5 successes).
Failure: The Tismanu fails to generate any successes this turn, but may try again next turn.
Success: To soothe or stymie a vampire’s Beast Within, the Tismanu adds the successes on his activation roll to any the subject achieves on her next Resolve + Composure roll to resist frenzy. The Tismanu may continue to accrue successes for the subject on subsequent turns with additional rolls. If the Tismanu achieves enough successes, the subject may not even need to roll to avoid potential frenzy. For example, if the user generates five successes for his subject, even a starving subject can automatically resist Wassail when tasting blood (see Vampire: The Requiem, p. 179). A soothed subject even finds it more difficult to rouse her own Beast: the Tismanu’s successes are added to the five successes that must normally be accumulated in the event that a soothed subject attempts to “ride the wave.”
To draw out a Beast, the Tismanu pits the successes accumulated on his extended action against the subject. These successes become the target number of successes the subject must accumulate with an extended Resolve + Composure roll to resist frenzy. All frenzy-related dice penalties (e.g., for hunger or fire) apply to the subject’s rolls as usual. Unless stopped, the Tismanu can continue to “raise the bar” for the subject, generating more successes on subsequent rolls to increase the subject’s target number even further. If the subject is already attempting to resist frenzy when this power is activated, the Tismanu’s successes add to those of other provocative sources (such as an endangered loved one or a bonfire).
When the Tismanu first attempts to stir the Beast, he defines what its target will be in the event of frenzy. He may do this plainly (“Diana betrayed you, Andrew. Make her pay.”) or with subtler cues (“Is that Diana’s blood, Andrew? Diana’s blood, Andrew.”)
Exceptional Success: Additional successes are their own reward, as the Tismanu makes exceptional progress towards calming or goading the subject’s Beast.
Some Dragons believe this power was used by the Tismanu in nights past to command and control the influential Kindred who trusted the Monks to be their caretakers. According to these (typically impious) conspiracy theorists, powerful Tismanu discourage Dragons from learning the third tier of the Coil of the Beast — Exhaust the Beast — because vampires who make use of that tier are immune to this power’s effects for the rest of the night.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
+2 Power is turned on a vampire with whom the user has a blood tie.
+/-1 Each derangement the subject has makes the Beast harder to soothe and easier to goad with this power.
+/-2 A subject of Humanity 7 or higher is easier to soothe and harder to goad.