V20 Rules Reference
Thaumaturgy in V20
This page is the Tremere Path of Blood, one vitae path inside Thaumaturgy, not every path and not the ritual list.
Looking for 5th Edition Blood Sorcery? Read the V5 Disciplines guideThe short answer.
The Path of Blood is one Tremere Thaumaturgy path in V20, not the whole Discipline. It spends blood points, not Hunger, to read, stir, thicken, steal, or boil vitae. Dots on this path are bought in order from A Taste for Blood through Cauldron of Blood. Generation caps how many blood points you may spend in one turn. The sheet stores Thaumaturgy as a single rating.
What the Path of Blood can touch
These five powers deal with vitae. Other Thaumaturgy paths and rituals are outside this page.
- A sample
- A Taste for Blood reads whose vitae is in the sample and how strong it is. The engine has no roll for it, so the Storyteller sets the difficulty and any blood-point cost.
- Another vampire's pool
- Blood Rage pushes a target to burn blood. Theft of Vitae pulls vitae across a gap. Both spend blood points, and the Storyteller sets the difficulty.
- Your own generation, for a moment
- Blood of Potency thickens your vitae for the scene. It spends blood points. It does not write a new generation or a new Attribute onto the sheet.
- Blood inside a victim
- Cauldron of Blood spends blood points to boil vitae the Storyteller can treat as harm. It is still one path power, not a license to cast a second path free.
Path of Blood, in order
These five names are the path at the table. The engine does not list them as separate powers.
| Level | Power | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A Taste for Blood | Read a sample for whose blood it is and how potent it runs, while the Storyteller sets the difficulty because this path is not a cataloged roll. |
| 2 | Blood Rage | Spend blood points to force another vampire's vitae to burn, with the Storyteller setting the difficulty and the amount lost. |
| 3 | Blood of Potency | Spend blood points to thicken your own vitae for the scene, without writing a new generation or a new Attribute on the sheet. |
| 4 | Theft of Vitae | Spend blood points to pull vitae from a distant vessel into yourself, with the Storyteller setting the difficulty and the volume. |
| 5 | Cauldron of Blood | Spend blood points to boil the blood in a victim you can affect, and the Storyteller applies the harm rather than a stored damage roll. |
Run it in this order.
- Declare the Path of Blood power, not a different Thaumaturgy path or a ritual, and name the sample or the person.
- Spend the blood points that power requires without exceeding the generation per-turn cap.
- The Storyteller sets the difficulty, because the engine does not roll A Taste for Blood, Blood Rage, Blood of Potency, Theft of Vitae, or Cauldron of Blood.
- Resolve what the vitae does at the table. A Thaumaturgy path check on the sheet does not select one of these five powers or spend their blood.
One path power is not a free ritual
Declaring A Taste for Blood does not also cast Blood Rage or a ritual. Each path power is its own declaration, and each one that spends blood pays that cost. Rituals are not the five levels on this page.
Generation caps the blood
Thirteenth generation may spend 1 blood point per turn, from a pool whose maximum is 10. If the Storyteller's ruling for the power costs that point, the turn's allowance is gone. Eighth generation may spend 3. The cap is not optional because the effect is sorcery.
Potency is not a new Attribute
Blood of Potency can change how strong the vitae is for the scene. It does not permanently lower generation on the sheet, and it does not add Strength, Stamina, or Willpower dots. When the power ends, the printed traits are the ones you had.
Keep the blood on the sheet
Want to run classic V20 without pausing the table for multi-step soak calculations and blood tracking? Test an interactive solo chronicle with Vampiro Life's V20 engine.
Common mistakes
- Using Hunger dice, or a V5 Rouse Check, for Path of Blood. V20 spends blood points.
- Spending Willpower after a botch to cancel the result. The Storyteller's difficulty is not a prompt to rewind the dice.
- Casting Theft of Vitae and Cauldron of Blood in one turn and ignoring a generation cap of 1 blood point.
- Treating this page as every Thaumaturgy path, or expecting the sheet's single path entry to name these five powers and resolve them.
One spend at the table
The cap is on the sheet. The path roll is not.
The chantry stair
Helena Voss, 13th-generation Tremere, declares A Taste for Blood, and the Storyteller rules this use costs 1 blood point.
That spend is the entire 13th-generation cap, from a pool whose maximum is 10. The engine has no Path of Blood roll, so the Storyteller sets the difficulty and says what the taste reveals. She cannot also spend blood to mend this turn.
What the V20 sheet tracks
The sheet stores one Thaumaturgy rating from 0 to 5. It does not store Path of Blood as five powers.
- Tremere lists Thaumaturgy with Auspex and Dominate. The rating is one number.
- The catalog has a single Thaumaturgy paths-and-rituals entry. It is not an automatic roll, and a path check does not spend blood or pick A Taste for Blood, Blood Rage, Blood of Potency, Theft of Vitae, or Cauldron of Blood.
- The Storyteller applies the path. The sheet can still enforce the blood pool and the generation per-turn cap when you record the spend.
- Rituals and other paths stay outside this page. Do not read a path receipt as a resolved Cauldron of Blood.
Frequently asked
Is this page all of Thaumaturgy?
- No. It is the Path of Blood only: A Taste for Blood, Blood Rage, Blood of Potency, Theft of Vitae, and Cauldron of Blood. Other paths and rituals are a different choice at the table.
Which clan has Thaumaturgy in this catalog?
- Tremere. The in-clan trio is Auspex, Dominate, and Thaumaturgy.
Does the engine list these five powers?
- No. It stores Thaumaturgy as one rating and one paths-and-rituals entry. The Storyteller sets the difficulty for each Path of Blood power.
Does Path of Blood use Hunger or a Rouse Check?
- No. It spends blood points, and generation caps how many you may spend in a turn. Thirteenth generation is capped at 1.
Does Blood of Potency change my generation on the sheet?
- No. Any thickening of the vitae stays in the scene. It does not permanently rewrite generation or add an Attribute dot.
Related rules
Keep the blood on the sheet
Want to run classic V20 without pausing the table for multi-step soak calculations and blood tracking? Test an interactive solo chronicle with Vampiro Life's V20 engine.