From SuspireWiki

Summary

Although it seems that the practice of Spoiling has been in use for centuries, this Discipline went largely unnoticed by Kindred society until the end of the 19th century. Even tonight, most Kindred do not know it exists. Some Kindred blood-scholars speculate that Spoiling is all that remains of a forgotten clan or a dead bloodline that has been diluted back into the larger population of the Damned. It seems fitting, given the Discipline and its uses.

Spoiling is a sorcery that seems to have it’s roots in old world hexes, alchemy and necromancy. Though the whole was rediscovered by the Ordo Dracul, Spoiling practitioners have cropped up here and there in many domains, enough so that the Ordo Dracul seems to have lost firm control on it’s spread outside of the covenant. Some bloodlines even claim affinity with it, and claim they have their own, specific, rituals. Now, the Ordo Dracul fights to retain the secrets of Spoiling, while new breed and new blood Acolytes, Sanctified, Invictus, Carthians and even some enterprising Unaligned find themselves tinkering with forces they may not entirely comprehend. This, to the Ordo Dracul, is a terrifying prospect, and many members of the covenant have dedicated themselves to finding and monitoring any practitioners of the sorcery that are found outside of the covenant. Individual Dragons tend to have their own opinions on practitioners, though, and they can vary wildly (as with most things Kindred).

But Spoiling has become a concern for Invictus elders, Sanctified, Acolytes and Prince’s alike, at the very same time, and they worry that the discovery of such things without the guiding (or controlling...) hand of a covenant could cause there to be a marketed spring up of Masquerade issues, stolen covenant secrets or who-knows-what. More concerning is the fact that some of these Spoiling practitioners have created elixirs and sold them on the black market for Kindred in some domains, enriching themselves and weakening some of the varying elder’s grasps. In essence, Spoiling is both lauded and demonized, depending on who you talk to, and if they know of it’s existence.

System

Cost: 1 Vitae and the expending of component or use of object required for the ritual

Dice Pool: Wits + Occult + Spoiling

Action: Extended; The number of successes required to activate a ritual is equal to the level of the ritual (so a level-three ritual requires three successes to enact). Each roll represents one turn of ritual casting. The ritual is activated on the turn in which the target number of successes is reached or surpassed. Note also that each point of damage incurred in a turn is a penalty to the next casting roll made for the character, in addition to any wound penalties suffered.

If a character fails to complete the ritual in time (such as by being sent into torpor before accumulating enough successes in a number of rolls equal to their Attribute + Skill) or decides to cancel the ritual before garnering enough successes to activate it, the effect simply fails. Any expenditures made are not recovered.

Spoiling does not have the same linear progression that other Disciplines do. A character’s mastery dictates the highest level of rituals that he may learn. Rituals are bought with experience points. For example, a character with two dots of Spoiling can know an unlimited number of level-one and level-two rituals (provided the experience points to learn each of them are paid). He may not learn any level-three Spoiling rituals until his Spoiling dots increase to 3. Each time a character acquires a dot of Spoiling, he gains a ritual of that level at no additional cost.

Additionally, Spoiling is considered an out-of-clan discipline for anyone that has a Mentor to learn it from (unless it is in-clan, as if a power granted by Bloodline membership). This Mentor can be either in-game or purchased with the Mentor merit. In the case of Spoiling, treat learning each level like it were learning a clan-specific discipline (unless you are a part of a Bloodline which has it in-clan), which means you’ll need to use the proper learning rules, see Discipline House Rules for more information.

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The ritual fails spectacularly, inflicting some aspect of itself as a detrimental effect upon the caster. A ritual intended to damage a subject inflicts its damage upon the caster, for example, while a ritual designed to store Vitae in an object depletes the caster of some amount of his own.

Failure: The ritual fails entirely, but not dangerously. Components are consumed as normal, but the ritual has no effect.

Success: The ritual takes place as described.

Exceptional Success: The ritual takes place as described. In many cases, extra successes are their own reward, causing additional damage or conferring extra duration or capacity.

Suggested Modifiers

Modifier Situation

+2 Power is turned on or applies to a vampire with whom the user has a blood tie (see p. 162 of Vampire: The Requiem).

— The character is unaffected by threats or distractions.

-1 to -3 The character is rushed or distracted, such as by invoking a ritual in combat or while trapped in a burning building. This penalty is cumulative with multiple distractions (such as by casting a ritual in combat during a hurricane). Successes gained on a meditation roll for the night (see p. 51 of the World of Darkness Rulebook) offset interruption penalties on a one-for-one basis.

Thematic Differences of the Whole

Some bloodlines have claimed the powers of Spoiling for themselves, and even named it something other than Spoiling. As it turns out, though, it is still Spoiling.

You can find these variants and their bloodlines here:

• Nekros, the power of the Disciples of the Nekromanteion Bloodline.
• Koldunism, the power of the Komnenos Bloodline.