Botanikos
Created by Jay Gray (jg260595@hvcc.edu)
     My sire was a Gangrel and a bastard at that. He saw in me a huge
warrior to join his glorius battle. He took my inability to speak as
stupidity and he believed my love for nature would instill in me his
passion for logger's blood. He was wrong.
    I stayed with my sire long enough to learn of the species and
society I had been abducted into. During this time he attempted to
develop within me those disciplines central to the Gangrel clan. He
decided to start with fortitude. His method was very simple. My sire
beat me every night in order to encourage my vampiric toughness to
emerge. I took these beatings until I believed I had learned enough
about the Kindred and the Camarilla to survive. After that I hit back
and ran.
   It was while I was living alone in the woods that I realized how
different I truly was. I found that I could control the plant life of
the forest. I began to suspect the truth then, but it was not until I
reached the city and joined vampiric society that I fully realized
that truth. I had developed a new discipline. I was the first in a new
bloodline.

O    Tongue of the Dryad: During the years that I spent pursuing my
Masters degree I read a few studies on the empathic abilities of
plants. It was not until I developed Botanikos that I confirmed these
studies. Plants do indeed absorb emotion from those around them. I
have, in the past, used this ability to determine who was last near a
particular plant or to recieve a general empathic impression of
someone currently standing near that plant. It can also be very useful
for determing the mood of a room you have just entered or for finding
someone who is hiding. Remember, unless someone is particularly
talented, obfusgate does not hide the mind from vegitation.
System: Feeling for the emotions plants absorb requires no roll, but
because the plant's mind is so alien, an Intelligence+Empathy roll
against a difficulty of seven is required to make sense of the
impressions recieved.
One Success: General Impression (happy, sad)
Two Successes: Specific emotions of someone near the plant
Three Successes: The emotions and glimpses of the cause
Four Successes: Emotions last experienced near the plant
Five Successes: An impression of the person experiencing the emotions

OO   Green Thumb: Despite my training in biology and botany I am truly
baffled by this ability. Apparently I instill my own energy into a
specific plant by focusing the blood within my body. This causes rapid
growth, blossiming and healing. By employing this method I have
restored near withered plants to full and verdant life and I have
caused saplings with a three year growth size to spring from a seed.
An interesting note is that I can also make super plants that are much
larger than average.
System: The plant growth and healing is automatic. By spending one
blood point the character can cause spontanious growth and healing in
a nearby plant. The length of time it takes to do this depends on how
large the plant is becoming. Assume one turn for each doubling in
size. Healing a plant takes one turn.

OOO   Vegimation: What I do with this ability defies scientific
explination. I can animate plants. I cannot make vegitation do any
task too dramatic such as removing their roots from the ground and
walking across the park, but it is still remarkable. I can make tree
branches move, vines slither and molds release all their spores at
once.
System: The character should define what he wishes the plant to do and
roll and Manipulation + Empathy roll. The difficulty level should
depend on how complex the action is. Making a tree hit someone on the
head with a branch is fairly simple and might have a difficulty of six
while making the same tree drop all its fruit at once would be harder
and might have a difficulty of eight.

OOOO  Heartwood: This seems to be very similar to an ability possessed
by those who have mastered the discipline of Protean. Except, instead
of melding with the Earth, I am capable of melding with trees. It is
an interesting sensation, to be part of a tree. It is at once very
peaceful and oddly alien. It does frighten me a bit, that there are
times when I enter a tree I am tempted never to leave again.<br>
System: No roll is needed to use Heartwood. However, every time it is
used the character must make a Willpower roll against a difficulty of
four. A failure means that he loses a point of humanity. A botch means
she is not capable of leaving the tree that night and must wait
twenty-four hours to try again at a difficulty level of +1.

OOOOO Vegan Vitae: A very old vampire I met once told me that every
living creature has the vitae the Kindred need to survive. It is just
that plants contain it in such small measures that it is worthless to
us. I seem to have overcome this limitation. I can draw sustinance
directly from the juices of fruits and plants. However, there are
restrictions. I must draw the juices directly from the plant. I cannot
go to the 24 hour convienence store and purchase a gallon of orange
juice, for example.
System: No roll is neccisary to use Vegan Vitae. As a rule, an orange
would contain perhaps one half of a blood point, while a three year
old tree might contain as much as three. To employ this power the
character must actually bite into the plant/fruit and drain all the
juices from it.