Blood Magic is the equivalent of Path of Blood. A unique Tremere skill; perhaps a signature one. A starting skill for Tremere, other Clans can only learn it by consuming a Tome. Party members in the single player chronicle get disciplines that do not belong to their clan for free, such as Selena the Cappadocian's Lure of Flames, but this is not the case with Blood Magic. The only source is a tome found deep in Ardan's Chantry, entered from Prague's Golden Lane in the Dark Ages. Both the tome and the first skill, Blood Rage, require 25 Wits and 25 Intelligence.
Only beasts and Vienna's Teutonic Knights cannot be fed upon...except by Blood Magic's potent skill, Theft of Vitae. When it is at four or five dots, Theft of Vitae kills human Teutonic Knights, Lab Workers and Soldiers outright by taking the last of their blood. It renders vampires incapable of doing anything other than fighting, in two casts or less. Combined with Awe and Feed, it is a very quick kill. Also note that humans killed by having their blood drained give zero Experience Points. Draining humans to death with Theft incurs no humanity loss (to play devil's advocate, perhaps since they do not have time to fear their impending death?). Same with Serpentis' Tongue of the Asp.
Giving Christof the Tome of Blood Magic found in Ardan's Chantry is recommended, but Serpentis becomes automatically available after the final confrontation with Lucretia, and its Tongue of the Asp is a slightly inferior replacement for Theft of Vitae. It is not possible for two characters to have blood draining abilities; Discipline Tomes given to Wilhem in the Dark Ages are wasted;[1] his disciplines are reset when he rejoins. Tomes as inventory items do not survive the transition to the modern age
Skeletons, Wraiths including Vaclav, and Maqqabah the Golem have no blood. Vukodlak, Vozhd, and Zulo have very low amounts of blood compared to their very high health.
Blood Rage costs 10 blood at one dot, with a Min of 25 Intelligence, 25 Wits
While the "one for me, one from you" effect of Theft of Vitae's stealing is always more effective than the "one from you" effect of destruction, Blood Rage and even Cauldron of Blood are useful for Challenges.
Eight blood is destroyed for each level, with the exception of Blood Rage II, which, due to a glitch, can be more than 16-all the way to 30.
Blood of Potency []
15 blood at one dot. No requirement
At five dots, it reduces casting costs by half, making it useful for any casting sequence that costs more than 30 blood, eg Celerity and another spell. Like all blood reduction items and skills, it stacks with the others
Theft of Vitae []
Requires 40 Intelligence. Cost at one dot is 20 blood.
The Society of Leopold, the entirety of the Setite Temple, and the Tower of London with its many non-humanoid enemies (which Feed does not work on) must be completed without blood drain, if a party member other than Christof is to be given the Blood Magic tome. Four- or five-dot Theft of Vitae is a one-shot kill vs human enemies, although you won't gain any XP for the kill. The other Blood skills are not as much of a deal, but both the Teutonic Knight base ("there is no Vitae here") and the Society of Leopold can be a lot more challenging without Theft of Vitae. Of the Dark Ages coterie members, it makes most sense to give Blood Magic to Wilhem, as Serena is spending on Lure of Flames. For players looking for a challenge, giving Wilhem the tome rather than giving it to Christof, and using it sparingly in the Teutonic Knight base make that area a chance to use other skills rather than just walk from insta-kill to insta-kill. More importantly, the return to the modern age can be much more of a struggle to gain power, like you're starting over again from scratch.
Cauldron of Blood []
Cauldron of Blood has a requisite of 50 Int, and at one dot, costs 25 blood.
Cauldron of Blood is a very powerful source of damage against normal opponents, but is a dubious way to remove blood, as they will have blood left to use until it is entirely drained, and it will rarely be drained before the damage kills them. Of course, this does not take into account the common scenario of the enemy healing. Vampire and ghoul enemies heal after they run around a corner or out of their own sight range ("I cannot see it so it must not be there"), stealth, feed, or feed upon Frenzy. The last is a common outcome of blood drain that is a significant diminishing of its returns-good thing Cauldron can be cast at a distance. Beast enemies such as Szlachtas, War Ghouls, Ghoul Spiders and Alligators heal instantly during battle, and other than Szlachtas, are all quite tough, making Cauldron quite effective.
Vukodlak, Zulos and Vozhds have too little blood to be killed with this alone, but even the oldest vampires with 300 health can be finished off with only three casts of Cauldron of Blood at five dots. Killing Father Leopold is a Humanity loss in any case, but he also has enough health relative to his blood that he can be dried before Cauldron kills him.
Eight blood is destroyed for each level. The damage for Cauldron starts at 24. Subsequent increases are +8, to 32 at second dot, and then <previous increase +8>; for +16 (48), +24 (72), and +32 (104). Enemies commonly have nearly as much blood as health. There are only two opponents in the game, other than the aforementioned bosses, that can be drained of blood before Cauldron kills them-the Spider Baby, with 60 health and 20 blood, and the Hopper, with 100 health and 30 blood. Furthermore, in the case of the spider, Cauldron must be at three dots exactly; higher, and it kills the baby in one shot; lower, and it kills and drains in the same number of shots. The Hopper's higher HP makes it survive through the earlier dots, as the blood damage is going from about a third of health damage, to almost half; however, it is still one-shotted by the fifth dot skill.
