Tapping the

Pulse of Power
Writing, Design, and Art Direction:
Jerrett Booth
Editing: Mike Myler, Cranston C. Cranston, Garth Cummings
Proofreading: Cranston C. Cranston
Layout: Kiria Wilder, Garth Cummings
Graphic Design: Kiria Wilder, Don Noble
Illustrations: Don Noble

Tapping the Pulse of Power is © 2019 Crit Hit Entertainment. All rights reserved.

This product was created under license. Shadow of the Demon Lord is a trademark of Schwalb
Entertainment, LLC. This work contains material that is copyright Schwalb Entertaintment, LLC.

Such material is used with permission under the community content agreement for the Disciples of
the Demon Lord CC. All other original material in this book is copyright 2019 Crit Hit Entertainment
and published under Community Content Agreement for Disciples of the Demon Lord CC.

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 Tapping the Pulse of Power

Introduction PARASITE
Target One living creature within short range
Duration 3 rounds; see the effect
BLOOD ATTACK 1

The Blood tradition was originally introduced in Tombs of

Make an Intellect or Will attack roll against the target's
the Desolation as a minor tradition, and later rolled into the Strength. On a success, you infest the target with a
Necromancy tradition with Occult Philosophy. This entry parasitic worm that slithers beneath their skin.
restores the tradition and further expands upon it, • For the next 3 rounds, after the victim's turn has
begun, the parasite feeds on their blood, imposing a –1
bringing its number of spells up to par with other penalty to their Health.
traditions prior to Occult Philosophy, as well as introducing • At the end of the victim's third turn, the bloated
magician talents for fledgling hemomancers at home. parasite violently erupts from their chest, dealing a
total of 1d6 +3 damage. If that damage would
It also introduces two new bloody master paths and a incapacitate the target, it instead kills them, as the
diabolical relic. worm rips through their heart and ribcage, propelling
their innards in a 1 yard radius.
This supplement requires Shadow of the Demon Lord
• Any creature within short range must succeed on a
and Tombs of the Desolation from Schwalb Entertainment. Will challenge roll or become frightened.
It also builds off of material found in In Pursuit of Power. The parasite may be killed before it bursts free by having
a successful attack made against it. Weapon attacks are

Blood
made with 1 bane for each rank of Armor above Light. The
worm has 1 Health and a Defense of 13. For the purpose of
spell attack or challenge rolls, its stats are considered a 10.
An attack that misses the worm instead hits the victim.
The origin of blood magic is something often up for Health lost from this spell is restored at a rate equal to
debate, but what cannot be questioned is the vile effects it the creatures healing rate per rest.
has upon both caster and victim. BLOOD PUPPET BLOOD ATTACK 2
Practitioners of blood magic are especially hardy, their
Target One living creature within medium range
affinity with this tradition causing their bodies to produce Duration 1 minute; see the effect
more blood—a fact that helps them stave off minor
Make an Intellect or Will attack roll against the target's
sickness more easily than their peers, but which also Strength. On a success, you take control of the blood within
results in rather spectacular displays of bloodshed when the creature’s body.
While under the influence of blood puppet, the target
they meet their eventual ends. can no longer take triggered actions. Instead, so long as
Given that the Blood tradition was created by vampires, they have an unused triggered action, you may choose to
use it, either for them to move in a direction of your
some have theorized that the changes which occur to choosing, or to make a melee attack against a target of
individuals devoting to themselves to it are an intentional your choice.
side effect, meant to turn the practitioner into an ideal At the beginning of every new round, the creature can
make a Strength challenge roll against the caster's Will or
vampiric feast. Practitioners of this tradition provide twice Intellect (whichever is higher). If it succeeds, it immediately
as many blood points when fed upon by a vampire. gains access to its triggered action and proceeds to take an
amount of damage equal 1d6 for every round it was
Unnatural Vitality: For every 3 Blood spells a controlled.
practitioner learns, they gain a boon to resist sickness & Attack Roll 20+ The target is not able to make a challenge
disease, though they also gain a bane on social challenge roll to break free.
rolls. Should an individual learn 6 spells from this
tradition, they gain the Blood Bloated trait. This becomes
the Engorged trait if they learn 12 spells from this tradition.
Blood Bloated: When you take damage from a creature
that can see you, the target must make a Will challenge
roll. The creature becomes frightened for a minute on a
failure. On a success, it becomes immune to your Blood
Bloated or Engorged trait until after it completes a rest.
Engorged: The Will challenge roll for Blood Bloated is
made with 1 bane, and when you take damage, all creatures
engaged in melee with you must make the challenge roll.

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 Tapping the Pulse of Power

GRIEVOUS VAMPYR BLOOD UTILITY 5

BLOOD ATTACK 3
EXSANGUINATION Requirement You must be human.
Area A 5-yard diameter sphere within medium range Before you can cast this spell, you must spend an hour
bathing in blood every 3 days for the duration of a
You pull upon the vital essence of all living creatures within month. This blood must be freshly collected from
the area of effect, causing blood and fluids to erupt from another living human being, and the victim must be bled
their orifices and ooze through their skin. All living for an amount of damage equal to their health.
creatures within the area of effect take 3d6 damage. Each Target One human heart you can reach
creature in the area must make a Strength challenge roll Duration 1 hour
with 1 bane if they are injured or bleeding, or 2 banes if they
are both injured and bleeding. On a success, it takes half You consume the human heart, finalizing the preparations
damage. An injured or bleeding creature that fails the of the ritual. Make a Will challenge roll with 3 banes, with 1
challenge roll begins to bleed profusely. All current bleeds boon for every point of corruption you have. On a success,
last until the target is healed for an amount equal to the you are consumed by a boundless thirst which burns itself
initial damage dealt by the spell, or until 5 rounds pass, into your mind and veins, your physical form warping to
whichever occurs first. While bleeding in this fashion, at the match this newfound desire. As a result of this
end of each round a target takes additional damage equal metamorphosis, you acquire the vampire ancestry traits
to the caster's Power. except for the superstition.
On a failure, the process of the transformation is far
VERMILLION BLOSSOM BLOOD ATTACK 4 more traumatizing than it normally would be, your body
mutating in such a way that it prolongs the excruciating
Target One living creature within medium range process, and fractures the mind of the would-be vampire.
You gain an amount of insanity equal to the difference
All living creatures within medium range of the target between your roll and what would have been a success,
(other than yourself) take 6d6 damage as the blood within and you roll on the Vampiric Quirk table.
their veins begins to crystallize. Creatures incapacitated by
this damage die immediately as their bodies blossom into Vampiric Quirk
gruesome statues of glistening solidified gore. Each
creature in the area takes half damage with a success on a d6 Quirk
Strength challenge roll, made with 2 banes if they have 15 Compulsive Counting When you encounter freshly
Health or lower. scattered objects, you find yourself overcome by a
The statues made by this spell occupy their respective compulsion to count them. Every round, you must
spaces, thus most creatures cannot pass through. Passing spend either a triggered action or an action to try and
an adjacent space requires a success on an Agility count the spilled objects—an effort which requires
challenge roll, taking 1d6 damage from the crystalline 1
that you succeed at an Intellect challenge roll with a
thorns on a failure. The caster, on the other hand, can move cumulative boon every round after the first. Until you
freely through and around these spaces. Each statue has do, you cannot go further than medium range from
Health equal to the creature's healing rate, and a defense of the uncounted objects. This quirk can only be
10. triggered once every 10 minutes.
Courteous Creature You are unable to enter an owned
and occupied residence until you are granted
2 permission to enter at least once. That said, you can
be invited under false premises, or while disguised—
the only stipulation being that you are directly invited.
Superstitious Roll on the Superstitious Fear table
3
(Tombs of the Desolation, page 10).
A Deep Attachment to Home You must rest at a
residence/property belonging to your family (even a
crypt or warehouse), or else you will use an additional
4
blood point at the end of the day. Resting in a coffin
or sleeping roll filled with dirt from that location will
suffice to avoid the extra blood point penalty.
Hallowed Ground You take an extra 1d6 damage while
on hallowed ground, and make rolls with 1 bane while
5
there. Your speed is also reduced by 4 in such
locations.
Anxious Roll on the Superstitious Fear table (Tombs
of the Desolation, page 10). At the end of every week,
6
you roll on the table and replace your current
superstition with the new one.

VORACITY BLOOD ATTACK 5

Target One living creature you can reach
If the creature has 30 health or less, you reach into their
body and pull out all their vital essence, killing them
immediately. You then heal for that amount. Otherwise,
Make an Intellect or Will attack roll against the target's
Agility. On a success, you deal 4d6+10 damage and heal for
an amount equal to the damage dealt.
Attack Roll 20+ The target takes an extra 3d6 damage.

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 Tapping the Pulse of Power
merely manipulating blood, to contorting the vital energies
Magician Talents of the creatures that would dare confront the
Hemomancer, allowing them to wreak havoc on their
In Pursuit of Power introduced Tradition Talents for the forms even if they lack traditional bodily humors.
magician novice path, optional talents that players can
swap in based on the traditions they have learned. Now, Level 7 Hemomancer
the Blood tradition joins the others. Attributes Choose three attributes and increase each by 1.
Characteristics Health +3, Power +1, Corruption +1
Blood Talents Languages and Professions You can speak another
language or add a profession to your list of professions.
Blood Focus (Cantrip) You learn one rank 0 Blood spell Magic You discover the Blood tradition or learn one Blood
and gain the Incise talent. spell.
Incise You may use a triggered action against a living Blood from a Stone You may now target creatures that are
creature that is in the Injured or Bleeding state, and is not alive with Blood spells you cast. You do so with 1
within short range. You expend the casting of a rank 0 bane. Otherwise, you cast Blood spells with 1 boon.
Blood spell and choose one of the following effects:
 You inflict 1 point of damage and grant the target a Level 10 Hemomancer
bane to resist Blood spells.
 You may staunch the target’s wounds. Characteristics Health +3, Corruption +1
This effect then repeats for a number of rounds equal Magic You learn one spell.
to your power. Both these effects are cumulative with If It Bleeds You can use a triggered action to target a fresh
multiple castings of Incise. corpse, or an incapacitated/helpless enemy that is within
Blood Hound (Sense Magic) You are always aware of the short range. If that creature was not dead, it immediately
presence of blood and Blood spells cast within medium takes damage equal to its health and dies as you wrench
range of you. Moreover, you have a boon to detect all of its vital essence free from its body in a violent burst
sources of freshly spilled blood shed within an amount of and form a macabre barrier around yourself to shield
time equal to 10 minutes per point of your Power score. yourself from both physical and magical attacks.
Fiendish Feast (Spell Recovery or Improved Spell The barrier has Health equal to twice the creature’s
Healing Rate—though it can never have more than your
Recovery) You can use an action to drain the blood from
Health. It lasts for a minute, and while active, shields you
all living creatures and fresh corpses within short range
from damaging effects. You can use this talent a number
(+ 1 yard per point of Power) of you. Make a Will attack
of times equal to your Power.
roll against the targets’ Strength. On a success, the
target takes damage equal to your power score; you
then regain HP equal to the total damage dealt.
Vampires gain 1 blood point per target affected. Once
Sanguine Lord
you use this talent, you must complete a rest before you A sanguine lord is the result of a vampire gaining insight
can use it again.
Bleed Out (Counterspell) When you strike a living creature into the very nature of their curse, granting them the
with a Blood spell, the target must make a Strength ability to weaponize the eldritch energies contained within
challenge roll. On a failure, you may expend the casting
of a Blood spell to cause the target to bleed profusely. their own blood. Not only are they able to use their blood
The bleeding lasts until the target heals any damage or to further focus the destructive capacities of Blood magic,
until it or a creature adjacent to it succeeds at an but this greater understanding of their condition also
Intellect challenge role to staunch the wound. While
bleeding, the target takes 1d6 extra damage at the end allows them to feed more efficiently.
of every round per rank of the spell (rank 0 spells do 1d3 To choose this master path, you must be a vampire.
damage). Staunching this kind of wound takes an action,
and a creature staunching its own wound does so with 1
bane. Level 7 Sanguine Lord
Improved Fiendish Feast (Spell Recovery or Improved
Spell Recovery) The damage becomes equal to twice Attributes Choose three attributes and increase each by 1.
your power score. You may choose to omit characters Characteristics Health +2, Power +1, Maximum Blood Points
from being affected by the feast. Should a creature be +2, Corruption +1
incapacitated or killed by this ability, you may regain 1 Languages and Professions You can speak another
casting of a rank 0 Blood spell you have learned. You language or add a profession to your list of professions.
cannot gain castings beyond your maximum capacity in Magic You discover the Blood tradition or learn one Blood
this manner. spell.
Auctoritas Sanguinis You can use a triggered action to cast

Master Paths a Blood spell by spending a number of blood points

equal to the spell's rank (Rank 0 Blood spells cost 1
blood point). Spells cast in this manner are done so with
1 boon.
The following master paths allow players to pursue all of
their bloody desires.
Level 10 Sanguine Lord
Hemomancer Characteristics Health +2, Maximum Blood Points +1,
Corruption +1
Magic You learn one spell.
The nature of Blood magic is truly grizzly, as practitioners The Endless Hunger When you kill a living creature with a
Blood spell or talent, you acquire a blood point.
seek to gain mastery over the very lifeblood of their
victims. And yet, the perfection of the art takes this even
further—broadening the application of their abilities from

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 Tapping the Pulse of Power

Relic:
Draught of the
Fiendish Grail
The draught is an extremely rare tincture distilled from the
blood of devils, concocted by the very creature whom it
derives from, as a means of tempting, empowering, and—
ultimately—controlling vampires. The brew serves to
further twist and corrupt the dark powers running through
the vampire's veins, leashing them to the devil that offers it
to them. That said, there have been rumors that such
means of bondage are imperfect, and that prior slaves to
the draught have broken free.

Upon imbibing the concoction, a creature that is not a

vampire makes a Strength challenge roll with 3 banes. On
a failure, the creature falls prone for 1 minute and takes
damage equal to their Healing Rate due to hemorrhaging.
They also acquire 1d3 Corruption and must make a Will
challenge roll, gaining 1d2 Insanity on a failure.
On a failure with a result of 0 or less on the Strength
challenge roll upon drinking it, the creature takes damage
equal to their Health.
A vampire that imbibes the draught gains the following
traits:
Attributes Strength +1, Agility +1, Intellect +1, Will +1
Characteristics Perception +1, Speed +2, Corruption +1d3
Aberrant Form By spending a blood point, you can use an
action along to assume a monstrous guise. Your form
expands until you become a Size 2 creature; your flesh
becomes leathery and develops a thin layer of filthy,
matted fur, whilst your claws and teeth become sharper.
While in this guise, you have an additional 15 Health,
and 2 Defense. You deal +1d6 on all physical attacks, as
per your Size increase, and you can fly at Speed 10.
Furthermore, on rolls over 20+, your bite attacks deal an
additional +1d6 damage and you gain an additional
blood point. You can maintain this form for 10 minutes
before needing to spend a blood point to retain the
effect.
Tamed Thirst OR Attuned to Madness
Tamed Thirst You only need to expend a blood point
once a week.
Attuned to Madness You are no longer influenced by
your vampiric quirk or superstition.
Infernal Sustenance Health recovered via blood points is
increased by 5.
Unhallowed Rolls made to resist or avoid spells from the
Theurgy tradition are made with 2 banes.
Bound by Blood You are compelled while within long range
of the devil whose blood served as one of the key
components of the Grail Draught. Once per solstice, the
devil may invoke a geas spell (Exquisite Agony, page 45)
on the imbiber without an attack roll, resulting in the
“Quest” effect. The devil may only do this if you are not
already under the effects of a geas spell.
Abhorrent Existence You are unable to recover Health
except via Blood spells, bite attacks, or healing with
blood points.