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Long ago, I prepared a Vampire the Masquerade 5E chronicle and asked a lot of questions about the thin-blooded. After a short time, my players decided to play non thin-blooded characters. Now, I want to play a campaign with only thin-blood characters.

Thin-blood alchemy has three distillation methods: Athanor corporis, Calcinatio and Fixatio. I understand them in a way that looks strange to me (mostly Athanor corporis and Calcinatio):

  • Athanor corporis: You make your formulas with your own body, and you can keep them indefinitely. You can use only one at a time, and you have to concentrate for 3 turn to switch formulas. Do you keep the previous formula in your body, and just have to switch to have it again, or did you need to re-distill it later to have it again?
  • Calcinatio: You make your formulas with kine. They have the formula in them until they have an emotional shift. If you drink their blood, you have the power. Is the formula is still in the human after drinking? What happens if someone else drinks the formula?
  • Fixatio: Classic RPG alchemy. You make a potion, it give you powers for a short time if you drink it. Can you share your formula with another thin-blood, so they can use the power too?

Related: How do thin-bloods and thin-blood alchemy work?

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Athanor Corporis:

  • "Only one power can be active at a time, and a new power must be distilled before it can be activated. This usually takes at least three turns of concentration, during which the Alchemist can do nothing else." So, the act of switching powers involves redistillation; the term "new" here is used to mean "the one you're switching to," not "brand new."

Calcinato:

  • "The victim retains the formula within them as long as they’re kept in the same emotional state; each power takes as long to activate as it takes to drain that quantity of blood." So, the formula isn't in the person after drinking — it lasts long enough to consume the blood needed, and the proper conditions to maintain the formula pass quickly.
  • "The Alchemist then drinks their blood to use the power (required Hunger slaked equals power level minus 1)." The Alchemist — as in, the person who has Thin-Blood Alchemy and enacted the ritual — is the one that gets the benefit.

Fixatio:

  • "The resulting formulae are fixed, meaning that the Alchemist can carry them around on their person and imbibe them to activate their power." The Alchemist, as above, is the one who benefits from the activation of the power.
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  • \$\begingroup\$ So, If I understand it correctly, With Athanor Corporis, you keep the previous power after switching, it is just not active. But let's say you activate the power, with other method, you have to redistill it, but with Athanor Corporis, do you keep it after use or do you need to re-distill it again to re-use it later? \$\endgroup\$
    – Rorp
    Commented Jul 30, 2020 at 12:26
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    \$\begingroup\$ Yes. That's a difference between the Athanor Corporis and the other distillation methods. Once you have "set" the effect, you can use it again and again without needing to redistill. The balancing factor is that Athanor Corporis lets you have only one power active at a time, while Calcinato and Fixatio let you, with difficulty, have several going. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jadasc
    Commented Jul 30, 2020 at 13:38

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