Thaumaturgy encompasses blood magic and other sorcerous arts available to Kindred. The Tremere Clan is best known for their possession (and jealous hoarding) of this Discipline. The Tremere created Thaumaturgy by combining mortal wizardry with the power of vampiric vitae, and as a result it is a versatile and powerful Discipline. Although there are whispers of the existence of Tremere antitribu in the Sabbat, other Clans in the Sword of Caine have also researched and developed access to such mystical might. Nevertheless, the Tremere of the Camarilla remain this Discipline’s masters.

Like Necromancy, the practice of Thaumaturgy is divided into paths and rituals. Thaumaturgical paths are applications of the vampire’s knowledge of blood magic, allowing her to create effects on a whim. Rituals are more formulaic in nature, most akin to ancient magical “spells.” Because so many different paths and rituals are available to the arcane Tremere, one never knows what to expect when confronted with a practitioner of this Discipline.

Many Kindred fear crossing the practitioners of Thaumaturgy. It is a very potent and mutable Discipline, and almost anything the Kindred wishes may be accomplished through its magic.

As mentioned before, the first path a character learns is considered her primary path and increases automatically as the character advances in the Discipline itself. Secondary paths may be learned once the character has acquired two or more dots in her primary path, and they must be raised separately with experience points. Furthermore, a character’s rating in her primary path must always be at least one dot higher than any of her secondary paths until she has mastered her primary path. Once the character has achieved the fifth level of her primary path, secondary paths may be increased to that level.

Each time the character invokes one of the powers of a Thaumaturgical path, the thaumaturge’s player must spend a blood point and make a Willpower roll against a difficulty equal to the power’s level +3. Only one success is required to invoke a path’s effect — path levels, not successes, govern the power of blood magic. Failure on this roll indicates that the magic fails. A botch causes some kind of loss or catastrophic backfire, such as losing a Willpower point (or dot!), spontaneous combustion, or accidentally letting a living statue run rampant. Thaumaturgy is an unforgiving art.

Below are the paths available for play in LA in Anarchy. Note that not all of these are going to be easily accessible to a normal Tremere, especially one who was among the Camarilla.

• Biothaumaturgy — Manipulation of living tissues to heal and create.
  
• The Path of Blood — This path encompasses some of the most fundamental principles of Thaumaturgy, based as it is on the manipulation of Kindred vitae.
  
• The Path of Conjuring — Powerful conjurations limited only by the mind of the practitioner.
  
• The Path of Corruption — A mentally and spiritually oriented path centered on influencing the psyches of other individuals.
  
• The Path of Mercury — Teleportation to familiar locations both near and far.
  
• Elemental Mastery — This path grants control over and affinity with inanimate objects.
  
• Path of the Focused Mind — A path granting greatly enhanced mental alacrity and readiness.
  
• The Green Path — Communion with and control over plant life.
  
• Path of the Levinbolt — Conduction of electricity and summoning of lightning.
  
• Lure of Flames — The spontaneous generation of fire.
  
• Path of Mars — A Sabbat Thaumaturge’s rally to war.
  
• Mastery of the Mortal Shell — Control over corporeal creatures, mortal or otherwise.
  
• Neptune’s Might — Control over bodies of standing water plus some other water-related powers.
  
• The Path of Spirit Manipulation — Sensing and manipulation of the world beyond.
  
• The Path of Technomancy — The control of electronic devices, from cell phones to laptops, and its proponents.
  
• Thaumaturgical Countermagic — The ability to resist thaumaturgy.
  
• Weather Control — Control over the weather from subtle manipulations to raging storms.