Necromancy (VTM)

Necromancy is a form of blood magic that deals exclusively with the world of the dead: wraiths and the Shadowlands.

Just as there are different styles of conventional blood sorcery, there are a variety of Necromancy practices. It is primarily practised by the Giovanni clan and the Samedi, Harbingers of Skulls and Nagaraja bloodlines. The blood magic style itself could be said to be an evolution and fusion of the Cappadocian's earlier discipline of Mortis (as written up in the revised Dark Ages: Vampire setting) and the Giovanni's trademark "Nigrimancy".

Paths
Necromancy paths, similar to their Thaumaturgy counterparts, are collections of reliable powers which revolve around a particular aspect of the dead. Among the Giovanni (and thus the majority of Kindred necromancers) the Sepulchre Path is the primary path that most practitioners learn. Subsequent releases in the Revised setting added various rituals and a handful of additional paths as well.

The various Paths of Necromancy are as follows:

(Vampire: The Masquerade Revised Edition) (Vampire: The Masquerade Revised Edition) (Vampire: The Masquerade Revised Edition)
 * The Sepulchre Path - This path allows the necromancer to command, interact with and combat ghosts.
 * · Insight
 * · Summon Soul
 * · Compel Soul
 * · Haunting
 * · Torment
 * The Bone Path - This path allows the necromancer to animate and control the dead corpses of animals and people, letting him/her create zombies of a sort.
 * · Tremens
 * · Apprentice's Brooms
 * · Shambling Hordes
 * · Soul Stealing
 * · Daemonic Possession
 * The Ash Path - This path allows the necromancer to pierce the Shroud and enter the Shadowlands that the various ghosts and Wraiths dwell in.
 * · Shoudsight
 * · Lifeless Tongues
 * · Dead Hand
 * · Ex Nihilo
 * · Shroud Mastery
 * The Mortuus Path - The proprietary path of the Harbingers of Skulls, this path allows the necromancer to manipulate the actual state of undeath for personal utility and offensive applications. (Guide to the Sabbat)
 * The Vitreous Path - The proprietary path of the Nagarajah, allows for more refined control over wraiths than even the Sepulchre Path; a master of the path may gain sustenance from them. (Vampire: The Masquerade Storytellers Guide)
 * The Cenotaph Path - A rare path mainly practised by the African Ghibberti family of the Giovanni which allows the necromancer control and even reassignment of a wraith's fetter. (Clanbook: Giovanni Revised)
 * The Path of Abombo - A path practised by the Laibon of Africa, focussing on the connection between the dead and the living; similar to but distinct from the Cenotaph Path. (Kindred of the Ebony Kingdom, p. 104)

Version differences
Necromancy in the second edition was a single discipline, favoured by the Giovanni, Nagarajah and Kiasyd. In the revised edition Necromancy was broken up into paths and rituals much like its counterpart Thaumaturgy; the Kiasyd's clan disciplines were changed, replacing Necromancy with Dominate.