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Vampire the Masquerade Disciplines
Disciplines
Disciplines
Much debate occurs over the nature of Disciplines among
the Kindred community. Many young vampires, as yet
unfamiliar with the price that the Embrace demands of
their souls, see only the upside of Disciplines, thinking
of them as powers they can wield over lesser creatures
such as mortals. Penitent vampires, as well as those of
traditional or theological bent, often see Disciplines as
edges granted by whoever created vampires so that the
terrible race of the Damned can more effectively fulfill
that individual's plan. Still others consider Disciplines
their own ends, as with the Ordo Dracul and its pro-scribed
but powerful Coils of the Dragon.
The truth, of course, remains as unknown as any of the
answers to the Kindred condition. What leaves no doubt,
however, is the terrible efficacy of vampires' Dowers.
Disiplines
Using Disciplines
You'll note from character creation and the clan write-ups,
presented previously in this chapter, that among each clan's
three "Clan Disciplines" is one that is listed for no other
clan. These individual powers are presented in italics in
the five clan descriptions. For example, the Daeva is the
only group with Majesty listed as a clan Discipline.
Meanwhile, Ventrue is the only one with Dominate listed as
a clan Discipline. Such special Disciplines allow members
of each clan immediate access to a particular vampiric
power. That Discipline is one of the things that makes each
clan unique. These capabilities are not wholly exclusive to
their respective clans, however. Characters of other clans
can learn them through the expenditure of experience points,
but these specialized Disciplines are considered "nut of
clan" and are expensive to acquire (as explained on p.
230-231). Adopting a bloodline may allow access to another
clan's signature capability, as explained on p. 259. And of
course, there's the option of acquiring the capabilities of
another clan's Disciplines by committing diablerie on vampires
of that lineage. Gaining these powers by such horrific means
is explained on p. 159.
The basic system for using a Discipline is a bit different
from the standard dice-pool mechanic. The Attribute that
governs a certain power's use is included in the system
subsection of the capability's description. In conjunction
with that Attribute is a specific Skill that lends finesse
or emphasis to the power. Remember that characters who have
no dots in required Skills will suffer penalties to their
dice pools to activate certain Disciplines. Additionally,
the character's mastery of the Discipline as a whole adds
dice to the pool. The result is a dice pool composed of
three traits instead of the usual two for mundane Skill or
Attribute tasks. For example, the first Discipline power
in this chapter is Feral Whispers, under Animalism. The
power lists Manipulation as its requisite Attribute and
Animal Ken as its requisite Skill. If a character has
Manipulation 2, Animal Ken 3 and Animalism 4, his player
rolls nine dice to determine the margin of success of using
Feral Whispers. The fact that Feral Whispers is a level-one
power isn't important; the character's ultimate potential
with Animalism as a whole is what's key.
Other information contained in the system subsection
includes the following:
Trait costs, if any, such as Vitae or Willpower
expenditures.
Bonuses or penalties to dice pools based on
circumstance. These lists are not exhaustive, just a
few commonly encountered situations that a character
using the Discipline might experience. As always, the
Storyteller is free to modify these circumstances in
any additional ways he sees fit.
Other specific details that need to be described
in game terms.
A character may use only those Discipline powers that are
available at her level of mastery of a given Discipline,
and below. Thus, a character with Dominate 3 can use the
Discipline's level-one, -two and -three powers.
Elders speak of mighty powers becoming available once a
Kindred's Blood Potency reaches a certain degree. Levels
one through five of a given Discipline always produce the
listed effects, but some elders insist that once a
vampire's potential with a Discipline reaches a certain
point, she may break from the static incarnations of a
given Discipline and manifest powers with her own
personality invested in them. That is, mystic wisdom
suggests that there is no hard-and-fast level-six power
for Auspex, for example, and that a Kindred who masters
Auspex at such a high level creates her own unique
application. Tales of such powers are unreliable, though.
The nature of Blood Potency is fluid enough that what a
Kindred masters one night might vanish if he sinks into
torpor and forgets what he once knew.
Disciplines
SUPERNATURAL CONFLICT
It's inevitable that the undead come in contact with the
other terrifying and bizarre denizens of the World of
Darkness. Vampires might clash with werewolves, mages
or stranger things. When such contact can't be resolved
peacefully, supernatural powers and capabilities can be
brought to bear to decide which creature prevails.
In this book, Disciplines are applied against mortal
human beings and other vampires. In those cases, the
rules operate as written. There's little question as to
what protection a target might have. A mortal probably
has little protection other than his relevant Resistance
Attribute, and another vampire has the protection
described for the power in question. For example, a vampire
who's made the target of Dominate has a contested dice pool
composed of Resolve+ Blood Potency. Meanwhile, a mortal
target of Dominate has only his Resolve to apply in a
contested roll against a vampire's Intelligence +
Intimidation + Dominate. (After all, a mortal has no Blood
Potency.)
So what happens when a vampire encounters a supernatural
being and is subjected to the powers that creature wields?
How do the vampire's inherent nature or capabilities protect
him? In cases where a contested roll is made to determine the
power's effects, the vampire's relevant Resistance Attribute
+ Blood Potency is rolled. The Resistance Attribute is any
one of the vampire's
Stamina, Resolve or Composure. Stamina is used against
powers that have a physical effect, Resolve is used against
powers that have a mental effect, and Composure is used
against powers that have an emotional effect.
For example, if a mortal mage seeks to transform your
vampire's body, roll Stamina + Blood Potency in a contested
action to resist. If a werewolf tries to use spirit magic
to alter your character's mind, roll Resolve + Blood Potency
to resist. If a mysterious creature seeks to strike terror
into your vampire, roll Composure + Blood Potency to resist.
Otherwise, follow all the other rules that apply to the
power used. The main difference here is that vampires benefit
from their Blood Potency in resisting supernatural phenomena.
The Storyteller can invoke this general rule whenever he
confronts your character with monsters of his own creation -
weird beings that might have never been seen before. Or he can
allow you this kind of contested roll when your Vampire
chronicle overlaps with Werewolf: The Forsaken, Mage: The
Awakening or any other Storytelling game. When the Gifts,
spells or other powers from those games are turned upon your
character, you know that his inherent potency as a creature
of the night may afford him some protection.
Note, however, that such protection doesn't apply when
no contested roll is allowed against the power in question.
Say the Storyteller rolls a dice pool to determine the effects
of a witch's spell cast on your vampire, and the rules say
your character's Resolve is simply subtracted from that pool.
In that case, your vampire's Blood Potency is not subtracted
from the pool. Since no contested roll is involved to fight
off the power, your character's Resistance Attribute alone
applies as a dice-pool penalty.
Be prepared! Just as vampires get special defenses against
the powers of other supernatural entities, so too do those
beings get extra benefits against vampire Disciplines. When
Disciplines are combated with contested rolls, creatures such
as werewolves and mages get special dice pools based on their
own otherworldly nature. Their extra protection is addressed
in Werewolf: The Forsaken, Mage: The Awakening and other
Storytelling games.
Disciplines
Animalism
Although most look human, all the Kindred conceal
within them a feral predator, a Beast that divides all
others into only two categories: threat or prey. Some
Kindred feel their affinity with the animals of the
world, and their connection with their own animalistic
nature to a greater degree than others. These Kindred
often develop the Discipline of Animalism, which allows
them to bond with the beasts - and the Beasts around
them. They can not only commune with lower creatures,
but project their will upon them, forcing them to obey.
As the Kindred gain power, some develop the ability to
join with animals, or to influence the Beast lurking
with their own souls or the souls of other vampires.
Most Kindred are repellent to animals. Lesser creatures
grow agitated in the presence of the undead and normally
flee the scene (or, in some cases, attack the vampire in
question). Kindred who possess Animalism are a very
different story. Animals are often attracted to such
Kindred, and their presence is soothing even to restless
beasts.
Other sentient, supernatural beings such as shape
changers who have animal form or who can assume animal
form are not affected by Animalism. Their intelligence
makes them the purview of the Dominate Discipline.
Therefore, a Ventrue can try to ply his will on a
werewolf even a werewolf in wolf form by using Dominate.
Similarly, Animalism is useless on another vampire who
assumes wolf or another bestial form. Animalism is of no
avail to the vampire in regard to such intelligent beings.
Note that any Animalism power that requires eye
contact is made more difficult if the subject does not
stand still or is not otherwise immobilized. If the animal
in question moves about, the roll to initiate the relevant
power suffers a -1 penalty in addition to all others listed.
Disciplines
Animalism
* Feral Whispers
The Kindred with this ability has learned to understand
the lesser creatures that surround her, and to speak with
them and make herself understood. It is the foundation upon
which all other Animalism abilities are built, for without
understanding there can be no obedience. The vampire must
initiate eye contact with the animal in question; doing so
forges a strong empathic bond between Kindred and beast,
allowing communication. This contact is at least partially
mental. The vampire may either whisper to the animal in her
own language (or any language she knows), or she may hiss,
bark, chirp or make whatever sounds the animal might use to
express itself. (Some Kindred prefer the latter, feeling that
it joins them more closely with the animal in question, though
many others deride them for it and consider the practice
vulgar.) The animal, in turn, might make some sort of noise
while responding. It might be a growl, a low chirp or anything
else. The precise nature of the sound is irrelevant, as the
meaning is conveyed mostly via the empathic link. Most animals
instinctively respond quietly when answering Feral Whispers,
unless the situation is a tense or violent one. The Kindred
must maintain either eye contact or a constant dialogue with
the animal. If she fails to do so for even a single turn, the
link is broken and she must reinitiate contact if she wishes
to speak further.
Because Feral Whispers requires initial eye contact,
animals that cannot see cannot be affected. Additionally,
the simpler or less intelligent the animal is, the more
difficult it is to link with its Beast or its emotions.
Mammals, raptors and certain large reptiles are relatively
easy to communicate with; insects, invertebrates and most
fish are very nearly impossible.
Note that while Feral Whispers makes sure that the animal
communicates with the vampire, it does not compel the creature
to obey commands or perform tasks. Further, the nature of the
information conveyed by the animal depends largely on its
intelligence and awareness. A cat might be able to explain that
a large number of humans scared it out of a nearby building,
but it's unlikely to understand questions such as, "Was one of
them wearing a green baseball cap?" or to have any real concept
of numbers.
Cost: -
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Animal Ken + Animalism
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: A dramatic failure indicates that
the character misreads the animal, gaining false information.
Additionally, the animal is immune to any further uses of
Animalism by that character until the next sunset.
Failure: Failure indicates that the character cannot
communicate with the animal.
Success:Success indicates that the character can fully
communicate with the animal, to whatever degree it is capable.
Exceptional Success: Exceptional success indicates that
the animal is not only communicative but actively helpful, even
volunteering information unasked if it considers that information
important (so far as its intelligence allows).
| Suggested Modifiers |
| Modifier |
Situation |
+1 |
The animal is a predatory mammal (wolf, cat,
insectivorous bat). |
+1 |
The character is able to assume the same animal
form via the Protean Discipline as the creature with
which he tries to communicate (though he need not
actually make the transformation). |
+1 |
The character attempts to communicate with an
animal in its "native tongue" by hissing, squeaking
or what have you (assuming the player is willing to
attempt to roleplay such actions). |
__ |
The animal is another sort of mammal, a predatory
bird ora large reptile (rat, owl, alligator). |
-1 |
The animal is another sort of bird or a small reptile
(pigeon, snake). |
-3 |
The animal is an insect or fish. |
Disciplines
Animalism
* * Obedience
Having mastered the ability to commune with beasts,
the Kindred's connection with his own feral nature now
allows him to command them as well. No longer need he
beg, threaten or cajole animals into doing his will. He
demands, and they obey as best they can.
The vampire must make eye contact, as with Feral
Whispers, and convey to an animal precisely what he wants
it to do. The animal obeys to the best of its ability, but
its nature and intelligence might cause it to interpret its
orders in unusual ways. Once it has received an order, the
animal carries it out, assuming it can be completed before
the following sun-rise. At dawn, the compulsion ceases,
regardless of whether the task is complete or not.
It is extremely difficult to order an animal to do
anything blatantly against its nature (such as ordering a
sparrow to attack someone) or obviously self-destructive
(such as forcing a guard dog to lie down in front of a
moving truck).
A vampire can give single orders to only one animal at
a time, but he may have as many animals currently under
his control as circumstances allow, as long as he can give
each one its orders individually.
Cost: __
Dice Pool: Presence + Animal Ken + Animalism - animal's
Composure
Action: Instant
Obedience also requires a contested roll if the animal
is already under the control of another Kindred with this
power (in which case Obedience successes achieved must exceed
those rolled for the original vampire).
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Dramatic failure indicates that the
animal either attacks the character or does the exact opposite
of what he commands it to do. In addition, that animal is
immune to any further use of Animalism by that character until
the next sunset.
Failure: Failure indicates that the character cannot
command or communicate with the animal.
Success: Success indicates that the animal obeys the
character's orders to the best of its abilities.
Exceptional Success: Exceptional success indicates that
the animal develops a strong, if temporary, affection for the
character. It attempts to please and to anticipate orders, even
when not actively following a specific command.
| Suggested Modifiers |
| Modifier |
Situation |
+1 |
The animal is a predatory mammal (wolf, cat, insectivorous
bat). |
+1 |
The character has already successfully used Feral Whispers
on the animal he now attempts to command with Obedience. |
__ |
The animal is another sort of mammal, a predatory bird or
a large reptile (rat, owl, alligator). |
-1 |
The animal is another sort of bird or a small reptile (pigeon,
snake). |
-1 |
The order is contradictory to the animal's nature or set of
inherent abilities. |
-1 |
The animal is a ghoul. |
-3 |
The animal is an insect or fish. |
-3 |
The order is blatantly suicidal. |
Disciplines
Animalism
* * * Call of the Wild
The Kindred is so fully in tune with her own Beast that
she can call out in a feral voice - howling, hissing, cawing
or the like - that beckons all creatures of a specific type.
Any animal of that sort within a given area is compelled to
respond, immediately moving toward the Kindred at its fastest
possible speed, via the most direct route it can find. Only
animals that can hear the call are summoned, so creatures that
have been deafened or that are insulated from the sound by
thick walls or other barriers do not respond. Additionally,
only natural animals respond to this call no hell hounds or
gargoyles (see p. 225-256), for example, answer it.
Animals that respond to the Kindred's call are not
automatically under her control, but they are more easily
subjected to other Animalism powers.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Presence + Animal Ken + Animalism
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: All animals of the type called
within 100 yards immediately turn hostile toward the
character and are immune to any further uses of
Animalism by that character until the next sunset.
Failure: On a failure, no animals appear.
Success: The area of the call is 100 yards for
every success rolled. That is, a single success when
summoning rats calls all rats within 100 yards. The
Storyteller determines how many animals respond based
on the environment. Hundreds or thou-sands of rats might
appear in an inner city, while no hawks or coyotes would.
Exceptional Success: As per a normal success. In
the previous example of the rat summoner, if the player
achieved seven successes, all rats within 700 yards would
heed the call.
Suggested Modifiers
The Storyteller may impose bonuses or penalties to
the call based on weather, barriers or other ambient
noise, as he feels is appropriate. A heavy wind might
cut down the distance the sound can travel, for
instance, imposing a -2 penalty.
Animals responding to Call of the Wild are easier
for the beckoning character to influence with other
uses of Animalism. Any further use of Animalism on
these specific creatures receives a bonus equal to the
number of successes on the roll to invoke this power.
This bonus lasts for the remainder of the scene.
Sample animal traits are provided in the World of
Darkness Rulebook,
p. 202-203.
Disciplines
Animalism
* * * * Subsume the Lesser Spirit
By locking eyes with an animal, a vampire may
psychically enter the creature's body and possess it as
though it were his own. Some Kindred believe that doing
so actually transfers the vampire's soul into the beast,
though other, less mystically minded Kindred disagree.
Regardless, the animal's own mind and instincts are
completely subsumed, allowing the Kindred free reign to
take whatever actions he chooses in the creature's body.
The vampire's own body falls into a torpor-like state and
appears for all intents and purposes to be a corpse. Until
the character returns, his body cannot be awakened by any
means (though Kindred urban legends tell of ghosts
possessing such bodies and wreaking havoc). Also, it is
whispered among certain circles that some vampires, addicted
to the sensations of life they experience while riding an
animal, remain too long in that form and forget their true
nature.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Animal Ken + Animalism
versus animal's Composure
Action: Contested
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character fails to bond with
the animal; the animal grows hostile and is immune to any
further uses of Animalism by that character until the next
sunset.
Failure: The character loses or ties the contested
action and fails to bond with the animal.
Success: The character wins the contested action
and occupies the animal's body. He can use Animalism but
no other Disciplines while doing so.
Exceptional Success: The character wins the contested
action with five or more successes and occupies the animal's
body, and can alsouse Auspex and Majesty while doing so.
If the roll made for the character wins the contested roll
and gets successes in excess of the animal's Composure dots,
the character is in total control and his mind remains clear.
If his roll succeeds but garners a number of successes equal
to or lower than the animal's Composure dots, a Willpower
point must be spent for the character to take any actions
contrary to the animal's instincts.
Otherwise, bestial urges and impulses cloud the vampire's mind.
Additionally, if the player wins the contested roll but
gets a number of successes equal to or lower than the animal's
Composure, his character's consciousness is so closely intertwined
with the beast's that he maintains some bestial behaviors even
after returning to his own form. Until the player spends a total
of three Willpower points specifically to overcome this effect
the points can't, say, be spent to gain three extra dice in
unrelated rolls the character continues to think and feel in an
animalistic manner. (This effect has no "hard" mechanical
applications, but it should be roleplayed. If the character
doesn't indulge in animalistic activity, the Storyteller should
feel free to either dock the character future experience points
or spend Willpower automatically for the character when a
particularly bestial response is appropriate but not displayed.)
While possessing an animal, a character can travel as far
from his own body as he wishes and is unharmed by daylight, but
he must still force himself to stay awake during the day (see
Humanity on p. 184). The vampire may choose to end the possession
and return to his body at any time, regardless of distance. This
occurs automatically if the vampire fails to remain awake. Any
injuries inflicted on the animal also affect the vampire's body.
If the animal dies while the vampire is still present, the Kindred
falls into torpor immediately. (Some believe that the soul attempts
to find its way back to its own body during this time.) If the
Kindred's physical form is destroyed, his psyche remains trapped
in the animal until he finally fails to remain awake, at which point
his spirit is lost to oblivion and is unrecoverable.
It is possible, though uncommon, for a vampire to neglect his
physical body long enough for it to starve into torpor while he's
"out." If a vampire's dormant body slips or is forced into torpor,
the vampire's spirit automatically returns to its body.
| Suggested Modifiers |
| Modifier |
Situation |
+1 |
The animal is a predatory mammal (wolf, cat, insectivorous
bat). |
+1 |
The character has already successfully used Feral
Whispers on the animal he now attempts to possess. |
+1 |
The character is able to assume the same animal
form via theProtean Discipline as the creature he
tries to possess. |
__ |
The animal is another sort of mammal, a predatory
bird or a large reptile (rat, owl, alligator). |
-1 |
The animal is another sort of bird or a small reptile
(pigeon, snake). |
-1 |
The animal is a ghoul. |
-3 |
The animal is an insect or fish. |
Disciplines
Animalism
* * * * * Leashing the Beast
The vampire's connection with the Beast is so powerful
that she can manipulate not only the lesser creatures
around her, but her own Beast and that of other Kindred.
This is not overt control, as with Obedience or the
Dominate Discipline. Rather, the Kindred learns to rouse
the Beast's instincts, inspiring it - and thus the vampire
within whom it lurks - to behave in a certain manner. Of
course, communing with the Beast is dangerous even under
the best of circumstances, and a few unfortunate Kindred
have been destroyed by their own failed attempts to
manipulate others' Beasts.
The subject must be a vampire and must be within the
character's line of sight. (If the character makes herself
the subject, she need not be able to see, so she can do so
even in complete darkness or when otherwise blinded.) The
player must decide to invoke a rage frenzy or Rötschreck,
or to alleviate either of them.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Empathy + Animalism versus
Composure + Blood Potency (to affect another); Manipulation
+ Empathy + Animalism (to affect oneself)
Action: Instant (to affect oneself) or Contested;
resistance is reflexive (to affect another)
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Used on another, the character's power
rebounds and a Willpower point must be spent or she enters
either frenzy or Rötschreck, whichever she attempted to
influence. Additionally, the subject is immune to any further
Leashing the Beast attempts by the character until the next
sunset. When the power is used on the character's self, the
opposite kind of frenzy sought is invoked (Rötschreck when
rage frenzy was intended).Failure: The character fails
the instant action, or loses or ties the contested action and
the power fails.
Success: The instant action inspires or calms rage
frenzy or Rötschreck in the character herself. Or, the character
gets the most successes and manipulates another's Beast. Frenzy
or Rötschreck rules apply as normal for the remainder of the
scene if either is induced.
Exceptional Success: The character fulfills the instant
action or wins the contested roll with five or more successes,
and the subject is immediately forced into (or out of) frenzy
or Rötschreck. If the subject is forced into frenzy or Rötschreck,
he or she remains in that state for the remainder of the scene,
regardless of surrounding events or circumstances. Additionally,
Willpower cannot be spent to end the frenzy prematurely. If the
subject is brought out of frenzy or Rötschreck, he or she is not
subject to frenzy or Rötschreck for the remainder of the scene,
regardless of surrounding events or circumstances.
Suggested Modifiers
If the character knows another's Virtue and/or Vice, such
knowledge grants a +1 bonus, though she must cajole the Beast
by specifically focusing on those aspects of the subject's
personality. These bonuses are not cumulative. Knowing a
character's Virtue and Vice nets only a +1 bonus, not a +2.
If this power is turned on a vampire with whom the user
has a blood tie (see p. 162), a +2 bonus is gained.
If the character is already in frenzy and uses this power
to calm herself, a -2 penalty applies.
Disciplines
Auspex
This potent Discipline grants a character superlative sensory
capabilities. At the lowest levels, it sharpens a Kindred's mundane
senses. As one progresses in mastery, entirely new avenues of
insight open up before the user. Ultimately, this is the Discipline
of gleaning information, whether that data comes from sights and
smells, from auras and patterns of energy or directly from the mind
of another creature. In addition, Auspex can be used to pierce the
veil of powers that cloud, dissemble and deceive (see the "Clash of
Wills" sidebar). Indeed, precious little can be kept secret from a
true master of Auspex.
Once in a while, this uncanny Discipline provides extra-sensory
and even precognitive visitations. Such premonitions might come as
quick flashes of imagery, overwhelming feelings of empathy or even as
an ominous sense of foreboding. The Kindred has absolutely no control
over these insights, but he can learn to interpret their significance
given time and experience.
Such potent sensitivity can have its drawbacks, however. When a
vampire actively uses any level of Auspex save the fifth (Twilight
Projection), he runs the risk of his delicate senses being overwhelmed
by excessive stimuli. Sudden or severe occurrences such as a gun report
or flash bulb in the eyes can distract the character unless the player
succeeds on a Resolve roll. Failure disorients the character, making
him effectively unaware of his surroundings until the end of the
following turn.
Disciplines
Auspex
CLASH OF WILLS
Although Auspex is a potent Discipline, especially at high
levels of mastery, a given Kindred's execution of it is not always
flawless. Other supernatural powers and abilities can cloud or
contest the power of Auspex, the most common of these being
Obfuscate - the direct opposite of Auspex, in many ways.
The heart of any Auspex-versus-Obfuscate contest is a clash
of mighty wills, for both powers stem from and rely upon the power
of the Kindred mind. When a character with Auspex uses his acute
senses to see through another's Obfuscate, make a contested roll
of Wits + Investigation + Auspex versus Resolve + Stealth +
Obfuscate. Whoever accumulates the most successes wins the battle
of wills. Ties go to the defender. Most of the time, ties result
in the Obfuscated character remaining hidden (as the Auspex-user
is the initiator), but not always. In the event that a vampire uses
Obfuscate right in front of a Kindred with Auspex, the hiding
character is the challenger, as it is he who tries to hide in plain
sight.
Obfuscate is not the only supernatural ability with the potential
to foil the clarity of Auspex. For example, a character using the
Twilight Projection power might be seen by a character using the
Heightened Senses power. The general rule of thumb is to apply the
same system, but in regard to whatever mechanic is used: Wits +
Investigation + Auspex is still rolled for the perceiving character,
and Resolve + an appropriate Skill + the Discipline in question is
rolled for the defender.
Disciplines
Auspex
* Heightened Senses
When this power is activated, all of the vampire's senses sharpen
to a razor's edge, effectively doubling both the range and clarity
of all stimuli received. Heightened eyesight allows the vampire
to perceive the most minute details of objects at great distances,
while a heightened sense of smell might alert a character to the
presence of trace amounts of alcohol on a mortal's breath. Kindred
with this power also have the option of magnifying a single sense,
as opposed to all five, in order to better block out unwanted
stimuli from other sources.
Note, however, that the risk of sudden distraction remains,
regardless of how many or how few senses are currently heightened.
(Note that vampires do not breathe. As such, the Kindred do not
smell unless they actively will themselves to do so, and thus
cannot be overwhelmed suddenly by smells unless they are actively
smelling at the time.)
Cost: -
Dice Pool: This power typically involves no roll.
The player simply activates the power and explains to the
Storyteller what his character is doing and with which
sense(s). The Storyteller responds by relating whatever
information can be gleaned. The only time a roll comes into
play for Heightened Senses is when the Storyteller wishes
to permit the character a chance to perceive an imminent
threat. In this case, the Storyteller may allow the player to add
her character's Auspex dots to a surprise roll (Wits + Composure --
see the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 151).
This power allows a vampire to see in pitch-black darkness.
Action: Instant
Disciplines
Auspex
* * Aura Perception
With this mystic power, a vampire can open his
perceptions to the psychic auras that surround all
sentient creatures. Numerous and often shifting hues
and patterns compose these auras, and it can take many
years before a vampire becomes truly proficient at
reading them correctly with any degree of regularity.
Although the strongest emotions predominate, almost
every individual has more than one color to his aura at
any given time, and an observer can see any number of
streaks or flashes of these other colors.
"Psychic colors" change with the subject's mental or
emotional state, creating an ever-moving pattern that is
as unique to each person as a fingerprint. As a rule, the
more powerful the emotions, the more intense the colors,
but even this guideline is betrayed by any number of
mitigating factors, depending on circumstance. All the
same, practice makes perfect; a true master aura-perceiver
learns to understand the significance of each whorl and eddy.
Due to the peculiar nature of such creatures' auras,
this power can be used as a means of detecting other
supernatural entities. Vampire auras, for example, tend to be
extremely pale, regardless of the colors. Werewolf auras are
quite the contrary, nearly frantic in their intensity. Mage
auras sparkle with power. Ghostly auras flicker like guttering
candles.
Cost: -
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Empathy + Auspex - subject's
Composure
Action: Instant
(Note that though this is an instant action, it takes
more than just a fleeting glance to see the detail in an
aura. A character must scrutinize her subject's aura for
two full turns to glean information from it, though only
the single, immediate roll is necessary to determine if
she can read it successfully.)
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character gleans utterly
misleading and wholly inaccurate information.
Failure: The character can distinguish no information
at all.
Success: The character perceives a number of colors in
the subject's aura equal to the number of successes obtained
on the roll.
Exceptional Success: As per a normal success, with one
additional color or degree of emotional intensity discernible
to the character.
Note that a failure indicates that no useful information is
perceived, while a dramatic failure indicates a false or
misleading reading. The Storyteller may therefore wish to make
the roll for the player, to keep the true results secret.
An Auspex user who observes someone in the act of lying may
recognize that the subject speaks falsely. Intelligence +
Empathy + Auspex is rolled versus the subject's Composure
in a contested action. The Auspex user recognizes the lie
if the most successes are rolled for him.
Applied toward reading the mood of potential combat-ants,
this power also grants its user a bonus to Initiative equal
to the number of successes rolled in activating the effect.
Doing so requires that the vampire speaks to or is in the
proximity of intended combatants for at least one turn before
a fight breaks out. That period of interaction allows the
reading vampire to recognize that events are about to turn
violent, so he can react with advanced knowledge.
Disciplines
Auspex
|
AURA SIGNIFIERS
|
|
Condition
|
Color
|
Afraid
Aggressive
Angry
Bitter
Calm
Compassionate
Conservative
Depressed
Desirous/Lustful.
Distrustful
Envious
Excited
Generous
Happy
Hateful
Idealistic
Innocent
Lovestruck
Obsessed
Sad
Spiritual
Suspicious
Confused
Daydreaming
Diablerist
Dominated/Controlled
Frenzied
Psychotic
Vampire
ShapeShifter
Ghost
Magic Use
|
Orange
Purple
Bright Red
Brown
Light Blue
Pink
Lavender
Gray
Deep Red
Light Green
Dark Green
Violet
Rose
Vermilion
Black
Yellow
White
Bright Blue
Bright Green
Silver
Gold
Dark Blue
Mottled, shifting colors
Sharp, flickering colors
Black veins in aura
Weak, muted aura
Rapidly rippling colors
Hypnotic, swirling colors
Aura colors are pale
Intensely vibrant aura
Splotchy, intermittent aura
Myriad sparkles in aura
|
Suggested Modifiers
The number of dice added to or removed from the dice pool is
determined by the amount of information the character wishes
to discern.
|
| Modifier |
Situation |
+2 |
Power is turned on a vampire with whom the
user has a blood tie (see p. 162) |
__ |
The shade (such as pale, bright or weak), but not the color
of the aura. |
-1 |
The primary shade and color. |
-2 |
Color patterns, including information revealing the nature
of the creature. |
-3 |
Subtle shifts in the mixtures of color and pattern. |
Thus, if a reader wants to study the subtle shifts in the
mixtures of color and pattern in a subject's aura, the player
suffers a -3 penalty. Each success rolled thereafter offers one
piece of information in that regard. Two successes might indicate
that a ghoul swings from love to hate toward his mistress (bright
blue to black), and is envious of a fellow ghoul (dark green).
Disciplines
Auspex
* * * The Spirits Touch
The Kindred's powers of perception have progressed to the
point that he can pick up psychic impressions from objects
simply by handling them for a moment or two. Such impressions
can tell the vampire who last held the object, when it was
last held and even what was done with it in the past.
These psychic impressions typically come in the form of
quick and cryptic images, and as with other Auspex powers,
learning how to decipher the information gleaned can be a
task all its own. Most impressions (and therefore, most
visuals stemming from them) pertain to the last person who
handled the object in question, but two circumstances usually
preclude such a reading. First, a long-time owner or handler
of the object leaves stronger impressions than someone who
handled it briefly, if more recently. Second, experiences
associated with great emotion - be it hate, passion or fear
often linger in the form of intense psychic impressions on
objects. It is these impressions that likely come to the fore
over anything more recent or, in all likelihood, far less
emotionally significant.
All that is required in order to glean information from
an object by using this power is that the vampire turn the
item over in his hands (or otherwise handle it) for a few
moments, during which he enters a shallow trance. This trance
is the gateway through which psychic snapshots arrive, and
anything that prematurely disrupts the trance likely prevents
any useful information from being received.
Cost: -
Dice Pool: Wits + Occult + Auspex
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: A dramatic failure indicates the
psychic equivalent of a "mixed message" or a very believable
but entirely false impression.
Failure: Failure indicates that no impressions come through.
Success: Success yields a sense of the previous handler or
owner's identity, as well as a reliable vision or sense of
the memory in question.
Exceptional Success: An exceptional success provides
a comprehensive or extended chronological understanding of
the event and its participants, such as an entire slideshow
of images pertaining to the object and its past.
This power can also be used to glimpse the past of
another. The subject must be touched, which could require a
roll if the subject is resistant (see the World of Darkness
Rulebook, p. 157).
A contested roll of Wits + Occult + Auspex versus the
subject's Resolve + Blood Potency is made. The subject's
roll is reflexive, and he does not know that past events
in his existence are perceived. If the reader gets the most
successes, a vision is received of the subject's past, all
from the subject's perspective. With no tim?frame or criteria
for the event witness, the last dramatic, tense or passionate
act performed or experienced by the subject is glimpsed. If a
specific tim?frame or event is focused on, the Auspex user's
roll suffers a -1 penalty for each night that has passed since
the event. Therefore, witnessing a feeding that the subject
performed three nights before imposes a -3 penalty to the
contested roll made for the reading vampire.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Events witnessed from the subject's
eyes are misinterpreted. He seems to have been attacked rather
than to have initiated an attack, for example.
Failure: The contested roll is lost or tied. No
impressions come through.
Success: The most successes are rolled for the reading
character. A distorted and blurred glimpse of the event or
situation in question passes through his mind. He is left with
an intuitive, general understanding of what transpired.
Exceptional Success: The reading character wins the
contested roll with five or more successes. An instantaneous
glimpse of the event or situation in question passes through
his mind. He implicitly understands every aspect of what
happened, essentially as if he were there in the subject's
stead. The reader doesn't acquire any new traits or capabilities
say, if the subject committed diablerie. The reader simply
knows what transpired.
| Suggested Modifiers |
| Modifier |
Situation |
+2 |
Power is turned on a vampire with whom the user has a blood
tie (see p. 162) |
+1 |
The character has drawn a psychic impression from the object
or person before. |
__ |
Recent and intense (a murder weapon used four hours ago, or a
murder was committed). |
-1 |
Recent but mild, or old and intense (a dusty family heirloom
in a chest). |
-2 |
Emotionally shallow or long forgotten (a leisure suit found at
a secondhand clothing store). |
-3 |
Disconnected or spiritually muted (a set of keys found several
weeks ago). |
-3 |
Object or person read amid a fight or other stressful circumstance. |
Disciplines
Auspex
* * * Telepathy
At this level of advancement of one's extrasensory perceptions,
a vampire may project his consciousness into a nearby
individual's mind. Doing so creates a mental link whereby the
Kindred can communicate silently or even scan the surface of
the target's subconscious. The user senses any thought picked
up as a voice inside his own mind, and the data can hardly be
considered unobtrusive. Nevertheless, this power has the
potential to be one of the most potent of the abilities in
any vampire's mystical arsenal. With enough practice, a vampiric
telepath can uncover nearly any secret from any sentient being
around him.
Telepathy is most effective on the mortal mind. When used on
ordinary people, the character can maintain a link as long as he
keeps concentrating, and as long as the mortal target does not
leave his line of sight for more than moment or two. Trying to
breach the supernatural mind, however, is a more difficult
prospect. A given link is good only for the moment and must be
reestablished each time the character wishes to send or dig for
thoughts.
Cost: None for a mortal; 1 Willpower for a supernatural
subject unless the supernatural subject is willing.
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Socialize + Auspex - subject's
Resolve
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Dramatic failure on a Telepathy attempt
can be disastrous, as the user instantly adopts any derangements
present in the target for the rest of the night.
Failure: Failure results in no link being established, and
the character cannot try again for the remainder of the scene.
Success: Success allows a character to read from or add a
thought to the subject's mind. See the suggested modifiers list
that follows for specific applications of the Telepathy power.
Exceptional Success: Exceptional success at Telepathy allows
the character to gain an additional piece of information (or an
additional aspect to the original insight).
Note that the player of any subject who is aware that he is
being probed or "ridden" may spend a Willpower point to eject the
telepath. Each time the telepath sends a message, the subject
instantly becomes aware that the thought didn't originate from his
own mind. Each time the telepath digs out a piece of data,
Intelligence + Composure is rolled for the subject to detect the
intruder.
| Suggested Modifiers |
| Modifier |
Situation |
+2 |
Power is turned on a vampire with whom the user has
a blood tie (see p. 162) |
- |
Attempting to project a single thought/message into the
subject's mind. |
-1 |
Trying to probe the subject's surface thoughts for whatever
idea is there at the time. |
-1 |
Each derangement the subject possesses. |
-2 |
Digging for one piece of data about which the subject isn't
currently thinking. |
-3 |
Searching for a specific memory or event buried deep in the
subconscious. |
Disciplines
Auspex
* * * * * Twilight Projection
Commonly seen as the pinnacle of Auspex achievement, this power
allows a vampire to project her perceptions out of her physical
body. Her senses take on an existence their own, traveling the
material world like a spectre. Such a form, called a "ghost body,"
is immune to fatigue and physical harm, and it can fly at great
speeds. Ghost bodies can even go underground at will - anywhere
within and below the limit of the lunar sphere.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Occult + Auspex
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Dramatic failures can be disastrous.
They usually result in the character projecting successfully
but being flung to an undesired destination (around the world
or deep into an unknown place, for example).
Failure: The character cannot separate her consciousness
from her body, but may try again at her next opportunity.
Success: The Kindred separates her ghost body from her
physical body and may venture throughout the world.
Exceptional Success: As with a normal success, but the
separation occurs with ease and the character regains the
Willpower point spent.
Interacting with the physical world or sprit world while
using Twilight Projection is impossible. The character has no
substance at all, not even spiritual substance - she is merely
a projected consciousness. This state can be both a benefit and
a drawback, in that the character is unimpeded by obstacles, but
is also unable to affect any threats she en-counters. It might
come to pass that two vampires' ghost bodies or a projected
vampire and a genuine ghost encounter one another. They can
communicate as if they were in the real world, but no sorts of
physical or mystical exchanges can occur between them.
A projected vampire's psyche is invisible to most physical
beings. A child or animal might intuitively sense the vampire's
presence, or even see him. Another Kindred using Heightened
Senses or Aura Perception might spot the projected being by
getting the most successes in a Wits + Investigation + Auspex
(spotter) versus Resolve + ???ult + Auspex (projector)
contested roll. Both rolls are made reflexively.
A projecting vampire's other Disciplines do not work. Her
spirit can certainly observe things, but its temporal connection
to the body that serves as the conduit for the Kindred's mystic
curse is too tenuous for other mystical powers to manifest.
While her consciousness roams, a vampire's body lies in a
torpor-like state on the spot where she left it. As long as her
ghost body is active, the character remains ignorant of what goes
on around her physical body. If the body is subjected to either
torpor or Final Death, the projected psyche is pulled back
immediately.
A vampire's body continues to expend Vitae nightly for the
purposes of sustaining itself. The player must succeed on a
standard Humanity roll for the ghost body to remain awake during
the daytime (see p. 184). The consciousness of a vampire who
falls asleep returns to her body and she rises the next night as
normal, entirely within the physical world.
A ghost body appears naked and with no possessions. Artifacts
that are composed entirely of spirit matter might be employed in
this form, but no physical objects transfer over. Like-wise, any
objects found during the wraithly endeavor cannot be manipulated
or return with the character when she finally rejoins her physical
body.
A projecting vampire can potentially be barred mystically from
returning to her body, or she might become lost and in-capable of
finding her body again. Rumors also speak of other spirits that can
enter a vampire's vacant body, stranding the Kindred as a ghost body.
Denied her own body (or perhaps another one to possess), each night
that passes for the ghost body removes a dot of Blood Potency from
its essence. When those dots are reduced to zero, the ghost-Kindred
suffers Final Death and fades into oblivion.
Suggested Modifiers
Typically, no modifiers are necessary, but the Storyteller may
penalize the activation roll up to two dice in the event of a
hastened projection, such as when a vampire abandons her body
at the moment of Final Death (after all, a ghost body is better
than no body at all).
Disciplines
Celerity
Tales and legends of vampires ascribe to them inhuman speed, the
ability to move faster than the eye can see, and even to appear
in two places at once. While some of those accounts are
exaggerated, Kindred with the Discipline of Celerity can indeed
move far faster than any mortal. Th?y appear to blur into
nothingness, all others moving as if in slow motion in comparison.
Note that Celerity is obviously superhuman in use. Few Princes
smile upon uses of Celerity that leave too many curious mortal
witnesses unaccounted for.
Cost: 1 Vitae per turn
Dice Pool: Celerity is unlike many other Disciplines in that
it is not actively rolled.
Rather, it provides a group of benefits, many of which affect other
rolls.
Celerity cannot be invoked more than once per turn. That is, you
may not spend a second Vitae and double the benefits of Celerity in
a given turn, though you may spend Vitae across multiple turns to
enjoy the benefits over those turns.
In turns when a character activates her Celerity, her dots in
the Discipline are subtracted from any and all attacking characters'
dice pools, as the vampire moves much more quickly than normal and
is harder to hit. This penalty to attackers' pools applies in addition
to any armor the Celerity-using character may have, as well as to
Defense (though note-like armor, Celerity's benefits do not diminish
based on how many attacks the character faces). Celerity's protection
even applies against firearms. For example, if a character has Celerity
3 and activates the Discipline, three dice are subtracted from any
assailants' dice pools.
Celerity also adds to a character's Initiative during the turn in
which it is active. The aforementioned character with Celerity 3 and
Initiative 5 would have a basic Initiative modifier of 8 during turns
in which his Celerity is active.
Finally, Celerity acts as a modifier to a character's Speed while
it is active. His Speed increases by itself again for each dot of
Celerity he possesses. (Simply add one to the value of the character's
Celerity and multiply that number by his Speed.)
Characters running while Celerity is active double this figure, as
well. Assuming the sample character with Celerity 3 has a Speed of 12,
he has an effective Speed of 48 - [(1 +3) x 12] during turns in which
he activates Celerity. If he runs while his Celerity is active, his
Speed is 96 - almost 65 miles per hour!
Action: Reflexive.
A character may "pre-empt" her own action in a turn to activate Celerity
if an opponent acts be-fore her and the vampire wishes to call upon
Celerity before the rival's action is performed. The vampire therefore
gets Celerity's protection bonus early in the turn. Celerity's Initiative
bonus is also added immediately in the turn, potentially moving the
vampire's action before her attacker's in the Initiative roster. The
vampire also gains the benefit of additional Speed for the turn. If one
Vitae is spent to keep Celerity active into the next turn, all of these
benefits carry over.
Example: Virginia's Initiative total for a fight is 10. Her
opponent's is 13. Virginia wants to activate Celerity in order to avoid
her opponent's attacks and react more quickly. The Discipline can be
activated on 13 in the Initiative roster as a reflexive action. Virginia
has Celerity 2, so attacks staged against her automatically suffer a -2
penalty throughout the turn, in addition to penalties from her Defense
and any armor she wears. Her Initiative for the turn also increases by
two, to 12. That doesn't allow her to act before her opponent, but she
is right on his heels.
If a vampire doesn't activate Celerity until his stage of the
Initiative roster in a turn, previous actions taken by others that turn
aren't invalidated. (They aren't re-done because the vampire suddenly
has a higher standing in the roster.) By activating Celerity "late" in
the turn, the vampire forfeits his Initiative bonus that turn. The
vampire also gains Celerity's protection only against attacks that come
after his place in the Initiative roster for the turn. If Celerity is
kept active into the next turn, the vampire's Initiative bonus and full
protection applies throughout.
Disciplines
Dominate
Some Kindred are capable of overwhelming the minds of others with
their own force of will, influencing actions and even thoughts. Use of
Dominate requires a character to capture a victim's gaze. The Discipline
can therefore be used on only one subject at a time, and is useless if
eye contact is not possible.
Dominate does not grant the ability to make oneself understood or
to communicate mentally. Commands must be issued verbally, though certain
simple commands (such as "Go over there!" indicated with a pointed finger
and a forceful expression) may be conveyed by signs at the Storyteller's
discretion. No matter how powerful a vampire is, she can-not force her
victim to obey if she cannot make herself understood if, for example,
the victim doesn't speak the same language, she cannot hear or the orders
simply make no sense.
Note that victims of Dominate might realize what's been done to them.
That is, they do not automatically sense that they are being controlled,
but they might subsequently wonder why they suddenly acted as they did.
Wise Kindred, especially those familiar with Dominate, are likely to figure
it out in the moment, and few vampires take kindly to being manipulated in
such a fashion. Most Kindred who develop Dominate are forceful, controlling
personalities, and they can make a reputation for themselves if they use
this Discipline wantonly.
In all cases, a dramatic failure while attempting to Dominate a victim
renders the would-be victim immune to the character's Dominate until the
next sunset.
Dominate is far more effective against mortals than it is against other
Kindred. Most Dominate abilities described here allow the victim to struggle
against the effects; that is, a con-tested roll is made against the
Dominator's player. As no mortal has Blood Potency, the vast majority of
humans are at a disadvantage when dealing with the Discipline. Dominate
is also more effective against those whom the user has subjected to a
Vinculum. A regnant may use Dominate powers (with the exception of
Conditioning) on a thrall without the need for eye contact; the thrall
merely has to hear the regnant's voice.
Other sentient, supernatural beings such as shapechangers who have
animal form or who can assume animal form are affected by Dominate rather
than by Animalism. A vampire can therefore try to ply his will on a
werewolf even a werewolf in wolf form by using Dominate. Similarly,
Animalism is useless against another vampire who assumes wolf or another
bestial form. Animalism is of no avail to the vampire in regard to such
intelligent beings.
Note that any Dominate power requiring eye contact is made more
difficult if the subject is not standing still or otherwise immobilized.
If the target moves about, the roll to initiate the relevant power
suffers a -1 penalty in addition to all others listed.
Disciplines
Dominate
* Command
Once he has established eye contact, the vampire issues a single, one-
word command that must be obeyed instantly. The order must be clear
and straight forward freeze, jump, run, stop, fall, cough, blink and
so forth. If the command is ambiguous or confusing, the subject might
respond slowly or perform the task poorly. Further, commands are
always interpreted (within reason) in the subject's best interests.
For example, if the victim stands on the edge of a roof and the
character commands "Jump!" the victim might jump up and down, rather
than leap off the roof. Of course, the victim would probably not leap
off the roof even if the character could find a way to order it.
Subjects of Command cannot be made to directly harm themselves, so an
obviously suicidal order such as "Die!" is ineffective. "Sleep" and
the like causes the subject to follow the order only if she does not
believe herself to be in any mortal danger. A character seduced by a
Kindred might sleep if so instructed, but one in the middle of a combat
or interrogation certainly does not. In such situations, the character
merely falls senseless, but only for a turn.
The vampire may include the command word in a sentence, in order to
conceal her use of the power from others. The command itself must be
stressed, and the character must make eye contact precisely when that
word is spoken. Observers may notice the unusual emphasis, but only
the most alert and those familiar with the Discipline - are likely to
realize what has occurred.
Cost: -
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Intimidation + Dominate versus Resolve
+ Blood Potency
Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The subject does not obey and is immune to the
character's Dominate until the next sunset.
Failure: The character loses or ties the contested roll and the
subject does not obey.
Success: The character wins the contested roll by getting the most
successes, and the victim obeys literally and with appreciable self
preservation.
Exceptional Success: The character wins the contested roll with
five or more successes, and the victim not only obeys but rationalizes
what she does as her own decision until and unless someone questions her
about it in depth.
Assuming the commanded action is one that can carried out for some
time, such as "wait" or "sleep," the subject obeys for a number of
turns equal to the successes obtained on the Command roll.
If this power is turned on a vampire with whom the user has a blood tie
(see p. 162), a +2 bonus applies to the user's roll.
Disciplines
Dominate
* * Mesmerize
The source of many legends of the vampire's hypnotic gaze, Mesmerize
allows the Kindred to implant a false thought or suggestion into the
subject's subconscious mind. The power requires not only eye contact
but intense concentration and precise wording, so both the character and
the subject must be free from distraction. The Kindred may activate the
imposed thought or command immediately "Walk over here and open the
door" - or he may establish a stimulus that activates the suggestion at a
later date "When you see a man in a blue suit with a red rose in his lapel,
you will spill your drink on him." The victim must be able to understand
the vampire. The Kindred must maintain eye contact only as long as it takes
to implant the suggestion or idea.
Mesmerize can deliver truly complex and long-term commands, such as
following someone, taking notes on her activities and reporting back on the
first of the next month. A subject can have only one suggestion implanted at
any given time.
Cost: -
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Expression + Dominate versus Resolve +
Blood Potency
Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive
If this power is turned on a vampire with whom the user has a blood
tie (see p. 162), a +2 bonus applies.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The subject does not obey and is immune to the
character's Dominate until the next sunset.
Failure: The character loses or ties the contested roll and the
subject does not obey.
Success: The character wins the contested roll by getting the most
successes, and the victim obeys to the best of his ability.
Exceptional Success: The character wins the contested roll with five
or more successes. The victim not only obeys, but rationalizes what she
does as her own decision until and unless someone questions her about it
in depth.
This power lasts for as long as it takes the subject to carry out the
required task, or until the character is destroyed or enters torpor.
Impossible actions such as, "Count every grain of sand on this beach,"
automatically fail to take root in the subject's mind. If, during the
course of carrying out the implanted suggestion, the victim realizes he
puts himself in danger or acts completely contrary to his normal moral
code, a Resolve roll may be made to shake off the compulsion. This is a
contested roll. Successes rolled must exceed the number of successes
obtained for the dominating character when the individual was first
mesmerized.
Dramatic Failure: Not only must the subject continue to carry out
the command, no more Resolve rolls may be made to shake the dominator's
control, no matter what the subject is forced to do.
Failure: The victim must continue to carry out the command as ordered.
Success: The victim escapes the suggestion.
Exceptional Success: The victim defies the suggestion, and the
dominator incurs a -1 penalty to future attempts to Dominate him until the
next night.
No matter how strong the dominator's will is or how many successes he
obtains, he cannot make a subject harm himself directly. Any command to
commit suicide is therefore ignored, although commands that are likely to
lead to harm - such as, "Walk into that crack house and shoot the man in the
red shirt" are enforceable, subject to the Resolve rolls discussed above.
If a vampire attempts to Mesmerize a subject who is alr?ady under the
influence of a previously implanted directive, compare the successes rolled
in the attempt against the successes gained during the implantation of the
first suggestion. If the character obtains more successes than the previous
Kindred, the new command may supplant the old one. If he does not, the
original command remains active and the new one fails to take root. In case
of a tie, the original command takes precedent over the new one. A vampire
seeking to supplant an old suggestion with a new one must also acquire
successes in excess of those rolled for the subject in his contested
Resolve + Blood Potency roll.
Disciplines
Dominate
* * * The Forgetful Mind
A vampire with this power can literally delve into a subject's mind,
stealing or reshaping memories at whim. The power, as with all uses of
Dominate, requires eye con-tact. The Forgetful Mind does not allow for
telepathic contact. Instead, the vampire acts much like a hypnotist,
asking direct questions to draw answers from the subject, and then
describing in detail any new memories she wishes to impose on the
victim. Simple alterations, such as blur-ring brief and recent
memories, are easy enough (and very effective for eliminating evidence
of feeding or other Masquerade breaches). More comprehensive alterations,
up to and including a complete reconstruction of the victim's past and
even identity, are possible albeit substantially more difficult.
The victim's subconscious struggles to resist false memories
implanted from without, so the degree to which th? vampire details new
memories has direct bearing on how fully the subject assimilates them.
An incomplete or simplistic false memory shatters much more swiftly and
easily than does one with more attention to detail. For instance, "You
drove home after work and had a very bad evening" is not likely to hold
up. Far more effective would be an ac-count such as, "You left work late,
due to a last-minute change ordered by the client. You still managed to
get stuck in rush hour for an extra 25 minutes, and you were seriously
frustrated by the time you pulled off the freeway. There weren't even
any good songs on the radio. Three blocks from home, a cop pulled you
over for coasting through a stop sign. At least he only gave you a
warning, but it was still just one more hassle. The frozen dinner you
microwaved was awful, the TV movie starred some has-been you didn't
like, and the news was depressing. You finally turned off the TV in
disgust and went to bed."
Truly effective use of The Forgetful Mind, then, requires
substantial finesse and patience, as well as the ability to carefully
and thoroughly think things through ahead of time. It's fairly simple to
sift through a victim's memories and strip out recent events without even
knowing precisely what happened, but doing so leaves a gap in the memory
that can lead to further problems. Most people aren't comfortable
realizing they've lost a few hours or a night's worth of memories, and
they're likely to try to find out what happened. Even new memories that
the character imposes rarely have the same strength as the originals, and
they can be broken or at least contradicted through investigation. For
instance, a victim might not recall that she was attacked by a vampire,
but she might remember being bitten, chalking it up to an animal attack or
a spider. More vivid memories can re-turn as snippets in dreams or be
triggered by an unusual olfactory stimulus or spoken phrase. The process
might take weeks or even years before the victim can begin to make sense
of these flashes, but even the most effective memory manipulation is far
from perfect or truly permanent.
A vampire may also use The Forgetful Mind to sense whether someone
has had her memories altered in this fashion, and he can sometimes use his
own power to draw forth and restore the original thoughts. No Kindred may
use The Forgetful Mind to restore his own lost or altered memories, however.
Cost: __
Dice Pool: Wits + P?rsu?s??n + Dominate - Resolve
Action: Extended (1-100+ successes, based on the detail and
complexity of memory; each roll represents five minutes of mental
manipulation)
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The attempt fails, and the subject is immune
to the character's Dominate until the next sunset. All accumulated
successes are lost and the subject continues to remember what happened.
Failure: The attempt fails.
Success: The character makes headway toward altering a block of
memories.
Exceptional Success: The character makes considerable headway
toward altering a block of memories.
Even a single success pacifies the victim for the length of time
it takes to complete the proc
ess. Both vampire and subject must be safe
and relatively composed when this power is used; it cannot be used to
calm someone already in combat, for example.
To restore stolen or false memories, or to sense when memories have
been altered, a character must possess Dominate at a level equal to or
greater than that of the vampire who first tampered with the subject's
mind. If such is the case, the player then makes a contested roll in
each stage of the extended action, to be compared against the initial
user's attempt, and must score more successes than the predecessor did.
| Suggested Modifiers |
| Modifier |
Situation |
+2 |
Power is turned on a vampire with whom the user has a blood tie
(see p. 162). |
-1 to -3 |
The character's description of the new memories is lacking in
detail. |
Disciplines
Dominate
* * * Conditioning
Through constant veiled whispers, subtle hints and frequent sustained
manipulation, a vampire can slowly render a particular victim
substantially more suggestible. Conditioning is normally used only on
favored or valuable servants and, over sufficient time, makes the
character's efforts to Dominate a subject far easier while making it
harder for any other Kindred to do so. Acquiring such complete control
over even the weakest mind is no easy task, however, and it normally
takes weeks or even months to accomplish.
While they are undeniably loyal, servants subject to Conditioning
lose much of their ability to think for themselves, their own
personalities blotted out by the will imposed on them. They follow
their orders literally and to the letter, rarely showing any imagination
or judgment, or taking the initiative to act on their own. Some Kindred
have remarked that, after a sufficiently lengthy period of Conditioning,
their servants actually resemble the walking dead more so than their
masters.
Mortals, thralls, other vampires and other supernatural creatures
are all subject to Conditioning, if it can be performed on them over the
required period of time.
Cost: 1 Willpower per roll
Dice Pool: Wits + Subterfuge + Dominate versus Resolve + Blood
Potency
Action: Contested and Extended (6-15+ successes; each roll
represents one week of mental manipulation); resistance is reflexive
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: All of the user's successes to date are negated
and the subject is immune to the character's Dominate until the next
sunset.
Failure: The character loses or ties a contested roll and the
attempt fails.
Success: The character wins a contested roll and makes progress in
his efforts to suborn the subject's will.
Exceptional Success: The character wins a contested roll with five
or more successes and makes substantial progress in his efforts to suborn
the subject's will.
Conditioning does not have any mechanical effect until five more
successes are accumulated in excess of the victim's Willpower dots.
(If the subject has Willpower 6, Conditioning begins to take effect
once 11 successes are achieved.) Once this benchmark has been reached,
all future attempts by the character to use any Dominate ability
(including further uses of Conditioning) on the victim receive a +1
bonus, and all attempts by other Kindred to Dominate the subject suffer
a -1 penalty. For every additional five successes that are accumulated,
the bonus and penalty each increase by one, to a maximum of +5 and -5.
The Storyteller, not the player, should keep track of the number of
successes accumulated.
Once the character's bonus reaches +3, he no longer needs to make
eye contact with the Conditioning subject to use any Dominate abilities,
though giving orders through artificial or impersonal means (such as by
phone) imposes a -5 penalty to that particular attempt.
Subjects of Conditioning are oblivious to the process being inflicted
upon them unless they also possess the power. The Storyteller may allow a
victim or someone close to him a Wits + Occult roll to recognize that
something wrong. If the roll fails, the process may continue unaffected.
If the roll succeeds, an effort may be made to interrupt the process. If
the Conditioning vampire is particularly careful about how suggestions and
messages are conveyed, the Wits + Occult roll might suffer a -1 penalty.
Interrupting the process could mean fleeing the vampire or restraining the
subject from meeting the vampire before all the required successes are
accumulated.
It is possible, albeit extremely difficult, to break a subject's
Conditioning after the required successes are gathered. If the victim is
isolated from her master for a number of weeks equal to twice the master's
current Conditioning-granted bonus, the bonus drops by one. For example, a
subject has been Conditioned for a long time, and her master has achieved a
bonus of +4 to Dominate her. If she is kept completely isolated from her
master for eight weeks, the bonus drops to +3. Six more weeks, and it drops
to +2, and so forth. The subject's own personality and creativity slowly
reawakens during this period, though she still experiences periods of
listlessness, depression and desperation. For at least the first few weeks,
the subject most likely makes every attempt to return to her master. Until
the subject is completely free, it is horrifyingly easy for the vampire to
reassert his dominance, as he likely has at least some bonus to Dominate the
individual for a long while.
If the subject of Conditioning is also the thrall of the vampire, all
successes on a Conditioning roll are doubled. So, if a vampire seeks to
Condition his own ghoul, and he gets three successes to her two in one
roll to program the subject, he actually accumulates six successes in that
Conditioning session.
If this power is turned on a vampire with whom the user has a blood tie
(see p. 162), a +2 bonus applies.
Disciplines
Dominate
* * * * Possession
By this point, the Kindred need not rely on spoken commands and limited
understanding. With the mere locking of th? victim's gaze, the vampire
can utterly supplant the subject's own psyche with her own, possessing
the subject like a malevolent spirit.
Once the Kindred has crushed the victim's will, she liter-ally takes
over the body, inhabiting it and controlling it as easily as she does her
own. The mortal enters something of a fugue state while possessed, and he
is aware of events only in a dreamlike, distorted fashion. The Kindred
suffers the opposite effect. Her mind now resides within the victim, and
her own body falls into a torpor-like state, becoming indistinguishable
from a true corpse. The vampire may choose to break the possession and
return to her body at any time, over any distance, but until and unless
she does so, her true physical form is utterly helpless.
Kindred cannot possess other Kindred in this fashion, regardless of
force of will or differences in Blood Potency. Mortals alone are subject
to possession, although whispers of possessed Lupines and mages sometimes
circulate.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Intimidation + Dominate versus Resolve
Action: Contested and Extended (see below); resistance is reflexive
Roll Results
The vampire locks eyes with the victim and begins the process of
utterly stripping away the subject's Willpower. The vampire must obtain
a number of successes in excess of the victim's Willpower. The victim
is held, trapped in this psychic struggle, as long as the vampire's
player continues to win each con-tested roll. Each roll occupies a turn's
time.
Dramatic Failure: The attempt is over and the victim is immune to
that vampire's Dominate until the next sunset. All previously accumulated
successes are lost.
Failure: In any turn in which the vampire loses or ties a contested
roll, the victim may attempt to escape. If the vampire succeeds in
restarting the process during the same scene, the contest picks up from
where it left off.
Success: The character wins a contested roll and accumulates successes
in her attempt to exert ultimate control over her subject.
Exceptional Success: The character wins a contested roll with five or
more successes in her attempt to exert ultimate control over her subject.
Once the character has exceeded the victim's Willpower in number of
successes, she may take control of his body. The character may take any a
ctions she chooses, travel as far from her own body as she wishes, and is
unharmed by daylight while possessing the subject, but she must still force
herself to stay awake during the day (see Humanity on p. 184).
The vampire may choose to end the possession and return to her body at
any time, regardless of distance. This occurs automatically if the vampire
fails to remain awake. Any injuries inflicted on the subject also affect
the vampire's body. If the subject dies while the vampire is still present,
the Kindred falls into torpor immediately. (Some believe the soul attempts
to find its way back to its own body during this time.) If the Kindred's
physical form is destroyed, she remains trapped in the mortal body until
she finally fails to remain awake, at which point her psyche is lost to
oblivion and is unrecoverable. Any at-tempt to "re-Embrace" a vampire's
spirit trapped in a host body results only in Final Death.
When finally freed of vampiric possession, some mortals recover
immediately, while others lie comatose or suffer trauma-induced psychoses
for days or even weeks before recovering.
Because a vampire experiences everything her physical body does - tasting
food, soaking up the sun - many become addicted to the sensations and spend
more time possessing mortals than inhabiting their own bodies. It is possible,
though uncommon, for a vampire to neglect her physical body long enough for it
to starve into torpor while she's "out." If a vampire's dormant body slips or
is forced into torpor, the vampire's spirit automatically returns to its body.
If this power is turned on a vampire with whom the user has a blo?d tie
(see p. 162), a +2 bonus applies.
Disciplines
Majesty
One of the most legendary powers of the undead is the ability to
attract, sway and control the emotions of others, especially those of
mortals.
Majesty is perhaps the most versatile of Disciplines, for its potential
uses and applications are both varied and multitudinous. The more savvy the
practitioner, the more use he can get out of each of the Discipline's levels.
Unlike some other Disciplines, Majesty can be used on entire crowds of
targets simultaneously, making it even more potent in the right hands. The
only requirement for use of most Majesty powers is that any potential targets
see the character. Eye contact is not required, nor is the ability to hear the
character (though it certainly doesn't hurt).
The downside to Majesty, such as is it is, is that its subjects retain
their free will. Unlike victims of Dominate, who follow the commands of the
Kindred nearly mindlessly, those acting under Majesty are simply emotionally
predisposed to do whatever the power (or its user) suggests. While retention of
personality makes victims more useful in the long run, it also means they require
more care in handling than targets of Dominate. An abused victim of Majesty
certainly subverts or represses what his emotions suggest in order to behave in
the most appropriate manner. Mean-while, subjects treated well might be persuaded
to act against even their own interests.
Any mortal can resist Majesty for one turn if a Willpower point is spent and
a successful Composure roll is made (though the Willpower point does not add
three dice to the roll). This roll is reflexive. If the roll fails, the Willpower
point is lost and the target remains under the effects of the power(s). If the
roll is successful, the mortal probably spends his turn of "freedom" fleeing the
vampire's proximity, lest he continue to be affected. Refusing to pay attention
to the vampire, rather than fleeing, can allow a mortal to resist the spell for
a turn, but the power resumes effect if the mortal remains in the Kindred's
vicinity. Vampires resist Majesty in much the same way (by spending a Willpower
point), but Blood Potency is added to Composure rolls made for them. In addition,
vampires of higher Blood Potency than the character invoking Majesty are able to
resist his power for the entire scene with the expenditure of one Willpower point
and a successful Composure + Blood Potency roll.
By and large, the Kindred who choose to develop their Majesty abilities are
those who recognize that one achieves more with honey than with vinegar. Those
who swear by Majesty often find Dominate, seen as "the flip side of Majesty," to
be both boorish and crass, and they would swear to calling upon it only in times
of dire need.
Disciplines
Majesty
* Awe
This power makes the user seem exponentially more charismatic and magnetic
than he normally is. The force of his personality issues forth in waves,
drawing people to him like moths to a flame. Perhaps the greatest use for
Awe is its ability to facilitate public speaking or debate. Whatever the
vampire says, people are likely to lend serious credence to his position
and views, and even the staunchest opponents gladly hear him out. Awe can
often turn the tide in a tense negotiation, tipping the scales from
"potentially" to "definitely."
As with other Majesty powers, Awe ceases to be useful when more pressing
matters come to the fore. Personal safety always takes precedence, and any
commotion pulls even the most rapt listener from his reverie of attention.
Those subjected to the character's stature likely remember how good they felt
around him, and tailor future reactions accordingly.
Cost: -
Dice Pool: Presence + Expression + Majesty
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: A dramatic failure indicates that the
character actually makes himself more unappealing, and people
actively seek to avoid him until he leaves.
Failure: Failure indicates that the power simply does not
activate. The character knows this immediately and may try again
next turn.
Success: The character succeeds in dazzling his intended
audience with his overwhelming charisma.
Exceptional Success: An exceptional success indicates that
the subjects' Composures are considered one less than normal for
the purposes of determining who is affected.
The number of successes the player acquires is compared to the
Composure of each intended subject. If the number of successes
exceeds a given target's Composure, that subject is affected by
the character's powerful personality. If a subject's Composure is
equal to or higher than the number of successes earned, that subject
goes unaffected. A character may Awe whomever is present (see the
suggested modifiers below), and comparisons are made from lowest
Composure to highest among potential subjects. Effectively, a
character may not single out an individual subject in a crowd to
Awe. He simply "turns on the charm" and lets it work its magic.
Those individuals affected by Awe raptly fawn over the user.
Any social rolls he engages in with them gains a number of bonus
dice equal to the number of successes rolled to activate the
power. This effect lasts for one scene, and people may well expect
to thrill to the character's presence the next time they see him.
| Suggested Modifiers |
| Modifier |
Situation |
__ |
Character attempts to Awe one person |
-1 |
|
-2 |
Character attempts to Awe six people |
-3 |
Character attempts to Awe 20 people |
-4 |
Character attempts to Awe a vast number of people
in the vampire's immediate vicinity
(an auditorium, a mob) |
Disciplines
Majesty
* * Revelation
The allure and reassurance of a Kindred with this
power is enough to make others forego caution and share
their innermost feelings and secrets. A few complimentary
or compassionate words or a heartfelt look from the
vampire can break down a person's prudence and fear,
inspiring a desire to share deep feelings or dark secrets
in an upweling of affection or release.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Persuasion + Majesty versus
subject's Composure + Blood Potency
Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The vampire's manipulative efforts are
obvious for the intended subject to see. No more of the
vampire's attempts at Revelation on the same subject work
for the remainder of the night.
Failure: The character loses or ties the contested roll.
He may try again.
Success: The vampire wins the contested roll by getting
the most successes, and the subject bares his soul.
Exceptional Success: The vampire wins the contested roll
with five or more successes. The subject bares his soul until
every sin or crime he can think of is revealed. No Willpower can
be spent to make a Composure roll to stop.
While a vampire can gain the information he seeks by use of
this power, he must be prepared for a litany of confessions from
a particularly guilty or tormented subject. A longtime criminal
might have many sins to confess, for example, only one of which
is important to th? character using Revelation. A successful
Manipulation + Socialize roll may be required for the vampire to
steer th? confession to a matter of interest. If the roll fails,
the vampire must endure everything that the subject has to say.
Should the confession go on for more than a single turn, and the
subject turns to particularly deep, dark or dangerous secrets, a
Willpower point may be spent and a Composure roll made for the
subject to break the spell for a turn (seep. 129).
The subject remembers what he confessed after the effects of
the power have passed. He undoubtedly can't explain his lack of
discretion, and he might do anything in his power to compensate for
his "error in judgment."
| Suggested Modifiers
|
| Modifier |
Situation |
+3 |
The subject is a thrall to the Kindred, under a full
Vinculum to her. |
+3 |
The subject is already under the influence of
Entrancement. |
+2 |
The subject is already under the influence of Awe. |
+2 |
The subject is under the second stage of a partial Vinculum
to the Kindred. |
| +2 |
Power is turned on a vampire with whom the user has a blo?d
tie (see p. 162) |
+1 |
The subject is affected by the first stage of a partial
Vinculum to the Kindred. |
-1 |
The subject is an enemy. |
-2 |
The Revelation user has inflicted violence upon the subject
in the Scene. |
Disciplines
Majesty
* * * Entrancement
This power is perhaps the closest thing that Majesty gets to
serious command over the thoughts of another. Its power warps the
emotional state of the subject, making him a willing servant of the
vampire. Subjects retain their sense of identity and free will,
believing that every instinct to serve and admire comes of their
own volition.
When the duration of an Entrancement ends, however, confusion
and displacement arise, often leading to mixed feelings. Similar to
falling out of love, re-entrancing a former "lover" is difficult at
best.
Cost: -
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Empathy + Majesty versus subject's
Composure + Blood Potency
Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: A dramatic failure offends the subject,
making him immune to the vampire's "advances" for the rest of the
night.
Failure: The character loses or ties the contested roll. The
Entrancement fails and the subject reacts to the vampire normally.
Success: The character wins the contested roll by getting the
most successes, and brings the subject under his sway for an hour or
so - long enough to complete a single task or set of tasks.
Exceptional Success: The character wins the contested roll
with five or more successes. An exceptional success indentures the
target for at least at least a week, and potentially a month or more.
When a period of effect wears off, the subject does not
necessarily bear the vampire any ill will. After all, he has no idea
that something unnatural has taken place. He merely comes to the
conclusion that he no longer feels the way he once did for the
character (even if "once" was an hour ago). At this time, he likely
returns to going about his own life, content with never seeing the
vampire again. Typically, a vampire who wishes to retain the
attention of an affected subject calls upon more reliable (or
stringent) methods of indenturing, such as the Vinculum.
| Suggested Modifiers |
| Modifier |
Situation |
| +2 |
Power is turned on a vampire with whom the user has a blood
tie (see p. 162) |
| -3 |
The Kindred has already successfully Entranced the subject
within a week. |
Disciplines
Majesty
* * * * Summoning
This rather potent power allows the vampire to call any individual
he knows personally to his side. In short, the vampire reaches out
with the force of his personality and makes a colleague, acquaintance,
rival or outright enemy know without a doubt that he wishes that
person to attend him at once. There is no limit on the distance or
range of this power, but summoning someone halfway around the world
takes time, even under the best of circumstances. The subject of
Summoning takes the most direct possible routes to the vampire's
location and intuitively knows when the vampire moves, though doesn't
necessarily know the final destination until he gets there (it's like
a sort of direction sense).
The summoned individual knows to whose presence he travels, and
he may pause to make arrangements before departure, if necessary. In
other words, the compulsion is strong and the subject doesn't dilly-dally
unnecessarily, but he is hardly a single-minded drone in his desire to
reach the vampire. The subject does, however, use any resources at his
disposal to see that he arrives both safely and punctually.
The call of a summoning fades with the first rays of the sun at dawn.
Therefore, if a subject is truly far away or a sufficiently fast means
of transportation is not available to him, he can deny the compulsion to
attend the summoner at dawn. Indeed, he could return home and go about
his business. If the subject is predisposed toward the summoner, however,
he may continue the quest of his own accord. During the day, he is under
his own power to find the vampire and loses his "direction sense."
Another vampire is not compelled to seek the summoner to the very light
of day, causing his Final Death. The seeker finds shelter be-forehand.
Unless the subject already knows where and how to reach the summoning
vampire, the call must be repeated each night until the subject arrives.
If, as in the preceding case with the resistant subject, the distance
is too far or available transportation is too slow, the subject might
never arrive. He falls into a cycle of being drawn to and fleeing from
the summoner.
If a Willpower point is spent and a Composure + Blood Potency roll
is made for a subject to resist this power, as explained on p. 129, any
success defies a summons for a whole night, not just a turn or a scene.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Persuasion + Majesty versus subject's
Composure + Blood Potency
Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The target is aware that the vampire tried to
summon him, and is immune to that vampire's Summoning attempts for the
rest of the story.
Failure: The character loses or ties the contested roll. The
subject remains unaware of the Summoning, and nothing happens.
Success: The character wins the contested roll by getting the
most successes. Complete success brings the subject as quickly as
possible within the space of one night, without questioning the
motivations or origins of the summons.
Exceptional Success: The character wins the contested roll with
five or more successes. An exceptional success draws th? subject to the
vampire with all deliberate haste, no matter how long the journey takes.
The compulsion to arrive prevails even during daylight, and the subject's
sense of the summoner's location persists throughout.
| Suggested Modifiers |
| Modifier |
Situation |
| +3 |
The subject is dedicated or loyal to the summoner. |
| +2 |
Power is turned on a vampire with whom the user has a blood
tie (see p. 162). |
| +1 |
The subject is predisposed toward or friendly
with the summoner. |
| +1 |
The summoner knows exactly where the subject is. |
| __ |
The summoner doesn't know specifically where the subject
is, but knows that he is in the same domain. |
| -1 |
The summoner has no idea where the subject is. |
| -1 |
The subject resents being summoned or dislikes the summoner. |
| -3 |
The summoner has no idea where the subject is and he's more
than 500 miles away. |
| -3 |
The subject has urgent business elsewhere or reviles the
summoner. |
| -5 |
The summoner has no idea where the subject is and he's on the
other side of the world. |
Disciplines
Majesty
* * * * * Sovereignty
One of the most potent of all Kindred abilities, Sovereignty
augments the power of a vampire's personal deportment to incredible
levels. The newly empowered mien in-spires devotion, respect and
fear in those who stand in the vampire's proximity. The weak-willed
(and cunning) sup-plicate themselves for the chance to serve, and
the stout of heart find themselves at a loss to do anything but
acquiesce. Sovereignty's power influences decisions, breaks hearts,
cripples confidence and shakes the ambitious to the foundations of
their determination.
The vibe the vampire gives off makes others quick to surrender,
and the thought of risking his displeasure quails even the heartiest
souls. Raising one's voice to a sovereign Kindred seems unthinkable;
aggressing upon him seems impossible. The power of this level of
Majesty is a terrifying thing to behold, and a difficult thing to rein
in once it's let loose. Elders are wise not to abuse it or use it too
flippantly, as its power is most effective when used both sparingly
and exactingly. Despite its mighty prowess, Sovereignty is a finely
honed tool - a scalpel, rather than a sword.
Cost: 1 Willpower per scene
Dice Pool: Presence + Intimidation + Majesty versus subject's
Composure + Blood Potency
Action: Instant; contested and reflexive
Sovereignty is considered "always active" during scenes in which it
is invoked, though it may be turned off at the Kindred's discretion.
Activating the power requires an instant action. Its capacity is
tested whenever challenged. When the power is at its "normal" level,
people can speak freely around the vampire as long as they don't try
to defy or criticize him, though their demeanor is marked by an
obvious obeisance to the Kindred invoking Sovereignty. Anyone wishing
to attack the vampire, however, whether physically, mystically or
socially, calls the user's Sovereignty into question. A reflexive and
contested roll is made for presiding vampire and would-be attacker.
Note also that, unlike other uses of Majesty, Sovereignty may not
be overcome with the expenditure of a Willpower point and success on
a Composure + Blood Potency roll (see p. 129). The power is defensive
and overwhelming, and it must be countered by a determined foe as
described here.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: A dramatic failure is rolled for the sovereign
vampire. The assailant may attack, use Disciplines or criticize for the
rest of the scene without having to make challenges to the character's
Sovereignty.
Failure: The sovereign character loses or ties the contested roll;
attacks, Discipline uses or criticisms proceed without penalty, but the
attacker feels the weight of his action in every movement.
Success: The sovereign character wins the contested roll by getting
the most successes, and the assault cannot be carried ?ut this turn. A
subsequent attempt calls for another con-tested roll.
Exceptional Success: The sovereign character wins the con-tested
roll with five or more successes, and the would-be assailant cannot attack
or disparage the vampire for the duration of the night.
Note that a contested roll must be made every time some-one wishes
to make a new attack, use a Discipline or criticize the vampire who uses
Sovereignty (with the obvious exception of dramatic failures and
exceptional successes).
The power applies against physical attacks as well as in-tended uses
of Disciplines that could harm or affect the reigning vampire negatively.
Intentions to speak an ill word about or at the sovereign vampire invoke
the same contested roll. If the effort fails, the would-be critic cannot
bring himself to say what he wishes to.
If the presiding vampire responds to aggression by physically attacking
back, he breaks his Sovereignty with respect to that subject alone. Use of
a Discipline in a damaging or negative way against a would-be aggressor also
breaks the spell against that individual alone. All other would-be
combatants, Discipline users or naysayers must continue to overcome the
reigning vampire's power if they wish to turn aggressor. The sovereign
vampire does not break his spell over a subject by disparaging him publicly.
| Suggested Modifiers |
| Modifier |
| Situation
| +3 |
The challenger is a thrall to the sovereign Kindred, under a full
Vinculum to her. |
| <+2/TD>
| Power affects a vampire with whom the user has a blood tie
(see p. 162). |
| +2 |
The challenger is under the second stage of a partial Vinculum
to the sovereign Kindred. |
| +1 |
The challenger is affected by the first stage of a partial
Vinculum to the sovereign Kindred. |
| +1 |
The challenger has already attempted one attack in the scene,
which was denied by the Discipline. |
| __ |
The challenger seeks to attack the sovereign Kindred. |
Disciplines
Nightmare
There's no question that one of the foremost powers of
legendary vampires is the ability t? strike fear in the hearts
of mortal men. Also born of mortal existence, other now
supernatural beings are susceptible. Fear is a fact of existence
that transcends any origins.
Vampires who delve into the dark side of their being often
exploring the Beast or what it means to be monstrous invest in
the Discipline of Nightmare. They learn to bear that which is
terrifying or unholy about their spirits, manifesting their
inhumanity in their appearance or letting unfortunate onlookers
peer deep into the creatures' depraved souls. The results can
take a jaded individual aback or subject an unsuspecting victim
to a fatal physiological reaction (to literally be frightened to
death).
Practitioners of Nightmare explore this route to power for
different reasons. One vampire might exult in his inhuman nature
and enjoy lording over lessers. The Discipline offers immediate
gratification, and these Kindred display what is hideous about
themselves to everyone, hiding it only insofar as they must in
order to observe the secrecy of the Traditions. Other undead
recognize the wisdom or even benevolence that fear affords. What
better way to deal with a problem or avoid a confrontation than
by frightening away an opponent? How better to protect some-one
from harm than by scaring her off? And if one seeks solitude,
striking fear is certainly more effective than issuing threats,
trying to reason with would-be intruders or orchestrating ever
more elaborate means by which to hide.
Note: All uses of Nightmare gain a +2 bonus if the individual
power is turned on a vampire with whom the user has a blood tie
(see p. 162). Naturally, this bonus does not apply to the
subject's resistance.
Disciplines
Nightmare
* Monstrous Countenance
The true face of a vampire is a frightening thing, indeed
made all the more terrifying by the assistance of this entirely
unsubtle Nightmare power. When a Kindred activates Monstrous
Countenance, he does so in conjunction with a ferocious baring
of fangs and a raspy, malevolent hiss. The result is a visage
most foul, one that can make stalwart foes cower at the vampire's
feet.
Cost: -
Dice Pool: Presence + Intimidation + Nightmare versus
subject's Composure + Blood Potency (The Nosferatu clan weakness
does not apply to the Discipline user's roll.)
Action: Contested
An activation roll is made for the vampire, and a reflexive and
contested roll is made for anyone who looks upon him. For a group
of observers, particularly mortals, the Storyteller may roll the
highest Composure of the crowd as an indicator of the group's
reaction. Any onlooker must see the vampire in person; the
character's appearance is frightening on a television or video
camera, but no more so than any special effect. The vampire may
maintain his frightening countenance and manner for the remainder
of the scene and terrify anyone whom he encounters. Record the
successes achieved on the power's activation roll to compare to
all comers' contested rolls.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The vampire is incapable of Monstrous
Countenance for th? remainder of the scene.
Failure: The subject's successes exceed or tie those rolled
for the vampire. The subject is a bit shaken, but otherwise unaffected.
Success: Successes rolled for the vampire exceed those rolled
for the subject. The victim flees the vampire's presence entirely,
using all available means at his disposal to do so. He continues
fleeing for one turn per success rolled and will not come within sight
of the vampire for the remainder of the scene.
Exceptional Success: An exceptional success reduces the subject
to a cowering heap, unable to take any action of his own volition. If
attacked, a terror-stricken foe can defend himself (he is allowed Defense
but not a dodge action), and may attack anyone who attacks him. He cannot
attack the Nightmare-user, even if she is also the source of an attack.
The victim remains terrified as long as the vampire remains in the
vicinity.
Disciplines
Nightmare
* * Dread
While an outward, physical manifestation can strike fear in onlookers, it
is an overt, blunt means by which to prey upon the weak. More insidious
and subtle is a general sense of unease, rising panic and paranoia that
a vampire can engender with this power.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Empathy + Nightmare versus subject's
Composure + Blood Potency (The Nosferatu clan weakness does not apply to
the Discipline user's roll.)
Action: Contested
Gloom, disquiet and uncertainty creeps into the hearts of people around
the vampire. Anyone within three yards per Willpower dot that the vampire
possesses can be affected. One contested roll may be made reflexively for
a crowd of prospective victims probably mortals based on the highest
Composure among them.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The vampire is incapable of Dread for the remainder of
the scene.
Failure: Successes rolled for the subject exceed or tie those rolled
for the vampire. The subject feels no ill effects.
Success: The most successes are rolled for the vampire using Dread.
See the following for results.
Exceptional Success: The roll made for the vampire wins the contested
roll and gets five or more successes. See the following for results. Each
victim also loses a Willpower point.
The atmosphere of fear persists either as long as the vampire concentrates
on it or until the end of the scene, which-ever comes first. If the vampire
does anything else drastic such as attacking someone, performing a dodge
maneuver or activating another Discipline, the effects of Dread cease.
Record the number of successes rolled for the vampire when this power is
activated, and compare it to any rolled for newcomers to the power's area
of effect.Those who lose the contested roll suffer a -2 penalty on all
actions out of an inexplicable rising panic. Nor can they spend Willpower
to gain three extra dice on any rolls, or +2 to any Resistance traits.
(Willpower can be spent to activate capabilities or powers that require
it, however.)
Dread cannot be used selectively on some people surrounding the user,
and not on others. Its effects are all or nothing. Nor can it be used more
than once on any subject in a single scene.
Disciplines
Nightmare
* * * Eye of the Beast
The terrifying nature of the Beast is a horrific reminder of the
fundamental predator-prey dichotomy of existence. Shown the Beast,
another being is reduced to the most primal of instincts, foregoing
all reason and cunning in the face of primeval horror. The vampire
makes eye contact with a subject and reveals the inner core of the
Kindred's being. The Beast looks hungrily upon the subject and
invokes a reaction appropriate to that person's nature. Direct eye
contact is required between vampire and target; looking at someone
over a satellite trans-mission does not apply.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Presence + Empathy + Nightmare versus subject's
Composure + Blood Potency (The Nosferatu clan weakness does not apply
to the Discipline user's roll.)
Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The vampire is incapable of Eye of the Beast
for the remainder of the scene.
Failure: Successes rolled for the subject exceed or tie those
rolled for the vampire. The onlooker is taken aback, but no effect is
triggered.
Success: The most successes are rolled for the vampire against
a mortal. The victim is paralyzed with fear, incapable of moving or
taking any action. If the victim is attacked, his Defense applies and
he may act in the next turn and thereafter, but he must dedicate all
his efforts to escaping the vampire's proximity. Therefore, he doesn't
take time to attack anyone unless doing so is necessary to escaping.
Unmolested, a mortal remains paralyzed as long as the vampire remains
in his presence. If the spell is broken with an attack, the victim
spends the remainder of the scene trying to flee the creature.
Alternatively, the most successes are rolled for the character
against another vampire or another supernatural being that is capable
of frenzy. The victim must flee the vampire for the remainder of the
scene as per the Frenzy rules (see p. 178). Another vampire is subject
to Rötschreck, for example. In this case, if successes rolled for the
subject tie those rolled for the character, the subject simply frenzies
for the remainder of the turn without fleeing, attacking anyone near
him. That might include the user of Eye of the Beast.
Exceptional Success: As a success, but the subject also loses
a point of Willpower.
Disciplines
Nightmare
* * * * Shatter the Mind
No description can be given to this level of Nightmare mastery other
than inhumane brutality. And yet, the power is horribly insidious for
affecting only a victim's mind, leaving the body untouched. The
vampire confronts a subject with her greatest fear, driving her mad.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Empathy + Nightmare versus subject's
Composure + Blood Potency (The Nosferatu clan weakness does not apply
to the Discipline user's roll.)
Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The vampire is incapable of using Shatter
the Mind for the remainder of the scene.
Failure: Successes rolled for the subject exceed or tie those
rolled for the vampire. There is no effect.
Success: The most successes are rolled for the user of the
power. The victim loses her next action as she reels from the vision
with which she is confronted. Her Defense still applies, but she
cannot perform a dodge maneuver. All other actions for the remainder
of the scene are performed at -1, and she loses one Willpower point.
The victim is subject to a mild derangement (see the World of Darkness
Rulebook, p. 97) for a number of weeks equal to the successes rolled
for the Discipline user. The Storyteller decides what the derangement
is. If the victim already has a mild derangement, the Story-teller
can upgrade it to a severe one for the duration.
Exceptional Success: The roll made for the vampire wins the
contested roll and gets five or more successes. The victim falls
unconscious and remains so until the end of the scene. Upon waking,
she loses one Willpower dot and is subject to a severe derangement
of the Storyteller's choosing. This ailment is permanent unless the
victim can over-come it through treatment (addressed in the World
of Darkness Rulebook on p. 96)
By use of this power, a vampire actually inflicts no physical
harm upon the subject. He simply awakens her thoughts to the most
horrific thing that she can imagine befalling her, and her
subconscious mind proceeds from there. The victim imagines that a
doomed fate befalls her, regardless of how implausible or nonsensical
it might be under the circumstances - drowning while walking down a
city street, for example. And yet, she imagines and is convinced that
the situation occurs all the same.
Once used successfully on a victim, Shatter the Mind can-not be
applied against her again in that scene by a vampire.
Disciplines
Nightmare
* * * * * Mortal Fear
At this point, the vampire is able to inspire fear as a weapon
unto itself. A victim is so thoroughly and intensely frightened by
the vampire that he suffers physical damage. He ages prematurely,
his hair turns white and his heart stops temporarily or permanently.
Even other vampires can be affected. They're reminded of what fear
meant back during their breathing days, no matter how long ago those
days might have been. The subject must be able to see the vampire
employing this power for it to take effect.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Presence + Intimidation + Nightmare Composure
(The Nosferatu clan weakness does not apply to the Discipline user's
roll.)
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The vampire is incapable of inflicting Mortal
Fear for the remainder of the scene.
Failure: No successes are achieved. While the subject is taken
aback, he suffers no pain or other effects.
Success: Each success inflicts a point of lethal damage on a
living being, whether mortal or supernatural in nature, including
ghouls. Each success costs another vampire a Will-power point.
Exceptional Success: As a success, except the victim also
loses a Willpower dot.
The power can be used on only one target at a time. A crowd
of onlookers may see the activating vampire, but he wracks the body
and soul of only one of those people. Other onlookers see nothing
particularly frightening. Once used successfully on a victim, Mortal
Fear cannot be applied against him again in that scene by any vampire.
Disciplines
Obfuscate
Night-dwellers, predators by nature and keepers of the Masquerade,
vampires are inherently (and necessarily) creatures of secrecy and
stealth. From hiding minute objects to the ability to appear as someone
else to the power to fade from sight entirely, the Discipline of
Obfuscate grants the Kindred uncanny powers of concealment, stealth and
deception.
Obfuscate clouds the mind in practice. For example, a character
hiding an object by using this Discipline doesn't actually make the
object disappear, nor does someone using the Discipline to hide
himself truly vanish. Rather, the mind sees "around" the Obfuscated
object, refusing to acknowledge it, even if that requires a bit of
filling in mental blanks. To continue the example, if a character
Obfuscated a large sheet of plywood and tried to hide behind it
herself, those looking at the plywood would, in-deed, see the
character lurking behind it but not see the plywood itself.
The shroud of Obfuscate is very difficult to penetrate. Few
Kindred or other supernatural creatures can see through it, and only
under the rarest of circumstances do mortals have any hope. Because
they operate on a less conscious and mostly instinctual level, however,
animals often perceive a vampire's presence - and react with
appropriate fear or hostility - even if they cannot detect him with
their normal senses. Similarly, children, the mentally ill and others
who see the world in ways not quite normal might pierce the deception
at the Storyteller's discretion.
Some Kindred with Auspex are able to see through Obfuscate, or
at least sense the presence of a supernatural deception. Refer to the
"Clash of Wills" sidebar on p. 119 for details.
It's important to note that Obfuscate affects the viewer's mind,
rather than making any true physical change to the vampire. Thus, the
Discipline is not effective at cloaking a character from mechanical
devices. Photographs, video cam-eras and the like record the normal
blurred image that all vampires leave in such media, not the assumed
appearance. Obfuscate does affect any individual currently using the
re-cording device, however, so someone videotaping an Obfuscated
vampire sees the illusion when looking through the lens, discovering
the truth only later when he reviews the tape itself.
Unless stated otherwise, Obfuscate powers require very little
concentration to maintain once invoked, and they last for the duration
of a scene.
Disciplines
Obfuscate
* Touch of Shadow
This first level of Obfuscate allows the vampire to conceal
small items, either in her grasp or on her person. If she is
skilled enough, even a thorough search fails to turn up a hidden
object. Increasingly larger objects might be hidden if the
Discipline user is particularly adept.
Cost: -
Dice Pool: Wits + Larceny + Obfuscate
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The attempt fails and the user actually
draws attention to the fact that she's trying to hide some-thing.
Further uses of Obfuscate against people present to witness the
dramatic failure incur a -1 penalty for the remainder of the scene.
Failure: The attempt fails.
Success: The character can hide a single object from sight,
unless someone actively searches for that specific item. Indeed,
"specific" is very literal here a character looking for "an
Obfuscated book" does not find it, though she does if she's looking
for "the Ordo Dracul Kogaion's handwritten and leather-bound copy
of 17th-century rituals" and has seen it before.
Exceptional Success: The character hides the object even if a
searcher knows exactly what she seeks.
The player must declare which specific item is concealed and the
power must be invoked separately for each item.
If the roll succeeds, the item goes undetected. Perhaps a
careful search such as a pat-down or close examination reveals it,
along with a Wits + Composure roll, successes from which must exceed
those rolled for the activation of the power. As with all Obfuscate
abilities, a character with Auspex might be able to see through Touch
of Shadow (though he would still have to find the object normally if
it were inside a pocket or otherwise physically concealed from view).
Once the character does anything to draw attention to the object - such
as deliberately showing it to someone or using it t? attack or
threaten - Touch of Shadow ends. If someone successfully detects the
item, he can point it out to
others. A Wits + Composure roll is made for each such per-son, and
successes achieved must exceed those acquired in the Wits + Larceny +
Obfuscate roll made for the Discipline user. If an onlooker's
successes aren't high enough, he still doesn't recognize the item,
even when it's pointed out.
Note that this power affects only the item in question. A character
could not, for example, conceal a mailbox and then hide behind it or
conceal a computer and hide a stake beneath it. The mailbox or computer
would indeed be concealed but the character or stake would not.
Once invoked, Touch of Shadow lasts for a scene or until ended
prematurely.
| Suggested Modifiers |
| Modifier |
Situation |
| +2 |
A tiny item, one easily concealed in the palm of a hand. |
| +1 |
An item that can be hidden in a pants pocket. An item
that can be squeezed into a pants pocket or easily hidden
in a jacket pocket. |
| -1 |
An item that can only barely be squeezed into a large
jacket pocket. |
| -2 |
An item that can be concealed under a jacket without too
obvious a bulge. |
| -3 |
An item too large to be naturally hidden, but still small
enough to be carried easily. |
| -3 |
The "item" is actually an abstract ideal or negative space,
such as a hallway or portal to another room. If a closed door
seals th? portal, this is not subject to the penalty, as all the
Kindred needs to do is hide the door, not the portal itself. |
| -4 |
An item as large as the vampire herself, such as a motorcycle. |
| -5 |
An item bigger than the vampire herself, such as a car or large
shipping crate, but smaller than five times th? vampire's Size. |
Apocryphal tales insist that sepulchers, tractor-trailers and even
entire buildings have been hidden from the sight of others, but that's
just not possible... is it?
Disciplines
Obfuscate
* * Mask of Tranquility
The Kindred masters the art of hiding himself to such a degree
that he may subvert some of the stains that undeath leaves upon his
soul. A vampire who knows this power can mask his Kindred nature
from onlookers, leaving them with-out the impression that the
Predator's Taint inflicts.
Cost: -
Dice Pool: This power involves no roll, and is considered
"always on." The character does not trigger the Predator's Taint
(see p. 168). Therefore, the character doesn't even appear as a
vampire to other Kindred who see him. Kindred who can discern auras
fail to register the vampire as undead; his aura is no different
from a mortal's (the colors are not pale like a normal Kindred's).
Note that this power doesn't render the user immune to the Predator's
Taint himself, he merely doesn't cause the reaction in others.
The character may turn off this power if he wishes, but such is
an all-or-nothing proposition. He may not turn off certain aspects of
this power and keep others active. Note also that uses of Auspex may
call this power into question see the "Clash of Wills" sidebar on
p. 119 for details.
Action: N/A
Disciplines
Obfuscate
* * * Cloak of Night
An essential expression of the Kindred's secretive nature,
Cloak of Night allows a vampire to literally fade from sight,
becoming completely invisible to observers. Though it's easiest
to invoke the capability out of sight, Cloak of Night is so potent
that it allows the vampire to vanish even under direct observation.
The actual process of fading away is subtle, but its effect on
witnesses might not be. Mortals are likely to panic and flee the
area, or to find some way to justify what they've witnessed, even
if it means constructing new memories of the event. ("I glanced away
for a moment, and when I looked back I think I saw him leave through
that door.") Some especially weak-willed mortals might simply forget
the vampire was ever present at all. Kindred, of course, tend to be
less strongly impacted, though even an experienced and knowledgeable
vampire might find the experience somewhat startling.
Cost:
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Stealth + Obfuscate
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character believes he has vanished from
sight, when in fact he has not.
Failure: The character does not vanish at all, and knows it.
Success: The character vanishes from sight. Mortal witnesses
reconstruct the scene in their memory to justify the character's
disappearance if successes achieved on the invocation roll exceed
their Willpower dots.
Exceptional Success: Five or more successes are rolled for the
Discipline user. The character vanishes from sight. See preceding text
for the effect on mortals. Kindred witnesses reconstruct the scene in
their memory to justify the character's disappearance if successes
gained on the invocation roll exceed their Willpower dots.
Successful use of Cloak of Night renders the character in-visible
until and unless he does something to draw attention (launching an
attack, smashing a window, shouting a warning), in which case the cloak
drops.
Hiding oneself with this power even accounts for a character
inadvertently revealing himself. A vampire doesn't accidentally bump
into bystanders, as they subconsciously move out of his way. No one hears
when he steps on a squeaky floorboard unless they have somehow already
pierced his Obfuscate.
| Suggested Modifiers |
| Modifier |
Situation |
| +1 |
Character is by himself when he activates the power. |
| __ |
Character vanishes before a single witness. |
| -1 |
Each witness after the first present when a character invokes
the power. |
Disciplines
Obfuscate
* * * * The Familiar Stranger
This power allows the character to assume the image of whomever the
subject most expects to see under the circumstances in which they meet.
The character has no say in whom he "becomes." In fact, he is not even
immediately aware of what aspect he is perceived to have, unless the target
gives the identity away through verbal or behavioral clues. For this reason,
The Familiar Stranger is best used under circumstances when contact between
the character and the subject is likely to be brief. Otherwise, the
character runs a substantial risk of giving the deception away through
improper behavior.
Note that this power does not actually change the vampire's true
appearance. It merely convinces an onlooker that the Kindred is someone
other than who he truly is by clouding the subject's mind.
Cost: -
Dice Pool: Wits + Subterfuge + Obfuscate versus subject's Resolve +
Blood Potency
Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character believes she is accepted differently,
when in fact she is recognized as herself.
Failure: The vampire loses or ties the contested action. The
character's recognition does not change, and the vampire is aware of the
failed attempt. Onlookers see the vampire for who she is.
Success: The vampire wins the contested action and is recognized as
someone else for the duration of the scene.
Exceptional Success: Five or more successes are rolled for the
Discipline user. The vampire wins the contested action and is accepted as
someone else for as long as she wishes, rather than for the scene.
If faced with more than one observer, the character must choose one and
hope the others expect to see the same person. Success in the contested
action indicates that the character assumes the aspect of whomever the
chosen subject most expects to see, and the others see that person as well,
even if they have no knowledge of him or her. The character himself does not
gain any knowledge of the individual, and might prove unable to maintain the
deception for long. A character with Auspex can potentially see through this
disguise, as per the normal rules for Auspex versus Obfuscate (see p. 119).
Note also that it's entirely possible that the next person the subject
thought she would see is the vampire himself....
Example: Scratch uses The Familiar Stranger to appear before a child at
home, who is attended by a babysitter. Three successes are rolled for him
and none are rolled for the child. The child sees Scratch and shrieks,
"Daddy!" which alerts the babysitter - who sees a person who she assumes
is the child's father.
| Suggested Modifiers |
| Modifier |
Situation |
| +2 |
Character knows for a fact who the subject expects to see. |
| +2 |
Power is turned on a vampire with whom the user has a blood
tie (see p. 162). |
| __ |
Character has no idea who the subject expects. |
| -1 |
Character displays an emotion or undertakes an action not
entirely appropriate to the circumstances. |
| -2 |
Character displays an emotion or undertakes action clearly
out of place under the circumstances, or one largely foreign to
the person whose appearance he mimics. |
Disciplines
Obfuscate
* * * * * Cloak the Gathering
A more powerful manifestation of Cloak of Night, Cloak the
Gathering allows the vampire to extend her powers of vanishing
from the mind's eye over others.
Cost: -
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Stealth + Obfuscate
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic failure: The character believes that he and his
entourage vanishes from sight, when in fact they do not.
Failure: The characters do not vanish at all.
Success: The characters vanish from sight. Mortal witnesses
reconstruct the scene in their memory to justify the characters'
disappearance if successes achieved on the invocation roll exceed
their Willpower dots.
Exceptional Success: Five or more successes are rolled and
the characters vanish from sight. Check previous for the effect on
mortals. Kindred witnesses reconstruct the scene in their memory to
justify the characters' disappearance if successes gained on the
invocation roll exceed their Willpower dots.
A vampire can hide one extra individual per dot of Obfuscate she
possesses, not counting herself. She may attempt to hide more, but in
doing so invokes a penalty to the player's roll.
While under the effects of this power, each individual must obey
the rules of Cloak of Night. That is, anyone who draws attention
through loud or brash actions likely becomes visible. If the Discipline
user herself becomes visible, the effect fades away utterly, exposing
everyone involved. Vampires under the effects of Cloak the Gathering can
see each other, but if an individual ever leaves the sight of the vampire
extending "invisibility," the power ceases for him. He becomes visible
while the rest of the characters remain hidden.
| Suggested Modifiers |
| Modifier |
Situation |
| +1 |
Character is with only those to whom she extends this power when
she activates it. |
| __ |
Characters vanish before a single witness. -1 Each witness after
the first present when a character invokes the power. |
| -1 |
Each person Obfuscated beyond the number equal to the character's
level of Obfuscate, not counting the character herself. |
Disciplines
Protean
Easily one of the most overtly spectacular of the gifts of the
Damned, the Discipline of Protean is the study of physical
metamorphosis and transformation. The nature of this power is hotly
debated among the Kindred, for its abilities are so varied while
simultaneously stemming from no obvious aspect of the Curse. Whatever
its cause or origin, Protean allows its masters to assume virtually
any form or shape.
Since the core of a vampire's self doesn't alter with his shape,
a transformed Kindred can generally take any action or use any
Discipline that his new form can reasonably allow. Gangrel in the
form of a cloud of mist, for example, could read auras (as the sense
of sight doesn't vanish), but couldn't Dominate someone effectively
(as the prerequisite eye contact can no longer be established). A
vampire's clothes and personal effects change shape with him, but
he cannot normally trans-mute especially large objects or other
creatures.
Unless stated otherwise, Protean powers - being permanent physical
changes - last as long as the vampire wishes them to, or until he is
forced into torpor. Any state that pre-vents the character from taking
action (such as being staked) likewise prevents transformation; the
vampire needs the freedom to invoke his will.
Disciplines
Protean
* Aspect of the Predator
The most basic ability of this Discipline allows a vampire to
project a supernatural mien of savage predatory ferocity.
Cost: -
Dice Pool: This power involves no roll. A character is not
subject to the usual relationships of Blood Potency upon meeting an
unknown Kindred for the first time. If the character's Blood Potency
is lower than that of the unknown Kindred, treat it as equal. If the
character's Blood Potency is equal to or higher than the unknown
Kindred, this power has no effect.
A character may choose to suspend this power if he so de-sires,
but if he does, it ceases to function for an entire scene. He may
not selectively apply it to individual vampires he meets within
that scene.
Action: N/A
Disciplines
Protean
* * Haven of Soil
The vampire who has achieved this much prized level of mastery
over Protean has learned how to meld his form with that of any
natural substance. One can blend his form only with simple soil at
first, but with time and experience he can eventually learn how to
conjoin with other elements. While so interred, the character is
immune to threat of harm from the sun's rays, or to any physical
attack as his corporeal form is actually merged with that of the
substance itself. Some Gangrel rely on this ability while traveling
from domain to domain, as its power gives them the ultimate freedom to
do so.
This style of rest is the method of choice for many Kindred who must
enter torpor. Whiling away the decades in a largely protected state, free
from risk of detection or Final Death, is an attractive prospect. While
such a character cannot be dug up, any significant disturbance to the area
in which he resides alerts the vampire to the presence of intruders,
though not necessarily to the details of their intrusion. If enough damage
is done to the sleeping Kindred's resting place, he returns immediately to
corporeal form (and full wakefulness) in a shower of whatever substance he
had taken for his haven.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: No roll is necessary. Becoming one with a natural
substance is automatic and takes a character's action in a turn to
complete. While in this state, the character's consciousness hovers
slightly above the torpor level (unless the vampire is both in torpor and
in this state, in which case he is unaware), making perception of his
surroundings distant at best. A player must succeed in a Humanity roll in
order for his character to be aware of the presence of others in or around
his place of rest (barring significant alteration t? the vampire's haven,
of course, in which case he becomes aware automatically).
Since the character is literally part of the earth, all attempts at
locating him (via his scent, his aura or even through mystical methods of
tracking) suffer a -3 penalty to their dice pools. Indeed, a searcher is
likely to be confounded a bit even if he is successful. No attack can harm
the interred vampire while he is in this state; a significant disruption of
his surroundings can only cause him to resurface.
When this power is first acquired, the character can meld his form only
with natural earth or soil. If any other sub-stance including asphalt, wood
or concrete lies in the way between the vampire and natural ground, he
cannot activate this power. (He must dig his way to natural soil or else
find a way to stand thereupon.) With the expenditure of an additional three
experience points, however, the vampire can select another natural substance
from the following list: wood, water, natural stone or processed stone.
"Processed stone" includes varieties of prepared surfacing materials such as
concrete and asphalt. He can now meld into soil and this extra substance with
equal ease. Thus, if his player spends 12 experience points, a vampire can
rest in all five materials virtually anywhere. Note that there must still be
enough of a substance to accommodate the vampire's form in roughly his natural
Size. (A large tree trunk might suffice, but a small branch does not.) Those
who meld with water leave a barely visible, humanoid-shaped outline just below
the surface, but are otherwise just as protected and concealed as though they
were inside soil.
Action: Instant
Disciplines
Protean
* * * Claws of the Wild
Upon activation of this power, the vampire's nails grow into long, fearsome
talons, capable of rending bone and flesh alike. This power makes many Gangrel
truly fearsome combatants, and other Kindred tend to give them a wide berth.
Note that not every vampire's claws look the same. Some seem to be modeled
after real-world animals', such as wolves', tigers' or the talons of birds of
prey, while other claws seem to have no natural correlative at all. As might be
expected, when these last vampires unsheathe their claws, they tend to greatly
unnerve those around them.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: This power involves no roll. The wicked claws grow by silent
act of will on the part of the vampire, and they can be sprouted from both a
vampire's hands and feet.
Imbued with the unholy power of Vitae, these ferocious weapons offer a +1
bonus to attack pools in unarmed close combat, and inflict aggravated damage.
Of course, these bonuses require that the character actually attacks with his
claws - one cannot invoke Claws of the Wild and then gain a +1 bonus and
aggravated damage if attacking with an axe or pistol, for example. In addition
to their combat potential, the claws add two dice to any climbing-related rolls
as long as they remain invoked. The claws remain for the scene unless the
vampire retracts them prematurely.
Action: Reflexive
Disciplines
Protean
* * * * Shape of the Beast
The canon of vampire legend is filled with stories of undead lords taking
the semblance of the "children of the night." This power is the source of
those legends. With it, a Kindred can take the shape of an ordinary animal,
most commonly a bat or a wolf. While in this form, the vampire retains his
mind and temperament, but he can call upon the physical qualities of his
newfound body (increased speed and senses as a wolf, sonar sense and flight as
a bat). With time and experience, the character can learn to adopt the other
form (bat or wolf) or others.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: This power requires no roll to activate. The transformation
from human to animal or back again requires a character's action in a turn.
All clothing and small possessions shift with the vampire, and he can remain
in his animal state until he chooses to shift back. A vampire can even sleep
the day away in animal form, but must still avoid sunlight, which always
affects vampires regardless of form. In addition, sleeping in animal form is
taxing on the vampiric state, requiring the expenditure of an additional Vitae
upon awakening.
While in animal form, a vampire can use any Discipline in his repertoire
except for Theban Sorcery, Crúac and Dominate (which becomes impossible when
one tries to bark and yip commands). Each animal form conveys a separate
rate host of benefits. As a wolf, the vampire's claws and teeth inflict lethal
damage and add a +1 bonus to attack pools, Speed is doubled, and two bonus dice
are added to any Wits + Composure rolls to be aware of events that hap-pen in
the wolf's environment. As a bat, the vampire's Strength becomes 1, but he can
fly at a Speed of 20 (plus five more per dot of Vigor activated); three dice
are added to all hearing-based rolls, and Defense increases by two.
(At the player's discretion, he may spend another Vitae and allow a character
in wolf form or any other suitable form as described here to activate Claws of
the Wild. As with normal uses of that power, these claws are obviously
supernatural or otherwise remarkable, and even those unfamiliar with the world
of the Damned will know that something is not quite right about the animal in
question. A character who has assumed Shape of the Beast and also activates
Claws of the Wild gains a +1 bonus to attack pools and inflicts aggravated
damage instead of gaining a +1 bonus to attack pools and inflicting lethal
damage with claw attacks.)
When this power is first acquired, only bat or wolf form is avail-able.
With Storyteller permission, every three experience points spent allows
a character access to the other form, or to an altogether different predatory
animal, usually a mammal, although it's rumored that Kindred in far-flung lands
can assume the forms of predatory and scavenger birds. Storytellers are
encouraged to use the models given here and on p. 202-203 of the World of
Darkness Rulebook as examples of animal traits.
A vampire in animal form is not subject to the Animalism Discipline.
Dominate may still be used on him in whatever form - human or animal he
assumes.
Action: Instant
Disciplines
Protean
* * * * * Body of Spirit
The pinnacle of most vampires' achievement in the trans-figuring art,
this power enables a Kindred to transform his entire body into a fine,
chilling mist. As a small cloud of vapor, the character can float along
above the ground at his normal Speed, slipping under doors and in between
screens with ease. Although especially strong winds can divert him from
his desired course for a time, not even gale-force winds can fully disperse
his misty essence.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: This power involves no roll to invoke. The full change
takes one action to complete. If a strong enough wind picks up, the
character's vaporous body could be subjected to unwanted direction change
if he does not resist successfully. Roll Strength (plus any Vigor that the
vampire activates). There's no modifier for alight wind. A strong one
imposes a -1 penalty, and a gale-force wind imposes a -3 penalty. A success
allows the vampire to travel in any direction desired for the turn, even
against the wind. An exceptional success allows him to travel in any
direction for the remainder of the scene. A failure indicates that the
vampire is pushed by the wind for one turn at the speed it travels. And a
dramatic failure causes the vampire to blow out of control (but still as a
cohesive whole) for the entire scene.
While in mist form, the character is immune to all physical attacks,
which merely pass through his gaseous body. Mystical attacks, however, still
affect him normally, though mystical at-tacks that use mundane methods of
delivery are similarly ineffective (such as claws or enchanted physical
weapons) Even fire and sunlight inflict one less point of damage than
normal. The trade-off, of course, is that a vampire in this state cannot
physically attack anyone (not even another vampire using this power).
Disciplines that do not require a body might still be effective, though. A
vampire in gaseous form can use any Discipline he knows except for Theban
Sorcery, Crúac and Dominate (which is useless when he has no eyes with which
to make contact and no mouth with which to speak commands).
A vampire in mist form cannot be "bottled" or otherwise trapped in part
by someone trying to contain or disrupt his form. Bottling a portion of a
vampire's mist doesn't cause him to resume human form without an arm, for
example. A vampire's entire mist form can be contained in a room or other
large space that is airtight. Of course, the question arises of how one can
lure a vampire in mist form into an airtight room, or how one even has access
to an airtight room.
Action: Instant
Disciplines
Resilience
Legends abound of vampires who are able to withstand even the most brutal
punishment to their unliving forms. While all Kindred possess a certain
degree of the toughness of which these tales speak, those with the Discipline
of Resilience are commensurately more stalwart. Vampires with several dots of
Resilience are capable of walking through a hail of bullets, shrugging off even
the most punishing blows, and even resisting the deadly claws and fangs of
supernatural foes.
Cost: 1 Vitae per scene
Dice Pool: Resilience is unlike many other Disciplines in that it is not
actively rolled. Rather, it provides an augmentation of physical potential that
lasts for the scene in which it is activated, and which affects other rolls.
Each dot of Resilience increases the character's Stamina by one for the scene
in which the Discipline is active. This bonus also increases the character's
Health dots during the scene. Resilience may not be invoked more than once per
scene. That is, you may not spend a second Vitae and double the benefits of the
power.
Example: Prince Maxwell is a Ventrue with Resilience 4 and Stamina 4. While
returning to his haven, he encounters a resentful Kindred whom he snubbed at
Elysium two nights before. Just to be sure, Maxwell activates his Resilience - his
Stamina in-creases to 8 and his Health dots increase to 13 (Size 5 + Stamina 4 +
Resilience 4).
Additionally, Resilience "downgrades" a number of aggravated damage points per
scene equal to Resilience dots. This damage becomes lethal instead. Aggravated wounds
suffered in excess of the character's Resilience dots remain aggravated, however. This
downgrade doesn't apply to any aggravated wounds that the vampire already possesses,
just to newly acquired ones suffered while Resilience is active. (In the pre-ceding
example, Maxwell would be able to downgrade no more than four points in total.)
Example: Maxwell is engaged in combat with a witch-hunter, who clubs him with a
flaming torch. The torch inflicts five points of aggravated damage - but Maxwell's
Resilience of 4 downgrades that to four points of lethal damage, with one point of
aggravated damage remaining.
Note that the extra Health dots a character gains in a scene while Resilience is
active can have consequences later. If a vampire suffers more damage than he has his
usual Health dots, those excess wounds upgrade existing wounds (bashing becomes
lethal, lethal becomes aggravated) as per the damage rules on p. 171-172 of the World
of Darkness Rulebook. In other words, once the character's Resilience "powers down" at
the end of the scene and the extra Health dots that the power confers are lost, he
might have to con-tend with more serious wounds than initially harmed him unless he
heals them while Resilience is still active. See the "Temporary Health Dots" sidebar
on p. 173 of the World of Darkness Rulebook to see what happens when extra Health is
lost.
Also, if a character suffers damage that upgrades her Health chart, Resilience does
not downgrade it. For example, if a character with seven Health dots and a single dot
of Resilience suffers nine points of lethal damage, that ninth point stays aggravated.
The other eight points are recorded normally as lethal (seven for the Health dots plus
one for the Resilience), but the ninth stays aggravated as it upgrades the leftmost box
on the character's Health chart. If that's all the damage the character suffers by the
end of the scene, another of those points of lethal damage upgrades to an aggravated
wound once Resilience ceases and the character's Health dots drop to seven again.
Kindred with Resilience are advised to be wise in combat, though they might feel
invulnerable while invoking the Discipline.
Action: Instant
Disciplines
Vigor
Nearly every vampire legend across the globe expresses the preternatural
strength possessed by the undead. In truth, not all Kindred possess such
inhuman might, but the Discipline of Vigor makes those who do far more
powerful than any mortal could ever hope to be. Vigor allows Kindred to
strike opponents with the force of a falling boulder or speeding car; to
lift enormous weights as though they were paper; to shatter concrete like
glass; to leap distances so great that those elders with obscenely high
levels of Vigor may, in fact, be responsible for legends of vampiric flight.
Cost:1 Vitae per scene
Dice Pool: Vigor is unlike many other Disciplines in that it is not
actively rolled. Rather, it provides an increase of physical strength that
lasts the duration of the scene in which it is activated, affecting other
rolls.
Each dot of Vigor increases the character's Strength by one while the
Discipline is active. Vigor cannot be invoked more than once per scene.
That is, you may not spend a second Vitae and double the benefits of the
power. Note also that certain derived traits (such as Speed) might also be
affected by the use of Vigor.
Example: Solomon has Vigor 3 and Strength 4. He is surprised to find
a ghoul creeping about his haven after he returns from a meeting with the
Prince. Solomon decides to teach this ghoul a lesson and activates his
Vigor his Strength increases to 7 for the duration of the scene. The ghoul's
eyes widen in fear, anticipating the brutal beating she's no doubt about to
receive.
Additionally, a character's Vigor affects his ability to jump. The dice
pool to jump, as per p. 66 of the World of Darkness Rulebook, is Strength +
Athletics + any relevant equipment. When using Vigor to augment a jump, the
character's Vigor dots are added to the number of feet leapt per success. On
a vertical leap, a character jumps (Vigor + one foot per success rolled). For
a standing broad jump, the character jumps (Vigor + 2 feet per success
rolled). On a running jump, the distance jumped is Size + (Vigor + 4 feet per
success rolled). For example, say a character has Strength 3, Athletics 3,
Size 5 and Vigor 2 and makes a vertical leap. Six dice are rolled and three
successes are achieved. The character leaps nine feet upward (2 Vigor + 1
foot, multiplied by the three successes rolled). Now say the character makes
a running jump. The character crosses a base of 5 feet + another 6 (2+4) per
success rolled. If he gets three successes, that's 23 feet (6 more feet then
he would have achieved without Vigor).
Action: Instant
Disciplines
Crúac
Crúac is the common name for the pagan blood sorcery practiced by the
Circle of the Crone. A type of ritual magic, Crúac, meaning "crescent," is
a mixture of pre-Christian and pagan magic from across the globe whose only
common element is a reliance on blood sacrifice. Crúac is denounced by many
traditional Kindred as "black magic" or "witchcraft," and in areas where
the Lancea Sanctum holds sway, Crúac's known practitioners are occasionally
persecuted as heretics. Of course, it is such very derision and fear of
Crúac that leads many to the Circle of the Crone and, by extension, to this
Discipline's study. The Circle of the Crone's message of empowerment speaks
to many a neonate, and for some there is no greater expression of that
empowerment than this Discipline.Crúac is one of the central mysteries of
the Circle of the Crone's belief structure, as well as a potent weapon in
the covenant's arsenal. As might be expected, knowledge of the Discipline
is a closely guarded secret. New initiates are not usually trusted with its
secrets. As a new member in a quasi-religious Kindred faction, a vampire
might well have to prove his loyalty to the Circle through tests and ordeals
before its adherents are willing to share their knowledge. Though vampires
who leave the Circle of the Crone for other covenants invariably take their
knowledge with them, many find it all but impossible to increase their
knowledge of Crúac outside the Circle's structure. A character must have at
least one dot of Covenant Status (Circle of the Crone) in order to learn
Crúac. A player who buys at least one dot worth of that Merit at character
creation may spend one of his character's three Discipline dots on Crúac if
he wishes. Any time a player wants to increase his character's Crúac score,
the character must still have at least one dot of Covenant Status (Circle of
the Crone) to do so.
Because of myriad cultural differences within the Circle of the Crone,
many rituals exist that approximate the following ones in effect if not in
name. Thus, the level-one ritual Pangs of Proserpina may be known as the
Appetite of Limba in New Orleans or the Curse of Tawrich in Tehran. Other
Vampire books offer new Crúac rituals, and players and Storytellers are
encouraged to create their own using those presented here as models.
Cost: Uses of Crúac always cost at least one Vitae. Unless the text for a
specific power (known as a ritual) specifies otherwise, assume that the
cost is one Vitae. Vitae plays a very important role in the use of Crúac
it liter-ally calls upon the power inherent in the Blood to fuel
supernatural effects. Use of Crúac requires that the Vitae be "spent" in
a visible or otherwise significant manner. For example, when a Vitae is
spent for a character to activate a ritual, he likely has to cut himself
with a dagger and bleed on the ground, activating the magic with the
spilled Vitae (or through some other direct appeal to the power of the
Blood).
Crúac does not have the same linear progression that other Disciplines
do. A character's mastery dictates the highest level of rituals that he
may learn. Rituals are bought with experience points. For example, a
character with two dots of Crúac can know an unlimited number of level-one
and level-two rituals (provided the experience points to learn each of them
are paid). He may not learn any level-three Crúac rituals until his Crúac
dots increase to 3. Each time a character acquires a dot of Crúac
(including at character creation), he gains a ritual of that level at no
additional cost.
Crúac is insidious. It demands a certain degree of subservience and
even cruelty from its practitioners, possibly in deference to the dire old
gods from whence the Discipline is rumored to come. For some power-hungry
sorcerers, Crúac indulges the will instead of enlightened use of the
Discipline. A character's dots in this Discipline, subtracted from 10, is
the maximum to which his Humanity may rise. For example, the Gangrel Roland
Gentry possesses Crúac at level three. His maximum Humanity is therefore 7.
If a character increases his Crúac score higher than his Humanity would
normally allow, his Humanity immediately drops to the appropriate level and
the player makes a Humanity roll to see if the character acquires a
derangement in the process of heightening his occult knowledge. (See pp.
182-188 for more on Humanity rolls and derangements.)
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Occult + Crúac. Because of its sanguinary
nature, Crúac doubles any bonuses that a vampire's blood ties might apply,
such as in a ritual per-formed on a sire, gr?nds?r?, childe or grandchilde.
Also, the Nosferatu clan weakness does not apply to the Discipline user's
roll.
Action: Extended.
The number of successes required to activate a ritual is equal to the
level of the ritual (so a level-three ritual requires three successes to
enact). Each roll represents one turn of ritual casting. Note also that
each point of damage suffered in a turn is a penalty to the next casting
roll made for the character, in addition to any wound penalties that a
caster might suffer.
Costs to activate Crúac rituals must be paid before the roll can be
made. Normally this isn't an issue, as a ritual that costs one Vitae can
have its activation roll made in the same turn (as spending Vitae is a
reflexive action). In some cases, though, a ritual costs more Vitae than
the caster can spend in a single turn. In cases like these, the caster's
player makes the roll on the turn he (reflexively) spends the last Vitae
necessary to invoke the ritual.
If a character fails to complete the ritual in time (such as by being
killed before accumulating enough successes) or decides to cancel the
ritual before garnering enough successes to activate it, the effect simply
fails. Any Vitae expenditures made are not recovered, however.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The ritual fails spectacularly, inflicting some
aspect of itself as a detrimental effect upon the caster. A ritual intended
to damage a subject inflicts its damage upon the caster, for example, while
a ritual designed to plague its victim with pangs of hunger visits its
effects upon the caster.
Failure: The ritual fails entirely, but not dangerously. Vitae is
consumed as normal, but the ritual has no effect.
Success: The ritual takes place as described.
Exceptional Success: The ritual takes place as described. In many cases,
extra successes are their own reward, causing additional damage or
conferring extra duration, capacity or similar benefits.
Unless specified otherwise, rituals last for the duration of a scene
or until the next sunrise, whichever comes first.
| Suggested Modifiers |
| Modifier |
Situation |
| +4 |
Power is turned on or applies to a vampire with whom the user
has a blood tie (see p. 162). The character is unaffected by
threats or distractions. |
| -1 to -3 |
The character is rushed or distracted, such as by invoking a
ritual in combat or while being harried by pursuers. This penalty
is cumulative with multiple distractions (such as by casting a
ritual in combat during a hurrican?). Successes gained on a
meditation roll for the night (seep. 51 of the World of Darkness
Rulebook) offset interruption penalties on a one-for-one basis. |
Disciplines
Crúac
Pangs of Proserpina
(Level-One Crúac Ritual)
The sorcerer causes feelings of intense hunger in a subject, who
must be within sight. The afflicted subject feels the desire to eat or
feed. Activation involves a contested roll against the subject's
Composure + Blood Potency, and resistance is reflexive. If the
performer gets the most successes, the victim avails himself of any
sustenance available. A mortal even eats raw meat, though he doesn't
resort to such dire acts as cannibalism or drinking blood. Kindred might
attack nearby vessels or even fellow vampires if their hunger is severe
enough to make them frenzy. Even after he eats or feeds, a subject's
rapacity does not subside until the effects of the ritual pass. (Vampires
affected by this ritual are considered "starving" for the purposes of
resisting frenzy; see p. 179.)
Disciplines
Crúac
Rigor Mortis
(Level-One Crúac Ritual)
With the power of this ritual, a vampire may temporarily interrupt the
reanimating effect of vampiric Vitae, rendering a Kindred immobile as the
stiffening of muscles common to dead bodies takes hold. The number of
successes garnered on the Crúac roll determines the number of dice by which
the victim's next Physical dice pool is penalized. This applies only to dice
pools for actions, and does not affect Physical resistances. Rigor Mortis is
useless against mortals, ghouls, Lupines and mages, since they don't depend
on the power of vampiric Vitae to animate their bodies.
The roll to activate this power is penalized by the subject's Composure.
Disciplines
Crúac
Cheval
(Level-Two Crúac Ritual)
This ritual allows the performer to "ride the senses" of his subject.
The subject must be within direct sight when the ritual is performed, but
the subject can stray from th? caster to any distance thereafter. At any
time he wishes for the duration of the effect, the performer may see or
hear through the eyes or ears of his subject. No other senses can be
substituted if the subject is blind or deaf or both, all "riding" yields
is blackness and/or silence. A subject so "ridden" is unaware that his
senses also report to another.
While riding another's senses, the ritualist is only dimly aware of
her own body, which falls into on a trance-like state. She is unaware of
minor environmental stimuli affecting her own body (such as an insect
crawling across her skin or drops of water falling on her head), but more
aggressive actions perpetrated against her body draw her consciousness
back to it.
This ritual remains in effect for one night per success on the
invocation roll, though the caster may end the ritual at any time. The
performer can therefore indulge in a subject's senses and return to her
own body as often as she likes through-out the rite's duration.
The roll to activate this power is penalized by the subject's Composure.
Disciplines
Crúac
The Hydra's Vitae
(Level-Two Crúac Ritual)
By invoking this ritual, the performer protects himself from would-be
diablerists and from those who would otherwise feast upon his blood. This
ritual transforms the sorcerer's Vitae into a kind of poison. Kindred who
drink it suffer one point of lethal damage for every Vitae consumed;
mortals who imbibe suffer two points of lethal damage for each Vitae. When
a Kindred consumes a quantity of venomous Vitae, she gains no nourishment
from it.
Vitae altered by this ritual is poisonous only so long as it's in the
performer's body (or until the next sunrise). If the Vitae leaves, it
becomes as any other Vitae spilled from a Kindred's body. Thus, it cannot
be used to create poisoned weapons, and if one consumes the Vitae from a
container after it leaves the body, it is simply normal, non-poisonous
Vitae.
Disciplines
Crúac
Deflection of Wooden Doom
(Level-Three Crúac Ritual)
The performer invokes a mystic protection against at-tempts to impale
her heart with a stake. If the ritual succeeds, any attempt to stake the
vampire fails for the duration of the spell. Stakes used in this manner
rot or disintegrate as wielders attempt to use them against the per-former.
An attempt to stake the Kindred in question must be made for this ritual to
take effect. (It does not simply rot all stakes and would-be stakes in her
presence.) This power cannot be invoked to protect others; it works only on
the sorcerer herself. This ritual fades at sundown of the subsequent night,
though it may be invoked again immediately thereafter.
Disciplines
Crúac
Touch of the Morrigan
(Level-Three Crúac Ritual)
The caster performs this ritual (Manipulation + Occult + Crúac is
rolled) and channels his righteous ire into a tangible force. If the
performance roll is successful, the user's mere touch becomes deadly.
The sorcerer must then touch a subject with his open palm. (See
"Touching an O?p?nent," p. 157 of the World of Darkness Rulebook.)
Contact inflicts an amount of lethal damage equal to the number of
successes gained on the activation roll. (The power cannot be delivered
through a punch or other unarmed close-combat attack.) This harm can be
delivered only once per performance of the ritual, and the user's touch
has the potential to inflict harm for one hour for every success gained
on the activation roll. If that period of time passes without a touch
being made, the power fades.
The mark made by contact is physically manifest in accordance with
its severity. A Touch of the Morrigan that inflicts one point of damage
looks like a minor scar or livid bruise, while one that delivers five
points of damage leaves the subject almost entirely blackened and
charred looking. The visible injury fades as the damage is healed. This
power affects only vampires, ghouls and other supernatural creatures. It
seems that Kindred cannot inflict their viciousness on mortals in this
manner.
Disciplines
Crúac
Blood Price
(Level-Four Crúac Ritual)
The sorcerer mystically claims one third of the Vitae that a subject
imbibes. The subject must be within sight when this ritual is performed.
Every time the subject feeds, a third of the Vitae he consumes is denied
him and transfers invisibly to the sorcerer, regardless of either
vampire's location. This Vitae is "neutral," which is to say that the
feeding Kindred does not subject the sorcerer to a Vinculum in this
manner, and neither does feeding from a third-party vampire apply any
blood bonds to the sorcerer (though it certainly does to the feeding
vampire). The effects of this ritual expire after one feeding or the next
sunrise, whichever comes first.
A contested roll is made to activate this power, pitting the
sorcerer's Manipulation + Occult + Crúac versus the subject's Composure
+ Blood Potency, and this resistance is reflexive. If the most successes
are rolled for the caster, the subject has no idea where some of the Vitae
he consumes disappears to, yet he knows that he goes undernourished.
Disciplines
Crúac
Willful Vitae
(Level-Four Crúac Ritual)
The performer makes herself immune to the Vinculum and blood addiction
when another Kindred's Vitae is consumed. After this ritual is performed,
if another vampire's blood is taken in the same night, no step is taken
toward a Vinculum with the provider of the blood, and no addiction to blood
forms for the character. Of course, the blood donor has no idea that the
recipient is immune. The ritual cannot be per-formed on another vampire,
only on the caster's self. The ritual does not countermand or alleviate any
existing Vinculum to which the caster is already subject
Disciplines
Crúac
Blood Blight
(Level-Five Crúac Ritual)
This potent ritual taints the blood of its target, whether mortal or
vampire. Roll Manipulation + Occult + Crúac in a contested action against
the target's Stamina + Blood Potency (resistance is reflexive). If the
roll for the caster gets the most successes, that number of successes is
inflicted as lethal damage to a mortal tar-get. A vampire target
immediately loses the equivalent of Vitae in his system and could be
subject to frenzy as a result. Indeed, a vampiric victim might be forced
into torpor. The caster must be able to see the intended victim when the
ritual is performed.
Disciplines
Crúac
Feeding the Crone
(Level-Five Crúac Ritual)
When the performer calls upon the power of the Crone herself (by
whatever name is used), and a Vitae is spent, the vampire's mouth
transforms into a maw of wicked, gnashing teeth. The vampire need not
perform a grapple attack in order to bite a victim; the attack is made
directly. The number of successes achieved on the ritual's activation
roll is added as bonus dice to attack rolls, and aggravated damage is
inflicted.
Note that these teeth are so vicious that feeding cannot occur when
they are borne; too much blood is wasted in the gory slaughter to get
nourishment. Feeding the Crone remains in effect until another Vitae is
spent to revoke the change, or until sunrise.
Disciplines
Theban Sorcery
Theban Sorcery is the miraculous magic practiced b? members of the
Lancea Sanctum. According to the covenant, it is a tradition of magic
taught (or stolen, depending on to whom one listens) by an "avatar of
God." The practice is said to have been received when early members
visited Thebias in northern Egypt with a contingent of Christian
soldiers during the reign of Diocletian, after Longinus had vanished
from the world. The Discipline has decidedly judgmental overtones,
combining a focus on Biblical elements (rains of blood, plagues of
locusts, the vengeance of God) with a very overt and occult reliance on
righteousness.
Theban Sorcery is as jealously guarded as anti-Sanctified factions
widely believe, if not more so. While few Lancea Sanctum hit squads lurk
in the shadows to whack non-Sanctified vampires who seem to be able to
use the Discipline, few covenant members want to see their divinely
inspired powers taken for granted. The Lancea Sanctum isn't foolish. It
makes its mystical knowledge available "on loan" if the covenant has
something to gain.
Vampires who leave the Lancea Sanctum for other covenants invariably
take their knowledge with them, but find it all but impossible to increase
it. A character must have at least one dot of Covenant Status (Lancea
Sanctum) in order to learn Theban Sorcery. A players who takes at least one
dot worth of that Merit at character creation may spend one of his
character's three Discipline dots on Theban Sorcery if he wishes. Any time
a player wants to increase his character's Theban Sorcery score, the vampire
must still have at least one dot of Covenant Status (Lancea Sanctum) to do
so.
Cost: Uses of Theban Sorcery always cost one Willpower point.
Willpower is critical to use of the Discipline. It invokes the soul of the
Kindred who performs a ritual. Willpower spent in this manner does not add
three dice to activation rolls. Indeed, because one may spend only one
Willpower point per turn, a Willpower point may never be spent to augment
Theban Sorcery rolls unless specified otherwise. Willpower merely makes the
magic possible.
Additionally, Theban Sorcery rituals require certain items to be used
or consumed to activate the powers. These components are known as offerings.
Practitioners believe these items are offered in sacrifice to God, Longinus
or to whomever provides the actual manifestation of the power. Attempts to
invoke Theban Sorcery without suitable offerings fail outright. Offerings are
consumed upon the invocation of a ritual, leaving behind nothing but a
handful of ash.
Like Crúac, Theban Sorcery does not have the same linear progression that
other Disciplines do. A character's mastery dictates the highest level of
rituals that he may learn. Rituals are bought with experience points.
For example, a character with two dots of Theban Sorcery can know an unlimited
number of level-one and level-two rituals (provided the experience points are
paid to learn each), but he may not learn any level-three Theban Sorcery
rituals until his base Theban Sorcery dots are increased to 3. Each time a
character acquires a dot of Theban Sorcery (including at character creation),
he gains a ritual of that level at no additional cost. More rituals may be
acquired with experience points. Other Vampire books offer Theban Sorcery
rituals, and players and Storytellers are encouraged to create their own
using those presented here as models.
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Academics + Theban Sorcery. Unlike Crúac
and its relationship to the Nosferatu, the Gangrel clan w??kn?ss does apply
to the Discipline user's roll on attempts to invoke Theban Sorcery rituals.
Action: Extended.
The number of successes required to activate a ritual is equal to the
level of the ritual (so a level-three ritual requires three successes to
enact). Each roll represents one turn of ritual casting. Note also that
each point of damage incurred in a turn is a penalty to the next casting
roll made for the character, in addition to any wound penalties suffered.
If a character fails to complete th? ritual in time (such as by being
sent into torpor before accumulating enough successes) or decides to cancel
the ritual before garnering enough successes to activate it, the effect
simply fails. Any Willpower expenditures made are not recovered, however,
and offerings are still burned to ash.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The ritual fails spectacularly, inflicting some
aspect of itself as a detrimental effect upon the caster. A ritual intended
to damage a subject inflicts its damage upon the caster, for example, while
a ritual designed to store Vitae in an object depletes the caster of some
amount of his own.
Failure: The ritual fails entirely, but not dangerously. Willpower
and offerings are consumed as normal, but the ritual has no effect.
Success: The ritual takes place as described.
Exceptional Success: The ritual takes place as described. In many
cases, extra successes are their own reward, causing additional damage or
conferring extra duration or capacity.
| Suggested Modifiers |
| Modifier |
Situation |
| +2 |
Power is turned on or applies to a vampire with whom the user has a
blood tie (see p. 162). The character is unaffected by threats or
distractions. |
| -1 to -3 |
The character is rushed or distracted, such as by invoking a ritual
in combat or while trapped in a burning building. This penalty is
cumulative with multiple distractions (such as by casting a ritual in
combat during a hurricane). Successes gained on a meditation roll for the
night (see p. 51 of the World of Darkness Rulebook) offset interruption
penalties on a one-for-one basis. |
Disciplines
Theban Sorcery
Blood Scourge
(Level-One Theban Sorcery Ritual)
The vampire transforms a portion of his own blood into a wicked
instrument of punishment. For each dot that the character possesses in
Theban Sorcery, he may create a stinging whip of Vitae with which to scourge
his foes. An attack with the weapon has a dice pool equal to the character's
Strength + Weaponry + the number of lashes created, and inflicts lethal damage.
The Blood Scourge lasts a number of turns equal to the player's success on the
invocation roll. At the end of that time, the Vitae whips turn to dust.
A character can invoke Blood Scourge only once until its duration expires.
He may thereafter invoke another whip, how-ever. A character may voluntarily
terminate a Blood Scourge if he does not want to keep it for the full duration
of the power.
Offering: The Kindred's own blood is the offering. In en-acting the
ritual, the vampire must slice open his wrist with a sacrificial knife. The
scourge created - regardless of its number of lashes - costs one Vitae.
Disciplines
Theban Sorcery
Vitae Reliquary
(Level-One Theban Sorcery Ritual)
The character takes an ordinary object and stores an amount of Vitae
in it that may be called upon later (whether as sustenance or for any
other purpose that requires Vitae). Any Kindred or ghoul can call upon
the stored Vitae, not just the caster, though the person using the Vitae
must know that it's there. The amount of Vitae that can be stored in the
object is equal to the amount of successes the player achieves on the
invocation roll, although the caster may infuse the object with less
if he wishes. The Vitae to be stored comes directly from the caster's
own body. This ritual can be cast only once on the item in question.
Any object can contain the Vitae, regardless of its size, though the
item must be at least the size of a person's fist. The Vitae remains
indefinitely until consumed. The act of consuming the blood might involve
taking it to one's lips, or holding the item tight and willing the blood
to pass from object to body. This Vitae is "neutral," which is to say that
the feeding Kindred does not subject the sorcerer to a Vinculum in this
manner, though blood addiction is still a risk.
Offering: The vessel of infusion itself is the offering, which is
destroyed after the last Vitae is removed. The offering crumbles to dust.
Prior to that point, the item functions as it normally would (a rapier may
still be used to attack, a book may still be read).
Disciplines
Theban Sorcery
Curse of Babel
This ritual leaves a victim speaking in tongues, unable to communicate.
Even his written word is rendered nonsensical; both handwritten and typed
messages come out as gibberish. Not only is the Curse of Babel an effective
means of con-trolling the spread of blasphemy (and gossip), it proves an
effective limit to a subject's use of the Dominate Discipline. The number
of successes achieved on the invocation roll determines the duration of
the ritual's function: one hour per success or until the next sunrise,
whichever comes first. The subject must be within earshot when this ritual
is performed.
The roll to activate this power is penalized by the subject's Resolve.
Offering: An animal's or person's tongue.
Disciplines
Theban Sorcery
Liar's Plague
(Level-Two Theban Sorcery Ritual)
The character curses her subject so that if he speaks any lies over
the course of the scene, beetles swarm from his mouth.
The ritual involves a contested action, pitting the sorcerer's
Intelligence + Academics + Theban Sorcery against the subject's Resolve +
Blood Potency. Resisting this power is a reflexive action.
Offering: An insect's carapace, whole and uncrushed.
Disciplines
Theban Sorcery
Blandishment of Sin
(Level-Three Theban Sorcery Ritual)
The subject of this power suffers increased damage the next time
any harm is inflicted on him. That wound is upgraded one degree of
damage. Thus, three bashing damage becomes three lethal, and three
lethal damage becomes three aggravated. (Aggravated wounds do not
increase to any other sort, and the effects of the ritual are wasted.)
If, at the end of the night, the subject has not suffered any damage,
the ritual ends, though it may be invoked against him on the following
night.
If the subject activates Resilience, that Discipline offsets the
benefits of this ritual for the next wound he suffers only if the damage
upgrade would make the next wound aggravated. The injury in question
inflicts its upgraded, aggravated dam-age, which Resilience downgrades
again.
The action to activate this power is contested, pitting the
sorcerer's Intelligence + Academics + Theban Sorcery against the
subject's Resolve + Blood Potency (resistance is reflexive). The
subject is unaware of the power applied to him and doesn't know why
his next injury is so severe.
Offering: A scrap of paper, upon which the subject's name must
be written. The paper is then burned in sight of the subject as the
ritual is cast.
Disciplines
Theban Sorcery
Malediction of Despair
(Level-Three Theban Sorcery Ritual)
The sorcerer curses his subject with regard to a specific action. The
next time the subject engages in that action, her normal dice pool is not
rolled. A chance roll is made, instead. The curse can be as general ("Your
next attack in combat is doomed to failure!") or as specific ("When next
you feed upon a blind Christian at midnight...") as the caster chooses.
The curse remains until its conditions are met. If the subject suspects
that she is cursed by this ritual, the player may spend a Willpower point
and make a Composure + Resolve roll. If this roll yields more successes
than were achieved to invoke the malediction, the curse ends without ever
coming to pass.
The action to activate this power is contested, pitting the sorcerer's
Intelligence + Academics + Theban Sorcery against the subject's Resolve
+ Blood Potency. Resisting in this manner is reflexive.
Offering: A lock of hair from the subject.
Disciplines
Theban Sorcery
Gift of Lazarus
(Level-Four Theban Sorcery Ritual)
A successful invocation of this ritual brings the dead back to a
semblance of life, though it is a pale echo at best. While the rite
certainly reanimates the dead, it does not return a being's soul, nor
does it halt the body's slow decline into rot and putrescence. The
power effectively creates a painfully self-aware zombie, who most
likely just wishes to be allowed to rest in peace. Initially, all of
the former person's faculties may be intact (it still has access to
its former Skills, but has no Willpower). The pathetic wretch can
neither heal dam-age not feel physical sensations in any true sense,
however, so it suffers no wound penalties. The length of time in nights
that the creature remains animate equals the number of successes on the
Theban Sorcery roll made to create it. For every day that the creature
was dead prior to the invocation, subtract one dot of the Storyteller's
choosing from an At-tribute in each of its Physical, Mental and Social
categories, and also do the same for every day it is animated by this
ritual. When any Attribute is reduced to zero, assume that any rolls
involving that trait fail automatically. Multiple animations of the same
corpse are possible but sequentially more disturbing and less useful. A
walking corpse of this sort that loses all of its Health dots to lethal
damage is too wounded to move, but still aware and possibly even capable
of communication (depending on the type of damage sustained and to what
portions of its body).
The vampire who enacts this ritual is the only one who can command
the zombie. That vampire may, however, instruct the corpse to accept
direction from other individuals. A corpse-creature left to its own
devices takes no actions of its own volition; it must be given direction,
and undoubtedly laments being forced to carry them out.
A corpse suffers damage -- lethal, bashing and aggravated -- as it
did in life. It remains active until its rightmost Health box is occupied
with aggravated damage. A zombie does not bleed to death upon suffering
lethal damage in its rightmost Health box, and must be attacked repeatedly
until utterly destroyed.
Offering: A Communion wafer placed under the dead person's tongue.
Disciplines
Theban Sorcery
Stigmata
(Level-Four Theban Sorcery Ritual)
Although the majority of Theban Sorcery's rites have a decidedly
01d Testament flavor, Stigmata takes the very suffering of the New
Testament's Prince of Peace and turns it into a weapon of divine
punishment. The victim of this ritual must be within sight when it is
cast. He bleeds from the wrists, feet and side, the traditional five
wounds of Christ. Mortals suffer one point of lethal damage per turn
from blood loss, while Kindred lose one Vitae each turn. If a vampire
runs out of Vitae during the course of the ritual, she proceeds to
suffer lethal damage and is likely to frenzy (see p. 178). A vampire
whose rightmost Health box is filled with lethal damage by this means
falls into torpor (see p. 175).
The roll to activate this power is penalized by the subject's
Stamina.
The number of turns the subject suffers from Stigmata equals the
number of successes achieved on the Theban Sorcery roll.
Offering: A crucifix, which crumbles to ash as the ritual is
enacted.
Disciplines
Theban Sorcery
Transubstantiation
(Level-Five Theban Sorcery Ritual)
The character transforms one substance or object into another. It
can be water into blood, for example, or a tree branch into a snake,
or a person into a pillar of salt. The object or substance transformed
becomes a perfectly normal, mundane version of whatever it is.
Transubstantiation does not turn a frog into a Lupine, for example,
though it could change a frog into a wolf. The only limits on the
transformation are that it works only on objects smaller than the
caster, and that the product cannot simulate human (or vampiric...)
intelligence. That is, the same frog could be transformed into a child,
but the child wouldn't be able to have any intelligent discourse or
even perform many complicated activities since it's just a frog turned
into the simulacrum of a child. The substance or object reverts to its
original form when the sun next rises (though a per-son transformed into,
say, ice and whose arm is broken off has both portions of herself turn
back to normal in different locations, and swiftly bleeds to death).
If this power is used to affect another creature, the invocation is
contested, pitting the sorcerer's Intelligence + Academics + Theban
Sorcery against the subject's Stamina + Blood Potency (resistance is
reflexive). The sorcerer must be within arm's length of the subject
changed.
Offering: A drop of liquid gold
Disciplines
Theban Sorcery
Wrathful Judgment
(Level-Five Theban Sorcery Ritual)
This ritual metes out divine punishment by turning a Kindred's
own Vitae to fire in his veins. The ritual is unlike other Theban
Sorcery practices in that the sorcerer "charges" the ritual before
the player makes the final roll, and that charge can consist of
multiple points of Willpower. (Remember, though, that a player may
spend only a single point of Will-power in a single turn, so
invoking this power can take multiple turns.) Each point of Willpower
invested in this ritual deals one point of aggravated damage to the
subject and consumes one Vitae from her as the victim's blood burns
away in a conflagration of divine fire. For more on fire damage, see
p. 172. If the sorcerer has some personal object of th? subject's, he
may invoke this ritual from anywhere in the world. Other-wise, the
vampire must be able to see his subject. The object must be of some
importance to the intended victim a picture of his dead wife works,
while his car keys or cell phone might not. Objects taken from the
subject's body itself (hair, a fingernail) are more than
satisfactory.
This ritual has no effect on mortals or other supernatural beings.
It does affect ghouls, however.
The roll to activate this ritual is penalized by the subject's
Stamina. If no successes are rolled for the ritualist, all Will-power
invested into the rite is lost.
Offering: One of the casting vampire's eyes or hands, either
plucked out or cut off. The Kindred suffers two points of lethal damage
in the process.
Disciplines
The Coils of the Dragon
The Requiem presents Kindred with a number of advantages that
no mortal can attain, but the curse of vampirism far overshadows
these petty powers. The vampires of the Ordo Dracul, however,
believe that such doesn't have to be the case. Through the Coils
of the Dragon, this covenant strives to cheat the curse levied
upon its founder, stripping away the limitations and requirements
of undeath until members achieve purity.
The Coils of the Dragon include three distinct philosophies,
each of which has three tiers. The Coils of the Dragon, like Crúac
and Theban Sorcery, truly belong to no one clan. Members of the
covenant can study any or all of the coils, but they recognize that
no vampire has ever truly achieved mastery at least, not to the
order's knowledge. A character must have at least one dot of
Covenant Status (Ordo Dracul) in order to learn any Coils of the
Dragon. A player who takes at least one dot worth of that Merit at
character creation may spend one of his character's three Discipline
dots on the Coils of the Dragon if he wishes. Any time a player wants
to increase his character's Coils of the Dragon score, the character
must still have at least one dot of Covenant Status (Ordo Dracul) to
do so.
Activating a tier of the coils requires no roll or asset
expenditure in and of itself (though some tiers augment rolls or
permit certain abilities when they might not otherwise be allowed).
A character always has the option of using a tier avail-able to him,
and the benefits of the tier may be "turned ?ff" at the Kindred's
discretion.
New dots of the Coils of the Dragon are purchased like a
Discipline, with the number of tiers the character already commands
serving as the current level and the "new level" being the next to
be achieved. For example, a character knows five tiers of the Coils
of the Dragon. For him to learn a sixth, his player has to spend 42
experience points (6 [the new level in the coil] times 7 [the
experience-point multiplier for out-of-clan Disciplines]). Tiers must
be learned in order in each coil, though a character need not advance
one coil to completion before he can advance another. That is, a
character with two tiers of Coil of Blood could learn the first tier
of Coil of the Beast without learning the third tier of Coil of Blood.
Be-cause the Coils of the Dragon do not constitute a true Discipline,
they are not limited by Blood Potency trait maximums. A character need
not have a Blood Potency of 6 to learn six different tiers of coils,
for example. Yet, increasingly more dots in a coil are always bought
as if they're out-of-clan Disciplines.
Disciplines
The Coils of the Dragon
The Coil of Blood
Vampires must feed on living blood to survive, and only the
weakest of the Kindred can draw sustenance from the blood of
animals. The Coil of Blood seeks to lift this requirement,
allowing the Kindred to feed on their own terms, rather than
forever be slaves to their hunger.
First Tier: Blood Seeps Slowly
The Dragon's undead body doesn't demand as much Vitae to animate
itself as do those of other, less enlightened Kindred. The player
need spend only one Vitae for his character to wake for a number of
nights equal to the vampire's Re-solve. So, a Kindred with a Resolve
of 2 loses a Vitae every other night for rising.
Second Tier: Blood of Beasts
No matter what the vampire's Blood Potency is, she can take sustenance
from animals and humans.
Third Tier: Perspicacious Blood
The character gains three Vitae for every two Vitae she takes from a
human, and receives double the Vitae consumed from Kindred or other
supernatural vessels.
Disciplines
The Coils of the Dragon
The Coil of Banes
The two major banes of the Requiem are fire and sunlight. Any attempt
to conquer the curse of vampirism must over-come these two obstacles.
While no vampire has yet man-aged to truly surmount them, the Coil of
Banes provides a place to start.
First Tier: Conquer the Red Fear
The character gains a +2 bonus to resist fear frenzy triggered by fire
or sunlight. Fear frenzies triggered by other stimuli occur as normal
Second Tier: Surmounting the Daysleep
The player can spend a Willpower point for the character to remain awake
for an entire day without penalty (though the character must still take
precautions to remain out of the sunlight and "waking" the next night
still costs a Vitae). Dice pools during the day are still limited by
Humanity (seep. 184). If the character does sleep and is disturbed, add
three dice to the player's wake-up roll.
Third Tier: Sun's Forgotten Kiss
Sunlight at twilight and dawn causes only bashing damage to the Dragon,
rather than aggravated. After the sun has fully risen, however, its rays
cause aggravated damage as usual. At sea or on a mountaintop, the sun
might fully rise within a mere five minutes and take some time to set
(10 minutes). In a dense forest or deep in a city, the sun might rise
slowly (10 minutes) and set quickly (five minutes).
Disciplines
The Coils of the Dragon
The Coil of the Beast
The Beast seeks always to subsume the Man, which is probably the most
serious impairment on the Coils of the Dragon. If legends are true, the
order's founder struggled with his Beast even before his Embrace, and so
it only makes sense that he would have pioneered a means to control it.
First Tier: Chastise the Beast
The player spends a Willpower point for his character to resist a frenzy
of any kind automatically. The player may choose to roll Resolve +
Composure as usual for his character to resist frenzy, spending the
Willpower only if the roll fails.
Second Tier: Lure the Beast
"Riding the wave" does not cost a Willpower point, and it requires a base
of only three successes, not five. All other rules still apply (see p. 181).
Third Tier: Exhaust the Beast
The character may spend an hour per night in frenzy (usually doing
so under controlled conditions such as in a locked room or far from
mortals). For the rest of the night, the character does not enter frenzy
unless she wishes to do so, no matter how strong the trigger is.
Disciplines
Devotions
The rote Disciplines that are common to all Kindred are
not the only supernatural capabilities at their disposal.
Every so often, an entirely new Discipline "technique,"
formed by a curious combination of two or more standard
powers, emerges from the ranks of the undead. Like standard
Disciplines, these techniques called Devotions can be learned
from or taught to other Kindred in much the same time frame
and manner as the broader powers from which they originate.
Any vampire with the appropriate prerequisite Discipline dots
can, in theory, develop the Devotions for which he qualifies.
It's simply a matter of time and effort.
Some claim to have truly secret Devotions, however, and the
claim does have some basis in truth. Kindred may find
themselves incapable of developing some of the more esoteric
techniques without a learned mentor at their side. Indeed, not
all Kindred have even heard of Devotions. By their nature, they are
far rarer than the common Disciplines are, and knowledge of them is
a bit more fleeting than the understanding of the unique Disciplines
that sometimes accompany the creation of new bloodlines. Only a
relative handful of Kindred possess Devotions, and fewer still have
been wise enough to create their own. Kindred may learn of them
through a "secret knowledge" a sire wishes to pass on to them, the
confidences of a mentor, stolen wisdom in the hands of rebellious
vampires, or by any other manner in which they come up in a story.
Although any Kindred can potentially learn any Devotion as long
as she has the Discipline prerequisites, some measure of "creator's
pride" exists pertaining to each, depending upon who claims to have
developed the power first. Most of the Devotions stemming from and
involving the Protean Discipline are known as Gangrel Devotions, for
example, while those involving Theban Sorcery are referred to as
Lancea Sanctum Devotions.
The following are sample Devotions that vampires might encounter
and learn. Remember that if a Devotion is turned against or applied to
a vampire with whom the user has a blood tie (see p. 162), a +2 bonus
is gained on the power's act
Disciplines
Devotions
Knowing the Stranger
(Auspex o o o o , Obfuscate o o o o)
The Familiar Stranger is a versatile and useful ability, but
its use becomes perilous when the vampire has no idea who he should
be impersonating. Knowing the Stranger serves as a short-term fix to
that problem. It allows the character to discern in advance who the
target most expects to see under the circumstances, before The
Familiar Stranger is activated (so the Devotion and Discipline power
are applied separately). The character does not have any choice over
who he "becomes," but he does know exactly who he's supposed to be,
even if he has never met that person before. The character gains the
knowledge mystically and may act accordingly. The information drawn
from the subject's mind even allows the Kindred to custom-tailor
certain aspects of the power to her. For example, the Kindred learns
that the man the subject sees is her father, that he is gruff but
caring, and that the last time he and the subject parted ways, they
did so on bad terms and the subject feels remorse for that
interaction.
The vampire must be able to see the person whom he plans to dupe
when this Devotion is activated.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Empathy + Obfuscate versus Re-solve
+ Blood Potency
Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive
If the contested roll is won, the vampire knows in advance for
whom he will be mistaken. If the contested roll is tied or lost, the
vampire gets no impression of who he might be mistaken for. He can try
to use the Devotion again or may forge ahead with The Familiar Stranger
and hope for the best. If the vampire suffers a dramatic failure, he
assumes that he appears as one person when the subject actually
interprets him as another.
This power costs 21 experience points to learn.
Disciplines
Devotions
Arcane Sight
(Auspex o o, Crúac o )
Those who know this Devotion have learned how to expand their
mystical sight by incorporating rudiments of blood magic. Kindred
with this power can use their Auspex to scrutinize the auras of
objects, as well as people, and may glean information from the
eddies of power that whorl
through the world.
Cost: 1 Vitae per scene
Dice Pool: Wits + Occult + Auspex
Action: Instant
Rather than sensing patterns of emotions as with Aura Perception,
the user sees the ebb and flow of magical power. A Kindred
possessing this Devotion can learn a variety of information,
including the following: whether an object (or person) has any
magic of its own or is currently under enchantment; whether the
magic comes from the object or creature directly or from an
external source; the nature of the magic (beneficial, harmful,
illusory); even detailed information as to the type and level of
magic employed. Scrutinized individuals who are capable of any
sort of magic (vampiric or otherwise) always glow with sparkling
crackles of energy. Although this Devotion does identify sources
of magic or items possessed of enchantments, it does not reveal
magic effects in action (such as a magical fireball or an
illusion). Each success on the activation roll yields one piece
of information about the magic in question.
This power costs 10 experience points to learn.
Disciplines
Devotions
Body of Will
(Resilience o o o, Vigor o )
Truly tough Kindred can call upon personal reserves of will
to shore up their toughness in the face of adversity. By means of
this Devotion, a vampire learns how to funnel his strength of will
through his supernaturally altered form, allowing him to shrug off
the deleterious effects of his wounds for a time.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Composure + Athletics + Resilience
Action: Reflexive
Each success gained on the activation roll allows the character
to ignore any current wound penalties, as well as any penalties he
acquires from new wounds, for one turn. Therefore, if three
successes are rolled, the character is wound-penalty-free for the
duration of the existing turn and for two turns thereafter. A new
Vitae expenditure and roll is required each time the vampire wishes
to reactivate the Devotion.
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.
Disciplines
Devotions
Instantaneous Transformation
(Celerity o o, Protean o o o o)
Sometimes the shift into animal (or otherwise inhuman) form simply
takes too long. Developed by the Gangrel, Instantaneous Transformation
allows such a shift to take place, not over the span of seconds, but
literally in the blink of an eye.
Cost: 1 Vitae (in addition to other costs required by the
transformation)
Dice Pool: Stamina + Survival + Protean
Action: Reflexive
Success on the activation roll indicates that the character
transforms into an alternate shape instantly so fast, in fact, that
he may still take a normal action in that turn. If the roll fails,
the character still transforms normally for the Protean Discipline
used (in the space of one turn). He simply loses the one Vitae for
this Devotion, and any other points must still be spent for the
change itself. If a dramatic failure occurs, the character cannot
change at all this turn, and he loses one Vitae to the wasted
Devotion.
Note that this Devotion is most useful to those vampires who can
exhaust multiple Vitae in a single turn.
Thispower costs 18 experience points to learn.
Disciplines
Devotions
Iron Façade
(Obfuscate o o, Resilience o o.)
Sometimes intimidation is a vampire's best weapon, particularly
when facing an opponent who is unaware of the Kindred's true ability.
Through the use of this power, the vampire appears to shrug off even
the mightiest of blows, to ignore wounds that should cripple even one
of the undead. Kindred with this power have been known to rout far
more capable foes, for the enemy truly believed that such vampires
were invulnerable.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Survival + Obfuscate
Action: Instant
With a successful invocation roll, the character can hide the
full extent of his injuries. Wounds are invisible and he does not
appear to slow down, limp or grow weary. He seems to function at
full capability, regardless of how badly injured he actually is.
Iron Façade does not actually heal wounds or reduce dice-pool
penalties. It simply appears to do so, making it impossible for any
observers to determine the character's true condition. Once
activated, Iron Façade lasts for a scene or until the character is
sent into torpor by his wounds. A vampire with Auspex might be able
to see through this power, as per the standard Auspex-versus-
Obfuscate rules (see p. 119).
This power costs 10 experience points to learn.
Disciplines
Devotions
Lessons in the Steel
(Auspex o, Resilience o o o)
Some rather intrepid Kindred develop the ability to gain
insight into a foe's combat prowess by willingly subjecting
themselves to opponents' attacks. Knowledge is power, after
all, and any vampire wounded in this way is gifted with power
that can then be used against the enemy.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Resolve + Investigation + Resilience -
opponent's Resolve
Action: Instant
In order to activate this Devotion, the vampire must first
suffer an attack from an opponent that successfully inflicts
at least one point of damage of any type in close combat. Upon
suffering this wound, the vampire's player makes the requisite
roll. His dice pool is reduced by one die for each piece of
information sought about the attacker (up to a maximum of five)
beyond the first. The information the character seeks must be
related to combat or other martial prowess. For example, Joe's
character wishes to learn two bits of relevant information
about the Kindred who just hit him, so Joe rolls Resolve 3 +
Investigation 2 + Resilience 3, minus one die for the second
piece of information sought. One success is achieved and the
Storyteller reveals that the attacker has great prowess with
a blade (Weaponry 4), but rather poor follow-through
(Strength 1). This power has no effect on ranged attacks, nor
on attacks that are themselves manifestations of other
Disciplines. Theban sorcery's Blood Scourge, for example,
provides no information, but an opponent invoking Vigor for
a pummeling attack does.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.
Disciplines
Devotions
Partial Transformation
(Protean o o o o, Resilience o )
With this power, any vampire who is capable of assuming a
bestial or inhuman shape may choose to stop the process
part-way through, granting herself a single aspect or trait
of the animal. The nose of a wolf allows for tracking prey,
and the wings of a bat or bird while unable to provide true
flight, as the Kindred simply aren't built for soaring are
useful for breaking falls or gliding short distances.
Technically, this power can also be used for sprouting claws,
but as the Protean Discipline already allows for that effect
such a use would be some-what redundant.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: This power involves no roll to invoke.
Action: Instant
Once the transformation begins, the character halts it,
granting herself only those animalistic features that she
chooses. Obviously, the character may take on only the
qualities or features of an animal she can already become
through use of Protean. Thus, a character with two alternate
forms - a wolf and a bat - could assume wings or a wolf's nose,
but not the tail of a scorpion or the eyes of a hawk. Partial
trans-formations of this sort last for the duration of the scene
or until the character chooses to remove them.
Use of this power provides a bonus of one or two dice to the
circumstances in question, as determined by the Story-teller. A
character using a wolf's nose might gain two dice to attempts to
track something by scent. Combat applications of this power add
one die to attack rolls and inflict lethal damage.
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.
Disciplines
Devotions
Quicken Sight
(Auspex o, Celerity o )
With this power, the Kindred is able to combine her Heightened
Senses and superhuman reaction time to see fast-moving objects
in detail that neither Discipline alone can reveal. She can
follow a specific card in a deck as it's shuffled, track the
loaded chamber in a game of Russian Roulette, pick out subliminal
messages in a film or on television, and even read the headline on
a newspaper as she drives past the newsstand at 60 miles per hour.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: This power involves no roll to invoke.
Action: Reflexive
Any time the character wishes to observe, follow or examine
something that moves too quickly to follow with normal sight, the
player may add five dice to a Wits + Composure roll while this
Devotion is active. (Especially fast-moving or small items might
impose a penalty of -1 to -3 on the roll, at the Storyteller's
discretion, for a net +2 to +4 bonus.) Quicken Sight lasts for the
duration of a scene.
This power costs five experience points to learn.
Disciplines
Devotions
Touch of Deprivation
(Auspex o o o o, Dominate o o)
With a simple touch, the Kindred can temporarily shut down one of
a victim's five senses. This Devotion is most frequently used as a
combat or interrogative tool to blind or deafen a subject, but it
can just as easily be used to negate one of the other senses. In
fact, a vampire who is immune to pain does not suffer wound
penalties, so some Kindred have been known to use this power on
their allies in a crisis.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Medicine + Auspex versus Re-solve
+ Blood Potency (if the subject is unwilling)
Action: Contested; instant if the subject is willing
The character must touch the subject (see "Touching an Opponent" in
the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 157) or an unarmed attack might be
made. Once contact is established, the contested roll is made if the
subject is resistant. If the player gets the most successes, the
vampire chooses which of the five senses is negated. The victim goes
blind, deaf or is otherwise impaired. If an equal number of successes
are rolled or the subject gets more, the power has no effect. On a
dramatic failure, the vampire using the Devotion loses one of her own
senses for the scene. If an exceptional success is rolled for the
vampire, a second sense can be shut down in the victim. The effects of
this power last for a scene. (See "Fighting Blind" in the World of
Darkness Rulebook, p. 166.)
If the vampire possesses a higher Auspex than the subject, she may
negate a supernatural sense (such as The Spirit's Touch), rather than one
of the mundane five.
This power costs 21 experience points to learn.
Disciplines
Devotions
Veridical Tongue
(Dominate o o, Majesty o o )
With this power, a character is able to sift through the tide of Kindred
lies by rendering one subject unable to speak anything but the truth as
he knows it. Lies cannot escape his mouth, nor is his tongue able to
utter them. Targets may choose to remain silent, of course, but when they
speak, they simply can't lie. The subject must be in the Discipline's
user's presence when this power is invoked.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Presence + Subterfuge + Majesty - Composure
Action: Instant
If the roll is successful, the target must speak the truth for a number of
turns equal to the successes gained. He may choose not to speak at all, but
in many cases silence equates to guilt among the Kindred.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.