Combination Disciplines require a particular level of proficiency for each Discipline used, and the resulting effect often resembles a combination of the powers required. Some, however, are entirely distinct effects which draw on the themes of the Disciplines used, though these are often quite specific in their application.
That being said, Combination Disciplines are rare; they can usually only be learned from a vampire who already knows the desired power, and are often jealously guarded secrets. Most are known to specific clans or bloodlines, and combine the in-clan Disciplines known to those groups, though there are powers shared by each sect as well. The Anarchs in particular have few qualms about sharing such disciplines amongst themselves, as it offers them an edge against the elders of the Camarilla and Sabbat.
Call Upon The Blood (Animalism •••, Auspex •••)
Used by Anarchs to scout out the strongholds of hated enemies, this power allows the Kindred to “feel” for the Beast in the immediate vicinity. The Animalism aspect of this power attunes the Kindred to any creature that harbors a Beast, and the Auspex element allows him to interpret it and extend his senses beyond their normal limits. Doing so allows the scout to know approximately how many Kindred or ghouls are in the area.
System: The player spends a blood point and rolls Perception + Animal Ken. If the roll is successful, the character gains a fairly accurate impression of how many Kindred and ghouls are in close proximity. The distance to which this sense extends depends upon the successes accumulated on the roll.
| Successes | Duration |
|---|---|
| 1 success | Small area: a hotel room |
| 2 successes | Large area: a house |
| 3 successes | Great area: a ballroom or salon |
| 4 successes | Huge area: a city block |
| 5 successes | Vast area: an entire estate |
Storytellers, note that this power calls to the Beast in all Kindred, and impressions will include the presence of Kindred and ghouls in the Anarch’s own company. Also, because it prods the Beast in beings to see if it’s there, particularly aware Kindred and ghouls might feel their Beast awaken or recoil as the power takes effect, perhaps even alerting them to the disquieting presence. The sensory information gleaned by this power is also a bit unsettling: Inviting the Beast in so many creatures to take note is bold, to say the least. Cainites who rely too much on provoking the Beast in others may find themselves on the verge of frenzy, as it tempts their own Beast each time they use it. A botch provokes frenzy in the vampire using this power.
This power requires 18 experience points to learn.
The Humberside Panic (Celerity •, Thamuaturgy •)
This combination Discipline allows a Kindred to grant other vampires a brief and limited access to his own mastery of Celerity. The Kindred who possesses Thaumaturgy and Celerity spends one blood point, plus one blood point per member of his coterie to whom he wishes to grant Celerity. For one turn, each indicated member of the coterie may use that Celerity to run or take another action as if she possessed Celerity herself. Thereafter, the Thaumaturge may spend an additional point per character per turn to continue granting the benefit. The Thaumaturge can communicate any degree of mastery of Celerity she possesses using this power, but must pay all related costs for it for each Kindred to whom she extends it.
System: The drawbacks of this combination Discipline are fairly limiting, however. The vampire using this Discipline must have tasted the vitae of any individual to whom she wishes to extend the benefits, and she must pay the vitae cost for each turn extending the Celerity benefits to other Kindred. Note that the per-turn blood point expenditures dictated by the character’s generation apply to spending blood in this way. Those benefiting from the power must be within sight of the Kindred invoking the power, and must be vampires (not mortals, ghouls, or other supernatural creatures).
This Discipline was originally developed to allow a pack of English Anarchs to flee the site after ambushing a Malkavian Primogen, but it has also been used by other packs to more aggressive ends. Because of its utility, it’s one of the most popular and widely used combination Disciplines among Anarch coteries.
It costs six experience points to learn this power.
Internet Famous (Presence ••••, Thaumaturgy ••••)
According to one rumor, a French Toreador Anarch who calls herself Cadavre Exquis has developed a combination Discipline that allows her to use Presence and the Path of Technomancy to effect a mass Summoning through her social media accounts. She apparently can issue a command for all of her followers to come to a particular location and participate in a protest, a riot, or even just a flash mob, with each recipient affected as if she had personally targeted him with Summon. Cadavre Exquis is also rumored to be the subject of a blood hunt across several non- Anarch domains, probably for having embarrassed some august Kindred with this power.
This power works as does the Presence power Summon (see V20, p. 195), but the roll to activate the power uses Charisma + Computer at a difficulty of 8. However, in addition to a blood point, the player must spend a Willpower point and issue the Summon via social media. The power affects every one of the Kindred’s followers on social media accounts — it is not subtle or selective. Any individual who recognizes what is happening can spend a Willpower point to ignore the Summon, but mortals likely have no idea what’s going on when they receive such a Summon (and neither do many Kindred, especially those not well-versed in social media). Note that the individual does not have to be currently accessing social media to feel the Summon, as this power draws on the sympathetic connection drawn by establishing the online relationship or even simply following the vampire’s account.
It costs 30 experience points to learn this power.
Quickshift (Protean ••••, Vicissitude ••)
This power allows a vampire to invoke a Protean transformation into the form of a beast in response to the actions of an aggressor. Any time the vampire suffers any form of hostile action, such as an attack, being made the target of a Discipline, or even being surprised, the Kindred may spend four blood points and instantly transform into the shape of a beast. This does not require the Kindred’s action for the next turn, which is the benefit of the power. Alternatively, the Kindred may spend the blood points at the beginning of a scene in which he plans to use Quickshift (for those Kindred of generations too high to spend four blood points in one turn); at any point thereafter that scene, he may activate the power at no additional cost. If the Kindred doesn’t use that power in that scene, the blood points are simply lost.
It costs 21 experience points to learn this power.
Remote Access Buffer (Thaumaturgy •••••, special)
Using this versatile Thaumaturgy power, a Kindred can create a temporary version of certain other Discipline powers he possesses and transmit it (via file attachment, text e-mails, text message, private social media message, or any other user-to-user delivery method of a personal computer or device). These “data Disciplines” serve as a form of digital amulet, transferring the ability to use the encoded power one single time to a proxy. After the proxy uses the power, the message or file containing the amulet and all instances of it (duplicate copies, messages stored on servers, etc.) delete themselves, leaving no record of their existence.
The vampire creating the buffer can do so for any level of the following Disciplines he has mastered: Auspex, Chimerstry, Dementation, Dominate, Obfuscate, and Presence.
Some Anarchs fear that this power may have unforeseen side effects. They worry that the power is actually a Trojan horse, allowing for the “remote access” use of the power they don’t have, while also exposing them to a hidden application of a different Discipline — likely Dominate, given the Tremere acumen with it. They note that the pioneer of the Path of Technomancy, Masika St. John, has no formal connection to the Anarch Movement. These Anarchs don’t want to risk becoming Tremere sleeper agents. What if the power allows the original “programmer” to activate, through clever obscured Conditioning, an impulse that allows the Kindred to remotely Dominate them? Of course, other Anarchs consider all of this paranoid fear-mongering — which is itself wholly apropos to the Jyhad. After all, why can’t this power be used to buffer Thaumaturgy? And what will happen once some enterprising individual finds a way to hack the file degradation process, allowing the file to be copied and backed up with no loss once it’s activated?
The very idea of this power terrifies elders and members of other sects. What if the Anarchs have whole servers or e-mail accounts out there full of these buffered powers, and all it takes is a smartphone to call them down inside the domain? With such fears in mind, many tyrants swiftly repress or punish those whom they know to have the ability to encode Disciplines in this manner. It’s a disaster waiting to happen, and probably a Masquerade breach under any sensible interpretation of the Tradition.
Over the course of a scene, the Kindred creating the buffer pays the costs for whatever individual power he wishes to buffer, plus one blood point per level of that power squared in order to suspend the effect. So, for example, a fourth-level power would cost whatever it normally costs to activate the power, plus 16 blood points to store. However, because the Kindred creates the buffered power over the course of the scene, the amount of blood he can spend per turn isn’t important (though access to that much blood is).
The Kindred sends the buffered power via some digital format, such as e-mail or a text message. He can even send it to multiple individuals or share it on a server, but the power will work only for the first proxy to invoke it, and then delete itself as normal. Thereafter, so long as the proxy has a device or computer on his person that contains the buffered power, he can invoke it. The device or computer doesn’t even have to be on or running an application that can view it, it simply needs to be in memory or storage. This does mean that a Kindred would have to copy it to a local drive from a cloud, though. Simple access to the file on the cloud isn’t enough. Still, that’s a very minor distinction, but one that can prove critical in a WiFi dead zone.
Only Kindred may be proxies, even though others may see the file and its contents (though it’s not evident what the file actually includes or performs — it’s raw data).
The proxy makes any dice rolls for the buffered power using her own Traits as a basis when she invokes the power.
It costs 30 experience points to learn this power.
Retain the Quick Blood (Celerity ••• and either Quietus ••• or Protean •••)
In the nights of the Anarch Revolt, the Assamites had an informal alliance with the antitribu who raged against their sires. Although few Anarchs possessed knowledge of the Assamite Discipline of Quietus, a few did, and they learned this blood-conserving technique to aid them. In the modern nights, this combination Discipline has spread quickly among the Anarchs, and has been adapted to the more-common Protean Discipline. Retain the Quick Blood allows a Kindred to call upon the preternatural gifts of vitae without expending them.
System: Any blood that the player spends on Celerity returns to her blood pool at the rate of one blood point per hour. Blood returned in this way will never exceed the character’s maximum blood pool — if he’s full at the time that another point of blood would return to his system, that blood point is lost (as are any others that would be returned from the use of Celerity).
It costs 15 experience points to learn this power.
Slenderman (Auspex •••, Obfuscate ••)
When a Kindred with this power knows he’s having his picture taken, he can cause a brief burst of occult energy to obscure his appearance in the photograph. This causes the image of the Kindred to appear only as a nondescript humanoid figure in his exact location when the photograph is taken, without any of the distinct characteristics of the individual. The Kindred may do this in reaction to having his photograph taken, and doing so is reflexive; he doesn’t need to spend an action performing the power. Using this combination Discipline costs one blood point, which the Kindred may spend the instant he knows he’s having his picture taken. This power cannot be used to alter his appearance in an existing photograph, however.
A Kindred may also use this power to obscure himself in an ongoing recording, such as being videotaped or recorded on a webcam. The Kindred must invoke the power on the turn in which the recording first begins, and must continue paying the blood point cost for each turn during which he’s being recorded. The Kindred activating this power doesn’t have to spend vitae the whole time, but that portion of the video will reveal his identity.
It costs 15 experience points to learn this power.
Smiling Jack’s Trick (Dominate •••, Obfuscate •••)
Attributed to the Anarch Smiling Jack, this power causes a Kindred to confuse one vampire for another. For a brief period, the subject consistently mistakes the user of this gift with another Kindred in the immediate vicinity. According to the story, Jack found himself caught by a Scourge and his lieutenant. Invoking this power, Jack made the Scourge believe that his lieutenant was actually the Anarch and vice versa. As the Scourge turned his attentions to the lieutenant, Jack escaped into the night, cackling all the while.
System: The player makes a contested Manipulation + Performance roll (difficulty equals the subject’s Intelligence + 5, to a maximum of 10) against the subject’s Wits + Subterfuge (difficulty 7). If the subject gains more successes, the power fails. If the character succeeds, the subject briefly but unfalteringly transposes the character using the power with another Kindred in her line of sight. From there on out, it’s up the character to make the best of the situation, but the strangeness of the change usually buys enough time to escape, if not to completely change the Anarch’s position. Note that this is a Dominate power, so it works only on those subjects of equal or lower generation as the user. The duration of the power’s effect is one hour — (10 times the subject’s Intelligence) minutes.
It costs 18 experience points to learn this power. This power allows the Kindred to see through a stone surface as if it were glass. The stone doesn’t actually become glass, however, so whatever’s on the other side of the stone won’t be able to see the Kindred. This power affects a three-foot by three-foot area of stone, to a depth of up to three feet. This effect lasts for one full scene, and costs one blood point to activate.
Stonesight (Auspex •, Visceratika •)
This power allows the Kindred to see through a stone surface as if it were glass. The stone doesn’t actually become glass, however, so whatever’s on the other side of the stone won’t be able to see the Kindred. This power affects a three-foot by three-foot area of stone, to a depth of up to three feet. This effect lasts for one full scene, and costs one blood point to activate.
It costs three experience points to learn this power.
Suck It Up (Animalism •, Protean ••)
The sites of Anarch conflicts are often slick with spilled blood, and even the side that arguably wins the conflict is probably ravenous after calling upon the gifts of Caine. Still, conflict attracts attention, and the last thing Anarchs want is to be caught hunched over, sucking the last draughts of vitae from the beaten bodies or lapping up blood from the ground. This power allows the Kindred to simply touch a pool of blood and draw it into herself.
Of course, bodies left bloodless will still attract attention , regardless of whether it went into the vampire through her mouth or fingertips. Kindred are advised to use this power discreetly.
System: The Kindred touches a quantity of spilled blood and adds it to her blood pool, up to her maximum. This power will, in fact, “strip the ground clean,” and only if the Kindred chooses not to take every available drop will some amount remain to stain the ground afterward.
It costs nine experience points to learn this power.
Tenebrous Veil (Obfuscate •, Obtenebration •)
Many Anarchs have found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time, and often what makes the difference between being found out and being discovered is the judicious use of supernatural powers. This power, created several centuries ago by Lasombra and Malkavian Anarchs, allows the Kindred to stand stock-still and avoid being seen in almost any location. As long as some shadow is present, the Kindred can bend it around his body and thereafter use that shadow to conceal himself from the minds of any onlookers.
System: No dice roll is necessary. As long as a square foot or more of shadow is present in the area, the Kindred can remain effectively unseen for as long as he chooses to remain motionless. This power combines the basic principles of Obtenebration and Obfuscate. It is very simple, but very effective.
It costs six experience points to learn this power.
Command the Swarm (Daimoinon ••, Animalism • )
The more powerful a Baali becomes, the more corrupted their form. Putrid insects and shadowy vermin begin to encircle them wherever they go, making them a walking anima of death and disease. For Baali with this power, however, these pests become their loyal servants and an extension of their power, allowing them to not only create capable spies, but also use Daimoinon Disciplines far away from their normal capabilities. This certainly explains how someone who crosses a Baali can be cursed without ever seeing them again.
System: With this combo Discipline, the Baali gains the ability to speak to any vermin or insects drawn to them just as if they were using Feral Whispers, but without the need for eye contact. The character may also spend a blood point to enchant either a single member of their swarm or the swarm as a whole and send them to any location with a specified range:
| Thirteenth Generation | 1 mile/1.5 kilometers |
| Twelfth Generation | 2 miles/3 kilometers |
| Eleventh Generation | 5 miles/8 kilometers |
| Tenth Generation | 10 miles/15 kilometers |
| Ninth Generation | 20 miles/30 kilometers |
| Eigth Generation | 50 miles/75 kilometers |
The insect or swarm acts as an extension of the Baali, allowing the character to borrow the swarm’s senses to see, hear, and interact with the swarm’s surroundings. This also allows him to use Daimoinon abilities through the swarm, although at a cost of an additional blood point.
This power costs 9 experience points to learn.
Celebrity (Obfuscate ••• and Presence ••)
A lower-powered version of Majesty, this power allows the Kindred to claim some celebrity glamour. Those around her come to believe she is some sort of famous media personality. While they can’t quite place her, they become sure they have seen her on television or on an advertising billboard. It allows the Kindred to get preferential treatment, media attention, and access to VIP areas and exclusive places.
System: To activate this power the Kindred makes an Appearance + Presence roll, difficulty 8. For each success, she can add an extra die to her pool for any social interactions where fame is an advantage. This might be for convincing a doorman to let her into a club, or inspiring a group of people to ask for her autograph. Essentially, it allows the Kindred to gain all the benefits of the Fame background, with the ability to turn it off. The effects of this power last for a scene.
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.
Silent Voice (Melpominee ••• and Obfuscate •••)
By pitching her voice impossibly high, the Daughter of Cacophony can use herpowers inaudibly. This means that powers that rely on the voice to cause harm can be done in silence.
System: In most cases this power works whenever the user wants it to with no roll. However, as it involves sound outside even most supernatural ranges, those with Auspex are allowed a test to try and detect it (Perception + Awareness + Auspex, difficulty 8). Unfortunately, those who do so risk hurting their ears, and take 1 non-lethal wound level for every 2 successes they get on their roll.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.
Tune Out (Auspex •• and Melpominee ••
With this power the Kindred can dull their senses enough to avoid the effects of any sonic attacks or distractions. She simply picks what she wants to hear, such as conversation, and ignores loud alarms or white noise.
System: This power works at the will of the power user. She can tune out background noise to hear conversations without any penalties, or eliminate painfully loud alarms. However, when the power is activated the user cannot hear anything except for the sounds she has decided to hear. This might mean she can only hear the conversation she is having in a loud club, but not the music or background voices. Unfortunately, as she has to specify what she can hear, she will be unable to adjust the power to hear any new sounds unless she knows they are there. So she can easily add a new voice to a conversation when she sees someone join, but not hear someone talking behind her or hear a new alarm going off.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.
The Shoulders of Atlas (Flight ••, Potence ••)
The power of flight is one of the reasons the Gargoyles have existed for so long. Usually, they can only carry a limited amount of cargo based on their mastery of Flight. This combination allows them to apply some of their superhuman strength to carry bigger amounts at lower levels of Flight.
System: This combination allows dots of Potence to count as dots of Flight when determining a Gargoyle’s carrying capacity (V20, p. 448). For example, if Jurgen the Gargoyle has Flight 2, Potence 2, and this ability, Jurgen can take off with 50 pounds/25 kgs of load but carry up to 100 pounds/45 kgs while flying. Speed is still limited by the mastery of Flight.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.
Falconer’s Dive (Flight •, Visceratika ••••)
Gargoyles swoop down on their enemies like few other Kindred can. “Death from above” is a common tactic of these vampires, but a select few can streamline their diving forms for minimum wind resistance and maximum impact on a target.
System: The Kindred spends a point of Willpower to subtly make their body more aerodynamic as they fall. Using this ability requires room to maneuver high in the air or a great height to drop from, like the edge of a skyscraper. The Kindred makes a Dexterity + Athletics roll (difficulty 7) as an action. For each success rolled, they subtract 1 from the difficulty of their next Brawl or Melee roll on a target below them (minimum difficulty of 3). The Kindred must make the roll as their next action or they lose the bonus. Using it indoors is unlikely unless the space is massive, like an aircraft hangar or massive cave.
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.
Carry The Mountain’s Burden (Visceratika ••••, Fortitude •••)
Gargoyles who master the Armor of Terra (V20, p. 476) can make themselves even tougher by using it in conjunction with their Fortitude. These Disciplines work together to make the Gargoyle into an unstoppable brute that requires a miracle to take down. For obvious reasons, this is a favorite choice of Sentinel Gargoyles.
System: The Gargoyle spends a point of Willpower to enhance their Armor of Terra strategically with the supernatural toughness of Fortitude. All bonuses and penalties for the Armor of Terra double for the remainder of the combat scene. The Gargoyle receives two extra soak dice for aggravated and lethal soak dice pools. It also gains four dice to soak bashing wounds, ignores two levels of wound penalties, and reduces any fire-based damage pools to a quarter (round down) of their original size. All touch- based Perception-rolled have a difficulty of +4 (maximum of 9) because the Gargoyle’s skin becomes even tougher.
This power costs 21 experience points to learn.
Bloodied Hands (Necromancy •, Auspex ••)
Even among immortals, the act of murder is often concealed. Lazarenes use their connection to the auguries of death as potent blackmail material. Through piercing the obfuscations surrounding another being’s soul, the Harbinger can identify her target’s most recent victim.
System: The player rolls Perception + Empathy (difficulty 7). Success allows the necromancer to view details of the last sentient being killed by the target. The results are perceived only by the necromancer, and last the duration of the scene.
| Successes | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 success | The victim’s face takes the place of his killer’s. |
| 2 successes | The victim’s body also takes the place of his killer’s. |
| 3 successes | The victim’s cause of death becomes physically apparent. |
| 4 successes | The victim’s voice speaks the events immediately leading up to his death. |
| 5+ successes | The victim can voice as much of his life history as time permits. |
This power costs 9 experience points to learn.
Leer of Hades (Necromancy ••, Serpentis •)
In Ancient Greece, the Harbingers of Skulls knew the Followers of Set as Childer of Typhon, the Serpents recognizing the Harbingers as kin of Hades. The close relationship the bloodlines shared led to their coordination of powers, to ensure the souls of their kin who met Final Death would go on serving their respective Clans. This technique was used to reward loyal kin with honored places in the afterlife, as often as it was used to punish errant vampires with eternal servitude.
System: The necromancer must successfully fix another vampire with The Eyes of the Serpent (V20, p. 209) up to one week prior to that vampire’s Final Death. The gaze of the necromancer is burned into the soul of the vampire, and if she dies within the week, the night following her death will see her reconstituted as a wraith in the necromancer’s presence. The wraith is not bound to service, unless separate powers are used.
This power costs 9 experience points to learn.
Sutekh Fathers Anubis (Necromancy ••••, Serpentis ••••)
Developed by Lazarus, and the principal reason for his victory over Clanmates sent to kill him, the Cainite with this power can change form into a monstrous, rotting jackal over seven feet from foot to shoulder blade. This Anubis form grants the vampire greater damage from her bite, the ability to travel faster than a human, an enhanced sense of smell, and the physical fortitude of a corpse infused with necromancy.
System: The vampire spends one blood point and one Willpower, rolling Stamina + Occult (difficulty 7). The metamorphosis takes two turns. Clothing and small personal possessions transform with the vampire. The vampire remains in jackal form until the next dawn, unless she chooses to revert. Difficulty on all Perception rolls related to smell are reduced by two, and the jackal’s bite inflicts an additional two points of damage, without need to grapple. The form can move twice as fast as a human, and benefits from the cadaver-like resilience bestowed by Gift of the Corpse (V20, p. 169.) Any of the vampire’s Disciplines can still be used in this form.
This power costs 24 experience points to learn.
Dreamstalker (Dominate ••, Mytherceria •)
Weirdlings enjoy exerting control over their victims, even in dreams. A Kiasyd who whispers into the ear of an unconscious victim may implant fantastic or frightening thoughts that remain with the sleeper after waking. The dreams Kiasyd insert in victims’ minds can be anything from seemingly disparate elements (you will repeatedly see eagles and pink umbrellas) to intact narratives (you will dream of your husband chasing you around town with an axe). Kiasyd have been known to use this power to compel victims to react to stimuli planted in their path, seeing features from their dreams as symbols of good luck, or potential disaster.
System: The player rolls Manipulation + Expression (difficulty the victim’s current temporary Willpower rating) as she commands the sleeper to dream whatever elements she narrates. The effect manifests in the victim’s behaviors once woken, effecting concentration (difficulty of extended actions increases by two) and potentially stimulating the victim in a positive (the victim responds favorably to subjects from his dream) or negative way (the victim must make a Willpower roll to remain in the presence of what he dreamt) for a duration dependent on the number of successes achieved by the player.
| Successes | Duration |
|---|---|
| 1 success | One turn |
| 2 successes | One hour |
| 3 successes | One week |
| 4 successes | One night |
| 5+ successes | One month |
This power costs 9 experience points to learn.
Sacrifice to Nightmare (Mytherceria ••••, Obtenebration •••)
Kiasyd who know their connection to the Abyss also know it’s necessary to keep the entities within content, and doing so occasionally requires a sacrifice. Pragmatic Weirdlings reason “If we need to sacrifice lives, why not the lives of those we hate?”
After painting the interior walls of a pitch-black chamber with fae sigils, the Kiasyd seals a sacrifice inside the room. Within seconds, the tentacles and snapping jaws of the Abyss reach through, and consume whatever offering has been provided. Those schooled in Abyss Mysticism believe the nightmare entity to be a part of the summoner, as it ceases to exist if it leaves the chamber emblazoned with the Kiasyd’s sigils and blood.
Sacrifices who survive over a minute in the chamber are supposedly given the honored treatment of being diablerized by Kiasyd without, but Weirdlings sniff at such vulgar claims.
System: The vampire must inscribe a Chanjelin Ward (V20, p. 455) within a room, where it has the same effects as usual. The Kiasyd must then spend two blood points to summon a tangible nightmare from the Abyss before exiting the room, leaving her sacrifice behind. The nightmare is a tentacled, many-mawed creature, which cannot exist outside the sacrificial chamber for longer than a single minute.
The nightmare’s four independent tentacles each deal lethal (the Kiasyd’s Strength +1) damage through constriction, which can be resisted with an opposed Strength roll (difficulty 6 for each tentacle). The nightmare’s mouth deals aggravated (the Kiasyd’s Strength +2) damage after successfully grappling the sacrifice with its tentacles.
The nightmare has equal health levels and resistances to the summoner, who can soak damage with Stamina and Fortitude. Damage inflicted on the nightmare does not affect the summoner.
This power costs 21 experience points to learn.
Kiasyd Alchemy
Until now, the Kiasyd practice of alchemy has resulted in a bevy of flavors, if not successful functions. Lately, however, some of their bizarre mixtures have begun to alter the forms and powers of those who drink them. Some claim this is due to the awakening of Hrotsuitha, while others mundanely state after a near millennium of research, it would be more surprising if nothing had been achieved.
At Storyteller discretion, Kiasyd cocktails may convey temporary benefits, such as increased Strength or points of Protean through consumption of a werewolf-based drink, greater affinity for Thaumaturgy or astral projection during the day by drinking the blood of magi, and temporary immunity to the sun’s rays or use of Chimerstry through drinking from fairies.
Such powers should come at a cost, however. Increased likelihood of frenzy, becoming subject to bizarre coincidences when using Masquerade- violating Disciplines, or being hunted by illusionary entities are all possible penalties for indulging in the macabre field of blood alchemy.
Soul Separation (Vitreous Path •••, Auspex ••••)
A few Nagaraja have the ability to link their souls with another through what some call control of their unholy presence. In truth, it is more about knowing another’s soul intimately through the use of Auspex that makes the vampire truly dangerous. Reaching out with his mind and spirit to his victim’s soul, the vampire may draw it out and devour it the same as any other spirit. Victims who have survived such a trauma say it is truly an out of body experience or a forced astral projection. They feel like they could go anywhere or do anything, completely free of their corporeal form, but are instead uncontrollably drawn into the Nagaraja’s jaws to be devoured. It is a nightmare of unparalleled proportions, often scarring the victim mentally.
System: The player spends 1 Willpower and rolls Manipulation + Empathy (difficulty 7) against the target’s Willpower (difficulty 6). Each success the target rolls cancels out one from the player’s roll. Leftover successes are compared to the table above.
| Successes | Effects |
|---|---|
| 0 successes | The victim’s soul remains unmoved; no effect. |
| 1 success | The victim’s soul is stirred, but not removed. This harms the target’s spiritual alignment, raising the difficulty of their next check by +2. |
| 2 successes | The Nagaraja shoves the target’s soul out of their body, tethered close by. This state lasts for 2 turns, during which the target cannot move more than 10 feet/three meters from their corporeal form. Some vampires use this power to easily grab hold of a resistant target and begin feeding, the Kiss having taken hold of the victim by the time they return to their body. |
| 3 successes | The soul of the target is momentarily stripped from their body, as the vampire takes a single bite to gain 3 blood points from the soul before it is returned. The victim suffers damage and a -2 penalty to their next dice pool. |
| 4 successes | The victim’s soul is ripped from their physical form and fly straight into the Nagaraja’s wide-open, expanding maw, allowing him to devour the soul whole. As a result, they gain 6 blood points instantly, and the victim’s body falls to the ground, limp and lifeless. |
| 5 successes | Same as 4 successes, but they now gain 10 blood points, digesting the victim’s soul much easier. |
This power costs 21 experience points to learn.
Unseen Spirit (Vitreous Path ••, Obfuscate ••)
Becoming invisible to the living world is something many Kindred know how to do, but the Nagaraja go one step further. They use their expertise with ghostly energies to make themselves invisible even to those ghosts and spirits who can usually see them. It makes it easier for them walk through the lands of the dead unharmed or sneak up on unsuspecting ghosts for them to devour and replenish their power.
System: The vampire rolls Stamina + Empathy (difficulty 6). Similar to Unseen Presence, the character remains invisible unless they speak, attack, or draw undue attention. However, the addition of ghostly emanation makes this process even easier. He may perform one act that may draw attention to him per success on their activation check before their invisibility is lifted. This makes the Discipline much more forgiving for those not already proficient in stealthy operations, which describes many Nagaraja in their early nights. The character’s environment isn’t affected, however; knocking over a vase or smashing a window is obvious to any onlooker, though the observer won’t know what made those things occur.
This power costs eight experience points to learn.
Vital Fluids (Obeah •••, Fortitude •••)
With complete mastery over her undead frame and the power of vitae healing, the Salubri finds that healing wounds no longer overly taxes her duties towards humanity. Additionally, the Salubri may apply Corpore Sano (V20 p. 469) to herself, though the only benefit is for healing aggravated damage.
System: Any blood spent to heal bashing or lethal damage returns to the vampire’s blood pool, at a rate of one point per hour. This does not apply to points lost to use Copore Sano. This power is always active at no cost.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.
Switched At Death (Thanatosis • Obfuscate •••)
Usually, the Samedi take great pains to hide their shriveled, dead appearance. Looking like the right corpse at the right time, however, can prove to be quite useful.
System: Roll Wits + Awareness with a difficulty equal to the observer’s current Willpower. Success allows the user to appear as a specific dead body that they’ve touched. The power allows the illusion to emulate any damage done to the body, such as a fatal gunshot wound or a severed head. Any actions the Kindred takes that are out of place for a dead body, such as obvious movement or direct communication, trigger a Courage roll for the observer to stay in the presence of the Kindred. This power can only duplicate the state of the body the Kindred contacts. If the mortal has been dead 100 years, the Kindred will look like a skeleton.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.
Grisly Gris-Gris (Fortitude ••, Thanatosis ••)
A common voudoun artifact is a gris-gris bag. These talismans protect the wearer from harm or bad luck. You can provide a similar type of protection... to those with an iron stomach.
System: The Kindred must spend a point of blood and break off a small piece of their body, such as a bit of hair, a fingernail, or a piece of skin. The target must ingest the Kindred’s body part. The next time the target makes a Stamina roll to soak damage, he or she adds a number of Fortitude dice to the roll equal to the Kindred’s Fortitude or Thanatosis, whichever is lower. While the gris-gris is in the target’s body, they temporarily lose one dot in Appearance per hour as their appearance becomes more and more corpse-like. If the target drops to zero Appearance this way, they become violently ill and vomit up the gris-gris along with the contents of their stomach. The target may choose to expel the gris-gris at any time once it’s become active.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.
Exquisite Corpse (Fortitude •••, Obfuscate •••)
When Kindred rise every night, their bodies usually return to the same state they were in. You are able to maintain that perfect look throughout the night through a combination of supernatural physical toughness and your ability to control how others perceive you.
System: The Kindred suffers no cosmetic changes when she takes damage. If she gets shot, there’s no bullet hole. If a limb is removed, it turns to dust and an illusory one appears where the other once was. All health levels and dice pool penalties remain as normal, but someone trying to hurt the Kindred must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 7) after the first successful attack, or be stunned in disbelief. If stunned, all future rolls that scene to hurt the Kindred are at +2 difficulty.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.
Old Friend (Presence ••••, Temporis ••••)
This ability has proved invaluable to True Brujah infiltrating the ranks of their betrayers, or even other Sects and Clans. It makes the target believe the True Brujah is a very old friend, one who is trustworthy and loyal. They remember spending time together and several instances where the True Brujah has proved themselves beyond reproach. While this may appear to be an advanced application of implanted memories, it is actually a lot more. The True Brujah finds an alternate timeline that fits the required relationship and imprints it on the target, using Presence to bond feelings of trust and friendship. This makes it very difficult to detect and unravel, as the memories are real and were (in a sense) actually experienced by the target, even if they never actually occurred in this timeline.
System: The True Brujah must make physical contact with the target (often a handshake) and begin to describe a potential memory they share by way of introduction. They then make a Manipulation + Empathy roll at a difficulty equal to the target’s current Willpower. The number of successes shows how long the effects last.
| Successes | Duration |
|---|---|
| 1 success | One scene |
| 2 successes | One night |
| 3 successes | One week |
| 4 successes | One month |
| 5 successes | One year |
While under the power’s effects, the target will believe the True Brujah is both loyal and above reproach. Even evidence to the contrary will be considered part of an elaborate conspiracy. Once the power fades, the target will still consider the True Brujah a friend, until something calls their motives into question. If the target is still under the effects of this power, attempts to refresh the effects for a longer duration are made at +1 difficulty.
This combination power costs 24 experience points to learn.
Jackhammer Punch (Potence ••, Temporis ••)
Getting punched with Potence is always painful, but with this power you force your opponent to relive that pain over and over again. The True Brujah uses their control of time to seemingly repeat a strike several times at the same time. This leads to a great increase in damage from only a single attack.
System: When a True Brujah strikes in unarmed combat and opts to use this power, they may spend a blood point to add their Temporis rating as extra points of Potence when figuring the damage they have done.
This combination power costs 12 experience points to learn.
Baal’s Sight (Auspex ••, Quietus (Sorcerer Caste) ••••)
Oft times, the demon hunters of the sorcerer caste lack the time to activate the spiritual sight associated with Baal’s Caress. This power removes the requirement that they do so.
System: Upon learning this power, the sorcerer gains the permanent ability to see dematerialized spirits and the like. There is no roll and no cost for doing so, and this counts as part of the requirement for the sorcerer version of Taste of Death (p. 27). However, the power permanently alters the sorcerer’s eyes, rendering them disturbingly bloodshot as if he had a permanent infection in both eyes. In addition, any spirit in the sorcerer’s presence will intuitively sense that he can see them, which some spirits find offensive.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.
Draught of the Soul (Auspex ••••, Quietus •••••)
This power is largely a relic of the days before the Tremere Curse. While many Assamite elders still know it, Draught of the Soul is useless to those who cannot drink the blood of other Cainites. The antitribu can still make use of it, however, and if the Tremere Curse is ever lifted, all Assamites will have the potential to drink the memories of their victims instead of just their souls.
System: This power can only be used when an Assamite commits diablerie. The player spends a number of Willpower points equal to the victim’s Intelligence and then rolls Willpower (difficulty equal to the victim’s permanent Willpower plus one for every Derangement she had; maximum 9).
If the roll is successful, the player gains one experience point for every Skill in which the victim’s rating was equal to or greater than that of the character. The bonus experience points can only be spent to improve Skills in which the victim’s rating equaled or exceeded that of the Assamite. These experience points should be kept in a separate pool. At the Storyteller’s discretion, the character may also be able to access specific memories of the victim, usually while in a dreamlike state. If the player’s roll botches, the character gains a permanent derangement, usually one previously held by the victim if appropriate.
This power costs 27 experience points.
Eyes of Alamut (Auspex ••••, Quietus •••)
This power allows for a most cunning surveillance. The Assamite must touch the target to activate the power. If successful, then for the next hour per success, she can see through the target’s eyes and hear through his ears.
System: To activate Eyes of Alamut, the player must spend a Willpower point and roll Perception + Awareness (difficulty is target’s current Willpower). This power can only be used to scry on someone who the Assamite has physically touched, and the connection only lasts for an hour. A target who also has Telepathy (Auspex ••••) may notice the fact that someone is riding his senses with a successful Perception + Occult roll (difficulty 6). Such a character automatically realizes the intrusion if the Assamite uses Command From Afar and the control attempt is unsuccessful.
This power costs 21 experience points to learn.
Eyes of Blades (Auspex ••, Celerity •••)
The Assamite can use her preternatural speed to evade or parry a flurry of attacks.
System: At the start of the character’s combat turn, the player spends two blood points and one Willpower point. This counts as activating Celerity for a turn. During this turn, the character may take no action other than self- defense, but she can defend herself with her full dice pool (whether dodging or parrying) against every attack made against her on that turn.
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.
Forced March (Celerity ••, Fortitude ••)
Forced March allows the Assamite to cover ground quickly. This power cannot be used in combat but can aid the Assamite in moving with great speed without the debilitating vitae cost of conventional Celerity.
System: The Assamite spends a number of blood points equal to half his Celerity rating, rounded up. For a number of hours equal to his Fortitude, the Assamite multiplies his normal running speed by his Celerity rating. Thus, an Assamite with Fortitude ••• and Celerity •••• who could normally run at around four miles per hour (six kph) could use this power to run at a speed of 16 miles per hour (25 kph) for up to three hours.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.
Honeyed Words (Auspex ••, Presence •)
The viziers are preternaturally skillful at telling their listeners what they want to hear. So skillful, in fact, that a vizier sometimes doesn’t even need to know what he’s talking about. This power assures the vizier that, no matter what words tumble out of his mouth, they are always the perfect response.
System: The player must roll Manipulation + Expression (difficulty 6). For the remainder of the scene, the difficulty for all rolls to persuade, manipulate, or interrogate a single target through mundane conversation are reduced by the number of successes rolled to a minimum of 4. Additionally, the Storyteller (or player if this power is used against a player’s character) must advise the vizier’s player if the vizier is in danger of saying anything that might offend, confuse, or worry the target. It is possible to use this power to baffle someone with highly technical jargon that the vizier himself doesn’t understand at all.
This power costs 9 experience points to learn.
Shadow Feint (Celerity ••, Obfuscate ••)
Shadow Feint combines the characteristics of Celerity and Obfuscate to blur the perceptions of her enemies.
System: At the beginning of any turn in which the Assamite has activated Celerity and in which her first action is an evasive one, the player may spend an additional blood point to activate Shadow Feint. For the rest of the turn, the difficulty of all rolls to target the Assamite increase by +2, to a maximum of 9. This is an Obfuscate power and cannot affect any vampire whose Auspex exceeds the Assamite’s Obfuscate.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.
Burning Wrath (Celerity •••, Potence •••)
Among the purest expressions of Brujah fury, this power lets the vampire focus her anger through her vitae and then through her fists.
System: This power costs 1 blood point and lasts for a scene. Any Brawl attacks augmented with this power inflict aggravated damage.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.
Command the Wary Beast (Animalism ••, Presence •••)
The Brujah bolsters his influence over animals with his natural charisma to make animals flee in terror or, in the case of animals under his control, remain calm in the face of frightening circumstances.
System: The player spends 1 Willpower point and rolls Manipulation + Animal Ken (difficulty 7). Hostile unled animals must flee. Animals under the control of an enemy will not necessarily flee, but the difficulty of all control rolls increases by 3. Conversely, animals that are friendly to the Brujah or his allies will become more compliant, with the difficulty of all control rolls reduced by 2.
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.
Esprit de Corps (Potence ••••, Presence ••••)
The power of the Brujah to raise a mob or even an army is not to be ignored. Those inspired by the vampire’s use of this power fight fearlessly and ferociously.
System: The player rolls Charisma + Leadership (difficulty 7). Any opposing force that attempts to intimidate (whether supernaturally or no) those affected by Esprit de Corps find that the difficulty of such attempts increases by 2. The number of successes determines the maximum size of the crowd to be affected. In addition, for every two successes rolled, each affected person acquires the equivalent of one dot of Potence for the duration of the scene, up to a maximum of three dots. This benefit applies regardless of whether the affected person is a mortal, ghoul, or vampire — since mortals cannot spend blood points, they can only use the “passive” effects of Potence (see V20, p. 192).
| Successes | Duration |
|---|---|
| 1 success | One person |
| 2 successes | Tewo people |
| 3 successes | Six people |
| 4 successes | 20 people |
| 5 successes | All allies in the immediate vicinity (whether a battle group or everyone in a large room) |
This power costs 24 experience points to learn.
Iron Heart (Potence •••, Presence •••)
Common among Individualists who quest for self- control, Iron Heart fortifies the Brujah against supernatural powers that affect her emotions, her self-control, or her reason (including Dominate, Dementation, and Presence), while also allowing her to inspire others to resist such manipulations themselves.
System: This power has two effects. First, a Brujah who has acquired this power permanently increases the difficulty of all attempts to manipulate her through supernatural means (whether Disciplines or other magic) by 2, to a maximum of 9. Against unrolled supernatural effects (such as Majesty), the Brujah instead reduces the difficulty of any relevant resistance rolls by 2. This aspect of the power is always active. Second, if the player spends a Willpower point while the character actively persuades another to resist such effects, the difficulty of any such supernatural manipulation increases by 1 (or the difficulty of the character’s resistance roll against unrolled effects is reduced by 1).
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.
Leaps and Bounds (Celerity ••, Potence ••)
Through this intersection of strength, speed, and will, the Brujah can leap amazing distances, whether to evade foes or flee a burning building.
System: The Brujah multiplies all vertical and horizontal jumping distances by the lesser of her Celerity or Potence (see the rules for jumping in V20, p. 260). The player does not need to roll anything to make the jump but, at the Storyteller’s discretion, may need to roll Dexterity + Athletics (difficulty 4) to land safely depending on the environment.
This power costs 12 points to learn.
Pulse of Undeath (Auspex •, Potence •)
Canny Brujah with this power can go into fights forewarned about their opponents’ capabilities. The Brujah can intuitively sense which, if any, physical Disciplines another vampire possesses.
System: The player rolls Perception + Empathy (difficulty 6). Each success informs the Brujah of one physical Discipline (Celerity, Potence, or Fortitude) possessed by the target observed, as well as that Discipline’s approximate level.
This power costs 6 experience points to learn.
Reluctant Performance Artist (Dominate •••, Presence •••)
Popular among the Situationists, this power not only lets the Brujah transform a mortal into an unwilling performer, it transforms other mortals into a captive audience. Other, less artistic Brujah who learn this power find it useful as a distraction to cover for their clandestine activities.
System: The player adds one Willpower point to the cost of using Mesmerize on a mortal who the Brujah the commands to perform some action in a public place. For Situationists, this action is typically something absurd or otherwise bizarre, consistent with modern performance art. Theoretically, however, the Brujah could command the mortal to do anything, such as start an argument with someone else or commit an act of public vandalism.
Other mortals who observe the performer and whose current Willpower ratings do not exceed the successes rolled by the Brujah are powerless to do anything except watch attentively. If the performer does something dangerous or illegal, treat each audience member’s Willpower as if it were 1 higher. If the performer attacks anyone in the audience, treat each audience member’s Willpower as if it were 3 higher.
If the performance is completed without interruption, affected audience members will move on and either forget about the performer’s actions or rationalize the events as being part of an artistic performance (no matter how odd the scene). Whether a particular mortal thinks the performance is any good will probably depend on her appreciation for performance art.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.
Scourge of Alecto (Celerity ••, Presence ••••)
An obscure power often found among older Idealists, Scourge of Alecto allows the Brujah to chain his own Beast and then, through an act of supreme will, unleash it within the body of someone else nearby. Doing so does not alter the Brujah’s own propensity for frenzy, but it can inflict both damage and frenzies upon his enemies.
System:The player must spend a point of Willpower while the character spends a full turn concentrating on a single target (which may be mortal, vampire, or any other type of supernatural character). Then the player rolls the Brujah’s permanent Willpower (difficulty equals target’s current Willpower). Each success inflicts one level of bashing damage as the Brujah’s manifested fury attacks the target from the inside. Additionally, if the target is someone normally susceptible to frenzy, she must immediately roll to resist it at a +2 difficulty.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn. T
True Love’s Face (Obfuscate •••, Presence •••)
hrough perfect combination of Mask of 1,000 Faces and Entrancement, the Setite can appear to another person as someone he already loves. If she does not know of such a person, she can let the victim define his own “true love” and let the power do the rest. In that case, however, the Setite will have to use her wits to discover who the victim thinks she is.
System: The vampire receives a roll of Charisma + Empathy (difficulty 6). Success means that the chosen victim sees the vampire as a loved one for as long as the vampire remains in her presence.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.
Typhonic Beast (Potence •••, Serpentis ••••)
The Setite calls upon the primordial chaos of the Duat, expressing it through his own flesh. The vampire takes on the form of the mysterious Typhonic animal.
System: This power requires the expenditure of three blood points; the transformation takes three turns to complete. The transformed vampire gains one dot each of Strength, Dexterity, and Stamina, as well as the benefits of Potence. The Typhonic form gains the soak benefits of Skin of the Adder (see V20, p. 210): dropping the soak difficulty to 5; and the vampire can use her Stamina to soak aggravated damage from claws and fangs, but not from fire, sunlight, or magic. The Setite also gains the venomous bite of Form of the Cobra, doubles her running speed, and gains +2 dice on all Perception rolls related to smell or hearing.
The vampire remains in bestial form until the next sunrise, or until she voluntarily changes back. Clothing and other small personal items transform along with the vampire.
This power costs 21 experience points to learn.
Weigh the Heart (Auspex •••, Serpentis •••••)
The ancient Egyptians believed that conscience and judgment resided in the heart. In the afterlife, the gods weighed a person’s heart, the record of his deeds, against the feather of truth. A Setite who has learned The Heart of Darkness (see V20, p. 210) not only can remove a vampire’s heart to keep it safe, he gains a potential insight into the consciences of others. He can develop that potential through Auspex. Like the god Anubis, a vampire with this power can “weigh” another person’s heart to read his character and sins. Such knowledge of another person’s character makes tempting, corrupting, or teaching him much easier.
System: This power calls for a Perception + Empathy roll (difficulty 8). Each success reveals one truth about the target’s character, with particular emphasis on the person’s weaknesses, passions, and guilts. The first truth is always the target’s Nature. Subsequent truths might include any Derangements or mental Flaws, strong passions, or deep-laid fears and guilts (although never specific details about specific crimes).
This power costs 24 experience points to learn.
Blood Thorns (Protean ••, Potence ••)
This power allows the user to expend the force of her blood in order to make a ranged attack with her natural weaponry. With this ability, the Gangrel shoots a barb or claw at her target, potentially injuring them as though she had struck them with her Feral Claws. It takes three rounds for a claw expended in this manner to grow back. Claws or barbs expelled by use of Blood Thorns turn to dust within ten minutes of leaving the Gangrel’s body.System: The character spends a blood to perform a ranged attack against one character within 10 yards/ meters. If successful, this attack inflicts Strength +1 aggravated damage.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.
Claw Immunity (Animalism ••, Fortitude ••••)
Quite a number of high-Generation Gangrel have developed the ability to shrug off claw and bite attacks of normal animals, hardening their flesh against non- supernatural threats. This talent is extremely useful in areas where dangerous predators roam, and particularly when one must fight against animals whom an enemy commands... such as the Ravnos. This power does not work against Feral Claws or supernatural attacks such as werewolf claws and fangs.System: The player spends two blood points to activate this power. For the remainder of the scene, the Gangrel receives extra soak dice equal to his Animalism + Fortitude to resist damage from any non-supernatural animal attack(claws, fangs, or other natural weaponry). These dice are in addition to the vampire’s usual Stamina + Fortitude, i.e. Fortitude is counted twice.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.
Flesh Wound (Fortitude ••, Obfuscate •••)
True predators know when to rely on cunning and trickery to defeat enemies. Using this power, the Gangrel gives the appearance of taking no damage from attacks. In reality, the attacks hurt like hell, but the Gangrel maintains a facade of invulnerability in order to unnerve opponents. Particularly canny vampires may convince foes that they are, in fact, immune to assault.System: The player spends one blood point to activate this power. For the duration of the scene, the Gangrel appears as she did upon activation of this power; any wounds or scars already present will remain visible. Further damage does not show on the Gangrel’s form, nor do any logical results, such limping or leaking blood. This power ends if the Gangrel reaches the incapacitated health level or is staked. Under no circumstances can the wounds be discerned by an outside source before the power ends.
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.
King of the Beasts (Fortitude ••, Animalism ••••)
The vampire who masters this power has the ability to extend the auspices of her Fortitude to those animals who are summoned by her blood, ensuring that they are protected. This power requires no further expenditure on the user’s part; her very nature steels and fortifies her minion against damage.System: Creatures you summon with Animalism gain one dot of Fortitude so long as they stay within your line of sight.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn. Using this power, the Gangrel may use Aura Perception to pull detailed information from his subject’s aura. In that aura, he can see the beast forms of Gangrel or other vampires possessing Protean; the forms of the Lupines and other shape-changing beasts; the half-real dream forms of fairies; and the shadows of vampiric forms from disciplines such as Obtenebration, Protean, Serpentis, and Vicissitude. Further, the user of this power can tell which form is “native” or original to the subject.System: The player rolls Perception + Awareness (difficulty 6). One success gives the character knowledge of the individual’s native form, regardless of the form that the user inhabits at the time. Three successes allow the user to see all forms that the individual in question may assume, and know the Disciplines used to achieve those forms. With five successes, the user may see the images of all forms assumed by non-vampires (such as Lupines or Fae), though the user may not understand the powers used to transform into those shapes. This ability does not reveal the visual changes of Obfuscate, as those are not truly transformative powers.
See the Reflected Form (Auspex ••, Protean ••••)
This power costs 18 experience points to learn. A Gangrel with this power toughens his flesh and allows her body to absorb damage, spreading a blow’s impact throughout her entire form to avoid significant injury.System: The Gangrel may roll both Fortitude and Stamina together to soak aggravated damage. This does not include automatic soaks with stamina versus regular damage. Each use of this ability requires the expenditure of one Willpower.
Shatterproof (Protean •••, Fortitude ••••)
This power costs 21 experience points to learn.
Spirit Tracking (Protean ••, Animalism ••)
Your beast is an exceptional tracker, sensing the lingering trails of another beast through the spiritual ether rather than relying on physical senses alone. Indeed, your Beast can sense and follow the path of another vampire’s Beast, tracking it even when the prey takes physical precautions against being followed or found. Your inner senses are so keen, in fact, that it is difficult to fool you with mirages or false trails, making it more difficult for the powers of the Ravnos to trick you.System: When tracking a vampire, you may roll Perception + Survival (difficulty 7) in order to track the individual so long as they are within 10 yards/meters. With three or more successes, you may continue to track the individual so long as they are within 100 yards/meters. With five successes, you may sense specific individuals who have been in a location within the last three days, though you may not track them unless they are still currently within 100 yards/meters. Further, you are not fooled by illusions created using the power Ignis Fatuus (V20, p. 144). Unless the Ravnos creates an illusion that appeals to all of the senses (i.e., uses Fata Morgana or some greater power), your animalistic nature can instinctively tell the mirage is false.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.
Eyes of a Thousand Shades (Auspex •, Necromancy •••)
While not everyone who has died went on to become a ghost, the dead are legion. They stand in your room while you sleep, and walk the halls when you work late. This power allows the necromancer to harness the ghosts in a given area to act as a kind of phantom clairvoyance. Some younger members of the clan refer to this power as “spook surveillance.”
System: The player spends one blood point and rolls Perception + Occult. Each success widens the effect by 25 yards/meters, giving the necromancer a wider variety of ghosts to pull from in a broader area. While this power is active, the necromancer can see through the eyes of all the ghosts within the area of effect. He can flip from one ghost’s perception to another’s at will. However, the ghost’s vision is filmy, colored by the sudario. The detritus of memory is strewn about, and can cause confusion or obscure fine details of the living world.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.
Sharing the Master’s Vigor (Dominate •••••, Necromancy •••)
Those who walk the Bone Path of Necromancy can summon grotesque zombie hordes to perform their will. For those few who have learned the secret of this power, those deathless guardians may be imbued with extra speed, strength, or toughness.
System: The player spends one blood point and rolls Wits + Occult. Each success allows him to imbue one zombie summoned through the Necromancy power Shambling Hordes (V20, p. 165) with a dot of a physical Discipline (Celerity, Fortitude, or Potence) that the necromancer possesses. For example, he may choose to spend two successes on the same zombie by giving him 1 Celerity and 1 Fortitude or 2 Celerity. However, the necromancer cannot share a Discipline rating higher than his own. For example, if Beniamino has Potence 2, but achieves three successes on his activation roll, he cannot give a zombie Potence 3. The zombie retains these abilities as long as it is animate.
This power costs 24 experience points to learn.
Armor of the Abyss (Obtenebration •••, Fortitude •••)
When the vampire calls on this power, strands of darkness weave around him and solidify into a dark suit of armor. The vampire is completely encased in shadow, but able to see out of it as if it wasn’t there.
System: This power is invoked in much the same way as Arms of the Abyss (V20, p. 189), by spending a blood point and making a Manipulation + Occult roll (difficulty 7). If successful, the strands of shadow encase the vampire instead of reaching out. This cloak of shadow fully protects the vampire but does not encumber him in any way, conferring no penalty. It grants him an armor rating equal to his Fortitude and lasts for 3 rounds (or ten minutes) for each success gained on the activation roll.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.
Empower Minion (Dominate •••, Potence •••)
Using this ability, the vampire can pass his immortal strength on to those who serve him. No matter how far apart they are, the bond of command allows the vampire to channel his Potence to his servant to assist her in doing his will.
System: Any allies currently under the control of the vampire’s Dominate power may act with a portion of the vampire’s Potence. The vampire must spend one blood point per point of Potence for each thrall he wishes to empower, up to a maximum of three dots of Potence per thrall (the vampire can spend blood over successive turns, as long as the Dominate power is in effect). If the target already has Potence, the controller’s Potence level replaces it instead of adding to it.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.
Fear of the Dark (Presence ••, Obtenebration ••)
With a mixture of Dominate and Shadowplay, the vampire using this ability can inspire a terrible fear of the shadows in his target. Those caught in this effect find their paranoia runs rampant, as fearful shapes seems to form in the shadows around them in the corner of their eye.
System: The vampire invokes Shadow Play (V20, pp. 188-189), and then makes a Manipulation + Intimidation roll, (difficulty 6). For each success, the vampire may force one person (mortal or supernatural) in the immediate vicinity to see frightening shapes within the shadows around them. If the target fails a Courage check at difficulty 8, she runs in terror.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.
Mind Strike (Dominate ••, Potence ••)
By focusing his mental power, the vampire can channel their Potence into a powerful mental attack that does real damage to the victim. He simply meets his victim’s gaze and delivers a strike into her very mind.
System:
This power costs a Willpower point to use and requires eye contact (V20, p. 152). The vampire makes a Manipulation + Intimidation roll (without any bonus from Shadow Play — see V20, pp. 188-189) against a difficulty of the victim’s current Willpower. The amount of successes are added to the vampire’s Potence rating and become bashing damage to the victim. Normal soak rolls apply. As with many Dominate powers, targets of a lower Generation are immune to its use.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.
Shadow Mark (Dominate •••, Obtenebration ••••• •)
Shadowstep (V20, p. 191) only allows the vampire to move between shadows. However, with this power he can mark those he Dominates and use any shadow they are standing in instead.
System: This power allows the vampire attempting Shadowstep to step to one of his Dominated minions instead of another shadowy area. The minion must be standing in shadow himself or the power will not work, but otherwise distance is no object: the vampire simply appears out of the nearby shadow. There is no additional roll or expenditure when making such a Shadowstep, although the difficulty is one level higher.
This power costs 27 experience points to learn.
Shroud of Absence (Obfuscate •••, Obtenebration •••)
This variant of Shroud of Night (V20, p. 189) creates not just an area of shadow, but also an area no one looks at. It is effectively a cloak of invisibility, an area any bystander will simply ignore. To look inside the cloak of deception requires a powerful act of will.
System: The use of this power requires a blood point and a roll of Manipulation + Subterfuge (difficulty 7). If successful, an area about ten feet/3 meters across within the vampire’s line of sight is cloaked. The cloaked area can be moved at a normal walking pace and lasts for an hour for each success. Anyone wishing to look into the cloaked area must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 7) and score more successes than the vampire did to create the area. If she succeeds, she can see through the cloak as if it wasn’t there.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.
Creepy Clown Coat (Dementation •, Obfuscate •••)
Everyone fears something. It may be a phobia, a person, or a concept. This ability allows you to appear as a representation of a person’s worst fears. They may flee, break down and cry, or start throwing punches at the very sight of you.
System: Roll Wits + Awareness, with a difficulty equal to the target’s current Willpower. Success allows the user to appear as a human representation of what the target fears most. If the fear is of a concept or an animal, the user appears as a representation of that fear. For example, if a person is afraid of being burned alive, the Malkavian might appear as an arsonist, or as a relative of the target that burned up in a fire. The target must make a Courage roll to do anything other than react to the source of her fear. The target must generate a number of successes equal to the successes on the Malkavian’s roll.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.
Days of Passions Past (Dementation •••, Auspex ••)
People’s moods shift from moment to moment. Vampires with Auspex can take their chances and try to interpret a person’s mood at that very moment from an aura. However, those with this power look into the chaos and see what moods the target engages in most frequently.
System: Roll Perception + Awareness, with a difficulty based on the chart below to see how far back the Malkavian can read the history of the aura. Each success allows the Malkavian to see another emotion. One success allows the most common color at the time to reveal itself; two successes allow the two most common, and so on. It may also be used to detect when the vampire has consumed the blood of a supernatural creature, including other vampires. This can be used to detect diablerie, but reporting such a crime becomes the Malkavian’s word against the target. The Malkavian gains no further insight about what happened, why the target felt this way, or to whom the consumed blood belongs.
| Difficulty | How Far Back |
|---|---|
| 9 | Since last decade |
| 8 | Since last year |
| 7 | Since last month |
| 6 | Since last week |
| 5 | Since last night |
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.
Do As I Say, Not As I Say (Dominate •, Dementation ••••)
Clever users of Dominate often slip their command words into a sentence with a hint of inflection to hide their commands. For those Malkavians who mastered both Dominate and Dementation, the words spoken doesn’t have to be the words intended. When this Malkavian locks eyes with the victim, the words spoken as a command are different from the one the victim hears in their head. The one heard inside the head is the one followed.
System: The Kindred rolls Manipulation + Subterfuge (difficulty equal to the target’s current Willpower). More successes make the subject pursue the Dominate command more vigorously.
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.
Ignore Me (Dominate ••••, Obfuscate ••)
Some people fade into the background easily. A Malkavian that haunts a specific location can program the people there to completely ignore her while she moves about the grounds. Not only does this give her a home field advantage should enemies confront her in this location, but it also makes her a shining example of upholding the Masquerade.
System: Roll Wits + Subterfuge once per day, difficulty equal to the target’s current Willpower. This power is an extended action, with a number of successes equal to five times the target’s Courage rating. Once the successes are achieved, the subject completely ignores the existence of the Kindred for the next month, and the vampire can target another person the next day. If the Kindred disturbs a room, the target subconsciously puts things back in place. The target only reacts to the Kindred if she inflicts harm on the target — other physical interactions (such as touching them or searching their pockets) are unaffected. The target makes a Courage roll equal to the Kindred’s Willpower rating. If successful, they shake the Kindred’s hold.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.
Malkav’s Pavlovian Response (Dementation ••, Dominate ••)
Malkavians blessed with the knowledge of both of these Disciplines can use them to connect someone or something with a specific emotion. The Kindred can make someone hate their boss, love their enemy, or lust after a specific book.
System: The Kindred rolls Charisma + Subterfuge with a difficulty equal to the target’s current Willpower. She speaks a word, which can be hidden in a sentence, and connects a specific emotion to that word. Whenever the target encounters the word or the object connected to the word, they feel the emotion. This lasts one night per success rolled, starting with the evening the Kindred uses the power.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.
Rando (Obfuscate •••, Dementation •••)
Obfuscate has long been a staple for walking unnoticed through crowds. Sometimes, a Malkavian wants to deliver a message to someone from the safety of a crowded street. This power allows a Malkavian to communicate with someone while protecting his identity with a random face. Every time the target looks at the Kindred, she sees somebody else.
System: Roll Wits + Stealth. The difficulty is determined using the guidelines below, and each roll targets a specific person. Every time the target sees the Malkavian, she sees someone matching the current scene. If the target looks away and looks back, the form she sees changes. One moment, the Malkavian might look like a willowy concertgoer. The next glance, the Malkavian looks like a burly security guard, and so on.
| Difficulty | Density of People |
|---|---|
| 9 | A city street at midnight |
| 8 | A sparsely attended gallery show |
| 7 | A busy restaurant at dinner |
| 6 | A shopping mall at Christmas |
| 5 | A standing-room-only concert |
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.
Screams Made Real (Auspex ••••, Dementation ••••)
Everyone has hidden, disturbing images that hide somewhere in his or her mind. This power allows the Malkavian to pull those images to the surface and confront their creator.
System: The Kindred spends a blood point and makes a Manipulation + Empathy roll (difficulty 8). Each success pulls a disturbing image from the mind of the target. The target thinks the images are real and acts accordingly. The images last for a scene. Affected victims fly into a blind flight or frenzy. Kindred or other creatures capable of frenzy, like Lupines, may make a frenzy check with a difficulty penalty equal to the number of successes on the roll. Humans get no such roll. They much choose flight or fight immediately.
This power costs 24 experience points to learn.
Ze Monkey’s Paw (Auspex •••, Dementation ••••)
Superstitions are little pieces of irrationality that still take hold in the rational world. Malkavians with this ability play on these notions to convince a perfectly normal person that an inanimate object is the source of all their troubles. It’s a great way to get someone babbling about strange connections, or dig a valuable item out of the trash when the victim throws it away.
System: Roll Wits + Subterfuge (difficulty 6), while touching an object, picturing a specific person, and spending a point of Willpower. The next time the target sees the object, the power starts working. Every success rolled robs the target of a Health level (when a minor accident involving the object occurs) or a Willpower point (when the target somehow blames a bad turn in their life on the object).
Bestial Presence (Animalism •••, Obfuscate •••)
Using this power, the vampire summons up a little of the Beast in each nearby vampire and gives it form. This gestalt entity becomes a brooding animal presence that follows the vampire like a companion.
System: The companion is summoned using Manipulation + Animal Ken with a difficulty of 8. It remains for a number of hours equal to the amount of successes gained. The vampire must also spend one blood point.
The brooding presence of the companion puts all nearby vampires on edge. They feel their own Beast watching and whispering to them. While the companion is present, all vampires (except the summoner) in its immediate vicinity suffer -2 dice to all Social rolls and all rolls to resist any form of frenzy.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.
Cloak the Beast (Animalism •••••, Obfuscate •••)
Even a Kindred who has not mastered the Beast might learn to hide her failings from others. With this ability, the Nosferatu has such control over their animal side that she can use her powers of stealth to conceal how badly she may have fallen from grace.
System: This power requires no roll, simply granting an ability that comes into play whenever any power attempts to determine the Kindred’s Humanity/Path or Virtue ratings. The difficulty of such an attempt is increased by the Kindred’s Animalism or Obfuscate rating (whichever is higher). A failure shows the Kindred to have solid control over their Virtues, and a Humanity/Path rating of at least a healthy 7. The player should be warned that depending on whatever recent actions provoked such a scan or interview she may still have a lot of explaining to do!
This power costs 24 experience points to learn.
Forbidden Zone (Obfuscate •••••, Potence •••)
By infusing her strength into an area as a barrier, the Nosferatu can create a space that resists any form of physical entry. However, this barrier is illusionary and all in the mind of the target. The area might be cloaked or not, as the Nosferatu decides. However, entering the area requires anyone else to have to push through an apparent invisible force. The vampire can release individuals from this power simply by touch.
System: The vampire rolls Strength + Subterfuge (difficulty 6) and spends a blood point. For each success, the character may maintain the zone for one hour, although once set up she need not remain nearby. The vampire can create a zone of any size up to a radius of six feet/ two meters for each point of Potence and Obfuscate she has. So a vampire with Obfuscate 5 and Potence 3 could create a zone with a radius of up to 48 feet/16 meters. For anyone except the vampire to enter the zone requires a roll as if the character was attempting to open a door (V20, p. 261). However, the zone is actually a mental barrier, not a physical one, so the successes required equal the vampire’s Obfuscate + Potence, and the difficulty is 7. Characters already inside the zone may leave it without any problem, but must make the same roll to return. The vampire can touch any character and exclude them from the effects of this power at no cost.
This power costs 24 experience points to learn.
Haunted Place (Presence ••, Obfuscate •••••)
Given how few Nosferatu master Presence, this is a rare power, but a potent one. The Nosferatu cloaks an area in power, making the place almost impossible to miss. However, it becomes noticeable due to the fetid and corrupt aura the place acquires. Most people avoid it without even knowing why. It seems somehow corrupt and twisted; somewhere no one with any good intent might choose to visit.
System: To create such a place, the vampire must make three rolls on three consecutive nights. Each roll takes an hour to perform, as she spends at least five blood points around the area during the course of the hour. Then, the player rolls Manipulation + Empathy and chooses a difficulty number (the same difficulty number for each roll). If all three rolls are successful, the aura of corruption settles over the place.
For anyone but the vampire to enter it, he must make a Willpower roll with a difficulty equal to the one the vampire chose in creating the Haunted Place. The effect lasts for as long as the vampire lives, or until the Storyteller rules the area has changed significantly or lost some of its menace (such as an urban renewal program).
This power costs 21 experience points to learn.
I Know (Auspex ••, Obfuscate ••)
You don’t actually need to know a secret to use it as leverage. With this power, the Nosferatu is able to make it appear as if she knows something the subject would rather keep secret. Essentially, she surface scans the target for feelings of guilt, and uses Obfuscate to project into his mind the subtle body language and turns of phrase that convince him the vampire really knows something dangerous about him. The Nosferatu knows nothing in reality; even the light scan she does to establish guilt gives her no clue as to the nature of what he might be hiding. But the target doesn’t know that, and convinces himself the vampire must know his darkest secrets.
System: This power requires a Perception + Subterfuge roll at a difficulty equal to the target’s current Willpower. For each success the vampire gains, the subject is more convinced the vampire knows something confidential and dangerous about him. For one success, the target believes she may know something potentially damaging, whereas for five he is sure the vampire knows his deepest secrets. How the vampire chooses to use this leverage is up to her. Proving she doesn’t actually know anything, such as guessing badly about the secret or offering details that prove wrong, will break the illusion.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.
Power Animal (Animalism •••, Potence •)
The Kindred’s connection with animals is such that they can transfer their physical power to animals under their control. Such creature can be made stronger and more deadly with an increase in strength from the vampire’s Potence.
System: The vampire must first make a connection to an animal using Feral Whispers (V20, pp. 129-130). She must then spend a blood point for each point of Potence she wishes to invest in the animal for the rest of the night. She may not grant the animal more Potence points that it has Strength, or than the vampire has Potence. So, a rat with a Strength of 1 may only be given Potence 1, but a pig of Strength 4 can be given a Potence of 4, as long as the vampire has at least a Potence of 4.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.
Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (Animalism •••, Obfuscate ••)
This power allows the Nosferatu to use their Obfuscate powers on animals as well as humans. They might cloak an animal companion to bring them into Elysium, or simply to sneak about the city with them on their nightly wanderings. They might also use their power to make them seem more impressive, dangerous, or even benign.
System: This power allows the user to apply any Obfuscate power to any animal. The vampire makes any required rolls and spends any blood required by the ability, but the effects are applied to the animal. The animal in question must either be under the control of Animalism or have drunk the Nosferatu’s blood.
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.
Carriage Horses (Animalism ••, Fortitude •••)
This power originated among Ravnos kumpaniyas. Most traveling groups had animal ghouls for the purpose of protecting and guarding the vampires during the day, and some clever individual learned how to make those retainers serve an even greater purpose. By the use of this power, a Ravnos can transfer a point of damage he has suffered to one of his animal ghouls.
System: If the Ravnos has any animal ghouls within sight, he may elect to use this power. The player spends one blood point and rolls Stamina + Animal Ken against a difficulty of 8. Each success transfers one Health level of damage (any type) to the animal. This can only be used immediately after the vampire is wounded (after the soak roll) and counts as a reflexive action.
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.
Eventide Strength (Chimerstry •••, Fortitude •)
Typically, the powers of Chimerstry are dispelled by the touch of sunlight. However, a Ravnos who has studied this power has learned subtle tricks to reinforce the maya within her illusions, rendering them less vulnerable to the sun.
System: A Ravnos who has learned this power can strengthen her uses of Chimerstry, causing it to survive one hour of sunlight.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.
Heart’s Desire (Auspex ••••, Chimerstry ••)
With this power, a Ravnos reaches into a target’s emotion and creates an image of the target’s greatest wish. This desire manifests as some sort of material object: a love letter, a stack of money, or the golden crown of a Prince. No matter what manifests, the Ravnos who used this power understands the meaning and nature of the item, and is able to comprehend the target’s deepest desire. The Ravnos has no magical ability to understand the why or wherefore of that desire; only that this is the person’s fondest dream.
Obviously, handing that love letter to the target will not convince her that the Ravnos can (or has) caused her greatest desire to truly come true. Instead, most Ravnos cunningly use this power to discover a target’s secrets, and never reveal to the other individual that Heart’s Desire was used at all.
System: To target a player with this power, the Ravnos must have touched them within the last three rounds. Once that has been achieved, the player must spend a blood point and a Willpower point. Then, roll Intelligence + Subterfuge against a difficulty of the target’s current Willpower, and achieve three successes. If the Ravnos is successful, an illusory item manifests within the Ravnos’ hand as if Fata Morgana (V20, p. 144) had been used, and the Ravnos instinctively understands the meaning of the item and the general nature of the target’s desire.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.
Sympathetic Agony (Chimerstry ••, Fortitude ••••)
The Kshatriya caste developed this power as a weapon of last resort, punishing their enemies with illusory agonies in the throes of combat. After a target strikes a Ravnos who has successfully used this power, the target feels the pain of that specific attack instead of the Ravnos.
System: The user of this power rolls Manipulation + Intimidation against a difficulty equal to the victim’s Perception + Self-Control. If successful, for the rest of the scene the target will feel a supernaturally augmented reflection of any pain she inflicts by attacking you. Any time your target attacks you, she immediately suffers a penalty to all physical actions equal to the successes you scored when activating this power. Penalties inflicted by Sympathetic Agony last for three full turns. Penalties from this power do not stack; a character under the effects of multiple applications of Sympathetic Agony suffers a penalty equal to the highest number of successes scored on a single use of the power’s activation.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.
Waking Dream (Chimerstry •, Fortitude •)
You may briefly treat an illusion you’ve created as though it were real.
System: Once per game session, you may utilize a simple illusion (climbing a rope, landing on a trampoline, unlocking a door with an illusory key, or similar) as if it were real for one turn. Waking Dream cannot be used to directly harm or help any other character.
This power costs 6 experience points to learn.
Bliss (Dominate ••, Presence •••)
Many Toreador claim their Clan escaped the curses that afflict their brethren, and that they alone were blessed. Those who learn the secret of Bliss are the loudest making this claim.
Any Toreador who regards a scene or work of great beauty is prone to myopic obsession. This trance is the antithesis of the ugly fury of the Beast. Those familiar with the power of Bliss can recall beauty almost as intimately as if it were before them and use this as a reservoir of inner strength. The recollection of past happiness serves as a bulwark when threatened with the irrational desires, frenzies, and fears of the Beast. Further, the Kindred may project this sense of pleasure upon another, calming them from the throes of rage or frenzy.
System: To use this power, a Toreador needs to deliberately enter a trance while watching, listening to, or looking at some work of art or embodiment of beauty. The duration of this trance is determined by the duration of the art: The Toreador sits enthralled until the song ends, the dance is finished, or the piece of art is covered. (Few choose to use this power with paintings for that reason.)
Within one scene after the trance ends, the player makes an Intelligence + Empathy roll. If the roll is successful, the vampire may temporarily increase her Self-Control, Conscience, or Courage by a single dot, up to a maximum of five dots. This increase lasts for the remainder of the night. The difficulty of the roll is equal to double the Trait’s current rating, so a vampire with Self-Control 4 has to roll an 8 to gain another temporary point of Self-Control. Only one Virtue can be increased at a time. Furthermore, the source of the trance has to be appropriate for the Virtue. Looking at David’s “Oath of the Horatii” or listening to the first movement of Holst’s “The Planets” could bolster one’s Courage, but not Self-Control. Bliss is not lost on those who follow Paths other than Humanity, though the source of inspiration must take the Cainite’s altered worldview into account.
When a Kindred uses Bliss to steel the resolve of another, the Toreador must roll Wits + Expression to activate the power. Additionally, difficulties for using Bliss on someone other than oneself increase by one. For example, if the target’s Conscience is currently 3, the Toreador’s target difficulty is 7. Botching any Bliss roll results in the loss of a Willpower point. The target must cooperate with the Toreador, entering a kind of guided meditative state of their own, often focusing on a work of art created for the purpose by the Kindred activating Bliss. If successful, the target gains the benefit instead of the Toreador.
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.
Devil’s Mark (Presence •, Vicissitude ••)
Among the Sabbat, a growing number of Toreador antitribu who have learned the secrets of Vicissitude have discovered a way to infuse their own Presence into tattoos and body modifications placed upon others, Cainite and mortal alike. This is a relatively recent invention, developed by a nomadic pair of Toreador antitribu at the tail end of the twentieth century.
In the nights leading up to a war party, packs get inked and pierced, covered in symbolic body modifications invoking Awe, Dread Gaze, or even Majesty. Raucous parties tend to coalesce around the ritual, as each member gets marked, and the pack gets more and more hyped and psyched up for the raid. The artist must invest her own blood into the process, whether that’s by bathing her tools in it or mixing it into her inks, so it’s considered good form for the pack to provide sources of blood for the artist during the revel, since she is investing so much for their cause. The modifications themselves are often elaborate and are themselves sources of pride for the packs and artists alike. Each piece of art is designed to unite the pack while complementing the individual, and packs will travel to find well-known artists just so they can sport an Elektra tattoo, or a set of silver crown piercings by Mikhail.
System: To place the Devil’s Mark, the artist must make an extended Dexterity + Expression roll every hour (difficulty 7), requiring a number of successes equal to twice the level of the Presence power being imbued. For example, marking a subject with Awe would require two successes, while Dread Gaze would require four successes and Majesty would need a total of 10 successes. The process of creating the Devil’s Mark costs one blood point, plus one point for every invocation she wants to imbue into the body modification. If the subject is a vampire, the modification heals as normal when the “charges” are expended. If the subject is a mortal, the tattoo or piercing remains, but loses its vampire puissance.
Alternately, a vampire subject can choose to spend a point of permanent Willpower to make the modification relatively permanent, giving him access to the specific Presence effect as if he had learned the Discipline power itself. However, another application of Vicissitude or severing of the body part will remove the body modification and the power from the vampire.
The artist applying the Devil’s Mark must know the level of Presence being imbued, and may only grant access to powers up to level five. The body modification itself is the focal point of the Presence evocation, so must be visible to the target of any use of the Presence powers imbued. Also, the target can’t use anything that would dull or neutralize the pain of the procedure.
This power costs 9 experience points to learn.
Doubletalk (Auspex ••, Celerity •, Obfuscate •)
The Toreador are talented diplomats and politicians, but the Kindred who uses this power may literally hide an entirely different message within their speech. When a Toreador uses Doubletalk, she conveys an entirely different message between and underneath another sentence spoken normally. To most listeners, it looks and sounds like normal conversational placeholders and body language. But for those who know what to look and listen for, it is possible to hold a secret conversation in plain sight, behind an innocuous interaction.
System: When a character speaks in Doubletalk, the player rolls Intelligence + Expression (difficulty 6). If the roll succeeds, the character may seamlessly insert a phrase into her conversation. A failure means the character can’t be understood. A botch means the character accidentally spoke her phrase aloud. The listener then rolls Perception + Subterfuge (difficulty 6). If the roll succeeds, the character may understand the intended message. At the Storyteller’s discretion, this difficulty may be modified for circumstances — it’s more difficult over the phone or in a noisy area, and impossible in text messages. A failure means the character heard nothing, while a botch indicates that he completely misinterpreted what the character said.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.
Haunting Seduction (Dementation ••, Presence •)
The Toreador are seductive, impressive creatures. When they’re around, they can be the only thing that matters in the world. But when they leave, their Presence fades, and that’s just not acceptable to some of the Degenerates. Dementation may merely unlock the door to the mind’s inner hallways and free what’s inside, but enterprising Toreador have discovered how to ensure that they are the whisper that haunts their target’s thoughts.
In many ways, the Haunting Seduction is similar to the Dementation power The Haunting (V20, p. 148). Its effects occur mainly when the victim is alone, and mostly at night. However, the effects take on the tone of an almost maddening, seductive obsession. The subject may feel the light brush of a hand that he knows belongs to the vampire, or hear the vampire’s sibilant whisper just behind him.
The Storyteller should let her imagination run wild when describing these sensory impressions; the victim may well feel as if he is going mad.
System: After the vampire speaks to the victim, the player spends a blood point and rolls Manipulation + Subterfuge (difficulty of her victim’s Perception + Self-Control or Instinct). The number of successes determines the length of the sensory “visitations.” The precise effects are up to the Storyteller, though it is highly likely that the visions will affect the difficulties of any social interactions between the vampire and her target the next time they meet.
| Successes | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 success | One Night |
| 2 successes | Two Nights |
| 3 successes | One Week |
| 4 successes | One Month |
| 5 successes | Three Months |
| 6+ successes | One Year |
This power costs 9 experience points to learn.
Scalpel Tongue (Presence •, Celerity •)
Catty repartee is both an art and a vice among the Kindred of Clan Toreador. Those who cannot compete effectively in the arena of cruel wit are unlikely to earn the respect of their Clan members. Toreador higher up the ladder, then, must have the ability to scathe others with words if they are to maintain their positions. Scalpel Tongue mixes the same quick thinking that guides the body as it moves at accelerated speeds with the Toreador’s prodigious social aptitudes, allowing the Kindred to immediately generate a barbed quip so stinging (due to the emotion-enhancing effects of Presence) that it shames the target into silence.
Of course, the Toreador themselves are so constantly surrounded by the vicious wit of their own Clan that they inevitably develop a thicker skin. They may play up the melodrama of insult and offense, but even the sharpest barbs come to wash over them like water off a duck’s back. This power has a subtle downside: if another Toreador detects that she had to use a Discipline to come up with such a stinging retort (such as the user of Scalpel Tongue botching her roll), it could have a negative impact on how others in the Clan perceive her. Why would she need to use powers if she didn’t have an inferior wit? In such a case, the user will have a +1 difficulty on Social rolls against other Toreadors for the rest of the night, including future uses of Scalpel Tongue.
System: Roll Wits + Empathy against a difficulty of 7. If the user of this power does not know his target well, difficulty is increased by one, due to not knowing what buttons to push to achieve the greatest verbal impact. The barbed comment stings the target into silence for one turn per success, or double that if the target is not a member of Clan Toreador. Spending one Willpower negates this effect.
This power costs 6 experience points to learn.
Soul Painting (Auspex ••••, Presence ••)
The ancient Toreador art of “painting souls” flourished briefly in the early 1300s, but with the loss (and presumed Final Death) of Katherine of Montpellier, the technique was thought to be gone forever. In recent nights, Katherine has returned. Roused from an ages-long torpor, she has agreed to teach a few worthy students the knack of painting a portrait of a being’s inner nature. A few enterprising Toreador have attempted to adapt her principles to other expressive media, including music, song, and even acting. Art has long been held to be a doorway into the soul. Usually it’s the soul of the artist. In this case, the painting can expose the nature of the person portrayed. The message conveyed is powerful, subtle, and — when successful — undeniable. Falsehood cannot be portrayed through Soul Painting, for even the artist does not initially know what the image will reveal.
To create this type of portrait, the artist needs to study the subject for a full, uninterrupted hour. This can be done in a sitting, of course, but (due to the sensitive nature of the portrait) it’s more often done from recalled observation. Looking not only at the minute details of appearance and carriage, but also at the subject’s aura, the painter forms a conscious insight. This alone is not sufficient, however: the painter must give himself over to a kind of creative fugue, setting aside his preconceptions completely, in order to make a soul portrait.
The portrait must be painted in a single setting, and interrupting a soul painter while she works is as difficult as rousing a Toreador from a more mundane fit of artistic absorption. It generally takes 10-12 hours to create the picture, though more complex efforts may take longer — Katherine’s portrait of the Archbishop Monçada reputedly took over one thousand hours — but if successfully completed, it reveals a great deal indeed.
System: The player rolls Manipulation + Empathy (difficulty 6). If the roll yields even a single success, the painting (or other work) captures the subject’s Nature in the work itself. For each additional success, the player may opt to illustrate any one of the following: a rough gauge of Humanity (or Path, which usually won’t create a traditionally flattering work), Willpower, Self-Control, Conscience, Conviction, Instinct, or Courage. Anyone with the Soul Painting power can immediately recognize every insight portrayed in a portrait. Those who lack the power may (at the Storyteller’s discretion) be required to make Perception + Awareness, Empathy, or Crafts rolls to “decode” the portrait. The difficulty for such attempts should be low, however; the whole point of the power is the exposure of these hidden, abstract concepts. Note that Soul Painting does not necessarily make the artist a skilled artist — it is quite possible to have a crudely executed portrait that nonetheless communicates the subject’s personality. Such a ham-handed painter is unlikely to have learned this power from the mistress herself, though.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.
Under the Skin (Auspex •••, Presence •••)
The Kindred of Clan Toreador are natural critics. With insight and zeal they analyze and deconstruct art, culture, and politics. Some studied Toreador possess the ability to do the same with their peers, reading them like texts and making obvious their failings of personality. The Cainite using this power analyzes the personality of another, finds its weaknesses, and then uses the force of his presence to make light of those weaknesses and hammer on them like a battering ram. The results can be quite dramatic. While this power is similar to Scalpel Tongue, it’s much more devastating. That one stings; this one draws blood (and possibly a lot of it).
System: The Toreador must interact socially with his target for a number of consecutive turns (2-5 turns is a good rule of thumb, at the Storyteller’s discretion) before this power can be activated. After that warm-up, roll Wits + Perception against a difficulty of 6 as the character begins his systematic analysis of the target’s psyche and self-esteem. The results of this assault are listed below. The target may spend a Willpower point to lessen the effect by one category (e.g., from 6+ to 5 or from 3-4 to 1-2).
| Successes | Result |
|---|---|
| 1-2 successes | Target is rendered utterly speechless with embarrassment and rage, and broods for the remainder of the scene. (One die penalty to all Social rolls) |
| 3-4 successes | Target storms out in a rage. (Two dice penalty to all Social rolls) |
| 5 successes | Target becomes violent, either toward the Toreador using this power (jumping over the table to attack, for example) or toward herself in a fit of self-loathing. (+1 difficulty to rolls to resist frenzy) |
| 6+ successes | Target enters frenzy. (+3 difficulty to resist frenzy) |
This power costs 18 experience to learn.
Blood Sight (Auspex ••, Thaumaturgy (Path of Blood) •)
This power allows the user to analyze the potency and type of any blood they touch to a higher level than A Taste for Blood (V20, p. 213). They can determine which supernatural creature it might come from, and the relative potency of the being in question.
System: The user of this power must touch a small sample of the blood they wish to analyze. They then make a Perception + Medicine roll at difficulty 6. If they are successful, they can identify if the blood is human, animal, or supernatural. With two successes, they can also determine the type of supernatural being in question, such as vampire, lupine, mage, etc. If they gain five successes, they can also determine the relative power of the person in question, such as a vampire’s Generation and possibly Clan, or how strong a lupine is. In addition to this, up to one hour for each success, the power user will know if they touch the person the blood came from.
This power costs 9 experience points to learn.
Chain of Slavery (Auspex ••, Dominate ••)
By looking a target in the eyes, the user of this power can see if a target is under the influence of Dominate, and who controls him or her. They must be able to make eye contact with the target, and if they can, the image of the Dominator forms in their mind.
System: The user of this power must be able to make eye contact with the target (V20, p. 152). They then make a Perception + Empathy roll, with a difficulty equal to the controller’s Willpower. If successful, they get a glimpse of the target’s controller, which becomes more distinct the more successes they roll. With only one success, the image might only appear male or female. At three successes, it is a blurred but recognizable form, and at five successes, it is clear and distinct. If the target is not Dominated or the power user fails the roll, the result is the same: no image appears.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.
Theft of Will (Dominate •••, Thaumaturgy (any path) ••••)
This power allows a vampire to take control of any magical effect nearby, such as a ward or enchantment. Effectively, the power user becomes the caster of the spell for all intents and purposes. This power doesn’t grant the ability to detect magic or recognize it, although the power user need only know the magic is there to take control of it. Some magicians have laid cursed enchantments that lie in wait for someone to try to take control of them without knowing what they are.
System: The user of this power must know there is a magical effect nearby that they wish to take control of (such as with the use of Thaumaturgical Sight, below). The ritual that created the effect must also be one level below the power user’s own Thaumaturgy level. It costs one Willpower point to use this power, and requires a Stamina + Occult roll at a difficulty equal to the original caster’s total Willpower. If the roll is a success, the power user effectively becomes the caster of the spell, although this does not change the duration or strength of the effects. This power also only works on Thaumaturgy effects. The Storyteller may allow it to apply to Necromancy or other mystical powers at her discretion.
This power costs 21 experience points to learn.
Thaumaturgical Sight (Auspex ••, Thaumaturgy (any path) •)
With this ability, the user can see magical auras. In much the same way as Aura Perception (V20, pp. 135-136), she can see a halo of crimson over any magical items or effects. This sight extends to all Kindred blood magic, although some might show a different color of aura. Generally, the stronger the magic, the brighter the aura will be, but is it hard to gauge the relative power of any magical effect.
System: This ability is used in much the same way as Aura Perception. The user stares at the item or area in question for a few moments and makes a Perception + Occult roll (difficulty 8). For a single success, the power user can determine that magic is present. If she gets three successes, she can recognize the ritual or path in question, as long as she knows it herself. For five successes, she can recognize any thaumaturgical effect, regardless of whether she has seen it before. If the effect in question is beyond her skill or knowledge, the user will still gain an impression of what it is designed to do. Should the power user also wish to use Aura Perception on the target, she must take a new action to do so.
This power costs 6 experience points to learn.
Birth the Vozhd (Animalism ••••• •, Vicissitude ••••• •)
While the creation of vozhd was once the sole province of koldunic ritual, Tzimisce who have mastered both fleshcrafting and control of the Beast Within can build vozhd as well. This power requires at least 15 ghouls (although 20 or more is preferable). First, the Tzimisce fleshcrafts the ghouls together, forging the bodies into a single entity. The Fiend feeds the corporate mess a concoction of the intermingled blood of the ghouls, creating something like a Vinculum among them. This bond in place, the Fiend uses Animalism to coalesce the minds of the ghouls into one insane and imperfect Beast that drives the vozhd to crush or devour everything in sight.
System: After the Tzimisce collects enough ghouls, roll her Intelligence + Medicine (difficulty 9) to determine how quickly she constructs and “masters” the vozhd. With one success, the process takes as long as a year; with five, it might only take a month. The Fiend can make further Vicissitude modifications to his creation; raise the difficulties of such Discipline rolls by two to reflect the size and complexity of the creature. Botches result in a nonviable dead creature or a frenzied, uncontrollable vozhd. Also note that vozhd, driven by their flawed Beasts, are notoriously difficult to control. Raise the difficulty of all Animalism rolls involving a vozhd by three.
This power costs 36 experience points to learn.
Body Armory (Protean •••, Vicissitude •••)
This power enables the vampire to form wicked weapons from her own body. The vampire may create sword blades, axes, and even spiked mauls. These weapons do terrible damage to their targets. Many Tzimisce make sword-arms, knife-bladed knuckles, and the like, but more dramatic implementations are possible.
System:
This power costs two blood points per weapon (though larger weapons like two-handed swords and great axes cost four), and the player must roll Dexterity + Medicine (difficulty 7). Each weapon takes two turns to form (larger weapons take three turns). Weapons created in this manner cause aggravated damage.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.
Chaining the Beast (Animalism •••, Dominate •)
As lords of the land, able to influence the minds of humans and animals alike, the Fiend gains special insight into controlling and cowing even the Beast. The Tzimisce can now Dominate a frenzied vampire more easily.
System: This power allows the player to use the Dominate Discipline (see V20, p. 151) on a vampire suffering frenzy or Rötschreck and ignore the normal penalties for doing so (V20, p. 297).
This power costs 16 experience points to learn.
Ears of the Bat (Auspex •, Vicissitude •)
The vampire grows long, pointed ears and achieves echolocation, much like a bat. She can “see” in pitch darkness and that sense extends 360° around her, leaving no blind spots for would-be ambushers to exploit.
System: The player must spend a blood point and roll Intelligence + Medicine (difficulty 7). While manifesting the ears, the character gains -3 difficulty on all hearing rolls and suffers a +1 difficulty to all Social rolls with mortals unless she takes steps to hide her ears.
This power costs 6 experience points to learn.
Flaying Touch (Potence ••, Vicissitude ••)
With this cruel power, a Tzimisce can tear away a victim’s skin as easily as removing a robe, all without disturbing the muscles and other tissue beneath. The Fiend simply grabs a handful of skin and pulls it away or surgically slices it with the artful caress of a fingertip. Regardless of the method used, the target suffers excruciating pain and begins bleeding profusely from the exposed flesh. Even if a target somehow survives the blood loss, the area of skinless flesh soon becomes infected. Even Cainites suffer under this agony, though they do not have to fear blood loss.
System: This power requires the same roll as a conventional use of Fleshcraft, though the difficulty is always one higher than normal (maximum difficulty 9). The vampire need not restrain the victim as long as he strikes exposed skin (requiring a Dexterity + Brawl roll as usual), in which case the activation roll is reflexive. Each success inflicts one level of lethal damage, which may be soaked (if the victim can soak such damage) at difficulty 8. If the damage exceeds the victim’s Stamina, she can only writhe and scream in pain for the rest of the turn.
Mortal victims continue bleeding profusely from their exposed skin, suffering a number of levels of bashing damage each minute equal to the initial damage. Once any of the original damage is healed or the wound is stanched (Dexterity + Medicine, difficulty 9), the bleeding slows to one level of damage per hour. Only when the original injury is completely healed does the bleeding stop.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.
Soul Decoration (Auspex ••, Obfuscate •••)
The body and soul are linked. Outer change brings inner change (and vice versa). The body’s experiences can be summed up in the aura, but this phenomenon is the product of physical forces. By physically adjusting certain locations on the body — chakras, joints, erogenous zones, and the like — a Tzimisce with this power can “paint” whatever aura he chooses. The aura artist uses tools such as needles, clamps, and electric shock to work such change.
System: Aura crafting is a sensitive and precise art and requires at least ten minutes of uninterrupted work. After spending three Willpower points, the player makes a Perception + Empathy roll. The difficulty of this roll is equal to the subject’s current Willpower — stronger personalities resist alteration. The number of successes indicates how completely the aura can be changed to the Tzimisce’s specifications. The deception lasts one night per success. During this time, the aura doesn’t change to reflect new conditions in its owner. This power changes only the aura, not the subject herself. At the Storyteller’s discretion, the subject may feel token emotions to match her new colors. She might feel somewhat distrustful if her aura was painted light green, for instance.
| Successes | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 success | Can alter primary color |
| 2 successes | Can alter secondary color |
| 3 successes | Can alter psychological state (frenzied, psychotic, etc.) |
| 4 successes | Can conceal or falsify diablerie and magic use |
| 5+ successes | Can conceal or falsify natural condition (vampire, shapeshifter, ghost, etc.) |
This power costs 21 experience points to learn.
The False Drink (Auspex •, Vicissitude •••••)/a>
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.
Wound Sculpting (Fortitude •••, Vicissitude ••)
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.
Command from Afar (Auspex ••••, Presence ••••)
This power has lost much of its former value since the advent of the cellphone, but many Ventrue (in both Sects) still swear by it for its impeccable security. By combining the long range effects of Summoning with the communicative benefits of Telepathy, the Ventrue can give complicated instructions over nearly any distance to any individual who is blood bonded to her or that she shares vinculum with.
System: The player must spend a Willpower point to activate this power, and then roll the character’s Charisma + Expression. For each success, the Ventrue can communicate up to five words to a single ghoul, blood-bound vampire, or packmate with vinculum over any distance, so long as it is night where both of them are. The target will intuitively know whom the mental message comes from. The target is under no particular compulsion to obey, beyond any the compulsion normally attached to the bond or vinculum.
This power costs 24 experience points to learn.
Denial of Aphrodite’s Kiss (Dominate •••, Presence •••)
It is an insult to the Ventrue’s dignitas that he may be victimized by a lesser Kindred’s use of one of the signature disciplines of his Clan. This power allows the Ventrue to apply the immunity to Dominate attempts by vampires of higher Generation to Presence attempts instead.
System: Once learned, this power is always active. Any use of Presence Levels One, Two, or Three against the Ventrue by another vampire will be ineffective if that vampire’s Generation is higher than that of the Ventrue.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.
Divine Aura (Auspex ••, Presence •••)
This power is commonly used by those Ventrue antitribu who also study Auspex. It allows the antitribu to instill the power of her Entrancement into her own aura so that anyone who attempts to study that aura risks bowing before her.
System: The antitribu must spend one blood point to activate Divine Aura for the night. Until the sun rises, if any other Kindred attempt to inspect the antitribu’s aura, she may make a reflexive Entrancement attack against him. The player makes the roll for the antitribu as normal, but the Cainite need not focus her attention on the target. Indeed, it is not even necessary for the antitribu to know that the aura reading attempt was made.
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.
Impeccable Manners (Auspex ••, Presence •)
The Ventrue intuitively senses the mood of another person through an unconscious awareness of her aura. Then, he instinctively modifies his actions so as to shy away from offensive conduct while effortlessly doing things that appeal to the subject.
System: While the Ventrue is interacting socially with another person, the player must roll Perception + Etiquette (difficulty 6 for mortals or 8 for supernatural beings). Each success on this roll reduces the difficulty of all mundane Etiquette or Persuasion rolls made against the same target by -1 for the rest of the scene. This benefit does not modify Discipline rolls.
This power costs 9 experience points to learn.
Rescue Beacon (Fortitude •, Presence ••••)
Fortitude will not defend against all attacks. The wise Ventrue is prepared for the day his luck runs out and his skill is insufficient. One always needs a backup plan. This power automatically activates a Summoning to the nearest individual who has tasted the Ventrue’s blood in the event he is either forced into torpor or paralyzed via staking.
System: If the vampire either falls into torpor or is successfully staked, this power activates automatically. The player spends a blood point and rolls Charisma + Subterfuge (difficulty 4); this power is an explicit exception to the general rule that a vampire cannot spend blood while staked. The vampire can only use this power to Summon someone who has tasted the Ventrue’s blood (ghouls, blood-bound vampires, packmates with vinculum, etc.). Otherwise, the power works as Summon (V20, pp. 195-196).
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.
Retaliatory Terror (Fortitude •, Presence ••)
Those who dare to attack the Ventrue are soon taught the error of their ways. When an attacker successfully inflicts damage on the Ventrue, the terrifying power associated with her Dread Gaze strikes out at the offender, seemingly straight out of the wound.
System: Whenever the Ventrue takes damage from a Brawl or Melee attack, the player spends one blood point and makes a reflexive Charisma + Intimidation roll (difficulty equal to the victim’s Wits + Courage). However, the difficulty is reduced by the number of health levels of damage the attacker inflicted on the Ventrue, to a minimum of 4. If successful, the effects are as per Dread Gaze (V20, pp. 194-195). The power cannot be used to retaliate to a successful attempt to stake the Ventrue, as he will be unable to spend blood to activate it.
This power costs 9 experience points to learn.
Telepathic Command (Auspex ••••, Dominate •)
Generally, the Auspex power of Telepathy cannot be used as a means to silently Dominate another, as both powers require concentration from the vampire. A Ventrue with this power overcomes that limitation.
System: The vampire must still make eye contact with the target (V20, p. 152). If he does so, he can use Command via telepathic means so that the order is not audible to others nearby. The power cannot affect vampires of lower Generation.
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.
Bagman’s Shelter (Obtenebration ••, Fortitude •••)
Vampires can’t stand sunlight, but not every vampire has the luxury of a haven or the ability to merge into the earth. What they do have is access to some exotic Disciplines, and some of those who have to last the day in unsecured shelter have survived by this little beggar’s trick.
System: The Caitiff spends a blood and a Willpower point before resting for the day. All around them, the shadows darken and reinforce cover in such a fashion that improves an otherwise flimsy shelter for the purpose of blocking sunlight. What light does penetrate the space seems not to reflect from whatever surface it hits. As long as none of the exposure is direct, the vampire can sleep safely in a small space, such as the back of a truck cab under a heavy blanket or a basement stairway in the alley covered in trash. For some reason, this ability doesn’t work if the Caitiff is awake.
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.
Beneath Contempt (Obfuscate ••, Presence •••)
Sometimes the only way to stay alive is to bow your head and grovel. While that is not a necessary element of this power, many Caitiff remain alive only because someone more powerful didn’t think they were worth the effort to kill. By focusing an aura of the pitiable while masking any real strength they have, the Caitiff can find grudging mercy in disgust.
System: The character spends a Willpower point to activate this power. For the remainder of the scene, anyone who looks at the Caitiff as a potential threat must make a Willpower roll against a difficulty equal to the Caitiff’s Humanity score, or 4 if the Caitiff is on a Path of Enlightenment. If they fail the roll, they dismiss the Caitiff as being unworthy of hostility. The Caitiff is not invisible or forgotten, and they might still take them prisoner if they have been defeated and are begging for mercy.
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.
Mover and Shaker (Auspex ••, Presence •••)
Playing the grand city game is beyond most Caitiff, but those who choose to take over a suburban town can learn to create a modest but effective hold over their minor territory. The Caitiff who becomes well acquainted with the people of their town can weave a subtle web of approval among them, harnessing not only their goodwill, but also their shelter from accusers.
System: The Caitiff must spend time meeting and getting to know all of the people of the town they want included in this effect. By spending a Willpower point for each night they spend mingling, they can gain the lasting trust of the citizens in a passive, undetectable fashion. This does not have as obvious an effect as Presence, nor does it give you control over them. What it does do is create a sense of basic goodwill and a positive impression. They trust the Caitiff, and anyone who starts asking suspicious questions or making accusations will find doors closing to them – all Social rolls regarding the Caitiff are at +2 difficulty for a number of weeks equal to the number of Willpower points spent. This can help shake off would-be hunters and even some Kindred. Werewolves and other supernaturals will have their own ways to find the Clanless.
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.