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Wednesday, April 3, 2013 - 19:02

Λίστα - σύνοψη με τα πρωτόλεια disciplines όπως τα περιμένουμε με το Strix Chronicle. 

H πηγή στα blogs της White wolf.

 

Animalism

Feral Whispers •

You can communicate with and control animals, individually or in groups.

Dice Pool: Manipulation + Animal Ken + Animalism – highest Composure in group
Cost: None
Action: Instant

You can communicate with an animal about anything within its usual range of perception. For purposes of fiction, we assume that animals have good memories of the present night.

You can command an animal to do something. This thing must fall within the animal’s normal cognitive abilities. Used on an Animalism 2 familiar, this power is not resisted.

Normally, no command may last longer than a night. However, see Animalism 3 for exceptions.

Raise the Familiar ••

You raise a beast from the dead as a servant.

Dice Pool: None
Cost: 1 Vitae
Action: Instant

Requirement: Feed 1 Vitae to the corpse. This Vitae is included in the cost.

The animal rises for [Blood Potency * animal’s Stamina] nights. Feral Whispers may be used on the animal from any range, and is not resisted by the animal’s Composure. This effect may be renewed by feeding the undead animal more Vitae.

(This is less cost-efficient in the long term than ghouling an animal, but is cheaper in the short term, and allows a greater degree of control.)

Summon the Hunt •••

You summon predators and scavengers from the surrounding area.

Dice Pool: Presence + Animal Ken + Animalism
Cost: 2 Vitae
Action: Instant

Requirement: Spill 1 Vitae upon the ground. This Vitae is included in the cost.

You imbue the Vitae with a command, following the rules for Feral Whispers. All animals of the type within [successes] blocks (city) or [successes * 100] yards (country) respond to the call. Yes, this can mean a lot of rats. Summoned animals are compelled to taste the spilled Vitae, at which point they are infected with the command. The command lasts [successes] nights.

Feral Infection ••••

By pushing your predatory aura outwards, you inflict the ravings of the Beast on others.

Dice Pool: Presence + Intimidation + Animalism
Cost: 2 Vitae
Action: Instant

You specify a direction for the mob to go in or something to attack. (Only victims who can see the target are affected.) Predators and scavengers who can smell you cannot resist, and suffer anger frenzy. Mortals or supernatural beings who can smell the target suffer anger frenzy if their Resolve + Composure is lower than [successes]. (This does not apply to blood sensed with Kindred Senses.)

Those in some stage of Vinculum to you, or who are in physical contact with your Vitae (for example, if they’re splattered or marked by it) count their Composure as three dots lower. A mortal or supernatural being may spend one Willpower point to resist your order. However, that character still enters frenzy. 

Lord of the Land •••••

You mark your territory in a ring of blood, claiming the land as your own and holding power over all who enter.

Dice Pool: Presence + Survival + Animalism
Cost: Variable (1 to 3 Vitae)
Action: Instant

Requirements:The territory must be uninhabited by other supernatural entities. You cannot claim a building already infested by another coterie, nor can you take a forest championed by a pack of werewolves or a mansion haunted by a furious ghost. Current residents must be driven away, at least for long enough for you to make it your own.Second, the you must walk the border of the territory and mark it with Vitae. How you go about this is up to you. You could walk a stately pace, dripping blood from open wounds on both hands. You could run wild about the land, smearing streaks of blood, spit and feces on tree and stone. What matters is that you personally walk the border.

The cost of this process is determined by the size of the territory, one Vitae for small spaces like a single home. Two for larger areas like warehouses or about a city block. Three for huge areas like castles and public parks. Theoretically, it would be possible to spend more Vitae to cover a larger area, but doing so in a single night would be impractical, and is left to Storyteller discretion.

Once marked, the territory has the following qualities:Wild beasts and animals will not willingly enter the territory, and will fight to escape if forced inside. Mortals and other supernatural beings may enter with a successful Composure + Blood Potency or equivalent roll. However, unless they scored an Exceptional Success, they take a -3 penalty to all actions while inside. Kindred also suffer an additional -2 penalty to rolls to resist frenzy while within, and anger frenzies are typically redirected into fear frenzies that encourage the vampire to leave the territory. People and animals you invite (using Feral Whispers or Summon the Hunt in the case of animals) need not roll and suffer no penalties.

So long as you are within the territory you also gain the following bonuses:

  • You can feel the presence of any entity that crosses the border, and knows immediately the general location and Blood Potency of invaders. (This only applies to Blood Potency, not other supernatural equivalents. We recommend the Storyteller communicate this information in general terms.) You maintain a constant general knowledge of the location of all creatures within his domain. [Dev note: supernatural stealth and hiding powers can contest this. And, uh, “creatures” probably doesn’t apply to bacteria and stuff. We need to find a better way to phrase that.]
  • Feral Whispers duration becomes indefinite for creatures within the territory. Moreover, you may perceive through the senses of all familiars within the territory, and use Feral Whispers through them to direct the actions of other animals.
  • All animals, as well as any creature in frenzy (or a similar state) while within the territory may not attack you, nor may they spend Willpower to resist compulsions issued via Feral Infection.
  • The territory remains empowered for [successes] weeks, and even then it will only end when you exit its border. Therefore if the you are in torpor your territory could remain protected until you wake and exit, or are destroyed. (Of course, most benefits can’t be used while you slumber.)

 

Auspex

No secret is safe from the Beast. All of the powers of Auspex are essentially based around sniffing out secrets for the vampire to exploit.

Auspex 1-3 work by allowing the player to ask questions of the Storyteller. Several questions which meet the theme of each power are listed, but they’re not the only ones that can be asked. Additionally, the answers should usually be revealed in cool imagery. For example, asking “who here is most likely to lapse into violence?” might show the character with bloody hands, or make her smell like gunpowder. (By the way, writers, if you use that example, gunpowder doesn’t smell like cordite these days.)

Auspex now works with all five senses, which both increases the amount of cool description that can be used, and allows for some unconventional uses, such as a blindfolded character determining which of his captors is most afraid by listening to them speak to each other.

There’s also a bonus for using Auspex on someone while in intimate contact with them. Not just sex, but general extended touching, either sexual or platonic. You can find out a lot of someone’s secrets by being the one who’s digging the bullet out of their side. (Exact bonus TBD, use +Auspex for now.)

Beast’s Hackles •

Allows you to sense sources of danger and weakness.

Cost: None for the first use in a scene, but maintaining the required focus taxes the vampire, meaning that subsequent uses within that scene cost 1 Vitae each. (EDIT: Changed this from always being free.)
Dice Pool: Wits + Empathy + Auspex
Action: Instant

Lets you ask one question per successful roll:

  • Who here is most likely to give me what I want?
  • Who/what here is most likely to lapse into violence?
  • Who here is most afraid?
  • Who/what here is most likely to hurt me?
  • Who here is closest to frenzy?
  • Is there a vampire here using Auspex 5?

Can attempt to pierce Obfuscate.

Uncanny Perception ••

Reveals the secrets of a single victim.

Cost: None for the first attempt against a particular victim, 1 Vitae for each subsequent attempt against that victim in that scene. [EDITED]
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Empathy + Auspex – victim’s Composure
Action: Instant

Answers [successes] of the following questions about a single victim (in sensory impressions/symbolic imagery, not necessarily aura sight):

  • What is this person’s mood?
  • What is this person afraid of, right now? (Not a detailed answer. “Being found” rather than “cops.”)
  • What is this person’s Vice? (Or splat equivalent.)
  • What is one of this person’s derangements?
  • Is this person a diablerist?
  • Is this person acting under someone else’s control?
  • Is this person a supernatural creature? (And if I’ve seen this kind before, what is it?)
  • Who here does this person want to hurt most?

The Spirit’s Touch •••

Lifts psychic impressions from an object or place.

Cost: None
Dice Pool: Wits + Occult + Auspex
Action: Instant

Answers [successes] of the following questions (in sensory impressions/dream imagery). May also answer Auspex 1 or 2 questions, at Storyteller discretion and if relevant.

  • Who last touched/owned this?
  • What is the strongest emotion associated with this object?
  • What was this being used for at the moment of most intense emotion?
  • Restriction: May not be used on the same object more than once in the same scene. [EDITED]

Lay Open the Mind ••••

Allows you to enter the thoughts of another, sifting through them or inserting your own.

Cost: None for a mortal or willing supernatural creature, 2 Vitae for a resisting supernatural creature
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Socialize + Auspex – victim’s Resolve (if resisting)
Action: Instant

Project [successes] thoughts or images into the victim’s mind.

Draw a single thought or image out of the victim’s mind. (Modifiers based on how deep you’re digging.)

Twilight Projection •••••

Project consciousness as a “ghost body.” Except not actually a ghost, because there’s no spiritual substance to it.

Cost:  2 Vitae
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Occult + Auspex
Action: Instant

Ghost body can travel the character’s Speed * (Auspex + Blood Potency), anywhere within the lunar sphere. (Good power, but needs special effort to integrate thematically and contextually.)

 

 

Dominate

Mesmerize •

You meet the victim’s eye, lulling them into a trance.

Cost: None
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Expression + Dominate vs Target’s Resolve + Power Stat
Action: Contested, resistance is Reflexive

The victim becomes muted and repressed, as if hypnotized or sleepwalking. In this state the subject is extremely vulnerable to suggestion and manipulation.

You may do either of the following at a rate of one per action:

  • Issue a brief command, no more than two or three words. This command must be a single, discrete action, with no room for creativity or interpretation. (“Drop that gun”, “Repeat after me…”, and “Follow me” work. “Submit” and “Do my bidding” are too subjective.)
  • Alter one memory of the current scene. (“I was never here”, “You hurt this man.”)

The victim remains in the trance until they leave your presence, the scene ends, or something shakes them out of it. Actions that would endanger the target’s life or force a degeneration roll usually shake them free, as does taking damage. Sufficiently traumatic stimuli may also suffice, at the Storyteller’s discretion. Used in combat, which is generally both dangerous and traumatic, Mesmerize almost always fails. Afterwards, the victim wakes with almost no memory of what took place while they were mesmerized. Attempts to Mesmerize a character who has already resisted or broken free within the scene are made at a -2 penalty, cumulative with each previous failed attempt.

Iron Edict ••

Your Mesmerism becomes stronger and more insidious.

Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: None (enhances Mesmerize)
Action: None (enhances Mesmerize)

Iron Edict can be evoked whenever you issue a command via Mesmerize. This costs 1 Vitae, unless the victim is currently in any stage of Vinculum with you, and enhances the command in the following ways:

  • Commands issued may be much longer, two or three sentences as opposed to a few words, and can include a successive series of actions to perform.
  • Commands last one full night, and may persist outside your immediate presence.
  • It becomes much harder to break the victim from their trance. Only extreme trauma, such as receiving their Stamina in damage or being knocked unconscious will suffice to break them free. Similarly, actions which would cause the target to make a degeneration roll do not automatically fail. Instead the target makes the degeneration roll. Failure means they carry through with the action, though do not actually lose Humanity or the equivalent. Success breaks them of the compulsion. (This occurs at the moment of the act, not when the order is given)

Issuing commands with this power takes time, about two turns per sentence,  and requires the victim already be Mesmerized for that duration. Victims carry out commands the moment they are issued, and continue to follow the order until the task it done or the time limit has expired. As with Mesmerize they emerge from the trance with no clear memory of their actions.

Entombed Command •••

You hide a command in your prey’s subconscious.

Cost: None
Dice Pool:  Intelligence + Subterfuge + Dominate – victim’s Resolve
Action: None (activated in conjunction with other Dominate powers)

Entombed Command is activated in conjunction with other Dominate powers. Doing so hides the effects within the subject’s subconscious, dormant until certain trigger conditions are met. You may add up to [successes] triggers, events or stimuli that will cause the compulsion to emerge. For example, when the victim hears the word “turtledove”, when the clock strikes midnight, when the victim sees his brother, etc.

Powers are modified in the following ways:

  • Mesmerize: The subject immediately enters a trance when the conditions are met, if the Vampire is not physically present the trance only lasts for about two to three turns.
  • Iron Edict: When the trigger is met the subject immediately falls into a trance and follows the subconscious order. The trance endures until the task is complete or a scene has passed, at which point is falls dormant once again.
  • The Lying Mind: The trigger functions as an on-off switch for memory alterations. Different triggers can serve different functions. One could cause false memories to emerge, while another hides them again.
    • Suggestions can lie dormant for up to [successes] weeks, or [successes] months if the target is in any stage of Vinculum towards you. During this time the effects of the power will reemerge as many times as the trigger conditions are met. Adding the Conditioning feature to a power is reflexive, but delivering the conditions takes time, about two turns per sentence. As with Command this requires the target be Mesmerized while the conditions are described. If they are distracted part way through the conditioning will not take.

The Lying Mind ••••

You can make more drastic alterations to a victim’s memories.

Cost: 2 Vitae
Dice Pool: None (enhances Mesmerize)
Action: None (enhances Mesmerize)

The Lying Mind can be applied whenever you attempt to alter a Mesmerized victim’s memories. To do so, the victim must first be marked with a small amount of Vitae, included in the cost. This Vitae must either be consumed or dripped onto the forehead. Doing so allows you to make much more drastic changes to the subject’s memories, extending back well before the current scene. You may:

  • Affect memories from any point in the subject’s life.
  • Create new memories or add new elements to existing ones.
  • Erase an existing memories or alter their context, substituting events, people, and locations.
  • Modifications should be able to be summed up in about three or four sentences, though multiple invocations of this power may be user to create more elaborate alterations. Inflicting these changes requires a long period of uninterrupted interaction with the Mesmerized target (at least a full minute, preferably much more), during which time you explain the alterations in detail. The rewrites should focus on the factual, not the perceived. You can dictate what the character experienced, but not what they thought or felt about it. Should the victim be exposed to very compelling evidence of the falsification (family picture, video of the event), they may roll [Resolve + Blood Potency or equivalent]. If they score more successes than the original activation roll, the alterations are undone and their original memories return. Otherwise this power lasts indefinitely.

Possession •••••

You extend your mind fully into that of another, supplanting their will and taking complete control of their body.

Cost: 1 Vitae and 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Intimidation + Dominate – victim’s Resolve
Action: Contested and Reflexive, resistance is reflexive

Requirement: The victim must be Mesmerized.

You use the victim’s physical Skills and Attributes, but maintain your own social and mental Skills and Attributes. Likewise, physical Merits are maintained while mental ones are suppressed.

While in a mortal body, you may remain awake all day for the cost of 1 Willpower, spent at dawn. You may maintain control for [successes] nights.

You may not use Disciplines or rituals through the victim, nor may you access supernatural powers that they possess, but you are otherwise in total control of their actions.

Degeneration rolls do not risk freeing the target. However, should the Vampire deliberately attempt to commit suicide in the body, the victim gets a second Resolve + Blood Potency or equivalent roll to end possession.

Possession overrules all existing compulsions or commands the subject is experiencing, ending them immediately. Conditioned commands can still be re-triggered once the possession ends, and persistent alterations (like those from The Lying Mind) also endure.

 

 

Majesty

Majesty is the power to cloud people’s minds and make them want to do things for somebody they shouldn’t give two shits about. It puts them in emotional states that make them want to shower the vampire with attention and do things for her.

A vampire using Majesty doesn’t get the precise control of someone else’s actions that someone using Dominate does. Instead, she gets broader, more insidious benefits: things like affection and loyalty. Majesty victims want to help vampires.

Awe •

Awe magnifies the vampire’s presence in the eyes of others, making her seem cool, hot, and in general the kind of person with her very own spotlight.

Cost: None
Dice Pool: Presence + Expression + Majesty
Action: Instant
Duration: Scene

For the duration of the scene, or until the vampire chooses to end the effect, she gains the following benefits:

  • Her actions and appearance are cast in a more positive light. She could be covered in dirt, or have just visibly beaten another man bloody, yet still appears poised and approachable. She suffers no social penalties due to her actions or appearance, and can generally talk her way out of most offenses, even minor criminal ones.
  • She stands out in the eyes of others, clearly visible and audible in any crowd. She adds her successes to all mundane Presence rolls. A character paying attention to the vampire (and it’s hard not to) subtracts the vampire’s successes from any Wits + Composure roll used to perceive something other than the vampire.
  • She may, with a word or gesture, summon anyone in the room to her side. This isn’t a compulsion per se. The victim merely becomes aware that it’s okay to approach the vampire, and develops a desire to do just that.

Confidant ••

When the vampire speaks, she creates an air of trust and reliability.

Cost: None
Dice Pool: Presence + Empathy + Majesty vs. Resolve + Blood Potency
Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive

The vampire speaks or gestures to someone already affected by Awe, and brings them further into the fold. The victim gains the Charmed Condition.

Condition: Charmed
The vampire seems unnaturally trustworthy. Her lies become almost impenetrable, and her true intentions almost impossible to read.

The vampire who charmed the character adds their Awe successes to Manipulation rolls against the character. Attempts by the character to detect her lies are penalized by her Awe bonus. (This effect clashes with revealing magics, as per the Clash of Wills rules.)

Further, the character wants to do favors for the vampire. These are generally the sorts of favors he would do for a friend, such as lending car keys, giving her a place to crash, or revealing secrets he probably shouldn’t. As a general benchmark, the vampire can extract as many favors from the character as she rolled Awe successes.

The characters does not feel he has been tricked or ripped off until the Condition expires. If the vampire was careful, the character might never notice.

Resolution: The vampire attempts to seriously harm the character (or someone close to them), the character makes a significant sacrifice to their own well-being for the vampire, or a number of hours equal to the vampire’s Blood Potency pass.

Beat: When the character divulges a secret or gives a favor freely. [As with all experience gains, the character may only receive one Beat a scene.]

Green Eyes •••

The victim feels deep jealousy over the vampire’s attention and desperation for her favor.

Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: None
Action: None, enhances Confidant

Green Eyes takes the feelings instilled by Confidant and pulls them up to the next level, turning trust into obsession. The victim must currently be under the Charmed Condition towards the vampire. The vampire may spend a single point of Vitae to have one of the following effects on any number of Charmed victims in her presence:

  • Alter their emotional state. With a single word she can whip them into a rage, or instantly calm them from the edge of riot. Each emotional shift requires her to spend another Vitae.
  • Make a “request” which the Charmed immediately feel an obsessive need to accomplish. They can be coaxed into violent or sinful actions, though they are not willing to throw their lives away or suffer serious harm. If a degeneration roll is necessary, the roll is made only after the Charmed Condition has expired.

Loyalty ••••

The vampire becomes so important to the victim that acting against the vampire becomes traumatic.

Cost:2 Vitae
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Empathy + Majesty vs. Resolve + Blood Potency
Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive

The vampire selects one subject she has Charmed and magnifies that Condition to pure obsession. The victim gains the Enthralled Condition.

Condition: Enthralled
The victim becomes fanatically protective of the Vampire. The commitment to the vampire now extends to life-threatening actions, like jumping in front of guns, or crashing into a pursuer’s car.

The act of disobeying or displeasing the vampire isn’t just difficult, it’s a breaking point. The character must fail this Integrity or Humanity roll (usually taking a Condition) in order to disobey or displease the vampire. Alternatively the character can spend a point of Willpower to automatically fail the roll.

Resolution: The character is seriously harmed protecting the vampire, or the vampire’s Blood Potency in nights pass.

Beat: The character puts himself in harm’s way to protect the vampire.

Idol •••••

The vampire takes on the mantle of the king or the star, becoming so important in the eyes of others that they cannot possibly act against her.

Cost: 2 Vitae & 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: None, enhances Awe
Action: None
Duration: Scene

Idol enhances the aura of superiority generated by Awe to near-divine levels.

  • Those in her presence must succeed at a reflexive Resolve + Blood Potency roll, penalized by the vampire’s Awe successes, in order to take any action that could harm or embarrass the Vampire.
  • Individuals who are under the Charmed Condition towards the vampire must succeed at the same roll, at the same difficulty. If they fail they temporarily acquire the Enthralled condition, although only for the remainder of the scene.
  • Those who are already Enthralled cannot take any action that could harm or embarrass the Vampire, they get no roll to resist.

 

 

Nightmare

Nightmare's not about fear. Fear is rational, fear is understandable. Nightmare is about terror. Blind, stinking, rabbit-fleeing-from the wolves terror. Oh, sure, it starts out innocent enough. The guy a little too creepy to talk to, the little old lady you somehow feel compelled to give a wide berth. But then the little glitches start appearing. You’re working late on a construction job, and you see a human face in the path of your circular saw. Blink, and it’s gone.

You decide to clock out, but as you walk down the street you see someone you’d almost forgotten. Someone you’re afraid of in a way no amount of drugs or therapy could ever dig out.

You make it safely home, and fall into the arms of your wife, shaking. But she’s holding you too tight. And she smells wrong. It’s not her, is it?

And then you run out of the apartment, and the real terror begins.

Dread Presence •

Cost: None
Dice Pool: None
Action: Instant
Duration: Scene

The vampire exudes a deeply unsettling aura that reaches out to all those within her presence. The world seems colder and less welcoming, and everyone around her feels flickers of fear and insecurity.

  1. Everyone in the vampire’s presence is on edge, she seems threatening and inhospitable. She adds her Nightmare dots to all mundane Intimidate rolls.
  2. Bystanders are unsettled, and don’t want to oppose or challenge the vampire, save in self defense. They retain the choice, however. If they do act against her, they may not spend Willpower to bolster their actions  (though they may still spend it defensively, or in predatory aura conflicts). Kindred may challenge by lashing out with their predatory aura; if they succeed, they are not affected by Dread Presence for the rest of the scene.
  3. The vampire can alter the perceptions of those around her. She introduces little visions and unsettling tweaks to the way in which they see the world. She might give a doorknob a murder victim’s face, or make food look like a pile of maggots. These phantasms are always small (generally no larger than a small dog, or louder than a shout), short lived, and alway unsettling.
  4. Illusions are created reflexively, and may encompass no more than two senses. They are purely mental, and thus only visible to those she selects to experience them (which may be anyone in her presence). She may only project one illusion at a time, and it lasts no longer than a few seconds. Finally, the illusions cannot, on their own, cause actual harm or inflict debilitating pain in the subjects.

 

Face of the Beast ••

Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Presence + Empathy + Nightmare vs. victim's Composure + Blood Potency
Action: Contested; Resistance is reflexive

With a glance, one of the victim’s fears is magnified to the point of pure terror. If the vampire knows something the victim fears, she may choose it; otherwise the victim experiences whatever fear the Storyteller feels is most appropriate. He is overcome with an immediate need to flee the source of fear.

  1. The victim gains the Frightened Condition.
  2. The vampire may always designate herself as the source of fear while Dread Presence is active.

The Grand Delusion •••

Cost: 2 Vitae
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Empathy + Nightmare vs victim’s Composure + Blood Potency
Action: Contested, Resistance is Reflexive
Duration: One Night (see text)

The victim’s mind is twisted and perverted in ways invisible to the naked eye, instilling beliefs into him as false as they are frightening.

  1. With a glance and a few words the vampire inflicts her target with the Delusional Condition. The vampire defines the exact beliefs, though they cannot be outright homicidal or self destructive. Players should keep in mind that they may only dictate the nature of the belief, not the reaction. (So “Your friends are out to get you” is acceptable, but adding “You must get them first” is not.)
  2. If Dread Presence is active while this belief is inflicted the duration extends to a number of nights equal to the vampire’s Blood Potency.

 

Waking Nightmare ••••

Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Presence + Empathy + Nightmare - highest Composure in group
Action: Contested, Resistance is Reflexive
Duration: One Scene

The vampire inflicts upon her victim or victims a miserable hallucination, a touch of the kind all vampires suffer in torpor.

  1. The vampire creates a single illusion, a change or addition to perceptions, and projects it into the mind of the victim(s). Generally this change is no more than a single person, object or feature of the location. The Storyteller is the final arbiter of how dramatic a change can be.

    Examples: creating an illusory monster to hunt them, causing all the colors of one building to be inverted, making the vampire herself appear to be a hollow faced ghost.
  2. Illusions from Waking Nightmare are extremely convincing, covering anywhere from a single sense to all five. Unlike those created via Dread Presence these visions persist outside the vampire’s immediate vicinity, and indeed even beyond her death, haunting their subject until the effect expires. The Nosferatu adjudicates how the illusion behaves and reacts while the victim(s) is in her presence, but once apart it is up to the Storyteller to manage the fictional horror.
  3. Waking Nightmares are always frightening and unsettling, even if they depict something otherwise harmless. The doll’s eyes watch you, the nice man has too wide a smile. No use of this power can create a pleasant illusion. No matter how convincing the Waking Nightmare can’t cause actual harm or inflict debilitating pain.

Alone, Waking Nightmare can affect only a single subject. With Dread Presence active the Nosferatu may afflict any number of people who are within her presence. They all suffer the same illusion and, while together, their perceptions are roughly consistent.

Mortal Terror •••••

Cost: 1 Vitae and 1 point of Willpower
Dice Pool: None
Action: Reflexive, Enhances The Grand Delusion and Waking Nightmare

The vampire imbues her Nightmares with the sort of terror that haunts all vampires through daysleep and torpor.

  1. Mania: While suffering from the Delusional condition the victim’s morality and inhibitions are diminished. Acts which would normally be breaking points (such as violence, homicide, and self destruction) cease to be. So long as an action furthers their delusion the victim can perform vile acts without risk of breaking, and receive a Beat whenever they do so.
  2. Killing Dream: The illusion the Nosferatu creates with Waking Nightmare, for those who can see it, becomes almost-physical. For the remainder of the scene it may inflict harm on victims as though it were real. The illusion attacks with a pool of the Nosferatu’s Intimidation + Nightmare penalized by the victim’s Composure + Blood Potency. Armor and damage reduction of any kind is ineffective against these attacks, however, not being actually real there are limits to the harm the apparition can cause. It can deal no more than Nightmare + Blood Potency points in a single scene, and can attack no more than once per turn. The damage is always bashing.

Mortal Terror’s activation cost must be paid at the same time the vampire activates the associated power. Kindred with Blood Potency too low to do so may pay the cost over several turns. The final power activates once the full price has been paid.

 

 

Obfuscate

You’re afraid to be alone in the dark. But some horrors can reach you even the light, whether it’s cast by a flickering candle or the streetlights below your window.

Obfuscate is the reason you can never be sure you’re alone.

Face in the Crowd •

Cost: None
Dice Pool: Wits + Stealth + Obfuscate
Action: Instant
Duration: Scene

The vampire turns her Predatory Aura inward, fading from the attention of those around her.

  1. Everyone around the vampire ignores her completely, so long as she is not grossly out of place (in a room where someone doesn’t expect anyone else to be), or very obvious (pulling a gun or yelling). The same goes for any objects or clothing he’s carrying on her person.
  2. It becomes very difficult to remember what she looks like. Physical traits, even deformities, are overlooked. This means that her personal appearance has no impact on whether people will think he’s out of place.
  3. Should something call attention to the vampire, she is not immediately revealed, instead those who might notice roll Wits + Composure, if they score more successes than the vampire did on her activation roll they notice her. Otherwise they remain ignorant to her presence. (Bonuses may be added depending on how obvious the vampire is.)
  4. Violent action automatically reveals the vampire, though only to those affected by said violence.
  5. The vampire’s Predatory Aura seems to disappear. Other vampires cannot sense it.

Touch of Shadow ••

Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Wits + Larceny + Obfuscate
Action: Instant
Duration: Scene

The vampire touches an object and it vanishes from sight and mind.

  1. With a touch, the vampire conveys the effects of Face in the Crowd onto an object or animal of Size no greater than [Successes + Obfuscate]. A Brawl attack may be necessary to affect unwilling subjects.
  2. Occluded objects are not transparent or ethereal, merely hard to notice. This makes it possible for a vampire to hide behind a hidden object (such as an occluded door) and remain unnoticed. What’s more, the unconscious mind will make an effort to steer itself around hidden obstacles. For example, a person wouldn’t be likely to bump into an occluded desk, even if it was in the middle of the room.
  3. Someone who is forced to interact with the object will immediately recognize its existence. All others must roll Wits + Composure, comparing their successes the vampire’s successes on the Touch of Shadow roll.
  4. Those hidden by Touch of Shadow may notice other people and objects Obfuscated by the vampire without a roll.

Cloak of Night •••

Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: None, enhances Face in the Crowd or Touch of Shadow
Action: None
Duration: None

By spending an extra point of Vitae while activating Face in the Crowd or Touch of Shadow, the vampire may make the subject entirely vanish from the perceptions of viewers.

  1. The subject becomes completely imperceptible to others, unable to be seen or heard. Personal possessions (i.e. objects currently carried by the person) are masked as well.
  2. This Obfuscation, though great, does not extend to the incidental signs of the vampire’s action. Floorboards still creak, and smoke still moves as she passes through it. One who is aware of her presence can track her by the incidental signs of her passage.
  3. Touch of Shadow now works on people. Taking violent action will reveal them only to the subject of said violence. It is then up to that person to bring enough attention to the vampire under the rules specified for Face in the Crowd.

The Familiar Stranger ••••

Cost: 2 Vitae
Dice Pool: None, Enhances Face in the Crowd or Touch of Shadow
Action: None
Duration: None

Instead of removing herself from the attention of others, the vampire adjusts their perception of her.

  1. When using Face in the Crowd or Touch of Shadow the vampire may spend two Vitae and specify a particular image she wants to project. This can be something subjective, like “frail old man”, in which case each onlooker will view her as their own perception of how a “frail old man” might appear. Or it can be definite, like “Tom’s friend Jason”, in which case everyone would perceive her as that particular person. Disguising herself as an individual person presents the vampire with the appearance and voice each member of her “audience” expects.
  2. When used on objects (via Touch of Shadow) the vampire can redefine how people see the object. The “illusion” this created must be roughly the same size as the object, but is otherwise totally convincing and endures most mundane inspection (though a “gun” that won’t fire, or a “knife” that cannot be drawn will seem strange).
  3. While it is possible for the conditions applied to be subjective, The Familiar Stranger cannot influence the thoughts or emotions of those affected. So a condition like “The woman Tom will now fall deeply in love with” or “A trustworthy man who should be told secrets” will simply fail outright.

Oubliette •••••

Cost: [Variable] Vitae and 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: None
Action: Instant
Duration: [Blood Potency] Weeks

The vampire hides an entire building or piece of landscape, and manipulates the perceptions of those therein.

  1. In order to Obfuscate an entire building or location the vampire must spend vitae based on the location’s size [Apartment or small house - 3, Home or alleyway - 6, Mansion -9]. The Vitae itself must be physically spread about the locale, marking key gateways and landmarks. Vitae spent this way is subsumed into the location and becomes invisible to Kindred Senses. She must then slumber undisturbed on location for one full day, sunrise to sunset. This process can be spread over several nights, but requires that the vampire sleep in the location every single day until the Obfuscation is complete.
  2. Once established, Oubliette permits the vampire to use Touch of Shadow, Cloak of Night and the Familiar Stranger, at any distance, on anything within the premises of the haven.
  3. She may affect multiple different people, objects, or areas simultaneously with a single activation of a power. For example, making all doors invisible, or lending Face in the Crowd to ghoul confederates within the premises. Using a power this way requires only one roll, with no increase in Vitae cost.
  4. She may affect individual aspects separately (this door is invisible, those rifles look like canes), or all at once (this house appears to be a stately manor, and the Nosferatu master a venerable old gentleman). In the latter case, this requires only one use of Touch of Shadow, despite affecting so many different targets.
  5. As with other Obfuscate functions, interaction with elements of an Oubliette may reveal their true nature, but only to the one doing the interacting. Storytellers are reminded, however, that the inclusive nature of Oubliette makes it significantly harder to notice minor tweaks and changes.

 

Protean

Protean embodies the descent (or ascent) of a vampire from a near-mortal whose body still yearns for its grave to a savage beast. At the pinnacle of the power, the vampire distills the essence of the Beast from its once-human flesh, becoming a disembodied creature of smoke and hunger.

Unmarked Grave •

Cost: Varies
Dice Pool: None
Action: Instant
Duration: Indefinite

At the vampire’s silent command, the earth yawns open to embrace him. Merging with the ground, he gains immunity to most harm.

  1. There is no cost to merge with soil. For other substances, the cost is equal to the Durability of the material.
  2. When subsumed, the vampire is mostly insensible to the outside world. However, he may remain conscious as normal. Kindred Senses continue to function, and he remains capable of sensing the Predatory Aura. He can not be compelled to a fight-or-flight reaction by the Predatory Aura.
  3. He is immune to almost all harm which does not damage the ground in which he rests. His Predatory Aura is suppressed as well.
  4. Should blood or Vitae be spilled on the ground where he rests, the vampire will absorb it. Vitae is diluted enough that it can’t result in a blood bond, but a Vitae-addicted vampire may feel the urge to come forth from the ground to seek more.

Predatory Aspect ••

Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: None
Action: Reflexive
Duration: Indefinite

The vampire gains the ability to manifest a small host of bestial traits. When he first learns Predatory Aspect, the vampire selects three adaptations. From then on he can reflexively manifest these changes for the scene for a point of Vitae.

A vampire might manifest the following changes, or the player might work with the Storyteller to create new ones:

  1. Sharp claws that give his Brawl attacks +1 damage, counting as a mundane weapon (and therefore dealing lethal damage) against mortals.
  2. Hundreds of tiny insect legs, clawed feet, or other adaptations which allow him to freely move across walls and ceilings without need for an Athletics roll.
  3. Extended arms or shortened legs, allowing him to run like a wolf adding +6 speed, and doubling their horizontal and vertical jump distance.
  4. Webbed hands or slick scales, granting a swim Speed equal to his land Speed.
  5. Sharper Kindred Senses, allowing him to hear heartbeats, and see/smell blood as though his Blood Potency were two dots higher.
  6. Tremor sense, echolocation, or similar perceptive enhancements permit him to see without using his eyes and view his surroundings with nearly 360 degree vision.
  7. Grow a long, prehensile tail. This acts as a third arm, though it obviously lacks a true hand.

A character can change his selected adaptations by spending a day and a night sleeping in his Unmarked Grave, and spending one point of Vitae per adaptation he wishes to replace. Players should keep their adaptations within a theme, generally basing them on a predatory animal of some sort.

Prey’s Skin •••

Cost: 2 Vitae
Dice Pool: None
Action: Instant
Duration: Indefinite

The vampire assumes the form of an animal that he consumed (killed through feeding).

  1. The vampire takes on the animal’s physical traits, Size, Speed, and health. He acquires all natural means of locomotion and sense that the animal possesses, but keeps all his original mental and social Attributes and Skills. Some physical Merits may change, at the Storyteller’s discretion.
  2. The animal must be within Size 1 - 7, and must be a predator.
  3. While in animal form the vampire may manifest his full set of Predatory Aspect adaptations.

The vampire may retain the ability to assume a number of shapes equal to his dots in Protean. To change or add a form the vampire must first consume appropriate prey, then slumber for a day and a night in his Unmarked Grave.

Unnatural Change ••••

Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: None, enhances Predatory Aspect
Action: None
Duration: None

As the Beast boils up through the Blood, the vampire’s human or animal shell begins to twist and crack. He manifests truly horrifying changes which no longer resemble the creatures of the natural world. This costs an additional point of Vitae when activating Predatory Aspect. The vampire assumes a single additional adaptation from the following list. If the following list lacks a proper adaption the player may create a custom one with Storyteller approval.

  1. Grow vicious serrated talons and/or giant fangs which cause flesh to rot for a few seconds with each strike. These give Brawl attacks a +2 weapon bonus, armor piercing 2, and deal lethal damage even to vampires.
  2. Unfurl great wings of a pale, leathery skin. The character can fly at up to his Speed.
  3. Push out tiny barbs on his hands that allow him to grip his opponents with incredible ferocity. Add Protean dots to grappling dice pools. The character deals lethal damage when choosing the Damage move in grappling. This often enables gory feeding in the middle of a fight.
  4. Develop hooked hands or other unnatural apparati that allow him to burrow through dirt and soil at half his normal movement speed.
  5. Transform his body into rubber-like flesh and bones that can stretch, condense and contort in impossible ways. This permits the vampire to slip through holes half the size of his head. If circumstances suggest that the contortion requires a roll, such as attempting to wriggle through a drain under gun fire, Unnatural Change adds the vampire’s Protean dots to the roll.

As with Predatory Aspect once an adaptation is chosen it cannot be changed unless the character sleeps a day and a night in his Unmarked Grave. It costs 2 points of Vitae to change the adaptation from Unnatural Change.

Primeval Miasma •••••

Cost: 3 Vitae
Dice Pool: None
Action: Instant
Duration: Indefinite

The vampire dissolves into a cloud of smoke. Occasional flashes of yellow appear within the smoke, like the gleaming of eyes.

  1. This form can move at half the vampire’s normal Speed, expand up to [Protean+Blood Potency] yard in diameter, and pass through or into nearly anything that isn’t air tight.
  2. The vampire can perceive the world inside the smoke as clearly as in his solid form, but has only a blurred vision of the world outside himself. Kindred Senses continue to function as normal.
  3. The vampire can feed from exposed wounds. This may require grappling, in which case the Miasma is presumed to possess the vampire’s physical Attributes.
  4. The vampire is immune to all harm, save that from fire, sunlight, or other banes which deal damage. Being fully illuminated by sunlight returns the vampire to his solid form.
  5. Slumbering in Miasma form has the same benefits as Unmarked Grave, allowing the vampire to shift adaptations.