Disciplines
- Animalism
- Auspex
- Celerity
- Dominate
- Fortitude
- Obfuscate
- Oblivion: Hecata
- Oblivion: Lasombra
- Potence
- Thin-Blood Alchemy
Animalism
Description:
Perhaps the vampire has more in common with animal than human. A dangerous set of instincts drive them, and it takes a lot for them to withhold the urge to just lash out.. Much like a wild dog on a chain, a vampire’s Beast will never truly be tamed. Some Kindred find a way of becoming one with their Beasts. Those who do are the masters of Animalism. Some accompany the use of this power with howls, snarls, and roars, or communicate with animals in the animal’s “language,” though this is an affectation and not a necessity. The Animalism Discipline sees much use among vampires who struggle to fit in or have no taste for living among mortals. Often classed as one of Caine’s gifts of utility, allowing a vampire to thrive on unrefined blood or form companionship with non-sapient beings, it is also a devastating weapon against vampires who cling to their towers, and against inquisitors who suspect their enemies will only come on two legs. A swarm of blood-hungry rats invading a Kindred’s penthouse haven, the Animalism proficient vampire who cows the Sheriff’s Beast in Elysium, or the beady-eyed raven that spies on a Society of St. Leopold chapter all serve to strengthen Animalism practitioners, and weaken their foes.
Characteristics:
By default Animalism powers involving animals can only be used on vertebrates. Additionally, any use of the ability on herbivores adds one to the Difficulty of skill rolls involved.
Type
Mental
Masquerade threat
Low to medium.
While talking to animals might seem eccentric, only the most violent applications of the Discipline elicit more than a few raised eyebrows.
Blood Resonance
Animal blood, preferably feral.
Powers - Level 1:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Bond Famulus | When Blood Bonding an animal, the vampire can make it a famulus, forming a mental link with it and facilitating the use of other Animalism powers. While this power alone does not allow two-way communication with the animal, it can follow simple verbal instructions such as “stay” and “come here. It attacks in defence of itself and its master but cannot otherwise be persuaded to fight something it would not normally attack. Cost: The animal must be fed the user’s Blood on three separate nights, each of which requires a Rouse Check by the user. The amount of Blood needed to sustain the ghoul-state of the animal after this is negligible. Players starting with this power have completed this process and can chose a famulus for free. |
Charisma + Animal Ken | Without the use of Feral Whispers, below, giving commands to the animal requires a Charisma + Animal Ken roll (Difficulty 2); increase Difficulty for more complex orders. A vampire can only have one famulus, but can get a new one if the current one dies. A vampire can use Feral Whispers (Animalism 2) and Subsume the Spirit (Animalism 4) on their famulus for free. | Only death releases a famulus once bound. As long as it receives vampire Blood on a regular basis, the famulus does not age. |
Sense the Beast | The vampire can sense the Beast present in mortals, vampires, and other supernatural's, gaining a sense of their nature, hunger, and hostility. Cost: Free |
Resolve + Animalism vs Composure + Subterfuge |
Roll Resolve + Animalism vs Composure + Subterfuge. A win allows the user to sense the level of hostility in a target (whether the person is prepared to do harm or even determined to cause it) and determine whether they harbour a supernatural Beast, marking them as a vampire or werewolf. On a win, a critical gives the user information on the exact type of creature, as well as their Hunger or Rage level. This power can be used both actively and passively, warning the user of aggressive intent in their immediate vicinity. | Only death releases a famulus once bound. As long as it receives vampire Blood on a regular basis, the famulus does not age. |
Powers - Level 2:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Feral Whispers | The vampire can commune with the beasts of the wild and the city. Feral Whispers allows two-way communication with animals. A cat might not be interested in debating Matisse’s use of colour but happily discusses the lack of prey around the brownstone building across the street. Depending on the vampire’s skill, they can even persuade animals to perform services; like humans, animals seldom agree to things that go against their nature or endanger them. Vampires can also use Feral Whispers to summon a chosen type of animal (see Animalism limitations above) but the animals must be present to answer. Nothing prevents a vampire trying to summon an orca in Central Park, but success seems unlikely. Summoned animals listen to the summoner, but scatter or attack if endangered. Cost: One rouse check per type of animal chosen for the scene. Allows one summoning and unlimited communication. Free when used on famulus. |
Manipulation + Animalism or Charisma + Animalism |
Simple communication requires no dice pool test. Persuading an animal to perform a service requires a Manipulation + Animalism roll; the Difficulty depends on the task required. Having a bird keep an eye out for anyone entering the park at night is Difficulty 3, while ordering any animal to defend a place with their lives is Difficulty 6. Summoning animals uses a Charisma + Animalism roll; Difficulty depends on the scar-city of the animals summoned. The number of animals summoned depend on the margin on the test; a critical win summons most, if not all, animals of the type in the area | One Scene |
Powers - Level 3:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Animal Succulence | The vampire can slake additional Hunger by feeding on animals. In addition, the vampire can consume its famulus, gaining nourishment far beyond what would be gained from an animal of similar stature and absorbing a sliver of its primary trait. Cost: Free |
N/A | Feeding from animals slakes 1 additional Hunger, and the vampire counts their Blood Potency as two levels lower in regards to penalties to slaking Hunger from animal blood. Consuming one's famulus slakes 4 Hunger, regardless of animal size. This act can never remove the final Hunger die. In addition, consuming one's famulus increases the vampire’s Attribute most associated with that animal (as determined by the Storyteller) by two dots. Consuming a cat might raise Dexterity or Composure; consuming a dog might raise Charisma or Resolve. Storytellers may vary the reward from famulus consumption: draining an owl might raise the Attribute in any perception pool by two dots, or in pools involving wise decision making. The bonus lasts until the vampire’s next feeding or until their Hunger reaches 5. | Passive |
Quell the Beast | By locking eyes with a target, the vampire cows their inner Beast into temporary slumber. Mortals affected thus become apathetic, unable to take any actions other than to stay alive, while vampires’ bestial urges temporarily abate, for better or worse. Cost: One rouse check |
Charisma + Animalism vs Stamina + Resolve |
Roll Charisma + Animalism vs Stamina + Resolve. A win against a mortal target incapacitates them for that scene, instilling severe lethargy. They act only to preserve themselves, not against the user or anyone else. A win against a vampire prevents the target from performing Blood Surges. While their Beast is quelled, vampires do not score messy critical's. Against vampires, this power lasts a turn plus a number of turns equal to the win margin on the contest. A critical win against a vampire target also ends their frenzy. | One scene, or a number of turns equal to the test margin plus one. |
Unliving Hive Requires: Obfuscate 2 |
Most often seen amongst the Nosferatu, this unnerving power allows the user to extend their animal influence to swarms of insects such as flies or roaches. Certain vampires even go so far as to adopt swarms as famuli, giving them a permanent home within the folds and orifices of their malformed flesh. Cost: No additional cost |
N/A | This power extends all powers previously restricted to vertebrates to insect swarms, treating a swarm as a single creature. The vampire can bind the swarm as a famulus, and some even give it the ability to nest inside the cavities of their body. This hides the swarm from sight while allowing it to nurse the minute amounts of Blood needed to sustain it indefinitely. While nested, the swarm is undetectable by anything less than X-rays. Swarms do little damage in combat. They have Health 5 and a pool of 8 dice to resist attacks. Swarms take Superficial damage from Brawl; flame and insecticide cause Aggravated damage. Vampires can use swarms for spying, as distractions (resulting in a two-dice penalty on any roll for a single swarmed individual), or to intimidate mortals (add between one and three dice to Intimidation pools, depending on the type of insect and the victim’s phobias). Players and Storytellers can doubtlessly come up with even more creative uses of this power. | Passive |
Powers - Level 4:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Subsume the Spirit | The vampire can completely transfer its mind into the body of an animal. They can control the animal and use its senses freely, even during the day should they manage to stay awake. While doing this, the vampire’s body lies immobile as if in torpor. Cost: One rouse check. Free if used on famulus. |
Manipulation + Animalism | Make a Manipulation + Animalism test; Difficulty 4. On a win, the vampire can inhabit the animal’s body for one scene. On a critical win, the vampire can inhabit the animal indefinitely. Extending this possession into the daylight hours requires the vampire to stay awake (p. 219); seeing the sun requires a test for fear frenzy though the sunlight does not damage the animal being ridden. The user remains oblivious to their original body, but harm to it pulls them out of the trance and releases the animal. Death of the possessed animal also ends the trance, and the vampire takes a point of Aggravated Willpower damage from the shock. | A scene / indefinitely (see above) |
Powers - Level 5:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Animal Dominion | The power the vampire holds over beasts is now great enough to command flocks and packs as if they were extensions of their own body. At a gesture, animals lay down their lives by the dozens, even hundreds, to appease their master. Cost: Two rouse checks |
Charisma + Animalism | Chose a type of animal and make a Charisma + Animalism roll with a Difficulty depending on the nature of the animals and the order given. Getting a flock of crows to disperse and look for a specific individual (given some means of identifying their target) is relatively easy (Difficulty 3), but getting a pack of dogs to give their lives in a suicidal attack on another vampire is more of a challenge (Difficulty 5). The power does not allow the user to summon animals, but compels those already present to obey. The vampire can command the animals to return after completing their task, if they have means to do so. | A single scene or until the directive is fulfilled, whichever is shortest. |
Drawing Out the Beast | The vampire can project their Beast at the moment of terror or fury frenzy, transferring it into a nearby subject, either mortal or vampire. That person immediately experiences the frenzy instead, going on a merciless rampage or fleeing in terror depending on the trigger. Cost: One rouse check |
Wits + Animalism vs Composure + Resolve |
Instead of the Willpower roll to resist a terror or fury frenzy, roll Wits + Animalism vs Composure + Resolve of the target. If the user fails, they enter frenzy as though they had failed the Willpower roll. On a win, the target experiences that frenzy instead of the user. Later stimuli can still provoke frenzy in the user, but they can use this power as long as they can make Rouse Checks and further targets remain available. This power cannot transfer a hunger frenzy. | Frenzy duration (see p. 220) |
Auspex
Description:
Among the greatest gifts and worst curses afflicting vampires, the Discipline of Auspex allows Kindred to discern truth from lies, probe the minds of those around them, and perceive reality on a different level than other beings. What appears to be the ultimate power in foresight and vision grants its wielders perhaps too much knowledge. They may detect an assassin’s blade before it strikes or get into an enemy’s head to turn them around, but they can also sense every shift in emotion, good and bad, see things they wish they had not, and discern futures they may not wish to explore. Users of Auspex invite paranoia, but using it is addictive. Once you know the truth rests within your grasp, you seek it out at every opportunity. Kindred use Auspex in many ways. Some vampires act as spies for their courts or factions. Others act on their own, blackmailing mortals and immortals with secrets gleaned from quiet conversations, subtle emotional shifts, and telepathic intrusion. Auspex allows its user to play the role of domain detective, studying the scene of a vampire’s destruction for tell-tale spiritual clues or interrogating suspects with unnatural accuracy.
Characteristics:
Storytellers may wish to make Auspex rolls for characters in order to more convincingly provide wrong or incomplete answers after failed rolls.
Type
Mental
Masquerade threat
Low.
Auspex never by itself manifests in a way visible to the naked eye or causes effects that can’t be rationalized, if only as dumb luck.
Blood Resonance
Phlegmatic.
Artists (especially photographers) and visionaries, certain schizophrenics, users of psychoactive substances, detectives.
Powers - Level 1:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Heightened Senses | The vampire’s senses sharpen to a preternatural degree, giving them the ability to see in pitch darkness, hear ultrasonic frequencies and smell the fear of cowering prey. Cost: Free |
Wits + Resolve | The user adds their Auspex rating to all perception rolls. If exposed to extreme sensations, such as loud bangs, flashes of intense light or overpowering smells while the power is active the user must succeed on a Wits + Resolve (Difficulty 3 or more) roll to dampen their senses in time, or the overload causes them to sustain a -3 dice penalty to all perception-based rolls for the rest of the scene. | Until deactivated. Having the power active for longer stretches of time without rest (more than a scene), especially so for high stimulus environments, might necessitate spending Willpower, at the Storyteller’s discretion. |
Sense the Unseen | The senses of the vampire become attuned to dimensions beyond the mundane, allowing them to sense presences otherwise hidden from the naked eye. This can be anything from another vampire using Obfuscate to someone using Auspex to spy upon the character to a ghost in the middle of the room. Dormant Blood Sorcery spells and rituals might also be found with this power, at the Storyteller’s discretion. Cost: Free |
Wits + Auspex or Resolve + Auspex |
Whenever there’s something supernatural hiding in plain sight, the Storyteller makes a hidden roll of Wits + Auspex against a Difficulty they choose. Against an entity actively trying to stay hidden, the Storyteller can call for a blind roll (“Lisa, roll seven dice for me”) as a contest against the target’s relevant pool. (For example, detecting a vampire using Obfuscate would be a roll of Wits + Auspex vs Wits + Obfuscate) If the vampire actively searches for a hidden supernatural entity, they roll Resolve + Auspex similarly. | Passive |
Powers - Level 2:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Premonition | The vampire experiences flashes of insight. These may take the form of raised hackles, sudden inspiration or even vivid visions. While never too precise, these visions can nudge the vampire out of harm’s way or reveal a truth previously overlooked. Cost: Free or one rouse check |
Resolve + Auspex | Whenever the Storyteller deems it appropriate, this power gives the character a sudden hint that aids them in some way: letting them find a clue they’ve missed or saving them from danger. Whether it gives the character a sudden vision of themselves walking into a trap, an inviting red glow over the second right turn during a chase, or the brief flash of a skeleton beneath the floorboards in the Prince’s office, this power always gives the Storyteller license to subtly speed up play or move the story onto a desired track. The suggested limit is one premonition per scene, even if more than one character has Premonition. The user can also actively provoke a premonition by focusing on a subject, making a Rouse Check and rolling Resolve + Auspex. The number of successes rolled determines the level of insight on the subject, if any. |
Passive |
Powers - Level 3:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Scry the Soul | By focusing on a person, the vampire can perceive the state of that person’s psyche as a shifting aura of colours. Auras reveal little precise information, but do provide clues regarding many subjects, e.g., emotional state, Resonance, and supernatural traits. If looking for a specific condition, the vampire can cursorily scan the crowd to detect it. Such cursory scans provide no further information. Cost: One rouse check |
Intelligence + Auspex vs Composure + Subterfuge |
Make an Intelligence + Auspex vs Composure + Subterfuge roll. On a win, the Storyteller truthfully answers a number of questions equal to the margin of the roll about the target’s aura and psyche, including: • The emotional state of the subject • The Resonance in the subject’s blood • Whether the subject is a vampire, werewolf, ghoul or any other supernatural being • Whether the subject is under the influence of Blood Sorcery or other magic • Whether the subject has committed diablerie in the last year A critical win allows discovery of something unexpected, as determined by the Storyteller If scanning a crowd, roll versus a Difficulty determined by the size of the crowd and external distractions, as well as the type of trait being sought. (Finding the vampire in the living room might only be a Difficulty 3, while finding the most nervous person at a crowded rave is most likely Difficulty 6 or higher.) |
One turn, or Storyteller’s discretion |
Share the senses | By reaching out with their mind, the vampire can tap into the senses of another mortal or vampire, seeing, hearing, and feeling what they do. The user still retains their own perceptions and is still aware of their own surroundings, though the effect requires some getting used to. The user decides whether to tap into only one, some, or all of the target’s senses. When used on a stranger this power requires line of sight to initiate. However, it can be used over longer distances on someone who still has some of the user’s Blood in their body. Cost: One rouse check |
Resolve + Auspex | Roll Resolve + Auspex at Difficulty 3. This Difficulty can go up depending on distraction, distance, and other factors, such as the amount of the user’s Blood that remains in the target. The target usually remains unaware of the intrusion, but Sense the Unseen can allow the passenger to be noticed. To get rid of an unwanted rider, the victim must beat the intruder at a Wits + Resolve vs Wits + Resolve roll. An Auspex user thrown out this way cannot make another Sharing attempt until the next night. | One Scene |
Powers - Level 4:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Spirits touch | By touching an inanimate object or the ground at a location, the vampire can sense the emotional residue left by those who have handled that object or visited the location in the past. The user gains insight into not only that person, but also what was done and under what circumstances. While rarely crystal clear, the information often provides leads impossible to gain from regular forensics and deduction. Cost: One rouse check |
Intelligence + Auspex |
Make an Intelligence + Auspex roll versus a Difficulty depending on the information sought. Gleaning the emotional state of the user of a murder weapon used a few days before is Difficulty 3, but sensing the surroundings in which a 300-year old letter was written approaches Difficulty 6 or higher. Each point of margin on the roll allows the user to sense roughly one additional previous handler and set of circumstances, counting backwards from the most recent. | One turn |
Powers - Level 5:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Clairvoyance | By closing their eyes and entering a light trance, the vampire becomes master of its surroundings. In a few minutes it can gather information from roughly a city-block sized area (more if outdoors or less populated) that would normally take many hours, perhaps days of legwork and investigation. Once connected in such a way to their surroundings the vampire can also receive information on anything happening out of the ordinary in the area. Cost: One rouse check |
Intelligence + Auspex | Roll Intelligence + Auspex against a Difficulty based on the security and level of activity of the area. Using Clairvoyance on one’s own mansion would be Difficulty 3 while an unfamiliar city block in the slums of a major city would amount to 7 or more. The user adds their base Haven rating in extra dice to the pool when using Clairvoyance on their own haven. The Storyteller answers the vampire’s questions about the comings and goings in the area, what people have seen and heard, topics of local gossip, recent major shocks or impressions, and so forth. The player can ask roughly one question per point of margin; answers about deliberately concealed information might consume more than one point. A critical win reveals something major, regardless of the questions asked, assuming there is some-thing to reveal. The vampire can also clairvoyantly monitor events in progress, though this requires them to remain in the area for as long as the effect is active. | A few minutes for information gathering, up to a night for vigilance. |
Telepathy | At the highest levels of Auspex the vampire can now literally read minds, as well as project their own thoughts into the minds of others. While reading a mortal mind is relatively straightforward, undead minds requires a higher effort to penetrate. Cost: One rouse check (plus one Willpower vs non-consenting vampires) |
Resolve + Auspex vs Wits + Subterfuge |
The user is not required to roll any dice to project their thoughts to another, vampire or mortal, though they do require line of sight. To read the mind of a mortal within line of sight, roll Resolve + Auspex vs Wits + Subterfuge while looking Into their eyes. (Unless the mortal consents, in which case no roll is required.) A win means that the user can discern surface thoughts as a stream of images, with higher margin allowing the user to probe for more distant or buried memories. A critical win gives a coherent picture of the subject’s current thoughts and intentions. To read the mind of a non-consenting vampire, spend one Willpower point before rolling. | Roughly one minute per Rouse Check. Increased to a full scene on consenting subjects. |
Possession
|
With this power the vampire can strip the will of a mortal and completely possess their body, using it as their own. While the mind of the subject remains hidden to the vampire, they can do anything and go anywhere the subject could while the power remains active. Using this, a vampire can even experience the sunlight, food, and physical sexuality long denied them, their host paying the price for whatever abuse the vampire wreaks on their body while riding it. Cost: Two rouse checks |
Resolve + Auspex vs Resolve + Intelligence |
This power can only be used on mortals. If the mortal is a ghoul, they must first be Blood Bound to the user. Before possession can begin, the vampire must have eye contact with their victim (See Dominate, p. 254). The user then engages in a Resolve + Auspex vs Resolve + Intelligence conflict with the victim in order to inhabit their body. If the vampire’s player rolls a total failure, the victim becomes immune to further Possession attempts for the duration of the story. Once the vampire inhabits the body of their victim, their own body falls into a torpor-like trance, completely unaware of their surrounding and their own physical state except for Aggravated damage, which breaks the trance and ends the effects. A vampire possessing a mortal can use Auspex, Presence, and Dominate through them. If the user wishes to extend Possession into daytime, they must make a roll to stay awake (p. 219). Failure to stay awake ends the power. Any Aggravated damage to the subject also risks ending the possession – the user must succeed at a Resolve + Auspex roll (Difficulty 2 + damage taken) to stay in control. If the subject dies during Possession, the resulting spiritual trauma immediately causes the user to sustain three levels of Aggravated damage to Willpower. This power does not give the user the ability to read the mind, use the skills, or emulate the manners of the victim. Any skills employed use the possessing vampire’s rating. The user must make a Manipulation + Performance vs Wits + Insight roll to successfully impersonate the victim’s manners, expressions, and the like. Finally, Possession violates the victim even more profoundly than a Blood Bond. The Storyteller should consider awarding Stains for this action. | Until ended, voluntarily or involuntarily. |
Celerity
Description:
The ability to strike fast, dodge blows, and escape pursuers allows Kindred to become extremely effective predators. Celerity enables vampires to move faster than any natural creature, though it does more than grant a supernatural speed, with vampires employing it actually appearing to think almost as fast as they act. While some vampires use to slice and stab at enemies without fear of riposte, others simply use it to get from A to B faster than any other person on foot.
Characteristics:
Storytellers may wish to make Auspex rolls for characters in order to more convincingly provide wrong or incomplete answers after failed rolls.
Type
Physical
Masquerade threat
Medium to High.
Most Celerity powers are clearly inhuman, the only saving grace being that they’re very hard to catch on film or photograph.
Blood Resonance
Choleric.
Fear and utter terror, runners, athletes, amphetamine and alkaloid users, habitual players of first-person shooters and other twitch games.
Powers - Level 1:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Cats Grace | The vampire gains a balance and grace equal to and surpassing world-class trapeze artists. They can walk and even run across ledges and wires effortlessly and can keep their balance on the slimmest of supports. Cost: Free |
N/A | The user automatically passes any Dexterity or Athletics-based roll needed to keep their balance. Note that this power does not allow them to balance on support that cannot take their weight. | Passive |
Rapid Reflexes | While their bodies still can’t defy the laws of nature, vampires with this power perceive events instantly and can react to them with superhuman alacrity. They can observe incoming projectiles to the extent that they can attempt to dodge arrows and even bullets without available cover. Cost: Free |
N/A | With this power, vampires suffer no penalty to their defence pools for lack of cover against Fire-arms attacks. They can also take a minor action (see p. 298) worth up to two dice per turn, such as readying or reloading a weapon, for free. | Passive |
Powers - Level 2:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Fleetness | Their mastery of Celerity now allows the vampire to move and react with dizzying speed. Cost: One rouse check |
N/A | Add the Celerity rating to user's dice pool for non-combat Dexterity tests. Once per turn the user may also do this when defending with Dexterity + Athletics. | One scene |
Powers - Level 3:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Blink | The vampire swiftly closes in on a foe, engaging or escaping in the blink of an eye. To an unprepared observer the user almost appears to teleport, a rush of wind the only sign of their passing. Cost: One rouse check |
Dexterity + Athletics or as needed |
The vampire moves in a straight line toward a target, covering any distance under 50 meters while still having enough time to perform an action, such as an attack, during the turn. If the terrain is in any way hazardous, the character needs to make a Dexterity + Athletics roll to avoid stumbling and coming to a halt on the way. The Storyteller may call for other contests as desired, especially if the vampire races a distant foe to an object or an action. Vampires engaging a foe with this power act as if already engaged when the turn begins. | One turn |
Traversal | With blurring speed the vampire can run or climb along any surface, including vertical and even liquid mediums. While Traversal does With blurring speed the vampire can run or climb along any surface, including vertical and even liquid mediums. While Traversal does not grant insect-like supernatural traction, running up or along walls present little problem. Walking on water remains impossible, but the vampire can run on water for a limited distance given a run-up. Cost: One rouse check |
Dexterity + Athletics | Make a Dexterity + Athletics roll with a Difficulty of 3 (inclined surface with traction) to 6 (slick vertical surface, open water), depending on the surface and angle. Each point of margin gets the vampire further up or out; a margin of 0 gets to a close target, a margin of 1 to one farther than that, and so forth. The Storyteller should inform the player beforehand if a target is too distant to even attempt Traversal; as a rule of thumb, anything over water farther than 60 meters (or more than 30 stories up a building) probably exceeds this power’s range. | One turn |
Powers - Level 4:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Draught of Elegance | The Blood of the vampire becomes saturated with the power of Celerity, conveying a part of that power to anyone who drinks of it. While this is also a first step towards a Blood Bond, already bound thralls or servants have little use for such worries, and even non-bound allies might decide to brave a sip for the sake of temporary power. Cost: One rouse check |
N/A | Drinking a Rouse Checks worth of Blood directly from the user gifts the drinker with temporary Celerity equal to half the Celerity dots (rounded down) of the donor. The drinker gains the same non-Amalgam powers as the donor’s, up to that level. | One night; for vampires, until the next feeding or the vampire reaches Hunger 5 |
Unerring Aim
Requires: |
The world around them slowing to a crawl, the vampire can aim and throw or fire any weapon at a target as if the target were stationary. Cost: One rouse check |
N/A | Use before making a ranged attack. The target makes no roll to dodge or defend; make the attack at Difficulty 1. An opponent possessing Celerity 5 can nullify this power by making their own Rouse Check, defending at the same speed. | A single attack |
Powers - Level 5:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Lightning strike | Faster than the eye can follow, the vampire can strike with fist or melee weapon at such speed that the opponent is unable to defend or take evasive action. Cost: One rouse check |
N/A | Use before making a Brawl or Melee attack. The opponent makes no roll to dodge or defend; make the attack at Difficulty 1. An opponent possessing Celerity 5 can nullify this power by making their own Rouse Check, defending at the same speed. | A single attack |
Split second | The speed at which the vampire moves catches up with their supercharged perception, allowing them to react to events around them at a moment’s notice. Ambushers find their prey already standing behind them, and favours asked are completed before the words leave the supplicants mouth. Cost: One rouse check |
N/A | The player can supersede the Storyteller’s narration of events, within reason. They can choose to have their character move through a door before it closes, circumvent an ambush after it has been triggered, roll out of the way of an explosion, and so forth. The action taken must be reasonable and should not take more than a few seconds in real time. The Storyteller decides what Skills, if any, need to be checked to successfully accomplish an action begun using this power. | Roughly one action, as determined by the Storyteller. |
Dominate
Description:
Dominate grants the vampire the ability to control the actions of others, manipulate their memories, and force living creatures into acts they would not perform of their own volition. At its most basic, Dominate enables a vampire to make a victim forget the feed they just endured or enjoyed. At its most dangerous, it allows Kindred to enslave entire crowds of kine. This is the Beast at its most cruel and controlling. Dominate acts as a bludgeon to enforce the Masquerade, create submissive servants, and reinforce the self-assuredness of the vampire. When using this Discipline, Kindred feel omnipotent, although the wisest of them know that this too may be shackles of a kind, slipped upon them by the Blood.
Characteristics:
- Most Dominate powers require eye contact with the victim. Once they establish contact, Dominat holds the gaze of the victim until the user conveys their command or commands, barring interference. Catching the eyes of someone actively attempting to avoid the vampire’s gaze requires a contest of the user’s Resolve + Intimidation vs the target’s Wits + Awareness.
- Using Dominate in combat or in other frantic situations is limited to people attacking or otherwise interacting with the user directly, as everyone else’s attention is firmly focused on their own peril.
- Unless the user has supernatural means such as Telepathy (Auspex 5) at their disposal, they must command the victim verbally. The victim must be able to hear the user and understand their language.
- Without Terminal Decree (Dominate 5), commands resulting in obvious death or serious injury fail automatically.
- Subjects roll to resist commands resulting in other social or physical harm, such as undressing in public. (See individual powers for details.)
- Vampires cannot use Dominate to extract information, as the victim becomes a mindless puppet while under its influence. For example, the Compel command “Speak” results in blabbering word salad, while someone Mesmerized to “tell what you know about the assassin” responds “what you know about the assassin.”
- Dominate cannot make subjects do something they could not do on command, such as “Sleep.” Ultimately, the Storyteller determines what the Discipline can accomplish, but they should take care that Dominate remains one Discipline of many, rather than the catch-all solution to every problem.
- Dominate cuts to the core of vampiric mastery and predation. Thus, vampires must resist attempts to Dominate them. A vampire of lower (stronger) generation can resist Dominate attempts from higher generation vampires by spending a Willpower point, negating the effect completely. On a total failure on the roll of any Dominate power, that vampire can no longer Dominate that target for the rest of the story.
- Dominate threatens Humanity, especially if the vampire has any Principles involving personal freedom or forbidding violations of human integrity. Using it may incur Stains (p. 239).
Type
Mental
Masquerade threat
Low.
Barring someone Dominating an entire auditorium to jump off the cliffs of Dover, it remains one of the more subtle vampiric powers.
Blood Resonance
Phlegmatic.
The blood of the submissive or the dominant, masters and slaves, captains of industry, power trippers, cult leaders and followers.
Powers - Level 1:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Cloud Memory | By uttering the phrase “Forget!” the user can make the Dominated victim forget the current moment as well as the last few minutes, enough to mask a superficial feeding or a chance meeting. No new memories are formed and if pressed the victim realizes they have a few minutes missing. Cost: Free |
Charisma + Dominate vs Wits + Resolve |
No roll is required against an unprepared mortal victim. Clouding the memory of a resisting victim or another vampire requires a Charisma + Dominate vs Wits + Resolve roll. | Indefinite |
Compel | With eye contact, the vampire can issue the victim a single-action command, no longer than a short sentence, to be obeyed to the letter. It must be possible to complete the command in a single turn. The Storyteller decides whether to interpret ambiguous commands in an unexpected or unfavorable way; alternatively, the command simply confuses the victim and fails. Cost: Free |
Charisma + Dominate vs Intelligenc + Resolve |
No roll is required against an unprepared mortal victim. Commanding a resisting victim, a victim the vampire has previously Dominated in the same scene, or another vampire requires a contest of Charisma + Dominate vs Intelligence + Resolve. Commands that go against the victim’s nature also require such a contest. |
No more than a single scene |
Powers - Level 2:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Mesmerize | The vampire can issue complex commands to a victim, as long as they have the subject’s gaze and relative quiet in which to issue instructions. The instructions must be carried out immediately to the victim’s best ability, and must not contain any conditional actions (“...if you see Henry, give him the document”), as this would require the victim to exercise cognition. Cost: One rouse check |
Manipulation + Dominate vs Intelligence + Resolve |
No roll is required against an unprepared mortal victim. Commanding a resisting victim or another vampire requires a contest of Manipulation + Dominate vs Intelligence + Resolve. Commands that go against the victim’s nature also require such a contest. | Until the command is carried out or the scene ends, whichever comes first. |
Dementation Requires: Obfuscate 2 |
This subtle power requires nothing more than casual conversation, as the vampire’s insidious influence hides between the lines and inflections employed. The victim finds themselves increasingly agitated as their inner demons bubble to the surface, eventually drowning out all rhyme and reason. Cost: One rouse check per scene |
Manipulation + Dominate vs Composure + Intelligence |
After engaging in conversation with a victim, the user can activate this power. For the duration of the scene, the user may attack a single individual each turn in a Manipulation + Dominate vs Composure + Intelligence conflict, causing Superficial damage to Willpower. A mortal who becomes Impaired by this power experiences a nervous breakdown or psychotic break, the shape and nature of which depends on their personality (and perhaps their blood Resonance). A vampire that becomes Impaired by this power must immediately succumb to a Compulsion, as chosen by the power’s user. If the user wants to affect multiple victims, they need to make a separate Rouse Check for each one. | One scene |
Powers - Level 3:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
The forgetful mind | The vampire can rewrite whole swathes of the victim’s memories, as long as they can keep the victim’s gaze and full, uninterrupted attention. The vampire verbally describes the victim’s new memories, which the victim then accepts as their own. This power does not allow the user to investigate the victim’s true memories; it more resembles blindly painting over the old canvas. Cost: One rouse check |
Manipulation + Dominate vs Intelligence + Resolve |
The user rolls a contest of Manipulation + Dominate vs Intelligence + Resolve. Each point of margin allows the user to add or remove an additional memory. The victim recalls the edits vaguely, foggy ideations that can fall apart under close questioning. A critical win creates a flawless imprint, as real as any true memory. | Indefinite |
Submerged Directive | When using Mesmerize, the vampire can now implant a posthypnotic suggestion, allowing the command to remain dormant until a specific stimulus occurs. This trigger can be anything from a specific date, to a person (“When you meet Roland, tell him these words”), to hearing a specific phrase. The Submerged Directive never expires; people can conceivably walk around with an order buried in their mind for years. The user can only embed one suggestion per victim. Cost: Same as Mezmerize ( One rouse check), no additional cost |
N/A | As Mesmerize, though the Storyteller might want to make any rolls in secret. There’s no way of knowing if the submerged suggestion works until the conditions are met. | Passive, upgrade for mesmerize |
Powers - Level 4:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Rationalize | The vampire’s victims now believe that anything they do under the influence of Dominate was a result of their own free will, and defend their actions, however absurd. Long-term exposure to this power can lead to severe mental trauma in the victim. Cost: No additional cost |
Wits + Awareness (Victim) |
If pressed on their belief, the victim can make a Wits + Awareness test (Difficulty 5). A win makes them question their own statement, and possibly their sanity. | Passive |
Powers - Level 5:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Mass manipulation | The vampire can now command entire gatherings of mortals, and in some cases even groups of vampires. The vampire can use this power both to issue instructions and to manipulate memories. Cost: One additonal rouse check added to the power amplified |
N/A | The vampire can amplify any of their other powers to affect a group of people, mortal or vampire, at once. All of the victims need to see the eyes of the user. The user makes any needed roll against the strongest opponent in the group. | N/A |
Terminal Decree | No longer hampered by the self preservation instincts of their victims, the vampire can now issue commands that directly lead to the harm or death of the victim. Mortals can be made to blow their brains out, jump from rooftops, or swallow poison. Vampires can, with a bit of effort, be made to walk into fire or sunlight. Cost: No additional cost, however the Humanity cost is potentially severe |
N/A | Terminal commands now must be resisted (see individual powers regarding rolls involved), rather than failing automatically. | Passive |
Fortitude
Description:
Much prized by immortals, Fortitude grants the ability to resist physical and mental assault. Few vampires survive longer than a century without at least a mote of Fortitude, especially in a world where violence is common and not even Kindred are safe. In these nights, fewer vampires use Fortitude to resist the sun than they do to withstand violent harm, fire, and supernatural coercion. Those possessing Fortitude exemplify the stolid pillars of Kindred society, able to withstand blows and charms without movement or sign of dilapidation. Few vampires feel as secure in their immortality as do elder Blue Bloods and Ferals.
Characteristics:
Type
Physical
Masquerade threat
Medium.
Eyewitnesses undoubtedly react upon someone taking a terminal beating or a hail of bullets and getting back up seemingly unhurt. Favorite cover-up explanations include erroneous recollection in the excitement (the bullets only seemed to hit), special effects (YouTube prank), or the tried and tested “must have been on PCP” rationale.
Blood Resonance
Melancholic.
Survivors of war, abuse, or misfortune; endurance runners; mountain climbers; infantry and special forces; those with very powerful immune systems.
Powers - Level 1:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook |
||||
Resilience | Endowed with supernatural endurance, the user can strengthen their physical resolve. Cost: Free |
N/A | The user adds their Fortitude rating to their Health track. | Passive |
Unswayable Mind | The user gains a mystical ability to resist any attempts to sway them through mundane charms, coercion, and wiles. Some exhibit Unswayable Mind as zen like calm, others as supernatural stubbornness. Cost: Free |
N/A | The user adds their dots in Fortitude as extra dice in any roll made to resist coercion, intimidation, seduction, or any other attempt to sway the user’s mind against their will. This power also works against supernatural abilities such as Dominate and Presence. | Passive |
Powers - Level 2:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Toughness | All vampires with this power exhibit an innate ability to ignore damage that would otherwise inconvenience and even disable others of their kind. While this power alone gives no protection against banes and other aggravated damage, the protection it confers adds up in the long run. Cost: One rouse check |
N/A | Subtract the Fortitude of the defender from all Superficial damage sustained. This occurs before halving the damage, and cannot reduce the damage below one. | One Scene |
Enduring Beasts Requires: Animalism 1 |
The user shares a small portion of their unnatural toughness with the animals they influence. Teeming swarms and great beasts alike exhibit a resistance to fleeting injuries almost equal to the vampire themself. Cost: Free (For Famulus) One rouse check (For normal animal) |
Stamina + Animalism (for non-famulus animals) |
The vampire can choose to extend some of their Fortitude powers to animals affected by their Animalism. Any animal thus imbued gains additional Health levels equal to the Fortitude dots of the vampire. Using this power on their famulus is free and automatic. To imbue other animals besides their famulus, the user must make a Rouse Check and roll a test of Stamina + Animalism (Difficulty 3). The user can fortify one animal per point of margin. When the effect ends, remove unmarked Health first; this may result in the animal expiring. | One Scene |
Powers - Level 3:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Defy Bane | By preparing themselves with an expenditure of power, the vampire can make themselves temporarily resistant to fire and sunlight as well as other grievous wounds that would threaten them with Final Death. Cost: One rouse check |
Wits + Survival (to activate reflexively) | The user can convert a number of Aggravated damage equal to their Fortitude rating to Superficial damage when sustained. They may not heal that Superficial damage for the rest of the scene. This power converts a number of damage per scene, not per wound or per attack. The user can renew this power once expired by making another Rouse Check. If endangered unexpectedly, the user can activate this power reflexively with a Wits + Survival roll (Difficulty 3) upon receiving Aggravated damage. If the user fails the test, the power does not activate; if they win the test, they must make a Rouse Check to pay for the power. |
One scene or until expired, whichever comes first |
Fortify The Inner Facade | Instead of hardening the vampire’s physical frame, this power allows the user to protect their thoughts and emotions from supernatural prying. Their mind appears completely blank while their aura is, for lack of better words, flat. Cost: Free |
N/A | Increases the Difficulty of using Scry Soul (Auspex 3), Telepathy (Auspex 5), and similar powers on the user by half their Fortitude rating (round up). If the rules allow the user to resist these powers, they add their Fortitude rating to their dice pool instead. | One scene |
Powers - Level 4:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Draught of Endurance | The Blood of the vampire becomes saturated with the power of Fortitude, conveying a part of that power to anyone who drinks of it. This is the Fortitude equivalent of Draught of Elegance (p. 254). Cost: One rouse check |
N/A | Drinking a Rouse Check's worth of Blood directly from the user gifts the drinker with temporary Fortitude equal to half the Fortitude dots (rounded down) of the donor. The drinker gains the same powers as the donor’s, up to that level. |
One night; Or For vampires until the next feeding or the vampire reaches Hunger 5 |
Powers - Level 5:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Flesh of Marble | The power of the Blood causes the skin of the vampire to harden, taking on a marble-like sheen that is still supple but stops almost any blow before momentarily breaking and reforming. A vampire using this power is almost impossible to destroy outright, barring a lucky blow or physical restraint. Cost: Two rouse checks |
N/A | With this power active, the vampire ignores the first source of physical damage each turn, including fire but not sunlight. If confusion arises about which source is “first,” the Storyteller either decides based on the narrative, or the vampire ignores the most damaging single source that turn. A critical win on an attack roll bypasses this power. |
One scene |
Prowess From Pain | Injuries and impairments now only fuel the powers of the vampire, who grows stronger and faster from each blow, rend, or tear received. Only utter destruction can stop one who calls upon this Fortitude power. Cost: One rouse check |
N/A | Upon activating the power the vampire no longer suffers any dice penalties from Health damage sustained, such as physical Impairment. Additionally, they can increase one Physical Attribute by one dot (derived stats are unaffected) for each level of damage on their Health track, aggravated or superficial. The user’s Attributes cannot exceed a value equal to their Blood Surge + 6 through this ability. |
One scene |
Obfuscate
Description:
For any hunter, the ability to hide, move without being seen, and employ camouflage proves vital. For the Kindred practitioners of Obfuscate, the Discipline provides the perfect cover to get close to a victim, disguise themselves as harmless, and escape when the heat grows too much. Obfuscate experts may utilize the Discipline to lurk in the shadows while spying, change appearance in a crowd while under surveillance, or even spread the gift to a group of vampires looking to hide.
Characteristics:
Obfuscate powers work through ambient, low-level mesmerism. Observers see the vampire but their minds choose to ignore it. Witnesses unconsciously move out of the way if the user blocks their path and rationalize their behavior if pressed. Obfuscate affects all five senses unless otherwise noted. The Discipline does have limits: the illusion fails if the observer cannot ignore the user or if the user backs the observer into a corner. A vampire blocking a doorway cannot maintain Obfuscate against someone walking through it. Likewise, violent action jeopardizes the façade, as does actions like raised voices, failed pickpocket attempts, and weapons raised to strike. Whispering without breaking Obfuscate is still possible. Generally, the Discipline offers no protection against machine surveillance. A human staking out the vampire has a hard time pointing the lens in the right direction, but automatic cameras and other types of detectors can catch them. A vampire with Sense the Unseen (Auspex 1) can detect Obfuscated characters by rolling Wits or Resolve + Auspex vs Wits + Obfuscate. Anyone can detect an Obfuscated vampire who draws attention to themselves; such observers detect such accidental revelations with a contest of Wits + Awareness (or Resolve + Awareness for an active searcher) vs Wits + Stealth. This also applies to surprise attacks from Obfuscate – a victim always has a chance to sense the danger a moment before the strike.
Type
Mental
Masquerade threat
Low
Blood Resonance
Melancholic.
The ignored and unseen, the homeless, forgotten, and depressed; spies, pickpockets, excellent servants, roadies and stagehands, and all the background people.
Powers - Level 1:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook |
||||
Cloak of Shadows | Standing perfectly still, the user blends into the surroundings. As long as they have some kind of cover, make no sound, and don’t move, only mechanical or supernatural means can detect them. Cost: Free |
N/A | Follow the general rules for Obfuscate. The effect lasts until the user moves or they are detected by other means. | One Scene |
Silence of Death | Popular among the Banu Haqim, this power completely silences the user, nullifying all sound made by them. As with other Obfuscate powers, this only works on people within earshot and does not fool microphones or other electronic sound detectors. Unlike Obfuscate in general, this power works only on the sense of hearing, but in exchange operates more robustly. A vampire needs to make a whole lot of noise to break this silence. Cost: Free |
N/A | The user silences their footsteps, clothing, minor collisions, and other sounds of their person. This makes the vampire undetectable if an observer could only notice them by sound, such as when on a different floor of a house. This power does not eliminate sounds the user makes outside their personal space (throwing or dropping objects, or slamming doors, for example). Failing that, only Sense of the Unseen (Auspex 1) can detect the user. |
One Scene |
Powers - Level 2:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Unseen Passage | With this power, the vampire can now move around while staying hidden. The user is functionally invisible, per the usual Obfuscate limitations. Cost: One Rouse Check |
N/A | As long as the user emits no overpowering odors and no sound louder than a whisper, this power automatically works. Only if the observer has their attention drawn to the user can they make a detection roll. Sense the Unseen (Auspex 1) can also detect the hidden vampire, as per the general Obfuscate rules. Note that the user cannot use this power to disappear while being actively observed; it automatically fails in such a case. |
One scene or until detection. |
Powers - Level 3:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Ghost In The Machine | The user can now transmit the effects of Obfuscate through electronic media, allowing the vampire to appear invisible or masked when viewed live on screen. If an observer views the image later, as in a photograph or recording, the effect lessens: the image seems slightly blurred, making identification hard. In addition, automated surveillance has a tendency to glitch in the presence of the vampire, lessening their chance of being caught by automated systems. Cost No Additional Cost |
N/A | No additional roll is required when being viewed on a live feed. Treat observers as present with the vampire, with regard to the Discipline. The observer adds +3 to their Difficulty on tests to identify the user on film, video, in photographs, or the like taken during active Obfuscation. The user also gains three additional dice to pools they use when trying to circumvent automated electronic surveillance and countermeasures. | As power used |
Mask of a Thousand Faces | Instead of disappearing, the vampire using this power can make themselves appear as a nondescript stranger, someone expected to be present in the area. Unlike other Obfuscate powers, this allows the user to interact and communicate with those they might run into. They arouse little suspicion as long as their presence is at all plausible (meaning that it will not fool people who do not expect anyone or would be hostile against anyone they didn’t know). The power also does not provide any personal identification or other ways of misleading an identity check. Cost: One Rouse Check |
N/A | No test is required. Anyone viewing the vampire sees a forgettable face of the same gender and approximate build and height as the user. Clothes take on the same kind of blandness, depending on the environment. At an office the user might appear as a nightwatchman, while they may seem to wear overalls at an assembly plant. Sense the Unseen (Auspex 1) can pierce the power as usual. | One scene |
Powers - Level 4:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Conceal Requires: Auspex 3 |
This ability allows the user to cloak an inanimate object such as a door, a car, or a small house. As with other Obfuscate powers, this does not actually make the object invisible, but creates a lingering hypnotic effect that causes most people to simply ignore it. In this case the power is especially effective, given that the object is unlikely to call attention to itself. Unless something causes passersby to collide with it or someone points it out, people behave as if the object wasn’t there, moving around larger objects if need be. Cost: One Rouse Check |
Intelligence + Obfuscate |
The vampire touches the object and rolls a test of Intelligence + Obfuscate against a Difficulty from 2 (Concealing a ring in a drawer filled with other memorabilia) to 6 (Concealing a house in the middle of an open square), depending on the target’s size and location. The power lasts for one night. Each point of margin on the win conceals the object for an additional night. This power conceals anyone and anything inside the object (e.g., people in a car or shed), as long as the viewer remains outside. This power cannot affect anything larger than a two-story house or any object moving under its own power (such as a moving car). Someone with the Auspex power Sense the Unseen (or equivalent) can notice the object by winning a contest of Wits + Auspex vs the Intelligence + Obfuscate of the user. |
One night, with an additional night per point of margin on the win. |
Vanish Requires: Cloak Of Shadows |
The vampire can activate Cloak of Shadows and Unseen Passage even while under direct observation. The vampire appears to vanish in the blink of an eye; even the memory of them becomes foggy and indistinct. Cost No Additional Cost |
Wits + Obfuscate vs Wits + Awareness |
When vanishing in front of a mortal, roll a contest of Wits + Obfuscate vs Wits + Awareness. On a win, the observer questions whether the vampire was ever there to begin with; their memory clouds on the topic. With a critical win, the vampire vanishes entirely from the observer’s memory. This power does not affect vampires’ memories, but any win by the user hides them as if they initiated their power unobserved. This power can only be used once per scene. | N/A |
Powers - Level 5:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Cloak The Gathering | The vampire can shelter their companions under the cloak of Obfuscate. Cost One Rouse Check in addition to the cost of the power extended |
N/A | The vampire can extend their power of Obfuscation to a number of additional willing subjects equal to their Wits, plus one for each additional Rouse Check made. The Obfuscate power used on the group can be any known to the user, and every member of the group count as having used it on themselves, using the Obfuscating vampire’s rating as their own when needed for a roll. Members of the group can still perceive each other while under the effects of the power. If anyone besides the user is revealed, either through their own doing or an astute observer, the rest of the group remains hidden. If the user is revealed, so is everyone else. | N/A |
Impostor’s Guise Requires: Mask of a Thousand Faces |
With some preparation the vampire can make themselves appear as a specific individual of any build and gender. The user must carefully study the subject, otherwise the charade fails when meeting anyone with more than a casual familiarity with the person being mimicked. Cost One Rouse Check |
Wits + Obfuscate, Manipulation + Performance |
The user must study the face to be copied for at least five minutes, from different angles. The user requires another ten minutes of observation to mimic the subject’s voice and mannerisms. The user can only copy human appearance, not animal form. The Storyteller then makes a hidden test of Wits + Obfuscate (Difficulty 4). A failure means that the resemblance is less than convincing, and anyone close to the person copied notices something amiss automatically. A win creates a convincing illusion, but the user must make a Manipulation + Performance roll to impersonate speech and mannerisms. A critical win creates a perfect illusion with no further roll necessary. Sense the Unseen (Auspex 1) can pierce the mask as per General Rules. | One Scene |
Oblivion: Hecata
Description:
Oblivion is a mysterious, unpalatable power that most vampires rightly fear to use, witness, or fall victim to. Only vampires of Clans Lasombra and Hecata wield it with any frequency, and even they do so tentatively. Oblivion requires cautious masters who know the power’s risks, as no other Discipline reaches into the Underworld and allows its manipulator to extract tangible darkness or furious spectres. Oblivion is the darkest of arts. Notably, while the Lasombra are prone to expanding their repertoire of Oblivion powers, the Hecata focus their energies on developing Ceremonies (see p. 208). Ceremonies take longer, but are required for communing with and making passage through to the lands of the dead.
Characteristics:
- Oblivion allows for the manipulation of creatures and substances originating from the Underworld.
- When the Hecata use this Discipline, they tend to channel the entropic nature of the Underworld and its surroundings, decaying flesh, calling forth spirits, and posing a dangerous risk to the living.
- Oblivion projections and spirits sustain damage from fire and sunlight, counting as vampires with Blood Potency 1 in this regard. They also take one level of Aggravated damage per round from bright, direct lights, and may also be damaged (Superficially or Aggravated) from blessed weapons and artifacts, depending on the strength of the blessing and any True Faith of the wielder.
- Oblivion’s powers are ineffective in brightly lit areas.
- Daylight and rooms without shadows are particularly prohibitive, preventing the Discipline’s successful function, though ultraviolet light and infrared light places no restriction on the Discipline’s use. Moderately lit rooms apply a one die penalty to the Discipline roll involved.
- The use of these powers takes a heavy toll on the psyche of the user, and many powers cause Stains as the numbing emptiness of Oblivion seeps into the spirit of the wielder.
Type
Mental
Masquerade threat
Medium-High
Spirits rarely show up well on cameras but are obviously unnatural if witnessed in person.
Blood Resonance
Psychopaths and the emotionally detached. Blood empty of Resonance.
Note
When making a Rouse check for an Oblivion power, a result of "1" or "10" results in a Stain, in addition to any Hunger gained. If the user’s Blood Potency allows for a re-roll on the Rouse check, they can pick either of the two results.
Powers:
Powers - Level 1:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Cults of the Blood Gods |
||||
Ashes to Ashes |
Destroying evidence of feeding is a common necessity among vampires who leave screaming, resisting vessels, especially when those same vessels end up dead. This power enables a vampire to destroy a corpse by introducing their vitae to its body. This power does not work on vampires, but does work on animated cadavers. Cost: One Rouse Check |
Stamina + Oblivion vs Stamina + Medicine or Fortitude |
The vampire makes a Rouse Check to expend vitae, and introduces the vitae to the corpse. Unless the corpse is animated, the body disintegrates over three turns with no test necessary. If it is, the user rolls a contest of Stamina + Oblivion vs Stamina + Medicine (Corpses with Fortitude may resist with Stamina + Fortitude). If the user wins, the animated corpse dissolves in five turns, minus the margin (minimum one, and disintegrating corpses suffer physical Impairment). On a critical win, the corpse disintegrates immediately. On a total failure, the corpse putrefies but does not disintegrate, and is subsequently immune to this power from any user. | Variable |
The Binding Fetter | The vampire closes their eyes. Upon opening them, the irises of their eyes display a dull reflection of their surroundings and they can identify objects or locations important to ghosts. These “fetters” act as icons that bind the dead to their existence. Knowing if an object is a fetter allows a necromancer to better manipulate the ghost. Fetters emanate variable auras, some bursting with vitality and glowing gold light, others radiating decay, or odors important to the bound wraith, such as the smell of freshly baked bread, gasoline, or cigarette smoke. Cost: Free |
N/A | On activation, the user’s senses become supernaturally attuned to the energies of fetters, and they may identify these auras by sight, smell, and their other senses. While this power is in use, the necromancer is distracted from other activity around them, conveying a −2 penalty to all Awareness, Wits, and Resolve linked rolls. |
One Scene |
Powers - Level 2:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration | ||||||||||||||||||
Vampire the Masquerade: Cults of the Blood Gods | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Fatal Precognition
Requires: |
It is said by many necromancers that the Lady of Fate rules the Underworld through her Stygian servants, and through communion with her certain death-dealers have learned this power. Fatal precognition allows a vampire to scry any non-vampire and experience a vision of their impending death, whether it’s due a minute from now or several decades away. The Kindred’s eyes turn black and they stand, sit, or lie completely still as the fate plays out in their mind. Fate can of course be cheated, though there’s a cost for doing so. Cost: One rouse check |
Resolve + Oblivion | The vampire must be able to see or hear their target when they use this power. After rolling Resolve + Oblivion (Difficulty 3 or more at the Storyteller’s discretion), the vampire becomes paralyzed in place as the vision plays out, preventing them from any form of physical or social interaction for that turn. The higher the margin, the clearer the vision. A win grants sight of the corpse, and with each point of margin an additional clue is provided, such as the manner of death, time and place of death, or the name and face of the first living person to find the corpse. A critical win on this roll grants the vampire a vision of crystal clarity, along with a sense of the motive, if the target is intentionally killed. A total failure renders the vampire blind for the remainder of the scene, and unable to use this power on the same target again. If anyone attempts to subvert the fate observed in this way, they find everything working against their hubristic ambition. Add one to all Difficulties while working to directly circumvent the precognition as cars break down, storms erupt from nowhere, and people become hostile for no reason. This penalty applies until the prophecy is fulfilled or avoided, or the current story ends. |
Until fulfilled, avoided, or the story ends. | ||||||||||||||||||
Where the Shroud Thins |
Vampires with an affinity for Oblivion can sense locations where the Shroud between the world of the living and the Shadowlands thins. Though this Discipline doesn’t directly tell a vampire why the Shroud between worlds is thin in a certain place, it may be due to a grisly murder that took place there many years before, or because necromancers have frequently used the location to summon spirits, or it might be a location of holy or unholy resonance, among other reasons. In locations where the Shroud is thinnest, mortal health suffers and use of the Oblivion Discipline becomes easier, if the vampire knows how to harness the gap in the Shroud. Cost: One rouse check |
Wits + Oblivion |
Following a Rouse Check, the player rolls Wits + Oblivion (Difficulty 3) and on a win may determine the density of the Shroud in their nearby area, as large as an entire building or landmark. On a critical win, this roll reveals whether the Shroud’s density recently changed. On a total failure, the power backfires and gives a false reading. Without use of this power, Oblivion users cannot benefit from a thinning of the Shroud. The following table expresses the different degrees of Shroud density, and the effects they have:
|
One scene |
Powers - Level 3:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Cults of the Blood Gods | ||||
Aura of Decay | Kindred with a strong connection to Oblivion find the Discipline affecting the world around them, making plants wilt, animals and humans grow sick, and food go bad. Some harness this aura as a power, polluting vitality with rot, and speeding up the erosion of life. This power does not speed up the decay of dead bodies. Cost: One rouse check |
Stamina + Oblivion vs Stamina + Medicine or Fortitude |
The vampire makes a Rouse Check. Following a Stamina + Oblivion roll (Difficulty 3), unintelligent organic and inorganic material within 5 yards/ meters of them suffers — plants turn black and die, food rots in its packaging, and even bricks start crumbling. Material affected in this way can become toxic to ingest, if for instance this power is used in a kitchen or a water supply. Such toxic food and drink, if consumed, can be expected to inflict two unhalved Superficial Health damage in the following scene to the individual who eats it, and for each scene thereafter until treated with an Intelligence + Medicine roll (Difficulty 3).
If anything living is caught in the aura, it makes a Stamina + Medicine (Those with Fortitude may resist with Stamina + Fortitude) contest against the vampire’s activation roll. For every point of margin the vampire has, the victim suffers one point of unhalved Superficial Health damage. This damage is slowly applied throughout the scene. Repeated applications of the power in the same scene have no effect on the Health of mortals already affected.
|
One scene |
Passion Feast
Requires: |
The relationship between vampires and their need for blood as sustenance is well known, but when a vampire needs to spend an extended period in the Shadowlands, or wishes to torment a spirit, this Oblivion power allows them to subsist on the passions of wraiths.
Cost: |
Resolve + Oblivion vs Resolve + Composure |
A vampire with this power can drain a wraith of their passion. While in close proximity (three yards/meters or closer) to the wraith, they may roll a contest of Resolve + Oblivion vs. the wraith’s Resolve + Composure. A win for the vampire inflicts one Aggravated Willpower damage to the wraith and reduces the vampire’s Hunger by one for the remainder of the night. That Hunger returns on the following night regardless of Rouse Checks, as the feeding is only a nepenthe to dull the vampire’s hungry urges. Feeding from a wraith may merit a Stain at the Storyteller’s discretion, as the consumed passion dulls the wraith’s reason for being, likely sending them down a path to self-destructive acts. The Storyteller determines the number of passions a wraith possesses (though five or more is rare), and may deem that the wraith becomes an uncontrollable, murderous spectre once all passions have been consumed.
|
Passive |
Powers - Level 4:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Cults of the Blood Gods | ||||
Necrotic Plague | Kindred scholars claim Oblivion pollutes everything it touches, with this power as a prime example. Through touch alone, a vampire might poison a mortal victim’s blood, imbuing them with a disease that wracks and ravages their body. Most dangerously of all, this disease runs the risk of being contagious, and might inflict the same harm to other mortals. Necromancers schooled in medicine have enough talent to make this power appear in the form of specific illnesses, sometimes including those that died out in decades or centuries past. Regardless of how it manifests, the symptoms will eventually disappear even without medical treatment, whether or not the victim survives. Cost: One rouse check, Two Stains |
Intelligence + Oblivion vs Stamina + Medicine or Fortitude |
The user makes a Rouse Check and then rolls Intelligence + Oblivion while touching their victim. If the victim is weak (a baby, elderly, unwell, recovering from an illness, dying, or with 3 unmarked Health boxes or less), they are automatically infected. If the victim is healthy, they roll Stamina + Medicine (those with Fortitude may use it in place of Medicine), resisting the disease if they roll more successes than the vampire. This power cannot be used on vampires. Storytellers may decide spreading such a horrific disease warrants Stains. Victims of the disease take one Aggravated Health damage at the start of every scene following their infection. The victim suffers from the disease for a number of scenes equal to the user’s Oblivion rating. The sickness cannot be medically treated, as it is supernatural in origin, but it is healed through drinking vitae. If the player rolls a critical win when activating this power, they can choose to make the disease communicable via touch, with subsequent recipients suffering the disease for one scene fewer than the victim by whom they were infected. If the player rolls a total failure, the vampire’s own vitae convulses as if poisoned. They suffer three Aggravated Health damage as the infected blood pours out of them and must make a Rouse Check. |
One turn to activate, variable length of condition |
Powers - Level 5:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Cults of the Blood Gods | ||||
Skuld Fulfilled | Necromancers can be described as fate’s greatest meddlers, as they have a way of interfering with the destined paths of lives and spirits. Occasionally, however, necromancers may seek to serve fate by punishing those who cheat it. This power enables a vampire to reintroduce illnesses to victims who recovered from them, break bones long-since healed, and eliminate the immunity to aging ghouls experience. While this power doesn’t work on vampires, it is an effective way of cutting through their servants and ensuring debts to fate are repaid, without having to come into contact with the recipient. Cost: Two rouse check |
Stamina + Oblivion vs Stamina + Medicine or Fortitude |
The vampire makes two Rouse Checks as they expend sufficient vitae to coat both their palms and their face with blood as they recall the faces of their victims. If the user succeeds in a contest of Stamina + Oblivion vs. the victim’s Stamina + Medicine (Those with Fortitude may resist with Stamina + Fortitude), the targeted individual is affected by a serious condition they’ve historically suffered and recovered from, such as treated cancer, a broken bone, or a disease — including one gained through Necrotic Plague (p. 206) — with any debilitating effects from this condition occurring immediately. The condition’s effects are for the Storyteller to determine, but they should be severe (See the Crippling Injuries table for inspiration, Vampire: the Masquerade p.303). If the victim is a ghoul, this power removes their immunity to aging and eliminates any vitae in their system, potentially resulting in older ghouls dying or even disintegrating where they stand. On a critical win, this power may kill the victim by stopping their heart completely if the user wishes. On a total failure, the vampire cannot use this power against that individual again. | Variable, dependent on whether the condition is treatable |
Withering Spirit | This power channels raw entropy via rapid spiritual decay, affecting vampires as well as kine by targeting the victim’s spirit. A vampire using this power risks Stains, as it can completely obliterate the victim’s spirit, preventing return as a wraith. Cost: Two rouse check, Stains (variable amount) |
Resolve + Oblivion vs. Resolve + Occult or Fortitude | The vampire makes two Rouse Checks to expend sufficient vitae to coat both hands, and touches the victim. After rolling Resolve + Oblivion vs. the victim’s Resolve + Occult (Those with Fortitude may use it in place of Occult), the victim suffers two Aggravated Willpower damage for each point of the vampire’s margin. The attack erodes the victim’s spirit until they’re a broken husk, and if Impaired by this power they will not return as a wraith after death. Storytellers may decide that the spirit-destroying nature of this power warrants Stains, though as always, an appropriate Conviction may mitigate these. |
One turn |
Rituals:
Rituals - Level 1:
The Gift of False Life
Through use of this Ceremony, a vampire can raise a corpse or group of corpses to perform simple, single or repetitive tasks.
Prerequisite Power:
Ashes to Ashes
Ingredients:
A human body (or multiple bodies), a small concoction of blood, phlegm, and bile.
Process:
After applying the concoction to the corpse or corpses and performing the Ceremony, the affected bodies animate into a form of false life. They follow a single command from the vampire, providing it’s simple and the corpse is physically capable of performing it, such as “sweep the floor,” “hold this door shut,” or “walk around the house perimeter.” They have no ability to think or calculate, so conditional or complicated commands such as “attack the next person to walk through this archway,” “drive this car,” or “build a shack” do not work. They may be directed towards a specific target for attack or other action if the necromancer points at them.
System:
The player makes their Ceremony roll and upon a win they raise a number of corpses equal to their Oblivion rating, or the number of bodies they have prepared (whichever is lower). A critical win doubles their Oblivion rating for the purpose of determining corpses raised. The mindless corpse’s animation ends when it is destroyed or it concludes its task. These corpses do not defend themselves from attacks, and decay as normal; the Ceremony does not grant them any form of immunity to the elements or time.
Mindless Corpse:
Standard Dice Pools -- Physical 2, Social 1, Mental 1
Secondary Attributes -- Health 4, Willpower 1
Exceptional Dice Pools -- Intimidation 4
General Difficulties -- 3/1
Special -- Mindless corpses take Superficial and Aggravated damage in the same way as vampires, except they are immune to sunlight. They cannot heal or mend damage, and rot at least one Superficial Health damage each day. They cannot be mentally dominated or influenced as they are bound to their master. They do not react to motion, words, or interference from anyone but their creator. Mindless corpses may always contribute to Teamwork (see Vampire: The Masquerade p. 122) for menial labor such as digging, lifting, or pushing even if they lack skills.
Summon Spirit
This Ceremony enables a vampire to summon a spirit from the Underworld.
Prerequisite Power:
The Binding Fetter
Ingredients:
One of the targeted wraith’s fetters, a photo or other visual depiction of the wraith or their signed name, the caster’s vitae.
Process:
The necromancer pours their vitae over a wraith’s fetter, and studying the picture or signature, calls out the wraith’s name. The wraith feels their fetter’s call, and begins a journey from their location in the Underworld to that of the caster. Though geography has differing scales in the Underworld, a journey may still take several nights if the spirit is on the other side of the world. If the Shroud is thin enough in the summoning location, the wraith is pulled through the veil between worlds by the fetter’s strength. The summoned wraith is under no obligation to serve the vampire upon being called and may act with hostility if they feel the vampire is threatening their fetter, which may be an object, a building, or even a person. Alternatively, the wraith may be grateful for the summoning and the possibility of companionship.
Wraiths summoned in this way do not manifest physically, but as shadows on the walls, quavering silhouettes of their living selves, from which voices might emerge. Wraiths speak the same languages they did in life, unless they’ve gone to the trouble of learning new ones in the Underworld.
System:
The caster daubs the fetter with their vitae and makes an Oblivion Ceremony roll. The wraith cannot pass through the Shroud if it’s impenetrable in the Ceremony location (see p. 205), and moving the fetter after the Ceremony doesn’t help, as the wraith’s ability to pass through the Shroud disappears if the fetter leaves the Ceremony site. The wraith disappears at the end of the scene unless a separate Ceremony is used to compel or bind them.
Rituals - Level 2:
Awaken the Homuncular Servant
Necromancers use this Ceremony to create spies and stalkers out of body parts such as hands or skulls, or small dead animals like rats or foxes.
Prerequisite Power:
Where the Shroud Thins
Ingredients:
The required body part or animal carcass, the weapon used to sever/kill it, a small concoction of urine, fecal matter, and semen.
Process:
The caster coats a blade (or other device suited to the task) in a gross cocktail of bodily fluids, and uses it to cut the targeted appendage off its root limb or body, or kills the small animal (which cannot be larger than a small dog and cannot fly, regardless of whether it has wings). After massaging vitae into the target, it comes to life as a homuncular servant, unfailingly loyal to its master. The homunculus can scale walls, hop (even if it lacks the limbs to do so), and hide effectively. While it cannot speak or perform tasks requiring deep thought, it can telepathically communicate single images to its creator.
System:
The necromancer’s player makes an Oblivion Ceremony roll, and after doing so, gains a homuncular servant that will spy, follow, or intimidate at the necromancer’s command. If it strays farther than 100 yards/ meters from the vampire, it falls inert, only awakening again once the vampire enters that range. Otherwise, it remains active for a number of nights equal to the number of successes rolled. A critical win on the roll keeps the servant active forever, while a total failure destroys all components involved in the Ceremony.
Homuncular Servant:
Standard Dice Pools -- Physical 1, Social 1, Mental 1
Secondary Attributes -- Health 3, Willpower 2
Exceptional Dice Pools -- Athletics 4, Stealth 6, Intimidation 4
General Difficulties -- 3/2
Special -- Homuncular servants take Superficial and Aggravated damage in the same way as vampires, except they are immune to sunlight. They cannot heal or mend damage. They cannot be mentally dominated or influenced as they are bound to their master. They do not need eyes or ears to perceive everything around them as someone with unimpeded vision and hearing might. They can telepathically broadcast a single image per scene to their master.
Compel Spirit
This Ceremony allows a vampire to bend a wraith to their will.
Prerequisite Power:
Where the Shroud Thins
Ingredients:
A wraith’s fetter, the caster’s vitae, an item (or threat) sufficient to damage the fetter.
Process:
The vampire must be in close proximity to a wraith in order to use this power, typically through use of Summon Spirit (see p. 209). The necromancer casts a handful of their own vitae in the wraith’s direction as they hold a destructive item to the fetter (a knife, a hammer, a gun, or potentially holding the fetter over a fire) or speak threatening words that the wraith believes. The vampire and wraith engage in a contest of wills. If the vampire gains domination over the wraith, the wraith must serve as the vampire decrees, at least temporarily. If the opposite occurs, the vampire is left mentally debilitated and the fetter disappears from their grasp.
System:
The vampire’s player makes an Oblivion Ceremony roll vs. the wraith’s Resolve + Composure (or Willpower, if these traits aren’t defined). If they have no way of physically threatening the fetter, the player must also make a Manipulation + Intimidation roll (Difficulty equal to the wraith’s Resolve + Composure).
If the player rolls more successes than the wraith’s resistance roll on their Oblivion Ceremony roll, the vampire can command the wraith to perform a number of moderately difficulty tasks (spying, research, answering questions truthfully, etc.) equal to the number of successes rolled. For every two successes, the vampire can instead command the wraith to perform a difficult task (such as attacking someone, doing something repugnant to the wraith’s sensibilities, etc.). On a critical win, the vampire can demand any action from the wraith, and it will try its best to complete the task. The wraith remains in the vampire’s service until the end of the chronicle or until it has fulfilled its master’s commands, at which point it returns to the Underworld with an eternal enmity for the necromancer.
If the wraith wins the contest, the vampire suffers the margin in Superficial Health damage. The wraith then re-enters the Underworld.
The compulsion placed on the wraith ends immediately if the vampire attacks them. If the vampire harms the threatened fetter, the wraith suffers between one and three Aggravated Willpower damage (depending on the importance of the fetter) and the wraith is sent back to the Underworld to be tormented by, and possibly converted into, a murderous spectre (see Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 377).
Rituals - Level 3:
Host Spirit
This Ceremony allows a vampire to open their body to possession by a ghost. The benefits of having a wraith ride one’s body come in the form of an enhanced physique, access to whichever memories the wraith chooses to share, and the wraith’s voice offering the vampire advice. The wraith can take complete possession of the vampire if they wish to, which some necromancers view as a blessing to be experienced, and others deem the main reason not to use this power. Allowing a wraith to control one’s actions for a night is an effective way of confusing and mollifying the Beast, as well as demonstrating physical prowess and knowledges the vampire may not usually possess.
Prerequisite Power:
Aura of Decay
Ingredients:
A gift to be made as tribute to a wraith (whether the wraith values it depends on the individual), a parasitic bug, two teeth extracted from the vampire’s mouth
Process:
The vampire must be in close proximity to a wraith in order to use this power, typically through use of Summon Spirit (see p. 209). The necromancer presents a tribute to the wraith, sometimes in the form of alcohol poured on the wraith’s gravesite, or a bag of coins to be buried in the earth, or even the freshly decapitated head of one of the wraith’s until-recently living enemies. The vampire then pulls two teeth from their mouth, usually with pliers, and bites into a parasite with their remaining teeth. The vampire then opens their mouth and the wraith can choose to jump inside, inhabiting the vampire’s body.
System:
The vampire’s player makes a successful Oblivion Ceremony roll. If the wraith agrees to the proposition, it then enters the vampire’s body and can remain for a number of scenes equal to the successes rolled on the Oblivion Ceremony roll. With the wraith inside them, the vampire gains +2 dice to all Physical Attribute rolls and +2 Health until the wraith departs. The vampire can hear the wraith in their head, with its advice, cajoling, or supportive words provided by the Storyteller.
A wraith can choose to assert its possession instead of acting as a passenger. If the vampire resists, they make a Resolve + Composure roll vs. the wraith’s Resolve + Composure. If successful, the wraith’s influence is rejected. If failed, the wraith steers the vampire until the end of the scene, though it can’t make the vampire do anything self-destructive. On a critical win, the wraith is ejected entirely and returns to the Underworld. On a total failure, the wraith can make a vampire harm themself, but returns to the Underworld after the first injury is sustained.
A vampire whose body succumbs or is voluntarily opened to the possession attempt finds all Willpower damage healed once the wraith departs, as the spirit subdues the Beast for as long as it is present.
Shambling Hordes
This Ceremony enables a necromancer to raise a group of aggressive, walking dead minions.
Prerequisite Power:
Aura of Decay
Ingredients:
A human corpse (or multiple human corpses), a fresh human sacrifice.
Process:
The vampire must have a separate corpse in addition to a human prepared for sacrifice. The vampire murders the sacrificial victim, spilling their blood on the corpse or corpses intended for animation. If the Ceremony is successful, the corpses stand (the recent sacrifice does not), revived with the fresh blood, and serve the vampire’s commands, even moderately complex orders such as “kill everyone who enters,” “groan if you see anyone pass this way,” or “terrorize that neighborhood.” Unlike the corpses raised using the Gift of False Life (see p. 208), these animated dead do not sit idle if left without commands, instead attacking anyone around them except for their master.
System:
The player makes their Ceremony roll, possibly incurring Stains in the process depending on the Chronicle Tenets and the Storyteller’s discretion. Due to the amount of blood spilled in this Ceremony, the caster must test to resist hunger frenzy (Difficulty 2). Upon a win a number of aggressive dead equal to the necromancer’s Oblivion rating or the number of prepared bodies (whichever is lower) receive the gift of animation. A critical win doubles their Oblivion rating for the purpose of determining corpses raised. Corpses animated this way do not decay and only enter repose if commanded to by the vampire, if the vampire meets final death, or if they are destroyed.
As per the normal rules for temporary Advantages like these (see Vampire: The Masquerade p. 180), their continued usefulness beyond the current story must be ensured with Experience — such as through the Retainers Background (see Vampire: The Masquerade p. 196) — or the aggressive corpses may become unstable and unruly.
Agressive Corpse:
Standard Dice Pools -- Physical 4, Social 1, Mental 1
Secondary Attributes -- Health 6, Willpower 2
Exceptional Dice Pools -- Brawl 6, Intimidation 5, Awareness 3
General Difficulties -- 4/2
Special -- Aggressive corpses take Superficial and Aggravated damage in the same way as vampires, except they are immune to sunlight. They cannot heal or mend damage. They cannot be mentally dominated or influenced as they are bound to their master. They do not need eyes or ears to perceive everything around them as someone with unimpeded vision and hearing might. Bites from the aggressive dead inflict +2 Aggravated Health damage to mortals.
Rituals - Level 4:
Bind the Spirit
Vampires with access to this Ceremony have the ability to bind wraiths to specified locations and people.
Prerequisite Power:
Necrotic Plague
Ingredients:
A wraith’s fetter, the caster’s vitae, the sacrifice of an innocent human, sufficient salt to surround a property or individual. If the target for haunting is an individual, the necromancer must possess something of their body, such as fingernails, hair, blood, or skin.
Process:
The vampire must already have a wraith under their control using Compel Spirit (see p. 210). The vampire kills an innocent human (though innocence is subjective, this tends to apply to the young, caregivers, and genuinely pious individuals) in or close to a location or person they want their wraith to haunt. Subsequently, they mix their vitae with sufficient salt to surround the target for haunting, and paint a circle with the mixture. The wraith’s fetter is placed somewhere within the location or the target’s possession. From this point, the wraith is forever bound to the target, unless the vampire cancels the Ceremony, the fetter ever moves from the location or individual’s possession, or the wraith is destroyed. Binding also ends if the necromancer attacks the wraith. Most wraiths bound in this way are furious or melancholic about their plight, and their mood affects the area around them. Many necromancers use this method to defend their havens or haunt their enemies.
System:
Following the steps of the Ceremony, the vampire may incur Stains from the murder depending on the Chronicle Tenets and the Storyteller’s discretion. They make an Oblivion Ceremony roll that cannot be resisted, as the wraith must already be compelled for this power to work.
The wraith is bound in perpetuity to the location or individual targeted, with no duration applied to this Ceremony’s effects. Any emotion the wraith feels intensely during its binding affects the inhabitants of the location or the individual to whom it’s bound, with each person affected suffering −2 dice to all rolls made to resist acting or feeling the way the wraith feels. Therefore, an angry wraith may make vampires more inclined to frenzy, while a depressed wraith might make a mortal more likely to stop self-care. Bound wraiths have the same powers as spectres (see Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 377).
Split the Shroud
This Ceremony allows a vampire to create a tear in the Shroud through which wraiths can pass and vampires with the correct Ceremonies can physically enter the Shadowlands.
Prerequisite Power:
Necrotic Plague
Ingredients:
A scalpel that’s been used to cut into someone living, chalk or charcoal, a silk sheet, a human sacrifice.
Process:
The vampire hangs a silk sheet over a wall in a place where the Shroud density (see p. 205) is standard, thin, or frayed. They then murder a human sacrifice against the sheet, usually via some manner of bloodletting, and as blood coats the sheet, cut it open with a scalpel. The Ceremony widens the portal between the world of the living — which wraiths call the Skinlands — and the Shadowlands. Wraiths who enter the Skinlands via this method take to haunting locations and people, indulging in their passions, and possess humans if their powers allow for it. Some treat the vampire with gratitude for splitting the Shroud, while others enjoy harassing the necromancer responsible.
System:
The caster kills the human sacrifice, which may result in Stains depending on the Chronicle Tenets and the Storyteller’s discretion. When cutting the silk sheet with a scalpel, their player makes the Ceremony roll (with −1 Difficulty if the scalpel was used in the human sacrifice). Due to the amount of blood spilled in this Ceremony, the caster must roll to resist falling into hunger frenzy (Difficulty 2). For every success on the Ceremony roll, the Shroud’s density reduces by a level, down to being absent.
Following this Ceremony, vampires can access the Shadowlands with Ex Nihilo more easily, but importantly, if the Shroud rating is reduced to absent, wraiths can spill into the Skinlands as they see fit for the remainder of the chapter. Once the chapter concludes, a Shroud density of absent increases to frayed and the gateway for wraiths closes.
Rituals - Level 5:
Ex Nihilo
This Ceremony enables a vampire and their coterie to migrate into the Shadowlands, though doing so comes at great risk.
Prerequisite Power:
Withering Spirit
Ingredients:
Masks for each participant, a bowl containing sufficient quantity of the caster’s vitae so each participant might coat the soles of their feet in it, two coins of any value per participant.
Duration:
Until the power is deactivated or the vampire is destroyed
Process:
Few Ceremonies of Oblivion come with as much doubt and fear as Ex Nihilo, the ability to migrate into the Shadowlands. This Ceremony enables a physical crossing into the lands of entropy. Vampires who physically enter the Shadowlands may interact with wraiths as if they were solid, but cannot carry objects beyond those on their person with them. Vampires destroyed in the Shadowlands disappear in a vortex of blood and ash, sucked into the false earth beneath their feet.
Ex Nihilo appeals to a great many necromancers and mystics who want to study the Shadowlands without the impediment of a time limit. It’s an unmatched method for interviewing ghosts and exploring the necropoli — the cities spirits inhabit. It’s also incredibly dangerous, as many wraiths — especially spectres — seek to destroy vampires, draining them of their Willpower, and there’s always the risk of meeting the ghost of someone the vampire slew years earlier. Such wraiths tend to hold a grudge.
The vampire must have used the Split the Shroud Ceremony within this chapter, in the location they’re currently occupying, in order for Ex Nihilo to function. If the Shroud density is reduced to absent, the caster and any companions may enter the Shadowlands from that point, if they don masks to cover their faces, dip or paint their feet in the vampire’s vitae, and carry a coin in each hand.
System:
The user makes three Rouse Checks (sufficient to expend the required vitae) and expends a Willpower point to prepare for the crossing. They then make their Ceremony roll. If successful, the vampire, a number of companions equal to the number of successes rolled, and any objects on their person may then enter the Shadowlands.
- Wraiths are capable of physical attacks on vampires (see Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 377 for an average spectre’s stat block) but some are also capable of attacking a vampire’s Willpower specifically, as they drain a vampire’s passion. Defense pools against Willpower drain, which a wraith can attempt up to 3 yards/meters from the vampire, are made up from the vampire’s Resolve + Composure, vs. the attacking wraith’s Strength + Brawl. This attack inflicts Aggravated Willpower damage.
- Though there is no sun (and therefore no daytime) in the Shadowlands, the vampire must still Rouse the Blood every 24 hours. With no sunlight, they are able to operate without rest.
- Vampires in the Shadowlands cannot interact with the world of the living in a meaningful way. They can only touch or speak with living creatures by ending this Ceremony, which takes the expenditure of a Willpower point and another Rouse Check in a place where the Shroud isn’t impenetrable. They can see snatches of motion through the Shroud, and a Discipline such as Auspex may enable them to spy from beyond the veil, but for the most part, anything viewed has a Difficulty 4 or more to perceive.
- Vampires can use their Disciplines in the Shadowlands just as they can in the land of the living.
- If a vampire is compelled to feed in the Shadowlands, they cannot obtain sustenance from wraiths without the Passion Feast power (see p. 206), but can feed from mortals or other vampires with them.
- Oblivion absorbs individuals who lose all Health or Willpower in the Shadowlands. They leave no wraiths if destroyed.
- Vampires cannot bring wraiths out of the Shadowlands without a Ceremony such as Summon Spirit (see p. 209), which must be used in the land of the living to have this effect.
Lazarene Blessing
This Ceremony enables a necromancer to bring a freshly-dead body back to life, though not how its relatives and friends might remember it.
Prerequisite Power:
Skuld Fulfilled
Ingredients:
One human sacrifice, incense, the heart of any mammal, powdered silver.
Process:
The necromancer burns incense to perfume the air before performing an act of human sacrifice, cutting the heart of the victim out and replacing it with the heart of another mammal, though it doesn’t need to be stitched in and working for the Ceremony to function. After pouring a bag of powdered silver over the open eyes of the dying or dead mortal, the vampire invites a wraith to take the deceased mortal as a host. Wraiths cannot be forced to possess a body, but few refuse the opportunity to walk around in semi-living shoes again.
System:
Killing a mortal for this Ceremony may incur Stains, depending on the Chronicle Tenets. If the replacement heart was likewise taken from someone the vampire murdered, that murder might also incur Stains. Following a successful Ceremony roll, a wraith can enter the freshly-dead body and live in it as if it were their own. The wraith must be present during the act of sacrifice.
The possessed corpse will wake bearing the wounds that killed it, though the replacement heart is functional (no matter its origin or placement) and the body heals one point of Health damage upon possession. The remaining Health damage recovers with time. The body possesses the same Physical Attributes, Disciplines (if a ghoul), and Backgrounds it had in life. Social and Mental Attributes, Skills, and any form of morality rating match those of the wraith.
This possession lasts indefinitely, or until the possessed body dies again or the wraith is exorcised from the host. The body gains no special resistances to harm beyond Disciplines it might have possessed in life.
Oblivion: Lasombra
Description:
Few Kindred outside Clan Lasombra and the Hecata know the Discipline of Oblivion, and as far as the Camarilla is concerned, this is a good thing. While the Lasombra favor the Discipline’s raw power, the more necromantically-inclined Hecata explore its ritual uses. With this power, vampires wield the very stuff of shadows and unlife as weapons. Some call the power’s source the Abyss, while other practitioners refer to it as the Labyrinth. The one certainty is Oblivion channels the darkest arts, from where the dead go to die. The masters of Oblivion call upon it to wreathe themselves in night, enslave spectres, or throttle victims with their own shadow. Each time they use it, wielders run the risk of losing their soul and Humanity to something darker than death and twice as hungry.
Characteristics:
- The powers of Oblivion allow for the control of forces or spirits of an extradimensional element, originating from a plane of death and nothingness.
- When manifest, this element projects into our reality as two-dimensional shadows on the surface of three-dimensional objects, either by themselves or as extensions of the wielder’s own shadow, snaking along the ground, walls, objects, or people. This makes them impossible to attack with most physical means as any blow will only hit the surface on which they’re projected, rather than the entities themselves.
- Oblivion projections and spirits sustain damage from fire and sunlight, counting as vampires with Blood Potency 1 in this regard. They also take one level of Aggravated damage per round from bright, direct lights, and may also be damaged (Superficially or Aggravated) from blessed weapons and artifacts, depending on the strength of the blessing and any True Faith of the wielder.
- Oblivion’s powers are ineffective in brightly lit areas.
- Daylight and rooms without shadows are particularly prohibitive, preventing the Discipline’s successful function, though ultraviolet light and infrared light places no restriction on the Discipline’s use. Moderately lit rooms apply a one die penalty to the Discipline roll involved.
- The use of these powers takes a heavy toll on the psyche of the user, and many powers cause Stains as the numbing emptiness of Oblivion seeps into the spirit of the wielder.
Type
Mental
Masquerade threat
Medium-High
The abyssal shadows rarely show up well on cameras but are obviously unnatural if witnessed in person.
Blood Resonance
Psychopaths and the emotionally detached. Blood empty of Resonance.
Note
When making a Rouse check for an Oblivion power, a result of "1" or "10" results in a Stain, in addition to any Hunger gained. If the user’s Blood Potency allows for a re-roll on the Rouse check, they can pick either of the two results.
Powers - Level 1:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook |
||||
Shadow Cloak |
Subtly applying the influence of Oblivion on ambient shadows, the user masks their appearance or seems more sinister and threatening. Cost: Free |
N/A | The vampire gains a two-dice bonus to Stealth rolls, as well as on Intimidation versus mortals. | Passive |
Oblivion's Sight | The vampire closes their eyes. Upon opening them, the irises of their eyes are black against the white of their sclera, and they can now see clearly within pitch blackness, and can perceive ghosts who are not actively hiding their presence. Cost: Free |
N/A | On activation, the user’s eyes become supernaturally attuned to darkness, allowing them to ignore all low-light penalties, including those of supernatural origin. They still need their eyes to see and are affected by blindfolds and the like as usual. If a ghost is present and not attempting stealth or using a power to conceal its presence, the spirit becomes visible to the vampire using Oblivion’s Sight. In such cases, ghosts appear as they wish to appear, whether as humans bearing the wounds that caused their death, as spectral monstrosities, or as perfectly immaculate corpses. Ghosts do not automatically realize when a vampire spots them, but if they do, many react with fear or anger rather than passivity. This power does not grant the ability to make physical contact with ghosts. |
One Scene |
Powers - Level 2:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Shadow Cast | Oblivion is powerful but can often be foiled by the simple lack of appropriate shadows from which to summon it. This power draws upon the darkness within the user to project a supernatural shadow from which to manifest other powers, no matter the ambient lightning. This shadow usually mimics the movement and shape of the user but can sometimes grow distorted and even monstrous, resonating with the current temperament of its owner. Cost: One rouse check |
N/A | Activating the power conjures a supernatural shadow from the vampire’s body. As long as the power is active, the user casts this shadow, which cannot be removed except by direct sunlight. Anyone witnessing the practitioner notices the shadow cast from no visible light source on a Wits + Awareness roll (Difficulty 3). The vampire can direct their shadow, elongating or distorting (but not detaching) it at will, though it can sometimes act on its own accord, at the Storyteller’s discretion. For the purposes of other powers such as Shadow Perspective, the shadow can be lengthened to up to twice the practitioner’s Oblivion rating in yards/meters. For anyone standing within the shadow’s reach, the Willpower damage from social conflict increases by 1 after halving for Superficial harm. Standing in Oblivion’s shadow is a terrifying prospect. |
One scene |
Arms of Ahriman Requires: Potence 2 |
The vampire summons abyssal appendages from unlit spots in the area, within line of sight. Local shadows distort as murky tentacles snake out from them and converge on one or more hapless victims. Whether by gliding up the body of the victim or engaging in a mystic grapple with the victim’s own shadow, the arms are able to hold them in place or smother them. Cost: One rouse check |
Wits + Oblivion |
The user takes one turn and pays the cost, summoning the shadow appendages.
As two-dimensional shadows, they can only be harmed by bright light, such as from a powerful torch or daylight.
|
One scene or until ended or destroyed |
Powers - Level 3:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Shadow Perspective | The vampire can project their senses into any shadow within line of sight, seeing and hearing as if they were hiding within any part of it. This includes their own shadow, as manipulated by Shadow Cast (see p. 293). Cost: One rouse check |
N/A | Following a Rouse Check, the presence of the vampire in the shadow is undetectable by anything but supernatural means. (Sense the Unseen, for example). While this power is active the vampire perceives both their surroundings as well as what can be gleaned from the Shadow Perspective, as if looking through a screen or hole. | Up to one scene |
Touch of Oblivion |
The vampire using Touch of Oblivion channels the power through their vitae. When they make physical contact with a victim, the annihilating element runs through the vampire and into their prey like an electric current, except the effect is to physically wither the
|
Following a Rouse Check, the vampire grips their victim (requiring a Strength + Brawl roll if the victim is trying to avoid the vampire), with the victim suffering two levels of Aggravated damage as well as a crippling injury.
|
One turn |
Powers - Level 4:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Stygian Shroud | Darkness spews out of a nearby shadow as the vampire blankets the area around them in gloom equivalent to a moonless night, while sounds are muffled and indistinct. Anyone viewing the effect from without see it as a shadow expanding over every surface, including the bodies of any victims, in the area. Those apart from the invoker caught in the effects find themselves struggling to see and hear their surroundings, and mortals are drained of their very life by the suffocating power. Cost: One rouse check |
N/A |
The user makes a Rouse Check and spends a turn concentrating, spreading the shadow over the desired surfaces. The effect covers a circular area with a radius equal to twice the user’s Oblivion rating in yards/ meters. The area is centered on the user or a spot in their line of sight.
|
One scene |
Powers - Level 5:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Shadow Step | Stepping into a nearby shadow, the user disappears only to reappear from the same or another shadow further away. Whether they enter the Labyrinth or merely pass along its surface is a source of conjecture among many Lasombra and Hecata, but the spiritual damage with which they can emerge implies they are touching something foul as they use this power. Cost: One rouse check |
N/A |
The vampire must enter a shadow large enough to cover them, and emerge from another one turn later. The target shadow must be within sight, though it can be perceived by mystical means, such as Shadow Perspective, if desired. It is possible to bring another through the passage, but unless that person is willing, they must be held by a successful grapple. If a Stain is incurred as a result of using this power, the passenger also receives one. |
One turn |
Tenebrous Avatar | The vampire gains the ability to change their very substance into that of a shadow, becoming a two-dimensional patch of darkness able to slither over any surface and through miniscule gaps and cracks. While in this form the vampire is only harmed by fire and sunlight. Cost: Two rouse check |
N/A |
The transformation takes one turn, during which the vampire is unable to do anything else. Once the transformation is complete the vampire can move at walking pace across the ground or along walls, hampered only by hermetically sealed barriers. Vampires using Tenebrous Avatar can envelop victims, causing the victim to reduce all their dice pools by three and suffocating mortals as with Stygian Shroud, above. If surrounding a mortal, the vampire can feed from them without penetrating the skin with fangs. Practitioners of this power take no damage from physical sources but can be harmed by fire and sunlight as normal. Mental Disciplines can still be used at the Storyteller’s discretion. |
One scene or until ended |
Potence
Description:
There is a popular saying among the members of Clan Brujah: “You only underestimate our strength once.” Potence is vitaefueled strength above and beyond other vampires’ capabilities. More powerful than any performance- enhancing drug, more unnatural than the physique of any bulging bodybuilder, Potence is the Beast let loose through the fists, feet, limbs, and raw bodily power of a vampire. The Discipline is used for more than just hitting things, though it is c ertainly good for this task. It is the vampire’s ability to force their body into actions impossible for mortals to replicate.
Potence trumps the other Disciplines in sheer incongruity – an elderly-looking Nosferatu strikes harder than a mortal heavyweight boxer or a Brujah Embraced as a child can decapitate a target with one blow.
Characteristics:
Type
Physical
Masquerade threat
Medium to high.
Lesser exercises of the Discipline might be passed off as “hysterical strength,” but once pavement cracks and buildings start to crumble that explanation loses what little credibility it had.
Blood Resonance
Choleric.
The strong and healthy; athletes and young men and women in their prime, gym rats, wrestlers, construction workers and lumberjacks, longshoremen.
Powers - Level 1:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook |
||||
Lethal Body | Using this power, the user is capable of causing horrendous damage to mortals, tearing skin and breaking bones with bare fingers. Cost: Free |
N/A | The user’s unarmed attacks can now do Aggravated Health damage to mortals, if desired. They also ignore one level of armor per Potence level of the user. | Passive |
Soaring Leap | Possessing unholy strength in more than arms and fists, the user can leap far higher and further than any mortal. Cost: Free |
N/A | The user can jump a number of meters equal to three times their Potence level vertically, and five times their Potence level horizontally. The user needs no run-up to make these leaps. | Passive |
Powers - Level 2:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Prowess | Vampires with Potence gain far greater strength from their Blood than those who lack it. Cost: One Rouse Check |
N/A | When activated, add the Potence rating of the user to their unarmed damage value as well as to feats of Strength, and add half their Potence rating (round up) to their Melee damage. | One Scene |
Powers - Level 3:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Brutal Feed | Known as the “Savage Kiss”, this power allows the user to employ an unholy inner strength when draining a victim. In mere seconds, the attacker swallows torrents of blood while mauling the victim. The result is an efficient, if messy, feeding often employed in the heat of battle where the mangled remains of the victim can be disguised. Cost: Free |
N/A | The vampire can drain a human completely in seconds, usually within a single turn. Every point of Hunger slaked causes one point of Aggravated Health damage to the victim, as their blood vessels burst and organs bruise and rupture internally. Using Brutal Feed on a vampire does only Superficial Health damage to their dead and inert organs. In combat, Brutal Feed comes immediately after a successful Brawl attack using fangs. The victim first takes bite damage, followed by a number of automatically successful feeding actions up to the user’s Potence rating. Against vampires, the number of feeding actions is halved (round down). Armor does not protect against Brutal Feed, as the wounds are, or at least begin as, mainly internal. Of course, armor can protect against the bite itsef as normal. Storytellers may decide such mutilation-killing warrants Stains (p. 239). |
One Feeding |
Spark of Rage Requires: Presence 3 |
Combining Potence and Presence, the vampire can incite anger and even frenzy in onlookers, as easily as awe or dread. The user must take care not to rile up an angry mob to turn on them rather than the target or each other. Cost: One Rouse Check |
Manipulation + Potence |
When active, the user can add their Potence rating to any attempt to rile or incite a person or a crowd to violence. In addition, the user can activate this power and roll a contest of Manipulation + Potence vs Composure + Intelligence of another vampire. If they win, the opposing vampire must make a fury frenzy test at Difficulty 3. | One Scene |
Uncanny Grip | Focusing their unnatural strength into their toes and fingers, the vampire grips and burrows their extremities into almost any surface, enabling them to climb and even hang otherwise unsupported from walls and ceilings. Close observation reveals telltale scarring or deformation on these surfaces afterward, however, as this is an application of brute force, not superhero-style adhesion. Cost: One Rouse Check |
N/A | A vampire using this power automatically succeeds on any Skill test to climb a non-metallic surface. The user might also be able to climb copper or bronze cladding or other softer metal surfaces, at the Storyteller’s discretion. Thin glass surfaces (though generally not the glass curtain walls of modern office buildings) may shatter under the stress. In the same way, a vampire can hang from a wall or ceiling for up to one scene, though only barefoot vampires can hang by their feet. The climb or clinging leaves obvious tracks detectable by anyone with an Intelligence + Investigation test at Difficulty 2. Detecting Uncanny Grip tracks on glass doesn’t even require a roll. |
One Scene |
Powers - Level 4:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Draught of Might | The Blood of the vampire becomes saturated with the power of Potence, conveying a part of that power to anyone who drinks of it. This is the Potence equivalent of Draught of Elegance (p. 254). Cost: One Rouse Check |
N/A | Drinking a Rouse Checks worth of Blood directly from the user gifts the drinker with temporary Potence equal to half the Potence dots (rounded down) of the donor. The drinker gains the same powers as the donor’s, up to that level. | One night; for vampires, until the next feeding or the vampire reaches Hunger 5 |
Powers - Level 5:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Earthshock | Their strength an elemental force, the vampire can slam their fist or foot into the ground, creating a shockwave that throws their opponents prone. One of the more dramatic applications of Potence, this power needs to be carefully employed, lest the user literally bring the house down upon themselves. Cost: Two Rouse Check's |
N/A | No additional test is needed to create the shockwave. (The ground is hard to miss.) Anyone within a fivemeter radius of the user must make a Dexterity + Athletics roll (Difficulty 3), with the results below. Anyone prepared for the Earthshock (such as the user’s companions) can shift their results up by one step.
|
One Use |
Fist of Caine | The vampire’s bare hands can inflict grievous injuries, lethal to both mortals and other vampires. They can dismember, pierce, impale, decapitate, and even rip a heart out of the chest. Cost: One Rouse Check |
N/A | For one scene the user can inflict Aggravated Health damage to mortals and supernaturals alike while Brawling, as they literally rend flesh and tear their opponents limb from limb with their bare hands. | One Scene |
Thin-Blood Alchemy
Description:
The Thin Blood of the latest generations holds barely any power of its own. But certain thinbloods have learned to use it as a catalyst, awakening the latent power in everything from human trauma to gasoline. Born of the street drug scene and cocktail culture as much as it w as uncovered by instinct or in molder ing medieval texts, thin-blood Alchemy may be the defining art of the next-millennium lick. By blending strongly resonant human blood, and sometimes other substances, with their own vitae, Alchemists can counterfeit a wide range of powers from other Disciplines and some unique powers of their own. Rumors already abound of specific elixirs that grant the ability to walk in sunlight, commune with Antediluvians, or achieve Golconda. But for now, the street-level cookers have all they can do to stay out of the Court’s sight plenty of elders consider Alchemy nothing but watered-down diablerie.
Alchemy can counterfeit some Blood Sorcery powers (those that affect the caster’s Blood), but not Rituals. The Storyteller can rule any other power off-limits to Alchemy if they worry about game balance or the plausibility of the fiction and reverse themselves later if they wish, or hint at unique recipes developed in Switzerland or hidden in a Cairo library. The Discipline is young, and thinbloods have hardly explored every possible working or tasted every possible cocktail.
Characteristics:
All formulae require vitae from the Alchemist and human blood of the correct Resonance (p. 226). The Resonant human blood can be stored in a blood bag, or in a Starbucks to-go cup for that matter. The specific amount needed depends on the degree of the donor’s Resonance and on the Storyteller’s whim.
In these rules, “power level” always refers to the level of Alchemy involved, not the level of the power counterfeited with the formula.
Masquerade threat
Varies as widely as the powers it counterfeits and the method used.
Blood Resonance
Required for each formula and varies accordingly.
Distilation:
All formulae have a cost to distill, and then the cost to activate. The distillation cost reflects the fact that all formulae include the Alchemist’s own vitae: A single Rouse Check. Activation cost for a formula is the same as using the power normally: free, or some number of additional Rouse Checks. Once activated, the Alchemist makes a distillation roll to determine how effective the particular mixture was. Each version of Alchemy builds a different dice pool for the distillation roll. The more successes, the more effective the mixture:
Successes | Mixture Effectiveness |
2 | Power weak, fluky, or late in happening |
4 | Power works as intended |
6 | Power increased in effect |
Some powers require their own dice rolls to take effect, or to measure the degree of success. The Alchemist makes those rolls where needed, substituting their rating in Thin-Blood Alchemy for the specific Discipline rating where relevant.
Learning New Formula
To learn a new formula requires research time, whether the Alchemist spends it poring through libraries or in meditation or on tasting expeditions or performing laboratory experimentation. Players should write down which formulae their character already knows, and any special ingredients it requires. A character receives a formula for free for each dot in Thin-Blood Alchemy and can purchase additional formulae with experience and experimentation.
Ingredients
The listed ingredients for each formula are suggestions. Each thin-blood alchemist develops their own proprietary formulae, often writing the recipes down in code just as the medieval alchemists did. The alchemist’s own Blood is the only unvarying ingredient in all alchemical formulae, although almost all of them also require human blood of a specific Resonance. Cold or clotted blood can work in a formula if the alchemist has enough of it. Ingredients need not be physical – a specific experience or emotion caught in the blood can be just as powerful as rare research chemicals.
The Storyteller should modify the dice pool up or down by one or two dice based on the quality of the ingredients – and perhaps by the originality if the player comes up with suitably nasty or bizarre things for their Alchemist to use. As a rule of thumb:
- Add one die for very rare or expensive ingredients (ones that require at least a story to source or Resources dots higher than the level of the formula); subtract one die for cheap substitute ingredients you can buy at a big box retailer. (Many formulae include easily available industrial chemicals or foods as standard ingredients; invoke this penalty only when the characters substitute such things for a superior ingredient listed.)
- Add one die for very potent or magical ingredients, such as unicorn horn, red mercury, human blood with a Dyscrasia, werewolf blood, or vitae with Blood Potency two levels higher than the level of the formula; subtract one die for medical bagged blood, melteddown candles from the New Age shop, or other faux magics.
- Add one die for player creativity in suggesting ingredients, especially if sourcing them gets them into trouble or otherwise advances the story.
Distilation Methods
When the first dot in Thin-Blood Alchemy is gained, the Alchemist chooses their method. This is the way they perform their distillation. Learning a different method means starting from scratch, essentially counting it as a separate Discipline. In this case, formulae for one method do not apply to other methods known, and the same formula must be learnt separately for each method.
Athanor corporis
The Alchemist uses their own body as the athanor, or alchemical furnace. This might be a bio-feedback routine, the result of an initial elixir consumed at initiation, or simply intuitive understanding of how resonances interact. Ingredients usually consist of different types of resonance mixes, requiring the Alchemist to sample the blood of multiple victims to get just the right blend.
The Alchemist drinks the different types of resonant blood required and the process is performed within their veins with a distillation roll of Stamina + Alchemy, together with a Rouse Check.
Only one power can be active at a time, and a new power must be distilled before it can be activated. This usually takes at least three turns of concentration, during which the Alchemist can do nothing else.
Calcinatio
The Alchemist uses the body of a human as the athanor, adjusting their biophysical state by means of emotional pressure and spoken incantations. (Some practitioners of Calcinatio use drugs on their subjects instead.) The Alchemist then feeds their Blood to the chosen human, paying the distillation cost, and makes the distillation roll with Manipulation + Alchemy.
The human’s entire body distills the formula. The Alchemist then drinks their blood to use the power (required Hunger slaked equals power level minus 1).
The Alchemist can only distill one power per victim, though the victim retains the formula within them as long as they’re kept in the same emotional state; each power takes as long to activate as it takes to drain that quantity of blood (p. 212).
Fixatio
Lacking the physical or social predilections of the other methods, the Alchemist uses a conventional athanor such as a kiln, a metalworking furnace, a meth cooker, a repurposed propane tank, or the like. This method most resembles “classical” alchemy: the Alchemist pours their Blood as well as inert, usually rare, ingredients into the athanor, pays the distillation cost, and distills them inside it with an Intelligence + Alchemy roll.
The resulting formulae are fixed, meaning that the Alchemist can carry them around on their person and imbibe them to activate their power. (Roll the distillation roll upon consumption, not upon production.) However, without a laboratory, they cannot make any more – at most, they might be able to “one-pot” a weak (Level 3 or less) formula using a pressure-cooker or other field expedient. Using such unsuitable equipment reduces the distillation dice pool by 2 dice.
The Alchemist can carry a number of fixed formulae (of any level) equal to their Wits or Dexterity – keeping the vials safe, stable, hidden, and leakproof is not a trivial task. (The Storyteller can decide if each vial takes up the space of a syringe, a can of Red Bull, or a thermos.) The Alchemist can store a number of fixed formulae (of any level) equal to twice the sum of Alchemy plus their dots in Haven: a refrigerator is almost a necessity. Fixed does not necessarily mean shelf stable, after all.
The Alchemist can activate one power per turn.
Powers - Level 1:
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook |
||||
Far Reach | This formula allows the alchemist to use their mind to grab, hold, and push objects or people without touching them. While few can employ enough mental force to actually cause direct harm, a clever applicant can find many ways to get an opponent into, or themselves out of, harm’s way. Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, choleric human blood, melted nylon fibers or a grated refrigerator magnet or weird nootropics ordered off the internet Cost: One Rouse Check |
Resolve + Alchemy vs Strength + Athletics |
The alchemist can lift, push, or pull a physical object or person under 100 kg, within their sight and closer than 10 meters. The object moves swiftly, but not rapidly enough to injure a person with the blow; the object may break if it is fragile. The exception: knives or other small metal tools, which the alchemist can wield with a Resolve + Alchemy test, at a two-dice penalty because of the need for precision. A knife used this way does only one point of extra damage. Trying to move someone actively resisting requires a contest of Resolve + Alchemy vs Strength + Athletics. On a win, the alchemist can pull the victim within grabbing or clawing range, or throw them one meter for each point of margin on the contest, doing an equal amount of Superficial damage. They land prone. Keeping someone or something floating in mid-air requires a Resolve + Thin-Blood Alchemy (Difficulty 3) roll every turn. Fine manipulation (such as pulling the pin of a grenade) requires a Wits + Alchemy roll at a suitable Difficulty, as determined by the Storyteller. |
One turn unless held. |
Haze | This formula creates a field of mist that follows the user, rendering them more difficult to target with ranged weapons and concealing their identity. Ingredients: In addition to the alchemist’s Blood and phlegmatic human blood, dry ice or cigar smoke or auto exhaust Cost: One Rouse Check |
N/A | Upon activation a cloud of mist-like vapor surrounds the alchemist, masking their features and obscuring their silhouette. Anyone attempting to identify the user or hit them with ranged weapons suffers a two-dice penalty to their pool. The user can extend the cloud to encompass a group of up to five people by making another Rouse check. | One scene or until voluntarily ended. |
Powers - Level 2:
At level 2, the Alchemist can develop formulae to counterfeit level 1 powers of other Disciplines. Each of these formulae take at least a week to research.
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Envelop | This formula creates a mist that clings to a victim, blinding it and (in the case of mortals) causing suffocation. Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, melancholic and phlegmatic human blood, potassium chlorate, smog or halon gas Cost: One Rouse Check |
Wits + Alchemy vs Stamina + Survival |
The alchemist activates the power and chooses a target within sight. A swirling mist envelops the target, obscuring their sight and penalizing them three dice from all sight-based detection and ranged attack dice pools. In addition, the alchemist can make the mist suffocate a mortal with a contest of Wits + Alchemy vs. Stamina + Survival. On a win, the target can take no action except coughing and choking; on a critical win, the target loses consciousness. The alchemist can only employ Envelop on single targets, and only on one at a time. | Until scene ends or the alchemist ends the effect voluntarily. |
Powers - Level 3:
At level 3, the Alchemist can develop formulae to counterfeit level 2 powers of other Disciplines. Each of these formulae take at least a night to distill and at least one month to research.
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Defractionate | This formula results in a homeopathic elixir. When added to fractionated medical-supply blood, the elixir returns it to freshness, allowing vampires without the Iron Gullet merit to obtain nutrition from it. Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, sanguine and melancholic human blood, O-negative human blood (only a few ml), moldy spinach, hot black coffee, sodium octanoate. Cost - Athanor, Corporis: The alchemist can tap their own vein once per night for this elixir until their next feeding, or until they reach Hunger 5. They need not pay the distillation cost again. Cost - Calcinatio: If the vessel survives the tap, the alchemist can tap them again in a week for more elixir. They need not pay the distillation cost again, but the vessel pays the Health cost (3 Aggravated damage) each time they are tapped. |
The alchemist taps their vessel (Calcinatio), or their own vein (Athanor Corporis) to get the Defractionate elixir if they do not use Fixatio. For each success on the distillation roll, they get enough elixir to turn one blood bag (slakes 1 Hunger) from fractionated to unfractionated blood. Any vampire can consume this blood and slake Hunger with it. | ||
Profane Hieros Gamos | To the Alchemist, rebirth and renewal are not locked behind the ritual of sacred union between two opposites. Through the power of their mercurial vitae the Alchemist can help shape a human body to match the mental self-image or desired shape held by the consciousness within it. With the help of rare reagents the Alchemist can even defy one of the fundamental curses of the vampiric condition by altering the unchanging state to which the undead revert to in their daysleep. This specific formula can be imbibed by vampires other than the Alchemist, after their ritual purification and deep meditation on their own idealized, or desired, form. This knowledge makes the expertise of the Alchemist a valuable and desired commodity even to those Kindred who loathe their very existence. Duskborn openly offering services like these are more likely to be coerced to work or kidnapped than paid handsomely. Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, melancholic and phlegmatic human blood, entheogenic substances. Cost: One Rouse Check |
Stamina + Resolve |
Whoever imbibes the formula mixed with a Rouse Check worth of their own Blood instantly falls into a catatonic fever dream until the following night, the depths of their psyche plumbed for their personal idealized form, or a form strongly desired.
The effects of Profane Hieros Gamos are limited to the external morphology of the human form, the body refusing transformations too outlandish and fantastical to be without the wondrous spectrum of human anatomy. The imbiber makes a Stamina + Resolve roll against a difficulty of 8 minus the successes on the distillation roll, adding their Bane Severity to the Difficulty of the test. On a win, the transformation process is successful and their physical body molds to the desired shape. A critical win can grant and remove Merits and Flaws of the Looks category, though like all Advantages they need to be paid for with Experience points (p. 180). A messy critical or a bestial failure might cause a new Flaw to manifest, ranging from Repulsive, Obvious Predator, Stigmata or even Organovore as the Beast interferes with the transformation. Not even the blood of the Duskborn can spare the Nosferatu from their Bane, the process incorporates the clan’s hideous affliction despite the user’s mental image. |
Permanent until performed again. |
Powers - Level 4:
At Level 4, the Alchemist can develop formulae to counterfeit level 3 powers of other Disciplines.
At this level, all formulae also require a drop of vitae from a vampire of a matching clan or from one who already possesses the counterfeited Discipline. For example, to counterfeit Shapechange the Alchemist needs vitae from a vampire with Protean or from a Gangrel. The Gangrel would not have to possess Protean 3, or even have Protean at all; the power is in the Blood, not the specific vampire.
As noted above, this drop does not cost the donor any Health, nor does it convey a Blood Bond. That said, Alchemists generally only get such donations as the result of a major Boon – or because the donor has some truly horrible and dangerous mission they are attempting to inveigle the Alchemist’s coterie into carrying out. These formulae take at least three nights to distill and at least three months to research.
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Airborne Momentum | This formula enables the alchemist to lift themselves from the ground, achieving a state of swift flight or floating. They can fly in any direction, including up or down, though their carrying capacity is limited. Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, choleric and sanguine human blood, champagne, bird blood, helium, scopolamine or belladonna extract Cost: One Rouse Check |
Strength + Alchemy vs Strength + Athletics (if resisted) |
The potion enables the alchemist (and only them) to fly or hover at approximately running speed. The flier can carry a human-sized mass, though their speed drops to walking speed. Grabbing and carrying aloft an unwilling subject or pulling the flier to the ground both require a contest between the alchemist’s Strength + Alchemy and the other’s Strength + Athletics. | One scene |
Powers - Level 5:
At level 5, the Alchemist can develop formulae to counterfeit level 4 powers of other Disciplines. These formulae take a month to distill and at least three years to research.
Name & Requirements | Description & Cost | Dice Pools | System | Duration |
Vampire the Masquerade: Core Rulebook | ||||
Awaken The Sleeper | This formula results in an elixir which, when added to human blood, can awaken a vampire from Torpor. Ingredients: The alchemist’s Blood, choleric or sanguine human blood, adrenaline, ammonium carbonate, hartshorn, caffeine or benzedrine, melatonin Cost - Athanor, Corporis: The alchemist can tap their own vein once per night for this elixir until their next feeding, or until they reach Hunger 5. They need not pay the distillation cost again. Cost - Calcinatio: If the vessel survives the tap, the alchemist can tap them again in a week for more elixir. They need not pay the distillation cost again, but the vessel pays the Health cost (5 Aggravated damage) each time they are tapped. The Alchemist can also simply feed the vessel’s blood to the sleeper directly |
N/A | The alchemist taps their vessel (Calcinatio), or their own vein (Athanor Corporis) to get the Awaken the Sleeper elixir if they do not use Fixatio. They then mix the elixir into human blood. For each success above 2 on the distillation roll, the elixir can awaken a vampire of that Blood Potency. Example: Hari gets 5 successes on his Awaken the Sleeper distillation roll: this elixir can awaken a torpid vampire of Blood Potency 3 or less (5 – 2 = 3). |
N/A |