Disciplines Unique to One Book
Animalism
Bond Famulus
Use of this Discipline requires a blood bond, meaning a drink directly from the vein. It is possible to ghoul animals without Bond Famulus, which does not require a direct drink.
Auspex
Premonition
Premonition is, by and large, a Storyteller’s tool, not a player’s. By its nature, it provides little more than flashes of insight, hints, and possibly vague directional content which may serve as guidance in directing or redirecting the activities of a plot or scene. Visions given by Premonition will, therefore, generally be brief, imprecise or mysterious, or may otherwise require further work to interpret. A Premonition may give warning of danger where other clues have failed to do so, or indicate which door to enter through; but finding the house that door is in will be left to other methods. Premonition is not a radar nor a replacement for research. It cannot be used for tasks as specific as: finding the current whereabouts of a person; finding a specific address or other location; providing the name or physical description of a person; providing the history of a place or object (Spirit’s Touch exists for this purpose); or uncovering any other concrete piece of information sought by players. Investigation rolls of various sorts are more appropriate for uncovering these concrete specifics.
Possession
As with the Animalism power Subsume the Spirit, you are required to make a frenzy check if your character is exposed to sunlight during the use of this power, as per the normal fear frenzy rules.
Sense the Unseen
Sense the Unseen can be used to become aware of the usage of Dementation, Telepathy, Chimerstry, and Fata Morgana per the usual contested roll rules. Wits + Auspex for passive; Resolve + Auspex for an active searcher. In the case of Dementation and Telepathy, a win on the contest roll will tell the Auspex user who is using these disciplines against them.
Share the Senses
If the one with whom your character is Sharing the Senses experiences something that would normally provoke a frenzy check, roll Composure + Resolve at the Difficulty of the respective frenzy check. On a success, your character manage to hold their cool. On a fail, they instinctively break the connection as their Beast recoils.
Unburdening The Bestial Soul
Session defined as one night
Dominate
Check over the Dominate Guide for more clarifications on how we handle Dominate.
Domitor’s Favor
Must have OOC consent before using on another’s player character
Fortitude
Obeah
Can only be used to stop a Frenzy with a Critical Success
Obfuscate
Chimerstry
An illusion of fire will not cause a frenzy. Please be aware that other illusions could activate a frenzy depending on how they are done, and please garner OOC permission before using these disciplines if used to harm other players. Sense the Unseen may be used to pierce this illusion; a character with Unswayable Mind may add their Fortitude rating to resist being affected by the illusion.
Fata Morgana
A failed roll to disbelieve a fire illusion will provoke a fire frenzy, use it with caution. Please be aware that other illusions could activate a frenzy depending on how they are done, and please garner OOC permission before using these disciplines if used to harm other players. Sense the Unseen may be used to pierce this illusion; a character with Unswayable Mind may add their Fortitude rating to resist being affected by the illusion.
Presence
Awe
Using Awe
Awe is an extremely subtle power that allows a vampire to add their Presence rating to all Persuasion and Performance skill rolls, as well as to other Charisma-based rolls at ST discretion. For these rolls, we will expect the writing to match the roll and may ask to see the written text before approving Awe’s use in boosting the roll.
It should be noted that even a successful persuasion check does not guarantee that the other party *is* persuaded, with or without Awe’s buff; even Entrancement, which gives bonuses to all social skill rolls, cannot force someone to do something that results in obvious social or physical harm to themselves or others. Presence is not Dominate; it is not mind-control nor brainwashing.
Awe, in effect, boosts the force of the vampire’s personality and can heighten people’s interest and openness to what is being said, but cannot force anyone into doing or thinking something against their will or nature. If you are rolling an Awe-boosted check against an SPC, the SPC’s reaction to the persuasion check, especially if the ask is a large one, will be left to STs. Against a PC, the player will determine where the line is for their character.
Awe is best used to facilitate hunting, to make a good first impression, or to help convince someone to listen to something you need them to, for example. It does not, however, force people to listen, nor guarantee results; Awe is a ‘soft’ power discipline which is very difficult to detect. It should not be roleplayed as a massive emotional nuke which mesmerizes or enthralls others; if we see this being done, we will ask for retcons or rewrites of scenes.
Please recall that your character can always try to resist rolls boosted by Awe. They cannot resist the Awe and must roleplay its effects, but you can roll to see if your character is not convinced to do or believe something. Awe is not mind control.
Resisting Awe
As per RAW, a character can only attempt to resist/contest Awe if that character is aware that Awe is being used. One way that a character can become aware of the use of Awe is through the discipline Sense the Unseen; this is the only discipline which can potentially reveal Awe use.
Unlike Obfuscate powers, Awe is too subtle to automatically trigger Sense the Unseen. In order to use Sense the Unseen in an attempt to discover that a character is using Awe, there must be significant evidence provided through on-going or long-term RP which has led to the reasonable guess or assumption that Awe is in use in this current scene.
Remember: Awe is so subtle that even when specifically looking for it with Sense the Unseen, it can be hard to find. The evidence needed to justify the StU roll must be more substantial than “I like them more than I think I should;” some people are just naturally charming, and Awe is not mind-control and cannot make characters do anything out of character. Meeting once with Awe and once without Awe is not enough; one of those could have been an ‘off’ day. Etc.
A few general examples or guidelines for what sort of evidence might suffice to justify an attempt to contest Awe use:
- If Character A is, IC, specifically told that Awe is being used on them, they may roll Composure + Intelligence against the Awe user’s Manipulation + Presence in an attempt to resist the Awe. If they fail this roll, they must still RP the effects of Awe, but can still attempt, separately, to contest or resist any roll buffed by Awe. A successful Sense the Unseen roll is not required for this initial contest because the character already knows Awe is in use.
- If Character A has had Awe overused against them in the past by Character B in ways which were unsubtle or otherwise constituted an ‘abuse’ of Awe, and Character A is aware that Awe exists, this might constitute evidence enough for the initial contest roll (Composure + Intelligence, as above), even without Sense the Unseen. Please present the evidence to STs in #ask-the-st for a ruling on whether or not the Awe can be directly contested without StU being employed.
- If Character A has seen Character B employing Awe against others on more than one occasion, with knowledge of the fact that they were doing so, it might be evidence enough for Character A to guess that Awe might be being used against them, by Character B only. Please present the evidence to STs in #ask-the-st for a ruling on whether or not Character A has enough evidence to justify a Sense the Unseen roll. If the StU is successful, they may then roll the contest of Composure + Intelligence vs Manipulation + Presence. If this roll fails, they are still affected by the Awe. If it passes, they are not affected, but must still roll to contest or resist any persuasion roll made by Character B.
If the character seeking to resist the effects of Awe has the discipline of Unswayable Mind, they may add their Fortitude rating to both the Composure + Intelligence roll and any roll made to resist the mundane persuasion attempt as well.
Lingering Kiss
Lingering Kiss causes huge pleasure to bitten vampires, and it is addictive and should be RPed as such but it does not give any buffs as per the Sept. 2019 errata. No Kindred with Unbondable may take this Discipline and those who are under a blood bond are unable to use it on another vampire. (Player’s Guide Errata)
Magnum Opus
Level 4 (from Winter’s Teeth Issue #3, with edits)
Amalgam: Auspex 3
The user may sublimate and infuse the powers of the blood into their works of art to make them supernaturally alluring or ghastly. This Presence-imbued masterwork is merely an illusion, however – a momentary beauty that does not withstand deep scrutiny.
Cost: One or more Rouse Checks.
Dice pools: Charisma/Manipulation + Presence, Intelligence/Dexterity + Craft
System: Before starting an Extended Test or Craft roll to create a work of art, the user may choose to leave traces of their Presence in the artwork. The user picks Awe or Daunt (must already possess the power), then makes a Rouse Check and rolls Charisma or Manipulation + Presence to imbue their crafting materials with their powers. Within the same night, the artist may then utilise those materials in a Craft project, by rolling Intelligence or Dexterity + Craft. Upon successful completion of the project, the user finds that residual traces of their powers linger within the work itself. When the artwork is on display, audiences must roll Composure + Resolve (Difficulty equal to the number of successes on the Presence roll) or feel the effects of the rough equivalent of Awe or Daunt exuding from the piece. A Critical Success on the resistance roll renders the subject immune to further influence by the piece. Note: much like with the raw discipline, critics and observers may find themselves suddenly able to critique flaws or imperfections once they have left the immediate area.
Duration: N/A
Protean
Shape Change
The vampire can assume the shape of an animal roughly the same size as their original mass. The vampire can only change into one type of animal associated with their clan or the type of prey they most commonly feed on.
Below are the listed forms for each clan. If this is purchased out of clan, whichever clan the character fed from is the clan selection they will be able to pick from.
Feeding for BP2, slake 1 hunger from the animal. BP3 and over, drink as much blood as would slake 1 hunger for a BP2 vampire. It will not slake hunger for the BP3+ vampire, but will provide enough ‘animal resonance’ for the shapechange.
(Pick one)
– Gangrel : Dogs, Coyotes, Wolves, Bats
– The Ministry of Set : Snakes, Jackals, Wolves, Bats
– Tzimisce : Lynxes, Armadillos, Wolves, Bats, Owls
– Caitiff : Due to the quirk of the blood, they are unable to take form from a clan. Being the clanless clan, they have no source to draw from. Only able to change to those which they commonly feed from.
In order to claim the form they most commonly feed from, firstly they must have fed from the animal recently 3-4 times. And then continue to feed from the animal once every 2 months. If they do not, it will change to whichever animal they have fed from the most. If they have not fed from any animal recently they will revert to the clan form. They can only claim and use the clan form when the character has not fed from eligible (hinges on metamorphosis) animals in the last 2 months.
Animals most common to Seattle and the outlying areas.
Please remember that without Metamorphosis they will be unable to turn into animals that are not the same mass/ approximate physical size.
– Small Rodents, such as : Rats, Mice, Gophers
– Flying animals, such as : Seagulls, Crows, Pigeons, Bats, Woodpeckers, Ravens
– City animals, such as : Cats, Dogs, Possums, Raccoons, Squirrels
– Snakes, such as : Garter snakes, Gopher snakes, Racer, Western Rattlesnake, Rubber Boa.
– Mountain Beavers, Porcupine
– Deer
– Cougars, Bob Cats
– Coyotes – Bears
– Marine animals are not permitted, while a cool idea. They would ultimately get little to no play and become a useless form to take.
Vicissitude
Changes made using this discipline must be uploaded with an updated sheet and approved before used in play, unless within a campaign and approved by the ST
Fleshcrafting
Must have OOC consent before using on another’s player character. Forced Fleshcraft IC can result in stains due to torture chronicle tenet. Players can use Fortitude in place of Stamina, much like against BS or Oblivion powers, to resist as well.
Tzimisce and other fleshcrafters; We will be using the ticket system to still track the changes made using fleshcrafting. However, we don’t need you to submit a new sheet. Rather once you use fleshcrafting, open a ticket, place the rolls inside and tell us what choices are being made. The ticket will remain open until you tell us that you’ve ever healed it away or hit the time period to make it a permanent change.
Minor changes – A change of the appearance on the superficial level. This does not help with stealth, disguising oneself, or new functionality; it may only be used for aesthetics. Examples: Eye colors, hair color, hair texture, lip filling, cat ears, a small tattoo. These minute changes can become permanent and are free. You can do one small change, if you make a new one then the previous is erased. The roll is still made, but the attribute is not needed to give up. Reverting a minor change without adding a new one follows the same rules as reverting a major change; vampires must do 3 rouse checks to heal like Agg Health damage.
Major change – A major cosmetic change will still cost the Physical attribute and roll as always. These follow the usual Fleshcrafting rules. Major changes: meat pocket, limb change, multiple minor changes, spikes, etc.
Permanency – Now after the 3 months of IRL game play has passed they are able have a minor change become permanent. For a major change they will get their attribute dot back and it will be permanent. This will be proven by the ticket you must create when using fleshcrafting.
Do not abuse the Redistribution in their disciplines to move and then purchase dots at a lower level, doing so will mean we will place limiters on how it can be done.
One With the Land
Must have OOC consent before eavesdropping or other activities against other player characters.
Disciplines used in animal form or by animal ghouls are as follows:
We are not making this list exhaustively so when using powers from other books please confirm with the ST first as there are some powers in different places that are not the corebook. Keep physiology and animal intelligence in mind. Example: A snake can’t use Uncanny Grip as it needs hands, sloths cannot use traversal. Disciplines that require the use of speech will require the ability to speak, such as parrots with their mimicry. The use of speech boards with animals will not circumvent this system as it does not come directly from them.
- Auspex, Animalism, Celerity, Fortitude, Potence and Protean are all permitted.
- Obfuscate, animal forms cannot use Mask of a Thousand Faces, True Love’s Face, or Imposter’s Guise.
- Presence, no Lingering Kiss. Entrancement, keep in mind the limitations of being unable to communicate/speak.
- Blood Sorcery is a no across the board.
- Hecata Oblivion is a no across the board for animal ghouls but for kindred all powers are allowed except:
- Ashes to Ashes
- Skuld Fulfilled
- Withering Spirit
- Lasombra Oblivion is able to be used but Tenebrous Avatar would shake the animal form as you transform.