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.
Feral Whispers
Feral Whispers can be used in one of two ways: to talk to animals, and to summon then. Summoning Animals summons all animals of a given type within an area, meaning all dogs and not just your dog Famulus. The effective range of this is around one city block (approx. 300 ft) in any direction. Even if your Famulus is included in this group, a Rouse Check is still required. When communicating with a Famulus already in your presence, no Rouse Check is required.
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 one animal roughly the same size as their original mass. To take the shape of an animal of a different mass, they would need to have Metamorphosis in addition to Shapechange. This list is compiled as if the vampire has both Protean levels, so consider mass when selecting animal forms.
The specific animal form is selected either when the ability is unlocked in-game or at CC. If a character wishes to change this original form to another, the Kindred must take a minimum of 5 slakes total from one specific type of animal. How many of that specific animal are required to slake hunger for a Kindred is dependent upon the size of the animal and the BP of the Kindred; this may vary greatly. Choice of form through slaking is deliberate and intentional; Kindred are free to slake from animals otherwise without risk of accidentally changing their form.
If Protean is in-clan for the Kindred, they can select two base forms: one form which is specific to their clan, and a second form gained via the slake method. They can swap between these two forms freely, but cannot change their clan form out for another clan form once it has been chosen and set.
Those who learn Protean out of clan are not able to take a secondary form even if they have fed from the matching clanned Kindred. When Protean is acquired out of clan, they may choose one single form for Shapechange and one for Metamorphisis; this can be either something they have fed upon frequently or something entirely different/non-native to the area. (Keep in mind that exotic animals can pose Masquerade risks and risk to the character themselves.) If desired, they can also change this form using the slake method, but in order to resume the originally chosen form, the slake method would be required as it is not innate the same way the clan forms are.
– Gangrel clan forms: Dogs, Coyotes, Wolves, Bats (Pick one for Shapechange and one for Metamorphosis)
– The Ministry of Set clan forms : Snakes, Jackals, Wolves, Bats (Pick one for Shapechange and one for Metamorphosis)
– Tzimisce clan forms : Lynxes, Armadillos, Wolves, Bats, Owls (Pick one for Shapechange and one for Metamorphosis)
Relatively safe forms to use within the city of Seattle are those animals that are either native or otherwise commonly seen there. See below for a list of local animals.
Keep in mind everything is situational! Beavers might be native animals but turning into a beaver in the middle of a mall is still going to draw unwanted attention. For questions regarding any other animals, ask the staff rather than assuming. When animals come in multiple regional variations such as hawks, please look into what is common within the city of Seattle.
- Commonly seen in the city are: Dogs, cats, pigeons, crows, seagull, other native birds, raccoons, possums, rats, bats, squirrels
- Less commonly seen in the city are: Deer, coyote, wolves, bears, snakes such as garter snakes, gopher snakes, racer, western rattlesnake, rubber boa, owls, eagles, hawks, bob cats, elk, mice, gophers, woodpeckers, ravens, mountain beavers, porcupine, cougars.
- Animals not seen within the boundaries of Seattle are a very likely Masquerade Breach. When using such forms outside of Kindred spaces and/or anywhere that mortals are likely or able to see this form, be aware that Animal Control and the Second Inquisition are both active in this city. Rare or unique animal forms can lead to Final Death if they draw the attention of mortals and/or the Second Inquisition. Staff strongly advise against taking these special forms, as non-local animals are also likely to be caught and caged and kept overnight prior to being transported or released outside the city; such capture would also lead to Final Death during daysleep.
In addition to this new ruling, this also changes the rules on Alchemy as now the blood isn’t clan locked or fed from locked, so alchemists can replicate this power. To use Metamorphosis, they must brew first Shapechange, then Metamorphosis and combine the alchemy into a single use. They will still make any needed rouses to activate said power.
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.