Campaign of the Month: October 2017
Blood & Bourbon
Disciplines
“But supposing that there be any reality in the fact of these apparitions of vampires, shall they be attributed to God, to angels, to the spirits of these ghosts, or to the devil? In this last case, will it be said that the devil will subtilize these bodies, and give them power to penetrate through the ground without disturbing, to glide through the cracks and joints of a door, to pass through a keyhole, to lengthen or shorten themselves, to reduce themselves to the nature of air, or water, to evaporate through the ground…”
Abbé Augustin Calmet, Treatise on Apparitions
“We can blend in with the night, see in the dark, pick up a virgin’s first cycle a mile off. We fly, we shift, we run so fast we cross water. We make people love us with a snap of our fingers and command complete obedience from others. We crush cars into soup cans, command wolves with a snarl, bend the rules of reality with blood and bone.”
Jade Kalani
Disciplines are supernatural powers granted by the Embrace, which vampires cultivate to bring to bear against their foes and prey. These powers separate the Damned from mortals, providing an incomparable mystical edge over those who would stand against them. With Disciplines, a vampire can exert the strength of a dozen men, force an enemy into thrall, ignite a fire with a glance, or take the mantle of a beast. Even the youngest Kindred, with a few token powers at their command, has an advantage over most threats, while the elders, who have often mastered a fearsome breadth of these potent gifts, can seem almost unassailable.
The origin of Disciplines is a Kindred mystery. Are they a form of dark Biblical justice, bestowed upon Caine and his get as a damnation-scourge? Are they the wiles of a twisted natural world, taught by Lilith, the mother of monsters? Are they simply predatory advantages, intrinsic to the state of being Kindred? Whatever the answer, learning and honing these supernatural powers is paramount to being able to face undeath on a vampire’s own terms. After all, the other forces at play in the Jyhad will be cultivating theirs…
Disciplines Overview
“Without discipline, there’s no life at all.”
Katharine Hepburn
There are ten different Disciplines, each one covering a broad range of iconic vampiric powers. Like other traits, Disciplines are rated in progressive dots. A rating of one dot indicates rudimentary knowledge of the Discipline, while a rating of five dots indicates mastery. Discipline levels higher than five (colloquially known as “elder Disciplines”) are only available to those Kindred of Blood Potency 6 and higher.
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Sorcery |
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acute senses. |
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and misdirection. |
adoration, and terror. |
and bodily alteration. |
Clans and Disciplines
Every Kindred clan has a special affinity for three Disciplines, known as their in-clan Disciplines. Members of a clan are more likely to be proficient at these Disciplines than their non-clan Disciplines. For example, it’s reasonable for most licks to assume that a Brujah can rip their head off, or that a Ventrue can control their mind. In-clan Disciplines are as follows for each clan:
• Assamite: Blood Sorcery (Dur-An-Ki), Celerity, Obfuscate
• Brujah: Celerity, Potence, Presence
• Caitiff: Any three, one of which is always Celerity, Fortitude, or Potence. Blood Sorcery is very rare.
• Gangrel: Animalism, Fortitude, Protean
• Giovannini: Blood Sorcery (Necromancy), Dominate, Potence
• Lasombra: Blood Sorcery (Obtenebration), Dominate, Potence
• Malkavian: Auspex, Dominate, Obfuscate
• Nosferatu: Animalism, Obfuscate, Potence
• Ravnos: Animalism, Fortitude, Obfuscate
• Salubri: Auspex, Fortitude, Presence
• Setite: Obfuscate, Presence, Protean
• Toreador: Auspex, Celerity, Presence
• Tremere: Auspex, Blood Sorcery (Thaumaturgy), Dominate
• Tzimisce: Animalism, Auspex, Protean
• Ventrue: Dominate, Fortitude, Presence
Using Disciplines
Players have a fair amount of creative leeway in how they use Disciplines. Each Discipline has a list of sample powers, but can ultimately do anything within its general purview. For example, a vampire with Dominate could make someone enter a fugue state upon hearing Beethoven’s ninth symphony, or a vampire with Obfuscate could disguise themselves as a blood relative, even though these uses aren’t specified under the Disciplines’ sample powers. Players should view those as ideas and inspiration rather than absolute frameworks.
Learning Disciplines
Sookie: “Can all vampires fly?”
Eric: “Can all humans sing?”
True Blood
Vampires learn Disciplines like any skill: practice, application, and sometimes a teacher’s instruction. Some vampires are naturally talented at some Disciplines. Some can’t learn others to save their unlives. How long does it takes to develop a Discipline varies by Kindred—how long does it take a human to learn to sing? How long does it take them to become a master? That’s how long it can take a vampire to develop a Discipline.
Typically, older vampires know more Disciplines, and master them to greater degrees, than younger vampires. They’ve had more time and practice. Still, all vampires are individuals. Some vampires who know fewer Disciplines might have spent their unlives on other pursuits. Some Kindred focus on acquiring supernatural power to the exclusion of other interests. As one Vampire supplement said:
“Naturally, there are exceptions to these rules of thumb. Children of the Night contains several characters with potential far beyond that suggested by their periods of unlife. Some archons have spent almost all of their unlives in vigorous training, whereas a given priscus may have devoted centuries toward cultivating a strong network of [social connections]. Certain paragons of vampiric terror may have developed a fearsome array of Disciplines. That’s just how it is."
Learning any Discipline involves one further step: vampires must consume blood whose nature, or “resonance,” aligns with the desired Discipline. For example, a vampire who wants to learn Dominate might drink the blood of domineering authority figures or (conversely) the submissive and weak-willed. A vampire who wants to learn Potence might drink the blood of weightlifters, construction workers, or other muscular people. Vampires are what they eat. Just as a mortal who wants to build muscle mass will benefit from a nutritious diet, vampires who want to develop certain Disciplines will benefit from “nutritious” blood. Many vampires’ Disciplines develop as a result of their feeding patterns. They are what they eat.
The highest-prized blood belongs to other vampires. A Discipline’s “imprint” is stronger in a Kindred’s vitae than human blood—after all, the Kindred in question actually knows the Discipline sought. As a result, it’s not uncommon for Kindred lovers to develop one another’s Disciplines. Rumor holds that drinking the blood of elders, who are typically great masters of Disciplines, can confer great power.
In-Clan Disciplines
As mentioned, vampires have a natural affinity for their clan Disciplines. A Brujah can develop Potence and a Ventrue can develop Dominate in the same way that a human can build muscle by lifting weights—all on their own. A teacher can help, but isn’t essential.
Physical Disciplines
The three “physical” Disciplines (Celerity, Fortitude, Potence) are the most rudimentary. They come easiest to vampires they’re in-clan for, but any Kindred can learn them independently. Hitting someone harder is easier to grasp than the subtleties of Obfuscate or the alienness of Protean. Some Kindred scholars believe these Disciplines are easier to develop because the Beast itself “helps”: they are the only Disciplines its feral instincts can fully grasp.
Other Non-Clan Disciplines
Kindred can only learn these Disciplines by drinking the blood of a vampire who already knows them. Typically, they must also spend time learning under a teacher, who will prescribe a “diet” of mortal blood conductive to developing the Discipline. It just doesn’t come naturally. Still, some vampires manage to become experts in Disciplines not tied to their clan, and this can be a powerful edge. Few Kindred expect a Nosferatu to be a master of Presence, or count on a Tremere being accomplished at Animalism.
Kindred lovers and coterie-mates frequently “trade” Disciplines with one another. Many sires also tutor their progeny in Disciplines they know—though just as many choose to keep some powers exclusively to themselves. Other Kindred typically charge boons to share their knowledge.
Devotions
Finally, some applications of the Blood are so esoteric that vampires can only learn them from a teacher, even if the Discipline is in-clan. Clan Tzimisce can use Protean to sculpt flesh like clay. The Malkavians can use Dominate to drive victims to madness. The Ravnos can use Obfuscate to conjure illusions. Many clans, covenants, bloodlines, and assorted Kindred groups have developed potent applications of the Blood and guard them jealously. These powers are known as Devotions. Some vampires may part with them for boons owed, while others will refuse to teach outsiders even under threat of destruction.
Ghouls and Disciplines
Ghouls can learn Disciplines, just like Kindred, but have less aptitude. They’re slower studies and most don’t develop more than the bare rudiments of a Discipline. Rare is the ghoul whose mastery of these blood-born gifts rivals a true vampire’s.
Additionally, a ghoul cannot learn Disciplines of a higher level than their domitor’s Blood Potency. For this reason, “hand-me-down” ghouls from strong-blooded vampires can be highly prized, as they retain any advanced Disciplines taught by their previous domitors.
Animalism
“Then, awakening myself further, I found […] the way to have dominion over beasts."
The Book of Nod
Clans: Gangrel, Nosferatu, Ravnos, Tzimisce
Nicknames: Bestiae sermo (archaic), doolittling (slang), taming (common)
A vampire’s Beast is not just a facet of their predatory nature, but a predator in and of itself—and it’s at the top of the food chain. A vampire can slip the leash of their Beast just a little to overpower weaker animals, forcing their will on such creatures. Animalism works best on predators and scavenging animals. In a city, Kindred can call on feral cats and dogs, pigeons and crows, foxes, and more rats than anyone wants to think about. Rural vampires can summon bats, wolves, mountain lions, and even bears—any animal that feasts on the flesh of another. Oft overlooked, however, is Animalism’s power over the Beast itself. Vampires are nothing if not animalistic creatures.
Limits
• Animal Types: Animalism can only be used on vertebrates. Flies, spiders, jellyfish, tapeworms, etc. cannot be affected by the Discipline. Their thought processes are too alien.
Sample • Powers
• Call a nearby animal to your side
• Command an animal to do something it’d do on its own
• Mark your territory, letting other vampires know it’s yours
• Size up another vampire’s supernatural power
• Talk to an animal and ask it questions
• Telepathically command your nearby animal ghouls
Sample •• Powers
• Call multiple nearby animals to your side
• Command an animal to perform non-dangerous tasks
• Command an aggressive or predatory animal to attack someone
• Drink a full (if less than pleasurable) meal from an animal’s blood
• Raise an animal’s corpse as a zombie
Sample ••• Powers
• Call many nearby or multiple distant animals to your side
• Drive individual humans and vampires to frenzy
• Command an animal to perform dangerous but non-suicidal tasks
• Make someone else frenzy in another vampire’s place
• Talk to and command groups of animals
Sample •••• Powers
• Call many animals from near and far to your side
• Command an animal to perform a suicidally dangerous task
• Drive groups of humans and vampires to frenzy
• Make someone else suffer your frenzy in your place
• Possess an animal and take over its body
• Speak through a possessed animal
• Summon one or two spirit animals out of thin air
Sample ••••• Powers
• Call massive swarms of animals from near and far to your side
• Command an animal to perform tasks physically impossible for its frame (this may kill it)
• Enter frenzy at will, choosing the Beast’s target
• Exercise absolute command over all nearby animals without seeing them
• Possess swarms of animals, seeing and speaking through their bodies by concentrating
• Summon groups of spirit animals out of thin air
• Use Disciplines through a possessed animal
Auspex
“Then, awakening myself further, I found […] the way to make eyes see past sight."
The Book of Nod
Clans: Malkavian, Salubri, Toreador, Tremere, Tzimisce
Nicknames: Anima visus (archaic), ESP (slang), mind-reading (slang), the second sight (common), scrying (common), the sixth sense (common), soul scrying (common), snooping (slang), voyeurism (slang)
This potent Discipline grants a character superlative sensory capabilities. At the lowest levels, it sharpens a Kindred’s mundane senses. As one progresses in mastery, entirely new avenues of insight open up before the user. Ultimately, this is the Discipline of gleaning information, whether that data comes from sights and smells, from auras and patterns of energy, or directly from the mind of another creature. In addition, Auspex can be used to pierce the veil of powers that cloud, dissemble, and deceive. Indeed, precious little can be kept secret from a true master of Auspex.
Once in a while, this uncanny Discipline provides extrasensory and even precognitive visitations. Such premonitions might come as quick flashes of imagery, overwhelming feelings of empathy, or even as an ominous sense of foreboding. The Kindred has absolutely no control over these insights, but they can learn to interpret their significance given time and experience. Malkavians seem to have these premonitions the most often.
Limits
• Two-Way Connections: Connections opened by Auspex go both ways. If a vampire reads an object’s history, imprints of dark events can traumatize them. If a vampire reads someone’s mind, they can try to read the vampire’s mind back. (Mortals may not know how to do this, but other vampires almost always do.) If a vampire peers into the otherworlds, beings on the other side can view them back. Auspex offers easy answers to the curious, but its answers aren’t always free.
• Psychometry: Vampires with Auspex can view the memories of objects they handle. The clarity of these memories varies by how recent they are and how strong the emotions associated with them are. With most objects, Auspex will provide hints and clues rather than psychic video recordings, and is more likely to supplement investigative work than replace it. The GM does not want to run a setting where N/PCs constantly destroy handled objects out of paranoia that someone with Auspex is going to read them.
Sample • Powers
• Get a basic piece of information from a handled object (e.g., one physical feature of the last owner)
• Perceive into a nearby spiritual realm you’ve been to (e.g., the Shadowlands) by concentrating
• Read someone’s emotions, but not specific thoughts
• See through illusions of equal or lesser strength by concentrating
• Sense the presence of a nearby type of supernatural being by concentrating
• Telepathically communicate with your sire or childer
Sample •• Powers
• Astrally project your soul from your body with a limitation (e.g., being deaf or for only a few minutes)
• Get multiple basic pieces of information from a handled object
• Read someone’s surface thoughts
• See the colors and vibrations of someone’s psychic aura
• See through illusions of equal or lesser strength by concentrating
• Telepathically communicate with your Kindred relatives and anyone blood bound to you
Sample ••• Powers
• Astrally project your soul from your body
• Get a deeper piece of information from a handled object (e.g., the last owner’s state of mind)
• Read someone’s recent thoughts and memories
• See through illusions of equal or lesser strength by concentrating
• Telepathically communicate with your clanmates or anyone with your vitae in their systems
Sample •••• Powers
• Astrally project your soul miles away from your body at rapid speeds
• Astrally project a silent ghostly apparition before people
• Get multiple pieces of deeper information from a handled object
• Read someone’s distant thoughts and memories
• See through illusions of equal or lesser strength by concentrating
• Telepathically communicate with anyone
Sample ••••• Powers
• Astrally project your soul anywhere in the world at superluminal speeds
• Astrally project a ghostly apparition capable of soft speech
• Astrally project to the Astral Plane or Underworld
• Learn almost anything about a handled object’s recent history
• Read someone’s deepest secrets and hidden or repressed memories
• See through illusions of equal or lesser strength by concentrating
• Telepathically communicate with anyone over a city block
Blood Sorcery
“I opened myself up once more, to the night,
and saw the infinite possibilities in the stars
and knew that a path of power, a path of blood
was mine for the taking,
and so I awakened in me this final path,
from which all other paths would grow.”
The Book of Nod
Clans: Assamite, Giovannini, Lasombra, Tremere
Nicknames: A kind of magic (slang), cheat codes (slang), the final path (archaic), sorcery (common), thaumaturgy (common), ’turgy (slang). Different traditions of Blood Sorcery may have their own nicknames.
• Necromancy: Black magic (slang), the dark arts (common), mortis (archaic), nigrimancy (common)
• Obtenebration: Entropy (common), shadow magic (slang), shadowmancy (slang), tenebrae imperium (archaic)
• Quietus: Du-An-Ki (archaic), poisoning (slang)
Blood Sorcery is the practice of magic. Through this Discipline, a Cainite can summon fire, control the weather, level curses, turn someone’s blood to poison within their veins, and do many other things which are unnatural even by vampiric standards. To practice Blood Sorcery is to twist one’s own Blood into submission. Any form of this power reminds a vampire that they’re far from human, as no mortal could wield magic in this way.
Unlike other Disciplines, which could be described as advancing organically through the victims chosen by the vampire, Blood Sorcery is much harder for practitioners to develop without a teacher. The Tremere rely on their pyramidic clan hierarchy to arrange tutelage for neonate apprentices, while the Assamites stress the sire-childe relationship as being the best form of mentorship. Masters of this Discipline develop their own spells and rituals, though many guard them from others, revelling in the mystery surrounding their unknown cache of abilities.
Blood Sorcery isn’t a single Discipline so much as a family of closely related Disciplines. Different types of Blood Sorcery, known as traditions, are practiced by various clans and covenants. Each tradition can have a bewilderingly different array of powers. There’s nothing stopping a vampire from learning multiple traditions, although in practice, few do. Some of the best-known traditions, and their most common practitioners, include:
• Akhu: The ancient and sinister Egyptian magic of the Setites.
• Crúac: The bloody, wild, and pagan witchcraft of the Circle of the Crone.
• Daimonion: The reviled, demon-taught powers wielded by the Baali and other infernalists.
• Necromancy: The black arts of necromancy practiced by the Giovannini.
• Obtenebration: The signature power of the Lasombra, granting power over darkness and shadow.
• Quietus: The feared assassination techniques of the Assamites.
• Thaumaturgy: The exacting Hermetic ritual magic of the Tremere.
• Theban Sorcery: The dark miracles and biblical sacraments of the Lancea et Sanctum.
• Wanga: The loa-channeling rites of Kindred Vodouisants.
• Many, many other sorcerous traditions are known or rumored to exist.
More information about Blood Sorcery can be found on the White Wolf Wiki’s article.
Limits
• Redundancy: Blood Sorcery is more versatile than any other Discipline. However, it cannot duplicate the effects of a Discipline or contradict a vampire’s basic nature (such as by granting immunity to banes or directly healing the sick).
• Preparation: While direct applications of this Discipline can be performed “on the fly”—e.g., hurling blasts of energy, boiling someone’s blood, and the like—more elaborate applications require preparation and ritual. Many sorcerous spells demand rare or precious reagents and material components (e.g., a stake carved from a tree planted above nightshade), can take anywhere from minutes to nights (or longer) to enact, and must be researched ahead of time, obtained from other sorcerers, or plumbed from moldering texts. There are countless rituals, many of them lost to history or jealously guarded by their creators. No one vampire knows them all. Blood Sorcery is a journey as much as a destination and determined sorcerers pursue a never-ending quest for magical power.
Players should specify what traditions their characters specialize in (e.g., Thaumaturgy, Theban Sorcery) and what areas they are most skilled at (e.g., alchemy, oneiromancy, demonology, etc). Blood Sorcery has an extremely broad range of powers and is more akin to a family of related Disciplines than a single unified one.
Sample • Powers
• Conjure a business card out of thin air
• Locate someone you’ve recently fed on
• Make a tattoo permanent on a vampire
• Place an embarrassing curse on someone
• Preserve a corpse from decay
• Summon a weak extradimensional entity
• Transcribe spoken words onto paper
• Transform spilled blood into water
Sample •• Powers
• Conjure a dense, roiling mist
• Detect diablerie with a blood sample
• Learn a vampire’s genealogy with a blood sample
• Place a frustrating curse on someone
• Summon a midling extradimensional entity
• Transmute blood into poison
• Turn a corpse into decaying plant matter
Sample ••• Powers
• Animate vegetation to fight or perform complex tasks
• Conjure a complex object out of thin air
• Make a victim lose their voice
• Make a victim sleep until a triggering event
• Place a troublesome curse on someone
• Summon a potent extradimensional entity
• Turn a subject’s blood in their veins to water
Sample •••• Powers
• Enchant a bone that no one can lie while holding
• Permanently bind spirits into talismans
• Place a dangerous curse on someone
• Steal blood from groups of targets simultaneously
• Summon a highly potent extradimensional entity
• Transform a human into an animal
• Transform yourself into an inanimate object
Sample ••••• Powers
• Cause a vampire to decay to their true age
• Open a portal to almost any spiritual realm the sorcerer knows of
• Place an unseakable curse on someone
• Stop everyone within a room from lying
• Summon a demigod-like extradimensional entity
• Trap someone’s soul in a mirror
• Transform a vampire from the “right” clans into a Gargoyle
Unlike other Disciplines, Blood Sorcery can “overreach” itself. Sorcerers can perform feats far in excess of their normal powers through plot-specific requirements (e.g., a ritual performed under a planetary alignment that occurs once every century), or through the aid of other sorcerers as part of a grand ritual. Players seeking more inspiration as to what Blood Sorcery can do should consult the old Blood Sorcery page, and more general narrative tropes regarding ritual magic.
Celerity
“When my energies first surged through me I discovered how to move like lightning.”
The Book of Nod
Clans: Assamite, Brujah, Toreador
Nicknames: Bolting (common), slipping (common), super-speed (vulgar), velocitas (traditional)
Not all vampires are slow, meticulous creatures. When needed, some vampires can move fast. Really fast. Celerity allows a vampire to cross vast distances in the blink of an eye, catch a thrown punch before their attacker has even moved a muscle, or snatch a gun barrel away from a man’s temple before he can pull the trigger. Celerity makes a vampire so fast that it’s as if they never have to move at all.
Sample Powers
• Bursts of speed: Vampires with Celerity can move faster than any human can respond to. They can use this speed to escape danger, launch surprise attacks, or perform lengthy tasks (such as cleaning up a murder scene or disassembling a car) in seconds, among many other uses. At Celerity •, the vampire moves like someone in a video being played on fast forward. At Celerity •••, the vampire appears as a literal blur. At Celerity •••••, the vampire is invisible to human onlookers and seems to teleport from space to space. Repeated applications of this power make vampires hungrier, so they don’t use it continually. It’s comparable to a human sprint.
• Extended speed: Even when not moving at top speed, vampires with Celerity are fast: fast enough that many can outrun cars.
| Celerity dots | Vampire’s speed |
| Celerity • | As fast as the best human triathlete to ever live. |
| Celerity •• | As fast as a cheetah. |
| Celerity ••• | As fast as a speeding car. |
| Celerity •••• | As fast as a speeding race car. |
| Celerity ••••• | Leaves race cars behind in the dust. |
• Superhuman fighting: The more dots a vampire has in Celerity, and the other two “physical” Disciplines, the better they are in a fight. While a human can still take on a vampire with Celerity •, a vampire at Celerity ••••• is all but impossible to keep up with.
• Superhuman dexterity: Vampires with Celerity are considered to have the following Dexterity scores:
| Celerity dots | Dexterity dots |
| Celerity • | Dexterity 6 |
| Celerity •• | Dexterity 7 |
| Celerity ••• | Dexterity 8 |
| Celerity •••• | Dexterity 9 |
| Celerity ••••• | Dexterity 10 |
Ghouls, whose bodies lack a vampire’s deathless vigor, merely add their Celerity to their Dexterity scores. Thus, a ghoul with a natural Dexterity of 3 and Celerity ••• would “only” have a modified Dexterity of 6, rather than Dexterity 8 like a vampire.
• Superhuman reflexes: Vampires with Celerity have enhanced reaction speeds. At Celerity •, the vampire’s reflexes are the peak of human ability: they can routinely catch flies in mid-air. At Celerity •••••, the vampire can dodge bullets like an action movie hero.
Sample Devotions
• Flight: One of the most famous Celerity Devotions is the power to fly. At Celerity •, the vampire can slow their falls. At Celerity ••, they can slowly levitate if they’re within reach of a solid surface. At Celerity •••, they can levitate as fast as they run. At Celerity ••••, they can fly in any direction except upwards, and without being near a solid surface. At Celerity ••••, they can freely fly in any direction.
Dominate
“Lilith then showed me […] how she commands obedience."
The Book of Nod
Clans: Giovannini, Lasombra, Malkavian, Tremere, Ventrue
Nicknames: The lordly voice (common), mentis imperium (archaic), mesmerism (common), mind control (slang), mindfucking (slang), the sanguine voice (archaic), snake charming (slang)
The Beast demands obedience from lesser creatures. It slips into the Kindred’s voice, modulating their tone and their words to express absolute authority. A vampire with Dominate can control the actions of others, manipulate their memories, and force them to follow any order, no matter how debasing. This is the Beast at its most cruel and controlling, and is one of the most dreaded Disciplines by other vampires. It’s also an invaluable tool in preserving the Masquerade.
Limits
• Eye Contact: The vampire must maintain eye contact with the victim and issue commands in a language they understand. (Vampires with Auspex may do the latter via telepathy, while simple orders may be made with signs—for example, a pointed finger and forceful expression to indicate “Go!”) Blood bound victims can be controlled by voice alone.
• Memories: False memories that lack detail, contradict known facts, or contradict a victim’s emotional state can unravel, particularly under close questioning or investigation. Subtle and minimal memory alterations are the most likely to hold up, while massive alterations that blindly paint over days of the victim’s life are likely to fall apart. This process can be traumatic for the victim. Crude and repeated applications of Dominate can drive mortals insane. (For some vampires, this may be a benefit, not a limitation.)
• Initiative: Dominated victims follow the vampire’s commands literally. Higher-level Dominate applications can issue broader and more complex commands to victims, but a Dominated thrall will never display the same imagination and initiative as a free-willed agent.
• Harmful Commands: Commands to harm people or causes a victim values as much as their own life are treated like commands to harm oneself. Even Dominate ••••• can’t force a loving mother to murder her own children.
For all those limits, very few mortals possess the strength of will to resist the powers of the undead. (Most of those who do possess True Faith.) Dominate, perhaps more so than any other Discipline, makes playthings of the kine. A resourceful Kindred can ruin their victims’ lives, and enrich themselves, in countless ways.
Against weaker-blooded vampires, Dominate succeeds more often than not, and is one of the most feared Disciplines. Many Ventrue are rightfully paranoid as to whether they can trust their own memories around their elders. Against stronger-blooded vampires, Dominate’s effects are temporary and rarely last for more than a few seconds. Dominate cuts to the core of vampiric mastery and predation: the Blood of Caine resists sustained control by an inferior predator.
Sample • Powers
• Erase or fog over a recent memory
• Give someone a painful headache or mental fugue
• Issue simple, immediate commands (e.g., “Hand me your keys.”)
• Make a non-agitated person fall asleep
Sample •• Powers
• Fill someone’s head with debilitating pain
• Issue simple, night-long commands (e.g., “Attack anyone who tries to get through this door.”)
• Make an agitated person fall asleep
• Rewrite the details of a recent memory
• Turn a mortal into a mesmerized puppet for as long as you remain nearby
Sample ••• Powers
• Issue complex, night-long commands requiring independent initiative (e.g., “Break into your boss’ house and bring me his book of passwords.”)
• Issue highly objectionable commands (e.g., “Take off your clothes in public.” “Attack your allies.”)
• Implant simple, long-term posthypnotic commands (e.g., “Shoot your boss at work in two weeks.”)
• Rewrite the details of a semi-recent memory
• See and speak through the body of a willing or blood bound host
Sample •••• Powers
• Command a group of mortals simultaneously
• Command someone to answer yes or no questions
• Implant complex, long-term commands requiring independent initiative (e.g., “Break into your boss’ house and bring me his book of passwords in two weeks.”)
• Issue self-injurious commands (e.g., “Throw boiling coffee into your own face.”)
• Possess the body of a willing or blood bound mortal host and control its actions
• Rewrite the details of a distant memory
• Turn mortals into permanently, mindlessly obedient living zombies
Sample ••••• Powers
• Command someone to provide brief answers to questions
• Issue any command short of suicide (e.g., “Chop off your own hand.”)
• Possess an unwilling mortal victim’s body
• Possess a willing or blood bound mortal host’s body and use Disciplines through it
• Possess a willing or blood bound Kindred host’s body
• Reduce a mortal’s mind to a blasted and empty husk
• Rewrite the details of any memory in the victim’s life
Sample Devotions
• Dementation: This Devotion, the hallmark of Clan Malkavian, lets them drive their victims insane. It can only be learned by a vampire who is insane themselves. At Dominate •, the vampire can trigger the symptoms of someone’s existing mental illness, or briefly force their own madness onto others. Higher Dominate levels give the vampire more latitude in how the victim’s insanity manifests, including the power to induce forms of insanity that neither the victim nor the vamppire suffers from. At Dominate •••••, the vampire can drive a victim permanently, irrevocably insane, making them as mad as any Malkavian.
Fortitude
“When my energies first surged through me I discovered […] how to be as stone."
The Book of Nod
Clans: Gangrel, Ravnos, Salubri, Ventrue
Nicknames: Bricking up (slang), god mode (slang), resistentia (archaic), stone flesh (common), stone skin (common)
The Kindred are walking corpses, free of the frailties of a mortal form. Their bodies are capable of great endurance, but Fortitude harnesses the Beast to take that endurance beyond “great” and into “impossible.” With Fortitude a vampire can shrug off agonizing trauma, make the most-shattering impact look like a flesh wound, and continue to act even when their body has been reduced to little more than bone and tendon. Even Fortitude offers no protection against the great bane of sunlight, however.
• Superhuman fighting: The more dots a vampire has in Fortitude, and the other two “physical” Disciplines, the better they are in a fight. While a human can still take on a vampire with Fortitude •, a vampire at Fortitude ••••• is all but impossible to harm through anti-personal weapons.
• Supernatural healing: All vampires can regenerate even the more grievous wounds. The chief limit on this healing factor is the need to feed. A vampire who suffers fatal wounds can recover within minutes, but they’ll be ravenous with hunger—and unable to heal again—until they feed. Vampires with Fortitude don’t suffer this limitation, as detailed below.
• Superhuman stamina: Vampires with Fortitude are considered to have the following Stamina scores:
| Fortitude dots | Stamina dots |
| Fortitude • | Stamina 6 |
| Fortitude •• | Stamina 7 |
| Fortitude ••• | Stamina 8 |
| Fortitude •••• | Stamina 9 |
| Fortitude ••••• | Stamina 10 |
Ghouls, whose bodies lack a vampire’s deathless vigor, merely add their Fortitude to their Stamina scores. Thus, a ghoul with a natural Stamina of 3 and Fortitude ••• would “only” have a modified Stamina of 6, rather than Stamina 8 like a vampire.
Sample • Powers
• Withstand trauma that would debilitate a human, but not send them to the ER: getting punched in the gut or struck with a bat
• Completely ignore trauma that would pain a human: stubbing a toe or a stomped foot
• Have skin as tough as leather
• Regenerate injuries that would kill a human over the day, without feeding
• Painfully withstand brief exposure to a candle
Sample •• Powers
• Withstand trauma that would send a human to the ER: getting shot in the shoulder, a solid bat to the skull, or electrocuted by a protective fence
• Completely ignore trauma that Fortitude • can withstand
• Have skin as tough as a flak jacket or Kevlar vest
• Regenerate injuries that would kill a human in hours, without feeding
• Painfully withstand brief exposure to a torch or moderate exposure to a candle
Sample ••• Powers
• Withstand trauma that would send a human to the ICU: getting hit by a car, shot in the stomach, or savagely beaten with a bat
• Completely ignore trauma that Fortitude •• can withstand
• Have skin as tough as full riot gear
• Regenerate injuries that would kill a human in tens of minutes, without feeding
• Painfully withstand brief exposure to a campfire, moderate exposure to a torch, or prolonged exposure to a candle
Sample •••• Powers
• Withstand trauma that would kill a human: getting hit by an 18-wheeler, your spine snapped, or repeatedly shot
• Completely ignore trauma that Fortitude ••• can withstand
• Get hit by a car without being moved
• Have skin as tough as full plate armor
• Regenerate injuries that would kill a human in minutes, without feeding
• Painfully withstand brief exposure to funeral pyre, moderate exposure to a campfire, or prolonged exposure to a torch
Sample ••••• Powers
• Withstand trauma that would kill an elephant: getting hit by a train, bursts of machine gun fire, or being at ground zero of a grenade explosion
• Completely ignore trauma that Fortitude •••• can withstand
• Get hit by a car without being moved and wreck the car
• Have skin as tough as solid steel
• Regenerate injuries fatal to a human in seconds, without feeding
• Painfully withstand brief exposure to a burning building, moderate exposure to a funeral pyre, or prolonged exposure to a campfire
Sample Devotions
• Obeah: The signature power of Clan Salubri, this Devotion lets the vampire heal others without feeding them vitae. A vampire at Fortitude • can ease minor pains and hurts, or stabilize a dying man, while Fortitude ••••• can revive someone from the brink of death to full health.
• Magic Resistance: The vampire is immune to Blood Sorcery with a rating equal or below their Fortitude. However, the vampire can never learn magic themselves.
Obfuscate
“Lilith then showed me how she hides herself from hunters.”
The Book of Nod
Clans: Assamites, Malkavians, Nosferatu, Ravnos, Setites
Nicknames: Cloaking (common), occulto (archaic), shadow dancing (slang), stealth mode (slang), veiling (common)
The Beast is a hidden killer. It lurks just below the surface, unnoticed by its prey until it’s too late. Just another man in the street, no different from anyone else. Just another woman passing by. Why can’t you remember what they looked like? One of them turns, and you can’t quite see his face, but he’s walking towards you. Another second and he’s grabbed you. His teeth sink into your neck and all you can think is, “Why won’t anyone do anything? Why won’t they help me?”
Obfuscate is the reason you’ll never be sure that you’re alone again.
The Discipline of stealth and misdirection, Obfuscate allows vampires to hide people or objects from notice, disguise themselves to look like someone else, and weave elaborate illusions. An Obfuscated vampire doesn’t actually become invisible, however—rather, they delude observers into believing they have vanished. Several clans cultivate this power—the Assamites to assassinate victims from stealth, the Setites to assume trustworthy visages, the Malkavians to play with victims’ perceptions, and the Ravnos to conjure illusions—but the Nosferatu are best known for this Discipline. Some elder Kindred believe that Caine, or perhaps Lilith, bestowed the clan with this Discipline to compensate for the hideous physical deformities its members suffer.
Limits
• Piercing Obfuscate: The Auspex Discipline can see through Obfuscate effects of equal or lesser strength, so long as the vampire suspects their senses are being deceived. Other characters who suspect their senses are being deceived can search for incidental signs of such: gaps in a crowd concealing an Obfuscated vampire, parted areas of smoke around an Obfuscated object, disrupted traffic flow around an Obfuscated building, etc. Sometimes this works. Sometimes it doesn’t.
• Electronics: Obfuscate tricks the victim’s mind directly, removing traces of the vampire from the sensory information reaching their brain, rather than fooling their senses directly. Thus, photographs, video cameras, and other forms of mechanical surveillance record the vampire normally (subject to the limits of Lost Visage).
• Invisiblity: Vampires who turn “invisible” with Obfuscate become fully visible to anyone they touch, attack, or directly interact with.
• Immunity to Obfuscate: Animals (who rely more on instinct than normal senses), young children, the mentally ill, and some very few adults to whom deception is foreign can pierce Obfuscate.
Sample • Powers
• Conceal that you are Kindred from other vampires
• Disappear into a crowd, no matter what you look like
• Disguise yourself as a stranger with many shared features (gender, race, height/build, etc.)
• Distort your voice
• Make people ignore an object on your person
• Make yourself look or sound like someone whose blood you’ve recently tasted (but not both)
• Turn invisible so long as you remain completely still
Sample •• Powers
• Disguise yourself as a nondescript stranger
• Disguise yourself as someone whose blood you’ve recently tasted
• Crudely disguise yourself as someone whose blood you haven’t tasted (it’ll only hold up if the observer is intoxicated, far away, or otherwise impaired)
• Make people ignore a nearby object you could carry
• Make people ignore a door, window, or other human-sized environmental feature
• Turn invisible to anyone who isn’t already watching you
Sample ••• Powers
• Disguise yourself as anyone who isn’t a real person
• Disguise yourself as someone whose blood you’ve ever tasted
• Make people ignore anything up to the size of a room
• Make yourself look or sound like a specific individual (but not both), even if you haven’t tasted their blood
• Turn invisible to anyone, even if they’re watching you
Sample •••• Powers
• Disguise yourself as specific individuals
• Disguise yourself as someone stunningly beautiful (if Nosferatu)
• Make people ignore a small building or any contents within it (e.g., a typical house)
• Selectively hide the contents or features of a building (e.g., doors and windows)
• Turn invisible and make witnesses forget you were ever there
Sample ••••• Powers
• Disguise a group of people as anyone who isn’t a real person
• Disguise yourself as someone permanently, even while sleeping or torpored
• Make people ignore a larger building or any contents within it (e.g., a mansion or warehouse)
• Turn a group of people invisible
• Turn invisible even to someone you’re touching or attacking
Sample Devotions
• Chimerstry: The signature power of Clan Ravnos, Obfuscate • can create a fleeting or motionless illusion that confounds a single sense. Obfuscate • creates lasting illusions. Obfuscate ••• crates illusions that affect all senses. Obfuscate •••• creates permanent illusions or ones that can fill a house. Obfuscate ••••• creates illusions that can fill a mansion or physically harm people who believe in them.
Potence
“When my energies first surged through me I discovered […] how to borrow the strength of the earth."
The Book of Nod
Clans: Brujah, Giovannini, Lasombra, Nosferatu
Nicknames: Blood’s might (common), hulking (vulgar), percutio (archaic), super-strength (vulgar)
There is a popular saying among the members of Clan Brujah: “You only underestimate our strength once.” More powerful than any performance-enhancing drug, more unnatural than the physique of any bulging bodybuilder, Potence allows a vampire to kick like a freight train or rend steel with their bare hands. The Beast tunes every bone, tendon and muscle fiber to its highest performance, allowing the night’s most fearsome predator to strut through the jungle of their choosing without fear of lesser, weaker creatures.
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 decapitates a man with one blow. The Brujah, Lasombra, Nosferatu, and Giovannini are naturally gifted with this Discipline, but members of other clans often make a point to find someone who can teach them the awesome power of Potence.
• Superhuman strength: Vampires with Potence are considered to have the following Strength scores:
| Potence dots | Strength dots |
| Potence • | Strength 6 |
| Potence •• | Strength 7 |
| Potence ••• | Strength 8 |
| Potence •••• | Strength 9 |
| Potence ••••• | Strength 10 |
Ghouls, whose bodies lack a vampire’s deathless vigor, merely add their Potence to their Strength scores. Thus, a ghoul with a natural Strength of 3 and Potence ••• would “only” have a modified Strength of 6, rather than Strength 8 like a vampire.
Sample • Powers
• Throw ~400 lbs, lift ~800 lbs, stagger around with ~1 ton, push or drag ~2 tons
• Leap ~10 feet vertically or ~20 feet horizontally
• Rip open a bear trap like it’s nothing
• Rip someone’s finger off their hand
• Snap apart a pair of handcuffs
• Snap someone’s neck (this is much harder than Hollywood makes it look)
• Throw a motorcycle
Sample •• Powers
• Throw ~600 lbs, lift ~1,200 lbs, stagger around with ~1.5 tons, push or drag ~3 tons
• Leap ~20 feet vertically or ~40 feet horizontally
• Crush a human skull between your hands
• Kill a human by punching them in the head
• Punch through a cement wall
• Rip off someone’s hand from their arm
Sample ••• Powers
• Throw ~1,000 lbs, lift ~1 ton, stagger around with ~2 tons, push or drag ~5 tons
• Leap ~30 feet vertically or ~60 feet horizontally
• Decapitate a human barehanded
• Lift a minicooper overhead
• Punch through solid steel (1 inch)
• Rip someone’s head from their neck
• Rip someone’s arm out of its socket
Sample •••• Powers
• Throw ~1 ton, lift ~2 tons, stagger around with ~4 tons, push or drag ~10 tons
• Leap ~40 feet vertically or ~80 feet horizontally
• Lift a minivan overhead
• Punch through solid steel (2 inches)
• Shear a telephone pole
• Snap a femur in half
• Smash a human skull apart with one hand
• Throw a minicooper
Sample ••••• Powers
• Throw ~2 tons, lift ~4 tons, stagger around with ~8 tons, push or drag ~20 tons
• Break a steel sword in half
• Leap ~50 feet vertically or ~100 feet horizontally
• Lift a van or flat-bed truck overhead
• Punch through solid steel (4 inches)
• Push a light tank
• Throw a minivan
Presence
“Lilith then showed me […] how she demands respect."
The Book of Nod
Clans: Brujah, Salubri, Setites, Toreador, Ventrue
Nicknames: Charm (common), enthrallment (common), glamour (common), star mode (slang), sublimitas (archaic), superstardom (slang)
Presence draws on the Beast’s animal magnetism to amplify a vampire’s force of personality, making people like them and want to make them happy even though normally those people wouldn’t give a shit about them. People like the vampire and want to be around them just because it feels good. Presence also has another application, but it’s not inspiring fear like many Kindred think. The Beast doesn’t need fear. Fear is rational, understandable—a reaction to a presented stimulus. Any idiot can make people fear them. Presence indulges the Beast’s desire to cause abject terror.
Kindred embody opposites, alternating between nightmare and dream depending on the onlooker and the vampire’s whims. Presence is a Discipline that expresses this bipolar existence. Used to attract victims or disperse them in fear, Presence allows crowd control, emotional manipulation, and enforced devotion. A mortal’s greatest fear could stand before them and suddenly look like the most radiant creature on Earth.
Many Presence practitioners use this Discipline to easily acquire feeding vessels, while others use it do stalk the night as creatures of horror, making weak-willed kine flee terrified, unsure of what they’ve just seen. Effective as a lure as well as a defense, vampires with Presence enjoy an easier nightlife at the expense of forgetting what feelings projected at them are normal and which are compelled.
Limits
• Free Will: Victims retain their free will. The vampire can’t control their exact response like with Dominate.
• Inexplicable Behavior: If a victim performs a sufficiently out of character action, they come to their senses. If they’re a vampire, they may suspect the use of Presence.
• Attitudes: The victim’s attitude after Presence wears off depends on their prior attitude and vampire’s treatment of them. Well-treated strangers may remain friendly, while poorly-treated ones may turn hostile.
• Feelings: Presence cannot inspire true feelings of happiness, peace, or contentment. Affected victims resemble Stepford Smilers or cultists who’ve drank too much kool-aid, and feel “off” after prolonged interaction.
Curiously, Presence can affect stronger-blooded vampires, unlike Dominate. However, mortals who can resist Presence are also less rare (albeit still a minority: most will succumb to the beguiling charms of the undead). Some Kindred scholars conjecture that Presence is more “subtle” and plays upon the victim’s existing feelings towards the vampire, rather than raw strength of the Blood.
Sample • Powers
• Amplify someone’s existing emotion (e.g., annoyance to anger, mild sadness to open weeping)
• Become the coolest and most important person in the room
• Exude an aura of menace that makes people back down from confrontations (e.g., “Yeah, little man, I’m taking your place in line.”)
• Get a suspicious person to momentarily let down their guard
• Guarantee an excellent first impression with a stranger
• Make a potential sexual partner more interested in you than anyone else (e.g., dancer at a nightclub)
• Summon your ghouls or weaker-blooded Kindred relatives to your side from across the neighborhood
• Summon Kindred with your blood in their system to your side from across the neighborhood
Sample •• Powers
• Fill someone with a strong emotion (e.g., lust, jealousy, grief, etc.) they weren’t previously feeling
• Get a stranger to like and trust you until you screw them over (or leave)
• Get a suspicious person to let down their guard for a conversation
• Scare someone for their life and make commensurate demands (e.g., “I want your car, give me the keys.”)
• Smooth over someone’s anger, coolness, or offended ego
• Summon your ghouls or weaker-blooded Kindred relatives to your side from across the city
• Summon any vampire with your blood in their system to your side from across the city
Sample ••• Powers
• Defuse someone’s hostility (e.g., get an angry mugger to set down his gun)
• Get a large crowd of people to treat you like a rock star
• Fill someone with overpowering lust (e.g., get a faithful husband to cheat on his wife)
• Get a stranger to like and trust you like a years-long friend
• Summon your ghouls or weaker-blooded clanmates to your side from across the country
• Terrify someone past all rational thought and sense (e.g., running into traffic to get away from you)
• Twist someone’s emotional state into a contradictory emotion (e.g, fascination to boredom, joy to misery, etc.)
Sample •••• Powers
• Fill a crowd of people with adoration, resolve, or despair
• Get a stranger to like and trust you like a beloved spouse
• Defuse someone’s hatred (e.g., get the man whose children you murdered to set down his gun)
• Reduce a mortal to catatonia from sheer terror
• Summon your ghouls or any weaker-blooded vampire who’s tasted your blood from across the world
• Turn an acquaintance into a fanatic who’ll take a bullet for you
Sample ••••• Powers
• Become a divine presence worthy of absolute rapture, terror, or obedience to crowds of people
• Fill someone with suicidal misery
• Kill a mortal (by stopping their heart) or torpor a vampire from sheer terror
• Summon any weaker-blooded vampire you’ve ever met from across the world
• Summon any vampire who’s tasted your blood from across the world (stronger-blooded ones may resist the call)
• Turn a stranger into a fanatic who’ll take a bullet for you
• Turn someone who loathes you (e.g., the man whose children you murdered) into a good friend
Protean
“Then, awakening myself further, I found the way to alter forms.”
The Book of Nod
Clans: Gangrel, Setite, Tzimisce
Nicknames: Morphing (slang), mutatio (archaic), shapeshifting (common), shifting (slang)
Protean allows Kindred to mutate and shift their physical forms. Some vampires believe the power stems from a heightened connection to the natural world, while others consider it to be a magnification of the mark of Caine. Whatever its basis may be, those that develop this Discipline can grow bestial claws, transform into animals, turn themselves into mist, and even meld into the very earth itself.
Limits
• Animal Forms: To turn into an animal, a vampire must have previously killed it through exsanguination.
• Types of Animals: Protean can only turn the vampire into predatory, scavenging, parasitic, or plague-bearing animals: the Beast never assumes the form of prey.
• Sleeping Underground: A vampire sleeping underground through this Discipline can be trapped by salting the earth above their resting place.
• Vampiric Weaknesses: Fire, sunlight, and banes always hurt a vampire, no matter what form they transform into.
Sample • Powers
• Cocoon yourself just below the surface of the earth
• Dislocate your joints
• Extend your tongue to lap up blood
• See in pitch darkness through glowing eyes
• Sprout small claws
• Turn into a small, non-flying animal such as a cat or rat
Sample •• Powers
• Cocoon yourself deep below the earth
• Contort your body in impossible ways to slip restraints or fit into small spaces
• Lengthen your arms or legs to disturbing degrees
• Sprout large claws, webbed hands, or similar animalistic features
• Turn into a medium or winged animal such a bat or wolf
Sample ••• Powers
• Cocoon yourself deep below the earth and dimly sense everything transpiring above
• Make your flesh as elastic as rubber
• Swallow someone whole
• Turn into a large animal such as a tiger or grizzly
• Turn into a “wolfman” amalgam of human and beast
• Grow patagia to glide short distances
Sample •••• Powers
• Birth non-intelligent monsters from your flesh
• Dissolve into an ambulatory, sentient pool of vitae
• Slowly travel through the earth
• Turn into a larger-than-life monster (a “war form”) on par with werewolves
• Turn into a swarm of bats, rats, or other tiny animals
• Sprout flight-capable wings
Sample ••••• Powers
• Birth monsters with childlike intelligence from your flesh
• Dissolve into a blood-draining, nigh-indestructible mist
• Force a shapeshifting creature into another form
• Quickly travel through the earth
• Turn into a larger-than-life nightmarish monster on par with alpha werewolves
Sample Devotions
• Vicissitude: The signature power of Clan Tzimisce, this much-feared Devotion lets the vampire sculpt flesh like clay. Changes to mortals and weaker-blooded vampires are permanent, while ones to equal- or stronger-blooded vampires can be healed like normal “wounds”. At Protean •, the vampire can reshape their own skin and muscle tissue into any form of equivalent or lesser mass. At Protean ••, the vampire can “fleshcraft” the bodies of others. At Protean •••, the vampire can reshape bone as well as flesh. At Protean ••••, the vampire can reshape flesh on a cellular level. At Protean •••••, the vampire can reshape bone on a cellular level.
Elder Disciplines
“Power ever draws other power."
Onos T’oolan, Malazan Book of the Fallen
A young Cainite avoids the eyes of an elder, only to find that her voice carries as much command as her gaze. With but a simple push, a Brujah elder sends a raging Lupine flying backward. An elder Malkavian laughs and drives an entire town to madness. A slumbering methuselah stirs and sends an impulse through the Blood: its descendants across the globe set aside their petty rivalries to make preparations for the ancient’s awakening.
While younger vampires might think that they possess great powers with their command of the Disciplines, they are but dabblers compared to those elders who have moved beyond the normal boundaries of Cainite gifts. Those of sufficiently powerful Blood may call upon powers that awe even other vampires. Some of these powers can wreak destruction on a massive scale, but most elders are subtle with their use in the Modern Nights. The era of vampires ruling over mortals as wrathful god-kings is long past.
Vampires with Blood Potency scores of six or higher may develop Disciplines with dot ratings equal to their Blood Potency scores. These powers are natural continuations of the ones as described above. Many work on a vastly larger scale or break the rules for how a Discipline is “supposed” to work and ignore its prescribed limits.
Over the course of the chronicle, PCs may cross paths with Cainites who have mastered elder Disciplines. They are unlikely to reach the levels of Blood Potency necessary to develop such powers themselves, however. Until such time, their exact capabilities will remain in the shadows.
by:
False_Epiphany