Campaign of the Month: October 2017
Blood & Bourbon
Fortitude
“When my energies first surged through me I discovered […] how to be as stone."
The Book of Nod
A deafening rattle like several glass doors slamming shut punctuated the quiet ambience, as a hail of gunfire blasted through the office and into the company’s directors. A few slumped dead onto the mahogany table around which they were sat, while others writhed on the floor in pain. The gunman fled, dropping his weapon and charging out the fire escape.
A chorus of wounded cries and moans rose from the boardroom, as Mayumi Shibasaki pulled herself from the floor and wiped her hands down her hole-punctured suit. A few light tinkles followed as flattened bullets hit the floor. She looked down at the dead or dying board members, then sucked a few mouthfuls of blood from their open wounds, her mind fixated on one thing:
Whoever ordered this hit would pay for a new damn suit.
Clans: Gangrel, Hecata, Ravnos, Salubri, Ventrue
Nicknames: Bricking up (slang), god mode (slang), resistentia (archaic), stone flesh (common), stone skin (common)
Overview
Vampire the Masquerade (4th ed.)
Although all vampires have an unnatural constitution that make them much sturdier than mortals, Fortitude bestows a resilience that would make an action movie hero envious. Vampires with this Discipline can shrug off agonizing trauma and make the most bone-shattering impact look like a flesh wound. The power can even offer protection against the traditional banes of vampires, such as sunlight and fire, and the Gangrel, Ravnos, and Ventrue all find that edge incredibly useful.
Vampire the Requiem (1st ed.)
Legends abound of vampires who are able to withstand even the most brutal punishment to their unliving forms. While all Kindred possess a certain degree of the toughness of which these tales speak, those with Fortitude are commensurately more stalwart. Vampires with the Discipline are capable of walking through a hail of bullets, shrugging off even the most punishing blows, and even resisting the deadly claws and fangs of supernatural foes.
Vampire the Requiem (2nd ed.)
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 continue to act even when their body has been reduced to little more than bone and tendon.
Vampire the Masquerade (5th ed.)
Much prized by immortals, Fortitude grants the ability to resist physical and mental assault. Many users of the Discipline claim no vampire can 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 Gangrel and Ventrue.
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 (MeVid 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.
Fortitude • Devotions
Common Devotions
The vampire must take Resilience for their first one-dot Fortitude Devotion.
Bulletproof
The vampire is immune to harm from non-automatic firearms small enough to wield in one hand. Characters with more Firearms dots than the vampire’s Fortitude dots can harm them normally, as can dragonsbreath rounds (almost uniformly illegal in the World of Darkness thanks to vampiric influence) and ammunition that incorporates the vampire’s banes.
Ghouls take this Devotion as a two-dot Devotion.
Cost: Free
Immovable
The vampire roots themselves to a single spot. No force with lower Strength than the vampire’s Stamina can move them from where they are. (Since Resilience adds the vampire’s Fortitude to their Stamina, this Devotion can easily make them immovable to mortals.) The vampire takes Advantage on rolls to avoid being moved by stronger forces.
Cost: 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 0-1. Free at Blood Potency 2+.
Duration: Scene
Impervious
The vampire is immune to damaging melee attacks and unarmed attacks from characters without any dots in Brawl, Melee, or Potence. Attacks with stakes, fire, and banes still harm the vampire normally. (Note, however, that stakes are inefficient weapons and take Disadvantage if not used in ambushes or as the finishing move in a fight.) The vampire can also still be grappled, tripped, and otherwise hindered by characters whose attacks they’re immune to—they just can’t be directly harmed.
Ghouls take this Devotion as a two-dot Devotion.
Cost: Free
Inviolable Mind
The vampire can re-roll two dice that turned up failures for any roll to resist being swayed through mundane charms, coercion, and wiles. Some vampires exhibit Inviolable Mind as zen-like calm, others as supernatural stubbornness.
Cost: 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 0-1. First use in a scene is free at Blood Potency 2+.
Regeneration
The vampire’s flesh knits back together more efficiently during their slumber. The vampire takes Advantage on Rouse checks to use Mending while in daysleep.
Ghouls who take this Devotion instead heal faster. Every eight hours of bed rest reduces penalties from the Injured Condition by -1. A ghoul maimed almost to the point of death (Injured -5) can be up in slightly under two days without any medical care.
Cost: Free
Resilience
The vampire adds their Fortitude dots to their Stamina dots. This can increase their Stamina to 6 or more. The vampire also reduces the dice penalties they take from the Injured Condition by an amount equal to their Fortitude dots (to a minimum of 0). The vampire still enters torpor if they would take Injured -6.
Cost: Free
See You in Hell
Whenever the vampire would be torpored or destroyed, they can use a single Devotion or take a single dice roll’s worth of actions. This can’t be a Devotion or action that would save the vampire (e.g., Mending to heal their wounds). Despite this Devotion’s name, the vampire doesn’t have to attack opponents with it—they can also use it to protect allies, destroy things they don’t want enemies to get their hands on, or any other potentially final actions.
Cost: 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 0-1. Free at Blood Potency 2+.
Slowed Metabolism
The ghoul is less encumbered by human biological needs.
• They only need to eat one-third as often. A single meal fills them for a day.
• They only need half as much sleep.
• They can hold their breath for twice as many minutes.
• They take Advantage on rolls to resist mundane poisons and diseases. The ghoul rarely gets sick.
Cost: Free
Vigilance
The vampire can resist the call of daysleep. By making a Rouse check, they can automatically awaken during the day or stay awake for an additional scene.
Cost: As above.
Uncommon Devotions
Enfeebling Aura
(Presence • amalgam)
Many Brujah masters of Celerity and Potence claim that Presence means nothing when you’re staring down a skull-crushing fist. This Devotion seeks to disprove that notion. It brings forth the vampire’s supernatural presence not to awe a crowd, but to cow and enfeeble a victim. While it won’t completely stop an assailant, it will even the playing field in a tussle.
Cost: 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 0-1. Free at Blood Potency 2+.
Dice Pool: (Charisma or Manipulation) + (applicable Skill) + (Fortitude or Presence)
DC: (1/2 victim’s [Resolve + Composure + Supernatural Tolerance]) + 1. Every success removes one dot from the victim’s highest physical Discipline. The vampire can also specify a Discipline to remove dots from.
Duration: Scene
Fertility
The ghoul is extremely fertile. Anyone they have unprotected intercourse with who’s capable of impregnating the ghoul automatically does so. By making a Rouse check, the ghoul can become pregnant even if they or their partner is using protection. The pregnancy will be free of (natural) complications and the child born fit and healthy.
This Devotion is less popular than its counterpart (Virility), as domitors who want to breed their ghouls usually find it more convenient to do so with studs: they don’t have to be weaned from vitae for nine months (fatal for elder ghouls, and still causes younger ones to catch up to their true age). Still, it’s used by domitors with sufficiently young childbearing ghouls they want to breed.
Requirement: The ghoul must have been born with female genitalia.
Cost: Free
Iron Facade
(Obfuscate • amalgam)
The vampire appears completely unaffected by any injuries they suffer, no matter how severe. The vampire can make existing injuries seemingly vanish or can just appear unimpaired by them. This can change the social dynamics of many situations if the vampire appears to take someone’s best shot and shrug it off. It can also conceal vulnerabilities to banes and other weaknesses. Night-folk with Auspex or other preternatural senses can see through this if the vampire gets a setback on a Clash of Wills.
Cost: 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 0-2. Free at Blood Potency 3+.
Duration: Scene
Magic Resistance
The vampire is inherently resistant to magic and takes Advantage on rolls to resist Blood Sorcery.
Prerequisite: The vampire can’t have any dots in Blood Sorcery.
Cost: Free
Supernatural Resistance
The ghoul can use their Fortitude dots as their Supernatural Tolerance score for purposes of resisting night-folks’ supernatural powers. A ghoul who’s targeted by a vampire’s Dominate could roll Resolve + Composure + Fortitude to resist, for example. This Devotion allows the ghoul to compete on even rather than disadvantaged footing.
This benefit does not extend to Clashes of Wills. A ghoul trying to hide from a vampire with Obfuscate, for example, still only rolls Obfuscate (and still at Disadvantage) against the vampire’s Auspex + Blood Potency.
Domitors rarely allow any but their most trusted ghouls to learn this Devotion. While there is obvious benefit to one’s servants being harder to suborn by rivals, it can be a double-edged sword if the ghoul ever gets rebellious. Independent ghouls, though, greatly prize this Devotion.
Cost: Free
Toughest SOB In The Room
(Presence • amalgam)
Sometimes people won’t listen. Sometimes things get physical before you’re done talking. But goddammit, they’re going to listen, because you’re the toughest sonuvabitch in the room. When the vampire activates this Devotion, any penalty they’d take on Charisma rolls from the Injured Condition gives them an equal bonus instead.
Cost: 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 0-1. Free at Blood Potency 2+.
Duration: Scene
Fortitude •• Devotions
Common Devotions
Bulletproof
The vampire is immune to harm from all non-automatic firearms. Characters with more Firearms dots than the vampire’s Fortitude dots can harm them normally, as can dragonsbreath rounds (almost uniformly illegal in the World of Darkness thanks to vampiric influence) and ammunition that incorporates the vampire’s banes.
Ghouls take this Devotion as a three-dot Devotion.
Prerequisite: Bulletproof •
Cost: Free
Immovable
This Devotion functions like Immovable •, except no one else can move past the vampire either: an invisible force holds them at bay until the vampire falls. This Devotion is one of the most freely shared by Kindred with their ghouls and childer. Unsurprisingly, fewer elders tend to use it.
Immovable •: The vampire roots themselves to a single spot. No force with lower Strength than the vampire’s Stamina can move them from where they are. (Since Resilience adds the vampire’s Fortitude to their Stamina, this Devotion can easily make them immovable to mortals.) The vampire takes Advantage on rolls to avoid being moved by stronger forces.
Prerequisite: Immovable •
Cost: 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 0-2. Free at Blood Potency 3+.
Dice Pool: Stamina + (applicable Skill). Remember Resilience adds to Stamina rolls.
DC: (1/2 opponents’ [Resolve + Composure + Supernatural Tolerance]) + 1. Roll once and compare the result against every opponent’s DC: some may succumb and some may resist. On a success, affected opponents can’t move past the vampire, though they can retreat away.
Duration: Scene or until the vampire is destroyed or torpored.
Impervious
This Devotion functions like Impervious •, except the vampire is immune to damaging melee attacks and unarmed attacks from characters with one or fewer Brawl, Melee, and Potence dots. Characters with two or more dots in any of those traits can hurt the vampire normally.
Ghouls take this Devotion as a three-dot Devotion.
Prerequisite: Impervious •
Cost: Free
Inviolable Mind
This Devotion functions as Inviolable Mind •, except the vampire can also re-roll dice for rolls to resist being mentally swayed through supernatural means (e.g., Dominate or Presence).
Prerequisite: Inviolable Mind •
Cost: 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 0-2. First use in a scene is free at Blood Potency 3+.
Regeneration
Slumber fully restores the vampire’s flesh to its original state. Whenever the vampire gets a full day of daysleep, they reduce Injured’s penalties to 0. This Devotion does not apply to injuries from fire, sunlight, banes, and other sources that cost 5 Rouse checks rather than 1 Rouse check to heal with Mending.
Ghouls who take this Devotion instead reduce Injured by -1 after every hour of rest. A ghoul maimed almost to the point of death (Injured -5) can be up in five hours without any medical care.
Regeneration •: The vampire’s flesh knits back together more efficiently during their slumber. The vampire takes Advantage on Rouse checks to use Mending while in daysleep.
Ghouls who take this Devotion instead heal faster. Every eight hours of bed rest reduces penalties from the Injured Condition by -1. A ghoul maimed almost to the point of death (Injured -5) can be up in slightly under two days without any medical care.
Prerequisite: Regeneration •
Cost: Free
Respect Your Betters
(Presence •• amalgam)
Characters with lower Supernatural Tolerance than the vampire’s Blood Potency can’t attack the vampire unless they’re frenzying or the vampire attacks them first. PCs can spend (vampire’s Blood Potency – their Blood Potency) Story Points to still attack vampires with this Devotion. This Devotion is widely taught among the Ventrue.
Cost: Free
See You in Hell
This Devotion functions as See You in Hell •, except the vampire’s last action takes Advantage on any dice roll.
See You in Hell •: Whenever the vampire would be torpored or destroyed, they can use a single Devotion or take a single dice roll’s worth of actions. This can’t be a Devotion or action that would save the vampire (e.g., Mending to heal their wounds). Despite this Devotion’s name, the vampire doesn’t have to attack opponents with it—they can also use it to protect allies, destroy things they don’t want enemies to get their hands on, or any other potentially final actions.
Prerequisite: See You in Hell •
Cost: 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 0-2. Free at Blood Potency 3+.
Shelf Life
Characters who use Dominate, Presence, and other mind-altering powers on the vampire reduce their duration by one increment: year to month, month to week, week to night, night to scene, scene to a single action. Single-action powers are unaffected by this Devotion. Characters with higher Supernatural Tolerance than the vampire’s Fortitude dots still affect the vampire for their powers’ normal durations.
Cost: 1 Rouse check at Bood Potency 0-2. Free at Blood Potency 3+.
Shrug Off
Whenever the vampire is affected by Dominate, Presence, or other mind-controlling powers with a duration longer than immediate, the vampire can attempt a re-roll (same dice pool and DC) after carrying out a single action under the power’s influence. On a success, the vampire overcomes the power. This Devotion doesn’t work against powers used by characters with higher Supernatural Tolerance than the vampire’s Fortitude.
Cost: 1 Rouse check at Bood Potency 0-2. Free at Blood Potency 3+.
Slowed Metabolism
The ghoul is less encumbered by human biological needs.
• They can subsist on any food originally fit for human consumption without ill effect. A diet of moldy bread, O’Tolley’s cheeseburgers, and compost bin contents is perfectly nutritious.
• They gain the benefits of a full night of sleep in only two hours.
• They can hold their breath for ten times as many minutes.
• They take Major Advantage on rolls to resist mundane poisons and diseases. The ghoul almost never gets sick.
Prerequisite: Slowed Metabolism •
Cost: Free
Uncommon Devotions
22 Solid
This Devotion was developed in 1982 by Dr. Antoine Stockton. A Michigan physician who was Embraced by a Gangrel with a dying ghoul and more urgency than sense, Dr. Stockton became an Anarch night doctor. A recalibration of the undead body’s resistance to harm was a spectacular yield from his studies of Kindred physiology. He called it “Too Too Solid Flesh” because he was a scholar of the classics. The Anarchs using it in the struggle tonight are generally less educated, more modern, and inclined to call it 22 Solid.
This Devotion gives a ghoul the benefits of vampiric Dead Flesh. Rolls to withstand harm by guns and ‘nonlethal’ sources of trauma like fists, stun guns, pepper spray, extreme temperatures, etc. take Advantage. The ghoul still needs to breathe and can still get physically tired.
Cost: Free
Beast’s Vigor
(Animalism •• amalgam)
The vampire can transfer their wounds to an animal by touching it. The vampire reduces their penalties from the Injured Condition by any amount and makes the animal suffer them in the vampire’s place. Animals smaller than human size may only be able to accept penalties up to a certain amount before dying. Larger than human animals may be able to survive penalties in excess of 5.
Cost: 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 0-2. Free at Blood Potency 3+.
Magic Resistance
The vampire is inherently resistant to magic and takes Advantage on rolls to resist Blood Sorcery. They’re also immune to one-dot Blood Sorcery Devotions.
Prerequisite: The vampire can’t have any dots in Blood Sorcery; Magic Resistance •
Cost: Free
Healer’s Touch
The Salubri’s signature Devotion stems from their ability to apply the vampiric regenerative process to others. The vampire’s third eye (if they have one) opens wide, shedding slick sanguine light. The target feels sweet, invigorating energies rushing into their wounds.
The vampire can use Mending on anyone they physically touch. This costs Rouse checks as normal. The target doesn’t develop a blood bond towards the vampire. Mortals don’t become ghouls or risk vitae addiction.
Cost: As above.
Fortitude ••• Devotions
Common Devotions
Agonistic Fuel
Whenever the vampire takes the Injured Condition, they can reduce the Rouse cost for a Devotion by 1 per penalty from Injured (to a minimum of 0). The vampire can spread out this reduced cost over multiple Devotions. For example, a vampire with Injured -3 could reduce the cost for one Devotion by two Rouse checks, and reduce the cost for another Devotion by a single Rouse check.
Cost: Free
Duration: Until the vampire’s wounds are healed. The vampire cannot continually injure, heal, and re-injure themselves to build up a “store” of free Devotion uses.
Bulletproof
The vampire is immune to harm from automatic firearms small enough for individual gunmen to carry. Clustered automatic fire (from more simultaneous shooters than the vampire’s Fortitude dots) can harm them normally, as can dragonsbreath rounds (almost uniformly illegal in the World of Darkness thanks to vampiric influence) and ammunition that incorporates the vampire’s banes.
Ghouls take this Devotion as a four-dot Devotion.
Prerequisite: Bulletproof •, Bulletproof ••
Cost: Free
Impervious
This Devotion functions like Impervious •, except the vampire is immune to damaging melee attacks and unarmed attacks from characters with two or fewer Brawl, Melee, and Potence dots. Characters with three or more dots in any of those traits can hurt the vampire normally.
Ghouls take this Devotion as a four-dot Devotion.
Prerequisite: Impervious •, Impervious ••
Cost: Free
Mind Shield
The vampire can extend the benefits of Shrug Off •• or Shelf Life •• to anyone in the same room as them. The character is considered to have the vampire’s Fortitude dots or their own, whichever is better. They can roll the vampire’s dice pools or their own, whichever is higher.
Prerequisite: Shelf Life •• or Shrug Off ••
Cost: 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 0-3. First use in a scene is free at Blood Potency 4+.
Duration: Scene
Regeneration
The vampire’s flesh slowly knits back together over the night. They reduce Injured’s penalties by 1 after only one hour or at the end of any scene (whichever comes sooner). Daysleep, which lasts 8+ hours, still reduces Injured to 0. If someone torpors the vampire, this Devotion still heals them, but doesn’t wake them up. This Devotion does not apply to injuries from fire, sunlight, banes, and other sources that cost 5 Rouse checks rather than 1 Rouse check to heal with Mending.
Ghouls who take this Devotion now gain the same effects as vampires: they reduce Injured by -1 after every hour or at the end of any scene (whichever comes sooner), regardless of whether they’ve been resting or not.
Regeneration ••: Slumber fully restores the vampire’s flesh to its original state. Whenever the vampire gets a full day of daysleep, they reduce Injured’s penalties to 0. This Devotion does not apply to injuries from fire, sunlight, banes, and other sources that cost 5 Rouse checks rather than 1 Rouse check to heal with Mending.
Ghouls who take this Devotion instead reduce Injured by -1 after every hour of rest. A ghoul maimed almost to the point of death (Injured -5) can be up in five hours without any medical care.
Regeneration •: The vampire’s flesh knits back together more efficiently during their slumber. The vampire takes Advantage on Rouse checks to use Mending while in daysleep.
Ghouls who take this Devotion instead heal faster. Every eight hours of bed rest reduces penalties from the Injured Condition by -1. A ghoul maimed almost to the point of death (Injured -5) can be up in slightly under two days without any medical care.
Prerequisite: Regeneration •, Regeneration ••
Cost: Free
See You in Hell
This Devotion functions as See You in Hell •, except the vampire’s last action takes Major Advantage on any dice roll.
See You in Hell ••: This Devotion functions as See You in Hell •, except the vampire’s last action takes Advantage on any dice roll.
See You in Hell •: Whenever the vampire would be torpored or destroyed, they can use a single Devotion or take a single dice roll’s worth of actions. This can’t be a Devotion or action that would save the vampire (e.g., Mending to heal their wounds). Despite this Devotion’s name, the vampire doesn’t have to attack opponents with it—they can also use it to protect allies, destroy things they don’t want enemies to get their hands on, or any other potentially final actions.
Prerequisite: See You in Hell •, See You in Hell ••
Cost: 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 0-3. Free at Blood Potency 4+.
Shrug Off
This Devotion functions like Shrug Off ••, except the vampire can overcome powers used by characters with higher Supernatural Tolerance than the vampire’s Fortitude.
Shrug Off ••: Whenever the vampire is affected by Dominate, Presence, or other mind-controlling powers with a duration longer than immediate, the vampire can attempt a re-roll (same dice pool and DC) after carrying out a single action under the power’s influence. On a success, the vampire overcomes the power. This Devotion doesn’t work against powers used by characters with higher Supernatural Tolerance than the vampire’s Fortitude.
Prerequisite: Shrug Off ••
Cost: 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 0-3. Free at Blood Potency 4+.
Shelf Life
This Devotion functions like Shelf Life ••, except it also applies to powers used by characters with higher Supernatural Tolerance than the vampire’s Fortitude.
Shelf Life ••: Characters who use Dominate, Presence, and other mind-altering powers on the vampire reduce their duration by one increment: year to month, month to week, week to night, night to scene, scene to a single action. Single-action powers are unaffected by this Devotion. Characters with higher Supernatural Tolerance than the vampire’s Fortitude dots still affect the vampire for their powers’ normal durations.
Prerequisite: Shelf Life ••
Cost: 1 Rouse check at Bood Potency 0-3. Free at Blood Potency 4+.
Slowed Metabolism
The ghoul is less encumbered by human biological needs.
• They can subsist off any organic matter (dirt, paper, leaves, sewage water, etc.) without ill effect.
• They can “catnap” and sleep with repeated interruptions, as well as on their feet, without ill effect. The ghoul only needs two hours of sleep per night.
• They can hold their breath for hours instead of minutes.
• They are immune to mundane poisons and diseases. The ghoul can still contract ailments and pass them on to others.
Prerequisite: Slowed Metabolism •, Slowed Metabolism ••
Cost: Free
Uncommon Devotions
Defy Bane
The vampire can ignore the effects of a single bane for one dice roll or other brief action. A vampire with Weakened by Symbols, for example, could activate this Devotion to deface a holy symbol. The vampire cannot use this Devotion to ignore their clan bane.
Cost: 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 0-3. First use in a scene is free at Blood Potency 4+.
Magic Resistance
The vampire is inherently resistant to magic and takes Advantage on rolls to resist Blood Sorcery. They’re also immune to two-dot Blood Sorcery Devotions.
Prerequisite: The vampire can’t have any dots in Blood Sorcery; Magic Resistance •, Magic Resistance ••
Cost: Free
Prolong Death’s Door
The ghoul doesn’t die when they reach Injured -6 and someone fails to administer first aid. Instead, the ghoul enters a state of hibernation not unlike vampiric torpor. Their pulse flatlines and they appear in all ways clinically dead. The ghoul can also enter this state voluntarily at any time (if, say, they wish to fake their death) and choose when they will awaken. Medical resuscitation can still revive the ghoul, as can a Rouse check’s worth of vitae. Anyone who pauses to finish the ghoul off (slitting their throat, shooting them in the head, etc.) can still kill them. The ghoul can survive in this torpor-like state indefinitely, but continues to make Rouse checks every two weeks as normal. Once the ghoul burns through their remaining blood supply and reaches Craving 8, they die of deprivation after several days.
Cost: Free
Sympathetic Agony
(Obfuscate •• amalgam)
The Kshatriya caste of Indian Ravnos developed this Devotion to shift the pain of wounds inflicted on them to their enemies. Whenever the target strikes a vampire using this Devotion, the target feels the pain instead of the vampire.
Requirement: The target must have attacked the vampire.
Cost: 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 0-3. Free at Blood Potency 4+.
Dice Pool: (Intelligence or Wits) + (applicable Skill) + Obfuscate or (Resolve + Stamina). Remember Fortitude adds to Stamina rolls.
DC: (1/2 target’s [Resolve + Composure + Supernatural Tolerance]) + 1. Every success reduces the penalty the vampire suffers from the Injured Condition by 1 and causes the target to suffer it instead. The vampire still enters torpor if they’d reach Injured -6 without having used this Devotion.
Duration: Scene
Victual from Afar
(Auspex •••• amalgam)
The vampire can feed their ghouls blood remotely, mystically transporting vitae from their veins into their ghouls’. The vampire still needs to use other powers if they want to know how badly their ghouls need blood, but it’s useful if a ghoul disappears, can call their domitor over the phone, or if the vampire is physically prevented from reaching a servant they know can help them.
If a ghoul takes this Devotion, their domitor can send blood only to them, but the ghoul can telepathically request blood at any point. The ghoul can’t communicate anything besides a wordless hunger for blood. Most domitors severely discipline their ghouls to only use this Devotion in emergencies, but addicts will do anything for a fix.
Unlike most amalgam Devotions, the vampire and the ghoul can split the prerequisites between each other. For example, a vampire with Auspex 4 and no dots in Celerity or Fortitude could still take this Devotion, but could only send blood to ghouls with Celerity 3 or Fortitude 3. A ghoul with Auspex 4 and no dots in Celerity or Fortitude could also take this Devotion, so long as their domitor has Celerity 3 or Fortitude 3.
Cost: Free, but blood transmitted between ghouls and vampires not in the same city costs a “surcharge” of 1 Rouse check per 500 miles.
Shepherd’s Watch
The Salubri’s third eye opens and flares a bright white, illuminating a barely-visible ward around the vampire and their charges—anyone designated by the vampire who’s close enough to physically touch them. Opponents can’t attack the vampire or their charges unless attacked first.
This Devotion is exclusive to the Salubri.
Cost: 2 Rouse checks at Blood Potency 0-3. 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 4+.
Dice Pool: Stamina + (applicable Skill). Remember Fortitude adds to Stamina rolls.
DC: (1/2 opponents’ [Resolve + Composure + Supernatural Tolerance]) + 1. Roll once and compare the result against every opponent’s DC: some may succumb and some may resist.
Duration: Scene
Fortitude •••• Devotions
Common Devotions
Bulletproof
The vampire is immune to harm from automatic firearms small enough for individual gunmen to carry. Clustered fire doesn’t make a difference. Dragonsbreath rounds (almost uniformly illegal in the World of Darkness thanks to vampiric influence) and ammunition that incorporates the vampire’s banes can damage them normally.
Ghouls take this Devotion as a five-dot Devotion.
Prerequisite: Bulletproof •, Bulletproof ••, Bulletproof •••
Cost: Free
Draught of Endurance
The vampire can saturate their blood with the power of Fortitude, conveying a portion of that endurance to anyone who drinks of it. Drinking a Rouse check’s worth of blood lets the drinker temporarily use the vampire’s Fortitude dots in place of their own. The drinker gains no additional Devotions besides Resilience.
Cost: 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 0-4. Free at Blood Potency 5+. This is in addition to the requirement that the drinker consume a Rouse check’s worth of the vampire’s blood.
Duration: One night for mortals and ghouls; for other vampires, until the next feeding or the other vampire reaches Hunger 6.
Impervious
This Devotion functions like Impervious •, except the vampire is immune to damaging melee attacks and unarmed attacks from characters with three or fewer Brawl, Melee, and Potence dots. Characters with four or more dots in any of those traits can hurt the vampire normally.
Ghouls take this Devotion as a five-dot Devotion.
Prerequisite: Impervious •, Impervious ••, Impervious •••
Cost: Free
Master’s Protection
The vampire’s ghouls add the vampire’s Blood Potency (up to a maximum of +5) to theirs when calculating DCs to affect them with Disciplines and other supernatural powers opposed by an Attribute + Supernatural Tolerance roll. This makes the vampire’s ghouls as hard to suborn as other Kindred: a ghoul with Resolve 3 and a Blood Potency 4 domitor, for example, would roll seven dice rather than three to resist another vampire’s Dominate.
This benefit does not extend to Clashes of Wills. A ghoul trying to hide from a vampire with Obfuscate, for example, still only rolls Obfuscate (and still at Disadvantage) against the vampire’s Auspex + Blood Potency.
This Devotion overlaps (does not stack) with Supernatural Resistance. The ghoul uses whichever is better.
Cost: Free
Mind Shield
The vampire can extend the benefits of Shrug Off ••• or Shelf Life ••• to anyone in the same room as them. The character is considered to have the vampire’s Fortitude dots or their own, whichever is better. They can roll the vampire’s dice pools or their own, whichever is higher.
Prerequisite: (Shrug Off ••, Shrug Off ••• OR Shelf Life ••, Shelf Life •••), Mind Shield •••
Cost: 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 0-4. First use in a scene is free at Blood Potency 5+.
Duration: Scene
Regeneration
The vampire’s flesh rapidly knits back together over the night. They can walk away from any fight unscathed unless someone puts them down. The vampire reduces Injured’s penalties to 0 after only one hour or at the start of any scene (whichever comes sooner). If someone torpors the vampire, this Devotion still heals them, but doesn’t wake them up. This Devotion does not apply to injuries from fire, sunlight, banes, and other sources that cost 5 Rouse checks rather than 1 Rouse check to heal with Mending.
Regeneration •••: The vampire’s flesh slowly knits back together over the night. They reduce Injured’s penalties by 1 after only one hour or at the end of any scene (whichever comes sooner). Daysleep, which lasts 8+ hours, still reduces Injured to 0. If someone torpors the vampire, this Devotion still heals them, but doesn’t wake them up. This Devotion does not apply to injuries from fire, sunlight, banes, and other sources that cost 5 Rouse checks rather than 1 Rouse check to heal with Mending.
Ghouls who take this Devotion now gain the same effects as vampires: they reduce Injured by -1 after every hour or at the end of any scene (whichever comes sooner), regardless of whether they’ve been resting or not.
Regeneration ••: Slumber fully restores the vampire’s flesh to its original state. Whenever the vampire gets a full day of daysleep, they reduce Injured’s penalties to 0. This Devotion does not apply to injuries from fire, sunlight, banes, and other sources that cost 5 Rouse checks rather than 1 Rouse check to heal with Mending.
Ghouls who take this Devotion instead reduce Injured by -1 after every hour of rest. A ghoul maimed almost to the point of death (Injured -5) can be up in five hours without any medical care.
Regeneration •: The vampire’s flesh knits back together more efficiently during their slumber. The vampire takes Advantage on Rouse checks to use Mending while in daysleep.
Ghouls who take this Devotion instead heal faster. Every eight hours of bed rest reduces penalties from the Injured Condition by -1. A ghoul maimed almost to the point of death (Injured -5) can be up in slightly under two days without any medical care.
Prerequisite: Regeneration •, Regeneration ••, Regeneration •••
Cost: Free
Safe Slumber
A vampire is at their most vulnerable while in daysleep or torpor. This Devotion mitigates that, at least somewhat. Whenever the vampire enters daysleep or torpor, a protective stone-like calcification grows over their body that renders them immune to damage not from fire, sunlight, or banes. Even if the vampire’s body is fed into a wood chipper, the broken chunks simply fuse back together. Once the vampire awakens, the protective calcification crumbles apart.
Cost: Free
Slowed Metabolism
The ghoul is less encumbered by human biological needs.
• They no longer need to eat or drink, and no longer urinate or defecate even if they choose to.
• They breathe through their pores, making them immune to oxygen deprivation so long as there are trace amounts of moisture in the air.
• They no longer need to sleep. Although they can still do so, many ghouls with this Devotion take stubborn pride in serving their domitors literally 24 hours a day.
• They are immune to mundane poisons and diseases. They have Advantage on rolls to withstand supernatural ailments. The ghoul can still contract ailments and pass them on to others.
Prerequisite: Slowed Metabolism •, Slowed Metabolism ••, Slowed Metabolism •••
Cost: Free
Uncommon Devotions
Magic Resistance
The vampire is inherently resistant to magic and takes Advantage on rolls to resist Blood Sorcery. They’re also immune to three-dot Blood Sorcery Devotions.
Prerequisite: The vampire can’t have any dots in Blood Sorcery; Magic Resistance •, Magic Resistance ••, Magic Resistance •••
Cost: Free
Prolong Death’s Door
This Devotion functions like Prolong Death’s Door •••, except the ghoul can only be slain by the total destruction of their bodily volume: exploding them with a bomb, feeding them into a wood chipper, incinerating them in a crematorium, etc. Simply continuing to shoot or stab them once they’re down has no effect. While the ghoul is in their torpor-like state, they stop making biweekly Rouse checks and can survive indefinitely until they’re medically resuscitated or obtain more blood. Some ghouls who expect to be deprived of blood for extended periods enter this state voluntarily.
Prolong Death’s Door •••: The ghoul doesn’t die when they reach Injured -6 and someone fails to administer first aid. Instead, the ghoul enters a state of hibernation not unlike vampiric torpor. Their pulse flatlines and they appear in all ways clinically dead. The ghoul can also enter this state voluntarily at any time (if, say, they wish to fake their death) and choose when they will awaken. Medical resuscitation can still revive the ghoul, as can a Rouse check’s worth of vitae. Anyone who pauses to finish the ghoul off (slitting their throat, shooting them in the head, etc.) can still kill them. The ghoul can survive in this torpor-like state indefinitely, but continues to make Rouse checks every two weeks as normal. Once the ghoul burns through their remaining blood supply and reaches Craving 8, they die of deprivation after several days.
Prerequisite: Prolong Death’s Door •••
Cost: Free
Pseudocide
The vampire can fake their demise, physically aging to whatever age is appropriate for a vampire of their age who’s met final death: neonates become decayed corpses, ancillae become withered mummies, elders become skeletons, and methuselahs become dust. No matter how ravaged their body, the vampire remains aware of their surroundings and can move at a slow crawl, but cannot take any physical actions strenuous enough to require dice rolls. The vampire’s consciousness remains in the largest portion of their body if any pieces of it get separated. Nothing can destroy the vampire while this Devotion is active except for fire, sunlight, and banes. Powers that would detect the vampire is still ‘alive’ must succeed on a Clash of Wills.
Ghouls can’t take this Devotion.
Cost: 2 Rouse checks at Blood Potency 0-4. 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 5+.
Duration: Scene. Most vampires either wait for their would-be killers to leave or try to make good their escape before their body reforms. The Obfuscate Discipline can be especially effective when combined with this Devotion.
Reflection
The vampire can reflect a supernatural power someone tries to use on them back at the user. The vampire chooses how the power manifests. For example, if someone tries to use the Mesmerize Dominate Devotion on the vampire, the vampire could choose what commands to implant the user with.
Requirement: The vampire must beat the DC to resist the power by one or more successes.
Cost: 2 Rouse checks at Blood Potency 0-4. 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 5+.
Father’s Judgment
The Blood is Caine’s gift. The Salubri pronounce judgment on those who misuse it. Their third eye glowing as silver as Raphael’s soft halo, the vampire renders the target’s vitae inert, causing it to seize within them and clot into dead dark chunks. Even powerful elders fear repeated use of this Devotion.
Father’s Judgment is almost exclusive to the Salubri and a few Banu Haqim.
Cost: 2 Rouse checks at Blood Potency 0-4. 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 5+.
Dice Pool: Stamina + (applicable Skill). Remember Fortitude adds to Stamina rolls.
DC: (1/2 target’s [Resolve + Composure + Supernatural Tolerance]) + 1. Every success increases the target’s Hunger by 1. They also can’t make Rouse checks for the rest of the Scene
Fortitude ••••• Devotions
Common Devotions
Bulletproof
The vampire is immune to harm from automatic firearms too large for individual gunmen to carry, such as M60s and M249, as well as smaller and outdated forms of artillery (e.g., cannons). Only vehicle-mounted artillery can still hurt them, as can dragonsbreath rounds (almost uniformly illegal in the World of Darkness thanks to vampiric influence) and ammunition that incorporates the vampire’s banes can damage them normally.
Ghouls can’t take this Devotion.
Prerequisite: Bulletproof •, Bulletproof ••, Bulletproof •••, Bulletproof ••••
Cost: Free
Draught of Endurance
This Devotion functions like Draught of Endurance ••••, except the drinkers gain one additional Devotion for every new Fortitude level they gain. These Devotions must be known by the vampire.
The drinker must gain Devotions at the corresponding Fortitude levels; for example, a drinker who gains Fortitude ••••• must gain Resilience, a Fortitude •• Devotion, a Fortitude ••• Devotion, a Fortitude •••• Devotion, and a Fortitude •••• Devotion, rather than Resilience and four Fortitude ••••• Devotions.
If the drinker already knows Fortitude, they still gain new Devotions at levels the drinker already knows.
Draught of Endurance ••••: The vampire can saturate their blood with the power of Fortitude, conveying a portion of that endurance to anyone who drinks of it. Drinking a Rouse check’s worth of blood lets the drinker temporarily use the vampire’s Fortitude dots in place of their own. The drinker gains no additional Devotions besides Resilience.
Prerequisite: Draught of Endurance ••••
Cost: 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 0-5. Free at Blood Potency 6+. This is in addition to the requirement that the drinker consume a Rouse check’s worth of the vampire’s blood.
Duration: One night for mortals and ghouls; for other vampires, until the next feeding or the other vampire reaches Hunger 6.
Impervious
This Devotion functions like Impervious •, except the vampire is immune to damaging melee attacks and unarmed attacks from characters with four or fewer Brawl, Melee, and Potence dots. Characters with five or more dots in any of those traits can hurt the vampire normally.
Ghouls can’t take this Devotion.
Prerequisite: Impervious •, Impervious ••, Impervious •••, Impervious ••••
Cost: Free
Juggernaut
The vampire renders themselves completely immune to all forms of harm. Even the strongest Kindred can’t maintain this state for long, but for as long as they do, they’re veritable gods of blood.
Cost: 3 Rouse checks at Blood Potency 0-5. 2 Rouse checks at Blood Potency 6+.
Duration: One dice roll’s worth of actions, or several seconds’ worth of time.
Mark of Caine
This Devotion doesn’t go so far as the seven-fold vengeance God promised upon Caine’s slayer, but it comes close. Anyone who inflicts the Injured Condition on the vampire takes the Condition at an equal penalty themselves. While this Devotion is active, a burning mark appears on the vampire’s arm or forehead.
Cost: 2 Rouse checks at Blood Potency 0-5. 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 6+.
Dice Pool: Stamina + (applicable Skill). Remember Resilience adds to Stamina rolls. Victims with equal or lower Supernatural Tolerance than the vampire succumb without a dice roll.
DC: (1/2 victim’s [Resolve + Composure + Supernatural Tolerance]) + 1. Roll once and compare the result against every victim’s DC: some may succumb and some may resist.
Duration: Scene
Pain’s Prowess
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 Devotion. In addition to taking never taking penalties from the Injured Condition at this point (thanks to Resilience), the vampire gains a +1 bonus on Physical rolls for every die penalty that Injured would normally inflict.
Cost: 1 Rouse check at Blood Potency 0-5. Free at Blood Potency 6+.
Duration: Scene
Regeneration
The vampire has a healing factor to rival werewolves. They reduce Injured’s penalties by 1 after every minute or GM-prompted dice roll (whichever comes sooner). The vampire still reduces Injured’s penalties to 0 at the start of any scene. This Devotion does not apply to injuries from fire, sunlight, banes, and other sources that cost 5 Rouse checks rather than 1 Rouse check to heal with Mending.
Regeneration ••••: The vampire’s flesh rapidly knits back together over the night. They can walk away from any fight unscathed unless someone puts them down. The vampire reduces Injured’s penalties to 0 after only one hour or at the start of any scene (whichever comes sooner). If someone torpors the vampire, this Devotion still heals them, but doesn’t wake them up. This Devotion does not apply to injuries from fire, sunlight, banes, and other sources that cost 5 Rouse checks rather than 1 Rouse check to heal with Mending.
Regeneration •••: The vampire’s flesh slowly knits back together over the night. They reduce Injured’s penalties by 1 after only one hour or at the end of any scene (whichever comes sooner). Daysleep, which lasts 8+ hours, still reduces Injured to 0. If someone torpors the vampire, this Devotion still heals them, but doesn’t wake them up. This Devotion does not apply to injuries from fire, sunlight, banes, and other sources that cost 5 Rouse checks rather than 1 Rouse check to heal with Mending.
Ghouls who take this Devotion now gain the same effects as vampires: they reduce Injured by -1 after every hour or at the end of any scene (whichever comes sooner), regardless of whether they’ve been resting or not.
Regeneration ••: Slumber fully restores the vampire’s flesh to its original state. Whenever the vampire gets a full day of daysleep, they reduce Injured’s penalties to 0. This Devotion does not apply to injuries from fire, sunlight, banes, and other sources that cost 5 Rouse checks rather than 1 Rouse check to heal with Mending.
Ghouls who take this Devotion instead reduce Injured by -1 after every hour of rest. A ghoul maimed almost to the point of death (Injured -5) can be up in five hours without any medical care.
Regeneration •: The vampire’s flesh knits back together more efficiently during their slumber. The vampire takes Advantage on Rouse checks to use Mending while in daysleep.
Ghouls who take this Devotion instead heal faster. Every eight hours of bed rest reduces penalties from the Injured Condition by -1. A ghoul maimed almost to the point of death (Injured -5) can be up in slightly under two days without any medical care.
Prerequisite: Regeneration •, Regeneration ••, Regeneration •••, Regeneration ••••
Cost: Free
Safe Slumber
This Devotion functions like Safe Slumber ••••, except the vampire is also immune to damage from fire and sunlight. Only banes can harm them while they’re in daysleep and torpor.
Safe Slumber ••••: A vampire is at their most vulnerable while in daysleep or torpor. This Devotion mitigates that, at least somewhat. Whenever the vampire enters daysleep or torpor, a protective stone-like calcification grows over their body that renders them immune to damage not from fire, sunlight, or banes. Even if the vampire’s body is fed into a wood chipper, the broken chunks simply fuse back together. Once the vampire awakens, the protective calcification crumbles apart.
Prerequisite: Safe Slumber •••• and the vampire must have a bane that’s able to physically hurt them.
Cost: Free
Uncommon Devotions
Dullahan’s Endurance
The vampire can survive decapitation. They’re blind, deaf, and dumb without their head, but they survive. The vampire can reattach their severed head to their neck with a Rouse check. Growing a completely new head takes five Rouse checks and a full day of daysleep.
If the vampire has the Crawling Hand Devotion (Protean ••••), they can continue to see, hear, and speak for as long as they’re within range of their head.
Ghouls can’t take this Devotion.
Cost: Free
Indestructible
No vampire can return from final death. This Devotion is the next-best thing. It functions as Pseudocide, except the vampire automatically activates the Devotion whenever they’d normally be destroyed: the vampire doesn’t have to be conscious or aware when they’d meet final death, nor does the player have to declare when the vampire uses it (and possibly be too late). Fire and banes also cease to harm the vampire, although sunlight still does.
Pseudocide ••••: The vampire can fake their demise, physically aging to whatever age is appropriate for a vampire of their age who’s met final death: neonates become decayed corpses, ancillae become withered mummies, elders become skeletons, and methuselahs become dust. No matter how ravaged their body, the vampire remains aware of their surroundings and can move at a slow crawl, but cannot take any physical actions strenuous enough to require dice rolls. The vampire’s consciousness remains in the largest portion of their body if any pieces of it get separated. Nothing can destroy the vampire while this Devotion is active except for fire, sunlight, and banes. Powers that would detect the vampire is still ‘alive’ must succeed on a Clash of Wills.
Ghouls can’t take this Devotion.
Prerequisite: Pseudocide ••••
Cost: Free
Duration: Indefinite. The vampire can remain in ash form for as long as they’d like to convince their foes they’ve been destroyed. The vampire still enters daysleep and makes nightly Rouse checks as normal.
Magic Resistance
The vampire is inherently resistant to magic and takes Advantage on rolls to resist Blood Sorcery. They’re also immune to four-dot Blood Sorcery Devotions.
Prerequisite: The vampire can’t have any dots in Blood Sorcery; Magic Resistance •, Magic Resistance ••, Magic Resistance •••, Magic Resistance ••••
Cost: Free
Prolong Death’s Door
This Devotion functions like Prolong Death’s Door ••••, except the ghoul can also use Mending to heal injuries while in their torpor-like state. The ghoul retains a vague sense of tactile awareness and can choose to use Mending whenever would be convenient (such as if a knowledgeable foe takes the time to completely destroy their body).
This Devotion effectively makes the ghoul unkillable until they run out of blood and reach Craving 8, since they can just use Mending to get back up whenever someone puts them down. It’s also an effective way to outlast enemies, as the ghoul can allow a foe to seemingly kill them, wait until they’re alone, and then get back up instead of waiting until someone finds their body.
Prolong Death’s Door ••••: This Devotion functions like Prolong Death’s Door •••, except the ghoul can only be slain by the total destruction of their bodily volume: exploding them with a bomb, feeding them into a wood chipper, incinerating them in a crematorium, etc. Simply continuing to shoot or stab them once they’re down has no effect. While the ghoul is in their torpor-like state, they stop making biweekly Rouse checks and can survive indefinitely until they obtain more blood. Some ghouls who expect to be deprived of blood for extended periods enter this state voluntarily.
Prolong Death’s Door •••: The ghoul doesn’t die when they reach Injured -6 and someone fails to administer first aid. Instead, the ghoul enters a state of hibernation not unlike vampiric torpor. Their pulse flatlines and they appear in all ways clinically dead. The ghoul can also enter this state voluntarily at any time (if, say, they wish to fake their death) and choose when they will awaken. Medical resuscitation can still revive the ghoul, as can a Rouse check’s worth of vitae. Anyone who pauses to finish the ghoul off (slitting their throat, shooting them in the head, etc.) can still kill them. The ghoul can survive in this torpor-like state indefinitely, but continues to make Rouse checks every two weeks as normal. Once the ghoul burns through their remaining blood supply and reaches Craving 8, they die of deprivation after several days.
Prerequisite: Prolong Death’s Door •••, Prolong Death’s Door ••••
Cost: Free
Rare Devotions
Draught of Phoenix Blood
(Protean ••••• amalgam)
The story goes that if a vampire can manifest this Devotion, it is because they drank the blood of some long-forgotten mythical monster and it somehow changed who and what they were. But since that taste, they have become literally unkillable.
If the vampire would meet final death, their body decays like any other vampire’s of the appropriate age. One week later, whatever’s left of them disintegrates into ash as though consumed by fire. Then, the vampire’s ash gathers on the back wind, pulls itself up from the soil, etc., and the vampire is reborn at Injured 0 and their previous Hunger. The vampire has a new face and body of the same general appearance (race, gender, height, etc.), but is reduced to Blood Potency 1 and suffers total amnesia, reducing them to the same Skills and Disciplines as a starting character. (This also means they lose Fortitude 5/Protean 5, so their next death is permanent.) The only detail the vampire recalls of their past unlife with any certainty is who killed them. It’s a heavy price, but preferable to final death.
Cost: Free
Disciplines Portal
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by:
False_Epiphany