I wonder if we can get payment in Vitae instead of money, giving us his blood the Gangrel would teach us the Animalism Discipline.
Animalism would be a really useful Discipline to have, especialy for a detective. Our Famulus could trail suspects in our place, we could use Feral Whispers to interrogate animals, and as is been said before in the thread we could have animal ghouls.
Drinking any wod vampire blood, even ignoring the taboo since it's not really diablerie mean forming a bloodbond of level 1. If you're fine with being lightly unnaturally mental influenced, like exalted calls it it's a option but I'd afaict there wasn't a rule that you had to drink the blood to learn a out of clan discipline if you have a teacher, although I wouldn't be surprised if I missed it or a house rule mentions it.
Anyway humanity is really important to not turn into a total asshat immediately (it's kind of inevitable with this stupid 'curse' but long lived vampires can last a long time before they go down the paths of asshattery for survival at humanity 2-4).
Being childish looking will make it really hard to interrogate humans, so I kind of want to ask what's the apparent age. Although I see intimidation 3 (lol) in the charsheet.
Drinking any wod vampire blood, even ignoring the taboo since it's not really diablerie mean forming a bloodbond of level 1. If you're fine with being lightly unnaturally mental influenced, like exalted calls it it's a option but I'd afaict there wasn't a rule that you had to drink the blood to learn a out of clan discipline if you have a teacher, although I wouldn't be surprised if I missed it or a house rule mentions it.
See I kind of internalized from 2nd edition that you always get a blood bond, just stronger versions until the 3rd where you're virtual putty in the hands of the donor vampire. It's probably something new in the new editions.
See I kind of internalized from 2nd edition that you always get a blood bond, just stronger versions until the 3rd where you're virtual putty in the hands of the donor vampire. It's probably something new in the new editions.
Drinking the blood of an appropriate Clan member, besides the obvious risks involving a Blood Bond, is more of an IG storytelling requirement, but an avoidable one. All you really need is for another Kindred to simply teach you, period. No drinking required. Only when you have nobody willing to share his secrets, do you search for alternative solutions and drinking enough blood a Clan, that has the Discipline as a specialty, along with a lot of time, stubbornness and sheer will can you even hope to learn anything. I never allowed my players this luxury and would demand a lot of EXP to pull it off, since I find this impractical. The amount of Blood needed, without being bonded and with time measured in decades or centuries to learn a single dot?
Drinking the blood of an appropriate Clan member, besides the obvious risks involving a Blood Bond, is more of a IG storytelling requirement, but an avoidable one. All you really need is for another Kindred to simply teach you, period. No drinking required. Only when you have nobody willing to share his secrets, do you search for alternative solutions and drinking enough blood a Clan, that has the Discipline as a specialty, along with a lot of time, stubbornness and sheer will can you even hope to learn anything. I never allowed my players this luxury and would demand a lot of EXP to pull it off, since I find this impractical. The amount of Blood needed, without being bonded and with time measured in decades or centuries to learn a single dot?
A Nosferatu is probably our best bet, they tend to be pretty mercenary. But some Gangrels are more indipendent from their Clan than others, they could be persuaded (read: bribed) to teach us.
I don't remember if at this point in the timeline Clan Gangrel has already left the Camarilla and become an Indipendent Clan. I think that happened later, but i am not sure.
It seems to me that before studying other people's disciplines, one must first look at the existing ones. For example, in Obfuscate the next level is Mask of a Thousand Faces which is just perfect for detective work.
The vampire can influence the perception of others, causing them to see a face different from his. Although the Kindred's physical form does not change, any observer who cannot sense the truth sees whomever the vampire wishes her to see.
The vampire must have a firm idea of the visage he wishes to project. The primary decision is whether to create an imaginary face or to superimpose the features of another person. Manufactured features are often more difficult to compose in believable proportions, but such a disguise is easier to maintain than having to impersonate someone else. Of course, things get simpler if the Kindred borrows the face but doesn't bother with the personality.
System: The player rolls Manipulation + Performance (difficulty 7) to determine how well the disguise works. If the character tries to impersonate someone, he must get a good look at the subject before putting on the mask. The Storyteller may raise the difficulty if the character catches only a glimpse. The chart below lists the degrees of success in manufacturing another appearance. Vampires wishing to mask themselves as a person more attractive than they are must pay additional blood points equal to the difference between the vampire's Appearance rating and the Appearance of the mask (which means that younger vampires may need to take longer in order to spend the blood necessary).
Successes Result
1 success The vampire retains the same height and build, with a few slight alterations to his basic features. Nosferatu can appear as normal, albeit ugly, mortals.
2 successes He looks unlike himself; people don't easily recognize him or agree about his appearance.
3 successes He looks the way he wants to appear.
4 successes Complete transformation, including gestures, mannerisms, appearance, and voice.
5 successes Profound alteration (appear as the opposite sex, a vastly different age, or an extreme change of size). Actually posing as someone else carries its own problems.
The character should know at least basic information about the individual; especially difficult deceptions (fooling a lover or close friend) require at least some familiarity with the target in order to succeed.
Mesmerize will appear in Domination, which will allow you to introduce subconscious commands.
With this power, a vampire can verbally implant a false thought or hypnotic suggestion in the subject's subconscious mind. Both Kindred and target must be free from distraction, since Mesmerize requires intense concentration and precise wording to be effective. The vampire may activate the imposed thought immediately or establish a stimulus that will trigger it later. The victim must be able to understand the vampire, though the two need to maintain eye contact only as long as it takes to implant the idea.
Mesmerize allows for anything from simple, precise directives (handing over an item) to complex, highly involved ones (taking notes of someone's habits and relaying that information at an appointed time). It is not useful for planting illusions or false memories (such as seeing a rabbit or believing yourself to be on fire). A subject can have only one suggestion implanted at any time.
System: The player rolls Manipulation + Leadership (difficulty equal to the target's current Willpower points). The number of successes determines how well the suggestion takes hold in the victim's subconscious. If the vampire scores one or two successes, the subject cannot be forced to do anything that seems strange to her (she might walk outside, but is unlikely to steal a car). At three or four successes, the command is effective unless following it endangers the subject. At five successes or greater, the vampire can implant nearly any sort of command.
No matter how strong the Kindred's will, his command cannot force the subject to harm herself directly or defy her innate Nature. So, while a vampire who scored five successes could make a 98-pound weakling attack a 300-pound bouncer, he could not make the mortal shoot herself in the head.
If a vampire tries to Mesmerize a subject before the target fulfills a previously implanted directive, compare the successes rolled to those gained during the implanting of the first suggestion. Whichever roll had the greater number of successes is the command that now governs in the target's behavior; the other suggestion is wiped clean. If the successes rolled are equal, the newer command supplants the old one.
In Dementation, Voice of Madness will appear, which will help us against the crowd of enemies.
By merely addressing his victims aloud, the Kindred can drive targets into fits of blind rage or fear, forcing them to abandon reason and higher thought. Victims are plagued by hallucinations of their subconscious demons, and try to flee or destroy their hidden shames.
Tragedy almost always follows in the wake of this power's use, though offending Malkavians often claim that they were merely encouraging people to act "according to their natures." Unfortunately for the vampire concerned, he runs a very real risk of falling prey to his own voice's power.
System: The player spends a blood point and makes a Manipulation + Empathy roll (difficulty 7). One target is affected per success, although all potential victims must be listening to the vampire's voice. Affected victims fly immediately into frenzy or a blind fear like Rötschreck. Kindred or other creatures capable of frenzy, such as Lupines, may make a frenzy check or Rötschreck test (Storyteller's choice as to how they are affected) at +2 difficulty to resist the power. Mortals are automatically affected and don't remember their actions while berserk. The frenzy or fear lasts for a scene, though vampires and Lupines may test as usual to snap out of it.
The vampire using Voice of Madness must also test for frenzy or Rötschreck upon invoking this power, though his difficulty to resist is one lower than normal. If the initial roll to invoke this power is a failure, however, the roll to resist the frenzy is one higher than normal. If the roll to invoke this power is a botch, the frenzy or Rötschreck response is automatic.
If we want to start learning non-clan discipline, then it is wiser to take on Potence or Celerity, which will make up for our shortcomings, than Animalism, which will only add a few new tricks to the already excellent investigative abilities.
System: Each dot that the vampire has in Potence adds one die to all Strength-related dice rolls. Further, the player can spend one blood point and change his Potence dice into an equal number of automatic successes to all Strength-related rolls for the turn. In melee and brawling combat, successes from Potence (either rolled or automatic) are applied to the damage roll results.
System: Each point of Celerity adds one die to every Dexterity-related dice roll. In addition, the player can spend one blood point to take an extra action up to the number of dots he has in Celerity at the beginning of the relevant turn; this expenditure can go beyond her normal Generation maximum. Any dots used for extra actions, however, are no longer available for Dexterity- related rolls during that turn. These additional actions must be physical (e.g., the vampire cannot use a mental Discipline like Dominate multiple times in one turn), and extra actions occur at the end of the turn (the vampire's regular action still takes place per her initiative roll).
Normally, a character without Celerity must divide their dice if she wants to take multiple actions in a single turn. A character using Celerity performs his extra actions (including full movement) without penalty, gaining a full dice pool for each separate action. Extra actions gained through Celerity may not in turn be split into multiple actions, however.
I like Mesmerize and Mask of a Thousand Faces, but i am not sure abaout Voice of Madness.
While compensating for our shortcomings in direct combat could be a good idea, i still want to hyper-specialize in skills useful for a detective or more indirect skills tha would allow us to evade combat or have something else fight in our place.
Animalism for me is perfect for this purpose, since it allows us to expand our detective abilities in a non-conventional way while also giving us a source of possible minions.
Drinking the blood of an appropriate Clan member, besides the obvious risks involving a Blood Bond, is more of an IG storytelling requirement, but an avoidable one. All you really need is for another Kindred to simply teach you, period. No drinking required. Only when you have nobody willing to share his secrets, do you search for alternative solutions and drinking enough blood a Clan, that has the Discipline as a specialty, along with a lot of time, stubbornness and sheer will can you even hope to learn anything. I never allowed my players this luxury and would demand a lot of EXP to pull it off, since I find this impractical. The amount of Blood needed, without being bonded and with time measured in decades or centuries to learn a single dot?
Sabat Vamp: Or just eating all the blood. Diablerie covers a multitude of sins. Or was that 'is a multitude of sins'? Ah well a discipline is a discipline.
I like Mesmerize and Mask of a Thousand Faces, but i am not sure abaout Voice of Madness.
While compensating for our shortcomings in direct combat could be a good idea, i still want to hyper-specialize in skills useful for a detective or more indirect skills tha would allow us to evade combat or have something else fight in our place.
Animalism for me is perfect for this purpose, since it allows us to expand our detective abilities in a non-conventional way while also giving us a source of possible minions.
I understand that you want to specialize in being a magic detective, but a failure in investigation will not kill us (Directly) while a failure in a combat situation will screw us. Regardless of Celerity or Potence. We need at least some survivability.
I'd like to be Beckett friend, even if the bastard is actually a combat efficient build and 7th gen. Or maybe even 'because'. He's also autarkis.
In fact, this character is sort of like discount 3rd rate Beckett focused on vamp criming instead of historical vamp criming (95% of what vampires do is crime).
Then again, Beckett usually hangs around pretty dangerous people like Lucita de Aragon and assorted even more unpleasant enemies, so maybe it's not the best idea to be a acquaintance\resource sheet dot of a 7th gen vampire, even if he's not a total dirtbag sociopath like elder vampires usually are.
I am not quite sure what the question is? I do not know what an acquaintance/resource sheet is and I do not plan on involving characters from the wider world of darkness. I am also not sure why you think Beckett is similar to this character? Besides being Autarkis they don't have much in common.
Drinking any wod vampire blood, even ignoring the taboo since it's not really diablerie mean forming a bloodbond of level 1. If you're fine with being lightly unnaturally mental influenced, like exalted calls it it's a option but I'd afaict there wasn't a rule that you had to drink the blood to learn a out of clan discipline if you have a teacher, although I wouldn't be surprised if I missed it or a house rule mentions it.
Anyway humanity is really important to not turn into a total asshat immediately (it's kind of inevitable with this stupid 'curse' but long lived vampires can last a long time before they go down the paths of asshattery for survival at humanity 2-4).
Being childish looking will make it really hard to interrogate humans, so I kind of want to ask what's the apparent age. Although I see intimidation 3 (lol) in the charsheet.
There is a short paragraph near the beginning in the first chapter where Alicia looks at herself in the bathroom mirror. It includes a description of what she looks like, including "a pale face forever frozen near the cusp of its thirtieth year of life." which is me trying to be fancy while saying that she was about 29 when she was embraced. The intimidation is there because of her eyes and her experiences with interrogating. I apologize if I didn't make that clear enough.
The way I usually do it is that every night you drink from a vampire you get a step of a bloodbond which changes your opinion of the person the blood is from, at first dot it is merely a slightly more positive outlook while at 3 the bloodhound is complete and you would do pretty much anything for them while in their presence and you would need to spend willpower to resist any command they give you for even a short while.
It seems to me that before studying other people's disciplines, one must first look at the existing ones. For example, in Obfuscate the next level is Mask of a Thousand Faces which is just perfect for detective work.
The vampire can influence the perception of others, causing them to see a face different from his. Although the Kindred's physical form does not change, any observer who cannot sense the truth sees whomever the vampire wishes her to see.
The vampire must have a firm idea of the visage he wishes to project. The primary decision is whether to create an imaginary face or to superimpose the features of another person. Manufactured features are often more difficult to compose in believable proportions, but such a disguise is easier to maintain than having to impersonate someone else. Of course, things get simpler if the Kindred borrows the face but doesn't bother with the personality.
System: The player rolls Manipulation + Performance (difficulty 7) to determine how well the disguise works. If the character tries to impersonate someone, he must get a good look at the subject before putting on the mask. The Storyteller may raise the difficulty if the character catches only a glimpse. The chart below lists the degrees of success in manufacturing another appearance. Vampires wishing to mask themselves as a person more attractive than they are must pay additional blood points equal to the difference between the vampire's Appearance rating and the Appearance of the mask (which means that younger vampires may need to take longer in order to spend the blood necessary).
Successes Result
1 success The vampire retains the same height and build, with a few slight alterations to his basic features. Nosferatu can appear as normal, albeit ugly, mortals.
2 successes He looks unlike himself; people don't easily recognize him or agree about his appearance.
3 successes He looks the way he wants to appear.
4 successes Complete transformation, including gestures, mannerisms, appearance, and voice.
5 successes Profound alteration (appear as the opposite sex, a vastly different age, or an extreme change of size). Actually posing as someone else carries its own problems.
The character should know at least basic information about the individual; especially difficult deceptions (fooling a lover or close friend) require at least some familiarity with the target in order to succeed.
Mesmerize will appear in Domination, which will allow you to introduce subconscious commands.
With this power, a vampire can verbally implant a false thought or hypnotic suggestion in the subject's subconscious mind. Both Kindred and target must be free from distraction, since Mesmerize requires intense concentration and precise wording to be effective. The vampire may activate the imposed thought immediately or establish a stimulus that will trigger it later. The victim must be able to understand the vampire, though the two need to maintain eye contact only as long as it takes to implant the idea.
Mesmerize allows for anything from simple, precise directives (handing over an item) to complex, highly involved ones (taking notes of someone's habits and relaying that information at an appointed time). It is not useful for planting illusions or false memories (such as seeing a rabbit or believing yourself to be on fire). A subject can have only one suggestion implanted at any time.
System: The player rolls Manipulation + Leadership (difficulty equal to the target's current Willpower points). The number of successes determines how well the suggestion takes hold in the victim's subconscious. If the vampire scores one or two successes, the subject cannot be forced to do anything that seems strange to her (she might walk outside, but is unlikely to steal a car). At three or four successes, the command is effective unless following it endangers the subject. At five successes or greater, the vampire can implant nearly any sort of command.
No matter how strong the Kindred's will, his command cannot force the subject to harm herself directly or defy her innate Nature. So, while a vampire who scored five successes could make a 98-pound weakling attack a 300-pound bouncer, he could not make the mortal shoot herself in the head.
If a vampire tries to Mesmerize a subject before the target fulfills a previously implanted directive, compare the successes rolled to those gained during the implanting of the first suggestion. Whichever roll had the greater number of successes is the command that now governs in the target's behavior; the other suggestion is wiped clean. If the successes rolled are equal, the newer command supplants the old one.
In Dementation, Voice of Madness will appear, which will help us against the crowd of enemies.
By merely addressing his victims aloud, the Kindred can drive targets into fits of blind rage or fear, forcing them to abandon reason and higher thought. Victims are plagued by hallucinations of their subconscious demons, and try to flee or destroy their hidden shames.
Tragedy almost always follows in the wake of this power's use, though offending Malkavians often claim that they were merely encouraging people to act "according to their natures." Unfortunately for the vampire concerned, he runs a very real risk of falling prey to his own voice's power.
System: The player spends a blood point and makes a Manipulation + Empathy roll (difficulty 7). One target is affected per success, although all potential victims must be listening to the vampire's voice. Affected victims fly immediately into frenzy or a blind fear like Rötschreck. Kindred or other creatures capable of frenzy, such as Lupines, may make a frenzy check or Rötschreck test (Storyteller's choice as to how they are affected) at +2 difficulty to resist the power. Mortals are automatically affected and don't remember their actions while berserk. The frenzy or fear lasts for a scene, though vampires and Lupines may test as usual to snap out of it.
The vampire using Voice of Madness must also test for frenzy or Rötschreck upon invoking this power, though his difficulty to resist is one lower than normal. If the initial roll to invoke this power is a failure, however, the roll to resist the frenzy is one higher than normal. If the roll to invoke this power is a botch, the frenzy or Rötschreck response is automatic.
If we want to start learning non-clan discipline, then it is wiser to take on Potence or Celerity, which will make up for our shortcomings, than Animalism, which will only add a few new tricks to the already excellent investigative abilities.
System: Each dot that the vampire has in Potence adds one die to all Strength-related dice rolls. Further, the player can spend one blood point and change his Potence dice into an equal number of automatic successes to all Strength-related rolls for the turn. In melee and brawling combat, successes from Potence (either rolled or automatic) are applied to the damage roll results.
System: Each point of Celerity adds one die to every Dexterity-related dice roll. In addition, the player can spend one blood point to take an extra action up to the number of dots he has in Celerity at the beginning of the relevant turn; this expenditure can go beyond her normal Generation maximum. Any dots used for extra actions, however, are no longer available for Dexterity- related rolls during that turn. These additional actions must be physical (e.g., the vampire cannot use a mental Discipline like Dominate multiple times in one turn), and extra actions occur at the end of the turn (the vampire's regular action still takes place per her initiative roll).
Normally, a character without Celerity must divide their dice if she wants to take multiple actions in a single turn. A character using Celerity performs his extra actions (including full movement) without penalty, gaining a full dice pool for each separate action. Extra actions gained through Celerity may not in turn be split into multiple actions, however.
In fact, this is a very powerful ability that protects us from one of the most dangerous scenarios, namely a group attack by a mob of mortals. Well, it can also be useful against worked teams and in order to cause havoc in enemy territory.
Animalism for me is perfect for this purpose, since it allows us to expand our detective abilities in a non-conventional way while also giving us a source of possible minions.
I just looked through the powers of Animalism and there is not much useful for a detective, if specifically, only the first and fourth levels of ability. Also, just in case, I note that few animals in the urban environment will agree to rush into battle even under the control of Animalism, they are simply too cowardly for this. In addition, we will need to develop the knowledge of animals in parallel, since this is often used for Animalism.
This power is the basis from which all other Animalism abilities grow. The vampire creates an empathic connection with a beast, thereby allowing him to communicate or issue simple commands. The Kindred locks eyes with the animal, transmitting his desires through sheer force of will. Although it isn't necessary to actually "speak" in chirps, hisses, or barks, some vampires find that doing so helps strengthen the connection with the animal. Eye contact must be maintained the entire time; if it's broken, the Kindred must re-establish contact to continue communication.
The simpler the creature, the more difficult it becomes to connect with the animal's Beast. Mammals, predatory birds, and larger reptiles are relatively easy to communicate with. Insects, invertebrates, and most fish are just too simple to connect with.
Feral Whispers provides no guarantees that an animal will want to deal with the vampire, nor does it ensure that the animal will pursue any requests the vampire makes of it. Still, it does at least make the creature better disposed toward the Kindred. The manner in which the vampire presents his desires to the animal often depends on the type of creature. A Kindred can often bully smaller beasts into heeding commands, but he's better off couching orders for large predators as requests.
If the vampire successfully uses the power, the animal performs the command to the best of its ability and intellect. Only the very brightest creatures understand truly complex directives (orders dealing with conditional situations or requiring abstract logic). Commands that the animal does understand remain deeply implanted, however, and guide its behavior for some time.
System: No roll is necessary to talk with an animal, but the character must establish eye contact first. Issuing commands requires a Manipulation + Animal Ken roll. The difficulty depends on the creature: Predatory mammals (wolves, cats, vampire bats) are difficulty 6, other mammals and predatory birds (rats, owls) are difficulty 7, and other birds and reptiles (pigeons, snakes) are difficulty 8. This difficulty is reduced by one if the character speaks to the animal in its "native tongue," and can be adjusted further by circumstances and roleplaying skill (we highly recommend that all communication between characters and animals be roleplayed).
The number of successes the player achieves dictates how strongly the character's command affects the animal. One success is sufficient to have a cat follow an individual and lead the character to the same location, three successes are enough to have a raven spy on a target for weeks, and five successes ensure that a grizzly ferociously guards the entrance to the character's wilderness haven for some months.
The character's Nature plays a large part in how he approaches these conversations. The character might try intimidating, teasing, cajoling, or rationalizing. The player should understand that he does not simply play his character in these situations, but the Beast Within as well.
Using this power cannot force an animal to do something against its nature, or to force a creature to risk its life. While the aforementioned grizzly would stand guard to the vampire's haven and even fight for it, it would not do so against obviously superior numbers or something overwhelmingly supernatural. A predatory bird might be convinced to harry a target, but would definitely not hold ground. A docile dog or skittish cat would have no problem with reporting something it had seen, but it wouldn't enter combat unless given no other option — though it would likely agree to stand and fight and then flee at the first opportunity, if a harsh Kindred demanded it.
By locking his gaze with that of an animal, the vampire may mentally possess the creature. Some elders believe that since animals don't have souls but spirits, the vampire can move his own soul into the animal's body. Many younger vampires think it a matter of transferring one's consciousness into the animal's mind. In either case, it's agreed that the beast's weaker spirit (or mind) is pushed aside by the Kindred's own consciousness. The vampire's body falls into a motionless state akin to torpor while his mind takes control of the animal's actions, remaining this way until the Kindred's consciousness returns.
Some haughty Tzimisce eschew this power, considering it debasing to enter the body of a lesser creature. When they do stoop to using it, they possess only predators. Conversely, Gangrel revel in connecting to the natural world in this way. They delight in sampling different animals' natures.
System: The player rolls Manipulation + Animal Ken (difficulty 8) as the character looks into the animal's eyes (see sidebar on p. 152). The number of successes allows the character to employ some mental Disciplines while possessing the animal, as noted below.
Successes Result
1 success Cannot use Disciplines
2 successes Can use Auspex and other sensory powers
3 successes Can also use Presence and other powers of emotional manipulation
4 successes Can also use Dementation, Dominate, and other powers of mental manipulation
5 successes Can also use Chimerstry, Necromancy, Thaumaturgy, and other mystical powers
This power entwines the character's consciousness closely with the animal's spirit, so much so that the character may continue to think and feel like that animal even after breaking the connection. This effect continues until the character spends a total of seven nights or three Willpower points to resist and finally overcome the animal nature. This should be roleplayed, though the character will be affected to a lesser degree if the player chooses to spend Willpower.
At the end of any particularly exciting incident during possession, the player rolls Wits + Empathy (difficulty 8) for the character to retain his own mind. Failure indicates that the character's mind returns to his own body, but still thinks in purely animalistic terms. A botch returns the character to his body, and also sends him into frenzy. The character may travel as far from his own physical body as he chooses while possessing the animal. The character retains no conscious connection with his vampire body during this time, though. The vampire may also venture out during the day, albeit in the animal's body. However, the character's own body must be awake to do so, requiring a successful roll to remain awake. If the character leaves the animal's body (by choice, if his body falls asleep, or after sustaining significant injury), the vampire's consciousness returns to his physical form instantaneously.
Although the vampire has no conscious link to his body while possessing the animal, he does form a sympathetic bond. Anything the animal feels, the vampire also experiences, from pleasure to pain. In fact, any damage the animal's body sustains is also applied to the character's body, though the Kindred body may soak as normal. If the animal dies before the vampire's soul can flee from the body, the character's body falls into torpor. Presumably this is in sympathetic response to the massive trauma of death, but some Kindred believe that the vampire's soul is cast adrift during this time and must find its way back to the body.
I did not notice this ability, more precisely, in the list in which I look there are 2 abilities of the fourth level of Auspex at once and the first of them did not impress me at all.
Some believe that the frontier - with its lawless na-ture and kill or be killed attitude - is the ideal place to hide for those that break the law. Yet where there are Outlaws, there are those that will hunt them. Kindred bounty hunters, Archons, Sheriffs and even some in the Black Hand have been known to employ this power with chilling effect. The tales that a Pinkerton always gets their man didn't start from nowhere and woe be it to she that is pursued by a practitioner of this dark gift.
System: Immediately after viewing a subject's aura with (Aura Perception/Read the Soul) or scoring at least 4 suc-cesses on an object with The Spirit's Touch, the Cainite can make a Wits + Empathy roll (Difficulty 8, 10 if viewed with The Spirit's Touch) to establish a link to that object or that individual's aura. The link lasts for a number of months equal to the number of successes rolled
While the link is active, the Cainite can spend a Blood Point to activate this ability for one scene and perceive the linked object or individual's aura as a towering column of light in the distance. This allows the vampire to track her quarry over any distance by making a Perception + Survival roll (Difficulty 6). The Cainite can track her prey even when it leaves no tracks. A successful roll also allows the vampire to determine the approximate distance separating her from her quarry.
The vampire may only maintain a single link at a time. If a new link is formed, the old one dissipates.
If anyone's interested, here's the mind-reading ability that was mentioned here.
The vampire projects a portion of her consciousness into a nearby mortal's mind, creating a mental link through which she can communicate wordlessly or even read the target's deepest thoughts. The Kindred "hears" in her own mind the thoughts plucked from a subject as if they were spoken to her.
This is one of the most potent vampiric abilities, since, given time, a Kindred can learn virtually anything from a subject without him ever knowing. The Tremere and Tzimisce in particular find this power especially useful in gleaning secrets from others, or for directing their mortal followers with silent precision.
System: The player rolls Intelligence + Subterfuge (difficulty of the subject's current Willpower points). Projecting thoughts into the target's mind requires one success. The subject recognizes that the thoughts come from somewhere other than his own consciousness, though he cannot discern their actual origin without a successful Perception + Awareness roll (difficulty equal to the vampire's Manipulation + Subterfuge).
To read minds, one success must be rolled for each item of information plucked or each layer of thought pierced. Deep secrets or buried memories are harder to obtain than surface emotions or unspoken comments, requiring five or more successes to access.
Reading thoughts with Telepathy does not commonly work upon the undead mind. A character may expend a Willpower point to make the effort, making the roll normally afterward. Likewise, it is equally difficult to read the thoughts of other supernatural creatures. However, the character may project her thoughts without expending a Willpower point. These thoughts, however, are still obviously intrusions into the target's mind, but the character may attempt to disguise her mental "voice" with a roll of Manipulation + Subterfuge (difficulty equals the target's Perception + Awareness) so the target doesn't recognize her as the "speaker."
Storytellers are encouraged to describe thoughts as flowing streams of impressions and images, rather than as a sequence of prose (powers such as Telepathic Communication are of more use for that). Instead of making flat statements like "He's planning on killing his former lover's new boyfriend," say "You see a fleeting series of visions: A couple kissing passionately in a doorway, then the man walking alone at night; you suddenly see your hands, knuckles white, wrapped around a steering wheel, with a figure crossing the street ahead; your heart, mortal now and hammering with panic as you hear the engine rev wildly; and above all, a blazing anger coupled with emotional agony and a panicked fear of loss." Such descriptions not only add to the story, but they also force the player to interpret for herself what her character gleans. After all, understanding minds — especially highly emotional or deranged minds — is a difficult and often puzzling task.
I think what we need the most is a coterie not to grab every discipline that might be useful. XP is a limited resource in this as in all systems and it is relatively easy to stretch a character too broad. If we want someone to to animal things get a Gangrel friend, if we want someone to kill our problems get a Brujah etc..
I think what we need the most is a coterie not to grab every discipline that might be useful. XP is a limited resource in this as in all systems and it is relatively easy to stretch a character too broad. If we want someone to to animal things get a Gangrel friend, if we want someone to kill our problems get a Brujah etc..
on the one hand pissing off someone in power is never a good thing, then again, he is a malkavian and might ask you to enjoy nachos with him while watching paint dry amidst the screams of postmen who failed to deliver his pet dodo. or he may forget entirely.
With our stats it seems like the best way for us to deal with fights is to not have them. If violence seems to be brewing we see it coming a mile away and are running around the next corner using our streetwise and obfuscation to lose anything chasing us.
[X] Stay Silent and continue with your plan to investigate the crime scene for now. (Unless things happen or you choose not to, you can follow this summon later. This action may anger the Malkavian Primogen)
[X] Tell him to turn around and meet with the Malkavian Primogen. (Unless things happen or you later choose not to, you can investigate the crime scene later, although you might miss clues or events at the crime scene)
[x] Stay Silent and continue with your plan to investigate the crime scene for now. (Unless things happen or you choose not to, you can follow this summon later. This action may anger the Malkavian Primogen)
Adhoc vote count started by Soup on Aug 26, 2023 at 10:23 AM, finished with 56 posts and 18 votes.
[X] Stay Silent and continue with your plan to investigate the crime scene for now. (Unless things happen or you choose not to, you can follow this summon later. This action may anger the Malkavian Primogen)
[X] Tell him to turn around and meet with the Malkavian Primogen. (Unless things happen or you later choose not to, you can investigate the crime scene later, although you might miss clues or events at the crime scene)
I feel like we can reason with our Primogen more easily than Irish Werewolf mobsters. Taking a bit of time can be excused away, but no amount of sweet talking will make a crime scene more fresh. Best to investigate now and talk our way out of trouble later.
I feel like we can reason with our Primogen more easily than Irish Werewolf mobsters. Taking a bit of time can be excused away, but no amount of sweet talking will make a crime scene more fresh. Best to investigate now and talk our way out of trouble later.
They're not werewolves, they're mortals with a vampire at the top of the ladder. And I have the opposite read, while Alice's social stats are alright, it's her specialized investigation abilities that are through the roof. So she should have better chances of investigating the crime scene regardless of it being a little less fresh, compared to talking down the mercurial and insane Primogen after slighting her.
They're not werewolves, they're mortals with a vampire at the top of the ladder. And I have the opposite read, while Alice's social stats are alright, it's her specialized investigation abilities that are through the roof. So she should have better chances of investigating the crime scene regardless of it being a little less fresh, compared to talking down the mercurial and insane Primogeniture after slighting her.
They are indeed mortals with a vampire at the top. Irish werewolf mobsters is an interesting concept though. That said, I love that everybody just calls her Alice, despite that not actually being her name.
[X] Stay Silent and continue with your plan to investigate the crime scene for now. (Unless things happen or you choose not to, you can follow this summon later. This action may anger the Malkavian Primogen)
To be clear, this is objectively the bad decision. But we're a Malkavian, and so we should probably be making the bad decisions.
