Lilith - The Blood Goddess's page

Mortals view Necromancy as a forbidden art, conflating
it with demon worship. Cainites regard the practice of Necromancy
with suspicion and fear. With few exceptions, the
Cappadocians alone practice Necromancy among the Cainites,
specializing in the Paths of The Corpse in the Monster and The
Grave’s Decay; collectively referred to as “The Mortuus Path”.

Recent innovations are by contrast favored by their adopted
Giovani childer who’ve conceived The Paths of Ash, Bone,
and the Sepulchre.

• Mortuus in Vultus

A Cainite can make herself (or another vampire)
appear as if she was a long-dead corpse. She can use this
ability to hide in plain sight in a catacomb or crypts, or
inflict it on an unwilling victim as a sort of curse.

System: The player spends one blood point to give
her character the visage of a mummified corpse. She loses
two points of Dexterity and Appearance (minimum of 1
in Dexterity and 0 in Appearance) for the duration of the
power. The player also gains a bonus of two extra dice to
her Intimidation pool. If she remains perfectly still (no
roll required, as Cainites have no autonomic functions
to suppress), an observer must score five successes on
a Perception + Medicine roll (difficulty 7) in order to
distinguish her from an ordinary corpse.

To inflict Mortuus in Vultus on another vampire, the
necromancer must spend a blood point, touch the target
(requiring a Dexterity + Brawl roll if opposed), and then
make a Stamina + Medicine roll with a difficulty equal to
the target’s Stamina + 3. Mortuus in Vultus lasts until the
next sunset or until the necromancer releases the spell.

•• Algor Mortis

With the use of Algor Mortis, a vampire is able
to transform herself into a cool, melancholy creature,
unmoved by mortal pain or emotional manipulation.
Her body transforms in a literal sense; her flesh becomes
colder and her breath freezes in the air when she speaks.

System: For the cost of a single Willpower point, a
player may ignore all wound penalties for the scene. She
gains an additional die to any pools that involve resisting
emotional manipulation for each dot of the Corpse in the
Monster, such as Intimidation or Empathy. However, her
remoteness also makes it difficult for her to manipulate
others, and she increases the difficulty of all attempts to
manipulate others by one.

Algor Mortis does not ward against frenzy. Though
the necromancer may appear apathetic and cool on
the surface, the Beast still lurks in the dark recesses
of her heart.

••• Intimations of Mortality

Intimations of Mortality inflicts the more unpleasant
and irritating aspects of mortality upon a vampire. These
experiences are culled directly from the Discipline user’s
memory and include such experiences as mortal hunger
and thirst, the need to eliminate waste, poor sensory
acuity, and vulnerability to physical trauma that even a
neonate vampire could shrug off.

System: The player targets another vampire within
her character’s line of sight that is no further than 20
yards/meters away. She spends one Willpower and rolls
Intelligence + Medicine (difficulty 8). If she is successful,
the target is afflicted with all of the unpleasant sensations
of mortal life without gaining any of the benefits thereof
(e.g. walking in sunlight). All actions the victim takes are
at a +2 difficulty. The victim can ignore these penalties by
spending one point of Willpower per scene. Furthermore,
the victim cannot use blood to raise his Physical Attributes
(as described on p. 340), and Willpower cannot eliminate
this penalty. However, he can still use Potence, Celerity,
and Fortitude while under the effects of Intimations of
Mortality. The curse remains in effect until the next sunrise.

•••• Benedictio Mortem

With this power, a necromancer fully assumes the
aspect of a corpse and is able to slough off the weaknesses
of his vampiric condition. A corpse, after all, is
not particularly affected by the rays of the sun, nor is it
especially flammable.

System: The player spends one point of Willpower and
rolls Stamina + Occult (difficulty 8). For every success
rolled, she gets the benefit of Benedictio Mortem for one
turn. While Benedictio Mortem is active, a vampire needn’t
make Rötschreck or frenzy checks. A stake through the
heart is no more dangerous to her than any other stab
wound. Fire deals lethal rather than aggravated damage.
Holy artifacts do not faze her. Sunlight does not affect a
vampire under the cloak of Benedictio Mortem unless her
bare skin is exposed on a clear day, and in that case, she
only takes bashing damage. Once the protection Benedictio
Mortem expires, however, the vampire immediately
becomes vulnerable to the aforementioned dangers.

••••• Benedictio Vitae

With Benedictio Vitae, a Cainite is able to enjoy
many of the best aspects of mortal life without forsaking
the power of her vampiric nature. The voice of the Beast
speaks only in a whisper, and she may enjoy the pleasures
of mortal food and drink. She may enjoy the embrace
of a lover and feel the warmth of the sun on her skin
as a living woman would. Cappadocians who use this
discipline enjoy a temporarily reprieve from their clan’s
weakness, and appear as they did before the Embrace.

System: The player must spend twelve blood points
to activate this power. They needn’t be spent in a single
turn, but they must be spent continuously. A vampire
may feed while simultaneously spending blood. Unless
the vampire is older than Seventh Generation, having
a sacrificial victim close by may be necessary to invoke
Benedictio Vitae. With this power in effect, the necromancer
can travel in daylight with little fear, and she
takes no damage from sunlight if she is in the shade
or suitably covered (as in a hooded cloak). She is not
compelled to slumber during the day, but she is still vulnerable
to being staked in the heart and is still repelled
by holy artifacts. Though the voice of the Beast is not
as insistent as it usually is, Benedictio Vitae does not
silence it utterly. The necromancer can still succumb to
the effects of frenzy and Rötschreck, though the difficulty
of both checks is halved (rounded up). Benedictio Vitae
lasts until the next midnight after its casting.

The Beast deeply resents being caged, however, and
exacts its vengeance upon its jailer when it is freed. After
the Benedictio Vitae expires, the difficulty of all rolls
to resist frenzy and Rötschreck for the next six nights
increases by three.

The dark hand of fate is a real force in the Dark Medieval
world. The Path of the Grave’s Decay allows the
necromancer to harness the dark powers of decay, ruin,
and entropy that await all creatures, living and unliving.

*Ashes to Ashes

While some Cainites slaughter indiscriminately and
fear no consequences for their actions, other Cainites feel
the need to be a bit more discreet. The Dark Medieval is a violent place, and even some of the most devout
adherents of the Road of Heaven might have the need to
dispose of a body quickly. Use of this power turns a human
corpse into a pile of unremarkable ash roughly one-fifth
the weight of the original body.

System: The player spends one blood point as the
vampire drips her vitae onto the corpse. The player rolls
Intelligence + Medicine (difficulty 6). The corpse disintegrates
in a number of turns equal to five minus the number
of successes rolled. These ashes are utterly unrecognizable
via mundane means, though use of supernatural powers
might be able to uncover the identity of the former corpse.
On a botch, the corpse putrefies, but loses none of
its integrity. The vampire may not use Ashes to Ashes on
that corpse again.

** Rigor Mortis
With this power, the necromancer can make any target
as stiff and still as a corpse. A target afflicted with Rigor
Mortis can only move by sheer force of will as his own
muscles contract uncontrollably, freezing him into place.

System: The player spends a point of Willpower and
rolls Intelligence + Medicine. Each success freezes a target
in place for one turn. The target must be visible and within
25 yards/meters. A frozen target cannot move or spend
blood points, but he may use perception powers such as
Heightened Senses. Cainites may take physical actions
with a penalty equal to the necromancer’s successes.

••• Ashen Lady’s Embrace

The Ashen Lady’s Embrace causes a target’s limb
to age, dry out, and wither like grapes left on the vine.
Tendons snap as muscles shorten and shrink. Skin becomes
saggy and sallow at first, and then paper-thin and
pulled tight over the newly brittle bones. Eyes cloud over
and dissolve into dust. Cartilage all but vanishes. The
lips and gums recede, and the teeth become as chalk.

System: The player spends a Willpower point. The vampire
touches one of her victim’s limbs (requiring a Dexterity
+ Brawl roll if the victim is avoiding the vampire). If the
necromancer is successful, the target suffers from two levels
of aggravated damage. Unless the target soaks both wounds
(e.g. with Fortitude), the afflicted limb is crippled until both
wounds are healed. Cainites heal these wounds as they would
any other aggravated wound. Mortals, however, are not so
fortunate; they will be crippled for life unless healed by supernatural
means. The targeted mortal may take some small
comfort in knowing that a crippled limb will not degenerate
further (i.e., become gangrenous or infected).

The effect of the Ashen Lady’s Embrace will depend
on which limb is targeted. Crippled limbs cannot benefit
from Potence. Crippled arms cannot carry anything heavier
than roughly half a pound. A character with a crippled leg
will limp slowly, dragging his leg behind him, and will suffer
from the Odd Gait Flaw (see p. 421). If a necromancer
chooses to target the face, she may choose to affect either
the eyes, ears, or mouth. Any successful attack at the face
will reduce a target’s Appearance by one for each wound
suffered, with additional effects depending on which part
is targeted. A single withered eye or ear imposes a +1
difficulty on relevant Perception rolls; losing both eyes
or ears imposes the Impaired Sense Flaw (see p. 421). A
withered tongue will render one Mute (see p. 421).

•••• Gift of Melancholia

This power inflicts a virulent wasting illness on mortals
and Cainites alike. Both are afflicted with a disease that causes
dizziness, weakness, malaise, and nausea. The disease is highly
contagious among mortals, who can spread it to each other by
mere proximity. A vampire must either be directly targeted with
the power or feed on an infected mortal in order to contract
it. An infected vampire, however, will spread the plague to
everyone he feeds upon until he is cured.

System: The player chooses a target within twenty yards
and in the character’s line of sight. She rolls Intelligence
+ Medicine (difficulty 6) and spends a point of Willpower.
The defender must roll Stamina + Fortitude (if applicable)
against a difficulty equal to the attacker’s Willpower. If the
victim rolls fewer successes than the attacker, he falls ill
immediately. The disease has the following effects:
Strength and Wits are halved (round down).
Dexterity is decreased by a single point.

Cainite victims must spend an additional blood point
to awaken every evening; mortals take one level of lethal
damage per day.

Cainite victims must roll Self-Control or Instinct every
time they feed (difficulty 8). On a failure, the vampire
vomits up the blood he just ingested in horrifying gouts of
gore, losing any benefit the feeding would have provided.
Humans vomit up the contents of their stomachs, with
no rolls to resist.

Once per day at sunset, a victim may attempt to
throw off the plague by rolling Stamina. The difficulty
is equal to 10 minus the number of days elapsed since
contracting the disease.

••••• Dust to Dust

As Ashes to Ashes affects corpses, so Dust to Dust affects
the bodies of vampires. Invoking Dust to Dust allows a necromancer
to reduce another vampire into a pile of ashes as though
he had been stranded in the sunlight or burned at the stake.

System: The necromancer cuts open her own skin,
spending two blood points and a point of Willpower. She
then drips the blood on a single Cainite target. The vampire
must be within touch range of the target; it cannot
be flung from more than arm’s reach. The player makes
a Willpower roll with a difficulty of the target’s Stamina
+ 3. For every success, the target suffers one aggravated
wound.

Any undead flesh damaged by this power disintegrates
into dust. For every two health levels of damage inflicted
against a victim, the player may choose a body part to
target and destroy, as per Ashen Lady’s Embrace. Body
parts regenerate when the aggravated damage associated
with the wounds is healed.

The Path of the Sepulchre involves perceiving,
communicating with, and commanding the spirits of the
restless dead. The Path of the Sepulchre and The Path
of Ash are common paths for the Giovani, and they are
expected to know at least the fundamentals for communicating
with ghosts.

• Peering Across the Shroud
The dead walk among us unseen and unheard. To
command them, a necromancer must be able to perceive
them. Peering Across the Shroud allows a vampire to see
and hear the dead, but not touch them. They appear hazy
and indistinct to her eyes, and they speak in soft whispers
or echoing moans.

System: The player rolls Perception + Awareness
(difficulty 5). Failure has no effect; a botch means that the
character is stricken blind for the scene. Success means
that the vampire can see ghosts for the remainder of the
scene. There is a catch, however. The eyes of a vampire
who is using Peering Across the Shroud glow bright blue
to a ghost’s vision,and like most people, ghosts don’t like
to be spied on.

•• Summon Soul

Summon Soul allows a necromancer to summon a
ghost back from the Underworld in order to converse
with him. In order to do this, she must fulfill a few
requirements. First, she must either know the ghost’s
name or have a strong mental image of its appearance,
such as one obtained through Peering Across the Shroud
or other supernatural means. An image of the ghost’s
appearance in life will not work. Secondly, an object or
person that the ghost had close contact with in life must
be present. Using a piece of the ghost’s corpse works very
well. Finally, the deceased must actually be a ghost. Not
everyone becomes a ghost upon their death. Indeed,
the vast majority of people do not, instead going on to
their final reward or punishment. Even if they do, many
ghosts suffer spiritual destruction or dissolution at the
hands of Oblivion. Cainites almost never become ghosts
upon Final Death.

System: The player spends one blood point and
rolls Manipulation + Occult (difficulty 7 or the ghost’s
Willpower, whichever is higher). If the necromancer has
a piece of the ghost’s corpse, reduce the difficulty of the
roll by one. One success will summon a ghost.

If a summons is unsuccessful because the ghost does
not exist, the necromancer will have a feeling of sudden,
terrifying descent as they reach too far into the Great
Beyond. A botch will summon a ghost other than the one
specified, most likely a malevolent, Oblivion-worshipping
Spectre that may impersonate the intended ghost and lead
the necromancer astray.

Once summoned, a ghost may not move out of sight of
the necromancer, though he may attack her or her allies.
The necromancer may dismiss the ghost by spending a
point of Willpower; otherwise, the ghost vanishes at the
end of the scene.

If summoned, the ghost is under no compulsion to
answer the vampire truthfully.

••• Compel Soul

Using this power, a vampire can bend a ghost to
her will for a short time. This ability requires supreme
confidence, as a failure of resolve can lead to disastrous
consequences for a necromancer.

System: The vampire must be in close proximity
to a ghost in order to command it. She may approach
the ghost herself, but most necromancers consider this
gauche and will use Summon Soul if possible. In order to
gain power over the ghost, the necromancer must hold
an object handled by it in life as described in Summon
Soul above. The vampire then spends a blood point and
rolls Manipulation + Occult, which the ghost contests
by rolling Willpower (difficulty 6 for both rolls).

If the vampire wins, the net successes gained determine
how much control the vampire has over the ghost
(see below). Instead of issuing a command to a ghost, the
vampire may ask it a question: if she does so, the ghost
must answer honestly and to the best of his knowledge.
A compelled ghost may not attack a vampire or indirectly
endanger her, though he is under no compulsion to aid
the vampire unless specifically requested to do so. If the
vampire attacks the ghost directly, the compulsion will
end immediately.

If the ghost wins, the vampire loses a number of Willpower
points equal to his net successes, and the vampire is
unable to use any necromantic powers against that particular
ghost for the rest of the night. If the vampire botches, his
current Willpower is halved (round down) and the difficulty
for all her rolls is increased by two for the rest of the scene
as she is assailed by confusing visions of her own death.
If the ghost botches, he must obey the vampire as if the
vampire’s player had rolled five net successes.

[See Chart in book for success and effects p. 288]

•••• Haunting

A necromancer uses the power of her blood to bind a
ghost into an object or location. The ghost is trapped by
the necromancer’s will; if he attempts to leave, he risks
his own destruction.

System: The player spends a blood point while
the vampire draws a small circle on the ground (either
in the location or around the object) with the blood.
The target ghost must be present in the necromancer’s
location – she may use Summon Soul for this purpose.
She must also know the ghost’s name. The player rolls
Manipulation + Occult with a difficulty of 4 + the
target’s current Willpower (minimum difficulty 4). The
difficulty increases by one if she wishes to trap the ghost
in an object, but is decreased by one if she possesses a
piece of the ghost’s corpse.

Each success binds the ghost for one night. The vampire
may simply ignore her successes and bind the ghost for one
week if she spends a point of Willpower. If she spends a
point of permanent Willpower, she may bind the ghost for
a year and a day. A ghost may attempt to leave the area
by making an extended Willpower roll at difficulty 9 (four
cumulative successes required). This is no easy task for the
ghost, who takes one level of aggravated damage per roll
attempted. If the ghost is reduced to zero health, he is hurled
back screaming to the darkest depths of the Underworld
to face horrible spiritual agony. The ordeal will last at least
one month (if he survives it), during which time he cannot
be summoned or otherwise contacted again.

••••• Torment

With use of Torment, a necromancer may strike at a
ghost’s incorporeal body as if he himself were a ghost. He
remains in the land of the living, however, and a ghost
cannot strike him in return.

System: The player rolls Stamina + Empathy with
a difficulty equal to the target ghost’s current Willpower
(minimum difficulty 4). Each success inflicts a level of
lethal damage.

To many common men and women living in the 13th
century, the Devil lurks in every shadow and hides behind
every corner. Evil is ever-present and a threat that can
rarely be seen with your eyes.

In the case of those Cainites who have mastered
Obfuscate, this paranoia is justified. While evil may be
debatable, Obfuscate makes it so that a gifted vampire
could be lurking in the darkness ready to strike or flee at
any time. The monster must be close at hand to accomplish
this, no more than five meters per dots of Wits +
Stealth from their would-be victims.

Most mortals, even those trained in Awareness, cannot
pierce the monster’s deception. Some unique individuals
may be able to see straight through these lies; children,
horses, dogs, some cats, and very few religious visionaries
are unaffected by Obfuscate, but this is all at Storyteller
discretion.

Cainite with the Discipline of Auspex may be able
to pierce a Cainite’s Obfuscate. For more, see Auspex
on p. 195.

Most Obfuscate powers last a scene once activated,
unless willed away by the Cainite. They take no particular
concentration to uphold once raised.

• The Silence of Death

At this rudimentary understanding, the Cainite can
make things around them fade to silence, although sounds
from beyond the vicinity filter through, anything in the
immediate area fades into nothingness. In most cases, this
nimbus moves with the Silence of Death.

System: There is no roll. The power creates a zone of
absolute silence around the character, with a maximum
radius of 7 meters. No sound occurs inside this zone,
though sounds originating outside the area of effect may
be heard by anyone in it. Additionally, if the player spends
two blood points and the character spends five turns in
concentration in a room or enclosure, the silence remains
in it after the character leaves the room and lasts until
she wills it to end. A character can’t create more than one
zone of silence, so if she wishes to use Silence of Death
on herself (or curse another room), the zone in the first
room fades automatically.

•• Unseen Presence

At this point, the Cainite can now move about unseen.
Shadows cling to her, and kine and Cainite alike look away,
their minds not allowing them to see the shadowy monster
that lurks in their periphery. While the Discipline protects
her from being seen or heard in casual progress, any direct
interaction with the world shatters the illusion. Kine will
step aside, unknowing, to let an Obfuscated Cainite pass
them, but should the Cainite crush a bed of roses, kick a
sleeping hound, or pull on a tapestry by passing too close
to it, she is outed.

System: There is no roll necessary to conjure an Unseen
Presence. Should a Cainite draw attention to herself
by sneak attack, blunder, or speech, accidental attention
will call for a Wits + Stealth roll, difficulty from 5 to 9,
based on the amount of noise or calamity the Cainite has
caused. Willful attempts to violate the secrecy of Unseen
Presence while still maintaining it may call for a high difficulty
and multiple successes. For example, whispering to
an enemy without giving away her location would require
three or so successes at a difficulty of 7.
Even when seen or unseen, a secondary use of this
power allows a Cainite to conceal small items already on
her person, or with a successful Manipulation + Subterfuge
from 5 to 9, based on the amount of observation she can
grasp and conceal an easily moved item.

••• Mask of a Thousand Faces

At this point, the vampire can trick the minds of
her victims to hide her face in plain sight. That is to say,
she may stand face to face with her victim and not have
their true visage revealed. By force of mind over mind,
the vampire forces her victim to see a face not her own.
This may be a newly imagined character nothing like
the vampire at all or slight changes to the Cainite’s own
features. She may appear taller, of another region or she
might even appear as a man. This ability does not confer
on the vampire any special talent for imitation or acting as
the face she creates; that is on the vampire’s talents alone.

System: To create this guise, the player rolls Manipulation
+ Performance at a difficulty 7. To mimic the face
of another, the vampire must have a good look at them.
The Storyteller might raise the difficulty on the roll if
the vampire has only briefly seen the person they wish
to mimic. How successful the disguise is depends on the
chart at the top of the page.
Should a vampire wish to create a face much more
appealing than her own, she must spend a point of blood
for every dot of difference from her Appearance to that
of the disguise.
While fooling acquaintances may require only a look
at the target and clever crafting of the mask, fooling
someone intimately connected to the target is another
matter. That requires actual familiarity with the target,
and perhaps other rolls to keep the illusion going.

Successes Results
1 success The vampire’s mass remains the same. She cannot be taller or shorter or much bulkier, but she may change enough features so as to be hard to recognize (though she might be mistaken for a blood relative). A Nosferatu, for example, can appear as a perfectly believable, albeit tragically hideous human.

2 successes Her appearance is now a complete mask, and she resembles herself in no way, should she wish. She couldnot be mistaken for her own blood relative even in strong lantern light. She can now change how othersperceive her gender.

3 successes Her intention is made complete, and she wears the mask she intends to wear. Her face is her own canvas.

4 successes The illusion is now so complete that the victims will imagine the vampire to sound exactly as the mask suggests. If it is a specific person, the illusion forces the victims to imagine the vampire is performing the correct twitches and physical mannerisms of the person they are mimicking.

5 successes The transformation is complete. Even age and size no longer hold the vampire back. She can make her victims see her as anyone she wants, just by willing it so.

•••• Vanish from the Mind’s Eye

The vampire now has so much control over what her
victims can and cannot see that she can vanish from plain
sight and other senses. Standing before her victims, she
wills it so, and she simply vanishes.
This can have serious ripples on those who witness
the event. Vampires startle when another of their kind
simply vanishes from before their eyes. Humans will
actually forget that the vampire was there to begin with.
Particularly weak-willed humans will panic and flee the
area, though they may or may not recall the reason for
their panic (at Storyteller discretion).

System: The player rolls her character’s Intelligence
+ Stealth against their victim’s Wits + Alertness. If there
is more than one victim, use the highest pool to resist. If
the player rolls one to three successes, the vampire fades
but does not vanish, appearing ghost-like and translucent.
With more than three successes, the vampire vanishes
from her victim’s senses entirely. If the player achieves
more successes than the victim, the victim forgets that the
vampire was there to begin with, and tends to not reflect
on any conflict in memory that might cause.

It is possible to interact with a ghosted vampire,
though difficult. A player tracking such a vampire rolls
Perception + Alertness at a difficulty of 8. On a successful
roll, the character can interact normally with the ghostlike
vampire, though they are likely to be disturbed by his
ethereal presence. On a failure, the character loses two
dice on any roll to interact with the ghostlike vampire,
from attacking them to following them to seducing them.
After witnessing a vampire vanish before their eyes,
the player of any other character present must roll Wits
+ Courage. For humans, this is difficulty 9; for Cainites,
difficulty 5. If the player succeeds, the character may act
as expected in the situation. A failure on this roll means
that the character is beside themselves and unable to act
for two turns, unless that action is to flee.

••••• Cloak the Gathering

Now the vampire extends his lie to his companions,
and fools his victims to see what he wants for a group
instead of simply for himself.
If a character under this cloak does something to expose
himself, such as with Unseen Presence, that individual falls
out of the ruse. If the vampire who created the cloak exposes
himself, all members of the cloak are exposed.

System: For every dot of Stealth the vampire has, she
may add one additional person to her cloak. The cloak
extends any single Obfuscate power the vampire already has
to any character in the cloak. Large objects such as horses
or houses may be added at the “cost” of an additional dot
of Stealth. All members of the cloak must behave under the
limitations of the power extended to them, and will drop out
of the cloak should they breach the power’s requirement. If
the vampire creating the cloak fails to uphold the power’s
requirements, the whole cloak falls.

*Shadow Play
While this ability does not allow characters to create
shadows that do not already exist, it allows one to
manipulate, move, and animate ambient shadows. This
can grant social effects, such as using shadows to make
yourself more imposing, or shape an environment to suit
your needs, creating areas of shadow in which to hide a
person or object.

System: Spend one blood point to add one die to
a character’s Intimidation and Stealth dice pools for
the remainder of the scene. While this power is active,
characters may also move, change, and animate shadows,
which can include separating them from their original
source. This can include moving shadows in such a way
as to allow the character to see better, which reduces
any penalty incurred by darkness by the amount of the
character’s Obtenebration rating.

Mortals find this power terrifying to behold and must
pass a Courage check of 7. If they fail, their Social dice
pools are reduced by one when they see this power in use.

•• Nocturne

By concentrating on summoning forth darkness,
Lasombra with this ability can summon a writhing cloud
of supernatural darkness to engulf an area and obscure
all sources of light. The darkness is a manifestation of
the Abyss that muffles sound and sight and smothers the
life out of the weak. The character who summons it must
actively maintain it; the cloud dissipates as soon as the
character’s concentration is broken.

System: To use this ability, roll Manipulation +
Occult with a difficulty of 7. Success results in a cloud of
impenetrable blackness 10 feet (or three meters) in diameter
anywhere within 50 yards/meters of the character.
Each additional success may add ten feet/three meters to
diameter of the cloud, at the caster’s discretion. The caster
may choose to affect an area not in his line of sight, but at
a difficulty of 9, and they must spend one point of blood.
All Perception pools are reduced by five dice and
the difficulties of all rolls from characters within the
cloud are increased by two. Characters with supernatural
methods of enhancing Perception, such as Heightened
Senses (Auspex 1) or the Merit Darksight take only a
two-dice penalty to their Perception. Additionally, the
cloud is a breach of the Abyss into the material world;
let loose into the world of the living, it will attempt to
drain the life from any beings caught in it. Characters
inside the cloud have their Stamina pools reduced by
two. For mortals, if this reduces their Stamina pool to
zero or lower, they suffocate.

••• Arms of Ahriman

With this ability, a Lasombra shapes the darkness
into tentacles that can attack, restrain, and grapple foes.

System: Using this ability requires a roll of Manipulation
+ Occult, difficulty 7. Each success allows a character to
create one tentacle six feet in length that must originate in
a source of shadow within 20 feet/ 7 meters of the caster,
with Strength and Dexterity ratings equal to the caster’s
Obtenebration rating. If the caster desires, they may spend
blood to increase Strength and Dexterity at the cost of
one blood per point increased; they may also increase the
length by spending one blood per six feet/ two meters of
length per tentacle.

Each tentacle has four health levels, does not take wound
penalties, and soaks non-aggravated damage by rolling Stamina
+ Fortitude equal to the caster’s rating. Aggravated damage
may not be soaked. Tentacles may attack characters by using
Dexterity to attack for Strength + 1 points of bashing damage.
Controlling the tentacles requires a moderate amount of concentration
on the part of the caster. The tentacles receive one
independent action; they act in concert as the caster directs.

•••• Nightshades

This ability allows Cainites to craft lifelike images and
illusions out of darkness that are nearly indistinguishable
from reality.
The created illusions are still shadows, and last only
so long as your character concentrates on them. They can
create silhouettes and shades, but are quickly rendered
unbelievable in any strong lighting.

System: The player rolls Wits + Occult, difficulty
7. For each success, the character may create one image
that the size of a human or smaller, or they may pool their
successes to create one very large illusion. Characters who
see these illusions must pass a Perception + Alertness roll
with difficulty 9 to see through the illusion.
Alternately, the caster may fill an area up to 10
meters per success with primordial visions of chaos, dark
reflections of the Abyss and its denizens. This breach of
the Abyss causes fear in all who behold it. Characters
without Obtenebration have all dice pools reduced by
two and their Initiative reduced by three.

••••• Tenebrous Avatar

The Cainite uses her mastery of darkness to become
darkness itself, a living reflection of the void of the Abyss.
In shadow form, Lasombra are virtually indestructible and
may pass through even the smallest of openings.

System: A character with this ability may spend three
blood points and spend three turns to metamorphose into
a creature of shadowy horror. In this form, vampires may
not deal or receive physical damage. They may summon
Arms of Ahriman using themselves as an origin by spending
the additional blood to activate this power. They may also
choose to engulf a victim in shadow, reducing all of their
victim’s dice pools by an amount equal to their Obtenebration
rating. As with Nocturne, mortal characters suffocate
if this reduces their Stamina to zero.
While in shadow form, characters take twice the
aggravated damage from fire and sunlight and add 1 to
the difficulty of checks against Rötschreck.

Presence is the Discipline of emotional manipulation.
A vampire with this power can change how others
feel about her. It ranges from the most subtle nudge to a
storm of emotions. It can inspire everything from passionate
love to mind-numbing terror.
Presence has three advantages. First, a Cainite may
use Presence on crowds, not just individuals. Second, it is
subtle. A vampire can manipulate the emotion of others
without giving away her nature. Third, it transcends all
barriers: gender, class, age, religion, even supernatural
nature. This power affects mortals and vampires alike,
as well as other supernatural beings.

However, the drawback is that Presence controls the
emotions of its targets, not their actions. Unless Presence
is combined with an understanding nature of the target
and subtle manipulation, it is a blunt and unpredictable
tool for control.

Anyone can resist Presence for one scene by spending
a Willpower point and then succeeding on a Willpower roll
(difficulty 8). The affected individual must keep spending
Willpower points until he is no longer in the presence of
the vampire (or, in the case of Summon, until the effect
wears off). Vampires three or more Generations lower
than the wielder need only spend a single Willpower to
ignore the Presence for an entire night. In this case, no
Willpower roll is needed.

• A we

Awe lets a vampire capture the attention of those
around her. The victims are drawn to the vampire and
can’t help themselves from trusting her laughing at her
jokes. The vampire commands their attention and shapes
it to suit her needs.

While Awe is most effective for first impressions it
also affects those who already have an opinion of the
vampire. If someone thinks the vampire is treacherous
liar, then Awe alone is not enough to change his mind,
but it can be enough to make him consider that perhaps,
just this one time, the vampire is telling the truth.
Awe doesn’t override self-preservation. If danger
strikes, it breaks the spell of fascination, as does leaving
the area. The memory of the meeting remains, however,
and the target remembers how he felt about the vampire,
which will influence future interactions.

System: The player chooses what impression she
wants to make. The impression should be simple,
something that can be summed up in one or two words.
Honest, competent, or dangerous are good examples.
The player then spends a blood point and rolls Charisma
+ Performance (difficulty 7). The number of successes
rolled determines how many people are affected, as noted
on the chart below. If there are more people present
than the character can influence, Awe affects those with
lower Willpower ratings first. The power stays in effect
for the remainder of the scene or until the character
chooses to drop it.

Successes Result
1 success One person
2 successes Two people
3 successes Six people
4 successes 20 people
5 successes Everyone in the vampire’s immediate vicinity

Those affected can use Willpower points to overcome
the effect, but must continue spending Willpower every
scene for as long as they remain in the same area as the
vampire. As soon as an individual spends a number of
Willpower points equal to the successes rolled, he shakes
off Awe completely and remains unaffected for the rest
of the night. The character gains additional dice equal
to her dots in Presence to any action that would foster
or take advantage of the chosen reaction against an
affected individual.

•• Dread Gaze

Like how a spark can light a forest fire, Dread Gaze lets a
vampire take a spark of fear and turn it into paralyzing terror.
By revealing her predatory nature, such as baring her fangs,
snarling, displaying her claws, or crying for blood, Dread Gaze
inflames that natural reaction into mindless terror. Victims
flee recklessly, freeze with fright, or cower and beg for mercy.

System: The player rolls Charisma + Intimidation
(difficulty equal to the victim’s Wits + Courage). Success
indicates the victim is cowed, while failure means the
target is startled but not terrified by the sight. Three or
more successes means he runs away in abject fear; victims
who have nowhere to run claw at the walls, hoping to dig
a way out rather than face the vampire. Moreover, each
success subtracts one from the target’s action dice pools
for the next turn. The character may attempt Dread Gaze
once per turn against a single target, though she may also
perform it as an extended action, adding her successes in
order to subjugate the target completely. Once the target
loses enough dice that he cannot perform any action, he’s
so shaken and terrified that he curls up on the ground
and weeps. Failure during the extended action means
the attempt falters. The character loses all her collected
successes and can start over next turn, while the victim
may act normally again.

••• Entrancement

With Entrancement, a vampire binds a victim into her
service. Entranced individuals have their feelings twisted
so that they want to serve the vampire. They want to heed
her every wish, need, or desire, believing that they do so
out of true devotion.

Since only the target’s emotions are snared, not their
minds, they are free to use their skills in the vampire’s
service, but it makes them unpredictable.
Also, since Entrancement is temporary, a smart Cainite
always has a plan on how to deal with the servant once the
effect wears off. Servants might react with anger, horror or
hatred if they understand that they have been bewitched.
Some vampires prefer to dispose of them, while others
bind them permanently with a blood oath.

System: The player spends a blood point and rolls
Appearance + Empathy (difficulty equal to the target’s
current Willpower points); the number of successes determines
how long the subject is Entranced, as per the chart
below. (Subjects can still spend Willpower to temporarily
resist, like any other Presence power.) The Storyteller
may wish to make the roll instead, since the character is
never certain of the strength of her hold on the victim.
The vampire may try to keep the subject under her thrall
with further blood and further rolls.

Successes Result
Botch Subject cannot be Entranced for the rest
of the story.
Failure The power fails.
1 success One hour
2 successes One day
3 successes One week
4 successes One month
5 successes One year

•••• Summon

This impressive power enables the vampire to call to
herself any person she has ever met. This call can go to
anyone, mortal or supernatural, across any distance within
the physical world. The subject of the Summoning comes
as fast as he is able, possibly without even knowing why.
He knows intuitively how to find his Summoner — even if
the vampire moves to a new location, the subject redirects
his own course as soon as he can. After all, he’s coming
to the vampire herself, not to some predetermined site.
Although this power allows the vampire to call someone
across a staggering distance, travel is slow in the Dark

Medieval World, so it is most useful when used locally.
Even if the desired person books the fastest ships or rides
expertly, travel can take days, weeks, or months. Obviously,
the individual’s financial resources are a factor; if
he doesn’t have the money to travel quickly, it will take
him a far greater time to get there.

The subject thinks mainly of reaching the vampire,
but does not neglect his own well-being. This is less of a
consideration if he only has to cross a room, unless he must
get through a gang of brutes set on beating him to a pulp
to do so. The individual retains his survival instincts, and
while he won’t shirk physical violence to reach the vampire’s
side, he won’t subject himself to suicidal situations.

The Summoning dissipates at dawn, unless extra
successes have been spent to prolong it. Still, as long as
the vampire is willing and able, she is assured to greet her
desired subject some night — as long as nothing happens
to him along the way, of course.

System: The player spends a blood point and rolls
Charisma + Subterfuge. The base difficulty is 5; this increases
to difficulty 7 if the vampire only met the subject
briefly. If the character used Presence successfully on
the target in the past, this difficulty drops to 4, but if the
attempt was unsuccessful, the difficulty rises to 8. The
vampire can allocate successes either to make the subject
make haste or to prolong the duration of the Summoning.

Successes Result
Failure Subject cannot be Summoned by that vampire
for the rest of the night.
1 success Subject approaches slowly and hesitantly.
2 successes Subject approaches reluctantly and is easily
thwarted by obstacles.
3 successes Subject approaches with reasonable speed.
4 successes Subject comes with haste, overcoming any
obstacles in his way.
5 successes Subject rushes to the vampire, doing anything
to get to her.

You can also spend extra successes to prolong the
Summoning. If you summon a mortal, one success can
be spent on prolonging the Summoning by one day. For
vampires, two successes need to be spent to prolong the
Summoning by one night. Both mortals and vampires alike
will seek rest and shelter when they feel that it is needed.

••••• Majesty
At this stage, the vampire can augment her supernatural
mien a thousandfold. The attractive become paralyzingly
beautiful; the homely become hideously twisted. Majesty
inspires universal respect, devotion, fear — or all those
emotions at once — in those around the vampire. The
weak scramble to obey her every whim, and even the most
dauntless find it almost impossible to deny her. Affected
individuals find the vampire so formidable that they dare not
risk her displeasure. Raising their voices to her is difficult;
raising a hand against her is unthinkable. Those few who
shake off the vampire’s potent mystique enough to oppose
her are shouted down by the many under her thrall before
the Cainite need even respond.

Under Majesty’s influence, hearts break, power trembles,
and the bold shake. Wise Cainites use this power with
caution against mortal and immortal alike. While Majesty
can cow influential politicians and venerable primogen,
the vampire must be careful that doing so doesn’t come
back to haunt her. After all, a dignitary brought low before
others loses his usefulness quickly, while a humiliated
Cainite has centuries to plan revenge.

System: No roll is required on the part of the vampire,
but she must spend a Willpower point. A subject must
make a Courage roll (difficulty equal to the vampire’s
Charisma + Intimidation, to a maximum of 9) if he wishes
to be rude or simply contrary to the vampire.

Success allows the individual to act normally for the
moment, although he feels the weight of the vampire’s
displeasure crushing down on him. A subject who fails the
roll aborts his intended action and even goes to absurd
lengths to humble himself before the vampire, no matter
who else is watching. The effects of Majesty last one scene.

The vampire does not change the Beast, but the Beast
does change the vampire. There is no greater demonstration
of the mutative ability of the vampire than the
Discipline of Protean. The vampire physically expresses
the wildness in her nature and the dangers of the Beast
by shapechanging, brutal natural weaponry, and many
other signs of the mythological vampire made manifest.
While the forms are wild and the changes dynamic,
some rules apply almost universally.
Vampires can use other Disciplines while transformed
from their average shape, though the Storyteller may
take exception to this in logical cases. Without eyes, one
cannot use Dominate, for example.

A Cainite’s clothing and adornments transform
with her, absorbed into her body when she undergoes a
dramatic change. Armor and other protective items may
be absorbed but will provide no boon. Protean does not
provide the ability to change anything not tight to the
skin or larger than a hip bag. Even a large winter cloak
might be left behind, or anything bigger than a dagger. A
staked vampire remains staked no matter what form she
is in. There are stories of elder levels of Protean that can
repulse a stake over time, but that’s an exception.

• Eyes of the Beast

The Damned’s eyes glow and she can see even in
pitch blackness.

System: No roll is necessary. The vampire simply wills
herself to see in the darkness. A vampire with this power
ignores blind fighting penalties (p. 346). When Eyes of
the Beast is active, dealing with humans is complicated. In
addition to likely accusations of witchcraft and demonic
possession, Eyes of the Beast reduces the dice pool to most
Social rolls with kine by one while the power is active.
However, the dice pool for Intimidation rolls increases by
one when the power is active.

•• Feral Weapons

The Damned are creatures built to destroy everything
around them, and Feral Weapons may be the clearest example
of their innate tendency toward destruction. With
effort, the vampire forces bone or cartilage talons to rip
through their fingertips, nail beds, or even finger pads in
some cases. These talons differ from vampire to vampire
in appearance, but never in violent potential. They are
especially good at incising tender flesh and supernatural
meat. Similarly, they rend metal and cleave stone with
considerable ease.

System: The character spends effort to force the
claws through her skin. They may erupt from hands, feet,
or perhaps even her face like tusks or horns. Her player
marks off a blood point spent. The transformation is
reflexive and lasts for the scene.
Her claws deal Strength +1 aggravated damage. The
dice pool for climbing rolls increases by two when using
Feral Weapons in the hands and feet.

••• Earth Meld

The transformative becomes the transcendental given
enough time and practice. The Damned with this level
of Protean may, with effort, force her body down into
the earth to slumber in a space somewhere between the
earth, heaven, and hell. A vampire interred in the dirt,
then, enters an ecstatic state just above torpor where they
remain vaguely aware of the environment above them,
though often the slumber seems more important than the
outside world at the time. This may be why it is rumored
the Eldest of the old choose to slumber in soil.

System: To enter the soil, the vampire spends a turn
joining her flesh with the dirt. Her player spends a blood
point and at the end of the turn she is gone.

If there is danger in the vampire’s proximity
while she sleeps, the player rolls her Road rating
(difficulty 6) to pull her from her state and arise
from the dirt.

Disturbing the soil where the Damned sleeps
is both difficult and dangerous. The act requires
a Strength 5 Feat of Strength roll to interrupt the
sleeper’s bond with the earth. Worse, when the sleeper
dislodges, she is forced out of her ecstasy fully awake
and angry. Always angry.

•••• Shape of the Beast

The Damned reaches a plateau of symbiosis
with the night when she expresses Shape of
the Beast. She finds a unique fight and
flight form to take in keeping
with the mythological associations
for the Damned in her region. In most of
Christendom, a vampire with this power becomes
a bat or a wolf, though local mythology dictates other
forms in other parts of the world, such as vultures and
jackals or crow and tigers.

System: Changing forms takes three full turns and costs a blood point.
The vampire can reduce that time by spending additional blood points
to reduce the process by a turn per point, to a minimum potential
reflexive change with four blood points. He remains in this form
until the next twilight unless he chooses to leave the form.
A vampire may use any Discipline in animal form that
he possesses and has the physical capacity to practice. For
example, complicated Thaumaturgical rituals would be
impossible for a wolf, and Dominate commands would be
impossible to deliver as a bat.

The vampire gains benefits common to the animal
form he takes. Storytellers and players should agree on
the ability of any non-standard animal forms.

••••• Lurking Mists

At this point, the vampire’s body and soul are united in
purpose, and even becoming insubstantial is only a matter
of desire. The vampire can become as mist, moving as a
brisk pace and able to slip herself through narrow cracks
under doors, through arrow slots and along the narrowest
ledges. A strong enough wind can blow her mist form off
course temporarily, but she cannot be blown apart. She
can get to her prey, no matter where they hide.

System: No roll is needed; expending a blood point
activates this power. The transformation takes three turns,
though as with Shape of the Beast, that time may be reduced
by spending additional blood points. A vampire in who is mist
form may use any Discipline she has the physical capacity to use.
Mundane physical assault does nothing to the Lurking
Mists. Assailants must utilize supernatural means or
aggravated damage to harm the Cainite. Even then, fire
and sunlight do one less die of damage to a vampire who
is so changed. The mist cannot physically attack anything
either, including another in mist form.