Auspex gives the vampire uncanny sensory abilities.
She starts with the capacity to heighten her natural
senses significantly, but as she grows in power, she can
perceive psychic auras and read the thoughts of another
being. Auspex can also pierce through mental illusions
such as those created by Obfuscate — see the sidebar
“Seeing the Unseen” on p. 142 for more.
However, a vampire with Auspex needs to be careful.
Her increased sensory sensitivity can cause her to be
drawn in by beautiful things or stunned by loud noises
or pungent smells. Sudden or dynamic events can
disorient an Auspex-using character unless her player
makes a Willpower roll to block them out (difficulty of
at least 4, although the more potent the source of distraction,
the higher the difficulty). Failure overwhelms
the character’s senses, making her oblivious to her surroundings
for a turn or two. While the Malkavians and
Toreador are more prone to these kinds of distractions,
the Tremere and Tzimisce aren’t immune.
Dots in Perception are very useful for using Auspex
powers, as more successes help the character gain more
sensory information.

• Heightened Senses
This power increases the acuity of all of the vampire’s
senses, effectively doubling the clarity and range
of sight, hearing, and smell. While her senses of taste
and touch extend no farther than normal, they likewise
become far more distinct; the vampire could taste
the hint of liquor in a victim’s blood or feel the give of
the board concealing a hollow space in the floor. The
Kindred may magnify her senses at will, sustaining this
heightened focus for as long as she desires. At the Storyteller’s
option, this may make hunting easier.
Occasionally, this talent provides extrasensory or
even precognitive insights. These brief, unfocused
glimpses may be odd premonitions, flashes of empathy,
or eerie feelings of foreboding. The vampire has no
control over these perceptions, but with practice can
learn to interpret them with a fair degree of accuracy.
Expanded senses come at a price, however. Bright
lights, loud noises and strong smells present a hazard
while the vampire uses this power. In addition to the
possibility for distraction, an especially sudden or potent
stimulus (like the glare of a spotlight or a clap of
thunder) can blind or deafen the Kindred for an hour
or more.
System: It takes a reflexive action to activate this
ability, but no roll or other cost is required. In certain
circumstances, dice rolls associated with using the
character’s sense (such as Perception + Alertness) decrease
in difficulty by a number equal to the character’s
Auspex rating when the power is engaged.
The Storyteller may also use this power to see if the
character perceives a threat. In this case, the Storyteller
privately rolls the character’s unmodified Auspex
rating, applying whatever difficulty he feels best suits
the circumstances. For example, sensing that a pistol is
pointed at the back of the character’s head may require
a roll of difficulty 5, while the sudden realization that
a rival for Primogen is planning her assassination may
require a 9. Note that even this “precognition” comes
only as a result of interpreting details the Kindred is
able to notice. It’s not an all-purpose insight or miraculous
revelation.
At the character’s discretion, she may selectively
heighten one specific sense, rather than leaving them
all on. In these cases, the difficulty to perceive stimuli
using that sense drops by one, but the difficulty to
avoid distraction or temporary bedazzlement increases
by one.
This power does not let characters see in pitch darkness,
as does Eyes of the Beast (p. 199), but it does reduce
difficulty penalties to act in such darkness from
+2 to +1, and the character may make ranged attacks
in pitch darkness if she can hear, smell, or otherwise
detect her foe.

•• Aura Perception
Using this power, the vampire can perceive the psychic
“auras” that radiate from mortals and supernatural
beings alike. These halos comprise a shifting series of
colors that take practice to discern with clarity. Even
the simplest individual has many shifting hues within
his aura; strong emotions predominate, while momentary
impressions or deep secrets flash through in streaks
and swirls.
The colors change in sympathy with the subject’s
emotional state, blending into new tones in a constantly
dancing pattern. The stronger the emotions
involved, the more intense the hues become. A skilled
vampire can learn much from her subject by reading
the nuances of color and brilliance in the aura’s flow.
Aside from perceiving emotional states, vampires use
Aura Perception to detect supernatural beings. The
colors in Kindred auras, while intense, are quite pale;
mage halos often flare and crackle with arcane power;
the race of shapeshifters has strikingly bright, almost
frantic, auras; ghosts have weak auras that flicker fitfully
like a dying flame; and faerie creatures’ radiance is
shot through with capricious rainbow hues.
System: After the character stares at the subject for
at least a few seconds, the player rolls Perception + Empathy
(difficulty 8); each success indicates how much
of the subject’s aura the character sees and understands
(see the table below). A failure indicates that the play
of colors and patterns yields no prevailing impression.
A botch indicates a false or erroneous interpretation.
The Storyteller may wish to make this roll, thus keeping
the player in the dark as to the veracity of the character’s
interpretation.
Successes Result
1 success - Can distinguish only the shade (pale
or bright).
2 successes - Can distinguish the main color.
3 successes - Can recognize the color patterns.
4 successes - Can detect subtle shifts.
5 successes - Can identify mixtures of color and
pattern.
The Aura Colors chart offers some example ideas
of common colors and the emotions they reflect that
Storytellers can use. Note that it is nearly impossible
to determine with certainty if a particular character is
lying or not with this power – vampires are inherently
deceitful by nature, but even mortals might react with
anxiety to questions while still being truthful. It is,
however, helpful in determine the target’s emotional
state, which might lead the vampire to decide that a
particular target is suspicious.
A character may choose to perform a very cursory
aura scan of a large area like a nightclub’s dance floor
or the audience in a gallery. In this case, the player
decides which characteristic of auras she’s looking for,
and that’s the only information she’s able to glean if
the roll is successful. (At the Storyteller’s discretion,
on this general scan roll, more successes on the roll
may more quickly yield what the character seeks.) For
example, the player may specify, “Who’s the most nervous
person in attendance?” or “Are there any vampirically
pale auras among the CEO’s entourage?” Thereafter,
the player may narrow down her scrutiny of a
single individual, with an additional roll as normal.
The character may focus in on a particular subject’s
aura only once per scene with any degree of clarity.
Any subsequent attempts that result in failure should
be considered botches. It is very easy for the character
to imagine seeing what she wants to see when judging
someone’s intentions. After 24 hours, the character
may try again at no penalty.
It is possible, though difficult, to sense the aura of a
being who is otherwise invisible to normal sight. Refer
to “Seeing the Unseen,” p. 142, for more information.

Aura Colors
Condition Aura - Colors
Afraid - Orange
Aggressive - Purple
Angry - Red
Bitter - Brown
Calm - Light Blue
Compassionate - Pink
Conservative - Lavender
Depressed - Gray
Desirous or Lustful - Deep Red
Distrustful - Light Green
Envious - Dark Green
Excited - Violet
Generous - Rose
Happy - Vermilion
Hateful - Black
Idealistic - Yellow
Innocent - White
Lovestruck - Blue
Obsessed - Green
Sad - Silver
Spiritual - Gold
Suspicious - Dark Blue
Anxious - Auras appear scrambled
like static or white noise
Confused - Mottled, shifting colors
Diablerist - Black veins in aura
Daydreaming - Sharp flickering colors
Frenzied - Rapidly rippling colors
Psychotic - Hypnotic, swirling colors
Vampire - Aura colors are pale
Ghoul - Pale blotches in the aura
Magic Use - Myriad sparkles in aura
Werebeast - Bright, vibrant aura
Ghost - Weak, intermittent aura
Faerie - Rainbow highlights in aura

••• The Spirit’s Touch
When someone handles an object for any length
of time, he leaves a psychic impression on the item.
A vampire with this level of Auspex can “read” these
sensations, learning who handled the object, when he
last held it, and what was done with it recently. (For
these purposes, a corpse counts as an “object” and can
be read accordingly.) These visions are seldom clear
and detailed, registering more like a kind of “psychic
snapshot.” Still, the Kindred can learn much even
from such a glimpse. Although most visions concern
the last person to handle the item, a long-time owner
leaves a stronger impression than someone who held
the object briefly.
Gleaning information from the spiritual residue requires
the vampire to hold the object and enter a shallow
trance. She is only marginally aware of her surroundings
while using The Spirit’s Touch, but a loud
noise or jarring physical sensation breaks the trance
instantly.
System: The player rolls Perception + Empathy. The
difficulty is determined by the age of the impressions
and the mental and spiritual strength of the person or
event that left them. Sensing information from a pistol
used for a murder hours ago may require a 4, while
learning who owned a bloodstained puppet fashioned a
century ago might be a 9.
The greater the individual’s emotional connection
to the object, the stronger the impression he leaves
on it — and the more information the Kindred can
glean from it. Events involving strong emotions (a giftgiving,
a torture, a long family history) likewise leave
stronger impressions than short or casual contact do.
Assume that each success offers one piece of information,
as per the chart below.
Successes Information
Botch The character is overwhelmed by
psychic impressions for the next 30
minutes and unable to act.
Failure No information of value.
1 success Very basic information: the last
owner’s gender or hair color,
for instance.
2 successes - A second piece of basic information.
3 successes - More useful information about the
last owner, such as age and state of
mind the last time he used the item.
4 successes - The person’s name.
5+ successes - A wealth of information: nearly
anything you want to know about the
person’s relationship with that object
is available.
At the Storyteller’s discretion, some impressions
on objects may be so strong — a knife plunged into
Caesar’s breast, the tip of the Spear of Destiny, a fang
pulled from the maw of Dracula — that any use of this
power may be deemed a success.

•••• Telepathy
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.

••••• Psychic Projection
The Kindred with this awesome ability projects her
senses out of her physical shell, stepping from her body
as an entity of pure thought. The vampire’s astral form
is immune to physical damage or fatigue, and can “fly”
with blinding speed anywhere across the earth — or
even underground — so long as she remains below the
moon’s orbit.
The Kindred’s material form lies in a torpid state
while her astral self is active, and the vampire isn’t
aware of anything that befalls her body until she returns
to it. An ephemeral silver cord connects the Kindred’s
psyche to her body. If this cord is severed, her consciousness
becomes stranded in the astral plane (the realm of
ghosts, spirits, and shades). Attempting to return to the
vampire’s physical shell is a long and terrifying ordeal,
especially since there is no guarantee that she will accomplish
the journey successfully. This significant danger
keeps many Kindred from leaving their bodies for
long, but those who dare can learn much.
System: Journeying in astral form requires the player
to expend a point of Willpower and make a Perception
+ Awareness roll. Difficulty varies depending on the distance
and complexity of the intended trip; 5 is within
sight, 7 is nearby or to a familiar location, and 9 reflects a
trip far from familiar territory (a first journey from North
America to the Far East; trying to shortcut through the
earth). The greater the number of successes rolled, the
more focused the character’s astral presence is, and the
easier it is for her to reach her desired destination.
Failure means the character is unable to separate
her consciousness from her body, while a botch can
have nasty consequences — flinging her astral form to
a random destination on Earth or in the spirit realm,
arriving in a place where the sun is active (necessitating
a frenzy roll, although the sunlight doesn’t do any
damage), or hurtling toward the desired destination so
forcefully that the silver cord snaps.
The player may spend a point of Willpower to activate
this power, and an additional point of Willpower to
gain the success necessary to perform the jaunt. This is
an exception to the normal rule where a player may not
spend more than a single point of Willpower per turn.
Each scene in Psychic Projection requires another
point of Willpower and a new roll. Failure indicates
that the vampire has lost her way and must retrace the
path of her silver cord. A botch at this stage means the
cord snaps, stranding the character’s psychic form in
the mysterious astral plane.
An astral form may travel at great speeds (the Storyteller
can use roughly 1000 miles per hour or 1500
kilometers per hour as a general guide) and carries no
clothing or material objects of any kind. Some artifacts
are said to exist in the spirit world, and the character
can try to use one of these tools if she finds one. The
character cannot bring such relics to the physical world
when she returns to her body, however.
Interaction with the physical world is impossible
while using Psychic Projection. At best, the character
may spend a Willpower point to manifest as a ghostlike
shape. This apparition lasts one turn before fading
away; while she can’t affect anything physically during
this time, the character can speak. Despite lacking
physical substance, an astral character can use Auspex
normally. At the Storyteller’s discretion, such a character
may employ some or all Animalism, Dementation,
Dominate, Necromancy, Obtenebration, Presence,
Thaumaturgy, and similar non-corporeal powers
she has, though this typically requires a minimum of
three successes on the initial Psychic Projection roll.
If two astral shapes encounter one another, they
interact as if they were solid. They may talk, touch,
and even fight as if both were in the material world.
Since they have no physical bodies, astral characters
seeking to interact “physically” substitute Mental and
Social Traits for Physical ones (Wits replaces Dexterity,
Manipulation supplants Strength, and Intelligence
replaces Stamina). Due to the lack of a material form,
the only real way to damage another psychic entity is
to cut its silver cord. When fighting this way, consider
Willpower points to be health levels; when a combatant
loses all of her Willpower, the cord is severed.
Although an astrally projected character remains in
the reflection of the mortal world, she may venture further
into the spirit realms, especially if she becomes
lost. Other beings with particular sensitivity to psychic
activity, such as ghosts, werewolves, and even some
magi, travel the astral plane as well, and can interact
with a vampire’s psychic presence normally (although
the astrally projected character is not considered a
“ghost” for powers such as Necromancy). The observing
character notices the astrally projecting vampire
with a Perception + Awareness roll (difficulty 8), requiring
more successes than the Psychic Projection
activation roll. Even those who do notice you won’t
be able to identify you; you are merely an immaterial
shade hovering in the general area. Storytellers are encouraged
to make trips into the spirit world as bizarre,
mysterious, and dreamlike as possible. The world beyond
is a vivid and fantastic place, where the true nature
of things is stronger and often strikingly different
from their earthly appearances.

••••• • Clairvoyance
By using Clairvoyance, a vampire can perceive distant
events without using Psychic Projection. By concentrating
on a familiar person, place, or object, a
character can observe the subject’s immediate vicinity
while staying aware of her own surroundings.
System: The player rolls Perception + Empathy (difficulty
6) and describes the target she’s trying to look
in on. If the roll is successful, the character can then
perceive the events and environment surrounding the
desired target for one turn per success. Other Auspex
powers may be used on the scene being viewed; these are
rolled normally. Clairvoyance does split the vampire’s
perceptions between what she is viewing at a distance
and what is taking place around her. As a result, while
using this power, a character is at +3 difficulty on all rolls
relating to actions that affect her physical surroundings.

••••• • Prediction
Some people are capable of finishing their friends’
sentences. Elder vampires with Prediction sometimes
begin their friends’ sentences. Prediction is a constant
low-level telepathic scan of the minds of everyone the
character is in proximity to. While this power does not
give the vampire the details of his neighbors’ conscious
thoughts, it does provide a wealth of cues as to the subjects’
moods, suppressed reflexes, and attitudes toward
the topic of conversation.
System: Whenever the character is in conversation
and either participant in the discussion makes a Social
roll, the player may pre-empt the roll to spend a blood
point and make a Perception + Empathy roll (difficulty
of the target’s Manipulation + Subterfuge). Each
success is an additional die that can be applied to the
player’s Social roll or subtracted from the dice pool of
the Social roll being made against the character.

••••• • Telepathic Communication
Telepathy (p. 137) allows a character to pick up only
the surface thoughts of other individuals, and to speak
to one at a time. With Telepathic Communication,
a character can form a more powerful link between
his mind and that of other subjects, allowing them to
converse in words, concepts, and sensory images at the
speed of thought (and without the need for Willpower
expenditure, unlike with Telepathy). Vampires with
this level of Auspex can act as “switchboard operators,”
creating a telepathic web that allows all participants to
share thoughts with some or all other members of the
network as they choose.
System: The player rolls Charisma + Empathy (difficulty
equals the target’s current Willpower points) to
establish contact, although a willing subject may allow
the vampire access and thus obviate the need for a roll.
The maximum range at which a subject may be contacted
and the maximum number of individuals who
may be linked simultaneously with this power depends
on the Auspex rating of the vampire who initiates contact
(see sidebar).

Auspex Rating| No. of Targets Approximate Range
Auspex 6 - 3 subjects - 500 miles/800 kilometers
Auspex 7 - Perception rating - 1000 miles/1500 kilometers
Auspex 8 - Perception + Empathy - 500 miles/800 kilometers per point of Intelligence
Auspex 9 - 2x (Perception + Empathy) - 1000 miles/1500 kilometers per point of Intelligence

••••• •• Karmic Sight
The power of Aura Perception (Auspex 2) allows a
vampire to take a brief glimpse at the soul of a subject.
This power takes Aura Perception several steps
forward, allowing a vampire who has mastered Auspex
2 to probe the inner workings of a subject’s mind and
soul.
System: The player rolls Perception + Empathy (difficulty
equals the subject’s current Willpower). The degree
of success determines the information gained.
Successes Result
Botch The character gains a Derangement
or Psychological/Mental/
Supernatural Flaw similar to
one of the target’s for one
night, at Storyteller discretion.
1 success - As per five successes on an
Aura Perception roll.
2 successes - Subject’s Nature, Demeanor,
and Humanity or Path can be
determined.
3 successes - Any outside influences on the
subject’s mind or soul, such as
Dominate or a demonic pact,
can be detected.
4 successes - Subject’s Willpower, Humanity or
Path, and Virtue ratings can
be determined.
5 successes - The state of the subject’s
karma may be determined.
This is a highly abstract piece
of information best left to
Storyteller discretion, but
should reveal the general
balance between “good” and
“bad” actions the subject has
performed, both recently and
over the course of his
existence. If the plot merits
it, the character may receive
visions of one or more
incidents in the subject’s past
that radically altered his destiny.
With this degree of success, some
fate-related Merits and Flaws (e.g.
Dark Fate) can be identified as well.

••••• •• Mirror Reflex
This power was developed by a Toreador elder who
made a fearsome reputation through her fencing prowess,
acting as a hired champion in dozens of Ventrue
duels. Mirror Reflex is similar to Prediction in that it is
in essence a low-level telepathic scan of an opponent,
but this power taps into physical (rather than social)
reflexes, allowing the character to anticipate an enemy’s
moves in personal combat.
System: The player spends a blood point and rolls
Perception + the combat skill the opponent is using
(difficulty of the subject’s Manipulation + combat skill
in use). Each success is an additional die that can he applied
to the character’s dice pools during the next turn
of combat for any actions taken against the scanned opponent.
The use of Mirror Reflex does take one combat
action, and the power has a maximum range in yards or
meters equal to the character’s Willpower rating.

••••• ••• Psychic Assault
Psychic Assault is nothing less than a direct mindto-
mind attack which uses the sheer force of an elder’s
will to overpower his target. Victims of Psychic Assault
show little outward sign of the attack, save for nosebleeds
and expressions of intense agony; all injuries by
means of this psychic pressure inflicted are internal. A
medical examination of a mortal victim of a Psychic
Assault invariably shows the cause of death to be a
heart attack or aneurysm, while vampires killed with
this power decay to dust instantly, regardless of age.
System: The character must touch or make eye contact
with his target. The player spends three blood
points (and a Willpower point, if assaulting a vampire
or other supernatural being) and rolls Manipulation +
Intimidation in a contested roll against the victim’s
Willpower. The result depends on the number of net
successes the attacker rolls.
Successes Result
Botch The target becomes immune to the
attacker’s Psychic Assault for one
night per each “1” rolled.
Failure The target is unharmed and may
determine that a psychic assault is
taking place by succeeding on a
Perception + Awareness roll
(difficulty 6).
1 success - The target is shaken but unharmed.
He loses a temporary Willpower
point.
2 successes - The target is badly frightened. He
loses three temporary Willpower
points and, if a vampire, must roll
Courage (difficulty of the attacker‘s
Auspex rating) to avoid Rötschreck.
3 successes - The target loses six temporary
Willpower points and, if a vampire,
must roll Courage as above. If this
causes him to lose his last temporary
Willpower point, he loses a
permanent Willpower point and
receives three health levels of bashing
damage (soaked normally).
4 successes - The target loses all temporary
Willpower points and half of his
permanent Willpower points (round
down) and suffers three health levels
of lethal damage (soaked normally).
5 successes - The target must roll his permanent
Willpower (difficulty 7). If he
succeeds, apply the effect of four
successes, and is also rendered
unconscious for the rest of the night.
If he fails, the Psychic Assault kills
him instantly.

••••• •••• False Slumber
Possibly the source of many Malkavians’ conviction
that their sire is alive and well on the astral plane, this
power allows a Methuselah‘s spirit to leave his body while
in torpor. While seemingly asleep, the vampire is able to
project astrally, think, and perceive events normally.
System: No roll is needed. This power is considered
to be active whenever the vampire’s body is in torpor,
and astral travels are handled as per the rules for Psychic
Projection. The vampire is not able to awaken
physically at will, however — waking from torpor is
handled per the normal rules for such an action (see
p. 283).
A vampire with this power whose silver cord is severed in
astral combat loses all Willpower points, as per the rules for
astral combat under Psychic Projection, but is not killed.
Instead, he loses the use of this Auspex power and half of
his permanent Willpower points. Both the Auspex 9 power
and the Willpower must be bought back with experience
points. The vampire’s soul slowly returns to his body over
the course of a year and a day, during which time he may
not be awakened from torpor by any means.