Discipline Powers

Busy Doing Nothing (Obfuscate ••••• •)
With this ability, the Nosferatu is perfectly visible,
but appears to be doing something innocuous when he
is actually up to something else. If he is picking a lock,
for example, he will appear to be standing by the door
innocently. Even when involved in a brawl, he will seem to
be a bystander. The image works in a similar way to Mask
of a Thousand Faces (V20, p. 185), in that the Nosferatu
is exactly where he appears to be.
System: To use this power, the Nosferatu rolls
Manipulation + Performance (difficulty 7). The better the
result, the more action the Nosferatu can take without
disturbing the image. For one success, he might only be
able to listen to a door while appearing to stand near it,
while for five successes he can be engaged in a fight and
appear to be a bystander.

Displacement (Obfuscate ••••• •)
The Nosferatu can use his power not only to disappear,
but also to appear shifted a little to one side or the other.
Essentially, she isn’t standing quite where she appears to
be. This makes the vampire extremely difficult to hit. It
is almost harder to strike her than when she is invisible,
as trying to ignore what you can see in front of you is
very difficult.
System: This power costs a blood point to activate for a
scene. While active, this power imposes a dice penalty of
the user’s Obfuscate rating to any attempt to hit or touch
her. The attacker is allowed a Perception + Awareness
roll (difficulty equal to the user’s Obfuscate rating + 4,
maximum 9) to notice the deception after a few blows.
If successful, the attacker can reduce the penalty by the
amount of successes she gained. The penalty is also further
reduced by the attacker’s Auspex rating, but to a minimum
of 1 in all cases.


Combination Disciplines

Bestial Presence (Animalism •••, Obfuscate •••)
Using this power, the vampire summons up a little of
the Beast in each nearby vampire and gives it form. This
gestalt entity becomes a brooding animal presence that
follows the vampire like a companion.
System: The companion is summoned using
Manipulation + Animal Ken with a difficulty of 8. It
remains for a number of hours equal to the amount
of successes gained. The vampire must also spend one
blood point.
The brooding presence of the companion puts all nearby
vampires on edge. They feel their own Beast watching and
whispering to them. While the companion is present, all
vampires (except the summoner) in its immediate vicinity
suffer -2 dice to all Social rolls and all rolls to resist any
form of frenzy.
This power costs 18 experience points to learn.

Cloak the Beast (Animalism •••••, Obfuscate •••)
Even a Kindred who has not mastered the Beast might
learn to hide her failings from others. With this ability,
the Nosferatu has such control over their animal side that
she can use her powers of stealth to conceal how badly
she may have fallen from grace.
System: This power requires no roll, simply granting an
ability that comes into play whenever any power attempts
to determine the Kindred’s Humanity/Path or Virtue
ratings. The difficulty of such an attempt is increased by
the Kindred’s Animalism or Obfuscate rating (whichever is
higher). A failure shows the Kindred to have solid control
over their Virtues, and a Humanity/Path rating of at least a
healthy 7. The player should be warned that depending on
whatever recent actions provoked such a scan or interview
she may still have a lot of explaining to do!
This power costs 24 experience points to learn.

Forbidden Zone (Obfuscate •••••, Potence •••)
By infusing her strength into an area as a barrier, the
Nosferatu can create a space that resists any form of
physical entry. However, this barrier is illusionary and all
in the mind of the target. The area might be cloaked or
not, as the Nosferatu decides. However, entering the area
requires anyone else to have to push through an apparent
invisible force. The vampire can release individuals from
this power simply by touch.
System: The vampire rolls Strength + Subterfuge
(difficulty 6) and spends a blood point. For each success,
the character may maintain the zone for one hour, although
once set up she need not remain nearby. The vampire
can create a zone of any size up to a radius of six feet/
two meters for each point of Potence and Obfuscate she
has. So a vampire with Obfuscate 5 and Potence 3 could
create a zone with a radius of up to 48 feet/16 meters.
For anyone except the vampire to enter the zone requires
a roll as if the character was attempting to open a door
(V20, p. 261). However, the zone is actually a mental
barrier, not a physical one, so the successes required equal
the vampire’s Obfuscate + Potence, and the difficulty is 7.
Characters already inside the zone may leave it without
any problem, but must make the same roll to return. The
vampire can touch any character and exclude them from
the effects of this power at no cost.
This power costs 24 experience points to learn.

Haunted Place (Presence ••, Obfuscate •••••)
Given how few Nosferatu master Presence, this is a
rare power, but a potent one. The Nosferatu cloaks an
area in power, making the place almost impossible to
miss. However, it becomes noticeable due to the fetid
and corrupt aura the place acquires. Most people avoid
it without even knowing why. It seems somehow corrupt
and twisted; somewhere no one with any good intent
might choose to visit.
System: To create such a place, the vampire must make
three rolls on three consecutive nights. Each roll takes an
hour to perform, as she spends at least five blood points
around the area during the course of the hour. Then,
the player rolls Manipulation + Empathy and chooses a
difficulty number (the same difficulty number for each
roll). If all three rolls are successful, the aura of corruption
settles over the place.
For anyone but the vampire to enter it, he must make
a Willpower roll with a difficulty equal to the one the
vampire chose in creating the Haunted Place. The effect
lasts for as long as the vampire lives, or until the Storyteller
rules the area has changed significantly or lost some of its
menace (such as an urban renewal program).
This power costs 21 experience points to learn.

I Know (Auspex ••, Obfuscate ••)
You don’t actually need to know a secret to use it as leverage.
With this power, the Nosferatu is able to make it appear
as if she knows something the subject would rather keep
secret. Essentially, she surface scans the target for feelings
of guilt, and uses Obfuscate to project into his mind the
subtle body language and turns of phrase that convince him
the vampire really knows something dangerous about him.
The Nosferatu knows nothing in reality; even the light
scan she does to establish guilt gives her no clue as to the
nature of what he might be hiding. But the target doesn’t
know that, and convinces himself the vampire must know
his darkest secrets.
System: This power requires a Perception + Subterfuge
roll at a difficulty equal to the target’s current Willpower.
For each success the vampire gains, the subject is more
convinced the vampire knows something confidential and
dangerous about him. For one success, the target believes
she may know something potentially damaging, whereas
for five he is sure the vampire knows his deepest secrets.
How the vampire chooses to use this leverage is up to
her. Proving she doesn’t actually know anything, such as
guessing badly about the secret or offering details that
prove wrong, will break the illusion.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.

Power Animal (Animalism •••, Potence •)
The Kindred’s connection with animals is such that they
can transfer their physical power to animals under their
control. Such creature can be made stronger and more deadly
with an increase in strength from the vampire’s Potence.
System: The vampire must first make a connection to
an animal using Feral Whispers (V20, pp. 129-130). She
must then spend a blood point for each point of Potence
she wishes to invest in the animal for the rest of the night.
She may not grant the animal more Potence points that it
has Strength, or than the vampire has Potence. So, a rat
with a Strength of 1 may only be given Potence 1, but a
pig of Strength 4 can be given a Potence of 4, as long as
the vampire has at least a Potence of 4.
This power costs 12 experience points to learn.

Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing (Animalism •••, Obfuscate ••)
This power allows the Nosferatu to use their Obfuscate
powers on animals as well as humans. They might cloak
an animal companion to bring them into Elysium, or
simply to sneak about the city with them on their nightly
wanderings. They might also use their power to make
them seem more impressive, dangerous, or even benign.
System: This power allows the user to apply any
Obfuscate power to any animal. The vampire makes any
required rolls and spends any blood required by the ability,
but the effects are applied to the animal. The animal in
question must either be under the control of Animalism
or have drunk the Nosferatu’s blood.
This power costs 15 experience points to learn.