The Art Of Memory [ Caine's Chosen: The Black Hand -- Page 74 ]

Prerequisite: Black Hand member.

One of the most highly prized traits a member of Caine's Chosen can possess is the ability to retain and to store vital information in the most secure place possible: Her own mind. This Knowledge represents the possessor's level of dedication to this endeavor, the quick and traceless cataloging of data in the deepest recesses of the brain. The Knowledge draws upon age-old mnemonic techniques of translating facts and figures into a symbolic language of unrelated images, whereby the brain can store and quickly recall the information at a later date simply by returning itself to the basis of the symbology in question. Each piece is then translated back into its root form, allowing quick and efficient voluntary recall while simultaneously protecting the data from unwanted scrutiny. If one reads the mind of someone skilled in this Ability, all the intruder is likely to get for the effort is a jumbled series of seemingly random images, or possibly even simple shapes or colors. A character's rating in this Knowledge is added to the dice pool of any roll whose function is to protect information hidden within the mind. This obviously goes for things like Telepathy and certain applications of Dominate, but it's also apt in torture situations. The Hand encourages all its recruits to study the fundamentals of this Knowledge, and those who excel at the technique are often granted increasingly greater responsibilities in the subsect, often with resultant social and political rewards.

Possessed by: Black Hand members.
Specialties: Rapid Processing, Resisting Interrogation, Vast Cerebral Storage.

Dots - Description
1 - You know one or two tricks of cerebrally converting information.
2 - You can bury significant amounts of data in symbolic code.
3 - It would take a skilled interrogator to uncover your secrets.
4 - Processing information symbolically is second nature to you now.
5 - Moon, tin can, razor blade, mirror, thirteen. Exactly.




Diplomacy [ Guide To The Camarilla -- Page 67 ]

Diplomacy is the art of handling difficult situations with tact and skill. It is also the ability to negotiate positions, rather than specifics -- the latter is the purview of Haggling. You can negotiate policy and treaties, and extricate yourself from unpleasant situations with words, rather than force or use of Disciplines.

Possessed by: Ambitious Ventrue, Diplomats, Politicians, Seneschals.
Specialties: Alliance Building, Cease-Fires, Graceful Exits, Settlements, Spin Doctoring.

Dots - Description
1 - You can state your position without driving anyone away from the negotiating table.
2 - You clan trusts you to represent it on some issues.
3 - Your agenda usually carries the day.
4 - You can handle labor strife and cutting deals with the Lupines with equal ease.
5 - You can convince nations to alter their policies -- and like it.




Fortune-Telling [ Guide To The Sabbat -- Page 88 ]

Whether you scry with a crystal ball, consult the yarrow sticks like your Chinese ancestors, read Tarot cards or tea leaves, divine with a pendulum or cast runes like your Celtic forebears, you have learned the ability to forecast the future. You may or may not have the gift to really tell fortunes, but you can make people believe you do.
(Note: It is up to the Storyteller whether or not Fortune-Telling truly works in her chronicle. She should share this information with players whose characters have this Talent -- charlatans know when they're faking it -- though they may certainly choose to lead others along, if they so wish.)

Possessed by: Gypsies, New Agers, Psychics, Quacks.
Specialties: Crystal Balls, Mirrors, Palms, Tarot Cards, Tea Leaves, Runes, Yarrow Sticks.

Dots - Description
1 - You are able to use one method of divination adequately, and you treat it as a pastime.
2 - You are proficient in one method, with the ability to provide general information.
3 - You are familiar with many divinatory systems and proficient in several. You can provide specific and detailed information from your readings.
4 - You are adept in multiple methods of fortune-telling. Not only can you provide detailed information, but you can tell people specifically what they want to hear.
5 - An oracle; the Gypsies take lessons from you.




Grace [ Vampire Storytellers Companion -- Page 15 ]

This is the ability to function "smoothly" in a social setting. Gossiping, cutting deals in the halls of power, making a good first impression on a visiting archon and handling yourself in an elder salon are all aspects of Grace. Graceless characters may be boorish, introverted or under-socialized; conversely, characters with high Grace ratings get along with people in any crowd and often have high Contacts ratings.

Possessed by: Elder Kindred, Media Personalities, Politicians, Socialites, Toreador.
Specialties: First Impressions, Gossip, Rumor Control, Schemes, Veiled Threats and Innuendos.

Dots - Description
1 - Debutante.
2 - Senator.
3 - Hollywood celebrity.
4 - Public relations director.
5 - Vampire prince.




Haggling [ Guide To The Camarilla -- Page 67 ]

You can trade favors, and negotiate costs and other specifics so that transactions come out in your favor. You can judge relative value of goods and services quickly and easily, and know when someone's attempting to rip you off.

Possessed by: Anarchs, Household Ghouls, Importers, Nosferatu, Police Negotiators, Purchasing Agents.
Specialties: Contracts, Fine Print, Prestation, Selling Information, Swaps.

Dots - Description
1 - You can knock a few bucks off the price of something at a flea market or garage sale.
2 - You get used cars for what they're worth, not what they're marked.
3 - You can play the game of prestation better than any of your peers.
4 - Princes ask you if they're getting a good deal.
5 - You can get what you want, when you want it for the price you are willing to pay -- always.




Homiletics [ The Inquisition -- Page 54 ]

You can give persuasive homilies, and inspirational sermons. You manage to rum almost any daily event into a life-enriching experience with many lessons to learn. This can be used from the pulpit, from a street corner, or even at the local bar, the audience can be a congregation or a circle of friends.

Possessed by: Ministers, Motivational Speakers, Priests.
Specialties: Biblical Allusions, Proverbs, True Stories.

Dots - Description
1 - You can retell a good homily you once heard.
2 - You can construct a small sermon of your own.
3 - You can do this every week if you have to.
4 - You actually make people listen.
5 - You have changed lives.




Instruction [ Vampire Storytellers Companion -- Page 16 ]

"Those who can, do; those who can't, teach," goes the saying. Actually, those who can make the best teachers, but they still need this Ability to pass their expertise on to others. Any Skill or Knowledge can be taught to another character. Talents can be developed on one's own, though some (such as Brawl) may be taught, and Disciplines may be taught with the Storyteller's approval. The teacher cannot pass on a higher level of the subject than her level of Instruction. For instance, if Johanna has Occult 5 but only Instruction 3, she cannot teach her childer a higher level of Occult than 3. She has the information herself, but she doesn't have the means to convey such advanced information to her pupils.
Every month spent Instructing a pupil allows the instructor to make a Manipulation+ Instruction roll (difficulty of 10 - the student's Intelligence, or 9 - Intelligence if the student has the Quick Learner Merit). Each success on this roll gives the student one experience point to put toward the Skill, Knowledge or Discipline in question. Studies require a substantial amount of downtime, and students may be required to make Intelligence, Wits or Willpower rolls to embrace particularly difficult (quantum physics) or traumatizing (fire-walking) subjects.

Possessed by: Drill Instructors, People Everywhere, Teachers, Wise Ones.
Specialties: Dialectics, Gifted Students, Lecture, Lore.

Dots - Description
1 - Boy Scout merit badge instructor.
2 - Elementary school teacher.
3 - Calculus IV professor.
4 - World-renowned lecturer in your chosen field.
5 - Socrates.




Interrogation [ Vampire Storytellers Companion -- Page 17 ]

The fine art of making people talk takes many forms. Interrogation can be as subtle as a well-intentioned psychoanalysis or as crude as a handful of rusty nails and a hammer. Many skilled interrogators don't think of themselves as such, and some have never had any formal training whatsoever. The masters of this field have reputations that are sometimes as effective as the interrogations themselves.

Possessed by: Cops, Inquisitors, Psychiatrists, Tzimisce, War Criminals.
Specialties: Agony, Casual Conversation, Good Cop/Bad Cop, Journalism, Long-Term Brainwashing, Threats Against Family Members.

Dots - Description
1 - Small-town newspaper reporter.
2 - Vice cop.
3 - Psychiatrist.
4 - KGB "physician".
5 - Voivode from the Old World.




Intrigue [ Guide To The Camarilla -- Page 68 ]

You can plot and plan effectively. You understand how to manipulate others through trickery and artifice, and you are expert at exposing a target's vulnerabilities. Note that Intrigue is not Subterfuge; the latter involves fieldwork and actual sabotage, while Intrigue operates more on a theoretical and consequential level. Subterfuge is the art of planting a forged letter; Intrigue is the art of knowing whose handwriting to forge for maximum effect.

Possessed by: Harpies, Secure Princes, Setite Recruiters, Spymasters.
Specialties: Corporate Sabotage, Mounting Coups, Isolating Opponents, Subversion.

Dots - Description
1 - You maneuver well against a single adversary.
2 - You can figure out how to subvert an organized enemy.
3 - You can can handle multiple plots simultaneously.
4 - You've woven a web of double- and triple-crosses, all to your benefit.
5 - The rest of the Kindred are just so many puppets, dancing on your strings.




Intuition [ Vampire Storytellers Companion -- Page 17 ]

Unquantifiable and indefinable, Intuition is the quality that lets some individuals sort clues from a sea of false information and feel with perfect clarity when something is right. It covers a wide array of minor yet critical tasks, from sensing when a ghoul's lying to you to realizing that your opponent is bluffing his way through his hand to putting clues together when the sum of the parts doesn't quite equal the whole. Intuition is sixth sense, gut feelings and hunches. It is an excellent Talent for the Storyteller to drop clues through if the players are going astray.

Possessed by: Gamblers, Zen Masters, Investigators, Fortune Tellers, Bodyguards.
Specialties: Flashes of Inspiration, Gambling, Sense Lies, Trouble.

Dots - Description
1 - Your guesses usually point you in the right direction.
2 - Your first answer is usually the best.
3 - You get a funny feeling when your suspicions are valid.
4 - You sense what's wrong and who's behind it.
5 - Your insights come with perfect clarity.




Malkavian Time [ Clanbook: Malkavian (Revised) -- Page 59 ] --> Durch Lore of the Clans wurde ein neues System eingeführt.




Masquerade (As Mortal) [ Vampire Storytellers Companion -- Page 18 ]

Prerequisite: Vampire

This Talent cannot be taken by starting characters, and is (obviously) available only to vampires. It is the ability to falsely reproduce the frailties and subtle clues of mortality: Respiration, creating a pulse, forcing blood to the skin to appear flushed, sneezing, slowing reflexes to mortal speed, et a!. Masquerade may be rolled with a Social Attribute to determine how well the vampire fools the mortals around him -- any vampire can pretend to breathe, but not every vampire can do it well.

Specialties: Breathing, Heartbeat, Reflexes and Muscle Twitches, Sexuality, Skin Tone and Warmth, Sleep.

Dots - Description
1 - You can pass in an unobservant crowd.
2 - You can fool a casual observer.
3 - You can fool someone who's examining you.
4 - You can pass a routine physical exam.
5 - Even the Society of Leopold would think you mortal.




Masquerade (As Vampire) [ Ghouls: Fatal Addiction -- Page 82 ]

Prerequisite: Ghoul; cannot be a revenant

Vampires manage to feign mortality; this Ability allows you to turn the tables on them by pretending to be a vampire. Most ghouls have little reason to learn this Talent, but there are exceptions. Certain domitors may call upon their more subtle servants to indulge in a little espionage. Independent ghouls may find that posing as vampires can lengthen their lives. The masters of this talent are the bizarre and ancient ghouls of the Methuselahs; these servitors are often as powerful as (or more powerful than) younger Kindred, and they move among the lesser vampires in search of prey for their masters.

The only ghouls who may not purchase this Talent at character creation are revenants; aping one's masters is viewed poorly in the Sabbat, and those who try are quickly (or not so quickly) disposed of.

Dots - Description
1 - "Ruddy? Oh, I fed recently. That must be it."
2 - Another vampire's ghouls would recognize you as Kindred.
3 - You receive invitations to Elysium.
4 - You can just about fool the ancillae who have Auspex.
5 - You can sup with the prince without raising suspicion.




Mimicry [ Vampire Storytellers Companion -- Page 19 ]

Whether the desired sound is a Romanian accent, a bird call or the bark of an attack dog, a talented mimic can reproduce it. With enough practice, the amazingly flexible human (or vampiric) larynx can be used to create almost any sort of sound. Most mechanical noises, however, are best left to sound technicians with the proper synthesizers -- whistling to the fax machine is right out.

Possessed by: Actors, Birdwatchers, Linguists, Pranksters, Sound Technicians.
Specialties: Accents, Birds and Animals, Celebrities, Studied Subjects.

Dots - Description
1 - You can fake accents in your native language (Texas or New York for an American, for instance), and can probably do impressions of the voices of a few well-known personalities.
2 - You can manage accents well enough to fool anyone but a native speaker (a German speaker impersonating Japanese-accented German), and can convincingly duplicate a wide range of celebrities.
3 - You could make a living with a stage act. After studying a subject for a few hours, you can pick up their speech patterns and mannerisms well enough to fool anyone who doesn't know them. You can also manage bird calls and some other natural sounds.
4 - You can imitate a specific person well enough to fool even a close acquaintance, as long as she can't see you. With command of the appropriate language, you can pass as a native speaker, even faking various regional and dialectal accents.
5 - There is almost no accent or animal you can't imitate. With a few hours' study, either of the real person or of recordings, you can duplicate their voice and speech patterns well enough to fool their closest friends.




Panhandling [ Guide To The Sabbat -- Page 88 ]

You are a skilled beggar. You are able to get people to give you money just by asking for it. You know whom to ask, how to approach them, what to say and how to avoid the police. This Talent is useful for picking up quick cash or creating a cover.

Dots - Description
1 - You get most of your money shaking cans and washing windshields. You're still working on a hard-luck story.
2 - You're working on the story and using the classic lines, but you still manage to get little more than spare change.
3 - You're really smooth -- you can even hit the hard-hearted for a few bucks.
4 - Who needs a sob story when you can hustle and scam your way into big bucks from tourists and little old ladies?
5 - Master: Dinners, rides home, cash for a bus ticket easy as pie.




Scrounging [ Guide To The Camarilla -- Page 68 ]

With expertise in Scrounging, you can find unusual, outdated or otherwise hard-to-find items. Those items can range from the part needed to repair a Model T Ford to someone skilled at bibliomancy to a rare CD of which only 500 copies were pressed. Scrounging also implies a knowledge of sources for oddball items, and a reasonable ability at turning junk into useful material.

Possessed by: Acquisitions Agents, Collectors, Fixers, Hiring Factors, Researchers.
Specialties: Electronics and Parts, Illegal Items, Manuscripts, Improvisational Fixes, Occult Items, Talented Individuals.

Dots - Description
1 - Occasionally you can pluck something off the scrap heap.
2 - You know where to look for hard-to-find items -- and that includes some hard-to-find sources.
3 - You know if something can be found in under 24 hours.
4 - You have a network of potential sources for anything and everything you might need on short notice.
5 - You can find anything, at any time, assuming it still exists.




Search [ Guide To The Camarilla -- Page 68 ]

You have the ability to examine a person or scene and find what you need. Locating hidden compartments, uncovering wall safes and doping out smuggling techniques are all within your area of expertise. Search also covers both frisking techniques and more generalized searches, such as trying to uncover buried caches or bodies.

Possessed by: Bodyguards, Border Guards, Cops, DEA Agents, Sheriffs.
Specialties: Body Searches, Search and Seizure, Uncovering Evidence, Vehicle Searches.

Dots - Description
1 - You can spot a bulge under a jacket and be reasonably sure what it is.
2 - False bottoms and secret pockets can't hide from you.
3 - You can find any concealed weapon in a matter of seconds.
4 - The proverbial needle in the haystack is no challenge for you.
5 - Nothing short of the supernatural can be hidden from you.




Style [ Vampire Storytellers Companion -- Page 20 ]

Style is the fine art of knowing how to dress appropriately -- which isn't necessarily the same as knowing how to dress well. You may not be the best looking or most charming of the bunch, but you know how to use what you have. Heads turn when you walk into a room, simply because you can make yourself match any occasion or location, from a black-tie Toreador art show to a warehouse rave. Characters with high Style ratings may have large wardrobes or may simply wear one thing well (like Johnny Cash). Style encompasses clothing choice, poise and even coordinating or designing new outfits. A minimum of Style 3 is necessary to incorporate body armor into street clothing without it being obvious. Note that Style differs from Grace in that Style is looking cool, while Grace is acting cool.

Possessed by: Designers, the Gifted Few, Models, Socialites, Theatrical Wardrobe Staff.
Specialties: Classic, Ethnic, First Impressions, Haute Couture, Street Fashion.

Dots - Description
1 - You've got good taste.
2 - Your friends always take you along for advice when they go shopping.
3 - You stand out among the sheep.
4 - Your outfits grace the bodies of magazine fashion models.
5 - Your ideas influence international fashion trends.




Throwing [ Vampire Storytellers Companion -- Page 20 ]

Making things fly that aren't really designed to is not an easy task. Throwing encompasses both casual (e.g. sporting) and combat uses of this Talent.

Possessed by: Athletes, Hobbyists, Martial Artists, Neighborhood Pub Locals.
Specialties: Competition, Specific Projectiles, Sports, Trick Shots.

Dots - Description
1 - You can usually get a pitch over the plate.
2 - You were feared in food fights.
3 - Your squadmates never had to duck when you were on the grenade practice range.
4 - You can pin an enemy's hand to the wall or make a 70-yard touchdown pass.
5 - You can pin an enemy's pants to the wall without touching his skin.




Ventriloquism [ Vampire Storytellers Companion -- Page 21 ]

You have the ability to throw your voice, making it sound as if it's coming from somewhere -- or someone -- else. This Talent can be used for either entertainment or deception, and can be combined with Mimicry for even more effect in either application. Note that Ventriloquism and Mimicry, while compatible, cannot be substituted for one another -- they are completely different areas of vocal manipulation.

Possessed by: Con Artists, Entertainers, Mediums, Pranksters.
Specialties: Distance, Dummy, Inanimate Objects, Other People.

Dots - Description
1 - You and your dummy can do children's birthday parties.
2 - You could get an act with a local vaudeville club. Someone standing next to you can be made to "speak."
3 - You could almost make a living on small comedy club tours. Your maximum range for throwing your voice is five yards.
4 - Vegas would welcome your talent. Any spot within 30 feet of you can be used as your target.
5 - You can project your voice anywhere within earshot. Young hopefuls clamor to learn your tricks, and entertainment magazines hail you as the savior of a lost vaudeville art.