Auspex

Heightened Senses
When this power is activated, all of the vampires senses sharpen to a razors edge, effectively doubling both the range and clarity of all stimuli received. Heightened eyesight allows the vampire to perceive the most minute details of objects at great distances, while a heightened sense of smell might alert a character to the presence of trace amounts of alcohol on a mortals breath. Kindred with this power also have the option of magnifying a single sense, as opposed to all five, in order to better block out unwanted stimuli from other sources. Note, however, that the risk of sudden distraction remains, regardless of how many or how few senses are currently heightened. (Note that vampires do not breathe. As such, the Kindred do not smell unless they actively will themselves to do so, and thus cannot be overwhelmed suddenly by smells unless they are actively smelling at the time.) Cost: Dice Pool: This power typically involves no roll. The player simply activates the power and explains to the Storyteller what his character is doing and with which sense(s). The Storyteller responds by relating whatever information can be gleaned. The only time a roll comes into play for Heightened Senses is when the Storyteller wishes to permit the character a chance to perceive an imminent threat. In this case, the Storyteller may allow the player to add her characters Auspex dots to a surprise roll (Wits + Composure see the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 151). This power allows a vampire to see in pitch-black darkness. Action: Instant _________________________________________________________________________________ Aura Perception AURA SIGNIFIERS Condition Color Afraid Orange Aggressive Purple Angry Bright Red Bitter Brown Calm Light Blue Compassionate Pink Conservative Lavender Depressed Gray Desirous/Lustful Deep Red Distrustful Light Green Envious Dark Green Excited Violet Generous Rose Happy Vermilion Hateful Black Idealistic Yellow Innocent White Love struck Bright Blue Obsessed Bright Green Sad Silver Spiritual Gold Suspicious Dark Blue Confused Mottled, shifting colors Daydreaming Sharp, flickering colors Diablerist Black veins in aura Dominated/Controlled Weak, muted aura Frenzied Rapidly rippling colors Psychotic Hypnotic, swirling colors Vampire Aura colors are pale Shapeshifter Intensely vibrant aura

Ghost Magic Use

Auspex

Splotchy, intermittent aura Myriad sparkles in aura

Aura Perception
With this mystic power, a vampire can open his perceptions to the psychic auras that surround all sentient creatures. Numerous and often-shifting hues and patterns compose these auras, and it can take many years before a vampire becomes truly proficient at reading them correctly with any degree of regularity. Although the strongest emotions predominate, almost every individual has more than one color to his aura at any given time, and an observer can see any number of streaks or flashes of these other colors. Psychic colors change with the subjects mental or emotional state, creating an evermoving pattern that is as unique to each person as a fingerprint. As a rule, the more powerful the emotions, the more intense the colors, but even this guideline is betrayed by any number of mitigating factors, depending on circumstance. All the same, practice makes perfect; a true master aura-perceiver learns to understand the significance of each whorl and eddy. Due to the peculiar nature of such creatures auras, this power can be used as a means of detecting other supernatural entities. Vampire auras, for example, tend to be extremely pale, regardless of the colors. Werewolf auras are quite the contrary, nearly frantic in their intensity. Mage auras sparkle with power. Ghostly auras flicker like guttering candles. Cost: Dice Pool: Intelligence + Empathy + Auspex subjects Composure Action: Instant (Note that though this is an instant action, it takes more than just a fleeting glance to see the detail in an aura. A character must scrutinize her subjects aura for two full turns to glean information from it, though only the single, immediate roll is necessary to determine if she can read it successfully.) Roll Results Dramatic Failure: The character gleans utterly misleading and wholly inaccurate information. Failure: The character can distinguish no information at all. Success: The character perceives a number of colors in the subjects aura equal to the number of successes obtained on the roll. Exceptional Success: As per a normal success, with one additional color or degree of emotional intensity discernible to the character. Note that a failure indicates that no useful information is perceived, while a dramatic failure indicates a false or misleading reading. The Storyteller may therefore wish to make the roll for the player, to keep the true results secret. An Auspex user who observes someone in the act of lying may recognize that the subject speaks falsely. Intelligence + Empathy + Auspex is rolled versus the subjects Composure in a contested action. The Auspex user recognizes the lie if the most successes are rolled for him. Applied toward reading the mood of potential combatants, this power also grants its user a bonus to Initiative equal to the number of successes rolled in activating the effect. Doing so requires that the vampire speaks to or is in the proximity of intended combatants for at least one turn before a fight breaks out. That period of interaction allows the reading vampire to recognize that events are about to turn violent, so he can react with advanced knowledge. Suggested Modifiers The number of dice added to or removed from the dice pool is determined by the amount of information the character wishes to discern. Modifier Situation

+2 -1 -2 -3

Power is turned on a vampire with whom the user has a blood tie (see p. 162) The shade (such as pale, bright or weak), but not the color of the aura. The primary shade and color. Color patterns, including information revealing the nature of the creature. Subtle shifts in the mixtures of color and pattern.

Thus, if a reader wants to study the subtle shifts in the mixtures of color and pattern in a subjects aura, the player suffers a -3 penalty. Each success rolled thereafter offers one piece of information in that regard. Two successes might indicate that a ghoul swings from love to hate toward his mistress (bright blue to black), and is envious of a fellow ghoul (dark green).

Dominate

Command
Once he has established eye contact, the vampire issues a single, one-word command that must be obeyed instantly. The order must be clear and straightforward freeze, jump, run, stop, fall, cough, blink and so forth. If the command is ambiguous or confusing, the subject might respond slowly or perform the task poorly. Further, commands are always interpreted (within reason) in the subjects best interests. For example, if the victim stands on the edge of a roof and the character commands Jump! the victim might jump up and down, rather than leap off the roof. Of course, the victim would probably not leap off the roof even if the character could find a way to order it. Subjects of Command cannot be made to directly harm themselves, so an obviously suicidal order such as Die! is ineffective. Sleep and the like causes the subject to follow the order only if she does not believe herself to be in any mortal danger. A character seduced by a Kindred might sleep if so instructed, but one in the middle of a combat or interrogation certainly does not. In such situations, the character merely falls senseless, but only for a turn. The vampire may include the command word in a sentence, in order to conceal her use of the power from others. The command itself must be stressed, and the character must make eye contact precisely when that word is spoken. Observers may notice the unusual emphasis, but only the most alert and those familiar with the Discipline are likely to realize what has occurred. Cost: Dice Pool: Intelligence + Intimidation + Dominate versus Resolve + Blood Potency Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive Roll Results Dramatic Failure: The subject does not obey and is immune to the characters Dominate until the next sunset. Failure: The character loses or ties the contested roll and the subject does not obey. Success: The character wins the contested roll by getting the most successes, and the victim obeys literally and with appreciable self-preservation. Exceptional Success: The character wins the contested roll with five or more successes, and the victim not only obeys but rationalizes what she does as her own decision until and unless someone questions her about it in depth. Assuming the commanded action is one that can carried out for some time, such as wait or sleep, the subject obeys for a number of turns equal to the successes obtained on the Command roll. If this power is turned on a vampire with whom the user has a blood tie (see p. 162), a +2 bonus applies to the users roll.

Dominate
Mesmerize
The source of many legends of the vampires hypnotic gaze, Mesmerize allows the Kindred to implant a false thought or suggestion into the subjects subconscious mind. The power requires not only eye contact but intense concentration and precise wording, so both the character and the subject must be free from distraction. The Kindred may activate the imposed thought or command immediately Walk over here and open the door or he may establish a stimulus that activates the suggestion at a later date When you see a man in a blue suit with a red rose in his lapel, you will spill your drink on him. The victim must be able to understand the vampire. The Kindred must maintain eye contact only as long as it takes to implant the suggestion or idea. Mesmerize can deliver truly complex and long-term commands, such as following someone, taking notes on her activities and reporting back on the first of the next month. A subject can have only one suggestion implanted at any given time. Cost: Dice Pool: Intelligence + Expression + Dominate versus Resolve + Blood Potency Action: Contested; resistance is reflexive If this power is turned on a vampire with whom the user has a blood tie (see p. 162), a +2 bonus applies. Roll Results Dramatic Failure: The subject does not obey and is immune to the characters Dominate until the next sunset. Failure: The character loses or ties the contested roll and the subject does not obey. Success: The character wins the contested roll by getting the most successes, and the victim obeys to the best of his ability. Exceptional Success: The character wins the contested roll with five or more successes. The victim not only obeys, but rationalizes what she does as her own decision until and unless someone questions her about it in depth. This power lasts for as long as it takes the subject to carry out the required task, or until the character is destroyed or enters torpor. Impossible actions such as, Count every grain of sand on this beach, automatically fail to take root in the subjects mind. If, during the course of carrying out the implanted suggestion, the victim realizes he puts himself in danger or acts completely contrary to his normal moral code, a Resolve roll may be made to shake off the compulsion. This is a contested roll. Successes rolled must exceed the number of successes obtained for the dominating character when the individual was first mesmerized.

Dramatic Failure: Not only must the subject continue to carry out the command, no more Resolve rolls may be made to shake the dominators control, no matter what the subject is forced to do. Failure: The victim must continue to carry out the command as ordered. Success: The victim escapes the suggestion. Exceptional Success: The victim defies the suggestion, and the dominator incurs a -1 penalty to future attempts to Dominate him until the next night. No matter how strong the dominators will is or how many successes he obtains, he cannot make a subject harm himself directly. Any command to commit suicide is therefore ignored, although commands that are likely to lead to harm such as, Walk into that crack house and shoot the man in the red shirt are enforceable, subject to the Resolve rolls discussed above. If a vampire attempts to Mesmerize a subject who is already under the influence of a previously implanted directive, compare the successes rolled in the attempt against the successes gained during the implantation of the first suggestion. If the character obtains more successes than the previous Kindred, the new command may supplant the old one. If he does not, the original command remains active and the new one fails.

Protected subject a snapshot vision of the ritualist attempting to target her. Even more sophisticated forms better live up to the rites name, adding Divination and Transmutation to strike the offending ritualist blind for the rites Duration.

Biting Blade (Transmutation )

This rite allows an Acolyte to feed without the kiss, drinking blood through the intermediary of her weapon. The ritualist takes a bladetypically a ritual athame and makes several long, shallow cuts across her own flesh, allowing the weapon to taste her Vitae. If the rite succeeds, every level of lethal damage dealt by the blade feeds the wielder one Vitae, as though she had fed directly from the victim. A biting blade neither grants immunity to Vinculum or blood addiction nor allows the vampire to feed successfully from vessels prohibited due to Blood Potency. Each biting blade only works for the Acolyte who performed the rite; if another person uses it, neither he nor the intended recipient receives Vitae. Curiously, a biting blade does allow for autophagy and may even have originally been discovered for that purpose. If its true wielder uses the blade to injure herself, she still suffers a wound, but she also receives Vitae as though she had fed. Acolytes have used this rite in emergencies to build up enough Vitae to cast another, critical, rite.

Crac
Harvest of Slaves (Transmutation )
The members of the Lancea Sanctum store Vitae in objects, but they do so for their own use. At best, a starving vampire might be fed by the Sanctified in exchange for favors later. The Circle of the Crone also performs rituals to impregnate objects with blood, but it does so for an entirely different purpose. By hiding Vitae in foodstuffs, they are able to feed Vitae to mortals without the kin realizing what it is theyre ingesting, only thatthanks to blood addiction and the Vinculumit tastes really, really good. Interprising Acolytes with money troubles sometimes even use this rite to place Vitae in drugs. The ritualist adds bloodthe Vitae needed to activate the rite along with as much Vitae as she needs to feed to mortals to the consumable goods during the preparation stage. Raw fruits and vegetables are empowered by blood spilt on the plants roots, while prepared cuisine and pharmaceuticals are twisted during preparation. If the rite succeeds, the Vitae is divided among all the goods. The victim must eat, use, or drink an entire share or portion to receive the Vitae and enjoy its addictive effects, so the more Vitae the ritualist places into the subject, the better.

Crac
Confidence in Adversity (Creation )
Tribulation brings enlightenment. Acolytes may surrender an advantage to glean more from their troubles, and there are several Crac rituals that help put this philosophy into action. This is one of the simplest, removing the possibility of a lucky break for a time in exchange for a dose of insight and, thus, self-confidence. Once this ritual is complete, the ritualist loses the benefits of the 10-again roll for the rest of the scene. At the end of the scene, she regains one Willpower point. This ritual affords the character no ability to possess more Willpower points than her normal maximum.

Cloud the Watchers Eye (Protection )

In cities where the Lancea Sanctum and Circle of the Crone are in open conflict, Acolytes need ways to defend themselves against hostile miracles aimed at driving them out. This rite is an example of the low-level uses of the Protection Theme, taught to novice Acolyte sorcerers as a means of defending against rituals cast on them at a distance. By forcing the Sanctified to use their magic in person, the Circle itself decides the field of battle. The Acolyte ritualist takes an image of the subject or subjects to be protected and covers it with blood until it is no longer recognizableif the one Vitae required to cast the rite is not sufficient, more blood may be added from any source. If the rite succeeds, any attempt to target a protected subject with blood sorcery is penalized by the rites Potency in dice. Advanced forms of this rite exist, using Divination as well as the Protection component to show the

Transmutation
The third dot of Transmutation allows the ritualist to alter living and vampiric beings, granting them the abilities and physical properties of others. Complete transmutation is still beyond the ritualists reach, but she can (for example) give a human being the scales of a reptile or coat the palms of a ghouls hands in stinging nematocysts. Inorganic objects may have their appearances changed. The ritualists ability to animate subjects has also progressed to having power over animals. Lastly, she may bless or curse a specified action, applying Potency as a dice-pool modifier.

Transmutation
The fourth dot of Transmutation allows the ritualist to completely change one living thing into another. She may curse humans into animal shape or keep attack dogs in the guise of plants until needed. Her ability to animate subjects now extends to the dead, allowing for the creation of zombies, and to the physical control of thinking beings, allowing for actions to be forced on a sentient subject. She may also grant material objects the properties of one another. Although she cant give inert blood the mystic properties needed for vampires to feed, she can remove them from true blood, neutralizing it so it provides no sustenance. (Once a vampire has fed, though, removing Vitae requires the Destruction Theme.)

Transmutation Crac
Transmutation
The first dot of Transmutation allows a ritualist to make a wide variety of minor changes to her subject. By forcing a target to share the Curse, she can store Vitae in inanimate objects, make Kindred instinctively fall asleep as though the sun were up, and inflict ravenous pangs of hunger on mortals in a mirror of the Wassail. If such changes hinder or help the target, apply the Rituals Potency as a dice-pool modifier. At this level, the ritualists ability to alter physical properties is restricted. She may make minor manipulations to the appearance of a living or vampiric subject; aging, scars and other features may be altered, but nothing so extreme that he becomes unrecognizable. Dead matter, however, can be warped relatively easily, as long as the new appearance remains similar in size. Finally, she may animate liquids, including blood.

Transmutation
The fifth dot of Transmutation allows the ritualist to transform any object or creature into any other, transferring and changing characteristics as she sees fit. Her power over vampirism now extends down to the urges that drive the Beastshe may manipulate Blood Potency and Vices. Finally, she is now at the point of being able to animate objects, allowing for the creation of gargoyles and similar effects.

Protection Crac
Protection
With the first dot in Protection, a ritualist can make it more difficult to harm his subject with other blood sorceries, subtracting Potency from the ritual roll for anyone targeting the beneficiary. He may heal bashing damage in vampires and grant protection from the very least power of the Kindred, the Kiss. Subjects protected from the ecstasy of a vampires Kiss are still fed from, but add the rituals Potency in dice to the resistance roll.

Transmutation
The second dot of Transmutation allows the ritualist more control over her target. She may disguise a living or vampiric subject as another being of the same general height and weight, and may completely transform dead matter, changing inconvenient corpses into decaying plants, for instance. The animating power of the Theme now extends to gases and plants. The ritualist can also disrupt a thinking beings volition enough to alter speech, but not to force physical actions. By instilling a rituals target with power, the ritualist may bless an action or confer the will to carry on beyond normal limits. Rituals at this level may grant 9-again on dice rolls, or grant Willpower or Vitae above a characters normal maximum.

Protection
With the second dot in Protection, the ritualist can protect a subject from injuries by granting armor and ward off environmental hazards such as electricity. Vampires can be made more able to resist frenzy.

Creation Protection
With the third dot in Protection, the ritualist can shield the rituals subject from physical dangers. Targets can be rendered untouchable or unable to be fed from, and the physical effects of Disciplines such as Nightmare can be warded off. Using the Theme on vampires allows the ritualist to protect his target from being staked or to heal lethal wounds. With the second dot in Creation, a ritualist can summon living insects or arachnids, vermin, amphibians, fungi, plants, spoiled food, drugs, and gases. Living things created by ritual are under the mental command of the ritualist so long as she maintains concentration.

Creation Protection
With the fourth dot in Protection, the ritualist can defend his target against the mental effects of Disciplines such as Majesty or Dominate. Targets can be protected from the Vinculum for a single dose of Vitae per Potency, and vampire targets can be protected from falling asleep against their will during the day, allowing them to remain active for turns equal to Potency. With the third dot in Creation, a ritualist may summon predatory and scavenging animals, such as wolves, foxes, owls, and cats. As at Creation , animals summoned are under the control of the ritualist. Living creations dont have to be natural animals, however homunculi, stunted humanoid servants made of twisted flesh and warped bloodmake for excellent fetches and helpers. At this level, a ritualist also learns how to summon physical objects made of solid, homogenous material and to trigger weather so long as conditions are appropriate. She can make it rain or snow from a clouded sky, even make it rain blood or hail frogs or fish, but she cant summon a thunderstorm out of a cloudless night. Finally, a ritualist at this level of proficiency may produce diseases.

Protection
With the fifth dot in Protection, the ritualist can protect his target from becoming addicted to Vitae. Using the Theme on vampires, he can heal aggravated wounds and ameliorate the effects of sunlight or fire to a limited degreereducing the health lost per turn of either bane by Potency, to a minimum of one.

Creation
With the fourth dot in Creation, a ritualist can cause the Curse to extend to her creations. Animals, plants, and homunculi can be brought into being as ghouls by spending Vitae during the ritual (on top of any spent as the sacrifice in a Crac rite). Combined with Destruction or Transmutation Themes to remove it from elsewhere, she can even create Vitae within her own system. Homunculi may be granted dots of her physical Disciplines on a one to- one basis with the rituals Potency. Objects created may now be complex or made of multiple materials, but they may not include valuables such as precious metals or gems. The ritualists command of the environment now extends to creating heat or cold, blanketing areas in magical darkness (that is still pierced by sunlight during the day), and whipping up strong winds.

Creation
With the fifth dot in Creation, a ritualist can now grant her non-physical Disciplines to homunculi on a one-tone basis with the rituals Potency. Her command of the environment can create radically different weather patterns: she can summon thick cloud cover from a sunny day, or call up a gale-force wind or tornado. Her ability to create material goods is now complete with the knowledge of creating valuables through sorcery, though jewels are always dark or flawed and precious metals have an unhealthy sheen.

Creation Crac
Creation
With the first dot in Creation, a ritualist can summon liquids, which typically pool up from wherever the ritual is targeted, and dead organic mattercorpses and the rotten remains of plants. She can also create sensory phenomena, such as sounds emanating from nowhere, strange smells, or lengthening shadows that arent cast by anything. If a sensory phenomenon is intended as a help or hindrance to a dice roll, the bonus or penalty added is equal to the rituals Potency.