The Beast is a palpable thing, capable of infl uencing the minds and spirits of other animals. Not only can you cause lesser creatures to be cowed, you can actually send your consciousness into an animal’s body, subsuming it completely. The animal’s body becomes wholly compliant to your will, and you can utilize it as though it were your natural form. While your spirit rides within the body of the animal, your own physical form falls into a comatose state. Although you can utilize the full scope of your intelligence, cunning, and memories, you are limited by the physical capabilities of the animal.

To use Subsume the Spirit, you must spend 1 Blood and use your standard action to stare into the eyes of an animal; this power will not function on blind subjects or subjects who cannot see your eyes. Make an opposed challenge against the animal you intend to control. If successful, your consciousness is transferred into the target’s body, and its mind is rendered into a fugue-like state. Because your character’s mind is focused entirely on controlling the body she has inhabited, the vampire has no sense of anything occurring to her native physical form. The character’s original body falls into a torpid state and can neither defend itself nor act on its own. Your body does retain your Fortitude or other powers that are always active while your consciousness is absent. While Subsuming the Spirit, you always know the direction and distance of your real body, although you cannot perceive its surroundings.

Normal and ghouled animals can be targeted with Subsume the Spirit. Supernatural creatures (such as vampires transformed into an animal or werewolves) cannot be targeted by Subsume the Spirit. Be sure to ask your Storyteller if you have a question about whether a creature is an appropriate target for this power.

Normal animals have no disciplines and cannot spend Blood. However, if your character is controlling a ghouled animal, the ghoul holds up to 5 points of vampiric Blood (as per a standard ghoul). The controlling vampire may spend this Blood pool at a rate of 1 Blood per turn, regardless of the character’s generation. You cannot spend this Blood to affect your character’s native form in any manner.

A character cannot use any of her own disciplines while using Subsume the Spirit. You can spend the ghoul’s Blood to fuel the ghoul’s Physical powers: Celerity, Fortitude, and Potence.

While using Subsume the Spirit, a character uses her own Mental attributes and focuses, Social attributes and focuses, Skills, and Backgrounds in challenges. However, you utilize the Physical attribute of the animal for any Physical challenges. This attribute is equal to double that animal’s NPC rating. If the animal you are controlling has the power to fly or is adapted to aquatic life (like a fish), you gain its ability to fly or swim at normal speeds.

Subsume the Spirit lasts until the next sunrise, or until you spend a simple action for your character to leave the animal and awaken. Subsume the Spirit ends immediately if the character travels more than 10 miles away from her native body, if the character’s native body takes damage, or if the animal she’s controlling takes damage.

Animals do not take damage from sunlight even when controlled by a vampire. However, a vampire with Beast traits still risks frenzy. For more information on frenzy, see Chapter Seven: Dramatic Systems, page 301.