Dominate

• Command

  Level 1

  Superiority is inherent to the blood, to the very vitae that brings a vampire unlife. With a word or a gesture, you can exert your will upon an individual and force her to obey. A single word, even one embedded in a sentence, can become an imperative command. Some vampires use this power subtly, while others revel in publically forcing others to submit to the authority of their blood.

  To Command an individual, expend a standard action and speak a simple one-word order (or give a brief gesture) to a target. If you are successful in an opposed challenge using the Dominate test pool, your character forces her target to obey her will. The Command must be immediate; the subject will spend her next turn (but only one turn) attempting to obey your order.

  Such dictates must be clear and straightforward: run, agree, fall, yawn, jump, laugh, stop, go, scream, or follow are good examples. The target of a Command will attempt to take context into account. If you point at a door and Command your victim to “Leave!” she will attempt to leave via the door you indicated (as opposed to using a different door or jumping out of a window). A Command may be part of a sentence in order to conceal the power’s use, such as by saying, “I’m afraid I must ask you to leave this house at once!”

  If a Command is confusing or ambiguous, the subject may respond with less accuracy or perform her task poorly, as she struggles to understand what’s been asked of her. Command cannot rob your target of the ability to defend herself.

• Mesmerism

  Level 2

  Through the use of this power, a vampire acquires a near spellbinding command of her mental facilities. A Mesmerism user can create a hypnotic suggestion within her target’s mind. Complex commands and subconscious desires can be implanted, controlling the victim in subtle but powerful ways.

  This power implants a subliminal trigger in the target’s mind. This trigger will activate only under specified circumstances, and forces the target to perform certain pre-programmed actions when those conditions occur.

  To implant a Mesmerism, you must gain your target’s focus and speak a simple set of instructions aloud. The Mesmerism user may dictate anything from simple directives (“hand me your car keys”) to complex ones (“take detailed notes at the Brujah clan meeting, and bring those notes to me afterwards”). You may indicate that the Mesmerism activity must occur immediately, or you may establish within the Mesmerism a specific stimulus that will trigger the target to perform these actions at a later point. Mesmerism directions must be spoken aloud, and the target must understand your instructions.

  Unlike a Command, a Mesmerism does not need to be an immediate action. The instructions can reside in a target’s mind, untriggered, for some time. However, once the dictates are triggered and the target has performed the actions (or after one hour has passed while attempting to complete your orders), the Mesmerism is complete and any lingering compulsion ends. An untriggered Mesmerism will remain for up to one month. An individual can only have one active Mesmerism from a given Dominate user. If you attempt to implant a new suggestion in the mind of a victim currently under a previous Mesmerism from you, the new application of this power erases your earlier instruction. A victim may have multiple Mesmerisms lurking in her psyche at the same time, provided each Mesmerism was implanted by a different individual.

  If two mesmerists implant conflicting orders in a target, the victim will follow the newer Mesmerism first. The victim will perform those tasks until completed (or for an hour). Once that Mesmerism has ended, the subject will attempt to fulfill the older Mesmerism. Note that the older Mesmerism’s duration begins at the point it was triggered, so the victim may have only a few minutes of duration left in such a situation.

  Mesmerism cannot rob your target of the ability to defend herself. A character forced to count loudly to one million can still dodge, run away, or even attack, so long as she keeps counting. However, she probably could not effectively hide (or use her Obfuscate to vanish) while calling out numbers.

  To implant a Mesmerism, you must first gain your target’s focus. Then, you must expend a standard action, speak the instructions of your Mesmerism, and make an opposed challenge against your target. If you are successful, the Mesmerism – exactly as you stated it – has been implanted. Note that, like Command, a Mesmerism will always break if the subject realizes that performing these actions will lead to direct harm.

  Once the Mesmerism has been triggered (whether immediate or delayed), the target will attempt to carry out her instructions until the activity is reasonably complete or for one hour, whichever comes first. This subliminal order may lay dormant in the target’s mind for up to one month, after which the compulsion fades and the Mesmerism ends.

  Mesmerisms cannot string together multiple unrelated actions. You cannot use Mesmerism to force another character to, “Tell me where your ghoul lives, and give me your car keys, then go punch that Brujah, and finally, sit in the corner for the rest of the hour.” You may imply more than one action in a single command, such as, “Show me where your ghoul lives.” In this case, the recipient will likely lead you to the location (which could require leaving the building, getting into a car, and driving there).

  Mesmerism cannot be used to prevent a character from using a discipline, although it can be used to prevent a victim from acting in certain ways. For example, you cannot use Dominate with the command “Stop using Celerity,” although you can Mesmerize a target by saying “Stop attacking me.” In all cases, your Storyteller is the final arbiter of what is or is not appropriate for a Mesmerism. Example: Tanya the Toreador has annoyed Vincent the Ventrue. He puts the following Mesmerism into her mind: “When you see a glass of red wine, pour it over the front of your dress.” Tanya later sees Mallory the Malkavian drinking a glass of wine. Immediately, Vincent’s Mesmerism kicks in. Tanya picks up Mallory’s wine and begins to tip it towards her dress. However, Mallory sees what’s happening. He turns to Tanya and uses Mesmerism on her, saying, “Give me back my wine.” Mallory’s newer Mesmerism interrupts Vincent’s older one, and Tanya is forced to return Mallory’s glass of wine. After fulfilling Mallory’s Mesmerism, Vincent’s older Mesmerism re-exerts itself within Tanya’s mind. Tanya lunges for Mallory, attempting to spill the very confused Malkavian’s wine on her dress.

• Forgetful Mind

  Level 3

  Your skill with mental manipulation gives you the power to modify and shape the memories of other individuals. By holding your target’s attention and speaking to her clearly, you can place her in a hypnotic state. While she is somnambulant, you may ask questions, cause her to describe something she has experienced, or give her specific details with which to alter or overwrite her memory of an event.

  It’s a relatively simple matter to rifle through a victim’s psyche and erase swaths of memory, but unless you offer something in its place, the deletion will leave a blank spot in the victim’s recollection. The Dominate user can instead create false memories, describing a plausible story for the victim’s subconscious to absorb.

  The user of this power can tell the target to incorporate new information into (or remove details from) her original memory. The target will do so seamlessly, justifying the information within the context of her overall remembrance. Unless someone else points out critical paradoxes in the memory, the target will rationalize away any contradictions.

  Forgetful Mind does not grant the user any telepathic ability to “see” an event in the target’s mind. The events are remembered from the subject’s point of view and are verbally described to the best of the subject’s ability. If the subject does not know a detail about the event, then she cannot describe that detail under Forgetful Mind.

  To activate Forgetful Mind, expend a standard action and make an opposed challenge. If you are successful, your target enters a trance for a small amount of time while the user of this power offers details to alter, erase, or completely overwrite the target’s memory. If the target is threatened in any way, she will snap out of this trance, ending the application of Forgetful Mind. For this reason, it’s not possible to use Forgetful Mind in a combat situation.

  A successful use of Forgetful Mind allows you to erase or alter up to 10 minutes of memory. A more substantial period of time may be altered (in 10-minute increments) with repeated application of this power.

  A character can also use Forgetful Mind to detect false or missing memories and (under the correct circumstances) restore them. When you use Forgetful Mind on a target, you must log your action with the subject’s Storyteller. Include your character’s Dominate test pool and the number of Dominate powers possessed (including elder powers but not techniques) at the time you performed the Forgetful Mind.

  Restoring lost or altered memories is difficult, and takes a great deal of patience and dedication. If another character attempts to restore the subject’s altered memory, she must first tell the subject’s Storyteller how many Dominate powers she possesses (including elder powers but not techniques). If she has fewer powers than you, then she is incapable of overpowering your Dominate enough to even make an attempt to restore the original memory. If the Forgetful Mind user inserted memories carelessly, or the Storyteller wants to progress plot, she has the option to fast-track the wearing down of the mental walls to allow for a reversal of the altered memories.

  If she has equal or more powers than you, she may make an opposed Mental challenge against the highest Dominate pool you currently have applied to that subject. If she is successful, all memories altered by that Dominate user are restored to the subject. This process requires 1 downtime action to be spent by both the subject and the individual restoring the memories.

  A vampire cannot use Forgetful Mind to alter or restore her own memories.

• Conditioning

  Level 4

  It takes little effort to control an individual’s actions for a brief moment or to twist her memories of a few minutes’ time. You are capable of far more insidious feats. By taking your time and applying a more dedicated amount of effort, you can permanently alter a portion of your subject’s personality, adding habits or removing them. This takes a significant amount of exertion, but once accomplished, you will have reshaped your target into something more amenable to your purposes.

  Through sustained exertion and focus, you can implant a semi-permanent Mesmerism (as per the above Dominate power) deep in your subject’s mind. Conditioning a target takes three hours of diligent and uninterrupted focus, during which time your subject must be conscious and aware. The target may be restrained, but she cannot be unconscious, drugged, or otherwise unaware. Once your character has completed this prerequisite, make an opposed challenge against the subject. If successful, you implant a Mesmerism that can be triggered repeatedly.

  Mesmerisms implanted through Conditioning must have a clearly defined trigger. A Conditioned character acts normally, with no alterations of her standard behavior, until such time as her Conditioning is triggered. Once activated, the target must fulfill the behaviors demanded by the Conditioning (or attempt to for one hour, whichever comes first). Just like Command or Mesmerism, a Conditioning compulsion will automatically break if the target realizes that performing these actions will lead to direct harm. When this happens, the current compulsion to act will cease, but the Conditioning itself will remain (and can be triggered again in the future, as per normal).

  For example, you might Condition a target to drink mortal blood every time she hears the word “vagrant.” If your target hears the word, and there is a source of mortal blood nearby, she will always attempt to do so. The initial compulsion will end as soon as she finishes drinking, but could start again if someone else says the word. If the Conditioned individual is stranded in the middle of a desert, with no source of blood available when she hears the word, she will spend an hour looking for a source of mortal blood. Thereafter, the compulsion will fade (until the next time she hears the word).

  A successful compulsion implanted with Conditioning is permanent until broken by the subject; it cannot be removed or overwritten. A mortal who goes one year without having her Conditioning triggered may make an opposed challenge (using the subject’s Mental attribute + Willpower versus the Dominator’s Mental attribute + Intimidation). If successful, the target breaks the Conditioning. If she fails, the target must wait another year before she can attempt to break the Conditioning a second time, and another year after that before she can try a third time.

  Supernatural characters may attempt to break their Conditioning if they avoid having the compulsion triggered for three months. If the victim fails that opposed challenge, then she must wait another three months before making another attempt, and so forth.

  A character’s Conditioning cannot be triggered more than once per hour. The compulsion placed by Conditioning does not count towards a character’s Mesmerism limit; a target may be the victim of your Mesmerism and Conditioning powers at the same time. However, even as you can only implant one Mesmerism at a time on your target, you can also only implant one Conditioning compulsion at a time. A subject may have multiple Conditioning compulsions, provided each one comes from a different user of Dominate.

• Possession

  Level 5

  The strength of your will is such that you can Dominate another individual’s psyche, controlling her thoughts and actions, inhabiting her psyche, and completely taking over your target’s physical form. You cannot access the victim’s thoughts or memories while in this state; her mind is suppressed, as though deep in sleep, and she knows nothing of your activities. While you are in command of the subject’s body, you can take any physical action she is capable of performing.

  To use Possession, you must use your standard action to stare into the eyes of your subject; this power will not work on blind subjects or subjects who cannot see your eyes. Make an opposed challenge against the person you intend to Possess. If successful, your consciousness is transferred into the target’s body, and her 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 innate 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 (although your body does have access to any Fortitude you possess while your consciousness is absent). While in Possession, you always know the location of your real body, although you cannot perceive its surroundings.

  Mortals and partially supernatural creatures, such as ghouls or kinfolk, can be targeted with Possession. Fully supernatural creatures, such as vampires and werewolves, cannot be targeted by Possession. Be sure to ask your Storyteller if you have a question about whether an individual is an appropriate target for this power.

  Mortals have no disciplines and cannot spend Blood. However, if your character is possessing a ghoul, you may use the ghoul’s Blood pool, and can spend 1 Blood per turn (regardless of your character’s Generation). A ghoul can hold up to 5 points of vampiric Blood in her pool. You can spend this Blood to fuel any of the ghoul’s Physical powers. 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 in Possession. Also, you cannot use any powers the subject possesses, except for Celerity, Fortitude, and Potence.

  While in Possession, a character uses her own Mental attributes and focuses, Social attributes and focuses, skills, and backgrounds. If you possess a subject that has its own character sheet, use that subject’s Physical attribute (rather than your own) for all Physical challenges while in Possession. If you use Possession on a Stock NPC, the subject’s Physical attribute is equal to double that NPC’s rating. You cannot utilize the target’s attribute focuses, nor any powers that are not intrinsic to vampires or ghouls.

  Possession lasts until the next sunrise or until you spend a simple action for your character to return to her native body. Possession ends immediately if the character travels more than 10 miles away from her native body, if the character’s native body takes 1 point of damage, or if the body she’s possessing takes damage.

  Possessed bodies do not take damage from sunlight, but if the vampire’s native body is exposed to sunlight, it will take damage. However, a vampire with Beast traits still risks frenzy. For more information on frenzy, see Chapter Seven: Dramatic Systems, page 301.

• Tyrant’s Gaze

  Level 6

  By their nature, vampires are tyrants, eager to control power and authority — and wield it over others. You channel this urge into your Dominate, reinforcing your will over theirs even to the point of afflicting the powers inherent in another individual’s blood.

  To utilize Tyrant’s Gaze, spend 1 Blood, expend your standard action, and make an opposed challenge against your target, using the Dominate test pool. If you succeed, you can select one of the target’s powers. This power becomes locked away in the victim’s blood and cannot be accessed or used for the next hour. If the power is already active, it immediately ends, even if that power would otherwise be automatic or always active. Tyrant’s Gaze can be used multiple times in order to rob a target of more than one power, so long as you pay this power’s cost separately for each use. If you choose to strip a power the victim does not possess, Tyrant’s Gaze has no effect.

  When you declare that you are stripping a target’s supernatural speed, endurance, or strength (Celerity, Fortitude, or Potence) you remove the target’s highest-level power in the targeted discipline (including elder powers). If the target has more than one elder power, you choose which one is lost.

  Tyrant’s Gaze can be used to lock down a discipline power, elder power, technique, or ritual. It can even strip a power native to another creature type, such as werewolves, fae, or mages. In order to strip a power in this fashion, you don’t need to know the power’s name, but you must be aware of the power or have personally seen it used.

  You do not need to speak to use Tyrant’s Gaze, but you must have your target’s focus (see Gaze and Focus). The victim of this power immediately identifies the individual who has affected her with Tyrant’s Gaze, and she is also aware which power she has lost. Tyrant’s Gaze cannot reverse permanent physical alterations. For example, Tyrant’s Gaze may be used to rob a target of the ability to use Heart of Darkness or Fleshcraft, but it cannot undo existing instances of Fleshcraft or return a removed heart.

• Mass Manipulation

  Level 6

  All thought is one. All minds are one. Reach into the cosmos and feel the stir of sentience. With but a modicum of pressure, you can sway the eternal mind, manipulating a group of individuals as though they shared a single consciousness. A vampire who uses the power of Mass Manipulation reaches into the universal consciousness, spreading her control wide and affecting multiple targets with a single application of Dominate.

  Your Dominate powers can affect a number of additional targets equal to your current Willpower. All of your intended targets must be paying attention to you, as per the rules of Gaze and Focus.

  Mass Manipulation cannot be used in conjunction with Possession (you cannot possess multiple people at the same time). Mass Manipulation can augment other elder Dominate powers, but it cannot be used in conjunction with Dominate-based techniques.

  When extending a Dominate power to multiple characters, you must extend the exact same effect to each target. If the use of that Dominate power cannot apply to one of the targets, then that target is unaffected by the Dominate power. For example, if you use Tyrant’s Gaze to strip Telepathy from multiple targets, an individual who does not have Telepathy is unaffected by this use of the power.

  When targeting multiple characters with this power, you must make a separate opposed challenge against each of the defenders. Should you spend a point of Willpower to retest any of these opposed challenges, you also gain that retest for the remainder of the opposed challenges without spending further Willpower. If you spend the Willpower to retest after some challenges have been resolved, you cannot go back to previous challenges you’ve lost and apply that Willpower retest retroactively.

• Chain of Command

  Level 6

  The nature of hierarchy means that you do not always have the luxury of delivering your orders to your subordinates directly or in person. While your disappointment and the retribution it could bring may be feared, this power ensures that your commands will be relayed to the letter. You have the power to invest a messenger with a directive that, when delivered, will convey your authority.

  You have the power to invest a messenger with a residual Mesmerism that she can deliver on your behalf to a specific person. To do so, spend 1 point of Blood and your standard action to give the order to your messenger. You must have her Gaze and Focus and you must speak aloud the name of the party to whom the order is to be delivered, as well as the specific order. If your messenger is unwilling to relay your message, you must defeat her in an opposed challenge using the Dominate test pool. If you succeed, or if she is willing, the player of the targeted messenger will make a note of the order, the recipient, your Generation (in the event of any Generation effects such as Primacy of the Blood), and your Dominate test pool.

  As soon as the messenger encounters the individual that is to receive your message, or someone the messenger sincerely believes to be that individual, the messenger will take the necessary steps to establish that person’s Gaze and Focus and use her standard action to convey the Mesmerism. When doing this, your messenger will repeat the order you gave her to the letter and will say it comes from you. If your messenger does not know your identity, she may refer to you as “my master”, or simply “I am bidden to tell you . . . .” If your messenger succeeds in an opposed challenge using your Dominate test pool, the recipient of your order must abide by the Mesmerism as if it had come from you. If the Messenger loses the challenge and fails to impart the Mesmerism on the recipient, she may make a Willpower retest if she so chooses.

  Your messenger will remain invested with your residual Mesmerism for 30 days. The use of this power does not count against the number of Mesmerisms your messenger may be susceptible to at a given time, though she may only carry one application of Chain of Command. As such, you may use Chain of Command on your messenger and then use Mesmerism on her to cause her to immediately convey the message. Should you wish to employ Forgetful Mind on the messenger, you may cause her to forget the circumstances of her dispatch as well as the contents of the message, though she will still deliver the message normally and to the letter when she encountersthe recipient.

• Fealty

  Level 6

  Nothing draws people together like power. The power of your blood is so great that it enables you to seal oaths of service while granting some of your strength to those loyal to you.

  Whenever a target makes an oath of fealty to you, you may spend 1 point of Blood and a standard action to accept it and activate this power. The oath of fealty must be given freely and without supernatural influence. If your target is a supernatural or awakened creature, she will understand that the oath carries supernatural significance. While Fealty is active, it has the following effects:

  You may release any servant from Fealty at any time by spending a simple action, even if she is not within your line of sight. Anyone released from their Fealty will immediately know that their oath has been terminated. If someone who has sworn Fealty to you wishes to break their oath of Fealty, she may do so by spending 3 standard actions and 3 points of Willpower. If she does, you will immediately know. Breaking your Fealty against your will is a painful process and those that do so immediately suffer 3 points of aggravated damage that may not be reduced or negated. Alternatively, you may release vassals from their oaths by spending a simple action. At any given time, you may have a number of active Fealty oaths equal to your dots in the Leadership skill.

• Empowering the Puppet King

  Level 7

  While others risk exposure by openly vying for authority, you can exert influence from the shadows. Your will carries power, emanated by the voices of those beneath you whilst you remain comfortably able to deny any involvement. You can impart your Dominate commands on others, spontaneously turning a desperate plea into a powerful order.

  You can imbue others with your power of Mesmerism. Whenever you hear someone make an imperative statement, you may activate Mesmerism lending the weight of your Dominate to the words spoken. The Storyteller will then perform a contested Dominate challenge against the person your target is speaking to. If successful, the target must perform the action as if under the effects of your Mesmerism. While using this power, you cannot be identified as its source through any means, such as through the Awareness skill. Should the power fail, any use of the Awareness skill will identify the speaker as the source.

• Mob Rule

  Level 7

  Good help is hard to find, and often that help is easily distracted and turned against you. With your mastery of Dominate, you no longer have to worry. When commanding a group, your allies no longer have to rely just on their own mental faculties to stay on task and follow orders. Instead, your commands create a hive mind allowing the group to resist distractions and enemy orders, and to share Willpower.

  Spend 3 points of Blood and a standard action giving an order to a number of willing allies up to your dots in the Leadership skill. The order given must be specific and direct, such as “fan out and find him,” or “protect me at all costs.” Intentionally vague commands such as “resist anyone who tries to influence you” do not work with this power. While this power is in effect each ally affected by Mob Rule gets a +1 wild card bonus per participant in the mob to resist any Mental or Social challenge that would reasonably prevent her from following your order.

  In addition, members of your mob gain access to a bonus pool of Willpower equal to your dots in the Leadership skill. Participants may spend from this pool instead of using their own Willpower provided it is in support of the group’s directive. This access to additional Willpower does not add to any test pool. Spending bonus Willpower does not require an action and may take place outside initiative order. In order to benefit from these bonuses a character must be actively following the order you gave.

  If a member of the mob deviates from your directive, is incapacitated, or killed, she no longer has the benefits of this power, her Willpower is no longer shareable, and the mob must reduce their wild card bonus by one. If the objective of your order is complete or no longer viable, the benefits of this power end for everyone in the mob.

  This power lasts for 1 hour. You may only have a single instance of this power active at a given time. Likewise, a character may only be part of a single mob at a given time. You may not use this power on yourself.