-----------------=<< Windy City MUX Vampire Abilities List >>=-----------------
Alternate Feeding | Found in Belle, Master, Morte, and Mother vampires. |
Control Animal | Found in Master, Mother, and Padma vampires. |
Control Dreams | Found in Mother and Queen vampires. |
Control Earth | Found in Earthmover and Mother vampires. |
Control Emotion | Found in Master and Mother vampires. |
Control Senses | Requires 'Mind Rolling'. Found in Belle and Mother vampires. |
Control Shadows | Found in all vampires. |
Control Shape | Requires 'Control Animal'. Found in Dragon, Mother, and Padma vampires. |
Control Weather | Found in Buffalo vampires. |
Flight | Found in Dragon and Master vampires. |
Focus | Found in all vampires. |
Healing | Found in all vampires. |
Mark Human Servant | Found in Master vampires. |
Masking | Found in all vampires. |
Mind Rolling | Found in all vampires. |
Self Decomposition | Found in Morte and Mother vampires. |
Sensitive | Found in all vampires. |
Silver Immunity | Found in all vampires with Power:25+ |
Voice Trick | Requires 'Mind Rolling'. Found in all vampires. |
Wounding | Found in Dragon, Master and Mother vampires. |
-------------------------=<< Alternate Feeding >>=--------------------------
An Ability some Master Vampires (most often found in the Bloodlines of Morte d'Amour and Belle Morte) have the ability to feed not just off of blood, but also off of emotion. Typically working with lust, pain, or fear, it can actually work off of any emotion but only one type of emotion per vampire (much like Control Animal and its one animal type).
To work, the vampire must first locate a target audience who is feeling that emotion above all others; this can be done by being in the right place and the right time, or using conventional means to inspire the emotion, or using Mind Rolling to encourage the emotion along, or Control Emotion. If a target is chock full of that emotion for a number of consecutive poses longer than 1/5th of their Willpower, the Alternate Feeder can skim a little off of the top. The actual Alternate Feeding is the vampire gaining 1/10th of their Alternate Feeding for each pose after the prerequisite span, +drained from the target. No physical contact is required.
Although Alt Feeding can "take the edge off" and can be quite tasty, it's no replacement for actual feeding.
Legally, Alternate Feeding used in conjunction with Rolling is in a gray area. Although it's stealing psychic energies from the target(s), and done so with the assistance of magic, there is no physical evidence of wrongdoing. That, and oftentimes the Alternate Feeder will be skilled at instilling their key emotion (so one who Alt Feeds off of amusement and works at a circus can say that they were just doing normal clown-things and not Rolling the audience into laughing. And even if they were? Folks came to the circus to be amused so it was hardly against their will).
SUGGESTED ROLLS (when not using +Feed).
Willpower + Intimidation/Seduction/Other Appropriate to the emotion skill/Altnerate Feeding.
- Heal 1/10 success + 1/10 alternate feeding.
---------------------------=<< Control Animal >>=----------------------------
With this ability, a vampire (mostly those of Padma's line) may control a species of animal. They may call the animal to their defense, or they may have them attack. The animal species called often reflects the personality of the Vampire, but is not of their IC choosing. It can range from lions to leeches, dogs to dormice, owls to octopi, although highly rare is the powerful vampire that can call a Genus or Family of animals (All felines, all birds), and rarer still one that can call supernatural animals (dragons, trolls, gargoyles). The vampire also has the ability to control shapeshifters of the same species-phenotype. Up until Call Animal 30 you can call one distinct animal - not separate types. That means one *species*. At 30 you can pick one related/sub type, or another species of the same Type (example: someone who calls Crocodiles can now choose Alligators, but not geckos). At 35 another (so maybe you can pick caimans). At 40 you can pick a third sub/related type or a completely separate animal (like gharials) - but it has to be within the same larger family (crocodilians). So if you had leopard you could pick another cat, but not a dog, or a turtle. If you have any questions, contact vampire staff.
The range of basic calling is the vampire's Power multiplied by their level of Control Animal, with the product divided by ten, in miles. With that, the particular animals in that range feel the best place to be is near the vampire and the least threatening being in the room is the vampire. Once called, the vampire can attempt to enthrall the called animal(s) to be their companions. If wrangled into being a companion, the vampire has an empathic bond and can "think through" the animal(s), although no concepts can be transmitted that are greater than the animal's mental and physical capacity. If the animal moves out of the above-mentioned range, the bond is broken. The limit to this is the vampire's Control Animal multiplied by itself, measured in pounds (so a CA:10 Vampire can wrangle 100 lbs of companions at one time, a CA:20 vampire can wrangle 400 lbs). Obviously, a vampire can opt to control under their range.
Shapeshifters unlucky enough to be of an animal type controlled by a vampire may be called and enthralled by this Ability. Shapeshifters can resist the call with a compare of the Control Animal ability + the vampire's Power vs. the Shapeshifter's Willpower. This modifies the basic percent chance of the shifter willing to do what the vampire is requesting. To attempt to enthrall a shapeshifter, the same formula is used but with a base percent of zero. If enthralling shapeshifters, a vampire can't enthrall one with a higher Power than their own, and the sum total Powers of enthralled Lycans can't be more than the vampire's Power + Control Animal. Cursed shifters can only be called or enthralled when in animal form, while they and shifters of a similar type to the called 'race' might still sense a call is being called (although they feel no compulsion to answer it).
If the leader of a pack of were-beings is "called" by a vampire, the rest of their pack will suffer a trickle-down effect. Attempts to resist the call are made more difficult by the addition of the leader's Power (So if Vampire Vic enthralls Lukoi Ulfric Larry, Larry's pack is now facing Vic's Control Animal + Vic's Power + Larry's Power against their own Willpower). This can apply to both the basic "C'mere!" call as well as enthralling (as long as the vampire hasn't reached their Power+CA limit). This can only be eliminated by some outside party killing either the leader or the vampire, so a vampire that thralls a Were-Leader has OOCly assumed a chance of their unexpected murder.
If two vampires call the same animal and are "wrestling" to see which gains the upper hand, the vampire with the higher Control Animal + Power wins. If both vampires have the same CA+Power, it's anybody's guess who gains the upper hand (although beating up the other vampire always helps).
SUGGESTED ROLL/MECHANICS
CONTESTED CHALLENGE:
VAMPIRE: +roll/per Power(if Master) + Willpower + Animal Handling + Control Animal
SHAPESHIFTER: Power (if Alpha) + Willpower + Intimidation
ANIMAL: Willpower + Intimidation
- Highest success wins.
- If the vampire wins then the shapeshifter needs to obey the command of the shapeshifter.
- If the shapeshifter wins they know that the vampire tried to call them.
- If the animal wins they simply don't obey.
SITUATIONAL MODIFIERS
- Command is reasonable +10 to +20 to vampire.
- Command is dangerous +10 to +20 to shapeshifter/animal.
- Command is against something the shapeshifter/animal would normally do +10 to shapeshifter.
- Command is dangerous to shapeshifter's family or loved ones +10 to 20 to shapeshifter.
- Vampire has fed recently from the shapeshifter (see +thrall command).
---------------------------=<< Control Dreams >>=---------------------------
Vampire ability, found mostly among those of the line of the Queen of Nightmares.
A Dream Controller has a base chance of getting in someone's dream of an equal percent as their Control Dreams ability (Master Vampires get to add Power). That's just being there and not really controlling it. To usurp the dream, base of how probable the change is for the setting, modified by the vampire's Control Dreams vs the dreamer's Willpower. If the vampire wins the +roll/per, they can power-pose in the dream for as many poses as 1/10th the success. If the roll fails, the dreamer can power-pose what happens to the vampire in the same way. One can only attempt to access an individual's dream once per night.
If Control Dreams is greater than the target's Willpower, then one can harm someone using the difference between the target's Willpower and the vampire's Control Dreams. Treat the aforementioned +roll/per as if it were an attack and the difference between WP and CD as if it were Muscle. The damage penalty the dreamer takes is the chance of them waking up from shock/surprise.
Rumour has it that at very high levels (35+), some can physically enter a target's dreams and use equipment/abilities brought over, but these are unfounded.
Connection needed:
- A piece of their hair / skin / etc
- Items of theirs that has real meaning to them
- Have fed off them
- Have rolled them
Limitations:
- A name is not enough.
- Meeting them gives you a +20 to the chances of finding their dreams - tastes like *THAT* jack green, not the other fifty in the city.
SUGGESTED ROLL/MECHANICS
VAMPIRE: Power (if master) + Willpower + Artisan + Control Dream
TARGET: Power (if master/alpha) + Dream Magic (if fae) + Clairvoyance (if psychic) + Mind (if a magic users) + Willpower + Logic
SUGGESTED SITUATIONAL MODIFIERS
- Vampire is trying to complete change the dream from what it originally was, +10 to +20 to the target.
- Vampire is trying to change thing subtly +10 to +20 to the vampire.
- Vampire has fed from the target recently (see +thrall).
---------------------------=<< Control Earth >>=----------------------------
Vampire ability, found mostly among those of the line of Oliver the Earthmover. Range of the ability is the vampire's Control Earth to the second power in feet (so 2=4', 5=25', 20=400', etc..) Any odd effects of dirt, rocks, dust, plants, and so forth are limited to this area. If used productively (to just move things around), effective lifting ability is 1/10th of Ability to the second power (2=0.4 lbs, 5=2.5 lbs, 20=40 lbs, etc..) If used for combat, the attack is the vampire's Control Earth vs the target's Reflexes + Unarmed Combat for the modifier to a +roll/per (like standard combat, if the attacker had no combat skill and replaced Reflexes with Control Earth). If the roll is a success then compute as per normal damage with Control Earth in place of Muscle.
Rumour has it that at very high levels (35+), some can cause earthquakes and tremors, but these are unfounded.
SUGGESTED/ROLL MECHANIC
Power (if master) + Urban Survival/Wilderness Survival + Control Earth
--------------------------=<< Control Emotion >>=---------------------------
Control Emotion is an ability possessed by some vampires (mostly by those of the Belle or Morte lines), allowing a degree of influence over the emotions of beings around them. The name is slightly misleading since it doesn't force emotions upon the target(s), but instead encourages them to lean that way (IE: A vampire whose Controlled Emotion is Fear won't always be scary, but those affected by the ability will get a notion of "Maybe I should be scared?" in the back of their mind). Acting upon this notion is purely up to the target.
If the vampire is using the Ability 'passively', those folks within the range of one foot per point of Control Emotion get the notion (NOTE: A vampire with this Ability must declare the one emotion they can inspire. Much like Control Animal and Alternate Feeding, only one can be picked). If the vampire forces the issue on a target, +compare Target's Willpower vs Vampire's Willpower + Control Emotion (NOTE: Some folks might get very scared from a sudden impulse of attraction, some might attack that which is scaring them, etc..) with the same range. If the vampire laughs (that's an honest laugh and not just saying "Ha ha") it's as if they're attempting to force the issue unless they actively decide to not have folks possibly be affected by it (if the player doesn't say otherwise, assume they are accidentally using it when their character laughs).
Vampire Immunity can be used to reduce the vampire's Control Emotion in regard to that particular individual on a 1-to-1 basis. Also see 'news scare tactics'
Obviously, this Ability works well to help "prime the pump" for Alternate Feeding.
SUGGESTED ROLL/MECHANIC
CONTESTED CHALLENGE
VAMPIRE: Power (if master) + Intimidation/Seduction/other emotion appropriate skill + Control Emotion
TARGET: Power (if alpha/master) + Dream Magic (if fae) + Mind/Meta (if magic user only one) + Telepathy/Clairvoyance/Empathy (if psychic) + Willpower + Logic
- Higher success wins.
---------------------------=<< Control Senses >>=---------------------------
Vampire ability, found mostly among those of the line of Belle Morte. To befuddle senses, the vampire has a percent chance of their Power+Control Senses lessened by the target's Willpower. If it works, 1/10th of the success is how many 'Illusion Points' the vampire has to work with. One point can sustain an illusion of one sense for one pose for one target: with 3 points, one can cast a sight, sound, and touch illusion on one person for one pose, or a sight-only illusion for one person for three poses, or a sight-only illusion for three people for one pose, etc.. This can't cover magical senses, but just sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch.
Rumour has it that at very high levels (35+), some can cause psychosomatic damage, but these are unfounded.
SUGGESTED ROLL/MECHANIC
CONTESTED CHALLENGE
VAMPIRE: Power (if master) + Willpower + Artisan/Performing Arts/other performance skill + Control Senses
TARGET: Power (if alpha/master) + Dream Magic (if fae) + Clairvoyance/empathy (if psychic) + Mind/meta (if magic user) + Willpower + Senses
- Highest success wins.
--------------------------=<< Control Shadows >>=---------------------------
Control Shadows is restricted to Vampires. It may only be opposed by a character that also possesses Control Shadows. A straight ability compare is used, with the higher Ability able to take control.
Rough Generalizations | |
---|---|
01-10 | Able to make shadows in a room flicker briefly. |
11-20 | Able to cause shadows to become darker or lighter in a room. |
21-30 | Ability to cause shadows to move from their natural area. |
31-40 | Ability to create shadows, almost to the extent of darkness. |
41-49 | Ability to animate shadows. |
50+ | Master of light and darkness. |
If used in combat, it can be added to the defensive side of the +compare. Rumour has it that at very high levels (35+), one can produce shadows that are actually solid, but this is as of yet unfounded.
If one is outdoors during the night and is able to Control Shadows, they can cloak themselves (SEE: '+help cloak') in shadows. Note though, this can often be seen through by those who are Sensitive and/or rather Perceptive.
SUGGESTED ROLL/MECHANIC
To control shadow
Power (if master) + willpower + intimidation/stealth/other appropriate skill + control shadows
To hide
Power (if master) + Reflexes + Willpower + Stealth + Control Shadows
- Success is subtracted from rolls to see the hiding vampire.
- Success to control a shadow allows someone to do what they want (so long as they have the power for it) with the shadows.
NOTE: The shadow-controlling vampire can see through the shadows they're controlling perfectly well, but nothing else within the "cloak" can see out (be it a person, a camera, et cetera). As such, it can be used to see in the dark (beyond a vampire's normal heightened senses) to a range. Since this isn't actually doing anything with the shadows, there's no need to roll for it. Dark-seeing range is Control Shadows in feet if just looking around (so all shadows within the vampire's field of vision) and in yards/meters if looking at a particular point. This can't be used to see through shadows manipulated by another vampire (although 'crossing the beams' for dark-seeing isn't a problem).
---------------------------=<< Control Shape >>=----------------------------
Vampire ability, found mostly among those of the lines of Padma and Dragon. It allows a vampire to change into the animal that they can call, if they have Control Animal (if they don't, then it's rather moot). They can change as much of a percent of their body per pose as their Ability (so with 50, it just takes two poses. With 25 it takes four poses. With 20 it takes five, with 10 it takes ten, etc). Changing back takes the same rate. The animal is of normal size for the animal in question (unlike with normal were-thing shapeshifters).
For these purposes, the head and neck is considered 10% of a person. Each arm is 10% and each leg is 20%. The remaining 30% is the torso.
Rumour has it that at very high levels (35+), some can take multiple forms but these are unfounded.
---------------------------=<< Control Weather >>=----------------------------
With this very rare ability (only found in those of the line of White Buffalo Woman), a vampire can attempt to affect the local weather.
One can +roll/per their Control Weather to attempt to create fog, wind, or adjust the temperature. The amount success can…
- Produce/Remove enough fog to adjust Situational Modifiers by that amount (15% Success? -15 to attacks, -15 to noticing things, et cetera)
- Or create/calm that many miles per hour of wind (see below chart)
- Or can raise or lower the temperature by that many degrees Fahrenheit (for those used to metrics, just go with 1/2 succ = degrees Celsius).
If it's already overcast, one can attempt to produce precipitation (IE: Rain, sleet, or snow) in the local area with the same system as the fog bit above. If it's already precipitating, one can try to make the local area better or worse the same way.
Note that an attempt that fails doesn't mean the vampire can't just pose that they were 'warming things up' and try again in the next pose. One also can follow up a success with a similar try in the next pose to add to the effects.
These three effects are quite localized, with a diameter around the vampire roughly equal to the Control Weather rating in meters/yards. The temperature change and the fog happen happen evenly within that circle around the vampire, while the wind can either blow from the vampire, or blow towards the vampire, or circle around the vampire in a vortex. Obviously, one can't have the wind and the fog at the same time in the same place. They tend to fade back to normal in as many minutes as the vampire's Control Weather rating, too (so if you crank it up 20 degrees with CW:30, it'll only be up 10 degrees after 15 minutes and back to normal in another 15).
Wind | MPH | Description |
---|---|---|
Calm | < 1 | Smoke rises vertically. |
Light air | 1 - 3 | Wind motion visible in smoke. |
Light breeze | 3 - 7 | Wind felt on exposed skin. Leaves rustle. |
Gentle breeze | 8 - 12 | Leaves and smaller twigs in constant motion. |
Moderate breeze | 13 - 17 | Dust and loose paper raised. Small branches begin to move. |
Fresh breeze | 18 - 24 | Branches of a moderate size move. Small trees begin to sway. |
Strong breeze | 25 - 30 | Large branches in motion. Whistling heard in overhead wires. Umbrella use becomes difficult. Empty plastic garbage cans tip over. |
High wind | 31 - 38 | Whole trees in motion. Effort needed to walk against the wind. Swaying of skyscrapers may be felt, especially by people on upper floors. |
Gale | 39 - 46 | Some twigs broken from trees. Cars veer on road. Progress on foot is seriously impeded. |
Strong gale | 47 - 54 | Some branches break off trees, and some small trees blow over. Construction/temporary signs and barricades blow over. Damage to circus tents and canopies. |
Storm | 55 - 63 | Trees are broken off or uprooted, saplings bent and deformed. Poorly attached asphalt shingles and shingles in poor condition peel off roofs. |
Violent storm | 64 - 72 | Widespread vegetation damage. Many roofing surfaces are damaged; asphalt tiles that have curled up and/or fractured due to age may break away completely. |
Hurricane | 73+ | Very widespread damage to vegetation. Some windows may break; mobile homes and poorly constructed sheds and barns are damaged. Debris may be hurled about. |
To tweak the broad weather worse or better, one can use '+cw/add' or '+cw/sub' to attempt to make the weather more or less inclement. This isn't localized, but pertains to the entire grid-region of Chicago.
Everybody wants to call down lightning bolts with this power. Lightning is really really hard to whistle up. For starters, it has to already be raining across the city. Then one has to +roll/per Weather Control to actually cause some local lightning to strike somewhere near the vampire (Control Weather rating in meters/yards away at the furthest). Trying to hit a specific target requires first pulling off the previous roll, then +roll/per Control Weather + Observation. If it hits, it does 1d100 damage. Yes, 1d100. Zot. A failure in the to-hit roll means lightning still showed up, but missed the target (one can work up a 'damage from a near-hit' strike like this, but it seems too nitpicky).
-------------------------------=<< Flight >>=-------------------------------
Flight is the ability of some Master Vampires (most commonly those of the Dragon's bloodline) to fly - not by means of flapping one's arms nor by sprouting wings, but more akin to the stage-flight of having someone off-stage haul one around with a slim wire from the catwalk, save that there's no wire and no stage. Rate of travel is one foot for each point of Flight per second (IE: Flight:10 = 10 feet per second. Which is about 6.8 miles per hour, a pretty healthy jog) and at a maximum safe altitude of 1.5 feet per point of Flight. One can 'take out a loan' and Fly at a higher rate, but each second of each higher rate lowers effective Flying by one (So a Flight:10 person can fly about at 10 feet/sec all day long, but can make little 20 feet/sec dashes if they stop flying after a second of dashing).
If used in combat, Flight can be added to Muscle if one is slamming into a target, and can be added to a flying defender's Reflexes if already in-flight.
Each ten pounds of cargo carried lowers Flight by one, so it takes Flight in at least the middle to high teens to be able to get off the ground with a person in tow.
-------------------------------=<< Focus >>=--------------------------------
Focus:
A focus can assist another's ability above standard levels. It is easier to do this with those who have a similar ability, but more powerful focii can use it with other alien abilities as well. A link must be created in some way for this to happen, either telepathically, physically, or magically, but it must be a binding link for the power to last beyond simple physical contact.
With each point in Focus, one can boost the Ability rating in a target by +5% if that ability is known to the Focuser as well. If it is an Ability the Focuser could know, but doesn't know (SEE: +abilities/me), the boost is lowered by 25. If it's an Ability the Focuser couldn't know, -50. For each 10 points of Focus one can assist more than one person at a time. To save on math-work, try '+focus' or '+focus/here'. If you want to see how to boost an Ability that is normally at 12, '+focus 12' or '+focus/here 12'. Obviously, this works for numbers other than 12. A Focus cannot use this power to help themselves nor force others; Focus is purely a 'Good Samaritan' Ability. If used on multiple folks, it must be for the same Ability (IE: No Focusing Bob the Vampire's Rolling, Carol the Shifter's Dominate, and Ted's Sensitive at the same time), and nothing else can be done save for standing there and concentrating when using Focus.
If you're Human and have Focus:20 and I have Raising:10..
Lyle types -=> +focus 10
GAME> Lyle's Focus: 20 Ability: 10
GAME> Known Human Ability by 100%….. 20
GAME> Unknown Human Ability by 75%…. 18
GAME> Any Ability by 50%………….. 15
GAME> This can be done for 3 folks at a time.
…If you know Raising, you can boost my Raising to 20. If I have Empathy:10 but you don't know Empathy, you can raise it to 18. If I'm a vampire with Mind Rolling:10, you could raise my Mind Rolling to 15. If it's you, me, and two other Animators around, you could '+focus <Raising>' for each of us to see how much you could help our Raisings.
Focus is a purely philanthropic ability and can not be used to help oneself.
-------------------------------=<< Healing >>=--------------------------------
Many non-human preternatural races are more durable than humans and heal at a faster rate as is demonstrated by their higher Fitness.
Healing is the preternatural ability to heal wounds in a conventional manner, but at a faster rate. This is opposed to Regeneration, which is the ability to heal wounds that would normally never heal. Normally this accelerated healing would be as if Fitness + Healing, but Alpha shifters and Master Vampires heal as though Fitness + Healing + Power, in regards to healing wounds dealt by the +hurt command. This is covered by automatic code every few hours.
When in combat, an individual can '+roll 1d<half their Healing>' to see how much they heal per turn. (this can be taken care of with either the simple '+heal' command or by working out the math and using '+heal me=<amount>') Unless something weird is going on (like someone using Share Blood on you, Focus,or some other odd bit) just use Healing. Even Alpha/Masters just use 1/2 Healing.
See also 'news share blood'
-------------------------=<< Mark Human Servant >>=-------------------------
Human servants can only be created by master vampires. If the master vampire has the ability to call a lycanthrope, an infected lycanthrope of the vampire's animal type may be created as a servant in the same fashion (one can also mark a cursed shifter of the 'wrong type', though. And if a marked person somehow contracts lycanthropy of the 'wrong type', it erases the marks and their boost with the first shift). The vampire must give the human four distinct different marks for the human servant creation process to be completed as follows:
The First Mark
The vampire shares their 'life force' (or, whatever unnamed thing keeps them alive and sentient). This is easily done by contact, which immediately causes the human partial immunity to the the master's glare, voice control, and/or mind tricks. In a matter of a few hours, the human becomes highly resistant to physical damage.
The Second Mark
The master generates a sort of 'flame' which reaches out and touches the human that had to have had the first mark previously. The human's eyes flash for an instant and return quickly to normal. The master now has the ability to enter the dreams of the human that has the second mark. The master vampire is also able to 'feed' from a great distance by taking the 'life force' of the human. The human tends to eat much more food at this point, with the master taking great delight in 'borrowing' the human's extra energy and being able to have a better sensation of eating (due to the annoying difficulties the vampire has in swallowing food). The 'flame' is a concentration of the vampire's emo-glow.
The Third Mark
The third mark is the most painful mark of all, at least for the human involved. The master must take the blood of the human, not all, but not a small amount either. The human is drained nearly to death, but lives. At this point direct telepathic abilities are possible between the human and the vampire.
The Fourth Mark
The vampire slices open one of their own major blood supplies, most often the chest. The human servant then drinks the blood. Often combined with a ritual type statement, this makes the target a full-on Human Servant, now ageless and (depending on how good the vampire is at Marking) oftentimes on par with the Marking vampire in many ways.
Exactly how much of a boost is gained by the Marked varies with how well the Marker has worked on the ability to share their life-force. For a vampire who has barely dabbled with it, the changes will be topical and slight. For one who put a chunk of effort into it, the changes will be sweeping and vast. For a marked Lycanthrope, there is no sharing of taste and the statistical boosts are far less than with a human.
Pros and Cons
When all is said and done, it's often a sweeter deal to be Marked than to be brought over by a vampire. For one, there are no preternatural limits like crosses or sunlight are for vampires. The downside is that it takes longer to Mark someone than to bring them over so the vampire has more invested in the deal (and thus will probably expect more in return); if they brought one over and didn't like that person, they could just have them oath to another vampire or just kill them. In Marking, the two are stuck until the first one dies, which might take out the second one by proxy. Due to this, bringing over a person a vampire has Marked is rather redundant since it makes the earlier efforts almost wasted. That, and the Marked persons death will hurt the one that Marked them (thus possibly prompting the person to rise as a Revenant), even though the death is temporary. Another plus to being Marked instead of being brought over is that the Marked person is given the same respect and social clout afforded to the Marker. The person Marked by the MotC's honored guest is to be given the same VIP treatment as the vampire guest, in standard vampire tradition.
With the various Marks, one gains a degree of control over Rolling. This can be used to either resist Rolling or to assist in being Rolled, although after the third Mark it is often hard to resist direct commands from the Marking vampire due to the telepathic link. By the fourth Mark, the bond is often so strong that the thoughts of the Marked match those of the Marker enough so as to make resistance inconceivable for the Marked person.
Please see '+help vmark' for details.
------------------------------=<< Masking >>=-------------------------------
Masking is the ability to conceal one’s true nature or magic from a Sensitive. It is used only as a defense to Sensitive. If the question ever arises that a person would Sense another, without the other actively Masking, simply compare Sensitive to Masking.
SEE ALSO: 'news sensitive' '+help sense' '+help masking'.
----------------------------=<< Mind Rolling >>=----------------------------
With eye contact or a recent previous preternatural connection, a Vampire may attempt to impose their will over that of a target, instilling emotions, thoughts, and impulses that were not normally there. Basic Rolling involves a +compare to see how the target's Willpower compares to the vampire's Rolling (if the Target has Vampire Immunity and/or +vmarks and/or is an Alpha/Master thus able to add Power), that can make it more difficult, while a Master vampire gets to add Power to their Mind Rolling ability). Then try a +roll/per just like with combat, with the likelihood of the target following the command as the base chance. If the roll fails, then add the amount of failure and the target's Willpower.. 1/10th of that is how many poses the target gets before the vampire can try again. If the roll succeeds, they have at least that much control of the target.
One of the easiest tricks is to get someone's mind to go on pause for a second or two so you can dart out of the room and seem to vanish when they de-pause. About equally easy is to inspire emotion (making someone happy or sad). A bit more difficult is to get someone to take inaction, transmute sensations/emotions, or forget earlier events. The most difficult seems to be setting off a long-distance psychic beeper (so the vampire can be in one part of town, and the target gets the impulse to get up, leave where they are, and head over to where the vampire is), or getting the target to not mind at all if utterly odd things are asked of them (like not minding being turned into a vampire). This most difficult level all but requires the target to've been Rolled a time or two earlier, as well as having two or more bites by the Rolling vampire.
Normally, eye contact is a definite must for this to work, but if the target has been bitten or previously Rolled by the Rolling vampire in the last 10 days, it can be attempted by voice alone. In addition to it only needing voice alone in this situation, the vampire can double their Ability if the target has been rolled or bitten by them in the last ten days. If this works out, and they do it again within ten days (thus, twice in 20 days), the vampire has their Ability x 3. If they do it -again- within ten days after the second time (thus, thrice in a month), the vampire has their Ability x 4. In this way, it covers how a Roll & Bite makes things far easier the second time around in a week or two, two bites means it'd take near-inhuman abilities to resist it entirely, and three bites generally insures that you can get the target to dance to whatever tune you whistle up. Previous Rollings tend to stick around for a while, so to Roll the pain of feeding away three times in a month almost always means that the target is -so- sold on the idea that they end up being drained dry and brought over.
If one has been Marked by a vampire, it is as if one has been fed on in the last ten days. There also is a degree of control along those lines by a 'parent' vampire over the folks that they have brought over.
Basic formula:
Vampire's Mind Rolling + Base Chance - Target's Willpower
Master Vampires can add Power, Alpha Shifters can add Power, Vampire Immunity can add to Willpower, Vampire Marks can be added to Willpower or added to the vampire's Mind Rolling depending on if the Marked target wants to be Rolled or not.
If that particular vampire has Rolled (or fed off of) that particular target target in the last ten days, multiply the vampire's Mind Rolling. The second time in ten days makes it twice normal, third time makes it thrice, etc.. To Roll the pain of feeding away before feeding counts as 'twice in ten days'.
The final number is the percent chance of Rolling. Success under the target's Willpower can just pause the target for a while. Success between WP and twice WP is like hypnosis. Success over twice the target's WP is unnatural control. Failure is added to the target's Willpower and the total divided by 10 to see how long it is before that vampire can try to roll that person again (measured in poses).
This is all mostly a suggestion for when it involves two players who are at loggerheads for how it'll work out, or when the players would like a numeric guideline for RP. If a mutual agreement is worked out, use whatever works. If you (the player) knew that the vampire was going to Roll your character and you didn't put up much of a fight over it, it is as if a +warn had been given and ignored (IE: You waived your right to partial consent).
This assumes an unwilling person of sound mind. The chance is based on an estimation of an average person's willingness to do something, or the mind's general tendency to focus on some stimulus. Naturally insanity or other situational factors could make certain actions more likely (getting a sociopath to torture someone might be pretty easy, for example).
80 | Distract one's attention for a few seconds |
60 | Yell, cluck like a chicken (actions which might be embarrassing but are otherwise harmless) |
50 | Calm someone who is mildly nervous or upset |
40 | Ignore mild pain (being fed from, 1st degree burn) |
20 | Slap/punch someone you don't like |
0 | Fall into a (normal) sleep, ignore significant pain (simple fractures), calm a hysterical person |
-20 | Slap/punch your best friend |
-40 | Ignore serious pain (amputations, compound fractures) |
-60 | Seriously harm an random stranger |
-80 | Seriously harm an innocent (child, clergy of your religion, maybe a doctor or other stranger you have a reason to well-disposed to) |
-100 | Seriously harm/kill self or a loved one. |
SUGGESTED MECHANIC/ROLL
CONTESTED CHALLENGE
VAMPIRE: Power (if master) + Willpower + Intimidation/Seduction + Mind Rolling
TARGET: Power (if alpha/master) + Dream Magic (if fae) + Clairvoyance/Empathy (if psychic) + Mind/Meta (if magic user) + Willpower
-------------------------=<< Self Decomposition >>=-------------------------
An ability possessed by vampires of Morte d'Amour or the Mother of all Darkness' lines, this allows a vampire to "ick" into a state of partial or total decomposition (going from looking sick, to looking like a zombie, to looking like old roadkill). The more they rot, the more resistant they are to damage from kinetic sources (stabbing, punching, shooting, etc..), only being hurt by environmental/energy attacks (fire, electricity, etc..) or holy/magical forces. Silver attacks get reduced as well, but still hurt quite a bit.
Each minute, a vampire can decompose a percent of their body equal to their SD rating (For these purposes, the head and neck is considered 10% of a person. Each arm is 10% and each leg is 20%. The remaining 30% is the torso). Reforming takes half the time. The percent of decomp divides any damage from physical attacks by that much (25% rotted? -1/4 damage), adds to scare-tactics (25% rotted? +25 intimidation), subtracts from physicals (25% rotted? -25 Muscle/Fitness/Reflexes. Doesn't lower maximum health, though), and also subtracts from any incoming/outgoing mental effects (Rolling, telepathy, etc)
All that is really "needed" to re-form are the bones. If reforming without the skeleton intact, the missing parts aren't replaced (until months or years later, if ever).
-----------------------------=<< Sensitive >>=------------------------------
Sensitive is the ability to sense another being's magical ability. All non-human beings with Power are able to Sense to some degree, as are those who have the Sensitive Ability (some humans are just good at that kind of thing). To raise the ability is to raise the keenness of the Sensing, thus cutting through active Masking or active Dominate or any other attempt to conceal or bluff the findings.
Although a Sensitive being can't detect what magic has done or if magic even has been done, it can detect if magic is stored in a particular target or is moving through a particular target.
- Example 1: A fairy makes a magical grinder that can turn chalk into cheese. The fairy, unless successfully Masked, could be detected by a Sensitive. The box would turn up to some degree, and while being used the box would really be noticeable. The resulting cheese wouldn't register to a Sensitive as anything odd, though.
- Example 2: A sorcerer has magically zapped an injured person so their body is healing at ten times the normal rate. For as long as this magically boosted healing is active, a Sensitive has a chance in detecting something is up with the injured person, and/or that the sorcerer is doing something from afar, and might even be able to detect and trace the 'paper trail' from one to the other.
If the magical effects are being produced by a spirit from the great beyond, after being sent on a mission by a Faithful's invocation or a Summoner's evocation, the paper trail won't lead back to the Faithful or Summoner, but to the spirit itself (and from there to the black box of the great beyond). The best readings a Sensitive can get about a spirit are insight into the nature of the spirit itself; to find out who sent it, one will have to ask/interrogate the spirit (usually involving Faith, and/or Occult, and/or Theology, in conjunction with Sensitive).
If someone has a far better Masking than you can sense, your findings will often result in the person seeming no stranger than a standard person on the street, or perhaps just having a bit more 'oomph' than one would expect. If someone has a far better Dominate than you can sense, your findings will often be much higher than the person's true 'oomph'.
--------------------------=<< Silver Immunity >>=---------------------------
Generally attacks with silver knock vampires and lycanthropes for a loop, hurting them as if they didn't have boosted Fitness nor Muscle. To reflect this, silver damage normally has a boost of 1/10th of the target's Power (so a Power:10 target would take twice normal damage from silver, Power:20 would take triple, Power:30 would take quadruple, etc..)
If the vampire or lycanthrope has the Silver Immunity ability, it lowers their effective Power in the above formula (So Power:20 and SI:10 means only twice damage from silver). Normal non-damaging contact with silver is usually just a nervous and non-painful situation (like a tattoo gun or an idling chainsaw that's not actually breaking the skin), with the Immunity lowering this effect to some degree.
----------------------------=<< Voice Trick >>=-----------------------------
Some vampires have the ability to do a 'magical ventriloquism and mimicry', often used when the vampire voice trickster is concealed nearby to lead to the legend of vampires being able to turn invisible, used to whisper in someone's ear from afar to prompt the legend of telepathy, or used to hiss into microphones to prompt the idea that their voice can't be recorded.
To make their voice sound from afar, the voice trickster has a range of their Voice Trick number of feet (30 cm) away from themselves (but not through walls or anything that would normally block out sound). To imitate another's voice, the vampire attempts a +roll/per <Voice Trick + Mental> when they pick a voice to mimic (a failed roll means it ends up a lot like their own voice), while each listener attempts a +roll/per <Perception> (if they either know the vampire's voice or know the voice being imitated) to see if they can determine the deception for that particular modulation — if their roll is higher than the voice trickster's, they realize something's afoot.
A Master Vampire with Voice Trick can do the same things, but for as many extra voices as 1/10th their Voice Trick (rounded down). EG: A Master Vampire with Voice Trick:1-9 can only mime and/or throw one voice at a time while not speaking, or attempt to change their own speaking voice (both like a normal Vampire with Voice Trick can). One with 20-29 can trick three different voices at the same time, or talk (in their voice or another's) and trick two extra voices.
SUGGESTED MECHANIC/ROLL
CONTESTED CHALLENGE
VAMPIRE: Power (if master) + Creativity + Performance Skill + Voice Trick
TARGET: Senses + Observation + Sensitive
------------------------------=<< Wounding >>=------------------------------
A power restricted to Master Vampires (most commonly those of Dragon's line), 'Wounding' is the ability to injure others who have Power from a distance. Imagine an invisible laser emitted from the vampire's fingers, able to slice through flesh and bone - it's much like that. The Wounder makes gestures and the Wounded makes with the yelling and bleeding. The limits to it are that the target must be visible to work, and must have Power to be damaged. The effects can be continued within the target's aura (no more than an inch or so), thus able to cut through clothes and attempt to cut through armor. Typically the gestures are sweeping arm and hand waves. If just using a hand (or foot, or head), -15 to the roll. If just using a finger, -25. If just wriggling eyebrows, tongue, etc.. -50. Some vampires have "alternate" gestures — please contact staff for +cnotes about this beforehand.
For mechanics, '+roll/per Willpower + Wounding + <the target's Power>'. If the roll is successful, divide it by five (rounded up) and that's the damage done (divide by five since it's 1/10th of success as per normal, then x2 since it's as if it were a knife). No Stats, Skills, nor Abilities work against it, since it's really hard to dodge an invisible laser save for hiding behind cover. Extra bleeding damage applies, as does potential 'knockback'.
If used against someone without Power, it just really really hurts with no physical damage. Roll as per the aforementioned mechanics but with '0' for the target's Power, divide by five, and the target is struck by pain and potential 'knockback'.
Please see: '+help combat' for potential complications.
IMPORTANT - Wounding will never circumvent the consent policy! See 'news consent' for a reminder.