Potence

Potence

Potence
Clans	Ærquic, Ahchinkxat, Aswang, Baykosh, Brujah, Brujah Antitribu, Cipactli, Giovanni, Guruhi, Jiang Shi, Kinnaree, Lasombra, Lasombra Antitribu, Lygos, Nosferatu, Nosferatu Antitribu, Osebo, Penanggalan, Unhudo, U'tlun'ta, Xi Dundu
Bloodlines	Adroanzi, Amara Havana, Azerkatil, Blood Brothers, Bonsam, Burakumin, Caitiff, Children of Osiris, Coconeh Pochtli, Eloi, Gargoyles, Glyconites, Lamiae, Naditu, Nictuku, Panders, Putanesca, Vipers, Xiao
Sects	Anarchs, Ashirra, Camarilla, Cradle of Civilization, Drowned Legacies, Independents, Jati, Laibon, Quiet Nations, Sabbat, Shining Kingdoms, Teteoh
Rituals	None
Combination Disciplines	Potence Combination Disciplines
Rarity	Common

Although all vampires are to a certain extent stronger than mere mortals (unless they suffer from specific physical weaknesses), those with Potence are so startlingly powerful that they can perform feats previously only seen from comic book characters. Kindred with Potence often act as warriors thanks to their ability to inflict awesome damage upon their enemies and any structure in their way, but even those that seem peaceful are given the appropriate respect due to a dangerous force of nature. Potence is relatively common among the Kindred (even mortals seem to have gotten the idea, if their stories and movies are anything to go on), and while those without it often denigrate it as a power lacking in finesse and refinement, no one wants to be on the other end of it when the chips are down.

Basic Powers

Prowess

You seldom tire when using your prodigious strength to inflict mayhem on someone or something, and you have become a lethal weapon even without anything to arm yourself. You may strike with as much destructive force as a blade or a baseball bat would normally inflict, allowing you to easily inflict serious injuries or even death on mortals, and cause extensive damage to unwary Kindred as well. You may fight on tirelessly far longer than other humans or vampires, and act as a wrecking ball while you do.

Soaring Leap

You may leap inhuman differences, leveraging your supernatural strength into jumping farther, higher, and remaining airborne longer. The more Potence you gain, the farther you can use this power to jump.

Might

Non-murderous applications of force, such as lifting things, bending things, breaking things open, or restraining someone with your strength alone are far more likely for you to succeed at than anyone else; you can bend metal bars no wider than your wrists or lift a moped over your head with ease. Kindred who do not have at least as much Potence as you do cannot escape your grasp if you hold onto them (although nothing is stopping them from using other powers on you if they don't appreciate your invasion of their space).

Intermediate Powers

Brutal Feed

You have incredible strength of lungs and fangs, able to exsanguinate a human being to emptiness in a matter of a few seconds. You still cannot hold more blood than you usually could, and you are likely to have more trouble and need more time to fully drain non-human creatures such as vampires or shapeshifters.

The Give-and-Take

When you feed from someone, you can choose to grant them some of your power in return, trading them your basic Celerity powers for the rest of the night. While they have your powers at their disposal, any Willpower they spend is granted automatically to you, even if you are nowhere near them at the time.

Uncanny Grip

You have unbelievable strength in your gripping limbs, making you capable of grabbing onto surfaces that others would not be able to get a grip on. You can climb sheer surfaces, hang from ceilings, and hold onto tiny items even with no apparent leverage. Some especially smooth surfaces, such as wet glass, may still pose you problems if there are no tiny imperfections for you to hold onto.

Vigor

You are literally capable of crushing bone with a blow now, and must be careful not to injure others in the course of everyday interactions (luckily, you can avoid using this kind of strength if you concentrate, but many Kindred who are accustomed to being powerhouses of physical might sometimes forget that they might casually break countertops and bystanders if they aren't paying attention). You inflict horrific damage against anyone who doesn't have at least as much Fortitude as you have Potence, and even then you're still capable of hurting Kindred that might seem indestructible to anyone else.

Draught of Might

You may create a potion from your own blood that grants basic Potence powers to anyone who drinks it. These powers remain for one night and are dispelled by the rising sun (and, as usual, any vampire drinking your blood will become bloodbound, while any mortal doing so may become a ghoul).

Intensity

Your physical powers are seemingly limitless; although, like other Disciplines, Potence powers usually require you to burn some of your precious blood in order to fully leverage your titanic strength, you may now maintain any feat of strength you perform indefinitely without needing to continue fueling it. This means that if you lift a car over your head, you can hold it there for as long as you want without tiring, although if you put it down, you'll have to use your Potence powers again to get it back into the air.

Advanced Powers

Puissance

You are a terrible force of nature; you deal more damage to even the sturdiest Kindred than anything else can, you can hammer your way through steel, concrete, and titanium with only a moment's pause, and no one comes even close to competing with your strength without also possessing this power or higher. It is laughably easy for you to destroy normal structures and items and to injure or accidentally kill mortals.

Elder Powers

Crush

You are especially adept at destroying inanimate objects, which crumble in your hands even when made of the strongest materials. As long as you manage to successfully attack an object, you automatically destroy it, usually beyond repair.

The Fist of Caine

You may fight unarmed from a distance without ever touching your enemy; by making a supernaturally powerful attack against the air in front of you, you can cause that focused air to strike them instead. Punches, kicks, and other physical attacks can strike enemies from anywhere in the same scene, as long as there is nothing in betwen them and you.

The Gentle Rebuke

You may hurl someone away from you, up to a quarter of a mile away, but without causing them any injury; they land winded but undamaged. If you throw someone directly into a structure or major obstacle this way, they may still be injured by the impact with it.

Imprint

You may squeeze something so hard with your hands or feet that you leave permanent imprints in solid surfaces, including but not limited to solid stone or steel. Every detail of your grip is imprinted, right down to fingernails or wrinkles, as indelibly as if it had been manufactured that way.

Master of the Forge

You can invest some of your supernatural strength into the items you create, making them permanently more powerful no matter who wields them. You must create the item entirely yourself without using assistants or pre-made components, and it must be something that is designed or intended to be a weapon rather than having any other purpose. Anyone who wields it and has less Potence than you do can strike as if they had one higher level in Potence than they do.

Brutality

You may deal lethal damage instead of the usual bashing with only your bare body, injuring others as if wielding a weapon by simply striking them unbelievably hard.

Earthshock

By striking the ground or other surface that you and your enemie are standing on, you may create a small earthquake from the shockwaves that radiate from your blow, causing fissures, quakes, and upheavals that injure everyone within a quarter of a mile of you. Since this power destroys a certain amount of the ground under your feet, it can cause floors and platforms to completely collapse, causing everyone (including you) to fall through to whatever waits below.

The Forger's Hammer

You can channel your strength through weapons so that they become even more deadly in your hands; you deal significantly more damage when using a weapon, although you must use this power for every strike you wany to empower.

Aftershock

You may cause a delayed aftershock from your blows, reverberating through your victim even long after the original blow was struck. When you strike someone with any Potence power, you can choose to have the same injury strike them again in the future, any time that you choose up to twenty-four hours away. Each individual blow you want to repeat later requires you to use this power again.

Flick

By flicking even just a finger, you may hurl an enemy away from you with all your strength, sending them flying for up to a quarter mile or until they strike a reasonably strong obstacle that stops them.

Lend the Supernatural Vigor

You may share some of your prodigious strength with another being, even a mortal. As long as you remain touching them, they are able to use up to advanced Potence, although they spend from your blood instead of their own.

Touch of Pain

You may channel all of your strength into a single tiny point, usually the tip of a finger; when you strike an enemy with it, the tiny impact point causes a tiny non-lethal injury, similar to a bullet path or stab wound. Instead of causing significant damage, your strike radiates your strength through your enemy's body, causing them intense, torturous pain. Those who remain conscious through such an experience are dazed for a short period after, during which they can do little more than try to come back to their senses.

Might of the Heroes

Your strength is such that it can perform feats of strength only spoken of in ancient myth. Lifting mountains, tearing the heads off monsters with your bare hands, leaping thousands of feet into the sky, and more are all within your grasp.

Important Things to Keep in Mind

You don't have to use Potence if you don't want to, so it's up to the individual player whether their character has trouble remembering how fragile the people and things around them are or has the normal control not to accidentally blow anything up. Any use of Potence beyond the level of Might is likely to count as a breach of the Masquerade, so use caution when displaying obviously superhuman abilities in front of mortals.