Vampire Powers

Vampire Powers

Vampires gain an array of supernatural powers upon their Embrace that they did not have access to as mortals. In fact, they often lose access to powers they previously knew in their mortal lives, such as the spheres of mages or the cantrips of kinain, which are lost when the trauma of death severs their links to outside powers.

The majority of vampire powers are designed and developed to make them better predators when feeding on humanity, with a secondary focus on surviving and managing the struggle of remaining something resembling alive. In addition to supernatural powers shared by all vampires, individual clans and bloodlines often have their own specialized powers that distinguish them from others.

General Powers

All vampires are physically dangerous, even if they were not in life. While some are naturally stronger or hardier than others, they can all burn off some of their vitae for a brief burst of strength beyond their usual capabilities, allowing them to tear their prey limb from limb or break through barriers and locks with ease. They can also heal themselves of injuries by burning vitae to allow their dead flesh and bones to repair themselves, although some wounds, such as those inflicted by fire or sunlight, can only be healed slowly and with great effort.

Vampires are also able to subdue their prey with an intoxicating effect known as the Kiss, a flood of pleasure and lassitude that overcomes anyone they bite. Mortals in the throes of the Kiss are almost physically incapable of fighting back or doing anything but giving in to the overwhelming sensations; even other supernatural beings, while not necessarily incapacitated, have trouble resisting the physical bliss.

All vampires also have the ability to create long-lasting, even permanent bonds to others by feeding them their vitae, resulting in blood bonds that can turn enemies into allies and force others to fall madly in love with them. Feeding vitae to mortals while they are still living can create immortal ghoul servants to aid them during daylight hours and in the human world, and feeding vitae to a dying mortal results in the Embrace, allowing a vampire to reproduced any time they wish.

Finally, all vampires have access to disciplines, the supernatural powers of vampire folklore. Although all vampires are created with the ability to learn three disciplines, usually the ones that their clan (if they have one) specializes in, they are capable of learning others with effort and study (or through the abhorrent practice of diablerie). All disciplines require vampires to burn their blood to use.

Common Disciplines

Common disciplines are those that are available to the vast majority of vampires. Most major clans specialize mostly or even only in common disciplines, and vampires are able to learn common disciplines easily, often requiring nothing more than another vampire who is already skilled to teach them the ins and outs of their powers.

Common disciplines include the ability to commune with and manipulate animals, see and hear beyond mortal limits, give orders that others are incapable of disobeying, hide or even vanish into thin air, become magnetic and alluring to entice their prey, or gain physical speed, strength, and durability far beyond that of even other vampires.

All common disciplines are Open for new characters.

Animalism	Auspex	Celerity	Dominate	Fortitude	Obfuscate	Potence	Presence

Uncommon Disciplines

Uncommon disciplines are slightly more unusual powers that are nevertheless fairly well-known and used throughout the world. Most vampires probably don't have access to them, but have heard about them and know something about what they do. Uncommon disciplines are most often wielded by bloodlines, but there are more than a few clans whose specialized powers are considered uncommon simply because they seldom demonstrate them anywhere.

Uncommon disciplines include the ability to drive others mad, create nightmares and hallucinations, manipulate shadows and darkness, perform feats of impressive shapeshifting, commute materials into different substances, stealthily target enemies without being seen even by the supernatural, and reshape and reorganize the user's very body.

All uncommon disciplines are provisionally Open for new characters, with the understanding that they may need approval based on a given character's circumstances.

Alchemy	Dementation	Nightmare	Obtenebration	Protean	Quietus	Serpentis	Vicissitude

Rare Disciplines

Rare disciplines are not only unavailable to most vampires but also begin to verge into being mostly known through rumor and stories. These disciplines almost always belong to either small bloodlines or isolated or disenfranchised clans, and other vampires are lucky to see one in action once or twice in their lives, let alone being able to accurately guess what it is or how it works. Rare disciplines are highly coveted, especially by elders, and thoser who can wield them are often sought as curiosities or artists-in-residence to the greater powers among the Camarilla and Sabbat.

Rare disciplines include the ability to work with and subdue the Beast, shapeshift into prehistoric creatures, wield illusions and reorganize reality, suck sustenance out of unusual parts of a mortal, fly as easily as walking, turn aside the spells of blood sorcery, create intense effects with the voice, heal wounds and protect the wielder from assault, chain mortal minds permanently to a vampire, meld with the landscape in order to better protect it, and even more strange and unpredictable powers.

All rare disciplines are Restricted for players; it's possible to get access to these powers, but unlikely without an extremely good backstory reason.

Abombwe	Caiman	Chimerstry	Chinamasqua	Continence	Countermagic

Flight	Melpominee	Mengilai	Mismiña	Obeah	Ocelotl	Praestantia
Flight	Succubism	Tezcatl	Valeren	Visceratika	Xuhuan	Yvate

Legendary Disciplines

Legendary disciplines are so vanishingly rare that they may have only a handful of practitioners on the planet at any given time. Most vampires have never even heard of them, let alone had the opportunity to see them in action, and it can be difficult even for those who have to separate fact from folklore. Most legendary disciplines are possessed by vampires with a vested interest in keeping them as a secret, whether due to persecution or because their use inspires fear and loathing in others..

Legendary disciplines include the ability to transcend the Beast entirely, travel so instantly it nears teleportation, call upon demons for power and favors, curse others, become one with the native spirits of the landscape, transform into a denizen of the deep sea, rip open portals to other dimensions, brave the sun without being burned, meld multiple vampires together into unholy monstrosities, or even resurrect the truly dead.

All legendary disciplines are Closed to new characters.

Ayalal	Bardo	Bhumisparsa	Carrefour	Daimonion	Deimos	Embrocation
Getsumei	Hypnagogia	Kai	Kamen	Kingjan	Maleficia	Mytherceria
Nahdad	Nburu	Nepenthe	Nereos	Nihilistics	Omaxac	Pukamani
Rift	Sakti Pata	Sanguinus	Shihai	Spiritus	Striga	Sublunario
Suikast	Sunnikuse	Temporis	Tenure	Thanatosis	Vitiate	Xinyao

Combination Disciplines

Combination disciplines are highly specialized powers created by using two different disciplines simultaneously, creating a new effect that neither could have achieved alone. Unlike normal disciplines, they are typically only a single power with very specific requirements rather than a set of related powers. They require a long period of time to be designed and developed, and most are created among the members of a specific clan, all of whom can be assumed to use roughly the same disciplines and have similar interests.

Combination disciplines are difficult to learn and even those who have the required disciplines separately are unlikely to learn any. All combination disciplines are Restricted for characters and must be approved by the Admin.

Blood Sorcery

Blood sorcery refers to the magical spells and rituals that vampires are able to learn. Since being undead prevents vampires from using the magics that mortals and other supernatural creatures wield, they have developed their own types of sorceries, all based on harnessing the supernatural power of their vitae to bend the world to their whim. Since blood sorcery works by drawing on the power of a vampire's own blood rather than outside forces, all types of blood sorceries force them to burn blood in order to use their gifts.

Different clans and bloodlines have developed their own different types of blood sorcery, most of which they are extremely unwilling to share with outsiders. A few clans specialize in their own unique form of blood sorcery in lieu of a traditional discipline, and vampires outside of those clans often mistake such magics as simply another kind of discipline that they aren't familiar with.

All blood sorceries are Restricted or Closed for new characters.

Akhu	Anarch Sorcery	Dark Thaumaturgy	Dur-An-Ki	Koldunism	Mortis	Nahuallotl

Necromancy	Ogham	Sadhana	Sielanic Sorcery	Sihr	Thaumaturgy	Vodoun	Wanga

Rituals

Vampires who practice blood sorcery can also cast limited-use spells called rituals, which must be properly prepared ahead of time. They do not all require blood, unlike the usual powers of blood sorcery, but they can only be used with certain materials, under certain circumstances, or for a limited period of time. Not every form of blood sorcery has rituals, and a few traditional disciplines have rituals of their own, although these are rare.

Most rituals are Open to characters, but a few may have other statuses.

Abyss Mysticism	Akhu	Anarchy	Dark Thaumaturgy

Dur-An-Ki	Koldunism	Nahuallotl	Necromancy	Sadhana	Thaumaturgy	Wanga

Merits

Merits represent special talents and qualities that an individual vampire might have, from physical skills to academic knowledge to supernatural talents that are rare in others (or even impossible in mortals). There are several categories of merits, some of which are available to any character of any species and some of which are specific to only some vampires or even only some vampire clans.

Physical Merits	Mental Merits	Social Merits	Supernatural Merits	Vampire Merits