Contents |
General Powers • Common Disciplines • Special Disciplines • Combination Disciplines • Blood Sorcery • Rituals • Merits |
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 |
Special Disciplines
Special disciplines are much less usual than common ones; the average vampire does not know any, and in some areas they may never even have witnessed such powers in use, let alone know anything about how they work. Most special disciplines are used only by specific clans or bloodlines who are created with an inborn knowledge of them, and while some of them can be taught to other vampires, learning them requires not only intensive study but also drinking the blood of a vampire skilled in them, bringing with it the dangers of a blood bond. Even with these restrictions, many vampires who practice special disciplines are hesitant to teach them to others, jealously guarding their secrets.
A few rare disciplines are learned only through study, and only by those who are well-versed in certain philosophies; these are inborn in no vampires, and as a result are even rarer than the others.
All special disciplines are either Restricted or Closed for new characters.
Abombwe | Alchemy | Ayalal | Bardo | Bhumisparsa | Caiman | Carrefour |
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 |