The Gaming Den

I think I saw mention of the idea of getting multiple initiative passes if you had a sufficiently high roll or stat, but I might be imagining things since I can't find it at the moment.

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Walk of Flame
“People running around. Skin on fire. It's beautiful.”

Fire is likely the dividing line between man and beast. And yet while it is undeniable that fire provides light and warmth, protection from the monsters of the darkness and the forging of bricks and steel – that's mostly a facet of technology. Magical fire is a terrifying thing that rages at the limits of control and burns things down to ash. Firestarters in the World of Darkness are of course based largely on Carey, and it is unsurprising therefore that fire magic spends a lot more time spreading panic and a lot less time smelting iron than controlled industrial fires do. The Walk of Flame draws strength from the Dark Reflection. A character with Walk of Flame gains a +2 bonus on Sabotage. This bonus increases to +4 if they have Advanced, and +6 if they have Elder Walk of Flame.

Basic Disciplines

• Fire Walking The character hardens themselves against the flames and no longer burns. This does not protect them from shrapnel propelled by an explosion, but does protect them from any wounds caused by heat itself. Use of this power is entirely reflexive. Fire Walking is counterable and detectable only when the character is actually being protected from fire damage.
• Hand of Flame The character can conjure up flame in their hand, varying it in intensity from a lighter flame raising from an extended finger to a 30 cm inferno in their palm. The fire does not burn the hand it sprouts out of (the waves of heat move away), but the user is otherwise not protected from the fire or fires she starts. Calling, changing the intensity, or extinguishing of the flame is a Simple action that costs nothing. The fire can inflict as much as the character's Logic attribute in fire damage.

Advanced Disciplines

• Fire Starter The character concentrates momentarily and something bursts into flame. Alternately, the character may have a bolt or ball of flame fly from some part of their body to explode at the target. Either way, the flames inflict the character's Logic attribute in damage, and are resolved as a ranged attack targeted with Logic + Rigging or Agility + Combat. Using this is a Simple Action.
• Flames of Panic By spending a power point, the character sends waves of terror into crowds of people. This magic affects every creature except themselves the character can literally see (which means that she can shape its effects by voluntarily closing one eye, for example). The character rolls Charisma + Intimidation or Logic + Rigging, and each affected creature makes a Willpower Resistance Test. Targets are panicked and stampede around irrationally for one round for each net hit of the caster.

Elder Disciplines

• Hell Storm By spending a power point and a Complex Action, the character can fill an area with hellish fire. The flames inflict a base damage equal to the character's Logic attribute, and are resolved as ranged attacks targeted with Logic + Rigging or Charisma + Intmidation. However, the hellstorm cannot be dodged by targets who are more than a meter from the edge of the effect (multiply this maximum distance accordingly for creatures that move especially fast). The area can be tremendously large, affecting any area that can be seen up to a hundred meters per point of Potency in diameter.
• Scorch the Gateway By spending a power point and a Complex Action, the character can enhance a fire magically such that it leaves a gateway from the mortal world to the Dark Reflection (and back) in its wake. By concentrating on the fire the character can attune the resultant portal to one specific creature for each Complex Action spent concentrating (until the character runs out of names or the fire burns out and the way manifests). The character may then make a Logic + Rigging + Potency or Charisma + Intimidation + Potency roll, and all attuned creatures get a bonus die to escape through the gate for each hit.

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Obfuscation
...Now you don't.

Obfuscation is the ability to draw upon one's magic to hide things from view. Obfuscation does not affect cameras or other objective traces of a creature's passing, merely prevents observers (even indirect observers) from noticing what is there. Normally, Obfuscation can only take effect while the target is not being observed. If observation is continuous, the observers will not see any change. Onlookers do not normally have any say in what they see as presented to them by obfuscation any more than they have any choice to not see things that are actually there. Characters who have Auspex powers active or who carefully search the area that the character is in have a chance to perceive through it by making an Intuition + Perception test against the number of hits made to activate the power. Anything a character covered by Obfuscation carries is likewise covered by Obfuscation and anything that the character stops carrying will cease being covered by Obfuscation. An onlooker who notices an object pass into or out of Obfuscation pierces the Obfuscation altogether.

Basic Disciplines

• Hide From Notice While active, the character is not noticed so long as they don't do anything incredibly obvious to give themselves away. Activating Hide From Notice is a Simple Action and requires an Agility + Stealth or Intuition + Survival test.
• Mask of a Thousand Faces While active, those who meet the character will treat them as if they were a different person. The character may choose the appearance (including clothing and carried items) freely, but taking any action that would be impossible for the facade allows onlookers to see through the illusion. So if a character uses the Mask to appear as a person who had no gun and they fired their gun, then people would see them as they really are. Activating Mask of a Thousand Faces is a Simple Action and requires an Agility + Stealth or Charisma + Larceny test.

Advanced Disciplines

• Touch of Shadow By spending a Power Point, an object can continue being covered by Obfuscation after it leaves physical contact with the character. The character makes an Agility + Stealth or Intuition + Larceny test and the Obfuscation remains affecting the object for an hour (time frame increases with additional hits).
• Vanish from the Mind's Eye By spending a power point, the character may activate other powers of Obfuscation while being observed. All onlookers are entitled to a resistance check as if they had been carefully searching the area, but if they fail to notice the discrepancy, their mind will fill in vague details that excuse the character's disapearance.

Elder Disciplines

• Cloak the Gathering A character with Cloak the Gathering can allow others to use their Obfuscation powers, so long as they stay within 20 meters per point of Potency. Characters so cloaked and cloaking can still perceive each other in the same way that an obfuscated character can see themselves.
• Soul Mask A character with Soul Mask can fool magical detection. Making a successful Charisma + Stealth or Intuition + Medicine test, Soul Mask character can appear to feel, think, or be whatever they want others to perceive under magical investigation unless the magical investigator gets more hits activating their power. Changing one's Soul Mask is a Complex action that costs a Power Point, but continuing to have fake thoughts and emotions pass that are consistent with one's false existence requires no action at all.

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-Username17

FrankTrollman wrote:Cloak the Gathering A character with Cloak the Gathering can allow others to use their Obfuscation powers,

Ambiguous pronoun. I assume this is supposed to mean that others get to use the Obfuscation powers of the person using Cloak of the Gathering, but that wasn't the first way I read it.


Is there any general rule allowing a player to ignore some of their hits on a roll, or roll fewer dice than allowed? For example, if I specifically want Touch of Shadow to keep an object Obfuscated for only an hour so that my allies can find it after the villain leaves the room, but I happen to roll 4 hits, am I screwed?

Scanning the SR4 main book, I don't see anything in the part about general dice checks, or threshold checks, about voluntarily reducing the number of dice or hits. If you buy hits, that reduces your expected number of hits (from dice/3 to floor(dice/4)), but that's a fairly restrictive way of doing that.

If we want the ability to reduce hits voluntarily to be explicit, we'll have to add that explicitly.

Manxome wrote:Ambiguous pronoun.

Nothing I can do about that. The 'voice' of the piece uses the plural as the gender neutral pronoun throughout.

Is there any general rule allowing a player to ignore some of their hits on a roll, or roll fewer dice than allowed? For example, if I specifically want Touch of Shadow to keep an object Obfuscated for only an hour so that my allies can find it after the villain leaves the room, but I happen to roll 4 hits, am I screwed?

I suppose it could be made to be standard that you can do something less awesome if you want. Throw a line about that into the skill system writeup:

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Pulling Punches: However many hits a character actually rolls, they can always choose to actually use less than that if for some reason they want to perform an action that is less awesome than they are in fact capable of. A character can not simply choose to attain more hits however (though they may spend Edge if they are a Luminary).

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A thing I am noting is that currently you get raw numeric dicepool bonuses from a lot of disciplines, but that there are still several that don't do anything like that. I mean honestly I don't think it's super important if a player gets no skill or attribute test bonuses for having Advanced Dominate or Advanced Obfuscate, since those disciplines are kind of destabilizing anyway. I'm also more comfortable with characters throwing 16 dice on a Sabotage test than I am with characters throwing 16 dice on an Intimidate test. Maybe that's just me.

-Username17

Firestarters in the World of Darkness are of course based largely on

Carey

Nitpick:
Carrie.
not Carey

FrankTrollman wrote:

Manxome wrote:Ambiguous pronoun.

Nothing I can do about that.

Of course there is; just rearrange the sentence. "A character with Cloak of the Gathering can allow their Obfuscation powers to be used by others." Ambiguity resolved.

Boolean wrote:This isn't really a problem, it just means we need good combat mechanics or disciplines for bodyguarding vulnerable PCs, a large gulf between "down" and "dead" for Luminaries, or easy resurrection.

Isn't there already supposed to be a big gap between down and really dead so that lycanthropy can spread?

What if things that gave bonuses to really generally useful shit only gave a single die per level?

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Presence
Alright everyone! Let's hear it... for me!

Presence is the power to affect others with the otherworldly charisma of the supernatural. Characters with Presence are especially adept at making an impression and getting people to like them, and gain a +1 bonus on all Socialization tests. At Advanced, this bonus increases to +2, and at Elder this bonus increases to +3.

Basic Disciplines

• Awe The character can “turn on the charm” and become the center of (generally positive) attention. This provides a distraction for everyone else in the room who is prepared for it, and provides a decent conversation starter or segue, and makes the character very memorable to everyone around them. Awe can be activated as a Complex Action, and remains active until the end of the scene. The character makes a Charisma + Expression or Charisma + Tactics test to determine how much of an impression they make, and for the remainder of the scene that number of hits can be used as a bonus for any socialization or subterfuge test's dicepool.
• Dread Gaze The character can become extremely frightening and intimidating, inspiring fear and shame in onlookers. Using the Dread Gaze is a Simple Action and it requires a Willpower + Intimidation or Strength + Tactics check opposed by the victim's Willpower or Strength. An affected victim runs away or cowers in terror for at least a number of rounds equal to the net hits. Thereafter, an affected victim is shaken up for the remainder of the scene and suffers a -2 morale penalty on actions.

Advanced Disciplines

• Majesty The character can wrap themselves in the air of authority, making aggression against them or even refusal of their demands almost unthinkable. By spending a Power Point, the character's majestic demeanor takes hold until the end of the scene. The character makes a Charisma + Tactics or Willpower + Intimidation check, and anyone who wishes to summon the nerve to act against them must generate an equal number of hits on a Willpower + Intimidation or Willpower + Survival test. Failure to do so results in a round lost to dithering. The character's orders are also extremely likely to be obeyed, and the hits are added as a bonus dicepool on any Intimidation or Tactics tests to command or demand.
• Summons The character can send a brief telepathic message (no longer than a twitter post) to someone whose name they know so long as that person is in the same world and no more than 10 kilometers away per point of the character's Potency. The target can then send back a brief reply. If the character so chooses, they may also demand the presence of the target by making an opposed Charisma + Bureaucracy or Charisma + Empathy vs. the target's Logic. If successful, the target becomes aware of where the character basically is, and must attempt to figure out how to get there themselves. This compulsion lasts until the next time the sun rises or sets. Issuing a Summons (whether or not the compulsion for a personal appearance is added) costs a Power Point and requires a Complex Action.

Elder Disciplines

• Mind Numb The character can reduce those who hear their words to frothing lunacy. The character spends a Power Point and begins speaking. With an expected time of 10 minutes and a Threshold equal to each potential target's Willpower, a listening victim becomes a raving fanatic, their Willpower reduced to zero until the sun next rises or sets. Mind Numb carries as far as the character's voice does, even over telephones or television broadcasts. Mind Numb uses Charisma + Persuasion or Charisma + Bureaucracy.
• Siren Song The weak willed are drawn to the character like moths to flame. By spending a Power Point, the character can let out a song that instills a compulsion in everyone within a radius up to one kilometer per Potency to come to where the character is. Dangers are ignored, and tasks previously engaged in are abandoned. The character makes a Charisma + Expression or Charisma + Persuasion test, and the threshold to affect any target is its Willpower.

-Username17

For a die, or multiple dice, how big can a supernatural get on some of the dice pools? How does the starting supernatural size compare with the big boys? How mook is a human supposed to be to a starting character? Hell, how many dice difference do you need before you stop worrying about them?

Oh, btw, I'm going to run a version of this on E(lliquiy). Link.

The game will actually start when -this- is done, but right now it looks like it will be getting there soon.

So far, the characters lined up are:

-My Troglodyte (Wendigo) Healer [Survivor of a plane crash on a temperate island, you can figure out how that turns out]. I'll let other party members make "group" decisions, and will not have my character spoil general plot elements, so that should eliminate conflicts of interest. This character is meant to instill a whole shit load of creepy, and since he's a healer, will make sure that the other PCs don't get gackked.

-Koumei is thinking of one of three choices; Daeva (who need a summary/intro/write-up); an Android or a Deep One. I have no idea what role her character will fill. From what I can see in the current write-ups of abilities:
--A Daeva is a potential combat machine and can be a blaster. Also is pretty. This could go several ways.
--An Android is a ... well, it's Gally/Alita, super fast, and a robot, and hawt.
--A deep one... has no abilities written up, so I can only assume the Core disciplines of Auspex; so some kind of Scout, or Seer, or Scryer.
Really, any of the three could pick up features that define them individually. So it's wait and see for now.


-A Children of Aether Mind-controller [Scientist that unwittingly was forced to inject himself with a serum made up of brain matter extracted from the an X-Files "Monster of the Week" episode, the guy with a brain tumor that could control people's minds] the episode "Pusher".

[link has to be copy-pasta'd b/c BBcode doesn't like parenthesis' in url= code]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pusher_(The_X-Files)



Also, Transhumans do not have a well written prelude to what they are; unlike Leviathans, Vampires and Prometheans.

Yes, I'm using the campaign that I posted in this same thread, but by the time the end shows up there (if the game gets there in the next decade or not, PbP games tend to be slow) everyone will have had a fun ride.

Judging__Eagle wrote:--A deep one... has no abilities written up, so I can only assume the Core disciplines of Auspex; so some kind of Scout, or Seer, or Scryer.

My files have the Deep One abilities as follows:

• - Core Discipline: Auspex -
• Aura Perception (Basic Auspex)
• Second Senses (Basic Auspex)
  
  - Basic Disciplines -
• Body Weaponry (Basic Lure of Destruction)
• Patience of the Mountain (Basic Fortitude)
• Command (Basic Dominate)
• Rising Mists (Basic Chasing the Storm)
  
  -Advanced Disciplines -
• Telepathy (Advanced Auspex)
• Conditioning (Advanced Dominate)

It hasn't been updated in-thread since before Protean was removed, but it's a pretty straightforward update.

Edit: And all the powers except Rising Mists and Body Weaponry currently have writeups.

Awesome, thanks.

We'll need to post this all to IMOI once it's done, in order to keep it nice and organized.

How do you like "Inherent" and "Sorcerous" instead of Physical and Sorcerous?

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The Limits of Magic
“She made me into a newt!”

Magic in a told story does not need to have explicit limits defined for it because it has implicit limits of whatever it is that magic happens to do in the story. One can assume that many of the things that magic never did in the narrative were actually outside of its capabilities for one reason or another and that it all worked out somehow. A novel or a movie does not have to tell you that an evil magic car can't turn into a giant robot, the fact that it doesn't is sufficient for the purposes of the medium. However in a role playing game this is absolutely not the case. Since magic is going to be used in creative, goal oriented ways by multiple story contributors (which is a nice way of saying “people are going to push magic as far as it will go into unintended directions in an effort to gain personal advantage”), it is imperative that what magic is specifically capable (and by extension not capable) of doing be codified.

Magic in the aWoD comes in several flavors. The first and most obvious kind is “Inherent Magic.” This is the stuff that supernatural creatures can do just because of what they are. A golem doesn't need to know anything special to be ale to lift and throw a car, it just does it. The fact that it is a golem gives it the inherent magic to have supernaturally powerful strength. All supernatural creatures have some form of inherent magic and they get more of it as time goes on. The next kind of magic to discuss is “Sorcery.” This is a type of magic that is explicitly learned and comes from elsewhere.

Every supernatural type has some inherent magic associated with it. Even though a Transhuman may have been granted all of their power from a mystic ritual that looks suspiciously like Sorcery, once they have attained that status they are able to use many of their abilities without having to remember mystical formulas or speak arcane words. The Invisible Man can fade from view without “doing” anything, and it is this point which makes his signature Invisibility power an inherent rather than sorcerous one. On the other hand, Dr. West is a Khaibit and his signature power to raise the dead requires mystical effort on his part, and that makes it a sorcerous rather than inherent power.

Thematically speaking, sorcery is magical knowledge. Thus, much of it is newly researched an much of it can be discovered from ancient texts. Practically speaking, this doesn't really matter. There is plenty of powerful magic that has been lost and plenty more that has yet to be discovered. Sorcerous magic falls into one of three categories, regardless of whether it is new or old. These are Astral, Infernal, and Orphic. Supernatural creatures have the same power sources, and they are inherently resistant to sorceries with the same power source as themselves (gaining a +3 bonus to any resistance test they are allowed).

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-Username17

Devotions

Devotions are special disciplines that you can only gain access to if you have two other inherent disciplines. They are considered to be an Advanced discipline, but they have the requirement of you having a Basic discipline in two different discipline categories rather than one. A Devotion does not inherently allow a character to progress to any Elder disciplines. At least, it probably doesn't. All devotions are themselves considered to be inherent disciplines.

• Adaptive Resilience (Auspex and Fortitude)
  The character can make themselves highly resistant to a threat that they are exposed to. Whenever the character makes a resistance test against something, they can reactively spend a Power Point and gain 3 extra bonus hits on all further resistance tests against that type of thing (this does not apply to the resistance test that triggers the power in the first place). The adaptive resistance continues to function until it is again activated against a new threat.

• Betrayal of the Tongue (Dominate and Presence)
  An affected target cannot speak lies. They do not have to speak at all, but if they do, the complete truth as they understand it will pour forth from them on any subject they attempt to hold discourse upon. Placing this curse on someone requires a power point an a complex action as well as a Logic + Research or Charisma + Operations vs. Intuition test. If successful, the betrayal lasts one hour, with net hits increasing the time frame.

• Cleanse the Body (Fortitude and Presence)
  The character may spend power points to heal wounds of others. One Complex Action and a Power Point will heal two Nonlethal or one Lethal wound. An aggravated wound takes 10 minutes and 2 Power Points to heal.

-Username17

Transhumans: Point of No Return

“Think before you decide, I tell you! Do you want to be left as you are, or do you want your eyes and your soul to be blasted by a sight that would stagger the devil himself?”

Knowledge and power do not come without a price, especially in the World of Darkness. When one steps upon the path to power it is not long before the realization strikes that the person on that path is not the same person who took the first steps. Sometimes the point of no return is obvious and comes as a flash on insight. At other times it is only in retrospect and solemn reflection that one can see that there's little connection between the humanity of youth and the creature of the present. Transhumans do not have souls in the way that normal people do.

The Reborn: Second Chances and Second Guesses
“Put your helmet on. I wouldn't want to scar your pretty face. Again.”

Reincarnation totally happens in the World of Darkness. Not to everyone, not even to most people. But to some people. For whatever reason, only Luminaries can access past lives, and even then past lives only become accessible when they are exposed to great stress in the presence of magic. Why this happens or what the consequences of this are is a matter of intense debate amongst the supernatural communities.

How many lives a particular Reborn remembers is quite variable. Sometimes it is as few as one, while other Reborn remember snippets of dozens. It is undeniably true that the chances of a particular Reborn running into specific people they knew in a past life (either other Reborn or immortals who happened to be alive back then) are extremely high. Past lovers and rivals both are very likely to be encountered by a Reborn during their new life, leading as many to repeat their old mistakes as to fix their errors.

A Reborn has an Orphic power source and a Lunar power schedule.

• Reborn Starting Disciplines
  
  - Core Discipline: Celerity -
• Quickness (Basic Celerity)
• Nimble Feet (Basic Celerity)
  
  - Basic Disciplines -
• Second Senses (Basic Auspex)
• Summon Spirits (Basic Necromancy)
• Awe (Basic Presence)
• Shadow Play (Basic Obtenebration)
  
  -Advanced Disciplines -
• Quicken Sight (Advanced Celerity)
• Spirit's Touch (Advanced Auspex)

Story Inspiration: She, The Mummy

The Fallen
“There is only one thing worse in the world than to be talked about. And that is to not be talked about.”

Those luminaries whose souls are scoured out to beyond the possibility of recognition by the harsh infernos of Limbo are left ageless shells, they are The Fallen. Sometimes a man can become so by coming into possession of some demonic trinket that slowly or calamitously steals away their existence. But more commonly this is the result of a child being stolen as away into the Dark Reflection by mirror goblins to toil away in the edifices of the dark king. These changelings usually are worked to death, and never see home but sometimes a luminary child will grow hard and strong, and bitter like long steeped tea. And they will someday find way to escape their soot covered prison and return triumphantly to their parents, to be clasped again by loving hands and to walk again amongst mothers and friends. But this is perhaps the cruelest aspect of fairy captivity, for the children so taken are not long sought after for powerful magics are wrought to remove the Fallen from the thoughts of those who care for them. It is an alienating experience for those lucky enough to escape servitude back to the mortal world – while the family they remember like as not still exists, it is rare indeed that this family has any familiarity with them in return.

A Fallen has an Infernal power source and a Ritual power schedule.

• Fallen Starting Disciplines
  
  - Core Discipline: Presence -
• Awe (Basic Presence)
• Dread Gaze (Basic Presence)
  
  - Basic Disciplines -
• Deny the Gauntlet (Basic Progress of Glass)
• Mask of a Thousand Faces (Basic Obfuscaton)
• Patience of the Mountain (Basic Fortitude)
• Learn the Heart's Pain (Basic Names of the Blasphemies)
  
  -Advanced Disciplines -
• Majesty (Advanced Presence)
• Desire Reflection (Obfuscate / Presence Devotion)

Story Inspiration: Portrait of Dorian Gray, She, Rip Van Winkle

The Children of Ether:
“There are things man was not meant to know. It is interesting that we repeatedly seek to know as much about these as possible. ”

Humanity’s greatest survival trait, indeed the one which has ensured our ascent to power, is a willingness to improve upon our environment – the closest environment being our own flesh and bones. The desire to gain greater abilities overwhelms all else sometimes, even personal ethics, self-preservation, and basic sanity. Man is first and foremost a tool using creature, but when he treats himself as a tool, is he still a man?

The Children of Aether are born when a Luminary is subject to the (nominally successful) experiments of scientists and practitioners of medicine to improve the human form beyond what it already has – and usually, this Luminary is both subject and creator of the experiment. They rarely have any familiarity or experience with the supernatural beforehand, and simply stumble through the veil of normality by “accident.” The transformational event bestows efficiency and power on the human form and mind that brings it beyond mortal limitations, including impressive strength and will – at the cost of sanity and self.

A Child of Ether has an Astral power source and a Ritual power schedule.

• Child of Ether Starting Disciplines
  
  - Core Discipline: Obfuscation -
• Hide From Notice (Basic Obfuscation)
• Mask of a Thousand Faces (Basic Obfuscation)
  
  - Basic Disciplines -
• Second Senses (Basic Auspex)
• Nimble Feet (Basic Celerity)
• Vigor (Basic Potence)
• Revive the Flesh (Basic Fortitude)
  
  -Advanced Disciplines -
• Touch of Shadow (Advanced Obfuscation)
• Vanish From the Mind's Eye (Advanced Obfuscation)

Story Inspiration: The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Norman Osbourne

Prometheans: Last of their Kind

Once upon a time, there was ... 'A king!' my little readers will say right away. No, children, you are wrong. Once upon a time there was a piece of wood....

Prometheans are different from the other types of supernaturals because they are not born as a human only to later achieve supernatural powers, but are instead created fully formed and fully grown with their powers already intrinsic to them. A Promethean awakens for the first time already an outcast, already both more and less than a human. Prometheans are almost always rejected by humanity because regardless of how much they try, they are not humans. Every Promethean is not only the first of its kind, it is also the last of its kind, every Promethean creation event is unique and Prometheans tragically find that even other created life is intrinsically distinct from them, different from humanity in ways which likewise reveal a difference that is just as unbridgeable.

Prometheans are capable of being Extras and Luminaries just as normal humans are. In general, a mad scientist's masterwork is a Luminary Promethean (the kind that might be a player character), and a batch of killer robots is probably a bunch of Promethean Spawn. Which means that yes, those Prometheans who actually have peers don't even care because they are just background characters and mooks in their own story.

• Special Note on Terminology: It is important to note that Frankenstein is the name of the creator, and not the the name of the creature. The creature's name was Adam. Similarly, in technical Greek an Android refers only to a male human analog, while a female human analog would be called a Gynoid (seriously). However it is also important to note that most of the people you talk to about this issue don't know this and don't care. Like Jello, Frankenstein is a brand name of such overwhelming market dominance that the stitched corpse creations of other mad scientists are called Frankensteins (rather than calling them gelatin desserts or reanimated homunculi or whatever). Similarly, if you use the word Gynoid in every day conversation people will assume you are talking about some sort of sexually transmitted condition. Honestly, it is better that common terminology is used rather than historically correct terminology in this instance.

Frankensteins: The Creature
“My heart was fashioned to be susceptible of love and sympathy, and when wrenched by misery to vice and hatred, it did not endure the violence of the change without torture such as you cannot even imagine.”

Frankensteins are crafted to be literally new living things. They are essentially people, albeit designed rather than evolved. Unfortunately, the creators of these new creatures almost never take to their assumed role as parent, because the Frankenstein is never truly a baby and never truly a human. Propelled into existence with a grown human's size and facilities, they nonetheless suffer from having missed the opportunities to be juvenile.

Like a man who has been inducted as a child soldier or a woman married at first blood, a Frankenstein's life will always have deeply painful emotional issues. They will always be childlike in some aspects of their existence, even if they live to be hundreds of years old.

A Frankenstein has an Orphic power source and a Ritual power schedule.

• Frankenstein Starting Disciplines
  
  - Core Discipline: Potence -
• Vigor (Basic Potence)
• Feat of Strength (Basic Potence)
  
  - Basic Disciplines -
• Nimble Feet (Basic Celerity)
• Dread Gaze (Basic Presence)
• Patience of the Mountains (Basic Fortitude)
• Supernatural Senses (Basic Auspex)
  
  -Advanced Disciplines -
• Devastation (Intermediate Potence)
• Quicken Sight (Intermediate Celerity)

Story Inspiration: Frankenstein, Pinocchio, Edward Scissorhands, Subject Two, Herbert West: Reanimator

Golems: The Servitor
“Did I request thee, Maker from my clay
To mould Me man? Did I solicit thee
From darkness to promote me?”

Created strong of body and unending in endurance, the Golem is made to do tasks that humans don't want to. Often these jobs are demeaning or dangerous, and it is no surprise that Golems rarely want to do the things that are asked of them. Golems appear crude and ogrish, having been initially created for physical functionality rather than social niceties. Generally a Golem is as capable of making human emotional connections and decisions as anyone, but their distinctly non-human, even non-living appearance makes that difficult.

A Golem has an Astral power source and a Ritual power schedule.

• Golem Starting Disciplines
  
  - Core Discipline: Potence -
• Vigor (Basic Potence)
• Feat of Strength (Basic Potence)
  
  - Basic Disciplines -
• Fire Walking (Basic Walk of Flame)
• Hide From Notice (Basic Obfuscation)
• Patience of the Mountains (Basic Fortitude)
• Summon Spirit (Basic Necromancy)
  
  -Advanced Disciplines -
• Devastation (Advanced Potence)
• Touch of Shadow (Advanced Obfuscation)

Story Inspiration: Rabbi Loew, R.U.R., Short Circuit, Talos

Androids: The Lover
“How fully functional are you?”

Androids are made of hard and constructed material rather than the softness of flesh and they are coldly perfect to behold. Whether man or woman, an android is beautiful beyond what normal humans are capable of. Unfortunately, the metallic perfection of their exterior belies a digital corsity that makes interpersonal relationships unsatisfactory. The emotions of an Android, though strongly felt, are simply too extreme and simple for others to relate to. The love of an Android is as off-putting as the hatred to a normal, nuanced individual. Androids do not, on initial inspection look anything other than human. However there is something distinctly “not right” about them which will creep out any normal human who interacts with them socially for long. They are beyond autistic, their emotions are simply ones and zeros.

Androids can be made of circuitry, gears, or simply polished marble. The key is that at the end of the procedure they are crafted to look more human than a human could possibly be.

An Android has an Infernal power source and a Ritual power schedule.

• Android Starting Disciplines
  
  - Core Discipline: Potence -
• Vigor (Basic Potence)
• Feat of Strength (Basic Potence)
  
  - Basic Disciplines -
• Light of Ennui (Basic Descent of Entropy)
• Awe (Basic Presence)
• Patience of the Mountains (Basic Fortitude)
• Howling Winds (Basic Chasing the Storm)
  
  -Advanced Disciplines -
• Devastation (Advanced Potence)
• Contradiction (Advanced Descent of Entropy)

Story Inspiration: Pygmalion, Metropolis, Weird Science, Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep?

Witchcraft

“It's not all hocus pocus and chicanery. There's also sleight of hand and deceit. And raw sorcerous power.”

The core of sorcery in a horror setting is that it's a series of secrets that an individual learns that gives them great powers and is a really bad idea. When Extras attempt to learn Magic they don't turn into monsters or anything, they just end up as cultists. Think Cthulhu or Bible Black cultists. Better yet, don't. Extras who attempt to learn magic usually end up getting sacrificed one way or another, and it's really no better of a deal than being a Vampire Spawn. But for those lucky few who can master the dark arts without succumbing to the whispers or tentacles of demons, a lifetime of sorcerous power and intrigue awaits.

Using magic is, for a mortal, a harrowing, draining, and indeed life and sanity threatening thing. However, through deliberate study or horrid inspiration a human can manage to change themselves into something that can use magic with relative safety and reliability. Once attuned to sorcery a soul can never be the same, and people who become sorcerers can be wicked difficult to get along with or even understand.

The Baali Tradition
“You will not remember what I show you now, and yet I shall awaken memories of love... and crime... and death... ”

Perhaps the most expedient manner to make one's human soul stop reacting poorly to magic is to set it on fire and be done with it. A Baali is someone who did exactly that. Some sell their soul off to demons, while others burn out their souls quickly or slowly with their own dabbling in dark power.

Baali tend to be emotionally distant and enraged by pictures of themselves (such as reflections, paintings, or photographs). This is probably to do with the fact that their souls are burned out husks or trapped far away in a mysterious hell dimension and reminders of their pasts as humans are infuriating. The thing where they are emotionally stunted is probably much the same.

Baali refresh their powers by hurting people. This is functionally equivalent to vampiric blood drinking, but they don't specifically put any blood into their mouths.

The Baali Witch has an Infernal power source and a Feeding power schedule.

• Baali Starting Disciplines
  - Core Discipline: Dominate -
• Command (Basic Dominate)
• Mesmerism (Basic Dominate)
  
  - Basic Disciplines -
• Aura Perception (Basic Auspex)
• Hand of Flame (Basic Walk of Flame)
• Light of Ennui (Basic Descent of Entropy)
• Learn the Heart's Pain (Basic Names of the Blasphemies)
  
  - Advanced Disciplines -
• Forgetful Mind (Advanced Dominate)
• Fire Starter (Advanced Walk of Flame)

Story Inspiration: The 1932 Mummy, Constantine, Bible Black, Devil's Advocate, Faust

The Verbena Tradition
“You seek for knowledge and wisdom, as I once did; and I ardently hope that the gratification of your wishes may not be a serpent to sting you, as mine has been. ”

You know who doesn't have emotionally crippling experiences when exposed to the horrors of true magic? Plants. A person who replaces their heart with a seed can channel magic through themselves like water goes through roots. Sometimes this is a deliberate process, and other times it is the providence of an evil seed taking control of someone in their sleep. Regardless, once a person's blood runs with sap they are forever more a witch.

Verbena do not dream. Their sweat smells like flowering trees. And they become plantish in their demeanor.

The Verbena Witch has an Astral power source and a Ritual power schedule.

• Verbena Starting Disciplines
  - Core Discipline: Coil of Thorns -
• Bitter Fruit (Basic Coil of Thorns)
• Grass Rope (Basic Coil of Thorns)
  
  - Basic Disciplines -
• Aura Perception (Basic Auspex)
• Rising Mists (Basic Chasing the Storm)
• Enchanted Slumber (Basic Veil of Morpheus)
• Dark Night of the Soul (Basic Trail of Tears)
  
  - Advanced Disciplines -
• Puppetry (Advanced Coil of Thorns)
• Telepathy (Advanced Auspex)

Story Inspiration: The Craft, Kotetsu, Poison Ivy

The Khaibit Tradition
“There are far worse things awaiting man than death.”

Fear of darkness and death leads men to do strange things. Perhaps the strangest of them is to murder one's self and then use sorcery or advanced medical techniques to make one's foray into the land of the dead a temporary one. This does not inherently prevent a person from dying in the future, indeed quite the opposite. Many who gain the intimate secrets of death in this manner are chased by the shadow of doom for the remainder of their existence.

The Khaibit Witch has an Orphic power source and a Ritual power schedule.

• Khaibit Starting Disciplines
  
  - Core Discipline: Necromancy -
• Summon Spirit (Basic Necromancy)
• Compel Spirits (Basic Necromancy)
  
  - Basic Disciplines -
• Aura Perception (Basic Auspex)
• Eyes of Night (Basic Obtenebration)
• Tongue of the Serpent (Basic Lure of Shadows)
• Thaumaturgical Forensics (Basic Path of Blood)
  
  -Advanced Disciplines -
• Solid Darkness (Advanced Obtenebration)
• Reanimate (Advanced Necromancy)

Story Inspiration: Reanimator, Flatliners, Jason and the Argonauts

The Remnants of the Leviathan

Down and deep / dark and dank / below our feet / below they sank
Under waves and / under ground / no light we have / no hope for sound
Beneath us still / sea and mound / remember will / with silence found

Long ago, Tiamat was a great and powerful dragon who ruled over the lands and exercised her rights of ownership with great cruelty. She demanded sacrifices from the frightened people of the soil, and she bore many monsters to expand her kingdom. The oppression of Tiamat did not forever last, for eventually a great champion of the human people arose with powerful magic from the sky to battle her. For days they fought, and ultimately it was Marduk and not Tiamat who was victorious.

But while the great Tiamat was slain, her children walked the Earth and swam the seas still. Each of her children bore children of their own. Many of these were able to pass for human and walk in the world of men, and still many more were monstrous beyond mortal comprehension. The taint in the blood of those who are heirs to the power of Tiamat gradually makes itself known. These new generations, called Leviathan, become less human in countenance and thought as they grow in age and power.

Tiamat's descendants are foul tasting as swamp mire, but they are prized as food regardless because whosoever devours the flesh of a Leviathan gains near immortality. However, the otherworldly and inhuman degeneration which happens to a natural born Leviathan happens twice as fast to those who attain their state by eating the flesh of mermaids.

Those born to Leviathan broods who are not luminaries will if they are lucky never betray their leviathan heritage, appearing for all the world as normal humans (though perhaps with a strange bestial cast to their features). These leviathan kin carry Tiamat's taint, and if they have children of their own they may revert to being full leviathans should they be luminaries themselves. Other children are not so lucky, and many of them are pathetic spawn monsters, often with little or no human intelligence. The mutated visages of humanity’s castoffs make ample fodder for nightmares, and little else.


The Deep Ones: Scions of Dagon
“Those horrible eyes. Unblinking and inhuman, twas like looking at fish more than a man.”

According to legend, Dagon was spawned when Tiamat mated with the Tigris River. He was a powerful and fish-like creature, and his progeny all carry fish traits about their being. Hailing from the oceans, a Deep One gradually becomes scaled and gilled as he ages. His eyes flatten and rarely blink, and the lure of the sea becomes harder to ignore. There are few who can stomach long departures from the coast, for in their mind they can always listen for the strange whispered yet incessant call of the ocean.

Deep Ones can breathe water as easily as air. The strange whispers they hear in their own minds can also be shared with anyone foolish enough to look a Deep One in their strangely opaque eyes.

A Deep One has an Astral power source and a Lunar power schedule.

• Deep One Starting Disciplines
  
  - Core Discipline: Auspex -
• Aura Perception (Basic Auspex)
• Supernatural Senses (Basic Auspex)
  
  - Basic Disciplines -
• Tongue of the Serpent (Basic Lure of Destruction)
• Patience of the Mountain (Basic Fortitude)
• Command (Basic Dominate)
• Rising Mists (Basic Chasing the Storm)
  
  -Advanced Disciplines -
• Telepathy (Advanced Auspex)
• Conditioning (Advanced Dominate)

Story Inspiration: The Shadow Over Innsmouth, The Creature From the Black Lagoon, Mermaid's Scar

The Troglodytes: Progeny of Drakaina
“Thousands of years we have toiled beneath the Earth. We will not stop just because shiftless Eloi tell us we must.”

The ancient tablets speak of Drakaina, Tiamat's heir by the Euphrates. A terrible worm creature living deep in the soil, her descendants carry always her pallor and disdain for the sun. The eyes of a Troglodyte darken until they are naught but obsidian orbs in their pallid sockets. The fingernails of a Troglodyte grow rapidly and hard, and without constant hygiene they form into claws.

Troglodytes see in darkness perfectly and can even read in the total absence of light. However, their blackened eyes are light sensitive, and bright flashes can easily blind a Troglodyte. The sharpened teeth of a Troglodyte seem destined to devour bloody flesh, and indeed that is precisely how they gain Power Points.

A Troglodyte has an Orphic power source and a Feeding power schedule.

• Troglodyte Starting Disciplines
  
  - Core Discipline: Auspex -
• Aura Perception (Basic Auspex)
• Supernatural Senses (Basic Auspex)
  
  - Basic Disciplines -
• Touch of Darkness (Basic Lure of Destruction)
• Vigor (Basic Potence)
• Shadow Play (Basic Obtenebration)
• Hide From Notice (Basic Obfuscation)
  
  -Advanced Disciplines -
• Spirit's Touch (Advanced Auspex)
• Earth Meld (Obfuscation / Potence Devotion)

Story Inspiration: Mole People, Morlocks, The Hills Have Eyes

The Mi Go: The Larvae of Echidna
“There can never be good for the bee which is bad for the hive.”

“Tiamat begat Echidna by the Indus.” That is the beginning of the story that the Mi Go tell of their existence. And it is there that the story becomes confused, because the Mi Go do not know what they are. This isn't some sort of regular existential angst caused by awakening to their supernatural nature, but a genuine question of philosophy and science. Each Mi Go is a telepathic symbiosis of human and insect, and it is entirely reasonable to question which (if either) is the actual person. Even the eldest and wisest of the Mi Go do not have incontrovertible evidence to determine whether they are a human that has insects growing within their body that they can control, or a colony of insects that lives within a man sized puppet host. Perhaps the truth is somewhere in between.

A Mi Go experiences their first years of life from the perspective of being a human child. A human child who sometimes feels painful gnawing sensations within their body as they drift to sleep and as they wake up in the morning – as if they were being devoured from within by maggots. Which in truth, they are. If you were to drill a hole in one of these children, you would find larval insects in writhing clusters throughout their body. It is usually around their human puberty that the insects themselves mature to flying forms and it is a ghastly, painful, and terrifying spectacle when the insects burrow their way out of the awakening Mi Go's body and takes to the sky.

It is at this point that the Mi Go's powers truly become apparent, because during the metamorphosis, the young Mi Go feels not only her own flesh become torn asunder by uncounted scores of tiny mandibles, but also simultaneously see through the eyes of each of the hive's constituent members. From that moment on, “they” are able to see through the eyes of the bugs that grow within the human body and from the eyes of the human body. They do not have a “feeling” of having their thoughts or point of view necessarily within their head, and many of them are convinced that they are solely the hive and have murdered and stolen the memories of the child that they walk around wearing the skin of.

A Mi Go has an Infernal power source and a Lunar power schedule.

• Mi Go Starting Disciplines
  
  - Core Discipline: Swarm Song -
• Small Witness (Basic Swarm Song)
• Body Colony (Basic Swarm Song)
  
  - Basic Disciplines -
• Abyss of the Body (Basic Descent of Entropy)
• Nimble Feet (Basic Celerity)
• Awe (Basic Presence)
• Dark Sight (Basic Auspex)
  
  -Advanced Disciplines -
• Telepathy (Advanced Auspex)
• Magnify the Swarm (Advanced Swarm Song)

Story Inspiration: Vampire Hunter D, Wrath of Khan, Starship Troopers, Whisperer in Darkness

Lycanthropy: Ruled by Rage

A man may live for forty years, and a wolf only seven. But at the end of their lives, which one knows more of the tundra?

The man and the wolf know the same.

Lycanthropy is a disease that passes from lycanthropes to people that are nearly killed at their jaws. All that is necessary to become a lycanthrope is to be bitten, nearly die, and yet survive the ordeal. It's like rabies. Only your heart has to stop at least for a little while.

Once afflicted, a newly created Lycanthrope will find their wounds closing rapidly. The essentially deadly injuries suffered in the initial attack heal without leaving a scar or discoloration to mark their passing. The victim will feel feverish to the touch and chilled in the chest – a condition which will follow them until the end of their days.

Lycanthropic Culture: There really isn't any ancient lycanthrope culture. For the vast majority of time a lycanthrope would come into being only by surviving an attack by another lycanthrope. As such, most lycanthropes came into the world with their creator either defeated or hostile. The vast majority of lycanthropes either learned the ins and outs of their condition on their own or had it explained to them by someone else in the know (usually another supernatural). So it is quite common for lycanthropes to be adapted into the cultures of other supernatural creatures. A werewolf who was taken in by gypsy witches would generally have the same traditions and prejudices as those gypsy witches, not those of whatever werewolf tore into him with its fangs and left him for dead.

An exception to that generalization can be found in small family groups. Lycanthropes often go all crazy with rage and are a severe danger to their families and friends. A loved one pushed nearly to death by the rampages of a wererat is rather likely to spurn the creature which transformed it, running off and ultimately forming a new “culture” of one. However it is not unheard of for such a victim to stay on and create a pack of lycanthropes. These groups tend to avoid contact with humans and supernaturals alike and have strange views.

• Therianthropes? Fuck that noise! It is important to note that the word “lycanthrope” literally comes from Greek words for “wolf” and “form” but that it is an English word which means a human who transforms into a wolf or other beast. Many people will try to get you to use the word “Therianthrope” or “Zoanthrope” because of a misguided attempt to use Greek root words correctly. Those words are however not English, and using them is not “technically correct” it is retarded. The plural of Octopus is “Octopuses” and not “Oktopodes” like it would be if we were speaking Greek, because if you are reading this document the chances are excellent that you are not an ancient Greek.

The Get of Fenris
The better to eat you with, my dear.

Somewhere in the howling wilderness of Scandinavia a “wolf warrior” of the North became darkly fused with a wolf pelt he was wearing while fighting the Huns – an event which places the creation of the Werewolf at approximately 600 CE. Passed from warrior to enemy warrior and conquered victims, the curse spread throughout the lands of Europe and beyond along the warpaths of the Huns and later the Vikings. In later nights, it spread itself throughout the world on the backs of European conquistadors and imperial marines.

Werewolves are instilled with a love of combat and destruction even in their human forms. In their monstrous forms they take the shape of awkwardly toothy man-wolves. Glistening with drool and usually fast covered with speckles of blood, the claws and fangs of a monstrous formed werewolf are a terror.

Werewolves have an Astral power source and a Lunar power schedule.

• Werewolf Starting Disciplines
  
  - Core Discipline: Potence -
• Vigor (Basic Potence)
• Feat of Strength (Basic Potence)
  
  - Basic Disciplines -
• Revive the Flesh (Basic Fortitude)
• Feral Whispers (Basic Animalism)
• Quickness (Basic Celerity)
• Dread Gaze (Basic Presence)
  
  -Advanced Disciplines -
• War Form (Celerity / Potence Devotion)
• The Beckoning (Advanced Animalism)

Story Inspiration: Larry Talbot, Ginger Snaps, Dog Soldiers

The Nezumi: Plague on the world of Men
“Tear him up.”

The most frequently told story of the origins of the plague of the Nezumi is that originally someone turned their back on the teachings of the Buddha and was cursed with reincarnating in a lower form during their own life. If even partially true, this would mean that the plague started no earlier than about 500 BCE. Once afflicted, a Nezumi Lycanthrope begins to twitch their nose like Elizabeth Montgomery and click their tongues nervously.

A Nezumi's animal form is that of a large rat. Nezumi are immune to the effects of diseases, but carry virtually every disease they come into contact with. Unlike other lycanthropes, Nezumi in have no monstrous war form. While Nezumi lack the brutal jaws or rending claws of other lycanthropes, their bites are still often quite deadly because of the pestilence they carry.

A Nezumi has an Infernal power source and a Lunar power schedule.

• Nezumi Starting Disciplines
  
  - Core Discipline: Animalism -
• Beast Form (Basic Animalism)
• Feral Whispers (Basic Animalism)
  
  - Basic Disciplines -
• Abyss of the Body (Basic Descent of Entropy)
• Hide From Notice (Basic Obfuscate)
• Quickness (Basic Celerity)
• Revive the Flesh (Basic Fortitude)
  
  -Advanced Disciplines -
• Vanish From the Mind's Eye (Advanced Obfuscate)
• The Beckoning (Advanced Animalism)

Story Inspiration: Willard, Torment

The Bagheera: The Lady or the Tiger
“You can fool everybody, but landie. Dearie me, you can't fool a cat. They seem to know who's not right.”

The origins of the Bagheera are confused. The legends say that the Bagheera were formed when a Bengali priestess refused to abandon her gods and goddesses when the Mughals took control of the province and banned idolatry, calling upon Shiva for a mighty boon. And yet the legends also say that the Bagheera were formed first by a jaguar warrior pledged to Huitzilopochtli fighting against Cortez, an event which would necessarily push the formation of the line over fifty years back. When consulted on the subject directly, the Stellar Oracles enigmatically state that both stories are true. Regardless, once infected a Bagheera is a creature of Death and finds that her mere presence alarms and angers animals of all types, especially cats.

A Bagheera's War Form is that of great and ghostly cat. Perhaps a tiger, jaguar, or leopard.

A Bagheera has an Orphic power source and a Lunar power schedule.

• Bagheera Starting Disciplines
  
  - Core Discipline: Celerity -
• Quickness (Basic Celerity)
• Nimble Feet (Basic Celerity)
  
  - Basic Disciplines -
• Vigor (Basic Potence)
• Hide From Notice (Basic Obfuscate)
• Touch of Darkness (Basic Lure of Destruction)
• Revive the Flesh (Basic Fortitude)
  
  -Advanced Disciplines -
• War Form (Celerity / Potence Devotion)
• Alacrity (Advanced Celerity)

Story Inspiration: Cat People, The Cat and the Canary

Vampirism

Time is an abyss. Profound as a thousand nights... Centuries come and go... To be unable to grow old is terrible. Death is not the worst... There are things more horrible than death. Can you imagine... Enduring centuries... experiencing each day with the same futile things?

Vampirism is passed from one person to the next voluntarily on the part of the vampire passing on the trait. The vampire drinks the blood of the victim until it is gone and puts some of her own blood into the dying victim's mouth. Vampires drink the blood of the living in order to maintain their existence as the living dead night after night for as tong as the Earth continues to turn.

How you can tell someone is a vampire varies from story to story. And it is this difference between vampires which we are recognizing in this game as the primary marker of bloodlines. WoD has at times attempted to differentiate vampires on other criteria as well (such as how tightly controlled they are by other vampires or how long they can be played as characters before they go crazy), but this has not been overly successful. So we're recognizing a few common, and three variable ways to detect vampires. All vampires are the living dead, so their body temperature is below that of a living human even if they have recently eaten. Also, their blood doesn't move around their body at the behest of a pumping heart, so they have no detectable heart beat and their wounds don't bleed. Beyond that, they can be detectable by a number of means which vary by vampiric “type.” The Nosferatu are hideous, the Daeva are beautiful but have distinct animal traits, and the Ventrue can't leave knots alone.

All vampires drink blood to regain power points. And all vampires can at least potentially live forever. In aWoD, it is this facility with not dying that most effectively defines a vampire. So long as they keep draining life from others, their own unlife need never end. Any vampire can sprout teeth sufficient to pierce the toughest arteries on a victim. A Daeva can produce fangs like a vampire bat, a Ventrue can exude serpent like fangs, and the teeth of a Nosferatu are as ghastly and varied as imagination can allow.

The Nosferatu
That fate which condemns me to wallow in blood has also denied me the joys of the flesh. This face - the infection which poisons our love. This face which earned a mother's fear and loathing, a mask: my first unfeeling scrap of clothing. Pity comes too late, turn around and face your fate, an eternity of this before your eyes!

Nosferatu are social pariahs. Many of them look monstrous, animalistic, or deformed. While others look reasonably human, there is a certain otherworldly air about them which frightens small children. Any human who sees a Nosferatu's face will be instantly convinced that they are dealing with something monstrous. Young women will recoil, priests will present crosses, that kind of thing.

The Nosferatu are considered great information brokers by other supernaturals, and this is not an unreasonable assumption, as Nosferatu can pass unseen in all but the most observant company. Upon transforming into a Nosferatu, a character gains a specific monstrous caste to their appearance. Some are lucky enough to have a face that can pass for a human that simply happens to be forbiddingly cruel looking, while others look like nothing so much as rabid beasts. Whether subtle or complete, the Nosferatu's appearance is morphed by the time they first open their eyes as a vampire. Nosferatu who persist for many nights sometimes find themselves gradually transforming into forms yet more monstrous.

A Nosferatu's feeding maw is unique to themselves. One might protrude a mosquito's proboscis while another might extend a lamprey's wheel of teeth or a leech's beak. There is no guaranty that a newly created Nosferatu will have a method of feeding that is the same or in any way less disgusting than their sire's.

A Nosferatu has an Astral power source and a Feeding power schedule.

• Nosferatu Starting Disciplines
  
  - Core Discipline: Fortitude -
• Patience of the Mountains (Basic Fortitude)
• Revive the Flesh (Basic Fortitude)
  
  - Basic Disciplines -
• Vigor (Basic Potence)
• Feral Whispers (Basic Animalism)
• Blood Bondage (Basic Path of Blood)
• Hide From Notice (Basic Obfuscate)
  
  -Advanced Disciplines -
• Restoration (Advanced Fortitude)
• Indomitably (Advanced Fortitude)

Story Inspiration: Shadow of the Vampire, Nosferatu, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

The Ventrue
“A weapon you don't have in your hand will not kill a snake.”

Ventrue are inherently obsessive. They covet the life they once had, and hold an innate aversion for what they've become. As a result, Ventrues are unable to stand the sight of their own reflections. This gives them an aversion to mirrors of all kinds, including polished metal and still water. Ventrue will often display a strong aversion to certain things which remind them of their human lives, although such aversion is by no means consistent between individuals. Individual Ventrue usually display some other symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder, such as counting, cleaning, and otherwise ritualizing their lives. This obsession is not without its benefits, and Ventrue notice details that might escape others.

A Ventrue must drink blood to maintain its appearance of life. As a Ventrue uses up its reserves of energy, it acquires a progressively more corpselike and sunken appearance, until feeding again restores the blush of life to its cheeks. A Ventrue starved for long enough is forced into a state of torpor and to all outward appearances is a wizened corpse. A Ventrue's bite is venomous, and causes amnesia and mild euphoria.

As they are dead, Ventrue are difficult to kill. With enough blood even terrible injuries can be repaired. Piercing a Ventrue though the heart will drain its blood supply and render it indefinitely incapacitated. Sunlight (and probably any sufficiently strong UV radiation) is harmful to Ventrue, and it renders their powers weak. As creatures drawing powers from Mictlan, their mere presence excites and offends natural animals. Cats hiss and dogs growl at their approach.

Ventrue are capable of turning living humans into Ventrue. This is accomplished by killing the victim via desanguination and then feeding it some of the Ventrue's own blood using their power of Blood Bondage. However, few individuals can survive the process without going completely insane, and none come out unscathed (as evidenced by the neuroticism of all Ventrue). A Ventrue unable to cope with the transformation becomes a violent, mindless creature, driven only by hunger – a Vampire Spawn. Many Ventrue are terribly disappointed when they try to "embrace" loved ones. Some use their powers of Mesmerism to cloud and dominate the minds of humans and other Ventrue, giving them the ability to control their spawn.

A Ventrue has an Orphic power source and a Feeding power schedule.

• Ventrue Starting Disciplines
  
  - Core Discipline: Fortitude -
• Patience of the Mountains (Basic Fortitude)
• Revive the Flesh (Basic Fortitude)
  
  - Basic Disciplines -
• Vigor (Basic Potence)
• Tongue of the Serpent (Basic Lure of Shadows)
• Blood Bondage (Basic Path of Blood)
• Mesmerism (Basic Dominate)
  
  -Advanced Disciplines -
• Restoration (Advanced Fortitude)
• Indomitably (Advanced Fortitude)

Story Inspiration: Lair of the White Worm, Dracula, Ultraviolet

The Daeva
“It turns out that humans in general are a superstitious and cowardly lot. How marvelous.”

So thoroughly has the American vampire integrated itself into vampire lore that it is difficult for us to remember that before contact was established between the New World and the Old, that the bat vampire was a being only of the Americas. The Daeva were called Onaqui and Tlahuelpuchi by the Nahuatl speakers of Central America, but seemingly before 1492 not a single one of them set foot in Africa or Eurasia. And yet, in the most recent centuries they have spread throughout the world, and transformed Luminaries of every skin tone into more of themselves.

Daeva are vampires with an affinity for bats and fire. While the European name for the bloodline has long ago been claimed as Daeva by those within, they are named as demons in whispered tones by mortals and supernaturals alike. The Daeva do not burn, and small bat wings protrude from their backs. Some of them have spots like a jaguar on their back. A Daeva's distinguishing features can often be relatively easy to hide. Wearing a backpack covers wings quite nicely. However, once discovered a Daeva's animalistic, even demonic traits are difficult to explain away as anything short of an extreme breach of the masquerade.

The eldest of the Daeva represented much of the power behind The False Face when it considered itself a covenant, before the war with the Sabbat. Tonight, Daeva are members of every Covenant.

A Daeva has an Infernal power source and a Feeding power schedule.

• Daeva Starting Disciplines
  
  - Core Discipline: Fortitude -
• Patience of the Mountains (Basic Fortitude)
• Revive the Flesh (Basic Fortitude)
  
  - Basic Disciplines -
• Vigor (Basic Potence)
• Fire Walking (Basic Walk of Flame)
• Blood Bondage (Basic Path of Blood)
• Awe (Basic Presence)
  
  -Advanced Disciplines -
• Restoration (Intermediate Fortitude)
• Flight (Potence / Presence Devotion)

Story Inspiration: Lost Boys, Dark Stalkers, Underworld

FrankTrollman wrote:What if things that gave bonuses to really generally useful shit only gave a single die per level?

What do you define as "really generally useful shit"? I'm assuming that you're referring to Disciplines that augment a character's combat abilities (Celerity, Dominate, Fortitude) as opposed to ones that are more utilitarian (Auspex, Obfuscation)?

Also: if Auspex and Obfuscation are going to serve as "counters" to each other in much the same way as they did in the oWoD, shouldn't characters with the Obfuscate Discipline be gaining bonuses to their Stealth skills that are proportional to the Perception Bonuses that characters with Auspex gain as they advance in their discipline? I may be mistaken, but it seems that characters with a high Auspex wouldn't have a problem punching through high-level Obfuscate effects as the rules currently stand. Am I mistaken? If not, is this intentional?

What do you define as "really generally useful shit"?

Things that are more than a singe test type. So Potence makes you stronger, while Fortitude gives you a bonus to physical resistance. So Fortitude's bonus is twice as big.

I may be mistaken, but it seems that characters with a high Auspex wouldn't have a problem punching through high-level Obfuscate effects as the rules currently stand. Am I mistaken? If not, is this intentional?

Yeah. Seeing through magi stealth has an advantage over magical stealth. Although people who invest heavily in magi stealth may well tweak their skills and stats more towards making it work, so the advantage is probably not as much as it looks like. Skill based systems in general favor the acting character in skill vs. skill interactions. But in general, if one player turns on invisibility and the other player turns on see through invisibility, that's not a victory for the Auspex character if the succeeds - that's a tie. So I don't have a problem giving the edge to the Auspex character.

Anyway, Ghosts:

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Ghosts

“What we have here is what we call a non-repeating phantasm.”

The most numerous of supernatural creatures is the Ghost. One of them is generally created every time someone dies, there are over six billion people, and the number of deaths is one per person.

Every Ghost has tremendous difficulty interacting with the material world. Not only do the all have Empty Body, but even though they can be touched by silver or by anything in the daylight, they have a Strength of Zero. Without spending power points on Vigor (a discipline not even all of them have), they have no ability to move physical objects. This penalty goes away if they are in the Deep Gloom, where they have a Strength sore equal to their Willpower.

Because of their extreme difficulty in interacting with things, Ghosts often make rather limited actors in a story, and are thus ill suited to be main characters.

Wisps
“Oooh....”

Wisps are little shadows or colored glows that flit about and scarcely remember that they used to be humans. Individual Wisps are everywhere, and usually fairly inconsequential. Some Wisps make their way to the material world and scare people or try to interact with the world, it's a pretty frustrating experience because they can't actually touch anything.

Wisps primarily interact with an aWoD chronicle by being utilized by necromancers as spies. Even without being compelled into service, Wisps are often quite willing to be helpful to physical beings that can interact with them. Wisps have a Strength score of zero if they are outside the Deep Gloom.

A Wisp has an Orphic power source and a Lunar power schedule.

• Wisp Starting Disciplines
  
  - Basic Disciplines -
• Aura Perception (Basic Auspex)
• Patience of the Mountains (Basic Fortitude)
  
  -Advanced Disciplines -
• Empty Body (Auspex / Fortitude Devotion)

Story Inspiration: All the spooky background ghostly stuff in movies like Sleepy Hollow.

Wraiths
“You know, the best way to get rid of ghosts is to clean house.”

Wraiths appear as they did in life save with photographic filters applied to make them look washed out and see through. Each Wraith is a specific person that died, and they tend to have goals that tie into their time while alive or the circumstances of their death. A Wraith that accomplishes its driving goal often dissolves into a Nirvanaish happy ending. But sometimes a Luminary Wraith will simply go on and make an unlife for themselves in supernatural society.

Like all Ghosts, a Wraith has a Strength score of zero while outside the Deep Gloom. Each Wraith has a number of things that tie them to the real world called “fetters.” These can be favored objects, their own corpse, or loved ones. In order to regain Power Points they have to be within a few meters of one of their fetters. If a Wrath loses track of their fetters, they cannot regain Power Points and are doomed to slowly fade away. If a Wraith attains its primary goal and persists afterwards, this restriction is lifted.

Some Luminary Wraiths come into being with a lot of extra disciplines, putting them on close to the same footing as a normal player character. Some people might even be tempted to run Wraith chronicles, but that's really very difficult role playing.

A Wraith has an Orphic power source and a Ritual power schedule.

• Wraith Starting Disciplines
  
  - Basic Disciplines -
• Aura Perception (Basic Auspex)
• Patience of the Mountains (Basic Fortitude)
• Vigor (Basic Potence)
  
  -Advanced Disciplines -
• Empty Body (Auspex / Fortitude Devotion)

Story Inspiration: Ghost, Stir of Echoes, Sixth Sense, most ghost stories honestly.

Poltergeists
“They're here...”

Poltergeists are accumulations of untold numbers of wisps that have lost their individuality and become spiritual storms. Ruled by rage and quite destructive, Poltergeists can't even speak save to wail and scream. Sometimes they are tied to a location, sometimes they travel around Mictlan like thunderheads. In either case, they usually have some relation to a specific atrocity or another, and will calm down and disperse if someone can figure out how to appease them despite their inarticulate destruction.

Like all Ghosts, a Poltergeist has a Strength of zero unless they are in the Deep Gloom. They also have a Charisma and Logic of zero. They have no specific limits for other attributes, larger storms have more Willpower...

A Poltergeist has an Orphic power source and a Lunar power schedule.

• Poltergeist Starting Disciplines
  
  - Core Discipline: Potence -
• Vigor (Basic Potence)
• Feat of Strength (Basic Potence)
  
  - Basic Disciplines -
• Aura Perception (Basic Auspex)
• Patience of the Mountains (Basic Fortitude)
  
  -Advanced Disciplines -
• Empty Body (Auspex / Fortitude Devotion)
• Telekinesis (Auspex / Potence Devotion)
• Devastation (Advanced Potence)

Story Inspiration: Poltergeist, It

Slight problem...

FrankTrollman wrote:

• Adaptive Resilience (Auspex and Fortitude)
  The character can make themselves highly resistant to a threat that they are exposed to. Whenever the character makes a resistance test against something, they can reactively spend a Power Point and gain 3 extra bonus hits on all further resistance tests against that type of thing (this does not apply to the resistance test that triggers the power in the first place). The adaptive resistance continues to function until it is again activated against a new threat.

FrankTrollman wrote:

• Empty Body (Auspex / Fortitude Devotion)

Doesn't breaking symmetry by having two Auspex/Fortitude Devotions cause conceptual space problems? or at least look fairly inconvenient?

It looks like Celerity/Fortitude is free, which might fit Adaptive Resilience just as well.

Yeah sorry about that, I had in fact swapped Adaptive Resilience over to Cel/Fort to make room for Empty Body to define Ghostliness.

The current list is:

• Adaptive Resilience (Celerity and Fortitude)
  Betrayal of the Tongue (Dominate and Presence)
  Chimerstry (Auspex and Dominate)
  Cleanse the Body (Fortitude and Presence)
  Desire Reflection (Obfuscate and Presence)
  Empty Body (Auspex and Fortitude)
  Façade of Nonchalance (Dominate and Obfuscate)
  The Familiar Stranger (Celerity and Obfuscate)
  Flesh of Marble (Fortitude and Potence)
  Flight (Potence and Presence)
  Purify the Mind (Dominate and Fortitude)
  Steal Senses (Auspex and Obfuscate)
  Telekinesis (Auspex and Potence)
  War Form (Potence and Celerity)

That means that there are seven unaccounted for:

• Aus/Cel
• Aus/Pres
• Cel/Dom
• Cel/Pres
• Dom/Pot
• Fort/Obf
• Obf/Pot

So if anyone has any Devotions that they want to see used, now is the time to speak up. You might also want to think about who is getting them. Fort/Obf and Obf/Pot are both available to Nosferatu and hildren of Aether right out of the box, for example.

-Username17