Run Vampire as D&D with Fangs

So, alas, one of the hosts of Saving the Game recently ended his Vampire chronicle because it was just too hard to figure out what the vampires were supposed to be doing from night to night. They didn’t want to scheme and backstab against each other, and he felt like there wasn’t a lot that was clearly left to do.

It made me wonder how much of the fun I had playing Vampire has to do with the way I learned to play, and the way that I then taught others to play. PCs backstabbing other PCs was actually pretty rare, though we certainly had plenty of conflict and disagreement. But I think that the pattern for ‘adventures’ may not be as clear, RAW, in Vampire as it is in D&D. D&D also has a lot more cultural baggage as a game that is played a certain way, which helps.

I know this has been said before, but if you too are stuck as to how to run a Vampire chronicle, you can run Vampire as if it was D&D, but with fangs. Make sure you change the flavor and dressing of the game to be Gothy and dark and urban, but a Vampire chronicle can essentially be a re-skin of a D&D campaign.

Coterie = Adventuring Party

A coterie in VtM is a group of Vampires who work together. This is one of the most obvious, and one of the clearest nods to traditional games like D&D that Vampire the Masquerade makes. All of the flavor is about how vampires never work together, but RPGs are played by groups of people working together, so coteries exist in the World of Darkness. Solitary, paranoid predators gather together in diverse groups to accomplish tasks, sometimes against their will and often against their best interests.

Scheming Elders = Quest Givers

If you are wondering how to assemble a new coterie, it can be simple – all of them are summoned by a powerful elder. The powerful elder demands that they accomplish some task for her, and they have to do so because they are new and of lower status than the elder – none of them can afford to refuse. It needs even less justification than a D&D quest – there is no reason to necessarily expect they’ll be paid or rewarded. The pay, the reward, is their continued existence.

Status and Territory = Treasure

Make it clear from the start that none of the PCs will get anywhere, or gain anything, unless someone else in vampire society loses. There is no available territory of value. There are no open positions in Elysium. Everything is taken, and has been taken for a hundred years. There are no franchises; there are no resources that a vampire would value that don’t already have vampires there with their fangs dug in.

Money doesn’t mean much to a vampire – it is easy to come by cash, and with Disciplines relatively easy to steal what you need from night to night. Status and territory, however, are things that one cannot gain unless they are given by, or taken from, other vampires higher up in the hierarchy (assuming a default Camarilla game). So in the same way that D&D characters go on dangerous adventures to gain gold and treasure they couldn’t get otherwise, Vampire characters take on dangerous tasks in the hope of earning status and territory that they couldn’t gain otherwise. It’s easy to create this pressure – shit rolls downhill, so status is desirable, and territory makes hunting each night easier. Of course, once you are given territory, you are responsible for maintaining it and solving problems within it – look, more adventures.

Night Clubs and Post-Industrial Ruins = Dungeons

Just as is the case with dungeons in D&D, you don’t have to draw out every detail of every adventure location, but it can be fun to do so. You can simply find a floor plan of a modern building, and then populate it with mysteries and traps and monsters the way you might populate a dungeon. Only in this case, the traps might be motion-activated cameras and the monsters can be hunters or Sabbat members inhabiting the building.

For more mysterious locations like tunnels dug out beneath crypts or abandoned subway stations, your design can be much more like a dungeon, with the PCs never seeing beyond the reach of their flashlights (or Discipline-enhanced eyes). For example: word is that there is some kind of warren dug out beneath an abandoned subway station. An elder sends the PCs into investigate. Is it a hidden brood of illegitimate Nosferatu? A Sabbat hideout? An Anarch gathering-place? Or is some other monster of the World of Darkness down there? Voila – dungeon-crawl.

Sabbat, Anarchs, Hunters and Werewolves = Monsters

When in doubt, have someone kick in the door and start a fight. This is true in many stories, and most games, and true for Vampire chronicles as well. Vampires are hunters, but they are also hunted. Camarilla members are hunted by Sabbat. Anarchs are hunted by Camarilla and Sabbat. All vampires are hunted by werewolves. Vampires and werewolves are both hunted by mortal monster-hunters. And so on. There are worse things out there in the night that go bump harder than the PCs do. Elders may be willing to kill the characters with boredom, or frustration, or betrayal, but there are plenty of things that want to kill them with fire. In large groups, regular people can be terrifying to Vampires. What if there is a Masquerade breach? Then the National Guard is called in. Now martial law is declared. Now religious fanatics descend on the city to hold fiery revivals. Things can get bad quickly, and hunters can easily become hunted.

Maintaining the Masquerade = Saving the World

The grand plotline behind a lot of D&D campaigns is saving the world, and a lot of the campaign is about growing in power through leveling and magic items to the point where the characters are up to that monumental task. Vampires are generally not concerned with saving the world, but most of them are very much concerned with saving their own skins. That means that the Masquerade must be maintained. (Even Sabbat and Anarchs have to tacitly acknowledge this necessity, or else they get wiped out by werewolves, hunters, and ultimately a panicked populace).

I like making the Masquerade into a doomsday clock that is visible to the characters and has an impact on their un-lives. The more the Masquerade is eroded, the worse things get, moving from suspicion to hunters arriving to riots to martial law. It should be clear that this is not just an arbitrary rule imposed on them from above (as so many rules are), but a matter of their survival as well. And as the most vulnerable and exposed of vampires, the PCs will be the ones hit first and hardest by any consequences.

Social Encounters = Combat Encounters

As much as possible, social encounters in Vampire should be about initiative, and attacking and defending, and high stakes. Ideally, PCs should do all they can to avoid elders in Elysium, and even avoid any notice being taken of them at all. There should be a sense of “roll initiative” before any significant social encounter with other vampires. You are surrounded by monsters, after all, and for much of a Vampire chronicle, all of the monsters you see around  you from night to night are significantly more dangerous than you are. And they all want something from you, even if it is just your fear and deference.

Sabbat = Murder Hobos

All of the above has assumed a default Camarilla game, which is what Vampire the Masquerade assumes for the most part. Some will want to run a Sabbat game, however, and if anything that is even easier than the above. Basically, you can run a Sabbat game like D&D with Fangs, only all of the PCs are assumed to be murder hobos. Often these chronicals make their way own a death-spiral as consequences pile up behind the PCs, but murder hobo D&D games often go the same way.

This Is A Shallow Dive…

Is there FAR more to the World of Darkness, and far more potential in a Vampire chronicle than what I describe above? Of course! But this is an easy starting point for people experiencing some version of the blank-page response when trying to start up a Vampire game, and most of the Vampire chronicles I have run could be easily described as D&D campaigns with some serial numbers filed off. Really, the way I run Vampire has influenced how I run D&D (with plenty of sandbox time and social interaction), and the way I run D&D has influenced how I run Vampire, and I think that’s a good thing. If nothing else, running Vampire the Masquerade as D&D with fangs is a good start.

Mage the Ascension: PbtA Hack

This is not by any means a fully-formed idea, but it’s one that I kind of like. In a way, it’s interesting to  take a push-button mechanic like the core mechanic of PbtA and apply it to an open-ended, flexible game like Mage the Ascension. What buttons do you include? What must those buttons do? 

Design Goals

I want to focus on the flexible but costly nature of Awakened magic. I see mundane things being handled through conversation more often than rolls, to keep the focus on magic. There needs to be a harm mechanic and a Paradox clock – let’s say you are at -1 per harm taken. A certain points on the Paradox clock, the ST makes a Paradox move. As with my Fate hack, I’ll boil the Spheres down to seven: Correspondence, Forces, Life, Matter, Mind, Spirit, Time (eats Entropy). Prime can be cut because it is mostly concerned with meta-magic. Each Tradition is its own playbook. This is a work in progress. 

Character Creation

Distribute 3 +1s between the seven Spheres. You have -1 in any Sphere without a bonus. Circle one and describe your Avatar (Dynamic, Entropic, Pattern, Primordial). Choose your true Nature. Describe your Sanctum. Circle an advantage (things like a Node maybe). I can see different playbooks having different things to circle or choose – acolytes, thin places, cool gadgets, turf, etc. 

General Mage Moves

When a Mage does something mundane but dangerous or costly, roll +0.

• On a 10+, it goes as well as it could.
• On a 7-9, you succeed but there is an unexpected cost or problem – choose one of the following: 
  • You lose or damage something of value – the ST will tell you what
  • The cost was more than you expected – the ST will tell you what the additional cost is, including a favor or a debt owed forward
  • You succeed, but someone else pays the price. The ST will tell you who
• On a 6-, the ST can make a move. Any resources you used in the attempt are damaged or lost.

When you use your magic to shape reality, describe your rote or procedure and roll +Sphere. The ST will tell you which Sphere applies if there is any question.

• 10+ and you get what you wanted.
• 7-9 and pick one mishap, otherwise you get what you wanted.
• 6- pick three mishaps, otherwise you get some version of what you wanted. Or, you can flinch, distance yourself from your Avatar, and cancel the effect. You take -1 forward to magical effects you attempt, but the effect fails without other consequences. (With a 7-9 you can always mark Paradox to avoid other mishaps.)
  • Mark Paradox
  • The effect is not under your control
  • You draw unwanted attention
  • There are unintended consequences (ST move)

When you use your magic to inflict harm, describe your rote or procedure and roll +Sphere. The kind of harm will depend on the Sphere used, but harm is harm.

• On a 10+, you inflict 1 harm in the way you intended, and have +1 forward to inflict further harm.
• On a 7-9, you inflict harm but must mark one mishap from the Sphere move.
• On a 6-, you inflict harm and also take harm in return.

When you use your magic to defend yourself against magic, roll +Sphere using the Sphere against which you are defending.

• On a 10+, you stop the magical effect from affecting you and can choose one:
  • You turn it back on the attacker, or
  • You can protect a group, or an area, from the effect
• On a 7-9, you stop the magical effect from affecting you
• On a 6-, you are vulnerable to the effect (the ST makes a move)

When you improvise magic to defend yourself against magic, roll +Sphere using any Sphere, describing how you use that Sphere creatively (use Correspondence to defend against Time for example). 

• On a 10+, you stop the magical effect from affecting you
• On a 7-9, you stop the effect from affecting you, but there is a cost. Choose one: 
  • You take -1 to Sphere moves going forward
  • The effect strikes a nearby ally or innocent bystander – the ST will choose who
  • You lose access to that Sphere until you have time to rest and meditate
• On a 6-, the effect hits you full force

When you improvise magic to affect reality, describe the improvisation and roll +Sphere. 

• On a 10+, you get the effect you wanted, but pick one: 
  • The ST tells you one strange side-effect
  • The magic affects one additional object or person of the ST’s choice
• On a 7-9, the magic affects the wrong person or object – the ST will tell you who, or what
• On a 6-, the ST makes a Paradox move

When you meditate at a Node, roll +0, or +1 if it is a Node where you are expressly welcome, or +2 at your own Node.

• On a 10+, you are suffused with Quintessence and take a +1 forward on Sphere moves.
• On a 7-9, you are suffused with Quintessence and take +1 forward on Sphere moves, but the Node is depleted and no one can draw from it until it regenerates.
• On a 6-, the Node is depleted and must regenerate.

When you use your magical perceptions, choose a Sphere in which you have at least a +1. The ST will describe what you perceive through that Sphere.

• All: you can sense the residue of powerful magic enacted recently – the more powerful the effect, the longer its residue lasts
• Correspondence: you exact physical location; precise distances from one object to another; the presence of a portal to another location
• Forces: ambient mundane energies (electromagnetism, heat, etc.); see using another spectrum (ultraviolet)
• Life: the health and general condition of living things nearby, your own health and condition in detail, 
• Matter: material composition of nearby objects; properties of unknown substances; potential or chemical energy stored in an object or substance
• Mind: whether there are nearby minds; whether someone is awake or asleep or in a coma; basic emotional state of those around you
• Spirit: thickness of the local Gauntlet; nearby ghosts or spirits; whether a nearby creature has a soul (i.e., could reveal an android)
• Time: exact time (including the ability to set an internal alarm); any nearby disturbances in time

When you use mundane means to escape danger, roll +0.

• On a 10+, you escape! Describe how. Also, choose one:
  • Your attacker leaves you alone for now, or
  • You can help your allies escape too
• On a 7-9, you escape, but your attacker has not given up.
• On a 6-, the ST makes a move.

Tradition Moves

I decided that each Tradition should have at least one signature move. These are what I came up with:

When an Akashic fights mundane people with her hands, roll +1.

• On a 10+, she defeats even a large number of mundane people she’s fighting in flashy fashion. The player describes how she prevails.
• On a 7-9, she defeats even a large number of mundane people, but takes harm in return.
• On a 6-, she got herself in over her head. She takes harm and things escalate – the ST says how.

When a Cultist of Ecstacy seeks insight in a trance, roll +1

• On a 10+, she can ask the ST up to three questions about herself.
• On a 7-9, she can ask the ST one question about herself.
• On a 6-, she gets a glimpse of a hard move the ST is going to make.

When a Dreamspeaker is solving a problem in her home territory, roll +1.

• On a 10+, her knowledge of her land enables her to solve the problem.
• On a 7-9, her knowledge of her land enables her to solve the problem, but the cost in time or materials is greater than she expected.
• On a 6-, she has revealed a problem she didn’t know about before, or a problem she knew about is worse than she thought.

When an Etherite uses technology in an unusual way, roll +1.

• On a 10+, the technology works just as the Etherite wanted.
• On a 7-9, the technology works but there is an unintended complication. The ST will say what it is, or you can offer a suggestion.
• On a 6-, the technology doesn’t work as intended, and there is a complication on top of that (the ST makes a move).

When an Euthanatos kills a mundane person, roll +1.

• On a 10+, you kill the person exactly as you planned and get away with it.
• On a 7-9, you kill the person, but draw the attention of either mundane authorities or a supernatural creature.
• On a 6-, you kill the person but the ST can make a hard move.

When a Hermetic speaks lore, roll +1.

• On a 10+, the lore you speak is true and helpful.
• On a 7-9, the lore you speak provides a helpful hint for the situation at hand.
• On a 6-, the lore you speak reveals a new problem.

When a Hollow One tries to make a connection on the street, roll +1.

• On a 10+, she finds just the person or information she needs.
• On a 7-9, she finds the person or information she needs, but there is a cost. The ST will say what it is.
• On a 6-, she’s made someone angry, or drawn unwanted attention, and didn’t find what she wanted. Or, she found what she wanted, but it’s much worse than she thought.

When a Verbena uses natural medicine, roll +1.

• On a 10+, she is able to heal using mundane means.
• On a 7-9, she understands what is wrong, but it will require awakened magic.
• On a 6-, it is much worse than she thought – the ST will say how bad.

When a Virtual Adept is solving a problem using a digital device, roll +1. 

• On a 10+, it functions exactly as the Adept needed it to.
• On a 7-9, the device functions as the Adept hoped, but she has pushed her luck and used up resources or drawn unwanted attention.
• On a 6-, she draws unwanted attention and the device fails.

ST and Paradox Moves

Your Avatar is displeased, or detached, or distant. -1 ongoing to all magic. You are plunged into Quiet. You have drawn the attention of the Technocracy. You have drawn the attention of the Nephandi. You have drawn the attention of a Marauder. You have drawn the attention of mortal authorities. Echoes of your magical effect follow you, causing problems. You are marked by your magic in a way that is visible to everyone who meets you. There is lingering harm that will fall on you (or someone near you or connected to you) the next time you try to use magic. You are cursed and everyday things will go wrong in embarrassing ways. 

Mark XP

When you get a 6- result; if your relationship with your Avatar deepened; if you expressed your true Nature; if you learned something new and amazing about the world; if your life was in danger. Every time you get nine xp you advance.

Advancement

Increase one Sphere bonus by one; or circle a new advantage; or reset your Paradox clock to zero; or mark a new option on your playbook. Will there be enough moves to warrant choosing a new move at advancement? Not sure.

Well, there it is. That’s what I have for Mage the Ascension, Powered by the Apocalypse.

 

I Published A Thing: Charts of Darkness for Vampire

I published a thing!

You can click the cover image, or this link. If you play Vampire: the Masquerade, 1st Edition through V20, this is a fantastic resource, and you can pay what you want.

Fate Core Vampire 5: Mechanics

For my other Fate Core Vampire posts…

Mechanics

This is, obviously, a catch-all for things I haven’t covered yet but which come up in game. As always, I’m trying to strike a balance between Fate Core mechanics and Vampire the Masquerade themes and “feel” for lack of a better word.

Advancement

At the end of each session, PCs can either add or change an Aspect or swap the position of two adjacent Skills on their pyramid. PCs cannot change a high concept Aspect without GM approval.

When an Issue is resolved in the story, that marks a minor Milestone. At each minor Milestone, every PC gains a bonus Skill at +1. If they already have the maximum number of Skills at +1, they can move one Skill from +1 to +2, and on upward as appropriate. After 5 minor Milestones, this will result in a Skill being raised from +4 to +5.

Blood Bonds

To be blood bound to someone is to lose a part of one’s self and be subsumed by one’s domitor. If you are blood bound, erase one of your Aspects (besides your high concept or clan flaw Aspect) and replace it with “Bound to X” with your domitor’s name. This Aspect counts as a consequence that your domitor can tag at will without spending a Fate point, but otherwise functions as any other Aspect – mostly for compels of course.

If you ever break the blood bond, you can replace it with a new Aspect.

Fighting

Because vampires are vampires, they can normally defend against bullets with either Athletics or Physique.

Aggravated damage is a possible moderate or severe physical consequence. Vampires cannot use Physique to defend against damage from Protean claws, fangs, fire and sunlight. Fire and sunlight deal double damage to vampires, causing as much mental stress as physical stress.

In order to bite in close combat, a vampire must first grapple her prey with Physique. She then bites with Fight, and her fangs do +1 damage

Frenzy

A vampire can always choose to frenzy rather than take a mental consequence – a brief frenzy in place of a minor consequence up to a severe frenzy to avoid a severe consequence. While frenzying, the GM can compel the character without offering a Fate point, but the player still has to spend a Fate point to resist the compel. There are still the three types of frenzy – fear, hunger and rage – which will color the kinds of compels the GM can offer.

When you frenzy, clear all physical stress. During the frenzy, you also have armor 1 and your melee attacks deal 1 additional damage.

During your frenzy, if you drink blood this can still let you ‘treat’ a hunger-related consequence.

When a character is ‘taken out’ with mental stress, she frenzies against her will. Obviously, this frenzy will always be a severe one. This is why “riding the wave” can be preferable to some vampires, especially if they are less concerned with doing horrible things.

After a session in which you frenzied, you might want to change an Aspect to reflect what happened, or reduce your Empathy or Will and raise another Skill in its place.

Hunting

As described previously, my current system for hunting calls on the players to make two Skill rolls in order to be successful. If they succeed with a cost or concession, it is often related to breaking the Masquerade or possibly encountering danger or a rival. Often, the first Skill roll has to do with finding their prey (Empathy, Notice, Streetwise) and the second has to do with how they get them to do what they want (Charisma, Fight, Manipulation, Resources, etc.)

Each night they wake up “Hungry” and must hunt against an obstacle of +2 to treat that minor consequence. If they are already Hungry and wake up the next night, the hunger becomes a moderate consequence, and they must hunt against an obstacle of +4. If their hunger becomes severe, the obstacle becomes a +6, and they are almost certain to kill someone, because if you kill someone and drain all of their blood, that is one surefire way to clear all hunger consequences.

Kindred Society

Any given Elysium will have at least a couple of Aspects. One of them is based on who the Keeper is, and the other is based on the location itself.

Every Sabbat pack has a reputation Aspect that applies to other Sabbat as well as any non-Sabbat who have the misfortune to have heard of them.

It’s hard to get the attention of powerful elders and influential Kindred, especially without the help of a Harpy or other socially connected vampire. Vampires are secretive and understandably paranoid. Some sample Contacts difficulties:

• +2 the Prince’s Seneschal, your local Sabbat bishop, a Harpy outside of Elysium, your Clan Whip, a Black Hand cell in your city, an Anarch or Independent, or any vampire outside your Sect who is in your city
• +3 a Black Hand cell leader, an Assamite for hire, a member of the Archbishop’s pack, your Clan Primogen,
• +4 the Prince, the Archbishop, one of the Primogen outside your own Clan,

The enmity clause: if you fail in a Contacts roll, you might end up finding just the right kind of person, but unfortunately, this particular person doesn’t like you

Recovery and Regeneration

Vampires are assumed to always be slowly regenerating dead tissue and healing injuries. Blood is often required to ‘treat’ physical consequences, however, and can also help with hunger-related mental consequences of course. (Hunting to treat a minor consequence is against a obstacle of +2; to treat a moderate consequence is against a +4, severe is +6, etc.) We’ll use a somewhat simplified version of the recovery rules in Fate Core.

• At the end of a conflict scene, clear all stress boxes.
• At the end of a scene, clear any minor, treated consequences.
• At the end of the session, a treated severe consequence becomes moderate, and a treated moderate consequence becomes minor.
• Untreated consequences stay where they are.
• As in the core rules, some consequences are treated other than with blood – with Empathy, Knowledge, etc. Whatever makes sense for the consequence.

Ritae

Function like necromantic and thaumaturgic rituals. Sabbat pack priests should probably spend one Refresh to get an Extra representing their knowledge of the basic Ritae.

Spending Blood

In a recent game, I let a player spend blood by making their character more hungry (minor consequence upgraded to moderate) in exchange for having a +2 on Athletics, Fight or Physique rolls for the scene (player chooses one).

Staking

Like, torpor, staking is an option for “taken out” in a conflict between vampires, as long as one of them has a stake handy. If the player hasn’t mentioned carrying the stake, then she can spend a Fate point to declare that she remembered to bring one. Either she can use the stake to deal physical stress until her victim is taken out, or she can beat the vampire into submission and then stake her to take her out. As a weapon a stake is awkward, and so grants no damage bonus.

Torpor

Torpor is one option for “taken out” in a conflict between vampires, and therefore might happen more often than normal. A vampire who is fed vampire blood awakens from torpor relatively quickly – and is also now one step blood bound to whomever woke them. Otherwise, the higher the vampire’s Will the sooner they will come out.

And that’s it for now. I’m really enjoying my online Fate Core Vampire game, and using the rules I’ve posted, you can run your own. As always, comments welcome.

Here are links to all of the posts. 

Fate Core Vampire 4: Disciplines

For my other Fate Core Vampire posts…

Disciplines

Of course the majority of the work I had to do for this Fate Core hack of Vampire the Masquerade was to adapt the vampiric Disciplines to Fate rules. Many thanks to Venture City, the setting book that presents Fate Core rules for cyberpunk superheroes, and which I had in mind as I did this work. In brief, each level of each Discipline is an Extra that costs 2 refresh. My goal, therefore, was to make each level of each Discipline better than an Extra or Stunt the character might take, keeping in mind the principles of Fate Core Extra and Stunt design.

Animalism

A character with any levels in Animalism is no more offensive to animals than a human would be.

1. Feral Whispers: use social Skills, or Survival in place of social Skills, when dealing with animals.
2. Quell the Beast: use Empathy to treat Beast-related conditions, or to bring someone out of a frenzy if you are able to touch them.
3. Subsume the Spirit: use Empathy to place your consciousness inside an animal.
4. Taunt the Caged Beast: (Elder) roll Charisma vs. Will to force your victim to frenzy.

Auspex

A character with Auspex receives a bonus to perceive Obfuscated characters equal to +1 per level of Auspex. 

1. Heightened Senses: when activated, you gain a +2 to Notice rolls, but risk physical stress from loud noises, bright lights, etc.
2. Aura Perception: use Empathy to read emotional resonance and Aspects of people, places and things.
3. Telepathy: roll Investigation vs. Will to read thoughts and answer one question per level of success. (Ex: succeed by +2 means 2 questions)
4. Mirror Reflex: (Elder) use Empathy in place of either Athletics or Fight (choose one) in combat for the purposes of defense.

Celerity

A character with Celerity who success with style in combat can use that boost for an additional action. 

1. Basic: +2 to Athletics for speed and physical defense. Once taken, this ability is always active.
2. Intermediate: an additional +2 to speed and physical defense, and it costs one Fate point to activate this or any higher ability for a scene.
3. Advanced: another +2, for a total of +6.
4. Flower of Death: (Elder) Make one melee attack against every opponent in your zone.

Chimerstry

You can use Chimerstry to create small, incidental illusions at will, but only as color. 

1. Fata Morgana: roll Expression to create a single illusion for a scene. When someone interacts with it directly, they must roll their Will vs. your Manipulation to see through it.
2. Permanence: spend a Fate point to make an illusion persist even after you leave the zone, though the illusion itself remains in the zone.
3. Horrid Reality: you can roll Charisma to deal physical stress to a single victim through your illusion. Costs a Fate point if you have not already spent one on Permanence. The victim can defend with the Athletics or Physique, or Will if that is higher.
4. Shared Nightmare: (Elder) Horrid Reality affects everyone in a given zone.

Dementation

Characters with Dementation can count on being able to “fail forward” on mental or social rolls with the consequence of temporarily worsening derangements. 

1. The Haunting: roll Manipulation +2 vs. your victim’s Will to deal mental stress, which takes the form of hallucinations for one scene.
2. Eyes of Chaos: roll Occult to understsand any complex system, taking the place of Investigation or sometimes even Empathy or Knowledge at the ST’s discretion.
3. Total Insanity: roll Will vs. Will to attack everyone in your, dealing mental stress.
4. Personal Scourge: (Elder) I don’t have rules for this yet, actually.

Dominate

Dominate enables a character to create an advantage through conditioning. This requires at least one scene of threats and abuse, and the advantage is “Conditioned to X” where X has to be something relatively specific (not just “obey.”)

1.  Command: roll Manipulation +2 vs. Will to issue a single, terse command. If the victim resists, she takes mental stress. Victims resist at +2 against any commands that would mean personal harm or violating their core morality. Suicidal commands automatically fail.
2. Forgetful Mind: roll Charisma vs. Will to rewrite a victim’s memories, starting with the most recent scene and going back further with greater degrees of success.
3. Possession: roll Manipulation vs. Will to take over a mortal’s body.
4. Mass Manipulation: (Elder) Command and Forgetful Mind can be used against everyone in your zone. Roll against the highest Will, or default to +2.

Fortitude

Any character with Fortitude can use Physique in place of Athletics to defend against physical attacks. 

1. Basic: grants armor 2 against physical attacks.
2. Intermediate: +2 bonus to Physique when used to defend.
3. Advanced: provides an extra moderate consequence slot.
4. Elder: spend a Fate point to cancel out all damage from a single attack. In addition, when you successfully defend with Physique, you destroy the weapon that struck you.

Necromancy

I’m going to mention, but skip, Necromancy and Thaumaturgy here and probably have those in a future post, since there are multiple paths and rituals to consider.

Obfuscate

You gain a bonus of +1 per level of Obfuscate to resist being seen by someone with Auspex. In addition, you can attempt to disappear when observed by spending a Fate point and rolling Stealth vs. the highest Notice score of all those observing you. Failure inflicts mental stress.

1. Unseen Presence: you can turn invisible if unobserved. Roll Stealth vs. Notice to interact with your environment and remain invisible.
2. Mask of a Thousand Faces: roll Manipulation vs. Empathy to disguise yourself as someone else.
3. Cloak the Gathering: you extend your powers to one ally per degree of success (1 ally per +1). Costs one Fate point.
4. Old Friend: (Elder) (V20 pg. 187) Haven’t written this one out yet.

Obtenebration

Shadow Play: a character with Obtenebration can use Occult to create an advantage related to manipulation of shadows.

1. Shroud of Night: spend a Fate point to summon a cloud of writhing darkness that is a +4 barrier to all Notice checks in and through a given zone. OR Shroud of Night: spend a Fate point to summon writing darkness to fill a zone. That zone has the Aspects Dark and Suffocating, both of which you can tag once for free.
2. Arms of the Abyss: roll Will vs. a difficulty of +1 to summon tentacles of shadow. Each boost grants an additional tentacle. The tentacles have a Physique of +3 and Fight of +2 and three physical stress boxes.
3. Tenebrous Form: spend a Fate point to transform into a tentacled shadow monster for one scene. You can use Occult +2 in place of Fight for melee combat, and your tentacles do 2 damage. If you succeed with style, you get another attack. You also gain +2 to Charisma rolls to frighten others.
4. Shadow Twin: (Elder) spend a Fate point to animate your shadow to rise up and fight for you for a scene. It has one Skill equal to your Occult and two Skills equal to your Manipulation. Both you and your shadow can act each turn.

Potence

Physique maps to Strength in VtM pretty well. Check out V20 pg. 261 for example feats of strength. 

1. Basic: +2 to Physique for raw strength, and +1 to damage when unarmed or using a melee weapon.
2. Intermediate: +4 to Physique and +2 damage.
3. Advanced: +6 to Physique and +3 damage.
4. Thunder Clap: (Elder) bring your hands together to create a shock wave that attacks everyone in your zone. This attack uses your Fight Skill and retains the +3 weapon damage from your Potence.

Presence

Awe: +2 to Charisma when you are playing to a crowd.

1. Dread Gaze: you reveal your vampiric nature for a moment, and roll Manipulation +2 vs. Will. If you succeed, your victim must flee your presence or take mental stress.
2. Entrancement: spend a Fate point and roll Charisma +2 versus your victim’s Will. If you succeed, they see you as a close friend and ally for the duration of the effect:
   • +1 one hour, +2 one night, +3 one week, +4 one month, +5 one year.
3. Majesty: when someone in your zone or an adjacent zone attempts to inflict stress on you, they must first roll their Will vs. your Charisma. If they succeed, they can act next round. They can only act on the same round if they succeed with style and use the boost to gain another action.
4. Summon: (Elder) roll your Contacts +2 versus your victim’s Will. They must either come to you as quickly as possible or take mental stress equal to your degree of success. If the roll fails, you cannot summon them again for the rest of the night.

Protean

At any time, you can activate Eyes of the Beast. Your eyes glow red-orange, but you also eliminate any penalties or obstacles due to darkness. Protean also makes it a bit more difficult for a Werewolf to sniff out your Wyrm-taint.

1. Feral Claws: your unarmed attacks gain +2 damage which cannot be resisted with Physique unless your victim has Fortitude. (Currently I have no aggravated damage rules)
2. Earth Meld: spend a Fate point and you can meld into any patch of ground you can find and sleep there for the night.
3. Shape of the Beast: you can shapechange into a wolf or a bat. In bat form, you can fly and gain +2 to Athletics to fly and +2 to Notice for hearing. In wolf form you gain +2 to Athletics for running and +2 to Fight when biting, and your bite does +2 damage (not cumulative with Feral Claws).
4. Earth Control: (Elder) you can now swim through the earth after your are Earth Melded, at about the same speed you could swim through water. Obstacles like metal, water and concrete stop your movement.

Quietus

At any time, you can spend a Fate point to add “Silence of Death” as an Aspect to a scene. It also grants you one free invocation. 

1. Scorpion’s Touch: you take 1 physical stress (which heals at the end of the scene) to increase the damage of any bladed weapon by 2 for the scene.
2. Dagon’s Call: for a scene after you touch your victim, you can spend a Fate point to initiate attacks against her. You roll your Will vs. her Physique, dealing physical stress as she drowns in her own blood.
3. Taste of Death: you can use Shoot to split caustic blood at a target up to one zone away. This spit deals 4 damage.
4. Poison the Well of Life: (Elder) spend a Fate point to poison a mortal’s blood so that any vampire who drinks from her suffers 6 physical stress, which can be taken up with the “Poisoned” consequence.

Serpentis

Tongue of the Asp: at any time, you can extend your forked tongue out of your mouth up to about eighteen inches and use it as a +1 damage weapon or to drink blood, just as you would use your fangs.

1. Eyes of the Serpent: you can temporarily paralyze any mortal who meets your gaze. If threatened or attacked, the mortal can roll Will vs. your Charisma to break free, and she gets a +2 to this roll if she takes physical or mental stress.
2.  Form of the Serpent: your skin provies armor 1 against physical stress and your bite deals +2 damage, and can be fatally poisonous for any mortal. You can also fit your slithery body through any hole that your head can fit through.
3. Heart of Darkness: you remove your heart and hide it somewhere in a canopic jar. This provides you armor 2 against mental stress, immunity to staking, and one Hell of a liability.
4. Heart Thief: (Elder) roll an attack using Fight vs. your victim’s Physique. If you succeed with style, you come away grasping their heart in your hand. Regardless, the attack deals physical stress.

Temporis

Any vampire with Temporis has an perfect internal clock, and can set multiple mental alarms.

1. Recurring Contemplation: roll Manipulation vs. Will against a victim in your line of sight. If successful, you place them in a recurring fugure where they experience the same few minutes over and over again, until the scene ends or they are interrupted by something dramatic.
2. Leaden Moment: spend a Fate point and roll Occult vs. Will to freeze a living target (objects are much easier). For one round per degree of success, they remain frozen in space and time.
3. Clotho’s Gifts: spend a Fate point and roll Occult against an obstacle of +0. You automatically gain an additional action this round, as well as one more for every boost. Next round, if you spend another Fate point, you get the same number of bonus actions again.
4. No Elder version for this yet.

(Skipping Thaumaturgy for now)

Vicissitude

You can roll Expression to impose a temporary change in appearance on a restrained or willing victim, or on yourself, for a scene.

1. Fleshcraft: spend a Fate point and you can use Knowledge in place of Fight for one scene, twisting your opponent’s flesh. Your attacks deal +2 damage.
2. Bonecraft: spend a Fate point to deal +3 instead of +2 damage using Knowledge in place of Fight. You can also alter yourself to deal +2 damage unarmed for the duration of the night, adding bone-spurs and so on. Lastly, you can make longer-lasting alterations on willing subjects, taking points of Physique and making them into armor or damage bonuses.
3. Horrid Form: spend a Fate point to assume your Horrid form, gaining armor 2 against physical stress, +2 to Physique, and +2 unarmed damage from claws.
4. Chiropteran Marauder: (Elder) as above, but you are also able to fly using Athletics, and strong enough to grab someone with your feet and carry them through the air.

Visceratika

Skin of the Chameleon grants a Gargoyle a +2 to Stealth when seeking to avoid being seen.

1. Scry the Hearthstone: the Gargoyle spends a Fate point and can use Notice to detect anyone moving in a single building for up to one night.
2. Bond With the Mountain: just as Protean’s Earth Meld, but applies to stone and concrete.
3. Armor of Terra: the Gargoyle gains two additional stress boxes (for 5 total before Physique is taken into account) as her body hardens to stone.

Next Up: Necromancy and Thaumaturgy in Fate Core Vampire post 4.5