Volume 2: Release 1. Elder Powers, Luminary Guidance

As we grow closer to the pure blood of Caine, so too do our powers grow closer to his... Our plan is to combine Volumes 1-3 of V2 into a single book but before that we want the community to have access to the content, and every two weeks we plan to release more. To support future releases, please consider buying the physical book when available, attend a Blood and Betrayal Event, or buy other merchandise.

Please, enjoy the new content. -

New Elder Powers

Master of the Hunt

Animalism OOOOO O

The communion you have with your Beast has given you insight into the base instincts of other vampires, allowing you to grant them a keen understanding of their Beasts. Gangrel Elders are known to use this power when leading Blood Hunts, permitting their allies to achieve a singular primal focus against their targets.

System

Spend 3 Blood and expend a simple action to allow a number of vampires allies up to your dots in Animal Ken to benefit from Drawing Out the Beast, if they choose. The selected allies receive the power’s benefits as though they had just activated Drawing Out the Beast without paying its costs and gain the benefit from your Attribute Focus for this power, if applicable. If an ally targeted by Master of the Hunt already possesses the power Drawing Out the Beast, they do not suffer the standard -2 penalties to Physical defense pools while in frenzy; however, you still suffer the -2 penalty to Physical defense pools while in frenzy unless another vampire uses Master of the Hunt on you. If you decide to remove this power from a vampire after you have bestowed its gifts upon them, you can spend a simple action to deactivate the power in any number of allies.

Psychic Drain

Auspex OOOOO O

Legends abound of psychic vampires; those who drain energy from their targets without ingesting their blood. By targeting another with Psychic Drain you can harvest their will and use it to fuel your own preternatural powers. Some vampires who possess Psychic Drain claim that, immediately upon using the power, they taste the blood of their prey.

System

Spend 1 Blood and expend a standard action to attack your opponent’s mind. Make an opposed challenge against your target using the Auspex test pool. If you succeed, your victim loses 2 points of Willpower. For the remainder of the turn you may spend these points of Willpower as if they were your own, though they do not count toward your defensive pools. If you do not use these Willpower points before the turn expires, they are lost to everyone at the end of the turn. A character attacked by a Psychic Drain immediately knows where the attack originated and from which individual in that location (if more than one person is in the area). You can repeatedly activate Psychic Drain against the same target; this is an exception to the rule that prohibits a character from using a power on the same target immediately after failing. If you fail a Psychic Drain against an opponent, you can try again against that same opponent (or someone else) on the next turn.

Exceptional Success

The Willpower points you gain from Psychic Drain are lost at the end of the scene instead of at the end of the turn. In addition, your target may not regain Willpower for the next hour.

Chain of Command

Dominate OOOOO O

The nature of hierarchy means that you do not always have the luxury of delivering your orders to your subordinates directly or in person. While your disappointment and the retribution it could bring may be feared, this power ensures that your commands will be relayed to the letter. You have the power to invest a messenger with a directive that, when delivered, will convey your authority.

System

You have the power to invest a messenger with a residual Mesmerism that she can deliver on your behalf to a specific person. To do so, spend 1 Blood and your standard action to give the order to your messenger. You must have her gaze and focus (see MET: VTM, Gaze and Focus, page 113) and you must speak aloud the name of the party to whom the order is to be delivered, as well as the specific order. If your messenger is unwilling to relay your message, you must defeat her in an opposed challenge using the Dominate test pool. If you succeed, or if she is willing, the player of the targeted messenger will make a note of the order, the recipient, and your Dominate test pool.

As soon as the messenger encounters the individual that is to receive your message, or someone the messenger sincerely believes to be that individual, the messenger will take the necessary steps to establish that person’s gaze and focus and use her standard action to convey the Mesmerism. When doing this, your messenger will repeat the order you gave her to the letter, and will say it comes from you. If your messenger does not know your identity, she may refer to you as “my master”, or simply “I am bidden to tell you….” If your messenger succeeds in an opposed challenge using your Dominate test pool, the recipient of your order must abide by the Mesmerism as if it had come from you. If the Messenger loses the challenge and fails to impart the Mesmerism on the recipient, she may make a Willpower retest if she so chooses.

Your messenger will remain invested with your residual Mesmerism for 30 days. The use of this power does not count against the number of Mesmerisms your messenger may be susceptible to at a given time, though she may only carry one application of Chain of Command regardless of the source. This power does not compel your messenger to immediately seek your target; however, you may use other powers of Dominate to compel your Messenger to immediately deliver the Mesmerism. Should you wish to employ Forgetful Mind on the messenger, you may cause her to forget the circumstances of her dispatch as well as the contents of the message, though she will still deliver the message normally and to the letter when she encounters the recipient.

New and Updated Discipline Rules: Luminary Powers

Luminary Powers

Beyond the scope of elder powers lie another terrifying threshold of abilities. Luminary powers are superior expressions of disciplines practiced by those of ancient and potent blood. These powers represent the supreme mastery of a discipline, the product of countless nights of study and insight, and function as a daunting trump card in an elder’s arsenal.

A vampire must be 6th generation or lower to purchase a luminary power. Luminary Elders (6th generation) may purchase only one luminary power and that one luminary power may only be from their in-clan disciplines. Vampires who are 5th generation or lower may purchase multiple luminary powers from their in-clan disciplines.

Luminary powers cost 24 XP and may only be purchased if a character has at least 1 elder power of the same discipline.