••• Leaden Moment

With this power, a vampire may begin to alter the flow of time itself rather than mere perception of events. The vampire gestures and slows the desired object almost to a dead stop. This power can slow incoming bullets to the pace of drifting clouds, or cause an enemy warrior to see the battlefield quicken to a blur of dizzying carnage even as his every motion slows to a crawl.

System

The player spends one blood point and rolls Intelligence + Occult. The difficulty depends on the size and nature of the target: a single thrown brick is only difficulty 4, while a crazed ghoul has a difficulty of 9. Targets larger than an adult human cannot be affected with Leaden Moment. It is possible to affect small, closely grouped inanimate objects of the same nature as a single object, though this increases the difficulty by two or more at the Storyteller’s discretion (a hail of bullets might be difficulty 9). This power may be activated reflexively as a defensive action against projectiles, but otherwise requires a full action on the vampire’s initiative. Though failure carries no special penalty apart from wasting blood, a botch means the vampire mistakenly slows himself rather than the target, counting every 1 as a success for that purpose. If the vampire succeeds, the object slows to one-half its true speed. Every two successes beyond the first reduce this speed by one additional factor, so three successes slows the target to one third its speed, five successes yields quarter speed, etc.

The actual mechanics of such slowing depend on the situation. For projectiles, multiply any successes to hit and final damage by the speed factor, rounded down. Similarly apply the speed modifier to the successes of other actions involving Dexterity, Wits, or Strength for slowed characters. Characters with Celerity may spend one blood point to negate one factor of speed reduction at the expense of the usual extra action provided – for example, one blood point cancels a reduction to one half speed, two blood points cancel one third, etc. Leaden Moment lasts one turn for every two successes rolled, rounded up.