•••• Patience of the Norns

The vampire can now suspend an inanimate object in time, keeping it frozen in perfect stasis as time passes at normal speed around it. As with lesser Temporis powers, this stasis has both combat and non-combat applications. True Brujah warriors may halt bullets outright rather than merely slowing their approach or casually sidestep a collapsing building. Higher-level variations on this power preserve precious scrolls and artifacts without risk of mold or decay. If any solid object or nontrivial volume of liquid touches a frozen object that did not touch it at the moment of suspension, the item re-enters time with the same properties and velocity as when it stopped. Thus, touching a suspended object with anything more substantial than a raindrop releases it exactly as it was before it stopped.

System

The player spends two blood points and rolls Intelligence + Occult (difficulty 6). The vampire must be able to perceive the object that he’s suspending, so the player may need to make a Perception + Alertness roll at a difficulty determined by the Storyteller in order to freeze fast-moving objects. If an object exceeds the speed of mortal perception, superhuman perception such as Auspex is required in order to see and stop it (as such, bullets can be stopped with this power, but only if the vampire has at least a dot of Auspex). Objects frozen by this power remain halted according to the number of successes rolled:

Successes Duration

• 1 success one turn
• 2 successes one minute
• 3 successes 10 minutes
• 4 successes one hour
• 5 successes one day
• 6+ successes one week per success over 5

Suspended objects retain all energy in their suspension, releasing none to the outside universe. A suspended knife has no kinetic energy as far as the rest of the world is concerned and hangs suspended in mid-air until the power is interrupted or the duration expires.

Suspended alchemical or chemical processes also halt, including fire. However, any physical contact more substantial than a falling raindrop breaks the suspension.