Dominate

Dominate is one of the most dreaded of Disciplines. It is a vampire’s ability to influence another person’s thoughts and actions through her own force of will. Dominate requires that the vampire capture her victim’s gaze as such, it may be used against only one subject at a time. Further, commands must be issued verbally, although simple orders may be made with signs — for example, a pointed finger and forceful expression to indicate “Go!” However, the subject won’t comply if he can’t understand the vampire, no matter how powerful the Kindred’s will is.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, vampires to which Dominate comes naturally tend to be from willful, domineering Clans. The Giovanni, Lasombra, Tremere, and Ventrue all consider an iron will to be a boon, and are eager to impose that iron will on any who would move against them.

Resisting Dominate

Most victims cannot stand against the effects of Dominate. Still, there are situations where this Discipline is powerless to sway the subject.

Mortals

Few mortals can hope to resist Dominate, as their strength of will nothing compared to the supernatural magnetism of a vampire. Still, there are extremely rare individuals who, due to strong religious faith, unique psychic talent, or extraordinary mental resolve, can shrug off this Discipline’s effects. Only a foolish vampire ignores the potential threat such human beings represent.

(See Numina for more information about TrueFaith, for example.)

Vampires

It is very difficult to dominate a vampire of lower generation, Dominate works on supernatural creatures, your generation + your rank -1 to never go below your own generation. so if you have 2 points in dominate at 13th generation you can dominate a 12th generation vampire. if you are 13th generation and have 5 points in dominate you can attempt to dominate an 9th generation vampire. If a higher level vampire has dominate your advantage can be reduced and it's up to the GM discretion.

Nature

A character’s Nature can have a distinct impact on how easily Dominate influences her. A vampire might easily control subjects with inherently empathic Natures (Caregiver, Child, Conformist), while those whose Natures denote a great degree of inner strength (Bravo, Director, Rebel) can be more of a challenge. The Storyteller may reduce the required difficulty or number of successes by one or two when the player rolls against those subjects with “weaker” Natures, or raise them by a similar amount for “stronger” Natures. On the other hand, “strong” Natures might be more easiliy influenced to take aggressive actions — for example, coaxing a Rebel to denounce the Prince is likely easier than goading a Conformist to do the same thing. Ultimately, the Storyteller must adjudicate.

Botches

If a Dominate roll botches, the target is rendered immune to future attempts by the same vampire for the rest of the story.

Disciplines