Combination Disciplines

Call Upon the Blood

Prerequisites: Advanced Animalism, Intermediate Auspex (Telepathy)

This power costs 9 Experience Traits to learn.

Availability: 7

Ever resourceful, the anarchs developed this Discipline to scout out the location of other vampires in the area, learning their numbers and possibly locating their strongholds with enough practice. This power enables a Kindred to sense the Beast within her targets, allowing her to find other Kindred, ghouls and even certain were-creatures by sensing that primal spark deep within them.

The Animalism Discipline attunes the user to any creature that harbors a Beast, and the Auspex aspect of this power permits him to interpret that sensation and extend his senses beyond his normal limits. By using this ability, the scout can tell approximately how many Kindred and ghouls are in the area. The power does not cause a bright red neon arrow to point to the local undead, but it does offer a rough estimate of Kindred or ghoul presence nearby.

This Discipline costs one Blood Trait to activate and requires a Mental Test against a difficulty of six Traits with the Storyteller. (Retest with Survival.) If successful, the character receives an impression of how many individuals with Beasts are nearby, as well as a general idea of their proximity. If a Storyteller is not available, or if the players prefer this application in general, this Discipline allows the user to make a Mental Test against a particular individual; if successful, the user may ask the target “Are you a vampire or a ghoul?” The target must answer honestly. Those subjected to this power may make an Awareness Test to sense the Discipline’s use, as using it gently stirs the Beast, but cannot tell from what or which direction the strange sense is coming - only that someone is probing for the presence of the Beast nearby.

A character can only use Call Upon the Blood for up to 10 minutes. Attempting it more times in a night than the user has Self-Control/Instinct Traits may require the user to test against frenzy or risk fully awakening her own Beast in the process. In no case can a character use this Discipline more than twice as many times per night as her rating in that particular Virtue Trait.

Mind of the Wilds

Prerequisites: Animalism 2, Auspex 4

This power costs 8 Experience Traits to learn.

Availability: 5

This power is known solely to a few, who use it to find safe routes of travel and camp sites. A vampire with this power spreads her awareness through the local wildlife to get a general sense of conditions nearby—the presence or absence of danger, safe places and humans. It's impossible to determine number or type of dangerous creatures; the vampire just gets an overall impression. For more specifics, the vampire must either summon an animal to ask or scout the area directly.

The player makes a Static Mental challenge (difficulty 8 Traits)—retest Animal ken and concentrates for a full turn. Success grants very general knowledge about an acre or less. The player may expend additional Mental traits to expand the area of effect. Failure results in false or misleading information. The Storyteller should be careful to avoid giving away too much information with Mind of the Wilds. It's intended to help a character scout an area, rather than serve in place of such reconnaissance.

Read the Winds

Prerequisites: Animalism 4, Auspex 5

This power costs 10 Experience Traits to learn.

Availability: 6

Many animals roam tne night, and a vampire with this power has the ability to see through the eyes of them all. With a bit of focus, the vampire sees everything that an animal in the area witnesses. The vampire can also use this power to gain a general impression, from the animal's states, about the area or upcoming events like disasters or storms.

The player makes a Static Mental Challenge (difficulty 7 Traits) retest Animal ken, and the vampire opens her mind to the animals in the area. Success allows the vampire to monitor events, through any of the natural denizens of the forest within a couple of miles. This power provides a very general impression of the state of the surrounding area. This power cannot find users of Obfuscate or hidden items; nor does it allow the user to ask specific questions of the animals. This power may be used while using the Protean 3 power Earth Meld.

Test the Road

Prerequisites: Animalism 3, Auspex 2

This power costs 21 Experience Traits to learn.

Availability: 5

This power is chiefly used by Wardens to test the sincerity of pilgrims who wish to visit Feral holy sites. Some Lorekeepers also employ it to check the veracity of Cainites who approach them wishing to be taught the lore of the Road of the Beast. The Feral begins asking the suspect Cainite a series of questions about the Beast or asks them to begin hunting. The nature of the test is not really important. The Feral is actually watching the way the other Cainite speaks and acts to see if the Beast is truly just below the surface, guiding her actions.

This ability is used to seek out fellow Ferals and to gauge a Cainite's interest in the Road of the Beast. Beginning by engaging the target in conversation or bringing them on a hunt. After a few minutes of observation, make a Mental challenge. Success determines whether or not the target is indeed a fellow Feral. On a loss, make a second Simple Test. if the user loses this test the target appears to be a senior follower of the Road of the Beast. Spending additional Mental Traits for the following: One Trait, to learn if the subject is hostile to the road of the Beast; two Traits, to find out the subject's Road rating. This power does not allow you to learn what road the target actually follows if she is not Feral.

Beast's Communion

Prerequisites: Animalism 3, Auspex 4

This power costs 14 Experience Traits to learn.

Availability: 7

Favored by the Illuminated, this ability enables the vampire to force another Cainite’s Beast to the fore, there to share the consciousness with the higher self, and compel it to speak through the rational human mind in a manner comprehensible to reasoning beings. When occupying the consciousness with a Cainite’s reasoning mind, the Beast is giving a voice by which its otherwise alien lusts can be known. The Beasts of different clans are, as a rule, very different in their miens. A Ravnos’ Beast is a sly, cunning thing, while a Nosferatu’s is base and wretched, and a Brujah’s brutal and proud, for example. Whatever the Cainite’s clan, however, his Beast is compelled to speak like a person of whatever intelligence the Cainite subjected to this technique himself possesses.

By spending a Blood Trait and a Social Trait and engaging the target in a Self-Control/Instinct test (retest Intimidation), the Cainite can compel a target’s Beast to rise to the surface and answer questions in a rational manner. This Discipline lasts for a number of minutes equal to the user’s permanent Social Traits minus the target’s Willpower (min one minute). Though it should be noted that while casual brutality is forbidden by this Discipline, it does not prevent the target from truly frenzying if provoked, nor can it halt a frenzy in progress. The Beast remembers actions taken during past frenzies with absolute clarity. Likewise, it knows when outside influences previously forced it to the fore. A willing Cainite may not relent to the use of this power, nor may a Cainite use it upon themselves. The target’s rational mind is aware of the conversation that takes place. This Discipline may not be used on mortals but at ST discretion other supernatural beings—ghosts, werewolves, etc. may be targeted; however, their inner demons may not play by the same rules as the Beasts of other Cainites.

Mask of Cathay

Prerequisites: Animalism 3, Chimerstry 4

This power costs 7 Experience Traits to learn.

Availability: 3

Ravnos in Asia have had to learn several tricks to conceal their presence among the fanatical Eastern Kindred. One of the more common techniques is the ability to appear as an asuratizayya. This mask conceals the Ravnos’ nature as one of the Kindred descended from Caine and makes them appear to be asuratizayya for purposes of all tests. This power does not grant the Ravnos any ability to learn Eastern Disciplines or adopt their Dharmic paths. If simply allows the Ravnos to misrepresent herself.

For a Ravnos to use Mask of Cathay the player must spend one Willpower Trait and one Blood Trait to invoke the Mask until sunrise. During that time, the Ravnos is perceived through supernatural means as a yin-aspected Cathayan, not as one of the Kindred.

Respite of Lucidity

Prerequisites: Animalism 5, Dementation 2

This power costs 16 Experience Traits to learn.

Availability: 6

Unlike most powers based on Dementation, this art grants reprieve from madness rather than instilling such infirmity. Vampires who know this technique may affix their insanity to their Beast as they draw it out, freeing their minds from the prison of twisted consciousness. This power is quite rare, considering many Malkavians regard their dementia as a gift rather than a curse, and very few know the secrets of Animalism. The few wretches who regularly employ this Discipline take little solace in their respites, knowing lunacy must soon descend again.

Whenever a vampire with this Discipline technique uses the Animalism 5 power Drawing out the Beast, she may also affix her madness to the Beast. This costs one blood point per derangement, or three points to affix a Malkavian’s core derangement; the Beast’s new host suffers the affixed derangements in lieu of the vampire who expelled them. Malkavians who purge all their derangements in this manner cannot regain, spend or burn Willpower by any means until they reclaim their Beast. Once a character recovers her Beast, she suffers the full effects of all her derangements.

Aspect of the Beast

Prerequisites: Animalism 3, Dominate 3

This power costs 8 Experience Traits to learn.

Availability: 5

By calling upon another Kindred’s Beast, an anarch using this power causes his subject to display the mien of an animal. In some cases, the subject actually resembles a literal beast-man hybrid, but in most situations people affected with this power are left with a vague and unsettling impression that the focal personality of this power reminds them uncomfortably of an animal.

This Discipline costs one Blood Trait to activate and requires the user to best the intended victim in a Social Test. It can be retested with Empathy. Those seeing the victim of Aspect of the Beast will perceive her as having a pronounced animal characteristic. This feral appearance is the result of the character's temperament and reflects the target’s personality. The Storyteller has the final say on whether or not an animal aspect is appropriate and approves the appearance of the manifestation. A Ventrue loan shark may appear to have a multitude of teeth, making his predatory nature plain, while a clever and unscrupulous Nosferatu who has wronged the anarch may appear as a fox with large ears and a pointy muzzle, or a brutal and repressive Camarilla scourge might manifest his inner creature by taking on the snout ofa pig. If the victim has less than three permanent Willpower Traits, he literally appears as a “beast-man” and will cause Delirium in non-supernatural creatures, just as if they have seen a werewolf... or worse. The victim is down two Social Traits on all challenges and the witnesses’ reaction to the bestial visage should be actively roleplayed. Remember that this power is a Dominate-based Discipline, and the Kindred using it must be of equal or lower generation for it to work. This Discipline only functions on one victim at a time, although it can be used on multiple victims per session with additional Blood Traits and Social Tests. The effect lasts one full night; the victim’s appearance returns to normal at sunrise. The victim gains the Negative Social Traits Bestial x2, Repugnant and Feral for the rest of the night and must wear an appropriate tag describing her altered appearance. Obfuscate will not disguise this feral mien, though the bestial outward form does not prevent actual invisibility.

Steal the Terrible Swiftness

Prerequisites: Animalism 2, Fortitude 1

This power costs 3 Experience Traits to learn.

Availability: 3

At time an Anda must cross enormous distance at great speed. Mongol riders are fast, covering more than a hundred miles a day under good conditions by riding 3 or 4 horses. (Even vast Mongol armies compromising 100,000 riders can cover fifty or sixty miles in a day, more than four times what comparable European armies can cross.) Steal the Terrible Swiftness allows the Anda to use the strength and speed of the Mongolian steppe pony when none are to be found. He can cover 100 miles or more in a night, running across the steppe at what sounds to those nearby to be a full horse’s gallop. However, he cannot stop for rest, blood, or conversation; once he has taken to running, he must keep moving or lose the benefits of this technique for the night.

Spend one blood point and make a Simple Physical challenge-retest Athletics. If the player succeeds, the character can move overland at a rate of 20 miles per hour until he stops or slows to less than half his full speed for any reason. The player may expend additional Physical Traits to add 5 miles per hour to the character’s rate of travel. The player can spend a Willpower to stop or slow without losing the effects of Steal the Terrible Swiftness; one Willpower point must be spent for each turn the character does not return to his previous speed. If this Willpower is not spent, the character loses the great speed and may not use Steal the Terrible Swiftness again that night.

Beast’s Vigor

Prerequisites: Animalism 3, Fortitude 3

This power costs 11 Experience Traits to learn.

Availability: 4

Tapping into the bond between regnant and thrall, a Ravnos knowing the Beast’s Vigor may call upon a nearby animal ghoul’s vitality to absorb injuries that could otherwise incapacitate him. The wounds appear on the animal’s body, seemingly without cause. If the animal survives, healing leaves scars and any fur that grows back is white.

If the player has any animal ghouls within sight, he may elect to use this power. The player spends one blood point and makes a Static Physical challenge (difficulty 8 Traits) retest Animal Ken. The player may bid up to three Stamina based Traits in this challenge. If successful, the player transfers one Health Level of any type of damage to the animal per Trait bid. The Beast’s Vigor can only be used immediately after the vampire is wounded (after the character has made their soak chops but still sustained damage) and counts as a reflexive action. As a reflexive action, blood used by this power does not count against the maximum allowed by generation.

Scourge the Thrall

Prerequisites: Animalism 4, Fortitude 4

This power costs 14 Experience Traits to learn.

Availability: 5

As Beast’s Vigor but wounds may be transferred to human ghouls so long as they are under the blood oath to the vampire.

Animal Magnetism

Prerequisites: Animalism 4, Obfuscate 3

This power costs 9 Experience Traits to learn.

Availability: 5

Foul as they are to look upon and boorish as they tend to be in social situations, the wise among the Nosferatu can, if they so choose, wax alluring. This temporary appeal is rough, fleeing and slightly feral, but it gives them a fascinating charm nonetheless. Sometimes that’s all that’s needed.

The Nosferatu channels his primal instincts into pure allure and guile. By spending a Willpower and activating Mask of 1000 Faces, the Nosferatu adopts a persona of unexpected magnetism. For the remainder of the scene or one hour he gains an additional Social Trait per level of Animalism to be used in intimidation (intimidating), persuasion (persuasive) or seduction (seductive) challenges. While active the character loses on ties to resist frenzy—the Beast does not take insults to its face lightly. This power may only be used once per night.