Dominate

DOMINATE

Snake Charming | Mesmerism | Mentis Imperium

Dominate grants the vampire the ability to control the actions of others, manipulate their memories, and force living creatures into acts they would not perform of their own volition. At its most basic, Dominate enables a vampire to make a victim forget the feed they just endured or enjoyed. At its most dangerous, it allows Kindred to enslave entire crowds of kine. This is the Beast at its most cruel and controlling.

Dominate acts as a bludgeon to enforce the Masquerade, create submissive servants, and reinforce the self-assuredness of the vampire. When using this Discipline, Kindred feel omnipotent, although the wisest of them know that this too may be shackles of a kind, slipped upon them by the Blood.

CHARACTERISTICS

• Type: Mental

• Masquerade Threat: Low
  Barring someone Dominating an entire auditorium to jump off the cliffs of Dover, it remains one of the more subtle vampiric powers.

• Blood Resonance: Phlegmatic
  The blood of the submissive of the dominant, masters and slaves, captains of industry, power trippers, cult leaders and followers.

Most Dominate powers require eye contact with the victim. Once they establish contact, Dominate holds the gaze of the victim until the user conveys their command or commands, barring interference. Catching the eyes of someone actively attempting to avoid the vampire’s gaze requires a contest of the user’s Resolve + Intimidation vs the target’s Wits + Awareness. It is of course impossible to catch the eyes of someone squeezing their eyes shut or wearing a blindfold, but that person should be easy prey to other tactics.

Using Dominate in combat or in other frantic situations is limited to people attacking or otherwise interacting with the user directly, as everyone else’s attention is firmly focused on their own peril.

Unless the user has supernatural means such as Telepathy (Auspex 5) at their disposal, they must command the victim verbally. The victim must be able to hear the user and understand their language.

Without Terminal Decree (Dominate 5), commands resulting in obvious death or serious injury fail automatically. Subjects roll to resist commands resulting in other social or physical harm (such as undressing in public), commands that have a character go against their Convictions, and those that would have negative effects towards their Touchstones or their relationship with them.See individual powers for details. Vampires cannot use Dominate to extract information, as the victim becomes a mindless puppet while under its influence. For example, the Compel command “Speak” results in blabbering word salad, while someone Mesmerized to “tell what you know about the assassin” responds “what you know about the assassin.” Dominate cannot make subjects do something they could not do on command, such as “Sleep.” Ultimately, the Storyteller determines what the Discipline can accomplish, but they should take care that Dominate remains one Discipline of many, rather than the catch-all solution to every problem.

Dominate cuts to the core of vampiric mastery and predation. Thus, vampires must resist attempts to Dominate them. A vampire of lower (stronger) generation can resist Dominate attempts from higher generation vampires by spending a Willpower point, negating the effect completely.

On a total failure on the roll of any Dominate power, that vampire can no longer Dominate that target for the rest of the story.

Dominate threatens Humanity, especially if the vampire has any Principles involving personal freedom or forbidding violations of human integrity. Using it may incur Stains (p. 239).

LEVEL 1

CLOUD MEMORY

Dominate •

By uttering the phrase “Forget!” the user can make the Dominated victim forget the current moment as well as the last few minutes, enough to mask a superficial feeding or a chance meeting. No new memories are formed and if pressed the victim realizes they have a few minutes missing.

Cost: Free

Dice Pools: Charisma + Dominate vs Wits + Resolve

System: No roll is required against an unprepared mortal victim. Clouding the memory of a resisting victim or another vampire requires a Charisma + Dominate vs Wits + Resolve roll.

Duration: Indefinitely

_{Core Book, pg. 256}

COMPEL

Dominate •

With eye contact, the vampire can issue the victim a single-action command, no longer than a short sentence, to be obeyed to the letter. It must be possible to complete the command in a single turn. The Storyteller decides whether to interpret ambiguous commands in an unexpected or unfavorable way; alternatively, the command simply confuses the victim and fails.

Cost: Free

Dice Pools: Charisma + Dominate vs Intelligence + Resolve

System: No roll is required against an unprepared mortal victim. Commanding a resisting victim, a victim the vampire has previously Dominated in the same scene, or another vampire requires a contest of Charisma + Dominate vs Intelligence + Resolve. Commands that go against the victim’s nature also require such a contest.

Duration: No more than a single scene

_{Core Book, pg. 256}

LEVEL 2

MESMERIZE

Dominate ••

The vampire can issue complex commands to a victim, as long as they have the subject’s gaze and relative quiet in which to issue instructions. The instructions must be carried out immediately to the victim’s best ability, and must not contain any conditional actions (“...if you see Henry, give him the document”), as this would require the victim to exercise cognition.

Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Manipulation + Dominate vs Intelligence + Resolve

System: No roll is required against an unprepared mortal victim. Commanding a resisting victim or another vampire requires a contest of Manipulation + Dominate vs Intelligence + Resolve. Commands that go against the victim’s nature also require such a contest.

Duration: Until the command is carried out or the scene ends, whichever comes first.

_{Core Book, pg. 256}

DEMENTATION

Dominate ••

Amalgam: Obfuscate ••

This subtle power requires nothing more than casual conversation, as the vampire’s insidious influence hides between the lines and inflections employed. The victim finds themselves increasingly agitated as their inner demons bubble to the surface, eventually drowning out all rhyme and reason.

Cost: One Rouse Check per scene

Dice Pools: Manipulation + Dominate vs Composure + Intelligence

System: After engaging in conversation with a victim, the user can activate this power. For the duration of the scene, the user may attack a single individual each turn in a Manipulation + Dominate vs Composure + Intelligence conflict, causing Superficial damage to Willpower. A mortal who becomes Impaired by this power experiences a nervous breakdown or psychotic break, the shape and nature of which depends on their personality (and perhaps their blood Resonance). A vampire that becomes Impaired by this power must immediately succumb to a Compulsion, as chosen by the power’s user.

If the user wants to affect multiple victims, they need to make a separate Rouse Check for each one.

Duration: One Scene

One More Thing...
Rumors would indicate that Dementation may take other forms, especially in regards to little-known bloodlines, like the "Daughters of Cacophony". Rather than just engaging in conversation, they deliver their own particular brand of madness via song. It is not uncommon to see audiences weeping after an especially impassioned performance.

_{Core Book, pg. 256}

SLAVISH DEVOTION

Dominate ••

Amalgam: Presence •

Those already under the mental dominion of the vampire find their minds strengthened against interference from other Kindred.

Cost: No additional cost.

System: Any attempt to mentally coerce a character already under the influence of the vampire’s use of Dominate has its Difficulty increased by two, or suffers a four-dice penalty in contests. The Difficulty cannot rise above 7.

Duration: Passive.

_{Cults of the Blood Gods, pg. 104}

DOMITOR'S FAVOR

Dominate ••

Kindred are creatures of cruel irony, and the name of this Discipline power is one such example. While conditioned with the Domitor’s Favor, a thrall with a Blood Bond to that vampire finds it much more difficult to act against their master. Domineering Tzimisce are especially fond of this power, using it to ensure the loyalty of their servants.

Cost: One Rouse Check

System: Defiance rolls for willful thralls under the effects of Domitor’s Favor are made at a three-dice penalty and thralls may not spend Willpower on them. Additionally, total failure on a defiance roll means that the Blood Bond does not weaken that month. See pp. 233-244 of Vampire: The Masquerade for more information on Blood Bonds and rolls made to defy them.

Duration: One month

_{V5 Companion, pg. 25}

LEVEL 3

THE FORGETFUL MIND

Dominate •••

The vampire can rewrite whole swathes of the victim’s memories, as long as they can keep the victim’s gaze and full, uninterrupted attention. The vampire verbally describes the victim’s new memories, which the victim then accepts as their own. This power does not allow the user to investigate the victim’s true memories; it more resembles blindly painting over the old canvas.

Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Manipulation + Dominate vs Intelligence + Resolve

System: The user rolls a contest of Manipulation + Dominate vs Intelligence + Resolve. Each point of margin allows the user to add or remove an additional memory. The victim recalls the edits vaguely, foggy ideations that can fall apart under close questioning. A critical win creates a flawless imprint, as real as any true memory.

Duration: Indefinitely

_{Core Book, pg. 257}

SUBMERGED DIRECTIVE

Dominate •••

When using Dominate power, the vampire can now implant a posthypnotic suggestion, allowing its effect to remain dormant until a specific stimulus occurs. This trigger can be anything from a specific date, to a person (“When you meet Roland, tell him these words”), to hearing a specific phrase. The Submerged Directive never expires; people can conceivably walk around with an order buried in their mind for years. The user can only embed one suggestion per victim.

Cost: No additional cost

System: As per power amplified, though the Storyteller might want to make any rolls in secret. There’s no way of knowing if the submerged suggestion works until the conditions are met.

Duration: Passive

_{Core Book, pg. 257}

SACROSANCTUM

Dominate •••

Amalgam: Blood Sorcery ••

Often used by the rare Tzimisce or Tremere who know it, this ability ensures that their guests reciprocate their Hospitality. Alternatively, it is occasionally used to force prisoners to comply.

Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pool: Charisma + Dominate vs Composure + Resolve

System: The vampire must feed the target with their own Vitae, either willingly or by force (requires a test) while in the user’s Haven. This does not constitute a step towards a regular Blood Bond.

Instead, the user must succeed on a Charisma + Dominate vs Composure + Resolve test against the target. A Tremere with this power takes a penalty to this roll equal to their Bane Severity due to the nature of their Bane. On a Win, the target gains a temporary Blood Bond to the user with a Bond Strength equal to the user’s Dominate rating.

Duration: Until the target leaves the Haven, or the user takes any direct or indirect hostile action against the subject (attacking them, selling them out to their enemies, etc).

_{Homebrew Content, pg. XX}

LEVEL 4

RATIONALIZE

Dominate ••••

The vampire’s victims now believe that anything they do under the influence of Dominate was a result of their own free will, and defend their actions, however absurd. Long-term exposure to this power can lead to severe mental trauma in the victim.

Cost: No additional cost

System: If pressed on their belief, the victim can make a Wits +Awareness test (Difficulty 5). A win makes them question their own statement, and possibly their sanity.

Duration: Indefinitely

_{Core Book, pg. 257}

ANCESTRAL DOMINION

Dominate ••••

Amalgam: Blood Sorcery •••

Vampires of great age and potency find it possible to exert their will via the Blood, without the traditional need for eye contact and verbal communication with their target. This power enables a Kindred to compel a descendant to take an action on their behalf, even if it’s one the target would normally be opposed to. Vampires instinctively know an ancestor is manipulating them, when subject to this power.

Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Manipulation + Dominate vs Intelligence + Resolve

System: On a successful roll of Manipulation + Dominate, the victim acts to fulfill the dominating vampire’s request, providing it doesn’t entail harming themself. For every generation beyond the first one separating the user of this power from their target, the resisting vampire gains an additional die to their roll. For example, when a Fifth Generation vampire attempts to use this power on a Seventh Generation descendant, the Seventh Generation descendant gains one die in defense. An Eighth Generation descendant would gain two dice. If the number of dice in the resisting vampire’s pool would exceed ten, the power automatically fails. On a total failure, the vampire cannot use this power on that target for the remainder of the chapter.

Duration: Whichever comes sooner: until the compelled action is taken or the scene ends.

_{Cults of the Blood Gods, pg. 104}

TABULA RASA

Dominate ••••

Less memory manipulation than eradication, this callous power does away with subtlety and wipes every trace of memory from a victim, leaving them a pliant effigy of themselves. While they retain most of their learned skills, they forget everything else — their experiences, friends, family, wants and wishes — in most cases, forever. Use of this power outside the Sabbat is rare, as even the most ruthless of the undead find it excessive. The Black Hand isn’t above taking this shortcut to ensure that a captive servant is made ready for conditioning or that a promising childe is remade to their tastes.

Cost: Two Rouse Checks

Dice Pools: Resolve + Dominate vs. Composure + Resolve

System: The user Rouses their Blood, holds the gaze of their victim, and must then engage in an extended conflict of Resolve + Dominate versus the victim’s Composure + Resolve, accumulating ten successes during an entire scene. The process must not be disturbed, and the victim must be restrained or otherwise submit during the act, as any break in concentration requires the conflict to be restarted (and another two Rouse Checks), as does a critical win on the part of the victim.

Once the process is complete, the victim is left a confused, slack-jawed shell. They lose memories of their name, history, and most of their old personality. They lose Convictions, Touchstones, and Ambition, and most of their Backgrounds become moot, as they forget how to access them. (These, together with other Advantages, are left to the Storyteller’s discretion – a Contact may remember them if they cross paths again, for example.) Attributes, Skills, and Disciplines remain, however. The memory loss is permanent, though on occasion a victim has regained some of their past when faced with a traumatic event involving a past Touchstone. (Test Resolve + Composure at Difficulty 5, for example when a former Touchstone is threatened, hurt, or killed while in their presence, at the Storyteller’s discretion.)

A wiped victim is usually fed whatever lies are needed to keep them loyal, or quickly subjected to Path indoctrination. Use of this power is exceedingly cruel, and should merit Stains in most chronicles.

Duration: Permanent

_{Sabbat Sect Book, pg. 47}

LEVEL 5

MASS MANIPULATION

Dominate •••••

The vampire can now command entire gatherings of mortals, and in some cases even groups of vampires. The vampire can amplify any Dominate power with this ability.

Cost: One Rouse Check in addition to the cost of the power amplified

System: The vampire can amplify any of their other powers to affect a group of people, mortal or vampire, at once. All of the victims need to see the eyes of the user. The user makes any needed roll against the strongest opponent in the group.

Duration: As per power amplified

_{Core Book, pg. 257}

TERMINAL DECREE

Dominate •••••

No longer hampered by the self-preservation instincts of their victims, the vampire can now issue commands that directly lead to the harm or death of the victim. Mortals can be made to blow their brains out, jump from rooftops, or swallow poison. Vampires can, with a bit of effort, be made to walk into fire or sunlight.

Cost: No additional Hunger cost, but the Humanity cost is potentially severe

System: Terminal commands now must be resisted (see individual powers regarding rolls involved), rather than failing automatically.

Duration: Passive

_{Core Book, pg. 257}