OBFUSCATE

Stealth Mode | Cloaking | Chimerstry | Occulto | Veils

For any hunter, the ability to hide, move without being seen, and employ camouflage proves vital. For the Kindred practitioners of Obfuscate, the Discipline provides the perfect cover to get close to a victim, disguise themselves as harmless, and escape when the heat grows too much. Obfuscate experts may utilize the Discipline to lurk in the shadows while spying, change appearance in a crowd while under surveillance, or even spread the gift to a group of vampires looking to hide.

CHARACTERISTICS

Type: Mental

Masquerade Threat: Low.
Avoiding detection is the whole point of this Discipline.

Blood Resonance: Melancholic.
The ignored and unseen, the homeless, forgotten, and depressed; spies, pickpockets, excellent servants, roadies and stagehands, and all the background people.

Ofuscate powers work through ambient, low-level mesmerism. Observers see the vampire but their minds choose to ignore it. Witnesses unconsciously move out of the way if the user blocks their path and rationalize their behavior if pressed. Obfuscate affects all five senses unless otherwise noted.

The Discipline does have limits: the illusion fails if the observer cannot ignore the user or if the user backs the observer into a corner. A vampire blocking a doorway cannot maintain Obfuscate against someone walking through it. Likewise, violent action jeopardizes the façade, as does actions like raised voices, failed pickpocket attempts, and weapons raised to strike. Whispering without breaking Obfuscate is still possible.

Generally, the Discipline offers no protection against machine surveillance. A human staking out the vampire has a hard time pointing the lens in the right direction, but automatic cameras and other types of detectors can catch them.

A vampire with Sense the Unseen (Auspex •) can detect Obfuscated characters by rolling Wits or Resolve + Auspex vs Wits + Obfuscate. Anyone can detect an Obfuscated vampire who draws attention to themselves; such observers detect such accidental revelations with a contest of Wits + Awareness (or Resolve + Awareness for an active searcher) vs Wits + Stealth. This also applies to surprise attacks from Obfuscate – a victim always has a chance to sense the danger a moment before the strike.

LEVEL 1

CHAMELEON SKIN

Obfuscate •

Amalgam: Protean •

The vampire and their belongings take on the facsimile of their surroundings. The scenery behind them is matched for texture, color, and general pattern, allowing for limited camouflage.

Cost: Free

System: The user spends one turn matching their surroundings within a reasonably consistent tone and texture. If there is too much ordered pattern or bold differences, the effect is still attempted but far more obvious as the tone fails to match as well (i.e. murals, mosaics, lots of thin trees). This effect is maintained under mechanical surveillance but the footage and recording will show distortions around them. While utilizing this ability, they may move slowly and remain hidden. Moving with any real speed causes the effect to distort and become obvious.

Observers not utilizing Sense the Unseen may detect a camouflaged vampire by succeeding a contested Wits + Awareness vs Wits + Stealth roll.

Duration: One scene

_{Homebrew Content, pg. XX}

CLOAK OF SHADOWS

Obfuscate •

Standing perfectly still, the user blends into the surroundings. As long as they have some kind of cover, make no sound, and don’t move, only mechanical or supernatural means can detect them.

Cost: Free

System: Follow the general rules for Obfuscate. The effect lasts until the user moves or they are detected by other means. Additionally the vampire can place a hand on up to two other individuals and Rouse the blood once for each to conceal them as well. As long as everyone in the group remains motionless, the power conceals all of them; the vampire makes any necessary rolls to remain hidden.

Duration: One scene

_{Core Rulebook, pg. 261
Edited per ReVamped, pg. 51}

SILENCE OF DEATH

Obfuscate •

Popular among the Banu Haqim, this power completely silences the user, nullifying all sound made by them. As with other Obfuscate powers, this only works on people within earshot and does not fool microphones or other electronic sound detectors. Unlike Obfuscate in general, this power works only on the sense of hearing, but in exchange operates more robustly. A vampire needs to make a whole lot of noise to break this silence.

Cost: Free

System: The user silences their footsteps, clothing, minor collisions, and other sounds of their person. This makes the vampire undetectable if an observer could only notice them by sound, such as when on a different floor of a house.

This power does not eliminate sounds the user makes outside their personal space (throwing or dropping objects, or slamming doors, for example). Failing that, only Sense of the Unseen (Auspex •) can detect the user.

Duration: One scene

_{Core Rulebook, pg. 261}

TOUCH OF SHADOW

Obfuscate •

Rather than disguising themselves or their movements, some vampires focus on applying their Obfuscate to the world around them. This power allows them to supernaturally conceal any objects on their person: anything from a stolen wallet to an inconvenient corpse.

Cost: Free

System: This power conceals a single inanimate object no larger than an average duffle bag. As long as the object does not leave the vampire's possession and is not used in a violent or attention- drawing action, observers will overlook it completely.

An observer who knows exactly what they're looking for, with some specificity, can see through this power without requiring a roll: "the Regent's notes on her new warding ritual" is specific enough, but "stolen papers" is not.

Duration: One Scene

_{Homebrew Content, pg. XX}

LEVEL 2

DOUBLETALK

Obfuscate ••

Amalgam: Auspex •

Whereas most Kindred use the powers of Obfuscate to hide objects or their own actions, some Kindred use it to mask their speech. The user can say one thing and secretly convey another to a specific person without bystanders being none the wiser. This is the power to use when flirting with the Prince’s boyfriend right in front of their face.

Cost: One Rouse Check

System: The Kindred adds a secret message (up to one sentence) to their words that only a single intended listener can hear. Anyone else present only picks up the message if they can beat the user’s Composure + Obfuscate with their Wits + Auspex.

Duration: One utterance

_{Blood-Stained Love, pg. 152}

CHIMERSTRY

Obfuscate ••

Amalgam: Presence •

The vampire can create brief but vivid hallucinations, distracting and drawing the attention of those affected. A hallucination can affect any single sense — it can be visual, auditory, tactile, etc. — and occurs long enough to make an impression before ceasing. The user decides on the specifics of the hallucination, though due to its brief nature it cannot convey more than something glimpsed in the corner of the eye or a voice faintly heard (it cannot be employed to create a fake ID, for example).

Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Manipulation + Obfuscate vs Composure + Wits

System: The vampire rolls their Manipulation + Obfuscate. Anyone unprepared and within eyesight of the vampire and eligible to experience the hallucination (by being in line of sight of its projected appearance, or by being the target of a tactile sensation) is distracted, losing two dice on their next action. Additionally, those who fail to resist using their Composure + Wits lose their next active action if they fail. (However, they can still defend and resist as normal, with a two-dice penalty.) Unlike most Presence powers Chimerstry can be used during a stressful physical conflict such as combat, but targets can only be affected once per conflict.

Other effects resulting from the hallucination are up to the Storyteller, but they are advised to err on the side of caution.

These hallucinations can never be recorded or transmitted (such as by using Ghost in the Machine).

Duration: One turn

_{Players Guide, pg. 76}

Vampires and other supernatural creatures have a chance to disbelieve the hallucination, but mortals can do this only if they have reason to suspect it to be fake. In both cases they roll Intelligence + Awareness against the user’s Manipulation + Presence. A success means that the individual in question is no longer affected by the hallucination, and it effectively disappears for them. Any attempt to interact with the hallucination also causes it to lapse entirely, as everyone present becomes aware of its unreal nature (as with the collapsing staircase example, if someone is using the staircase). Note that the use of this power is not overt, so even if the hallucination is revealed, it is not obvious from whom it originated.

These hallucinations can never be recorded or transmitted (such as by using Ghost in the Machine). If the hallucination could cause Frenzy or similar reactions in its targets, apply the same test at a Difficulty of one lower than the real thing.

Duration: One scene, unless the vampire chooses to let it lapse before that.

_{Players Guide, pg. 77}

GHOST IN THE MACHINE

Obfuscate •••

The user can now transmit the effects of Obfuscate through electronic media, allowing the vampire to appear invisible or masked when viewed live on screen. If an observer views the image later, as in a photograph or recording, the effect lessens: the image seems slightly blurred, making identification hard. In addition, automated surveillance has a tendency to glitch in the presence of the vampire, lessening their chance of being caught by automated systems.

Cost: No additional cost

System: No additional roll is required when being viewed on a live feed. Treat observers as present with the vampire, with regard to the Discipline. The observer adds +3 to their Difficulty on tests to identify the user on film, video, in photographs, or the like taken during active Obfuscation. The user also gains three additional dice to pools they use when trying to circumvent automated electronic surveillance and countermeasures.

Duration: As power used

_{Core Rulebook, pg. 262}

MASK OF A THOUSAND FACES

Obfuscate •••

Instead of disappearing, the vampire using this power can make themselves appear as a nondescript stranger, someone expected to be present in the area. Unlike other Obfuscate powers, this allows the user to interact and communicate with those they might run into. They arouse little suspicion as long as their presence is at all plausible (meaning that it will not fool people who do not expect anyone or would be hostile against anyone they didn’t know). The power also does not provide any personal identification or other ways of misleading an identity check.

Cost: One Rouse Check

System: No test is required. Anyone viewing the vampire sees a forgettable face of the same gender and approximate build and height as the user. Clothes take on the same kind of blandness, depending on the environment. At an office the user might appear as a nightwatchman, while they may seem to wear overalls at an assembly plant. Sense the Unseen (Auspex •) can pierce the power as usual.

Duration: One scene

_{Core Rulebook, pg. 262}

MASK OF ISOLATION

Obfuscate •••

Amalgam: Dominate •

Subtle but effective, this power forces the effect of Mask of a Thousand Faces on an unwitting subject. The victim will no longer be seen for who they are, even by those closest to them. Often employed over a longer period of time, the power is used by those who want to break their subject subtly but utterly, cutting them off from means and society to the point that they’ll do anything to escape such a fate.

Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Manipulation + Obfuscate vs. Charisma + Insight

System: The user locks eyes with the victim and must then succeed at a Manipulation + Obfuscate vs. Charisma + Insight test. On a win, the effect lasts for one night, plus one for each success in the margin. While under its effect, the victim is treated as employing Mask of a Thousand Faces, and is unable to be recognized by anyone. (The user can try to persuade friends and family with a Composure + Persuade test, but even when presenting proofs, the apprehension caused by this particular power will make it hard to convince them.)

If the subject is ever made aware of the power being used on them the effect ends, and the power cannot be employed on someone aware of its effects: It relies on the unconscious ignorance of the victim to remain active. As use of the power isn’t overt, it can be reapplied repeatedly though, so long as the user doesn’t reveal their intent.

In most chronicles, use of this power to break someone should merit Stains.

Duration: One night plus one additional night for each success in the margin

_{Sabbat Sect Book, pg. 48}

MENTAL MAZE

Obfuscate •••

Amalgam: Dominate •

Mental Maze is the ability to remove all sense of direction and location from a victim, allowing the vampire to make their target a prisoner in their current environment, such as a home, a nightclub, or a vampire’s cellar. The victim finds their location folding back on itself, subtly altering their perception of previously visited rooms, convincing them that an actual exit only leads deeper into the maze, and eventually breaking them down into a state of panic and fragility.

Cost: One or Three Rouse Checks

Dice Pools: Charisma + Obfuscate vs. Wits + Resolve

System: The vampire makes eye contact with their victim and rolls Charisma + Obfuscate versus the target’s Wits + Resolve, with lower Generation vampires being able to negate the roll with a Willpower point as per Dominate’s characteristics (Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 255). On a win, the victim struggles to find their way out of the building they’re in. An additional two Rouse Checks allows this power to be used in a single room or a densely packed outdoor environment (such as a construction site or forest).

Mortals cannot attempt to escape but supernatural creatures can make a Resolve + Awareness test each scene using the vampire’s initial successes as the Difficulty, suffering a point of Superficial Willpower damage for every missing success if they fail. This roll cannot benefit from Teamwork, as any guidance given does not match what the victim sees. This power ends if the environment becomes dangerous (e.g. the building catches fire), unless the vampire has Terminal Decree (Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 257).

Duration: One night

_{Players guide, pg. 77}

MIND MASQUE

Obfuscate •••

Amalgam: Dominate ••

The vampire can craft the illusion of a completely different persona, hiding their true thoughts and feelings to anyone who uses supernatural abilities to read their mental state, aura, thoughts, or similar. Those who look into their mind see only what the user wants them to see, and only the most accomplished scryers can pierce this elaborate facade.

Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pool: Intelligence + Obfuscate

System: The user rolls Intelligence + Obfuscate against a Difficulty of 1 to 3 (or more), depending on the sophistication of the ruse they want to enact, with 1 representing a simple masking of their emotional state to 3 and beyond for elaborate alternate personas complete with false thoughts and memories. The margin on the win is added as Difficulty to any attempt to “read” them. Failing to reach the added Difficulty lets the reader see only the false personality the user has crafted, without any hint that the reader is being misled. (Failing to reach even the standard Difficulty yields nothing, as normal, so as not to let on that a false personality is present.)

Duration: One scene

_{Players Guide, pg. 78}

SPIRIT JAUNT

Obfuscate •••

Amalgam: Oblivion ••

While only master necromancers can truly cross over to the other side of the Shroud, certain Samedi have developed a simpler trick. By offering a sacrifice of vitae to the loa, they can take on some properties of a ghost for a short time.

Cost: One Rouse Check

System: The necromancer spills their blood and speaks a short prayer, then disappears into the Shroud itself, moving through the liminal space between worlds. In this state they can move in any direction, unimpeded by obstacles, but cannot interact physically with anything in either world. They see objects and beings in the Shadowlands as silhouettes overlaid on the Skinlands, though they cannot themselves be seen by anyone without a method of detecting ghosts (Oblivion Sight, Sense the Unseen). Some necromancers combine this with Sepulchre Voice to allow themselves to be heard while incorporeal.

Duration: Exactly one hour. Deactivating this power before its duration runs out inflicts one point of Aggravated Willpower damage.

_{Homebrew Content, pg. XX}

LEVEL 4

CONCEAL

Obfuscate ••••

Amalgam: Auspex •••

This ability allows the user to cloak an inanimate object such as a door, a car, or a small house. As with other Obfuscate powers, this does not actually make the object invisible, but creates a lingering hypnotic effect that causes most people to simply ignore it. In this case the power is especially effective, given that the object is unlikely to call attention to itself. Unless something causes passersby to collide with it or someone points it out, people behave as if the object wasn’t there, moving around larger objects if need be.

Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Intelligence + Obfuscate

System: The vampire touches the object and rolls a test of Intelligence + Obfuscate against a Difficulty from 2 (Concealing a ring in a drawer filled with other memorabilia) to 6 (Concealing a house in the middle of an open square), depending on the target’s size and location. The power lasts for one night. Each point of margin on the win conceals the object for an additional night.

This power conceals anyone and anything inside the object (e.g., people in a car or shed), as long as the viewer remains outside. This power cannot affect anything larger than a two-story house or any object moving under its own power (such as a moving car). Someone with the Auspex power Sense the Unseen (or equivalent) can notice the object by winning a contest of Wits + Auspex vs the Intelligence + Obfuscate of the user.

Duration: One night, with an additional night per point of margin on the win.

_{Core Rulebook, pg. 262}

VANISH

Obfuscate ••••

Prerequisite: Cloak of Shadows

The vampire can activate Cloak of Shadows and Unseen Passage even while under direct observation. The vampire appears to vanish in the blink of an eye; even the memory of them becomes foggy and indistinct.

Cost: As per power augmented

Dice Pools: Wits + Obfuscate vs Wits + Awareness

System: When vanishing in front of a mortal, roll a contest of Wits + Obfuscate vs Wits + Awareness. On a win, the observer questions whether the vampire was ever there to begin with; their memory clouds on the topic. With a critical win, the vampire vanishes entirely from the observer’s memory. This power does not affect vampires’ memories, but any win by the user hides them as if they initiated their power unobserved. This power can only be used once per scene.

Duration: As per power augmented

_{Core Rulebook, pg. 262}

LEVEL 5

CLOAK THE GATHERING

Obfuscate •••••

The vampire can shelter their companions under the cloak of Obfuscate.

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

System: The vampire can extend their power of Obfuscation to a number of additional willing subjects equal to their Wits, plus one for each additional Rouse Check made. The Obfuscate power used on the group can be any known to the user, and every member of the group count as having used it on themselves, using the Obfuscating vampire’s rating as their own when needed for a roll. Members of the group can still perceive each other while under the effects of the power. If anyone besides the user is revealed, either through their own doing or an astute observer, the rest of the group remains hidden. If the user is revealed, so is everyone else.

Duration: As power extended

_{Core Rulebook, pg. 263}

IMPOSTER'S GUISE

Obfuscate •••••

Prerequisite: Mask of a Thousand Faces

With some preparation the vampire can make themselves appear as a specific individual of any build and gender. The user must carefully study the subject, otherwise the charade fails when meeting anyone with more than a casual familiarity with the person being mimicked.

Cost: One Rouse Check

Dice Pools: Wits + Obfuscate, Manipulation + Performance

System: The user must study the face to be copied for at least five minutes, from different angles. The user requires another ten minutes of observation to mimic the subject’s voice and mannerisms. The user can only copy human appearance, not animal form. The Storyteller then makes a hidden test of Wits + Obfuscate (Difficulty 4). A failure means that the resemblance is less than convincing, and anyone close to the person copied notices something amiss automatically. A win creates a convincing illusion, but the user must make a Manipulation + Performance roll to impersonate speech and mannerisms. A critical win creates a perfect illusion with no further roll necessary. Sense the Unseen (Auspex •) can pierce the mask as per General Rules.

Duration: One scene

_{Core Rulebook, pg. 263}

Party Monsters

Obfuscate

OBFUSCATE

Contents

CHARACTERISTICS

LEVEL 1

CHAMELEON SKIN

CLOAK OF SHADOWS

SILENCE OF DEATH

TOUCH OF SHADOW

LEVEL 2

DOUBLETALK

CHIMERSTRY

GHOST'S PASSING

RIVER OF DREAMS

UNSEEN PASSAGE

VENTRILOQUISM

LEVEL 3

FATA MORGANA

GHOST IN THE MACHINE

MASK OF A THOUSAND FACES

MASK OF ISOLATION

MENTAL MAZE

MIND MASQUE

SPIRIT JAUNT

LEVEL 4

CONCEAL

VANISH

LEVEL 5

CLOAK THE GATHERING

IMPOSTER'S GUISE

INTELLIGENCE DOSSIER

GAME INFORMATION

WORLD INFORMATION

Tools

Personal tools