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
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
SEPULCHRE VOICE
Dominate •
Amalgam: Oblivion •
Developed as a way of establishing contact with the restless dead, the necromancer's voice becomes forceful, rattling like iron chains and abyssal tides in the minds of those listening. While it doesn't force obedience, the Famiglia della Morte has found it easy enough to apply their usual methods of "persuasion" once the interaction has begun.
Cost: One Rouse Check
Dice Pools: Charisma + Dominate vs Intelligence + Resolve
System: Add your Oblivion rating to any Skill roll involving Persuasion or Intimidation, as well as to other Charisma-related rolls, at the Storyteller’s discretion. Anyone aware that they’re being affected can try to resist with a contest of Intelligence + Resolve vs the user’s Charisma + Dominate.
While activated your voice will also manifest in the Shadowlands. Any wraiths in the vicinity will hear you, and if the Shroud is thin enough, can choose to respond. Their own voice carrying through like a faint murmur in the wind, or a whisper in the corner of the room.
Duration: One scene or until intentionally ended
SLAVISH DEVOTION
Dominate •
Amalgam: Fortitude •
Those already under the mental dominion of the vampire have their minds strengthened against interference from other Kindred.
Cost: No additional cost
Dice Pools: Charisma + Dominate vs Intelligence + Resolve
System: Any attempt by a third party to use Dominate on a character already under the influence of the vampire’s Dominate suffers a dice penalty equal to the Fortitude of the vampire.
Duration: Passive
LEVEL 2
BLOOD LEASH
Dominate ••
Amalgam: Presence •
Your blood carries the power of your will, regardless of how long it has been outside your body.
Cost: As Dominate power used
Dice Pools: As Dominate power used
System: When someone tastes your blood, you may immediately use one of your Dominate powers on them without having to make eye contact or issue a verbal command. You must pay the cost and roll any dice pools as is normal with the power. While the blood doesn't have to be taken directly from your veins, this power cannot be called upon if it is mixed with the blood of others as in the Vaulderie chalice.
Duration: Passive
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...
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| 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.
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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 especially relish 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 Vampire: The Masquerade, pp. 233–244.)
Duration: One month
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.
LEVEL 3
COMMAND THYSELF
Dominate •••
You can turn your Dominate inwards, convincing yourself that lies are the truth. This isn’t used for the purpose of self-deception, but rather to resist supernatural interrogation.
Cost: One Rouse Check
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Dominate
System: Spend at least one hour in deep meditation, self-hypnosis, or some other form of isolated, intense thought. During this hour, you craft elaborate false memories; of your sire’s identity, the circumstances of your Embrace, your journey to the current city, and more. On a success, any attempt to use supernatural powers to interrogate you, or read your mind, fail. Be wary, however: On a failure, your memories become so jumbled that you always seem to be lying about who you are or what you want.
Duration: One month, or until a trigger set by you when enacting this power (tell your Storyteller what it is).
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
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).
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
LEVEL 4
ANCESTRAL DOMINION
Dominate ••••
Amalgam: Blood Sorcery ••
Prerequisite: Mesmerize
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 by Blood 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. Resolve + Occult
System: On a successful test of Manipulation + Dominate against Resolve + Occult, the victim acts to fulfill the dominating ancestor’s request, provided it doesn’t entail harming themself. For every generation separating the user of this power from their target, the resisting vampire gains an additional die to their roll. For example, when a ninth generation vampire attempts to use this power on an eleventh generation descendant, the descendant gains two extra dice in defense. The power needs neither eye contact nor verbal command — the request is silently transmitted from Blood to Blood — but it is subject to all other Dominate limitations.
Duration: Until the command is carried out or the scene ends, whichever comes first.
IMPLANT SUGGESTION
Dominate ••••
Amalgam: Presence •
The vampire possesses the power to change the very personality or opinions of a subject, at least temporarily. While other powers enable them to puppeteer mindless victims, this power lets them alter the intents or passions of a victim instead. They can make someone desire a stranger, abandon their family, distrust their own beliefs, or simply want a beer. Vampires known to utilize this power indiscriminately often find themselves shunned by their peers, whether from disdain or utter fear.
Cost: One Rouse Check
Dice Pools: Manipulation + Dominate vs Composure + Resolve
System: No test is required against an unprepared mortal victim, but a prepared mortal or another vampire requires a test of Manipulation + Dominate against Composure + Resolve. Radical changes to core beliefs – making a vegan crave a steak or making a pacifist violent, for example – also merit an attempt to resist, even by unprepared mortals. The suggestion remains in effect for a scene, at which point the victim snaps out of it.
Duration: One scene
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
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
WHISPERS OF UNREASON
Dominate ••••
Prerequisite: Dementaiton
This advanced form of Dementation allows a Cainite to erode the rational thoughts of large groups; scratching away at their self-composure with undermining quips, nebulous jargon, and long plodding tales without end.
Cost: Two Rouse Checks
Dice Pools: Manipulation + Dominate vs Composure + Intelligence
System: After engaging in conversation with a group of victims, the vampire can activate this power. For the duration of the Scene, the vampire may attack as many mortals or vampires that can hear their voice. Each turn the user makes a Manipulation + Dominate vs Composure + Intelligence conflict against the strongest opponent in the group, causing Superficial damage to Willpower. A mortal who becomes Impaired by this power experiences a nervous breakdown or psychotic break, the nature of which depends on their personality. A vampire that becomes Impaired by this power must immediately succumb to a Compulsion, as chosen by the power’s user. This power cannot be used over electronic devices or through recorded media.
Duration: One scene
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
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
