Obfuscate
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
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.
Duration: One scene
Core Rulebook, pg. 261
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
LEVEL 2
UNSEEN PASSAGE
Obfuscate ••
With this power, the vampire can now move around while staying hidden. The user is functionally invisible, per the usual Obfuscate limitations.
Cost: One Rouse Check
System: As long as the user emits no overpowering odors and no sound louder than a whisper, this power automatically works. Only if the observer has their attention drawn to the user can they make a detection roll.
Sense the Unseen (Auspex •) can also detect the hidden vampire, as per the general Obfuscate rules.
Note that the user cannot use this power to disappear while being actively observed; it automatically fails in such a case.
Duration: One scene or until detection
Core Rulebook, pg. 261
VENTRILOQUISM
Obfuscate ••
Amalgam: Auspex •••
The user can throw her voice so only the intended recipient hears her.
Cost: One Rouse Check
Dice Pools: Wits + Obfuscate
System: The user may send a telepathic message directly to the mind of a recipient within line of sight, which nobody else can hear or intercept. This message must be brief (no more than a dozen words or so). The person may then respond with a brief message of their own if they so desire. A person may choose to roll Resolve + Composure against the user’s Wits + Obfuscate to block out these messages if they do not want to hear them.
Duration: One scene or until detection
Fall of London, pg. 148
MENTAL MAZE
Obfuscate ••
Amalgam: Dominate •
Prerequisite: Cloud Memory
Serpents maintain that the power to Obfuscate is less about illusion and more about perception. 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 worse — 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 will only lead 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 personally speaks the words “you cannot escape” to 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 (see 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 (see Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 257).
Duration: One night
Cults of the Blood Gods, pg. 85
CHIMERSTRY
Obfuscate ••
Amalgam: Presence •
The vampire is able to create brief but vivid hallucinations, distracting and drawing the attention of those affected. A hallucination can affect any single sense — it can be visual, audial, tactile, etc. — occurring 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.)
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
V5 Companion, pg. 25
LEVEL 3
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
FATA MORGANA
Obfuscate •••
Amalgam: Presence ••
The vampire can craft elaborate hallucinations, making any subjects in their vicinity see, hear, and feel whatever the user can devise. From seeing and tasting a takeout container filled with maggots and rice to a thunderous torrent of reeking, rancid blood boiling out of the sewers, Fata Morgana causes witnesses to experience circumstances that just aren’t real.
There is no limit to the number of victims who can be affected simultaneously, but in order to be affected by Fata Morgana a subject needs to be able to see the user or vice versa, though they do not need to be actively aware of them. The vampire does not need to remain present once a victim is affected.
Visual effects are always separate objects. They cannot be used to "mask" or otherwise disguise items or individuals, and can never entirely block line of sight. Fata Morgana hallucinations cannot appear to affect the surrounding reality: The torrent of blood won’t wash away cars parked in the street or pedestrians, and an explosion created with Fata Morgana will not cause any damage, hallucinatory or otherwise. A collapsing staircase won’t tumble anyone currently descending the staircase. Sensory effects created by Fata Morgana cannot blind or deafen or in other ways overload senses, not even those supernaturally augmented. Similarly, hallucinations are not caught on camera or other kinds of recording devices.
Cost: One Rouse Check
Dice Pools: Manipulation + Obfuscate
System: The user makes a Manipulation + Obfuscate test against a Difficulty equal to one plus the number of senses the hallucination targets. (An audio-visual hallucination would thus be Difficulty 3, while a complete five-sensory experience would be Difficulty 6.) The easiest visual hallucinations to create are fairly small or discreet — increase the Difficulty by one for room-sized hallucinations, two for house-sized hallucinations, and so on. Further complications can add additional Difficulty, but that is left to the Storyteller’s discretion. Any attempt to mimic the appearance of a specific individual or in other ways deceive can require additional Performance or Subterfuge tests as appropriate.
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 will also cause it to lapse entirely, as everyone present will become 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).
Duration: One scene, unless the vampire chooses to let it lapse before that.
V5 Companion, pg. 26
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
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