Might of the Heroes

Potence 9

History and mythology are full of heroes and gods capable of astounding feats of strength, such as Hercules, Thor, Atlas and Samson. Cainites often believe themselves on par with the heroes and demigods of legend. With this power, a vampire is able to perform some incredible acts of pure physical power.

System: Might of the Heroes grant a number of abilities that are always in effect. First, the character’s unarmed attacks strike with such force that they inflict lethal damage and the character has no risk of injuring himself from striking hard objects (so a Cainite with this power and no Fortitude can smash his fist into solid rock repeatedly and not even skin his knuckles). In effect, the character is able to destroy just about anything given enough time. This also means that the character is immune to powers that injure him when he strikes his opponent, such as the Fortitude power Armor of Kings.

Second, the muscles of the character’s legs can absorb the shock of a fall of any length — as long as the character lands on his feet, he takes no damage (generally, a roll of Dexterity + Athletics, difficulty 4, is enough to ensure such a landing).

Third, the difficulty of a Feat of Strength (see Dark Ages: Vampire, p. 228) is reduced to 6, making it even easier for the character to lift immensely heavy objects, and the increased Strength lasts for an entire scene, though it applies only to lifting and throwing. Still, this allows the character to use tree trunks as clubs (these generally inflict Strength +6 Bashing and are so large that they cannot be dodged and can strike more than one opponent at a time) and toss boulders like a catapult (see Spoils of War for the effect of siege engines).

In addition to this, the character can actually strike so hard that the force of the blow travels through the air, hitting a target yards away. In order to do this, the player spends a point of blood and makes a normal attack roll for a punch or kick. The target cannot dodge unless she knows what the character is attempting — for example, if he’s just seen the character using this ability on another — and even then, the dodge difficulty is 9. The punch or kick inflicts normal damage for the character (Strength lethal for a punch, Strength +1 lethal for a kick), but loses one die of damage for each yard beyond the first that it has to travel.