View source for Auspex - V20

;[[Disciplines]] / [[Discipline Techniques]]

== <span style="color:#800000;">Introduction ==
Auspex gives the vampire uncanny sensory abilities.
She starts with the capacity to heighten her natural
senses significantly, but as she grows in power, she can
perceive psychic auras and read the thoughts of another
being. Auspex can also pierce through mental illusions
such as those created by Obfuscate — see the sidebar
“Seeing the Unseen” on p. 142 for more.

However, a vampire with Auspex needs to be careful.
Her increased sensory sensitivity can cause her to be
drawn in by beautiful things or stunned by loud noises or pungent smells. Sudden or dynamic events can
disorient an Auspex-using character unless her player
makes a Willpower roll to block them out (difficulty of
at least 4, although the more potent the source of distraction, the higher the difficulty). Failure overwhelms
the character’s senses, making her oblivious to her surroundings for a turn or two. While the Malkavians and
Toreador are more prone to these kinds of distractions,
the Tremere and Tzimisce aren’t immune.

Dots in Perception are very useful for using Auspex
powers, as more successes help the character gain more
sensory information.
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<span style="font-size:large">●</span> <span style="color:#800000;"> '''Heightened Senses''' </span><br>
This power increases the acuity of all of the vampire’s senses, effectively doubling the clarity and range
of sight, hearing, and smell. While her senses of taste
and touch extend no farther than normal, they likewise become far more distinct; the vampire could taste
the hint of liquor in a victim’s blood or feel the give of
the board concealing a hollow space in the floor. The
Kindred may magnify her senses at will, sustaining this
heightened focus for as long as she desires. At the Storyteller’s option, this may make hunting easier.

Occasionally, this talent provides extrasensory or
even precognitive insights. These brief, unfocused
glimpses may be odd premonitions, flashes of empathy,
or eerie feelings of foreboding. The vampire has no
control over these perceptions, but with practice can
learn to interpret them with a fair degree of accuracy.

Expanded senses come at a price, however. Bright
lights, loud noises and strong smells present a hazard
while the vampire uses this power. In addition to the
possibility for distraction, an especially sudden or potent stimulus (like the glare of a spotlight or a clap of
thunder) can blind or deafen the Kindred for an hour
or more.

<span style="color:#800000;">'''System:'''</span> It takes a reflexive action to activate this
ability, but no roll or other cost is required. In certain
circumstances, dice rolls associated with using the
character’s sense (such as Perception + Alertness) decrease in difficulty by a number equal to the character’s
Auspex rating when the power is engaged. 

</span> <span style="color:#800000;">''Caveat: As a house rule we have changed this power, it gives you a number of extra dice equal to your Auspex rating on all Perception rolls.''</span>

The Storyteller may also use this power to see if the
character perceives a threat. In this case, the Storyteller privately rolls the character’s unmodified Auspex
rating, applying whatever difficulty he feels best suits
the circumstances. For example, sensing that a pistol is
pointed at the back of the character’s head may require
a roll of difficulty 5, while the sudden realization that
a rival for Primogen is planning her assassination may
require a 9. Note that even this “precognition” comes
only as a result of interpreting details the Kindred is
able to notice. It’s not an all-purpose insight or miraculous revelation.

At the character’s discretion, she may selectively
heighten one specific sense, rather than leaving them
all on. In these cases, the difficulty to perceive stimuli using that sense drops by one, but the difficulty to
avoid distraction or temporary bedazzlement increases
by one.

This power does not let characters see in pitch darkness, as does Eyes of the Beast (p. 199), but it does reduce difficulty penalties to act in such darkness from
+2 to +1, and the character may make ranged attacks
in pitch darkness if she can hear, smell, or otherwise detect her foe.
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<span style="font-size:large">●●</span> <span style="color:#800000;"> '''Aura Perception''' </span><br>
Using this power, the vampire can perceive the psychic “auras” that radiate from mortals and supernatural
beings alike. These halos comprise a shifting series of
colors that take practice to discern with clarity. Even
the simplest individual has many shifting hues within
his aura; strong emotions predominate, while momentary impressions or deep secrets flash through in streaks
and swirls.

The colors change in sympathy with the subject’s
emotional state, blending into new tones in a constantly dancing pattern. The stronger the emotions
involved, the more intense the hues become. A skilled
vampire can learn much from her subject by reading
the nuances of color and brilliance in the aura’s flow.

Aside from perceiving emotional states, vampires use
Aura Perception to detect supernatural beings. The
colors in Kindred auras, while intense, are quite pale;
mage halos often flare and crackle with arcane power;
the race of shape-shifters has strikingly bright, almost
frantic, auras; ghosts have weak auras that flicker fitfully like a dying flame; and faerie creatures’ radiance is
shot through with capricious rainbow hues.

<span style="color:#800000;">'''System:'''</span> After the character stares at the subject for
at least a few seconds, the player rolls Perception + Empathy (difficulty 8); each success indicates how much
of the subject’s aura the character sees and understands
(see the table below). A failure indicates that the play
of colors and patterns yields no prevailing impression.
A botch indicates a false or erroneous interpretation.
The Storyteller may wish to make this roll, thus keeping the player in the dark as to the veracity of the character’s interpretation.

<span style="color:#800000;">'''Successes --   Result'''</span><br>
1 success    --  Can distinguish only the shade (pale or bright).<br>
2 successes  --  Can distinguish the main color.<br>
3 successes  --  Can recognize the color patterns.<br>
4 successes  --  Can detect subtle shifts.<br>
5 successes  --  Can identify mixtures of color and pattern.<br>

The Aura Colors chart offers some example ideas
of common colors and the emotions they reflect that
Storytellers can use. Note that it is nearly impossible
to determine with certainty if a particular character is
lying or not with this power – vampires are inherently
deceitful by nature, but even mortals might react with
anxiety to questions while still being truthful. It is,
however, helpful in determine the target’s emotional
state, which might lead the vampire to decide that a
particular target is suspicious.

{|  class="wikitable"
|+ Aura Colors
|-
! Condition !! Color
|-
| Afraid || Orange
|-
| Aggressive || Purple 
|-
| Angry || Red 
|-
| Bitter || Brown 
|-
| Calm || Light Blue 
|-
| Compassionate || Pink  
|-
| Conservative || Lavender 
|-
| Depressed || Gray 
|-
| Desirous or Lustful || Deep Red 
|-
| Distrustful || Light Green 
|-
| Envious || Dark Green  
|-
| Excited || Violet 
|-
| Generous || Rose 
|-
| Happy || Vermilion 
|-
| Hateful || Black 
|-
| Idealistic || Yellow  
|-
| Innocent || White 
|-
| Lovestruck || Blue 
|-
| Obsessed || Green 
|-
| Sad || Silver 
|-
| Spiritual || Gold  
|-
| Suspicious || Dark Blue 
|-
| Anxious || Auras appear scrambled like static or white noise 
|-
| Confused || Mottled, shifting colors 
|-
| Diablerist || Black veins in aura 
|-
| Daydreaming || Sharp flickering colors  
|-
| Frenzied || Rapidly rippling colors 
|-
| Psychotic || Hypnotic, swirling colors
|-
| Vampire || Aura colors are pale 
|-
| Ghoul || Pale blotches in the aura 
|-
| Magic Use || Myriad sparkles in aura  
|-
| Werebeast || Bright, vibrant aura 
|-
| Ghost || Weak, intermittent aura 
|-
| Faerie || Rainbow highlights in aura 
|-
| Demon || --- 
|-
| Gallu || ---  
|}

A character may choose to perform a very cursory
aura scan of a large area like a nightclub’s dance floor
or the audience in a gallery. In this case, the player
decides which characteristic of auras she’s looking for,
and that’s the only information she’s able to glean if
the roll is successful. (At the Storyteller’s discretion,
on this general scan roll, more successes on the roll
may more quickly yield what the character seeks.) For
example, the player may specify, “Who’s the most nervous person in attendance?” or 
“Are there any vampirically pale auras among the CEO’s entourage?” Thereafter, the player may narrow down her scrutiny of a
single individual, with an additional roll as normal.

The character may focus in on a particular subject’s
aura only once per scene with any degree of clarity.
Any subsequent attempts that result in failure should
be considered botches. It is very easy for the character
to imagine seeing what she wants to see when judging someone’s intentions. After 24 hours, the character
may try again at no penalty.

It is possible, though difficult, to sense the aura of a
being who is otherwise invisible to normal sight. Refer
to “Seeing the Unseen,”  below, for more information.
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{|  class="wikitable"
|+ Seeing the Unseen
|-
|<span style="font-size:large">●</span><span style="color:#800000;">'''Auspex:'''</span> enables Kindred to perceive many things beyond the limits of lesser senses.<br> 
Among its many uses, Auspex can detect the presence of a supernatural being who is hidden from normal sight (a vampire using<br> 
Obfuscate, for example, or a ghost) or pierce illusions created by the Discipline of Chimerstry. Note: “Normal sight” includes<br> 
regular, non-Auspex use of the Awareness skill.<br> 
|-
|<span style="font-size:large">●</span><span style="color:#800000;">'''Obfuscate:'''</span> When a vampire tries to use her
heightened perceptions to notice a Kindred
hidden with Obfuscate, she detects the sub-
ject’s presence if her Auspex rating is higher
than his Obfuscate, and she succeeds at a
Perception + Awareness roll (difficulty equals
7 minus the number of dots by which her
Auspex exceeds his Obfuscate). Conversely,
if the target’s Obfuscate outranks her Auspex,
he remains undiscovered. If the two ratings
are equal, both characters make a resisted roll
of Perception + Awareness (Auspex user)
against Manipulation + Subterfuge (Obfuscate
user). The difficulty for both rolls is 7, and the
character with the most successes wins.
|-
|<span style="font-size:large">●</span><span style="color:#800000;">'''Chimerstry:'''</span> Likewise, vampires with
Auspex may seek to penetrate illusions cre-
ated with Chimerstry. The Auspex-wielder
must actively seek to pierce the illusion (i.e.,
the player must tell the Storyteller that his
character is trying to detect an illusion).
The Auspex-user and Chimerstry-wielder
then compare relative ratings, per Obfuscate,
above. The process is otherwise identical to
piercing Obfuscate.
|-
|<span style="font-size:large">●</span><span style="color:#800000;">'''Other Powers:'''</span> Since the powers of beings
like magi and wraiths function differently
from vampiric Disciplines, a simple compari-
son of relative ratings isn’t applicable. To keep
things simple, both characters make a resisted
roll. The vampire rolls Perception + Aware-
ness, while the subject rolls Manipulation +
Subterfuge. Again, the difficulty is 7, and the
character with the most successes wins.
|}
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<span style="font-size:large">●●●</span> <span style="color:#800000;"> '''The Spirit’s Touch'''</span><br>
When someone handles an object for any length
of time, he leaves a psychic impression on the item.
A vampire with this level of Auspex can “read” these
sensations, learning who handled the object, when he
last held it, and what was done with it recently. 

<span style="color:#800000;">''For these purposes, a corpse counts as an “object” and can be read accordingly.''</span> 

These visions are seldom clear
and detailed, registering more like a kind of “psychic snapshot.” Still, the Kindred can learn much even
from such a glimpse. Although most visions concern
the last person to handle the item, a long-time owner
leaves a stronger impression than someone who held
the object briefly.

Gleaning information from the spiritual residue re-
quires the vampire to hold the object and enter a shallow trance. She is only marginally aware of her surroundings while using The Spirit’s Touch, but a loud
noise or jarring physical sensation breaks the trance
instantly.

<span style="color:#800000;">'''System:'''</span> The player rolls Perception + Empathy. The
difficulty is determined by the age of the impressions
and the mental and spiritual strength of the person or
event that left them. Sensing information from a pistol used for a murder hours ago may require a 4, while
learning who owned a bloodstained puppet fashioned a century ago might be a 9.

The greater the individual’s emotional connection
to the object, the stronger the impression he leaves
on it — and the more information the Kindred can
glean from it. Events involving strong emotions (a gift-
giving, a torture, a long family history) likewise leave
stronger impressions than short or casual contact do.
Assume that each success offers one piece of information, as per the chart below.

<span style="color:#800000;">'''Successes -- Information'''</span><br>
Botch        --  The character is overwhelmed by psychic impressions for the next scene and unable to act.<br>
Failure      --  No information of value.<br>
1 success    --  Very basic information: the last owner’s gender or hair color, for instance.<br>
2 successes  --  A second piece of basic information.<br>
3 successes  --  More useful information about the last owner, such as age and state of mind the last time he used the item.<br>
4 successes  --  The person’s name.<br>
5+ successes --  A wealth of information: nearly anything you want to know about the person’s relationship with that object is available.<br>

At the Storyteller’s discretion, some impressions
on objects may be so strong — a knife plunged into
Caesar’s breast, the tip of the Spear of Destiny, a fang
pulled from the maw of Dracula — that any use of this
power may be deemed a success.
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<span style="font-size:large">●●●●</span> <span style="color:#800000;"> '''Telepathy'''</span><br>
The vampire projects a portion of her consciousness
into a nearby mortal’s mind, creating a mental link
through which she can communicate wordlessly or
even read the target’s deepest thoughts. The Kindred
“hears” in her own mind the thoughts plucked from a
subject as if they were spoken to her.

This is one of the most potent vampiric abilities,
since, given time, a Kindred can learn virtually any-
thing from a subject without him ever knowing. The
Tremere and Tzimisce in particular find this power especially useful in gleaning secrets from others, or for
directing their mortal followers with silent precision.

<span style="color:#800000;">'''System:'''</span> The player rolls Intelligence + Subterfuge
(difficulty of the subject’s current Willpower points).
Projecting thoughts into the target’s mind requires one
success. The subject recognizes that the thoughts come
from somewhere other than his own consciousness,
though he cannot discern their actual origin without a
successful Perception + Awareness roll (difficulty equal
to the vampire’s Manipulation + Subterfuge).

To read minds, one success must be rolled for each
item of information plucked or each layer of thought
pierced. Deep secrets or buried memories are harder to
obtain than surface emotions or unspoken comments,
requiring five or more successes to access.

Reading thoughts with Telepathy does not commonly work upon the undead mind. A character may
expend a Willpower point to make the effort, making the roll normally afterward. Likewise, it is equally
difficult to read the thoughts of other supernatural
creatures. However, the character may project her
thoughts without expending a Willpower point. These
thoughts, however, are still obviously intrusions into
the target’s mind, but the character may attempt to disguise her mental “voice” with a roll of Manipulation + Subterfuge (difficulty equals the target’s Perception + Awareness) so the target doesn’t recognize her as the “speaker.”

Storytellers are encouraged to describe thoughts as flowing streams of impressions and images, rather than as a sequence of prose (powers such as Telepathic Communication are of more use for that). Instead of making
flat statements like “He’s planning on killing his former lover’s new boyfriend,” say “You see a fleeting series
of visions: A couple kissing passionately in a doorway,
then the man walking alone at night; you suddenly see
your hands, knuckles white, wrapped around a steering wheel, with a figure crossing the street ahead; your
heart, mortal now and hammering with panic as you
hear the engine rev wildly; and above all, a blazing anger coupled with emotional agony and a panicked fear
of loss.” Such descriptions not only add to the story, but
they also force the player to interpret for herself what
her character gleans. After all, understanding minds —
especially highly emotional or deranged minds — is a
difficult and often puzzling task.
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<span style="font-size:large">●●●●●</span> <span style="color:#800000;"> '''Psychic Projection'''</span><br>
The Kindred with this awesome ability projects her
senses out of her physical shell, stepping from her body
as an entity of pure thought. The vampire’s astral form
is immune to physical damage or fatigue, and can “fly”
with blinding speed anywhere across the earth — or
even underground — so long as she remains below the
moon’s orbit.

The Kindred’s material form lies in a torpid state
while her astral self is active, and the vampire isn’t
aware of anything that befalls her body until she returns
to it. An ephemeral silver cord connects the Kindred’s
psyche to her body. If this cord is severed, her consciousness becomes stranded in the astral plane (the realm of
ghosts, spirits, and shades). Attempting to return to the
vampire’s physical shell is a long and terrifying ordeal,
especially since there is no guarantee that she will accomplish the journey successfully. This significant danger keeps many Kindred from leaving their bodies for
long, but those who dare can learn much.

<span style="color:#800000;">'''System:'''</span> Journeying in astral form requires the player
to expend a point of Willpower and make a Perception
+ Awareness roll. Difficulty varies depending on the distance and complexity of the intended trip; 5 is within
sight, 7 is nearby or to a familiar location, and 9 reflects a
trip far from familiar territory (a first journey from North
America to the Far East; trying to shortcut through the
earth). The greater the number of successes rolled, the
more focused the character’s astral presence is, and the
easier it is for her to reach her desired destination.

Failure means the character is unable to separate
her consciousness from her body, while a botch can
have nasty consequences — flinging her astral form to
a random destination on Earth or in the spirit realm,
arriving in a place where the sun is active (necessitating a frenzy roll, although the sunlight doesn’t do any
damage), or hurtling toward the desired destination so
forcefully that the silver cord snaps.

The player may spend a point of Willpower to activate this power, and an additional point of Willpower to
gain the success necessary to perform the jaunt. This is
an exception to the normal rule where a player may not
spend more than a single point of Willpower per turn.

Each scene in Psychic Projection requires another
point of Willpower and a new roll. Failure indicates
that the vampire has lost her way and must retrace the
path of her silver cord. A botch at this stage means the
cord snaps, stranding the character’s psychic form in
the mysterious astral plane.

An astral form may travel at great speeds (the Storyteller can use roughly 1000 miles per hour or 1500
kilometers per hour as a general guide) and carries no
clothing or material objects of any kind. Some artifacts
are said to exist in the spirit world, and the character
can try to use one of these tools if she finds one. The
character cannot bring such relics to the physical world
when she returns to her body, however.

Interaction with the physical world is impossible
while using Psychic Projection. At best, the character
may spend a Willpower point to manifest as a ghost-
like shape. This apparition lasts one turn before fading
away; while she can’t affect anything physically during this time, the character can speak. Despite lacking
physical substance, an astral character can use Auspex
normally. At the Storyteller’s discretion, such a character may employ some or all Animalism, Dementation, Dominate, Necromancy, Obtenebration, Presence, Thaumaturgy, and similar non-corporeal powers
she has, though this typically requires a minimum of
three successes on the initial Psychic Projection roll.

If two astral shapes encounter one another, they
interact as if they were solid. They may talk, touch,
and even fight as if both were in the material world.
Since they have no physical bodies, astral characters
seeking to interact “physically” substitute Mental and
Social Traits for Physical ones (Wits replaces Dexterity, Manipulation supplants Strength, and Intelligence
replaces Stamina). Due to the lack of a material form,
the only real way to damage another psychic entity is
to cut its silver cord. When fighting this way, consider
Willpower points to be health levels; when a combat-
ant loses all of her Willpower, the cord is severed.

Although an astrally projected character remains in
the reflection of the mortal world, she may venture further into the spirit realms, especially if she becomes
lost. Other beings with particular sensitivity to psychic
activity, such as ghosts, werewolves, and even some
magi, travel the astral plane as well, and can interact
with a vampire’s psychic presence normally (although
the astrally projected character is not considered a
“ghost” for powers such as Necromancy). The observing character notices the astrally projecting vampire
with a Perception + Awareness roll (difficulty 8), requiring more successes than the Psychic Projection
activation roll. Even those who do notice you won’t
be able to identify you; you are merely an immaterial
shade hovering in the general area. Storytellers are encouraged to make trips into the spirit world as bizarre,
mysterious, and dreamlike as possible. The world beyond is a vivid and fantastic place, where the true nature of things is stronger and often strikingly different
from their earthly appearances.
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;[[Auspex Archive]]