Celestial Harmony
- Celestial Harmony
This power is a little dangerous to use, but its effects are well worth any price the vampire may have to pay. It allows a Cainite to open up his mind to the river of thoughts and emotions created by the souls of those nearby, flooding his head with a torrent of unfamiliar images, voices and other less identifiable sensory input. Built in to this power, however, is a screening mechanism by which the user may be able to perceive at least general impressions of whose thoughts belong to who. This influx of information, coupled with the usual complement of skills possessed by elder vampires, provides a quick and efficient way of analyzing one's surroundings and gleaning the most useful information from them without having to expose oneself or interrogate those nearby.
For example, a Cainite with this power enters a local watering hole in a town unfamiliar to him. After activating this power, he becomes attuned to the souls of those nearby, his mind in harmony with theirs. After a few moments, he has learned that the waitress fears for his well-being (strangers aren't very welcome in this bar), the cashier behind him is single and looking, and the stocky man in the cheap suit is an undercover agent of some kind-all in addition to the unwanted realization that the burly trucker at the bar happens to be wearing ladies' underwear for some reason.
System: To activate his Celestial Harmony, the vampire's player must roll Willpower (difficulty 7). With each success garnered on this roll, the character can "tune in" for one turn. Successes and turns do not have to be used consecutively, and the vampire can turn the power on and off repeatedly throughout the scene, if so desired. If he activates the power twice in the same scene, however, or if he uses it more times than he has permanent Willpower in one night, he gains a new derangement (Storyteller's choice, based upon circumstances) that will plague him for the rest of the story. In addition, the character suffers a two-dice penalty to all Perception- and Wits-based rolls while celestially harmonizing.
Unfortunately, this brand of mass telepathy doesn't allow the user to shut out certain stimuli or "target" specific individuals. It is a floodgate into the vampire's mind, one which is either entirely open or entirely closed. If the user wishes to narrow his focus, after having received enough information through the use of his Celestial Harmony to get him started, he may simply shut this power off and activate Telepathy (Auspex 4) instead - a power better designed for such person-to-person intimacies.
