Gaiman's Hand
Quote: "To absent friends, lost loves, old gods, and the season of mists; and may each and every one of us always give the devil his due." -- Neil Gaiman's Sandman
Description: Gaiman's Hand is a relatively new name for what in all likelihood is a very old variant of Auspex power: Steal Secrets. Like "Steal Secrets", Gaiman's Hand allows a vampire of significant skill or reasonable age to open a one-way conduit between his mind and that of a given subject. The difference between these two powers lies in the subject's states of consciousness, for "Steal Secrets" is designed to read the thoughts of the conscious mind, while "Gaiman's Hand allows the vampire to observe the subject dreams.
Unlike "Steal Secrets", the power of "Gaiman's Hand" requires emotional empathy instead of intellectual calculation. Another distinct difference between the two powers is that "Gaiman's Hand" requires considerable patience, for while the vampire with "Steal Secrets" can initiate the reading of his subject's mind at anytime the individual is awake, the observance of a subject's dreams depends upon the subject having not only fallen asleep, but begun the natural process of dreaming on his or her own natural cycle. A vampire using "Gaiman's Hand" may establish a link to his slumbering subject anytime after he or she has fallen asleep, but the vampiric voyeur of dreams has no power to initiate the process of dreaming in his victim's mind.
Let it be noted, that the subconscious mind is illogical and untamed, within it, dreams are often filled with contradiction, hyperbole and subtle inconsistencies that are beyond the control of the dreamer. Most dreamers cannot control what they dream and while dreams often reveal the general bent of the dreamer's mind, their dreams are rarely straight forward enough for the observer to accept the dream's meaning at face value. Dream interpretation is an ancient art and its lore can be found on stone tablets, the songs of indigenous peoples, modern websites or the dusty shelves of public libraries. Skill and experience are required to decipher the true meaning behind the most simplistic dreams and significant amounts of time can be spent determining the meaning behind the more convoluted dream sequences.
System: The player rolls Perception + Empathy at a difficulty of the subject's current Willpower. If the vampire is successful, then he or she may observe the subject's dreams for a number of scenes equal to the number of successes rolled. If the vampiric voyeur wishes to continue observing the subject's dreams after the allotted time, then the vampire must initiate the power again. Let it be noted that the minds of slumbering vampires and other supernaturals are naturally resistant to somnolent intrusion and to bypass this resistance, the vampiric observer of dreams must expend a temporary point of Willpower.
Once the link between the sleeper and the vampire has been established and the subject begins to dream, the vampire may with great difficulty influence the dreams of the dreamer. Instinctively, the dreamer may detect the vampire's alien presence and uncontrollably slip into a nightmare. To avoid triggering a nightmare, the vampire's player must roll Manipulation + Empathy at a difficulty of nine (9). Successes must be spent to counter the dreamer's instinctive reaction to the vampire's alien presence and prevent a nightmare from occurring. If the vampire in question is unconcerned with the likelihood of a nightmare or actively seeks to trigger one, he or she need to nothing out of the ordinary.
In addition, should the vampire wish to control the flow of the dream, adding details or changing the flavor, then a second roll of Manipulation + Empathy must be made at the same difficulty (9). Each success on the secondary roll to manipulate the subject's dreams allows for the changing of only one detail in the dream. Additional Willpower can be spent on the vampire's part to lessen the difficulty of each roll, but the effects of the lessening of difficulty to manipulate the subject's dream only works for that particular dream, and with the subject's next dream the vampire must expend more willpower if he or she wishes to ease the manipulation of that dream.
