View source for Auspex - V20

;[[Disciplines]]
== <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.
----
<br>
----
<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.
----
<br>
----
<span style="font-size:large">●●</span> <span style="color:#800000;"> '''Beckoning''' </span><br>
The vampire’s connection to the Beast grows strong
enough that he may call out in the voice of a specific
type of animal — howling like a wolf, shrilling like a
raven, etc. This call mystically summons creatures of
the chosen type. Since each type of animal has a different call, Beckoning works for only a single species
at a time.

All such animals within earshot are summoned, and
some percentage of them will heed the Beckoning if it
is successful. While the vampire has no further control
over the beasts who answer, the animals who do are
favorably disposed toward him and are at least willing
to listen to the Kindred’s concerns. (The vampire can
then use Feral Whispers on individual animals to command them, which may be at a decreased difficulty at
Storyteller discretion.)

<span style="color:#800000;">'''System:'''</span>The player rolls Charisma + Survival (difficulty 6) to determine the response to the character’s
call; consult the table below. Only animals that can hear the cry will respond. If the Storyteller decides no
animals of that type are within earshot, the summons
goes unanswered.

The call can be as specific as the player desires. A
character could call for all bats in the area, for only the
male bats nearby, or for only the albino bat with the
notched ear he saw the other night.

<span style="color:#800000;">'''Successes --   Result'''</span><br>
1 success    --  A single animal responds.<br>
2 successes  --  One-quarter of the animals within earshot respond.<br>
3 successes  --  Half of the animals respond.<br>
4 successes  --  Most of the animals respond.<br>
5 successes  --  All of the animals respond.<br>
----
<br>
----
<span style="font-size:large">●●●</span> <span style="color:#800000;"> '''Title'''</span><br>

<span style="color:#800000;">'''System:'''</span>

----
<br>
----
<span style="font-size:large">●●●●</span> <span style="color:#800000;"> '''Title'''</span><br>

<span style="color:#800000;">'''System:'''</span>

----
<br>
----
<span style="font-size:large">●●●●●</span> <span style="color:#800000;"> '''Title'''</span><br>

<span style="color:#800000;">'''System:'''</span>

----
<br>
----
<span style="font-size:large">●●●●●●</span> <span style="color:#800000;"> '''Title'''</span><br>

<span style="color:#800000;">'''System:'''</span>

----
<br>
----
<span style="font-size:large">●●●●●●●</span> <span style="color:#800000;"> '''Title'''</span><br>

<span style="color:#800000;">'''System:'''</span>

----
<br>
----
<span style="font-size:large">●●●●●●●●</span> <span style="color:#800000;"> '''Title'''</span><br>

<span style="color:#800000;">'''System:'''</span>

----
<br>
----