Horrid Countenance

Obfuscate 8

A power that appeals equally to the Nosferatu and Malkavian clans, Horrid Countenance veils the user in an illusion somewhat similar to Mask of a Thousand Faces, yet with important differences. Instead of a human appearance, the character takes on the aspect of a nightmarish creature, invoking blind panic in those around him. Like all Obfuscate powers, this effect is mental, affecting the mind of the target rather than the actual senses; each person looking at the user of this power sees something different, dredged up from their deepest fears. The user has no idea what different people may see, unless she possesses sufficient Auspex to read thoughts (and chooses to look).

System: The player spends one Willpower point. Players of normal mortals must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 8). If this is botched, the mortal dies of fright. If it fails, she collapses into a coma and awakens after an hour with a permanent derangement. With one or two successes, the victim cowers in abject fear; and with three or more successes, she flees. Animals and animal ghouls flee automatically.

Ghouls are subject to the same rules as mortals, but with the effects reduced one step (so a failure indicates that she cowers). Three or more successes indicates that only a strong fear, reducing all dice pools not involved with getting away from the nightmare by two. Vampires must first check for Rotschreck at difficulty 9. If the check is successful, the vampire reduces all dice pools by two as above, until the player has gained five successes on an extended unmodified Courage roll (difficulty 7). If the Horrid Countenance attacks, the vampire must check for frenzy as if he were in mortal danger.

Lupines viewing the Horrid Countenance tend to fly into a homicidal frenzy (more so than normal when encountering Cainites), ignoring anything and anyone in order to get to the character. Those who are blessed by God sometimes ignore the effects of Horrid Countenance entirely.