Cheat the Fates

Temporis 7

Whereas a vampire with Clotho’s Gift may accelerate time with respect to the world, a vampire with this power may step outside of time entirely. During this brief sojourn, the Cainite perceives the world frozen at a standstill. He can walk about at a leisurely pace to sidestep blows or retreat without being observed. He may even exert force, such as by striking a blow, though no damage is resolved until he re-enters time. This power wreaks terrible destruction on a vampire’s unliving body. Used incautiously, a vampire may saunter out of time, only to fall to ash when he returns.

System: The player spends one Willpower point and 3 blood points (which may exceed normal generational limits) and rolls Wits + Occult (difficulty 7). This power may be activated reflexively as a defensive action; such hasty use reduces the maximum duration to a single turn, however. Failure does nothing apart from wasting effort and blood, while a botch inflicts one level of aggravated damage for every 1 rolled. If successful, the vampire steps out of time for a number of turns equal to the successes rolled. These turns occur for the vampire only while the rest of the world stands still. He may take any action or actions during this time, taking as many actions as desired, but he has no access to Disciplines — even innate or perpetual Disciplines such as Potence. The vampire must direct every aspect of Caine’s Curse toward holding back time. If the vampire attacks someone in this state, the target cannot dodge or parry. Resolve the attack normally but do not apply damage. If the vampire suffers injury, however, such as by exposure to sunlight or walking through a frozen flame, apply this damage immediately. The vampire may end his sojourn at any point or wait until the full duration of the power passes, at which point time resumes. Before anything else happens, including resolution of damage inflicted by the vampire, roll one die for every turn the vampire moved out of time. The difficulty is the vampire’s Temporis rating. For every success, the Cainite suffers one level of unsoakable aggravated damage. Apply this damage concurrently with damage suffered by halted victims and continue play on the same turn and initiative the vampire left time (if applicable). Outside of combat, a turn still only lasts three to five seconds for the purposes of this power.

A Temporis 8 version of this power called Convocation of Hades' Court also exists. This power follows the same rules, save that the activation roll is made at difficulty 6 and the vampire may include a number of additional passengers up to his Wits. Passengers take no damage from stepping out of time, but the vampire adds dice equal to the number of passengers on the roll to determine the damage he suffers from the sojourn.