Aspect of Beast
Animalism 3, Dominate 3
- Description
By calling upon another Kindred's Beast, a Vampire using this power causes his subject to display the mien of an animal. In some cases, the subject actually resembles a literal beast-man hybrid, but in most situations, people affected by this power are left with a vague and u8nsettling impression that the victim reminds them uncomfortably of an animal.
- System
The player invoking this power spends a Willpower point, or a blood point if he knows the Nature of the character he wishes to afflict with an animal aspect. The player also rolls Manipulation + Expression (difficulty 6). The subject of this power is the person who looks upon the character with the animal aspect. The subject sees the character as if he had some animal characteristic. A cold Ventrue might appear as a shark, while a cunning Nosferatu might appear as a loathsome fox, whatever guise he might have donned. If the subject's Willpower is less than 3, the character literally appears as a "beast-man" and probably causes some sort of panicked reaction. Subjects with Willpower scores above three are left with the distinct impression that the character reminds them of an animal. Roleplay this reaction accordingly, or simply add two to all Social difficulties faced by the animal-aspected character.
The animal impression conjured should be a logical result of the given character's personality. A timid character, for example, is unlikely to appear as a bear, while a noble character probably does not have the aspect of a snake. The Storyteller is the final arbiter of whether or not a certain aspect is suitable to a given character and how the affected character (if someone other than a player's character is affected) reacts.
Note that this power is an application of the Dominate Discipline. The Kindred invoking the Discipline must be of equal or lower generation than her subject (the viewer), or the power simply fails to work. Additionally, this power affects only one character at a time. That is, each use of this power convinces one character of another person's animal nature. the user may convince multiple people that the character in question is somehow bestial, and he may even choose a different animal for various subjects to see, but doing so requires separate uses of the power.
The number of successes on the Manipulation + Expression roll determines the power's duration.
1 success | 1 Scene |
2 successes | 1 Night. |
3 | 1 Week |
4 | 1 Month |
5+ | 1 Year per success over 4 |
Experience Cost: 21