Post by AST Jamie on Sept 3, 2013 2:00:27 GMT
Diablerie, Slo-Mo Style
1: The diablerist immobilizes the victim (via Hold, Clinch, Tackle, Dread Gaze, Staking, Torpor, Vicissitude straitjackets, chains, etc), the victim complies and allows the diablerist to bite her (possibly through use of Dominate powers, Quell the Beast, Presence powers, roleplay, etc), or the diablerist has some means of making bite attacks without first immobilizing the victim (Shape of the Beast, Vicissitude mods, Tongue of the Asp, Form of the Cobra, etc).
2: On the turn following the successful immobilization (or not, as case may be), the diablerist administers the Kiss by using the Bite maneuver targeting an unarmored location on the victim. This is usually a Dex + Brawl roll made at base Difficulty 7 (increased based on the size of the unarmored location; ref: Targeting, V20 p.274). Proceed with defensive actions, carry-over, starting damage, and soak as you would if you were using the normal Bite maneuver, but the victim takes no damage from the attack. Instead, if the victim fails to soak all damage, the diablerist's fangs have broken the victim's skin, instantly subjecting her to the Kiss. The victim must make a Self-Control/Instinct roll at Difficulty 8 or surrender to the power of the Kiss, ceasing to struggle in body and mind (ref: the Kiss, V20 p.269).
3: The diablerist drains the victim of all remaining blood points, making tests for Vicissitude infection and increasing the level of blood bond as necessary. The diablerist can drink 3 points of blood per turn (note that there are merits, Vicissitude mods, and Thaumaturgy powers that allow vampires to exceed this limit).
4: The diablerist rolls Strength in an extended check at Diff 9, each success deals 1 level of unsoakable Agg to the victim. During this process, all attacks directed against the diablerist are made at Difficulty 2 (plus other benefits for attacking from behind, etc, as appropriate). Note that if the victim successfully resisted the Kiss and is not otherwise immobilized, he may continue to struggle at this stage, and should now roll to resist Frenzy at Difficulty 8 (remember that Virtue dice pools are capped by blood pool). If the diablerist failed to immobilize the victim, the victim can and should take full advantage of how easy it is to rape a diablerist while they're diablerizing you.
5: The diablerie is complete when the victim runs out of health levels, thereby meeting final death.
6: The Storyteller determines if the victim was of lower generation than the diablerist, thus lowering the diablerist's generation in turn. To determine the number of generations the diablerist drops, divide the negative difference in generation by two and round up. This is the only immediately accessible reward for diablerie.
7: The diablerist rolls Self-Control/Instinct versus Difficulty (10 - diablerist's Path rating) to avoid losing control. In game terms, the diablerist writhes helplessly in ecstasy for about ten minutes, making noises appropriate to riding out a hurricane of orgasms. In system terms, the character's beast becomes addicted to diablerie.
8: The storyteller takes the sheet of the victim to the next ST meeting, where the free discipline dot that the diablerist receives is determined from the discipline subset that the victim has and the diablerist lacks. The diablerist develops the new dot over the week following the diablerie.
Disciplines from Diablerie
What discipline dot a diablerist receives is determined by a simple system that is entirely in the hands of the Storytellers. If you want to know what it is and how it works, ask nicely.
The Victim's Remains
Death by diablerie is final death by non-fire/sunlight Aggravated damage. This means that the victim leaves remains based on their age.
0 - 1 year A fully-fleshed decomposing corpse which must be disposed of or otherwise dealt with to avoid awkward questions (especially if it had Vicissitude modifications).
2 - 10 years Remains are mostly skeletal, but are still identifiable as the corpse of the victim to anyone who knew the victim's features well.
11 - 30 years Remains are completely skeletal, and decay of bone seating and structure means that only forensic techniques can determine the victim's identity.
30 - 50 years Bone structure is now incredibly brittle. Large sections of the skull have deteriorated completely, meaning that only forensic facial reconstruction can determine the victim's identity.
50 - 80 years Only someone familiar with human remains could be sure that this skull-less handful of bones was once Homo Sapiens.
80+ years Upon completion of diablerie, the victim's corpse falls to dust. Only chemical analysis of the remains could ascertain that they are even of organic origin.
Addiction to Diablerie
Forever after failing the Self-Control/Instinct roll in Step 7, the character is addicted to diablerie. Whenever the character has the opportunity to commit diablerie she must roll Self-Control/Instincts at Difficulty 6. Failure means that the diablerist should proceed to seek to diablerize the victim by the end of the scene. The diablerist need only beat her addiction back once in a given scene, and may spend a point of Willpower to automatically succeed the check.
In this case the "opportunity to commit diablerie" is defined as the character having both a victim and an advantage.
A "victim" is any true vampire that the diablerist has neither a Vinculum score nor a blood bond to. You won't eat the people that the beast sees as being on your side, since they'll help you get diableries. Everyone else is fair game, from Cardinals to street Panders. The beast doesn't care about politics, and it is always blind to relative power levels and consequences.
An "advantage" is any situation that favors the diablerist over the victim. For example, having your entire pack with you while the victim has only two of their pack with them is an advantage in numbers. If you are Obfuscated, that is an advantage. If you're already in war-form and your victim is not, that is an advantage. If you're wearing armor and your victim is in pajamas, that's an advantage. If they're pointing a gun at your head and you have Fortitude 5, they obviously underestimate your abilities, and that is an advantage. The beast has no care or caution for what it can't see. It doesn't consider the possibility that the victim might have the rest of his pack hidden in the area; it doesn't care that your unarmored foe might have Fortitude while you do not.
The Signs of Diablerie
Black Veins last for six months in the diablerist's aura, regardless of the relative generations involved, and their durations stack. If you eat two vampires, you will have black lines for 12 months. If you eat one, wait three months, then eat another one, you will have the lines for another 9 months. If you have If you have six or more diableries counting down (more than 30 months of black lines), reading anything in your aura besides diableries grows difficult (-1 success from Aura Scan attempts). If you have 12 or more diableries counting down (more than 66 months of black lines), reading your aura becomes very difficult (-2 successes). Once you reach 50 total diableries, you are considered to have the first level (-1) permanently. Once you have committed 100 diableries, the second (-2) becomes permanent.
It is possible for vampires of any Path or Road to detect a diablerist within one month of the occurrence (unlike the black veins, this duration doesn't stack). A vampire who comes in contact with a diablerist may attempt a Perception roll (not modified by Auspex, Acute Sense, or the like) to sense diablerie. The Difficulty for this check is 12 - the sensing vampire's Path/Road rating. How the different paths interpret this information varies, but it is usually sensed below the level of conscious thought. A vampire on Humanity would feel strangely wary of a diablerist, sensing that he feels to that guy as he imagines humans feel about to him. Here are a few examples of how path followers might react to a sensed diablerist.
Road of the Beast: "predator. Rival? Pack?"
Road of Heaven: "surely a blasphemer in the sight of god"
Road of Humanity: "that guy is creepy and dangerous"
Path of Blood: "this one is a degenerate, his blood should be reclaimed"
Path of Bone: "an odd feeling of displaced souls"
Path of Caine: "an individual worthy of my attention"
Path of Cathari: "this is someone who is no stranger to pleasure"
Path of Honorable Accord: "keep an eye on him, his thirst for power will drive him beyond the bounds of honor."
Path of Lilith: "a fool who lacks understanding for the true way of things"
Path of Metamorphosis: "more than he appears"
Path of Night: "the darkness peeks between his cracks"
Path of Paradox: "two birds, I think, and in my hand, a stone"
Path of Power and the Inner Voice: "competition."
Path of Typhon: "something hidden here"
Path of Orion: "there can be only one"
Path of Revelations: "weakness beneath, it lusts for power"
Path of Entelechy: "killer"
Path of the Scorched Heart: "fools like that endanger us all"
Path of Self-Focus: "interesting"
Path of Sharia El-Sama: "murderer"
1: The diablerist immobilizes the victim (via Hold, Clinch, Tackle, Dread Gaze, Staking, Torpor, Vicissitude straitjackets, chains, etc), the victim complies and allows the diablerist to bite her (possibly through use of Dominate powers, Quell the Beast, Presence powers, roleplay, etc), or the diablerist has some means of making bite attacks without first immobilizing the victim (Shape of the Beast, Vicissitude mods, Tongue of the Asp, Form of the Cobra, etc).
2: On the turn following the successful immobilization (or not, as case may be), the diablerist administers the Kiss by using the Bite maneuver targeting an unarmored location on the victim. This is usually a Dex + Brawl roll made at base Difficulty 7 (increased based on the size of the unarmored location; ref: Targeting, V20 p.274). Proceed with defensive actions, carry-over, starting damage, and soak as you would if you were using the normal Bite maneuver, but the victim takes no damage from the attack. Instead, if the victim fails to soak all damage, the diablerist's fangs have broken the victim's skin, instantly subjecting her to the Kiss. The victim must make a Self-Control/Instinct roll at Difficulty 8 or surrender to the power of the Kiss, ceasing to struggle in body and mind (ref: the Kiss, V20 p.269).
3: The diablerist drains the victim of all remaining blood points, making tests for Vicissitude infection and increasing the level of blood bond as necessary. The diablerist can drink 3 points of blood per turn (note that there are merits, Vicissitude mods, and Thaumaturgy powers that allow vampires to exceed this limit).
4: The diablerist rolls Strength in an extended check at Diff 9, each success deals 1 level of unsoakable Agg to the victim. During this process, all attacks directed against the diablerist are made at Difficulty 2 (plus other benefits for attacking from behind, etc, as appropriate). Note that if the victim successfully resisted the Kiss and is not otherwise immobilized, he may continue to struggle at this stage, and should now roll to resist Frenzy at Difficulty 8 (remember that Virtue dice pools are capped by blood pool). If the diablerist failed to immobilize the victim, the victim can and should take full advantage of how easy it is to rape a diablerist while they're diablerizing you.
5: The diablerie is complete when the victim runs out of health levels, thereby meeting final death.
6: The Storyteller determines if the victim was of lower generation than the diablerist, thus lowering the diablerist's generation in turn. To determine the number of generations the diablerist drops, divide the negative difference in generation by two and round up. This is the only immediately accessible reward for diablerie.
7: The diablerist rolls Self-Control/Instinct versus Difficulty (10 - diablerist's Path rating) to avoid losing control. In game terms, the diablerist writhes helplessly in ecstasy for about ten minutes, making noises appropriate to riding out a hurricane of orgasms. In system terms, the character's beast becomes addicted to diablerie.
8: The storyteller takes the sheet of the victim to the next ST meeting, where the free discipline dot that the diablerist receives is determined from the discipline subset that the victim has and the diablerist lacks. The diablerist develops the new dot over the week following the diablerie.
Disciplines from Diablerie
What discipline dot a diablerist receives is determined by a simple system that is entirely in the hands of the Storytellers. If you want to know what it is and how it works, ask nicely.
The Victim's Remains
Death by diablerie is final death by non-fire/sunlight Aggravated damage. This means that the victim leaves remains based on their age.
0 - 1 year A fully-fleshed decomposing corpse which must be disposed of or otherwise dealt with to avoid awkward questions (especially if it had Vicissitude modifications).
2 - 10 years Remains are mostly skeletal, but are still identifiable as the corpse of the victim to anyone who knew the victim's features well.
11 - 30 years Remains are completely skeletal, and decay of bone seating and structure means that only forensic techniques can determine the victim's identity.
30 - 50 years Bone structure is now incredibly brittle. Large sections of the skull have deteriorated completely, meaning that only forensic facial reconstruction can determine the victim's identity.
50 - 80 years Only someone familiar with human remains could be sure that this skull-less handful of bones was once Homo Sapiens.
80+ years Upon completion of diablerie, the victim's corpse falls to dust. Only chemical analysis of the remains could ascertain that they are even of organic origin.
Addiction to Diablerie
Forever after failing the Self-Control/Instinct roll in Step 7, the character is addicted to diablerie. Whenever the character has the opportunity to commit diablerie she must roll Self-Control/Instincts at Difficulty 6. Failure means that the diablerist should proceed to seek to diablerize the victim by the end of the scene. The diablerist need only beat her addiction back once in a given scene, and may spend a point of Willpower to automatically succeed the check.
In this case the "opportunity to commit diablerie" is defined as the character having both a victim and an advantage.
A "victim" is any true vampire that the diablerist has neither a Vinculum score nor a blood bond to. You won't eat the people that the beast sees as being on your side, since they'll help you get diableries. Everyone else is fair game, from Cardinals to street Panders. The beast doesn't care about politics, and it is always blind to relative power levels and consequences.
An "advantage" is any situation that favors the diablerist over the victim. For example, having your entire pack with you while the victim has only two of their pack with them is an advantage in numbers. If you are Obfuscated, that is an advantage. If you're already in war-form and your victim is not, that is an advantage. If you're wearing armor and your victim is in pajamas, that's an advantage. If they're pointing a gun at your head and you have Fortitude 5, they obviously underestimate your abilities, and that is an advantage. The beast has no care or caution for what it can't see. It doesn't consider the possibility that the victim might have the rest of his pack hidden in the area; it doesn't care that your unarmored foe might have Fortitude while you do not.
The Signs of Diablerie
Black Veins last for six months in the diablerist's aura, regardless of the relative generations involved, and their durations stack. If you eat two vampires, you will have black lines for 12 months. If you eat one, wait three months, then eat another one, you will have the lines for another 9 months. If you have If you have six or more diableries counting down (more than 30 months of black lines), reading anything in your aura besides diableries grows difficult (-1 success from Aura Scan attempts). If you have 12 or more diableries counting down (more than 66 months of black lines), reading your aura becomes very difficult (-2 successes). Once you reach 50 total diableries, you are considered to have the first level (-1) permanently. Once you have committed 100 diableries, the second (-2) becomes permanent.
It is possible for vampires of any Path or Road to detect a diablerist within one month of the occurrence (unlike the black veins, this duration doesn't stack). A vampire who comes in contact with a diablerist may attempt a Perception roll (not modified by Auspex, Acute Sense, or the like) to sense diablerie. The Difficulty for this check is 12 - the sensing vampire's Path/Road rating. How the different paths interpret this information varies, but it is usually sensed below the level of conscious thought. A vampire on Humanity would feel strangely wary of a diablerist, sensing that he feels to that guy as he imagines humans feel about to him. Here are a few examples of how path followers might react to a sensed diablerist.
Road of the Beast: "predator. Rival? Pack?"
Road of Heaven: "surely a blasphemer in the sight of god"
Road of Humanity: "that guy is creepy and dangerous"
Path of Blood: "this one is a degenerate, his blood should be reclaimed"
Path of Bone: "an odd feeling of displaced souls"
Path of Caine: "an individual worthy of my attention"
Path of Cathari: "this is someone who is no stranger to pleasure"
Path of Honorable Accord: "keep an eye on him, his thirst for power will drive him beyond the bounds of honor."
Path of Lilith: "a fool who lacks understanding for the true way of things"
Path of Metamorphosis: "more than he appears"
Path of Night: "the darkness peeks between his cracks"
Path of Paradox: "two birds, I think, and in my hand, a stone"
Path of Power and the Inner Voice: "competition."
Path of Typhon: "something hidden here"
Path of Orion: "there can be only one"
Path of Revelations: "weakness beneath, it lusts for power"
Path of Entelechy: "killer"
Path of the Scorched Heart: "fools like that endanger us all"
Path of Self-Focus: "interesting"
Path of Sharia El-Sama: "murderer"