Post by Hematite on Jan 14, 2014 9:08:48 GMT
Just as Presence lowers the difficulty of social roles with other people, Animalism conveys an innate connection with the animal world. Kindred with Animalism reduce the difficulty of all social rolls against animals by their rating in Animalism. This only applies to mundane rolls, not any discipline activations. This only applies to natural animals, not to Shifters or Vampires in animal form.
Animalism 1: Feral Whispers
If you are being followed by a small animal (bird, rat, cat, etc) you must *ask* the ST for a Perception + Alertness test if you believe you may be followed, or at least notify the ST that you are on high alert unless the animal is behaving in a manner that is out of the ordinary. For larger animals such as dogs, pigs, tigers, etc, the ST will offer the person a Perception + Alertness at appropriate difficulty.
Animals may be commanded with Feral Whispers. The duration of the effect and the danger the animal is willing to risk is determined by the successes earned, with more dangerous or long lasting assignments requiring more successes. Difficulty is determined by the type of animal in question as per the book, possibly lowered or automatically succeeded by appropriate roleplay.
Feral Whispers speaks directly into the primitive, primordial mind of an animal, and thus it cannot be used like a "language" to communicate wordlessly between two people with this Discipline. The same is true of kindred using Shape of the Beast (Protean 4) because you only take the shape of a beast, not the mind of one. One does, however, have a distinctly bestial mind while using Subsume the Spirit (Animalism 4) and thus, Feral Whispers can function normally while using this ability, both by the possessing Kindred, and others who wish to speak with her.
Animalism 2: Beckoning
If the user of Beckoning attacks or harms the animals summoned, or the animal feels threatened by the corpses of its kind, such as with feeding, they will fight or flee per their nature, and those specific animals will no longer respond to Beckoning from that Kindred forever.
Animalism 3: Quell the Beast
The required successes for this power are equal to the target’s Permanent Willpower score, not his current Willpower.
This power can be used on Kindred. When using this power against a Kindred, you must make physical contact and must spend a Willpower to initiate the test each round you hold them during an extended challenge. If contact is broken, or if you fail to gain any successes, you must start over from the beginning. If successful, it lasts the rest of the night.
Other primarily supernatural creatures (Changelings, Demons, Mages, Mummies, Kuei-Jin, Werwolves, and Wraiths) must be affected in the same manner as affecting a Kindred, not a mortal. Secondary supernaturals (Ghouls, Sorcerers, Kinain, Kinfolk, Gypsy, etc.) are affected as mortals.
If this power takes more than one round to affect its target, the subject becomes aware that they are being affected by a Discipline meant to force their submission.
This power can be used on a Frenzying Kindred to immediately bring them out of Frenzy without suffering the other effects of this power, but you must still make contact and win the challenge as normal. As per the book, this can only be done using soothing version of this power (Manipulation + Empathy) and requires 3 successes to grant the Frenzying Kindred a new Self-Control roll to end their Frenzy. If used on a Kindred following an Instinct Path, the Kindred will be automatically considered to be Riding the Wave for a number of turns equal to the successes scored on the Manipulation + Empathy roll.
A character under the effects of Quell the Beast loses all will to act, becoming lethargic and pliable. He may not spend or regain Willpower for any reason and if left unattended will usually simply stand around listless. Victims of this power are still aware of circumstances around them, they just don’t care. In any situation where a victim of this power’s life is directly threatened, he may make a Willpower roll at difficulty 6 to snap out of the effects for the rest of the scene.
Animalism 4: Subsume the Spirit
During Subsume the Spirit, as with other powers of remote perception, your body is abandoned and insensate. You can neither move, sense, nor feel, and if danger befalls your torpid body, you are completely unaware of it until you return your senses to your body.
Possessing a body uses this expanded list for what powers may be used while during Subsume the Spirit at what level of success:
Uses the Body's Physicals, if any: Abombwe, Celerity, Fortitude, Potence, Protean, Sanguinus, Serpentis, Vicissitude, Visceratika
1 success – Cannot use Disciplines
2 successes – Can use Auspex and other sensory powers
3 successes – Can also use Presence, Animalism, Melpominee and other powers of emotional manipulation
4 successes – Can also use Dementation, Dominate, Obfuscate and other powers of mental manipulation
5 successes – Can also use Bardo, Chimerstry, Daimoinon, Flight, Kineticism, Maleficia, Mytherceria, Necromancy, Obeah, Obtenebration, Ogham, Quietus, Spiritus, Striga, Temporis, Thanatosis, Valeren, Thaumaturgy and all other Blood Magics
Disciplines that require blood, such as Obtenebration or Thaumaturgy, use the blood pool of the Kindred using Dominate. If the body possesses Physical Disciplines, any use of those Disciplines that requires blood points uses the blood points in the host body itself.
Combo Disciplines that are mental or emotional in nature but require physical disciplines such as Quickened Reflexes, Quickened Sight, Iron Glare, Alpha Glint, etc, may be used during Possession so long as you meet the Success threshold for the appropriate mental or emotional Discipline. At Storyteller discretion, Combo powers that require a physical discipline of a regularly possessed ghoul may be purchased and useable only while possessing a body that meets the remaining requirements (until you learn the discipline yourself, of course).
The possessing Kindred makes a soak roll after the soak roll of the mortal he is possessing, based on the damage taken by the mortal after soak.
A possessing Kindred who scores 3 or more successes on her Possession roll may "jump" from body to body using Possession again from her host.
Unless the character is killed during a Surprise Action, the Vampire can make a reflexive Wits + Alertness test, difficulty 8. 3 Successes allows the vampire to successfully eject his consciousness from the body before death occurs and avoid torpor, though they still take sympathetic damage as normal and may reach torpor that way.
Similar to the Necromancy power Daemonic Possession, during Dominate Possession, the vampire uses all of the Physical Attributes of their host body, as well as the Social Attribute Appearance. All other Attributes are the vampire's own. The vampire also uses the physical Abilities of its host due to muscle memory and reflex. The skills considered to be "physical" abilities and thus remain with the host are the following: Athletics, Brawl, Dodge, Drive, Firearms, Melee, Stealth.
The echoes of the animal that persist in the Vampire’s mind after using this power are considered a Derangement for all mechanical purposes such as spending Willpower to ignore it for a scene. Once 3 Willpower points have been spent in this manner or seven nights have passed since the power was used, the derangement fades completely. Repeated uses of this power while suffering from one such derangement convey additional derangements of this kind that each must be resisted separately.
Animalism 5: Drawing Out the Beast
The victim of this power must frenzy on the person you yourself would have frenzied upon had you not used this power.
This power can be used while you are already in frenzy, or in lieu of a frenzy challenge.
A person afflicted with this power gains NO test to resist the Frenzy but may begin resisting it as normal as if they had already failed their frenzy test.
If the user loses her beast to another long term, it requires truly monstrous acts to entice it to return in the presence of its new host. Only things that provoke a Humanity degeneration check will entice the beast to return. If the new possessor of the Beast is killed in the presence of the original owner, it will return to the original owner automatically. If the new possessor is killed out of sight of the original owner, the Beast will jump to the nearest available host as if this power was used on them.
A Vampire with two Beasts is in a highly uncontrollable state. He must check for Frenzy twice, once for each Beast, each time Frenzy is provoked, and all Self-Control/Instinct rolls are made at +2 difficulty due to the synergy of both Beasts fighting for control. Should the character walk an Instinct Path, he cannot Ride the Wave of any Frenzy brought on by the alien Beast (see below).
Victims of this power who follow Instinct Paths have a much harder time dealing with the effects. Followers of Instinct Paths develop their ability to control themselves via a close relationship with their own Beast, rather than through a general sense of control. As such victims who walk an Instinct Path may not attempt to Ride the Wave of the alien Beast now in control of them. The only way they can mitigate their actions is by spending a Willpower point to take a single action of their own volition.
A failure on this power’s activation roll causes the character to enter Frenzy automatically, and all attempts to mitigate or control the Frenzy are made at +2 difficulty. In addition, the character must spend 2 Willpower to take control of an action.
Animalism 6: Animal Succulence [V20 p. 132]
A character who feeds on animals in downtime actions with this power will gain 10 blood per feeding action.
Each action spent feeding on animals counts as a time the character has fed on animals for the purposes of the increased frenzy difficulties.
The increased Frenzy difficulties will apply and continue to accumulate until the character next spends a feeding action to feed on humans. Once the character spends one feeding action feeding on humans, the penalties all reset to 0.
This power does not override the flaw Thirst of the Methuselah. Vampires who can only feed on other vampires may not escape that curse by means of this power.
Animalism 6: Beast Walk [LotH 135]
As the V20 version of Subsume the Spirit already allows for the vampire to jump between hosts, the first part of this power is redundant.
This power does still have a use in that it allows the vampire to remain awake indefinitely while possessing animals. No Awakening rolls must be made nor does the user suffer any penalties for operating during daylight hours while possessing an animal.
This power can remove the possibility of gaining derangements from the close link with the host’s mind. If the user scores at least 3 successes on the activation roll, he will not suffer any of the usual extended drawbacks for Subsume the Spirit.
Animalism 6: Deep Song [Cb-Ra 42]
This power is activated by rolling Manipulation + Performance at a difficulty of the target’s Current Willpower.
Use of this power requires the vampire to actually sing. His target must be able to hear his voice or remains unaffected.
The targeted emotion will remain the target’s primary emotion for 1 hour per success on the activation roll.
Animalism 6: Eye of the Schlatza
This power works on any ghoul with the user’s blood currently in its system.
As per the V20 change in possession rules, both parties do not need to have eyes for this power to work.
If this power is used on a non-animal ghoul, the user will not suffer the usual derangements associated with the possession.
This power may be used in conjunction with Beast Walk to allow the vampire to possess a ghoul indefinitely without the need to sleep through the day.
Animalism 6: Gap of Ages [LS4 76]
In order to break the established conditioning, the new user must score more successes on the activation of this power than the original user.
See Feral Whispers for the level of detail and severity of the commands that can be given.
Animalism 6: Pact of Animals [PGttLC 144]
Traits gained from additional types of animals must be worked out with the Storyteller, but should fall in line with the given examples
Traits gained via this power are always extremely physically obvious and may be mistaken for Gangrel Beast Features. This is an obvious Masquerade breach.
Animalism 6: Quell the Herd [CbR-Ga 61 & DA:V 175]
In matters of precedence, Emerald Coven Chronicles will use the version of this power presented in Dark Ages: Vampire, and not the version presented in the Gangrel Clanbook.
Despite the ruling given for Quell the Beast, this extension of that power cannot be used on primary supernatural creatures.
As soon as this power is used, all those targets whose Beasts are not fully quelled in the first roll will immediately know that they are being affected by a power meant to force their submission and may roll Perception + Awareness at difficulty 8 requiring 3 successes to identify the user.
Animalism 6: Quickened Unity [VtDA 143]
This is the same power as Shared Soul. Emerald Coven Chronicles uses the version of this power under that name as written on page 133 of the V20 Core Book. See Shared Soul for clarifications on this power.
Animalism 6: Sense the Savage Way [DAC 78]
Even if he cannot see the animal targeted with this power, the vampire must know the approximate location of a specific animal to target it. He cannot simply possess the nearest bird if he doesn’t know where one is.
Additional successes beyond 5 extend the maximum range of this power by 1 mile per success.
Contrary to the text of this power, while sharing an animal’s senses, the user may take other actions at his own body, but all actions are taken at +2 difficulty for split perceptions.
Failure on the Wits + Empathy roll causes the user to gain a derangement in the same manner as Subsume the Spirit. See clarifications on that power for details.
Animalism 6: Shared Soul [V20 133]
All memories gained are from the perspective of the animal, which can be extremely different and confusing for the recipient. After contact is broken, the user must make an Intelligence + Animal Ken roll at a variable difficulty based on the complexity of the desired information (difficulty 6 for the general layout of an area well-known to the animal, difficulty 8 for a description in human terms of something like a map or a drawing, difficulty 10 for details of a conversation). With 1 or 2 successes, he understands the general idea, but much of the information is conveyed in senses the user cannot really understand. With 3 or 4 successes, most of the information is conveyed, with some slight confusing sidelines coming from how the animal perceives the world. With 5 or more successes, all information is correctly understood in human terms.
Use of this power to gain a full bond does not bestow specific memories, rather it gives the user insight into his own bestial nature. The benefit of this is only applicable to vampires following any of the Beast Paths. After using this power, if the vampire is forced to make a degeneration roll within the same night as he gained a full bond with an animal, the first such degeneration roll is made at -2 difficulty. Any use of this power to gain a full bond will bestow a derangement in the same way as Subsume the Spirit. See clarifications on that power for details.
Animalism 6: Shepherd’s Innocence [PG2 69]
Since a house-rule was added to Animalism as a whole that lower’s the user’s difficulty when dealing with animals, this power is now redundant. Emerald Coven Chronicles does not use this power.
Animalism 6: Song in the Dark [CbR-No 76]
The creatures summoned by this power are in a constant state of prolonged hibernation until awoken by the use of this power. No other known power will cause them to wake.
The use of this power will cause one subterranean disturbance of the user’s choice that will occur sometime within the next month. The user does not get to dictate when the disturbance will occur, but it is likely based on the amount of time it takes the nearest creature to arrive. After the disturbance has been caused, the creature will return to its hibernation immediately.
The area of the subterranean effect desired cannot exceed a radius of 1 mile per success on the Charisma + Animal Ken roll.
The scale of the effect caused by one of these creatures cannot exceed roughly a 5.0 Earthquake or the creation of a haphazard tunnel network. If using this power to create a tunnel network, the user has no direct control of the organization or layout of said network. The Great Warrens of clan Nosferatu may have been begun by this power, but still take a great deal of actual labour to turn the haphazard tunnels created by the creature into a functional labyrinth.
This power grants no conscious control over the creature summoned, only a location and a general task it will accomplish.
There is no record or memory of any Nosferatu ever actually seeing one of these creatures. Those that have gone looking have not returned.
Animalism 6: Species Speech [V20 133]
All targets of this power must be within line of sight of the user.
To command animals using this power, use the same system as Feral Speech. See clarifications on that power for details. The user may issue commands to the entire group, subgroups, or individual animals under the same application of this power.
The user may only maintain one application of this power, commanding a single species (loose definition of species, not hyper-specific scientific definition of species) of animal at once.
The telepathic contact gained via this power only persists as long as the animals remain within line of sight, though commands last as normal for Feral Whispers.
Animalism 6: Tainted Oasis [VoN 158]
Any animal who drinks more than 3 times from a Tainted Oasis will be affected by the blood in the water. The animal will gain +1 Strength and +1 Stamina, and all social rolls against the animal (including the uses of Animalism) made by the vampire whose blood taints the oasis will be made at -2 difficulty. Furthermore, there is an addictive quality, meaning that without exceptional circumstances, an animal who has drunk three times from the Oasis will continue to return to drink, maintaining the effect.
The Tainted Oasis has no effect on humans or supernatural creatures of any kind.
Tainted Oasis may be used on any body of standing water no larger than a small pond. Larger bodies of water or bodies of running water are simply to diffuse for the blood to hold any real effect.
It was from one of these Tainted Oases that the first recorded Nosferatu Spawning pool came to be, though that quickly became something unique to itself. If this effect is combined with a Spawning Pool, the effects stack.
Animalism 6: Tier of Souls [Cb-Tz 44]
Each success on the Perception + Animal Ken roll allows a trait of the donor to be accessed. This overlaps the user’s own traits, allowing him to roll whichever is greater. This is true only for attributes and abilities. When converting 3 successes to gain access to an innate power or a discipline, the powers must be gained in order and also overlap the user’s own. So if the user wanted to gain Auspex 4 from the donor, he would need to spend 12 successes, regardless of his own level of Auspex.
Multiple uses of this power on the same donor do not stack, even if more than one blood point are taken.
From normal feeding actions, users may gain one use of this power per feeding action taken. No attribute or ability beyond 3 will be gained from these weekly uses. Average people fed on with normal feeding actions will be assumed to have 3 attributes and 3 abilities at 3. Everything else will be at 2 or below.
Auspex does not apply to this roll.
Use of this power does not grant any special advantage in learning the traits gained for themselves.
Animalism 6: Vyrkolas [LS1 64]
This power is a previous version of Pact With Animals from Player’s Guide to the Low Clans. Emerald Coven Chronicles uses that version and not this one. See clarifications on that power for details.
