Night-dwellers, predators by nature and keepers of the Masquerade, vampires are inherently (and necessarily) creatures of secrecy and stealth. From hiding minute objects to the ability to appear as someone else to the power to fade from sight entirely, the Discipline of Obfuscate grants the Kindred uncanny powers of concealment, stealth, and deception.
Obfuscate clouds the mind in practice. For example, a character hiding an object by using this Discipline doesn't actually make the object disappear, nor does someone using the Discipline to hide himself truly vanish. Rather, the mind sees "around" the Obfuscated object, refusing to acknowledge it, even if that requires a bit of filling in mental blanks.
The shroud of Obfuscate is very difficult to penetrate. Few Kindred or other supernatural creatures can see through it, and only under the rarest of circumstances do mortals have any hope. Because they operate on a less conscious and mostly instinctual level, however, animals often perceive a vampire's presence -- and react with appropriate fear or hostility -- even if they cannot detect him with their normal senses. Similarly, children, the mentally ill and others who see the world in ways not quite normal might pierce the deception at the Storyteller's discretion.
Some Kindred with Auspex are able to see through Obfuscate, or at least sense the presence of a supernatural deception.
It's important to hammer home that Obfuscate affects the victim's mind, rather than making any true physical change to the vampire. Tricking the victim’s psyche directly, removing traces of the vampire from the sensory information reaching her brain, rather than fooling her senses directly Thus, the Discipline is not effective at cloaking a character from mechanical devices. Photographs, video cameras and the like record the normal images left in such media. Obfuscate does affect any individual currently using the recording device, however, so someone videotaping an Obfuscated vampire sees the illusion when looking through the lens, discovering the truth only later when he reviews the tape itself. Obfuscate affects all senses save for touch, including smell and taste as much as sight or hearing — potentially useful if you've angered a pack of werewolves, or a vampire with sharp Kindred senses.
• Silence of Death:
At this rudimentary understanding, the Cainite can make things around them fade to silence, although sounds from beyond the vicinity filter through, anything in the immediate area fades into nothingness. In most cases, this nimbus moves with the Silence of Death.
Cost: —
Dice Pool: —
Action: Instant
Duration: Scene
There is no roll. The power creates a zone of absolute silence around the character, with a maximum radius of 20 feet/7 meters. No sound occurs inside this zone, though sounds originating outside the area of effect may be heard by anyone in it. Additionally, if the player spends two blood points and the character spends five turns in concentration in a room or enclosure, the silence remains in it after the character leaves the room and lasts until she wills it to end. A character can’t create more than one zone of silence, so if she wishes to use Silence of Death on herself (or curse another room), the zone in the first room fades automatically.
•• Unseen Presence:
At this point, the Cainite can now move about unseen. Shadows cling to her, while kine and Cainite alike look away, their minds not allowing them to see the shadowy monster that lurks in their periphery. While the Discipline protects her from being seen or heard in casual progress, any direct interaction with the world shatters the illusion. Kine will step aside, unknowing, to let an Obfuscated Cainite pass them, but should the Cainite do something like: crush a bed of roses, kick a sleeping hound, or trigger a car alarm, she is outed.
When this discipline is used in a throng of people she can walk through crowds who pay him no heed. As long as he doesn't do anything to obviously draw attention to himself, nobody notices him. He’s just one more person on the street, part of the city’s nightlife. People don’t shy away from him because of what he’s wearing or what he looks like. He’s just as much a fixture of the city as the rats and the graffiti.
Unseen Presence does not actively make a vampire invisible, but rather it simply makes the vampire unnoticeable while he does not call direct attention to himself. In well trafficked public areas where random strangers are to be expected he simply becomes a face in the crowd unnoticed by those passing him, his visage brushing off of people's perceptions and memories, never sticking. In places where a random person lurking would be noticed as suspicious, shadows and darkness cling to him like a safety net as he moves about, with obfuscate subconsciously causing those in the vicinity to avert their eyes.
Cost: —
Dice Pool: —
Action: Instant
Duration: Scene
For the rest of the scene, people’s eyes just slide off the vampire, this has two functioned based upon the vampires vicinity. When used in crowded places where random strangers are normal and expected oeople can tell that someone’s there, but they don’t remember who he is or what he looks like; he’s just “some guy,” average height and build, average hair, average clothes. Unless the vampire’s doing something to draw people’s attention — pulling a gun, or screaming at people — or he’s in a place where someone doesn’t expect anyone else to be, everyone around him ignores him. As long as he doesn’t draw attention, nobody particularly cares or remembers. Performing an action that would draw attention, including but not limited to being violent causes face in the crowd to automatically end. This however means that someone with a physical disfigurement that is eye catching has a very hard time using this application of the power, they'd have to cover up quite well.
When used in a place where a random stranger lurking about would be suspicious shadows cling to her form and those nearby avert their gazes from the vampire so long as he sticks to the dark areas. However there must be shadows and darkness for the kindred to work with. In any space where the kindred would stick out like a sore thumb, Unseen Presence will not work. Unseen Presence will also not function if someone is directly staring at the vampire as he tries to activate it, the vampire must either be currently without notice or hidden to become unseen.
There is no roll necessary to conjure an Unseen Presence. Should a Cainite draw attention to herself (willfully or accidentally) by sneak attack, blunder, or speech, accidental attention will call for a Wits + Composure rolls with bonus' or penalties based on the amount of noise or calamity the Cainite has caused.
Even when seen or unseen, a secondary use of this power allows a kindred to conceal or pilfer small items. This requires a successful Wits + Larceny + Obfuscate with penalties for the size or flashiness of the object as well as the amount of observers.
••• Mask of a Thousand Faces:
At this point, the vampire can trick the minds of her victims to hide her face in plain sight. That is to say, she may stand face to face with her victim and not have their true visage revealed. By force of mind over mind, the vampire forces her victim to see a face not her own.
This may be a newly imagined character nothing like the vampire at all or slight changes to the kindred’s own features. She may appear taller, of another region or she might even appear as a man. This ability does not confer on the vampire any special talent for imitation or acting as the face she creates; that is on the vampire’s talents alone.
Rather than removing himself from the perceptions of other people, the vampire can instead adjust how they see him. He can either appear as a subjective face, a “frail old woman,” or a “young lothario,” or as a specific person, like “Tom’s friend Jason.” People perceive the vampire as though he were who they’d expect to see based on his chosen disguise — everyone has a different idea of what a frail old woman looks like, after all.
Cost: 2 Vitae
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Subterfuge + Obfuscate
Action: Instant
Duration: Scene
Dramatic Failure: Both vitae are spent, and the kindred thinks the mask is active, but it infact is not.
Failure: Both vitae are spent, but the mask doesn't take and the kindred knows it.
Success: The mask is donned.
Exceptional Success: Small things that shouldn't make sense will be ignored and remembered differently in mortals minds.
She can specify a particular image that she wants to project, either a subjective category or a specific person. If she takes on the form of a specific person, everyone sees and hears what they would expect were that person present. He needs to know that the person exists, and he can’t use his description to influence people’s reactions — “the woman Tom will fall in love with,” or “a man Jennifer finds trustworthy” both fail, as they rely on influencing the victim’s thoughts and emotions about the person being imitated.
To mimic the face of another, the vampire must have a good look at them. The Storyteller might impose a penalty on the roll if the vampire has only briefly seen the person they wish to mimic. While fooling acquaintances may require only a look at the target and clever crafting of the mask, fooling someone intimately connected to the target is another matter. That requires actual familiarity with the target, and perhaps other rolls to keep the illusion going.
Should a vampire wish to create a face much more appealing than her own, she must spend two points of blood for every dot of striking looks she wishes to emulate, and hideous vampires like Nosferatu must spend an additional 1 at first just to not look monstrous.
The activation roll takes penalties based upon certain circumstances, see below. Finally, Mask of a Thousand Faces will not function if the vampire attempts to activate it while being observed.
Modifiers:
Size Difference: -1 to -2
Difference in Attractiveness: -1 to - 3
Assuming a different Sex: -2
Assuming a different Ethnicity: -2
Assuming a radically different Age: -2
•••• Cloak of Shadow:
With but a thought, the vampire slips from sight as well as mind. He doesn't just fade into the background, he straight-up disappears. Even when standing directly before her victims, if he wills it so, and she simply vanishes. He leaves no scent and makes no sound, though it doesn’t mask incidental signs of his passing, like drifting smoke or creaking floorboards.
If a kindred activates this power in front of mortals it can have serious ripples on those who witness it. Vampires startle when another of their kind simply vanishes from before their eyes. Humans will actually forget that the vampire was there to begin with. Particularly weak-willed humans will panic and flee the area, though they may or may not recall the reason for their panic (at Storyteller discretion).
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Wits + Stealth + Obfuscate (vs Resolve + Supernatural Tolerance if observed)
Action: Instant
Duration: Scene
Dramatic Failure: You fail to cloak but think you are cloaked.
Failure: You fail to cloak and know it.
Success: You dramatically vanish from sight.
Exceptional Success: Any observers penalize their Resolve + Supernatural Tolerance by your Wits.
Rather than being overlooked or just an “average presence,” or using the shadows to cloud his presence the vampire instead completely disappears. Everything that he’s carrying vanishes with him. Unlike Face in the Crowd this power makes the vampire completely invisible, people avoid the vampire on instinct, unless the vampire draws attention in a spectacular fashion there is no chance of him being observed. If he’s doing something that would draw attention, including but not limited to being violent, everyone around him must make a reflexive Wits + Composure roll penalized by the vampires Wits to notice the commotion. This roll may have circumstantial bonus' or penalties depending on the situation: a cloaked vampire firing shotgun into the air will likely be immediately revealed, but one cloaked and speaking spookily from the shadows is unlikely to be seen.
Particularly canny observers can follow the vampire by incidental signs of his passing — disturbed smoke, gaps in crowds, and the like. An observer rolls Wits + Composure penalized by the vampires Wits vs the vampire’s Dexterity + Stealth.
If the vampire is being observed when he activates this power he rolls the above dice pool and compares it to the highest Resolve + Supernatural Composure roll of those observing him. If the roll is a failure the vampire fades but does not vanish, appearing ghost-like and translucent. If he ties or succeeds then he disappears as intended and mortal victims reconstruct the events in their mind to make sense of the vampires disappearance, with an exceptional success the victim forgets that the vampire was there to begin with, and tends to not reflect on any conflict in memory that might cause
It is possible to interact with a ghosted vampire, though difficult. A player tracking such a vampire rolls Wits + Composure Penalized by the Kindred's successes on the activation roll. On a successful roll, the character can interact normally with the ghostlike vampire, though they are likely to be disturbed by his ethereal presence. On a failure, the character loses two dice on any roll to interact with the ghost-like vampire, from attacking them to following them to seducing them.
After witnessing a vampire vanish before their eyes, any other present must roll Composure + Supernatural Tolerance. For humans, this is penalized by the vampires Wits. If the player succeeds, the character may act as expected in the situation. A failure on this roll means that the character is beside themselves and unable to act for two turns, unless that action is to flee. Vampires or other supernaturals who have observed this many times before (or who can do it themselves) are unaffected.
Note that these opposed rolls are only triggered if the vampire is being actively observed, if the vampire is in public but not being watched then nobody chance a chance to see him vanish. Though even if unobserved the player must still roll for activation in case of a failure because of the Vitae cost associated.
Modifiers:
Activating Cloak of Shadow when alone: +2
Blood Sympathy when vanishing in front of a relative.
••••• Cloak the Gathering:
Now the vampire extends his lie to his companions, and fools his victims to see what he wants for a group instead of simply for himself. If a character under this cloak does something to expose himself, such as with Unseen Presence, that individual falls out of the ruse. If the vampire who created the cloak exposes himself, all members of the cloak are exposed.
Action: —
Cost: See Below
Dice Pool: —
For every dot of Wits the vampire has, she may add one additional person to her cloak. The cloak extends any single Obfuscate power the vampire already has to any character in the cloak. Large objects such as horses may be added at the “cost.” All members of the cloak must behave under the limitations of the power extended to them, and will drop out of the cloak should they breach the power’s requirement. If the vampire creating the cloak fails to uphold the power’s requirements, the whole cloak falls.
Modifiers:
Each additional person beyond the vampires Wits attempting to be cloaked: +1 vitae
Subject attempting to be cloaked is size 6 or 7: +1 or +2 vitae