Update: Clarifications and fixes were made on 1/19.
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Busy week for Vampire again. I’ve been working with the writers on the last of the Disciplines, and getting together reprinted material for the anthology. We posted a second draft of Protean earlier today. And there are lots of contracts and practical matters to square away!
Plus, Demon development is in full swing. Just got the first mechanics from co-developer Matt McFarland today.
Now we come to a Discipline I’ve always had a special place in my heart for. Obfuscate is the reason you need to be as afraid of vampires in your well-lit living room as on a side street under a broken light. It was the engine that let Frances Black of Shadows in the Dark keep roommates… without ever disclosing her presence. And it’s the reason a vampire can snatch you out of a crowd without making a single sound.
<Click here for the playtest file.>
(Note that Oubliette is more costly than Haven Occultation currently is, but is also more flexible.)
Looking this over I really like that you can make objects look different and mask them.
It seems harder to pull off Frances trick with roommates, it seems like that would now cost a lot of vitae. Or maybe I’m misunderstanding Face in the crowd, what counts as an expectation of no one else being in a room. Like if I’m in my apartment that I share with one roommate would I notice the vampire even though I wouldn’t be surprised if my roommate is there but not some stranger? Or if I think nobody is home but other people live their that have friends I wouldn’t expect to know would that count?
Also looking over it again, touch of shadows says you can obfuscate animals but their seem to be references to obfuscated people, in other levels, can it be used on people?
Also touch of shadows seems to completely make something invisible, what then is the point of using cloak of shadows with it. Also it seems like at obfuscate 2 you can hide animals or maybe people more thoroughly than you hide yourself. Or just put a big clear bag over yourself and hide it to basically be invisible.
At Cloak of Night, it can be used on people.
If you wanted to walk around in a big bag, you could maybe occlude it and stumble around. I wouldn’t allow it as Storyteller, though, because a vampire walking around in a bag isn’t really much fun. If you’re carrying something, though, I’d recommend that it count as concealing something on your person rather than Obfuscating something outside of you. I’ll think about whether we want to get that fine-grained in the final writeup.
The interaction between Cloak of Night and Touch of Shadow seems a bit out of place:
“By spending an extra point of Vitae while activating Face in the Crowd or Touch of Shadow”
I understand that Cloak of Night is the “Even if the Vampire is out of place, they won’t find her” upgrade to Face in the Crowd, but how would that work with Touch of Shadow? Perhaps a bit of clarification is needed.
The new Familiar Stranger is badass.
And Oubliette is… Delicious. Expensive, ridiculously expensive, yes… But the benefits are… Mmmh… MMMH. MIND GAMES. <3
Typos spotted
– in “Face In The Crowd” – “if they score more successes than the vampire did on his activation roll the notice him” should be “if they score more successes than the vampire did on his activation roll they notice him”
– in “Touch of Shadow” – “comparing their successes the vampire’s of Touch of Shadow roll.” could read “comparing their successes to the vampire’s Touch of Shadow successes.”
– in “The Familiar Stranger” – Or is can be definite, like “Tom’s friend Jason” should be “Or it can be definite, like “Tom’s friend Jason””
– in “Oubliette” – “In order to Obfuscate an entire building or location the vampire must spend vitae based on the location’s size” – capitalise “vitae.”
– “The vitae itself must be physically spread about the local, marking key gateways and landmarks.” – capitalise “vitae,” and replace “local” with “locale” or “location.”
– “or lending Face in the Crowd to ghoul confederates within the premsies.” – replace “premsies” with “premises.”
Thanks, those have been corrected in the working copy.
Just to clarify, though — these are the team’s notes, not final text. The prose will be rewritten completely and sent through a professional editor before it goes in the book.
When making something vanish how do people react? Do they rationalize it or freak out?
For Oubliette can you extend the duration of other powers or do you have to reuse them frequently? Also what is people reaction to a missing building? I assume random passerby’s don’t notice but what about someone that lives their.
Both the first and third dot powers seem to have the exact same rule for how violence affects them but its repeated, was it supposed to be different or do they handle it the same way?
For cloak of shadow does a creaky floor board or walking through smoke allow random passerbys to notice the user or just someone that suspects the power is active?
“For Oubliette can you extend the duration of other powers or do you have to reuse them frequently?”
Duration is as normal for the powers.
“Also what is people reaction to a missing building? I assume random passerby’s don’t notice but what about someone that lives their.”
They just don’t think about it. One of the inspirations behind this power was former Vampire developer Will Hindmarch realizing that he had passed a ruined building every day on the way to work for a year, and never noticed it.
“Both the first and third dot powers seem to have the exact same rule for how violence affects them but its repeated, was it supposed to be different or do they handle it the same way?”
The rule is meant to be repeated. In the final version, it will be explained globally for the Discipline.
“When making something vanish how do people react? Do they rationalize it or freak out?”
Rationalize it, but not in detail. The cardinal rule of Obfuscate is “you don’t notice.”
Wow, this looks great.
So my character could activate Face in the Crowd, put someone under Touch of Shadow (with Obfuscate 3) and chow down on them with relative security?
Ding.
Or, better, you could add Cloak of Night to that Touch of Shadow and make them utterly imperceptible by others. So even if they scream and thrash they draw no attention to you or themselves. 🙂
Wow that is scary, a nosferatu eats you in a crowd and no one sees you die, now i really want to see nightmare to see how much creepier than can get!!
Very cool
Very cool
I love this new Obfuscate! You really made the 5th-dot power something of note, heh (it reminds of the film The Shadow awith Alec Baldwin and the obfuscated building in which his arch-nemesis hid).
I’ve noticed that all Obfuscate powers seem to work on only two senses, sight and sounds, but not smell or taste. Is this deliberate? This would make the discipline close to useless against a werewolf, or other creature with enhanced senses (even vampires!).
I’ve clarified in the document that other senses are affected. This ties into the Predatory Aura we’ll be showing soon — vampires recognize other vampires through eerie little sensory cues. So something that uses the Aura to hide is going to work by making people miss those cues.