Obfuscate
From Vampire V5
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Obfuscate[edit]
Okay, I’ll start from the top. I’m just a courier, and after I received word of this order that went through three companies to get to me – clearly someone trying to cover their tracks – and I was given a hush bonus, I said “fuck it, why not.†That’s how I ended up delivering that box to the mansion. No, I never saw what was in the box, but judging from the setup at that place, I’m guessing it was something computery.
So the guy who answers the door is this butler-looking fellow. Looks normal, if a bit pale and out of a comic book. I just hand over the box and ask for a signature, but he eyes me up and down. He asks me to come inside for my bonus. I’ve already received one bonus, but hell, what’s another? So in I go. The butler wanders off, and someone else comes back. A maid this time. She asks if I want a drink. I tell her I’m cool. I just want my money and to get out.
The maid goes away and the butler emerges again. I’m developing a funny feeling. He hands over an envelope of cash and asks if I want to see the gear in this place. Thing is, I’ve never been a tech-head, but I decide to look anyway. As he takes me through the house, I see servers, computers, cables all over the damn place. It’s a firetrap. I reach out to move one aside as I think my bag will catch on it. That’s when it happens.
The butler turns around and he shrieks at me to touch nothing. His face shifts before my eyes. His body too. He turns into this scaly little slime of a man. And then he’s the maid. And then he’s the butler again. And then he’s someone different. And then he’s running away into all the shadows I suddenly notice around this place. I get the fuck out.
So yeah, the guy’s name was “Maropis,†but weird thing: I checked out the mansion again a week later and it was completely empty and dusty, like it had been vacant for decades.
For any hunter, the ability to hide, move without being seen, and employ camouflage proves vital. For the Kindred practitioners of Obfuscate, the Discipline provides the perfect cover to get close to a victim, disguise themselves as harmless, and escape when the heat grows too much. Obfuscate experts may utilize the Discipline to lurk in the shadows while spying, change appearance in a crowd while under surveillance, or even spread the gift to a group of vampires looking to hide.
Characteristics[edit]
Obfuscate powers work through ambient, low-level mesmerism. Observers see the vampire but their minds choose to ignore it. Witnesses unconsciously move out of the way if the user blocks their path and rationalize their behavior if pressed. Obfuscate affects all five senses unless otherwise noted.
The Discipline does have limits: the illusion fails if the observer cannot ignore the user or if the user backs the observer into a corner. A vampire blocking a doorway cannot maintain Obfuscate against someone walking through it. Likewise, violent action jeopardizes the façade, as does actions like raised voices, failed pickpocket attempts, and weapons raised to strike. Whispering without breaking Obfuscate is still possible.
Generally, the Discipline offers no protection against machine surveillance. A human staking out the vampire has a hard time pointing the lens in the right direction, but automatic cameras and other types of detectors can catch them.
A vampire with Sense the Unseen (Auspex 1) can detect Obfuscated characters by rolling Wits or Resolve + Auspex vs Wits + Obfuscate. Anyone can detect an Obfuscated vampire who draws attention to themselves; such observers detect such accidental revelations with a contest of Wits + Awareness (or Resolve + Awareness for an active searcher) vs Wits + Stealth. This also applies to surprise attacks from Obfuscate – a victim always has a chance to sense the danger a moment before the strike.
Type:
Mental
Masquerade threat:
Low. Avoiding detection is the whole point of this Discipline.
Blood Resonance:
Melancholic. The ignored and unseen, the homeless, forgotten, and depressed; spies, pickpockets, excellent servants, roadies and stagehands, and all the background people.
Level 1[edit]
==={{#loop: showDots
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}} Cloak of Shadows===
| Standing perfectly still, the user blends into the surroundings. As long as they have some kind of cover, make no sound, and don’t move, only mechanical or supernatural means can detect them. | |
| Dice Pools: | |
| Cost : | Free |
| Duration: | One scene |
| System: | Follow the general rules for Obfuscate. The effect lasts until the user moves or they are detected by other means. |
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}} Silence of Death===
| Popular among the Banu Haqim, this power completely silences the user, nullifying all sound made by them. As with other Obfuscate powers, this only works on people within earshot and does not fool microphones or other electronic sound detectors. Unlike Obfuscate in general, this power works only on the sense of hearing, but in exchange operates more robustly. A vampire needs to make a whole lot of noise to break this silence. | |
| Dice Pools: | |
| Cost : | Free |
| Duration: | One Scene |
| System: | The user silences their footsteps, clothing, minor collisions, and other sounds of their person. This makes the vampire undetectable if an observer could only notice them by sound, such as when on a different floor of a house.
This power does not eliminate sounds the user makes outside their personal space (throwing or dropping objects, or slamming doors, for example). Failing that, only Sense of the Unseen (Auspex 1) can detect the user. |
Level 2[edit]
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}} Unseen Passage===
| With this power, the vampire can now move around while staying hidden. The user is functionally invisible, per the usual Obfuscate limitations. | |
| Dice Pools: | |
| Cost : | One Rouse Check |
| Duration: | One scene or until detection. |
| System: | As long as the user emits no overpowering odours and no sound louder than a whisper, this power automatically works. Only if the observer has their attention drawn to the user can they make a detection roll.
Sense the Unseen (Auspex 1) can also detect the hidden vampire, as per the general Obfuscate rules. Note that the user cannot use this power to disappear while being actively observed; it automatically fails in such a case. |
Level 3[edit]
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}} Ghost in the Machine===
| The user can now transmit the effects of Obfuscate through electronic media, allowing the vampire to appear invisible or masked when viewed live on screen. If an observer views the image later, as in a photograph or recording, the effect lessens: the image seems slightly blurred, making identification hard. In addition, automated surveillance has a tendency to glitch in the presence of the vampire, lessening their chance of being caught by automated systems. | |
| Dice Pools: | |
| Cost : | No additional cost |
| Duration: | As power used |
| System: | No additional roll is required when being viewed on a live feed. Treat observers as present with the vampire, with regard to the Discipline. The observer adds +3 to their Difficulty on tests to identify the user on film, video, in photographs, or the like taken during active Obfuscation. The user also gains three additional dice to pools they use when trying to circumvent automated electronic surveillance and countermeasures. |
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}} Mask of a Thousand Faces===
| Instead of disappearing, the vampire using this power can make themselves appear as a nondescript stranger, someone expected to be present in the area. Unlike other Obfuscate powers, this allows the user to interact and communicate with those they might run into. They arouse little suspicion as long as their presence is at all plausible (meaning that it will not fool people who do not expect anyone or would be hostile against anyone they didn’t know). The power also does not provide any personal identification or other ways of misleading an identity check. | |
| Dice Pools: | |
| Cost : | One Rouse Check |
| Duration: | One scene |
| System: | No test is required. Anyone viewing the vampire sees a forgettable face of the same gender and approximate build and height as the user. Clothes take on the same kind of blandness, depending on the environment. At an office the user might appear as a nightwatchman, while they may seem to wear overalls at an assembly plant. Sense the Unseen (Auspex 1) can pierce the power as usual. |
Level 4[edit]
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}} Conceal (Amalgam: Auspex 3)===
| This ability allows the user to cloak an inanimate object such as a door, a car, or a small house. As with other Obfuscate powers, this does not actually make the object invisible, but creates a lingering hypnotic effect that causes most people to simply ignore it. In this case the power is especially effective, given that the object is unlikely to call attention to itself. Unless something causes passersby to collide with it or someone points it out, people behave as if the object wasn’t there, moving around larger objects if need be. | |
| Dice Pools: | Intelligence + Obfuscate |
| Cost : | One Rouse Check |
| Duration: | One night, with an additional night per point of margin on the win. |
| System: | The vampire touches the object and rolls a test of Intelligence + Obfuscate against a Difficulty from 2 (Concealing a ring in a drawer filled with other memorabilia) to 6 (Concealing a house in the middle of an open square), depending on the target’s size and location. The power lasts for one night. Each point of margin on the win conceals the object for an additional night.
This power conceals anyone and anything inside the object (e.g., people in a car or shed), as long as the viewer remains outside. This power cannot affect anything larger than a two-story house or any object moving under its own power (such as a moving car). Someone with the Auspex power Sense the Unseen (or equivalent) can notice the object by winning a contest of Wits + Auspex vs the Intelligence + Obfuscate of the user. |
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}} Vanish (Prerequisite: Cloak of Shadows)===
| The vampire can activate Cloak of Shadows and Unseen Passage even while under direct observation. The vampire appears to vanish in the blink of an eye; even the memory of them becomes foggy and indistinct. | |
| Dice Pools: | Wits + Obfuscate vs Wits + Awareness |
| Cost : | As per power augmented |
| Duration: | As per power augmented |
| System: | When vanishing in front of a mortal, roll a contest of Wits + Obfuscate vs Wits + Awareness. On a win, the observer questions whether the vampire was ever there to begin with; their memory clouds on the topic. With a critical win, the vampire vanishes entirely from the observer’s memory. This power does not affect vampires’ memories, but any win by the user hides them as if they initiated their power unobserved. This power can only be used once per scene. |
Level 5[edit]
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}} Cloak the Gathering===
| The vampire can shelter their companions under the cloak of Obfuscate. | |
| Dice Pools: | |
| Cost : | One Rouse Check in addition to the cost of the power extended |
| Duration: | As power extended |
| System: | The vampire can extend their power of Obfuscation to a number of additional willing subjects equal to their Wits, plus one for each additional Rouse Check made. The Obfuscate power used on the group can be any known to the user, and every member of the group count as having used it on themselves, using the Obfuscating vampire’s rating as their own when needed for a roll. Members of the group can still perceive each other while under the effects of the power. If anyone besides the user is revealed, either through their own doing or an astute observer, the rest of the group remains hidden. If the user is revealed, so is everyone else |
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}} Imposter's Guise (Prerequisite: Mask of a Thousand Faces)===
| With some preparation the vampire can make themselves appear as a specific individual of any build and gender. The user must carefully study the subject, otherwise the charade fails when meeting anyone with more than a casual familiarity with the person being mimicked. | |
| Dice Pools: | Wits + Obfuscate, Manipulation + Performance |
| Cost : | One Rouse Check |
| Duration: | One scene |
| System: | The user must study the face to be copied for at least five minutes, from different angles. The user requires another ten minutes of observation to mimic the subject’s voice and mannerisms. The user can only copy human appearance, not animal form. The Storyteller then makes a hidden test of Wits + Obfuscate (Difficulty 4). A failure means that the resemblance is less than convincing, and anyone close to the person copied notices something amiss automatically. A win creates a convincing illusion, but the user must make a Manipulation + Performance roll to impersonate speech and mannerisms. A critical win creates a perfect illusion with no further roll necessary. Sense the Unseen (Auspex 1) can pierce the mask as per General Rules. |
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