Dominate
Dominate is one of the most dreaded of Disciplines. It is a vampire’s ability to
influence another person’s thoughts and actions through her own force of will.
Dominate requires that the vampire capture her victim’s gaze (see p. 152); as such,
it may be used against only one subject at a time. Further, commands must be issued
verbally, although simple orders may be made with signs — for example, a pointed
finger and forceful expression to indicate “Go!” However, the subject won’t comply
if he can’t understand the vampire, no matter how powerful the Kindred’s will is.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, vampires to which Dominate comes naturally tend to be from
willful, domineering Clans. The Giovanni, Lasombra, Tremere, and Ventrue all
consider an iron will to be a boon, and are eager to impose that iron will on any
who would move against them.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------
Summary:
1. One-word Command
2. Implant thought
3. Memory Manipulation
4. Conditioning
5. Possession
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------
Revised Changes:
Not much to be changed in Dominate, it's very well developed up to 5 Dots. Just the
regular structure changes and some more.
. Written Structure;
. Resisting Dominate Rule Changes: Now Failure also makes the target immune for the
rest of the scene. Development in the Nature interactions. Less abstract wording in
Human ruling interactions;
. 3 - The Forgetful Mind: Wits changed to Manipulation or coherence. Now 5
Successes make the alterations irreversible;
. 4 - Conditioning: Less abstract ruling when shaking the power away. Resistence to
Dominate added do the vampire who gets this level;
. 5 - Possession: Attributes vs Willpower contest altered for balance. Removed
linked damage from victim to user. Ability to Reactively end the Power added(high
difficulty).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------
• Mesmerize
The vampire locks eyes with the subject and speaks a one-word command, which the
subject must be obey instantly. The order must be clear and straightforward: run,
agree, fall, yawn, jump, laugh, surrender, stop, scream, follow. If the command is
at all confusing or ambiguous, the subject may respond slowly or perform the task
poorly. The subject cannot be ordered to do something directly harmful to herself,
so a command like “die” is ineffective.
The command may be included in a sentence, thereby concealing the power’s use from
others. This effort at subtlety still requires the Kindred to make eye contact at
the proper moment and stress the key word slightly. An alert bystander — or even
the victim — may notice the emphasis. Still, unless she’s conversant with
supernatural powers, the individual is likely to attribute the utterance and the
subsequent action to bizarre coincidence.
System:
Activation Roll: Manipulation + Intimidation, difficulty (equal to the target’s
current Willpower points)
• Being commanded to against one’s Nature confounds the use of this power. Being
told to “sleep!” in a dangerous situation or “attack!” in police custody may not
have the desired effect, or indeed, any effect at all;
• More Successes force the subject to act with greater vigor or for a longer
duration (continue running for a number of turns, go off on a laughing jag, scream
uncontrollably).
•• Command
With this power, a vampire can verbally implant a false thought or hypnotic
suggestion in the subject’s subconscious mind. Both Kindred and target must be free
from distraction, since Mesmerize requires intense concentration and precise
wording to be effective. The vampire may activate the imposed thought immediately
or establish a stimulus that will trigger it later. The victim must be able to
understand the vampire, though the two need to maintain eye contact only as long as
it takes to implant the idea.
Command allows for anything from simple, precise directives (handing over an item)
to complex, highly involved ones (taking notes of someone’s habits and relaying
that information at an appointed time). It is not useful for planting illusions or
false memories (such as seeing a rabbit or believing yourself to be on fire). A
subject can have only one suggestion implanted at any time.
System:
Activation Roll: Manipulation + Leadership, difficulty (equal to the target’s
current Willpower points)
• The number of Successes determines how well the suggestion takes hold in the
victim’s subconscious. If the vampire scores one or two successes, the subject
cannot be forced to do anything that seems strange to her (she might walk outside,
but is unlikely to steal a car). At three or four successes, the command is
effective unless following it endangers the subject. 5 Successes or more make the
vampire able to implant nearly any sort of command;
• No matter how strong the Kindred’s will, his command cannot force the subject to
harm herself directly or defy her innate Nature. So, while a vampire who scored
five successes could make a 98-pound weakling attack a 300-pound bouncer, he could
not make the mortal shoot herself in the head;
• If a vampire tries to Command a subject before the target fulfills a previously
implanted directive, compare the Successes rolled to those gained during the
implanting of the first suggestion. Whichever roll had the greater number of
Successes is the command that now governs in the target’s behavior; the other
suggestion is wiped clean. If the Successes rolled are equal, the newer command
supplants the old one.
••• The Forgetful Mind
After capturing the subject’s gaze, the vampire delves into the subject’s memories,
stealing or re-creating them at his whim. The Forgetful Mind does not allow for
telepathic contact; the Kindred operates much like a hypnotist, asking directed
questions and drawing out answers from the subject. The degree of memory alteration
depends on what the vampire desires. He may alter the subject’s mind only slightly
(quite effective for eliminating memories of the victim meeting or even being fed
upon by the vampire) or utterly undo the victim’s memories of her past.
The degree of detail used has a direct bearing on how strongly the new memories
take hold, since the victim’s subconscious mind resists the alteration. A
simplistic or incomplete false memory (“You went to the movies last night”)
crumbles much more quickly than does one with more attention to detail (“You
thought about texting your girlfriend while you were in line at the new movie
theater, but you knew you’d have to turn your phone off once you got inside. You
liked the movie well enough, but the plot seemed weak. You were tired after it
ended, so you went home, watched a little late-night television, and went to
bed.”).
Even in its simplest applications, The Forgetful Mind requires tremendous skill and
finesse. It’s a relatively simple matter to rifle through a victim’s psyche and rip
out the memories of the previous night without knowing what the subject did that
evening. Doing so leaves a gap in the victim’s mind, however — a hole that can give
rise to further problems down the road. The Kindred may describe new memories, but
these recollections seldom have the same degree of realism that the subject’s
original thoughts held.
As such, this power isn’t always completely effective. The victim may remember
being bitten, but believe it to be an animal attack. Greater memories may return in
pieces as dreams, or through sensory triggers like a familiar odor or spoken
phrase. Even so, months or years may pass before the subject regains enough of her
lost memories to make sense of the fragments.
A vampire can also sense when a subject’s memories were altered through use of this
power in most cases, and even restore them, as a hypnotist draws forth suppressed
thoughts.
System:
Activation Roll: Manipulation + Subterfuge, difficulty (equal to the target’s
current Willpower points)
• The player states what sorts of alteration he wants to perform, then make the
Activation Roll;
• Any success pacifies the victim for the amount of time it takes the vampire to
perform the verbal alteration, provided the vampire does not act aggressively
toward her. The table below indicates the degree of modification possible to the
subject’s memory. If the successes rolled don’t allow for the extent of change the
character desired, the Storyteller reduces the resulting impact on the victim’s
mind;
Successes Result
1 success May remove a single memory; lasts one day.
2 successes May remove, but not alter, memory permanently.
3 successes May make slight changes to memory.
4 successes May alter or remove entire scene from subject’s memory.
5 successes May reconstruct entire periods of subject’s life. The
original memories cannot be restored.
• To restore removed memories or sense false ones in a subject, the character’s
Dominate rating must be equal to or higher than that of the vampire who made the
alteration. In that situation, the player must Contest Roll: Wits + Empathy roll
(difficulty equal to the original vampire’s permanent Willpower rating) and score
more successes than his predecessor did. However, the Kindred cannot use The
Forgetful Mind to restore his own memories if they were stolen in such a way.
•••• Conditioning
Through sustained manipulation, the vampire can make a subject more pliant to the
Kindred’s will. Over time, the victim becomes increasingly susceptible to the
vampire’s influence while simultaneously growing more resistant to the corrupting
efforts of other Kindred. Gaining complete control over a subject’s mind is no
small task, taking weeks or even months to accomplish.
Kindred often fill their retainers’ heads with subtle whispers and veiled urges,
thereby ensuring these mortals’ loyalty. Yet vampires must pay a high price for the
minds they ensnare. Servants Dominated in this way lose much of their passion and
individuality. They follow the vampire’s orders quite literally, seldom taking
initiative or showing any imagination. In the end, such retainers become like
automatons or the walking dead.
System:
Activation Roll: Charisma + Leadership, difficulty (equal to the target’s current
Willpower points)
• The player makes the Activation Roll once per scene;
• Conditioning is an extended action, for which the Storyteller secretly
determines the number of successes required. It typically requires between five and
10 times the subject’s Self-Control/Instinct rating;
• A target becomes more tractable even before becoming fully conditioned. Once the
vampire accumulates half the required number of successes, uses of Dominate on the
target gain a Difficulty Reduction of 1;
• After being conditioned, the target falls so far under the vampire’s influence
that the Kindred need not make eye contact or even be present to retain absolute
control. The subject does exactly as she is told (including taking actions that
would injure herself), as long as her master can communicate with her verbally. No
command roll is necessary unless the subject is totally isolated from the vampire’s
presence (in a different room, over the phone). Even if a command roll fails, the
target will still likely carry out part of the orders given, simply because her
master wishes it;
• It is possible, though difficult, to shake Conditioning. The subject must be
separated entirely from the vampire to whom she was in thrall. This period of
separation is of: 2 Years, less two months per dot in permanent Willpower rating
(so a person with 6 Willpower must stay away from the vampire for just 1 Year). The
subject regains her personality slowly during this time, though she may still lapse
into brief spells of listlessness, despair, or even anger;
• If the vampire encounters the target before that time passes, a single Success in
a Roll: Charisma + Leadership, difficulty (equal to the target’s current Willpower
points) on the part of the vampire completely reasserts the dominance.
• If the subject makes it through the time period without intervention by her
master, the target regains her former individuality. Even so, the vampire may re-
establish conditioning more easily than the first time, since the subject is now
predisposed to falling under the Kindred’s mental control. New attempts require
half the total number of successes than the last bout of conditioning did (which
means the subject reaches the threshold for reduced difficulties sooner, as well);
• After the subject is fully conditioned, other Kindred find her more difficult to
Dominate. Such conditioning makes all attempts of Dominating them by others have a
Difficulty Increase of 2;
• Any attempts of Dominating a vampire that has achieved this power have a
Difficulty Increase of 2.
••••• Possession
At this level of Dominate, the force of the Kindred’s psyche is such that it can
utterly supplant the mind of a mortal subject. Speaking isn’t required, but the
vampire must capture the victim’s gaze. During the psychic struggle, the
contestants’ eyes are locked on one another.
Once the Kindred overwhelms the subject’s mind, the vampire moves his consciousness
into the victim’s body and controls it as easily as he uses his own. The mortal
falls into a mental fugue while under possession. She is aware of events only in a
distorted, dreamlike fashion. In turn, the vampire’s mind focuses entirely on
controlling his mortal subject. His own body lies in a torpid state, defenseless
against any actions made toward it.
Vampires cannot possess one another in this fashion, as even the weakest Kindred’s
mind is strong enough to resist such straightforward mental dominance. Only through
a blood bond can one vampire control another to this degree. Supernatural creatures
also cannot be possessed in this way, although ghouls that have drunk from the
vampire using Possession can.
System:
Activation Roll: N/A
• Spend 1 Blood Point and 1 Willpower Point;
• The vampire must completely strip away the target’s Willpower prior to possessing
his target;
• The player may a Willpower point, then make a Contested Roll: user's Charisma +
Intimidation, difficulty 7 vs target's Wits + Empathy, difficulty 7. For each
Overpowering Success, the target loses a point of temporary Willpower. Only if the
attacker botches can the subject escape her fate, since this makes the target
immune to any further Dominate attempts by that vampire for the rest of the story.
• Once the target loses all her temporary Willpower, her mind is open. The vampire
rolls Manipulation + Intimidation (difficulty 7) to determine how fully he assumes
control of the mortal shell. Similar to the Animalism power Subsume the Spirit,
multiple successes allow the character to utilize some mental Disciplines, noted on
the chart below. (Vampires possessing ghouls can use the physical Disciplines the
ghoul possesses, but not the mental ones.)
Successes Result
1 success Cannot use Disciplines
2 successes Can use Auspex and other sensory powers
3 successes Can also use Presence and other powers of emotional
manipulation
4 successes Can also use Dementation, Dominate, and other powers of mental
manipulation
5 successes Can also use Chimerstry, Necromancy, Thaumaturgy, and other
mystical powers
• The character may travel as far from his body as he is physically able while
possessing the mortal. The vampire may also venture out during the day in the
mortal form. However, the vampire’s own body must be awake to do so;
• The vampire experiences everything the mortal body feels during possession, from
pleasure to pain. If the mortal dies before the vampire’s soul can flee from the
body, the character’s body falls into torpor;
• If the vampire leaves the mortal shell (by choice, if his body falls asleep,
through supernatural expulsion, after sustaining significant injury, etc.), his
consciousness returns to his physical form in an instant;
• Once freed from possession, the mortal regains mental control of herself. This
can happen in an instant, or the victim may lie comatose for days while her psyche
copes with the violation;
• The vampire can make a Roll: Wits + Alertness, difficulty 9, to reflexively end
the power and return to it's own body at any point;
• The Kindred can remain in the mortal’s body even if his own torpid form is
destroyed, though such a pathetic creature is not likely to exist for long. At each
sunrise, if in this state, the vampire Roll: Courage, difficulty 8. Failure means
the vampire is forced forced from the mortal body, and tumbles into the astral
plane, his soul permanently lost in the spirit world.
• A vampire trapped in a mortal body may not be “re-Embraced.” If the Embrace
occurs to such a creature, he simply meets Final Death.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------
Resisting Dominate
Most victims cannot stand against the effects of Dominate. Still, there are
situations where this Discipline is powerless to sway the subject.
Mortals: Few mortals can hope to resist Dominate, as their strength of will nothing
compared to the supernatural magnetism of a vampire. All Dominate powers used
against Mortals instantly succeed with at least 1 Success, but Rolls can be made to
acquire more successes and achieve better results. Still, there are extremely rare
individuals who, due to strong religious faith, unique psychic talent, or
extraordinary mental resolve, can shrug off this Discipline’s effects. Only a
foolish vampire ignores the potential threat such human beings represent.
Vampires: It is impossible to Dominate another Kindred who is of stronger Blood.
The vampire must be of an equal or higher Generation than the target for the powers
to be effective. Scholars of the Kindred condition suspect that this is one of the
protections Caine put in place to protect himself from the whims of his willful
childer. A faction of those who believe this theory also maintain that this implies
that Caine himself employed the Discipline of Dominate.
Nature: A character’s Nature can have a distinct impact on how easily Dominate
influences her. A Soldier would be more easily subjected to the orders of his
superiors, but resistant to orders from other people. A Caretaker would be more
easily swayed into offering aid than murder. This interactions should influence on
the Difficulty of all Dominate-related Rolls, applying either a True Difficulty
Reduction OF 1 or a True Difficulty Increase of 1.
Failures and Botches: If a Dominate roll fails, the victim cannot be Dominated
again for the rest of the scene, and if it Botches, the target is rendered immune
to future attempts by the same vampire for the rest of the story.
