The Giovanni
“Loyalty to the family. To death and beyond.”
Originally a family of Venetians who turned to dark magic, the Giovanni family became a criminal syndicate amongst the supernaturals, adding to their ranks a great number of unrelated supernaturals who wanted in on their necromantic protection rackets. Never achieving the wealth or strength of the World Crime League in impoverished and superstitious Europe, the Giovanni never achieved covenant status. Upon running into the WCL, they found themselves badly outnumbered in the world of supernatural crime and largely caved in to pressure from the East. The Giovanni mostly went legit and now provide gray market financial services and money laundering to supernaturals with little or no presence in the human world.
The Giovanni are still operated like a mafia family, and they still do a lot of criminal activities. It's just that now they make sure to avoid strongarming other supernaturals – at least without WCL permission. While it is now common for a Giovanni Don to be something other than an Italian Khaibit related by blood to the founders, it is still incredibly rare for anyone without necromantic power to rise to any meaningful level in the organization. The organization is called by those inside “The Family” even though it no longer cares about a prospective recruit's skin color or family background.
Missions for the Giovanni: The Giovanni are a full service outfit, and when you mess with a family client you are messing with The Family, capiche? Very frequently, the Giovanni will send teams to clear up some “misunderstanding” involving one or more Giovanni clients. These sorts of missions will often involve bailing clueless supernaturals out of legal problems with the mortal world or covering up potential masquerade breeches before they come to covenant attention. The Giovanni are also quite aggressive in business and may send teams to “persuade” potential clients to sign on with the Giovanni before someone gets hurt.
Sample Adventure: An ancient vampire in good standing with the Sabbat has awoken and is trying to do things the “old ways.” The Giovanni want the family member to take his friends off to convince this powerful but dangerously naïve monster to allow family specialists to handle his interface with modern society (and pay the going rates for this service, natch).
- Favored Magic: Necromancy
Favored Backgrounds: Contacts, Resources
Work: Finance & Bureaucracy
Stellar Oracles
“Heaven may forgive you, but I will not!”
The Stellar Oracles were begun by a group of reincarnated warriors who have been fighting the King of Three Shadows for many lifetimes with mixed success. They are a warrior order that has been completely wiped out several times in history, and yet been able to bring itself back to existence like a blazing phoenix as new lifetimes of old members come again as the wheel of seasons and years rolls inexorably on. The Stellar Oracles are the holders of a number of prophecies, only a few of which are outsiders allowed to see. They have a rather complicated dogma involving the effects of the planets on the future, but they seriously do have a number of members with Divination and they really do know a fair amount about future events.
Stellar Oracles see themselves not as humanity’s masters, but as their protectors. And they see the greatest threats to humanity as coming from otherworldly sources. Death in the service of the cause is for many considered to be not so much a risk of the job but an inevitability of sacred duty. And indeed, death is something of a revolving door for many members. It's fairly difficult to rise to become royalty amongst the Stellar Oracles without having died for the cause at least once.
Missions for the Stellar Oracles: Stellar Oracle leadership generally wants to do one of three things: destroy “monsters,” protect humans, or collect old members who have returned to life and induct them into the cult once more. As such, there is a fair amount of straight up crime fighting that Stellar Oracles are called upon to do, but there can also be quite complex interactions with Vampires or Reborn.
Sample Adventure: Somewhere in the city a Sidhe has come through from the Dark Reflection and is repeatedly draining energy out of mortals in order to bring Mirror Goblins across like some grim parody of a work visa program. The Oracle is sent to assemble their coterie, track down the Sidhe and kick Limbo ass before the army of Mirror Goblins gets too large to defend the city against while maintaining secrecy.
- Favored Magic: Names of the Blasphemies
Favored Backgrounds: Contacts, Destiny
Work: Monster Hunting
So if anyone has some idea of what they want the Glass Walkers, Storm Lords, or Hollow Ones to do, I'm all ears.
Also, primary edits on the Universals:
Universal Disciplines
“This is what we are, and this is what you are.”
There are many things that magic can do in the World of Darkness, and one of the most salient things is that it allows supernatural creatures to do amazing things. Universal powers are those that owe no special allegiance to any world or cult. They require no magic words or special gestures. They are not “spells” in any meaningful sense and one cannot muster a counterspell against them. Most importantly of all, they can be spontaneously developed. A character who has the requisite points can simply acquire a Universal Discipline without any access to special training or magical research books.
Auspex
“You see what you want to see. You hear what you want to hear.”
Auspex is the power to have unusual and enhanced senses. A character with Auspex can perceive what others cannot. A character with Auspex gains a +2 bonus on Perception tests. This bonus increases to +4 if they have Advanced Auspex, and +6 if they have Elder Auspex.
Basic Disciplines
- Supernatural Senses A character with supernatural senses can enhance their perceptions well beyond human norms. Vision can become telescopic or even function in total darkness; hearing can become acute enough to hear heart beats; smell can become powerful enough to track at a brisk walk; and so on. Bringing one's senses into the realm of magical badassery also makes one vulnerable to intense sensory input. Bright lights can blind, strong smells can overpower, and loud noises can deafen. While a sense is enhanced, the threshold to resist overstimulation is increased by 2. Activating or deactivating Supernatural Senses is a Free Action.
- Aura Perception A character using Aura perception can bleed themselves into other worlds and see and interact with the things that are there. This extends them only into the Shallows, and they are still in the material world. Activating or deactivating Aura Perception is a Simple Action.
- Sensory Damper A character with sensory damper is protected from harmful stimuli such as glare, pepper spray, and loud noises. They are able to dial down their sensations to the point of unobtrusiveness. This can be effectively instantaneous in the case of bright flashes, and highly selective in the case of filtering out noise while listening to a conversation across the room. Such a character can stay conscious regardless of wound level (ignoring pain sufficient to knock them out), but it does not affect wound penalties at all.
- Spirit's Touch The Spirit's Touch allows a character to view past events by touching and concentrating upon items or people that were involved in those events. The event in question must be described (although that description may well be entirely conversational such as “What happened here?” – in the case of a brutal crime scene, the context makes that description sufficient), and must have taken place within the last month. Dicepool for Spirit's Touch is Logic + Research or Intuition + Empathy. Using Spirit's Touch requires one power point, and the expected amount of time is one minute. Seeing farther back into time can be done by increasing the expected amount of time by one step and increasing the cost by 1 power point for each time increment the viewing window is increased.
- Telepathy A character with Telepathy can communicate mentally with people within line of sight. Voluntary telepathic messages can also be sent and received between people the character knows the name of and who they have touched (regardless of line of sight) so long as they are within a number of kilometers equal to the character's Potency. The contents of an unwilling mind can be read, but only with physical contact and difficulty. Telepathy is always on, but mind reading is a Resisted Extended Action. Mind reading uses either Willpower + Intimidation or Intuition + Empathy.
- Divination Divination allows a character to ask questions about reality and the future and get actual (if often vague and cryptic) answers. Using Divination takes an hour and costs one Edge. The Dicepool is either Logic + Research or Charisma + Bureaucracy.
- Twilight Projection Activating Twilight Projection sends a character and everything they are carrying into the Shallows of another world of their choice (Limbo, Maya, or Mictlan). The character can also return to the material world using this ability, but only from the point they last entered the other world. Crossing either way requires a Complex Action and a Power Point.
There she goes again.
Celerity is the power to move with the astonishing speed of the supernatural. Celerity must be consciously activated at a cost of 1 Power point, and its effects last for one scene. Distinct from other disciplines, the effects of Celerity are cumulative. The discipline as a whole is activated or not during a scene, and may be activated as a Reflexive Action while rolling initiative. When activated, the character gains a +2 bonus to Initiative tests. With Advanced Celerity this bonus increases to +4, and with Elder Celerity this bonus increases to +8. During the initiative phase, a character with Celerity may choose to reduce the speed that they will move at to a more normal velocity. The degree of speed utilized cannot be changed again until next initiative phase. In general, character whose Celerity more than doubles their speed in any dimension would constitute a masquerade breach.
Basic Disciplines
- Quickness While Celerity is active, the character gains an extra initiative pass during any confrontation turn.
- Nimble Feet While Celerity is active, the character is able to walk and run at stupendous speeds. The character's personal movement rate is quadrupled. If the character has Advanced Celerity, the speed increase is itself increased to six times. If the character has Elder Celerity the movement increase is eight times. In addition, the character ignores penalties for acting while moving over difficult surfaces (although they may be slowed down by them as normal).
- Alacrity While Celerity is active, the character gains an extra initiative pass during any confrontation turn. This is cumulative with Quickness (for a total of 2 extra IPs if both are known).
- Quicken Sight While Celerity is active, the character may perceive and derive meaning from fast moving objects. They may follow a specific card in a shuffled deck, read a sign on a fast moving train, or gauge the trajectories of bullets in flight. They gain a +4 bonus to Defense Rolls, and suffers no penalties from dodging more than one attack during an Initiative Pass. If they have Elder Celerity, the bonus increases to 6 dice.
- Blur While Celerity is active, the character gains an extra initiative pass during any confrontation turn. This is cumulative with Alacrity and Quickness (for a total of 3 extra IPs if all are known).
- Rapid Thought While Celerity is active, the character is able to consider their situation and their surroundings carefully as if they had little or no time pressures. All penalties for splitting one's attentions between two or more activities (such as wielding two pistols or picking a lock while dangling from a rope) are canceled. The character ignores all penalties for a “rushed job.” And finally, the character always wins initiative against enemies, and must roll only if another character also has Rapid Thought.
Dominate
“Look me in the eyes and tell me that again.”
Dominate is the power to impress one's Will directly upon another. Dominate requires eye contact to function, although only cursorily. A character who is closing their eyes or wearing mirror shades cannot be Dominated. A character who is actively attempting to avoid seeing a potential dominator's eyes may be able to do so, depending upon the actions of the dominating character. Activating Dominate is generally an opposed test with the target defending with Willpower. When a character is compelled to do something which is against their nature (generally including following suicidal orders), they may spend an action dithering. They at this point lose an entire round of actions as they have their internal struggle, making an additional resistance check to attempt to shake off the effects. Most uses of Dominate require instructions to be given to the victim in a manner that they can comprehend. Usually this requires verbal orders to be given in a language they understand; but sign language, written directions, and even silent telepathic commands can suffice.
Basic Disciplines
- Command The character gives an instantaneous verbal command, which the victim will follow to the best of their ability. The action itself must be essentially instantaneous, using up no more than a single complex action. If it is of an open ended nature such as “lie down,” then the victim will spend one complex action doing it, and then they are free to do as they please and wonder why they did that. Using Command is a Complex action, and requires a successful opposed test using either Willpower + Intimidation or Logic + Persuasion against Willpower test.
- Mesmerism The character can hypnotize a victim, allowing them to give extended commands that will be obeyed. Commands must be stressed and repeated, with each major instruction taking approximately a minute to convey. During the period of hypnotism, the victim stands there like an obviously hypnotized drone, but behaves seemingly normally when they go off to carry out their instructions. Any sudden sensory stimulation (such as a nearby gunshot or someone shaking the victim) during the Mesmerism breaks the spell. Using Mesmerism is an opposed, extended test pitting the character's Logic + Persuasion or Willpower + Intimidation against the target's Willpower. The expected time to bring someone under Mesmerism so that instructions can begin is one minute.
- Suggestion The character can offer a suggestion that the victim will then immediately themselves suggest as if it were their own idea. Whether this idea is followed up upon or discarded as “a bad idea” depends entirely upon how they feel about the idea once they've said it. The immediate victim does not remember being fed the suggestion in the first place, but the scene may look odd to onlookers. Using a Suggestion is a Simple Action and requires an opposed Logic + Tactics or Willpower + Expression vs. Willpower test.
- Forgetful Mind The Forgetful Mind allows the character to erase or alter the memories of a victim. A single use of Forgetful Mind can alter about 5 minutes of memory, but net hits increase the time frame. Using Forgetful Mind is a Complex action, and requires a successful opposed Willpower + Expression or Logic + Artisan against Willpower test. A Luminary who is presented with proof that their memories are incorrect may spend an Edge to remember. Extras just have to resolve those discrepancies somehow.
- Conditioning Using extended mind controlling techniques, a victim's will is broken and they are transformed into a servant of the character's. Breaking someone's mind in this manner is an extended task that has an expected time frame of 1 day per point of the victim's Willpower, with a dicepool of Willpower + Intimidation or Logic + Tactics. Conditioning is Hard and has a threshold of 3. Conditioning supernatural creatures with higher Potencies than the dominator is even more difficult, and the difference is added to the threshold in that case. Once a victim has been thralled, they follow all orders their new master gives them as if they had been imparted with the force of a successful Mesmerism. At the time of conditioning, the character may choose to alter the nature and demeanor of their victim (this is often done to make the giving of orders that would be against the original nature easier to do). Using Conditioning requires an Edge, and it fails if the process is interrupted long enough that it is not continued between when the sun rises or sets and the next time it sets or rises.
- Possession Using Possession, the character can transfer their mind and spirit into the body of another. While the character is possessing a victim, their original body is inert and vulnerable, but they have full control of the other's body. They use the victim's Strength and Agility, but their own Social, Mental, and Special attributes as well as their own skills. They may use their own disciplines in the body of another, and cannot activate any of the victim's disciplines (but these disciplines do not necessarily turn off in the case of powers with ongoing effects). Activating Possession is a Complex action, and requires a successful opposed Willpower + Empathy or Logic + Persuasion against Willpower test. The character returns to their own body as soon as the sun rises or sets, the body they are in is knocked unconscious, their Possession power is suppressed by any means, or they spend a Complex Action to return to their own body. The character can only actually be in one body at a time.
- Mob Mastery A character with Mob Mastery may affect a number of characters with their Domination powers simultaneously. The character's dicepool is reduced by 1 for every doubling of the number of victims.
Endure. And in enduring, grow strong.
Fortitude is the power to resist destruction. Some powers of Fortitude are continuously in operation, while others must be activated with power points. What makes Fortitude special is that it does not require the active choice to activate it. A character may activate their Fortitude powers passively while unconscious, or in some cases even while dead. A character with Fortitude is generally resilient even when their powers are not being activated, gaining a bonus on physical Resistance rolls of +2 dice. If they have Advanced Fortitude this bonus increases to +4, and if they have Elder Fortitude it increases to +6.
Basic Disciplines
- Patience of the Mountains The character does not need to eat, drink, or breathe. They persist night after night as the mountains and valleys do. Never aging, never changing. Such a character can hold any position no matter how awkward without cramping or moving. This ability is continuous.
- Revive the Flesh The character can heal their wounds by drawing upon their magical power. By spending a Power point, the character's wounds suture themselves, restoring their body to its original condition without mark or scar. Each power point heals one box of Lethal or two boxes of Nonlethal damage. Wounds healed in this manner are gone in one round. Any wounds short of death can be healed in this manner. Aggravated damage is harder to heal, and takes two Power points and an hour per box.
- Restoration Death is no longer an insurmountable obstacle. While the character is dead, they may spend 2 Power points plus an additional Power point per point of Potency they possess and four hours to reduce the amount of damage on themselves to one less than Lethal. If the character lacks the Power points to use this discipline, they may yet get a chance if the vast majority of their body is placed together and invested with sufficient Power by others.
- Indomitability Wounds do not hamper the character. This discipline is continuously active. The character suffers no wound penalties and does not go unconscious from injury before they die.
- Endless Persistence By spending an Edge, the character becomes literally invulnerable for a brief period of time. For one round per Potency, the character ignores all damage, whether aggravated or not. This discipline can be activated reactively when damage would be sustained.
- Skin of Night This passive discipline converts all aggravated damage to normal damage.
...Now you don't.
Obfuscation is the ability to draw upon one's magic to hide things from view. Obfuscation does not affect cameras or other objective traces of a creature's passing, merely prevents observers (even indirect observers) from noticing what is there. Normally, Obfuscation can only take effect while the target is not being observed. If observation is continuous, the observers will not see any change. Onlookers do not normally have any say in what they see as presented to them by obfuscation any more than they have any choice to not see things that are actually there. Characters who have Auspex powers active or who carefully search the area that the character is in have a chance to perceive through it by making an Intuition + Perception test against the number of hits made to activate the power. Anything a character covered by Obfuscation carries is likewise covered by Obfuscation and anything that the character stops carrying will cease being covered by Obfuscation. An onlooker who notices an object pass into or out of Obfuscation pierces the Obfuscation altogether. Obfuscation is inherently multisensory, onlookers are just as fooled if they close their eyes and listen or try to smell the character as they are relying entirely on their eyes.
Basic Disciplines
- Hide From Notice While active, the character is not noticed so long as they don't do anything incredibly obvious to give themselves away. Activating Hide From Notice is a Simple Action and requires an Agility + Stealth or Intuition + Survival test.
- Mask of a Thousand Faces While active, those who meet the character will treat them as if they were a different person. The character may choose the appearance (including clothing and carried items) freely, but taking any action that would be impossible for the facade allows onlookers to see through the illusion. For example, if a character uses the Mask to appear as a person who had no gun and then fires their gun, people would see them as they really are. Activating Mask of a Thousand Faces is a Simple Action and requires an Agility + Stealth or Charisma + Larceny test.
- Touch of Shadow By spending a Power Point, an object can continue being covered by Obfuscation after it leaves physical contact with the character. The character makes an Agility + Stealth or Intuition + Larceny test and the Obfuscation remains affecting the object for an hour (time frame increases with additional hits).
- Vanish from the Mind's Eye By spending a power point, the character may activate other powers of Obfuscation while being observed. All onlookers are entitled to a resistance check as if they had been carefully searching the area, but if they fail to notice the discrepancy, their mind will fill in vague details that excuse the character's disappearance.
- Cloak the Gathering A character with Cloak of the Gathering can allow their Obfuscation powers to be used by others, so long as they stay within 20 meters per point of Potency. Characters so cloaked and cloaking can still perceive each other in the same way that an obfuscated character can see themselves.
- Soul Mask A character with Soul Mask can fool magical detection. Making a successful Charisma + Stealth or Intuition + Medicine test, Soul Mask character can appear to feel, think, or be whatever they want others to perceive under magical investigation unless the magical investigator gets more hits activating their power. Changing one's Soul Mask is a Complex action that costs a Power Point, but continuing to have fake thoughts and emotions pass that are consistent with one's false existence requires no action at all.
I have the power.
Potence is the power to draw upon the great strength of the supernatural in order to perform feats of literal strength. Those who can draw upon their magical power to augment their physical prowess in this manner find themselves becoming stronger even without drawing directly upon their magical might. A character with Potence gains a +1 bonus to their Strength score. If they have Advanced Potence the bonus increases to +2, and if they have Elder Potence the bonus increases to +3. Potence is an odd case as regards the Masquerade because while it is accompanied by no flaming runes or crawling shadows, demonstrations of incredible strength strain credibility and perhaps worse they draw comments from observers.
Basic Disciplines
- Feat of Strength The character can do something wholly incredible with their physical power. They can buy an additional 4 hits on a Strength related test by reflexively spending a Power Point. If they have Advanced Potence, the bonus is increased to 5 hits, and with Elder Potence the bonus is 6 whole hits. Feat of Strength can only be used once per turn, and it cannot be made to stack with itself. Whether used to bounce a bullet off the chest or tear a car in half, the feat of Strength has an only barely perceptible shimmer when used, generally only those quite familiar with the supernatural will be able to identify it.
- Vigor The character may spend a power point to increase their Strength by 1 for the remainder of the scene. This may be activated more than once, and its effects stack. While using Vigor itself has no visible effects, the use of vastly increased strength may be obviously unnatural to onlookers.
- Devastation The character's Strength can emanate from many places at once along an object being touched, allowing them to lift very large, awkward and even fragile things without issue. It also allows them to have a blow from their hand or foot repeated many times across a wall or floor, causing it to shatter (which is where the power gets its name). This kind of contact telekinesis is best represented in super hero comics – where characters routinely lift cars by the ends without parts falling off or the ground underneath them giving way. The source of force can be directed out across a distance of 2 meters per Potency, and the character can effectively lift or smash something that they could accomplish with 5 identical friends. With Elder Potence, the number of identical friends increases to 9.
- Giant Size The character can grow extremely large. By spending a power point, they can expand to a muscular 3.5 meters in height. This is a Protean power. While in Giant Size, the character has an additional 6 points of Strength, they gain a point of armor, and the base damage of any weapon they use increases by 2 (assuming that it is allowed to grow with them). All of the things that a character wants to grow along with them grow along with them while they are being carried by them, and anything they aren't carrying or that they wish to leave normal size stays normal size.
Some creatures have Giant Size permanently on, and they don't have to pay power points for it (but they can't turn it off).
- Earth Quake By spending a power point, the character can do something stupidly powerful (and generally destructive) with their Strength. A blow reverberates across the ground like a meteor strike, shaking and crushing things out to up to a hundred meters per Potency from their person. A creature or object struck with the full force of ground zero of this strike is likely obliterated – the melee attack at the center of this is a formidable (even ludicrous) Damage 12. The character can attempt to restrict the power into doing something useful such as boring out a tunnel, stacking logs, or hurling debris out of a collapsed building. This kind of Popeye-like activity uses an Agility + Athletics or Logic + Rigging test to determine its accuracy.
- Force Field The character can project force some distance away from their person. This allows them to stop bullets aimed at compatriots, strangle people from a distance, and even hover by “holding themselves up.” Their Strength can be projected reflexively out to 3 meters from their person, and any attacks that target someone or something within or through that area may get blocked by the force field – meaning that they have to contend with being soaked by the character's Strength before being resolved (yes, this means that the character can effectively use their Strength twice when soaking bullets fired at their own person). Their Strength can be used actively as a normal action on things within line of sight.
Alright everyone! Let's hear it... for me!
Presence is the power to affect others with the otherworldly charisma of the supernatural. Characters with Presence are especially adept at making an impression and getting people to like them, and gain a +1 bonus on all Socialization tests. At Advanced, this bonus increases to +2, and at Elder it increases to +3.
Basic Disciplines
- Awe The character can “turn on the charm” and become the center of (generally positive) attention. This provides a distraction for everyone else in the room who is prepared for it, and makes a more than decent conversation starter or segue, and ensures the character will be very memorable to everyone around them. Awe can be activated as a Complex Action, and remains active until the end of the scene. The character makes a Willpower + Expression or Charisma + Tactics test to determine how much of an impression they make, and for the remainder of the scene that number of hits can be used as a bonus for any socialization or subterfuge test's dicepool.
- Dread Gaze The character can become extremely frightening and intimidating, inspiring fear and shame in onlookers. Using the Dread Gaze is a Simple Action and requires a Willpower + Intimidation or Strength + Tactics check opposed by the victim's Willpower or Strength. An affected victim runs away or cowers in terror for at least a number of rounds equal to the net hits. Thereafter, an affected victim is shaken up for the remainder of the scene and suffers a -2 morale penalty on actions.
- Majesty The character can wrap themselves in the air of authority, making aggression against them or even refusal of their demands almost unthinkable. By spending a Power Point, the character's majestic demeanor takes hold until the end of the scene. The character makes a Charisma + Tactics or Willpower + Intimidation check, and anyone who wishes to summon the nerve to act against them must generate an equal number of hits on a Willpower + Intimidation or Willpower + Survival test. Failure to do so results in a round lost to dithering. The character's orders are also extremely likely to be obeyed, and the hits are added as a bonus dicepool on any Intimidation or Tactics tests to command or demand.
- Summons The character can send a brief telepathic message (no longer than a twitter post) to someone whose name they know so long as that person is in the same world and no more than 10 kilometers away per point of the character's Potency. The target can then send back a brief reply. If the character so chooses, they may also demand the presence of the target by making an opposed Charisma + Bureaucracy or Charisma + Empathy vs. the target's Logic. If successful, the target becomes aware of where the character basically is, and must attempt to figure out how to get there themselves. This compulsion lasts until the next time the sun rises or sets. Issuing a Summons (whether or not the compulsion for a personal appearance is added) costs a Power Point and requires a Complex Action
- Mind Numb The character can reduce those who hear their words to frothing lunacy. The character spends a Power Point and begins speaking. With an expected time of 10 minutes and a Threshold equal to each potential target's Willpower, a listening victim becomes a raving fanatic, their Willpower reduced to zero until the sun next rises or sets. Mind Numb carries as far as the character's voice does, even over telephones or television broadcasts. Mind Numb uses Charisma + Persuasion or Charisma + Bureaucracy.
- Siren Song The weak willed are drawn to the character like moths to flame. By spending a Power Point, the character can let out a song that instills a compulsion in everyone within a radius up to one kilometer per Potency to come to where the character is. Dangers are ignored, and tasks previously engaged in are abandoned. The character makes a Willpower + Expression or Charisma + Persuasion test, and the threshold to affect any target is its Willpower.
