Obfuscate

From SuspireWiki

Obfuscate grants a character the supernatural power to cloud the minds of others. At its lowest levels, it enables a Kindred to hide small objects and to hide their Beast from other Kindred, making dealing with the Predator's Taint that much easier. As a Kindred progresses in their understanding of the discipline, they eventually learn to cloud the minds of others to such a degree that they render themselves unnoticeable, or make themselves appear as someone else entirely. Masters of the discipline can even hide numerous Kindred from mortal sight. Ultimately, Obfuscate is about clouding the minds of others, and altering their perceptions. It is most often seen among the Nosferatu and Mekhet though any clan is capable of learning it. The Mekhet discipline of Auspex can sometimes pierce another Kindred's supernatural obfuscation, depending on who wins the Clash of Wills.

Contents 1 Obfuscate Powers 1.1 Touch of Shadow 1.2 Mask of Tranquility 1.3 Cloak of Night 1.4 The Familiar Stranger 1.5 Cloak the Gathering

Obfuscate Powers

Touch of Shadow

• It should be noted that a character must look for a "specific object" in order to be able to find it. "A knife" isn't specific, while "an antique bowie knife with 'Sasha' engraved on the blade and a teak handle" is.

• A thorough patdown (and a Wits + Composure roll) might allow a character to find a hidden item. Similarly, should the concealing character attract attention to the concealed item (by waving it around, using it, etc.) it will become visible.

• Note that this power affects only the item in question — it is not intended to hide other items as a byproduct. A character could not, for example, conceal a mailbox and then hide behind it or conceal a computer and hide a stake beneath it. The mailbox or computer would indeed be concealed but the character or stake would not.

• Once invoked, Touch of Shadow lasts for a scene or until ended prematurely. Any rolls for Touch of Shadow should be done immediately upon joining a new scene - before your character even walks in.

• Touch of Shadow cannot be used on well-traveled areas such as the main entrance to a location, a connecting hallway that links a number of rooms throughout the play area, or the only entrance to a room that a character has just entered in the same scene. In other words, you can't lure a target into a room, use Touch of Shadow on the door behind you and thus trap the target in the room, because their mind knows they had to enter somehow and refuses to believe the illusion.

Modifier Situation

• +2 A tiny item, one easily concealed in the palm of a hand.
• +1 An item that can be hidden in a pants pocket.
• — An item that can be squeezed into a pants pocket or easily hidden in a jacket pocket.
• -1 An item that can only barely be squeezed into a large jacket pocket.
• -2 An item that can be concealed under a jacket without too obvious a bulge.
• -3 An item too large to be naturally hidden, but still small enough to be carried .
• -4 An item as large as the vampire herself or just a bit bigger, such as a motorcycle or a door.
• -5 An item bigger than the vampire herself, such as a car or large shipping crate, but smaller than five times the vampire's Size.

• Touch of Shadow can provoke some pretty bizarre arguments in a game session. Should it become a question, members should remember that it does not make anything invisible in the sense of becoming transparent. Using Touch of Shadow on a door does not mean that people will walk into it thinking the doorway is open, nor do they imagine they can see into the room beyond. Rather, it makes things easy to overlook. A door that has Touch of Shadow used on it doesn’t literally vanish, people just fail to notice it. Likewise, using Touch of Shadow on a coat and then wearing the coat doesn’t conceal what else you're wearing or carrying, nor does it render you invisible by proxy.

Mask of Tranquility

Cloak of Night

• You may not run full speed or use Celerity while using this power unless you want to break it, of course.

Walking into a bar while Obfuscated has a roll: A successful Wits + Athletics - 1 check must be made for your character to be able to move in with a NPC mortal into a bar or club through a doorway. If you fail the check, your character is bumped into by the door or some unsuspecting mortal NPC. A -2 or -3 penalty would be for self closing doors and security doors and should be brought to the attention of a Storyteller so that they can give you the appropriate negative modifier for the situation

The Familiar Stranger

• This power preys on the natural tendency of the mind to quickly categorize people based on very few superficial details, allowing the Kindred to project a powerful subconscious suggestion that makes everyone he meets believe they are looking at a member of a profession or social group of the vampire’s choice. Vaguely defined identities such as "doctor" or "club kid" are easy to assume with this power, but more specific roles like "chief resident of neurosurgery" or "ultra-hip Goth scene queen" require a great deal more effort to enact. Likewise, the features of a vampire using this power become generalized as well, to the point of being essentially unrecognizable to those that know her. She retains the impression of any notable beauty or ugliness she might possess, but her overall appearance becomes so thoroughly generic that a positive identification is impossible.

• This new role is projected so strongly that targets actively try to accept the vampire’s identity so long as it doesn’t contradict any hard facts they know. For example, if the vampire using a "doctor" role is confronted by a veteran hospital security guard, the guard won’t believe it if the vampire tells him has worked there for years (since the guard knows otherwise), but he will be naturally inclined to buy the disguise if the vampire tells him that he is a new resident or a visiting physician. Likewise, a vampire who assumes a "gang member" role and runs into a local set won't be able to convince them he's a member of their particular crew, but he'd probably be able to pass himself off as a member from another crew.

• Indeed, the suggestion created by this power is actually strong enough that it allows the the vampire to use some small props to reinforce her identity — for example, if she's impersonating a police officer and a mortal asks to see her identification, assuming the power is used successfully he would look at her regular driver's license and see a police badge, because that's what he's expecting to see. However, the prop used must be at least roughly similar to what the target is expecting — it doesn’t conjure a fake badge out of thin air, for example, nor would it allow the vampire to hold up a small stuffed animal and claim it was a police badge. Likewise, a vampire could pass off a replica or toy gun as the real thing while impersonating a police officer, but not a banana or a stick.

• Lastly, with considerable effort a vampire may attempt to make minor alterations to her features as part of assuming a role, rather than simply "blurring" them into more generic ones. She may only change simple features like hair or eye color, skin tone, hairstyle, and perhaps some slight voice modifications. She cannot appear to be of the opposite gender, mimic hideous Nosferatu features (unless she is already somewhat disfigured herself), display a significant shift in apparent age, or make any other major body changes. She also cannot appear to radically alter her body type, so a six foot vampire cannot appear to be a small child.

• Note: While the vampire can change her appearance, she cannot actually attempt to impersonate a specific individual or voice, even if she actually resembles a target already. The power ultimately relies on the tendency of individuals to make generalized assumptions about other people in order to function. Convincingly imitating specific individuals is therefore completely against the power’s nature. She may end up looking or sounding vaguely similar to a person, but no one with even casual knowledge of that person will be fooled, nor will witnesses ever point to the original person as being the same individual they encountered if they met the character in disguise.

Modifier Situation

• +2 Character is adopting a role that is well known to him (a vampire with medical training passing as a doctor, a veteran scenester imitating a typical local club patron).
• +2 Power is turned on a vampire with whom the user has a blood tie (see p. 228).
• -1 Character displays an emotion or undertakes an action not entirely appropriate to the circumstances.
• -3 Character tries to assume a more specific role, such as trying to appear as a "homicide detective" instead of just a generic "police officer."
• -3 Character makes slight changes to his appearance, such as a different hairstyle and eye color, or a slight change to skin tone.

• A character can only adopt one role at a time. A character may switch roles if he desires, but cannot do so in front of witnesses; she must somehow leave sight before she can change her appearance again.

• Once fooled, an onlooker cannot attempt to pierce the vampire's disguise again unless he does something that would betray his identity, in which case the subject performs a standard Clash of Wills test.

• Note that a character cannot use this power as a shortcut to higher Presence by choosing a role like "supermodel." She is still considered to be limited by her own base Presence in terms of how striking her overall appearance can be, though vampires with high natural Presence may choose to lower their effective rating if they do not wish to attract undue attention. So if a Kindred is attempting to pass as a supermodel but only has an average Presence, onlookers might think that she’s a model trying to go incognito, or perhaps that they've caught her on an "off day." Conversely, she might appear superficially beautiful to the eye, but up close there’s something flawed about her looks or mannerisms that betrays the vampire's true Presence level underneath.

Cloak the Gathering