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; as such, it may be used against only one subject at a time. The need for eye contact stems from the aggressor Kindred's need to see his victim's soul, and the eyes are the traditionally known as the windows to the soul. 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.

A target trying to avoid eye contact can make a Willpower roll against a difficulty equal to Dominate user's Manipulation + Intimidation (or other appropriate combination for other Disciplines or specific situations, at the Storyteller's discretion). The difficulty may be reduced for mitigating factors: -1 in the case of the target obscuring his eyes slightly (such as closing her eyes or wearing dark sunglasses) up to a -3 for the eyes being completely unseen (such as with a thick blindfold or having her eyes torn out).

Dots in Charisma, Manipulation, Intimidation, and Leadership are very useful for Domination, as it helps a vampire impose their will upon others.

Dominate Cheat Sheet - This sheet is a quick chart of what rolls are needed for what abilities. Keep in mind that the sheet and this page is a cut down version of the V20 page we use on subnet to make it easier to reference. For all of the details regarding Dominate, please go here.

[1] Command
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.

System: The player rolls Manipulation + Intimidation (difficulty equals the target's current Willpower points). 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). 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.

[2] Mesmerize
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. Mesmerize 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).

System: The player rolls 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. At five successes or greater, the vampire can implant nearly any sort of command. No matter how strong the Kindred's will, his command cannot force the subject to harm herself directly.

[3] 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. The Kindred may describe new memories, but these recollections seldom have the same degree of realism. As such, this power isn't always completely effective. The victim may remember being bitten, but believe it to be an animal attack. A vampire can also sense when a subject's memories were altered through use of this power, and even restore them, as a hypnotist draws forth suppressed thoughts.

System: The player states what sorts of alteration he wants to perform, then rolls Wits + Subterfuge (difficulty equal to the target's current Willpower points). 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. 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 make a 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.

Successes & Their Effects
One Success - May remove a single memory; lasts one day.

Two Successes - May remove, but not alter, memory permanently.

Three Successes - May make slight changes to memory.

Four Successes - May alter or remove entire scene from subject's memory.

Five Or More Successes - May reconstruct entire periods of subject's life.

Failure - Does not work at all.

Botch - Victim will know their mind is being played with. Contact an ST.

[4] 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.

System: The player rolls Charisma + Leadership (difficulty equal to the target's current Willpower points) 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. Once the vampire accumulates half the required number of successes, the Storyteller may apply a lower difficulty to the vampire's subsequent uses of Dominate. 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. After the subject is fully conditioned, other Kindred find her more difficult to Dominate. Such conditioning raises others' difficulties by two (to a maximum of 10).

[5] 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. 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. The vampire's 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: The vampire must completely strip away the target's Willpower prior to possessing her. The player spends a Willpower point, then rolls Charisma + Intimidation, while the subject rolls his Willpower in a resisted action (difficulty 7 for each). For each success the vampire obtains over the victim's total, 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 that night. 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. The vampire may venture out during the day in the mortal form. However, the vampire's own body must be awake to do so, requiring a successful roll to remain awake. 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 [1 Success], or the victim may lie comatose for days while her psyche copes with the violation [5 Successes].

The vampire experiences everything the mortal body feels during possession, from pleasure to pain. In fact, any damage the victim's body sustains is also applied to the character's body (though the Kindred may soak as normal). If the mortal dies before the vampire's soul can flee from the body, the character's body falls into torpor. Presumably this is in sympathetic response to the massive trauma of death. 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, the vampire must roll Courage (difficulty 8) or be expelled from the body. 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.

Successes & Their Effects

One Success - Cannot use Disciplines while possessing the human.

Two Successes - Can use Auspex and other sensory powers.

Three Successes - Can also use Presence and other powers of emotional manipulation.

Four Successes - Can also use Dementation, Dominate, and other powers of mental manipulation.

Five Or More Successes - Can also use Chimerstry, Necromancy, Thaumaturgy, and other mystical powers.

Failure - Does not destroy the victim's WP for that turn. Botch - Victim can escape the attempt at Possession and is immune to Dominate from that particular vampire for the rest of the night.