Mind's Eye Theatre - Vampire The Requiem.pdf - RoseRed

celerity • dominate
if an opponent acts before her and the vampire wishes to call upon Celerity before the rival’s
action is performed. Doing so, the vampire receives Celerity’s protection bonus early in the
turn. Celerity’s Initiative bonus is also added immediately in the turn, potentially moving
the vampire’s action before her attacker’s in the Initiative roster. The vampire also gains the
benefi t of additional Speed adjustments for the turn. If one Vitae is spent to keep Celerity
active into the next turn, all of these benefi ts carry over. Celerity may not be invoked in a
turn in which a character is surprised.
Example: Favian’s Initiative total for a fi ght is 10. His opponent Joshua’s is 13. Favian wants
to activate Celerity in order to avoid his opponent’s attacks and react more quickly. The Discipline
can be activated on 13 in the Initiative roster as a refl exive action. Favian has Celerity 2, so attacks
staged against him automatically suffer a -2 penalty throughout the turn, in addition to penalties
from her Defense and any armor he’s wearing. His Initiative for the turn also increases by two, to 12.
That doesn’t allow him to act before Joshua, but he is right on his heels.
If a vampire doesn’t activate Celerity until his stage of the Initiative roster in a turn, previous
actions taken by others that turn aren’t invalidated. (They aren’t re-done because the
vampire suddenly has a higher standing in the roster.) By activating Celerity “late” in the
turn, the vampire forfeits his Initiative bonus that turn. The vampire also gains Celerity’s
protection only against attacks that come after his place in the Initiative roster for the turn.
If Celerity is kept active into the next turn, the vampire’s Initiative bonus and full protection
applies throughout. Celerity grants its user the ability to invoke the fair-escape clause;
only a creature with more Celerity or comparable supernatural speed can prevent such a
declaration of fair-escape. If a character with supernatural speed has to be evaded to get
to the only available exit, the escapee requires more supernatural speed than the ‘blocker’
since he needs to go around him. It’s not possible to declare fair-escape using Celerity if the
only exit is completely blocked: it usually takes two normal-sized characters to fully block a
doorway in this fashion, since Celerity would otherwise allow the fl eeing character to swiftly
wriggle by a slow single blocker. In combat turns, resolve movement of steps as normal and
invoke Celerity fair-escape depending on your positioning in respect to any blockers.
DOMINATE
Some Kindred are capable of overwhelming the minds of others with their own force of
will, infl uencing actions and even thoughts. Use of Dominate requires a character to capture
a victim’s gaze. Therefore, the Discipline can be used on only one subject at a time, and is
useless if eye contact is not possible.
Dominate does not grant the ability to make oneself understood or to communicate
mentally. Commands must be issued verbally, though certain very simple commands (such
as “Get out!” indicated with a pointed fi nger and a forceful expression) may be conveyed by
signs at the Storyteller’s discretion. Telepathic communication does not function to issue
commands. No matter how powerful a vampire is, she cannot force her victim to obey if
she cannot make herself understood — if, for example, the victim doesn’t speak the same
language, she cannot hear or the orders simply make no sense.
Note that victims of Dominate might realize what’s been done to them. That is, they
do not automatically sense that they are being controlled, but they might subsequently
wonder why they suddenly acted as they did. Wise Kindred, especially those familiar with
Dominate, are likely to fi gure it out very quickly, and few vampires take kindly to being
manipulated in such a fashion. Most Kindred who develop Dominate are forceful, controlling
personalities, and they can make an unsavory reputation for themselves if they use this
Discipline wantonly.
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