Dominate

Dominate is the discipline of mind control. There are several caveats that apply to all levels equally: first, all Dominate powers require eye contact and spoken language, and therefore may be used only on one person at a time. Secondly, if a player wishes to fight a Dominate attempt, they may spend willpower to do so, at a rate of one willpower point spent to negate one success on the Dominate roll. (This does not apply to NPCs.) The merit Iron Will improves this rate to one willpower point spent negating three successes. If a Dominate attempt fails or is successfuly resisted, the player may not immediately try again until after a "cooldown period"; generally, this indicates a limit of one attempt per target per scene, but the exact duration is entirely subject to GM discretion. A botched Dominate roll renders the target permanently immune to further attempts by that vampire. Finally, two players may not make Dominate attempts on each other at the same time; should two players attempt to do this outside of combat rounds, those two alone will roll initiative to determine who goes first.

The first level of Dominate allows the vampire to give a one-word command, which must be straightforward and not directly harmful to the target. To activate it, the player spends one blood point (and one willpower point if the target is a vampire), and rolls Manipulation + Intimidation, opposed by the target's Willpower. Multiple successes make the effect last longer.

The second level of Dominate allows the vampire to implant one hypnotic suggestion. Again, the activation cost is one blood point (and one willpower point if the target is a vampire), with a roll of Manipulation + Expression, opposed by the target's Willpower. Multiple successes allow for stranger or more improbable suggestions.

The third level of Dominate allows the vampire to read or manipulate recent memories. (Thoughts, plans, or more distant memories are the province of Auspex 4.) The activation cost is one blood point and one willpower point against mortals, or one blood point and two willpower points against vampires. The roll to activate is Wits + Subterfuge, opposed by the target's Willpower. Multiple successes allow the vampire to read earlier memories, one hour previously per success. Alternately, multiple successes may be used to craft a more convincing "cover story" when manipulating memories.

The fourth level, Conditioning, may only be used on NPCs or to create retainers; it is never to be used on players. The activation is a one-time cost of one blood point and one willpower point against mortals, or one blood point and two willpower points against vampires, with a roll of Charisma + Expression.

Possession, the fifth level, is again never allowed to be used on players. The activation cost is two blood points and two willpower points against a mortal, or two blood points and three willpower points against a vampire. The roll is Charisma + Intimidation, opposed by the target's Willpower. The number of successes on this roll indicates the duration of the possession: against mortals, it lasts for a number of hours equal to the number of successes; against vampires, it lasts for an equivalent number of minutes, and each round of combat allows for another check to attempt to throw it off.