Potence

Potence is strength beyond reason. Far past the refined movements of a trained fighter or a desperate surge of adrenaline — this is the raw, undeniable, physics-defying power of the Blood expressed through muscle, bone, and sinew. A Kindred with Potence doesn't win arm-wrestling contests, they pull the table apart. They don't kick doors down, they put their fist through the wall next to the door because they forgot the door was there or simply don't care to use handles.

The Discipline is useful for far more than violence, though it's certainly very good at violence. Potence governs any situation where the answer is "apply more force," such as leaping across rooftops, prying open elevator doors, crushing a gun in your bare hand, or casually flipping a car onto its side to check for a tracking device. Your physical size doesn't make a difference; the incongruity is the point. An elderly Nosferatu who knits doilies as a hobby hits many times harder than a heavyweight boxing champion in their prime. A Brujah who was Embraced as a tween can punch clean through a concrete wall. You get the picture.

Potence carries a medium-to-high Masquerade risk. Lesser feats might pass as hysterical strength, crazy gym hours, or good genetics, but once pavement cracks under your footsteps and cars start folding like soda cans, that excuse loses whatever credibility it had. Almost every application of Potence above Level 1 is the kind of thing that would absolutely go viral if caught on camera.

There is no counter to Potence. If someone can hit you this hard, your options are: don't be where the fist lands, or be tough enough to take it.

Soaring Leap (Discipline Perk)¶

You can leap to any point within Far Range in a single bound, ignoring standard physics for a moment. Rooftop to rooftop, street level to fire escape, ground floor to third-story window; if you can see it and it's within Far Range, you can reach it. No run-up, roll, or Hunger Check required.

The landing is always clean (your legs are built for this), but the takeoff can leave a mark: cracked asphalt, buckled flooring, a small crater in the lawn. The Storyteller decides whether the evidence is noticeable.

Level 1¶

Lethal Body (Passive)¶

Your bare hands were already weapons, but now they are honed weapons. Your unarmed strikes made when you Dirty Your Claws can deal Aggravated Harm to mortals if you choose (you can always opt for Superficial instead). Additionally, your unarmed strikes carry the Ignore-BP-Armor tag, allowing them to bypass a number of Armor points equal to your Blood Potency.

This stacks with everything. A Brujah with Brutality adds their Blood Potency to unarmed Harm and ignores that same amount of Armor. A Gargoyle with Stone Hide still benefits from the Armor penetration. Whatever else you've got going on, Lethal Body makes it hit harder and ignore more.

Uncanny Grip (Passive)¶

You can climb any non-metallic surface by forcing your fingers and toes into it like pitons. Concrete, brick, stone, wood, drywall, glass (if it's thick enough to take your weight); you simply grip and go. No roll required. Metal surfaces are too hard and smooth; you might manage softer metals (copper cladding, old bronze) at the Storyteller's discretion, but steel and iron won't cooperate.

You can also hang indefinitely from walls and ceilings, though ceiling-hanging requires bare feet. This is comfortable for you and very uncomfortable for anyone who walks into the room.

The marks you leave behind are permanent: parallel gouges in concrete, finger-shaped holes punched into brick, spiderweb cracks in glass with five distinct pressure points. No one needs supernatural senses to recognize that whatever did this wasn't human. These marks are a Masquerade liability but not an outright breach; the Storyteller should factor them into any situation where discretion matters.

Level 2¶

Prowess¶

When you channel your Blood into raw physical might, make a Hunger Check. For the rest of the scene, your unarmed strikes now deal Harm equal to 2× your Blood stat, and any feat of raw strength (bending bars, lifting vehicles, throwing people or heavy objects, breaking down reinforced doors, winning an arm wrestling contest) benefits from the same doubled bonus.

This stacks with Brutality and any other Harm modifiers. For example, a BP 2 Brujah with +3 Blood deals 6 Superficial Harm per punch (2×3) plus 2 from Brutality for a casual 8. That's enough to turn most mortals into showers of viscera and put a serious dent in anything else.

Relentless Grasp¶

When someone tries to break free of your grip, knock you off a surface, or wrench something from your hands, your supernatural strength locks down like a hydraulic press.

Against mortals, this is automatic. They cannot move you, pry your fingers loose, or escape your hold. It's just not happening.

Against supernatural creatures, make a Hunger Check and roll +Blood.

On a 10+, your grip is absolute. They go nowhere, and any attempt to dislodge you or your held item fails completely. If they were trying to escape a grapple, they're still right where you put them.

On a 7–9, you hold fast, but the effort costs you. The Storyteller chooses 1 complication:

They manage to shift your grip enough to create partial leverage; they'll get another attempt next turn with Advantage
The force of their struggle causes collateral damage (the wall you're clinging to cracks, the object you're holding bends or partially breaks)
Holding on takes everything you've got; you can't act offensively this turn

On a 6-, your grip fails and the recoil catches you off guard. They break free and you're momentarily off-balance; they have Advantage on whatever they do next.

Level 3¶

Brutal Feed¶

When you roll a 12+ on Dirty Your Claws, you may activate Brutal Feed even if you don't have the Advanced version of the Move. No Hunger Check required.

Roll 1d6. Reduce your Hunger by the result and also deal that same number as extra Aggravated Harm to the target. Blood vessels burst, organs rupture, bones crack from the inside out. The victim is drained at terrifying speed, collapses into a husk, and whatever's left of them certainly isn't going to last much longer.

Using Brutal Feed on a vampire deals the same Aggravated Harm but only reduces your Hunger by half the rolled amount (rounded down, minimum 1) unless you're a Banu Haqim or have the Blood Leech Predator Type.

If mortals are present, the Masquerade Clock advances. There's no subtle version of this. The Storyteller may also decide this kind of mutilation-killing warrants Stains, depending on the context.

Spark of Rage¶

When you lock eyes with someone and project primal aggression into their skull, make a Hunger Check and roll +Demeanor.

Against unprepared mortals, no roll is required. They feel a sudden, irrational surge of fury toward whatever target you direct them at and act on it immediately, with no understanding of why.

Against supernatural creatures or prepared targets:

On a 10+, white-hot rage floods the target. Choose 1:

They must immediately attack the nearest creature of your choice (if no valid target exists, they lash out at the environment)
They must Stay Chill or lose control entirely; vampires enter Frenzy, other supernatural creatures act on their most violent instinct

On a 7–9, the rage lands but the target retains some control. The Storyteller chooses 1 complication:

The target's anger is unfocused; they're hostile and aggressive but you can't direct it at a specific target
The target identifies you as the source and redirects their fury at you
The effect is brief; it fades at the end of their next turn

On a 6-, the projection rebounds. The primal aggression you tried to push outward turns inward and your own Beast stirs. You must immediately Stay Chill or enter Frenzy yourself. If mortals witness the exchange, the Masquerade Clock will likely advance, because whatever just passed between you two looked wild.

If you also have Presence: you can target an entire crowd instead of a single individual. Everyone within Close Range who can see or hear you is affected. Mortals have no chance of resisting; supernatural creatures in the crowd still roll to resist individually.

Wrecker (Passive)¶

(Requires: Prowess)

When you direct your strength against inanimate objects (doors, walls, vehicles, furniture, predatory law firm billboards, support columns, statues, anything that isn't a creature), treat any roll of 6- as a 7–9. You always accomplish the destruction; the only question is how messy, loud, or catastrophic the collateral turns out to be.

You are a blood-powered demolition machine. Please punch responsibly.

Level 4¶

Crash Down¶

When you use Soaring Leap to launch yourself up and slam into the ground like a vengeful meteor, make a Hunger Check and roll +Blood.

Everyone and everything within Close Range of your landing point takes 4 Superficial Harm, and the immediate environment cracks, buckles, or crumbles from the impact.

On a 12+, choose 3 of the following. On a 10+, choose 2:

Shockwave: The impact zone extends to Far Range
Impact: Deal additional Superficial Harm equal to your Blood Potency
Knockdown: Everyone hit is knocked prone and loses their Movement getting up on their turn
Devastation: Catastrophic structural damage; the floor gives way, vehicles crumple, windows shatter for an entire block, load-bearing walls crack. The Storyteller narrates the extent, but it's never subtle

On a 7–9, the base 4 Harm and environmental cracking happen as normal, but the Storyteller chooses 1 complication:

You landed slightly off-target; the Storyteller adjusts which enemies are within the impact zone
The structural damage is worse than you intended; you and your allies are at risk from the collateral
The landing rattled you harder than expected; take −1 Forward

On a 6-, you crater into the ground but the landing goes sideways. You take 2 Superficial Harm from the botched impact, you're prone, and whatever you were trying to land on has moved or braced for it. They have Advantage on whatever they do to you next, and any structural damage is happening around you, not around them.

If mortals are present, the Masquerade Clock advances. A vampire plummeting from the sky and cratering the pavement is not something anyone can easily explain away.

Draught of Might¶

When you open a vein and let someone drink directly from you, make a Hunger Check with Disadvantage. The drinker gains temporary access to all of Level 1 Potence until the next dawn. For vampires, the gift fades when they next Feed or reach 5 Hunger, whichever comes first.

Drinking directly from a Kindred is an intimate and dangerous act. This counts as 1 exchange of Vitae toward a Blood Bond.

Subtle Hammer (Passive)¶

Every part of your body can project the sum of your strength through the smallest possible motion. A flick of your finger carries the force of a full-body punch. A casual nudge sends a grown adult flying across the room. You can snap handcuffs by tensing your wrists, shatter a lock by squeezing it, or crack a load-bearing column by leaning on it.

This doesn't actually make you any stronger, it just lets you use all of your existing strength through movements so minor that casual observers have no idea what just happened. The bouncer you flicked goes flying and everyone assumes they tripped. The door you tapped swings off its hinges and people blame shoddy construction. The Storyteller should not advance the Masquerade Clock for Potence feats performed through Subtle Hammer unless a witness is specifically watching you and has reason to suspect supernatural involvement.

You also automatically break free of any mundane physical restraint (handcuffs, zip ties, ropes, locked doors, vehicle trunks, grapples from mortals) without visible effort. To onlookers, you just... aren't restrained anymore. How strange.

Level 5¶

Earthshock¶

When you slam your fist or foot into the ground and let the full force of your Blood rip through the earth, make 2 Hunger Checks and roll +Blood.

Everyone within Close Range is caught in the shockwave, including allies unless they were braced for it.

On a 10+, everyone in the zone takes Superficial Harm equal to your Blood stat + Blood Potency and must Stay Chill or be knocked prone, losing their Movement on their next turn. Allies who were warned beforehand have +2 Forward to their Stay Chill roll. You control the destruction; structural damage is significant but directed where you want it.

On a 7–9, same Harm, same knockdown, but the destruction is indiscriminate. The Storyteller chooses 1 complication:

The floor or ground gives way; everyone in the zone (including you) risks plummeting to whatever's below
You can't control who gets hit; all allies in range are fully affected with no Stay Chill bonus
The structural damage is extreme; the building you're in is now actively collapsing

On a 6-, you bring the house down on yourself. The shockwave fires, but the ground beneath your feet gives way first. You take the full Harm, you're buried or trapped in the collapse, and the structural devastation is centered on your position. Your enemies might get knocked around, but you're the one in real trouble.

Earthshock can only be used once per scene. The ground doesn't appreciate being hit that hard twice.

If mortals are present, the Masquerade Clock advances. Twice, probably. Sinkholes and massive explosions tend to make the news.

Fist of Caine¶

When you draw the murderous strength of the First Vampire into your bare hands, make a Hunger Check. For the rest of the scene, your unarmed strikes deal Aggravated Harm to all creatures, mortal and supernatural alike. Go wild with your violent descriptions. You can tear off limbs, punch through ribcages, decapitate with a casual slash, cave in sternums, crush skulls, or rip out any organs you'd like. Against most mortals, a single hit is super fatal. That's worse than regular fatal and I will not be elaborating further.

While Fist of Caine is active, each time you slay an opponent by Dirtying Your Claws, you may immediately spring to another enemy within Close Range and Dirty Your Claws again. If that kill chains into another, keep going up to a total number of Dirty Your Claws rolls equal to your Blood Potency (including the first one that started the chain). Each strike in the chain still requires its own roll.