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Lasombra

You stand behind the throne because the person sitting on it is easier to replace than you are.

What Are You?

You were Embraced because you understand power; how to get it, how to wield it, and how to make sure nobody realizes you're the one pulling the strings. Lasombra sires prize ambition above everything else. They recruit from political operatives, criminal strategists, military officers, clergy, and anyone who's spent their mortal life learning how to make other people do what they want. Excellence is the baseline expectation. Your sire didn't Embrace you to be adequate.

The Lasombra are schemers, puppeteers, and shadow players. While other Clans fight over titles and territories, you prefer to be the voice whispering in the ear of whoever wears the crown. Princes, Barons, Archons, CEOs; they come and go, but the Keeper advising them stays put.Your Clan has a long history of switching allegiances whenever it's strategically convenient, which has earned them a well-deserved reputation for ruthlessness and flightiness. Every Lasombra in a Coterie considers themselves the most important member. Most of them are at least polite enough not to say so out loud.

The cost is your reflection. Mirrors warp your image, cameras distort your face, and phones glitch when you try to use them. You flicker on surveillance footage, your voice crackles through speakers, and touchscreens barely register your fingers. Every piece of modern technology is a small betrayal, a reminder that reality itself treats you as something that shouldn't quite exist. Most modern Lasombra learn to delegate their tech problems to Ghouls or other mortal assistants, which suits you fine. You were never the type to do your own busywork anyway.

Disciplines

Choose 2 to start: Dominate | Oblivion | Potence

Bane: Distorted Image

Your likeness refuses to be faithfully captured or reflected. Mirrors warp your features, cameras distort your image, and electronic devices glitch and stutter at your touch. Take a penalty equal to your Blood Potency (minimum 1) to any roll for interaction with technology, digital communication, or electronic devices. Surveillance footage of you is always visibly corrupted. At BP 3+, touchscreens and voice-activated devices become functionally unusable in your hands, and Blush of Life doesn't help.

Compulsion: Ruthlessness

When you fail a roll (6-), your prideful Vitae recoils from defeat and demands you succeed by any means necessary, escalating your methods as far as required.

Until you achieve the original objective through a subsequent roll, the objective becomes definitively impossible, or the scene ends, take an Ongoing penalty equal to your Blood Potency (minimum 1) to all rolls except those directly pursuing the failed objective.

Clan Perks

You get 2 unique abilities:

Shadow's Embrace: Darkness is your element. When you roll to Slip Away and shadows are available, treat a roll of 6- as a 7–9.

Pulling Strings: When you Influence someone with whom you have a Debt in either direction or if they are mortal and you're both shrouded in darkness, roll with Advantage.

Clan Experience

Once each per session, gain +1 XP when you...

  • Position yourself as the power behind a decision without visibly taking the credit or blame
  • Cash In, Invoke, or otherwise leverage a Debt to secure something your Coterie needs
  • Make a cold, ruthless choice that benefits the Coterie at clear cost to someone outside it

Archetypes

  • Puppet Master: The throne is just a chair. You decide who sits in it.
    • Blood -1 | Shadow +1 | Resolve +0 | Demeanor +2 | Wits +1
  • Slicing Shadow: They never see you coming, and by the time they do, it's already over.
    • Blood +0 | Shadow +2 | Resolve -1 | Demeanor +1 | Wits +1
  • Warlord: Some situations call for subtlety. Others call for you.
    • Blood +2 | Shadow +0 | Resolve +1 | Demeanor +1 | Wits -1
  • Custom Archetype: Create your own by distributing these stats: +2 | +1 | +1 | +0 | -1