Animalism

When Blood Bonding an animal, the vampire can make it a famulus, forming a mental link with it and facilitating the use of other Animalism powers. While this power alone does not allow two-way communication with the animal, it an follow simple verbal instructions such as “stay” and “come here." It attacks in defense of itself and its master but cannot otherwise be persuaded to fight something it would not normally attack.

Dice Pools: Charisma + Animal Ken

Cost: The animal must be fed the user’s Blood on three separate nights, each of which requires a Rouse Check by the user. The amount of Blood needed to sustain the ghoul state of the animal after this is negligible. Players starting with this power have completed this process and can chose a famulus for free.

System: Without the use of Feral Whispers, below, giving commands to the animal requires a Charisma + Animal Ken roll (Difficulty 2); increase Difficulty for more complex orders.
A vampire can only have one famulus, but can get a new one if the current one dies. A vampire can use Feral Whispers (Animalism 2) and Subsume the Spirit (Animalism 4) on their famulus for free.

Duration: Only death releases a famulus once bound. As long as it receives vampire Blood on a regular basis, the famulus does not age.

The vampire can sense the Beast present in mortals, vampires, and other supernaturals, gaining a sense of their nature, hunger, and hostility.

Dice Pools: Resolve + Animalism

Cost: Free

System: Roll Resolve + Animalism vs Composure + Subterfuge.
A win allows the user to sense the level of hostility in a target (whether the person is prepared to do harm or even determined to cause it) and determine whether they harbor a supernatural Beast, marking them as a vampire or werewolf.
On a win, a critical gives the user information on the exact type of creature, as well as their Hunger or Rage level. This power can be used both actively and passively, warning the user of aggressive intent in their immediate vicinity.

Duration: Passive

The vampire can commune with the beasts of the wild and the city.
Feral Whispers allows two-way communication with animals. A cat might not be interested in debating Matisse’s use of color but happily discusses the lack of prey around the brownstone building across the street. Depending on the vampire’s skill, they can even persuade animals to perform services; like humans, animals seldom agree to things that go against their nature or endanger them.
Vampires can also use Feral Whispers to summon a chosen type of animal (see Animalism limitations above) but the animals must be present to answer. Nothing prevents a vampire trying to summon an orca in Central Park, but success seems unlikely. Summoned animals listen to the summoner, but scatter or attack if endangered.

Dice Pools: Manipulation or Charisma + Animalism

Cost: One Rouse Check per type of animal chosen for the scene. Allows one summoning and unlimited communication.
Free when used on famulus.

System: Simple communication requires no dice pool test. Persuading an animal to perform a service requires a Manipulation + Animalism roll ; the Difficulty depends on the task required. Having a bird keep an eye out for anyone entering the park at night is Difficulty 3, while ordering any animal to defend a place with their lives is Difficulty 6.
Summoning animals uses a Charisma + Animalism roll ; Difficulty depends on the scarcity of the animals summoned. The number of animals summoned depend on the margin on the test; a critical win summons most, if not all, animals of the type in the area.

Duration: One scene

Amagalm: Auspex 1

Prerequisite: Bond famulus

The vampire’s Famulus can carry a short message to a person designated by its master, assuming they can reach them. Those within earshot hear the message as if the Famulus was speaking with their master’s voice.

Cost: One Rouse Check for each night.

System: The vampire whispers a single sentence to the Famulus and states the target. If the location of the recipient is unknown the Famulus must track them down, making a tracking test (see above) at a Difficulty of 2, or resisted by the target’s Intelligence + Streetwise / Survival if they are actively trying to hide (from the famulus or from other perceived threats). The attempt can be made once per night. The message is delivered as soon as the Famulus makes eye contact with the target, at which point they return to their master.

Duration: One or more nights depending in length of search

The vampire can slake additional Hunger by feeding on animals. In addition, the vampire can consume its famulus, gaining nourishment far beyond what would be gained from an animal of similar stature and absorbing a sliver of its primary trait.

Cost: Free

System: Feeding from animals slakes 1 additional Hunger, and the vampire counts their Blood Potency as two levels lower in regards to penalties to slaking Hunger from animal blood.
Consuming one's famulus slakes 4 Hunger, regardless of animal size. This act can never remove the final Hunger die. In addition, consuming one's famulus increases the vampire’s Attribute most associated with that animal (as determined by the Storyteller) by two dots. Consuming a cat might raise Dexterity or Composure; consuming a dog might raise Charisma or Resolve. Storytellers may vary the reward from famulus consumption: draining an owl might raise the Attribute in any perception pool by two dots, or in pools involving wise decision making. The bonus lasts until the vampire’s next feeding or until their Hunger reaches 5.

Duration: Passive

By locking eyes with a target, the vampire cows their inner Beast into temporary slumber. Mortals affected thus become apathetic, unable to take any actions other than to stay alive, while vampires’ bestial urges temporarily abate, for better or worse.

Dice Pools: Charisma + Animalism

Cost: One Rouse Check

System: Roll Charisma + Animalism vs Stamina + Resolve.
A win against a mortal target incapacitates them for that scene, instilling severe lethargy.
They act only to preserve themselves, not against the user or anyone else. A win against a vampire prevents the target from performing Blood Surges.
While their Beast is quelled, vampires do not score messy criticals.
Against vampires, this power lasts a turn plus a number of turns equal to the win margin on the contest. A critical win against a vampire target also ends their frenzy.

Duration: One scene, or a number of turns equal to the test margin plus one.

Amagalm: Dominate 1

Prerequisite: Animal Messenger

The vampire is able to use Compel or Mesmerize with a command carried by the Famulus, enforcing their will upon the target of the message.

Cost: None

System: See Compel or Mesmerize, but the Dominate rating cannot exceed the user’s Animalism.
Make the Compel or Mesmerize test as soon as the Famulus makes eye contact with the target.

Duration: See Compel or Mesmerize

The vampire can mark an individual, making them the target of focused animal attention. Whatever beasts or vermin are in the area seek the target out to bark, peck, scratch, and generally make their night miserable. While the animals retain enough instincts to not entirely threaten their self-preservation, they make it very hard for the victim to do anything but fend them off.

Dice Pools: Manipulation + Animalism

Cost: One Rouse Check

System: The vampire picks a target within their line of sight and tests Manipulation + Animalism against the target’s Composure + Animal Ken. On a win the target becomes the focus of attention for all animals in their vicinity for the rest of the night, suffering a dice penalty to all Skill pools equal to the margin on the win unless they can physically isolate themselves from the local wildlife. The target also becomes easier to track, with any pursuer receiving a bonus equal to the same margin. The Skill penalty does not apply to physical conflicts, as the animals aren’t suicidal enough to stick around when fists and bullets start flying, though they return once the dust settles.

Duration: One night

Amagalm: Obfuscate 2

Most often seen amongst the Nosferatu, this unnerving power allows the user to extend their animal influence to swarms of insects such as flies or roaches. Certain vampires even go so far as to adopt swarms as famuli, giving them a permanent home within the folds and orifices of their malformed flesh.

Cost: No additional cost

System: This power extends all powers previously restricted to vertebrates to insect swarms, treating a swarm as a single creature. The vampire can bind the swarm as a famulus, and some even give it the ability to nest inside the cavities of their body. This hides the swarm from sight while allowing it to nurse the minute amounts of Blood needed to sustain it indefinitely. While nested, the swarm is undetectable by anything less than X-rays.
Swarms do little damage in combat. They have Health 5 and a pool of 8 dice to resist attacks. Swarms take Superficial damage from Brawl; flame and insecticide cause Aggravated damage. Vampires can use swarms for spying, as distractions (resulting in a two-dice penalty on any roll for a single swarmed individual), or to intimidate mortals (add between one and three dice to Intimidation pools, depending on the type of insect and the victim’s phobias). Players and Storytellers can doubtlessly come up with even more creative uses of this power.

Duration: Passive

The vampire can completely transfer its mind into the body of an animal. They can control the animal and use its senses freely, even during the day should they manage to stay awake. While doing this, the vampire’s body lies immobile as if in torpor.

Dice Pools: Manipulation + Animalism

Cost: One Rouse Check. Free if used on famulus.

System: Make a Manipulation + Animalism test; Difficulty 4.
On a win, the vampire can inhabit the animal’s body for one scene. On a critical win, the vampire can inhabit the animal indefinitely.
Extending this possession into the daylight hours requires the vampire to stay awake (p. 219); seeing the sun requires a test for fear frenzy though the sunlight does not damage the animal being ridden. The user remains oblivious to their original body, but harm to it pulls them out of the trance and releases the animal. Death of the possessed animal also ends the trance, and the vampire takes a point of Aggravated Willpower damage from the shock.

Duration: A scene / indefinitely (see above)

The vampire can influence the general mood of animals over a wide area. While they cannot control the specific actions of the beasts, they can steer their behavior toward anything from sleepy indifference to indiscriminate aggression. Use of this power can be subtle, with nothing to show but a lack of birdsong, or it can be pure bedlam, with people barricading themselves indoors, carcasses littering the ground as beasts rip anything that moves apart in a frenzy.

Dice Pools: Composure + Animalism

Cost: One or more Rouse Checks

System: The vampire decides on the behavior they want to encourage in the local animals and makes a Composure + Animalism test. The effect scales with the number of successes: At one success animals aren’t noticeably affected, while at five their behavior will be completely dominated by the desired impulse, with calmed animals falling asleep or riled ones attacking anyone or each other with no provocation. Any mundane attempt to control the animals increases in Difficulty equal to the number of successes on the test. The size of the area affected is roughly the size of a football field, though it can be extended with additional Rouse Checks, up to five for a small town.

Duration: One night

The power the vampire holds over beasts is now great enough to command flocks and packs as if they were extensions of their own body.
At a gesture, animals lay down their lives by the dozens, even hundreds, to appease their master.

Dice Pools: Charisma + Animalism

Cost: Two Rouse Checks

System: Chose a type of animal and make a Charisma + Animalism roll with a Difficulty depending on the nature of the animals and the order given.
Getting a flock of crows to disperse and look for a specific individual (given some means of identifying their target) is relatively easy (Difficulty 3), but getting a pack of dogs to give their lives in a suicidal attack on another vampire is more of a challenge (Difficulty 5).
The power does not allow the user to summon animals, but compels those already present to obey. The vampire can command the animals to return after completing their task, if they have means to do so.

Duration: A single scene or until the directive is fulfilled, whichever is shortest.

The vampire can project their Beast at the moment of terror or fury frenzy, transferring it into a nearby subject, either mortal or vampire. That person immediately experiences the frenzy instead, going on a merciless rampage or fleeing in terror depending on the trigger.

Dice Pools: Wits + Animalism

Cost: One Rouse Check

System: Instead of the Willpower roll to resist a terror or fury frenzy, roll Wits + Animalism vs Composure + Resolve of the target.
If the user fails, they enter frenzy as though they had failed the Willpower roll. On a win, the target experiences that frenzy instead of the user. Later stimuli can still provoke frenzy in the user, but they can use this power as long as they can make Rouse Checks and further targets remain available.
This power cannot transfer a hunger frenzy.

Duration: Frenzy duration

The vampire exerts a subtle influence on the Beast of all vampires present and is able to rile or subdue the vampiric instincts on all Kindred in close proximity. By singing, humming, or growling softly the user plucks at the strings of all Beasts, and tempers rise or fall depending on their whim.

Dice Pools: Manipulation + Animalism

Cost: One Rouse Check

System: The vampire decides whether they want to agitate or calm, hums a wordless melody or similar subtle sound, and makes a Manipulation + Animalism test at Difficulty 3. Each success in the margin raises or lowers the Difficulty to resist frenzy by one for all other vampires within earshot. If the difficulty is lowered, all vampires already in frenzy can make a new test to resist it, snapping out of their Frenzy if they succeed.

Duration: As long as the user keeps humming