From: eeb1@midway.uchicago.edu Low Level Disciplines It's a house rule in our campagin that once a character has reached 5th level in a Discipline, he can make up his own powers of any level within his Generational maximum (though he does have to take something at 6th level before anything at 7th, etc.). The multiple-disciplines at a single level is an obvious variation on the straight rules. However, it's also possible for vampires who've reached the 5th level to develop new powers at levels 1-5. It isn't widely known yet within our world that this is possible, even though it's slowly getting more common, as vampires with blood too weak to take 6th level powers grow old enough that they've reached the 5th level in a Discipline. Here are a few examples that we've used. Most of these are variations on the theme of the standard Discipline powers, which means that we haven't had time to put too much creativity into it yet, but makes sense because variations on the theme is how this all started: The obvious: Protean 4: people have developed variations to shapechange into almost anything. Presence 4: there's a variation of "Summon" sometimes called simply "Call", which does not force the target to come to you but rather requests the target's presence. As in summon, a person Called can home in flawlessly on the caller. The number of successes pertain not to the degree of urgency the called feels, but to the information he receives about why you want him. System: Charisma + Empathy versus a difficulty of how well you know the target. 1 He's being Called. 2 An idea of whom (specifically, an idea of his relationship to the target), and a vague sense of the urgency. 3 Who wants him, how important it is, the very basics of the reason why. 4 Who is calling and a reasonable idea why. 5 Who is calling and the details of why. A target of Call may very well choose to remain where they are. The main advantage of this Discipline is that the difficulty level is controlled by how well the caller knows the called. 2 Thrall, mutually blood-bonded, or close Regnant 3 Lover, very close friend, most Regnants 4 Close friend, a Sire you know well, most Childer 5 Most friends, a Sire you know reasonably well 6 Friendly acquaintances, most Sires, distant Childer 7 Acquaintances 8 Someone you've talked to once, or met a few times 9 Someone you know well by reputation 10 A stranger (N.B.: deadly enemies who know each other well could easily Call each other; it's a matter of knowledge, not one of friendship.) For example, say a Ventrue held captive by a bunch of magi (or Glass Walker Garou) who are in the process of deciding whether to release him with a message for the senior Ventrue to try to strike an alliance against Tremere or to just kill him. Being no fool, the Ventrue doesn't want to Summon someone into the lion's den. Instead, he Calls everyone he can think of. He knows his Sire reasonably well: difficulty 5. He's on friendly terms but no better with the senior Ventrue of the city: difficulty 6. His closest friend is a Toreador; they're close enough to be considering a deliberate mutual blood-bond to safeguard themselves against forcible blood-bonding: difficulty 3. Just to make sure he isn't written off as lost and the whole thing whitewashed, he calls his great-grandSire, who he's only met once but did talk with at length that one time: difficulty 8. Charisma 4, Empathy 2: 6 dice. great-grandSire: 1 success: someone is calling him senior Ventrue: 4 successes (lucky): this Ventrue is calling him, he's being held captive by magi/Garou who haven't decided whether to kill him or to use him to strike some kind of alliance. Sire: 2 successes (unlucky): his Childe is calling him, it's urgent and isn't sure whether or not it's a matter of "life" or death. very close friend: 6 successes: his friend is held captive, exactly where, as much as his friend knows of the restraints, his captors, how he was captured, etc. 3 successes would grant: is calling, it may or may not but probably is a matter of life or death, he's held captive by magi/Garou. 5 successes would grant: is calling, he's held captive by magi/Garou (vague idea of their capability as much as the caller knows, vague idea of how he was captured), he expects to be killed but they haven't decided for sure whether to kill him or to try to use him to strike an alliance against the Tremere. Note: they do not all know where the character is, though they've got a general idea of distance and direction. They can, however, follow their instincts to find him wherever he is or is moved to. whoops! my sub has arrived, looks like I'm headed off. Ideas: Majesty is an Aura of Intimidation/Obedience, vaguely. variations (which need not all be 5th level) Aura of Friendship Aura of Competence Aura of Harmlessness Aura of Tough-Leave-Me-Alone Aura of Beauty From: int907a@lindblat.cc.monash.edu.au (Sean O'Connell) Dominate 4: Voice of Command This power of Dominate is very rare, if only because simply the ability to use it has been declared reason enough for a Bloodhunt by Princes who wish to see the Masquerade kept. It is not in itself a new power, but it in fact allows the Kindred in question to use any lesser Dominate power without spending any Willpower. In addition, any difficulty is reduced by 2, simply by using the Voice of Command to enforce those abilities. The major drawback to the use of this power is that the vampire who uses it does not speak with their own voice, but instead with a harsh, metallic sound, which seems to produce echoes of the commands used. This is not a sound which an un-augmented human voice could produce and the Kindred immediately exposes herself as something other than human. (note: the idea I'm thinking of is similar to the use of the Voice as portrayed in the movie version of Dune.)