Auspex

Senses beyond the veil. Auspex discerns truth from lies, probes minds, and perceives reality on another level — and grants its wielder perhaps too much knowledge. Powers activate per the mechanics on the Disciplines page; the information powers below all resolve on the shared Auspex Reading table, with their own stat, difficulty, or resistance filled in.

The Auspex Reading

Every information power (Premonition, Scry the Soul, Spirit's Touch, Clairvoyance, Telepathy) rolls the same way: the power names the stat, and either a difficulty modifier (unopposed reads) or a \(100 - Resistance\) term (contested reads, the target rolling first as the passive side). The Storyteller may make reading rolls in secret — a failed reading can be narrated with false confidence VTM.

Auspex Reading
\(d100_{OE} + AuspexSkill + (20 + {2}\times{Stat_{bonus}}) + BP + Modifiers\)BP
Roll	Result
< 1	Absolute Failure
The reading inverts: you receive one answer that is confidently, plausibly wrong — and you have no way to know. Any Rouse cost is spent.
1 - 75	Failure
The impressions dissolve before they form. The cost is spent; you learn nothing.
UM 66	Unusual Event
The senses open too wide. On a success you also glimpse one truth you did not ask for — the Storyteller chooses. On a failure the flood overwhelms you: -10 to all perception-based rolls for the rest of the scene.
76 - 100	Partial Success
A fragment comes through — one vague or partial answer. You may focus and read again next round at +10.
101 - 175	Success
The reading lands: one clear answer, plus one more per full +10 above 101.
176 +	Absolute Success
The veil parts: answers as a Success, and the Storyteller volunteers something major you did not think to ask about.
Modifiers
Target
-30	Contested read against a frenzied target (the frenzy resists for them)
Each power lists its stat and its difficulty or resistance below. Willpower may be spent per the normal boost rules; answers follow the margin bridge (one per +10 above 101).

Level 1

Heightened Senses

The vampire's senses sharpen to a preternatural degree: seeing in pitch darkness, hearing ultrasonic frequencies, smelling the fear of cowering prey.

Cost: Free.

System: While active, add \({10}\times{Auspex Level}\) to all Perception maneuvers. If exposed to extreme sensations — gunfire, floodlights, overpowering smells — test \(d100_{OE} + 40 + {2}\times{(In_{bonus} + Me_{bonus})} + BP\)BP at Hard (-10) or worse VTM to dampen the senses in time; failure means -30 to all perception-based rolls for the rest of the scene.

Duration: Until deactivated. Keeping it active beyond a scene — especially in high-stimulus places — may cost Willpowerat the Storyteller's discretion.

Sense the Unseen

The senses attune to dimensions beyond the mundane: a vampire under Obfuscate, an Auspex spy, a ghost in the room — even dormant Blood Sorcery, at the Storyteller's discretion.

Cost: Free.

System: When something supernatural hides in plain sight, the Storyteller rolls the Auspex Reading in secret with Intuition VTM against a difficulty of their choosing. Against something actively hiding, resolve as conflicting skills instead: the hider rolls their concealing power as the passive side, and the Reading takes \(100 - Resistance\). When the vampire deliberately searches, roll with Memory instead of Intuition.

Duration: Passive.

Level 2

Premonition

Flashes of insight: raised hackles, sudden inspiration, vivid visions. Never precise, but enough to nudge the vampire out of harm's way or toward an overlooked truth.

Cost: Free (passive) or one Rouse Check (provoked).

System: Passively, the Storyteller may hand the character a sudden hint — a clue they missed, a warning of danger — suggested at most once per scene. The vampire may also provoke a premonition by focusing on a subject: make a Rouse Check and roll the Auspex Reading with Memory VTM against a difficulty of the Storyteller's choosing — answers arrive as visions.

Duration: Passive.

Level 3

Scry the Soul

The vampire perceives a person's psyche as a shifting aura of colors — imprecise, but full of clues.

Cost: One Rouse Check.

Pools: Reasoning + Auspex vs Self Discipline + Influence (Duping) VTM

System: A contested Auspex Reading with Reasoning; the target resists with \(Resistance = d100_{OE} + InfluenceDuping + (20 + {2}\times{SD_{bonus}}) + BP\)BP. Answers concern the aura: emotional state, blood Resonance, whether the subject is a vampire, werewolf, ghoul, or other supernatural, whether they are under Blood Sorcery or other magic, and whether they have committed diablerie in the last year. Cursorily scanning a crowd for one specific condition is an unopposed Reading instead — Hard (-10) for the vampire in a living room, Absurd (-70) for the most nervous person at a crowded rave; the sweep only points out who matches, nothing more VTM.

Duration: One turn, or Storyteller's discretion.

Share the Senses

Reaching out with the mind, the vampire taps into another's senses — seeing, hearing, and feeling what they do, while retaining their own perceptions.

Cost: One Rouse Check.

System: An unopposed Auspex Reading with Memory at Hard (-10), worsened by distraction, distance, and how little of your Blood the target still carries VTM. Success rides one, some, or all of the target's senses. A stranger requires line of sight to initiate; someone carrying the vampire's Blood can be reached over long distances. The target normally stays unaware, though Sense the Unseen can spot the rider. Evicting an unwanted rider is an attribute contest — the rider rolls \(d100_{OE} + 40 + {2}\times{(In_{bonus} + Me_{bonus})} + BP\)BP as the passive side, and the victim rolls the same formula with \(100 - Resistance\) added; at 101+ the rider is thrown out and cannot try again until the next night.

Duration: One scene.

Level 4

Spirit's Touch

Touching an object or the ground, the vampire senses the emotional residue of those who handled it — who, what was done, and under what circumstances. Rarely crystal clear, but leads no forensics could find.

Cost: One Rouse Check.

System: An unopposed Auspex Reading with Reasoning. The difficulty follows the age and depth of the impression: a murder weapon from a few days ago is Hard (-10); the surroundings in which a 300-year-old letter was written approach Absurd (-70) VTM. Each answer reveals roughly one previous handler and their circumstances, counting backward from the most recent.

Duration: One turn.

Level 5

Clairvoyance

Eyes closed, in a light trance, the vampire becomes master of their surroundings — gathering in minutes what would take days of legwork across a city block, or a wider sweep outdoors and in less populated country.

Cost: One Rouse Check.

System: An unopposed Auspex Reading with Reasoning against the area's security and activity: one's own mansion is Hard (-10); an unfamiliar block in the slums of a major city is -90 or worse VTM. Add \({10}\times{Haven}\)when reading one's own haven. Answers cover comings and goings, what people saw and heard, local gossip, and recent shocks; deliberately concealed information may consume more than one answer. The vampire can also keep monitoring events in progress, remaining in the area while the effect lasts.

Duration: A few minutes for gathering; up to a night for vigilance.

Possession

The vampire strips the will of a mortal and wears their body as their own — going anywhere and doing anything the subject could, even walking in sunlight. The subject's mind stays hidden; only the flesh obeys.

Amalgam: Requires Dominate at Level 3 (ranks 13+).

Cost: Two Rouse checks.

Pools: Memory + Auspex vs Memory + Reasoning VTM

System: Mortals only; a ghoul must first be Blood Bound to the user. Eye contact is required, per the Dominate rules. While possessing, the vampire's own body lies in a torpor-like trance, unaware of everything except Aggravated damage — which breaks the trance and ends the power. The user can channel Auspex, Presence, and Dominate through the host, but not read its mind or use its skills: all skills use the vampire's own ratings, and impersonating the host's manners is a conflicting-skills contest of Acting (Empathy-based) vs Social Awareness VTM. Extending Possession into daytime takes the Daytime Awakening stay-awake test (Core Concepts). Aggravated damage to the host demands a Memory-based Auspex maneuver at Light (+10), worsened by -20 per level of damage taken, to stay in control VTM. If the host dies during Possession, the spiritual trauma deals the user three boxes of Aggravated Willpower damage. Possession violates the victim profoundly — expect Stains.

Resistance (the victim rolls first, as the passive side):

\(Resistance = d100_{OE} + 40 + {2}\times{(Me_{bonus} + Re_{bonus})} + BP\)BP

Possession
\(d100_{OE} + AuspexSkill + (20 + {2}\times{Me_{bonus}}) + BP + (100 - Resistance) + Modifiers\)BP
Roll	Result
< 1	Absolute Failure
The mortal’s will slams shut in your face. They are immune to your Possession for the rest of the story, and the recoil costs you -20 on your next maneuver.
1 - 75	Failure
You press against their skull and slide off. The cost is spent.
UM 66	Unusual Event
The threshold blurs. On a success a stray memory of the host’s surfaces as you enter — the Storyteller hands you one true, useful fact about their life. On a failure the psychic scream carries: anyone in the scene with Sense the Unseen knows exactly what just happened.
76 - 100	Partial Success
You are in, but the fit is wrong: the possession lasts at most the scene, and the body drags against you — physical maneuvers in the host take -10.
101 - 175	Success
You inhabit the body fully, until you end the power or something breaks it.
176 +	Absolute Success
You settle into the flesh as if born to it: contests to impersonate the host’s manners take +30.
Me/Re are the RMU stat bonuses (the user's Memory; the victim's Memory and Reasoning). Willpower may be spent on either roll per the normal boost rules.

Telepathy

The vampire reads minds and projects their own thoughts into others. Mortal minds open easily; undead minds take real effort.

Cost: One Rouse Check — plus one point of Willpower against a non-consenting vampire.

Pools: Memory + Auspex vs Intuition + Influence (Duping) VTM

System: Projecting thoughts needs no roll, only line of sight. Reading a mind is a contested Auspex Reading with Memory, eye to eye; the target resists with \(Resistance = d100_{OE} + InfluenceDuping + (20 + {2}\times{In_{bonus}}) + BP\)BP (a consenting subject requires no roll). Success reveals surface thoughts as a stream of images; each further answer probes more distant or buried memories, and an Absolute Success gives a coherent picture of current thoughts and intentions.

Duration: Roughly one minute per Rouse Check; a full scene on consenting subjects.