Obfuscate
The perfect cover. Obfuscate lets the vampire lurk unseen, walk unnoticed through a crowd, and vanish when the heat rises — not invisibility, but a low-level mesmerism that makes minds choose to ignore what the eyes see. Powers activate per the mechanics on the Disciplines page.
Using Obfuscate
The Discipline's shared rules, whatever the power VTMObfuscate characteristics (VTM p. 261):
Ignored, not invisible: Observers see the vampire but their minds dismiss it — witnesses unconsciously step aside and rationalize doing so. All five senses are covered unless a power says otherwise.
Breaking the facade: The illusion fails when an observer cannot ignore the user — blocking a doorway someone walks through, cornering them. Violence, raised voices, a failed pickpocket, a weapon raised to strike: all shatter it. Whispering is safe.
Machines: No protection against machine surveillance — a human aiming a camera struggles, but automatic cameras and detectors catch the vampire plainly (until Ghost in the Machine).
Detection: Sense the Unseen (Auspex 1) finds an Obfuscated vampire as conflicting skills: the hider rolls \(Resistance = d100_{OE} + ObfuscateSkill + (20 + {2}\times{In_{bonus}}) + BP\)BPBP is the Blood Potency power bonus: +5 per point of Blood Potency — for example +5 at BP 1 and +30 at BP 6. In a victim’s Resistance formula, use the victim’s own. as the passive side against the seeker's Auspex Reading. When the user draws attention to themselves — including launching a surprise attack from hiding — anyone gets a detection chance a moment before: their Perception (Intuition-based; Memory-based for an active searcher) against the vampire's Stalking as conflicting skills VTMWits (or Resolve) + Awareness vs Wits + Stealth (VTM p. 261).
Level 1
Cloak of Shadows
Standing perfectly still, the vampire blends into the surroundings.
Cost: Free.
System: With some kind of cover, no sound, and no movement, only mechanical or supernatural means can detect you, per the shared rules above. The effect ends the moment you move or are detected.
Duration: One scene.
Silence of Death
The vampire's person makes no sound at all: footsteps, clothing, minor collisions — nothing.
Cost: Free.
System: Hearing only, but robust — where an observer could only notice you by sound (a different floor of the house), you are undetectable except by Sense the Unseen. Sounds outside your personal space — thrown objects, slammed doors — are not silenced.
Duration: One scene.
Level 2
Unseen Passage
The vampire moves while staying hidden — functionally invisible, within the usual limits.
Cost: One Rouse CheckVTM concept to make a single d10 check whether hunger is gained.
System: Works automatically while you emit no strong odors and no sound above a whisper; only an observer whose attention is drawn to you gets a detection roll (shared rules above). You cannot disappear while under direct observation — the power simply fails there (Vanish, Level 4, lifts this).
Duration: One scene, or until detected.
Level 3
Ghost in the Machine
Obfuscate reaches through the lens: live feeds ignore the vampire, recordings blur, and automated systems glitch.
Cost: No additional cost.
System: Viewers on a live feed count as present with the vampire — your active Obfuscate power works on them with no extra roll. Identifying you from film, video, or photographs taken while Obfuscated takes -60 VTM+3 Difficulty to identify on recordings; +3 dice vs automated surveillance (VTM p. 262), and you gain +30 on maneuvers to circumvent automated electronic surveillance and countermeasures.
Duration: As per the power used.
Mask of a Thousand Faces
Instead of disappearing, the vampire reads as a nondescript stranger who belongs here — and unlike the rest of Obfuscate, they can interact and talk.
Cost: One Rouse CheckVTM concept to make a single d10 check whether hunger is gained.
System: No roll. Onlookers see a forgettable face of your gender and approximate build, in clothes bland enough for the setting — a nightwatchman at the office, overalls at the plant. It holds only while your presence is plausible: it does not fool people expecting no one, or hostile to strangers, and it provides no identification papers. Sense the Unseen pierces it as usual.
Duration: One scene.
Level 4
Conceal
The vampire cloaks an inanimate object — a door, a car, a small house — in the same lingering hypnotic dismissal.
Amalgam: Requires Auspex at Level 3 (ranks 13+).
Cost: One Rouse CheckVTM concept to make a single d10 check whether hunger is gained.
System: Touch the object and make an Obfuscate activation maneuver (Reasoning-based), from Light (+10) for a ring in a cluttered drawer to Absurd (-70) for a house on an open square VTMIntelligence + Obfuscate at Difficulty 2-6 (VTM p. 262). Success conceals the object for one night, plus one more night per full +10 above 101. Anyone and anything inside is concealed too, while the viewer stays outside. Nothing larger than a two-story house, and nothing moving under its own power. Sense the Unseen can spot it via the standard detection contest, with your Reasoning in place of Intuition.
Duration: One night, plus one per full +10 of margin.
Vanish
The vampire activates their cloak in plain sight — gone in the blink of an eye, and even the memory of them fogs.
Prerequisite: Cloak of Shadows.
Cost: As per the power augmented. Once per scene.
System: Activate Cloak of Shadows or Unseen Passage while under direct observation. Against mortals, roll the contest below — their memory of you is at stake. Vampire observers' memories are never affected, but any Success still hides you from them as if you had slipped away unobserved.
Resistance (the observer rolls first, as the passive side):
\(Resistance = d100_{OE} + Perception + (20 + {2}\times{In_{bonus}}) + BP\)BPBP is the Blood Potency power bonus: +5 per point of Blood Potency — for example +5 at BP 1 and +30 at BP 6. In a victim’s Resistance formula, use the victim’s own.
| Vanish | |
| \(d100_{OE} + ObfuscateSkill + (20 + {2}\times{In_{bonus}}) + BP + (100 - Resistance) + Modifiers\)BPBP is the Blood Potency power bonus: +5 per point of Blood Potency — for example +5 at BP 1 and +30 at BP 6. In a victim’s Resistance formula, use the victim’s own. | |
| Roll | Result |
| < 1 | Absolute Failure |
| You flicker half out of sight and snap back mid-step — now they are staring straight at you. You cannot Obfuscate in front of this observer again tonight, and you take -20 on your next maneuver. | |
| 1 - 75 | Failure |
| The cloak refuses to settle under their gaze. You remain plainly visible, and the attempt is spent. | |
| UM 66 | Unusual Event |
| The fog spreads strangely. On a success everyone watching — not just your target — loses the thread of the last few seconds. On a failure the observer flinches at the wrongness of it: they know exactly what you are, and where you stood. | |
| 76 - 100 | Partial Success |
| You slip from sight, but the memory holds: the observer knows you were there and that you vanished. The hiding itself stands, as if begun unobserved. | |
| 101 - 175 | Success |
| Gone. A mortal observer questions whether you were ever there — their memory of you clouds and blurs. | |
| 176 + | Absolute Success |
| You vanish from the moment entirely: a mortal observer retains no memory of you at all. | |
| Modifiers | |
| Observer | |
| -30 | The observer is frenzied (frenzied vampires resist mental Disciplines — and Obfuscate is one) |
| In is the Intuition bonus on both sides (the observer's Perception skill carries its own stats). Vampire observers: no memory effects, but 101+ still hides you as if unobserved. Usable once per scene. | |
Level 5
Cloak the Gathering
The vampire shelters their companions under the same cloak.
Cost: One Rouse CheckVTM concept to make a single d10 check whether hunger is gained in addition to the power extended.
System: Extend any Obfuscate power you know to willing subjects — up to \(2 + \frac{In_{bonus}}{5}\) of them VTMA number of subjects equal to the user's Wits, plus one per additional Rouse Check (VTM p. 263), plus one per additional Rouse Check. Each member counts as using the power themselves, with your Obfuscate values where a roll is needed; members perceive one another normally. A revealed member does not expose the rest — but if you are revealed, everyone is.
Duration: As per the power extended.
Impostor's Guise
With preparation, the vampire wears the face of a specific person — any build, any gender.
Prerequisite: Mask of a Thousand Faces.
Cost: One Rouse CheckVTM concept to make a single d10 check whether hunger is gained.
System: Study the subject's face for five minutes from several angles, plus ten more for voice and mannerisms; only human appearances can be copied. The Storyteller secretly rolls your Obfuscate activation (Intuition-based) at Extremely Hard (-30) VTMHidden Wits + Obfuscate at Difficulty 4 (VTM p. 263): on a failure the resemblance is off, and anyone close to the person notices automatically; on a success the illusion convinces, but impersonating speech and manners takes your Acting (Empathy-based) in conversation; on an Absolute Success (176+) the illusion is perfect and needs no further rolls. Sense the Unseen pierces it as usual.
Duration: One scene.