Oblivion

Few Kindred outside of Clan Lasombra are trained in this discipline, which is as the Camarilla prefers it. While most disciplines either enhance a vampire's physical abilities, stretch their will, or bend the natural effects of the blood, oblivion is the only one that draws its power from something other than the vampire itself. Clan Lasombra refers to the place from which the discipline draws its strength as "The Abyss" and remarkably little is known about exactly what the Abyss is, other than that it is a place of prehistoric darkness that has a will of its own and poses a danger to the living and kindred alike . Masters of this discipline can bend the shadows and darkness to their will. However, the discipline exacts its price in both body and soul. The deeper a kindred uses the power of the Abyss, the more of their humanity is swallowed up by the darkness.

System: Unless otherwise stated, Oblivion's effects can only be used in areas of shadow or darkness. Any ongoing effects are broken if they come into contact with direct light, especially in the case of sunlight. Beyond that, the discipline draws power from a place that erodes the character's humanity and also exacts a price. The connection to the Abyss that the discipline requires to function replaces a portion of the character's soul and reduces their humanity by one step, regardless of whether the character starts with levels in the discipline from the start or learns it later over time. All of Oblivion's effects manifest as two-dimensional shadows on three-dimensional surfaces and thus can rarely be attacked or destroyed. The effects are rarely seen very well on surveillance cameras, but anyone who comes into direct contact with the discipline instinctively feels that the shadows are unnatural.

NOTE: Oblivion is only available to clan Lasombra at character creation and always results in the character's humanity being -1 at game start. This applies regardless of the level of Discipline the character possesses.

Level 1

Oblivion’s sight

The character can enhance their vision to see through the deepest darkness and perceive what lurks on the fringes of the physical world. When this ability is used, the character's eyes turn completely black. As a secondary effect, they can give others a perverted version of this vision. Those affected only see the endless darkness of the Abyss for a few seconds.

Cost: None

System: The character can see through both natural and supernatural darkness, including effects created by Oblivion equal to the character's level of the discipline or lower.

If the character uses the effect on another player, they say "Oblivion: blind" while the players make eye contact. No mental duel is necessary and the victim can then only see darkness for five seconds. The affected player simulates this by closing their eyes for five seconds and feels extremely uncomfortable and can completely panic depending on the situation or the player's choice.

This power is not available in battle or as a freescape, but is enough to scare most people.

Level 2

Shadow cast

A recurring limitation of Oblivion is its inability to function in areas that are not in shadow and darkness. This power exists to counteract this. The character's shadow expands and drowns out any natural light sources in its path, giving them more flexibility with the rest of the Discipline's abilities. The effects of the supernatural darkness are genuinely unpleasant, both for humans and kindred.

Arms of Ahriman (requires Potence 2)

The character forms tentacles of darkness from nearby shadows that shoot across the floor and grab hold of an unfortunate victim. Although the tentacles require darkness to coil their way to their target, this does not stop them from navigating under tables and chairs, as long as there is an unbroken path through the darkness, Ahriman's arms find a way. When the character has a victim caught in this way, he can hold the victim or slowly crush his opponent.

Cost: Hunger +1

System: The player clearly says the words “Oblivion: Darkness” and everyone who is in the same room and hears this will now see the light in the room suddenly diminishing and becoming dim and full of inexplicable shadows. The affected players won't hear you say the words IN-game but will notice that this is more than just someone suddenly dimming all the lights in the room. The feeling of the darkness is equivalent to the unpleasant feeling you experience from the Shadow cloak, but much more intense as you now not only see the darkness but are in it. Still not bad enough for Rötschreck but certainly not a satisfying experience unless you seek it out.

The effect lasts for a maximum of 2 minutes or until the player himself says "Oblivion: OFF" to signal the dispersal of darkness. If a player arrives in the room after the discipline has activated, the nearest person must make the OFF sign and whisper to the player: "The room is dark" to give them an opportunity to participate in the scene as well.

Since the use of the power results in the creation of darkness/shadows, the player/players with access to Arms of Ahriman, Touch of Oblivion, and Shadow step can use these powers in a lit room during the time the power is activated.

Cost: Hunger +1

System: To activate the discipline, there must be darkness/shadows between the player and the victim. The player says “Oblivion: grip + AV” and holds out their right or left hand with the hand shaped like a choke hold to signal that you are holding the victim at a distance. If the victim has the same or lower AV than the player, the victim reacts to shadow tentacles rapidly creeping towards him from the player's body and now holding the victim in an unpleasant iron grip.

The victim can still use mental disciplines but is physically unable to do anything to the tentacles that stick through. The player can also close the outstretched hand and then open it again to signal that the tentacles are gripping the victim tighter. This results in -1 in AV for the victim and if this is repeated a total of 5 times the victim falls into Torpor. However, the player must wait at least 30 seconds between each closing of the hand to give players a chance to react. The victim's minus on AV can be healed in the same way as normal damage.

When used in combat, the tentacles count as a weapon that deals +2 AV and deals normal damage, provided the combat takes place in a dark enough environment for Oblivion to be used.

The effect is removed when the darkness in the room dissipates, the player lowers the hand with the choke to signal that the grip has been removed, or the player is attacked by another player, which breaks the concentration. The victim and other individuals present will then see the tentacles retract and eventually disappear completely.

Level 3

Shadow step

The character can merge with the darkness and use it as a means of transportation. The character descends in a fraction of a second into the Abyss and emerges from another shadow. The shadow must be within sight of the character, but unlike other levels of the discipline, there need not be an unbroken stretch of shadow or darkness between the character and the final destination. It is possible to bring another person through the Abyss, but individuals unaccustomed to that kind of transportation will find the experience uncomfortable, to say the least.

Cost: Hunger +1

System: The player enters a dark corner or other place that is in shadow/darkness and holds up his right or left arm, clenched fist at shoulder height and with three fingers extended. After you set foot in the darkness, you are no longer visible to other players and can now go unseen to another darkness within your field of vision and appear there just as if you had just teleported. You are only visible again when you lower your arm with the 3 raised fingers. If someone sees you coming in or out of the dark, it's a crystal-clear masquerade crime. To individuals witnessing this, this appeared to be extremely unpleasant and monstrous in an inexplicable way as it cannot be explained in any other way than that the individual was just swallowed by a solid darkness.

But with the free hand, the player can also take another individual with them into the darkness. However, you must be able to hold the individual down with either Potence or Arms of Ahriman. This results in total panic from the entrained individual who suffers from rotschreck when the journey is completed. However, this does not harm kindred, but is just terribly unpleasant. However, living creatures, including ghouls, are not so lucky as the darkness is harmful to mortal individuals. These are affected as if they lost a battle against normal damage and have their AV halved until they have healed back the vitality stolen from them by the Abyss.

Touch of Oblivion

By channeling the pure power of the Abyss through his body, the character can create an energy that drains life from both human and kindred. With a simple touch, they can cause an arm to tremble, eyes to lose their sight, or muscles to shrink from atrophy.

Cost: Hunger +1

System: The player places their hand on the body part of their victim they wish to affect and says “Oblivion: damage”. The effect of the damage is that the body part blackens and shrinks as the darkness from the abyss distorts it. The character takes a -3 AV and is no longer able to use the body part to its normal ability. The same thing happens if the Player touches, for example, the eyelid of his victim, which results in him becoming blind in one eye, or if the throat is touched, the victim will barely be able to speak.

Humans/ghouls exposed to this power may need months or years of rehabilitation to possibly regain use of the affected body part. The effect counts as aggravated damage and cannot be healed for the rest of the evening unless the victim has Defy Bane. The person can then activate the power as normal and then spend hunger to recover.

If the effect is used in combat, it gives +2 to the character's AV, provided they are not using any weapon other than his hands. Claws created with Protean or the tentacles created with Arms of Ahriman count as an extension of the character's limbs. Should the opponent lose the battle, they suffer the effects above in addition to other consequences of having lost the battle.