••••• Jardin d’Agrément
The pinnacle of Licencieux, Jardin d’Agrément allows the Duchagne to create a fully realized fiction that overlaps and competes with the real world, confusing the victim and warping his environment completely. The vampire provides the story, but the target’s mind fleshes out the scene, resulting in a surreal, powerfully manipulative vision.
To activate the power, the Duchagne must be able to see the victim, and must choose the emotion he wishes to inspire in her. It can be a simple concept such as love, regret or nostalgia, or it can be more complex, such as “queasy frustration” or “angry, jealous desire.” The victim then falls into a growing wash of false input, intermingling with and tainting the real world.
Often, subjects of Jardin d’Agrément feel that they are experiencing a potent dream or Nightmare, one that they are unable to wake from. Ordinary encounters are fraught with illogical significance. Normal interactions seem to inspire unexpected emotional responses. The Duchagne does not control what the victim sees, but chooses exactly how it will make the victim feel. An ordinary traffic light can seem forlorn, inspiring feelings of sadness and remorse just by changing colors a little more slowly than normal. The same light might seem to bathe another victim in a warm glow, bestowing a false sense of happiness and security.
Hallucinations caused by this power can be resisted. Any mortal can resist this power for one turn if a Willpower point is spent and a successful Composure roll is made (though the Willpower point does not add three dice to the roll). This roll is reflexive. If the roll fails, the Willpower point is lost, and the target remains under the effects of the power. If the roll is successful, the mortal shakes off the dream-like state for one turn. The power resumes effect on the next turn if the mortal remains in the Kindred’s vicinity.
Vampires resist the Jardin d’Agrément in much the same way (by spending a Willpower point), but Blood Potency is added to Composure rolls made for them.
To activate the power, the Duchagne must be able to see the victim, and must choose the emotion he wishes to inspire in her. It can be a simple concept such as love, regret or nostalgia, or it can be more complex, such as “queasy frustration” or “angry, jealous desire.” The victim then falls into a growing wash of false input, intermingling with and tainting the real world.
Often, subjects of Jardin d’Agrément feel that they are experiencing a potent dream or Nightmare, one that they are unable to wake from. Ordinary encounters are fraught with illogical significance. Normal interactions seem to inspire unexpected emotional responses. The Duchagne does not control what the victim sees, but chooses exactly how it will make the victim feel. An ordinary traffic light can seem forlorn, inspiring feelings of sadness and remorse just by changing colors a little more slowly than normal. The same light might seem to bathe another victim in a warm glow, bestowing a false sense of happiness and security.
Hallucinations caused by this power can be resisted. Any mortal can resist this power for one turn if a Willpower point is spent and a successful Composure roll is made (though the Willpower point does not add three dice to the roll). This roll is reflexive. If the roll fails, the Willpower point is lost, and the target remains under the effects of the power. If the roll is successful, the mortal shakes off the dream-like state for one turn. The power resumes effect on the next turn if the mortal remains in the Kindred’s vicinity.
Vampires resist the Jardin d’Agrément in much the same way (by spending a Willpower point), but Blood Potency is added to Composure rolls made for them.
Effect
Dramatic Failure: The vampire slips helplessly into a waking dream of his own making and is influenced by the emotion he intended to bring out in his victim. In addition, he cannot use any Licencieux power on the subject for the remainder of the night.
Failure: The power fails to activate.
Success: The subject is overwhelmed by the warping effect of the Jardin d’Agrément, and the whole of his surroundings are suffused with false meaning. Everything he sees and hears will work toward imposing and multiplying the chosen emotion, completely changing his outlook and making it almost impossible to function normally. A penalty equivalent to the number of successes rolled in excess of the subject’s resistance is imposed on all actions (except Defense) that the subject undertakes for the remainder of the scene, and the subject is likely to confuse real input with that of the Jardin.
In addition, any action that seems to run contrary to the prevailing tone of the vision will force a Resolve + Composure check to see if the subject can interpret it properly. A victim caught in a pleasurable vision may not understand an attack until it occurs — likewise, one caught in the throes of a wrathful one may not understand a conciliatory attempt.
Example: Helene of Duchagne knows that Phillipe of Nosferatu is planning to murder her. When he appears in her Haven, she quickly attempts to impose the Jardin d’Agrément, choosing to suffuse his environment with “gentle adoration.” Helene’s player rolls Intelligence + Subterfuge + Licencieux versus Phillipe’s Composure + Blood Potency. She gains three successes more than he, and the Jardin springs to life.
As Phillipe steps forward, everything he sees takes on a soft, warm glow that evokes feelings of gentle adoration. He looks upon Helene, but instead of seeing her as his hated enemy, he senses only love and peace. He hesitates, choosing not to draw the Wooden Stake hidden in his jacket.
Helene smiles, and her expression seems the epitome of mildness. Phillipe looks back at the door, unsure, and even it seems pliable and welcoming, seeming to thrum with a calming pulse. Helene draws a stake of her own, but to him the action seems like a sweet demonstration of devotion. When she moves to attack, a successful Resolve + Composure check is all that will allow him to understand what’s really happening and defend himself appropriately.
If he succeeds and interprets the attack properly, he will have access to his full defense. He will suffer a –3 dice penalty if he attempts to fight back, though.
Exceptional Success: As above.
Failure: The power fails to activate.
Success: The subject is overwhelmed by the warping effect of the Jardin d’Agrément, and the whole of his surroundings are suffused with false meaning. Everything he sees and hears will work toward imposing and multiplying the chosen emotion, completely changing his outlook and making it almost impossible to function normally. A penalty equivalent to the number of successes rolled in excess of the subject’s resistance is imposed on all actions (except Defense) that the subject undertakes for the remainder of the scene, and the subject is likely to confuse real input with that of the Jardin.
In addition, any action that seems to run contrary to the prevailing tone of the vision will force a Resolve + Composure check to see if the subject can interpret it properly. A victim caught in a pleasurable vision may not understand an attack until it occurs — likewise, one caught in the throes of a wrathful one may not understand a conciliatory attempt.
Example: Helene of Duchagne knows that Phillipe of Nosferatu is planning to murder her. When he appears in her Haven, she quickly attempts to impose the Jardin d’Agrément, choosing to suffuse his environment with “gentle adoration.” Helene’s player rolls Intelligence + Subterfuge + Licencieux versus Phillipe’s Composure + Blood Potency. She gains three successes more than he, and the Jardin springs to life.
As Phillipe steps forward, everything he sees takes on a soft, warm glow that evokes feelings of gentle adoration. He looks upon Helene, but instead of seeing her as his hated enemy, he senses only love and peace. He hesitates, choosing not to draw the Wooden Stake hidden in his jacket.
Helene smiles, and her expression seems the epitome of mildness. Phillipe looks back at the door, unsure, and even it seems pliable and welcoming, seeming to thrum with a calming pulse. Helene draws a stake of her own, but to him the action seems like a sweet demonstration of devotion. When she moves to attack, a successful Resolve + Composure check is all that will allow him to understand what’s really happening and defend himself appropriately.
If he succeeds and interprets the attack properly, he will have access to his full defense. He will suffer a –3 dice penalty if he attempts to fight back, though.
Exceptional Success: As above.
Material Components
Cost: 1 Willpower
Gestures & Ritual
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Subterfuge + Licencieux versus subject’s Composure + Blood Potency
Related Discipline
Effect Casting Time
Contested; resistance is reflexive.
Level
5
Applied Restriction
This power can only be used upon one subject at a time.
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