Gawk
Dominate ••, Majesty ••
The first thing every Freak learns to do is capture the attention of an audience. The ballyhoo may draw the audience to see The Show, but the quality of the performance keeps the audience prisoner. Gawk enhances the audience’s degree of fascination to such an extent that people are literally unable to perceive anything besides The Show itself. Succumbing to tunnel vision of sorts, those who fall victim to Gawk fail to witness the roustabout going through their pockets, or feel his fumbling hands or smell his sweat. They are so transfixed upon what the Freak is doing that, short of outright injury, they ignore all sensations — whether visual, audible, tactile or otherwise — and focus all their attention on The Show before them. Gawk affects all individuals close enough to the Freak to recognize the nature of her Deformity by sight.
Effect
Dramatic Failure: The Freak’s performance is not only unimpressive and utterly fails to capture the attention of the audience, but actually causes them to suspect that some kind of chicanery is at work. Some might rightly feel they are the intended victims of a trap and act accordingly, while others might simply come to believe they have been cheated by the Freak and desire to leave immediately. The intended target is immune to any use of the Freak’s Gawk for the remainder of the evening.
Failure: No effect.
Success: The affected individual is entirely focused on the Freak’s actions for a full turn and can perceive no other stimuli, unless directly generated by the Freak or her performance. If the Freak wishes to maintain the mesmeric Show, her player must engage in the contested roll every turn with the subject’s player.
Exceptional Success: The Freak’s performance is so captivating that the subject is unable to fully break the spell even after the performance has ended. For the remainder of the scene, so long as the Freak has not left the subject’s fi eld of vision, the Freak enjoys a +1 bonus to other uses of The Show against this particular subject.
Failure: No effect.
Success: The affected individual is entirely focused on the Freak’s actions for a full turn and can perceive no other stimuli, unless directly generated by the Freak or her performance. If the Freak wishes to maintain the mesmeric Show, her player must engage in the contested roll every turn with the subject’s player.
Exceptional Success: The Freak’s performance is so captivating that the subject is unable to fully break the spell even after the performance has ended. For the remainder of the scene, so long as the Freak has not left the subject’s fi eld of vision, the Freak enjoys a +1 bonus to other uses of The Show against this particular subject.
Side/Secondary Effects
Gawk can be used successfully only against those who can see the Freak’s performance. The lighting and conditions do not have to be perfect — in fact, dim illumination is often part of an act — but the particular nature of the Freak and her Deformity must be readily apparent to the intended target.
Each roll represents one turn of performance, during which the Freak does nothing that isn’t part of her act or that can’t be worked into her act, at the Storyteller’s discretion. Should the Freak stop her performance for even a single moment, the spell is broken. (Don’t even bother with the contested roll.)
This spell is broken only if the target suffers one or more points of damage, regardless of the type. An explosion nearby would not break the spell, for example — at least not directly. (The Freak will probably be startled and that would cause her to halt her performance, which would end the spell.) Those subject to this power can be pawed, held, trussed-up, stripped and thoroughly searched, all without being alerted to the fact. The spell continues until the Freak’s performance ends or the Freak’s player fails in the contested roll.
Kindred are as susceptible as kine to Gawk. Mortals who have at one point consumed a point of a specific Freak’s Vitae are immune to that Freak’s attempts to use Gawk. Other Freaks are immune to the use of Gawk.
Each roll represents one turn of performance, during which the Freak does nothing that isn’t part of her act or that can’t be worked into her act, at the Storyteller’s discretion. Should the Freak stop her performance for even a single moment, the spell is broken. (Don’t even bother with the contested roll.)
This spell is broken only if the target suffers one or more points of damage, regardless of the type. An explosion nearby would not break the spell, for example — at least not directly. (The Freak will probably be startled and that would cause her to halt her performance, which would end the spell.) Those subject to this power can be pawed, held, trussed-up, stripped and thoroughly searched, all without being alerted to the fact. The spell continues until the Freak’s performance ends or the Freak’s player fails in the contested roll.
Kindred are as susceptible as kine to Gawk. Mortals who have at one point consumed a point of a specific Freak’s Vitae are immune to that Freak’s attempts to use Gawk. Other Freaks are immune to the use of Gawk.