Scent of the Beast
(Animalism •••, Auspex •••)
Tracking Kindred through unknown territories can be difficult, whether in a city or the wilderness. Most vampires are smart enough (and paranoid enough) to hide whatever physical traces they might leave behind. There is one thing all Kindred share, though, that is difficult if not impossible to hide: the snarling hunger of the Beast. Vampires who have mastered this Devotion have learned enough about their own base impulses to sniff out the lingering psychic traces of the vampiric Beast, like a rank scent of blood and rage in the night air. They can follow the trail of fellow vampires through any terrain.
The character using this Devotion must attempt to track a specific vampire whom she has encountered before, so that she knows the “scent” of her quarry’s Beast. She can track her quarry’s movements only since the last sunset, as the sun’s rays burn away all but the faintest traces of Kindred psychic imprint upon the world.
The character using this Devotion must attempt to track a specific vampire whom she has encountered before, so that she knows the “scent” of her quarry’s Beast. She can track her quarry’s movements only since the last sunset, as the sun’s rays burn away all but the faintest traces of Kindred psychic imprint upon the world.
Effect
This Devotion detects only Kindred and their Beasts, and offers no advantage for tracking mortals, animals or other creatures. If the quarry is able to obscure his Beast, such as with the Mask of Tranquility power (Obfuscate), the task becomes extended and contested (see the “Clash of Wills” sidebar in Vampire: The Requiem, p. 119). If the quarry ever achieves the most successes in a roll, the tracker loses the trail altogether. If the tracker gets the most successes with each roll, they count toward the total number needed to follow the trail to its end. If there’s ever a tie on any particular roll, the Storyteller may allow the tracker successive attempts at that stage (see the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 132) to resume the trail, all compared to the same number of successes achieved in the tying roll made for the subject. So, if the tying roll involves four successes, five or more successes must be achieved for the tracker for him to ever pick up to the trail again. The Storyteller decides how many successive attempts are allowed, but each becomes more difficult. Note that it’s easier to find the Beast of a vampire with higher Blood Potency — the more “vampiric” the subject, the easier it is to detect his Beast’s psychic residue.
Both tracking and deliberately covering one’s tracks with Obfuscate requires participants to move at half Speed. Moving at a more desperate clip increases the margin of error. Moving at three-quarter Speed imposes a –2 penalty, while moving at full Speed imposes a –4 penalty. These modifiers apply to appropriate participants’ rolls.
See “Rule of Thumb: Extended Actions” (World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 128) for any limits on how many rolls can be made for a tracker.
Both tracking and deliberately covering one’s tracks with Obfuscate requires participants to move at half Speed. Moving at a more desperate clip increases the margin of error. Moving at three-quarter Speed imposes a –2 penalty, while moving at full Speed imposes a –4 penalty. These modifiers apply to appropriate participants’ rolls.
See “Rule of Thumb: Extended Actions” (World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 128) for any limits on how many rolls can be made for a tracker.
Side/Secondary Effects
Dramatic Failure: Your character picks up another trail, mistaking it for that of the quarry. A dramatic failure rolled at any point for the quarry means that his trail can be followed easily for the duration of the tracking effort.
Failure: In an extended effort, no successes are gathered at the current stage of the trail. Your character must find and correctly identify a fresher section of trail before trying again, represented by successes accumulated in subsequent rolls. In an extended and contested effort, if the most successes are ever rolled for the quarry, the trail is lost altogether.
Success: In an extended effort, the tracker gains some ground and accurately traces the trail further (successes are accumulated). In an extended and contested effort, the most successes are rolled for and accumulated by the tracker.
Exceptional Success: Considerable successes are gathered for the tracker, or the quarry is likely to stymie his pursuer if an exceptional success is rolled for him.
Failure: In an extended effort, no successes are gathered at the current stage of the trail. Your character must find and correctly identify a fresher section of trail before trying again, represented by successes accumulated in subsequent rolls. In an extended and contested effort, if the most successes are ever rolled for the quarry, the trail is lost altogether.
Success: In an extended effort, the tracker gains some ground and accurately traces the trail further (successes are accumulated). In an extended and contested effort, the most successes are rolled for and accumulated by the tracker.
Exceptional Success: Considerable successes are gathered for the tracker, or the quarry is likely to stymie his pursuer if an exceptional success is rolled for him.
Material Components
Cost: 1 Vitae
Gestures & Ritual
Dice Pool: Wits + Survival + Auspex
Effect Casting Time
Extended (requires a total number of successes equal to the [11 - the Blood Potency of the subject]; each roll represents 30 minutes of tracking), or extended and contested.
Applied Restriction
Modifier | Situation
+2 | Power is used on a vampire with whom the user has a blood tie (see Vampire: The Requiem, p. 162)
— | Weather conditions do not influence the psychic trail a vampire leaves
–1 | For every two hours that have elapsed since the quarry has passed
Because Scent of the Beast involves tapping into one’s Beast, it carries a certain danger. The Beast rides close to the surface and the character’s control over it is diminished. Whenever this Devotion is used, the character suffers a -1 penalty on all rolls to resist frenzy for the duration of the scene.
+2 | Power is used on a vampire with whom the user has a blood tie (see Vampire: The Requiem, p. 162)
— | Weather conditions do not influence the psychic trail a vampire leaves
–1 | For every two hours that have elapsed since the quarry has passed
Because Scent of the Beast involves tapping into one’s Beast, it carries a certain danger. The Beast rides close to the surface and the character’s control over it is diminished. Whenever this Devotion is used, the character suffers a -1 penalty on all rolls to resist frenzy for the duration of the scene.