Source Sympathy
(•••)
A good servant responds unerringly to her master’s emotional state. With this Merit, a ghoul enjoys an emotional connection with their regnant similar to the blood sympathy felt by vampires (Vampire: The Requiem, p. 163). Some ghouls develop this ability over decades of service, while a few rare ones seem to do so almost immediately.
Ghoul characters with this Merit sometimes experience vague moments of recognition of intense emotions just as their regnants are feeling them (even if the two of them are in separate rooms or divided by trackless miles). If a long-dormant Kindred is just arising from a period of torpor, his surviving legacy ghouls might start to key in on his hunger and confusion and be drawn to where their once-master has reemerged. Just as with the blood sympathy of Kindred, the Storyteller may ask the player of the ghoul to roll the character’s Wits + Occult. The number of successes reflects the amount of useful information the character learns.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Players cannot dramatically fail a roll for Source Sympathy.
Failure: Nothing happens.
Success: The ghoul has a strong general impression of his regnant’s experience and has a general notion of the direction and distance to her.
Exceptional Success: The ghoul knows exactly what his regnant is feeling, and the awareness remains for a scene, fading slowly. He also knows exactly where she is. Note that unlike the Kindred’s blood sympathy, the ghoul does not literally share the experience with his regnant. He only understands the effect it has upon her. If the regnant is ambushed in her haven while the ghoul is out running a daytime errand, the ghoul might suddenly realize that the master is not only awake but afraid and angry. He does not, however, feel the selfsame mortal terror or outrage that the master is concurrently experiencing.
This effect goes only one way. The regnant feels no such connection to the ghoul. Source Sympathy doesn’t confer any Discipline bonuses when targeting your character’s regnant.
Ghoul characters with this Merit sometimes experience vague moments of recognition of intense emotions just as their regnants are feeling them (even if the two of them are in separate rooms or divided by trackless miles). If a long-dormant Kindred is just arising from a period of torpor, his surviving legacy ghouls might start to key in on his hunger and confusion and be drawn to where their once-master has reemerged. Just as with the blood sympathy of Kindred, the Storyteller may ask the player of the ghoul to roll the character’s Wits + Occult. The number of successes reflects the amount of useful information the character learns.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Players cannot dramatically fail a roll for Source Sympathy.
Failure: Nothing happens.
Success: The ghoul has a strong general impression of his regnant’s experience and has a general notion of the direction and distance to her.
Exceptional Success: The ghoul knows exactly what his regnant is feeling, and the awareness remains for a scene, fading slowly. He also knows exactly where she is. Note that unlike the Kindred’s blood sympathy, the ghoul does not literally share the experience with his regnant. He only understands the effect it has upon her. If the regnant is ambushed in her haven while the ghoul is out running a daytime errand, the ghoul might suddenly realize that the master is not only awake but afraid and angry. He does not, however, feel the selfsame mortal terror or outrage that the master is concurrently experiencing.
This effect goes only one way. The regnant feels no such connection to the ghoul. Source Sympathy doesn’t confer any Discipline bonuses when targeting your character’s regnant.
Prerequisite
Ghoul, Empathy •••
Ghoul, Empathy •••