Animalism
must be roleplayed through, but the player should
Animalism allows empathy with and power over the
animal world, as well as the animal within, and embodies
the Beast which lurks within the soul of every Cainite.
Those with Animalism can understand and soothe the
passions of animals and control the actions of such
creatures by touching the heart of the beast within them
all. Vampires lacking this Discipline or the Skill of Animal
Ken can seem offensive to animals, as beasts are distinctly
uncomfortable around the undead and will do all they can
to move away.
As the Storyteller, give each animal the characters
encounter a unique personality and manner of speech.
Eventually the animal may befriend the characters, so the
better you can portray it in the beginning, the longer the
animal will seem interesting to the player. Remember that
animals may be simple-minded and take things quite
literally.
The Gangrel clan, the masters of Animalism, have named
these powers in ways which reflect their feelings toward
their animal brethren.
• Sweet Whispers
While most animals are hardly intelligent enough to carry
on a lengthy discourse on any subject, with this Discipline
you can attempt a limited form of empathiccommunication and The summons may be very complicated, though the
can make specific requests of
creatures. Such intercourse takes place mentally - there is
no need for you to hiss or bark to communicate your ideas
to an animal. You need only look into the animal's eyes to
initiate the conversation. Eye contact must be maintained
throughout. If it is broken, you will have to reestablish eye 1 success - One animal responds
contact in order to speak with the animal once again. Of
course, there is no guarantee that a given animal will
either desire to talk at all or deal honestly if it does.
After establishing eye contact, you are able to issue
complex commands to a single animal, which it will follow
to the best of its ability. However, the command must be
couched in terms of a request, and the animal must be
coaxed into it (in other words, you need to roleplay
through it).
The "favor" cannot be too complex for the intellect of the
animal to comprehend. For instance, a mouse would be
incapable of distinguishing between people, while a dog
wouldn't know what a phone is. Certainly no animal could
be told to attack the person "who strikes me with the
intent to harm."
These commands can be deeply implanted, however, so
that they will affect the animal for some time. For
instance, you could instruct a cat to come and get you
when anyone enters the cellar, and the cat will continue to
do so for days or even weeks.
System: No roll is necessary to talk with an animal, but
the player must make a Manipulation + Animal Ken roll to
get it to do favors (difficulty 6). This difficulty can be
adjusted by circumstances and roleplaying skill.
Depending on the nature of the character's inner soul, the
approach of the conversation with the animal will differ -it
is not completely up to the player to decide, and depends
heavily on the character's Nature. The approach taken
might be that of intimidation, teasing, cajoling, rationality, Beast.
emotional pleading or practically anything. Interactions
understand that he does not simply play the character, but
the Beast within instead.
•• The Beckoning
The essence of the animal has grown strong in you, and
now animals respond when you call to them. You are now
able to summon nearly any species of animal, drawing
them
to you. The character must actually sing in the voice of the
animals to be summoned - howling like a wolf or
squawking like a bird.
The primary limitation is that you may not call animals of
different species. Only one summons may be active at a
time and there is no way to cancel a call after it has been
made. Thus, you had better get it right the first time.
Animals called in this way are under no immediate
obligation to heed your commands, though they are often
friendly and inquisitive with regard to your call.
System: The player must roll Charisma + Survival to
determine how well the call is received by the intended
targets (difficulty is normally 6) and consult the table
below. The only animals that might respond are those
within hearing distance of the song.
Storyteller will assign a higher difficulty if the player gets
too carried away. For instance, a vampire could simply call
out all the rats of the sewers (difficulty 6), all rats with
white fur (difficulty 7), or even summon the specific rat
that had the audacity to bite her (difficulty 8).
2 successes - A quarter of the animals who hear The
Beckoning respond
3 successes - Half of the animals respond
4 successes - Most of the animals respond
5 successes - All of the animals respond
••• Song of Serenity
This power allows you to expel the savagery from an
animal or mortal, causing the target to become passive and
listless. Simply by touching the individual you wish to
affect and singing a song of comfort and solace to the
Beast within, you can take from him that which gives him
the fire of individuality and creativity.
When the Beast has been removed from an individual, he
loses the will to fight or struggle. He cannot use or regain
Willpower, nor can he resist any sort of attack upon him.
Kindred are immune to this power.
Mortals and creatures who lack a Beast are prone to accept
nearly anything which occurs to them in this state as
completely normal and natural, evincing no reaction to it.
Later they might wonder why they had no reaction, but
often they avoid thinking about the situation at all.
System: The player must roll Manipulation + Empathy
(difficulty 7) and must collect as many successes as the
target has Willpower (five for most animals). This is an
extended roll. Any failure indicates that the vampire must
start over from the beginning, while any botch indicates
that he will never again be able to steal that creature's
Animalism continued...
•••• Sharing of Spirits ••••• Drawing out the Beast
You have attained a deep understanding of the mysteries
By staring into the eyes of an animal, your spirit or
of man's wild cousins. Armed with this knowledge, you are
conscious mind moves within the animal and possesses it.
better able to deal with the Beast within. When the Beast
This allows you to control the actions of the animal as if
becomes too powerful to control, you can transfer the feral
you were that animal. Your body becomes unconscious
urges to another creature.
and remains motionless during this time, exactly as if you
Effectively, you induce frenzy in another animal, man or
were in torpor.
vampire as a means of avoiding it yourself. The recipient of
System: The player must roll Charisma + Animal Ken this vast, savage energy must be something that is fit for
(difficulty 8) as the character looks into the animal's eyes
the burden; only beings with a Humanity score of 7 or less
(only animals with eyes can be possessed). The number of
are wild enough to provide a home for your Beast.
successes obtained determines the free will and powers the
This unfortunate creature actually receives your Beast, and
character still retains while possessing the animal. Less
thus your personality will be apparent in the nature of the
than three successes means the player must use Willpower
frenzy the victim undergoes. The frenzy will progress just
points to take any action which directly violates the
as if you were the creature in that state.
instincts of the animal in question.
1 success - Cannot use Disciplines
System: To use this power, the vampire must be in
frenzy, or close to it, and roll Manipulation + Animal Ken
2 successes - Can use Auspex
(difficulty 8). The player needs to announce his preferred
3 successes - Can also use Presence
target prior to rolling. It must be someone within eyesight.
4 successes - Can also use Dominate
Refer to the table for the results:
5 successes - Can also use Thaumaturgy
1 success - The character transfers the Beast, but releases it
The character will behave much like the animal if less than
upon a friend
five successes are obtained - her spirit is clouded with the
2 successes - The character is stunned by t he effort and
needs and impulses of the animal body. Sometimes she
may not act next turn, but transfers the Beast.
will begin to think and feel like that animal, even after the
3 successes - The character is completely successful.
connection has been broken. The player behaves like the
If the attempt fails, the intensity of the frenzy actually
animal she was, retaining many of its instincts for a time.
increases, for as the character relaxes in expectation of
This will continue until seven Willpower points are spent
relieving himself of the savage desires of the Beast, the
to resist and overcome specific effects.At the end of any
Beast takes that opportunity to dig deeper. The frenzy will
particularly exciting incident, the player
last at twice as long and be twice as hard to shrug off; it
should roll Wits + Empathy (difficulty 8) for the character
will also be many times more severe than normal. A botch
to retain her own mind. Failure indicates that the
on this roll is even more catastrophic. The heightened
character's mind returns to her own body, but still thinks
frenzy is so extreme that not even the expenditure of
in purely animal terms. A botch sends the character into a
Willpower points will effectively curb its duration or
frenzy.
effects.
When employing this power, it is possible for a vampire to
If the character leaves the target's presence before the
travel about during the day, albeit in the body of an
frenzy concludes, he will lose his Beast, perhaps
animal. However, she must be awake to do so, and
permanently. While n o longer vulnerable to frenzy, the
therefore the player must successfully make a roll to stay
character will not be able to use or regain Willpower and
awake (see Chapter Nine).
will become increasingly lethargic. To recover the Beast,
he must find the person who now possesses it (who
probably won't be enjoying herself much) and retrap the
Beast. He must behave in ways that will make the Beast
want to return since, unfortunately, the Beast does not
always wish to do so.