Obfuscate

Obfuscate clouds the mind, not the body. The vampire does not literally become invisible — the light still reflects off them, security cameras still pick them up — but minds in the vicinity simply fail to register their presence. The effect is psychological rather than physical, which makes it work differently than optical invisibility.

Core restriction: Obfuscate fails against direct physical interaction. If an Obfuscated vampire bumps into someone, or attacks, or speaks loudly, the effect breaks immediately. Also breaks if the vampire draws direct, active attention — someone explicitly searching for a hidden person gets a Perception roll to pierce it.

Nosferatu application: For Nosferatu, Obfuscate is survival. Their Monstrous Appearance weakness means they rely on it constantly outside of Nosferatu-controlled areas. Many elder Nosferatu are effectively invisible at all times; mortals who see one and are left alive generally can’t describe what they saw.

Obfuscate vs. Auspex: See the Auspex page for the contested detection mechanic.

Powers

● Cloak of Shadows

Cost: None | Pool: Automatic while stationary in shadow or cover | Duration: Sustained

As long as the vampire remains still in a shadowed or concealed position, they become effectively invisible to casual observation. This is not supernatural — it’s hyper-effective use of available concealment, guided by predatory instinct.

Moving, speaking loudly, or being in a brightly lit open space breaks the effect.

●● Unseen Presence

Cost: None | Pool: Automatic | Duration: Sustained

The vampire can move while concealed. They walk through a crowded room; people move out of the way without registering why. Security staff look past them. The effect operates on everyone in the vicinity simultaneously — not one person at a time.

The vampire cannot take aggressive actions (attacks, grabbing, loud speech) without breaking the effect. Pickpocketing and subtle theft are possible at Storyteller discretion.

●●● Mask of a Thousand Faces

Cost: None | Pool: Manipulation + Performance, difficulty 7 | Duration: Sustained

Rather than concealment, the vampire now projects a false appearance — they look like someone else. Not a specific person (that requires more successes or elder powers), but a convincing alternative: different height, build, skin tone, clothing, apparent age. Features remain indistinct unless closely examined.

Successes determine fidelity: 1 = different enough not to be recognized as the vampire, 5 = detailed false identity with specific face and features.

●●●● Vanish from the Mind’s Eye

Cost: None | Pool: Charisma + Stealth vs observer’s Wits + Alertness | Duration: Sustained

Disappear while in plain sight — even while being directly watched. The vampire fades from the observer’s perception mid-scene. Takes one turn to complete; during that turn, the vampire may still be seen.

At 3+ successes, even actively searching for the vampire imposes difficulty 10 without Auspex assistance.

●●●●● Cloak the Gathering

Cost: None | Pool: Manipulation + Stealth, difficulty 7 | Duration: Sustained

Extend the Obfuscate effect to cover a number of additional people equal to successes rolled. All covered individuals share the same concealment — if the group moves together, they move unseen. If one breaks the effect (attacks, draws attention), the entire group’s concealment collapses.

The caster must maintain concentration. If the caster is disrupted, all coverings fail simultaneously.

Elder Powers

Soul Mask (●●●●● ●)

Passive.

Extend Mask of a Thousand Faces to conceal the vampire’s aura from Auspex. The vampire’s aura appears as a specific false identity — a mortal aura, or a different vampire’s signature, per the caster’s intent. Active attempts to pierce the aura mask require the Auspex vs. Obfuscate contested mechanic.

Conceal (●●●●● ●)

Cost: 1 Willpower | Pool: Intelligence + Stealth, difficulty 7 | Duration: Permanent until triggered

Apply Obfuscate to an object rather than a person. The object becomes unnoticed — people walk past it, fail to look at it, cannot recall seeing it even after passing it directly. Useful for caching weapons, hiding vehicles, concealing doors.

Cache (●●●●● ●●)

Cost: 1 Blood Point | Pool: Wits + Stealth, difficulty 7 | Duration: Up to one month per success

Leave an Obfuscated space — a room, a vehicle interior, a small area — in a semi-permanent state of not-being-registered. Any person inside benefits from Unseen Presence for the duration, even without their own Obfuscate.

Veil of Blissful Ignorance (●●●●● ●●)

Cost: 1 Willpower | Pool: Manipulation + Stealth vs target’s Willpower | Duration: Permanent (until dispelled)

Targeted removal of specific knowledge from a single observer’s mind — they “forget” having seen the vampire at a specific time and place. Functions like a combination of Obfuscate and Dominate’s Forgetful Mind, but cannot be detected or removed by Dominate (it’s Obfuscate, not mind control).

Busy Doing Nothing (●●●●● ●)

Cost: None | Pool: Manipulation + Performance, difficulty 7 | Duration: Scene

Nosferatu-specific elder power.

The vampire remains perfectly visible, but appears to be doing something innocuous while actually doing something else. Picking a lock appears as standing by the door. Engaged in a brawl, they appear to be a bystander. The false activity is exact — the vampire is where they appear to be, unlike Unseen Presence.

Successes determine complexity: 1 = only minor deception (appearing to listen while actually listening at a different door); 5 = full combat is completely masked as bystander behavior.

Displacement (●●●●● ●)

Cost: 1 Blood Point per scene | Duration: Scene

Nosferatu-specific elder power.

The vampire appears to be standing slightly to one side of their actual location. This is harder to account for than full invisibility — the eye registers a target but the hit always lands where the target is not.

While active, anyone attempting to hit or touch the vampire suffers a dice penalty equal to the caster’s Obfuscate rating. After a few misses, the attacker may roll Perception + Awareness (difficulty = Obfuscate rating + 4, maximum 9) to notice the displacement; each success reduces the penalty by one. The attacker’s Auspex rating also reduces the penalty, but the minimum penalty is always 1.

Scrawl (●●●●● ●)

Cost: None | Pool: No roll required to write | Duration: Permanent

Malkavian elder power.

Write messages as apparent gibberish that only other Malkavians with this power can decode. No one outside the clan recognizes the hidden meaning. Writing to a specific clanmate requires the writer to know the target, their sire, or their progeny; otherwise any Malkavian with this power can read it.

Confusion of the Eye (●●●●● ●)

Cost: 1 Willpower | Pool: Willpower roll, difficulty = target’s current Willpower | Duration: Up to 24 hours

Followers of Set elder power.

Extend Mask of a Thousand Faces to one other person rather than to the caster. The victim perceives one specific person of the vampire’s choosing as someone else entirely — a mortal janitor instead of the Archbishop, a feared rival as a trusted ally. The victim unconsciously rationalizes inconsistencies. If the “masked” person tries to prove their real identity, both make contested rolls (Charisma + Subterfuge vs Willpower, difficulty 7); the victim must win to be convinced.

Mental Maze (●●●●● •)

Cost: 1 Willpower (for supernatural targets); 1 Willpower (for a single room) | Pool: Charisma + Intimidation vs target’s current Willpower | Duration: Scene (or full day for very large areas)

Followers of Set elder power.

Remove the victim’s sense of direction, binding them to an area of the vampire’s choosing. The house folds back on itself; all exits loop back inside. Each success affects one additional victim. Normally used in a multi-room structure or an equivalently sized outside area. Applied to an entire city block or office tower: –1 difficulty, duration extends to a full day. Applied to a single room: costs an additional Willpower. Supernatural targets (vampires, werewolves, mages, ghouls) require an extra Willpower expenditure.