Potence

Potence is brute power — the raw amplification of physical strength beyond any mortal frame. A vampire with Potence does not swing harder than a strong human; they swing with force that bends steel, shatters masonry, and reduces opponents to broken heaps with a single strike.

Core mechanic: Each dot of Potence adds automatic successes to Strength-based dice rolls (not extra dice — automatic successes that cannot be cancelled). This makes Potence uniquely reliable: it cannot botch, cannot be unlucky. One dot of Potence is roughly equivalent to three to four dice in practical terms.

Passive: Potence is always active. No blood, no roll. It simply applies to all Strength-based actions.

Powers

● Potence 1

Cost: None | Pool: +1 automatic success to all Strength rolls | Duration: Permanent

Add 1 automatic success to every Strength-based roll: lifting, breaking, jumping, brawl damage.

●● Potence 2

Cost: None | Pool: +2 automatic successes | Duration: Permanent

+2 automatic successes. At this level, the vampire can flip a car, punch through a brick wall, or snap a mortal’s bones with a casual grip.

●●● Potence 3

Cost: None | Pool: +3 automatic successes | Duration: Permanent

+3 automatic successes. Structural damage becomes possible — reinforced doors fold, concrete cracks, vehicles become weapons.

●●●● Potence 4

Cost: None | Pool: +4 automatic successes | Duration: Permanent

+4 automatic successes. The vampire’s casual strength exceeds what most vehicles can produce. They can tear apart steel beams, stop a car with their body, or hurl a human being across a city block.

●●●●● Potence 5

Cost: None | Pool: +5 automatic successes | Duration: Permanent

+5 automatic successes. At this tier, the vampire begins approaching the mythological — beings described in folklore as overturning buildings, stopping rivers, tearing apart fortifications. This is not metaphor.

Combat Applications

Brawl damage: Potence automatic successes add directly to damage after a successful brawl strike. A fist becomes a lethal weapon without any tools.

Melee damage: Same applies to melee weapons. A vampire with Potence 3 wielding a sword adds 3 automatic successes to damage. Mortal-scale opponents rarely survive one clean hit.

Lifting and breaking: The lifting chart for strength applies to Strength + Potence combined. A vampire with Strength 3 and Potence 3 lifts as if Strength 6 (approximately 800+ lbs) on a single success, far more with additional successes.

Jumping: Strength applies to jumping distance and height. Potence 3 allows horizontal jumps of 15+ feet and vertical jumps over vehicles.

Strength Reference

Elder Powers

Imprint (●●●●● ●)

Cost: None | Pool: Strength + Potence (difficulty varies)

Leave permanent physical impressions in hard surfaces. Press a handprint into stone, squeeze a grip pattern into a steel bar, or leave fingermarks in brick. Also used to leave threatening messages — a crushed object, a bent railing — that communicate capability without words.

Savage Blow (●●●●● ●)

Cost: 1 Blood Point | Pool: Brawl or Melee attack roll

On a successful hit, all damage from this strike is aggravated (normally Potence adds Lethal damage). Used for brutal executions. Requires a full action — cannot split.

Earthshock (●●●●● ●●)

Cost: 1 Blood Point | Pool: Strength + Potence, difficulty 6

Strike the ground to create a localized shockwave. Affects all targets within a radius in yards equal to successes. Each target in range suffers the vampire’s Strength in Lethal damage (soak normally). Knocks prone on 2+ successes. Cannot be used from elevation — must strike the ground itself.