Clans of Philadelphia

[Ranger Princess]

Here's a list of the clan presence in Philly. Some of these have a stronger presence than others, but all have at least ONE member.

Camarilla Clans

Toreador: Painters, actors, and poets. Oh my!

• Disciplines: Auspex, Celerity, Presence
• Weakness: Easily enraptured by true beauty (uncontrollably stare at yon painting or yon pretty girl, etc. Yon pretty girl may or may not find this creepy.).

Brujah: Rebels with(out) a cause!

• Disciplines: Celerity, Potence, Presence
• Weakness: Fiery Passion! (Susceptible to Frenzy).

Tremere: DnD players that found out their powers are real.

• Disciplines: Auspex, Dominate, Thaumaturgy
• Weakness: All neonates must drink the blood of their elders.

Nosferatu: Get it away! UAGH!

• Disciplines: Animalism, Obfuscate, Potence
• Weakness: Ugly Fuglers.

Ventrue: You thought stock brokers were bad? Get a load of these guys!

• Disciplines: Dominate, Fortitude, Presence
• Weakess: Rarefied Palette (ex: a particular Ventrue might feed exclusively from virgins, blonde men, naked clergy, or girls with koolaid blue hair - choose 1 of your own at character selection).

Malkavian: Something is not right in the head with these ones....

• Disciplines: Auspex, Dementation, Obfuscate
• Weakness: THEY ARE CRAZY. Choose 1 derangement from the list below, or make one of your own.

Sabbat Clans

Lasombra: Devils in a Gucci dress!

• Disciplines: Dominate, Obtenebration, Potence
• Weakness: Cast no reflection ANYWHERE

Tzimisce: Something went wrong one night in pottery class...

• Disciplines: Animalism, Auspex, Vicissitude.
• Weakness: Bound to the Earth (the character must surround her sleeping self with two clumps of Earth from some important place such as where she made a yucky Frankenstein monster for the first time).

Harbingers of Skulls: The secret society of necromancers and such!

• Disciplines: Auspex, Fortitude, Necromancy
• Weakness: Immortal Death's Grin. No matter how much blood they consume, they cannot "masquerade." They tend to look skeletally.

Independent Clans

Gangrel: Werewolves... whoops wrong game!

• Disciplines: Animalism, Fortitude, Protean
• Weakness: Becoming the Beast within... (gain animal features when frenzy)

Assamite: Cold, calculating killers. Everyone knows not to mess with an Assamite.

• Disciplines: Celerity, Obfuscate, Quietus.
• Weakness: Vitae Addiction: drink from other vampires with care!

Ravnos: Look into my crystal ball. I foresee you will lose 5 dollars this night!

• Disciplines: Animalism, Chimerstry, Fortitude.
• Weakness: Tricksters for life. Addiction to 1 form of trickery, deceit, mischief, etc.

Giovanni: The most elegant incest club you'll ever find.

• Disciplines: Dominate, Necromancy, Potence
• Weakness: The Giovanni Kiss hurts like hell.

Daughters of Cacophony What happens when you keep your headphones on too long.

• Disciplines: Fortitude, Melpominee, Presence
• Weakness: The music is... inside your mind! You constantly hear music.

 

[Ranger Princess]

Re: Clans of Philadelphia

Bloodline and Clan Disciplines of DotD​

Even though human society doesn't care much for tradition anymore, vampires are all about tradition and ritual. There's a reason why vampires managed to survive the inquisition. They stick together - and by that I mean within their own clan! Each clan has certain rituals and teachings that they pass down to childer to continue the legacy of their antediluvian and to make sure they don't do something silly like start to resemble that other clan. Listed below are all of the major disciplines associated with the clans listed in the first post. Note that while each clan has three disciplines, it is possible to learn other disciplines if you can find someone that's willing to teach you... probably for a high price.

Bloodline Disciplines

Auspex - The Art of Ultra Sensory and Perceptive Power

1. Heightened Senses: Acute sensory powers for the duration of the power, basically super sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste. However, super senses come at a price. Beware bright lights, monkeys clapping cymbals together repeatedly, and Nosferatu in general.
   
2. Aura Perception: Perceive the "psychic auras" of mortals and supernatural beings alike. This can be used to judge predominant emotions of people in the vicinity as well as discerning supernatural qualities such as werewolves, ghosts, and faeries.
3. The Spirit's Touch: Gain insights from the psychic residue on items from previous owners/handlers.
4. Telepathy: The ability to enter another person's mind, either to communicate or to perceive thoughts. Thoughts are often seem in dream like visions rather than "spoken" language.
5. Plato's Paradise: Separate your soul from the body in order to travel along the astral plane. You can do virtually anything in this ephemeral state with the exception of physically interacting with the mortal world. Beware... with great power comes great danger...

Celerity - Supernatural Speed

1. Olympic Sprint
2. Faster than a Cheetah
3. Bullet Train
4. Supersonic Speed
5. Godspeed

Note: anything beyond level 1 is a masquerade violation​

Presence - Amazing Attraction and Charisma

1. Sublime Magnetism: Those near the vampire suddenly feel an overwhelming urge to be close to her and to agree with anything she says. It matters little what she says so long as she doesn't ask them to hurt themselves. Even if someone resists, they quickly find themselves surrounded by a swarm of zealots...
2. Horrifying Visage: All vampires are scary, but this power augments everything that is freaky and scary about the vampire until she is the paragon of fucking scary. Say "boo" or hiss at someone and watch them freak out like you've never seen before!
3. Entrancement: The power of domination through love. Bend the emotions of others at will until they want to do whatever you say out of obsessive devotion. This power allows servants to retain individuality and creativity, but it is also temporary...
4. Summon: This ability gives the vampire the power to call to herself any person she has ever met at any place or time. The ultimate service bell! The person will do whatever it takes to arrive at the vampire's side, short of subjecting themselves to suicidal danger even if it means jumping on the first flight to Philly, assuming they can afford it of course!
5. Majesty: The attractive become paralyzingly beautiful; the homely become hideously demonic. The weak scramble to obey her every whim, and even the most dauntless find it almost impossible to deny her. Raising your voice to her is difficult; raising a hand against her is unthinkable. Those few who shake off the vampire’s potent mystique enough to oppose her are shouted down by the many under her thrall, before the immortal need even respond.

Potence - Superhuman Strength

• Even the lowest level of potence far exceeds mortal strength. Potence allows kindred to jump obsenely long distances, pick up heavy objects, and punch and kick with terrible force. However, some view this trait as a curse because the world, including cherished objects and friends become quite delicate...

Dominate - The Power of the Spoken Word

1. Command: The vampire locks eyes with the victim and issues a one-word command such as run, jump, dance, sing, sit, bite. If the command is at all confusing, the victim may respond slowly or not at all.
2. False Thoughts: Lock eyes with the victim while implanting false thoughts into her mind. This can be anything from "bend down and touch your toes" to "bake three cookies with sprinkles on Tuesday night then bring them to Sandy's haven and kowtow at the door." Only one false thought may be imposed at a time.
3. Mind Sculpting: After capturing the subject’s gaze, the vampire delves into the subject’s memories, stealing or re-creating them at her whim. The degree of memory alteration depends on what the vampire desires. She may alter the subject’s mind only slightly – quite effective for eliminating memories of the victim meeting or even being fed upon by the vampire – or utterly undo the victim’s memories of her past. Complex memories take hold much easier than simple ones.
4. Mind Bonding: This works similarly to blood bonding, but instead of binding victim's through vitae, the vampire submits their mind to her own. Over time, victim's become mere puppets to the vampire's will and will ignore commands given to them by other immortals. While they will do pretty much whatever the vampire asks, they also lose all free will and emotion.
5. Mind Theft: The force of the Kindred’s psyche is so strong that it can supplant the mind of a mortal subject. Speaking isn’t required, although the vampire must capture the victim’s gaze. Once the Kindred crushes the subject’s mind, the vampire moves her own consciousness into the victim’s body and controls it as easily as she uses his own. The mortal falls into a mental fugue while under possession. She is aware of events only in a distorted, dreamlike fashion. In turn, the vampire’s mind focuses entirely on controlling her mortal subject. Her immortal body lies in a torpid state, defenseless against any actions made toward it. Vampires cannot possess one another in this fashion, as even the weakest Kindred’s mind is strong enough to resist such straightforward mental dominance.

Animalism - Communion with the Beast, both within and without.

1. Undead Whisperer: Lock eyes with a creature and issue simple commands or requests. Creatures with a stronger beast (ie: higher intellect) are easier to communicate with than weak-minded creatures. The animal must understand the command or request, but they will usually perform it to the best of their ability.
2. Call of the Wild: Call out in the voice of a specific animal to call them to you. Howl like a wolf, roar like a bear, or meow like a cat! Though all local creatures of that type will hear the call, they decide individually whether to respond. If they do, they will at least be willing to listen to your request.
3. Quell the Beast: Assert the dominance of your own beast over that of a mortal human or animal. This reduces all powerful emotions such as fury, terror, and pride to complacency and submissiveness. The power must be performed through touch and prolonged eye contact.
4. Animal Communion: Lock eyes with any animal and take possession of it. Essentially, the vampire enters the animal's body to do what she likes while her body remains in torpor until once again regaining her form.
5. Drawing out the Beast: When the vampire is about to frenzy, she can release her own fury onto another person or cainite, stirring the beast within them and causing them to instantly frenzy without warning

Obfuscate - The Art of Subterfuge and Invisibility

1. Lurking: The vampire is extremely adept at using shadows or objects to obscure their presence. She must be silent and completely still or risk being exposed to pesky eyes.
2. Haunted Mist: Walk amongst mortals and most vampires without being seen. People either don't see you or, perhaps more accurately, subconsciously don't want to. The vampire will not be seen unless she is deliberately sought out or reveals herself by stepping on an ill-placed twig, etc.
3. Mask of a Thousand Faces: Impersonate or create a disguise at will. Although the vampire's form does not change, the way others perceive her does.
4. Invisibility: Completely vanish from sight at will. Beware, this will freak people out!
5. Team Cloaking: Extend any obfuscate power onto another nearby individual or group of individuals.

Fortitude - Armour of the Undead

• Vampires with the fortitude discipline are the ultimate meat shields. They can absorb far more damage than any other creature, even gaining resistance (but not immunity) to supernatural damage such as fire and sunlight.

Hidden Clan Secrets

Dementation - Manipulating the Madness Within (Malkavian)

1. Empathetic Manipulation: The vampire may play with her victim's emotions, stirring them up as if a witch with a cauldron, either amplifying them to a fevered pitch or dulling them into submission. She may not choose which emotion to play with, only whether to amplify it or dull it.
2. Ephemeral Dreams: Flood the victim's brain with a deluge of images, visions, and sounds that don't really exist. These dreams happen mostly at night when the victim is alone, but sometimes a Dementation user likes to be present to watch it happen and delight in her victim's madness...
3. Insane Wisdom: This power allows the vampire to gain insights on people or things by delving into madness and finding fragments of the truth within. In this way, the vampire may perceive the "true self" of a stranger or discern the hidden meaning of a riddle. RPing insanity while using this power is encouraged.
4. Voice of Madness: Ever freak out from hearing a screeching on the chalkboard or constant dripping of water? This power inspires that kind of feeling x1000 merely by speaking! However, users of this power beware... it may backfire and drive you insane instead...well more insane...
5. Total Insanity: This terrible power speaks for itself. Elders of Malkav can simply reach into the mind of a victim and drive her completely, permanently, and irreparably bonkers.

Vicissitude - The Dreaded Art of Flesh Sculpting (Tzimisce)

1. Cosmetic Malleability: Ever wish you could make minor cosmetic changes to your body? Add a foot there? Smush your nose a bit? Give yourself a big long nose like Pinocchio? Give yourself an amazing butt? The Tzimisce can! The only catch being they have to physically do it with their bare hands...
2. Fleshcraft: A skilled Tzimisce can perform Vicissitude not only on herself but other creatures as well. Practice makes perfect they say. Fleshcraft allows the molding of skin, muscle, fat, and cartilage, but not bone. Tzimisce most commonly use this on ghouls or other victims to create inhuman bodyguards and servants.
3. Bonecraft: Experts in Vicissitude learn to not only sculpt flesh but also bone. The creations of these "skilled practitioners" are sculpted beyond recognition into horrible monsters!
4. Tzimisce's Beast: Don't want to mold yourself or another person into a monster? Transform into one! Tzimisce with this power have communed so greatly with the clan's inner secrets that they can transform into a replica of Tzimisce's first creation. The vampire becomes eight feet tall with sickly greenish-gray or grayish-black chitin. Her arms become apelike and ropy, tipped with ragged black nails, and the face warps into something out of a nightmare. A row of spines sprouts from the vertebrae, and the external carapace exudes a foul-smelling grease.
5. Living Blood: A vampire with this power can physically transform all or part of her body into sentient vitae. This blood is identical to the vampire’s normal vitae; she can use it to nourish herself or others, create ghouls or establish blood bonds. If all this blood is imbibed or otherwise destroyed, the vampire meets Final Death.

Obtenebration - The Ancient Practice of Abyssal Scrying and Shadow Play (Lasombra)

1. Shadow Play: Manipulate local shadows and darkness to obscure yourself or others or to create timely distractions. Shadow play cannot create or summon new darkness, merely manipulate what is already present, but it can still provide a great boon to the Lasombra neonate.
2. Nocturne: Summon a cloud of cloying darkness from the abyss that completely obscures light and sound in the area it covers. This darkness actually has a thick, cold, clingy substance that is quite unnerving to those who never felt it before.
3. Arms of the Abyss: Call forth shadow tentacles from the abyss! These tentacles can spawn from any patch of darkness and can stretch as long as six feet long, constricting, grappling, and terrifying anyone they catch a hold of!
4. Black Metamorphosis: Meld the darkness of the abyss with the darkness of your own soul to call forth nightmarish black armor. With this power, you can do anything from cover yourself with tentacles to transform into the darkness itself in order to slither through cracks and crevices.
5. Abyssal Communion: Only the eldest among the Lasombra clan have experienced the horrors of the abyss. By communing with it, legend has it that they call forth demonic shadow horrors, teleport around the world, and even banish people to abyssal prisons!

Protean - The Bestial Art of Shapeshifting and Transfiguration (Gangrel)

1. Bestial Eyes: One step closer to the beast. The vampire may call forth the eyes of her inner beast to see perfectly well within pitch darkness, often frightening nearby mortals by the glow of her nocturnal eyes.
2. Feral Claws: As if fangs were not enough, this ability allows the vampire to extend vicious claws from her hands. Her talons are so sharp they cut flesh like butter and can even pierce metal or stone.
3. Earth Meld: This prized power of the gangrel allows her to sink herself right into the soil itself, gaining full protection from sunlight while immersed in the earth. This power is also useful for any kindred wishing to pop up out of the ground(!) and surprise her prey, though most Gangrel prefer to revel in the hunt.
4. Shapeshifting: The mythical power of Dracula! Of course, all Gangrel know that this power isn't mere myth. Although legends talk of terrible vampires transforming into bats or wolves, the practiced shapeshifter can transform into any animal she pleases, as long as she has come in contact with the creature at least once in her life. Gangrel in beast form are more fierce than any ordinary animal, maintaining their own temperament but fully capable of calling forth all of the abilities of the animal.
5. Mist Form: Similar to the Lasombra's power to imitate abyssal darkness, Gangrel may commune with the Earth itself to the point that they may transform into a cloud of mist to easily slip through cracks or stalk unknowing prey from above, below, or all around!

Quietus - Terrible Tools of the Assassin's Trade (Assamite)

1. Zone of Silence: Nobody will hear you scream... if an Assamite comes after you. She creates a forcefield of dread so fearful that even sound itself dares not penetrate. Some say this is merely a frequency that temporarily drowns out sounds in the local area. Either way, if you can't hear any sounds, it's probably too late to run.
2. Scorpion's Touch: With deep concentration, the Assamite may transform the contents her own blood into insidious venom capable of weakening anyone that ingests it. This power is greatly feared by other Kindred, and all manner of hideous tales concerning methods of delivery circulate among trembling coteries. Assamites are known to deliver the poison by coating their weapons with it, blighting their opponents with a touch, or spitting it like a cobra.
3. Dagon's Call: This dreadful power is feared and reviled even more than the Scorpion's Touch, named after one of the most notorious Assamites ever to walk the Earth. Dagon found that his clan's connection to kindred blood could call forth the vitae of other kindred in order to strangle and drown them in their own life essence. Although Dagon has long since met final death, many of the most notorious Assamites follow in his footsteps.
4. Baal's Carress: Some say this power came through a wicked combination of Assamite power with the Lamia curse. Regardless, Baal’s Caress allows the Assamite to transmute her blood into a virulent ichor that destroys any living or undead flesh it touches. In nights of yore, when Assamites led the charges of Saracen legions, the Assassins were often seen licking their blades, terrifying opponents by slicing open their own tongues and lubricating their weapons with this foul secretion.
5. Taste of Death: Feared Assamite elders, having spent long hours honing Baal's Carress, have learned to spit the foul venom through their hideous mouths like their own personal undead flamethrower. Some Assamites have been reported to vomit voluminous streams of vitae that reduce their targets to heaps of sludge.

Chimerstry - Magickal Mastery of Illusion and Enchantment (Ravnos)

1. Ignis Fatuus: Magic tricks! The vampire may conjure a minor, static mirage that confounds one sense. For instance, she may create the image of a curtain or the feel of raw silk. Although illusions can be felt, they have no real substance. An invisible wall cannot confine anyone, and ephemeral razor-wire causes no real damage.
2. Fata Morgana: Illusory enchantments. At this level, the vampire can construct illusions that appeal to all the senses, although they remain static. For example, the vampire could throw a mirage over a dank basement, making it appear to be a sumptuous boudoir, although she could not create flickering candles or a flowing fountain. The illusion has no solid presence, although it’s easy enough to make a filthy mattress on two sawhorses feel like a four poster bed with Ignis Fatuus!
3. Fluid Illusions: With practice, a Ravnos can make her illusions more life like, giving them fluid motions. Her fata morgana illusion could now contain a roaring fire, fluttering drapes, and dancing mimes!
4. Permanency: This power allows the Ravnos to maintain their enchantments and illusions even after leaving the area, oftentimes cloaking their havens with grand illusions or terrifying guard dogs.
5. Illusory Reality: With long training, elder Ravnos can plant illusions into the very minds of their victims, causing them to see what is not really there. Even more horrifying is that these illusions become very real for their victims. Illusory fire can burn her and make-believe walls can block her. Even if someone tries to convince her otherwise, she won't believe them!

Melpominee - Soul Music and the Power of the Muse (Daughters of Cacophony)

1. Voice of Cacophony: Any daughter can summon the voice of the muse, Cacophony, to match or modify her own as she sees fit. This enables the daughter to carry on surreptitious conversations with herself, sing duets, or cause any number of distractions to her audience. This can also be combined with the more venomous powers of Melpominee to disguise their source.
2. Telepathic Song: With long communion with Cacophony, a daughter can use the muse to assist her in projecting her voice to anyone she has ever met, so long as it is night time where that person is. The daughter can sing, sooth, talk, or do whatever she wants, but she cannot hear responses or even herself as she does so as she relies on Cacophony to carry her voice long distances.
3. Siren's Beckoning: Music has the power to sway the soul of the listener, drawing forth emotions through artful lyrics, pounding crescendo, or haunting melody. Using this power, daughters tease the listener's soul with the help of the muse Cacophony, forcing them to feel whatever she wishes, even drawing them into madness or fugue if she so desires. She cannot control how the listener responds to those feelings though.
4. Virtuosa: With long years of training and communing with the muse, elder daughters may project their voice to a whole crowd, including any other Melpominee power. That way, she could stun them into silence or draw an instantaneous standing ovation. Legend has it that some daughters have even started and ended wars merely through projection of their voice.
5. Shattering Crescendo: Elder daughters can sing powerfully enough to rend flesh, split skin, and crack bone. YIKES! While some point out that even mortals can shatter glass at the right frequency, volume and intensity matter little for a Daughter of Cacophony. The Siren can sing a soothing lullaby while still killing or torturing her target. Indeed, this may be where the rumors of a link to Malkav began...

Thaumaturgy

Necromancy