Updated: 12 March 2000


Appendice 3: Special Powers

                    The Special Powers were first introduced in "VAMPIRE: The Dark Ages" Rule book. See the ''Caitiffs & Rules'' for indications to learn or create a Special Power

Special Power : Heart's Secrets
                    Presence 3 + Auspex 4, 21XPs

                    By diving deep in a creature's psyche, a Black widow can draw empathic knowledge about how to behave, how to appear (including body traits like hair color, or length) to seduce this creature. The creature is generally happily surprised, and will instinctively be more open to this person so near of his secret tastes (whether he consciously knows them or not)

By spending a Willpower point, and succeeding in Appearance+Empathy, Diff: Victim's willpower+2 (max 10), each successes can decrease the difficulty of any social roll with this creature by one. Can because the Black Widow must ''copy'' the ''muse'' of the creature. While the hair color can be easily reproduced, some bodily gestures, accent, or other things are harder to reproduce, so the bonus is generaly limited by the Storyteller's whim (-2 to -4 as a maximum is a good start for normal role-playing, etc.).

Special Power : Living Appearance
                    Nymphea 1 + Vicissitude/Protean 1, 6XPs

                    This power starts once more the most visible aspects of humanity: The Black Widow using 1 Blood point will have a normal skin tone, body heat, beating heart, blood pressure in her veins and artery, normal tears, etc. etc., enabling her to appear human even in the more precise (or intimate) scrutiny. Only detection of supernatural symptoms will not be fooled (Aura perception, etc.)

If 3 Blood Points are used in the same scene for this power, then the Living Appearance lasts until the next sunset.

Special Power : Love Fury of the Black Widow
                    Arachnea 5 + Furie 3, 24XPs

                    Sometimes, the Black Widow must Bloodbond herself to her ''victim''. This Blood Bond get in the way between her and her veangeance.
Accepting wholly her evil dark side, and the twisted, temporary love she feels for her victim, the Black Widow can turn this Bloodbond againts her Regnant, and enters a terrible Frenzy that will end with the death of her "lover/victim".
This particular Frenzy is called Fury, because it's more like a passionate murderous pulsion than blind and wantom destruction. A Lupine who was witness of a Black Widow gave this power it's name. He swore that a Spirit, a Black Widow Spirit took the control of the Vampire and acted through her...
The only requirement is that the Black Widow must be Blood Bonded to her "victim/lover", and to have at least 5 permanent Willpower points.
The first benefit is that the Black Widow can now make the following twisted association: The murder of her Regnant is the greatest act of love she can do for him. The Bloodbond will not prevent her to intrigue dark schemes that will ends towards her Regnant's destruction because it is (from the Black Widow's twisted viewpoint) for her Regnant's own good! Any Auspex detection will show only violent passion unwavering, unquestionable love and desire to sacrifice anything for her Regnant, but never conscious murder thoughts. Blood test will say that the Black Widow is so Bloodbonded to her Regnant that it would be likely that she drink her Regnant's blood each night!

The second effect of this power is more violent. It happens when the Black Widow finaly decides to kill her Regnant/lover/victim. Then she enters automatically in Fury. Then her Dark Side takes the control of her. Not only she has the same benefits of the Frenzy, but pain actually seems to excite her love/hatred (the Health Level maluses actually become bonuses!). Her Frenzy won't affect her mind with instinctive urges. She will appear to have a twisted, sadistic and cunning mind controling her. She will use whatever mean at her disposition to ''torture'' mentally or physicaly her victim, like using his own weapon, or fire-based weapon against vampire, or silver ones for Lupines, and so on...
This effect only last for the scene, but if the victim escapes from the Black Widow's reach, she lose permanently 1 Willpower points and wins the Obsession Derangement (killing her 'victim'), while unable to use this power against him again (and against anyone until the death of her 'victim').

But her greatest Bonus when under this power is that she can add one automatic success to any roll when under the influence of the Love Fury and hr lover/victim is within the range of her senses.

Special Power : Mastering Beauty
                    Nymphea 2 + Vicissitude 2, 12XPs

                    This power enables the Black Widow to negate the effects of Nymphea. She reverts to her normal Appearance until she cancels this Power. Activating or canceling this power need 1 Blood Point.

Special Power : Merge with Spiders
                    Arachnea 4 + Animalism 2, 18XPs

                    By calling out for Spiders through Animalism and Arachnea, and using this power, she can absorb the spiders into her body, thus healing wounds without needing to use Vitae, or even draw blood from the Spiders thus absorbed and feed from them.

The Black Widow must roll Manipulation+Animal ken, Diff:8. Each success will conjure 1 Health Level worth spiders, which can be absorbed. Because of the nature of the Kindred's metabolism, this power can only be used once per night to heal Aggravated Damage. This is the only way, with the Spider Cocoon power, to ''heal'' easily damage done to a Crawling Death form.
If the Black Widow wants to feed (i.e. absorb Blood) from the spiders, she needs two ''health levels worth'' spiders to have one Blood Point.

Special Power : Shadow Lace
                    Nymphea 1 + Obtenebration 1, 6XPs

                    Adding the Nymphea effects to Obtenebration, the Black Widow can clothe herself in shadows, magnify her curves and make-up her body with shadows. This form of Obtenebration doesn't induce fear, but used in feeble lights (Nightclubs, et al.), it lowers the Difficulty for Seductions by one. Of course, the Black Widow require have the two level 1 powers activated to use this power (at no additional cost).

Special Power : Spider Cocoon
                    Arachnea 4 + Protean 3, 21XPs

                    The Black Widow can create a volume of web at the center of which she will prepare a place to heal and regenerate. The Black Widow must weave at least 2 cubic meters of web. By using this power, she will also create a number of spiders equal to the Blood Points she will use.
She will be able to enter the web without disturbing it (a variant of Protean ***), through bringing someone will disturb it. The spiders are all of the black widow type, but will be torporous and unable to act. Their principal use is to merge with the body in the center at the instruction of the Black Widow and heal the body of normal or Aggravated Damage.
Normal Damage will be healed normally, and Aggravated Damage will be healed with but 3 Blood Points and one hour per Aggravated Damage. The spiders will move through the web and merge with the body or the Black Widow herself. If the body isn't the Black Widow's, a Blood Bond will be started. If the body is mortal, a Ghoul will be created. The cocoon can even heal structural damage suffered by the Black widow (and only her) like the one made by Vicissitude, and so can cancel unwanted deformations without having to make any roll. This power is usually used to heal the Damage suffered while in Crawling Death form.
While the spiders are unable to defend themselves, the Black Widow retain an empatic link to her cocoon. Should one of the threads be touched, and she will know it, as well as the strength of the touch. Most Black Widow will hide a Spy Spider in the web, and will even use Ghouled spiders to protect it. A Black Widow can have only one Spider Cocoon at one given time. To have more, she must buy this power for each additional simultaneous cocoon she wants.



 

Special Power : Spider Lace
                    Arachnea 1 + Animalism 2, Automatic

                    This power is won automatically when the Black Widow learns both Arachnea and Animalism: This is a rule ''patch'' completing the normal rules, when applied to arachnids
For all practical purposes, consider the Black Widow to be able to succeed automatically in any Sweet Whispers power (Animalism *) when affecting a swarm of spiders. The Beckoning (Animalism **) works differently, as the song is silent to human ears (consider it ultra-sonic), and 1 Success means 1 handful of spiders. For practical purpose, a new table is given with medium statistic results for each success has a different effect (the original table is still true, it's only additionnal help for Storytellers):

Note that some part of cities can have more than normal wilderness population of spiders (i.e.: avoid the attic...). In the same reasonning, some Wilderness sites can have little or no spider (i.e.: No, your power don't work in the Antartic!). The Black Widow can use this power only once per night for the same place.

Anyway, this power is enough to create and control ghouled spider swarms without having to roll...

Note: Wonder about the name? Imagine my character, Catherine, calling this swarm of spiders to cover her nude body, with spiders drinking her Vitae and clothing her with strengthened silk...

Special Power : Spy Spider
                    Arachnea 4 + Protean 2, 18XPs

                    The Black Widow can create one spider per 2 Bloodpoints (one to create it, and one for the Bloodpool of the Spider). She can control it without any problem and see through the spider's eyes.
Note that the Spy Spider can use Arachnea 1, 2 and 3 (the Spider can create any web she wants to move herself). But if the Black Widow dies, the Spy Spider dies too (different from the Crawling Death power). If the Spider is absorbed by the Black Widow, she may add the remaining Blood point to her Blood pool. The Spy Spider dies after 24 hours if not fed with Vampiric Blood.
More than one Spider can be created at the same time, but only one is active at the same time; the others are torporous ... and vulnerable.

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