Kindred endowed with Potence possess unnatural strength. This Discipline enables vampires to leap massive distances, lift tremendous weights, and strike opponents with brutal force. Even low ranks of this power can give Kindred physical power beyond mortal bounds. More powerful Kindred can leap so far that they appear to be flying, toss cars like soda cans, and punch through walls like cardboard. While the more subtle mental Disciplines can be awe-inspiring, the brutal effectiveness of Potence is formidable in its own right.
The Brujah, Giovanni, Lasombra, and Nosferatu are naturally gifted with this Discipline, but members of other clans often make a point to find someone who can teach them the awesome power of Potence.
System: Each dot that the vampire has in Potence adds 1 die to all Strength-related dice rolls. Further, the player can spend 1 blood point and change zir Potence dice into an equal number of automatic successes to all Strength-related rolls for the turn. In melee and brawling combat, successes from Potence (either rolled or automatic) are applied to the damage roll results.
While flesh and blood have their limits, undead sinews and vitae have a bit more latitude when it comes to feats of strength. Vampires who are close to Caine in descent are sometimes capable of strength-based maneuvers that awe even other vampires. A product of blood and will as much as of muscle and bone, mastery of Potence gives a vampire the ability to do far more than just lift progressively heavier objects — if the vampire zirself is willing to learn an alternate way.
Advanced Potence powers can be purchased in the same fashion as advanced Celerity or Fortitude powers: A character can choose to learn an alternate power instead of advancing along the Discipline’s normal progression, and can later go back and purchase what ze’s missed.
This power enables the vampire to grasp onto walls, making walls nothing more than a mild hindrance.
System: Upon purchasing this power, it is considered always active. In order to remain attached to a surface, the user must make a Strength + Athletics roll (including zir Potence dice).
If something tries to prevent the character from being on the surface, the user makes a contested Strength + Athletics (Potence included) to try to stay on (Difficulty equals the number of successes the challenger rolled). If the user removes both of their hands off the surface and their feet aren’t bare, they fall off. This power also has the added benefit of allowing the user to count their Potence rating twice when resisting attempts to disarm them.
Facetiously named, this power allows the Kindred to physically knock another character away from zirself with the slightest of touches. Although this power does no damage in and of itself, its use is quite humbling, and certainly, to be hurled away from an elder in a social setting has its embarrassing repercussions. Some Kindred who use this power do so surreptitiously, touching their victims and sending them reeling across the room. Others use this power as a not-so-subtle display of their might, giving their victim a casual slap that has overwhelming results.
System: The player spends a blood point and the character must physically touch zir target (which may require a Dexterity + Brawl roll in certain situations). The character on the receiving end of this power is immediately thrown a number of yards equal to the invoking character’s Potence rating. The results of this vary by situation, and are left to the Storyteller — a character hurled into a wall may well sustain damage, while a character tossed haphazardly away might have to succeed on a Dexterity roll (Difficulty 6) to remain standing.
A vampire with extensive knowledge of Potence can squeeze very, very hard. As a matter of fact, ze can squeeze (or press, or push) so hard that they can leave an imprint of zir fingers or hand in any hard surface up to and including solid steel. A use of Imprint can simply serve as a threat, or it can be used, for example, to dig handholds into sheer surfaces for purposes of climbing.
System: Imprint requires a point of blood to activate. The power remains active for the duration of a scene. The depth of the imprint the vampire creates with Imprint is up to the Storyteller — decisions should take into account how much force the vampire can bring to bear, the toughness of the material, and its thickness. If the object the vampire grasps is thin enough, at the Storyteller’s discretion, the vampire might simply be able to push through it (in the case of a wall) or tear it off (in the case of a spear or pipe).
With this power, the Kindred becomes capable of truly impressive physical displays. Ze may leap from rooftop to rooftop over entire streets, jump to a fire escape a dozen feet over zir head and other feats of athleticism. This is useful both for pursuit and evasion, but is quite a breach of the Masquerade, should anyone see this power in use.
System: There is no cost to use this power, which is always active. The Brujah doubles the number of automatic successes granted by Potence when applying them to jump rolls. A Dexterity + Athletics roll is required to make sure the character lands safely.
According to some pundits, Potence is merely the art of hitting something very hard. But what do you do when your target is too far away to hit directly? The answer is, if you’re sufficiently talented with the Discipline, to employ Earthshock. On its simplest level, Earthshock is the ability to hit the ground at point A, and subsequently have the force of the blow emerge from the ground at point B.
System: The use of Earthshock requires the expenditure of 2 blood points, as well as a normal Dexterity + Brawl roll. The vampire punches or stamps on the ground, and, if the attack is a success, the force of the blow emerges from the ground as a geyser of stone and earth directly underneath the target. The attack can be dodged at a +2 Difficulty.
Earthshock’s range is 10 feet or 3 meters for every level of Potence the vampire has, up to the limits of visibility. A failure on the attack roll means that the strike goes errant and is liable to explode anywhere within range; a botch means that the vampire pulverizes the ground beneath zir and may well bury zirself in the process.
The vampire’s strength is such that zir force of will alone is enough to make zir an immovable object, whether or not ze has something to hold on to. Ze can lock zirself in place, clinging onto where they stand with the power of their mind. Using this ability, they can resist any attempt to shift them by telekinesis or physical strength. They dig in, holding themself in place with their will alone.
System: If the vampire spends a Willpower point and is standing on a solid surface, ze cannot be moved. Ze might be hit by a truck or a train and not budge an inch (although ze will take some hefty damage!). The only way to move zir is to destroy the surface ze is standing on. This will work if ze is on a bridge, but blasting the ground will just leave them standing at the bottom of a crater.
It is a truism that “the great ones always make it look easy.” In the case of Flick, that saying stops being a truism and becomes literal truth. With this power, a master of Potence can make the slightest gesture — a wave, a snap of the fingers, the toss of a ball — and have it unleash the full, devastating impact of a dead-on strike. The attack can come without warning, limiting the target’s ability to dodge or anticipate; this makes Flick one of the most feared applications of Potence.
System: Flick costs a point of blood, and requires a Dexterity + Brawl roll (Difficulty 6). The vampire must also make some sort of gesture directing the blow. What the gesture is remains up to the player — anything from a snap of the fingers to a blown kiss has worked in the past.
Flick’s range is equal to the limit of the Kindred’s Perception, and the blow struck does damage equal to a normal punch (including all bonuses).