Animate the Inanimate

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Blood Sorcery •••

  • Amalgam: Dominate 2

By rousing a spirit from its slumber the Blood Sorcerer animates an object and compels it to obey their command. The spirit (when all goes well) returns to slumber once the compulsion has been obeyed or after an hour, whichever occurs first.

  • Cost: 1 Rouse
  • Dice Pool: Unawakened Object: Manipulation + Blood Sorcery (Difficulty 2 + 1 per 3 meters across). Awakened Objects: A difficulty eqaul to the Awakened Object's Inteligence + Resolve or a difficulty equal to the animating Blood Sorcerer's successes, whichever is greater.
  • System: After spending vitae (1 Rouse worth) and achieving a successful activation test the Blood Sorcerer may command the object as if using Mesmerize. See Vampire the Masquerade Core Rulebook p. 256 The Object must be within the Cainite's line of sight and the sound of their voice. An object “hears” the command if a typical unimpaired non-supernatural mortal were able to do so when standing in the object’s location. If all conditions are met, the object animates and immediately acts upon the sorcerer’s orders to the best of its abilities. An object remains inanimate, however if the command includes any conditional directives such as, “if the man in blue appears hold him,” or ”When the Sun sets attack the first individual you see.” An object cannot take an action that would be impossible for something with its form. The object however does become more flexible – A chair will walk over to its master or slide under a table; a door may be compelled to open or a gun to fire or twist out of the wielder's grip. Unless there is a significant emotional tie or resonance to an individual, most objects are unable to recognize one individual from another. Blood Sorcerers should take care in crafting their commands to take into account these limitations. Animate the Inanimate automatically fails if used against a spirit that is not in possession of an object.

To assign the stats of an animated object use the sidebar: Mortals Templates on p. 185 of the Vampire the Masquerade 5th Edition Core rulebook. A margin of Success of 0 grants the animated object stats equal to a weak mortal, a margin of 1 an average mortal, and etc.... The margin of successes caps at 3, a Deadly Mortal. A Storyteller may tweak an object's stats up or down if the object is structurally unsound, decaying, weak, extremely small or if it is particularly dense, large or hardy. An animated object is powered by the strength of its spirit so it may possess more or less than normal capabilities than its structure or size may at first suggest.

A critical success on the activation roll grants the object access to one level one or one level two power. This is in addition to any power the animated object may possess when created as a Deadly Mortal. The chosen power should be congruent with the themes of the object or its awakened spirit. On a total failure the object animates but ignores the kindred’s commands. The ST determines if the object flees, attacks or takes some other action. The object, no matter the STs decision, is initially unfriendly to the Caster. A bestial failure on the activation test awakens the inanimate object and imparts part of the Cainite's beast. Empowered by the spirit's rage at the audacity of the blood sorcerer's attempt to enslave it to their will, the object attacks as if in frenzy.

For purposes of this power an object is any non-sentient item predominantly crafted by the hand of man. (A Stone sculpture is okay but a dolem or inukshuk is not.) As an Amalgam, Animate the Inanimate is subject to the restrictions and conditions associated with Dominate unless stated otherwise above. Dominate overview may be found in Vampire: the Masquerade Core Rulebook, 5th Ed.. p. 255 .

  • Duration: Until the task or the scene ends.

Related Content

Credits

Author: Chris Wilson

Other Credits: White Wolf. A conversion and expansion of "Animate the Unmoving, Path of Elemental Mastery

Comments


Cantrip

29 months ago
Score 0
Edited to get rid some of the munchkin. Also edited paragraph explaining how to assign stats to the animated object. Initially the paragraph made it sound as if the animated object was an Ally rather than the compelled slave it is.

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