Custom Inceptor Discipline
Some chronicles allow for their players to develop customized powers for their characters. The following is a compilation of player created custom content in OWBN. At this time, custom content that is created and/or used by vampire PC's is required to be listed.
"Going Down"
With a social challenge retest intimidation, the user can inflict a random single random derangement on her victim as determined by an ooc coin flip: heads Confusion, tails Delusional
"Maiden & Crone"
User can change their appearance into one of two distinct forms with the expenditure of a blood, which are mutable in basic traits but unchanging in the following: Form 1) Maiden - in low 20s, has +2 Gorgeous traits, has a club foot. Form 2) Crone - in her 80s, +2 Dignified traits, and is Lame. These forms are able to be seen through an Auspex challenge.
"Wasting Away"
As long as the user has physical contact with her victim (may require a physical challenge to do so), she may spend a wp and make an Intimidation challenge to cause her victim to loose one health level temporarily. This is stackable to the maximum of the user's Intimidation traits, and can be regained at a rate of 1/24 hour period provided the victim rests in that period.
"Ghost Deer"
The user can release a breath which coalesces and forms into a deer-shape that is then controllable by the user giving them a second set of senses. While this power is in use, the user is down 1 trait to perception-related challenges due to double-vision. The ghost deer can travel in the real world and appears to be an incorporeal, ghostly deer. The ghost deer persists for a scene/hour, until the range is more than a mile away, or until it is dismissed. The ghost deer effectively has 1 hp and dissipates into fog if struck.
"Gentle Spirit"
User can spend a mental to put up a supernatural aura in which people within 10 ft of her where people who are agitated/angry/distraught/excited are soothed/calmed/tired out (does not negate frenzy). There are notably no other mechanical effects.
“The road is long, the path uncertain, but the flame of purpose never wavers.”
For those who walk in the service of the divine, faith is more than a belief, it is a guiding force that shapes their existence. A Knight Errant is a soul bound to a higher calling, charged with enacting the will of something greater than themselves. Whether in service to a sacred tradition, an ancient covenant, or a divine presence, these warriors of conviction are relentless in their pursuit of justice, redemption, or salvation. To tread this path is to surrender to purpose, and through devotion, they gain insight and strength beyond mortal comprehension.
You must follow a Path or Road that is related to the divine, for example Righteous Night, Path of Redemption, Road of Heaven and its Variants, Etc, a Code of Honor based on faith, or have True Faith to be able to learn this Inceptor discipline.
• Guiding Force
“A whisper in the night, a flicker in the darkness, a truth that calls out for you alone to answer.”
Some say faith is blind, but for the Knight Errant, it is an ever-present beacon, illuminating the road ahead. A guiding hand, unseen yet undeniable, reaches out to them in moments of need, offering glimpses of people, places, or destinies intertwined with their mission. Whether through divine visions, prophetic dreams, or an inexplicable sense of urgency, the Knight Errant is drawn toward those in need. Each step forward is not their own, but part of a grander design, one that ensures their journey is never without purpose.
Mechanic: Once per night a Storyteller can give you a vision of a person/place/concept in need that will be considered your ‘Goal’ for the purposes of the other levels of this discipline. This Goal can not violate the character’s current Code of Honor, Path or True Faith. help won't go against the current Code/path that you follow. Once per night you gain access to a single ‘Guidance’ retest for the night that can only be used fulfilling their Goal. This retest functions much like a Luck retest but does not count as a Luck retest.
• • Divine Path
"The road winds ever forward, illuminated by a hand unseen. To walk it is to surrender to destiny, to stray is to lose oneself in the darkness."
The faithful do not wander without purpose. Every step taken, every choice made, is another stitch in the grand design laid out before them. The Knight Errant does not merely seek their Goal, they are drawn to it, compelled by whispers of divine insight and unseen hands guiding their path. The world itself conspires to place the right signs before them, subtle and cryptic yet undeniable. A worn pendant in the dust, a name half-heard in passing, a gust of wind shifting an ancient page, all become pieces of a larger truth, waiting to be uncovered.
Mechanic: Spend one Blood Trait. Enter into a Static mental challenge, retest Enigmas, against a difficulty set by the Storyteller. If successful you gain inspiration that comes in the form of some small clue to guide you to the completion of your Goal. This could be an item or some similar piece of clue that would lead you towards your goal.
• • • Mind For Duty
"The righteous mind is a fortress, unyielding against the tempests of deception and doubt. No power, no trick of the damned, shall turn you from your purpose."
A true Knight Errant does not waver in their cause, nor do they allow the whispers of temptation or the weight of fear to shake their resolve. When the shadows claw at their mind, when the will of others seeks to divert them from their righteous course, something stronger takes hold, an unseen force, an unwavering conviction, a divine clarity that shields them from manipulation. This is not mere stubbornness; it is a sacred purpose burning in their soul, an unbreakable tether to the path they must walk.
Mechanic: Spend one Blood Trait, for the rest of the scene you win ties on Mental Challenges to resist any discipline or power effect that would cause you to deviate from your Goal.
• • • • Knight's Shield
"A knight stands not only for their own cause, but for those who cannot stand for themselves. When steel and will are not enough, the light shall rise to guard the faithful."
Those who walk the divine path are never without protection. A force beyond mortal understanding shapes itself into a radiant shield, a manifestation of conviction and duty. It is not merely an object, but a testament to the knight’s oath, to stand against the darkness, to defend the weak, and to never waver in the face of danger. Whether deflecting a foe’s strike or intercepting a blow meant for another, this divine barrier serves as both protection and proof of their higher calling.
Mechanic: Spend one Blood and one Willpower Trait to create a shield made of Divine Light to assist you in the completion of your Goal. This shield gives you two Bonus Traits in hand-to-hand combat, which can add to the Traits that come from a melee weapon. In order to receive these Bonus Traits, the character must have at least one level of the Melee Ability. In addition this shield gains a number of Healthy Health levels equal to your levels in this discipline. These Health levels are removed first, causing the shield to disappear once all of the Health levels are removed, when this shield is employed in combat and any extra damage is then applied to the character. This shield does not benefit from damage reduction effects or powers. Use of this shield precludes the use of a second weapon or the use of a two-handed weapon. If this shield is used to shield bash an opponent it only gains one Bonus Trait and it causes one Bashing Damage. Knight’s Shield also grants you the ability to shield intercept blows meant for others as long as they are within reach. This ability is called ‘Bodyguard’ and when called upon you may intercept any attack meant for another person. This takes the place of a normal action in the round and must follow the Three Step rule as outlined in Laws of the Night Revised pg. 201. This shield may be dismissed at will by the user.
• • • • • Transcendent Light
"The righteous blade cuts through deception, shadow, and illusion alike. When the divine calls, there is no refuge for the wicked."
A true knight of faith does not merely fight their foes, they reveal them, laying bare their hidden forms and forcing them to face judgment in the light. The divine essence that flows through the wielder is not a simple blessing, but a reckoning. Their vision sharpens beyond mortal comprehension, piercing through the veils of reality itself. The weapon in their grasp hums with celestial energy, making steel an instrument of divine will. Shadows dissolve, spirits tremble, and the intangible becomes vulnerable beneath their strike. No sanctuary remains for those who seek to evade judgment.
Mechanic: This power fills you with divine light improving your vision and empowering a weapon in your hand when being used towards the completion of your Goal. It is now the representation of the divine force of this discipline. Spend one Blood Trait and up to three Mental Traits to activate this power. Once activated your eyes and weapon light up with a pure light of the divine and your vision allows you to see your target(s) clearly and any non magical weapon you wield gains the ability to hurt your target(s) in any form. For each Mental Trait spent you can choose which form, realm or discipline your sight and weapon can affect. Be it spirits in the Umbra, wraiths in the Shadowlands, those hiding in Obfuscate or with Chimerstry, those traveling the high planes through Hunter’s Wind or Astral Projection, pools of blood or even mist form, etc. None are safe from your divine light. This activation lasts for the scene and can be shut off at will by the user.
When the Inceptor who birthed this Discipline hung on the border of life and unlife, the intangible, unknowable darkness that is the Abyss seeped through the cracks in the Schrodinger’s Box that was their existence. While the Void caller, themselves, may not recognize the source of their newfound power as the same that is drawn upon by the mystics of clan Lasombra, that lack of recognition means little to the Darkness. It is referred to by practitioners of this Discipline as the Void. Unlike Obtenebration, which Void shares similarities with, it is impossible for those who evoke Void to deny the eldritch, alien nature of whatever lies just beyond the darkness.
• Void Sight
The first thing a Void caller discovers is that they have an uncanny ability to recognize the aptitude for the Void in others. By concentrating on the resonance of the Void around them, the vampire can identify others who have been touched by it.
System: Spend one Blood Trait and make a Static Mental Challenge (retest Occult), against a difficulty of an individual's Mental Traits. If successful, you can sense whether or not that individual possesses Abyss Mysticism or the Void discipline. Beyond actual sight, this sense comes in a form unique to each Void caller, but sibilant whispers, darkening vision that leaves only the subject illuminated, and an intense attraction akin to gravity are among the most commonly reported.
•• Void Thread
The eldritch connection between a shadow and that which casts it is something that few ever truly come to understand. The Void caller can draw from their own shadow a handful of inky darkness, then infuse it with their own vitae to form a skein of shadowy thread which can be used to link two things as surely as a shadow and its origin. While only other Void callers can see this thread, it allows them to track nearly any person or object they have marked regardless of where they go.
System: Spend a Blood Trait and mix it with the essence of the Void to spin it into a skein of thin, infinite thread. You must establish physical contact with your subject (which may require a physical challenge) after which the thread is secured. Thereafter, no matter where the target goes you will be able to track them down by following the thread connecting them to you. The shadow thread persists until sunrise or until touched by sunlight, at which time the thread will burn away. While even a single thread exists connecting the Void caller to a subject, the chill of the Abyss surrounds them as per the flaw Cold Breeze.
••• Void Pocket
As the Void caller becomes more comfortable manipulating the semi-tangible matter of the Void, they learn that all shadows can serve as breaches into the Void itself. With enough practice, the Void caller can access the depths of their own shadow and hollow out an extradimensional space within to use as a vault of sorts.
System: Spend a Blood Trait in order to access your shadow (defined as any shadow cast by you or something you are carrying). You may reach into your shadow and place non-living, non-undead objects within. The area within your shadow is 100 cubic feet in size, and may hold objects stored there indefinitely. To deposit an object into your shadow, you may either physically place it inside or simply drop or otherwise toss it in. In order to retrieve such an object, you must place your hand within your shadow and call the item to your hand.
•••• The Void’s Maw
By this stage in a Void caller’s development, the Abyss has begun looking for a return on its investment. The vampire can subtly turn the interior of their mouth into a miniature portal to the Void, through which anything consumed by the Void caller is forever lost.
System: Spend a Blood Trait in order to reflexively activate the Void’s Maw. Anything you can fit into your mouth disappears, eradicating the item (or creature, or part of a creature) utterly by absorbing it into the Abyss. Your bites continue to deal aggravated damage as normal, but they also remove a single point of temporary Willpower. Traits of Willpower lost this way may not be regained in any way for the remainder of the night. The effects of the Void’s Maw last for up to a scene or hour. Though it can be ended whenever the character wishes, to reactivate it later requires another Blood Trait. While the Void’s Maw is active, the character cannot speak or otherwise use her vocal cords, mouth, tongue, or fangs.
••••• Void Run
In its ultimate attempt to lure the Void caller into the depths of the maddening, alien landscape that is the Abyss, the vampire is now capable of stepping bodily through the shadow of night itself and into the realm of the Void. The opportunities this presents to the Void caller are myriad, but they are belied by the hundred and one dangers that await the unsuspecting and unprepared.
System: Spend three Blood Traits and make a Static Mental Challenge (difficulty equal to your Willpower score), retested with Occult. If successful, you have physically crossed into the Abyss, the source of what you have referred to as the Void. While present you may travel at 1000 miles per hour, and you can peer out of the Abyss into the physical world in any environment that is in total or near- total darkness. You may step back across into the physical world at any time (if in combat, you must announce your intent to step back across and it occurs at the end of the round). Every minute you spend in the Abyss, you must succeed in a Static Mental Challenge, retested with Awareness, in order to avoid the various denizens which call the Abyss their home (see p.33 of V20: Dark Ages, Tome of Secrets). The starting difficulty is set by the Storyteller’s discretion (usually 4), and increases with each subsequent challenge. If you fail, you encounter one of these creatures (or things even more alien and unfriendly), and must do what you can to survive the encounter. If you lose all of your health levels to combat while in the Abyss, you gain a permanent derangement (Storytellers are encouraged to have this represent a new and uninvited passenger from the Abyss) and are dumped unceremoniously back into the physical world in the nearest dark place, and in torpor.