Apparitionem is the Clan Senya discipline, the name being the accusative singular of the latin word appāritiō meaning appearance and, as the name implies, revolves around the ability to alter and use one's appearance and form.
At lower levels, this grants the Senya the ability to alter aspects of their appearance and form such as hair and skin colouration, voice, and at proficient levels even change the form completely into any style or gender the Senya desires. At the higher levels of mastery, it allows more supernatural changes, boosting the natural kindred ability to use vitae for healing and physical empowerment to make even more dramatic changes to enhance the form or regenerate damage.
Elder senya, with true mastery of the discipline, are said to be able to transform themselves for even more powerful supernatural effects such as taking animal and non-human forms, or affect others through their appearance.
Tremere attempt to raise alarm by suggesting a theoretical link between Apparitionem and the Clan Tzimisce discipline of Vicissitude; and although Senya Lorekeepers admit there is some similarity in the fact that both allow alteration of the form at a metaphysical level, Apparitionem is about modifying the overall form within natural or prodigious transmutations, whilst Vicissitude is about unnatural physical transmutations. Senya scholars instead believe there is a spiritual link between Apparitionem to the Gangrel discipline of Protean, except whilst Protean focuses on animal transmutations, Apparitionem focuses on human form transmutations. This argument is given weight by the fact that there is notable overlap between low-generation elders with mastery of Protean and Apparitionem, with similar or relatable powers - Protean allowing supernatural modifications to the form that would have been more thematically appropriate in Apparitionem; whilst Apparitionem masters are able to take animal and mythical beast forms that thematically are more appropriate for Gangrels. Noddist scholars also point out that according to the Book of Nod, the antediluvian founders of both Clan Gangrel and Senya were embraced by Zillah, Caine's wife and one of the second generation.
Apparitionem
• Sine Qua Non (Without Which, Nothing)
At this stage the character learns the essentials of understanding forms, and how to alter them. She is capable of making minor alterations such as height, build, voice, facial features, and skin tone, among other things colouration and pigmentation, and slightly stretch or contract skin and hair, but not alter her structure in a drastic enough way to be completely unrecognisable.
Within these limitations, the control can be very detailed. A character could grant herself Heterochromic eyes, imitate a “bikini tan”, turn her hair blonde, brunette or redhead (or appear as a natural blonde with blue-green highlights); darken or lighten skin tone to imitate tan complexion or a different ethnicity, and/or stretch or contract skin wrinkles to appear a few years younger or older. She can also make herself look up to a foot (30 cm) taller or shorter, and up to one age category older or younger (ie a vampire seemingly in her early 20s could appear to be a more mature adult in her 30s, or a teenager).
Learning about how the form works and changes also allows the character to be able to recognise if others have been altered in any way – e.g. cosmetic surgery, tattoos, piercings, shape-changing disciplines such as Protean, Vicissitude, Apparitionem or possibly recognise shapeshifters.
System: Spend a blood point for each body part to be changed, then roll Intelligence+Medicine (difficulty 6). Each success grants either a -1 difficulty to rolls relating to Appearance (minimum difficulty 4) or +1 difficulty to Perception checks to recognise the user (max difficulty 8). The changes last until the next sunrise, or if manually reverted earlier.
The ability to sense body alterations requires staring at the subject for at least a few seconds and rolling Perception+Awareness (difficulty 8). Each success indicates how much of the subject’s body alterations she sees and understands. A failure yields no prevailing impression. A botch indicates a false or erroneous interpretation.
- 1 success - Can sense if body alterations have been made, and the scope of change
- 2 successes - Can distinguish main changes (e.g. identify cosmetic surgery, tattoos or piercings)
- 3 successes - Can recognise if the subject is a shapeshifter (Lupine, Protean) or been body crafted
- 4 successes - Can identify the subject’s general shapeshifting or body crafting capabilities
- 5 successes - Gain ability to identify the target in the future with a single success of this power, regardless of form or appearance currently held.
This ability cannot be used against Obfuscate, and cannot be used to penetrate the Mask of a Thousand Faces Obfuscate power as that power functions by clouding the mind, and therefore the character’s perceptions, whilst this power identifies only the metaphysical. Characters can use this power over time on a subject and on achieving 20 extended successes (over at least 5 uses of this power), can familiarise themselves with that form for future identification regardless of form; e.g. recognise a wolf they see as being a Gangrel ally of theirs, or recognise a Senya phantom disguised as a Sabbat.
•• Vocalis Imitationis (Vocal Mimicry)
The character is able to mimic with uncanny accuracy any sound that can conceivably be produced by any living creature, including specific voices, animal sounds, or limited sound effects. So long as he has heard the sound at least once, and the human throat is capable of producing the sound, then the character can reproduce it. Alternately, the character may simply alter his/own voice for disguise or effect.
System: Spend a blood point. If used as a form of vocal disguise, Mimicry reduces the difficulty of Subterfuge checks to avoid vocal detection (including lie detectors that work on sound); or Expression or Performance checks where vocal ability may influence (e.g. if singing, imitating accents or faking emotions) by -2 (to a minimum difficulty of 4). No activation roll is required for this use of this power.
If trying to specifically imitate another person, Roll Perception+Subterfuge and consult the table below to see the results. The difficulty depends on how able the player is to study the original source. If the Vampire has heard the target speaker or sound for at least a few minutes so that she can pick out the varied inflections and accents, the difficulty is 6. If she studies an electronic copy (e.g. audio recording or movie) the difficulty is 7. If the player has only heard a brief example of the target voice, the difficulty is 8. If the player has only received a description, the difficulty is 9. And if the player has never heard the source sound, or received a description, the difficulty is 10.
- Botch - Not only does the character fail to emulate the voice she’s attempting, but she actually damages her vocal apparatus in the attempt. She suffers one point of bashing damage and cannot attempt this power again until she heals the wound.
- Failure - Failure indicates that there is insufficient change made to give any real effect. E.g. the character may sound like she has a sore throat, but can be readily identified by anyone who would normally recognise her voice.
- 1 Success - Those unfamiliar with the target voice or sound effect may be deceived.
- 2 Successes - Casual acquaintances and basic/home voice-analysing systems can be deceived.
- 3 Successes - Close friends and commercial voice-analysing security systems can be deceived.
- 4 Successes - Loved ones or exert-level voice-analysis security systems can be deceived.
- 5 Successes - The subjects’ Perception is considered one less than normal for the purposes of determining who is fooled. Even the most complex voice-analysing security system can be deceived.
The number of successes the character acquires on the roll is compared to the Perception of each listener. If the number of successes exceeds a given listener’s Perception, that target is affected by the power and fooled into identifying the voice as the character intends. If a subject’s Perception is equal to or higher than the number of successes, he is unaffected. Every individual who hears the character using this power must compare his Perception against the number of successes accumulated to see if he is fooled or not — as the changes to the vocal apparatus are physical in nature, the character cannot attempt to single out a listener in a crowd and deceive him alone unless she whispers low enough to not be overheard.
Those individuals whose Perception is exceeded by three successes or more will actually show a preference for the imitated voice when comparing it to the original voice. For example, a child hearing his real father calling from one tunnel, and a Vampire impersonating his father’s voice in another would head toward’s the impersonator with the belief it is the proper voice.
Additionally, if this power is used by Kindred with the Animalism Discipline, it reduces the difficulty of Animalism rolls to control animals by –1 per success (to a minimum difficulty of 4).
••• Mutare Forma (Alter Form)
The character’s ability to alter his own form improves and can now alter the structure and makeup of his body; altering flesh and bone, size and structure and even gender. This allows the character to change his form into that of any other human form he can envision. For example, a male 6’2”, muscular, brown-haired, brown-eyed character could use this power to become a skinny, 5’0”, ginger-haired, blue-eyed and freckled skin female. The power, if used on yourself, lasts until you choose to revert. If used on mortals, ghouls and vampires of a higher Generation the power is permanent. Vampires of equal or lower Generation can choose to “heal” unwanted changes with the expenditure of a willpower point and a blood point. Nosferatu always “heal” alterations that would make them look better.
System: Spend a blood point for each body part to be changed, then roll Intelligence+Medicine to change form (difficulty 6). This action requires one turn per body part to be changed as well as physically coaxing your form to change (such as pulling on earlobes to change shape) as though sculpting flesh and bone. This physical action is more of a focus tool than an actual physical change.
If using this power to duplicate the appearance of another person, a Perception+Medicine roll (difficulty 8) is required and five successes for a flawless copy; fewer successes leave minute (or not-so-minute) flaws (see table below). Increasing one’s Appearance Trait has a difficulty of 9, and the vampire must spend an additional blood point for each dot of Appearance increased beyond their natural total. A botch permanently reduces the Attribute by one. Each success decreases the difficulty of relevant checks to see through your disguise by 1. For example if pursued by guards, a character achieving 3 successes would benefit from having a -3 difficulty to Stealth or Subterfuge checks to identify/spot him. If impersonating a lover or family member, the Subterfuge rolls to pretend to be the person mimicked is lowered.
Mimic Chart:
- Botch - Failure to take form; take one lethal damage
- Failure - Fail to take form (e.g. failed impersonation) as desired
- 1 success - Marginal success, strangers may be fooled
- 2 successes - Adequate success, casual acquaintances would be fooled
- 3 successes - Total success, friends would be fooled. You could pass a paternity test or show DNA match equal to a sibling.
- 4 successes - Incredible success, even best friends would be fooled. DNA tests show 9/13 matches, equal to a twin.
- 5 successes - Unbelievable success, loved ones and family would be fooled. DNA tests show 13/13 matches.
Any changes made remain permanently, but you can spend a willpower point to revert your body to its tabula rasa form at any stage.
•••• Augendae Forma (Enhance Form)
The character’s ability to alter her body is not limited to just cosmetic changes, but can now make utilitarian changes. The character is able to add or reduce bulk and density, allowing them to quickly shift around skin, fat and muscle or boost the ability of their blood to temporarily enhance physical attributes more effectively than other Kindred.
System: This power enhances the character’s ability to empower their physical attributes, allowing them to raise two points in physical attributes, or one point in appearance for every blood point spent. Normal expenditure limits and trait maximums for generation apply, with the exception that physicals raised above the limit last for 6 turns instead of the normal 3.
This power can also be used to move around clumps of skin, fat and muscle tissue, and alter bone density, to provide additional power, padding or agility where needed. Spend one blood point and roll Intelligence+Medicine roll (difficulty 6). For each success scored, the character may increase a subject’s (or her own) Strength, Stamina or Dexterity by one, at the expense of either a point of another physical attribute, the appearance attribute or a health level (character’s choice). So for example a character scoring 2 successes could choose to make herself or an ally stronger and tougher (+1 Strength and Stamina) at the cost of 1 Appearance and a Health level. Attributes raised this way cannot be raised above the normal trait maximum, and cannot be reduced below 1.
Both uses of this power last for the scene (except for when blood-empowering above the trait maximum).
••••• Regeneratio (Regeneration)
Senya warriors are renown for their durability, and this power is a reason for that. The character’s ability to alter her body makes her incredibly effective in repairing damage to herself and is able to heal damage in others as though healing herself. With this power the character can both heal faster and regenerate lost limbs – though it cannot prevent Final Death or cure supernatural infections or diseases (although it can repair damage caused by these sources).
System: The character can heal herself during combat without requiring either the normal turn of concentration, or a roll, and therefore does not risk wasting vitae. Healing this way is not considered an action, although any blood points spent healing counts against the normal per-turn blood expenditure limit (e.g. if also using a discipline that requires expenditure of vitae).
Out of combat, the character can spend a blood point and rolls Wits+Medicine (difficulty 8). Each success heals one level of lethal or bashing damage; with 5 successes healing a single aggravated level. Using the power this way requires one minute of uninterrupted concentration per wound level to be healed. This aspect of the power may be used on other subjects
As a final advantage, the character is able to heal a number of aggravated damage levels per day equal to her Apparitionem level without requiring expenditure of willpower points. This means that most Senya can heal 5 aggravated damage per day, and elder Senya even greater levels of aggravated damage, before requiring the expenditure of willpower. This alone allows Senya kindred to recover from aggravated wounds far faster than other kindred whilst not draining their willpower in the endeavour.