Vampire Disciplines

Art by Link Chaing

In Vampire fifth edition, each Clan has up to three disciplines that are naturally inherent to the Clan. Today I'm going to be giving an overview for each of these disciplines. If you are interested about a certain discipline, keep an eye out for the deep dives that I’ll be uploading in the future, or click the links to be taken right to my youtube channel!

There are 12 Disciplines as well as 6 Amalgam in the newest edition of Vampire. Amalgams were introduced in this edition of vampire, and they are a blend of different disciples as well as devotions from Vampire the Requiem. We will not be going over the Amalgams in this blog post, but feel free to head to my video about it here!

 What Are Disciplines?

For those of you who don’t know disciplines, it is the term that is used by vampires to describe their supernatural powers. Specific Clans are more adept at certain disciplines and they don’t need to be trained. Some disciplines you do need to get training, such as Blood Sorcery.

 Animalism

Is going to be the first discipline on our list. This one brings vampires closer to their bestial natures. It allows the vampire to communicate with other animals, it allows them to exert their influence over said animals, and it also allows them to tame the beast inside. Animalism is commonly used among Clans that are further removed from Humanity, such as Nosferatu or Gangrel. There is also a drawback to using this discipline too much. The more you use it, the worse your social skills become. When you spend all your time with animals, your social skills go the way of the dogs. Or cats. Snakes. Whatever your animal friends are.

 Auspex

Is a discipline that grants vampires supernatural senses. I particularly like the nickname for this one—voyeurism. The downside for Auspex is vampires can tend to get fixated on things that don't matter, because you have the super senses, the super hearing, the super sensitivity to your skin. When you are laser focused on the small things, you can lose sight of the things that are more important, like staying alive and getting rid of all the hunters banging on your front door. This is one of the more common disciplines as it is generally helpful in Vampire day-to-day life. When used at higher levels, it can help vampires see through different illusions such as obfuscate. It has even been known to give some vampires the ability to tell the future, even when they are in a state of torpor. Like a super handy early warning system for the nearly dead.

 Blood Sorcery

Is a discipline that you cannot learn on your own. You must find a Master that is willing to teach you its ways. Now, the Tremere, they claim that blood sorcery was their invention, and they call it Thaumaturgy. The Banu Haqim also claim that they created it, but their name for it is Quietus. Regardless of who got to the finish line first, Blood Sorcery is powerful, and many vampires rightly fear anyone who can turn Vitae into something poisonous. The Tremere have a system of passing their knowledge down from Master to Pupil, and the Banu Haqim have a similar set up. When you get to the higher levels of blood sorcery, all the rituals tend to be quite  individualized, as Masters are required to create their own rituals.

 Celerity

Is next on the list. This gives vampires supernatural speed. The Banu Haqim tend to use this to take down their opponents before they get a chance to strike. It is also used by the Brujah and the Toreador.  Vampires who get used to everything happening so slowly for them they can become accustomed to the feeling of everything else moving so slow around them, which makes it very disorienting when things snap back up to regular speed.

 Dominate

Is pretty self-explanatory. It allows you to take control of someone's mind force them to do what you want, however it does have some limits. In order to use dominate you have to speak the language of your target, and they have to be able to understand you. This can also not be used on vampires of a lower generation, and you can't force someone to do something that is against their nature. In Cainite society when a Elder uses dominate to assert their influence, to ensure that everyone respects their authority, it is looked upon as extreme.

 Fortitude

allows you to take damage (or tank damage!) specifically. If you would like to stand in the street and take a truck full to the face and still be ready to go, use fortitude. A downside to using fortitude as much as some vampires do, it gives the masters of this discipline a confidence in their abilities that makes them laugh at the sight of danger, even if that danger may be a little more than they can handle.

Obfuscate  

Is a discipline that allows a vampire to conceal themselves. It allows the user to deceive the mind of others, or it forces them to ignore something thing that is otherwise there. It is widely believed that a form of obfuscate is used on the Antediluvians and that is why they are blotted out from history and incredibly difficult to find. It is also one of the most popular disciplines practiced by vampires.

 Oblivion

Is a discipline that allows vampires to draw on the unnatural supernatural darkness enslaving wraiths. It is largely used by the Lasombra and the Hecata Clans. Those who practice with Oblivion are dancing with Nothing. Oblivion is the place where wraiths and ghosts go to die, so with the continued use your vampire is in danger of falling to the same forces. Your vampire could come out of a confrontation with their empathy injured—or worse, gone.

Potence  

Allows you to beef up that strong arm and use your fisty cuffs to their full extent. This discipline can increase a vampire's physical strengths so they can toss cars around like there are darts and make mush of heads if you punch too hard. In the Dark Ages, vampires who used potent were known to be on the front lines of battles and would smash open castle gates. When using Potence, one must be careful, lest they lose their ability to be gentle.

 Presence

Is a discipline that allows vampires to be the center of attention. It can either be used as fascination, intimidation, alluring as well as anything else that you and your Storyteller decide upon. For those that use their Presence often, they could find themselves activating its effects unconsciously, especially if they are not currently the center of attention. An ignored presence user is a unhappy presence user.

 Protean

Is the transformation discipline. This allows vampires to grow long claws or take the shape of mist, amongst other weird and interesting forms. For those who are far along this particular discipline, when they are in periods of high emotion—happiness, sadness, anger—they will find their body transforming on its own will to match their emotion. This is a common discipline among the Gangrel.

 Thin-Blood Alchemy

Now, this is a new discipline added for fifth edition. It provides the vampire powers, but it does it differently than the rest, as this functions like a alchemical formula. It will require the alchemist's blood, as well as the blood of a mortal who has the proper resonance. There are three different methods for distilling these alchemical formulas. Athanor Corporis is one that requires the vampire to ingest their own blood formula. Calcinatio uses the victims body as the host for the formula. Fixatio is the method that requires an alchemist to use a workstation to mix their formula with their components.

Up next are the Amalgams, and if you would like to see these, please click here to see the video that I have on them.

As always, I would like to thank my patrons and my subscribers to my channel. All of your support is greatly appreciated. My name is Nathaniel, you’ve had a dose of Maple, and I welcome you back to the Table next week!