Academia [Any] – This Lore represents a Kindred’s knowledge prior to the fall of Caine. It is a general knowledge of History, Geography, Mathematics, Literature, Art, Technology and the Supernatural aspects of vampirism. You may not buy any Lore higher than this one, and you may not purchase more ranks in Dawn’s Mercy than you have Academia. Expending a rank of Academia can retest any ability imparted by this Lore.
Rank 1 – By making a Static Mental Challenge you may attempt to identify mundane relics. Some mundane relics contain information that equates out to having Lore. As long as the relic in question is in your possession you may use the relic the same way you’d use a lore provided you meet all the prerequisites.
Rank 2 – You may learn Lore from houses other than your own from a Mentor.
Rank 3 – By making a Static Mental Challenge you may attempt to identify amulet relics.
Rank 4 – By making a Static Mental Challenge you may attempt to identify lost technology.
Rank 5 – By making a Static Mental Challenge you may attempt to identify Stygian relics.
Altruism [Eidolon] The body of knowledge represents what Kindred know about Mortals, their ways and customs. You may have a number of Mortal Influence contacts equal to you levels in this Lore minus whatever Ranks of Dawn’s Mercy you have.
Rank 1 – You may expend Humanity Lore to retest a social challenge with a mortal.
Rank 2 – You may identify an influence contact with a simple test.
Rank 3 – You may engage in a Static Mental Challenge to locate and meet with any of your influence Contacts.
Rank 4 – You may convincingly masquerade as human.
Rank 5 – You may resist Humanity's Light for a single round by winning a Static Social Test.
Archery [Ignis Fatuus] – You know how to use a bow in combat to defend yourself against a myriad of opponents. With enough expertise you can even pin your opponent’s arm with an arrow before they throw a punch or stake them before they take their third step. Archery Training also allows you to avoid harm in the midst of a combat and get yourself in the best possible position to make an attack. This Lore can be expended as a retest or cancel in any challenge where you are using your Bow and Arrows as weapons.
Rank 1 –You may bid Mental Traits instead of Physical Traits when shooting your Bow. You may initiate challenges against persons within close range without penalty.
Rank 2 – You may expend this Lore to retest in challenges where you are attempting to dodge out of the way of harm. You may use modified Arrows.
Rank 3 – May expend Lore to increase bow damage dealt from a single arrow by one normal wound. This Lore must be expended before the Challenge is made.
Rank 4 – You may expend this Lore to automatically dodge an attack from an opponent that has already attacked you this round.
Rank 5 – Trick Shot: May make a Difficult Mental Challenge with another Kindred in order to incapacitate [Stake] or Disarm them of a single weapon or item they are holding.
Armament [Eidolon] – With a sword, mace or pool stick you are a deadly adversary capable of inflicting horrible damage on your opponent. This Lore represents a complex system of moves and a profound spiritual focus by which Kindred push their supernatural bodies to the limit with their chosen weapon. Kindred demonstrating this prowess do things with a blade that mere mortals simply cannot imitate or follow. This Lore also allows you to wear armor or a shield.
Rank 1 – You may use this Lore as a retest/cancel any Physical Challenge made when using your melee weapon.
Rank 2 – You suffer no negative to your Traits bid in ties when using a Shield.
Rank 3 – You may expend this Lore [once per challenge] to give yourself an immediate follow-up attack after making your normal attacks.
Rank 4 – You suffer no negative to your Traits bid in ties when wearing Armor.
Rank 5 – You may expend this Lore to make an immediate counter-attack following a Physical Challenge made by your Opponent with you. They must be within range of your melee weapon.
Artisanship [Any] – This Lore represents a Kindred’s ability to work with their hands to repair, modify or create relics. Each house has its own field of specialty and you may not begin play with or buy levels of this Lore until you belong to a House. Masterwork items are items that are better than normal items of the same type in some way as determined by the narrator. Expending a rank of Artisanship can retest any ability imparted by this Lore.
Rank 1 – By making a Static Mental Challenge you may repair damaged relics of this type provided it isn’t destroyed.
Rank 2 – By making a Static Mental Challenge you may mend broken or shattered relics of this type provided you have most of the pieces.
Rank 3 – By making a Static Mental Challenge you may create new relics from raw materials of this type.
Rank 4 – By making a Static Mental Challenge you may create or modify relics of this type to accommodate a receptacle.
Rank 5 – By making a Static Mental Challenge you may craft items of this type with such quality and skill that they are considered Masterwork items.
Contemplation [Exemplar] – This is the fundamental knowledge of self and soul required storing or channeling Vilkacis Energy. Kindred without this Lore can contain within themselves a number of Vilkacis equal to their Maximum Willpower and they can garner it from Ambient Sources like the Tenebrion or Dark Water. Kindred with this Lore can garner Vilkacis from other sources without the same risks or limitations because of their almost preternatural knowledge of their own spirit. You may use this Lore as a retest whenever you are drawing out or channeling Vilkacis or whenever you are attempting to resist Vilkatis Possession.
Rank 1 – You may engage in a Static Social Challenge with the Narrator to draw Vilkacis out of a vanquished/destroyed Tenebrial Entity, Kindred or Item that contained Vilkacis.
Rank 2 – You may draw up to two available Vilkacis from one source without risking Vilkatis Possession.
Rank 3 – You may engage in a Static Social Challenge with the Narrator to draw Vilkacis out of a Reliquary or Place of Power.
Rank 4 – You may add your Ranks in this Lore to the Traits bid in the event of a tie when trying to resist Vilkatis Possession.
Rank 5 – You may attempt to channel Vilkacis from yourself to other willing targets and vice versa by engaging the Narrator in a Static Social Challenge.
Covert [Ignis Fatuus] – For some, simply remaining unseen was as important as it was to find shelter during the early days before the Penumbral Council and the five houses. Many of those that would eventually found House Ignis Fatuus developed the ability to remain out of sight by observing those they wished to hide from. They eventually learned and developed a complex set of techniques that allowed them to almost vanish even after making an attack or statement. You may expend this Lore as a retest for any challenges made trying to be sneaky.
Rank 1 – You may expend a Rank of Covert to be sneaky for the duration of a scene. You may move about unseen for the most part. So long as you make no noise and don’t otherwise reveal your location you cannot be detected. If you do anything other than trying to be sneaky [2 paces of less in combat] anyone in the vicinity will make a Static Mental Challenge vs. your Physical traits to detect you. Attacking automatically spoils your ability to remain hidden.
Rank 2 – As rank one but you may speak without giving away your location. This is accomplished by projecting your voice in such a way that it seems to come from everywhere. If you do anything else other than being sneaky or speaking anyone in the vicinity gets the usual chance to detect you.
Rank 3 – As rank one and two but now you may attempt to attack from the shadows and disappear before your opponent has a chance to react. This requires the usual Physical Challenge followed by the usual Static Mental Challenge to detect you. Your opponent gets the chance to detect you regardless of whether your attack was successful or not.
Rank 4 – Sneak Attack – as rank one, two and three but when you attack you may expend a Rank of Covert to inflict an additional damage to your target. Your opponent garners the usual chance to attack you after you’ve made a sneak attack, successful or not.
Rank 5 – Your skill at being sneaky is such that you can assist the untrained folk in being sneaky by carefully directing their movements. By expending Stealth Lore equal to the number of other people you wish to have be sneaky you can allow them the same bonuses for the duration of a scene that are imparted by Rank 1. You can only effect a number of people equal to or less than your permanent Willpower.
Creature [Ignis Fatuus] – This Lore is the accumulated knowledge that Kindred have about the animals and animal spirits that dwell in the Tenebrion. This knowledge includes the ability to communicate with and identify Legendary Animals. You may have a number of animal contacts and allies equal to your level in this lore. This Lore may be expended as a retest with any Animal or Legendary Animal.
Rank 1 – You may communicate with animals on a rudimentary level, asking for directions, bartering for information, etc. You may speak with others that have this level of Lore covertly by conversing in the language of the animal. [Do this by exchanging notes or whispering in each other’s ear.]
Rank 2 – You may engage in a Static Mental Challenge with the Narrator to identify possible Animal Contacts or Legendary Animals.
Rank 3 – You may engage in a Static Mental Challenge to track down one of your Animal Contacts instead of making the usual Difficult Test.
Rank 4 – You may use this Lore as a retest for Frenzy.
Rank 5 – You may have a number of usable Blood Traits in your system equal to the number of permanent Lore Traits you possess taken from an animal. These traits only count if taken from a willing animal.
Gadgetry [Axiom] – You are adept at using gizmos, electronics and computers including the Eldercog Conduit. This allows you to use items that would fall under the Lost Technology category as well as you garner further understanding. Expending a rank of Gadgetry allows you to retest any challenge when attempting to use a Gadget, Computer or Eldercog Conduit.
Rank 1 – You may use computers with Traits equal to you level in this Lore.
Rank 2 – You may use mundane Gadgets such as metal detectors, flashlights, radio equipment, digital cameras, etc.
Rank 3 – You may communicate covertly with other folks that also have this Lore by speaking in technical lingo or ‘geek’.
Rank 4 – You may use an Eldercog Conduit for communicating with other Conduits, asking the Eldercog Entity for advice or making complex calculations beyond what a normal computer could handle.
Rank 5 – You may use Lost Technology.
Gunplay [Axiom] – You are a hurricane of death when fighting with firearms. Using a complex methodology of mathematics and probability you are able to place yourself in the optimum position to take advantage of the ‘kill zone’. As a result you are able to preternaturally dodge incoming attacks while making your own with almost deadly inhuman precision. You may expend this Lore as a retest/cancel whenever you are using firearms as a weapon or when attempting to avoid ranged attacks.
Rank 1 – You may bid Mental Traits instead of Physical Traits when using a firearm. You may initiate challenges against persons within close range without penalty.
Rank 2 – You may expend this Lore to retest in challenges where you are attempting to dodge out of the way of harm. You may also use weapon accessories.
Rank 3 – Once per challenge, you may expend this Lore to increase the damage dealt by your firearm by one normal wound. You must expend Lore before the challenge is made.
Rank 4 – You may expend this Lore to automatically dodge an attack from an opponent that has already attacked you this round.
Rank 5 – Trick Shot: You may attempt a difficult test against an opponent to incapacitate [headshot] them, or disarm them of some item they hold in their hand.
Inquest [Precept] – You are adept at solving mysteries, questioning others and finding answers when a crime has been committed. This Lore represents the Kindred’s desire to ferret out those that would harm the Penumbral Society with heresy or civil war. House Precept used this knowledge and training to uncover many heretics and traitors in the years following the formation of the Penumbral Council. This Lore acts as a retest for any of the abilities it grants.
Rank 1 – You may engage someone in a standard Social Challenge in order to determine if the last thing they said was a lie.
Rank 2 – Through trickery and misdirection, you may engage someone in a standard Social Challenge in order to get someone to divulge information they may not have intended to release. You must get them to speak or at least make reference to the target information.
Rank 3 – You may examine a scene and attempt to determine what occurred in the area recently by taking not of subtle clues and signs. This requires a Static Mental Challenge against the Narrator.
Rank 4 – You may expend this Lore in order to get a Narrator Clue.
Rank 5 – You may engage another person in a standard Mental vs. Physical Challenge to determine if they are carrying hidden weapon, contraband, or relics that contain forbidden Lore.
Linguistics [Precept] – The Old World is long gone, and while many of its languages have long gone to dust, you are able to decipher and speak most of them. Even some of the languages that were ‘dead’ before the great sleep won’t befuddle someone with Linguistics Lore. From relics of a mundane nature to amulets of incredible power you can usually read or at least get a good idea with regard to written or spoken languages. This ability does not apply to Stygian, ‘Geek’ or Animal forms of communication. You may use this as a retest whenever you are attempting to communicate with others or decipher the hidden meaning of words, texts or symbols.
Rank 1 – You may communicate with others as long as they are speaking a worldly native tongue and nothing supernatural or otherworldly.
Rank 2 – You may read and decipher any writing or a worldly origin.
Rank 3 – You may covertly communicate with others with this level of Linguistics without others eavesdropping on your words. [Do this by exchanging notes or whispering in each other’s ear.]
Rank 4 – By engaging the Narrator in a Static Mental Challenge, you may attempt to decipher encoded or cryptic messages, texts or symbols.
Rank 5 – You may communicate with others by simply gesturing or drawing in the sand. Whatever your means of communication, you don’t make a sound. Whomever you are trying to communicate with must be able to see you.
Martial Body[Exemplar] – You are a master of unarmed combat transforming your body into a deadly weapon when engaging your foes up close and personal. You can enter into a defensive stance making you a wall of blocks and counter moves or you can leap into a whirling hurricane of punches and kicks devastating your opponent.
Rank 1 – You may use this Lore as a retest or cancel in any Physical Challenge made when using your body as a weapon.
Rank 2 – You may expend this Lore [once per challenge] to give yourself an immediate follow-up attack after making your normal attacks.
Rank 3 – You may expend this Lore [after succeeding in a Standard Challenge] to knock an opponent Prone instead of inflicting damage.
Rank 4 – You may expend this Lore to make an immediate counter-attack following a Physical Challenge [whether you won or lost] made by your Opponent with you. They must be within range of your fists or feet.
Rank 5 – Add any remaining, unspent levels of this Lore to the number of Traits you bid when using your body as a weapon.
Pilot [Axiom] – Most vehicles found in the time following the great sleep are very difficult to use and pilot either by design or because of damage or other ‘quirks’. Not to mention there aren’t road crews or roads that go everywhere that Kindred wish to go. Piloting has since become a fine science of careful risk evaluation and guts due to the extreme conditions that vehicles are subjected to in the Penumbra and Tenebrion.
Rank 1 – Expend to retest Challenges made to pilot vehicles.
Rank 2 – Expend to retest any Physical Test made to avoid damage as a result of crash or vehicular mishap.
Rank 3 – You may Pilot Axiom Automatons.
Rank 4 – Expend [once per challenge] to inflict additional damage when using a Vehicle as a weapon.
Prophecy [Precept] – By studying the cosmic flow if things around them, some Kindred can garner insight into otherwise obscure or arcane situations. You may expend this Lore as a retest for any of its granted abilities.
Rank 1 – May attempt to study the Penumbral Aether for signs and portents. This requires a Static Mental Challenge. A success grants the player a Narrator Clue later in the evening.
Rank 2 – May attempt to study the Tenebrial Aether for signs and portents. This requires a Static Mental Test and grants a retest where appropriate later in the evening. The retest is granted by verbally calling upon the power of the Tenebrion.
Rank 3 – May attempt to read the Stars visible over the Cities of Light for signs and portents. This requires a Static Mental Test and grants you the ability to bid double the normal number of traits in a single challenge later in the evening.
Rank 4 – By carefully studying an individual you can attempt to make a prediction about their possible success or failure with regard to a single task. By succeeding at a Simple Mental Test you may grant that person a single retest the next time they attempt the appropriate task as long as you are present to advise them about their place in the cosmology of the universe.
Rank 5 – Psychometric Appraisal: By carefully studying an item you can attempt to discern it’s place in the universe and it’s relative importance to the tapestry of fate. This requires a Simple Mental Test. If successful you’ll know the relative importance of a given item, even it you don’t know what the item is. This can be used on anything as small as a coin or as big as a building.
Reliquary [Exemplar] – You have a profound knowledge and understanding of Reliquaries and other places of Power. You may not know who built them or what all the funny writing is within, but you do know how to harness it’s power, commune with it’s resident Entity and communicate with it’s guardians. Any challenge made with a Reliquary or its Guardians is retested by this Lore.
Rank 1 – By making a Static Social Challenge with the Narrator you can determine if a place is actually a Reliquary and what its approximate power level is [faint, residual, significant, profound or ascendant].
Rank 2 – You can draw power from Reliquaries equal to the number of ranks you possess in this Lore without risking Vilkatis Possession. This is assuming the Reliquary is not hostile!
Rank 3 – You may attempt to communicate with the Reliquary Guardians [if any] and ask them simple questions, like what type of Reliquary it is [Life, Death, Void, Darkness, or Light] with a Standard Social Challenge.
Rank 4 – You may attempt to reawaken a dormant Reliquary by engaging the Narrator in a Static Social Challenge. The average [rounded down] of your ranks in Reliquary Lore and Willpower Traits equals the power level of the Reliquary you are able to awaken. You must expend Vilkacis equal to the level of the Reliquary for this to work.
Rank 5 – By expending a Willpower Trait and engaging an active Reliquary in a Static Social Challenge you can attempt to communicate with it asking for sanctuary, information or simply to tell it something. Reliquaries vary greatly in personality and temperament so not all of them may respond or take notice.
Sanctuary [Eidolon] – You are a master of protecting others from harm and using yourself as a shield for your cadre. You are able to dodge in the way of incoming attacks, set up defenses for your cadre’s hideout. You are good at arranging security and defense for others in almost any situation. The Tenebrion being the dangerous place it is, this requires almost superhuman senses.
Rank 1 – Once per combat round you may expend this Lore to redirect damage dealt to an ally to yourself instead. You cannot absorb this damage with a shield, but you may take it to your armor.
Rank 2 – You may attempt a Static Mental Challenge, provided that you have lock picks, to defeat any countermeasures or locks that would keep you from accessing an enclosure. This Lore acts as a retest for such challenges.
Rank 3 – Add your ranks in this Lore to the difficulty of any Static Challenges others make to find, break into or otherwise tamper with your Cadre’s Hideout.
Rank 4 – You may expend this Lore to foil close or ranged surprise attacks [the narrator calls for initiative and the round proceeds as normal] on others within one pace of you.
Rank 5 – You may expend this Lore to give someone else or yourself an automatic ‘Fair Escape’ from a combat situation.
Scrounge [Axiom] – Using complex calculations, ancient statistical data and a healthy dose of intuition you can attempt to find items in the Tenebrion and Penumbra. This skill requires a Computer with a corresponding number of traits equal to the level of this Lore used to find whatever it is you’re looking for. This Lore may be expended as a retest to when trying to find relics. Persons without this Lore use their Academia to find things but any test they make is a Difficult Test, not a Static one as with this Lore.
Rank 1 – You may attempt a Static Mental Challenge to locate minor Gizmos.
Rank 2 – You may attempt a Static Mental Challenge to locate Engine Parts, Scrap Metal or Chassis parts.
Rank 3 – You may attempt a Static Mental Challenge to locate Computer components.
Rank 4 – You may attempt a Static Mental Challenge to locate Lore Books or Disks. You can only locate items with Traits equal to your level in this Lore.
Rank 5 – You may attempt a Static Social Challenge to locate Lost Technology. You can only locate items with Traits equal to the average of your Scrounge and Academics Lore rounded down.
Shadow Boxing [Exemplar] – Your sense of self it so amazingly acute that you do not require your sight to defend yourself and are trained to defend yourself from multiple opponents, even ones that are behind you or attacking from a range.
Rank 1 – You may expend this Lore to foil close surprise attacks [the narrator calls for initiative and the round proceeds as normal] made against you.
Rank 2 – You may engage and initiate challenges [normally you can only respond with endurance traits] with foes even when completely blind.
Rank 3 – You suffer reduced penalty for fighting in darkness [-5 Traits] by 1 Trait for each permanent level of this Lore you possess.
Rank 4 – You may expend this Lore to foil ranged surprise attacks [the narrator calls for initiative and the round proceeds as normal] made against you.
Rank 5 – When fighting multiple opponents you need only bid one Trait instead of 1 per person attacking.
Survival [Ignis Fatuus] – The first Kindred that awoke, naked in the dark, in the Tenebrion during the early centuries of the awakening developed a methodology by which they were able to survive. This knowledge is still practiced by House Ignis Fatuus and continues to serve Kindred as they travel and explore the Tenebrion.
Rank 1 – You know the good trails and the places to avoid. You may enter the Penumbra or Tenebrion easier f making a Static Mental Challenge [instead of a Difficult Static Mental Test] to find a Dark Door. Reduce the level of Tenebrial Critter encountered in casual travel [not places of power or reliquaries] equal to the number of Survival Lore that you have.
Rank 2 – By expending a level of this Lore and engaging the Narrator in a Static Mental Challenge you can attempt to find a hiding place in the Tenebrion suitable to rest safely. The test varies depending on how deep in the Tenebrion you are and the number of people this hidey-hole needs to accommodate.
Rank 3 – You may expend this Lore as a retest for any challenge that if lost would result in Final Death. This retest doesn’t allow you to exceed the normal limit of one retest and one cancel per challenge.
Rank 4 – You may engage the Narrator in a Static Mental Challenge to determine whether an unfamiliar Tenebrial Entity is hostile or friendly. You need only see the Entity from a distance to make this determination.
Rank 5 – You may expend this Lore to ignore wound penalties for the duration of a single challenge.
Tactics [Eidolon] – This knowledge centers on the Cadre as a combat unit. Its strict doctrine allows anyone with this knowledge the ability to turn his comrades into more worthy adversaries so long as they can hear your warnings and direction. You may only use this Lore once per combat round on one of your allies and only during combat.
Rank 1 – You may expend this Lore to give others a retest to avoid harm or damage.
Rank 2 – For one challenge, one of your allies receives bonus Traits in the event of a tie equal to the number of unspent ranks you have in this Lore. You must declare whom you are assisting before any challenges are made.
Rank 3 – By expending a level of this Lore, you may grant one ally, a retest or cancel, when attempting to make a successful attack against an opponent.
Rank 4 – You may expend this Lore to inspire an ally allowing them to replenish one of their Trait Categories. This does count against the limit of times [once] that you can use Willpower to replenish Attribute Traits.
Rank 5 – You may expend this Lore to give an ally a retest/cancel against a Challenge that if lost, would result in their Final Death. This doesn’t allow them to exceed the normal times that you can retest or cancel [one each] during a challenge.
Transmundane [Precept] – The world is filled with Supernatural energy, creatures and items and being able to discern an amulet blade from a stygian one is extremely useful. In order to use amulet items that are not of your own make you must have this Lore and even more important this body of knowledge will help you determine what a given item or spell will do before using it. This lore may be expended as a retest for any of its granted abilities.
Rank 1 – You may engage the Narrator in a Static Mental Challenge to identify an Amulet for what it is. This doesn’t allow you to identify its properties or abilities, but it does tell you what type of energy is within [Void, Life, Death, Darkness or Light] what it’s relative power level is [faint, residual, significant, profound or ascendant] and whether it is charged or not.
Rank 2 – You may attempt to evoke powers from within a charged Amulet as long as you have as many Ranks in this Lore as the Amulet has Traits.
Rank 3 – You may expend this Lore to allow you a Static Mental Challenge to determine a single unknown property of a given Amulet item.
Rank 4 – You may attempt to charge the Amulet item with your own power. This requires a Static Physical Challenge assuming the Amulet has the same attunement you do. If your attunement is different, you must succeed at a Difficult Physical Challenge.
Rank 5 – You may expend a level of this Lore to avoid unfortunate/unforeseen consequences of touching or using an Amulet item provided that you immediately drop or otherwise sever contact with the item in question.
This page was last updated on June 14, 2004.