Divination

By Jay Gray (jg0259@cnsvax.albany.edu) for the Tarot bloodline.

Description

Divination is a discipline which allows the members of the Bloodline Tarot to access what they have termed 'the Wisdom.' By tapping into the Wisdom one can gain information about the future, the past or the present.

* Intuition's Kiss

The first connection to the Wisdom is nebulous and arrives in flashes of intuition. A name, an image, a small snip of a scene, these all might be seen through the kiss of intuition. The small bit of information gleaned, however, is always relevant to a situation the Tarot is in.

System: The character must make a Perception+Empathy roll against a difficulty of seven when concentrating on this power.

The number of successes determines how detailed the information should be. One success might be the ghostly whisper of a name while five might be a very clear image of a certain man standing outside a certain building at a certain time of year. This power is a great tool for storyteller's to use in order to impart a small bit of information to the players.

** Fortune-telling

By using props, such as Tarot cards or rune stones, vampires with Divination may begin to truly access the Wisdom. Unfortunately, the information gained is usually vague and subject to the quirks of the divination tool being used.

System: The player should roll Wits+Occult against a difficulty of seven. The number of successes determines how detailed the information received is. Remember that this should be tailored to the divination tool being used and the method of using it. Do the research. Storytellers may elect to allow the use of the Fortune telling talent to lower the difficulty of the Wits+ Occult roll.

*** Morpheus' Touch

Once a Tarot's mind is more attuned to the Wisdom, she begins to tap into it during her sleeping hours. The knowledge from the Wisdom presents itself in the form of dreams. These dreams are often very detailed, more like movies than the snapshots received through Intuition's kiss.

System: Whenever the character slumbers she should roll a Perception+Empathy roll against a difficulty of six. The number of successes determines how detailed the information received is. As an option, with less successes the dreams can be made more symbolic and harder to understand. The information gleaned should always be relevant to the campaign or chronicle.

**** Waking Dream

The next stage in the development of Divination is to access the Wisdom while awake without the crutches of fortune telling. To do this, the Tarot usually goes into a trance, seeking the information inside the Wisdom. Once in the trance, the Tarot should not be interrupted or the information will be lost and the vampire will have to start over again.

System: When the character wishes to use the Waking Dream, the player should make a Stamina+Empathy roll against a difficulty of seven. The number of successes determines how successful she was in retrieving the information. How long the trance lasts depends on how complex the information is and is up to the Storyteller's discretion. As an optional rule, meditation may be used to lower the difficulty number of Waking Dream.

***** Tapping the Universal Unconsious

Eventually most Tarot learn to touch the Wisdom and gain not only information, but skill as well. By concentrating, one with this discipline can gain, for one hour, any skill or knowledge known to man and vampire kind.

System: The player should first determine which knowledge or skill she wishes to learn. Then she should roll Intelligence+Empathy. The difficulty will depend on how widely known the skill or knowledge is. If the character is trying to learn something that millions of people know, such as drive, then the difficulty should be six. If she is trying to learn something that only a few hundred know, such as Wyrm Lore, then the difficulty level should be eight or even nine. The number of temporary dots in the skill or knowledge gained will be equal to half the number of successes rolled, rounded up. The knowledge or skill is gained for one hour and then forgotten. This discipline may not be employed to gain the same knowledge or skill more than once a day.