All That Glitters Is Red:Dominate

Mesmerize

All a vampire has to do is meet her victim’s eye to catch him in her thrall. Her control isn’t obvious; she just asks him to do something and her victim acquiesces. He could unlock a door, pass her a gun — or forget ever meeting her. Some cruel vampires mesmerize passers-by just to take the rap for their crimes.

Cost: None

Dice Pool: Intelligence + Expression + Dominate vs. Resolve + Blood Potency

Action: Instant

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The victim sees through the vampire’s attempt to control his mind; emboldened, he gains the Steadfast Condition.

Failure: The vampire’s victim proves stronger-willed than she’d thought.

Success: The vampire holds her victim’s gaze for just a second, but it’s enough to inflict the Mesmerized Condition.

Exceptional Success: The vampire’s control flows over the victim’s brain like water. They want to do whatever the vampire says. The vampire can issue a command in the same action as mesmerizing the victim.

Once she has inflicted the Mesmerized Condition, the vampire can command the victim as an instant action. Her commands can’t be longer than three or four words, and she has to be direct — her control doesn’t extend to issuing vague commands. “Follow me,” “Shoot your husband,” and “Repeat after me…” are all suitable commands, while “Forget,” “Submit,” and “Do my bidding” have too much room for interpretation. She can even mess with the victim’s memory, making one statement about the current scene that victim will remember as truth. While she can still only use simple and unambiguous commands, she can pack a lot of changes into four words: “You killed that man” and “I was not here” combine to frame the victim for murder.

Iron Edict

Once she’s got a hotline into her victim’s mind, the vampire can take some time to play with his thoughts and memories. While it takes more of her power to relay complex commands, she goes from jerking her victim’s strings to controlling him like a puppeteer, making his every movement dance to her tune.

Cost: 1 Vitae; none if victim is in Vinculum with the vampire.

Dice Pool: None

Requirement: The vampire must have inflicted the Mesmerized Condition on the victim.

Action: Instant

The vampire can issue a longer command to a Mesmerized victim. This edict can be up to three sentences long, and can include a successive series of actions. The command takes two turns per sentence to convey. As with Mesmerize, the vampire’s control doesn’t extend to commands that rely on the victim’s interpretation. The victim takes the Dominated Condition and will follow the vampire’s commands as soon as she finishes speaking them. He continues to follow the order until he has completed his task, or the sun rises. Many Kindred use Iron Edict to issue a simple command, such as “Obey my direct instructions when I give them to you,” which effectively gives them control over the minion until the sun comes up — though it doesn’t extend the duration of the Mesmerized Condition.