••••• Body of the Gorgon
At the height of her supernatural power, a Gorgon becomes a perilous, inhuman monster. With a bit of blood, her whole form changes, infused with the timeless, dreaded enchantment of the mythic Gorgons. Her body is transformed into soft and scaly serpentine coils, her mouth becomes a fanged pit and her eyes cast a profane yellow glow. She becomes dangerous even to behold.
Effect
The transformation from a human shape to a monstrous one (or back again) takes one turn to complete. The Gorgon cannot take any action or even move during this time.
While in her monstrous form, a Gorgon’s Size increases to 6, including her new tail. Her species factor for Speed becomes 8 (instead of the normal human factor of 5). The Body of the Gorgon spoils the vampire’s ability to interact with anything but snakes and other Gorgons, however. Attempts to use Animalism or Social Skills on subjects other than snakes and other Gorgons suffer a penalty equal to the Gorgon’s dots in Amphivena.
A vampire effected by Body of the Gorgon can attempt to spray Medusa’s Venom at a target with open wounds (meaning, in game terms, a target with one or more points of lethal or aggravated damage currently marked on his Health track.) The Gorgon must be within closecombat range of the target, however, and succeed at a raw Dexterity + Amphivena roll penalized by the target’s Defense and any other appropriate modifiers.
The most profound aspect of the Body of the Gorgon, however, is doubtless its ability to amplify the powers of Dominate through a great and terrible mystic radiance. On her turn, a vampire transmogrified by the Body of the Gorgon can reflexively spend one Vitae to activate the Command or Mesmerize powers of Dominate against all onlookers. This reflexive use of Dominate puts the onus on subjects to look away from the Gorgon, rather than tasking her with achieving eye contact. The Gorgon must issue a single instruction to all onlookers, though each contests the action on his own as usual.
Onlookers must be able to see the Gorgon directly. Reflections and broadcasts do not carry her power, but simple filters like sunglasses offer no protection. At the Storyteller’s discretion, substantial visual interference between the onlooker and the Gorgon such as smoke or a waterfall can grant as much as a +5 bonus to the onlooker’s contested roll to resist these powers.
The Body of the Gorgon persists for the remainder of the scene unless the vampire chooses to transform back to her normal form earlier.
While in her monstrous form, a Gorgon’s Size increases to 6, including her new tail. Her species factor for Speed becomes 8 (instead of the normal human factor of 5). The Body of the Gorgon spoils the vampire’s ability to interact with anything but snakes and other Gorgons, however. Attempts to use Animalism or Social Skills on subjects other than snakes and other Gorgons suffer a penalty equal to the Gorgon’s dots in Amphivena.
A vampire effected by Body of the Gorgon can attempt to spray Medusa’s Venom at a target with open wounds (meaning, in game terms, a target with one or more points of lethal or aggravated damage currently marked on his Health track.) The Gorgon must be within closecombat range of the target, however, and succeed at a raw Dexterity + Amphivena roll penalized by the target’s Defense and any other appropriate modifiers.
The most profound aspect of the Body of the Gorgon, however, is doubtless its ability to amplify the powers of Dominate through a great and terrible mystic radiance. On her turn, a vampire transmogrified by the Body of the Gorgon can reflexively spend one Vitae to activate the Command or Mesmerize powers of Dominate against all onlookers. This reflexive use of Dominate puts the onus on subjects to look away from the Gorgon, rather than tasking her with achieving eye contact. The Gorgon must issue a single instruction to all onlookers, though each contests the action on his own as usual.
Onlookers must be able to see the Gorgon directly. Reflections and broadcasts do not carry her power, but simple filters like sunglasses offer no protection. At the Storyteller’s discretion, substantial visual interference between the onlooker and the Gorgon such as smoke or a waterfall can grant as much as a +5 bonus to the onlooker’s contested roll to resist these powers.
The Body of the Gorgon persists for the remainder of the scene unless the vampire chooses to transform back to her normal form earlier.
Material Components
Cost: 1 Vitae per scene (plus 1 Vitae per turn for additional abilities)
Gestures & Ritual
Dice Pool: This power requires no roll to invoke.
Related Discipline
Effect Casting Time
Instant
Level
5