Master Vampires
Important point here: MASTER VAMPIRES ARE RARE. You may have a master as a character, but don't overdo it. We highly encourage the community as a whole to think carefully about allowing multiple master apps from a single player.
In creating a master vampire, you may choose from the regular master vampire powers at will (but don't overdo it or your app may be rejected as overpowered.) It is generally advisable to not choose from the exceptional powers list unless you are certain you can make a compelling argument for how it bolsters characterization and can be limited to keep your character from being a complete twink. As always, remember that collaborative storytelling is the key in this game, not min-maxing or powergaming.
If you have an idea for a power or ability that's not on the list, but which you think makes logical sense in the milieu as it's been set out, you're welcome to propose it in your application. If you do that, please try to keep in mind the goal of not vastly overpowering player characters.
It is generally possible to tell that a vampire is a master from soon after their first rising as a vampire, but not all of the powers will develop immediately and control can only come with time and diligent effort. A "baby master" will be powerful, but still young.
Unlike non-masters, master vampires have enough reserve of their own power to make their own heart's beat without relying on the Master of the City.
Master Vampire Powers:
Triumvirate of Power
A joining among master vampire, the master's were-animal to call, and human servant. The bond must be forged all at once, and involves marking both the shapeshifter and the human in a fashion similar to the process for marking a human servant.
This is a very powerful combination, for game purposes, please consult the mods before attempting to forge a triumvirate for a discussion of whether it will be allowed and just what costs and benefits are involved. It's an unbalancing setup, and we wish to avoid a proliferation of triumvirates. As master vampires are rare, triumvirates are even rarer.
In creating a master vampire, you may choose from the regular master vampire powers at will (but don't overdo it or your app may be rejected as overpowered.) It is generally advisable to not choose from the exceptional powers list unless you are certain you can make a compelling argument for how it bolsters characterization and can be limited to keep your character from being a complete twink. As always, remember that collaborative storytelling is the key in this game, not min-maxing or powergaming.
If you have an idea for a power or ability that's not on the list, but which you think makes logical sense in the milieu as it's been set out, you're welcome to propose it in your application. If you do that, please try to keep in mind the goal of not vastly overpowering player characters.
It is generally possible to tell that a vampire is a master from soon after their first rising as a vampire, but not all of the powers will develop immediately and control can only come with time and diligent effort. A "baby master" will be powerful, but still young.
Unlike non-masters, master vampires have enough reserve of their own power to make their own heart's beat without relying on the Master of the City.
Master Vampire Powers:
- Hearing truth
You cannot lie to a master vampire, s/he will hear it. Though there are some masters who lie to themselves so profoundly that they're incapable of even discerning untruths in others. This is a power common to most masters. - Animal to call
A master vampire almost always has an animal to call, often reflecting some aspect of the vampire's personality. If there are lycanthropes or other preternatural beings of the master's animal type, they may be called as well, though a strong dominant shifter can resist and a strong alpha can protect his subordinates against all but the most powerful calls.
A master will enjoy the presence of his animal and enjoy touching them. Not necessarily sexually, but just in the manner that someone may enjoy petting a cat or sitting close to a friend. This feeling is often reciprocated and can be seductive to those whose lycanthropy matches up to the master's animal. - Aura touch
In which a vampire may push out his own magical aura to push against another's magical aura. This may provide an effect akin to a telekinetic shove or caress. It doesn't work on normal humans because they have no magical aura, but it works on mages, animators, shifters, and other vampires - anyone with a magical aura. - Aura slash
Using that same magical aura to actually open wounds on another. - Alternate means of feeding
Some master vampires can feed off of things in addition to blood. Typically it is dependent upon their line, but examples include anger, lust, and fear. This is a double-edged sword, as a vampire who has an alternate means of feeding must use it or begin to lose power and age rapidly (by rapidly, aging occurs in mere days). - Bite contamination
Some master vampires are so powerful that all it takes is a single bite to cause a victim to rise as a vampire. In rare cases this can happen even with victims of a mass vampire attack if the powerful master is one of the attackers. - Master and Child
Some masters can at will take back the animating power that gives a vampire he brought over his life. He can take back some or all of that power, either leaving the child a shell of himself or destroying him entirely. Only if the child has a more powerful blood oathed master or becomes a sourdre de sang can he resist that dreadful ability of his maker. - Fire
Yes, some masters can create fire, though typically only small things, like lighting a candle, or for a very strong master, a fire in a fireplace. It would be an exceptional master vampire power to create a fire greater than that. - Dominate
Difficult to explain, but it is a force of will used in vampire-to-vampire conflict. It is the sheer power of the will that will determine which vampire wins the conflict and establishes dominance, but it does have a psychic manifestation for those capable of sensing it. In a dominance struggle, sensing that power, or worse, being physically close to it or its target, can be something akin to getting a powerful electric shock in a literal, not just metaphorical, sense. - Early waking
Most vampires wake at full dark. Some masters can wake earlier than that, some even before the sun has begun to set. Outside of the exceptional masters, all vampires, master or otherwise, must have at least eight hours of time in which they are truly dead for the day. - Age deception
Other vampires, some magic practitioners, and psychics can just know a vampire's age. There are masters whose powers include hiding their age or even giving the impression of being older or younger at will. - Special healing
Healing even the most grievous of wounds by drinking magically charged blood - faerie, shifter, mage. - Dream contact
With a metaphysical tie, a master can contact another in dreams. There is the potential for marvels or horrors in that contact.
- Storm
A storm of power blows up wind and fear. - Daylight waking
While some older vampires may react on instinct to defend themselves during daylight hours, they are not truly awake. Some exceptionally powerful masters do not die during the day and are fully capable of functioning during the day, although they are usually still vulnerable to sunlight. - Immunity or resistance to sunlight
This is one of the rarest of the rare abilities for a master vampire - the ability to not just be awake during daylight hours, but also to walk in the sun. This is not a power that will be available to most player characters. - Capturing another vampire with one's gaze
This is rare as well. In fact, most vampires don't think it's possible, but in rare instances it is possible for a master to catch another vampire with his gaze just as he might a human. - Summoning ghosts
Exactly what it sounds like. Only one vampire is known to have the ability, but where there is one.... - Spirit animal
An exceptional power among master vampires is the ability to send one's animal to call as a spirit animal to attack and harm another through dreams.
Triumvirate of Power
A joining among master vampire, the master's were-animal to call, and human servant. The bond must be forged all at once, and involves marking both the shapeshifter and the human in a fashion similar to the process for marking a human servant.
This is a very powerful combination, for game purposes, please consult the mods before attempting to forge a triumvirate for a discussion of whether it will be allowed and just what costs and benefits are involved. It's an unbalancing setup, and we wish to avoid a proliferation of triumvirates. As master vampires are rare, triumvirates are even rarer.