Obtenebration

The discipline of the Lasombra, Obtenebration focusses on summoning darkness itself to aid the user. Powers have been observed ranging from familiars made of shadow to vampires merging with the shadows themselves. Stronger powers have even been known to summon the darkness of the Abyss. The darkness summoned by Obtenebration is very unnatural and extremely frightening to mortals and animals, even to kindred that are not used to seeing it. Though the discipline is fairly common in the Sabbat, anyone outside of that sect using this Discipline will be regarded with great suspicion. (The user of Obtenebration always sees through his own darkness, though others cannot)

Powers:

1 - Shadow Play:
Move and shape the natural shadows around you. Through this power, the user may dim lights around him/herself, draw shadows into a cloak surrounding the user or even release them from their resting place to choke unfortunate victims. (Costs a bloodpoint to acvitate, after which the user may invoke Shadow Play for the rest of the scene without further expenditure of blood or active concentration. When active, the user may influence any natural shadow within sight and shape it as he/she pleases. The user may also cause shadows to deepen, causing the light in an area to grow dim, or even force shadows to retreat from an area, allowing the user to see better if only very little light is avalable. The user may also use Shadow Play to draw shadows on him/herself to form a cloak, which can be a stealth cloak (which adds +1 die to any Stealth dice pools and increases the difficulty of ranged attacks against the user by 1) or a monsterous cloak. (which adds +1 die to Intimidation related dice pools) Shadow play may also be used to cause the shadows themselves to strangle a victim, reducing their Soak and Stamina dice pools by 1 die. If through this a victim loses all dices in their Stamina dice pool and the victim is mortal, the victim will begin choking to death. Lastly, shadows manipulated by Shadow Play are extremely unnerving to animals, mortals or even other vampires who are not familiar with Obtenebration effects. When Shadow Play is envoked in the vicinity of such a victim, the victim must roll Courage against diff 8. If the victim fails, the victim loses 1 die in all dice pools for the remainder of the scene, due to fear of the shadows.)

2 - Shroud of Night:
This power blankets an area in a globe of unnatural darkness that shrouds it from light, heat and sound. From the outside the Shroud appears as a globe of writhing and twisting shadows, and all trapped within feel as though they are submerged in pitch. (The user rolls Manipulation + Occult at diff 7. Success indicates the Shroud of Night stretches across 10 feet, doubling for every success on the activation roll after the first, though the user may wish to voluntarily keep the size of the Shroud to a minimum. The Shroud may be invoked anywhere within 50 yards, though if the user wishes to summon a Shroud outside of his/her own line of sight, this adds +2 to the difficulty of the activation roll and adds the cost of a single bloodpoint to the activation of the Shroud of Night. Inside the shroud all sense of sight and feel is lost, and even sound warps and distorts as it passes through the shroud. Any light sources in the shroud are also extinguished, save for those that are fire. Only those that have Eyes of the Beast (Protean) or Heightened Senses (Auspex) can see through the shroud, though related actions are at +2 difficulty. The shroud also smothers it's victims as though it was icey-cold pitch, causing any victims inside the Shroud to lose 2 dices in soak or Stamina related Dice pools. If a mortal victim loses all dices in Stamina dicepools through this, they begin to drown in the darkness of the Shroud. Lastly, any mortal, animal or vampire who is not familiar with Obtenebration must roll Courage against diff 8 or fall into a hopeless panic.)

3 - Arms of the Abyss:
Create shadowy tendrils to assist you. The tenacles are created of pure darkness, though can interact with the physical world freely, whipping and ensnaring enemies or preforming precision tasks at their master's behest. (Costs a bloodpoint, the user rolls Manipulation + Occult at diff 7. Each success creates a single tentacle. Each tentacle is 6 feet long, possesses a Strength and Dexterity rating equal to the user's Obtenebration rating and has 4 Healthlevels. Tendrils soak damage using their masters Stamina + Fortitude and may soak Bashing and Lethal as a vampire, but can never soak Aggravated damage. Tendrils are effected by sunlight and fire just like a vampire. If the user desires, the user can spend a single bloodpoint to raise a tentacles Strength or Dexterity by one dot or increase it's length by 6 feet. Tentacles can make a constriction attack against enemies, dealing Strength + 1 in Lethal damage every turn. If someone constricted wishes to break the hold of the tentacles, then both engage in a resisted Strength roll, at diff 6. Tentacles can be summoned from anywhere where there is darkness, and the user needs not concentrate to control them, making the user able to order the tendrils around freely while preforming other tasks at no expense.)

4 - Black Metamorphosis:
The vampire is encased in nightmarrish shadowy armor as whispy tendrils sprout from his back. Many elders speculate that this power brings forth the darkness in the vampire self, causing the vampire to, not unsuprisingly, appear as a horrid monster. (Costs 2 bloodpoints, the user rolls Manipulation + Courage at diff 7. If the user fails the 2 bloodpoints used for activation are lost, if he/she botches then the user takes 2 levels of unsoakable Lethal damage as the darkness ravages his/her body. If successful, the user's body is engulved in a shadowy armor, and 4 tendrils not unlike those spawned by Arms of the Abyss sprout from his torso and abdomen. The tendrils provide the user with 1 extra attack without penalty each turn (not 1 for every tendril), and each tendril has attributes equal to the user's. When a vampire is in physical contact with a victim using this power, that victim loses two dices from soak and Stamina dice pools due to the unnerving cold shadow engulfing the user's body. The shadow armor itself differs in appearence per vampire many times it can be related to the vampire's self-image. A Lasombra who considers himself a dark nobleman might get a shadow armor resembling a dark cuirrass, while one who considers himself evil incarnate might take a much more demonic appearence. Irregardless the shadows grant the user a very disturbing appearence, and any mortal, animal or vampire that is not accostumed to such a display must roll Courage against diff 8 or fly into a helpless panic, or if a vampire a Rötshreck induced by fear of the darkness. Lastly, when Black MetaMorphosis is active, the user can see perfectly in pitch black darkness.)
   - Nightshades: Create solid objects out of shadow. (Alternative power)

5 - Tenebrous Form:
The user may now physically become the darkness of the abyss, turning into a pool of shadows which can crawl up walls and through the smallest cracks, while being almost indestructable. (The user must spend 3 bloodpoints to begin the transformation, which then takes 3 turns. After the transformation is complete, the user turns into an inky pool of darkness which can slither through cracks that are at least a few molecules wide and can ooze up walls and ceilings, ignoring the laws of gravity as the user has no real mass in the Tenebrous Form. The user is also immune to any form of physical damage, save for damage caused by fire or sunlight. The user cannot attack in the Tenebrous Form however, though the user can use any mental discipline. Damage caused by fire and sunlight have Rötshreck difficulties increased by one while in the Tenebrous Form, due to those sources of damage being even more painful in the Tenebrous Form. The user may also engulf a single victim at a time, causing the same effects as Shroud of the Night on that victim. Lastly, any mortal, animal or vampire that isn't used to seeing Obtenebration must roll Courage against diff 8 or fly into a panic as discribed under Black Metamorphosis).