Celerity

Celerity is a praxis that enables vampires to move at superhuman speeds. They are able to react, think, and run at speeds far beyond mortals, and are gifted with grace humans could never match. As one's skill in Celerity increases, their natural speed and agility passively grows. Additionally, Celerity has abilities that can be consciously activated.

Level 1-5
Not all vampires are slow, meticulous creatures. When needed, some vampires can move fast — really fast. Celerity allows Al-Shavar, Veismar, and Amaros to move with astonishing swiftness, becoming practically a blur. The Al-Shavar use their speed in conjunction with stealth to strike quickly and viciously from the shadows before they are noticed. Veismar, on the other hand, simply like the edge that the power gives them against overwhelming odds. The Amaros are more inclined to use Celerity to provide an air of unnatural grace to live performances or for an extra push to complete a masterpiece on time, but they can be as quick to draw blood as any assassin or punk when angered.

System: Each point of Celerity adds one die to every Dexterity-related dice roll. In addition, the player can spend one blood point to take an extra action up to the number of dots he has in Celerity at the beginning of the relevant turn; this expenditure can go beyond her normal Generation maximum. Any dots used for extra actions, however, are no longer available for Dexterity-related rolls during that turn. These additional actions must be physical (e.g., the vampire cannot use a mental Discipline like Dominate multiple times in one turn), and extra actions occur at the end of the turn (the vampire’s regular action still takes place per her initiative roll). Normally, a character without Celerity must divide their dice if she wants to take multiple actions in a single turn. A character using Celerity performs his extra actions (including full movement) without penalty, gaining a full dice pool for each separate action. Extra actions gained through Celerity may not in turn be split into multiple actions, however.

Additionally, a player may spend a point of blood to increase their movement speed by a factor of one plus their Celerity rating. In combat, this lasts one turn, elsewise, it lasts a single scene.

Momentum
A large part of impact comes from the force it moves with, but also with its speed. A master of Celerity can focus their speed all into one forceful instant, allowing them to briefly lift things no human should ever be able to, or to strike with deadly force.

System: Spend two blood points reflexively to activate Momentum. You may add your character’s Celerity dots as additional dice on any single Strength-based roll. In combat, this adds Knock Down (see p. 347) to any attack made with Momentum.

Precision
A master of Celerity with this manifestation can use her immense dexterity to conduct acts of fine manipulation with inhuman precision.

System: Spend a blood point to activate Precision. Add the character’s Celerity dots as automatic successes to a single roll requiring fine manipulation instead of adding dice to Dexterity as normal. This does not work only on rolls using the Dexterity Attribute, but Storyteller discretion is required to determine what Precision benefits.

Projectile
Despite the fact that a vampire with Celerity moves at incredible speeds, any bullets he fires or knives he throws while in this state don’t move any faster than they normally would. Scientifically minded vampires have been baffled by the phenomenon for centuries, but more pragmatic ones have found a way to work around it. Projectile enables a vampire to take his preternatural speed and transfer it into something he has thrown, fired, or launched.

System: Projectile requires the expenditure of a blood point. In addition, the player must decide how many levels of his character’s Celerity he is putting into the speed of the launched object. Thus, a character with Celerity 6 in addition to Projectile could decide to put

three dots’ worth of speed into a knife he is throwing, and use the other three dots as dice or potential extra actions as per normal. Each dot of Celerity infused into a thrown object becomes an automatic success to the attack’s damage roll, assuming the weapon or projectile actually hits.

Flower of Death
In combat, speed kills. A proper application of Celerity in combat can turn even the meekest vampire into a walking abattoir. How much more deadly, then, is a vampire with the ability to utilize his preternatural speed to the utmost in combat? Flower of Death allows a vampire to take his Celerity and apply it in full to each hand-to-hand or melee attack he makes.

System: Flower of Death costs four blood points, but the spectacular effect is well worth it. Once the power is in effect, the vampire’s bonus dice for Dexterity rolls get added to every dice pool for attack the character makes (even if the roll doesn’t use Dexterity) until the end of the scene. Further, even if the Kindred uses some of his Celerity dots for extra actions during the scene, these extra dice are still available. The effect is limited to hand-to-hand or melee weapon attacks — firearms, bows, and other ranged weapons are excluded — but does grant the attacker additional dice for damage rolls. Flower of Death is not cumulative — it is impossible to “layer” uses of the power over one another to create astronomical dice pools.

Quickness
A character with Quickness breaks normal limitations of speed even for her own Celerity.

System: Spend a blood point to activate Quickness on a turn where you have activated Celerity’s normal effect. Quickness offers one additional action beyond what the character receives for Celerity, as if her Celerity were one level higher. She can spend additional blood, cumulatively, for additional Celerity levels that last the turn (see the chart below). Each additional action causes the character a level of unsoakable lethal damage.

Physical Defiance
A vampire's speed has reached a point so unnatural that for brief moments, the fundamental laws of nature cease to affect her. She can move in any direction, in spite of obstructions, in spite of gravity, and in spite of logic. She can run upwards for brief bursts. She can walk through (or on) water. She can walk up walls.

System: Spend five blood points per turn in Physical Defiance. Your character can move through space in any direction up to her full speed (which can be enhanced as normal with Celerity through additional blood expenditure). Wood, stone, water, flesh, or metal will simply give way as she passes through, exploding into splinters and chunks. She suffers no harm from the things she moves through. If she moves through another character, roll to attack with Dexterity + Athletics, adding Celerity as normal. The other character may attempt to dodge if eligible, but not block or parry. If successful, she fills the opponent’s health levels with lethal damage. Vampires must reflexively heal to avoid torpor. Mortals die instantly.

The Unseen Storm
It is said that the hand can be quicker than the eye. For a vampire possessing the Unseen Storm, her entire body is faster than the eye, provided she is constantly moving. This power offers true invisibility — people are unable to see the user, yet they can still hear and smell her, though her constant movement garbles these impressions. Also, people do not instinctively step out of her way, as with Obfuscate. On the other hand, the user cannot be seen by anyone who does not possess more Auspex than her Celerity, and she can attack and otherwise interact without becoming visible.

System: The player spends one blood point to activate the Unseen Storm and must continue to spend one blood each turn she wants the power to continue. This expenditure does count against the maximum number of blood that can be spent in a turn. The character may not use any other Celerity powers (other than taking extra actions) while maintaining the Unseen Storm. A person fighting a character using this power counts as blind, while the user automatically blindsides her opponent. The difficulty of all Perception rolls and any physical action except for close combat attacks the character attempts rises by one, because of the user’s rapid movements.

Time Out of Time
At this level, the vampire thinks a moment before everyone around her, and her reflexes carry her vast distances before others can blink. She can bolt out of the way even as a blade grazes her flesh. This makes her nigh-untouchable when she wishes to be.

System: Spend three blood points reflexively to activate this power. It may be activated even after an attack roll is made, but before damage is rolled. Once the power is activated, all action stops and your character can move her full movement speed before the other action resolves. This takes the place of a normal defensive maneuver. This almost certainly prevents the action from taking place, as the vampire appears to teleport out of the way.

Zephyr
Zephyr produces an effect vaguely similar to one of the legendary comic book-style uses of enhanced speed, allowing its practitioner to run so fast he can run across water. Particularly successful applications of Zephyr allow a vampire to go so far as to run up walls and, in at least one recorded instance, across a ceiling.

System: Zephyr requires the expenditure of one point of blood and one point of Willpower. Unfortunately, Zephyr requires such extremes of concentration that it cannot be combined with any form of attack, or indeed, with most any sort of action at all. If a character using Zephyr feels the need to do something else while moving at such tremendous speeds, a Willpower roll (difficulty 8) is required. Needless to say, botches at Zephyr speed can be spectacular in all the wrong ways. Most times, a vampire moving at such a rate of speed is barely visible, appearing more as a vampire-shaped blur than anything else. Observers must succeed on a Perception + Alertness roll (difficulty 7) to get a decent look at a Kindred zooming past in this fashion.

Paragon of Motion
For masters of Celerity, almost any physical action, no matter how daunting, becomes a simple thing when focused on properly. With Paragon of Motion, the user’s perception of time slows down so that she is able to plan out every movement and correct every mistake before it becomes a problem.

System: The player spends one blood point as the character concentrates for one turn. The character then automatically succeeds on an action that is mainly physical (and doesn’t rely upon strength alone), with no need to roll, as long as the Storyteller does not feel that it is completely impossible. Scaling a smooth, rain-soaked wall, walking along an ice-encrusted ledge in high winds and juggling 15 knives are all simple tasks for someone with this power. Should the Storyteller determine that a roll is necessary (which is generally only if the difficulty would normally be 10 and require multiple successes), the player receives nine automatic successes on the roll. The character cannot use other Celerity powers while employing Paragon of Motion. If used in combat, Paragon of Motion requires an attack roll (in addition to blood expenditure and a round of concentration), but this roll gains nine automatic successes. The damage roll gains this benefit as well.