This is the Discipline of courtly fighting, the power that separates the Spina out from all the other fighters among the Invictus. The masters of this art are preparing for a fight even while they make small talk. They are ensuring their victory even while their enemies prepare for battle. The masters are cordial and honorable even in the midst of violence and are never rude in combat. Why would they be? The more they act with grace and decorum, the more powerful they are.
It is impolite to visit someone without first giving notice of your intentions. How much more, then, should etiquette require of a visitation with the intention to destroy someone? The most basic power of Courtoisie recognizes this need for protocol, and gives the Kindred a bonus if he announces his violent intentions in advance.
Cost: —
Dice Pool: Presence + Intimidation + Courtoisie
Action: Instant
Announcing an intention in concert with this power requires an action, which means that the Spina gets no attack in the activation round, while he tells his opponent what he plans to do next. The intention must be an attack of some sort, and must be described accurately and in some detail. “I’m going to attack you with my sword,” is not enough, but “I’m going to cut you open from shoulder to hip,” is. The attack need not be intended to deal damage: “I’m going to cut those gauche buttons right off your jacket,” is an acceptable declaration of intent. The attacking Kindred makes an activation roll for this power and then, on a subsequent action, carries out the announced action. He must attempt to do exactly what he announced he was going to do or he loses the bonus from using this power. There is no penalty beyond the loss of this bonus, however.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The vampire takes a –3 penalty to his next action, whatever he decides to do. He has given his opponent an understanding of his plans, and she can now counter them extremely effectively.
Failure: The power fails to take effect and the vampire gets no assistance with his next action.
Success: The vampire successfully enhances his precision with poise and forthright dignity. For every success scored on the activation roll, the Spina can reduce the severity of penalties on his next attack by one. This penalty can be from any source. The most obvious possibilities are wound penalties that the Kindred is suffering, his opponent’s Defense and penalties for targeting particularly small areas (such as the heart), but this power can negate any penalty, from any source.
Clarity of Intention can never grant a bonus. If the Spina is facing a –4 penalty due to wounds and weather, and he rolls six successes on his activation roll, he gets to roll his full dice pool on his next attack but does not get a +2 bonus from the “spill-over” successes.
This power never allows a character to roll more dice than his dice pool otherwise calls for. This power can only be applied to the next attack made by the Spina, and that attack must be made within a number of turns equal to the vampire’s dots in Courtoisie.
Exceptional Success: An exceptional success yields no special benefit beyond being able to negate at least five points of penalties.
Combat is a very important, even prestigious, activity and it is crass to fight someone to whom you have not been introduced. Circumstances may mean that a Spina is forced to perform the introduction himself, but the practitioners of Courtoisie do not forgo the chance to talk first if they can help it. This is not a negotiation — it is often already decided that the conversation will end with a fight. A preceding conversation does, however, ensure that the combat is raised somewhat above the level of two beasts brawling in the gutter. A combat that is informed by the wit and passions of its participants has an elevated meaning for both participants and the ideas they represent.
Cost: 1 Willpower per scene
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Socialize + Courtoisie – subject’s Composure
Action: Instant
To use this power, the character must engage an opponent in polite conversation for at least a few moments, and expend one Willpower to make the activation roll. A rude, silent or brutish opponent does not make it impossible for the Spina to use the power, but the Spina must not be rude to his enemy in turn. However, if an opponent simply refuses to talk at all, this power has no effect — the Spina must get a sense, a “vibe,” from his opponent to hone his Blood against him. Once the power has been activated, its effects persist for the rest of the scene.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: If the Spina fights the opponent during the course of the night, he is wracked with shame and doubt stemming from his poor performance in the social arena. He suffers a –3 penalty to all non-reflexive dice pools during the fight with that opponent.
Failure: The vampire gets no benefit from the Discipline.
Success: For each success on the activation roll, the Kindred may invoke one of the following effects in a scene when fighting that opponent:
For the purposes of the list above, “a close combat dice pool” indicates the dice pool for one weapon against one target for one scene. The Spina must decide what effects to invoke when he activates the Discipline, not at the time of combat.
For example, consider a Kindred with Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Wits 2, Presence 4, Manipulation 4, Weaponry 2 and Socialize 5. He activates this power, and gets three successes on the activation roll. He expects to be fighting with Strength + Weaponry when he faces this opponent. For one success, he can opt to use Socialize instead of Weaponry, which increases his dice pool by three. For another success, he can opt to use Presence instead of Strength, giving him another two dice, as Presence is two dice higher than Strength. For his third success, he could opt to use Manipulation in place of Dexterity for Defense, but as his Wits is still lower, it would grant no benefit. Thus, he chooses instead to save that success to add an additional die to an attack later on. This gives the Spina a base dice pool of 12 (4 Presence + 5 Socialize + 3 damage) when using his sword against this particular enemy in this particular fight. If he had scored four successes on the activation roll, he could have substituted Manipulation for both Dexterity and Wits in Defense, increasing his Defense from 2 to 4.
Exceptional Success: No additional benefit, beyond being able to make at least five choices from the list of options given above.
There are times when it is essential to attack someone at his most vulnerable, and most practitioners of Courtoisie recognize this sad fact. However, it is most certainly boorish to do so and falls short of the highest standards of polite combat celebrated by the Spina. It is far better if the Knight can magnanimously hand your opponent the chance to prepare. This power allows a Kindred to gain some benefit from his magnanimity, as he draws mystical insight from studying his opponent’s preparations.
The character may cut the preparations short at any time by announcing his intention to fight now. This can be very brief: “Enough delay, Dragon. Defend yourself,” is ample. The character may not, however, attack completely by surprise and retain the bonuses gained from this power.
Cost: 1 Willpower per scene
Dice Pool: Wits + Weaponry + Courtoisie – subject’s Composure + Blood Potency
Action: Instant and reflexive. Though the character must take an action to activate this power, he may devote several turns to the study of his opponent between the time of the activation action and the time when the actual activation roll is made. This facilitates advantageous modifiers, as described below.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character gains no benefit from allowing the preparations, and loses the ability to use any other Courtoisie powers for the duration of this combat.
Failure: The vampire gains no benefits from his opponent’s preparations. Attacking quickly would be in his best interests.
Success: For every success the Spina achieves on the activation roll, he gains the benefit of insight into the way his opponent moves and thinks. This benefit takes the form of a +1 bonus to the Spina’s Defense for each success. This bonus lasts for the remainder of the scene, but applies only to an opponent who was the subject of this power’s activation. If time allows, however, a Spina can activate this power more than once in a scene to subject multiple opponents to his increased Defense. The Spina must be able to see the subject when this power is activated, but he does not have to maintain sight of her throughout the preparation process.
Exceptional Success: An exceptional success yields no benefit beyond a remarkable bonus to Defense.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
+1 to +5 Each turn the subject spends preparing after the user initiates this power.
–2 The subject declines to make use of the offered preparation time.
Many Kindred, particularly outside the Invictus, fail to appreciate the importance of courtesy. They seem to believe that being rude to their opponents makes them seem somehow more formidable or increases their chances of victory over a rattled foe. Spina with this level of control over Courtoisie are most able to show such Kindred the error of their ways, for being rude to such a vampire makes you very likely to lose a fight. Attempting to dismember someone cannot, in itself, be considered impolite for the purposes of this power since such an action is intended to work primarily in combat.
A statement of disgust or disapproval regarding the vampire’s actions, Allies or fashion cannot necessarily be considered rude wither. Using foul language, however, or simply slinging insults does qualify as rude. If you wish to criticize a Spina without risking the invocation of this power, you must choose your words extremely carefully.
Formally, a Spina can choose to regard a criticism as an insult and demand an apology for the slander. If the apology is not forthcoming, the criticism becomes an act of discourtesy. An apology in this context can be quite brief, however, and does not need to be sincere.
Cost: —
Dice Pool: Resolve + Composure + Courtoisie versus a variety of contesting dice pools
Action: Reflexive and contested. This power is rolled automatically in response to the actions of an enemy to provoke, taunt or intimidate the Spina, in place of any other dice pool that might normally be used to contest the opponent’s action. This power can even be used to combat attempts to terrify or undermine the Knight using Dominate, Majesty or Nightmare. For example, if an enemy attempts to goad the Knight’s Beast using the Intimidation Skill, the Knight may activate this power as a reflexive action to show his opponent the penalty for discourtesy.
If the action targeting the Spina does not allow for a contested resistance, then a Spina with this power may choose to substitute his dots in Courtoisie for either Resolve or Composure with subtracting dice from an opponent’s dice pools.
This power can only be employed when the Spina is directly involved in a fight. The enemy who provokes this power does not have to be directly involved in the fighting, however.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The Spina gains no benefit from the power, and takes a –3 penalty to his next action, as his opponent’s insult surprisingly rattles the Knight.
Failure: The Spina fails to muster the righteous mystic verve necessary to activate this power.
Success: The Spina achieves more successes on the activation roll than the provocateur did on his attempt to goad, frighten or humiliate the Spina. The Spina immediately regains one Willpower point, and his opponent immediately loses one. This power does not allow a Spina to store more Willpower points than his Willpower score would normally allow. In the event that a Knight uses this power while he still has all of his Willpower points, he instead enjoys a +2 bonus to Defense for one turn.
Exceptional Success: The Spina wins the contest against the provocateur and achieves at least five successes in the process. The result is the same as above, but the provoker loses two Willpower points and the Spina gains two. If the Spina is unable to regain either of the Willpower points, he instead enjoys a +2 bonus to Defense for one turn per excess Willpower won.
At the highest levels of Courtoisie, a Spina’s words alone are deadly weapons. Even if his opponents attack with steel, he can turn their blades aside with a few well-chosen quips, belittling their abilities without even resorting to harsh language.
A Spina using this power does not fight physically. Instead, he chastises and demoralizes his foes’ very flesh with his words. Victims may cough up Vitae or suffer terrible chest and head pains.
Indeed, it is not even necessary for the Kindred to move, or be able to move, to use this power, as long as he can speak. Ferrand, a European Spina elder, is renowned for dispatching his enemies without raising his body from his chair or his voice above a gentle murmur. On one occasion, he defeated and rendered torpid a Sanctified assassin without leaving the game of chess he was playing against the assassin’s employer. He won the chess match, as well.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Dice Pool: Presence + Intimidation + Courtoisie – the higher of the subject’s Composure or Resolve
Action: Instant
The Spina must be able to see his target directly to use this power, but it is not necessary for the target to see the Spina.
The real disadvantage of this power is that it is not possible to use weapons while fighting in this manner, so the vampire does not get the benefit of any weapon bonuses or effects.
This power can only be used on vampires.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character is unable to muster the supernatural presence to hurt his foe. The Vitae spent is wasted, and this power may not be used on that same target for the rest of the night.
Failure: The Spina fails to injure his target. The Vitae spent is wasted.
Success: The Spina’s words penetrate the sturdy will of his target. Each success causes the subject vampire one point of lethal damage as his insides wither and split from the destructive force of the Kindred’s mystic voice.
Exceptional Success: An exceptional success grants no special result beyond the formidable damage dealt to the subject.
Suggested Modifiers
Modifier Situation
–1 to –4 The character is difficult for the target to hear.