“WHERE MY SIRE COMES FROM, THAT BREATH STUFF IS FORBIDDEN. THE BISHOP THERE SAYS IT’S RISKIER, ‘CAUSE IT ENCOURAGES YOU TO STICK AROUND THE FLOCK TOO LONG. I JUST THINK IT MAKES YOU A WUSS.”
Breath-Drinking is a non-standard Discipline, in that many of its powers are not rolled or do not grant the user extra dice. Still, its powers are purchased as though Breath-Drinking were an out-of-clan Discipline.
A vampire needs at least Blood Potency 3 to learn and use the powers of Breath-Drinking. If a character’s Blood Potency drops below 3, he can no longer use this power, though he does not lose his dots in it. Once his Blood Potency rises again, he can feed upon breath once more.
Stealing life-force from breath is inherently less effective than taking it from blood. A vampire can only fill a portion of her Vitae reserve through Breath-Drinking. Players may want to keep a separate tally of Vitae taken from breath instead of blood. When expending Vitae, the points from breath are expended first. In theory, a vampire within a certain age range could sustain itself entirely by Breath-Drinking, as legends say — but that would be a hungry vampire.
Blood Potency — Max Vitae from Breath — Max Breath w/ Vaulted Lungs
3 — 3 — 4
4 — 3 — 4
5 — 4 — 5
6 — 4 — 5
7 — X — 5
Breath-Drinking only works on human victims. The Kindred may inhale and exhale to speak, but they have no actual breath, mystically speaking. The life-force of animals is too feeble for this Discipline to steal.
A victim of Breath-Drinking feels tired, headachy and possibly nauseous afterward. This lasts until the victim recovers all lost Health. Although the victim suffers no visible wound, Breath-Drinking can still inflict wound penalties if a vampire steals enough of the person’s breath. A mortal can die from loss of breath; each Vitae taken through Breath-Drinking causes one point of lethal damage, as per usual feeding rules. If a victim runs out of Willpower from Breath-Drinking, she falls unconscious and can provide no further sustenance — at least, not through breath.
When using any of these powers, a breath-drinker has the option to take fewer than the maximum Vitae granted by his successes if he wishes.
At first, a breath-drinking vampire must spend an hour in close proximity to her victim in order to steal life-force from her breath. Some vampires do this by lurking over sleeping victims, carefully inhaling their breath. Others stalk victims at clubs and parties.
Cost: —
Dice Pool: Varies. As with regular feeding, the dice pool depends on the vampire’s approach, such as Dexterity + Stealth to lurk in the dark or Manipulation + Socialize to blend into a crowd (see p. 164 of Vampire: The Requiem). Breath-Drinking typically relies on Social Attributes and Skills.
Action: Instant. (Each attempt takes 30 minutes.)
Each success on the vampire’s dice pool deals one point of lethal damage to the victim and gains the vampire one Vitae. If the vampire cannot consume any more Vitae through the victim’s breath he cannot cause her any more damage. Excess successes are wasted.
A more experienced breath-drinker can take sustenance from a mortal in only thirty minutes. The vampire still must spend that half-hour close enough that he could touch the victim, but the process is more subtle than Sips of Breath. For instance, a vampire could stand next to a person at a cocktail party, engaging the victim in conversation. One way or another, the vampire must interact with a victim and keep her talking or laughing to feed on her breath.
Cost: —
Dice Pool: Presence + Socialize versus target’s Composure + Socialize
Action: Instant and contested; resistance is reflexive.
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure:
The victim doesn’t know the character tried to steal her life-force, but it’s clear that he’s failed on a social level. The vampire suffers a -2 penalty on all Social actions involving the victim for the rest of the night.
Failure:
The vampire’s player fails to roll more successes than the victim’s player. The character gains no sustenance. The victim doesn’t know she has been the target of an attack.
Success:
The vampire’s player rolls more successes than the target’s player. Each success deals one point of lethal damage to the victim and grants the vampire one Vitae. If the vampire cannot consume any more Vitae through the victim’s breath he cannot cause her any more damage. Excess successes are wasted.
Exceptional Success:
As above, plus the vampire makes a good impression as a person, gaining a +2 bonus on another Social action targeting the same subject during the scene.
With experience, a vampire can derive more sustenance from breath than was possible before. What’s more, a vampire with a mastery over the essence of breath finds it easier to pass among mortals, to get close to them without offending their prey instincts.
Cost: 1-2 Vitae per scene (see below)
Dice Pool: Unlike many Discipline powers, Vaulted Lungs is not actively rolled. Rather, it empowers the vampire’s abilities as a breath-drinker.
Action: Instant
First, Vaulted Lungs allows a breath-drinker to store more breath-derived Vitae than normal. Plus, the breath-drinker can derive a modicum of sustenance from human Vitae longer than normally allowed by his Blood Potency. See the chart on p. 65 for the maximum amount of Vitae taken from breath that a vampire can store based on Blood Potency.
Second, a vampire with this power can spend 1 or 2 Vitae to raise the Humanity imposed on his Social dice pools for Breath-Drinking rolls. For the rest of the scene, the character’s Humanity is considered one higher for each Vitae spent to activate this power. This Humanity augmentation has no actual effect on the vampire’s morality, it only frees the Kindred from some of the penalties associated with dwindling Humanity (see p. 184-185 of Vampire: The Requiem).
With greater skill, a vampire can take more Vitae in less time.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: None. This power is not actively rolled. Rather, Spirit Thief optionally augments Sips of Breath and Stolen Breath.
Action: N/A
By spending one Willpower point, the breath-drinker is able to use either of these previous powers in half the time: 30 minutes for Sips of Breath and 15 minutes for Stolen Breath.
When a vampire attains mastery of Breath-Drinking, she no longer needs to stalk and sip off his victims. The vampire merely needs to pass within a few yards of a mortal to steal a bit of her breath. By passing through a crowded store or striding down a busy street, the vampire can drink in the breath of the oblivious mortal flock, gaining power from shreds of Vitae.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Varies. This power augments the vampire’s ability to feed at large, as described on p. 164 of Vampire: The Requiem. Whatever dice pool is used to model the character’s approach to feeding, his dots in Breath-Drinking can be added to it by spending 1 Willpower point.
Action: Reflexive