With just a touch, the vampire can extend the muted attentions of Face in the Crowd to an object or animal, rather than himself. His subject fades out — if he masks a desk, people subconsciously register that it’s there and won’t bump in to it, but they can’t recognize what’s right in front of them unless the vampire forces them to interact with it. Even a forensic team would only remember seeing a desk if they examined photos of the scene after the fact.
Cost: 1 Vitae
Requirement: The vampire must touch the object he wants to hide; in the case of an unwilling victim, the vampire must roll to touch his opponent (see p. 177). The animal or object cannot have Size greater than the vampire’s own (but see Suggested Modifiers).
Dice Pool: Wits + Larceny + Obfuscate Action: Reflexive
Duration: Scene
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: Something draws people’s attention to whatever the vampire wanted to hide. It’s the first thing they notice when they come onto the scene, and they want to find out more about it.
Failure: The object or creature doesn’t fade into the background.
Success: For the rest of the scene, people’s eyes slide off the object. The vampire can affect an inanimate object or animal with the same effects as Face in the Crowd — people subconsciously register that the subject is present, but they’re not actively aware of it. If an observer is forced to deal with something affected by Touch of Shadow — being thrown into an occulted table or door, or bitten by an occulted dog — that observer can then recognize the subject’s existence.
Since people have a hard time noticing occluded objects, the vampire can hide behind an object affected by Touch of Shadow to remain unnoticed. In order to notice the occluded object, observers must succeed at a reflexive Wits + Composure penalized by the vampire’s Obfuscate dots. A living creature affected by Touch of Shadow can see anything else that the vampire has Obfuscated without a roll.
Exceptional Success: The victim of this power doesn’t stand out to any observer, even if they’re looking at photographs or video featuring him when the power was active.