Surge (• to •••••)
Electricity is the lifeblood of the Jovians and it permeates the modern world. Even the air holds a vast, constant supply of latent electricity. The Keravnos have honed the ability to concentrate and control this energy for their own purposes.
Surge is divided into two types of actions (similar to how Celerity has a Persistent and Active effects). Build Up which is used to store electrical charges within the Jovian’s body effectively turning them into a living battery and Release which uses built up charges to create various effects.
Build Up
The vampire begins drawing and concentrating electricity from all around her within her body. The effect is not noticeable to onlookers though at higher levels of Surge those close enough to the vampire may feel a tingling sensation in their skin, hair standing on end or feel and hear small vibrations and humming in the air.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Science + Surge
Action: Instant
Duration: One scene
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The Vampire suffers the Stunned Tilt for 1 turn
Failure: The vampire fails to build up a charge
Success: The vampire builds up 1 level of Electrical Charge on the same turn and continues to build up the charge each turn thereafter until the maximum of her Surge Rating. Once she reaches her Surge rating in Electrical Charges she stops powering up. However, should she later use Release to spend one more or more charges she reflexively begins building the charge back up until she once more reaches her Surge rating in Charge Level.
At storyteller’s discretion, if the Jovian starts Build Up next to or in contact with a potent live electrical current (such as grabbing a live wire, or standing next to an electrical capacitor) she may start with more than 1 built up charge in the first turn proportional to the Charge Level of the current she’s feeding off of.
Exceptional Success: The vampire builds up an additional charge per success past 4 in the same turn they activate the discipline still limited by her Surge rating in the maximum charge she can build.
For example a Vampire with Surge 2 that rolled 6 successes would build up the maximum of 2 Charge Levels in the first turn. If the vampire’s Surge rating was 4 instead they would have built up 3 Charges in the activation turn, and hit their max of 4 charges on turn 2.
This applies to the turn of the activation roll only, after the first turn the vampire still only builds up one charge per turn as per a normal success.
Release
The Jovian can release one or more of her built up electrical charges to feed off of the electricity, disrupt electronics or damage foes around her. Each level of Surge enhances these three effects, allowing the Jovian to gain more vitae or do more damage.
She can use any combination of these effects in one turn as long as she has electrical charges, but cannot use the same effect more than once in a turn. These effects can be released on any target within line of sight up to Surge x2 yards away.
Cost: 1 or more Charges, 1 Vitae (for Disrupt and Discharge effects only)
Dice Pool: None
Action: Reflexive
Effects:
Feed: The vampire can convert her built up electrical charges into Vitae on a 1 to 1 basis. She can absorb some or all of her chargers in one turn and can safely convert up to her Surge rating in Vitae in one scene. Pushing past that capacity she suffers a bashing damage for each Vitae gained, with wounds resembling Lichtenberg figures around her extremities
Disrupt Electronics: (•): The Jovian can disrupt up to her Wits in electronic devices within Surge x2 yards away from her for the scene. Cameras stop recording, lights shut off, and vehicles shut down. Purely mechanical devices with no electrical components are immune to this power. Each use of this power costs one electrical charge to activate.
(•••): Any data stored on the device is also wiped out.
(•••••): The device is permanently damaged, certain devices such as explosives or cars laden with fuel may explode at storyteller’s discretion dealing damage as per normal explosives rules.
Electric Discharge: The vampire can release one or more of her built up charges in a spectacular bolt of electricity and damage a single target within Surge x2 yards away from her. The target takes 2 Bashing for each charge expended following the same rules as per Electricity damage (worn armor provides no protection, specialized nonconductive clothing can reduce or eliminate the damage)