Everything

Although Silence of Death is an effective tool for the battlefield and the court alike, it is indiscriminate in its effects. The assassin who uses it in preparation for firing a shotgun also silences the radio over which her comrades might warn her of an oncoming guard. The courtier who suppresses a room full of dissenting voices is likewise unable to speak her own mind. Selective Silence allows the skilled Cainite to overcome these limitations by silencing only those individuals or objects that she wants to silence.

When using this power, most individuals exhale a thin mist of blood that clings to the selected subjects, gradually evaporating as Selective Silence’s effects fade. Some vampires also use a similar technique when invoking Silence of Death, in which case the mist surrounds them and moves with them.

System: The player spends two blood points and rolls Stamina + Stealth (difficulty 7). Each success allows for one individual or object that the character can silence with this use of the power. Each subject must be within 20 yards or meters of the character. Objects larger than a man count as more than one subject: a heavy machine gun counts as two, a car as three, and a small aircraft as five. Objects larger than a private jet or creatures larger than an elephant cannot be silenced through the use of this power.

Each subject is completely silenced for a number of minutes equal to the character’s permanent Willpower. Nothing it does generates sound, though the secondary effects of its actions will do so normally. For example, a gun silenced with this power will not produce an audible explosion when fired, but its bullets still make noise as they break the sound barrier. A silenced victim can scream all he likes and not make a sound, but may be able to summon help by smashing a window.