Influence: The character's political power within mortal society.

You have pull in the mortal community, whether through wealth, prestige, political office, blackmail or supernatural manipulation. Kindred with high Influence can sway, and in rare cases even control, the political and social processes of human society. Influence represents the sum of your political power in your community, particularly among the police and bureaucracy.

Some rolls may require you to use Influence in place of an Ability, particularly when attempting to sway minor bureaucrats. It is, of course, always easier to institute sweeping changes on a local level than a worldwide scale (e.g., having an "abandoned" building demolished is relatively easy, while starting a war is a bit more difficult).

Listed below are merely examples of what may be done with each dot


Influence is not a generic ability like in the main rulebook, but is specific to particular areas of city life. One background dot gets you one level in any single Influence. You may stack dots of a particular Influence to be able to do more and more in that area, or you may get several dots and spread them about between several types of Influences.

Keep in mind that high level Influences are difficult to acquire, and there is a limited amount of influence in a city. Try to go too high on the Influence scale, and you will find yourself competing with other characters, both PCs and NPCs.


Bureaucracy

1 - Trace utility bills
2 - Fake a birth certificate or driver's license; Disconnect a single small residence's utilities;Close a small road or park; Get public aid ($250)
3 - Fake a death certificate, passport or green card; Close a public school for a single day; Shut down a minor business on a violation
4 - Initiate a phone tap; Fake land deeds; Initiate a department-wide investigation
5 - Start, stop or alter a city-wide program or policy; Shut down a big business on a violation; Rezone areas; Obliterate records for a person on a city or county level

* Suggested Skills/Attributes
o Law, Politics

Church

1 - Identify most secular members of a given faith in the local area; Pass as a member of the clergy; Peruse general church records (baptism, marriage, burial, etc.)
2 - Identify higher church members; Track regular church members; Suspend lay members
3 - Open or close a single church; Find the average church-associated hunter; Dip into the collection plate ($250); Access private information and archives of a church
4 - Discredit or suspend high-level church members; Manipulate regional branches of the church
5 - Organize major protests; Access ancient church lore and knowledge

* Suggested Skills/Attributes
o Occult

Finance

1 - Learn about major transactions and financial events; Raise capital ($1,000); Learn about general economic trends; Learn real motivations for many financial actions of others
2 - Trace an unsecured small account; Raise capital to purchase a small business (single store or small service)
3 - Purchase a large business (a few small branches or a single large store or service)
4 - Manipulate local banking (delay deposits, some credit rating alterations); Ruin a small business
5 - Control an aspect of city-wide banking (shut off ATMs, arrange a bank "holiday"); Ruin a large business; Purchase a major company

* Suggested Skills/Attributes
o Finance, Resources. Possibly Law and Politics

Health

1 - Access a person's health records; Fake vaccination records and the like; Use public functions of health centers at your leisure; Get a single Blood Trait of mortal blood
2 - Access some medical research records; Have minor lab work done; Get a copy of a coroner's report; Instigate minor quarantines
3 - Corrupt results of tests or inspections; Alter medical records
4 - Acquire a body; Completely rewrite medical records; Abuse grants for personal use ($250); Have minor medical research performed on a subject; Institute large-scale quarantines; Shut down businesses for "health code violations"
5 - Have special research projects performed; Have people institutionalized or released

* Suggested Skills/Attributes
o Medicine, Academics

High Society

1 - Learn what is trendy; Obtain hard-to-get tickets for shows; Learn about concerts, shows or plays well before they are made public
2 - Track most celebrities and luminaries; Be a local voice in the entertainment field; "Borrow" idle cash from rich friends ($1,000)
3 - Crush promising careers; Hobnob well above your station
4 - Minor celebrity status
5 - Get a brief appearance on a talk show that's not about to be canceled; Ruin a new club, gallery, festival, or other posh gathering

* Suggested Skills/Attributes
o Resources, Etiquette, Charisma, Appearance

Industry

1 - Learn about industrial projects and movements
2 - Have minor projects performed; Dip into union funds or embezzle petty cash ($500); Arrange small accidents or sabotage
3 - Organize minor strikes; Appropriate machinery for a short time
4 - Close down a small plant; Revitalize a small plant
5 - Manipulate large local industry

* Suggested Skills/Attributes
o

Legal/b]

1 - Get free representation for minor cases
2 - Avoid bail for some charges; Have minor charges dropped
3 - Manipulate legal procedures (minor wills and contracts, court dates); Access public or court funds ($250); Get representation in most court cases
4 - Issue subpoenas; Tie up court cases; Have most legal charges dropped; Cancel or arrange parole
5 - Close down all but the most serious investigations; Have deportation proceedings held against someone

* Suggested Skills/Attributes
o Law, Politics

[b]Media

1 - Learn about breaking stories early; Submit small articles (within reason)
2 - Suppress (but not stop) small articles or reports; Get hold of investigative reporting information
3 - Initiate news investigations and reports; Get project funding and waste it ($250)
4 - Ground stories and projects
5 - Broadcast fake stories (local only); Kill small local articles or reports completely

* Suggested Skills/Attributes
o Investigation

Occult

1 - Contact and make use of common occult groups and their practices; Know some of the more visible occult figures
2 - Know and contact some of the more obscure occult figures; Access resources for most rituals and rites
3 - Access vital or rare material components; Milk impressionable wannabes for bucks ($250); Access occult tomes and writings
4 - Learn of signs of local supernatural activity and possibly contact those involved
5 - Access occult artifacts and rare occult writings; Control a small cult or circle

* Suggested Skills/Attributes
o Occult, Investigation

Police

1 - Learn police procedures; Hear police information and rumors; Avoid traffic tickets
2 - Have license plates checked; Avoid minor violations (first conviction); Get "inside information"
3 - Get copies of an investigative report; Have police hassle, detain or harass someone; Find out bureau secrets
4 - Access confiscated weapons or contraband; Have some serious charges dropped; Start an investigation; Get money, either from the evidence room or as an appropriation ($1,000)
5 - Institute major investigations; Arrange setups; Instigate bureau investigations; Have officers fired

* Suggested Skills/Attributes
o

Politics

1 - Minor lobbying; Identify real platforms of politicians and parties; Be in the know
2 - Meet small-time politicians; Garner inside information on processes, laws and the like; Use a slush fund or a fund-raiser ($1,000)
3 - Sway or alter political projects (local parks, renovations, small construction)
4 - Enact minor legislation; Dash careers of minor politicians
5 - Get your candidate in a minor office; Enact encompassing legislature

* Suggested Skills/Attributes
o

Police

1 - Open an ear for the word on the street; Identify most gangs and know their turfs and habits
2 - Live mostly without fear on the underside of society; Keep a contact or two in most aspects of street life; Access small-time contraband
3 - Get insight into other areas of Influence; Arrange some services from street people or gangs; Get pistols or uncommon melee weapons
4 - Mobilize groups of homeless; Panhandle or hold a "collection" ($250); Get hold of a shotgun, rifle or SMG; Have a word in almost all aspects of gang operations
5 - Control a single medium-sized gang; Arrange impressive protests by street people

* Suggested Skills/Attributes
o Streetwise, Intimidation

Transportation

1 - Know what goes where, when and why; Travel locally quickly and freely
2 - Track an unwary target if he uses public transportation; Arrange passage safe (or at least concealed) from mundane threats (robbery, terrorism, sunlight, etc.)
3 - Seriously hamper an individual's ability to travel; Avoid most supernatural dangers when traveling (such as Lupines)
4 - Shut down one form of transportation (bus lines, ships, planes, trains, etc.) temporarily; Route money your way ($500)
5 - Reroute major modes of travel; Smuggle with impunity

* Suggested Skills/Attributes
o Politics, Law

Underworld

1 - Locate minor contraband (knives, small-time drugs, petty gambling, scalped tickets)
2 - Obtain pistols, serious drugs, stolen cars; Hire muscle to rough someone up; Fence stolen loot; Prove that crime pays (and score $1,000)
3 - Obtain a rifle, shotgun, or SMG; Arrange a minor "hit"; Meet someone in "the Family"
4 - Make white-collar crime connections
5 - Arrange gangland assassinations; Hire a demolition man or firebug; Supply local drug needs

* Suggested Skills/Attributes
o Streetwise, Intimidation

University

1 - Know layout and policy of local schools; Have access to low-level university resources; Get records up to the high school level
2 - Know a contact or two with useful knowledge or Abilities; Have minor access to facilities; Fake high school records; Obtain college records
3 - Call in faculty favors; Cancel a class; Fix grades; Discredit a student
4 - Organize student protests and rallies; Discredit faculty members
5 - Falsify an undergraduate degree

* Suggested Skills/Attributes
o Academics