Obtenebration

1 • Shadow Play (VtM 3rd)
You can manipulate shadows and dim (though not extinguish) light in an area. Among other uses, (such as eliminating the vampire's shadow), this power allows the vampire to subtly manipulate the shadows around her to make herself appear more menacing. One blood point required.
(Cbk Las Rev) Many players assume that one-dot powers just aren't good for much. THey're often wrong, and particularly so in this case. Many Lasombra find Shadow Play quite sufficient for most of their purposes. The opportunity to simultaneously enhance stealth and intimation and to reduce target's soak and Stamina, all for one blood point and no concentration, for an entire scene...
The Lasombra sneer at any of their clan mates who can't find something useful to do with this power. Note that Shadow Play doesn't just make shadows slide around and provide dramatic lighting effects. Pieces of darkness come alive to wrap themselves around the Lasombra's victim. Irregular masses of pure blackness fly through the air to swat at targets. Shadow Play involves a blatant show of supernatural power. Dazed mortals can explain away the effects that enhance Stealth or Intimidation relatively easily. Animated shadows in midair just don't yield to logic.
Most Lasombra care nothing about the Masquerade as anything but a survival tactic, but they prefer not to be overtly supernatural except in situations they control. Hasty recourse to Shadow Play shows dulled imagination and poor planning, just as refusal to use it where it's appropriate shows a dangerous tendency toward self-imposed strictures.

2 • Shroud of Night (VtM 3rd)
You can evoke an area of inky black darkness. The darkness obscures light and even sound; most opponents trapped within are completely blind, and those with Gleam of the Red Eyes or Heightened Senses can see only with difficulty. The darkness is normally static; you may move it about at walking speed, but only with intense concentration. Covers a 10' area, the range of this power is 50 yards. The Shroud can even be summoned in an area the vampire can't see (such as the room behind a closed door at which the vampire stands). The difficulty of that is increased and requires the expenditure of a bloodpoint.
(Cbk Las Rev): Shadow Play's animated shadows spring from existing sources. The transformation itself is scary, but at least it has an obvious source. Shroud of Night brings forth something that has no antecedents. A vampire using Shroud of Night must consider the tradeoff involved: The people inside are well and truly trapped in shadow, the ball of which is utterly obvious to anyone outside. The ball of tangible darkness Shroud of Darkness invokes can be a secret only when the environment around it is also fairly dark. Then again, secrecy isn't always the priority, and for sheer shock value, a roiling mass of blackness beats many alternatives. Lasombra in Rotschreck often subconsciously invoke Shroud of Night to hide themselves from a perceived threat.

3 • Arms of the Abyss (VtM 3rd)
You can summon one or more tendrils of darkness from a shadowy area to grasp foes. Each tendril has five Physical Traits for the purposes of grasping, and can be destroyed by two levels of damage. The base tendril is 6 feet long. Length can be increased by 6 feet per success.
(Cbk Las Rev): Arms of the Abyss is another power that seems mundane only to the people who have the benefit of reading the rulebook. Characters in the WoD see shadow extrusions longer than themselves come to life and act without apparent effort on the part of the vampire who created them. Remember that it doesn't take active concentration to maintain the arms once evoked. Since it takes three levels of Obtenebration to create arms at all, even the weakest shadow tentacles are (unless their creator chooses to weaken them) stronger and faster than the average mortal. With sustained practice, even the meekest 13th generation Lasombra can draw out tentacles capable of beating humanity's best warriors in a fair fight, as if fighting against extruded shadow powered by dead blood could be fair under any circumstances.
Arms are of course useful in fights, but they also serve non-combat functions. Crippled Lasombra like Andrew Emory use Arms to carry them around; two tentacles can do the job. A shadow tentacle can pass through very thin openings (though its creator needs some other way of seeing where it's going after that) and loses no strength or speed as a result of the constriction. An arm need not be a ''tentacle'' in the sense of a simple flexible cylinder. It can spread into a fan, or break up into a knot of intertwined fibers, or spread out flat over a square foot of any surface (or open space), or take on nearly any other shape its creator imagines. Thus an arm can lie in wait until its creator brings it forth. A late comer won't see the blood or concentration it took to create the arm and may not realize the arm's connection to the vampire. Lasombra in frenzy often subconsciously create Arms of the Abyss to help defeat the offending targets.
The vampire may spend one blood point to gain faint but clear sensory impressions from an Arm of the Abyss. This requires one blood point per tentacle and covers touch, taste, pressure, temperature and the like but not sight, sound, or smell. This way the vampire can use the arm to explore beyond its creators' sight. If the arm bursts into flame, for example, the vampire might suspect that sunlight waits around the corner.

4 • Black Metamorphosis
(Cbk Las Rev): This power reflects a great deal of the Lasombra's self-image. When thinking about how a character's appearance changes in the metamorphosis. A Lasombra who regards her powers as expressing original sin takes on elements of religious iconography, with a combination of very confessional, personal, and thoroughly codified symbols of the sins that drive her. A Lasombra who regards herself as heir to the gods of darkness may become rigid and stylized in appearance, like a craw drawing of some evil spirit or a statue of a bloodthirsty goddess. A Lasombra who favors a Lovecraftian approach to the Abyss may take on non-Euclidean angles and peculiar spatial distortions. In any event, no two Lasombra, not even sire and childe, look quite the same while undergoing the Black Metamorphosis.
Lasombra interested in keeping the general population scared of supernatural menaces in general favor the Black Metamorphosis as a psychological weapon. It's good for appearing to mortals who think they're dealing with demons, too: With Shroud of Night to mask an entrance and a sudden appearance in metamorphosed form, a Lasombra can convince most would-be occultists that their summoning ritual worked.
The Black Metamorphosis also draws on the mental state of bystanders. Any mortal who's been the victim of a vampire's advanced Dominate powers (Conditioning or Possession in particular) suffers more difficulty in resisting flight. The residue of the vampire's power inside the mortal's head combines with the current transformation to produce a particularly horrifying result. Partial amnesia (unable to recall any details of the scene except that they have witnessed something desperately, hideously wrong) can also occur. ((When playing online without rolls, I suggest you leave this to the character players discretion.))

5 • Tenebrous Form (VtM 3rd)
You can turn your body into an oozing form of shadow. In this form, you may see in pitch darkness, slither through the tiniest of cracks, and are immune to physical harm (though you may not attack physically either). Fire and sunlight still do their normal damage, and indeed are more painful to you in this form -- such that they are much more likely to cause you to frenzy. You may not fly, but may slither along surfaces at normal speeds. 3 blood points required and takes 3 turns to make the change.
(Cbk Las Rev): This power marks the threshold between control of shadow and identification with it. A Lasombra in Tenebrous Form has, for the moment, ceased being human at all, even in form. She's now a disembodied will operating in the world as a force of nature, or rather a force of unnature. Some Lasombra prefer to spend as much time as possible in this condition and arrange the steady flow of victims necessary to keep the Tenebrous Form active. Some particularly diligent elders even get infusions of blood into their chambers so that they remain shadowed forms nestled in pools of blood during the day.
As with Black Metamorphosis, the Lasombra's outlook effects many details of the Tenebrous Form. A Lasombra who regards Obtenebration as sin made tangible transforms with a series of eruptions, skin and bone shattering as the darkness gushes forth from her heart and mind, or becomes suffused by darkness as her veins pumped a poison throughout her body. A Lasombra immersed in occult studies who regards the Abyss as the First Substance may collapse as if into a black hole, her body sucking itself away into the Abyss and leaving only animated shadow behind. A Lasombra who identifies shadow-stuff with some primal state of matter may transform all at once in a flash of darkness after three turns' mediation, or fade into translucence and regain opacity in shadow form. Note that the Tenebrous Form cannot fly, but can swin, and that since it lacks substance, it suffers no harm from increased pressure. Nor can any confinement keep it in or out of a location, as long as there's an opening a few molecules wide.

Call the Thing in Darkness (Las Cbk Rev)
No level. Actual manipulation of the Abyss requires a total of five dots in Obtenebration and Occult (Abyss), with at least two dots in each. Below that, students can learn only pragmatic lessons on apply Obtenebration in the physical world.
Arms of the Abyss can draw out portions of the Abyss intelligence, which coupled with proper occult preparation. This requires a one hour ritual and one blood point. Then the summoner invokes Arms of the Abyss. When used this way, only a single arm manifests. It has its regula physical statistics and one dot of Mental Attributes per dot of Obtenebration the summoner possesses. The summoner can decide how to allocate the dots. Each success beyond the first provides another dot, as does each additional blood point spent at the time of invocation.
The Abyss creature possesses at least one powerful derangement and an obsession that resembles one particular sin from a Path of Enlightment (usually level six or higher on the Hierarchy of Sins). Each Abyss creature emerges driven to do something, which may or may not fit with the summoner's plan. The creature can move independently at the summoner's running speed and exists for the duration of a scene or one hour. Intense light dispel the creature immediately. The summoner can repeat the ritual steps to reinforce the creature's presence. If all steps succeed, the creature remains for the rest of the night. The summoner can try to summon the same creature again, and three successes in a row allow it permanent presence as long as the summoner feeds it (10-the character's Obtenebration rating) points of blood each night.
The summoner can attempt to absorb the manifestation into himself. This requires the summoner to defeat it in battle, reducing it to zero health levels. This done, the summoner can drain its darkness into himself. He gains half the creature's dots in each Attribute added to his own for the duration of the night. He also gains the creature's derangement and cannot spend Willpower points to resist its effect. If the creature succeeds in reducing its summoner to torpor, it can it can invade his body and control it for the rest of the night. It can also return the following night and try again, and if it defeats him this way three nights in a row, it can possess him until driven out. The dispossession requires some other practitioner of Obtenebration to reduce the invaded vampire to torpor and go through the steps of the summoning ritual. If they all succeed, the Abyss creature returns to the void and never returns again with quite that combination of Attributes.

Descent Into Darkness (Las Cbk Rev)
No level. An expert in Obtenebration can actually enter the Abyss. This requires an hour-long ritual, one blood point. The vampire than uses Shadowstep. If each step works, he passes into the Abyss, in the Obtenebration equivalent of Psychic Projection. He also risks encountering Abyss spirits. Coalesced fragments of Abyss can be sensed. Creatures with statistic equivalents to one called with the Call the Thing in Darkness will approach. The more skillful the traveler is, the more powerful the entity that will try to possess him.
The vampire moves at up to a thousand miles an hour and can peer into any environment in total or near-total darkness--Night Sight Merit or Flaw comes in handy for this purpose. If a vampire loses all of his Willpower in astral combat, no ''silver cord'' is severed but the Abyss spits out the vampire into the nearest dark place in the material world.

6 • The Darkness Within (GS) (also Call the Lamprey in PGS)
This enables the vampire to summon the dark force within himself. The darkness emerges from the mouth of the vampire and envelops a chosen target, draining her life force taking one blood point per turn. The damage takes the appearance of hundred of tiny bites. This can be used to kill mortals but may not drain blood from other vampires. It will however, increase all difficulties by three; furthermore the terrifying feeling of being chewed on will cause Rotschreck. The Lamprey returns to the mouth of the user and gives him half of the blood points. While using the Lamprey, the vampire cannot perform any other action other than concentrating. The Lamprey is immune to all physical attacks but may be destroyed by magical attacks. If the vampire is attacked while using the Lamprey, it automatically returns to the vampire's body.

6 • Eyes of the Night (PGS)
The vampire is able to see anything that goes on within the dark force created by any another use of this Discipline. Thus, the vampire could evoke the Shroud of Night (Level Two) in another room and clairvoyantly scan the area. Vampire automatically receives the Protean power Gleam of Red Eyes. Finally as long as the vampire is not in well-lit area, she may view her surroundings from anywhere within 50 feet of her own body just by closing her eyes and concentrating.

6 • Shadowstep (GS)
The vampire can walk through one shadow and exit another up to 50 feet away. This power as a limited form of teleportation. The vampire may use it to bypass solid walls, ascend a floor in a building, and get around other obstacles. The vampire may also use try to use this power to pull others through a shadow to him. The Vampire may do this by reaching into the shadow, grabbing the victim and pulling the victim through the shadow to his own location. 2 successes required to pull somebody through.

7 • Shadow Twin (GS) (also Shadow Slave in PGS)
The vampire's control over darkness has progressed to such a degree that he may bestow it with a limited degree of sentience. By animating his own shadow or that or that of another, the Lasombra can actually "set free" the shadow cast by light. While this power is active, the subject casts no shadow, as it has left to pursue the Lasombra's commands.

Needless to say, this power unnerves mortal and even a few inexperienced vampires. The Lasombra commands the individual's shadow, and some vampires report having seen mortals literally scared to death, as their shadows leapt away to taunt or menace them.
The Shadow Twin has Attributes and Abilities ratings equal to half of those of its parents, though they won't do much talking or thinking. The Shadow Twin also has an obtenebration score equal to half that of the Lasombra who animated it.
The twin may separate itself from the parent and travel up to 50 feet away, crawling through crevices or sliding up walls. It may attack and be attacked, though it takes and does only half-damage; flame and supernatural attacks (werewolf claws, vampire fangs, magical spells) do full damage, however. If Shadow Twin is killed, the parent loses half her Willpower pool and risks Rotschreck. Requires one blood point.

8 • Dark Hunter (LS1)
A Dark Hunter is a shadowy duplicate of the summoning vampire himself. A simulacrum made entirely of shadow, the Dark Hunter appears as a shadow silhouette of the vampire, right down to weapons, clothes and so forth. Indeed at a distance, the Dark Hunter may well be mistaken for its master.
A summoned Dark Hunter will do nothing until given a quarry. Once the target has been assigned, however, the Dark Hunter is relentless in stalking him, never resting (except during hours of daylight) until the chase is finished. However, that doesn't mean the Hunter is stupid or self-destructive, single minded does not necessarily mean simpleminded.
Depending upon instruction, a Dark Hunter can seek either to subdue or slay its target; in the former case, it will automatically bring the victim back to its master by whatever means available. The Hunter cannot vanish into shadow and transport itself "home'; it must cover every foot of ground between it and its master. Once the Hunter's mission is accomplished, however, it vanishes instantly. The newly summoned creature must be feed 5 blood points and is given a point of Willpower. To fix a target within a Dark Hunter's mind, the summoning vampire must give something of the quarry's to the Hunter. A Dark Hunter possesses the same Attributes as the vampire who created it, down to Willpower. It can only use Unseen Presence as a Discipline though. Dark Hunters take damage like Night Shades, as well as from fire and sunlight. They can supposedly speak (in the voice of its vampiric creator).
There are some Lasombra who reputedly can can see through the eyes of their Dark Hunters, sometimes even extending their perceptions across multiple shadowy surrogates. Theoretically, if one wounds a Dark Hunter that a Lasombra is "listening in" on, one might wound the vampire as well, but this has never been proven. It is rumored that Lasombra himself once sent a pack of Dark Hunters after Caine himself, but the shadow creatures were unable to discover his whereabouts. Supposedly, these Hunters still wander the Earth, searching for Caine with a devotion long since fractured into madness.
The use of a Dark Hunter to assault a rival is considered to be a grave breach of etiquette among the Lasombra, equivalent to a thrown gauntlet at the beginning of a duel. After all, no Lasombra capable of summoning a Dark Hunter should be in the least bit threatened by one. On the hand, there's nothing in the protocol forbidding the sending of a Dark Hunter after one's inferiors--an different Lasombra define their inferiors in different ways.

8 • Master of the Night (PGS)
The vampire is able to summon three (or fewer) shades, creatures made of solid darkness. While shades may be injured normally, they act as if they are uninjured until they reach the level of Incapacitated, at which point they dissipate. The shade will serve the vampire one night at a time if they are not destroyed in combat. While they do possess a limited degree of sentience, they fully serve the vampire's verbal commands. Costs 5 Blood Points each shade and 1 Willpower. (the blood is spilled on the ground and the shadow emerges to drink it).
Shades possess Celerity 1, Obfuscate 2, Obtenebration (Eyes of the Night, Shadow Walk, and Shadow Body). They may attack and be injured normally. The chill grasp of the shades does aggravated damage. 8 • Oubliette (GS) (also Entombment in PGS)
By creating a "chamber" of pure darkness, the Lasombra may entrap or smother her enemies. No air exists in this shadow-trap, and mortals suffocate within its chilling void. Even vampires have little recourse once trapped--they may leave only at their captor's whim. The Oubliette appears as a dense patch of shadow, unaffected by light around it.

While vampires cannot use disciplines or take any actions, the Oubliette vanishs instantly when touched by sunlight--or when the Lasombra chooses to relax it. Only one Oubliette may be maintained at a time.

9 • Ahriman's Demesne (GS) (also Summon the Abyss in PGS)
This power allows the vampire to summon a darkness so oblivating that it extinguishs the light or life--or unlife--of any victim trapped within it. It creats a 50 foot radius of void that issues from the Cainite's hand and takes away the bodies of those it claims when it vanishs. The overwhelming darkness destroys friends and foes alike, claiming anyone unfortunate to be within its circumference.

9 • Tchernabog (LS1)
This art grants its wielder the ability to literally block out the sky. By invoking this power, a Lasombra blots out the sky with darkness. The moon, stars, even the sun--all are covered by an inky black shroud that stretches from horizon to horizon.
There are precisely three Lasombra who have demonstrated mastery of this power: Lasombra himself, Montano and a Lasombra of Greek heritage formerly known as Boukephos. These three steadfastly refuse to teach this art to any others, and those who press too hard for this knowledge run the risk of incurring the displeasure of these three elders. Costs two Willpower points and lasts precisely one hour, at which the darkness fades away. A vampire can walk about at midday and not feel any ill effects from the sun, even lanterns and torches seem dim and weak. Otherwise the darkness conforms to that summoned forth by Level 2 Obtenebration.

10 • Banishment (PGS)
The vampire can remove his victim from the world and send him to the abyss from whence the darkness originates. None have ever escaped this doom on their own.

6 • Darksome Embrace (DAC)
7 • Death Shroud (DAC)
8 • Night Shades (DAC)