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Kindred endowed with Potence possess unnatural strength. This Discipline enables vampire to leap massive distances, lift tremendous weights, and strike opponents with brutal force. Even low ranks of this power can give Kindred physical power beyond mortal bounds. More powerful Kindred can leap so far that they appear to be flying, toss cars like soda cans, and punch through walls like cardboard. While the more subtle mental Disciplines can be awe-inspiring, the brutal effectiveness of Potence is formidable in its own right.

The Brujah, Giovanni, Lasombra, and Nosferatu are naturally gifted with this Discipline, but members of other Clans often make a point to find someone who can teach them the awesome power of Potence.

Each dot that the vampire has in Potence adds one die to all Strength-related dice rolls. Further, the player can spend one blood point and change his Potence dice into an equal number of automatic successes to all Strength-related rolls for the turn. In melee and brawling combat, successes from Potence (either rolled or automatic) are applied to the damage roll results. The vampire with this refined application of Potence knows just how to apply her deadly strength to destroying inanimate objects. Spend two blood points to activate Crush for the scene. With a successful attack against an object, your character automatically destroys it. In the case of weapons or armor on active combatants, this may mean a targeted attack. If you choose to destroy a victim’s weapons or armor, they take no damage from the attack. A vampire with extensive knowledge of Potence can squeeze very, very hard. As a matter of fact, she can squeeze (or press, or push) so hard that she can leave an imprint of her fingers or hand in any hard surface up to and including solid steel. A use of Imprint can simply serve as a threat, or it can be used, for example, to dig handholds into sheer surfaces for purposes of climbing. Imprint requires a point of blood to activate. The power remains active for the duration of a scene. The depth of the imprint the vampire creates with Imprint is up to the Storyteller — decisions should take into account how much force the vampire can bring to bear, the toughness of the material, and its thickness.If the object the vampire grasps is thin enough, at the Storyteller’s discretion, the vampire might simply be able to push through it (in the case of a wall) or tear it off (in the case of a spear or pipe). This power is an improvement on the Leaps and Bounds combination disicpline, allowing the Brujah to jump far higher than normal. Relentless Pursuit can be used along with Leaps and Bounds. There is no cost to use this power, which is always active. The Brujah doubles the number of automatic successes granted by Potence when applying them to jump rolls. A Dexterity + Athletics roll is required to make sure the character lands safely. Facetiously named, this power allows the Kindred to physically knock another character away from herself with the slightest of touches. Although this power does no damage in and of itself, its use is quite humbling, and certainly, to be hurled away from an elder in a social setting has its embarrassing repercussions. Some Kindred who use this power do so surreptitiously, touching their victims and sending them reeling across the room. Others use this power as a not-so-subtle display of their might, giving their victim a casual slap that has overwhelming results. The player spends a Blood Point and the character must physically touch her target (which may require a Dexterity + Brawl roll in certain situations). The character on the receiving end of this power is immediately thrown a number of meters equal to the invoking character's Potence rating. The results of this vary by situation, and are left to the Storyteller - a character hurled into a wall may well sustain damage, which a character tossed haphazardly away might have to succeed on a Dexterity roll (difficulty 6) to remain standing. With this level of power, the Cainite’s hands move through flesh the way a mortal’s moves through packed sand. A character with Brutality causes lethal damage with her unarmed strikes. Her unarmed strikes may only be dodged, not blocked or parried, as her punches move weapons and shields aside effortlessly. This power does not require activation, and is considered “always on” unless the user wills it. According to some pundits, Potence is merely the art of hitting something very hard. But what do you do when your target is too far away to hit directly? The answer is, if you’re sufficiently talented with the Discipline, to employ Earthshock. On its simplest level, Earthshock is the ability to hit the ground at point A and subsequently have the force of the blow emerge from the ground at point B. The use of Earthshock requires the expenditure of two blood points, as well as a normal Dexterity + Brawl roll. The vampire punches or stamps on the ground, and, if the attack is a success, the force of the blow emerges from the ground as a geyser of stone and earth directly underneath the target. The attack can be dodged at a +2 difficulty.

Earthshock’s range is 10 feet or three meters for every level of Potence the vampire has, up to the limits of visibility. A failure on the attack roll means that the strike goes errant and is liable to explode anywhere within range; a botch means that the vampire pulverizes the ground beneath him and may well bury himself in the process.

The vampire’s strength is such that her force of will alone is enough to make her an immovable object, whether or not she has something to hold on to. She can lock herself in place, clinging onto where she stands with the power of her mind. Using this ability, she can resist any attempt to shift her by telekinesis or physical strength. She digs in, holding herself in place with her will alone. If the vampire spends a Willpower point and is standing on a solid surface, she cannot be moved. She might be hit by a truck or a train and not budge an inch (although she will take some hefty damage!). The only way to move her is to destroy the surface she is standing on. This will work if she is on a bridge, but blasting the ground will just leave her standing at the bottom of a crater.