![]() Several are disallowed outright: Necromancy, Serpentis, Thaumaturgy, and Vicissitude. On the side issue of discipline use, I've worked up a few quick notes. The other is charging some freebie points for it as a merit.Δ‘And many thanks to the eagle-eyed writer or editor who caught the problem and fixed it. One option would be a species that is good at mimicking human speech, such as a parrot. OTOH, if a player were dead-set on talking in animal form because it is central their character concept, I would allow it. A wolf could growl something like a "yes" or "no" answer to a question, or communicate the rhythm of a human word, for example. I would certainly allow some very expressive uses of what voice the animal has. So, when STing, I would rule that no speech is possible in animal form. Not the most rational argument, but there it is. Thematically, a talking bat could easily seem cartoonish or silly, rather than horrific.I get that some folks will hand-wave this by saying, "it's magic!" Okay, but then do you allow people to speak while earth melded or in mist form? How about Vicissitude or Obtenebration 5? Physically, the appropriate anatomy does not exist in most animals.This implies they meant to limit it in the past, noted the ambiguity, and issued a clarification 1. In V5, the writers went out of their way to point out that the change removes human speech.So, there is a precedent for abilities being changed, not added. Flight form reduces Strength, for example. There are abilities lost or reduced by the change.This implies human communication requires human form. Indeed, transforming to humanoid form to interact with another character is often the way the writer points out the character has Protean 4. I am not aware of any canon npc who has used speech while in animal form.This would seem an unusual omission, if speech is retained. The power description mentions retaining "his own psyche and temperament", with no mention of speech.Can a bat ride a bicycle, or use a sewing machine? Can a wolf type 120 wpm, or wear human clothes? Lots of abilities are lost, that few would argue should be retained.There are, however, several reasons to infer this was not the RAI meaning. Grammatically, and therefore RAW, I would say the transformed vampires retains the power of speech, because the animal abilities are added to the native form. Now, this can be read either as, "add the abilities of the animal form onto the abilities the vampire already has", or as, "remove all of the vampire's abilities which are dependent on their form, and replace them with those of the animal form taken". Furthermore, each form gives the character the abilities of that creature.
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