Investigation

Key facts

Category

mental

Overview

Investigation is deliberate inquiry: searching a scene properly, following a paper trail, interviewing people who do not want to talk, and holding a case together over several nights. Awareness notices something is wrong; Investigation is the work you do afterward. It is the engine skill for mystery chronicles, and it cuts both ways in this setting. Kindred investigate each other constantly, and the same techniques are what mortal police and hunters use on you. A vampire who understands how a crime scene is processed is a vampire who knows what to remove before dawn, which makes this as much a Masquerade skill as an investigative one.

How it works

Common Rolls:

• Intelligence + Investigation: Analyzing evidence, research
• Wits + Investigation: Following leads, quick analysis
• Resolve + Investigation: Extended investigations across multiple nights Extended Work: Real cases are extended rolls. The Storyteller sets how many successes the trail needs, and failures cost time rather than ending the case outright. Specialties: Crime Scenes, Paper Trails, Interrogation, Surveillance, Digital Forensics

Tips and playstyle

Character Concepts: Detective, journalist, insurance investigator, private eye, a Nosferatu who trades information and has to gather it first. Synergies: Auspex reads scenes no forensic team could, Insight handles the witnesses, Technology covers digital trails, and Academics finds the records that predate any database. Worth Knowing: Investigation is the coterie skill most groups discover they are missing halfway through a mystery, usually while standing in a room they cannot read.

Frequently asked questions