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[MalleusXXIII]

The original text for Obeah (or at least the 2nd Ed text from the VTM Players Guide – which is the earliest I have) has the power remove pain and paralyse the target – allowing it to effectively 'stake' vampires. Subsequent versions removed the paralysis, and replaced it with sleep – affecting only living targets. There seems to a rewording each edition (and between modern and Dark Ages sources) – which leaves plenty of opportunity to decide how the power works for your own game. I've always been reluctant to stick to one edition, and prefer to use the amalgam approach – trying to use...

[MalleusXXIII]

V20 says "subject" for the pain numbing effect, and living "mortal" for the sleep effect. Along with a final paragraph saying "Kindred, including the Salubri herself, are unaffected by this power – their corpselike bodies are too tied to death." VRev has baically the same text. So, ambiguous. And VDA and DAV don't have the pain numbing effect.

I've always inferred the intent was to be able to block pain for any subject (including vampires), but to only put mortals to sleep. It seems to be how the healers were portrayed in the background, to some degree...