Characters are mostly defined by their backstory, outlook, relationships and so forth. There are a few mechanical components, however, which are easy to remember and apply in-game without ever breaking the flow of the scene.
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Clan
Clan
One of the defining factors for those of the blood is their heritage. Being embraced or ghouled into a clan has a mystical effect. It manifests certain supernatural powers, or Disciplines, and bestows a curse with internal and external expressions, a Bane, unique to that bloodline.
BRUJAH
The Firebrands
BRUJAH
The Firebrands
Your blood boils with fury, and whatever your convictions are, they are iron-clad, driving you to heights of passion and violent mood-swings. Though you have a volatile personality, there is a deep longing for true companionship deep within you. You are as loyal and trusting to your allies as you are fanatical and unforgiving against your enemies.
Being Brujah means seeing the world in black and white and always, always being right, no matter what. You can be a revolutionary or a tyrant, a liberator or an oppressor but you are never, ever neutral or complacent. Brujah are about change and stability be damned.
Your Disciplines are Presence to convince others of your views and Potence to smash those whom words would not sway.
Your Bane is a hunger for change. It gives you a hot, wilful temperament, leading you to defy authority and the status quo no matter the risks. You need to be right and are always spoiling for a fight, because you know how unacceptable things are and how much better they could be.
Caitiff
The Thin-Bloods
Caitiff
The Thin-Bloods
Your blood has not inherited any traits from your sire, a distant creature you may not even remember. The Beast has no voice but your own, your concerns are very human still. You are caught between worlds, unable to reach the potential of true vampires, yet alienated by the Hunger from the humans you still resemble. You have a hard time trusting anybody and yet you desperately want to connect and belong.
Being Caitiff means doing everything to survive another night, knowing full well you will never be able to make it alone. You can be as humane or callous as any other vampire, but you can never become jaded because every wound keeps bleeding. Caitiff are about immediate need and everything else be damned.
You have almost no Disciplines to call your own, except a small remnant of your forsaken heritage. For more power, you must rely on the blood of others. When you drink from a character, ask the player to randomly name one of their powers. You will be able to use this power once.
Your Bane is a hunger for completion. It leaves you empty and lacking, manifesting as a counterfeit of human life, even as you feel the Beast roaring within you. You will have no legacy to call your own, unless you take another's blood and soul.
GANGREL
The Ferals
GANGREL
The Ferals
Your blood sings with the harmony of the untamed wild, and whoever you were in life, you have become a Beast, in thinking and appearance. Though you are full of intense primal urges, you are not a solitary apex predator but a deeply social animal. You think in hierarchies and you need others to compete with and know your own place in the world.
Being Gangrel means seeing everything in terms of needs and obstacles and figuring out a way to surmount the latter to satisfy the former. You can be a subtle social predator, a slavering manbeast or anything in between but you can never, ever be truly tamed. Gangrel are about adaptation and weakness be damned.
Your Disciplines are Animalism to understand and master the Beast Within and Fortitude to survive the challenges the world will throw at you.
Your Bane is a hunger for transformation. It manifests as atavisms that lead you to shed the person you once were. Your instincts, your outlook, even parts of your appearance undeniably betray the animalistic predator you are.
MALKAVIAN
The Doomsayers
MALKAVIAN
The Doomsayers
Your blood is full of the gift of prophecy, and however you once perceived the world, it has slowly been twisted into a shattered mirror image. Though you are forever alone with the portents and the premonitions, you have a desperate need to connect with others, to alleviate your pain or spread it. In contact with others you are always a stranger and others confuse you just as much as you terrify them.
Being Malkavian means seeing a deep, hidden meaning in the most insignificant events. You can change from moment to moment but you will never, ever be whole again. Malkavians are about insight and normativity be damned.
Your Disciplines are Auspex to delve into the hearts and minds around you and Obfuscate to hide from the persecution of those who would keep their secrets.
Your Bane is a hunger for salvation. You know and see to much, constantly plagued by powerful visions and whispered ideas that you can neither control nor fully understand but that fill you with a desperate urgency to act and set things right, whatever that may mean to you.
NOSFERATU
The Pariahs
NOSFERATU
The Pariahs
Your blood has twisted your visage into a foul monstrosity, and whatever you do, to all others you will always be an outcast, an object of pity or revulsion. Though you mistrust the world that has rejected you, there is a deep longing inside you to be part of it to feel a real connection. Lacking that, you try to stay neutral and offer your services to the highest bidder.
Being Nosferatu means seeing the world with the eyes of the disenfranchised underdog trying to make it through each day alive no matter what the cost. You can be just misunderstood or a real creep reveling in their degeneracy or anything in between, but you will never, ever fit in. Nosferatu are about survival and niceties be damned.
Your Disciplines are Obfuscate to infiltrate the society that would shut you out and Potence to break those who who would come to hunt you in the dark.
Your Bane is a hunger for acceptance. But you wear the face of the Beast within, and it will forever mark you and exclude you. No matter how others lie, you know they want to scream and run away, hurt or kill you, and you hate them for it.
TOREADOR
The Sirens
TOREADOR
The Sirens
Your blood vibrates with the siren song of beauty and desire, and whatever you do you do with an all-consuming intensity and obsession. Though you are all about your own ego, you always seek the company of lovers to entertain, protégés to inspire and enemies to humiliate. Every relationship is the most important thing in the world... until you get bored and move on at a whim.
Being Toreador means constantly searching for moments of truth and beauty because you chase the rapture of feeling something real like an addict feeds their need. You can be a creator or a consumer but you will never, ever be innocent. Before you ever burn out, countless others bleed for you. Toreador are about hedonism and frailty be damned.
Your Disciplines are Auspex to find our what you truly desire and Presence to get it, no matter what your victim thinks they may want.
Your Bane is a hunger for stimulation. There's a hole inside of you and only sensation can fill it. Grasp what you want like a raft that keeps you afloat. You need more, always more, or otherwise you feel how dead inside you really are.
TREMERE
The Warlocks
TREMERE
The Warlocks
Your blood whispers to you of forbidden knowledge, and whatever brought you to this point, it was somewhat of a deal with the devil. You just couldn’t resist. Though you are a highly competitive elitist, you know you need others to learn from and grow. You can be a valuable ally but your foremost loyalty is always to yourself.
Being Tremere means delving into the mysteries of the world, driven by an all-consuming desire to know and to control. You can be anything between a well-intentioned extremist à la Frankenstein or a selfish warlock like Faust but you never, ever know when to stop. Tremere are about the discovery of secrets and ethics be damned.
Your Disciplines are Blood Sorcery that lets you get at the roots of life itself and Dominate to command the dullards who would stand in the way of your quest.
Your Bane is a hunger for knowledge, manifesting as an obsessive drive to always learn, experiment, prod, and poke until you get results. If there's a cost, you're prepared to pay it, as long as you get to know. You can't ever let go.
VENTRUE
The Kings
VENTRUE
The Kings
Your blood is heavy with the burden of rulership, and whatever you aspire to, you do it with a burning ambition to lead. Only the best will do for you. Though it is lonely at the top, you know the value of allies and appreciate diplomacy. You are known for making a tough bargain, keeping your word and reacting furiously when someone else breaks theirs.
Being Ventrue means seeing the world in neat little boxes where everyone has a place and a function they should stick to and yours just so happens to be to lead the others. You can lead through force or by example, by fear or trust, but you never, ever play second fiddle to anyone. Ventrue are about birthright and dissidents be damned.
Your Disciplines are Dominate to command your subjects and Fortitude to prove your superiority to those who would dare challenge you.
Your Bane is a hunger for stability. It comes with a natural inclination to enforce order, regardless of circumstances, without mitigating factors. You cannot defy the orders of a superior and you must punish the defiance or deficiency of an inferior.
Blood Potency
Blood Potency
The blood of the Damned is mutable, changing to more potent and versatile forms with age and experience, or (some whisper) with the number of other immortal lives consumed in the dread act of diablerie.
For the purposes of our game, every Kindred or Ghoul has a Blood Potency between 1-6 assigned to them. This number will remain constant for most of the story and might change during the game's Third Act, depending on your choices (see: Structure).
It is the primary measure of our conflict resolution mechanic, the Battle of the Beasts.
It also determines how many powers from among their clan's Disciplines your character has.
As a rule of thumb, the higher the number, the more your character's appearance or behaviour should in some way be otherworldly or inhuman.
Disciplines
Disciplines
There are eight Disciplines in the game, each providing a choice of two supernatural powers.
Your character brief descibes which powers you have access to and how to use them, based on your clan's blood legacy. You can customise your character through choosing from among the offering of disciplines.
ANIMALISM
You will truly tell me your [Rage or Regret].
Reveals one of the target's compulsions, it's nature and trigger, in a rambling confession.
You will truly be full of [Rage or Regret].
Induces one of the target's compulsions until it is fulfilled.
AUSPEX
You will truly confess your sins to me.
Gets the target to open up about their troubled soul in a heartfelt confession.
You will truly tell me your knowlegde about [X].
Reveals the target's information about a subject other than themselves.
BLOOD SORCERY
You will truly give me a power of your blood.
Copies one of the target's powers through feeding to use until the user's next feeding. This power requires no additional Battle of the Beasts.
You will truly feel your blood boil and become ravenous.
Causes pain and increases the target's Hunger to maximum, triggering the Beast.
DOMINATE
You will truly obey my command: [X]
Implants a single, complex action, and a trigger to activate it once.
You will truly only remember what I tell you to: [X]
Erases the target's memories of the last few minutes or replaces them with a scene you describe.
FORTITUDE
You will truly not stop me.
Used against an aggressor as a last announcement when losing a fight, you are not helpless in the face of a winning opponent. One wound will heal immediately, without rest. This power requires no additional Battle of the Beasts.
You will truly know that I am just so much better than you.
Your target feels awe and respect for your stalwartness and must show proper deference until you leave.
OBFUSCATE
You will truly look away and do nothing.
The target must not take notice or interfere with your next action. To them it is as if it had never happened.
You will truly believe me to be [X].
The target will believe you are a person of your choice and treat you accordingly until you leave. The target will not believe others who try to point out the truth.
POTENCE
You will truly go down with me.
Used against a defender as a last announcement when you are losing a fight, while retaining your wounds they get injured as well. This power requires no additional Battle of the Beasts.
You will truly fear my wrath. Back down!
Intimidates the target to abort the next action against you (such as initiating a fight). They must avoid you for a few minutes.
PRESENCE
You will truly take my words to heart: [X]
Sways your target's opinions about a subject according to your advice. They will believe you are right for an hour but they are free how to act on that information.
You will truly feel [X] about [X].
Changes the target's feelings about a person of your choosing (which may be yourself) to an emotion of your choosing for an hour.
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