Welcome to Character Creation
This in-depth guide is intended specifically for playing on our server. We primarily use v5 rules-as-written, but have made some alterations to account for the many situations that are left to the Storyteller’s discretion in interpretation. These rulings and homebrews are marked accordingly.
Useful Links during CC
What setting information should I know? What factions are there?
What are fledglings? Who are these Clans?
How to write diverse characters
How to play/Important Information
Custom Sheets
We have custom sheets that allow us to streamline sheet checking; you will be required to use these. Find them below.
No Book? That’s ok
If you do not have the 5th edition corebook, we have premade Clan sheets below for you to use. This is also great if you’re struggling with character creation at first, we may ask you to use them if you’re unable to make fixes on a sheet after a set amount of attempts.
Approval Time?
Please remember that all games of this nature are run by volunteers, we will review your character sheet as soon as we can but expect slowdowns when the server is busy. Hang out in server instead and pass the time while waiting by meeting the active user base.
Submitting Sheets
Enter the command “-ticket open reason” with reason as the character’s name, please call this command in #general-chatter. This will create a private thread between you and the ST to process the sheet.
Book Requirements
- If you don’t yet own any of the 5th edition books you can find them online at DriveThruRPG; please use a premade sheet in that case or until you purchase a Corebook.
- The following clans cannot be played without the corresponding books:
- Corebook
- Caitiff and Thin-bloods (If you play a Thin-blood, please read this link)
- Camarilla Book / Players Guide
- Banu Haqim (we implemented a milder version of their Bane here)
- Anarch Book / Players Guide
- The Ministry (In order to play an orthodox Setite you must also own the Cults of the Blood Gods book)
- Chicago by Night / Players Guide
- Lasombra
- Cults of the Blood Gods / Players Guide
- Hecata
- For Salubri, Ravnos, and Tzimisce you will need the corebook and to download the free V5 Companion Guide which can be found on the World of Darkness website once you login or the Players Guide).
- Corebook
It is recommended you go through this creation guide, even if you currently own the books, in order to ensure you are not missing our banned mechanics and/or for clarification on more technical questions that are often asked during the approval process.
Basic Character Information
Name: Character’s name.
Player: Your Discord username.
Faction: For information on these check this link.
Concept: Who were they in their previous life? A private investigator? Drug dealer? College student? Have they changed over time? Think of this as a general summary of your character, but the character shouldn’t come from the concept. Rather, the concept should spring from the character.
Ambition: What is your character’s current personal goal? This can change with time. Please keep this as something that is actually possible to achieve in RP — so overthrowing the Camarilla, becoming the Seattle Mayor, etc, are not acceptable. We do not allow Player Characters to take Positions of Power, such as Prince but also Primogen/Scourge. These positions are controlled by SPCs written by the team to avoid the inevitable pitfalls that occur with player-controlled PoP in PbP. Progress toward the Ambition is used to regain Aggravated Willpower damage, so an Ambition with too large or difficult a scope will severely hamper your character. Remember that Ambitions can change in game, either upon completion or with a natural shift in goals during roleplay.
Predator Type: This is how they primarily feed. Don’t forget the associated merits and flaws; for more information on this refer p. 175 of the Corebook.
Sire: Your character’s vampire parent. You are free to make up their name and personality. You can also put unknown if the character doesn’t know. You do not need to have a player as your character’s sire; in addition, you can leave the sire as ‘unknown’ and add a player character sire later on if you desire.
Clan: Pick one.
Generation: Generation 10 is the lowest playable generation overall. Thin-bloods are generations 14+. We also follow the Sea of Time rules, found below.
The Clans
Brief Description: Fighters against the system, rebels against injustice, petty criminals, raging rabble, activists, agents of change, warrior philosophers fallen from grace.
Clan Disciplines: Celerity, Potence, Presence.
For more information: FAQ and VTM 5th Edition Wiki
Brief Description: The clan closest to their inner Beast, from feral soldiers to folkloric travelers and free spirits, from inhabitants of the urban jungle to boardroom sharks.
Clan Disciplines: Animalism, Fortitude, Protean.
For more information: FAQ and VTM 5th Edition Wiki
Brief Description: Seers and jesters affected by supernatural madness, psychological masters, concealing and revealing truth and themselves.
Clan Disciplines: Auspex, Dominate, Obfuscate.
For more information: FAQ and VTM 5th Edition Wiki
Brief Description: Permanently afflicted by supernatural hideousness, they hide in the dark as gatherers of secrets, information procurers, hackers, elusive enforcers, often with a connection to rats and outcasts.
Clan Disciplines: Animalism, Obfuscate, Potence.
For more information: FAQ and VTM 5th Edition Wiki
Brief Description: Judges of transgression, intellectuals and lawyers, assassins and blood sorcerers; once known as Assamites, the Children of Haqim have recently joined the ranks of the Camarilla.
Clan Disciplines: Blood Sorcery, Celerity, Obfuscate.
For more information: FAQ and VTM 5th Edition Wiki
Brief Description: Necromancers, Graverobbers, Lazarenes. The Hecata are as much a Family as they are a Clan; the only true Independents in these nights, the separate Clans of Death including the Giovanni, Cappadocians, Samedi and others have now united as the Hecata. For them, the Family is everything; and if you are not one of them, you will never know how deep the Blood runs.
Clan Disciplines: Auspex, Fortitude, Oblivion.
For more information: FAQ and VTM 5th Edition Wiki
Brief Description: Winners at life, religious figures, manipulative shadow masters, social climbers, ruthless fighters, once a pillar of the Sabbat, they’ve now begun defecting to the ranks of the Camarilla.
Clan Disciplines: Dominate, Oblivion, Potence.
For more information: FAQ and VTM 5th Edition Wiki
Brief Description: The rebranded Followers of Set, refused admission by the Camarilla and welcomed among Anarchs. Both liars and liberators, seekers of freedom from chains through pain or pleasure and any other means, occult cultists and preachers, standing between refusal of social norms and true depravity.
Clan Disciplines: Protean, Obfuscate, Presence.
For more information: FAQ and VTM 5th Edition Wiki
Brief Description: A nomadic clan of masters of misdirections, these rogues prefer to not bare fangs for something they can obtain with subtler methods.
Clan Disciplines: Animalism, Obfuscate, Presence.
For more information: FAQ and VTM 5th Edition Wiki
Brief Description: Few exist in these modern nights, unlike other clans they are not embraced upon whim and instead are carefully chosen by their sire to complete a task through their inquisitive nature, nigh-pious with the tenacity to survive through difficulties.
Salubri do not embrace on a whim, there is no embrace and dump within this clan. Their background must be supported with enough reasoning as to why they were embraced and what job they accomplished for their Mawla. Fledgling Salubri must take at least one dot in Mawla, either their sire or another experienced Salubri who is neonate or older.
Clan Disciplines: Celerity, Potence, Presence.
For more information: FAQ and VTM 5th Edition Wiki
Brief Description: Seekers of emotion, romance, cruelty, beauty… anything that can remind them of lost humanity and sentiment. Artists, divas, social butterflies, appraisers and lovers of beauty.
Clan Disciplines: Auspex, Celerity, Presence.
For more information: FAQ and VTM 5th Edition Wiki
Brief Description: Scholars and counsellors of the occult; heavily hit by the Second Inquisition, the warlocks guard their secrets of sorcery, hoarding and searching for knowledge.
Clan Disciplines: Auspex, Dominate, Blood Sorcery.
For more information: FAQ and VTM 5th Edition Wiki
Brief Description: The Dragons of kindred, this clan embraces to own. They do not care if their charges live strongly, but aim simply to control. Those who are loyal to the Tzimisce are so more out of fear than love.
Clan Disciplines: Animalism, Dominate, Protean.
For more information: FAQ and VTM 5th Edition Wiki
Brief Description: Vampiric aristocracy, guardians of the Traditions and a pillar of the Camarilla, businessmen and politicians, sometimes archaic traditionalists, sometimes true entrepreneurs.
Clan Disciplines: Dominate, Fortitude, Presence.
For more information: FAQ and VTM 5th Edition Wiki
Brief Description: Clanless and curse-less, the only trait that the Caitiff share is not having inherited the bane of the other Cainites and finding themselves outcast by kindred belonging to any true lineage.
Clan Disciplines: Any disciplines possible, though some disciplines require strong background justification as described below in Disciplines.
For more information: FAQ and VTM 5th Edition Wiki
Brief Description: With the thickness of vitae dwindling, the Duskborn are too far removed from Caine to share his curse or reap the full benefits of vampirism. Thrust into the world of the night and disliked by Full-bloods, they must survive it by finding a way in or a way out.
Clan Disciplines: Thin-blood Alchemy
For more information: FAQ and VTM 5th Edition Wiki
Sea of Time
For reference on what these age groups mean, refer here.
Fledgling
Neonate
-Starts with 15 experience points.
Ancilla
Check the Homebrew for our rules about creating an Ancilla here.
Attributes
One attribute will have 4 dots; three attributes will have 3 dots each; four attributes will have 2 dots each; and your worst attribute will have 1 dot. Attributes also allow you to derive the character’s Health and Willpower.
Humanity: Characters start at 7 by default. It is possible to start at 8 with a fresh fledgling only turned a few days prior, at the cost of not knowing how to do anything. You will lose your Predator Type and related merits and flaws, meaning you will be unable to use hunting rolls and will be relying on another player or the Beast to guide you. Without guidance, the character will not understand how to feed or what is happening to them. This character is likely to incur final death if they do not quickly adapt.
Physical Attributes
Stamina: Physical perseverance and endurance, resistance against hazards, how much damage you can take.
Social Attributes
Composure: Control of your emotional state, unflappable demeanor and calmness, ability to put others at ease.
Mental Attributes
Resolve: Mental determination and fortitude, ability to focus on a task, concentrate, and persevere through challenges and obstacles.
Skills
Skills at one dot mean you have basic knowledge/performed it leisurely, two is general knowledge, three is a professional skill, four is a specialization, and five is mastery.
A Skill Specialty represents a specific expertise in a given skill. At creation, if you allotted dots into Academics, Craft, Performance, and/or Science, choose a free specialty for these skills; and then pick another free Specialty for any skill in which the character already has at least one dot.
You can find additional information about Skills on page 159 of the V5 corebook.
Pick one of the points distribution models below:
- Jack of All Trades: One skill at 3, eight skills at 2, ten skills at 1.
- Balanced: Three skills at 3, five skills at 2, seven skills at 1.
- Specialist: One skill at 4, three skills at 3, three skills at 2, three skills at 1.
If your predator type gives you a spec for a skill you don’t have, you gain a dot in it instead of the spec. The number of specs in a skill must be less than or equal to the number of dots. Very few exceptions to this rule exist.
Physical Skills
Survival: Using nature to find shelter, track people or animals in forests, and surviving in the wild.
Social Skills
Subterfuge: Manipulating and deceiving others to do as you wish or to agree with you; lying.
Mental Skills
Technology: Internet and computer comprehension.
Blood Potency
This should auto-populate if you are using a scripted sheet, if not refer to your Corebook for the Blood Potency Chart on page 216 and fill it in according to their BP level.
Disciplines
Now comes the time to pick your character’s Disciplines. Out of your character’s 3 Clan Disciplines, pick 2 of them. One of the two chosen disciplines will start at Level 2 and the other at Level 1. Keep in mind that many disciplines offer more than 1 power option at each level, so you must pick which of the available powers you wish your character to have.
For Caitiff pick any two disciplines. Caitiff with Blood Sorcery or Oblivion need very strong backgrounds to support these, as knowledge of them is heavily guarded and usually kept only within their respective clans.
You can pick a power from the level of the Discipline you are currently at or below for a total of five levels. More disciplines can be bought later on during the character creation process for Neonate and Ancilla characters, or in game.
Thin-bloods do not have these Disciplines, unless given from predator type (homebrew) or Discipline Affinity merit. They can have Thin-blood Alchemy if chosen as a Merit, this Merit can also be taken ingame after bought taught and learning their own first formula.
Auspex
Honed senses, both physical and psychic, heightened awareness and perceptions, ability to see the future.
For information on how we rule on these powers refer here.
Blood Sorcery
Manipulation of the Blood, mortal and vampiric, to perform rituals and magics.
For information on how we rule on these powers refer here.
Fortitude
Mental resilience and physical resistance far beyond the human, to the point of defying vampiric banes.
For information on how we rule on these powers refer here.
Potence
Supernatural strength and physical prowess, athletic feats.
For information on how we rule on these powers refer here.
Animalism
A close and supernatural relationship with the animal world and a vampire’s own Beast.
For information on how we rule on these powers refer here.
Celerity
Moving with unnatural fastness and enjoying supernatural reflexes.
For information on how we rule on these powers refer here.
Dominate
Exercising mind control through eye contact and voiced commands, as well as manipulating memory.
For information on how we rule on these powers refer here.
Obfuscate
The art of not being visible even in crowds, being wholly unseen or blending in.
For information on how we rule on these powers refer here.
Presence
Subtle manipulation, control, and swaying of emotions. Unearthly attraction or absolute command of fear.
For information on how we rule on these powers refer here.
Protean
The ability to shift one’s shape, growing claws, changing into animal forms, into fog, melding with the earth.
For information on how we rule on these powers refer here.
Oblivion
Control of and influence over shadows or the dead, drawing power directly from the Abyss.
For information on how we rule on these powers refer here.
Thin-blood Alchemy
Creation of mixtures of blood, emotions, and varied other ingredients to activate unique effects and even copy disciplines to some extent.
For information on how we rule on these powers refer here.
Brief Description: The Dragons of kindred, this clan embraces to own. They do not care if their charges live strongly, but aim simply to control. Those who are loyal to the Tzimisce are so more out of fear than love.
Clan Disciplines: Animalism, Dominate, Protean.
For more information: FAQ and VTM 5th Edition Wiki
Brief Description: Vampiric aristocracy, guardians of the Traditions and a pillar of the Camarilla, businessmen and politicians, sometimes archaic traditionalists, sometimes true entrepreneurs.
Clan Disciplines: Dominate, Fortitude, Presence.
For more information: FAQ and VTM 5th Edition Wiki
Brief Description: Clanless and curse-less, the only trait that the Caitiff share is not having inherited the bane of the other Cainites and finding themselves outcast by kindred belonging to any true lineage.
Clan Disciplines: Any disciplines possible, though some disciplines require strong background justification as described below in Disciplines.
For more information: FAQ and VTM 5th Edition Wiki
Brief Description: With the thickness of vitae dwindling, the Duskborn are too far removed from Caine to share his curse or reap the full benefits of vampirism. Thrust into the world of the night and disliked by Full-bloods, they must survive it by finding a way in or a way out.
Clan Disciplines: Thin-blood Alchemy
For more information: FAQ and VTM 5th Edition Wiki
Chronicle Tenets, Convictions and Touchstones
Chronicle Tenets
1.) Non-graphic depictions of egregious and/or deliberate physical or emotional torture to mortals; and/or gross negligence towards victims of someone’s else’s torture (1-2+, 1 for minor, 2+ for damaging victim for more than one reset)
2.) Murder, unless done as self defense (1-2 stain, 1 for accidental, 2 for intentional)
Exception Clause: For particular convictions, situations, predator types, and similar exceptional cases, certain characters in certain circumstances may not incur the same amount of stains as most others (they may in fact be more or less). These exceptional cases will be determined and adjudicated by STs.
Touchstones and Convictions
Select one to three Convictions. These are moral guidelines your character follows to help them hold onto their Humanity.
Each Touchstone must have a correlating Conviction. If this Touchstone dies, you lose the Conviction and take stains. Touchstones are a single living, mortal human whom you know and care about, and who represent to the character some aspect of humanity — the Conviction associated with them. Touchstones must live in Seattle.
Touchstones are living, mortal people, and so they need to be named. Please give us a little bit of information about the person attached to your kindred so that we can help flesh out who they are.
Advice on Convictions
- We have a great guide located here to help with the creation of these.
- These are one sentence mottos that the character lives by.
- They should be as clear as possible and not be left vague or long winded: we have multiple STs who will be looking at these at different times, and they need to be able to understand them at a glance.
- These should not be tied to or about anything kindred-related, like ghouls or bonding. “I will not blood bond” is not an acceptable Conviction, but “I will not tolerate enslavement and servitude” is.
- The term “innocent” in Convictions is not permitted as it isn’t easily defined and may be understood differently by each ST. Convictions about “harm” do include the act of feeding.
- Children are banned from play, any Touchstone who is beneath the age of 18 and any Conviction referring to/about children will not be accepted.
Predator Types
Select a Predator Type (PT) for the character. This represents how they hunt on the nightly basis, characters are not restricted to a single type but there should be one main type they use.
We suggest a character has at least 6 dice in their hunting style with the lowest Hunting Difficulty being 3 on server and breaches causes difficulties to go up.
For information on how Hunting works on server and what type of rolls we use, check here.
Alleycat
You feed by force in outright attacks or by threat, intimidating your victims to cower in a corner.
Gives: Add a specialty: Intimidation (Stickups) or Brawl (Grappling), gain one dot of Celerity or Potence, lose one dot of Humanity, gain three dots of Criminal Contacts (•••) among your Advantages.
Bagger
You obtain preserved, fractionated, or dead blood via more or less savory means, instead of hunting the living. Ventrue cannot not pick this type.
Gives: Add a speciality: Larceny (Lock Picking) or Streetwise (Black Market), gain one dot of Blood Sorcery (Tremere and Banu Haqim only), Oblivion (Hecata and Lasombra only), or Obfuscate, gain the Feeding Merit: Iron Gullet (•••), Gain the Enemy Flaw (••).
Blood Leech
You feed on vampire vitae rather than from mortals. This is not kindly looked upon by kindred society.
Gives: Add a specialty: Brawl (Kindred) or Stealth (Against Kindred), gain one dot of Celerity or Protean, lose one dot of Humanity, increase Blood Potency by one, gain the Dark Secret Flaw: Diablerist (••), or the Shunned Flaw (••), gain the Feeding Flaw: (••) Prey Exclusion (Mortals).
Cleaver
Your mortal family or close friends are your source of blood, taken covertly from them.
Gives: Add a specialty: Persuasion (Gaslighting) or Subterfuge (Coverups), gain one dot of Dominate or Animalism, gain the Dark Secret Flaw: Cleaver (•), gain two dots in the Herd Advantage (••).
Consensualist
You take blood with the consent of the vessel, either passing it as kink, illness, using any other excuse, or outright breaching the Masquerade.
Gives: Add a specialty: Medicine (Phlebotomy) or Persuasion (Vessels), gain one dot of Auspex or Fortitude, gain one dot of Humanity, gain the Dark Secret Flaw: Masquerade Breacher (•), gain the Feeding Flaw: (•) Prey Exclusion (Nonconsenting).
Extortionist
You enjoy forcing your victims to bleed for you. Allegedly you also acquire blood in exchange for services, such as security and surveillance. It is done as many times as needed to make the deal feel solid to both parties, but sometimes it’s only engineered in order to get what you want.
Gives: Add a speciality: Intimidation (Coercion) or Larceny (Security), gain one dot of Dominate or Potence, Spend three dots between the Contacts and Resources backgrounds, gain the Enemy Flaw: (••) The Police or a Victim who escaped your extortion and wants revenge.
Farmer
Animals are your chosen source of blood. Ventrue cannot not pick this type, nor those with Blood Potency 3 or higher.
Gives: Add a specialty: Animal Ken (Specific Animal) or Survival (Hunting), gain one dot of Animalism or Protean, gain one dot of Humanity, gain the Feeding Flaw: (••) Farmer.
Graverobber
Acquiring fresh corpses to feed from, but they also feed from mourners in cemeteries and sad, frightened visitors in hospitals as well as patients. Melancholic Resonance is their preference compared to any other humor. This PT will normally require the kindred to hold a haven inside of or with connections to a church, hospital or morgue.
Gives: Add as speciality: Occult (Grave Rituals) or Medicine (Cadavers), gain one dot in Fortitude or Oblivion (Hecata or Lasombra only), Gain the Feeding Merit (•••) Iron Gullet, Gain Haven Advantage (•), Gain Herd Flaw: (••) Obvious Predator (Your cold nature makes you act in a deeply unsettling manner.)
Grim Reaper
Hunting inside hospice care facilities, assisted living homes, and other places where those who are near death reside. Grim Reapers are constantly on the move in an effort to locate new victims near the end of their lives to feed from.
Gives: Add a specialty: Awareness (Death) or Larceny(Forgery), gain one dot of Auspex or Oblivion, gain one dot of Allies or Influence associated with the medical community, gain one dot of Humanity, gain the Feeding Flaw: (•) Prey Exclusion (Healthy Mortals).
Montero
Montero carry on a tradition held by aristocratic Spaniards where they hunted deer and used teams to drive them into the huntsman. Retainers drive the victims towards the vampire for them to feed. This is not always done in the traditional style but in the forms of long cons, flash mobs, or gang pursuits.
Gives: Add a speciality: Leadership (Hunting Pack) or Stealth (Stakeout), gain one dot of Dominate or Obfuscate, gain two dots of Retainers, lose one dot of Humanity.
Osiris
You feed from your cult followers, your church congregation, your fans, or any other group who is devoted to you and whom you can sway.
Gives: Add a specialty: Occult (Specific Tradition) or Performance (Specific Entertainment Field), gain one dot of Blood Sorcery (Tremere or Banu Haqim only) or Presence, spend three dots between the Fame and Herd Backgrounds (you may put all three dots in either), spend two dots between the Enemies and Mythic Flaws (you may put both dots in either).
Pursuer
For those who prefer to stalk their victim, learning their habits and routines, determining if they will cause an outcry if they disappear or not. The Pursuer strikes when the time is right and when hunger is at a perfect balance.
Gives: Add as speciality: Investigation (Profiling) or Stealth (Shadowing), gain one dot of Animalism or Auspex, gain the Merit: • Bloodhound, Gain one dot of Contacts from the morally inflexible inhabitants where the vampire primarily hunts, lose one dot of Humanity.
Sandman
You take blood from sleeping mortals, either by breaking into homes or targeting hospitals or the homeless.
Gives: Add a specialty: Medicine (Anesthetics) or Stealth (Break-in), gain one dot of Auspex or Obfuscate, gain one dot of Resources (•).
Scene Queen
Subcultures, exclusive groups, and specific fields of influence where you enjoy status and influence are where you find your victims.
Gives: Add a specialty: Etiquette (Specific Scene), or in Leadership (Specific Scene), or in Streetwise (Specific Scene), gain one dot of Dominate or Potence, gain the Fame Advantage (•), gain the Contact Advantage (•), gain either the Influence Flaw: Disliked (•) (outside your subculture) or the Feeding Flaw: Prey Exclusion (•) (a different subculture from yours).
Siren
You take blood by employing techniques of seduction and/or under the pretense of sexual encounters.
Gives: Add a specialty: Persuasion (Seduction) or Subterfuge (Seduction), gain one dot of Fortitude or Presence, gain the Looks Merit: Beautiful (••), Gain the Enemy Flaw: (•) A spurned lover or jealous partner.
Trapdoor
Much like the spider, this vampire builds a nest and lures their prey inside. Be it an amusement park, an abandoned house, or an underground club, the victim comes to them. There the trapdoor might only play with their mind and terrorize them, imprison them to drain them slowly, or take a deep drink and then send them home.
Gives: Add a specialty: Persuasion (Marketing) or Stealth (Ambushes or Traps), gain one dot of Protean or Obfuscate, gain one dot of Haven, gain one dot of either Retainers or Herd or a second Haven dot, gain one Haven Flaw either (•) Creepy or (•) Haunted.
Advantages
How to fill them in
You may only have one loresheet at character creation, though you may take multiple Advantages from the same loresheet. The only exception is the bloodlines/descendency loresheets: a vampire may take one of those plus a regular loresheet per RAW. Taking a higher tier Advantage in a loresheet doesn’t automatically give you the lower level options. Each is a separate merit. Each level costs 3xp per dot regardless.
Thin-bloods must take between one and three Thin-Blood Merits and the same number of Thin-Blood Flaws on top of the other advantages and flaws. See pg. 182 and remember to read over the Thin-blood rulings listed here in the homebrew as they function a bit differently than do regular kindred. Applicability of loresheets for Thin-blood characters depends on logic and common sense when considering the position of Thin-bloods in kindred society, their relative weakness, and different abilities; the majority of loresheets are intended for use only by fullblooded kindred (Especially Descedent sheets) and cannot be taken by Thin-bloods.
Here are the loresheets permitted on server. Some loresheets are banned entirely and others have minor edits or banned levels. Please note that some loresheets should or must be taken at CC; an example of this is descendant-of or bloodline loresheets.
When filling them in
There is information that the ST will need from you in order to make the most of the story. Below are merits and flaws that will require you to give us more information on your sheet. Please fill these in either next to the merit in brackets or within the notes section, and keep each only a few words or a sentence long.
- Linguistics (Language) Note: Characters always know English. If the character comes from an area where they have learned another language from birth, they gain this second language without dots in Linguistics. If this is the case please mark this down without the dot filled in within merits.
- The look flaws shouldn’t be used to solely describe disabilities, conditions, scars/scarring or other very real and human traits due to its ableist and rather offensive nature to those who may have those features, let alone as a shortcut for an evil character. Instead it’s a more supernatural vibe, although not necessarily a breach.
- Substance Abuse Flaws (What is the substance?) Note: this must be picked from the tainted blood table at pg. 310 of the Corebook.
- Living in the Past (What’s the dated ideology?) Note: this should relate directly to one of the character’s Convictions.
- Prey Exclusion (What group?) Note: Children are already banned in play and are therefore not an acceptable prey exclusion.
- Folkloric Block/Bane (What block/bane is it?)
- Allies/Enemies (Who are they?) Note: please break down their Effectiveness and Reliability.
- Contact (Who are they and what do they get?)
- Fame (In what?) Note; this is a dangerous merit, the more famous you are the more memorable you are, especially to the SI. Levels 3+ become quite dangerous.
- Infamy (With what and who?)
- Dark Secret (Why?) Note; Ex-Sabbat is not a qualifying dark secret given v5 lore and former Sabbat joining the Camarilla.
- Influence Merits and Flaws (With whom? For what?)
- Haven (What is it? The size and security is based off the dot amounts described.)
- Laboratory (Must be based off an existing Science or Technology skill spec on the sheet; or for Thin-blood Alchemy.)
- Library (Must be a specific type, related to an existing Academics, Investigation, or Occult skill spec on the sheet.)
- Location (What does it do? Talk with the ST in regards to this one during approval.)
- Security (+dot amount to Awareness or Security, pick one.)
- Surgery (Must relate to an existing Medicine spec.)
- Warding (Must come from BS rituals, based off used rituals.)
- Herd (Who are they? Depending on dots you need to pick the resonance.)
- Mask (What’s the name of the false ID?)
- Mawla/Adversary (Who are they? Name and brief description.)
- Resources (From what? Job, etc?)
- Retainers/Stalkers/Enemy (Who are they? Why?)
- Status (How did they earn it?) Note: at creation, positive Status may only be taken for Clans or other kindred groups, not Factions. Negative status may also be taken for Factions.
Rulings
Banned Merits/Flaws
- High Functioning Addict – Banned.
- Stake Bait – Banned.
- Resources 5 – Banned.
- Mawla 4+ – Or any mawla who holds a political position are banned, unless given by a specific Loresheet or campaign reward.
- Fame 5 – Banned.
- Kindred Fame 3+ – Banned. Kindred Fame 1-2 must be earned in game.
- Influence 4+ – Banned.
- Status – Cannot be bought at Character Creation when specific to the city of Seattle and its factions; it must be earned in-game. You can take Clan Status at CC. Clan status above 3 is banned; Faction status has been homebrewed.
- Organovore – Banned on first characters. The flaw itself is not banned overall; however, when submitting a character with this flaw we will expect proper justifications on the sheet for how the character survives and feeds as an Organovore, or it will not be approved.
Homebrew Advantages
Flaw: (•) Suspected Blankbody: You are being watched closely by the Second Inquisition. They suspect something is going on, but they haven’t flagged you as a blankbody — yet. Unlike ‘Known Blankbody,’ this Flaw can eventually be cleared by erasing any sort of evidence and/or with good behavior that proves that you are, indeed, human, and not a blood-drinking threat. (If taken at CC, it will be replaced with another flaw later on, should this flaw be cleared. Not recommended at CC.)
Studio (Haven Merit): Your haven has a performance practice space or a workshop or studio equipped with workbenches, easels, quality tools, and/or other art supplies, etc. Each dot of this Merit adds one to the dice pool for rolls related to one Craft or Performance specialty. Small havens limit this Merit to a maximum of one dot.
Baneful Blood (homebrewed effect and clarification): This Flaw is only available for the original Bane of the listed Clans, plus Clan Tzimisce. Tzimisce Ghouls have the same charge as their Domitor.
Disliked/Despised (homebrewed effect): Choose a social group with reasonable representation (such as Law Enforcement or Business Owners). Your character suffers -1 to Social rolls with that group if Disliked, -2 if Despised. Members of that group may also cause complications for your character as a result of Messy Crits. When this Flaw is taken for the Scene Queen Predator Type, the group must make sense as one that opposes the character’s Scene in some way.
Haunted (Haven Flaw, homebrewed effect): Possible total daily Willpower regeneration is now reduced by 1 as the supernatural interference of the ghostly presence causes less restful sleep. (Example: Character’s Resolve is 4; normally, they can regain up to 4 WP a night. Now, they can regain up to 3 WP when daysleeping in their haven. If they use less than 4 WP, they regain as usual.) Ghost-themed consequences will also be added to the possible outcomes for messy crits, bestial fails, and total fails on rolls conducted inside the haven. Keep in mind that this Flaw and Creepy affect anywhere the character sleeps, including coterie havens.
Obvious Predator (ruling): Characters with this Flaw cannot take Looks Merits in addition to its listed effects.
Clan Banes
The sheet should auto-populate the Bane based on what is selected, for additional information on how we rule on some Banes refer here.
Bane
The Brujah Blood simmers with passion and rage, ready to explode at the slightest provocation. Subtract dice equal to the Bane Severity of the Brujah from any roll to resist fury frenzy. This cannot take the pool below one die.
Variant Bane
When a messy critical occurs as the result of any Skill test, a Brujah vampire causes damage to the subject of their interaction equal to their Bane Severity, in addition to any other result of the Hunger dice. The type of damage is dependent on the situation either physical or mental. The damage is Aggravated unless the player spends a point of Willpower to turn it into Superficial.
Bane
In frenzy, Gangrel gain one or more animal features: a physical trait, a smell, or a behavioral tic, and these features last for one more night afterward. Each feature reduces one Attribute by 1 point, and if nothing immediately occurs to you the feature reduces Intelligence or Manipulation. The number of features a Gangrel manifests equals their Bane Severity. If the Gangrel Rides the Wave of their frenzy (p. 219 core) you can choose only one feature to manifest, thus taking only one Attribute penalty.
Variant Bane
Subtract dice equal to the Bane Severity in any roll to resist fear Frenzy. The pool cannot be below one die.
Bane
When the Malkavian suffers a Bestial Failure or a Compulsion, their curse comes to the fore and they may experience delusions, visions or something completely different.; they suffer a penalty equal to their Bane Severity to one category of dice pools (Physical, Social, or Mental) for the entire scene, in addition to any penalties incurred by Compulsions. During character creation, think about how this affliction manifests in your character. At its core the Malkavian Bane is entirely supernatural, and not a human mental illness; it might appear to be one, but it is something different entirely that the children of Malkav experience. Please tell us how it manifests and which pool it effects.
Variant Bane
Using Discipline powers within close proximity of mortals scares them and any social interactions other than Intimidation suffer a dice penalty equal to their Bane Severity. This is not Masquerade-breaking, but the dislike remains for the duration of one scene. Other vampires subject to this recognize the Malkavian as a vampire but suffer no penalty.
Bane
All Nosferatu appear hideous and grotesque, and count as having the Repulsive Flaw (-2). They can never increase their rating in the Looks Merit. If they attempt to disguise themselves as non-deformed they have a penalty to their dice pool equal to their Bane Severity (this includes the Obfuscate powers Mask of a Thousand Faces and Impostor’s Guise). Despite their gruesome appearance most Nosferatu do not breach the Masquerade by just being seen. They are perceived by mortals to be vile and often terrifying, but not always supernaturally so.
Variant Bane
The Haven of a Nosferatu is always infested with vermin, any attempt to do something that requires concentration takes a two plus Bane Severity penalty, as well as the same penalty to social tests at ST discretion. Additionally, when a Nosferatu spends a scene at an enclosed location, the vermin appears and causes the same penalty though reduced to equal only the Bane Severity. Any attempt to control these vermin with Animalism is done at a penalty equal to Bane Severity.
Bane
If the Haquimite feeds on one slake’s worth of Kindred blood (whether Hunger is decreased or not) you must roll for Hunger Frenzy. If failed they will do everything in their bestial power to slake to Hunger 1 on Kindred Blood. Upon reaching Hunger 1 (or if the feeding takes place at Hunger 1) they will immediately detach from the vampire if applicable and do everything in their power to slake their hunger to 0 (aka fully draining and killing) a human. Roll hunger frenzy at difficulty 2 + Bane Severity. (Homebrewed bane)
Variant Bane
The Blood of the Banu Haqim is toxic to mortals, but not to other vampires. Due to this mortals receive Aggravated Damage equal to the Bane Severity of the vampire for each Rouse Check’s worth of Blood consumed. Their Blood cannot be used to heal mortal injuries. In amounts below the amount needed to Blood Bond, it does not harm them, even if directly injected into them.
Bane
When drinking directly from a victim via a bite, Hecata may only take harmful drinks which result in blood loss. Unwilling mortals who are not restrained will make the attempt to escape and even those coerced or willing to be bitten and fed from must succeed in a Stamina + Resolve against a difficulty of Bane severity + 2 in order to not recoil. Vampires that are willingly victims of the Hecata must make a frenzy test against a difficulty of 3 in order to not terror frenzy from the bite itself.
Variant Bane
Hecata suffer additional dots in Flaws equal to their Bane Severity spread as they see fit across Retainer, Haven, and Resources Flaws. These Flaws can either be taken at Character Creation or removed by paying twice the amount of Background dots. Additionally, any purchase of dots in these Advantages costs an additional amount of experience points equal to their Bane Severity.
Bane
Their reflections don’t show up properly, nor do their images in cameras or other recording devices (including microphones), although the distortion is no guarantee of not being recognized. Technology can range from glitchy to unresponsive in their hands, and depending on the bane severity, act in weird ways. As such, the Lasombra must pass a test of Technology skill at Difficulty of 2 plus the bane severity to use modern tech, which pushes many Magisters to have assistants to deal with that side of modernity. It’s also harder to avoid detection systems made for vampires, and they suffer a penalty to it equal to their bane severity during those rolls.
Variant Bane
Whenever making a Remorse test remove a number of dice equal to the Bane Severity. The dice pool cannot be reduced below 1.
Bane
Ministers loathe the light. Exposure to direct light (natural or artificial) will make them recoil. They receive a penalty equal to bane severity to dice pools while being exposed to direct bright light, as well as adding the bane severity to aggravated damage incurred from sunlight.
Variant Bane
They can only use Blush of Life if they have recently fed from a living vessel in the same scene or up to roughly an hour ago, Storytellers discretion. When they do so, it requires a number of Rouse Checks equal to their Bane Severity rather than just one.
Bane
The doomed. If they slumber in the same place more than once in 4 nights, roll a number of dice equal to their bane severity. They receive aggravated damage equal to the amount of 10’s as supernatural means scorch them from within. Same place is defined by being within one mile.
Variant Bane
The Ravnos vitae thrives on secrecy, illusion, and misdirection. When their secrets are exposed, so too are their vulnerabilities. Whenever anyone learns a secret kept by the Ravnos, they gain power over them; this secret could be as minor as a cherished hobby they find embarrassing enough to hide or as dangerous as the identity of one of their Touchstones, and anything in between. The secret must be relevant to their current life, and insignificant or outdated secrets, such as the name of an Ancilla’s childhood pet, a mask from lifetimes ago, or a long-forgotten favorite ice cream flavor, do not apply. If the Ravnos is confronted to their face with evidence or knowledge of the discovered secret, they suffer a penalty equal to their bane severity to resist supernatural powers used by their secret-wielding opponent, while the opponent receives an equal bonus to resisting the Ravnos’ Discipline powers for the remainder of the session. Any given secret can only be used against the Ravnos by the same individual three times before the impact is lost; of course, depending on the nature of the secret, those who know it may be able to cause trouble for the Ravnos in other ways.
Bane
When a non-Salubri drinks one slake worth of Salubri vitae (whether Hunger is decreased or not), they must make a hunger frenzy test at a difficulty of 2+the Salubri’s bane severity (3+ for Banu Haqim). If the test is failed, they will continue to feed until they are forced off. If they are unable to feed on the Salubri and fail the roll they will immediately do everything in their power to slake their hunger on a human; if they are at Hunger 1 when the test is failed, they will slake to 0 (aka fully draining and killing the human).
Additionally, the third eye is always present on them. They may mask in with clothes or wraps, but it can never be hidden supernaturally and upon activation of a discipline the third eye weeps vitae, its intensity correlating to the level of the Discipline being used. The blood can trigger a hunger frenzy of those nearby with a level of Hunger 4+. (Homebrewed bane)
Variant Bane
Whenever their Hunger is below three, the Salubri suffer a penalty equal to their Bane Severity to any Discipline dice pools. The bleeding third eye still remains.
Bane
The Toreador suffer in the absence of beauty. In an environment less than beautiful according to their aesthetic, they suffer a penalty to Discipline rolls equal to their Bane Severity. If a Toreador suffers a Bestial Failure, they often lose themselves in a rapt trance, spent obsessive over anything they find particularly beautiful, as detailed in the Compulsion rules (p. 208).
In their bane box or in your note section please define…
Aesthetic: (General Description)
Beauty: (What they find beautiful)
Dislikes (What they hate/triggers bane)
Variant Bane
Whenever their feeding causes Aggravated damage to a mortal, the vampire suffers the same damage in return but cannot receive more than their Bane Severity. This damage is generally Aggravated. The damage itself is reflected as vivid bruising wherever they bit their victim as internal bleeding takes place.
Bane
After the destruction of the Chantry of Vienna and all the rituals within, Tremere have lost the ability to Blood Bond other kindred, though they can still themselves be Bound by vampires of other clans. They are still able to bind mortals and ghouls, though the target must drink the Tremere’s corrupted vitae an additional number of times equal to Bane Severity for the bond to actually form.
Variant Bane
When performing a Blood Surge they need to make Rouse Checks equal to their Bane Severity. If these Rouse Checks increase their Hunger to 5 or higher, they can choose whether to back off their Blood Surge or perform it to then hit Hunger 5 afterward immediately.
Bane
Each Tzimisce must pick a specific charge of a physical item, place or people. This must be clearly defined and limited. They must spend their daysleep surrounded by their chosen charge, if they do not, they sustain aggravated willpower damage equal to their bane severity when waking up the following night.
Variant Bane
If they wish to enter a place of residence uninvited they must spend Willpower equal to their Bane Severity, this penalty also applies to their Discipline pools while they are there. The invitation inside can only be made by someone who lives there and this does not occur in uninhabited homes or public places. Tzimisce with this Bane cannot take the uninvited Folkloric Block.
Bane
The Ventrue have a feeding preference that prevents them from drinking from just anyone. Preferences may range greatly, from natural hair colours, nationalities, sexualities, professions, to mortals who suffer from PTSD, etc but it must be something relatively uncommon and not easily changed. Rolling dice for a Resolve + Awareness test (difficulty 4 or more) the character can sense if a mortal possesses the blood they require. If a Ventrue tries to feed from outside of their preference, they must spend Willpower points equal to the character’s Bane Severity to not throw the blood back up.
Variant Bane
The Ventrue suffer a penalty equal to their Bane Severity to their Discipline dice pools when using them against a vampire of a lower generation. They must also spend Willpower equal to this penalty if they wish to directly attack other vampires of a lower generation.
Bane
Caitiff do not have a bane connecting them to the antediluvians — a birth gone wrong, or so they are seen by the other clans. Mistrusted Caitiff characters begin with the Suspect (•) Flaw and can’t purchase positive Status during character creation. It’s also possible for the storyteller to impose a one or two dice penalty on social tests with other kindred even if they acquired Status. Leveling all disciplines for Caitiff costs level x 6.
Variant Bane
Do not have one.
Bane
Do not have one, unless they take Clan Curse.
Variant Bane
Do not have one.