Concept
As important as choosing the statistics which describe your character is to choose a simple "hook" to base your character around. This needn't be a weighty history of your character's life - just a brief idea which will give you something to latch onto before you think up a more detailed background. Good examples include an accent, a personality quirk or a way of dressing. Alternatively, think of a profession such as lawyer, detective, singer, fortune teller. The details can come later, probably through playing. You needn't even mention it to anyone. What's important is to pick something which helps you interact with the other characters.
You should also pick a name for your character. Even if you do not want others to know your name, it should still exist for them to find out.
It is more important to come up with an interesting character than it is to come up with a powerful character. If your character is interesting, it will be more fun to play and stands a better chance of getting involved in plots, and of drawing the Storyteller's attention.

Clan
Pick A Clan To Belong To:
Clans are the foundation of Vampiric Society. They are groups of Vampires with common personalities, affiliations or appearances. The clan you choose will determine who you interact with most, what supernatural abilities you have access to, and how you dress and act in a general sense.
Only clans which belong to the Camarilla - the main body of Vampire Society - are available without a detailed character background. This is only natural - almost all of the Vampires in any given area come from Camarilla Clans.

Attributes
You begin with 1 point in each Attribute. You have 9 additional points to split between them. No attribute can go higher than 5, and only one can be at 5.
There are three kinds of Attribute, representing your character's Physical, Mental and Social strength and adeptness. Each has an attack and defence score and are used to initiate or defend against challenges. Usually, these attributes are recorded on your character sheet as follows:

Damage
Your basic damage for melee and hand-to-hand is half your Physical Attack, rounded up, as listed below.
Your Damage is the number of Health points which will be lost by the character you hit, after their Soak is subtracted.

Soak
Your Basic Soak is half your Physical Defence, rounded down, as listed below.
Soak subtracts from all normal damage inflicted on a character. Aggravated damage is not affected by soak unless the Kindred possesses Fortitude.

Abilities
You have 5 points to spend on Abilities. It costs 1 point to buy an Ability at Basic level, and 3 points to buy one at Intermediate level.
Abilities are skills and knowledge possessed by your character. You cannot start with an ability at Advanced level unless you spend Freebie Points (see below). When selecting Abilities, there are a number of ways to go, but generally a wide spread of Abilities at low level is better than a few Abilities at high levels. On the other hand, you should also try to make sure you have the Abilities to support your character background.
For Example, if you were a talented bare-knuckle boxer in life, you will need Brawl (Basic) and should consider Brawl (Intermediate) as well, along with perhaps a level of Streetwise or Dodge.

Disciplines
You have 3 points to spend on any of your three Clan Disciplines. It costs 1 point to buy each power from a Discipline.
Disciplines are Supernatural Vampiric powers. Each Clan has three Clan Disciplines which are summarised below. See the description of the Clan and the Discipline for suggestions about how to select your points of Clan Disciplines.

Note that it is Powers and not Ranks you are buying. (The Ranks are irrelevant at this stage.) You must purchase them in consecutive order - to buy the second power you must buy the first power as well.
You do not have to pick a power from each of your Clan's Disciplines now, but be aware that if you want to learn a new Clan Discipline later on then you will need to get another Character to teach you the first power. This shouldn't usually be much of a problem.

Influences
You have 3 points to spend on any Influences you choose, unless some are specifically prohibited by the Referee. It costs 1 point to buy each point of Influence.
Influences are your sway over mortal institutions. See the influence section for more details. Influences are mainly used between sessions to further long term plans. They are complex and will require a lot of work to gain or increase later on, so it is best to pick what you need now.

Beast Traits
Pick one Subhuman Beast Trait.
A Beast Trait is a trigger situation which makes your Character fight to retain self-control or else give in to their instincts. This instinctive urge is called Frenzy. All Vampires have one Beast Trait, some have many more. They represent the fact that Vampires have sacrificed part of their humanity to gain immortality.

Health
All Characters begin with 20 Health Points unless they possess the second power of the Fortitude Discipline, Resilience, in which case they start with 25 Health Points. Your Health is a pool which is reduced every time you are hurt, but can be healed. You almost always begin a session with your full amount.

Blood and Willpower
Your Blood and Willpower Pools are calculated from your Generation. All Characters start at Thirteenth Generation, which gives them 10 Blood and 10 Willpower. It is possible to increase your Generation using Freebie Points.

Freebie Points
You have 3 Freebie Points to spend on any element of your character.
See the list below for costs. You may gain more Freebie Points when you have given a Background in, or by taking additional Beast Traits.

Creating another Character
You can only ever have one character at any one time. If your character dies, or for some reason you can no longer continue to play them, you can create another. Note, however, that you will only be allowed to keep your experience points towards your new character if your old character makes an exit "on screen" at a session. It is always a bad idea to simply abandon a character because life becomes tough for them. Find a way to role-play your situation or even turn it to your advantage, before you decide that your character is no longer playable. Even a dramatic death makes your character more memorable than simply slipping away between sessions.

Brujah

Nickname: Rabble. A group of Brujah is a Mosh, a Rabble or a Riot.

Character and Society:
Almost all Brujah are rebels, seeking to express their individuality. They are the least controllable of all Kindred, prone to violent rages and mercurial mood-changes. They are instinctual rebels, and the clan Embraces (and embraces) both the philosophical rebel and the gun-toting rebel; the feminist and the nihilist; the furious debator and the street-fighter. Commitment to a cause is more important to the Brujah than the nature of that cause.
The Brujah are incredibly fractious, but aid each other in time of need. If the Brujah Call to Arms is made, others will respond, but the gathered host may be enraged if the call has been made frivolously. It is this fraternity that has enabled them to survive as a clan, and to overcome the extreme internal differences that beset a group made up of so many, often conflicting, philosophies.
The Brujah clan is united by it's desire to overthrow the corrupt social system - be it mortal or vampire - and replace it with something of their own making (or with nothing at all). Many are fanatic crusaders of the worst sort, revelling in violence for it's own sake, or terrorists who have lost sight of their real goals. An equal number are quiet philosophers or individualists who believe in intellectual rebellion, education and the ability of the spirit of man to overcome any obstacle, even the transition to the undead state. Both groups have their roots a long time ago in the birth of civillisation, and are often absurdly proud of the heritage of change the Brujah have formented.
The clan as a whole offers quiet support to the anarch cause; indeed, more Anarchs are from the Brujah than from any other Clan. After all, it was the Brujah who started the Anarch Revolt in the first place. However, the Camarilla Brujah consider that the Anarchs are too extreme - they have shot themselves in the foot by taking a too-radical stance too quickly, and lost potential allies. Despite that, there are plenty of Brujah on both sides of the Camarilla-Anarch divide who have old friendships or emnities, or who have a grudging respect for each other.
Other Kindred expect insolent outbursts and fevered rantings, and Brujah often recieve almost as much leeway as Malkavians in this regard. This quiet condescension often drives a Brujah to the point of Frenzy as he tries to make a point while the other Kindred just smile and nod. In a way, the Camarilla is glad to have the Brujah as members - they represent a proud lineage stretching back to the philosophers of Greece and beyond, and they are also very useful when a battle breaks out.

Iconoclast, Idealist and Individualist
The three informal "classes" of Brujah society are the Iconoclasts (violent and nihilistic), the Individualist (anarchists who emphasise personal responsibility) and Idealists (intellectual rebels who favour gradual change). Younger Brujah tend to be Iconoclasts, older Brujah tend to be Idealistic, and there is frequent friction between Generations. Many Brujah who have been manipulated by others become committed Individualists in a response to that manipulation, but neither the Iconoclast nor the Idealist appreciates the isolationaist nature of the Individualist.
These "classes" are informal - they are not recognised groups. Rather, Brujah tend to band together into informal groups based on philosophy, so a group of Brujah will tend to have similar attitudes to a number of subjects.

Elder and Childe:
Unlike many clans, the Brujah are not divided by age but by philosophy. Many ancient elders still maintain the zest for life and the need for change that attracted their sires in the first place, while equally many of their childer seek to manipulate their fellows in the manner of the Elders of other Clans. The Elders of the Brujah are expected less to lead, more to make sure nobody else picks on the Clan of Rebels. An Elder who tries to throw his weight around is likely to be removed, possibly permenantly.
Clan Brujah is poorly (if ever) organised, but occasionally holds informal meetings. Indeed, theBrujah rely on their chaotic behaviour to get the results they desire. The Elders' efforts to organise the clan are usually shouted down by younger Brujah who resent any curbing of their individual freedoms. Cunning Elders have long used this tactic of Reverse Psychology to get their younger members to do what they want, but this sort of manipulation soon leads to resentment and often armed opposition.
The European Brujah are old, and tired. They are Elders, Idealists of the most barren sort (and in some cases Princes). The younger Brujah say they have betrayed the Cause (whatever the Cause may be at any given moment). The Elders claim that the younger generations need to get a little perspective. At this point, crockery is often thrown.

History:
It is said that Brujah was diablerized by his/her childe Troile at some point in the distant past, and that all modern Brujah descend from Troile's line, not that of Brujah. Once upon a time, the Brujah built the great city of Carthage, a centre of learning and new possibilities, where they dwelt openly among the Canaille, and dozens of Kindred moved together towards Golconda. Others say it was a twisted parody of an enlightened city, built on murder, slavery and the worship of devils. Whatever the truth, the Ventrue and Malkavians of Rome chose to destroy Carthage, killing a great many Brujah and free-thinking members of other clans. The Brujah never forgave the Ventrue for this offense. It is said Troile him/herself still rests in the ground below Carthage.
After Carthage (or before - not even the other clans remember for sure) the Brujah were involved in the Aeserian Compromise with the Gangrel Clan and a number of lupines and changelings. Based in Scandinavia, a number of Brujah under the guidance of the Fourth Generation Od or Otha set themselves up as gods to the nascent Nordic cultures. What happened to them is recorded in myth and tale, but there are none of the Aesir left today. Modern Brujah are divided as to whether this was a great experiment or a follish hubris that nearly destroyed the Clan. They say the same things about Communist Russia, in whose foundation the Brujah had an active hand.
The Anarch Revolt, the rise of the Sabbat and the more recent foundation of the Anarch Free States in America, has much to do with the Brujah Clan. Indeed, the leaders of the Anarch Free States, especially in Los Angeles, are generally Brujah. The Camarilla never forgets that the Brujah are not to be trusted, and at any moment may spark off a pitched battle in the Jyhad, usually between Elder and Childe.

Concepts:
The Brujah prefer rebels when they pick their progeny. Some Brujah are intellectual rebels, but more commonly these days they are societal rebels; punks, goths, socialisits, anarchists and bikers. They tend to dress outrageously, they live where they choose, and they rarely stay in one place for long.

Clan Disciplines: Celerity, Potence, Presence

Clan Advantages: Us against Them
The Brujah embrace only those who have shown an ability to look after themselves. As a result, all Brujah begin with one Basic Ability chosen from the following list: Brawl, Intimidation, Linguistics, Scrounge or Streetwise. The Ability can be increased in Rank during character creation with Freebie points, or afterwards with Experience, as normal.
The Brujah are united by an "us against them" attitude that has served them well in the past. A Brujah may ask for aid or protection from other Brujah when he is in need, and this aid will usually be provided, even at personal risk. Prestation is neither requested nor offered for this aid. Refusing a request for aid is frowned upon, and may result in the loss of Prestige, ostracism or ejection from the Clan. Overuse of this advantage can also result in loss of Prestige. A Brujah losing all his Prestige or Status will be ignored by his own Clan.
The Brujah do not make too much of this, but the Camraderie of the clan often extends across sect lines. The Anarch Brujah honour the Call to Arms and the request for aid, and even the Sabbat have been known to aid a fellow Brujah in need, if their sect does not discover it. At the same time, the Anarchs and the Sabbat will target Brujah for recruitment into their sect before any other group.
This advantage generally allows the Brujah to learn each other's Disciplines, to find teachers for many Abilities, and to get access to one anothers' Influences and Abilities when they are needed, but it also requires a Brujah to serve as a mentor or aide to other Brujah when they need this aid.

Clan Disadvantages: Rage
The Brujah are cursed with unexpressed rage, and have difficulty controlling their Frenzies. A Brujah must spend 2 Willpower Points to resist Frenzy, and must spend 4 Willpower Points to end a frenzy prematurely. Despite the name, the difficulty of resisting Frenzy applies to all sorts of Frenzy: Rage, Control and Terror. Brujah must learn to control themselves if they wish to live long.
The first Beast Trait any given Brujah chooses must be a Rage Beast Trait. This can be the usual starting Beast Trait, or an additional one chosen for freebie points, but a Brujah always has at least one thing that triggers their terrible, inexorable anger.

Character Creation and Development:
Most Brujah have at least one combat Ability, even Idealists. They also commonly possess at least one Social ability, usually more. If you intend to use Presence, you should have a good Social Attack. If you intend to use Potence and Celerity, then your Physical attributes should be good. Be careful when selecting Beast Traits, as you will need to be very strong willed to resist common triggers. Think very carefully before taking a Monstrous Beast Trait, or more than one. A sensible Beast Trait to take is Rage - Protection (Clan Brujah) as this complements your Clan Advantage.
It is well worth taking a few mental abilities, even for the most combat-oriented Brujah. For example, Streetwise, Scrounge and Security all have uses in a Brujah's night-to-night existence, and should not be overlooked. These Abilities often become more useful when combined with the efforts of other Brujah. Intellectual Brujah may have a number of odd Abilities reflecting their backgrounds, such as Occult, Linguistics or Science, and one never knows when a fellow Clanmate (or another Kindred) may need access to the esoteric knowledge the Brujah Clan seems to collect.
Brujah do not usually build up large amounts of Influence, although they have been known to take an interest in Street, Politics and Police influence - usually to undermine the holds of other characters, it must be said.

Character Development:
The biggest advantage the Brujah have is their Clan connections. It is important that all Brujah understand and play this advantage. It does not mean you have to co-operate with your enemies or people you don't like, but when they are in danger you should seek to help other Brujah. The teaching of abilities and common disciplines between Brujah should be a common event, as should the Brujah helping each other with Influence. If one Brujah trades a favour for Fortitude, and the rest of the Brujah help pay that favour off, then the entire clan may have access to Fortitude without having to make individual deals. However, always remember that your character is an individual, and not an Influence bank for the rest of the Brujah.
More than any other Clan, the Brujah have a tendency to increase their Abilities rather than their Disciplines. Advanced Abilities, especially Social Abilities, have the potential to rival Disciplines in the things they allow a character to do. On the other hand, a Brujah who learns an Advanced ability will be able to teach that Ability to otherBrujah, gaining prestige and Karma in the eyes of his clan. A common Discipline picked up by many Brujah is Fortitude, which is an excellent complement for Potence and Celerity in the hands of either a combative or thoughtful character.

Gangrel

Nickname: Beasts, Outlanders

Character and Society:
The Gangrel are wanderers, seldom staying in one area for long. There are no established clan leaders (as far as outsiders can tell), as the Gangrel are little concerned with such things. Withdrawn, quiet and solemn, they generally keep their cards close to their chest. In the changing politics of the Kindred, they are an enigma.
This is the clan of survivors - vampires capable of making it on their own. They do not despise civillisiation or the activities of their fellow kinded (well, most do not) - they simply do not require them. They pay lip service to the customs of their Kind - introducing themselves to Princes when they stray into their territory, seeking permission if they wish to Embrace within a fief (although most Embrace in the wild or on the roads). Yet, more than any other Clan, they are a law unto themselves.
They show little concern when crossing the lands of the werewolves, for it is said that they have friends among the Shapechangers, and there seems to be some truth to this. The Gangrel has always been a Clan with odd allies and friends, and not just among the Lupines.
Capable shapeshifters themselves, their Protean discipline means their features often resemble those of animals. Some of the oldest Gangrel bear little resemblance to humans. This, in part, explains their reticence to interact with society. The presence of a truly ancient Gangrel is terrifying to behold, and has been known to send younger or less experienced kindred into a Frenzy of terror, especially if that older Gangrel is a master of the Animalism discipline.
The Gangrel also believe in the art of the oral tradition, and are great tellers of tales. Ancient stories of the Dawn Times still exist as gangrel tales, told around campfires and in the darkness of the woods to those who seek these ancients out.

Elder and Childe:
Among themselves, Gangrel can be very formal, but when they must they tear into each other with the savagery of beasts. It is said their formality and distance is as much an attempt to control their angry Beast as it is part of their heritage to be apart. They often act more like wild beasts than men, and have been known to resolve disputes with vicious duels that last until one side or the other backs down. They can also be immensely territorial, and a Prince who gifts a Gangrel a part of his Fief as a Domain can rest assured that it will be well protected.
In the Eternal Jyhad, the Gangrel try to remain neutral and vote with the side most liable to aid them. The Clan elders often take to task any other Elder Gangrel who compromises that neutrality too extremely.

History:
The history of the Gangrel is confused and contradictory. Too much of it is remembered as stories and tales that can even alter or colour the memories of those who were there when the events spoken of occurred.
Some say Gangrel, or her mother, was of the Lupines in life, and this is why the Gangrel have a connection to the Changing Breeds. Others say she was a Gypsy, and so the Gangrel have a tie to vagabonds and thieves. Who can say? Gangrel herself has Gone Away - legends say she went to Australia, and passed on into the cold white brilliance of the Antarctic, abandoning her children as the Gangrel abandon their own children. When they have proved themselves, she will return.
The Gangrel wander, for the wanderlust is in their blood. It is an open secret that the Gangrel reached the Americas long before Columbus, and despite the purges of the Spanish and their Kindred allies there are still Gangrel who remember what it was to drink the blood of those sacrificed in the dawn atop the step pyramids.
Where they have settled and made homes for themselves, as in South America, they have protected those homes viciously against any who would try to take them. Old stories speak of the hidden atrocities this clan has committed in pursuit of unity with the beast, and it is an accepted truth that the Aztecs would never have fallen without the aid of powerful Kindred, in the face of the Gangrel resistance.
In the past, they have allied themselves to People, not Causes - to Friends, not Organiszations, and they do so to this day. Many still practice the pagan worship they knew when alive. They are warriors, more so than even the Brujah, and other Kindred would do well not to forget this. They were the vikings, once. In the distant past, they and the Brujah forged an experiment that made one great fief of Scandinavia. Many Gangrel have passed into Legend. Humans still remember the names of the Valkyrie, and Snorri, and Grendel, and even Beowulf (so it is said). Savage chieftans and bards, their storytellers remember the past more clearly than any other Clan.

Concepts:
Gangrel always pick their progeny carefully. typically, following the Embrace the childe is left to his own devices while the Sire watches from a distance. When the time is right they present themselves to their fledgelings and teach them the ways of the clan.
Gangrel are usually quite rustic in dress, or wear comfortable clothes. They rarely make permenant havens, and often shelter in parks and semi-wilderness areas. Most can meld with the earth and evade the light of the sun, so they give little thought to permenant havens. They are more ethnically diverse than any other Clan, and it is said that not a place on earth exists that has not had a Gangrel visitor come and have a look for a while before going away again.

Clan Disciplines: Animalism, Fortitude, Protean

Clan Advantages: Good Alliances
The Gangrel have a long history of dealing with Werewolves and detect as Wyrm Tainted only if they have three or more Beast Traits, regardless of Generation. Werewolves are wary of, but not usually hostile to, Gangrel.
Their Good Alliances mean they can travel much more freely than other Kindred. In addition, most Gangrel have an instinctive understanding of the wilderness between cities, for this is where they spend much of their free time. As a result, a Gangrel can move around their Fief freely, and as he usually travels by foot it is nearly impossible to block him with Transport Influence. If a Gangrel can Earth Meld (Protean 2), he can travel between cities in the same way. While this usually takes longer than travelling by car it is, oddly, safer, and requires no Influence be spent.

Clan Disadvantages: The Beast Within
The Gangrel become more bestial as they succumb to Frenzy. Every three times they Frenzy, they recieve one animal feature which must be represented by make-up or by role-playing. Every three such features gained gives a -1 penalty to Social Attack when initiating Social Challenges. This penalty does not apply to dealings with animals, the Beast of another Vampire, or challenges that involve threat or intimidation. They also do not apply between Gangrel.
Note that Social Attack is not actually lowered by these penalties: if it is increased with experience, use the "normal" unmodified Social Attack. Thus, a Gangrel with 15 Frenzies under his belt has a permenant Social Attack of 0 unless his Social Attack is 6.
< If effective Social Attack drops to 0 the Gangrel cannot even go out among humans safely, as he is considered a Monster and a Breach of the Masquerade. A Gangrel in this state cannot initiate Social Challenges except with animals, the Beast of another, another Gangrel or those using Threat and Intimidation.

Character Creation:
It is very easy to make a Gangrel combat character, but rarely satisfying. However, every Gangrel should consider taking the Brawl Ability, to be able to defend himself. Animalism is the most "social" of the Gangrel Disciplines, but Protean has many more applications than the purely combative. Other Kindred will assume you have Wolf Claws, and will be careful about fighting you.
A good hook for a Gangrel character is important if you are to "do" much. Combat Gangrel are, ultimately, boring. The environmentalist angle is one many Gangrel consider, but not the only one. Another possible choice is the "defender" Gangrel who attaches himself to a cause or person and then defends him or them with dog-like loyalty and wolf-like savagery.
Be careful when picking your Beast Trait(s). If you Frenzy too often, you will lose your ability to go out in public. Even if you have begun the game having suffered multiple frenzies, then you will still need to keep yourself under control. A poorly chosen Rage Beast Trait may result in your doing a large amount of Aggravated damage to some innocent passer-by.
The Gangrel clan does not usually cultivate a large amount of Influence: they may build up Politics influence, but they usually all have a few points of Transport influence, which is an area the clan often seeks to control. It is not uncommon for Gangrel to have a point or two of Influence among the Lupines or in Occult circles.

Character Development:
The Gangrel are always perceived as a "physical" clan, although there are members who challenge that stereotype. When developing the character it is important to bear in mind your inner nature. It is easy to spend experience on Disciplines and Abilities that make your character hard, but harder to spend them in a way that makes you interesting. A lot of Gangrel try to make themselves more interesting by buying non-Clan disciplines, but it is entirely possible to develop the Clan Disciplines and the appropriate abilities to make the character unique.
Brawl and the other combat abilities have already been mentioned, but Animal Ken is another useful ability. A few levels of Intimidation, or the Dread Gaze power of Presence when coupled with a passable Social Attack can be useful in making others get out of your way without needing to use your claws. Obfuscate and theother physical Disciplies (Potence, Celerity) are also tempting as they allow the character to kill quicker than ever before.

Catiff

Nickname: Clanless, Scum, Mongrels

Character and Society:
The Caitiff are the Clanless, those who do not belong to any extended clan or bloodline, and are usually scorned by those who do. They are the lowest of the low, hanging around the fringes of Camarilla society in the hope of joining up and gaining some prestige.
Some Caitiff were embraced by other Caitiff, but most were embraced by a member of another Clan and then abandoned or forced to fend for themselves. By far the majority were sired by the Brujah or the Gangrel, and some Caitiff resent these clans as a consequence.
Creating a Caitiff is a crime in Camarilla society: most are illegally created, and have never been officially presented to a Prince. As such, they have no official existence in Camarilla society. They are mistreated with impunity, used and then abandoned.
Some Caitiff are clever or powerful enough to survive, join a Clan, and become part of the Camarilla, but most die young at the hands of one danger or another - often their fellow Vampires, or a canny vampire hunter. Only the anarchs seem to accept the Caitiff among their ranks, but even there they are often second-class citizens.

Elder and Childe:
There are no elders of the Caitiff, and there is precious little organisation. It is rumoured that, whenever anyone tries to organise the Caitiff, they are ruthlessly suppressed by forces within the Camarilla who want the Caitiff weak and divided. It is rumoured that the Sabbat recognise the Caitiff as a clan to themselves, and many Caitiff have been lured into the Sabbat by that rumour of belonging, never to be seen again.
Even Caitiff accepted into other Clans are never really accepted. They will be sacrificed without a second thought if a sacrifice is needed, they will be scapegoats and the butts of jokes. In many ways, it is worse to be a member of a Clan as it focuses attention at the Caitiff he could otherwise avoid.

The Children of Lilith
Rumours and prophecy say that the Caitiff are the Children of Lilith, connecting them to the enigmatic sorceress-demon of Cainite and Mortal myth. It is said that they will band together in the last days and, because they are of no clan, be independent in the Great Jyhad of Gehenna. It is also said that their powers will overwhelm those of the thirteen clans on the last night. Rumour suggests that one of the incontrevertible signs of Gehenna drawing near is the rise of a Caitiff Prince, and the same rumours speak of a cabal of Kindred from all sects dedicated to the destruction of anyone who comes close to the position of Prince. The Caitiff are a paradox; reviled and hated, but feared just a little by those with wisdom.

History:
The Caitiff have been around for a long time. It is said that in the Dawn Times all Kindred were Caitiff, but as they formed their Bloodlines and Clans they lost the versatility of the Caitiff. In the Middle Ages, Caitiff were considered frightening things because they were outside the Clans, and their abilities could not be predicted. In the modern era, they are hated and despised for their "mongrel" status. Even the Brujah have difficulty taking them seriously.
Many have tried to join society: the Camarilla will accept them eventually, but as second-class citizens. The Anarchs embrace them in theory, but in practice they are still considered lesser. Only the Sabbat truly embraces Caitiff. So it is said.
Many Caitiff strive to create their own Bloodline, to gain the recognition of the Camarilla, and to leave the stigma of the Caitiff behind them. Few succeed, and those that do often face opposition from the established Clans and Bloodlines. It is said some Bloodlines of Caitiff are seeking the ultimate in acceptance; the Diablerie of an Antedilluvian and the ascendance to full Clan status. None has yet succeeded, unless the enigmatic Tremere can be considered ex-Caitiff . . .

Concepts:
Most Caitiff are young in vampire terms, and have only the vaguest ideas about Camarilla society. They generally lack the knowledge to Masquerade as a member of another clan, and anyway the consequences of being caught are usually not worth the rewards. They are varied in their abilities, backgrounds and disciplines, but they have no Lineage.

Clan Disciplines: Special. See Versatility below.

Clan Advantages: Versatility
Caitiff character may select any three Disciplines as their Clan Disciplines at the time of their creation. However, there are certain restrictions on which Disciplines may be selected:

Clan Disadvantages: Outsiders
Caitiff are considered scum by the Clans, and even the Bloodlines. It is very hard for them to make any headway in the closed society of the vampires. All Caitiff begin the game with the status of Autarkis. This means they are outside the Traditions and may be destroyed with impunity, but (unfarily) they are still required to keep the Traditions themselves.
A Caitiff is always considered to be part of any Prestige system that operates among Kindred. However, they are always considered to have -1 Prestige in that area unless they are specifically awarded Prestige by being recognised as part of the Prestige system, in which case they have 0 Prestige. This means all forms of Prestige can be used against a Caitiff, but that Caitiff themselves generally cannot use Prestige against anyone else.
If a Caitiff manages to gain recognition in the Camarilla (Acknowledged by a Prince) he is still an outcast, and while he is protected by the Camarilla he cannot gain Status beyond Acknowledged. He certainly cannot hold a position of power.
If a Caitiff uses Status against a Camarilla vampire, he recieves only a +1 bonus to his challenge for each point of Status spent. He may use Prestige as normal, assuming he gains it.
A Caitiff who is granted a point of Prestige by a Clan may be invited to join that clan. At this point, they can slowly begin to gain Status in Camarilla society, at a rate of 1 pont of Status for every 2 points of Prestige (or part thereof). Their Status can never be higher than half their Prestige, and points of Status may be lost if they lose Prestige. Note that this is just their "potential" Status: they do not automatically get these levels.
Even if a Caitiff gains recognition within the Camarilla, it is a very rare Caitiff who is ever permitted to hold a Position of Status, and must constantly defend his position against attacks.
A Caitiff exposed when pretending to be a member of another Clan has committed a terrible insult to that Clan, and is often destroyed out of hand. Camarilla Society supports this, as pretending to be of another clan can be a breach of the Tradition of Domain.

Character Creation:
Most Caitiff have at least one "Street" ability (Scrounge, Streetwise) which is how they survive from night to night. When making a Caitiff, select your Clan Disciplines because they are interesting, not because they are powerful. It is often useful to select one of your Disciplines as one not connected with a Camarilla Clan. More than any other character, a Caitiff needs to justify everything in his background, and the Caitiff are not recommended for inexperienced players.
Caitiff rarely have much influence: what they get is often taken away by older Kindred.

Character Development:
A Caitiff who gains too much power will often be taken down. This is important to remember. One of the few ways to avoid this fate is to make yourself indispensible to a Clan. The Caitiff Skaiff managed this in Liverpool, making himself indispensible to the Toreador Clan and even aspiring to the status of Sherrif. When he died, he was not mourned and the Toreador soon got over the loss. Some would say that had he not made association with the Toreador then his enemy would never have taken him out. Young Caitiff take note.
Caitiff should always work with what they have: increase your chosen Disciplines first, and pick up "twiddles" later. The same applies to Abilities and Influences. A Caitiff with an impressive Discipline can often parlay that Discipline into training, protection or even acceptance.
If you are one of the lucky Caitiff who has a useful Discipline, under no circumstances teach it! Or, if you must, teach it only to limited levels. If the Discipline is one held as a secret by another Clan or Bloodline, at the very least you draw their attention to you. And remember, if you teach a Discipline to someone, they can teach it to someone else, and one of your few bargaining chips has been squandered. There is nothing worth losing control of your own Disciplines to another

Malkavian

Nickname: Kooks, Malks, Mad Bastards

Character and Society:
The Malkavians are insane, one and all. From madness comes wisdom and from wisdom comes power, and power is electricity and can be used to electrocute evil people or just folk nobody will miss. Not everything about them makes sense: they are wise clowns and deadly jokers. They can be completely sane one minute and climbing-the-walls-nuts the next.
Worse, there are degrees of madness in the Malkavians. One Malk may be perfectly civil, and entirely stable-seeming except when he is explaining about the rays from Saturn and the saucer people. The other may be so far out of his tree he's in next-door's garden.
The clan is infamous for it's destructive and nihilistic members. In truth, such Malkavians are a minority. The members of the clan often surprise other Kindred: they often seem frighteningly sane. Remember, however, that sometimes even the most normal-seeming people have the weakest grasp on reality. Indeed, the Malkavians say that a strong grasp on reality is the heart of madness itself.
The Malkavians have a time-honoured tradition of playing practical jokes: "pranking" as it is called. The nature of these "pranks" can vary wildly, from harmless fun to potentially lethal situations. Prestige (such as it is) is usually awarded on the strength of these pranks. Except when it isn't.
As with the Brujah, many vampires expect Malkavians to react strangely, and assume they are not entirely in control of themselves. As a result, they are given more leeway in their actions than any other clan.
Once, in the past, the Malkavians practiced a potent discipline of madness called Dementation. They turned their back on this Discipline when they joined the Camarilla, and supposedly there are few practicioners of it still around. It is said the elders of the other Clans would accept the Malkavians only if they abandoned the teaching of this Discipline, but the truth is unknown. It isn't even certain the Discipline ever existed.

Carnival!
The most insidious of the Malkavian Traditions-which-they-don't-have is the Carnival. Any Malkavian may call a Carnival, but it is most effective if it is called for a good reason. There are no rules, and the effects are fairly simple: all the Malkavians who can come to the place where the Carnival is to be held, and they Prank and Prank and Prank until they can't Prank no more. Depending on the nature of the Carnival, these Pranks could easily be mistaken for acts of the most extreme terrorism. When a band of Malks start a Carnival, they will usually get what they want. Princes whose fiefs have been the target of Carnival often call it "The Treatment" and shudder when they do so.
Carnival is never called frivolously, even by this most frivilous of clans. It is usually called in response to some real or imagined stain on the good name of the Clan Malkavian.

Elder and Childe:
Relations between Malkavians are usually coloured by a cheery friendship and camaraderie. They will often help each other without needing to be asked, and usually rally round to aid one of their own who is hurt or being "picked on". It is hard to say how they decide on their Elders, and the criteria by which they judge their most respected members changes from moment to moment. Prestige is by no means a good gauge of a Malkavians' standing because it can change suddenly and for no obvious reason.
Sensible Kindred listen when the Malkavians say something that may be relevant, but the Malkavians know this and often use it to spread disinformation. The Network Advantage means they are privy to odd information, and have the bizarre ability to be places they shouldn't be, but they are rarely respected. Usually, they do not worry about this, but when the Malkavians get it into their heads to demand the respect they are due, wise Kindred keep their heads down.

History:
Malkav was an architect, some say, or a city planner (if they had such things in the past). He was a he, almost certainly. Some say he was the sister of Toreador. Some say he sacrificed his sanity to Caine as a gift, some say he was driven mad by a curse. Some say Malkav knows the most of his Dark Father's plan and that is why he is mad. It is said Malkav slumbers beneath one of the citities of the Middle East, and his presence there makes peace impossible, and is responsible for Jerusalem Syndrome.
The Malkavians see things differently, and this has shaped their Clan more than any other factor. They can be a Clan only because they are capable of existing and communicating "beyond" normality. It is certainly true that only a Malkavian can understand another Malkavian, and that they have access to sources of information beyond that available to "normal people".
They are a paradox. They helped the Ventrue smash Carthage. They ruled Rome from time to time when the Ventrue and the Lasombra were too busy killing each other to do the job properly, and the city fared neither better nor worse than it did under any other rulership. They were one of the first Clans to accept the words of the Toreador during the Inquisition and help found the Camarilla. One of their elders rescued two hundred Anarch prisoners from the Camarilla after the Anarch revolt, and lead them into safety when their elders would have slaughtered them, helping to lay the foundations of what would eventually become the Sabbat.
The Camarilla does not forget that they cannot predict the Malkavians. The elders remember, however, that the Malkavians see things differently, and that they sometimes see the future, or the past, or the connections others miss. They are valuable, but dangerous. They are certainly not trusted.

Concepts:
The Malkavians are picky about whom they Embrace; typically, only those close to death or on the edge of sanity are considered. They search long and hard for those who have seen the truth in the pits of chaos and thus have a unique perspective on reality. They often live in insane asylums or hospitals. They dress either normally or oddly : whichever takes their fancy, and with the Mask of One Thousand Faces at their disposal they can dress however they like all the time.

Clan Disciplines: Auspex, Dominate, Obfuscate

Clan Advantages: Irreverence / The Network
Once per night, a Malkavian may ignore a Social Challenge against him. As soon as the challenge is initiatied, before the Malkavian bids resistance, he may simply perform some suitably Malkavian action (giggle, throw up his hands and dance) and void the challenge. The person so dealt with may not attempt that Social action against the vampire for the next hour. This ability can be used against any use of a Social Ability, or against any use of Presence except Majesty, but is no use against other Disciplines.
Malkavians are tied into something others call the Malkavian Madness Network. It allows them to know things they haven't learnt, and to suddenly turn up for meetings without organising them. It is nothing they can control, but they often have access to information others do not. According to Elder Malkavians, everyone who has a screw lose is part of the Network, but only the Malks know how to "ride the wave" and glean understanding from the sea of insanity.

Clan Disadvantages: Madness / The Network
All Malkavians are mad. Each must select a Derangement when they are created, cleared with the Ref. This Derangement is always Active, and cannot be removed by any means short of Final Death and rebirth. Sometimes, Malkavians will be called upon by the Storyteller to perfom strange and outlandish acts for no obvious reason, or to go to odd places for bizarre reasons of their own. If this happens, the player is required to go along with what has been requested - this is the downside of the Network.

Character Creation and Development:
The primary attribute for most Malkavians is Mental, as all three of their Disciplines rely on Mental Attributes. Auspex and Dominate need a good Mental Attack, and Obfuscate requires at least an average Mental Defence. Beyond that, the Abilities of Malkavians are as myraid and peculiar as the Malkavians themselves, although most have at least Basic Dodge to avoid people without a sense of humour. Common Abilities include Repair, Security, Subterfuge, Psychology, Empathy and Occult.
Malkavians have a variety of odd Influences: many enjoy controlling Health influence, which explains a lot, or Bureaucracy (ditto). High Society and Street are also common Malkavian influences.

Character Development:
The Malkavian clan usually has access to someone with Dementation , the Discipline of Old, and the Malkavians seem to have a facility for learning and using it. Dementation belongs to the Malkavians, however, and woe-betide anyone who teaches it to an outsider.

Nosferatu

Nickname: Sewer Rats, Nos, Spuds/Tatties (allegedly from "Potato Heads")

Character and Society:
The Nosferatu look like feral animals. Their smell and appearence is revolting - some would say monstrous. After Nosferatu are Embraced, they undergo an exceptionally painful transformation. Over a period of weeks, they slowly shift from their mortal appearences into terrible troll-like monsters. The psychological trauma of this change is usually much more painful than the physical transformation.
Nosferatu usually Embrace those who are twisted in one way or another; emotionally, physically, spiritually or intellectually. They consider the Embrace too horrific to bestow on any worthwhile human beings with anything to offer their fellow man. They sometimes Embrace the terminally ill, although for different reasons. With the change into vampire, the Nosferatu seek to somehow redeem these mortals, to give them a second chance. It is surprising how often it works; underneath their grim exteriors, the Nosferatu are practical and surprisingly sane.
Though their Obfuscate power enables the Nosferatu to travel through mortal society, they are unable to interact with it. They must live apart. The habits they develop during such an existence influence their interaction with other Kindred. They avoid all contact, preferring a solitary existence to the chaos of social interaction. They are "known" to be grumpy, rude and lewd, and unable to conform to the rules of a civilised society. What is generally not known is that they are without doubt the most spiritually advanced and altruistic of all the Kindred outside of the lost Salubri Clan.
Though Nosferatu may not deal much with other Kindred, they remain remarkably in touch with the affairs of the city. They favour such tactics as eavesdropping from hiding or sneaking into others' havens. Anyone wishing to know any information about the city need only ask a Nosferatu.
The Nosferatu stay in contact with each other, and have a remarkable information network. They control a vast web of sewers, subways, hidden passages and secret rooms that connect them to the heart of the city. They have informers among all levels of society. They work to learn all secrets.

Of Monsters and men
The most bizarre relationships can occur between Nosferatu and mortals. Even the most hard-bitten Nosferatu may discover a weakness for a certain human or humans. Living as they do in places many would consider to be Hell, there is a long tradition of the Nosferatu offering help to others like them. There are many, many cases of cruel kindred preying on homeless people, children or mental patients who have inexplicably been beaten black and blue and left somewhere as a warning to others. Cliché as it may be, many orphanages, scholarships and self-help organisations owe at least part of their funding to the Sewer Rats. Living in the gutter, there are a lot of Nosferatu who want to help those who still can get out of it. Unlike the Toreador and the Ventrue, they seldom if ever brag about their accomplishments, and most outside the clan are unaware of them.

Elder and Childe:
Nosferatu are usually uncouth with outsiders, but can be tender and gentle among themselves. A city with a wise elder will usually have a close-knit group of Nosferatu who work together constantly. Only another Nosferatu, and the rare Samedi, truly understand what it is to be apart in a society that is itself apart from the world. They are forever marked with the stigma of monstrousness, and only with other monsters do they find acceptance and Empathy. Like the Brujah and the Malkavians, Nosferatu find that their strength comes from working closely together.
It is not uncommon for Nosferatu to gather together for informal meetings once a month to chat with the Elder and to share gossip and plans. What seems a useless titbit of scandal to one Nosferatu ,may prove to be the final piece another needs to complete a plot or plan. Information is the currency of the Nosferatu, and they generally choose to spend this currency wisely.

The Spawning Pool and the Ghouls of the Sewer Rats
When the Nosferatu choose to create a Spawning Pool, they find a deep underground source of clean water and mingle their blood together there over many months. The creatures of the underground, attracted by the sweet smell of the blood, drink from the water and become ghouls. As they continue to drink from this constantly replenished source of blood, they are Bonded to the Nosferatu who have made the pool. Thus, the Nosferatu provide a ready-made group of guardians and warriors for times of need.
The Blood of the Nosferatu is tainted. Those who drink of it too deeply are themselves tainted. Animals become larger, more monstrous, and often mutate. Humans become stronger, true, but they also become uglier as the tainted blood warps and changes them. Thus can the learned spot the presence of a Nosferatu, by the slow tainting of the mortals that the Nosferatu must use.

History:
Nosferat (whatever his name) was once the most beautiful of men, all sources agree. Some say he was the lover of Toreador. Some say he was a great warrior, others a great builder. Stories differ as to why Caine cursed him with his monstrous form. Some say that Nosferatu willingly sacrificed his beauty to Caine, others that his pride in his beauty lead him to strike his own sire. He is said to hate his children, the constant reminder of his bestial form and of what he is lost, without reward. He is said to sleep in deep caves and fissures in the rock beneath what is now Russia.
It is said that all Nosferatu living today descended from one unimaginably powerful elder, named the Baba Yaga, the crone, a sorceress immeasurably old when Tremere first picked up his master's wand. It is said she roamed Russia in the distant past in her chicken-legged hut, or riding the winds in her pestle and mortar, hunting for her sire who she will destroy and diablerize. It is said she slipped into Torpor long before the Redeemer was born in Bethlehem. And it is said she has awoken . . .
The Nosferatu have always been around. It is said that they lurked in the darkness listening to secrets for so long that they came upon the One Answer, to Life and the Universe. It is said they seek mundane secrets because they are looking for some great secret of their own. It is said they placed the Ventrue and the Brujah at war over Carthage, for unknown reasons. That they spread the Black Death by accident or design. That they are the motivating forces behind most cures for pestilence that have made the world a little brighter. That they both built up and helped destroy Constantinople, and Rome before it.
That they have ferreted out more secrets than any other clan is without question. That they have allies across the world, unwholesome faerie and unwholesome werewolf and worse is often believed. That they know what lies beneath the surface of the world and the soul of man and vampire is without doubt. And that they are afraid of something that moves in the dark, and of shadows that shift when not looked at is whispered behind closed doors by the wise, and that the Nosferatu hear even that.

The Nictiku
The Nosferatu do not speak of it, but there are few (if any) Nosferatu of the Fourth Generation. It is said that when Nosferatu became a monster, his blood-bonded childer changed also. As the Nosferatu are to normal men, so the Nictiku (or Chosen as they call themselves) are to Nosferatu. It is said that they believe that, if they can destroy all of the progeny of Nosferatu's line their sire will be made beautiful again. So, the Nosferatu constantly listen for rumours of powerful, hideous creatures th at may be their Nictiku forebears hunting them down and seeking to destroy them. Entire countries' worth of Nosferatu have been wiped out in the past by a single one of these beasts, so the Nosferatu take them very seriously indeed. It is also said that if they are killed, their death will draw the attention of all other Nictiku, so they must be sent into torpor but never slain. The other clans are dimly aware of the Nictiku, but only the Nosferatu know their full terror.

Concepts:
Nosferatu tend to choose their progeny from the cast-offs of society: the homeless, the mentally ill and the hopelessly antisocial. Some "beautiful people" are Embraced as a "punishment". They generally live under the city, in the sewers, or else in abandoned houses and graveyards.
The Nosferatu need a hook as much as any other clan, although the "Elephant Man" style of play is quite acceptable. Spies and journalists - people who made a living seeking out the secrets of others - are usually well equipped to make it as Nosferatu, but soldiers with Post-traumatic Stress Syndrome, coppers and underworld figures, street people and slightly bent clergy all make for interesting characters.

Clan Disciplines: Animalism, Obfuscate, Potence

Clan Advantages: Network
All Nosferatu receive 1 extra Influence Point, which may be applied to the areas of Street or Underworld. These points are never permanently lost, and do not count against the maximum Influence available in a given area.
The Nosferatu clan are often privy to secrets that others are not, and can often determine the truth (or lack thereof) of a rumour or tale. Often, their ear for the seedier side of life will pick up rumours of what other kindred are up to. The Nosferatu cannot control this "ability", but they will often find that their return sheets contain rumours or evidence of another Kindred's doings.
The Nosferatu know the sewers better than any other clan. By touching a sewer grate or covering a Nosferatu may claim "Fair Escape" unless their opponent is using a higher level of Celerity than they are. They may not return to play for at least 15 minutes after using such an escape.
If two Nosferatu chase each other through the sewers, it is at the Ref's discretion whether one catches up to the other: it should involve a comparison of Physical Attack and Defence, Mental Attack (knowledge of the sewers), Strategies and Escapology (contortions) ability, Obfuscate and Celerity.
Two Nosferatu co-operating can escort one willing victim through the sewers in this fashion. They cannot take an unwilling victim unless he is staked or otherwise immobile.

Clan Disadvantages: Monstrous
Because of their horrifying visage and lack of patience with social niceties, Nosferatu are considered to have a Social Attack of zero when initiating Challenges based on Social Abilities, except where that Ability is fear, threat or intimidation based. They may still spend Willpower to increase their base Social Attack, however.
Apply any modifiers to the challenge after reducing Social Attack to zero: low Generation Nosferatu may effectively have Negative Social Attack against mortals, which means they cannot succeed unless they spend a lot of Willpower.
Nosferatu can use their Social Abilities against other Nosferatu or Samedi irrelevant of whether their true visages are apparent or not: there is a certain sympathy among both clans for those who appear hideously deformed.
Nosferatu must wear make-up or otherwise make themselves look monstrous, unless they use Obfuscate. The uglier you look, the better. It is not usual for a Nosferatu to hide his appearance when he is in a gathering of other Kindred, only one where mortals may appear.

Character Creation and Development:
All Nosferatu should learn at least one level of Obfuscate, and you must have Mask of 1,000 Faces (Obfuscate 2) if you do not want to wear make- up constantly. Obfuscate is the strength of the Nosferatu clan. Potence is useful (if you learn it, be sure to learn Melee or Brawl to go with it, or it's usefulness is much reduced). Animalism is a powerful tool as well, which many overlook, giving access to the Beast of others and to hordes of willing animal spies. Because it relies on Social Challenges, how ever, and few Nosferatu have good Social Attributes, it can be difficult to use.
Most Nosferatu have a good Mental Defence, and usually only those who are intending to rely on their Animalism build up their Social Attack, although it can come in useful when used in conjunction with the Intimidate ability. Most have good Physical Attack and Defence scores.
Abilities are variable, although at least one of Streetwise, Scrounge, Brawl, Investigate and Security is encouraged as these will help a Nosferatu survive on the streets and gather information.
Nosferatu tend to cultivate small amounts of a large number of Influences, the better to spy on people. However, some build up control over an area: the most common areas of interest for Nosferatu are Street, Underworld and Bureaucracy.

Character Development:
Influence is a common area the Nosferatu build up, as the more Influence they have, and the more varied their access, the more they can learn and accomplish.
Discipline-wise, it is usual for a Nosferatu to build up one Discipline. A good choice of a non-clan Discipline can give a Nosferatu an unexpected edge; Celerity and Wolf Claws go well with Potence, and Presence makes an interesting side-line for an Animalism Nosferatu. One of the most powerful combat combinations in the game is a Nosferatu with Embrace the Beast (Animalism 5) and Potence, as the bonus attribute levels Embracing the Beast provides can make a for a truly terrifying fighter who still has the advantage of more subtle social attacks.
Auspex is another good Discipline choice because of it's information gathering ability. Even more useful is the fact that Heightened Senses and Spirit Touch (Auspex 1 and Auspex 3) do not require mental attacks to work, and that Aura Sight (Auspex 2) can often be used in a "resist and admit your guilt" fashion when testing for truth and lies.
The more bizarre Disciplines are of variable use, as they are for most clans, although Obtenebration and Vicissitude both have a certain "coolness" when used by Nosferatu; Thanatosis can make people think you are a Samedi and there is a certain pleasure in using the ability to rot faces on uppity Toreador; and Protean can give a variety of useful infiltration abilities to a canny Sewer Rat.

Toreador

Nickname: Degenerates

Character and Society:
This clan is known for it's hedonism, although this is a misinterpretation of their actual aim to preserve beauty and civilisation at any cost. They are proud and regal kindred, highly excitable, and they cultivate expensive tastes. They are also caught in an inescapable trap of self-destruction and self-torture that has marked the Clan since their foundation.
The most sophisticated vampire clan, concerned with beauty in a way no mortal can fathom, they are also closest to the world of men. They use the rarefied senses given them by the Embrace to become as consumed and impassioned as possible. Ideally, to a Toreador, nothing matters as much as beauty, though in many cases the search for Beauty is overwhelmed by the search for Pleasure.
Like all true artists, they search for a truth beyond an existence they fear to be meaningless. It is the struggle for truth and ultimately salvation that has inspired them with what they take to be their mission - protection of human genius. They are t ruly in love with the vigour and passion of the mortals around them, and never tire of marvelling at their creations.
The clan as a whole considers its members to be conservationists; their protectorate consists of the world's greatest artists. They specifically seek out the most talented artists and grant them immortality, preserving their genius from the ravages of ol d age and death. Among the toreador are some of the greatest composers, musicians, artists, dancers, poets and writers who have ever lived.
The greatest weakness of the Toreador is their sensitivity to beauty. They so reflexively surround themselves with elegance and luxury that they often lose themselves in the endless pursuit of vice after vice. This infatuation sometimes leads to the Emb race of beautiful individuals without artistic talent.
The clan meets frequently, at social events rather than at councils, but in times of great urgency they become united and ferociously active.

Artiste and Poseur
No internal division in any clan has caused as much trouble as that between the Artiste and Poseur. Neither group actually exists: both terms are insults used by the other side. "Artistes" are those who are real artists, consumed by the need to create a nd explore their visions. "Poseurs" are those without artistic ability, Embraced by accident or on a whim or because they were good looking. Both sides are full of bitter resentment. Yet the fact remains that the "Poseurs" are usually politically and f inancially minded and provide the environment within which Art (and the Toreador) can flourish, while the "Artistes" actually produce the beauty and wonder that the "Poseurs" often wish so bitterly to possess. Those who stand in neither camp keep their h eads down when the sparks start to fly, for fear of gaining the enmity of both sides.

History:
Toreador was named Arikel, and she was a sculptress at the court of Caine. Her brother may have been Malkav, and her lover may have been Nosferat, but who can say? Beauty was the centre of her being: not just the beauty of art, but the beauty of the hum an soul, of the dewdrop, of the spider's web. She is said to sit in front of a mirror to this day, entranced by her own beauty.
The existence of the Toreador goes in cycles: in lean times, they seek to craft a world where Art can function. They tighten their belts and set to the work of fanning the flames of civilisation and learning. Then, when they have created an environment that understands and loves their art, they destroy themselves and the world they have built with decadence, debauchery, self-obsession, and petty infighting. Then they start again. Most of the great Toreador of the past have taken the concept of sufferi ng for their Art to extremes that have damned nations.
They sided with the Brujah to build Carthage, but it is said that once the city was a haven for free-expression one of the Toreador turned traitor and caused the city to fall. They supported the Camarilla, and in a way they founded it with their demand t hat the Tradition of the Masquerade be upheld, but then they "rested on their laurels" and allowed other Clans to take over the actual work of running the sect. They created the Elysium, and defended their right to create it to the deaths of many who oft en died without realising what they were dying for. They sparked the Renaissance, and then nearly killed it again. They built the cathedrals, and they have put kings on thrones in the past, although their Golden Ages never seem to last, and it is usually other people who pay for their mistakes.
The Camarilla trusts the Toreador. They create status (maybe even created the concept of Status), they create the Elysium. But the Elders, even the Toreador Elders, know that the Clan is fickle. It is too full of passion to keep to one thing for long, and when something new comes along to fuel that passion then all old alliances are forgotten instantly. Wise elders worry what will happen when the self-destructive nature of the Clan of the Rose finally catches up with them.

Elder and Childe:
The Clan of the Rose is the most concerned with Status of any Clan, and they do most to try and maintain the fickle and unstable architecture of the Camarilla Prestation system. Respect and Prestige within the clan is based on a complex web of inter-conn ected factors including age, skill, parties, patronage and ownership of art collections. Among themselves, the Toreador are a group of in-fighting, back-stabbing, treacherous vipers that would make the worst nightmares of "luvvies" and "darlings" seem to be a mild playground disagreement.
Like all the clans, the Toreador are strongest when they work together, but more than the other clans they have problems with internal disputes. In a Clan where half the members have Majesty, preventing direct confrontation, Clan meetings can become extr emely painful barrages of sniping comments and backhanded compliments. When it all boils over, the Clan splits completely, throwing all their projects aside and assaulting each other, often with deadly force. But woe betide the outsider who tries to tak e advantage of the Toreador internal conflict . . .
Jyhads lasting centuries that have claimed the lives of thousands have started because of one off-hand comment. The roots of the Second World War can be traced in part to the reparations inflicted on Germany after the First World War, and part of the rea son these reparations were so extreme was because the Prince of Berlin got on the bad side of the Toreador of Paris. The vendettas over art that the Toreador spawn have a nasty tendency to get out of hand.
The split between those who make art and those who appreciate art exemplifies the split within the soul of the Toreador between the need to create and to preserve, the need for tradition and custom and the constant need to evolve in search of new experien ce.
In their way, so the Malkavians whisper, the society of the Toreador is much, much madder than their own because at least the Kooks know they are Kooky.

Concepts:
Toreador pride themselves on Embracing only the cream of a generation. The truth is somewhat different. A fair number of the members of this clan were Embraced only for their beauty, or because they were the target of a Toreador's obsession, rather than for any artistic merit. These "Poseurs" seek to provide patronage to mortal artists, and to throw sumptuous parties, and are held in contempt by the "Artistes", those with real talent. Toreador live in luxury, when they can, and surround themselves wit h both beautiful things and beautiful people..

Clan Disciplines: Auspex, Celerity, Presence

Clan Advantages: Willing Vessels
All Toreador possess at least a small Herd of mortals and receive one point of the Herd advantage free. This Herd represents adoring fans, lovers and ex-lovers and those who are addicted to the Kiss of the Toreador. They do not usually know what their p atron truly is.

Clan Disadvantages: Entrancement
The Toreador become Entranced by beautiful things and people. Anything a Ref decrees is suitably enchanting entrances a Toreador for half an hour unless he spends a Willpower point. While in this state, the Toreador will ignore (but not be unaware of) h is surroundings and avoid other responsibilities, even to the point of endangering himself. In this condition, any reasonably unobtrusive action will surprise the Toreador.
Any character with a Social Attack of 6 will Entrance a Toreador unless he spends a Willpower point the first time he meets that individual each night. The Entrancement may also be Activated as a Derangement by anyone with an appropriate Discipline or po wer.

Character Creation and Development:
Toreador have a different Discipline for each attribute: those with Celerity should have good Physical Attributes and at least one Combat Ability. Those specialising in Auspex should have a good Mental Attack, and those using much Presence need a good So cial Attack. Their Abilities vary, but they usually possess at least one of Empathy, Subterfuge or Leadership.
Toreador warriors are hard to do well, purely because the Toreador disciplines to not tend towards combat. Celerity is useful, but not as useful as that of the Brujah (which is backed with Potence). Still, Toreador of a certain age have a tendency to ha ve some facility with a sword or a duelling pistol. The Toreador clan is at it's best when it talks softly and carries a big stick, rather than when it uses the stick openly.
Even Toreador who do not rely on Presence usually cultivate a good Social Attack (or at least an average Social Defence to protect themselves from their fellow clan members . . .), and many of them cultivate a good Status as well.
Many Toreador build up their Influences so that they can control a specific area. It is not uncommon for the Toreador Clan to control the High Society and Media Influences in a city where they are strong. They also tend to have good representation among Financial circles (although obsession with money is vulgar), or in the Church.

Character Development:
Development of a Toreador is very dependant on the type of character played. It is odd, but common, for the Toreador clan as a whole in a given city to pick up an "odd discipline", specifically one of Serpentis, Melpominee or Vicissitude, whichever becom es available. When developing non-Clan disciplines it is important to make sure that they complement the disciplines the character has already. For example, a character with Social Attack 5 and a lot of Presence will benefit a lot more from picking up E yes of the Serpent (Serpentis 1) than Vicissitude.
Social Abilities should not be overlooked either - at low levels they provide more options in conversation, and at higher levels they can give a much needed edge to a social or mental attack.
Toreador tend to concentrate on Presence and Social Abilities, but it should be pointed out that most of the other Clans will trust a Toreador to use Auspex where they would not trust a Malkavian or a Tremere, and will come to a Toreador for teaching in t hat Discipline if only because they know a Malkavian or a Tremere could have Dominate and mess with them while they learn it.
As with most clans with three separate discipline types, it is a good idea to build one Discipline up to the maximum level fairly quickly. Majesty and Psychic Projection are both massively useful, and Speed III gives a great edge in both combat and non-c ombat circumstances.

Tremere

Nickname: Warlocks

Character and Society:
The Tremere are dedicated and extremely well organised. Others think of them as arcane and untrustworthy. They are aggressive, highly intellectual, and manipulative. They respect only strength, and only those who struggle and persevere despite all odds. The Tremere believe they must unite all the other clans under one ruler (themselves) if they are all to survive Gehenna. They will befriend the other clans, but they never forget that their first loyalty is to the Tremere.
Originally, the Tremere were a House of medieval wizards who gave up their Art for the immortality and stability of the Vampiric existence. Their link to the substance of the blood apparently runs very deep, and much of their magick has gone into the manipulation of their blood.
The leaders of this clan are based in Vienna, though they have chantries (guild houses) in cities all over the world. A Council of Seven rules the Clan, maintaining an orderly hierarchical group that allows no outsider to view it's inner workings.
Tremere typically have immense love for and loyalty to their clan, and the youngest members of Clan Tremere are expected to obey their elders without question. This is not as true today as once it was, and there are still some rebels and anarchs from the Tremere line. Most, however, believe these dissidents are spies and infiltrators involved in some long-term plot.

The Council of Seven and the Tremere Hierarchy
The Council rules from Vienna, a city they command with an iron hand. Each of the Seven is in charge of a different part of the world, and all Tremere ultimately report to them. All Tremere are one stage blood-bonded to the Council of Seven, and the council can recall, destroy, promote or instruct any Tremere as they see fit. Tremere who try to leave the Hierarchy are killed, and that is that.
The Council tends to be a bit fractious, but all are Blood Bonded to the Tremere themselves, and however obscure their plans may be, the rest of the Clan and House know that it is for the greater good of the Tremere and, ultimately, of all Kindred that they do what they are told.

Elder and Childe:
The Tremere are organised into chantries. Each city with a Tremere presence has a Chantry, although it is not always a physical building. The chantry is where the Tremere store their library and their magickal things. It is ruled by a Regent, who is usually also Elder (but not always). Regents are appointed by the Tremere. Each geographical area is ruled by a Pontifexs, and seven Pontifexes report to a Lord, and seven Lords report to one of the Council of Seven, who report to Tremere.
Apprentices move around a lot to prevent them making a bond to any one group of Tremere, and to reinforce the bond they feel to the Tremere as a whole. The "one-for-all" mentality of the Tremere was fostered in the early years of their existence when all the world, it seemed, was against them, and has endured to this day.
Status and prestige are awarded within the Tremere for excellence, for following orders, and for the rare moments of rebellion and wilfulness that benefit the clan as a whole. But woe betide the Tremere who takes the initiative against the orders of his masters and fails.

Tremere Crimes
There are two crimes that a Tremere can commit that are punishable by death. The first is the Blood Bond: a Tremere who willingly bonds himself to another, even another Tremere, will have that bond broken when it is discovered, and is killed or given a suicidal mission. Only the Council of Seven are allowed to Blood Bond the Tremere, and if a Tremere is found to have been bonded against his will then it is up to his fellows to rescue him.
The other crime is the Teaching of Thaumaturgy. A Tremere is expected to die rather than share the secrets of the Path of the Blood with another. The clan frowns on the teaching of the rituals and paths of Thaumaturgy to Sorcerers, but will usually not act. The teaching of the Path of Blood or Thaumaturgy to another, however, will result in death.
A group of powerful Tremere, skilled in Auspex, constantly watches for those who break either law, and retribution is usually as final as it is unexpected.

History:
Tremere was a True Mage, who realised magick was dying from the world during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. With the aid of Goratrix and Etrius, his trusted apprentices, he wove a spell that would grant him and his companions immortality. They used the blood of the Tzimisce to do it and they became vampires. The self-embraced. Then, Tremere diablerized Saulot, antediluvian sire of the Salubri line, and he and his Council of Seven were raised to third and fourth generation. Tremere now sleeps in the Vienna Chantry, and it is said that he is undergoing a transformation. Tzimisce blood warps the body, and perhaps Saulot's blood warps his spirit . . .
The second youngest of the Thirteen Clans, the Tremere were created in a terrible crime - the Diablerie of an Antediluvian. They waged war against the Tzimisce in their ancestral lands - and won. They waged war against the Order of Hermes that sought to destroy them - and won. They waged war against the Inconnu - and they helped found the Camarilla. Did they win? Some say that the creation of the Tremere clan was one of the threats that allowed the idea of the Camarilla to succeed in the first place, and the Tremere know it.
The Tremere know that they will be destroyed if Gehenna comes and they are weak. They are diablerists, the product of a dark crime. They need the Camarilla to be strong enough to defeat the antediluvians, to defeat Caine himself. But they are not trusted. They had avoided the Jyhad for millennia by the simple fact of not existing, but now . . . they have made up for lost time.

Concepts:
Tremere choose aggressive, ambitious people as their neonates. They carefully train and nurture them for years as apprentices. The clan operates a chantry in each major city where it has members. All Tremere are welcome in any chantry. They traditionally wear black coats or even cloaks with high collars and arcane symbols on the lining. Many younger Tremere dress in a fashion befitting their "occult" backgrounds.

Clan Disciplines: Auspex, Dominate, Thaumaturgy

Clan Advantages: Masters of Thaumaturgy
All Tremere possess the Occult (Basic) Ability. During character generation, they may purchase the Occult (Intermediate) Ability for two Basic Ability picks. Once they prove themselves to their superiors, Tremere characters can expect training in both Disciplines and rituals. The Tremere co-operate fully with regard to their arcane abilities.
All Tremere Chantries have an Occult Library which is used for research. Unless specifically denied access, all Tremere may use this Occult Library to build up their powers. The rating of the Library, and the rituals and paths it contains, depends on each individual Chantry.

Clan Disadvantages: Pyramid Structure
The head of the Tremere chantry possesses three Blood Points form each of his subordinates. The central Chantry in Vienna possesses three Blood Points from every Tremere character. Finally, each Tremere is one-step Blood Bound to the Tremere elders in Vienna.
The Camarilla does not trust the Tremere, who have a well deserved reputation for underhand dealing and ulterior motives. Even the most skilled Tremere cannot truly she'd this worry, for the friends of a Tremere know that if they were ordered to do so they would kill their friends.

Character Creation and Development:
Thaumaturgy, Dominate and Auspex require a good Mental Attack, and most Tremere have very keen minds. Almost all Tremere have a little Thaumaturgy, for this is the discipline the Clan values most, but a given Tremere is allowed free reign to increase his powers as he sees fit.
More than any other clan, it is important for a Tremere to have a good Generation, as many of their Thaumaturgy paths rely on fair amounts of blood and willpower, and the worse the generation of a Tremere the less useful his Dominate. Try for at least 11th or 10th Generation.
As to Abilities, most Tremere enhance their Occult ability. Apart from that, they select abilities depending on their roles. Linguistics and Science are useful for scholars, while Firearms and Dodge are useful for "expediters". There are social Tremere also, who specialise in Subterfuge and Leadership.
Any Tremere Thaumaturge should take Occult influence, as this influence is needed to develop new paths and build Occult Libraries and the like. They tend to try and dominate Influence areas, control being the watch-word. Common Tremere interests are in Church and Finance (useful for their Occult activities) although they are also interested in Politics and Underworld.

Character Development:
Thaumaturgy is one of the most powerful Disciplines in the game, but requires extra work from the Tremere to increase it. The paths allow extra powers, and the rituals can have a number of unusual uses. Increasing Thaumaturgy, learning new paths and rituals, is always a good move for a Tremere.
However, the abilities of the Tremere should not be overlooked. It is always useful to have Advanced Occult Ability as this allows Thaumaturgy to be researched and employed more effectively. It is rarely worth building attributes.
The most important thing to build as a Tremere is allies and contacts among other players. The Tremere are so universally mistrusted that this can be difficult, but judicious aid and the provision of minor magickal items can work wonders. It is always better to have willing allies than manipulated dupes.

Ventrue

Nickname: Blue Bloods, Aristos

Character and Society:
Old fashioned and traditional, the Ventrue are sophisticated and genteel. They believe in good taste and work hard to make their lives comfortable. They are most frequently the leaders of the Camarilla and are cautious, social and elegant. The Ventrue fancy themselves the clan of the modern world and deny that they live in the past. This is not always the case: the attitudes and beliefs of one's mortal life are not easily forgotten by the Ventrue. They are ruthless and polite, and once they set their minds to accomplish a task they rarely stop until it is complete.
They are most often found amongst the upper crust of the mortal world, and they control much of the elite of the city, whether that elite be socialites or gang bosses. They often have a monopoly on political and financial control. If something goes wrong, it is to the Ventrue that the other Kindred turn for help, and they are usually in a position to provide that help. The Ventrue know the workings of power, and they rarely hesitate to use that power when it is needed.
There is a strong Ventrue tradition that any Ventrue may go to any other and seek refuge, and this cannot be refused without losing the respect of one’s clan mates. Thus many Ventrue help others of their clan before the need becomes dire (and potentially dangerous to them). This does not mean that the Ventrue like each other, only that they respect the ties of blood that place the Ventrue above the other Clans. Indeed, there are few enemies as interesting as another Ventrue.
Leadership and rulership are the birthright of the Clan, and a solemn duty as well. Many Ventrue firmly believe that without their guiding hand Vampire society would collapse completely into anarchy and the only victors would be the Witch Hunters. They often find it hard to understand why the other Clans do not see things in this light.
In the same way that the Brujah Clan Embrace rebels, so the Ventrue Embrace those used to wielding power. In the modern world this often means money, but the Ventrue are not blind to the other powers. Politicians, criminals, businessmen, scholars, bodyguards - all or any could be Embraced to help strengthen the Clan. Still, it is common practice for the Ventrue to Embrace those who support the establishment, rather than those who try to undermine it.
The Clan is very proud of their position as the leaders, and always insist that they were the founders of the Camarilla. They do nearly anything to retain their grip on both mortal and Kindred politics, and are extremely protective of their reputations. It is a little known fact that there are Ventrue in positions of influence in all of the sects of vampire society, from the Anarchs to the Inconnu. Something about the Ventrue Embrace seems to drive it’s subjects to excel and to lead.

Clan Disciplines: Dominate, Fortitude, Presence

Clan Advantages: Wealth

Clan Disadvantages: Rarefied Tastes

Ventrue may only feed from one specific type of vessel, such as Women, Blond Men or Animals. They may drink from another Vampire only if they spend a Willpower point before doing so, and must spend a Willpower point to create progeny. They cannot stomach blood that is not "suitable" to them, and seem to have an almost supernatural ability to sense if blood they are about to drink is palatable.

Character Development:
Aegis and Majesty (Fortitude 5 and Presence 5) are must-haves for a serious Ventrue. Most do not bother increasing both Presence and Dominate, although doing so and learning how to use them effectively means one has even more weapons. Disciplines are usually chosen for their utility - a little Protean here, a little Auspex there. They also have a nasty tendency towards Obtenebration. Still, learning a discipline outside the Clan could be seen as an admission that the Ventrue powers are not sufficient for the task at hand.
Influence is where the Ventrue should excel, although this does not always require the expenditure of experience. Several Ventrue working together can rapidly increase their Influence in the areas they consider important, especially if the Directorate co-operate and each master an area of Influence and the Abilities associated with it.
Still, personal power is so much more satisfying than Clan power, and any Ventrue should remember this and remember that the Ventrue Clan has no time for time-wasters or weaklings. Bring something new or interesting to the Clan and you will be rewarded.

Abilities

"Knowledge is Power, and Power can be used to create eletricity, and electricity can be used to electrocute people until they do what you want. What fun!" - Unnamed Malkavian

Basic - You can befriend animals, perform simple veterinary actions, and generally get along with them. Soothe an animal with a Social Challenge, gently calming it unless it is directly controlled by supernatural means.
Intermediate - You can train animals to perform complex tricks. You can also Observe an animal with a Mental Challenge to determine if they are behaving oddly, and perhaps gain an inkling as to why (disease, madness, supernatural control).
+1 bonus to initiate Social Challenges against an animal using The Beast Without (Animalism), and win Aggressive ties.
Advanced - Master an animal with a successful Social Challenge to make it obey one simple command such as "Leave", "Drop", "Kill" or "Stay". The command cannot last longer than half an hour after the animal leaves your presence, and does not supersede Supernatural control.
+1 bonus to initiate Eyes of the Hunter (Animalism), and win Aggressive ties. Win Aggressive Animal Ken ties

Basic - Use Bows or Crossbows.
Intermediate - Fastload. 1 Strike.
Advanced - Attempt a Called Shot. Attempt to Aim. 3 Strikes.

BRAWL

Basic - Initiate Brawl. Attempt to Grapple. Has 1 Strike or Block.
Intermediate - Attempt to Knockdown. Has 3 Strikes or Block.
Advanced - Attempt to Throw. Has 5 Strikes.
Unarmed Damage increases by +1 point. Win all ties on any Brawl Challenge.

BUREAUCRACY

Basic - Organisational skills. Negotiate red tape. Access files safely. Understand contracts. Working legal knowledge.
Intermediate - Understands administration. Uncover corporate networks, destroy files safely. Draw contracts to your advantage, or spot loopholes in same.
Advanced - Controls red tape. Operate bureaucracy. Alter files safely. Create watertight contracts with hidden clauses, or spot same.

COMPUTER

Basic - Operate computer packages to their full potential. Extensive information technology skills, including access to the Internet.
Intermediate - Program software. Crack programs. Very basic hacking.
Advanced - Program complex packages. Data manipulation. Complex hacking.

DEMOLITIONS

Basic - Safely handle explosives. Identify demolitions materials. Use explosives to destroy locations manually.
Intermediate - Make home-made bombs with a variety of triggers. Manufacture simple explosives safely. Disarm simple bombs.
Advanced - Set up complex traps, such as motion-sensitive bombs. Disarm complex explosives. Manufacture complex explosives.

DODGE

Basic - 1 Dodge.
Intermediate - 3 Dodge.
Advanced - 5 Dodge.

"Anything you can do, I can get you to do for me as well." - Unnamed Tremere

EMPATHY

Basic - With a Social Challenge, you may Sympathise with a target to find out how he is feeling. This should be summed up in a few words.
Intermediate - With a Social Challenge, you may Understand Motives and find out how someone feels about something or someone, or how he feels about having done something. This should be summed up in a few words.
Advanced - With a Social Challenge, you may Detect Spoken Falsehood. This ability only determines if someone believes the last thing they said to be untrue.
+1 to initiate Aura Sight, Telepathy (Auspex), or Song of Serenity (Animalism) challenges.
Win aggressive Aura Sight, Telepathy or Song of Serenity ties.
Win aggressive Empathy ties

ESCAPOLOGY

Basic - Escape from bonds in about a minute, longer if you were incapacitated when tied up. Get into reasonably small spaces.
Intermediate - Escape from handcuffs in about a minute. Shrug off bonds in about thirty seconds. Get through reasonably small openings.
+1 bonus to resist or escape Grapple Actions. Defensive advantage.
Advanced - Escape from straitjackets and shackles in about a minute. Shrug off bonds and handcuffs in 30 seconds. Get through very small openings.
+2 bonus to resist or escape Grapple Actions. Defensive advantage.

FINANCE

Basic - Accounting. Safe long-term investments. Obscure money trails. Survive on investments and savings for a short time.
Intermediate - Follow money trails. Safe medium-term investments. Evaluate common items, possibly needing to reference books or lists.
Advanced - Embezzle in relative safety. Follow complex or obscured money trails. Make a good return on high risk or short term investments

FIREARMS

Basic - Initiate Firearms challenges. 1 Strike.
Intermediate - In Firearms challenges, you may substitute your Mental Attack for your Physical Attack. Attempt to Fast Draw. 3 Strikes
Advanced - Attempt to Aim. 5 strikes.
+1 to Firearms damage.

FORGERY

Basic - Forge memos, letters, signatures or writing styles you have practised. Construct a simple identity card.
Intermediate - Forge cheques, bonds, simple artwork and more complex identity cards or papers.
Advanced - Forge bank-notes, paintings, passports and the like. Forge electronic documents with the appropriate Abilities (at least Basic Computer).

INTIMIDATION

Basic - With a successful Social Challenge, make someone Back Down. They may not challenge your authority again for about 10 minutes, and should leave your immediate area. If they cannot leave the area for some reason, they should avoid you. If you force them to interact with you, they are at no penalty to do so.
Intermediate - With a successful Social Challenge, you may Interrogate someone who is in your power, and incapable of leaving your presence or assaulting you for the full period it takes to use this Ability. It takes at least five minutes to find out the answer to a single question, and you cannot force someone to reveal a suicidal piece of information, but the target will actively volunteer information on the subject you wish to know about. This is primarily a role-playing effect.
Advanced - With a successful Social Challenge, make someone Obey you: perform or not perform a simple immediate action that can be summed up in a few words and is neither dangerous nor completely against their nature. The action cannot take more than about 30 seconds to perform, and should not be too cerebral in nature. Common examples would include "Get out of my way", "Drop the Gun", "Give me that letter" and so on.
Win aggressive Intimidation ties
+1 to initiate Dread Gaze (Presence), The Beast Within (Animalism), Command and Conditioning (Dominate) challenges. Win aggressive ties.

"Anything I can’t do for myself I probably don’t need doing all that badly anyway." - Unnamed Gangrel

INVESTIGATION

Basic - Find clues. Use a library effectively. Dust for fingerprints or collect samples of materials.
Intermediate - Use complex information retrieval services. Perform simple forensic tasks and analysis. Find concealed clues
Advanced - Perform advanced forensics, draw informed conclusions.
+1 to initiate Heightened Senses (Auspex) challenges. Win aggressive ties.

LEADERSHIP

Basic - With a Social Challenge, you may Calm a Frenzied individual. If the individual is not Frenzied, they will remain relatively calm for five minutes without shouting or carrying on - useful in arbitrating disputes. They can still Frenzy, and may still be angry but they will be controlled in their anger. You can also Calm those in the grip of a Derangement, or under the influence of Dementation but the effects last for only as long as you continue to speak calmly and soothingly to the target.
Intermediate - You are used to commanding others, and can gain their loyalty and respect. With a Social Challenge, make someone Listen to you, without interrupting, for five minutes, until you insult them, or until they believe they are in danger. This is a social ability, not a combat ability.
+1 to resist any use of Subterfuge.
+1 to resist Dread Gaze, Summon, Bewitching Oration (Presence) and Command (Dominate).
Advanced - You are used to rallying others and leading groups, and may Inspire others by speaking to them aggressively for at least a minute. You must hold their attention by your speaking abilities alone, and cannot combine this ability with Bewitching Oration. As long as you accompany or lead a group you have inspired, and they do not lose confidence in you (you remain civil to them and do not harm them) they may use your Social Defence and Mental Defence as their own, unless their is higher, in which case they receive a +1 bonus to their Defence, with no maximum. Only one person may In spire a given group. You may Inspire a number of people at one time equal to your base Leadership Social Attack (with all appropriate modifiers). Those you Inspire are not more or less likely to obey your instructions, and must willing ly accept the bonus of your Leadership.
+1 to initiate Entrancement, Summon or Bewitching Oration (Presence).
Win aggressive Entrancement, Summon or Bewitching Oration (Presence) ties.
+1 to defend against attempts to overcome your Majesty (Presence).
Win all Leadership ties.

LINGUISTICS

Basic - Identify all modern and most ancient languages if you hear or read them. Crack simple codes. With a Challenge determine Accent to find out if someone is speaking their native language or not.
Intermediate - Crack complex codes. Understand the gist of spoken communication. Identify certain forged documents with suitable references. With a successful Challenge determine Native Tongue by broad language group (French, German, Italian, English etc).
Advanced - Eventually crack almost any code. Speed read documents, and remember chunks of written material. With a Challenge determine Origin: what region and (if appropriate) time period a target grew up in. This may also reveal social status, information about where a character has spent long periods of time and so on at the discretion of the Referee.
Win aggressive Linguistics ties.

MEDICINE

Basic - First aid. Knowledge of anatomy. You can keep living beings in a stable condition, apply splints, perform CPR and so on.
Intermediate - Doctor. Diagnose diseases and poisoning, locate fractures, breaks and strains. Perform treatment with the appropriate tools. You can identify such things as Viccissitude damage, unnaturally hot burns, claw damage and so on. Living beings recover 3 health points naturally on each night that you care for them.
Advanced - Surgeon. Perform autopsies and pathological examination to determine cause of death. With the correct tools and in an appropriate environment perform internal surgery.
+1 to initiate Theft of Vitae (Thaumaturgy) and win aggressive ties.

MEDITATION

Basic - Relax mind and body. Recover 1 Willpower in 30 minutes.
While in a Trance, you receive a +2 bonus to Resist Telepathy (Auspex) and Possession (Dominate) attempts, whether from Vampiric discipline or any other Supernatural means. You may use this Trance while regaining Willpower.
Intermediate - Calm mind and body. Recover 1 Willpower with 15 minutes of meditation.
By remaining in a Trance for 15 minutes and spending 1 Willpower you may Calm a Beast Trait or Derangement so that it will not trigger naturally for the next hour. It can still be triggered by supernatural means such as Disciplines. You may not combine this with recovery of Willpower.
Advanced - Recover 1 Willpower with 5 minutes of meditation.
While in a Trance, you may Subdue your mind and spirit completely, becoming immune to external attacks on mind or spirit as long as you remain in the trance. This includes Telepathy (Auspex), Possession (Dominate) and Summon (Presence), and prevents the reading of your Aura. You are oblivious to your surroundings while meditating in this manner, but you can still feel any contact or pain, and hear anyone who speaks your name to you. You may choose to end your trance when either stimulus occurs. You cannot combine this Trance with the recovery of Willpower.
+1 to resist Forgetful Mind, Mesmerism and Possession (Dominate).

MELEE

Basic - Initiate melee combat. Can Parry. Gives 1 Strike.
Intermediate - Attempt Fast Draw. Gives 3 Strikes.
Advanced - Attempt Disarm. Gives 5 Strikes.
Win aggressive Melee ties

OCCULT

Basic - Identify the purpose of magickal operations. Use an Occult library to research rituals and paths.
Intermediate - Extensive knowledge of the Occult; important persons and objects. Identify general types of supernatural creature encountered and perhaps know a few facts (and falsehoods) about them. Design your own Paths and Rituals.
Advanced - Comprehensive knowledge of occult tomes, objects, spells and creatures. With examination, identify magickal items (Ref's discretion).
+1 to initiate Thaumaturgy or Sorcery challenges, including Paths and Rituals.
Win aggressive Thaumaturgy or Sorcery ties, including Paths and Rituals.

PSYCHOLOGY

Basic - You understand basic psychology, and have an amateur interest in psychoanalysis. After observing the target for at least five minutes, or talking to them for one minute, and then making a Mental Challenge, Evaluate a person to determine their mental state. You can tell if they have any Active Derangements, and what their psychological state is at the moment (lucid, confused, eating the wallpaper).
Intermediate - You have probably completed a degree course in Psychology, and may have an interest in Abnormal Psychology. You recognise most psychoactive drugs by name, and can place a willing subject in a light hypnotic trance. After five minutes of observation and a Mental Challenge, Analyse a person to determine if they possess any Derangements. If you engage them in candid conversation for at least five minutes, you may determine the nature of one Derangement.
Advanced - You may be a practising psychiatric doctor, counsellor or therapist. You understand the psychological make-up of humans, and may have studied the psychology of the Damned since your Embrace. You may talk with a target for at least five minutes about his Derangements and then attempt a Mental Challenge to Manipulate the behaviour of someone with a Derangement. You may alter the state of any Derangement you are aware of, either from Passive to Active or Active to Passive. This will not prematurely end the effects of Supernatural abilities. Over time, you may help an individual permanently overcome their Derangement.
+1 to initiate challenges based on Empathy, Leadership, Intimidation, Scrounge, Subterfuge and Streetwise Abilities.
Win aggressive Psychology ties.

REPAIR

Basic - Assemble and repair mechanical devices. Jury rig simple gadgets. Arrange for something to break down.
Intermediate - Assemble and repair electrical devices. Jury rig more complex gadgets, traps or devices. Arrange for something to malfunction.
Advanced - Assemble and repair electronic devices. "McGyver" a few relatively convincing items. Arrange simple "accidents" with machinery.

SCIENCE

Basic - Understand most of the relevant theories and use them to demonstrate things or perform simple functions.
Intermediate - Apply scientific theories to practical problems
Advanced - Apply scientific theories in new ways, or else come up with new theories.

SCROUNGE

Basic - Get hold of common, legal items or household goods such as portable telephones, small personal computers, stereos and videos.
With a Social Challenge, Determine Terms and discover what type of things a person would take in trade for an item or service.
Intermediate - Get hold of common, illegal items such as ammunition. handguns, street drugs, mace and the like.
With a Social Challenge, Determine Ownership, and discover whether someone actually owns what they are selling, and whether they really have any intention of selling it.
Advanced - Get hold of restricted items, including rifles, automatic weapons, explosives, designer drugs, industrial machinery and so forth.
With a Social Challenge, Determine Value and work out what the rough minimum offer the target would consider for the item or service he or she is selling.
Win aggressive Scrounge ties.

SECURITY

Basic - Pick locks. Identify alarms and other standard security items.
Intermediate - Bypass burglar alarms. Identify subtle security devices such as motion sensors or concealed cameras.
Advanced - Crack safes. Bypass complex security such as electronic locks or key pads. Disguise the fact you have gained entry to something.

STREETWISE

Basic - Deal with street people, survive without an income, ask questions and maybe get hold of some items. With a Social Challenge, Spot Streets and determine if someone possesses the Streetwise Ability.
Intermediate - Get hold of information, know who to talk to, and when to keep your head down. With a Social Challenge, Read Intentions. You may ask the target what his basic intentions towards you are at the moment, and he must answer truthfully. This is used mainly for spotting surprise attacks.
+1 to resist Leadership challenges.
Advanced - Get respect. Pick up illegal things cheaply. Know who to talk to and where, and (more importantly) about what. With a Social Challenge, Guess Influence to ask someone if they have a specific Influence area. This does not reveal "free" Influences from a Clan Advantage, or give any idea how much Influence someone has.
+1 to resist Song of Serenity (Animalism) and Conditioning (Dominate).
+1 to attempt to overcome Majesty and win aggressive ties.
Win aggressive Streetwise ties

SUBTERFUGE

Basic - Use Subtlety to discover a piece of information about a target. You must engage the target in conversation about the topic for a reasonable length of time, then ask your question and win a Social Challenge. The information you can acquire about someone includes their nationality, real name, age, real clan, feelings about things, whether they know about something and the like. You cannot use Subterfuge to find out a piece of information that might lead to the death of the individual: instead, they may merely tell you they are hiding something.
Intermediate - You are adept at hiding your intentions from others and concealing your emotions. You can even confuse and finesse your own Beast on occasion. You may be a cynic.
+1 to resist Empathy, Linguistics, Psychology, Scrounge, Streetwise.
+1 to resist Entrancement (Presence), Beast Within, Eyes of the Hunter (Animalism).
Advanced - You are hard to "read" through supernatural means, and are adept at manipulating others through supernatural or natural means. You can Appear Vulnerable when you are the victim of an Empathy Challenge. After the Challenge is complete, provided the result is a tie, you may secretly spend 1 Willpower point to make the challenge a victory for you. You may then lie to the person who used Empathy against you, even if they used the ability to Win Aggressive Ties. For example, if you are the target of Detect Spoken Lies you could say you were not lying, or you could lie about your Emotional state or attitudes. This only works against Empathy.
+1 to resist all uses of Auspex. Defensive Advantage.
+1 to initiate
Forgetful Mind, Possession or Mesmerism
(Dominate), win aggressive ties. Win aggressive Subterfuge ties

Disciplines

Only Vampires of the Seventh Generation or higher can learn the inner secrets of the Disciplines, specifically the Superior (powers six and seven) and Master (powers eight and nine) rank Discipline powers. Almost all player characters will be restricted to the Advanced level Discipline Power.
However, development does not necessarily stop there. A Kindred who has mastered a Discipline (built it to level 5) possesses so much knowledge of their discipline that they are able to develop special ways in which it may be used. These special abilities are specific to individual characters and are called "Talents". A character may only develop Talents in his Clan Disciplines, but may be taught talents in other Disciplines by anyone who knows them, provided he has mastered the Discipline in question.
Talents are suggested to the Storyteller, who evaluates them. He then ranks the power Basic to Advanced in nature, and this determines the number of experience points the power costs. The character pays experience as indicated, and gains a new power. A Storyteller can rule that a combination of powers or abilities gives an unfair advantage, and ban these Talents, or modify a Talent for game balance.
On rare occasions, a Storyteller may allow a character to develop a Talent that relies on the combination of two disciplines. For example, combining Dominate with Animalism may allow you to Possess a beast, while Protean and Obfuscate may allow you to transform into invisible mist. These powers will almost never be allowed, as the simple combination alone will usually create a power more in line with a Superior level Discipline.
These powers are not intended to duplicate level 6 or higher disciplines: for example, there is no way to buy a Fortitude Talent that gives +1 Soak and +5 Health, or a Potence Talent that gives Strength VI, or a Celerity Talent that allows 4 Speed Actions. Talents are intended to give a character a few "twiddles" to make their discipline use unique, and the referee is well within his rights to disallow any Talent that he deems abusive, or to modify a Talent at any time he spots a problem with it.

Animalism

Notes
Despite the name, few of the powers actually deal with Animals, dealing rather with the power of the Beast in others. It has numerous applications, although most are not obvious. Characters with Animalism need a good Social Attack, and maybe an average Mental Attack to use Eyes of the Hunter to the full potential. With Embrace the Beast, even a non-combat character can become quite dangerous.

The Beast Without (Animal Ken)
You can communicate with animals. This is an instinctual form of communication: normal animals do not think like humans. You must stare into the eyes of the animal to communicate with it. Animals generally have only a short-term memories and depend heavily on senses other than sight: a dog, for example, would understand and communicate about smells more clearly than about sights.
It is possible to use this power to initiate Social Challenges against any animal you communicate with, and to use Social Abilities against animals. You may also be able to convince an animal to perform a simple task for you if you win a Social Challenge against that animal.
Two characters possessing Animalism may communicate silently and undetectably by eye contact. They may only communicate basic urges and simple phrases, and cannot use any technical terms or jargons. Indeed, they have problems describing even the most simple objects. The simpler the concepts communicated, the easier the communication is. This is not telepathy, and this communication cannot be intercepted or listened-in-on.
If someone is in Beast Form, then this power can be used to communicate with them as normal, or it will allow them to initiate communication with others, provided the other also possesses Animalism.

Intermediate Animal Ken gives +1 to initiate challenges, and wins aggressive ties.

Eyes of the Hunter (Animal Ken / Subterfuge)
You have an intuitive understanding of the Beast, and some power over it. By staring into someone's eyes and winning a Mental Challenge, you may determine how many Beast Traits a target has, whether each is Subhuman or Monstrous, and whether they are Rage, Control or Terror traits. This is not an obvious challenge; the target will only know you have used this power against him if you fail the Mental Challenge, and if the target possesses Animalism himself. Others detect nothing.
By staring into the eyes you may exercise dominance over their Beast, allowing you to paralyse others. This power affects all animals, most werewolves, any Kindred with two or more Beast Traits, and any character (Kindred or otherwise) in Frenzy. By defeating the target in a Social Challenge, you hold the target stationary as long as you maintain eye contact. The effect is broken by any sudden motion on your behalf, if the subject suffers any damage, or if you make a blatantly hostile move.
Advanced Animal Ken gives +1 to initiate challenges, and wins aggressive ties.
Intermediate Subterfuge gives +1 to resist challenges.

The Beast Within (Intimidation / Subterfuge)
Your knowledge of the Beast now gives you the ability to draw upon a victim's bestial nature and send him into a Frenzy. You must describe one of the target's beast traits to him, verbally. If you choose a Beast Trait the target does not have, you automatically lose the Challenge. Otherwise, you may attempt a Social Challenge to activate the Beast Trait you have described. If you are successful, the target instantly goes into Frenzy, following the normal rules. You have some control over who the Frenzy is aimed at, depending on your description.
If you lose the Challenge, you cannot use this ability against the Kindred for the rest of the night. You may send Ghouls, Werewolves and even Animals into Frenzy as well as Kindred. This is an obvious attack; you speak to the target about a Beast Trait and then he suddenly frenzies, or feels his Beast stir within him. Those with Animalism know you were attempting to use The Beast Within against them.
Advanced Intimidation gives +1 to initiate challenges, and wins aggressive ties.
Intermediate Subterfuge gives +1 to resist challenges.

Song of Serenity(Empathy / Streetwise)
By reaching into the soul of an individual, you can tame their bestial nature, or at least quiet it for a time. This is useful in calming your allies, and also for robbing your enemies of their sprit and energy. Using the power requires a successful Social Challenge, and you must be face-to-face with the target. You may not use this power on yourself.
This discipline will bring a Kindred or Garou out of Frenzy. He does not receive his normal bonus traits for being in Frenzy: he receives only a +1 bonus to Social Defence for each Beast Trait he possesses. If successful, the target leaves Frenzy and cannot Frenzy again for ten minutes unless the Frenzy is caused by supernatural means.
If used against a character who is not in Frenzy, it quenches the fires of his soul and makes him passive. If you are successful in your Social Challenge, the target may not spend Willpower normally. He cannot spent Willpower to power Disciplines, or when initiating challenges, and may spend only enough Willpower to double his normal Defence rating when defending himself against a Challenge. You cannot Frenzy while Soothed, and cannot use Embrace the Beast. The effects last for an hour.
This ability may also be used to calm those who are in the grip of a Derangement, or who are suffering similar effects of anger and aggression, although it is rarely very effective. Such uses are at the discretion of a Referee.
Advanced Empathy gives +1 to initiate challenges, and wins aggressive ties.
Advanced Streetwise gives +1 to resist challenges.

Embrace the Beast
You may tap the dark, brutal wellspring of power that lies in the soul of the Kindred, and transform yourself into an unrestrained monster. It costs 1 Willpower point to voluntarily activate this power, but you may choose to activate the power rather than enter a normal Frenzy that has just been triggered without needing to spend Willpower. The effects last until sunrise or until you are brought out of the Frenzy this power triggers.
While the power is active, you are in a controlled Frenzy. You become completely immune to the effects of Dominate, Presence and the Beast Within.You cannot be affected by "subtle" Social Attacks such as Subterfuge.You gain a +3 bonus to both Physical Attack and Physical Defence, which may increase Damage and Soak scores. You do not suffer the ill effects of damage short of Torpor or Final Death: you may continue fighting even when reduced to 0 Health.
You may not initiate Social or Mental challenges while using this power except for those based on Intimidation or fear (such as Dread Gaze). You are considered to be in a controlled Rage frenzy, and will act appropriately. You may be soothed from this Frenzy by use of a discipline or Ability that would normally allow one to leave Frenzy, but you can resist this attempt if you wish.
Normal mortals who encounter you must spend a Willpower point or be overcome with terror. Those with Social Defence 3 or greater will flee, those with Social Defence 2 or lower will cower in terror until you leave the area, and will probably forget much of what they have seen up to this point.

Auspex

Notes
Auspex serves as a "sixth sense", allowing some Kindred to realise that their lives are in imminent danger. This is controlled by the Storyteller, and the warnings it provides are too general to be of use in combat. It also indicates general Psychic Awareness, and may be used to sense "important" events, although it may also leave a character open to the effects of Psychic events.
Advanced Subterfuge gives a +1 bonus to resist all the powers of Auspex

Heightened Senses (Investigation)
At will, you can vastly enhance the sensitivity of one of your senses. Heightened Senses can be used to overhear conversations, see in inky (but not complete) darkness, read letters by touch, taste the impurities in a liquid, or identify an individual's scent. Any sense can be intensified by this Discipline, but only one sense at a time.
If you are bombarded by a sudden, unexpected, large amount of sensory input to a sense you have Enhanced with this discipline you completely lose the affected sense for fifteen minutes. Examples include a firework or gun being fired in close proximity, being beaten or having a bucket of cold water thrown at one while Touch is heightened, having strong perfume sprayed in your face, or having a flash go off in one's eyes.
A Kindred with active Heightened Senses can detect the presence (but not the location of) any Kindred using Unseen Presence (and associated powers) who is moving nearby. You may also engage in a Mental Challenge against anyone moving nearby in Unseen Presence. If successful, you have spotted them, and can see them normally until you again lose sight of them.
You may detect the anomalies in Mask of 1,000 Faces or similar disguises used to duplicate someone you know, although you must state you are doing so, and can again initiate a Mental Challenge to penetrate Mask of 1,000 Faces to see who is really there.
You can use Heightened Senses to ask a character if there is anything "odd" about him. For example, touching someone who has the Visceratika discipline will reveal their flesh is a hard and stony. Heightened Senses can also tell the difference between a living, breathing being with a heartbeat and a cold, breathless, still-hearted kindred.

Aura Sight (Empath)
All living beings possess a halo of energy that surrounds and pervades their being, referred to as an aura. This aura shifts constantly with mental, emotional and physical information about the being, and a Kindred with this power can try to read this aura and gather information from it.
With a successful Mental Challenge, you may demand that the target answers one of the following questions honestly:

Have you committed Diablerie within the last six months?"
"What is your current emotional state?" (brief summary)
"Did you believe the last thing you said to be true?"
"Are you currently diseased or drugged?" (brief summary)
"Are you currently in the grip of an active derangement?" (brief summary)
"What sort of creature are you?" (human or ghoul, Kindred, Garou, mage, spirit, faerie, mummy, potential mage etc.)
"Is there anything strange about your aura?" (may require a Ref)

Spirit's Touch(Empathy)
You may sense the residual energies and impressions left on an object when it is handled or touched. Specific information, such as the identity of the individual, his emotional and/or mental state and his perceptions, may be acquired with the use of this power.
Various factors, such as brief contact, multiple handlers, and the unusual nature of handler or object, can dramatically affect the use of this Power. In some cases, no impressions may be present at all. Kindred using Obfuscate powers usually leave no trace of themselves on an item. Usually, the use of Spirit's Touch requires a Storyteller's assistance.
Possession of the Empathy Ability allows more information of greater accuracy to be gathered, the higher the Ability the better the information gained. Possession of other Abilities may allow extra information to be gained - for example, Occult ability may help identify a magickal item, while Investigation may help read the make-up of an object.

Telepathy(Empathy)
You can transmit and receive thoughts. Used on a willing subject, it allows you to communicate silently. This communication cannot normally be overheard. However, anyone who also possesses Telepathy is aware when such communication is taking place. With a successful Mental Challenge against one of the participants, you may secretly listen in on Telepathic communication. If you fail the challenge, however, the target is aware that someone tried to make secret contact with him.
You may communicate with a willing subject without a Challenge, and without expending any Willpower, and may maintain the link until one or the other of you wishes to break it. If the target is not actively willing to allow you to communicate with them, you must spend a Willpower point and succeed at a Mental Challenge, and can then communicate or monitor surface thoughts for one minute before you must again spend a Willpower point and win a Mental Challenge.
Telepathy can be used to spy, access surface thoughts, or discern the truth. Used against an unwilling subject, you must win a Mental Challenge. You may then as a yes-or-no question of the subject, or ask a short-answer question, which must be answered truthfully.
Individuals with active Derangements are dangerous to contact telepathically, and add +1 to their Defence when resisting Telepathy for each active Derangement they have. If you lose the challenge, you are affected by one of their Derangements for half an hour, or one of your own Derangements becomes active, at the discretion of a Ref.
You are also Astrally sensitive, and can spot the presence of those using Psychic Projection moving nearby. You may initiate a Mental Challenge to pinpoint the location of the astral spirit, but not his identity.

Psychic Projection
With conscious mental exertion, you can project your spirit out of your body. In this state your spirit travels incorporeal though the physical world. Only supernatural barriers can stand in your way.
Individuals with advanced senses may realise something is amiss. Those with Telepathy detect your presence automatically, and may spot your location with a successful Mental Challenge. Another Kindred with Psychic Projection automatically spots your location, and may spot your identity with a Mental Challenge.
While projecting your body is defenceless. You cannot interfere with the physical world in any way. The only powers that may be used against you are those that affect spirits or the mind, and even then only if your location is perceived. Two Psychically Projected individuals may interact normally, save for the fact that they use their Mental Attack and Mental Defence in place of their Physical Attack and Physical Defence, and they may not spend Blood Points.
You may become visible to and able to speak with one person in the physical world. This costs one Willpower Point every ten minutes. You may use Auspex and other sensory disciplines freely. If you are visible to a target, you may use Presence or Dominate against them (whether you have made yourself visible to them, or they have spotted your identity).

Celerity

Co-ordination
You possess a level of co-ordination and reflexes far beyond those of normal mortals, or even your fellow Kindred. You can use your enhanced reactions to allow you to perform simple actions much faster than another character, especially repetitive actions such as sorting or moving an item, or even moving at a steady jog. To use this power, you must spend a Blood Point. It is a Breach of the Masquerade to use this power where mortals may see you.
You can halve the time it takes to perform any physical action, such as picking a lock, searching a room, reading a book or sorting through a pile of objects. You may also half the time that must elapse before you may try and break free of a Grapple. You cannot speed up Diablerie, or the use of any Disciplines or purely Social abilities: you cannot halve the time taken to turn into a Bat, or the time needed to Interrogate a target.
There is a mental component to this power, and it seems to you as if time slows down dramatically. This allows you to apply your full concentration to an action. For example, you can speed-read, or type on a computer at remarkable speed when hacking.
When travelling by foot, you can also halve the time it takes you to travel from one location to another, making judicious use of Co-ordination to run at super-human speeds, or to perform acrobatic activities such as running across roof-tops. You may not be able to rely on the full benefit of this Power if there are many mortals around.
If there is ever a question about who acts first in a situation, such as when you and an opponent simultaneously shoot one another, you may declare "Co-ordination" and spend a Blood Point to ensure you act first. Thus, in the example above, if you arranged to shoot first you could potentially wound your opponent badly before he returned fire. If both you and your opponent used Co-ordination, the one with the highest Rank of Celerity would go first. If you both had the same rank, there would be no benefit.

Swiftness (Speed I)
Your body can move with surprising speed when you wish it to, and undertake certain actions faster than most mortals or even kindred can match. By spending a Blood Point, you receive one Speed action. Mortal onlookers may be surprised by the speed at which you move, but may well simply assume you are abusing drugs. It is not a breach of the Masquerade to use this power.

Alacrity
You are capable of avoiding incoming attacks with ease. You may spend a Blood Point to gain a Dodge manoeuvre, which is used immediately. This Dodge can be used to avoid Archery, Brawling, Firearms and Melee attacks with equal ease, but cannot be used to Dodge sorcery or thaumaturge attacks.
When you make a Celerity Dodge, you may expend one of your Dodge manoeuvres and then spend a Blood Point to avoid giving up your next Speed action. Alternatively, you may spend 2 Blood Points to make a Dodge without needing or using a Speed action or a Dodge manoeuvre.

Quickness(Speed II)
Your speed is now unearthly. By spending a Blood Point, you acquire two Speed actions. Mortals will be frightened and concerned, as you seem to blur and are almost impossible to follow. Using this power in front of mortals is a breach of the Masquerade.

Fleetness(Speed III)
Your speed is so great you cause a light breeze when you move, and mortals will be afraid and concerned. This is a sure breach of the masquerade. For one Blood Point, you gain three Speed actions.

Dominate

Notes
Using Dominate requires the Kindred to establish eye contact with the target. The briefest meeting of eyes is enough to initiate the effect: the target cannot voluntarily look away once they have seen your eyes. Orders issued with Dominate must be verbal and clearly understandable by the target. Alternatively, you may use Telepathy to issue commands if you have that power.
Dominate is totally ineffective against kindred of a lower generation than the user of the Discipline. If you are being Dominated, you may reveal your own Generation, forcing the attacker to do the same, and if your Generation is better than his, the Dominate fails before any Willpower is spent. You will be aware that your attacker is stronger or weaker than you are, but he will know your Generation also. IF you do not wish to risk this, then it is assumed that you have given in to someone who could not normally have Dominated you.
Dark glasses do not protect from Dominate, but they do prevent someone using it: the target must be able to see your eyes, not necessarily vice versa.

Command(Intimidation / Leadership)
A form of mind control used through piercing gaze and commanding voice. You must defeat your opponent in a Mental Challenge to use this power. You may give a simple command to the subject which contains only one idea such as: "sleep", "freeze", "kill that man" or "leave this place". The command takes effect instantly. It cannot be blatantly self-destructive or ambiguous, such as "answer all my questions truthfully" or "tell me everything you know". It may violate the subject's principles. The effects cannot last more than about ten minutes.
Advanced Intimidation gives +1 to initiate challenges, and wins aggressive ties.
Intermediate Leadership gives +1 to resist challenges.

Forgetful Mind (Subterfuge / Meditation)
You can use your powers to warp the conscious and unconscious memories of a victim. After defeating another character in a Mental Challenge you may add, alter or eliminate memories concerning a single event. It is possible, though difficult, to reverse this effect and rebuild someone's memories if you know they have been altered, although this is quite time consuming.
The extent of the information can be as limited as the colour of someone's shirt or as encompassing as the experiences of a fifteen-minute period of the past. A character can be told something like "remember a conversation about the weather" and will fill in the blanks himself.
Advanced Subterfuge gives +1 to initiate challenges, and wins aggressive ties.
Advanced Meditation gives +1 to resist challenges.

Mesmerise Subterfuge / Meditation
By staring into someone's eyes you may creep into their minds and plant subtle suggestions that will direct their behaviour. These instructions are hidden in the target's mind until a trigger event occurs. Using this Discipline requires you to defeat the target in a Mental Challenge. Even if the command is successfully implanted, it will be ignored if it poses a clear and serious threat to the character's life. You may implant only one suggestion in a given subject's mind at any given time. Furthermore, both the command and the trigger must be concise and easily understandable.

Conditioning(Intimidation / Streetwise)
Conditioning is used to create a change in the personality of an individual, and it can be hard to use successfully. Your target must be defeated in a Mental Challenge as usual for Dominate abilities. Before you can make the Challenge, however, you must be able to maintain eye contact with your target for at least a minute, and this usually means the target must be restrained in some manner. While you can maintain eye contact easily, nothing stops the target running away or calling for help as you initiate the power. Assuming you are successful, you may give your target any one command you desire.
A command given with Conditioning is similar to one given using Mesmerism, but can be worded in a much more general manner and requires no specific stimulus to activate it. An example of a typical command is never to attack a specific person under any circumstances, or to do everything in one's power to kill someone, or to report everything you hear on a certain matter to a certain person: Conditioning gives the target an ongoing command that will become part of their normal behaviour.
You may only use Conditioning on a specific individual once per night. A target will know he has been Conditioned unless you use Forgetful Mind on him or her to erase details of the Conditioning. A target who does not know he has been Conditioned rationalises what he is doing, and may become distraught if it is proved he is acting irrationally.
There is a secondary use of Conditioning: if you successfully Condition a target you may instruct him to bend more easily to your will; this gives you a +1 bonus to all further attempts to use any Dominate power against that individual, including Conditioning. You may do this several times, accumulating up to a +5 permanent bonus to your use of Dominate. This use may be broken like any other, but the bonus to Dominate the target is added to the difficulty of dismantling any Conditioning you have placed.
To undo the affects of Conditioning requires a vampire with the Conditioning ability to slowly dismantle the command. This requires a Mental Attack against the Mental Attack +3 of the person who constructed the Conditioning in the first place, along with any modifiers to Mental Attack from Subterfuge and similar. This is a single round challenge, and the person trying to break the conditioning must succeed on the first round or the attempt is a failure. A specific character may attempt this only once for each specific use of conditioning, but each failed attempt to dismantle the Conditioning adds a permanent +1 to the difficulty of dismantling it for anyone else.
Advanced Intimidation gives +1 to initiate challenges, and wins aggressive ties.
Advanced Streetwise gives +1 to resist challenges

Possession(Subterfuge / Meditation)
You can subtly insinuate your mind into the body of another and gain complete control of the target. However, your own body is left completely inert and vulnerable while the Discipline is in use. You can possess the bodies of mortals or Kindred, but cannot possess animals. To Possess a Supernatural, such as a Werewolf or Vampire, you must spend 1 Willpower point before you initiate the Challenge.
While in the foreign body you are subject to all its physical limitations. You may not use your Physical Disciplines, and may not access any of the host's Mental or Social Disciplines or faculties. You may use the host's physical disciplines, however, if you are aware of them. You use the Physical Attack, Physical Defence, Soak and Damage, Blood Pool and Health of the body you inhabit, while keeping your own Mental and Social attributes, Willpower and Abilities. The exception is that if your host is incapable of performing Social Actions due to a disadvantage, you are likewise restricted from doing so.
If the body is destroyed while you possess it you experience Final Death. During the course of the possession, you are completely unaware of the state of your body, and your victim is considered unaware of what is happening to him.
To execute possession requires eye contact, touch and a Mental Challenge. If successful, your body falls inert and you immediately take over the victim. You may remain in the host body until Sunrise, when you return to your own form. To return to your own body before this time requires that you touch your body and will yourself back into it. If your body has been destroyed, you experience Final Death when you return to it at Sunrise. Note that while possessing someone, you count as an "evil spirit" for purposes of Necromancy and certain rituals - you can be driven out and forced to return to your own body, although you cannot be "put in a jar" or questioned.
Failing to possess a body is disorientating, and for a full five minutes you cannot control your body or concentrate. During this time you are vulnerable to all attacks.
Spiritually empty bodies, such as the forms of those Psychically projecting or currently possessing another body, may not resist Possession and you require no Mental Challenge to take control of them. However, when the absent spirit returns to its body, you must succeed in a Mental Challenge to maintain control or be expelled.
As a game effect, characters possessing the bodies of others should adopt the appropriate dress and trappings of the host body. Additionally, a name badge or a label should be employed to signify the change. Alternatively, you may simply follow the body around giving the player instructions.
Advanced Subterfuge gives +1 to initiate challenges, and wins aggressive ties.
Advanced Meditation gives +1 to resist challenges.
In addition, those who are actively Meditating are more resistant to this power, and may be able to block it completely depending on their skill.

Fortitude

Notes
Once gained, Fortitude powers are permanent and always active; they cannot be turned off except by magickal means. Alterations to statistics are permanent also.

Endurance
You can use your Soak against Aggravated Damage. You still suffer Aggravated wounds as normal, but generally suffer less damage than others would. You may endure 5 seconds of exposure to Sunlight without taking damage.

Resilience
Your Health points increase by 5, and your Soak is increased by +1 bonus point. These points are applied immediately and permanently.
You can now endure up to 15 seconds of exposure to sunlight.

Mettle
You may now heal Aggravated Damage. It takes one minute to heal each point of Aggravated damage and costs 2 Blood Points per point healed.
In addition, you can now endure up to 30 seconds of sunlight.

Perseverance
You now heal normal damage more efficiently. At the cost of one Blood Point, you may heal 2 normal wounds at the rate of one point every 5 seconds.
Secondly, you receive another +1 bonus to your Soak and another +5 bonus to your Health. These bonuses are cumulative with the bonuses from Resilience.
Finally, you may endure up to a minute of full sunlight.

Aegis
You can completely ignore one source of damage. This costs a permanent point of either Physical Attack or Physical Defence. You are protected against all the affects of an attack, such as an attempt to stake you; immune to the affects of sunlight or fire for five minutes; able to force a Diablerist to begin draining your Health points again during Diablerie and any other specific affects allowed by a Referee on a case-by-case basis.
If you become immune to the effects of an Attack, then you cannot be harmed by that specific attack for the next five minutes. So, if you use Aegis to ignore an attack from Character A armed with an sword, you would not be protected from Character B with a sword, or Character A with an Axe, only from Character A with a sword (any sword). It is Ref's discretion whether one use of Aegis protects against an attack: if Character A picked up a Kinslayer sword, the Aegis would not protect as it is considered a different attack.

Obfuscate

Notes
When someone attempts to penetrate Obfuscate powers, the defender has a free +2 bonus to his Mental Defence. Note that some higher rank Auspex abilities allow one to see through Obfuscate without a challenge, however.
Devices such as cameras still register the character normally. However, if a person employing such devices is near the Obfuscating character, she is still affected by the power and cannot discern the character until some time later.

Unseen Presence
This power allows you to remain unseen, even in crowds. You can walk around freely without being seen or heard. Others do not notice you, because their minds tell them not to. Someone may still block your movement by standing in a door, but they could not detect you by swinging their sword at random, as their minds will adjust the swing of the sword (for example) to miss you.
To engage this power, you must keep one hand in the air with two of the fingers extended side-by-side. As soon as you touch an object (other than walking around), talk or otherwise interact with your environment, you reappear.
If you move, those with active Heightened Senses can detect something amiss, but can only pinpoint your location with a successful Mental Challenge. Once they pinpoint you, you remain visible to them until they lose sight of you.
Anyone looking at you when you engage Unseen Presence can see you automatically as long as they keep their eyes on you. If they look away, even for an instant, they lose you again. It is usually sensible to be in private when activating this power, or at least to distract people before using it.

Mask of 1,000 Faces
This allows you to change your appearance: you adopt an illusory disguise. You may be required to use new props and clothes, or a name-badge to simulate your change in appearance.
Those with Heightened Senses active may sense there is something amiss about you if you copy the appearance of someone they know, but they must directly ask you if they can sense anything odd. If they can defeat you in a Mental Challenge, they can see you as you actually are.
You possess one "instinctive" disguise which you can assume at will while conscious. Other disguises may be adopted, but each one you use costs a Willpower point. While asleep, in Torpor, or at the point of Final Death, you resume your true appearance.

Vanish from the Mind's Eye
Your powers of hiding are so advanced that you can disappear in plain view of others. Those who witness such a feat, especially mortals, are effectively stunned and unable to act against you for 3 seconds, allowing you to make your escape before they can attempt to see you.
To use this power you declare "VANISH" and expend 2 Willpower points. You immediately enter Unseen Presence, but the ability of onlookers to continue to see you is negated.
At the discretion of the Storyteller, mortals who see you vanish may actually forget they ever saw you if you are unexceptional and they did not see you for long. As a guideline, any mortal with a Mental Defence lower than your Mental Attack forget if they only interacted with you for less then 5 minutes.

Cloak the Gathering
Not only can you mask yourself, but you may render other willing subjects invisible. After you disappear (using Unseen Presence), you may expend 1 Willpower point for each other individual you wish to hide. You can only hide others with the equivalent of Unseen Presence.
Individuals under this power must remain within three paces of you to remain hidden. All those cloaked by you can see each other (unless they have made themselves Unseen seperately). Each individual must abide by the limitations given under Unseen Presence above, or immediately become visible again, and unable to see anyone still cloaked. If one member of the group becomes visible in this manner, the others are unaffected. If you yourself violate the limitations of Unseen Presence, everyone you are hiding become visible as well.
If a Kindred with Heightened Senses defeats one of the cloaked individuals, only that individual is perceived. However, if perceptive Kindred challenges and perceives you while you are projecting the cloak, all of the subjects are revealed. It is not apparent which member of a group is using this power.

Soul Mask
What Mask of 1,000 Faces does for the body, Soul Mask does for the aura. You may hide your secrets from those with Aura Sight or Telepathy, and may confuse attempts to use Empathy or even Subterfuge against you.
You must expend a Willpower point for each piece of information you wish to change about yourself, and you may only change those things which can be detected with Aura Sight. The types of information that can be masked include recent diablerie, emotional or mental state, surface thoughts, type of creature and Derangements. You may even simulate or mask the appearance of a drunk, diseased or drugged aura. Each of these masks must be recorded when the power is activated, and remains until Sunrise or until you choose to change them again (at additional cost).
You may also create false psychic impressions when handling an item to deceive Spirit's Touch, and if you are extremely familiar with an aura (Storyteller discretion) you can attempt to duplicate it, although this is a risky proposition at best.
Soul Mask deceives any attempt to find out the information masked by any means. If you hide the fact you are a diablerist, no amount of Aura Sight can detect this fact, nor can Telepathy find that you have committed Diablerie; those memories are protected by the Soul Mask. However, careful telepathic probing will eventually uncover the memories; this requires at least one minute of work for every point of Mental Defence you possess, plus an extra 2 minutes, and usually the intervention of a Referee.

Potence

Notes
Using the Strength power to gain supernatural strength also increases Damage by the appropriate amount based on the new Physical Attack, but not Soak. The various Potence levels are not cumulative with one another, but a Kindred may choose which level to activate when he spends the blood to do so. Strength always adds to the initiation and resistance of Brawl manoeuvres.

Prowess(Strength I)
By spending a Blood Point you may increase your effective Physical Attack and Physical Defence for all challenges involving Strength by +1 each for five minutes. Recalculate damage based on the new Physical Attack.

Vigour(Strength II)
By spending a Blood Point you may increase your effective Physical Attack and Physical Defence for all challenges involving Strength by +2 each for five minutes. Recalculate damage based on the new Physical Attack.

Indomitability (Strength III)
By spending 2 Blood Points you may increase your effective Physical Attack and Physical Defence for all challenges involving Strength by +3 each for five minutes. Recalculate damage based on the new Physical Attack. Mortals who see you using this strength will be frightened and concerned, and it is a breach of the Masquerade to use it in public.

Puissance(Strength IV)
By spending 2 Blood Points you may increase your effective Physical Attack and Physical Defence for all challenges involving Strength by +4 each for five minutes. Recalculate damage based on the new Physical Attack.

Might(Strength V)
By spending 3 Blood Points you may increase your effective Physical Attack and Physical Defence for all challenges involving Strength by +5 each for five minutes. Recalculate damage based on the new Physical Attack.

Presence

Notes
Lower generation is no defence against the use of Presence, but the Malkavian and Samedi clans especially are adept at avoiding the effects of the Discipline, as it is Social in nature, and their Clan Advantage functions against Presence where it does not against other Discipline attacks.

Dread Gaze (Intimidation / Leadership)
You may cause feelings of terror in others by confronting them and defeating them in a Social Challenge. The target runs from you in panic, and is unable to take any action against you or initiate any Challenges against you. He must flee the area and may not stop until he is out of your presence. For the next half-hour, he will avoid you and will leave immediately should you appear. If somehow forced to remain in your presence, the target is extremely uncomfortable, and suffers a -2 penalty to all attempts to Challenge you. If you back him into a corner, he may spend a Willpower point to attack you in an attempt to flee: otherwise, he will cower abjectly. If you attack the victim, he may defend himself normally (still at -2 penalty to attempts to Challenge you) but this does not end the effect.
If you fail to Dread Gaze someone, you may not try to do so again for half an hour.
Advanced Intimidation gives +1 to initiate challenges, and wins aggressive ties.
Intermediate Leadership gives +1 to resist challenges

Entrancement (Leadership / Subterfuge)
You have a supernatural ability to attract, sway and control others. Anyone you look upon can be ensnared by your glamour. Even those who despise you are rendered civil, if not docile.
You attempt to Entrance someone by engaging him in a Social Challenge. If successful, he must speak to you politely and in a civil manner. Furthermore, he may not attack you while Entranced. The Entrancement is broken if you initiate an aggressive act against the subject or behave in an obviously insulting or crude manner towards him. Otherwise, the power lasts for one hour. If you break the Entrancement by attacking the individual, you may not Entrance him again for the rest of the night.
If you fail to Entrance someone, you may not attempt to do so again for the next half an hour.
Advanced Leadership gives +1 to initiate challenges, and wins aggressive ties.
Intermediate Subterfuge gives +1 to resist challenges.

Summon (Leadership / Leadership)
You may demand the immediate appearance of a person known to you. You fill the thoughts of your target with a desire to enter your presence that has the power of an obsession.
The standard way to use this power is to select an out-of-game envoy to carry your summons. You must indicate how the Social Challenge should be carried out: how much Willpower or Status to use, what modifiers exist and so forth. If possible, this should be written down. The envoy then finds the target and conducts the challenge as per your instructions.
In the meantime, you must remain in one place waiting for your target to arrive. If the target loses the Challenge, he will proceed to your location by the quickest means available, and will fight to get past any obstruction. You may only use this power against those who are within your area of Influence, which usually extends about a quarter of a mile. If you know the subject extremely well, you may summon him from further away. If the target is Blood Bound to you, there is no effective limit to the range of this power.
If the target has reason to believe his life is in danger (at the Ref's discretion) he may be allowed to take reasonable precautions: this depends on the circumstances and who the target thinks has Summoned him, as well as whether the target realises he has been summoned. Even with "reasonable precautions" the target must come to your presence by the quickest means he can.
If you fail at an attempt to Summon someone, you may not attempt to do so again for the remainder of the night.
Advanced Leadership gives +1 to initiate challenges, and wins aggressive ties.
Intermediate Leadership gives +1 to resist challenges.
In addition, those who are actively Meditating may be able to block this power.

Bewitching Oration(Leadership / Leadership)
Your voice contains harmonics that cause it to entrance listeners. To use this power, you declare "BEWITCHING ORATION - TIME FREEZE". You must then win a Social Challenge, applied equally against all those within earshot (a Global Challenge). It is carried out as normal except that anyone who does not resist immediately may not attempt to do so in later rounds of the Challenge. As long as you speak clearly, all those affected who can hear your voice are unable to do anything except listen. After your speech ends, the listeners are charged with a single specific emotion for as long again as they were bewitched. The emotion cannot force someone to undertake a specific action, but must be roleplayed.
If anyone Bewitched is attacked, all those able to see the action are freed. If anyone affected is attacked, or they resist, they realise what is happening. If they do not resist or break free prematurely, they do not realise they have been manipulated using Presence, and may deny evidence to the contrary.
Any of Clan Toreador who fail to resist are Entranced by the orator for the next half hour unless they spend 1 Willpower point. Anyone with Intermediate Empathy feels the emotional resonance of the power for twice as long: anyone with Advanced Empathy feels the resonance for five times as long.
If anyone enters the area while the Bewitching Oration is underway, they must immediately resist the highest Social Attack the speaker bid or be entranced.
Advanced Leadership gives +1 to initiate challenges, and wins aggressive ties.
Intermediate Leadership gives +1 to resist challenges.

Majesty(Leadership / Streetwise)
You exude an almost physical aura of power. Those around you find it hard to think about, much less act out, offences against you. You can expect to be treated with respect if not outright awe.
The effect extends to all those who can see you directly (not by a remote camera, for example, or on a video tape). The effect is always active while you are conscious, and requires no action on your part. In case of question, you should signify you have Majesty by holding your arms out from your sides.
Anyone attempting an offensive or aggressive action against you must defeat you in a Social Challenge. The attacker may only continue if he is successful in the Challenge. If he fails, he may not continue with the planned action. To attempt to challenge your authority again during the night he must first spend a Willpower point before initiating the challenge. If you attack someone, the effects of your Majesty immediately cease to affect that individual until they are out of your immediate presence: if they return, they are still affected by your Majesty.
If someone is not treating you with respect, you may remind them you have Majesty. If they are still not treating you with respect, tell them they will need a Social Challenge to continue. If they still act offensively toward you, a Ref may penalise them. Note that being treated with respect does not mean they have to do what you tell them: merely that they must be polite or at least civil.
Note also that possessing Majesty does not protect you from the Majesty of others: two characters with Majesty will both feel respect for each other, albeit the respect for an equal rather than for a more powerful individual.
Advanced Streetwise gives a +1 bonus to attempts to break Majesty, and wins aggressive ties.
Advanced Leadership gives a +1 bonus to resist attempts to break your Majesty.

Protean

Notes: Degeneration
Members of a Clan other than the Gangrel who learn this Discipline gain an Animal Feature for each power they learn in the same manner as a Gangrel does when he Frenzies. Every three Animal Features reduces Social Attack by 1 for most purposes; see the description of the Gangrel Clan for details.

Wolf Claws
You may instantly cause razor-sharp claws to grow from your fingers. The Claws are obvious, and may not be easily concealed. Using this power among mortals easily breaches the masquerade. It costs 1 Blood Point to activate Wolf Claws, but they last until you wish to sheathe them again.
When used in combat, Wolf Claws cause Aggravated damage equal to your Hand damage +1. If you have the Potence Discipline or Brawl (Advanced) Ability, damage can be increased further.

Earth Meld
You can sink instantly into the earth, down to a depth of about six feet. It costs 1 Blood Point to Earth Meld, but nothing to return to the surface. Provided you have an open patch of earth you can avoid such threats as fire and the sun. You can, however, be dug up again if someone knows where you are.
This power does not work on any surface but soil, sand or mud. Earth Meld leaves no trace unless special powers are used, although it may be possible to find a target using Heightened Senses.

Shadow of the Wolf
You may transform into a wolf. The process requires a full 30 seconds of concentration, and the expenditure of one Blood Point. During this time you may not engage in any actions. If hard pressed, you may transform instantly with the expenditure of 3 Blood Points.
The change only alters your body and normal clothes: weapons and other equipment does not change. Furthermore, certain Disciplines and Abilities cannot be used while you are a wolf. A Storyteller should be consulted in questionable cases.
As a wolf, you can pass for a normal animal. You can communicate with other wolves and dogs. You have Heightened Senses of smell and hearing (considered equivalent to the Auspex powers of the same name, but you cannot voluntarily turn them off). You may Bite for +2 Brawling damage (this is not aggravated) and have an extra Dodge manoeuvre which recovers as normal.

Shadow of the Bat
You may transform into a bat, with identical requirements, costs and effects on equipment as Shadow of the Wolf, above. You are unusually large for a bat, but that is all.
As a Bat, you can navigate easily in darkness and can fly. You can even navigate through darkness created by magickal or supernatural means, such as Obtenebration. You must avoid well-lit areas. You cannot usefully pick things up or initiate fights, open doors or the like. You are very good at hanging upside down from rafters. While in this form, you can only be attacked with ranged weapons or area effects and have an effective bonus of +3 to all challenges for avoiding such effects. You can feed, but only from unresisting targets and cannot commit diablerie.
Finally, you can travel great distances Between Sessions, spending your night flying and your day in the Earth, although you may encounter trouble feeding you can usually Travel freely.

Form of Mist
You can slowly diffuse yourself into a fine mist. In this state, you can slip through any structure, provided it isn't airtight. You are also immune to physical damage except that caused by Fire or Sunlight. Movement in this form is restricted to walking speed, and strong winds can reduce this to a slow walk or a stand-still, or even push you in an undesired direction. You can diffuse yourself into a cloud of thin mist, or pull yourself together into a ghostly approximation of a humanoid form. You cannot speak or interact with physical objects in this form.
It costs 1 Blood Point to assume Mist Form, and one to turn back again, and takes a full minute of concentration, although you may spend 3 Blood Points to instantaneously change one way or the other. While in Mist Form, you may not use physical abilities or disciplines. Obviously, being in such a form prevents the use of Discipline powers such as Command (eye contact, speaking), Thaumaturgy, Wolf's Claws and the like, although you may use Auspex and similar information gathering abilities at will, and may use any purely Mental Discipline.

Thaumaturgy

Rituals
For each level of Thaumaturgy a character learns, he may select one ritual of his Rank or lower, which he learns for free. He must have a source of that Ritual available, however. Thus, a Tremere with Thaumaturgy 3 also knows three rituals, of which two will be Basic rank and one may be either Basic or Intermediate. A Thaumaturge may learn other rituals by expending Experience, and may learn rituals equal to his Rank in Thaumaturgy or lower.

Paths
The maximum level a Thaumaturge may know any Path of Thaumaturgy is equal to his level in Thaumaturgy. This, a character with Thaumaturgy 3 may know Movement of the Mind 3, but may not learn Movement of the Mind 4 until he has increased his Thaumaturgy to level 4.

Notes
Advanced Occult Influence gives +1 to initiate Thaumaturgy challenges, and win aggressive ties.

Notes:Tremere Secrets
Only the Tremere know the true secrets of Thaumaturgy, and they guard their secrets jealously. The Tremere are the only source of Thaumaturgy, and they do not teach it outside the Clan except in the rarest of circumstances. In general, only Tremere may begin the game with Thaumaturgy; a Ref should not allow a non-Tremere to possess this Discipline.
The Tremere Clan is dedicated to protecting the secrets of this Discipline, and the Path of the Blood that is part of it. If they learn that someone outside the Clan possesses the discipline, they will not stop until that person is dead, preferably after having revealed who taught him the secrets of the Clan.

Taste of Blood
You may discover all sorts of information by examining the blood of an individual. You must examine at least one blood point from the target, and the blood is destroyed in the process. It takes ten seconds to discover each piece of information. The information that may be revealed is learned in the following order; clan, generation, creature type, presence of alien agents in the blood, identity of alien agents in the blood (one at a time), whether the target has ever committed diablerie and the physical nature of the target.
All information is current for the time the blood is taken from the target. Please remember that vampires do not naturally bleed: blood must usually be collected from a willing target, or extracted by opening one of the vampire's veins with a purposeful assault.

Theft of Vitae (Occult + Medicine)
Through concentration you can visibly draw blood from a container or living target into your own body. The source of the theft is obvious, as streamers of blood arc through the air towards you. Use of this ability may trigger the Blood Smell Beast Trait in those witnessing the attack. Many Kindred will try to kill a Thaumaturge who uses this ability against them.
Against a visible receptacle, even one in the possession of another, the power is automatic; you may drain 2 Blood Points from the vessel for each Willpower point you spend, up to the full contents of the vessel. Certain rituals can protect the contents of a vessel from this power, but they are not common knowledge.
If the source of the blood is another creature or a hidden container hidden in the possession of another (which you know of), you must win a Mental Challenge against the target. If you win, you may steal 2 Blood Points for each Willpower point you expend. You cannot steal more Blood than is available, and you cannot drain the last Blood Point from a target: the victim must have at least 1 Blood Point left. A mortal who is the target of this attack is incapacitated if he loses 3 Blood Points, and will die without emergency hospital attention if he loses 5 or more Blood Points.
You cannot use this power to steal more Blood than you can contain in your system. Once in your body, the blood is considered 'yours' and cannot be used as if it were still the blood of the 'donor' for powers such as Taste of Blood or Blood Mastery. However, if the Blood is originally from a Kindred source you will be one stage Blood Bound to the donor as if you had drunk his blood normally.
Advanced Occult gives +1 to initiate challenges, and win aggressive ties.
Advanced Medicine gives +1 to initiate challenge, and wins aggressive ties.

Blood Mastery
By possessing a portion of a target's blood, you possess power over him or her. You must possess a Blood Point from the target to use Blood Mastery against him. Activating this discipline destroys the Blood Point. At any time before a Challenge is resolved, you may declare Blood Mastery: you automatically win the challenge, but any Willpower or Blood Points spent so far in the Challenge by either side are not expended.
The Blood Point must be in your possession to use this ability. It is usual to seal the blood in a Container of Vitae to ensure it remains fresh. You do not actually have to touch the blood, merely having it on your person (in a pocket) is sufficient. Having the blood in a case or bag, however, is not sufficient

Blood of Potency
You may make your blood more potent, effectively lowering your generation. You can only be under the effect of one application of this power, and the effect fades at sunrise. This does not affect the generation of any Progeny, nor does it increase Willpower. It will increase the size of your Blood Pool but when sunrise comes round any blood above your Pool size causes you 1 Aggravated damage per point and is destroyed. The most effective general use of this power is to allow you to resist Domination, or to Dominate a more powerful individual.
To use this power you must expend an amount of blood, which must all be fresh and willingly donated. The blood can be placed in a container by several individuals, but all of it must be Kindred blood. Thus, to lower a vampire several generations requires the co-operation of several vampires.

All costs are cumulative, so it costs 15 Blood Points to lower a vampire from 12th to 6th generation, or to lower a vampire from 8th to 4th generation. To lower yourself from 13th to 4th generation costs 25 Blood Points.
When your generation is lowered, your Blood Pool is larger, and you are considered to be your new generation for purposes of Domination. On the down-side, you will make mortals uneasy and detect as Wyrm Tainted as if you really were your new Generation.

Cauldron of Blood(Occult)
With a touch, you cause a target's blood to boil in his veins causing massive damage to Kindred targets and possibly killing mortal targets outright. To successfully use the ability requires you to get a good grip on a willing or unresisting target, to make a successful Brawl Strike against them, or to win a Grapple Challenge.
Once contact is secured, you expend one Willpower point to activate the power and a variable number of Blood Points. Each blood point you spend destroys 2 of the target's Blood Points, and inflicts 2 Health points of damage. You can cause only as much damage as you destroy blood, and this damage can be Soaked only by Fortitude levels. This damage can drop the target into Torpor.
Doing 2 points of damage to a mortal target with this power kills him or her. Any target will be temporarily stunned by the use of this power: Every 2 Blood Points boiled incapacitates the target for five seconds. Use of this power will trigger any Beast Trait related to Pain, once the incapacitating agony has passed.
Advanced Occult gives +1 to initiate challenges, and win aggressive ties.

Influence

"It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail" Gore Vidal

Flat Expenditure
This is the simplest way of using Influence: you simply expend some Influence, and the effect you are trying for takes place. Most of these uses are of the sort that involve acquiring or suppressing information, such as covering up a Breach of the Masquerade. Either a Storyteller tells you how much you will need to spend to accomplish what you are trying to do, or else you spend your Influence and the Storyteller explains the outcome. Flat Expenditure may occur between sessions or during a session with equal ease.

Projects
Projects are extended actions requiring the steady accumulation of a large amount of influence. Examples include setting up a Herd, building up a Security Firm or Occult Library, or arranging a Free Festival. When you undertake a Project, you define a Plan and explain how your Abilities and Influences are being used to promote it. Most Projects have Requirements that must be met before they can be initiated or completed. Sometimes specific plans may allow you to get around these requirements. The Storyteller will usually tell you the Requirements to undertake the project.
Projects have the advantage of allowing you to accumulate Influence over time, and of allowing you to use your Abilities, Disciplines and special abilities to help attain your goals.

Lending Influence and Temporary Control
If someone lends you an Influence, they maintain control of it. They do not necessarily know what you are doing with it, but they recover control of the Influence whenever they want.
If you gain Temporary Control of an Influence through some means (Influence War, or grabbing the remains of a deceased characters’ influence), then you are considered to have a tenuous grasp on the remaining fragments of someone else’s influence. The Influence is "real" but your control of it is loose. If you spend it, it is lost forever and reverts to the uncontrolled "pool" of Influence. Alternatively, you may try to Consolidate your Control. This can be done in one of two ways: you may spend experience points as normal to take control of a Temporary Influence (2 ep per point), or else you may explain a Plan and undertake a Project to expend 3 points of Influence for each point of Temporary Influence to convert it to Permanent Control.

Influence War
Influence War is the process of attacking another Kindred’s Influences. This can be a long, drawn out process, and can ultimately lead to long-term rivalries and disputes. It is always performed as a Project: it is also most commonly performed using the assistance of other Kindred. A normal Influence War follows the following three steps:

Resolving Influence War
The Influence you spend is totalled and compared to the amount of Influence the target has expended. The side with the higher total wins, and the difference between the two is called Victory Points. If you have made an Assault to Destroy, every 3 Victory Points destroys one point of the Influence you have attacked. If you have made an Assault to Control, every 5 Victory Points allows you to take Temporary Control of one of the attacked Influences (you must consolidate your hold on this Influence as normal; see above).
You may continue an Assault until you are Defeated (the enemy has more Victory Points than you have). After this, you must Contest again.

Defending against an Attack
You may commit Influence to defend against an Assault. Your Defensive influence is totalled and compared to the attacker. You may choose to be Purely Defensive or to Return Fire.
If you are Purely Defensive, your Influence Total is increased by 25% (round up), but you do not have any effect on the attacker. If you Return Fire, your Influence Total is counted as normal, but if you defeat the attacker you may either Destroy or Control some of the attacking influence (randomly selected) if you have a high enough margin.

"Give me a place to stand, and I will move the earth" Archimedes

Bureaucracy

"We are just statistics, born to consume resources." Horace

Description:
The organised aspects of the local, county and even national government are subject to the manipulation of those with this Influence. You have contacts and allies among rubbish collectors, the Fire department, the utility works (Water, Electricity, Gas), road builders, Department of Social Security, University Grants, surveyors, Internal Revenue and numerous other civil servants. You can also gain access to blueprints of public buildings, power and telephone cables, sewer tunnels, accurate maps of the sewers (as close as possible . . . ) and street-lamps. If you want to.

Abilities and Influences:
The most useful Ability to combine with this Influence is, unsurprisingly, Bureaucracy. Computer, Finance and Investigation may also be useful. Bureaucracy becomes more powerful when combined with Politics or Media Influence, and sometimes with Finance.

Project Ideas
Look for odd power use: abandoned places using electricity are sometimes havens. (Investigation Ability may help here)
Initiate a phone tap. This is illegal and needs Police or Politics influence, and/or Abilities such as Repair and Security.
Totally remove someone's records all over the country (Computer Ability is a must)
Trace ownership of a place by finding who pays the bills (Finance Ability and Influence are useful)
Arrange for a Vampire with a mortal identity to die. (Health Influence may be useful here)
Cause widespread disruption of someone else's Resource or Haven by interfering with the Zoning Laws, Utilities or just the Traffic Lights.

Church

"Heaven and Earth are not humane. They treat people like things." Tao Te Ching, 5

Description:
Your influence applies to all commonly accepted main-stream faiths: Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and the Islamic faith. More esoteric practices fall under the Occult influence. Contacts and allies included by Church Influence include: ministers, bishops, priests, activists, evangelists, witch-hunters, nuns and various church attendees and assistants.

Abilities and Influences:
Oddly, the most useful Ability to combine with this Influence is probably Occult, although Leadership is also potentially useful. Church combines quite well with Occult on a number of levels.

Project Ideas
Change the opinions of a congregation, effecting other Influences in the area, or else mobilise the "moral majority" behind a Political or Media issue, either to benefit or detriment of that issue.
Discredit or destroy the reputation of a member of the religious community.
Gain regular access to a Herd made up of church congregations, although this is dangerous in the extreme, and more of a threat to the Masquerade than most Herds.
Combined with Occult Influence, locate a practising Kabbalist for possible aid, a skilled Exorcist prepared to put his career on the line, or speak with a yogi or guru about troubling matters
Find a cleric of whatever denomination prepared to accept the existence of the Kindred and perhaps offer absolution, understanding or a sympathetic ear.

Finance

"Avarice, the spur of industry" David Hume

Description:
You know the language of money and its haunts, both the official and the not-so-official. You have a degree of access to banks, corporations, Insurance companies, loan agencies, credit-card companies and raw valuables -antiques, gemstones and precious metals. Money talks, and it is often appropriate to use Finance Influence to purchase equipment. You have a variety of servants to draw upon, such as CEOs, bankers, corporate yes-men, bank tellers, brokers and loan agents.

Abilities and Influences:
Obviously, the most useful Ability to combine with this Influence is Finance. Computer is also very useful in the Information Age. Finance is one of the most useful Influences, and can be combined with most other Influences. It is also vital when purchasing equipment of all sorts.
Generally, a point of Finance Influence represents about £5000 of capital, with each extra point doubling the amount of capital "resting" in interest accounts, land-ownership and possessions.

Project Ideas
Ruining businesses is always useful, when you locate a rival's Resources. It usually needs an Influence War to ruin a business, and both Legal and Bureaucracy Influences are useful.
Arrange purchasing power or stock-piles - essentially, translate Finance Influence into one-use purchase points for specific types of equipment.
Make investments (see example) for which Finance Ability is a must
Raise large amounts of cash (£500 for one Influence, doubling with each extra point of Influence spent)

Health

"Our body is a machine for living" Leo Tolstoy

Description:
You have influence over the entire network of health agencies, hospitals, asylums and medical groups. You can divert much needed funds, or ensure better medical care. You have access to a number of helpless victims if you wish to feed directly (although you must always be careful not to catch a disease) and you can usually get hold of the equipment to run medical tests (although the Masquerade makes it much safer to perform such tests yourself).

Abilities and Influences:
This Influence is best combined with the Medicine Ability, although the Bureaucracy Ability is useful for dealing with red tape, and the Science Ability can come in useful for any research projects. Health Influence combines well with Finance or Bureaucracy Influences. Health is vital to protecting the Masquerade.

Project Ideas
Create a Herd at an asylum, rest-home, or hospital (Bureaucracy Influence and Ability are useful)
Analyse records to find out the best places to hunt if you have an appropriate feeding restriction

High Society

"There are people who have money, and people who are rich"Coco Chanel

Description:
You have influence among the elite, those who exist above the herd by virtue of birth, talent, possessions or quirk of fate are your allies and contacts. You can direct and utilize the energies of this mass of mortals to effect other influences, and to control trends and patterns in society.
A drawback in the use of this Influence is that many uses of it are fairly obvious to anyone else with High Society Influence. If you try to spark a trend or create a large-scale project, other people who move in Elite circles will hear of it - the nature of the Influence means this is unavoidable.

Abilities and Influences:
The most useful Abilities to combine with this Influence are the Social Abilities (Leadership, Subterfuge and Empathy especially, although a little Streetwise or Scrounge to supply peoples . . . needs may be appropriate). Presence is useful, and Eerie Presence can be a disadvantage. High Society combines well with Finance and Politics, but goes best of all with Media.

Project Ideas
Attack someone's reputation with a whispering campaign. Properly planned this is impossible to trace and slowly erodes Fame or High Society Influence. Useful Abilities are Subterfuge and Dominate (Rank 3) to make people unsure where the rumours and gossip are coming from . . .
Create a Herd (see example) of willing vessels from the elite.
Become famous or gain a reputation among mortals by hob-nobbing with the elite in public. Media is a must for this Project.
Gain Influences in nearly any area by concentrating your attentions on those members of High Society who cross over. This is most useful for Finance, Industry, Legal, Media, Police or Politics Influences.

Industry

"Progress is a comfortable disease" e. e. cummings

Description:
You have Influence over the world of industry, a dark work of grinding machines, pollution, grime and toiling labourers. You can use your control to acquire equipment, cause labour disputes, get hold of demolition materials and have industrial research performed. Industrial contacts and allies include union workers, foremen, engineers, contractors, construction workers and manual labourers. It also includes influence over the owners of Industry, although they are also found in High Society.

Abilities and Influences:
Industry is not particularly connected to any Ability, although both Repair and Science can be useful. When dealing with Unions, Social Abilities can play a large part. It is most useful in conjunction with Finance, and may also be combined with Transport for specific plans.

Project Ideas
Make an area "greener" or more "polluted" over a period of time.
Take over or set up a business such as a Construction Company, a garage or even a steelworks. This requires at least Finance and probably Bureaucracy Influence as well.

Legal

"Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just" Thomas Jefferson

Description:
Your presence is felt in the halls of justice and the courts, law schools and law firms. You can have contracts drawn up and enforced, and can turn the wheels of justice so they crush your enemies. If you want someone to go to jail, or to be released, or get early parole, then you simply have to say the word. You can tie other people up in legal complications, from an attempt to buy a business to moving house. Alternatively, you can arrange for things to run smoothly if you wish. Your contacts and allies are lawyers, judges, solicitors, court reporters and law students.

Abilities and Influences:
The Bureaucracy Ability covers the basics of Legal training, and the Social Abilities are likewise useful. The Influence combines well with Police or Underworld Influence, but is useful in nearly any area that the law may touch upon, particularly in smoothing over or complicating other projects. It is very useful when attacking or defending against attacks on Street or Underworld.

Project Ideas
Arrange for minor crimes to result in major sentences (and vice versa). Combined with Police Influence, this can be an effective way of attacking Street or Underworld Influence.
Tie things up in red-tape of a legal nature, especially when building things or expanding businesses.
Arrange to have someone summoned to appear in court at an inappropriate time (useful for causing trouble for your enemies) or else make a trusted ghoul turn up for jury service.

Media

". . ." Marcel Marceau

Description:
You exercise control over the eyes and ears of the world; radio and television definitely, but also publishing, theatres and music production. To a lesser extent, you can control information technology. Your contacts include station directors, editors , reporters, anchormen, cameramen, photographers and radio or television personalities. You can create art, or you can pass tripe off as quality entertainment.

Abilities and Influences:
Media works best with Social Abilities in a one-on-one situation. It combines well with High Society and Politics Influence, and nearly any project can benefit from increased (or decreased) media attention. Media Influence can be used to ruin people's reputations with as much success as High Society, and can be used to carefully alter public opinion on a variety of matters. This Influence is absolutely necessary to cover up threats to the Masquerade.

Project Ideas
Publicize or advertise resources with the aim to increase income or simply to diversify.
Systematically alter people's opinions on a certain subject over the local or even national area.
Make or break the name of nearly any artist or performer, with good or bad reviews of their work, poor or excellent scheduling and coverage and so on.
Expose crooked politicians, policemen, lawyers, politicians, criminals, politicians and vampiric pawns with crusading, investigative reporting.

Occult

"We'll tear your soul apart" Clive Barker

Description:
This Influence represents contacts and influence within the World of the Strange. It does not mean access to large numbers of psychics and hedge magicians; most of those who operate in this area are the strange, the insane, the deluded, the desperately hip, and those with darker designs. Using your Influence means manipulating these people to get to the real power. When you accumulate a lot of Influence, you may gain access to the other inhabitants of the World of Darkness, for good or bad.

Abilities and Influences:
In almost all cases, Occult Influence must be combined with Occult ability. Linguistics and Science are both useful as well. In some cases, Social Abilities may help. When working with Influences, Occult combines well with Church and University, and in some cases with High Society and Finance.
For more details of the Occult Influence, see the Thaumaturgy and Sorcery Supplemental book.

Police

"During the clash of arms the laws are silent." Cicero

Description:
You have influence within the police force, and can determine exactly who it is they protect and serve. It can also serve as a worthwhile source of labour for a variety of projects, including security companies, or for "putting the frighteners" on a few people - in the World of Darkness, there are a lot of corrupt policemen. There are also a rare few bright souls who could give a vampire a run for his money if they chose to fight. Your contacts are beat cops, detectives, specialist investigators of one type or another, police chiefs and security consultants.

Abilities and Influences:
There are no particular Abilities that are especially useful when using Police Influence, but Police works well with Underworld Influence. Using both of these Influences, and perhaps Street and Legal Influence one can quickly acquire a monopoly in the criminal business world. Vital to the Masquerade.

Project Ideas
Taking complete control of the Police department near your Haven will give you added protection: taking control of the Police near someone else's Haven will give you power over them.
Setting up a Security Firm is much easier when you have a pool of skilled ex-Policemen to draw on.
Putting together a Police Death Squad is harder in Britain than in America, but it is still possible to organize some unscrupulous men and women who won't draw the line at killing troublemakers when their jobs are on the line.

Politics

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."Thomas Jefferson

Description:
The art of lies and manipulation that some call politics is yours to manipulate. You have control of statesmen (old and young), councillors, activists, members of political parties, lobbyists and candidates. You may also have some Influence in the shadowy world of Espionage. For every Vampire who controls ministers and MPs, there is one who controls Animal Rights Activists and Anti-Fascists. Both sides of the coin are covered by this Influence.

Abilities and Influences:
Political Influence works well with Bureaucracy Ability, and with most Social Abilities (especially Leadership) if you are interested in being in front of the cameras. Many political actions can be enhanced with Bureaucracy or Media (if they are public) or with Finance Influence (if they are a little more shady). Street Influence helps when working with the slightly grubbier political types.

Project Ideas
Block the passage of bills and acts or enact one's own legislation. This often requires an extensive campaign of Influences of all types, but might allow you to toughen up the firearms laws in an area or indeed the entire country, for example.
Arranging a vote of no-confidence in a political figure can be used to attack your political opponents (especially when combined with Media influence).
Firing civil servants is a useful way of attacking someone else's Bureaucracy Influence, as is manipulating the flow of Government funds into your own personal Bureaucratic Influence and away from someone else's (Finance is needed, both the Influence and the Ability).
Getting large numbers of grubby types to protest against something, or stopping the same. It is much harder to stop it than to start it, mind. Street and University Influences are also useful.

Street

"It is not these well-fed, long-haired men I fear, but the pale and the hungry-looking" Julius Caeser

Description:
A lot of people fall through the cracks of society, and end up on the Streets. Not precisely Underworld, although there are criminals among them: not precisely Politics, although there are a lot of activists down there. Invisible people who can go many places and see many things. Your contacts and allies are tramps, prostitutes, small-time dealers, punks, Big Issue sellers, squatters, some charity workers and the odd member of Anti-Fascist Action. Few people pay attention to the poor and the desperate when they are about their business, and this is an advantage when using this Influence.

Abilities and Influences:
Street works well for checking on activities in other Influence areas, especially those which require one to be out in public from time to time. Combined with other Influences, Street can be used to find out a lot of information. The Streetwise Ability is a must to use this Influence.

Project Ideas
Arranging a network of spies to keep an eye on a specific person or Influence. Maybe getting advance warning of attacks on your own Influences and abilities, or else watching to see what someone else is doing.
Taking over the streets in a certain area so everything that goes on there is known to you.
Constructing a street-gang to serve as a defensive or offensive measure against certain people, places or things, or to provide muscle during direct face-to-face confrontations (this is most effective when used between sessions).

Transport

"If a man take no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at home"Confucius

Description:
What - and more importantly, who - goes where is a concern in the rapidly shrinking modern world. With this influence you can arrange for travel not only in the local area, but over larger distances. Transport Influence allows you to arrange for anyone to travel to or from the city where you have influence. You are also considered to have some influence in other areas, so you can arrange safe places for Kindred to stay when they get where they are going. Your contacts and allies include bus drivers, cabbies, rail employees, ship captains, boat owners of all types, truckers, customs officials, pilots and the owners of helicopters.

Abilities and Influences:
There are no Abilities that directly assist in the use of Transport generally, although specific projects may be helped by Social Abilities or Bureaucracy. Finance Influence is very useful when using this Influence, especially when moving across International Borders. Legal influence can also be used to avoid the troubling effects of customs.
Transport allows you to easily arrange transport from or to the area you are based in. To arrange travel between two other destinations is more difficult. It also covers finding safe accommodation in any are you may end up visiting, and requires you to provide the same for visiting Kindred from time to time.

Project Ideas
Arrange permanent safe transport between two locations (such as a secure link between Liverpool and Ireland, or )
Take complete control of a specific transport area, such as an Airport or a Railway Station, allowing monitoring of who is coming into or leaving the area, and where they are going to / coming from.
With other Influences (Bureaucracy, Police, Underworld) set up a smuggling operation into the area from outside the area, whether for items or people.

Underworld

"He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of your guys to the hospital, you send one of his to the Morgue"The Untouchables

Description:
Whether it is Mafia or Yakuza, or just a gang lord with a few men under him, you have the ears of people who live on the underside of society. Blue and white collar crime can be tapped, and you can pull strings within the shadowy kingdoms of extortion, prostitution, murder and theft. Your contacts range from organised crime hit men to hard lads on the estates. Not a nice Influence.

Abilities and Influences:
Streetwise Ability is often useful when dealing with the Underworld, as are the Social Abilities Subterfuge and Intimidation. Underworld connects well with the Police Influence, and can give a lot of insight when combined with the Street Influence. Be careful though - Underworld can sometimes turn against the person who tries to control it too tightly. The upper ranks of the Cosa Nostra and the other major Shadow Organizations are closely monitored by powerful entities of all types.

Project Ideas
Arranging regular supplies of drugs, stolen cars and the like can make for a steady income. Underworld can also be used to set up "caches" of items and equipment.
With some Police Influence, "immunize" your illegal resources to the attentions of the Police by taking advantage of graft and corruption.
Trade your Underworld in for Police Influence by carefully using your own Police Influence, or simply arresting other people's retainers.

Unversity

"I know a lot, but I would like to know everything" Goethe

Description:
University Influence is often under-estimated. With access to this Influence you have access to the minds of hundreds of people. While you may lack a skill yourself, you can usually find someone, somewhere in the Education field who possesses it. All elements of education, from primary to Master's Degrees, PhD students, Public and not-so-public Libraries, the Internet and other resources are all open to someone who knows how to use them, or who knows how to use the people who know how to use them.

Abilities and Influences:
Computer is a useful Ability to combine with University, and so are the Social Abilities when dealing on a face-to-face basis with the Student Body (frightening thought). Finance is a useful Influence to combine with University, as is Bureaucracy. There are plenty of opportunities to use University in conjunction with Media and Politics Influences, as well.

Project Ideas
Enrolling in a Night Class can allow you to buy Abilities with a teacher: spend enough Influence, and you may be able to reduce the experience point cost for that ability.
Students make excellent Herds, and have the added bonus of often possessing odd Abilities.
A skilled Ghoul is easier to find if you have befriended him when he is still training. Time and effort can not only get a skilled ghoul, but put that ghoul in a position of power, increasing his value
Getting strange texts translated (with a little Occult Influence) into a readable language, or having someone go through technical drawings, or find out what period in history an artifact came from are all useful

Sample Projects

All Projects require "Accumulated Levels" of Influence, which means they need a certain number (and often type) of Influence levels. Influences and Abilities count towards projects in one of two ways:

Experience Points

Experience points are awarded at the end of each session and can be spent to improve your character in a number of ways. They are a record of how long your character has been alive, and allow you to not only improve your ability with your characters’ existing powers, but to gain new ones as well.

Logical Progression
In all cases, the lower level or rank(s) of an Ability, Attribute or Discipline are considered pre-requisites for the next level. So, to purchase Advanced Intimidation you must already possess Basic and Intermediate Intimidation. This means that, without a teacher, the total cost to buy Advanced Intimidation, starting with nothing at all, is 19 experience, or 16 with a teacher for each level.

Purchasing Disciplines
To purchase the first power of any discipline requires you to have a teacher who is prepared to work with you for a month. That teacher must know the power you wish to learn. This is much harder where the discipline is not available to your clan (see below). Further powers of your Clan disciplines do not require a teacher to learn. Non-Clan Disciplines, however, require a willing teacher for every power you learn: you cannot progress without this assistance.
Note that experience points for non-Clan Disciplines are increased by 1 point, including the starting power, so the cost to begin a non-Clan Discipline is 5 experience and a requires a teacher.

Purchasing Talents
Talents are special "twiddles" one can perform to make a Discipline more unique to the character, and are explained in more detail in the Discipline section. You may only develop Talents in your Clan Disciplines, although you may learn Talents from other Disciplines provided you have a teacher and meet the requirements. This costs the standard +1 experience point penalty.
Talents cost 3, 6 or 9 experience points depending on their "level" as assessed by a Storyteller.

Thaumaturgy, Sorcery, Mytheracia and the Occult Ability
These three disciplines are special. They possess levels as a normal discipline, as well as rituals and paths. For more details on how these Disciplines and the Occult Ability may be purchased, see the Thaumaturgy and Sorcery handbook.

Purchasing Influence
Influence can be purchased for 2 experience points, but requires the permission of a Referee, and means you must have done some work during the Between Sessions period expanding your control.
It is possible to increase Influence without experience: this is covered in the Influence section.

Awarding Experience
Experience Points are awarded at the discretion of the Referees. The exact methods of doing so may vary from system to system, but the official guidelines are as follows:

Character Death and Penalties
If your character dies, then your next character receives the experience points you would have earned for the session in which you died. Most Storytellers do not penalise you an experience point for dying before the end of the session! To qualify, however, you must die "in character." If you have saved character points, possibly to buy an expensive talent, you lose them when the character dies.

Performing Challenges

"Paranoia is knowing all the facts." - William S. Burroughs

Most activities in a Vampire Session involve simply interacting with other characters.

Bids
Challenges are won by making alternate Bids until one side gives in. The highest bid at the end wins. Challenges can last up to three rounds.

Each Type of Challenge uses the relevant attribute; a Social Challenge uses your Social Attack or Defense, and so on. If you are the one initiating a challenge then you use your attack score. If someone else is challenging you, then you use your defense score.
Except in exceptional circumstances, an attack is always met by the relevant defense.

In rare cases, such as Linguistics or the use of some Disciplines, the Attack and Defense attributes may be different. The type of challenge in this case may be different for the two people involved. Thus, when a Thaumaturge tries to hit someone with a Force Bolt (his Mental Attack versus the target's Physical Defense) it is a Mental Challenge for the thaumaturge, and a Physical Challenge for his victim.

You may bid for free up to the level of the attribute you are using. You do not have to bid this high if you prefer not to, for example you may want to disguise how powerful you are.

Some abilities or disciplines may improve this basic bid in certain situations, for example if a Physical challenge is described as Strength-based you may use the Potence discipline to increase your basic attack score.

Bids above the level of your basic attribute cost points. Social and Mental challenges can be boosted only by Willpower Points. Physical challenges can be boosted by either Blood or Willpower, or both.
Only points used to boost the final bids are actually spent. Both sides spend their points no matter who wins, and even if it ends because one side gives in before the third round. These points are lost for the remainder of the session unless special actions such as hunting or meditating are performed to recover them.

Round 1
The Attacker starts the challenge, explaining why, and makes his initial bid.
The Defender must either give in or make a bid at least as high.

Round 3
The Attacker either gives in or makes a final bid.
The Defender either gives in or raises his bid at least as high.

Resolution Both the Attacker and Defender lose any Willpower or Blood points which they used to boost their final bid above their base attribute score.

Whoever made the highest final bid wins
Ties are won by the Defender unless the attacker has a special ability such as the ability to Win Aggressive Ties (i.e. win ties if he initiated the challenge). However, any ability which gives a Defensive advantage will always take precedence over one which favors the Attacker.
You need not declare any ability which allows you to win a tie unless you wish to use it.

Variations
There are two situations which vary these rules very slightly.

Global Challenges
A Global Challenge is simply a normal challenge which affects more than one person simultaneously, for example the Presence power Bewitching Oration can be used on anyone within the sound of the Speaker's voice.
The Attacker generally calls a Time Freeze and announces clearly what she is doing and who will be affected. She then bids a single attack score as usual. Each defending character either gives in, or matches her bid and proceeds to the next round, and so on as usual. If any characters last three rounds and match her final bid they are unaffected by the power being used.
The attacker only spends the same Willpower she would have used against one target, no matter how many people resists or are affected.
Each defender who made a bid must spend any Willpower they used, even if they gave in before the third round.

Firearms Challenges
Firearms challenges are based on Physical attack and defense. They work exactly as normal, except that they only last for one round. See Performing Combat in the Combat Section for more detail.

Exceptions
There are two specific situations that do not use the standard rules.

Special Challenges
Simply a game of paper-scissors-stone with a Ref. The rules are normal; paper beats stone, stone beats scissors, scissors beat paper. Who wins ties will depend on the actual challenge. This is usually used for resolving random events such as the time required to recover from some uses of Mytheracia, or the likelihood of a Contact being available by the telephone.

Attack Thresholds
A Strength-Based Challenge. It is most commonly used for smashing doors or similar objects. It requires a Referee. When anyone attempts to break the object the Referee measures their Physical Attack against the object's secret Physical Defense to see if they succeed. Unlike normal challenges the attacker cannot spend anything to boost this, but abilities such as Potence which boost base Physical Attack count.
If two or more characters combine efforts they do not add their Physical Attacks, but the base Physical Attack they each require may be lower. Some base Physical Attack Thresholds:

Combat

There are three types of Combat: Brawl (unarmed), Melee (contact weapons, e.g. swords) and Firearms (ranged weapons, e.g. guns or bows). All require the relevant ability to perform.
When performing combat remember to role-play what is happening. If you are hurt, cry out. If you are badly hurt in one limb, stop using it. If one of your Beast Traits is triggered, for example Rage: Vigilante, remember to spend Willpower or give in to Frenzy. Combat is not a break from the session, it is part of it.

Damage and Soak
Damage
Damage is the basic number of Health points your target loses when you hit them with a weapon. Your base Damage score is the harm you can inflict with your bare hands. Melee weapons such as swords or clubs add to your basic Damage. Firearms simply do their allotted Damage regardless of your own score.

Soak
All normal Damage done to a target is reduced by their Soak. This is a kind of innate armour which never weakens, and represents a character's resilience. If the Soak is equal to, or greater than, the Damage being dealt then the target takes no damage at all.

Aggravated Damage
Aggravated Damage is a specific type of very severe Damage inflicted by Magick, Fire, Sunlight or some special attacks such as those granted by the Protean Discipline. Unlike normal Damage it is not reduced by the target's Soak but affects Health directly, unless the target possesses the Fortitude Discipline.

Being Knocked Back
Some weapons, specifically Automatic Weapons, cause Knock Back. If you Soak all the damage from a weapon causing Knockback, you stagger back a few paces and have your concentration broken. If you do not Soak all the damage, you are knocked off your feet by the force of the blow, and must get up again normally.

Brawl and Melee Combat
Brawl and Melee combat are initiated by making a light hit on the target with your hand or the weapon respectively. Hitting harder does not increase your damage or make it more likely that you will hit someone. It is extremely important not to get carried away in combat, and to remember to "pull" your blows so as not to hurt your target.
You do not require a Physical Challenge to hit a target; you must simply make contact with them. However, you must possess the Brawl or Melee Abilities in order to do damage.
Without the Melee Ability, it is assumed that you are not skilled enough to strike an opponent hard enough to do damage. Without the Brawl ability, you not only lack skill to attack, but also lack the nerve to actually hit someone.
While this may not seem realistic, it is no more or less realistic than requiring the Computer Ability from someone who wishes to access a computer.

Firearms and Archery Combat
Firearms (or Archery) combat is initiated by calling a Firearms challenge. This works exactly like a normal Physical Challenge except that it only lasts one round. Thus, if the attacker's first bid is equalled or beaten, she has lost. The defender must simply decide whether to match the attacker's bid, or be hit. A successful hit does the weapon's damage only.
The verbal component of a Firearms challenge runs as follows: "Firearms Challenge, Attack X, Damage Y", or "Firearms Attack X, Damage Y".
If you do not state both your attack and damage clearly, you cannot hit anyone with your shot.
This challenge necessarily takes more time than firing a gun would in reality. If this bothers you, think of it like this: for normal weapons this represents the time needed to aim even generally at your target. For automatic weapons the time taken represents how few automatic shots actually hit their target.
If you are using actual projectiles for Archery it is vital that you use a safe prop which has been checked and tagged by a referee. Even with safe projectiles you should be in control at all times and never aim at someone's head or into a crowd. Use your common sense.

Strikes and Dodges
Certain abilities (Brawl, Dodge, Melee, Firearms and Archery) give Strikes and Dodges to use in combat. Once used, a Strike or Dodge is lost for thirty minutes before it may be used again.

Strike
A Strike allows you to make an automatic hit against an opponent. If you are using your hands or a weapon, you simply declare a "Strike" while feinting an attack at your opponent: there is no need to actually make contact for this hit to cause damage. If used with the Firearms Ability, there is no need for a challenge, simply declare "Firearms Strike, Damage X".
Strikes may still be Dodged (or Blocked, or Parried if appropriate) but this is the only way to avoid them. Damage from a Strike may still be Soaked as normal, however.

Dodge
A Dodge prevents all the effects of one attack. The attack is considered to have missed, even if it was a Strike. You may dodge almost any sort of attack, including Firearms. To do this you must shout "Dodge" as soon as the attack is made.

Block and Parry
Instead of gaining the usual automatic hit, you may choose to use a Brawl Strike to Block a blow, or a Melee Strike to Parry a blow. Blocks can only be used against Unarmed attacks, while Parries can only be used against melee attacks. Otherwise, they are the same as Dodges. You must shout either "Block" or "Parry" to do this.

"Do not fight a battle you cannot win." - Sun Tzu

Special Combat Actions
At higher levels, the Brawl, Dodge, Melee, Firearms and Archery abilities allow you perform more unusual actions. If you have the skill at the required level, you may attempt to perform these actions as often as you like.

Brawl Combat Actions
Bite Requires an immobilised target
Only Vampires may attempt a Bite action. This action does not require the Brawl ability, but may only be used against an immobile target: one you yourself have grappled, one someone else has grappled, or one who is unconscious or otherwise incapable of movement. When you Bite someone, you may either cause them Aggravated damage equal to your base Damage, or else drain their blood at the rate of 1 Blood Point every 5 seconds.
Mortals are immobilised by a successful bite attack at long as you drain their blood. You may drain the blood of a mortal as slowly as 1 Blood Point every 3 minutes and maintain this pleasurable paralysis.
When you bite a kindred to cause damage, they may try to break free after each tearing bite you inflict. If you are draining their blood, they may break free of a grapple only once every thirty seconds.

Grapple Requires Brawl (Basic)
You must be close enough to attack a target, then declare a Grapple. You must have both hands free. Your attack may be Dodged or Blocked, in which case you cannot attempt to Grapple the target using Brawl until at least a minute has passed, or they have attempted to attack you in return. If it is not Dodged, you initiate a Physical Challenge. If you win, you have grabbed the opponent and immobilised him. Once you Grapple someone you may try to Bite or Hold them.
To break free of the Grapple, the target must win a Physical Challenge against you. They may initiate the Challenge once every thirty seconds, or after every time they are damaged by you or someone else.
Grapple Challenges are always considered to be Strength based.

Knockdown Requires Brawl (Intermediate)
This maneuver can be dodged or blocked. Otherwise, you may initiate a Physical Challenge to try and knock the target off his feet. If successful, the target falls over where he is standing.

Throw Requires Brawl (Advanced)
Before you may use this maneuver, you must be in contact with your opponent. You may do so with a successful Strike, Grapple Challenge or simple Physical Challenge (not based on strength). You then attempt a second, Strength-based, Physical Challenge to unbalance and throw the opponent. The Throw cannot be Dodged or Blocked. If you are successful, the target can be thrown 1 meter for each point of Physical Attack you have, and takes 1 point of damage for each meter thrown. Potence adds to the distance thrown, and the target lands on his back.
If the target stops moving because he has hit a solid object, such as a wall, he takes 1 point of normal damage for each meter of throwing distance remaining. If someone is thrown into someone else, which requires the expenditure of another Brawl Strike, then both take this damage.
If you have been Grappled, you may attempt a Throw maneuver in place of an attempt to break free of the Grapple, but this is in place of a normal attempt to break free.

Melee Combat Actions
Fast Draw Requires Melee (Intermediate)
To Fast Draw a melee weapon, you sacrifice a Melee Strike. Declare Fast Draw and then call a TIME FREEZE. You may ready a melee weapon in your hand from anywhere within reach. For example, if you drop your weapon, or have not drawn it, or it is at your feet or on a table next to you.

Disarm Requires Melee (Advanced)
Touch your melee weapon to your opponent's (or use a Strike) and declare "Disarm". This attack may be avoided using Dodge, but not Parry. You are considered to be in Time Freeze, although you need not call one if it does not affect anyone else. You must then win a Physical Challenge against your opponent. If successful, the opponent is disarmed and drops his weapon.
If you wish, you may voluntarily accept a -2 penalty to your Physical Attack when you begin the challenge. You must declare this. If you then win, the target must throw his weapon clear.
Finally, you may voluntarily accept a -4 penalty to your Physical Attack when you begin the challenge. You must declare this. If you then win, the target's weapon is broken unless it is Enchanted or of a better quality than your own weapon: this is at a Ref's discretion.

Firearms Combat Actions
Fast Draw Requires Firearms (Intermediate)
To Fast Draw a firearm, you must sacrifice a Firearms Strike. Declare Fast Draw and then call a TIME FREEZE. You may ready a Firearm in your hand from anywhere within reach. For example, if you drop your weapon, or have not drawn it, or it is at your feet or on a table next to you.

Aiming Requires Firearms (Advanced)
If you wish to aim at a target, you must be immobile with your weapon drawn, pointed at the target, and concentrating solely on the target. Every 10 seconds you aim (counted slowly) you receive a +1 bonus to your Physical Attack when you finally shoot the target. You may continue to add to your Physical Attack until your bonus is equal to your Mental Attack. If your concentration is broken, you are forced to move, or you lose sight of the target, your aim is broken and you must begin from scratch.

Archery Combat Actions
Fast Load Requires Archery (Intermediate)
To Fast Load a bow, you sacrifice an Archery Strike. Declare Fast Load and then call a TIME FREEZE. You may ready an arrow or quarrel in your bow that you have anywhere within reach. For example, if you are about to be slaughtered by a man with a chain saw, you may load an arrow in your bow from the quiver at your side.

Aiming Requires Archery (Advanced)
If you wish to Aim, you must be immobile with your weapon drawn, pointed at the target, and concentrating solely on the target. Every 10 seconds you aim (counted slowly) you receive a +1 bonus to your Physical Attack when you finally shoot the target. You may continue to add to your Physical Attack until your bonus equals your Mental Attack. If your concentration is broken, you are forced to move, or you lose sight of the target, your aim is broken and you must begin from scratch.

Called Shot Requires Archery (Advanced)
The called shot is primarily for staking another vampire. You must use a Strike to hit your target, and then win a successful Physical Attack against your target. This is not considered Strength based for you, but the target may add any levels of Potence he has active to his defense. If you win, you have staked the target. If you lose, the arrow has missed a vital spot and broken: it inflicts no damage.
Note that if you are not doing enough damage with the arrow to penetrate your target's Soak, then you cannot stake him or her with an arrow. If you wish, you may Aim before attempting this shot. The bonus to your Physical Challenge is added to your chance to successfully stake the target.

Staking

To stake another vampire requires a safe, referee-approved phys-rep of a piece of sharpened wood, preferably without any solid core at all. Even more than in normal combat remember not to strike your target with any force. It is easy to get carried away, but remember that the most padded of props can inflict real damage, particularly if pushed into the chest or neck.

Pounding Stakes
When faced in a torpored or unresisting vampire, it is possible to pound a stake with a heavy object to try and force it through someone’s soak. Every ten seconds of hitting a stake with something heavy increases it’s damage by one point until it is higher than Soak, at which point the Staking continues as normal. Obviously if the target is moving around there is no chance to do this. The process muse be completely uninterrupted to be successful.

Decapitation

The severing of a Kindred’s head from his body will kill him immediately. Experiments with torpored kindred and sharp edges have indicated that only the cutting of the head from the body is completely effective here, and have failed to find a specific point on the spine above which death always occurs. For the sake of argument, only neck-cutting is sufficient.

Health

The Health of a Kindred indicates how much damage he or she can take before being reduced to Torpor. A kindred may never have more current Health points than his permanent Health rating. Kindred do not heal normally, but nor do they suffer physical damage as much as normal mortals do.

Physical States

Healing
Any Vampire may heal at any time if they have Blood Points left. Normal healing costs 1 Blood Point and takes 10 seconds of time for every point of Health to be healed. It may be performed while moving about or socialising, but a character may not heal while fighting or involved in a Challenge. The Blood Point is expended at the end of ten uninterrupted seconds, at which point the Health level is regained.

Healing Aggravated Damage
Each night a Kindred may heal one Aggravated Health Level by expending 3 Blood Points. This takes five minutes. Unless the character has Fortitude at Intermediate Rank no more may be healed until the Kindred has slept at least eight hours

Generation

"Regere Sanguine Regere in Veritatem Est"
- Motto of Clan Ventrue

Generation is a measure of the "purity" of a Vampire's blood. Lower generation is very advantageous, signifying your nearness in bloodline to the first vampire, Cain. It gives you larger Blood and Willpower pools. It does not relate to a kindred's age, does not confer status, and can have disadvantages:

All Kindred of lower than ninth generation are considered to be Wyrm Tainted unless they are Gangrel or Salubri vampires, or have no Beast Traits, or have a specific reason to be considered untainted.

Diablerie

"Experience declares that man is the only animal which devours his own kind."
Thomas Jefferson

Of all crimes a vampire can commit, Diablerie is the worst. It is the intentional draining of a vampire's blood until he is empty, then drinking his very soul, to gain personal power. Many Elders have superstitious dread of this practice, as it is extremely addictive, and a single Diablerie can start a vampire on a career of murder and worse before he is finally stopped. The systematic consumption of another soul is much worse than mere murder, and Kindred philosophers have long argued about the fate of the spirit of one who is killed in this terrible fashion. Older Kindred refer to the practice as "Amaranth" after a legendary undying Tibetan flower.

Committing Diablerie
The victim must usually be immobile for the entire period, or else will logically try and escape. This generally means either a Torpored or staked vampire is the target. Before you begin the diablerie, it is standard to ensure that you are on low enough Blood Pool to be able to drain the target as much as possible.
There are three stages to Diablerie, and the victim must usually be immobile for the entire period.

First: Drinking the Blood
The target must be drained of all his blood. This is usually done by drinking, although sometimes several vampires may combine to drink blood if the target has a lot of vitae remaining. Once all the blood is gone, the vampire has often (although not always) been reduced to Torpor.

Second : Defeating the Flesh
The victim must be drained of Health. No matter how much damage the target has already taken, the Diablerist must begin drinking his Health from his Permanent Maximum Health Levels, including Fortitude e.g. 20, 25 or 30.
Damage is calculated as the attacker's Bite damage minus the defender's soak.

Third : Consuming the Soul
Once the target has no Blood or Health left, the final drinking of the soul begins. The diablerist initiates a Physical Challenge against the target, which is considered Strength-based. This takes 30 seconds, and may be repeated any number of times. Once he succeeds, he has completely destroyed the target, who meets Final Death. This Challenge is usually a simple matter as the target has no blood, and the attacker is usually full.

Benefits of Diablerie
If Diablerie succeeds against a vampire of a lower (better) generation, the diablerist gains 1 level of generation immediately (ie lowers her generation by 1), and if she survives to the end of the session she gains 2 extra Experience Points, representing an increase in the power and potency of her blood.
If the victim was of an especially good generation, the Diablerist may gain temporary powers based on the blood drunk, but these powers fade as the blood is used up.

Dangers of Diablerie
The act of consuming another’s soul is by no means a simple one. The repercussions for a character may remain for the entire life-span of that character.
The act of Diablerie remains as black veins on the Aura for six months, but the taint remains in the blood forever and can be detected by the Thaumaturgy ability Taste of Vitae. It is said that these black veins are the remains of the target’s soul.
Except under extreme circumstances, the theft of anothers’ soul is an act of unrepentant evil. Most player characters will receive a Beast Trait from the experience. In some cases, rather than gain a new Beast Trait, one of the characters’ Subhuman Beast Traits becomes a Monstrous Beast Trait. Some characters will not be "punished" by their Beasts in this manner, as the path they tread does not consider Diablerie a sin.
In cases where the victim was many generations closer to Caine than the attacker, the soul of the dead Kindred (or the guilt of the attacker)may cause sudden personality shifts, which may be permanent or temporary. The older and more mentally powerful the target was, the more extreme this strange effect may end up being. It is especially true when diablerising Fourth or better generation Kindred.

Other Dangers
There are other dangers but they are not general knowledge. Some of them may be no more than rumour. The Diablerie of a Malkavian has a marked tendency to leave the Diablerist with a disturbed mental state, and the blood of Nosferatu often corrupts the physical form of the drinker, reducing their ability to go out in public. The diablerie of Tzimisce has been known to cause permanent damage to the physique of the drinker, while the diablerie of Samedi has been known to result in all sorts of sudden and unexpected effects, not leas of which being the assumption of a corpse-like state.
The poisonous nature of Assamite blood means that it is impossible to diablerise them. Conversely, Assamites may not diablerise other kindred, only other members of their own Clan. In either case, as the Third stage (Consuming the Soul) begins, the Diablerist is immediately slain. Even Aegis will not permit the character to survive a Diablerie of this nature.

Social Dangers
Older Kindred view diablerists with superstitious dread. The act of Diablerie consumes the very soul of the target, and older Kindred believe the target is tainted forever by his actions, taking on some of the characteristics of the one who has been consumed. The Diablerie of one of the Anathema (the enemies of the Camarilla), for example, is enough to cause the placement of the diablerist on that list in his place. Diablerising a demonist or diabolist is often considered to mark the attacker as a demonist or diabolist himself, with appropriate repercussions.
Diablerie is addictive, and every elder secretly suspects that everyone wishes to Diablerise him. When faced with proof that someone is a Diablerist, they will become extremely suspicious of that target: what they have done once, they will do again. Elders will often move to have even allied Diablerists destroyed for their crimes. Even younger generation Kindred know that Diablerie is addictive, and will draw down the wrath of the Elders upon them.
There is only one circumstance when the Diablerie of another will be ignored, and that is during a Blood Hunt. Politically, it is still illegal, but Princes rarely persecute those who Diablerise one who is Lextalionis. They will, however, take note of who did it, and who wanted to do it, and keep an eye on those individuals.

Frenzy and Beast Traits

Kindred are at least in part creatures of instinct. As a result, they sometimes lose control to the beast in themselves. This process is called Frenzy. The situations in which vampires lose control are determined by their Beast Traits (see below).

Beast Traits
Beast Traits represent a Vampire's lack of humanity. They indicate certain stimuli that cause the Vampiric Beast, the sum of the Kindred's negative feelings, to try and break lose and cause the Vampire to act in a bestial, monstrous way. All Kindred have at least one Beast Trait, and some have more. They are personal to each individual. Whenever the stimuli is present, the character must either choose to resist, by spending Willpower, or follow their instincts. Once in a Frenzy, a character's personality is completely submerged and they become capable of nearly any act. However, the general trend of their behaviour is described by the Beast Trait that caused it.
For a more detailed breakdown of Beast Traits see the list below.

Resisting a Frenzy
To avoid entering a Frenzy when the stimulus is presented to you, you must immediately spend 1 Willpower point. Members of Clan Brujah (and those suffering appropriate Derangements or Curses) must spend 2 Willpower to resist the Frenzy.
If you Resist entering a Frenzy, you will not Frenzy for that one incidence only. The same stimulus will not affect you for the next ten minutes, although a different stimulus will require you to resist Frenzy again.
For example, if a Malkavian has painted a target on the back of your shirt, the "Humiliation" Beast Trait is triggered. If you resist by spending a Willpower Point, you have ten minutes to get rid of (or cover up) the target. If during that time the same Malkavian throws a bucket of gloop over you, you will need to resist Frenzy again.

Effects of Frenzy
While in Frenzy, you still suffer damage, but all effects of the damage are ignored unless you meet Final Death or enter Torpor: you may continue fighting until your Health and Blood Pool both reach zero and you enter Torpor.
While in Frenzy, you cannot spend Willpower to resist other Beast Traits you possess. If two Beast Traits are in effect at the same time, you may find yourself becoming very confused. The most recently triggered Beast Trait takes precedence, but all are active at the same time.
You may not heal yourself with Blood while in a Frenzy.
You may not attempt Social Challenges except those based on Intimidation, and may not initiate Mental Challenges. You have a +2 bonus to resist all Social and Mental Challenges for each Beast Trait you have, including attempts to bring you out of Frenzy.

Ending a Frenzy
Frenzies usually burn out five to ten minutes after the source of your Frenzy has departed. This will depend on the Beast Traits, the situation and the character.
If you are about to do something your character would seriously not want to do - kill a friend, murder an innocent - you may spend 2 Willpower (4 for a Brujah) to end the Frenzy; the shock of what you are about to do penetrates your Frenzy and you manage to bring yourself out of it.
Someone with the Leadership ability may try and talk someone else out of a Frenzy. This requires a Social Challenge. The target automatically resists with his full Social Defense and all relevant modifiers, including the +2 per Beast Trait bonus for being in Frenzy. Failing this Challenge usually attracts the attention of the Kindred you were trying to help. Winning ends the Frenzy immediately.
Certain Disciplines, such as the Calming power of Obeah or the Song of Serenity used by masters of Animalism, will end a Frenzy prematurely. See these Discipline descriptions for details.

Types of Beast Traits The following list of Beast Traits contains specific rules and advice on how to roleplay different kinds of Frenzy. Beast Traits come in three categories, according to the type of Frenzy they cause:

They also come in two Ranks, or degrees: Subhuman (the default level) and Monstrous. A Subhuman Beast Trait prompts a Frenzy less often than a Monstrous Beast Trait. Monstrous Beast Traits mean your character will constantly have to fight against his instincts to avoid descending into madness and destruction.
Some choices or experiences may give your character new Beast Traits. Immediately on receiving the fifth Beast Trait, the character enters final Frenzy. The character goes berserk and becomes an animal. This is permanent. The Character is Lost.

RAGE Beast Traits
These Beast Traits cause a vampire to erupt into fury and violence. Many stimuli that send one vampire into a Rage Frenzy may send another vampire into a Fear Frenzy. There is a lot of overlap.

HUMILIATION
Trigger: Being made to look foolish, especially in front of other people. Being laughed at.
Action: Destroy those who have seen your embarrassment and humiliation, but especially destroy the person or thing responsible for your humiliation. Make people stop laughing at you by destroying them.
Roleplaying: Always try to be at your best in public, and brook no arguments with your superiority or suave sophistication.

ITEM
Trigger: Fly into a rage when you encounter a particular item or type of item, which must be selected when this Beast Trait is chosen.
Action: Destroy the item first, if you can. If someone else is responsible for confronting you with the item, attack them. If the item is just lying around, destroy it. Attack anyone who tries to stop you destroying the item.
Roleplaying: For some reason, a specific item causes you to loose control of the Beast. These items are associated with the vampiric condition or, more rarely, the conditions of your embrace. The item should be something that can reasonably be assumed to be encountered at least once in the average session. If you know that an item of this nature is around, you must either resist the Frenzy or try to destroy it by the quickest and most effective means possible. If you know for sure that there is a Mirror behind a door, you will try to get round the door and destroy the mirror (although you need not break the door down yourself).
Examples: Mirrors; Stakes; Garlic; Religious Items.

PROTECTION
Trigger: Whenever you encounter someone threatening a group or type of thing you wish to defend, which must be selected when this Beast Trait is chosen.
Action: Attack the person or persons threatening your chosen protectorate, possibly to the death depending on the circumstances. If they actually threaten your protectorate physically, kill them. If they are only talking about it, or you only suspect them of threatening it, beat them badly. You even Frenzy if someone says something nasty about the thing you wish to defend.
Roleplaying: Always seek to defend the thing you wish to protect.
Examples: Fellow Clan-members; The Camarilla (Or Sabbat!); The Natural World; Knowledge and Books; Innocents or Innocence.

SECT
Trigger: Encountering someone belonging to a specific sect, or word of that sect, or even hearing someone talk about that sect in a worthwhile way. The specific sect must be selected when this Beast Trait is chosen.
Action: Attack the person belonging to the sect or talking about the sect.
Roleplaying: You despise the Sect you have chosen, and everyone who belongs to it. You are incapable of believing anything good about the sect, although you will understand the need to use (and then discard) someone from the sect. You will rarely pass up an opportunity to correct someone who may think the sect is worthwhile.
Examples: Werewolves; Specific Non-Camarilla clan; Sabbat.

SPECIFIC ACTION
Trigger: A specific action causes you to be overcome with rage directed at the person performing the action. You must select which action when this Beast Trait is chosen.
Action: Attack the person performing the action. If anyone tries to stop you, pound them as well. While frenzied, look for evidence that other people are performing the action.
Roleplaying: Always be on the look-out for those performing the action, and be prepared to jump to conclusions. If you ever perform the action yourself, you will Frenzy against someone you select as being "responsible" for that action. Your own actions will not cause you to Frenzy, only those performed by other people.
Examples:
Causing Violence (Differs from the VIOLENCE trigger in that you only go for the person who is trying to hurt someone else, and your own actions do not count);
Drinking Vampiric Blood;
Feeding Vampire Blood to another Vampire (Hatred of the Blood Bond);
Having your opinions, actions or statements questioned;
Seeing someone telling a lie or being lied to yourself.

VIGILANTE
Trigger: Whenever you encounter the death of a person (whether Kindred or Human), or the act of killing. Finding a relatively recent body, or one that shows signs of having died by violence, trigger this Frenzy, and you must also avoid Frenzy if you kill someone yourself.
Action: Seek out the person responsible for the death and attack him or her. If you do not know who is responsible, you will attack someone else who might be responsible - either from circumstantial evidence or simply because you do not like them. You will not stop until you have reduced your target to unconsciousness or death.
Roleplaying: You are tormented by the killing all vampires are forced to perform. Encountering any recently dead body is a Trigger, as is seeing anyone kill someone. You will even Frenzy if you see someone killed in combat, or if you yourself kill someone. Accusations that you are a murderer will cause you to act irrationally. If you kill someone while in this sort of Frenzy, you may become despondent and depressed, or wracked with guilt.

BEING HURT
Trigger: Taking even 1 Health Point of damage, after soak. Each incidence of being hurt triggers the Frenzy until you give in at which point you cannot resist further Frenzy due to damage. If you are knocked unconscious due to damage, you Frenzy when you recover. Attacks that specifically cause Pain will also trigger this Frenzy.
Action: Immediately attack the person causing you the damage. If the hurt comes from an item without the interaction of a person, destroy the item completely. You may choose to destroy a weapon used on you first, but will still go after the person who hurt you. You attack the last person who hurt you to the exclusion of all other actions. If you do not know who has hurt you, you attack someone who could be responsible. You will fight to kill someone who has hurt you.
Roleplaying: Try to avoid being hurt or embrace the possibility of pain so you may fight more effectively. Beware, though, that you may end up killing someone you do not want to kill.

BULLIED
Trigger: Being intimidated or having someone try to use a Social Ability against you, or a Discipline such as Dread Gaze, Entrancement or Bewitching Oration.
Action: Attack the person who tried to use their social skills against you, or who is trying to put you down or make you feel inferior. If you fail to resist a Social Ability or Discipline used against you, you will still be bound by the effects of that skill, but may Frenzy when those effects wear off.
Roleplaying: Possibly be a bully yourself, or try to avoid social confrontations. Someone using Subterfuge, Empathy or Leadership is still bullying you with their greater Social skills. This is dangerous because you cannot be talked out of a Frenzy with the Leadership ability.

FRUSTRATED
Trigger: Whenever you are beaten in an obvious Mental Challenge or fail at a mental action.
Action: If you initiate a Mental Challenge against someone, and fail that challenge, you will attack that person savagely. This includes failing to read someone's aura, or failing to determine their Beast Traits. If you are attacked with a Mental Challenge that is not obvious, you will not Frenzy unless you become aware of it. If someone reads your aura and you are unaware, or someone tries to determine your Beast Traits without making it obvious, you do not need to avoid a Frenzy.
If you have failed a mental action involving an item, destroy the item.
Mental Actions also include riddles and puzzles set by others, including chess games, lock-picking, answering riddles or solving crosswords. If someone sets you a riddle you cannot answer, attack them. If they beat you at chess, attack them. If you cannot solve the crossword, destroy it.
Roleplaying: Make sure everyone knows you are very intelligent and mentally superior. Judge carefully whether you are involved in a Mental activity, and either avoid or seek out those activities that may cause you to Frenzy. This is a dangerous Trigger for those who intend to use a lot of Auspex or Dominate powers, as they may end up killing the people they wish to influence.

THWARTED
Trigger: Anyone crossing you, or refusing to obey your instructions.
Action: Attack the person crossing you, and anyone who is helping them, until they back down. For example, if you tell someone to do something and they do not, Frenzy. If you want to be Herald and someone else gets it, Frenzy. If you want to borrow a Brujah's Medical Influence and he refuses to lend you any, Frenzy.
Roleplaying: You expect your instructions to be followed, and do not understand why people cannot co-operate with your reasonable requests. You may explain yourself thoroughly, but if someone insists on thwarting you, you will Frenzy against them.

VIOLENCE
Trigger: Witnessing or taking part in violence, even "friendly violence"
Action: Attack the person or persons involved in the violence. Once you have dealt with the attacker, attack the victim for being "weak". This is a very dangerous Frenzy Trigger as your own actions cause you to continue the Frenzy until there is nobody else nearby or you are talked down.
Roleplaying: Either try to stop other people fighting as much as possible, or else seek out physical confrontations so you may revel in your Frenzy.
Special: You must resist Frenzy at the start of a Predator Hunt to avoid Frenzy.

CONTROL Beast Traits
More subtle than Rage and Terror Beast Traits, these represent the unnatural drives and selfishness of the beast; the desire to possess blood and to control the environment. In some ways, Control Beast Traits are similar to a Derangement caused by the Beast.

BLOOD
Trigger: Frenzy whenever you encounter a quantity of spilled blood, or whenever you taste fresh blood for the first time in a given situation (such as the first blood point you drink from a target).
Action: Drink all available blood as quickly as possible, then seek out other sources of blood nearby. You will not necessarily diablerise someone, but will take all their blood from them. If someone tries to stop you drinking all their blood, knock them down or out. If someone tries to stop you drinking someone else's blood, deal with them.
Roleplaying: Either avoid situations where you will encounter blood, or seek them out for the rush you receive.
Special: You must resist Frenzy at the start of a Hunt.

HUNGER
Trigger: Dropping to X Blood Points. The number of blood points which will cause you to Frenzy is 2 points for every Beast Trait you have. If you fall to this amount of Blood or Lower, Frenzy. For example, if your only Beast Trait is Hunger, you Frenzy when you have 2 or less blood. If you also possess the Beast trait of Frustrated and Bullied, you Frenzy on 6 blood or less.
Action: Drink blood as quickly as possible from the nearest source. If you cannot, or choose not to, you must go hunting as quickly as possible, without regard for the Masquerade. If anyone tries to stop you going hunting, attack them and drink their blood.
Roleplaying: Always try to make sure you have an amount of blood available should you need to feast. Make sure if you fail to resist the Frenzy that you can get out of a location quickly without being stopped, or that your friends know to avoid you when you are hungry.

BLOOD LUST
Trigger: When you encounter a willing vessel. This includes another vampire who is letting you feed from them, and you cannot easily maintain a Herd or hunt through seduction. You can only feed safely from victims who resist you, which causes its own problems. You will also Frenzy if you see another Vampire feeding from a willing victim, or even if you see two Blood Dolls exchanging blood.
Action: Drink all the blood you can, but rather than guzzling it down try to extend the process for maximum pleasure. Attack anyone who tries to prevent you drinking someone dry. Restrain your victim once you start draining their life blood if you can.
Roleplaying: Seek out partners to sate your blood lust, or else avoid all physical contact with others. Your hunting technique probably involves animals, or attacking someone, or else you spend a lot of Willpower to hunt.
Special: You must resist Frenzy at the start of a Seduction hunt.

BESTIAL THIRST
This is a rare Beast Trait that must usually develop during play: you are addicted to the taste of Werewolf blood. A Referee must clear this Beast Trait before you can select it, and it should not normally be selected by a beginning character.
Trigger: Whenever you encounter a Lupine, or any amount of werewolf blood, or the chance to get hold of werewolf blood.
Action: You must resist or seek to drink all the available werewolf blood. If you learn of a way to get Werewolf blood, you will take it. You may also seek to enslave a werewolf to give you a ready supply of such blood.
Roleplaying: Constantly be on the look-out for werewolves so you can gain their blood. This is a dangerous Beast Trait because you may end up very dead at the hands of enraged werewolves. There is still some hope, provided your name is Decker and you are a very hard Gangrel.

BLOOD THIRST
Trigger: Scenting , seeing or tasting any amount of fresh blood. This is a much more common occurrence than that listed under "blood" above.
Action: Drink all the available blood. You will take the easiest accessible blood first, but may end up attacking someone nearby if you cannot easily get all the blood you want. If you are offered blood you believe to be poisoned, or that is being used to blood bond you, you may choose to get your blood from another, safer, source but the urge to feed is irresistible.
Roleplaying: You find it hard to feed from your prey without killing them.
Special: You must resist Frenzy twice at the start of any Hunt.

DIABLERIE
Trigger: Encountering a helpless vampire or feeding from another vampire
Action: Immediately attempt to diablerise the target of your Frenzy. You may drag your target off to a safer location to feed, but if there is not one immediately nearby you will Diablerise without concern for observers.
Roleplaying: This is a dangerous Beast Trait because if you give in to it you will be destroyed either metaphorically or literally. When you are given blood by another vampire, and resist the Frenzy, you can safely drink the blood of that individual for the next ten minutes, but if someone else feeds you blood you will again need to resist the Frenzy.
Special: Whenever you diablerise another vampire you have a chance of gaining this Beast Trait due to the addictive nature of blood. Once you have it, you will quickly be destroyed as you perform more Diableries and gain more Beast Traits.

OBSESSION
Trigger: Encountering something you want. You will need to define in broad terms the sort of things your character is interested in such as Power, Wealth, Knowledge or Blood.
Action: Get the item you want, and keep it from others. You will not share this prize with anyone. If you prize knowledge and someone knows something you do not, you will not rest until you have gained their secret. If you want to be Prince, you will hate and fear the current Prince and try to destroy him so you may take the post. Your desires may change over time or between sessions.
Roleplaying: Direct you efforts to getting the thing you want at the moment. Once you have it, you will turn your attention to some other object, person or position.

POWER
Trigger: Whenever you encounter an opportunity for enhanced power, or when you are thwarted in gaining such an opportunity, or someone belittles your power.
Action: You seek personal power and prowess. If you learn of a new Discipline or Ability, you must try to get it. If you get the opportunity to increase your holdings, do so. If anyone threatens your power-base, destroy them.
Roleplaying: Constantly be on the look out for situations and things that can increase your personal power, and be prepared to betray anyone to get it. This is a dangerous Beast Trait because you may be forced to spend Experience Points to buy new abilities, and will waste a lot of Willpower to prevent yourself accepting ridiculous deals.

VENGEANCE
Trigger: Anyone harming you or those things you consider yours, or being in the presence of someone you have sworn vengeance against.
Action: Attack the target of your vengeance until they have suffered as much as you have. This is a subtle beast trait as you may end up deciding someone is your enemy and doing everything in your power to destroy them. If you are around someone who has harmed you, you must spend Willpower to deal with them.
Roleplaying: Constantly seek to undermine and harm those who have incurred your vengeance. This can be as extreme as seeking out the man who cut you off in traffic and destroying his car, or as subtle as destroying the reputation of a Toreador who once made a slightly unkind comment about one of your parties. You may be easily offended by the smallest slight, or else see yourself as incredibly honourable.

TERROR Beast Traits
The Beast contains the ancestral terrors of all Vampires, and it reacts instinctively to things that frighten it: by getting the hell out of there.
Note: Phobias of the conventional variety are treated as Derangements rather than Beast Traits.

FLAME
Trigger: Seeing fire, even a cigarette lighter or a struck match. Being burnt.
Action: Flee the source of the fire. You will generally not attack someone who creates fire, but will always seek to flee.
Roleplaying: Avoid anyone you know who is capable of creating fire magically, or who does not understand how dangerous a fire is.
Special: You may not learn the Lure of the Flames Path of Thaumaturgy

ITEM
Trigger: Being exposed to or seeing a specific item, or being threatened by someone with a feared item, which must be selected when this Beast Trait is chosen. These are often the same as Rage: Item Frenzy Triggers, but you cannot have both a Rage and a Fear Trigger for the same type of stimulus.
Action: Flee the presence of the item.
Roleplaying: If an item is not being forcibly presented to you, just lying around, you must avoid the area where it is unless you spend a Willpower point. If you avoid the Frenzy, you will often try to have the item destroyed. You will shun people who use the item or carry it around regularly.
Examples: Mirrors; Crosses; Garlic.

SUNLIGHT
Trigger: Exposure to sunlight (whether real or artificial) or even UV light (which causes a distinctive tingling on the skin of vampires). The threat of exposure to the same.
Action: Flee and try to hide from the Sunlight. If the Sunlight has a source, you might try to destroy it instead but if you cannot easily do so, flee.
Roleplaying: Always be in bed well before Dawn (who goes to bed early in any case), and possibly arrive late to sessions due to a fear of being up too soon after sunset. Avoid certain night-clubs, and if you ever encounter someone with the ability to create sunlight magically or technologically, shun that person completely.

PAIN
Trigger: Taking even 1 Health Level of damage, after soak. Each incidence of being hurt triggers the Frenzy until you give in at which point you cannot resist further Frenzy due to damage. If you are knocked unconscious due to damage, you Frenzy when you recover. Attacks that specifically cause Pain will also trigger this Frenzy.
Action: Flee from whatever has hurt you, and hide from it if possible.
Roleplaying: Avoid being hurt. Avoiding combat is a good idea. You may shun people who are responsible for having hurt you in the past, or may turn your Beast against them by trying to hurt them as much as they hurt you. You may avoid hurting others, or may revel in the opportunity to make others suffer.

RELIGION
Trigger: Meeting a religious person, being exposed to symbols of religious faith
Action: Flee the presence of the item, or the person with the item.
Roleplaying: Avoid all religious items. For most vampires, this includes only the symbols of "Good" or "Moral" faiths such as Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam and so on. Older vampires may also include certain more primitive symbols. The ankh is never considered a religious symbol due to its long connection with kindred society. The intent behind an item is more important than the actuality of it: a Star of David drawn on the floor to bind a spirit is not a Religious item, but an identical star worn around the neck of a professed "Jewish" kindred would be.
You must avoid anyone prominently wearing a religious symbol, or religious dress. If they press the point with you, you must spend Willpower to remain in their presence.

SHAME
Trigger: Whenever you fail at a mundane Physical Challenge or a physical action. Combat per se is considered a Physical Action only if you are decisively defeated in a Challenge associated with combat (such as a Grapple or a Disarm) or you are "defeated" - forced to admit you have lost.
Action: You will flee the person or situation that forced the challenge. For example, if you try to break down a door and fail you will flee. If you try to grapple someone and fail, you will instead run off in embarrassment. If someone throws you to the ground, or disarms you, you will run off and avoid them. You may even need to avoid Frenzy if you are physically intimidated.
Roleplaying: Either overcompensate for your perceived physical weakness, or else try to avoid all situations where your weakness would be seen. You will probably avoid people who have beaten you physically before.

Derangement

All Malkavians bear the taint of madness in their blood, but any Vampire may fall to the curse of Derangement as time continues.
Derangements are not the same as mental illness. Mental illness is not particularly funny and so on and so forth. Derangements are a role-playing convention, and bear little resemblance to the real-world of insanity and mental disturbance: this is intentional. Depicting Derangements in any "real-world" fashion would be ultimately patronizing and insulting to people who live with such illnesses. No offence is meant to anyone, and I hope that none is taken.
Having a Derangement means you must be prepared to Role-play that Derangement to the hilt. This can be a lot of fun. It can also get you killed. Think carefully before selecting a Derangement as it can easily get out of hand. You can temporarily avoid the need to follow the dictates of your derangement using Willpower, but sometimes there is nothing to be done except to go with it and have fun.
If someone finds out what your Derangement is, you may well find people using it against you, and you are expected to go along with this to an extent. Having a Derangement can be very dangerous to your long-term survival.

Messing with Derangements
If a Referee notes that you do not seem to be role-playing your Derangement, he may summarily remove any amount of Willpower from you and keep doing it until you do so. If you consistently refuse to play your Derangement, you will lose it and probably an amount of permanent Willpower as well to represent your "overcoming" the Derangement. If you are a Malkavian who refuses to play his Derangement, you will lose the character to all-consuming madness.
Normally, Dominate cannot be used to permanently get rid of a Derangement. Because the Derangement is part of the sub-conscious, control of the conscious mind will not heal a Derangement. Conditioning someone with an Irrational Terror of Fire not to run away from fire, for example, is very dangerous to the person Conditioned. Interfering with a Derangement may make the situation much worse: a madman who cannot flee from the source of his terror will quickly be unhinged by the experience. Or, it may simply have no effect, or just push the Derangement in a different direction. The Madness of the Vampire is much more powerful than the madness of mortals due to the ever-present threat of the Beast.
Temporary modifications to Derangements through such powers as Song of Serenity or Calming are certainly possible, however. The Referee judges each on a case-by-case basis.

What Derangements Are and Aren't
Derangements are the Clan Weakness for the Malkavians, and help to balance the Malkavian Clan Advantages. All Malkavians have one Derangement that is permanently Active, which is why they are recommended to take a Derangement that is primarily role-playing in nature.
Phobias are not considered to be Derangements. They are considered to be always active, in that one must spend Willpower to interact with the source of a phobia, and their "activity" cannot be controlled by the Disciplines that control Derangements. They are character quirks rather than full Derangements.
Derangements are not Beast Traits, although there are similarities. Beast Traits are from the Vampire's Beast, the irrational and uncontrollable urges that plague each undead life. Derangements on the other hand are mental in nature, and represent something that occurred in the character's past that permanently scarred him or her. For many Malkavians, this is a result of the conditions of the Embrace. Any Derangement probably has a root cause, which should be mentioned in the character's Background.
Derangements are not an excuse to pick up character points. A character with a Derangement is going to have to deal with it constantly, and is expected to role-play it convincingly. Trying to "bend the rules" to avoid a Derangement results in it's loss and some nasty penalty for the character. Don't take the Derangement unless you want to play it. Don't use it as an excuse for doing anti-social things to other players. Don't use it to try and get around an annoying discipline or ability.

Passive and Active
Each Derangement has two "settings": Passive and Active. A Passive derangement is a problem for the character but does not consume his every waking moment. A Character with Passive Paranoia will be suspicious of everyone, and will be very careful all the time, but will not necessarily rant incoherently about how people are ganging up on him.
The same character whose Paranoia has become Active is completely consumed by the knowledge that people are out to get him. He will threaten anyone who comes near him with a gun, and think the worst of everyone. He may barricade himself in a room and refuse to let anyone in, etc.

How does a Derangement shift between Active and Passive?
The first way a Derangement may become Active is by player decision. Whenever it seems appropriate, you can shift your Derangement to Active mode. However, if you voluntarily make your Derangement Active it must stay Active for at least half an hour before you can decide your character has calmed down. Before you can change the "setting" of your Derangement, you must have a good reason.
For Example, if your character is Paranoid, and the Prince and the Primogen declare that they want to investigate you, this may make your Paranoia Active. It will remain so until you somehow sort out your problem with the Prince, or someone does a very convincing Role-playing job of talking you out of your Paranoia. You may well stay Actively Paranoid for several sessions.
You cannot use a Derangement as an excuse to get out of a Challenge unless you are expressly told so by a Referee; even then there will be a price to pay.

The second way your Derangement may become Active is through the use of certain Abilities or Disciplines. In this case, you must role-play the Derangement fully until such time as you are informed it has shifted back again.

The third way your Derangement may become Active is if a Referee tells you it has become active. This should be a comparatively rare occurrence, but may represent situations you are unaware of (or it may be the Ref trying to liven the proceedings up). Don't resent this but play the Derangement: if you have a complaint make it after the session.

Derangements and Willpower
When a Derangement is Active, it may force you to act in a certain way. If you want to resist giving in to your Derangement, you may spend a Willpower point to do so unless you have been told your Derangement is Uncontrollable (usually due to the work of someone with Dementation). You must role-play this Willpower expenditure, and there must be a good character reason for so doing other than that you "felt like it". You can eventually overcome your Derangement by spending lots of Willpower to resist it, but this is a Role-playing decision so make sure you let the Ref know what you are trying to do.

Those Chirpy Malks
Every Malkavian must have one Derangement that they can never lose and that is always Active. This is a legacy of their Embrace, or is the characteristic that first attracted their sire to them. The legacy of Madness is what allows the Malkavians to use the Madness Network and their resistance to Social situations. When selecting your Derangement, remember that it will be "always on" and will as a result dominate your life. The Role-playing oriented Derangements are better choices for Malkavians than the purely mechanical ones. However, if you do not play your Malkavian Derangement you may run the risk of losing the character. The Referee's will be understanding if you slip for a session, but if it happens too often you may be asked to make up a new character.
Good choices of Derangements for beginning Malkavians include (but are by no means limited to) the following: Delusions of Grandeur, Fantasy World, Mania (but beware of having off-days when you just don't feel like it), Manic-Depression, Obsession, Pathological Liar, Regression, Split Personality.

Derangements

Amnesia
You have difficulty with your memory, and unconsciously shut out things you do not wish to remember. You may forget the details of events that upset you, and run the risk of forgetting who and where you are under extreme stress.
Passive: You cannot remember anything that you do or that happens while you are Frenzied, and may well forget the events that lead up to the source of your Frenzy, even if you resist that Frenzy.
Active: When this Derangement is Active, you cannot remember who you are, where you are or who anyone else is. You remember that you are a Vampire, and how to use your abilities and Disciplines. You will always forget anything that happens while you are Amnesiac.

Bestial Thoughts
Your Willpower is not sufficient for you to resist the siren call of the beast: you like losing control. Indeed, you may consciously seek situations where you can give in to your bestial side. This is especially dangerous if you are a Gangrel or Brujah, or you have one of the more dangerous Beast Traits.
Passive: You must spend double the normal amount of Willpower to resist Frenzy or to recover from a Frenzy. If you belong to Clan Brujah, you will need to spend 4 Willpower to resist a Frenzy, for example.
Active: You immediately lose control of your Beast Traits for the duration. You cannot resist Frenzy, and will consciously seek out things that trigger your Frenzy to torture yourself. You may hallucinate, or otherwise act irrationally, depending on the nature of your Beast Traits. For example, if one of your Beast Traits is Diablerie you may attack a vampire who is not unconscious to try and diablerise him.

Delusion of Grandeur
You believe yourself to be someone or something extremely powerful, and cannot be dissuaded from this belief. You may believe you are a magician, or a powerful elder, or the controller of a certain influence area. What you believe may change, but you always believe you are extremely potent and knowledgeable.
Passive: You must role-play your Delusion, but it does not dominate your life. If anyone ever tries to break your delusion, you must spend a Willpower point or fly into a Frenzy, depending on circumstances.
Active: Your Delusion completely controls you. You may take a new name, a new set of clothes and a new way of speaking. You expect respect and acknowledgement, and will fly into a Frenzy if you are not given it. You will tell everyone of your "true status" and will do everything to back up your claims. You will actively put yourself in danger to prove your worth.

Depression
You are always down, and find it difficult to motivate yourself. You often cannot be bothered to do anything except watch the world go by, and you are seldom enthusiastic.
Passive: You are generally quite normal, if a little despondent most of the time, and can act as you wish. You may find it hard to get along with people, however.
Active: You become extremely despondent, and may need to spend Willpower to motivate yourself to take any energetic action that is not needed to save your life. You cannot initiate Social Challenges against others unless you first spend a Willpower point to motivate yourself.
On the plus side, you have a +2 bonus to resist all Social challenges that might motivate or enthuse you, or cause you to react strongly to something. This includes most uses of Presence, for example, although not overcoming Majesty, which needs an effort of will.

Fantasy World
Your version of reality is different to that of others on at least three major points. You live in a world of your own creation. You must describe this world, and it must differ from the "real" world in at least three respects. This may be a Delusion that you live in an actual different world (Camelot, Mars, Texas) or you may simply have strong views about the world (deep down everyone is good, Father Christmas and all other myth figures are real, you can tell everything about a man by his hair).
Passive: You keep your fantasy world secret, or perhaps you only mention the minor changes in your view of the world.
Active: You believe completely in your world of Fantasy, and may react badly to people who question you. You will perceive people differently to the way they see themselves, talk to people who are not there, think you are places you are not and so on. You are completely convinced of the veracity of your Fantasy.

Irrational Hatred
You are Irrationally angered by some common thing or circumstance, and can be driven into a terrible killing rage by it. You must select what your trigger is, and it must be something that could conceivably be encountered at a normal Vampire session.
Passive: You will not associate with the thing that angers you, nor will you have anything nice to say about people who do or who are it. If you are confronted with the thing you hate, you will need to spend a Willpower point to avoid slipping into a Rage Frenzy as your beast takes control of you.
Active: You cannot resist your hatred, and will seek to destroy the thing or things you hate. You will need to avoid Frenzy whenever you encounter the trigger, and will always interpret things and people in the worst possible way. You may even hallucinate things that are not there, or hear things nobody has said to you.

Irrational Terror
This is similar to Irrational Rage, but the stimulus causes you to be irrationally terrified for your life or sanity.
Passive: You will avoid the thing that frightens you. If you cannot avoid it, or you are confronted with it, you must spend a Willpower point to avoid falling into a Terror Frenzy. If you cannot escape the presence of the thing that terrifies you, this may serve to Activate your derangement.
Active: You are paralysed with fear of the thing that triggers your derangement, and must spend a Willpower point to take any action save fleeing. If you cannot flee, you will collapse on the floor shrieking in terror. You will agree to nearly anything to have the thing that terrifies you taken away, promise anything to those who will help deliver you.

Lord of Chaos
You like chaos and disorder, and the more someone tries to Order the world around you or your life, the more irrational you become.
Passive: Spread a little chaos and disorder for no good reason other than that you like it. Set people at each other's throats if you must, or just be happy turning all the chairs upside down or putting all the pictures at an angle. If someone tries to force you to be controlled and ordered, you muse spend a Willpower or Frenzy.
Active: You have an insane need to disorganise and disorder things. You will throw paint on people's suits, or smash things just to hear the noise they make. You will frantically disorder things that are too organised, and you will try to get other people to do so too. If anyone tries to tidy up what you have disordered, or tries to make you order yourself, you will kill them. You cannot perform Thaumaturgic rituals while this Derangement is active.

Lord of Order
You must remain in complete control of your surroundings, and will begin to crack if things become too chaotic. As a situation deteriorates, you become more and more irrational. You like things to be neat and correct.
Passive: You try to keep everything organised and running smoothly. If things become chaotic, you will try to make them ordered again, but it does not dominate your life. You will probably have several "tics" such as washing your hands, always being clean, carefully lining up pencils, but these are unconscious.
Active: You will fly into a Frenzy if things become too disordered, and you will constantly try to organise everything around you. All chairs must be under tables, everyone must stand up straight and not use contractions. Everything must be filed correctly, and so on. You will kill people who are too chaotic.

Mania
You are always in high gear, always active and talkative. You find it impossible to relax or take things slowly, and find it hard to concentrate. Manic people make very poor ritualist's, and are forever being blown up.
Passive: You are outgoing and exuberant rather than introspective, and will generally need a good reason to focus your mind on one thing for more than a few minutes, but you are capable of doing so.
Active: Your attention span drops to about a minute. You constantly talk, constantly move and act. You cannot Meditate, and must spend a Willpower point to undertake any action that is liable to last longer than a minute, spending an extra willpower point for each extra minute it takes or you will abandon it altogether. This includes lock-picking, reading a book, performing a Thaumaturgy ritual and so on.

Manic-Depression
You begin Sessions suffering either Mania or Depression, and shift back and forth between the two during the session.
Passive: You act, passively, Manic or Depressed. You will change to the other personality type only if you are stressed - for example, if you succumb to the Beast. You will not change your personality more often than once an hour.
Active: You act, actively, Manic or Depressed, and almost any stimulus can cause you to shift to the other extreme. You will not shift from Mania to Depression more than once every fifteen minutes, however.

Obsession
You become obsessed with things, and there is always something you are obsessed with although you may change the focus of your obsession.
Passive: You make every effort to pursue the root of your current obsession, and can get on everyone's nerves, but you can briefly put it aside to deal with more pressing things.
Active: You cannot resist the thing you are obsessed with: you want it more than anything else. When you get it, of course, you will soon become Obsessed with something else. You can temporarily avoid pursuing your Obsession by spending a Willpower point.

Paranoia
A role-playing Derangement: you do not trust anyone, everyone and everything is out to get you. You may appear perfectly normal, but you are constantly taking precautions to protect yourself, and may not trust anyone.
Passive: You think people are after you, but you know that not everyone could be a conspirator. You will not trust people easily, but you can act as a member of society.
Active: You know everyone is your enemy, and interpret everything in the worst possible way. You will either flee from those you know want to hurt you, or else attack them insanely. You must spend a Willpower point to avoid an appropriate frenzy. Even your friends are liable to turn on you - watch them for signs of betrayal. You will not enter into voluntary agreements except under the most extreme circumstances (and must spend Willpower to do so).

Pathological Liar
You are incapable of telling the truth. When anyone asks you anything, lie.
Passive: You embroider and exaggerate more than absolutely necessary, and will happily lie if there is not a very good reason to tell the truth.
Active: You are incapable of telling the truth. If you spend a Willpower point you can try and tell a half-truth or an exaggeration , but otherwise you must lie completely about everything. This is not just a matter of saying the opposite of what is true: you must deceive, lie and embroider as much as possible. For example, you must spend a Willpower point to make a comment like "I never saw Tremere kill Saulot", where normally you would say something like "Tremere didn't kill Saulot - I know, because I saw who did it and it was a Gangrel". Make your lies as convincing as possible. While this Derangement is Active, you always believe you are lying. Aura Sight always determines that your statements are lies, as will powers such as Truth of Gaia. You don't believe anything you say so why does anyone else? This even applies if you are telling the truth or a half-truth.

Red Rage
You are a homicidal killer, and cannot resist the urge to slay.
Passive: Kill whenever you can get away with it, and take your time about it if circumstances warrant. If there is something more pressing to do, or a good reason not to kill, don't do it. Killing a vampire will get you Destroyed, and you need not do so unless you are sure you want to.
Active: When you encounter someone helpless, or when you enter conflict with someone, you must spend Willpower to avoid trying to kill them. How you choose to kill the victim depends on your character, but you must kill him or her. If anyone crosses or provokes you, you must spend a Willpower point to avoid flying into a rage and attacking your target. If you are bored, you may just attack someone out of the blue. If you spend too much time around Vampires, you are going to get yourself blood hunted fairly soon.

Red Thirst
You can never get enough blood, and you are always Hungry.
Passive: You are obsessed with getting enough blood, and will always take the opportunity to feed if you are able to. You need not make stupid or life-threatening decisions, but if you are offered blood and there is no reason not to accept, drink it. If you have a Beast Trait associated with Blood, you must spend double the normal amount of Willpower to resist acting on it.
Active: You are always desperate for blood, and whenever you are offered blood or have the opportunity to get some you must spend a Willpower point to avoid drinking it all, even killing someone if you can. Presented with a ready supply of blood, you will activate any of your abilities that use Blood, or engage in pointless Physical Challenges to allow yourself to taste even more vitae. You can see the danger of the Blood Bond, and may be quite prepared to kill anyone whose blood you have drunk at least once.

Regression
You sometimes revert to a childish perspective of the world.
Passive: You sometimes act in a childish manner, and may come across to others as hopelessly naïve or foolish. You may exhibit certain traits associated with children. Specifically, you may select a strong figure as your "parent" or cling tenaciously to something.
Active: While Active, you act in all ways as if you were a child: you use childish language, and cannot cope with complex concepts or techniques. You may become incapable of using many of your Abilities, especially Thaumaturgy or Sorcery. You will certainly find a strong, trustworthy character to attach yourself to. You may act in a completely inappropriate manner to many stimuli.

Split Personality
You have one or more alternate personalities which may be dominant at one time or another. At the start of a Session, your "main" personality is usually dominant.
Passive: Normally, you have no problems. However, extreme stress will cause your Derangement to become Active.
Active: You switch to your alternate personality. You should have one or two personalities and select one of them. You may have different Social and Mental traits in your split personality, provided they all total the same amount and none are more than 1 point different to your "base" personality. Your Blood and Willpower pools remain the same. You will change character completely, and must role-play this as different as possible. If you have Mask of 1,000 Faces you will use it to assume a new appearance if you can. Your second personality is as complex as your main one, and will not believe you are suffering multiple personality disorder.

Overcompensation
You constantly overcompensate for a perceived weakness. You believe you are extremely moral and virtuous in one way or another, and must constantly role-play this derangement.
Passive: You know you are virtuous, and will react badly to any slights. You always try to portray the virtues you think you have, and may have to spend a Willpower to avoid Frenzy if someone attacks your virtue or you completely fail to live up to your "ideals".
Active: You cannot undertake actions that would cause you to betray the "virtues" you believe you have, and must constantly moralise about your particular virtue. Whenever you are revealed to be delusional, you must spend a Willpower point to avoid frenzy.

Utter Control
You will not allow yourself to lose control. Ever.
Passive: You must always try to resist Frenzy if you are able to do so, and you should avoid situations liable to Trigger your Beast Traits. You dislike showing any strong emotion, and try to keep yourself under control at all times. You do not like the idea of anyone playing with your mind in any way (although you might have no problem with Aura Sight or similar observing Disciplines).
Active: After you have Frenzied, you immediately become irrational - perhaps denying that anything happened, perhaps retreating into catatonia or whatever. If you feel strong emotions, you will immediately feel "dirty" and become irrational as above. If you express those emotions, you may enter a Terror or Rage frenzy, and then feel dirty . . . and so on. If anyone tries to use their powers to influence you or steal your control, you will need to spend a Willpower to avoid attacking them (after the effects of the influence have passed, of course).

Status

Changing Status
Kindred may lend their weight and social standing to actions of other Kindred. This is represented by temporarily passing Status Cards between characters. The card does not actually exist, and may not be stolen or destroyed in-character. This status returns to its owner when used, or as soon as the original owner asks for it back, unless the person lending the status sets other specific conditions for its return.

Status and Challenges
Status may be used to affect the use of Abilities (as distinct from Disciplines) that require Social Challenges. A character with a higher Status can rely on his experience of social interaction and the respect he is due to give him an edge in interacting with other vampires.

Credibility and Weight of Opinion
If one kindred is accused of something by another and there is no evidence, the word of the Kindred with the higher Status is accepted. Popular votes are also decided by the total Status of the opposing groups. Effectively, a Kindred with two Status has twice as many "votes" as a Kindred with 1 Status, and Kinded with 0 Status have no votes at all in Camarilla Society.

Demanding Respect
A Kindred with Status 1 or higher may demand to be treated with respect. If he verbally (in character) reprimands another character and demands that he be shown the respect he deserves, then a lower Status character must show that respect. This does not mean that a high status individual can order someone else to do something and then demand that they do it. Rather, one may demand that a lower Status kindred is polite and at least listens to what one has to say.

Support
You may lend your Status to an individual at any time by telling them you are doing so and lending them the Status card. Status lent in this fashion is temporary, and you may recover it at any time simply by asking for it. If the Status point has been spent, it remains spent but returns as normal at the start of the next session.

Types of Status
You can be affected only by Status in a society you are involved with. Unless you are an Anarch, you cannot be affected by Anarch status. If you are Autarkis, you cannot be affected by Camarilla status, and so on. If one has more than one type of Status, one is vulnerable to use of any of those types of Status. For example, a member of the Camarilla is automatically affected by Camarilla Status and by Clan Prestige in his own Clan.

Negative Status
If you perform actions that the Camarilla or the Herald finds unworthy or inappropriate, you may be "awarded" negative status. A Negative Status Point effectively reduces your total Status by 1 point. You do not lose your existing Status, but you cannot use one of them, so for all considerations your Status is one point less as long as you have that Negative Status Point. You have effectively gained a bad reputation which is acting against your respectability. Thus, if you have the two Status for being "Brave and Respected", and are given the Negative Status "Uncontrollable Beast", your effective Status is 1 for all considerations, and you can spend only 1 temporary Status.
However, if you perform an action directly in contravention of one of your Status Traits, such as endangering the Masquerade when you have been recognized as a "Protector of the Masquerade" the Herald is within his rights to strip that Status permanently from you.
Negative Status Traits can be awarded and removed by the Herald.
If you have more Negative Status Traits that Status Traits, you suffer Ostracism.

Ostracism
A character who suffers Ostracism is cut off from Camarilla society. This is primarily a role-playing effect. The Camarilla considers the character untrustworthy and "suspect": as a result, Ostracized characters are usually unable to get the right to sire progeny, to own feeding grounds, to address Princes or Justicars and so on. They do not possess the rights of Camarilla vampires, although they are still considered part of the Camarilla.

The Positions

The Prince
The Prince is the single most important Kindred in a fief - or so he would say. The Prince is the one who holds temporal power over the lives of the other Kindred who live in his city. He usually appoints himself, being the Kindred who takes and holds the position against those who would take it from him. In theory, the Prince is responsible to the Kindred of his Fief and to Camarilla as a whole.

Status:
A Prince receives 4 points of Status. This is recorded as Prince of _____ (4). Some Fiefs, specifically London and York, bring with them extra Status due to the prestige of the Fief.

The Sheriff
Usually held by someone with competent combat abilities, the Sheriff is the "enforcement arm" of the Prince’s directorate. It is the Sheriff who collects Kindred to meet with the Prince and makes sure that the Prince’s decisions are abided by. The Sheriff is similar to a police-detective, only with full leeway to kill people. The Sheriff is appointed by the Prince. He is an agent of the Prince, but is also expected to enforce the Traditions, especially those of Hospitality, Domain and Accounting.
A Sheriff is commonly a member of Clan Brujah, Clan Gangrel or Clan Nosferatu.
It is common, but not required, for a Prince to Blood Bond his Sheriff, and this is an accepted part of the requirements for the post.

Status:
A Kindred who becomes Sheriff receives 2 Status, recorded as Sheriff (2).

The Herald
The Herald is an agent of the Camarilla, rather than the individual Prince, and is usually a Ventrue or Toreador. The Duty of the Herald is to ensure the laws of Prestation are enforced, that all Kindred know the rulings of the Conclave of the Camarilla, and to provide a means of communication. The Herald is expected to remain neutral and arbitrate Kindred disputes, but this is rarely the case. The best Heralds are able to keep their personal and professional goals separate.
The Herald is removed from his position by the Prince only if he is proved incompetent. The Prince may appoint a new Herald if the old one dies or is removed in this way. The Camarilla frowns on the removal of a Herald without good cause.

Status:
A Kindred receives 2 Status on becoming the Herald. This is recorded as Herald (2).

The Keeper of Elysium
The duty of the Keeper is to protect the Elysium, to keep these areas available to all Kindred, and to protect their neutrality. He is to make sure that the Elysium is not abused, and is in charge of declaring all areas of Elysium. The Keeper is almost always a Toreador.
The Keeper of the Elysium is appointed by the Prince, and he may remove him at any time. Doing so is bound to cause bad feeling, however.

Status:
The Keeper of Elysium receives 2 points of Status, recorded as Keeper of Elysium (2).

The Defender of the Masquerade
The duty of the Defender is to protect the Masquerade, and he is in charge of making sure no information of the existence of Kindred reaches the Canaille. Usually, the Defender is a Ventrue or a Toreador. The primary requirement for Defender is the possession of large amounts of personal Influence in areas useful to the protection of the Masquerade, and also a willingness to use these Influences. A Defender must be prepared to allow his personal goals to take second place to the goal of protecting the Camarilla from prying eyes.
The Prince, Herald and Keeper of Elysium appoint the Defender of the Masquerade. The Defender can be appointed and removed only by unanimous vote unless the Prince wishes to set aside this rule and go against convention. In this case, the Herald and the Keeper are well within their rights to become a bit irritated.

Status:
The Defender of the Masquerade receives 2 Status. This is recorded as Defender of the Masquerade (2). It is very hard for the Defender to gain more Status for protecting the Masquerade - it is his job, after all.

Archons
Archons represent the interests of a Justicar, and are Blood Bound to that Justicar. They are the eyes, ears and hands of a Justicar and act in his or her interests. An Archon is usually given a specific investigation to pursue for the benefit of the Camarilla. They are also expected to oppose the enemies of the Camarilla at all times (The Sabbat, the Anathema) and are expected to have as little as possible to do with the Autarkis.
Archons must forswear all ties to their own Clans when they become Archons, although this is usually for show only. This is why most Justicars choose to surround themselves only with representatives of their own clan.
An Archon’s activities reflect upon the Justicar they serve. Incompetent or foolish Archons will be recalled by their Justicar and usually executed for being idiots.

Status:
An Archon receives 3 points of Status for his appointment recorded as Archon (3).

Elder of Clan (Clan)
The Clan Elder is the acknowledged "leader" of the clan in a fief. He is not always the oldest or most powerful member, but is the one most respected by his other clan members. The Elder is elected by his own clan by majority vote, almost always based on a show of hands. Each of the seven Camarilla Clans has one "Elder" in each city, who is often referred to as Clan Primogen. The Elder represents the clan in official dealings.
At any time, a majority of the Clan may remove the Status of Clan Elder from a Kindred and bestow it on another. The Status and Prestige so removed transfer immediately, except where the Clan Elder has lent his Status to another: the new Elder must demand their return.
A Clan Elder always belongs to the Clan that selects him. It is almost unknown for a non-Clan member to be elected to this position without giving himself away. In most cases, a Kindred appointed to the position of Clan Elder who is not actually part of the Clan is immediately exposed, although there may be specific cases where this does not apply.

Status:
The Clan Elder receives 1 point of Status and 2 points of Clan Prestige. This is recorded as Elder of Clan (Clan) (1) and Elder of Clan (Clan) (2) respectively. This Status and Prestige cannot be removed or permanently lost or given away as long as the Clan Elder's Clan is part of the Camarilla.
The exception to this is the Elder of Clan Tremere who receives only 1 Status. The Tremere do not consider the position of Elder as prestigious as the Position of Regent. This means that most Elders will have difficulty giving Prestige to anyone without the assistance of the Regent.

(Clan) Elder of Britain
It is rare than any player character reaches this vaulted and esteemed level of power. The Clan Elder of Britain is the single Kindred most respected by the other members of his Clan in the entire British Isles (at least, mainland Britain) and there is one Clan Elder of Britain for each Camarilla Clan. The position is like that of Clan Elder, but the powers are more far-reaching. However, so are the responsibilities. For a character to become (Clan) Elder of Britain they must be more popular than the current Clan Elder of Britain, which usually means they must have influence in all Camarilla fiefs, and must have personal power and resources sufficient to assist and aide their Clan throughout the country in any way desired. It still requires a majority of the Clan to support one in ones endeavor.

Status:
The Clan Elder of Britain receives 2 Status and 4 Prestige, recorded as (Clan) Elder of Britain (2) and (Clan) Elder of Britain (4) respectively. An Elder of the Clan in Britain usually has extensive amounts of Status and Prestige from other areas as well. Even the Tremere Elder of Britain receives this Status and Prestige.

Regent
The Regent of Clan Tremere is the Kindred responsible for overseeing and controlling the Chantry in any given city. The Regent is always appointed by the Elders of Clan Tremere in Vienna, and they rarely consult anyone at the lower end of the scale about the appointment. It is their duty to ensure that Chantry remains inviolate and protected.

Status:
The Tremere Regent receives 2 points of Tremere Prestige, which is recorded as Regent of (Fief) Chantry (2). Tremere Regents do not receive any Status automatically. Being Regent of a large or prestigious Chantry may bring extra Prestige.

Autarkis
Those who are Autarkis are not part of the Camarilla, but are members of independent Clans and Bloodlines. Note that not all those who do not belong to one of the seven clans are non-Camarilla: there are Camarila Setites, Samedi and even Tzimisce and Lasombra. Those who are Autarkis have resisted any suggestion that they join the Camarilla, and are considered outsiders.

Status:
Autarkis have no Status. They are unaffected by and cannot use Status unless they increase their Status in a specific sect. It is considered that the first step is always the hardest, and so they are considered to begin the game with Status -1, meaning their first point of Status merely raises them to Status zero.