Ars Vampirica

A set of rules for vampires in an Ars Magica game

A typical Ars Magica setting encompasses several types of vampires. In fact, it may well be that most of these are actually different being who are only classified as a “vampire” just because of the similarities in their powers. These rules, however, are quite specific and focus on only one “flavor” of these mythical creatures, particularly those pertaining the more usual vampires found in Bram Stoker’s book or modern folklore.

Nevertheless, these rules are intended for reference, and not to exhaustively classify all types of Vampires that can be found in an Ars Magica game. They were designed to allow some flexibility in powers, thus explaining why there are so many different “types” of vampires around, but not as a final compendium.

These vampires use many of the parameters commonly found in a typical game of “Vampire: the Masquerade”, or “Vampire: the Requiem” by White Wolf.

Basic Powers

All Vampires possess what is called a set of “basic powers”. These powers remain unaltered throughout their lives, and are what actually characterizes them as “vampires”.

Immortality:

Vampires do not age. They are fixed in the same appearance they had when they were turned into their undead status. This appearance can alter slightly: for instance, they can get fat or lose weight, but their main attributes and both physical and mental characteristics remain always the same as they were in the moment of their turning.

Perfect Health:

Vampires live in perfect health, being completely immune to disease and poison. Furthermore, being undead themselves, they do nor breathe and their vital organs do not function, thus, they cannot be intoxicated or suffocated in any way.

Resurrection:

Vampires can die (they can be destroyed), but they get better. Even lost limbs grow back if they have enough blood to recreate them (see below). However, in order to heal themselves, they must use their blood: they have no normal healing capabilities. However, there is a way of permanently destroying a vampire, and that is to drive a stake through their hearts and decapitate them (only one of those will not do). If a vampire is staked or decapitated, but not both, they enter a catatonic state known as “slumber” from which they only leave if the stake is removed, or their head is reattached.

Of a vampire is decapitated and most of his body is destroyed (including the heart), then he is also permanently destroyed.

Supernatural Strength:

All vampires have an abnormally great strength. At the moment of their turning, they increase their “strength” attribute by six times, thus, being able to reach a strength of +12 in extreme cases.

Blood Use:

Vampires can drink the blood of other creatures to replace their own, and they can use their own blood to enhance their physical actions (and activate most powers). This is done through the use of “blood points”, where each point represents roughly 0,13 gallons of blood (or half a litter). An average human being holds 5 liters (1,32 gallons) of blood in their bodies, thus, 10 blood points. Size does affect blood points by twice as much, so a Large person has 12 blood points, and a small one has 8. All vampires can use these points to perform specific feats of prowess:

• One blood point can be used to grant a +3 bonus in any physical action or Brave check.
• One blood point can be used to reduce one botch die from a roll that have botched.
• One blood point can grant a +3 strength bonus for one action only.
• One blood point can heal a light wound. This takes one turn per wound healed.
• Two blood points can heal a medium wound. This takes one turn per wound healed.
• Four blood points can heal a heavy wound. This takes one turn per wound healed.
• Eight blood points can heal an incapacitating wound. This takes one turn per wound healed.

A vampire can only spend, in one given action, a number of blood points equaling their “Potency” score (see below). A vampire’s blood points equal 10 + (size x 2) + (3 x Blood Potency)

Undead Resilience:

Vampires suffer no pain. They take damage normally, but wound levels do not hinder their actions as it does for humans. Furthermore, they have no fatigue, and never get tired: they are automatically immune to fatigue loss, although any supernatural power which would usually incur in a gain of fatigue requires them to roll their stamina + stress die against an ease factor of 6. In a failure, they lose a blood point instead. If they have no more blood points, they suffer no adverse effect.

Vampire Might:

Vampires have a might score. If this is a magical, infernal or faerie might, it’s debatable, but it’s a Might score nevertheless, which grants them resistance to any supernatural power aimed at them. Their might equals five times their blood potency (see below), or 1 if their potency is 0. In resisting other blood powers, their ease factor is increased by the victim’s blood potency.

Basic Weaknesses

Just as for powers, all vampires possess a number of weaknesses common to their kind (although some of their blood powers can alter the way these weaknesses work for them).

Loss of Blood:

Although Vampires do not get tired, they do feel sleepy and require a time of sleep just as any normal living being does. If they do not sleep at least 8 hours per day surrounded by earth from their homeland, they lose one blood point per day. “homeland” here refers to an arbitrary location encompassing a radius of about 8 km from the place in which they were turned (not the place in which they were born as living beings). Some vampires, specially those turned in sailing ships, have no defined homeland. These vampires must take the “landless” minor flaw, and always lose a blood point every day.

Susceptibility to the Divine:

Contrary to popular belief, vampires are not inherently evil. When turned, they retain all of their previous mental faculties and free will, and can also perform incredible acts of kindness or charity. However, they are unmistakably connected to the infernal realm, and are specially susceptible to Divine Power. They have no resistance against any Divine Power directed specifically at them, and may be permanently destroyed as a result of these powers. They suffer one light wound per minute if they hold any object imbued with Faith points (this also applied if they are touched by a person with True Faith). They must make a Brave check (Stress die + Bravery personality trait) against an ease factor of 8 to be able to hold a cross or a bible (or any particularly iconic religious text or symbol, of any religion), or enter a place with dominion aura. Even if they manage to succeed in this roll, they suffer a –2 penalty in all actions, as the item held pains them like nothing else would.

The wounds caused by contact with holy items are normal wounds, and cannot destroy him permanently.

No Reflections:

Vampires cast no reflections in reflective surfaces, and project no shadows. Their faces appear as if they were being equally lighted, which can sometimes cause their faces to appear more smooth than they really are. They have no problem mingling in environments where light is diffuse (such as a room with fluorescent lighting), but in places where light clearly has a source, they are somewhat eerie to look at.

They can, however, be filmed or photographed normally.

Sunlight restriction:

Vampires can and indeed do move about during daylight. However, they mostly prefer the nighttime, and that is because, during the day, none of their blood powers work. Basic powers remain unaltered, but any of their special, more powerful effects fail them.

No confidence:

Vampires have no Confidence Score, and no Confidence points. The reason for this odd weakness is debated, but may be due to the fact that they no longer have an immortal soul. They, however, can use their blood points to mitigate this circumstance in regards to physical actions.

The craving:

When their body becomes depleted of blood, vampires start to crave for blood with an increasingly irrational desire. In reaching 3 blood points, they must perform a Brave check against an ease factor of 9 to avoid dropping anything they are doing and start looking for food. They can, however, still use their best judgment in looking for a victim and feeding upon it. In reaching 2 blood points, they cannot roll anymore: they must feed at once. In reaching one blood point, they will feed without any regard for consequences, taking on the first likely victim they find. In reaching 0 blood points, they will attack the first living thing they see, regardless of its perceived power.

If the character falls below 0 blood points, he enters into Slumber, and will not leave it until blood is poured in his mouth (even a tiny droplet will do).

Appearance and Manifestation

A vampire can hold in his body a number of blood points equaling 10 + (size x 2) + (blood potency x 3). When his blood points are within his 10+(size x 2) and his maximum amount, he appears to be completely human, even so much a to be a little warm to touch (though not as warm as a normal human body would be).

When his blood points fall within 5 and 10+(size x 2), his skin is pale, his eyes are darker and his lips are a little more red. He seems to be a sick person or a very pale human, and is cold to the touch.

When he has three or four blood points, he takes on a more cadaverous appearance: his skin becomes drier and wrinkles appear, not of age but as if he were being dried from the inside.

With two or less blood points, the vampire appears to be a walking mummy: his skin becomes dark (as if rotted from within), and all of his body becomes very dry. His eyes are jet red, and his lips nearly black.

Usually, a vampire does not show his fangs unless he is about to feed. He can choose to manifest his fangs whenever he wants to, but he must to that to feed. This is simply called “manifesting”. When manifesting, the only changes in him are his canine teeth (which grow clearly longer) and his eyes, which take on a yellowish or golden color, clearly inhuman. Usually a vampire cannot engage in social interactions when manifesting, since he is so obviously a supernatural creature, but if he chooses to, all of his totals suffer a –3 penalty. However, he also gains a +3 bonus on intimidation rolls.

A vampire always manifests when he is at 3 or less blood points.

The loss of a Soul

Vampires have no soul. When they were turned, they effectively died, and from that moment on, they continue life as an undead. There is no going back, because that Eternal part of their being, the house of the Divine essence within their lives, is forever gone.

There are no written words that can adequately convey the horror that it is for a Vampire to lose their soul. It opens up an emptiness inside, it destroys all hopes for salvation, it removes them from the tree of life, it is as if God himself were turning away from them from that moment on. It is this loss, more than anything else, that classifies them as “damned”. Their hearts do not beat, their bodies are cold, and they live the rest of their undead lives with a feeling of loss, of being less, of having become an empty shell. There is no Vampire which can sanely state that it was worth losing their souls in exchange for Immortal life. Oddly enough, though, they only realize their error when it is too late, and it is this feeling of loss that drives most Vampires to evil, because deep down they all know: there is no forgiveness waiting for them, no Heaven and no Hell, no Judgment and no Return on the day of Apocalypse, for them, there is only the void, the nothingness and oblivion. When they die, they are truly Gone!

Furthermore, being without a soul, they lose that spark of genius that every mortal has. They become unable to create and original work, and, although they may emulate, copy and adapt with an elegant intelligence, they are incapable of creating a masterpiece, or a truly revolutionary discovery. Beings without a soul cannot engage in original research of any kind, and although they may have very elaborate artistic skills, none of their creations can ever be considered a work of genius: the flare of geniality which can fire up one’s soul is gone from them, and an artist which becomes a vampire has even more reason to be horrified: he will watch, powerless, the loss of all of his creative genius, being condemned, for the rest of his life, of copying someone else’s work.

Therefore, vampires cannot have any of the following virtues: Free Expression, Free Study, Learn from Mistakes, Inventive Genius, Inspirational. They also cannot gain experience points by practice, although they can be taught or trained normally (except for blood powers and abilities, these can be practiced as normal. See below).

The Turning

Turning a person into a Vampire is not as easy a task as one would think, and not a quick process at all. First off, the Vampire must feed on the victim, and the victim must also drink of the vampire’s blood: there must be an exchange of blood between them. It is usually not something hard to do, as when a victim is drained of enough blood due to a vampire feeding, it also starts to crave, and will drink mostly anything that touches her mouth.

However, just this exchange of blood is not enough. While still under the influence of the vampire blood she took, the victim must be drained to death by the vampire. In that moment, with its final breaths. The victim must surrender to the vampire: is must willingly allow the vampire to kill her. This surrender can take on any form: it can happen during a sexual intercourse, a passionate kiss, or a personal confession. Either way, the victim must trust the vampire, and deliver herself into him: it must be a knowing and willing act of trust.

This is why most vampires sire others on the opposite sex: it is relatively easier to develop such a relationship with whom a romantic involvement is possible. However, siring vampires of the same sex is also possible, such as when the victim considers the vampire a deep and trusted friend.

Therefore, the turning of a new vampire requires some work on the part of the vampire, otherwise, he may end up with only another corpse in his hands. Also, it is not something that may happen accidentally, he must know exactly what he is doing, and all vampires instinctively know how sire others.

Note that the victim does not have to know what is happening to her, or what the vampire really is, although many a vampire were turned due to the willing act of a mortal seeking to escape death.

A newly creates vampire rises almost immediately after death.

Characters with True Faith cannot be turned. They die instead.

Blood Potency

All vampires have a trait which measures the strength of their blood, called Blood Potency. Blood potency increases like an ordinary ability, but instead of experience points, it is increased by years of life as a vampire.

Thus, all newly created vampires begin with a Potency of 0. After 5 years of life as a Vampire, they raise this trait to 1. In 15 years, they reach level 2, in 30 years, they reach level 3, and so on.

Blood Potency is the central trait of a vampire, because it determines both their resistance to powers, and how many powers they can develop. Like an ability, Blood Potency can have a specialization, which is called their “free power”.

A vampire can increase his blood potency in two ways. The first, and obvious, is just by living. They gain one experience point in blood potency for every year of life. The second, and more dangerous, is by drinking the blood of another vampire of greater blood potency, and then spending story experience up to that vampire’s total experience in blood potency. This is called “Revelling”. Furthermore, vampires can lose their blood potency: for every season a vampire spends in Slumber, they lose one experience point in their Blood Potency score.

Revelling:

Revelling is the act of drinking the blood of another vampire’s with higher potency, and using that to increase your own potency. In doing so, a vampire can spend story experience points in Blood Potency, and immediately increase his trait in as much experience he spent, to the limit of the experience points that the more potent vampire have in blood potency. It is important to note that Revelling only happens when a vampire actually spends his story experience in blood potency, and he can always choose to do so or not when drinking another’s blood. If he has no story experience points left, then Revelling is not possible.

Revelling is quite dangerous, for either the vampire drinking blood and the vampire giving blood. After a Revelling, and for the rest of that vampire’s undead life, all of his resistance will be halved towards the vampire from which he drank. Therefore, a vampire which gives of his blood to others to revel in is creating a personal army of servants, but also incurring in their undivided suspicion and eventual fear, which, eventually, always lead to a fight to the death.

If a vampire revels in another three times, his resistance towards that vampire falls to zero.

Blood Powers

Blood Powers are the exceptional powers that vampires can develop out of their understanding of their true nature. They come naturally to them, as they develop their powers as undead creatures. One of a vampire’s blood powers, the first he ever develops, is called a “Free Power”, and is considered a basic power, meaning that it is not suppressed during daytime. All of his other powers, though, are.

Blood Powers take the form of new Supernatural Virtues available to vampires. These are Minor Virtues, Major Virtues, and Greater Virtues. A greater virtue is like a Major virtue, in regards to point balance, but considerably stronger, and only the oldest vampires can use them. Most, but not all Blood Powers also have a new Ability related to the virtue which represents them. These abilities can be trained in the normal fashion, and even practiced by the vampire.

Note that, unlike normal supernatural virtues, blood powers simply confer access to an ability, they do not automatically grant it at level 1.

Every Blood Power must be balanced with a Blood Flaw. There are Minor Flaws, Major Flaws, and Greater Flaws. A Greater Flaw is the only way to balance a Greater Power. Otherwise, a Major Flaw can be used to balance out a Major Virtue, or Three Minor Virtues, as usual. However, a Major Virtue must be balanced by a Major Flaw, and not by Three Minor Flaws.

Some flaws, like “Fire Bane”, have two levels, a Minor and a Major one. In this instance, the Major Flaw counts as one Major and one Minor flaw if used to balance a Major and Minor virtue. For instance, is the character picks up the “Velocity” minor power, he may choose to balance it with the “Fire Bane” minor flaw. Afterwards, he picks up the “Mist Shape” major power, and may choose to balance it with the major version of the “Fire Bane”. This is a valid balancing, but if he picked up “Fire Bane” as the balancing factor of his “Velocity” minor power, then he would be able to pick two more minor powers for “free”, because the three of them would be balanced by the major “Fire Bane” flaw.

A vampire can choose a new blood power whenever he raises his Blood Potency score. Each point of blood potency allows him to pick up one power (major, minor or greater, regardless), and balance it with appropriate flaws. When picking up powers, though, that have an ability score associated, he starts with a score of 0 in the ability, and must develop before it is of any use.

A vampire character must keep track of the powers he picked up at which level of potency. For instance, a vampire with a potency of five may have picked up the following powers and flaws:

Potency:	Bloow Power:	Blood Flaw:
0	Primal Shape	(free power)
1	Resilience (Minor)	Host Bane (Minor)
2	Agility (Minor)	Blood Bane (Minor)
3	Mist Shape (Major)	Blood Bane (Major)
4	Mythic Strength (Minor)	Water Bane (Minor)
5	Velocity (Minor)	Fire Bane (Minor)

This means than when this vampire reached his first rank of potency, he picked up the Resilience power with the Host Bane flaw. When he reached his second rank, he chose the Agility power with the Blood Bane minor flaw, and so on.

Keeping track of this is important because if the vampire enters Slumber and starts to lose blood potency, he will lose his powers (and flaws) in the inverse order: the last ones he developed being lost first. Therefore, the first powers (and flaws) that a vampire develops are the ones he will most likely stick with for all of his immortal life. When losing powers, the experience points spent on their associated abilities are not lost, simply suppressed, such that if he ever develops those powers again, that experience will immediately count towards the development of the associated ability.

Blood Flaws are always active for a vampire, even during daytime, whereas his blood powers are only active at night.

A vampire can only choose Greater powers and flaws when he reaches his tenth rank of potency.

Blood Powers

When blood powers are used on creatures with a Might Score, the vampire must deal with an increase on the ease factors of his rolls which equals the magnitude of their Might. Furthermore, to affect hermetic magus or creatures protected by Parma Magica, the vampire has an increase on his ease factor which equals the Parma Magica rank of the victim.

Unless stated otherwise, all powers work at a range of Voice, when range is a relevant factor.

Each power also have, along with its description, a listed equivalent hermetic Technique, Form and level, useful in determining magus’s resistances to these powers, and the traces they leave after being used. All blood powers leave a trace of Infernal power which can be detected by Intellego Vim spells, though all blood powers share the same sigil, so identifying a specific vampire through these spells is not feasible.

Blood powers do not cause warping.

Minor Powers:

Agility
Blood Healing
Memory Drinking
Mythic Strength
Primal Shape
Resilience
Stunting
Velocity

Major Powers:

Blood Shaping
Entrancement
Mesmerize
Mist Shape
Occlusion
Sighting
Telecontrol
Telesentience
Terrorize

Greater Powers:

Daylife
Land Freedom
Lineage Control
Potency Domination
Soul Drinking
The Raise
Transmigration

Agility (Minor)

This power allows a vampire to move with increased grace and precision. He can add his level in the “Agility” ability to all of his rolls involving dexterity.

ReCo 15 (Base 10, +1 Diam)

Blood Healing (Minor)

This vampire can heal other’s wounds just as he would his own. By dropping his own blood within a wound, he can cause it to close. The cost is the usual one: One blood point for a light wound, two for a medium, four for a heavy, and eight for an incapacitating.

This power also allows him to heal himself more efficiently. When healing his own wounds, the vampire spends one blood point for light and medium wounds, two for heavy wounds, and three for incapacitating ones.

CrCo 35 (Base 30, +1 Touch, -1 Requires blood, +1 Fast Ritual, Ritual)

Body Shaping (Major)

This vampire can use his blood to reconstruct lost or missing limbs. The cost in blood points is as follows:

Limb:	Cost:
Hands, Feet	2
Arms or Legs	4
Eyes (each), Nose, Mouth, Ears (each)	1
Any internal organ (except the heart)	3
Heart	5

This reconstruction takes about one hour to complete, and the regrowth limb is functional within one day.

With “Blood Healing”, the vampire can use this power to regrow the lost limbs of others.

CrCo 25 (Base 25, -1 Requires blood, +1 Fast Ritual, Ritual)

Daylife (Greater)

With this power, a vampire overcomes the limitation of Sunlight, and becomes able to use his Blood Powers during daytime. To that end, he must not have any of the following blood flaws: Sun Bane(major or minor), or Sun Banish.

CrVi 40 (Base Effect)

Entrancement (Major)

This power allows a vampire to control the minds of intelligent beings (mundane or magical) with an increased, supernatural presence. It requires the development of an “Entrancement” ability, which can then be used to perform one of many feats of charisma:

Effect Name:	Description:
Allurement:	After a brief moment of talk, the vampire becomes very attractive to the victim, and it will do mostly anything he asks, within reason, as if she was suddenly of “average loyalty” to the vampire (AM page 19). The vampire rolls Presence + Entrancement + stress die against an ease factor of 6 plus the victim’s intelligence.
ReMe 20 (Base 5, +2 Voice, +2 Sun, -1 Allows Resistance)
Impact:	The vampire can cause everyone on a single room to notice him, as if he were a very famous person entering a party full of admirers. Bystanders will most likely start talking about him, and there will be something odd, although intriguing, about his demeanor. He rolls his Presence + Entrancement + stress die against an ease factor of 8.
ReMe 30 (Base 5, +2 Voice, +2 Room, +1 Diam)
Conditioning:	After at least 10 minutes of conversation, the vampire can convince someone to perform one specific action for him, almost in complete disregard for consequences (as if the victim were “loyal” to the vampire). The roll is Presence + Entrancement + stress die, and the ease factor is 9 plus the victim’s intelligence. The storyguide may impose greater penalties or bonus if the action is particularly safe or dangerous.
ReMe 25 (Base 10, +2 Voice, +2 Sun, -1 Allows Resistance)
Subduing:	The vampire can spend quality time with a victim and eventually turn her into a very loyal follower. For every consecutive day in which the vampire dedicates her his undivided attention, he rolls his Presence + Entrancement + stress die against an ease factor of 12 plus the victim’s intelligence. If successful, he accumulates a bonus to his next roll equaling the margin of success. If he fails the roll, even a normal failure, he loses all accumulated bonuses. When he beats an ease factor of 24, the victim becomes as close to a slave as possible without losing free will. From there on, the victim will treat him with the utmost admiration and reverence, and will do mostly anything for him. She may be turned back, but only by being removed from the vampire’s presence and constantly submitted to a kind of reverse brainwashing (roll the Presence + Charm + stress die of whomever is trying to remove the control against 18 plus the victim intelligence, until he beats an ease factor of 30). To effect this power, the vampire must spend a blood point per day of conditioning.
ReMe 55 (Base 30, +2 Voice, +6 Perm, -1 Allows Resistance, -1 Extended casting time, -1 Requires blood)

Furthermore, the vampire’s ranks of “Entrancement” add to all of his usual presence rolls (the rolls described above are obviously not affected twice by this bonus).

Land Freedom (Greater)

This vampire transcended the need to sleep surrounded by land from his homeland, and does not lose a blood point per day if not doing so.

CrCo 30 (Base Effect)

Lineage Control (Greater)

This vampire achieved a level of control of his blood that he can affect not only himself, but also other vampires he sired (and their progenies as well, and so on), with his powers. He can cause any of his progeny, or his progeny’s progeny, and so on until he reaches his entire lineage, to manifest a power he would normally only use himself. He could also use other powers, usually only reserved for targets within his line of sight or close to him (like Entrancement) on any vampire of his lineage, as if they were right by his side. Normal resistance applies.

He can also use any of his blood powers on vampires who drank his blood, as if they belonged to his lineage while they have his blood within them. If a vampire reveled on him, he becomes part of his lineage permanently.

If one of his progeny also developed Lineage Control, they become immune to his powers, and all of his progeny as well.

ReVi 50 (Base Effect, +4 Arc, +1 Conc, +3 Bloodline, -1 Requires blood)

Memory Drinking (Minor)

This vampire can share his memories with others by allowing them to drink of his blood, and can access the memories of whomever’s blood he drinks. This requires the “Blood Drinking” ability.

To share memories, the vampire rolls his Intelligence + Blood Drinking + stress die against an ease factor of 6. This may be greater if the memory is particularly faint, or smaller if it’s particularly traumatic. The person drinking his blood (who, by the way, doesn’t have to be a vampire for this power to work) is immediately assaulted by the images of his memories and must roll his Perception + Concentration + stress die against 6 to avoid losing his bearings and becoming disoriented. The sharing only happens if the vampire so wills it.

To access someone’s memories, he must roll his Intelligence + Blood Drinking + stress die against an ease factor of 12 minus the victim’s intelligence (stupid characters are harder to read). Again, this ease factor may be greater if the memory is particularly faint, or smaller if it’s particularly traumatic. In a success, the vampire is assaulted with the memories of his victim and must roll his Perception + Concentration + stress die against 9 to avoid losing his bearings and becoming disoriented. He only drinks memories if he wants to. The vampire can look for a specific memory, but the ease factor starts at 18 in these cases.

Note that the target of this power will recollect the memories as if he had lived them himself, which may be quite traumatic, or pleasant, depending on the case.

InMe 20 (Base 25, +1 Touch, -1 Allows Resistance, -1 Disorienting)

CrMe 5 (Base 5, +1 Touch, -1 Disorienting)

Mesmerize (Major)

This is the ability to alter one’s perceptions and even memories, allowing the vampire to confuse, distract and somewhat control his victims. It depends on the character’s development of a “Mesmerize” ability.

Effect Name:	Description:
Unheard Call:	The vampire can fix his eye on any being within his line of sight, and cause him to look back at him. Very useful at crowded restaurants. The victim usually has no resistance, but if she is paying particularly attention to something else, the vampire must roll his Communication + Mesmerize + stress die against an ease factor of 3 plus the victim’s perception.
ReMe 5 (Base 3, +2 Voice)
Confuse:	The vampire can cause a character within his line of sight to suddenly lose all sense of orientation and become confused, unlikely to know, for a time, even what is it that he was doing. The vampire rolls his Communication + Mesmerize + stress die against an ease factor of 6 plus the character’s perception. In a success, the target loses his bearings and must roll each turn his Perception + stress die against an ease factor of 6 plus the vampire’s margin of successes to snap out of it. Each turn the roll has a +1 cumulative bonus. If the vampire spends one blood point, he can maintain the target confused for as long as he concentrates on him, without any further resistance on his part.
ReMe 10 (Base 4, +2 Voice, +1 Conc, -1 Requires blood)
Gaze Lock:	As in “confuse”, but the vampire can keep the target immobilized for as long as he keeps him within line of sight. The target does not have to look back at him. The roll is Communication + Mesmerize + stress die against 8 plus the target’s perception. The target will not feel as if an unseen force prevents him from moving, rather, it will be like he does not wish to move at all. He will not be able to explain it later. The vampire must spend one blood point for this.
ReMe 20 (Base 10, +2 Voice, +1 Conc, -1 Allows Resistance, -1 Requires blood)
Storytelling:	The vampire must tell a story to the target, and if his story is passable and believable, the target will remember it as if it had indeed happened. He rolls his Communication + Mesmerize + stress die against an ease factor of 10 plus the target’s communication. He must spend one blood point to do this. This power can also be used to influence an entire audience, but the ease factor is increased by 1 for each additional spectator, and the highest perception of the crowd is used in determining it.
CrMe 40 (Base 5, +2 Voice, +6 Perm, -1 Allows Resistance, +1 Flexible Targets, -1 Requires blood)
Believing:	The vampire can issue a statement and cause a target to believe it. The target’s memories will be confused in order to make that statement seem true to him at the moment and afterwards. A statement must be a simple instruction or fact, like: “These are not the droids you are looking for”. The roll is Communication + Mesmerize + stress die against 12 plus the target’s perception, although bonuses and penalties can be granted to simple and believable or complex and unlikely statements. The vampire must spend one blood point to do that.
ReMe 55 (Base 20, +2 Voice, +6 Perm, -1 Allows Resistance, +1 Creo Requisite, -1 Requires blood)

Furthermore, the vampire’s ranks of “Mesmerize” add to all of his usual communication rolls (the rolls described above are obviously not affected twice by this bonus).

Mist Shape (Major)

This character can turn himself into mist and hover around at quick speed. The character changes and takes with him his clothing and any items he may be carrying (exempting invested devices or magically powerful items, which are not carried). The change takes about ten seconds to effect (or about three combat turns). The character must spend a blood point to change into mist, but can change back at will anytime. If the character is transformed while the sun raises, he immediately changes back wherever he is.

While in Mist form the character is unaffected by physical attacks, even magical attacks which deliver physical damage (such as the famous “Ball of Abysmal Flame”). Any spell which destroys Air directly can affect him normally, though, causing damage as would a power of the same level.

The mist can hover at about twice the speed the character normally has.

Wind affects the character as normal, and he may be carries away by a strong gale. Turning into mist during a hurricane is nearly suicidal.

This power also allows the character to turn himself into a cloud of dust. In this instance, the mechanic remains the same, but he can be affected by powers which destroy earth.

MuCo 35 (Base 30, +2 Sun, -1 Requires blood, Auram Requisite)

Mythic Strength (Minor)

This character has an even greater strength than usual for a vampire. He may develop a “Mythic Strength” ability, and add its value in any total where his strength is used.

MuCo 55 (Base 55)

Occlusion (Major)

This power grants a vampire extended stealth abilities, allowing it to become the perfect urban predator. The character must develop an “Occlusion” ability and use it in various manners:

Effect Name:	Description:
Lurking Nature:	The vampire can remain motionless and become nearly undetectable. He rolls his Dexterity + Occlusion + stress die. The result is an increase in the ease factor of anyone attempting to see him. People not specifically looking for him, or looking for something in the place he’s at, have no right to roll. He may break this effect at any instant, simply by moving. This power requires one blood point.
PeIm 5 (Base 5, +1 Conc, -1 Allows Resistance)
Mind Mist:	The vampire can concentrate and move about unnoticed. People will not fail to see him, but will disregard him. He may be taped of photographed, but while this power is in effect, even people looking at the tapes will fail to see him. He rolls his Dexterity + Occlusion + stress die against an ease factor of 12. If he succeeds, his presence becomes insignificant to anyone whose perception is less than the roll result. If he performs some threatening move, or something specially risky (like taking money from right under the nose of a guard which is watching it), the storyguide may rule that he was spotted, depending on how good his roll was. If he attacks someone, he always breaks the effect for that person, but that person only (although the first attack is always a surprise one). This power requires one blood point.
PeMe 20 (Base 5, +1 Conc, +4 targets anyone seeing him, -1 Allows Resistance, -1 Requires blood)
Mind Trick:	The vampire can confuse the minds of anyone who sees him, as long as he is concentrating on hiding himself. If someone spots him on a normal roll, the vampire has the option of spending a blood point and requiring him to roll again. This power cannot be used in conjunction of Mind Mist or Lurking nature, but can be used along with normal stealth rolls. It also has the beneficial side effect of informing the vampire whenever he is spotted.
PeMe 25 (Base 5, +1 Conc, +4 targets anyone seeing him, -1 Requires blood)

Moreover, the vampire can add his “Occlusion” level in any stealth roll he performs.

Occlusion powers, oddly enough, do not work on twin couples born on Saturdays. Such persons are immune to it and can always spot a vampire working them nearby. If they themselves are turned, though, they lose this advantage.

Potency Domination (Greater)

This vampire’s blood is highly potent, and this strength is passed on to all of his children. Whenever he sires a new vampire, the new vampire starts out with half of his blood potency rank. If that value ends in a half (like, a potency of 11 resulting in a starting potency of 5 and a half), then the beginning vampire starts out with the full levels of half the potency of the creator, plus half the necessary experience to advance it, rounded down.

CrVi 70 (Base Effect)

Primal Shape (Minor)

This vampire has the ability to change into the form of an animal. Each rank in the “Primal Shape” ability allows him to change into a different animal (he must write down which animals he chose), as long as they are dark, nocturnal, and fit the genre of a sneaky predator, such as wolves and bats. He could not, for instance, turn into a goldfish or a dolphin, but could turn into a shark.

All of his clothes and possessions change with him, up to a load of 1.

This change is not essential, like that of a heartbeast, and spells which identify one’s true form would reveal him for what he is.

MuCo 35 (Base 20, +2 Sun, +1 Carries equipment along)

Resilience (Minor)

This vampire has an increased resistance to damage, and can shake off most wounds. He must develop a “Resilience” ability, which grants him a soak bonus of three times its value.

This power, like “Velocity” and “Stunting”, grants the vampire the ability to fall from any height without getting hurt. This is an automatic ability and requires no roll.

MuCo 35 (Base 25, +2 Sun)

Sighting (Major)

This is the power of sight, which allows vampires to see what most normals cannot. It allows the character to purchase a “Sighting” ability, who allows him various uses. Whenever using a Sighting power, the vampire’s eyes glow red. Most mortals are frightened to death just by looking at it, and a vampire with this power can conjure this effect at any time with no cost just to scare them off (requiring a Brave check against 6).

Effect Name:	Description:
Predator Sight:	The vampire can see in nearly complete darkness, as does cats, owls, and most nocturnal predators. He cannot see in utter darkness, but as long as there is an inkling of light around, he can understand his environment. No roll is required, only the expenditure of a blood point. This power lasts for an entire scene.
MuCo 3 (Base 2, +2 Scene, -1 Requires blood)
Second Sight:	This works exactly like the virtue of the same name, but the vampire uses his “Sighting” ability instead, he must spend a blood point to activate it, and it lasts for an entire scene.
InIm 40 (Base 30, +2 Scene, +1 Vim Requisite, -1 Requires blood)
Aura Sight:	The vampire can see the auras surrounding people and objects. With that, he can get a very good reading about their natures (thus being able to correctly assess someone’s personality traits and personality flaws) and what they are feeling at the moment. He can see the feeling showing, but he has no direct way of knowing the cause for the feelings. For instance, while he could see that someone is frightened, he would have no way of knowing that he is frightened of a snake that passed by, instead of the gun pointed at him. The vampire must roll his Perception + Sighting + stress die against an ease factor of 9. No blood point is required to use this effect.
InMe 25 (Base 10, +4 Sight, -1 Allows Resistance)
Inner Reading:	The vampire can examine an object or person and get a reading of its most relevant past or future. He could, for instance, pick up a sword and see the persons that it killed, or will kill. He has no way of knowing if the visions he is seeing are from the past or the future, or what are their timeframes. He picks up the most relevant, the most emotionally strong facts first. The roll is Perception + Sighting + stress die against an ease factor of 12. The ease factor is 15 to filter only past or only future images. He could look for a specific occurrence, but the ease factor is 21 (if its emotionally strong, though, it may be less). This power costs two blood points per use.
InTe 35 (Base 40, +1 Conc, +1 Corpus Requisite, -1 Requires blood)

Furthermore, the vampire’s ranks of “Sighting” add to all of his usual perception rolls.

Soul Drinking (Greater)

To develop this power, the vampire must have “Memory Drinking”.

This power allows a vampire to drink more than someone’s blood: he also drinks part of their souls, and, with that, gains an inkling of a feeling of what it was like to have one.

When drinking blood with this power, a vampire can also drink their abilities, as long as he is aware that they have them. For instance, he could drink from a warrior his levels in “Great Weapon”, and increase his own abilities accordingly.

Each blood point drank allows him to absorb one rank in one of his victim’s abilities. The vampire must know which ability he is draining. The victim does not lose his ability, only the vampire copies it.

These vampires must keep track of which ability rank they drained with which blood point, because when they lose these blood points, they also lose the abilities. He could also spend his story experience points and increase his levels at once, thus, incorporating in his knowledge the victim’s skill.

He can also absorb virtues. Each minor virtue occupies one blood point, and each major virtue occupies three. However, these are always lost: they cannot be incorporated.

CrMe 45 (Base 25, +4 Blood duration)

Stunting (Minor)

This is the ability to perform incredible feats of athletics, based on the development of the “Stunting” ability:

Vertical stepping: This allows the user to run through vertical, or very steep surfaces, such as walls. Running through these surfaces, he can give a number of paces equaling his rank in his “Stunting” ability. At the end of such movement, he must be stepping on a normal surface, or will fall down.

ReCo 15 (Base 10, +1 Conc)

Tenuous move: The character can walk and move through humanly impossible surfaces. He rolls his Dexterity + Stunting to attempt such moves against an ease factor depending on the surface’s frailty:

Surface:	Ease Factor
Thin Ice	3
Loose Bricks	5
Marble balls (without moving them)	7
Eggs	9
Silk sheets	10
Thin bamboo trunks (such as in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”)	12
Water	15
Great Sword Blades (without cutting his feet)	17

ReCo 20 (Base 15, +1 Conc)

Enhanced Jumping: The character can add Thrice his rank in “Stunting” to his Athletics in determining how high he can jump. Usual Jumping distances are calculated as follows:

High Jump: ((4 + Strength or Dexterity + Athletics) / 5) – 0,2 in meters (or yards).

Running High Jump: Add the number of paces given to Strength, up to twice the normal High Jump value. This requires a check for Fatigue.

Broad Jump: ((4 + Strength or Dexterity + Athletics) x 0,6) – 1 in meters (or yards).

Running Broad Jump: Add the number of paces given to Strength, up to twice the normal Broad Jump value. This requires a check for Fatigue.

ReCo 10 (Base 10)

This power, like “Resilience” and “Velocity”, grants the vampire the ability to fall from any height without getting hurt. This is an automatic ability and requires no roll.

Telecontrol (Major)

This power allows a vampire to move objects with the strength of his mind. It requires a “Telecontrol” ability. For purposes of game mechanics, the effective strength with which these objects are moved is equal to his Telecontrol ability minus 4 (So, a vampire with a Telecontrol of 5 would move objects with an effective strength of +1). The objects can be as far as 10 paces, plus two paces per rank in Telecontrol.

The vampire rolls his Intelligence + Telecontrol + stress die. The result indicates the weight and speed at which he can move a target:

Roll:	Weight:	Speed:
9	Pencil, pen, small rocks.	1 m/s
12	A weapon, an item of up to 30 kg.	4 m/s
15	A person with average load, 100 kg.	16 m/s
18	A loaded person, 150 kg.	Arrow speed.
21	A horse, an ox.	Bullet speed.

The maximum speed must be calculated by the difference of the actual roll and the minimum roll required to lift the object. For instance, a Telecontrol roll of 18 can move a loaded person at 1m/s, or a weapon at 4m/s, or a pen up to the speed of an arrow.

Telecontrol has ho fine tune: the objects are moved in a general way, and cannot be manipulated in parts. With this effect, the character can, for instance, move a key and make it open a lock, but he could not pick the lock telekinetically.

This power has not enough level of control to allow a character to wield a weapon with his mind.

If the character is aware of a missile attack, he can influence it in a way to make it more or less likely to hit. By focusing for one turn, the character can add or subtract from a missile attack roll his Telecontrol ranks.

Each use of Telecontrol requires the expenditure of one blood point.

ReTe 35 (Base 5, +2 Voice, +1 Conc, +1 Herbam Requisite, +1 Animal Requisite, +1 Corpus Requisite, +1 Aquam Requisite, -1 Requires blood)

Telesentience (Major)

This is the power to affect targets at a distance. It allows for a series of effects which can be performed at arbitrary distances with the developing if the “Telesentience” ability.

This power requires the vampire to hold an arcane connection with the target. A vampire always have an arcane connection to the people he fed from, as long as he still holds their blood.

Effect Name:	Description:
Evoke Thoughts:	With this power, the vampire can send out thoughts into the minds of another, as long as he holds an arcane connection with him. The thoughts form in the target’s mind in a clearly foreign fashion, and even the dumbest target have no trouble identifying them as coming from someone else, although the event itself may scare most normal folk to death. The vampire rolls his Communication + Telesentience + stress die against an ease factor of 6 (more if the arcane connection is faint).
CrMe 20 (Base 3, +1 Conc, +4 Arcane Connection)
Communication:	The vampire can establish a two-way communication with a target, allowing him to send thoughts and hear out whatever the character wants him to hear, even if he doesn’t know how to properly answer a mental call. The vampire must have an arcane connection with the target. He rolls his Communication + Telesentience + stress die against an ease factor of 9 (more if the arcane connection is faint), and spends a blood point to start the communication.
CrMe 40 (Base 15, +1 Conc, +4 Arcane Connection, +1 Intellelgo Requisite, -1 Requires blood)
Distant Sight:	With this effect, a vampire can see with the target’s eyes. He must have an arcane connection with the target and rolls his Perception + Telesentience + stress die against an ease factor of 12 plus the target’s Perception (more if the arcane connection is faint), and spends a blood point to start the communication. The vampire can also access other senses at will. To access more than one sense at once, increase the ease factor by 2 for each additional sense.
InMe 35 (Base 15, +1 Conc, +4 Arcane Connection, -1 Requires blood)
Sense Naming:	This effect allows a vampire to sense whenever someone says his name, either his true name, of the usual name by which he goes by. It does not work with references to him, such as “The vampire who lives in the castle”, only when his actual name is spoken. The vampire rolls his Perception + Telesentience + stress die against an ease factor of 12 to sense whenever says his name (the ease factor is 6 if his True Name was spoken). In a success, he can use this perception as a momentary arcane connection to whomever said the name, using it to establish a communication, for instance. This connection must be used in the turn following the naming, or it is lost.
InIm 25 (Base 1, +3 Bound, +3 Size: all world, +1 Passive Casting, -1 Only his name, +1 Vim Requisite, +2 Establishes Arcane Connection)
Far Empowering:	With this effect, the vampire can use any of his powers as if he were at the location of someone else, with whom he have an arcane connection. The vampire rolls his Intelligence + Telesentience + stress die against an ease factor of 15 to establish a connection with the target. If he is successful, he can use any powers as if he were right beside the target, and can use powers in the target as if he were himself. Establishing this connection requires one blood point.
ReVi 45 (Base 30, +4 Arcane Connection, -1 Requires blood)

The Raise (Greater)

To purchase this power, the vampire must have both “Blood Healing” and “Body Shaping”.

This power allows a vampire to bring back a slain character from the dead. If the victim’s body is still somewhat functional (no lost limbs, heart and head are intact), the vampire can spend 20 blood points and cause the victim to come back to the land of the living. However, such characters always bring traumatic recollections of the afterlife with them, and must always take on a Major flaw to reflect that. Also, all characters resurrected by this means come back with the “Tainted with Evil” flaw. Gifted Characters find that, upon returning, they no longer have the Gift. If a dead character generated a Ghost and were afterwards resurrected, the Ghost vanishes.

CrCo 100 (Base Effect)

Terrorize (Major)

This is the power over Fear itself, allowing the vampire to control, instill and draw it out of a target. It requires the use of the “Terrorize” ability.

Effect Name:	Description:
Instill Nightmare:	This power allows the vampire to turn someone’s dreams into a nightmare. He have no way of knowing what the victim is dreaming of, only that his dreams will be terrifying and he will wake up shortly after, sweating and afraid. He rolls his Presence + Terrorize + stress die against an ease factor of 6 plus the victim’s Perception. He must be at voice range of the victim to instill a nightmare.
ReMe 20 (Base 10, +2 Voice, -1 Allows Resistance)
Eerie Speech:	The vampire can cause a target to make a Brave check to avoid running away in fear. The character must be in voice range of the vampire, and the vampire must say something eerie or frightening without being seen. He then rolls his Presence + Terrorize + stress die. The victim must perform a Brave check and overcome the vampire’s roll total minus 3. He must spend a blood point to activate this power.
ReMe 15 (Base 10, +2 Voice, -1 Allows Resistance, -1 Requires blood)
Haunted Mansion:	Like “Eerie Speech”, but the vampire can affect a great area, and everyone inside it will feel odd and subdued by fear, having to perform Brave checks to avoid running away. He must spend 1 blood point per day he wants this effect to last. It covers an area no greater than a castle, and it must have a well defined boundary: he cannot use this power in the open, but he could to protect a room or a house. Anyone entering the area affected must perform a Brave check against an ease factor of the vampire’s Presence + Terrorize. In a failure, they will be too afraid to enter. In a success, they can enter, but will feel as if they were being constantly watched, and will not be able to rest effectively while they remain inside. When activating this effect, the vampire can exclude anyone he knows from it.
ReMe 45 (Base 10, +2 Voice, +3 Moon, +3 Structure, -1 Allows Resistance, -1 Requires blood)
Sense Nemesis:	This effect allows a vampire to sense someone’s fear. If the target is in a particularly frightened state, the vampire learns what is his current fear. If he is calm, he learns what is his greatest fear, in general. The vampire rolls his Presence + Terrorize + stress die against an ease factor of 12 plus the victim’s Intelligence. In a success, he is suddenly filled with that same fear as the target’s, and learns which is it by experiencing it for brief moments. This costs one blood point.
InMe 15 (Base 15, +2 Voice, -1 Allows Resistance, -1 Requires blood)
Panic:	The vampire can instill irrational fear within a target, causing him to run away, become paralyzed in fear, faint or perform any meaningless action for a period of time. He rolls his Presence + Terrorize + stress die. The victim must perform a brave check against that ease factor. If he succeeds, he controls himself enough to remain conscious and alert. If he fails, he is overpowered by unspeakable horrors and will perform useless actions. Every round, he can try to recover with another Brave check. If any of these Brave checks botch, the character gains a temporary flaw reflecting this experience lasting for 1d days. This costs one blood point.
ReMe 25 (Base 15, +2 Voice, +1 Diam, -1 Allows Resistance, -1 Requires blood)
Form Nightmare:	This is the horrendous ability to give form to one’s fears and make them come true, after a fashion. The vampire rolls his Presence + Terrorize + stress die against an ease factor of 15 plus the target’s Intelligence. If successful, the victim will see a manifestation of his greatest fear come true (whichever that may be). If fought against, all damage he takes goes to his fatigue until he faints. This hallucination can affect others, for an increase of 1 in the ease factor for each person added to it, although the manifested fear is always from one person only (usually the most frightened one). This costs one blood point.
CrIm 20 (Base 5, +2 Voice, +2 Scene, -1 Allows Resistance, +1 Flexible targets, -1 Requires blood)

Transmigration (Greater)

This vampire can migrate into a new body at will. He may focus his will and leave his previous body, which starts to decay as a normal corpse would, and enters a new corpse. The Strength and Stamina of the new body become his, but all other attributes (including Dexterity, Quickness and Presence) remain the same.

This power consumes all of the character’s blood pool, and his blood pool becomes that of the new body. If the body is a fresh corpse, it is usually 4 or 5, but may be less for older corpses. He cannot possess a corpse which has no blood points.

Corpses older than a month cannot be possessed, as cannot corpses who have received the last burial rites (according to the deceased’s religion, if he had any) or corpses buried in consecrated ground.

After the initial possession, the vampire is free to spend blood points and restore his new body to a human-like state (unless he has the “Monstrous Deformity” flaw, in which case he looks like a rotten corpse all through his undead life).

The process of leaving his present body and entering a new one occurs by means of a moth, which leaves the previous body’s mouth and flies into the mouth of a new corpse, thus possessing it. If the moth is attacked or destroyed while in flight, the character is permanently destroyed. While in his “moth” form, the character can do nothing a normal moth would (he cannot use any powers, although he does not age). He can live in this form indefinitely, looking for a new corpse to possess until he finds one, of falls prey to a larger predator…

Velocity (Minor)

This character moves with increased speed. He can add his “Velocity” ability in all of his initiative rolls. He can also move much more quickly than normal humans: his movement per turn is increased by his ranks in his “Velocity” ability.

Furthermore, characters with this power can perform the following effects:

Effect Name:	Description:
Double Strike:	With this power, a vampire can spend one blood point and perform two attacks in a given turn, forfeiting any other bonuses that his Velocity ability would grant him that turn.
ReCo 10 (Base 15, -1 Requires blood)
There or not:	This allows a vampire to move instantly to any place within his line of sight, as long as he could conceivably move there in one turn’s time. It cannot be used to cross closed doors, chasms, or climb higher ground. In effect, it is as if the vampire has walked from one spot to another instantly, but it doesn’t let him move to a place he couldn’t reach by simply walking. No roll is required. The vampire simply spends a blood point and moves to his destination.
ReCo 10 (Base 15, -1 Requires blood)

This power, like “Resilience” and “Stunting”, grants the vampire the ability to fall from any height without getting hurt. This is an automatic ability and requires no roll.

Blood Flaws

Minor Flaws

Bane of Garlic
Blood Bane
Divine Bane
Dominant Manifestation
Faith Bane
Fire Bane
Food Bane
Host Bane
Rose Bane
Silver Bane
Sun Bane
Water Bane

Major Flaws

Alluring Seeds
Blood Bane
Faith Bane
Fire Bane
Host Bane
Landless
Monstrous Deformity
Rose Bane
Silence Bane
Silver Bane
Sun Bane

Greater Flaws

Alluring Seeds
Fettered
Kindred Feeding
Silent Entrapment
Sun Banish

Alluring Seeds (Major or Greater)

Major Flaw:

This character has many problems resisting the sight of seeds or very thick dust (rice, beans, sawdust, poppy seeds, etc) . If he sees a bunch of seeds in the first fifteen minutes after awakening each day, he must overcome a brave check against an ease factor of 9 to avoid counting each grain. He can perform the same check each hour with a decreasing ease factor of one per hour, but, as long as he keeps failing the roll, he is considered to be counting the seeds, and is helpless to any form of attack. If he is attacked while counting seeds, he can perform a new brave check as if an hour had passed, but if he fails, he must keep counting (until another attack strikes or another hour passes).

Greater Flaw:

As before, but the character must perform the brave check whenever he sees a bunch of seeds: not only in the first fifteen minutes of his day.

Bane of Garlic (Minor)

This character cannot stand taste or smell of Garlic, and must avoid it at all costs. If he ingests anything containing garlic, he will vomit it immediately, and must flee its presence if he sees it or smells it. A Brave check against 9 is required to stand its presence, and even then, he suffers a –2 penalty in all actions.

Blood Bane (Major or Minor)

Minor Flaw:

This character cannot extract enough sustenance from the blood of animals. He can only feed from the blood of other intelligent creatures or magical beasts. Feeding from normal animals yields him no blood points, and causes him to regurgitate the drank blood instants later.

Characters with True Faith cannot be fed upon, and instead cause the vampire one light wound for trying.

Major Flaw:

As before, but now only magical creatures have enough blood power to sustain the character. He must feed only on magical beasts, faeries, gifted humans (which includes any mortal with a supernatural virtue), or other vampires. Familiars are considered magical beasts.

As before, characters with True Faith cannot be fed upon, and instead cause the vampire one light wound for trying.

Divine Bane (Minor)

This character can be permanently destroyed by the wounds caused due to contact with holy items (described in “Susceptibility to the Divine”). All other modifiers for contact with holy items or people apply normally.

Dominant Manifestation (Minor)

This vampire is always manifesting. He can’t hide his fanged canines or supernatural eyes unless he spends a blood point, and still it only lasts for a scene (or about 2 hours). He receives a –3 penalty in all social checks, though such individual will rarely engage in any.

Faith Bane (Minor or Major)

Minor Flaw:

Characters with True Faith can repel this vampire simply by issuing strong faithful statements, such as “In the name of the Savior, Begone!”. The vampire reacts to it as if he were holding a religious symbol, and must perform a Brave check against 9 to avoid fleeing the sound of that voice. If he manages, he still suffers a –3 penalty in all his actions.

Major Flaw:

As before, but anyone, even those not truly Faithful, can cause a Vampire to flee by issuing strong religious statements, as long as they know what they are saying and mean it.

Fettered (Greater)

This character can be utterly destroyed if his burial rites are performed. To that end, anyone can destroy him if such a person can assemble the necessary components. The person performing the rites must be an acknowledged religious authority of any kind (and any religion). He needs to perform the rites at the spot where the vampire were created, and must either know the name he known for while he was alive, or have him present at the ritual.

If such conditions are met, and the proper burial rituals are performed, the character is utterly and instantly destroyed. There is no possible resistance from that. It is because of this flaw that many vampires change their names and move far away from their homelands after turning.

Fire Bane (Major or Minor)

Minor Flaw:

This character is irrationally afraid of fire, and must make Brave checks to remain in its presence whenever he sees it. The ease factor of the check depends on the size of the fire: 3 for candlelight, 6 for torch fires, 9 for fireplaces, 12 for a bonfire or more. If he succeeds, he still suffers a –2 penalty in all actions due to his fear. If he fails, he must flee, as quickly as he failed the roll.

Major Flaw:

The character suffers all effects of the fear of fire described above, but in this level, with reason. If he is burned to destruction, his destruction is permanent: he cannot recover from being destroyed by fire.

Food Bane (Minor)

Normally, a vampire can eat and drink food normally: it just yields no nutritious value to him. However, with this flaw, he cannot. If he ingests anything other than blood, he will feel nauseated and vomit it instants later.

Host Bane (Minor or Major)

Minor Flaw:

This character is a very polite guest, and cannot, under any circumstance, enter a household where he was not invited. He only have to be invited once to enter a specific household, and it only works against normal humans: supernatural creatures of any kind (which includes creatures with a Might Score, including other Vampires, but not including gifted humans) do not have to invite him to have him break into their homes.

This flaw only applies to homes or abodes: a place someone considers his home. It does not applies to clubs, gathering places, dungeons, etc…

There is no supernatural force preventing the vampire from entering a household, he just won’t. It’s as if his body would not respond to his commands of entering. If he is pushed inside, he will do his best to flee immediately, regardless of consequences.

The vampire does not need to have previous knowledge that a specific place is a home for this flaw to have effect. He instinctively feels that he is about to trespass someone’s home, and prevents himself from.

If he is invited to enter someone’s home and this person moves to a new home, he must be invited again, either by that person, or by the new house’s owner.

Major Flaw:

As before, but the vampire must be invited every time he tries to get in, and this restriction applies to all sentient beings, even supernatural ones.

Kindred Feeding (Greater)

To get this flaw, the character must have previously taken the “Blood Bane” major flaw.

This vampire can only extract sustenance from other vampires. No other creature has a blood potent enough for him to draw strength from.

Landless (Major)

This character has no homeland, and loses a blood point per day regardless of where he sleeps.

Monstrous Deformity (Major)

This vampire’s power deformed him in an inhuman way, turning him into a monstrosity. Common deformities for vampires include: losing all body hair and becoming wrinkled, showing facial ridges in a demonic fashion, growing hard lumps instead of muscles, a protruding jaw and animal demeanor, etc.

This character receives a –6 in all of his social checks. He can take “Monstrous Deformity” and “Dominant Manifestation”, but only the highest penalty counts (-6).

Rose Bane (Major or Minor)

Minor Flaw:

Freshly cut roses (no more than a day old) affect this character in the same fashion as any religious symbol. In addition, wounds causes by rose thorns always leave a thin scar if healed (if the character loses his flaw, he may heal back those scars). If rose petals are left surrounding a specific area (like, a house, cave, or a circle of stones), the character cannot cross it.

Major Flaw:

As before, but the character is also repelled by the smell of a freshly cut rose. Roses also affect the character, but they don’t have to be fresh. If a character is killed by wood which came from a rose, he is not permanently destroyed, but rather, enters slumber until healed.

Silence Bane (Major)

This character’s powers do not work on living targets who remain silent. If the target of one of his powers can keep his mouth shut, the power simply does not work on him. Also, to be able to work any of his powers in a target, the character must have heard the target’s voice within the last hour.

Silent Entrapment (Greater)

To choose “Silent Entrapment” as a Greater Flaw, the character must have previously taken “Silence Bane” as a Major Flaw.

This character can be trapped by a living being who remains totally silent, and keeps him in sight. To that end, if such a person remains silent and fixes his eyes on the character for more than fifteen minutes, the character cannot leave his line of sight, and will immediately know that he is being trapped. He may use any normal means to cause the trapper to say something (even screaming in pain will do) and thus break his hold, but other than that, none of his powers will work, and he will be unable to leave his presence even by normal means (or even hide from his gaze).

This may occur naturally: the trapper may not know what he’s doing, but in such cases, breaking the hold is usually trivial.

If the trapper can remain completely silent for one hour while maintaining the vampire in sight, the trap springs, and the vampire becomes his. He may, then, either issue the vampire a command, which he must carry to the best of his abilities (this command may very well result in his death), or he can demand the vampire to be gone from this world, in which case the vampire immediately enters Slumber and will only leave it if the trapper (or his descendants) say it so (or if, in Slumber, he loses this Flaw). If the trapper has no more descendants and die, the vampire is free to return.

Either way, after being trapped once, a vampire’s powers will never again work on the person who trapped him (and only on that person). Only a living, breathing person can trap a vampire.

Silver Bane (Major or Minor)

Minor Flaw:

To this character, any item made of silver is holy. He cannot touch those items without making a Brave check against 8 to hold them without getting hurt. Even then, he suffers a –2 penalty in all his actions. If struck with silver, his powers only grant him half the usual soak (if he has any). However, the wounds caused by silver are normal wounds, and cannot permanently destroy him.

Major Flaw:

As before, but the wounds caused by contact with silver objects (or weapons) can permanently destroy the vampire.

Sun Bane (Major or Minor)

Minor Flaw:

This character is afraid of the sun and must avoid direct sunlight at all costs. This does not prevent him from walking during the day, but he will do his best to stay in the shade. He must overcome a Brave roll against an ease factor of 9 to enter direct sunlight, and even if he does, he suffers a –2 penalty in all actions due to his discomfort.

Major Flaw:

As before, but direct sunlight burns the character to destruction. Every minute he stays in contact with direct sunlight, he suffers a light wound. If he is burned to destruction by sunlight, his destruction becomes permanent.

Sun Banish (Greater)

To get this flaw, the character must have previously taken the “Sun Bane” major flaw.

This character can’t stand any kind of sunlight, and even indirect light hurts him and causes him to flee. It hurts less, true (-1 in all actions), and burns more slowly (1 light wound every 10 minutes), but is still inconvenient.

Furthermore, the character doesn’t usually awakes before sundown, and usually falls asleep at sunrise. He can overcome this drowsiness with a small effort of will, as would any normal person to stay awake through the night, but his natural cycle is to sleep all through the day time (which is longer at summer, and shorter at winter).

Water Bane (Minor)

This character cannot cross running water (like that of a river, but not of a moot – it’s not running). He can fly over it, and dig through it, but to cross it by walking (or riding, or driving), requires a Brave roll against an ease factor of 9. Only one roll per day is possible. If he is forced through, he loses one blood point.