Note: this is a living document and can and will change over time. It's your responsibility to read it to ensure that the items here have not changed.

Clarifications

Blood Bonds

Players may have as many lesser blood bonds as they wish (levels 1 through 2); however once a player completes a 3rd level bloodbond to another all lesser bonds currently in existence break. A player may only ever have 1 active 3rd step bond at any one time. Once a 3-step bond is initiated, the only way to break it is either through the duration of time or killing the regnant/thrall within the bond. While it is possible for a Vampire (not a ghoul) with a level 3 bond to engage in a lesser bond with another, players seeking to do such should exercise extreme caution as multiple bonds can lead to death when loyalties are called into question.

This is a reflection that any 'slave/thrall' can really only have one true master. Whenever a bond fails to form, the Vampire seeking to initiate the bond as a regnant should remain unaware that the bond has failed to take root.

Feeding

Mortals: In most cases mortals do not resist the ecstasy of the bite. Therefore they go into a state of shock feeling bliss. Depending on the level of success for the feeding vampire, a mortal may have no memory of what happened.

Sin Eaters: Sin Eater blood is polluted with Plasm, an essence of death. It tastes like ash and death. The vampire must roll for a frenzy check. Draining from a Sin-Eater is to drink from the dead. The blood is not attractive or appealing, the frenzy incurred is a fear frenzy. They gain nothing from eating from a corpse, so do they gain nothing from a Sin-Eater.

Changeling: Changelings are the same as mortals when it comes to experiencing the kiss. However, as a vampire drinks from a Changeling they begin to become affected by the Changeling's particular influence - Seeming, Kith, Wyrd, Glamour, and Clarity all play a roll in the 'hallucinogenic trip' the vampire experiences but the system is the same.

For the rest of the night the vampire is at a -1 penalty to Perception for each point of Changeling blood in their system and that day the vampire will actually dream, vividly. The next night the penalty is no more as the effect is 'slept off' during the day-dreams.

The Changelings blood tastes very good and contains strong emotions which the vampire might very well enjoy, however the delusions become stronger in intensity as the feeding continues which will likely cause the vampire to break off before killing the victim. This can be expressed as a self control roll if they wish to continue to drink from the Changeling for more traits worth than the vampire has points in Resolve. This roll is also penalized by the modifier for having the glamoured blood in their system.

Mage: Mages are just as tasty and filling as any other mortal. They also react the same way to being fed on. Although they are not all that high on the menu since their blood is rumored to be quite hallucinogenic to kindred. Whether they see the reality only known to Mages or if it truly is a hallucination who knows, but most vampires are not that eager to find out. Those that do risk suffer a derangement per night for each vitae drained.

Werewolf & Changing Breeds: The Werewolf's (and Feral) experience is identical to that of a mundane mortal.

The Vampire learns that the ferocious blood of Werewolves (and Feral's) is over two times as nourishing but distills some of their aggression into the imbibing Vampire leading to a greater risk of frenzying for a number of nights equal to health boxes 'drained' from the Werewolf (or Feral).

Vampire: Kindred do not succumb to the kiss since they know what is going on. They can fight back if they so inclined. Feeding until the subject dies is called diablerie.

Blood Addiction

Vitae is very, very, very tasty.

After 1st taste Addiction (Vitae) is automatic. (VtR. Pg 158)
On future opportunities to drink Vitae PCs can attempt to resist.
Successful resistance offers a bonus to future resist attempts.
Failure to resist leads to a cumulative penalty on future attempts to resist down to a chance die.
Dramatic Failures on resist attempts leads to a derangement.
Exceptional Successes on a resist attempt breaks the Addiction... until the next time the PC tastes Vitae.

Blood Ties

Family blood relations (e.g. Roth, Kross, etc) count as having a blood tie for the purpose of using disciplines. This does not apply to relations by association (e.g. marriage, etc).

Ghouls & Possessed

Ghouls cannot become Possessed and remain ghouls; a demon won't agree to a host where it can't be number uno. A successful Possession ends ghouling and breaks extant blood bonds immediately. Possessed can be blood bound; they cannot be ghouled.

Malkavia

Malkavia is treated as an actual bloodline, not a disease, for all intents and purposes upon The Reach. It is considered a bloodline specific to the Ventrue clan and historically started as an off-shoot of the Malkovians. Like the Malkovians, all Malkavians must choose a Core Derangement upon character creation. This Derangement may not be bought off through XP spends or RP and is an integral part of the bloodline once activated. As for starting disciplines, all Malkavian players will have the the in-clan/bloodline spread of: Auspex, Dementation, Obfuscate, Resilience. Dominate will be considered Out-of-Clan for XP costs.

Protean Claws & Fighting Styles

Protean Claws can only be used with a Fighting Style if the [Claws] merit has been purchased; thereafter Protean Claws only count towards the first attack made, if applicable.

Vitae and Blood

Blood is not vitae and vitae is not blood. While capable of mimicing blood, and being created by the consumption of blood, Vitae is a mystical substance that can change form and carries the energy of undeath. When a kindred drinks blood, it is turned to vitae and stored within them as a mystical force, it need not remain a coherent liquid. When a vampire loses vitae from his body, it remains as liquid vitae for 1 minute per point of blood potency they possess. During this time, it is considered vitae for all effects. Afterwards, it becomes human blood with a lack of vital energy.

Fighting Styles and Vampires

Any fighting style maneuver which works via cutting off or disrupting breathing (such as, but not limited to Grapling 3 and Quinna 3) do not function on vampires, as Kindred bodies do not need to breathe to function. At the storyteller's discretion, this may have minor cosmetic effects, such asdifficulty speaking or smelling, but no game mechanics.

Policies

Blood Potency

Per the rules, a Vampire generally grows in power at a rate of 1 dot of Blood Potency per every 50 IC years of activity. To reflect this in game, players may get an automatic -2xp discount to any potency increase which is in keeping with their age. (ie. A 200 year old vampire looking to raise their Blood Potency from 3 to 4 will be able to do so for 30xp instead of 32xp.) All Blood Potency increases still must be paid for, regardless of age, but this justification alleviates the cost slightly.

Blood Potency requires no justification. However, if you have a PrP run for Blood Potency, you may have a -3xp discount.

While waiting 50 years IC between Blood Potency raises is not feasible in-game, staff feels that one raise per 'story' is reasonable. In game terms, raising your Blood Potency one dot per month is an acceptable time frame.

Diablerie Duration

Any character who commits an act of Diablerie will maintain their black veins for 1 yr per Blood Potency level that character possesses minus the number of months of Humanity they possess rounded down. Thus a Vampire that Diablerizes and winds up with Blood Potency 4 and possesses a Humanity of 5 will retain their diablerie lines for a total of 3 yrs and 7 months. PrPs may be requested to try and find either relics (or reliquists capable of making such relics) that might hide these lines.

Diablerie lines are only viewable by those who can see Auras and happen to be actively looking for them.

Diablerie Acquisition

Vampires that successfully commit Diablerie will gain access to 1 free Skill dot and 1 free Discipline dot of a value greater than the diablerizing vampire's current status. This means a Vampire has Obfuscate 1 and diablerizes a Vampire with Obfuscate 3, they will gain a free second dot of Obfuscate. Additionally, the diablerizing Vampire will gain 1 free dot in a skill from the diablerized Vampire's repertoire. This skill will typically be from among one of the diablerized vampire's most developed skills. Thus, if a Vampire diablerizes another Vampire with Stealth 2 and Larceny 4 - the diablerizing Vampire will acquire Larceny 1.

Freeze Requests

Unless stipulated in the request all Freezes for Vampire PC's will be considered unexpected age Torpor for story reasons. Your PC will still remain off grid and out of play as usual but for IC Story continuity reasons staff will consider the PC in Torpor indefinitely. No rolls will be required to unfreeze or is there time limits. Those logistics will be discussed briefly with staff during the unfreeze process. Instructions left in the Freeze job will supersede this assumption by staff.

Non-Covenant Learning of Coils/Cruac/Theban/Devotions

Coils/Cruac/Theban Disciplines and Rituals can not be learned without Status dots in the respective Covenants.
XP Spends submitted without an approved PrP completed for buying Invictus or Carthian Devotions for PC's without Covenant status will be denied.

Positions

As a general rule of thumb players will not be allowed to hold more than one Position in:

City/Court
Clan
Covenant

Pre-Cast Rituals

We allow Players with Rituals to have them noted as being cast at the beginning of the night. These notes have to be staff approved.

While setting these Pre-Casts up staff will have to review the Ritual and make sure the Ritual is suitable for being Pre-Cast (Some just are not feasible) and that the Ritual does not conflict with others already +noted. (Some may not be compatible with other rituals active.) Finally to keep it from getting out of hand, we are limiting the number of Pre-Cast Rituals one can have to their Blood Potency rating.

To use a Pre-Cast Ritual in a scene the required roll is rolled to the room and the required cost spent. The cost has to be spend in scene. It can not be hand waved as being paid for off camera.

Number of Ghouls

Since we are not using Blood Scarcity rules, Vampires are restricted to 2 Ghouls maximum each. This does not include NPC Ghouls.
Thralls are not ghouls and not beholden to this policy.

Staff Run NPCs

All Staff Run NPCs scenes will be logged.

Vampire House Rules

Bloodline Disciplines

Bloodline specific disciplines may only be learned by members of that specific bloodline. Unlocking a bloodline on grid requires a PrP as well as the expenditure of 1 permanent dot of willpower and a minimum Blood Potency of 2. Those players currently without a bloodline that meet the pre-reqs per the book, can request a specialized PrP. Unlocking a bloodline doesn't require an XP spend and will permit access to the bloodline specific discipline set as in-clan per that bloodline.

Blood Bonds & Embrace

Blood Bonds break upon the death of either the Regnant or the Thrall. This remains the case with Embraces as well. In order for a mortal/thrall/ghoul to become a vampire, they must first 'die'. This death causes any and all Blood Bonds in previously in existence to be severed. However, the newly-embraced vampire will immediately gain a 1-step Bond to their sire. Many sires will fortify this Bond over the next few nights until the fledgling is completely Bound for security/training purposes.

Coils of the Dragon (Spending Mods & Caps)

In an effort to help Dragons reach their full potential within the realistic framework of an online setting, all Ordo Dracul members will have their maximum number of Coils learned capped at 2x their Blood Potency rating. Thus if a player has BP 3, they may learn up to a max of 6 Coils, while a player with only BP 1 can only learn 2 Coils.

All costs for learning new Coils will be capped at 7x the New Level of the Coil to be learned as long as that Coil belongs to a player's primary path. The Primary path is designated as the path of the first Coil learned. In the case where a player is equally versatile in two paths - they must select 1 path to be listed as their primary.

The cost for learning Coils upon any additional path will cost 8x the New Level.This is to reflect how progressively difficult it is to master more than one path of Coils and deviate one's focus once they begin their tutelage. Ie. Joe the Dragon purchases 2 dots of Coil of the Blood. The first costs 7xp and the 2nd costs 14xp. Joe then decides to purchase 1 dot of Coil of Flesh. Rather than charging Joe 21xp, he is charged 8xp. Should Joe then decide to purchase another dot of Coil of the Flesh after, the cost for the 2nd Coil of Flesh becomes 16xp. If Joe wants to then purchase the 3rd dot of Coil of the Blood, the cost for Coil of Blood remains 21xp as it is his primary path.

Discipline Learning Times

There is no specific learning time required for discipline learns, however increases between specific levels of the same discipline will be scrutinized given the duration of time of the last XP spend prior. As a general guideline, increases to a specific discipline level /should/ reflect a certain advancement and development of a character as a whole. PrPs and/or logs are always recommended but never required.

Learning a discipline is meant to reflect the gradual understanding of one's own powers within their blood at a progressional level. As such, it is unlikely a vampire should go from knowing nothing or the bare basics (Discipline 0 or 1) to suddenly being considered advanced or a master in that specific discipline (ie. Discipline 4 or 5).

Players are encouraged to follow a natural progression of character development in this regard and XP discipline dumping (increasing more than a reasonable level of the same discipline at one spend) will be scrutinized and may result in a temporary denial.

This does not apply to any sub-rituals or forms within a given discipline. Any rituals such as Theban, Coils, Cruac, Mérges or any additional Haven or Beast form (per Protean 3 and 4) may still be purchased at will.

Disciplines & Poison HR

The toxins produced by the discipline Mérges are not mundane poisons and are not covered by the poisons HR (+news poisons). Use the Mérges Sorcery rules as published (Ancient Bloodlines, p 147).
The discipline Sakti Pata works as published (Ancient Bloodlines, p 50) until the toxic vitae is introduced via a poisoned weapon. At that point the general poisons HR (+news poisons) would apply to resisting the poison.

Free Merits

Coming into the sphere you get a free dot in Herd, Status (Clan), Status (City) and Status (Covenant)

Leftover CGen & Respec XP

We ask that you limit your 'left over' XP from initial CGen or a Respec to 20 XP or less.

Ritual Pre-Casts

A player opens a +req stating what Ritual they would like to cast at the beginning of the night, (with a page reference of course). Staff will set a +note briefly describing the effect and the required rolls and any costs.

While setting these Pre-Casts up staff will have to review the Ritual and make sure the Ritual is suitable for being Pre-Cast (Some just are not feasible) and that the Ritual does not conflict with others already +noted. (Some may not be compatible with other rituals active.) Finally to keep it from getting out of hand, we are limiting the number of Pre-Cast Rituals one can have to their Blood Potency rating.

To use a Pre-Cast Ritual in a scene the required roll is rolled to the room and the required cost spent +proving the note if required allowing one to use a Ritual without ST oversight.

Sunnikuse

To bring the powers of the discipline in line with the rest of the games on The Reach, all levels of Sunnikuse 1-5 will now have a reflexive resistance roll of Resolve+Power Stat (Blood Potency in Vampires).

A Child From the Stones

Although a Acolyte may produce as many Gargoyles as they may desire, the mystical will to command them is limited to their Blood Potency rating. ie: A Blood Potency 3 Acolyte may have 10 Gargoyles perched around their haven, they only have the mystical strength to command 3 at a time.

Vampire/House Rules

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