Vampire Rules

NOTE: This page is a work in progress.

Character Creation

See Vampire Character Creation.

Disciplines

The following are house rules which apply to disciplines in the vampire sphere.

Celerity

System:Each point of Celerity adds one die to every Dexterity-related dice roll, including initiative during a combat round. In addition, the player can reflexively spend one blood point to gain a number of additional full actions equal to her Celerity rating at the beginning of the relevant turn; this blood spend counts against a vampire's generational maximum per turn. A number of these actions equal to half their Celerity (round up) may be attack actions. These additional actions must be physical (e.g., the vampire cannot use a mental Discipline like Dominate multiple times in one turn). All non-dodge actions occur on he vampire's turn in the initiative order. A vampire may reserve their dodge actions for any incoming attacks throughout the turn or choose to take the hit. A vampire may not use their standard (non-Celerity) action during a turn to spend the entire turn defending. Characters can also add their celerity rating to number of yards or meters they can move in a turn. Lastly, by spending one blood, the vampire may multiply their movement speed by 1 + their celerity dots. In combat, this accelerated speed lasts one turn. Otherwise, it lasts the entire scene.

Normally, a character without Celerity must divide their dice if they want to take multiple actions in a single turn, as per p. 248. A character using Celerity performs his extra actions (including full movement) without penalty, gaining a full dice pool for each separate action. The extra actions gained through Celerity may not in turn be split further.

Thaumaturgy

Donning the Mask of Shadows

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Warding

Thaumaturgists can apply their wards to other locations and objects and the purpose of this post is to outline how exactly that works.

Havens

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We won't outline how Chantries (and other such locations) work in terms of defenses as those are already well established, but if a Thaumaturge want to ward a location other than a Chantry, they can do so, but it requires a Level 5 Ritual: Dedicate the Haven (DA V20 p 310). Once that ritual is performed on a location, the following defenses can be applied to that location:

Ward versus Ghouls Ward versus Lupines Ward versus Kindred Ward versus Spirits Ward versus Demons Ward versus Ghosts Defense of the Sacred Haven Animated Assistants Scry the Hearthstone

The dedicated haven access to the wards can then be keyed in one of two methods:

1. The vampires who wish to bypass the wards can volunteer 1 blood point of their vitae and be present at the time that Dedicate the Haven is cast. This will exempt any vampire who donated blood from the haven defenses (including the caster).

2. At the time of the dedication of the haven, the caster may set a password that can be spoken and it will drop the warding defenses until the password is spoken again. This method is less secure as if the password is found out by an enemy, they can drop those defenses. The caster can change the password as they wish.

Dedicate the Haven is considered to be permanent, though the caster can disrupt the magic anytime they choose and end the magic. Similarly, if the caster of the ritual meets the final death, the dedication of the haven will also drop as the mystic ties to the magic will be severed.

Warded Items

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Thaumaturgists can ward other items for characters. This can include weapons or other items but mostly applies to weapons. The terms for warding a weapon or item is as follows:

1. The item that you want to ward must be acquired through the +equipreq process. Use that process for acquiring your desired item first.

2. The character the item is for must donate 1 blood point of their vitae and be present for the ritual casting. The item is then exempt from them and the caster being harmed by it. All other characters will be harmed by holding/wielding the item.

3. The warding on items lasts for a year and a day. The character with the warded weapon will need to find a Thaumaturgist to rework the item at that time but they will have already been considered to have 'paid for' the item they own.

Costs

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The above services can be very powerful and it is rare that a Thaumaturgist does not charge a boon (or some equivalent) to do such things on behalf of another Kindred. Haven defenses can cost a Major Boon, while a weapon is at least a Minor Boon per casting of the ritual. A weapon with multiple minor wards can cost multiple boons.

Also, in cases where vampires have to donate their blood to the sorcerer, it is well-known among vampire circles that more than a few thaumaturgists (Tremere especially) are blood sorcerers and giving your blood to any thaumaturge can be a risky proposition, due to the fact that it inherently has a powerful connection to you and could allow them to do terrible things to a character if they so chose. So, while these magics seem a boon, among some vampiric circles, these kinds of magics are widely distrusted as a double edge sword when it comes to help. This does not even account for the fact that the caster themselves is immune to these defenses and could, in theory, drop those defenses when they chose to do so, without your character even being aware of now being exposed to the world.

Finally, the warding costs Equipment dots in accordance with the following:

1. The character who will claim the warded item will have to purchase 1 of the Equipment background to account for the cost of 1 ward on the item. These costs must be paid at the time the ritual is cast. Note that this is in addition to any other costs paid to acquire the item.

2. There is technically no limit on the number of wards that can be placed on one item. However, each ward placed on the item beyond the first will cost an additional dot of Equipment. So a sword with 3 wards would cost Equipment 3 (plus any costs incurred for acquiring the item).

Approved Combo Disciplines

See Vampire Combination Disciplines.

Learning Combo Disciplines

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Abilities

Martial Arts

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Backgrounds

Approved Backgrounds

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Group Backgrounds

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Base of Operations

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Domain

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Retainers

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Information Exchange

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Torpor Durations

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Banality

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Influence System

See Influence System.

Hunting

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