Rulings and Clarifications

Advantages and Flaws

• Cult-specific merits, flaws, ceremonies, formulae, and rituals are only available to characters that are part of said cult.

• Mythic and Supernatural merits and flaws may only be taken at character creation.

Ceremonies and Rituals

Sharing Disciplines

Vitae cannot transfer disciplines or be used to feed other kindred unless it is taken directly from the vein (as filling a vessel takes more than “a few seconds”). Vitae still retains all ghoul-sustaining and mortal-healing properties for a few days.

Auspex - Share the Senses

These are the rules for determining the DC for Share the Senses:

• Base: DC 3

• Target doesn't have user's blood: +2 DC (ignore if target is present and well-known)

• Distractions: +1-3 DC depending on severity

• Distance: Note that the target must have the user's blood if not in line of sight

  • No line of sight, but same ward: +1 DC

  • One ward away: +2 DC

  • Two to three wards away: +3 DC

  • Three or more wards away: +4 DC

If the target is a vampire, the user's Blood is valid until next feeding or the target hits Hunger 5, whichever is sooner.

If the target is a mortal, the user's Blood follows the ghoul rules.

Blood Sorcery - Illuminate the Trail of Prey

• The caster must know the target's "permanent" face. Temporary appearances, such as those granted by Mask of a Thousand Faces, Protean shapeshifting, etc., are insufficient.

• The trail immediately disappears if the target dies, or if their face is permanently changed, such as through Vicissitude.

Protean, Animalism, and Animal Stats

Your character's physical pools are capped by the stats of the animal that they shift into or otherwise control, including their exceptional pools. Mental rolls use your character's pool. Social rolls are subject to the limitations of the form. For example, your character couldn't roll Manipulation + Persuasion if they couldn't talk, but if someone were to use Feral Whispers, your character could roll Social pools against them.

When shifted, your character uses the health levels of the animal they have turned into but retains access to their full willpower pool.

Drug Effects

• Alcohol: Lower Dexterity and Intelligence dice pools by one die.

• Cocaine/Meth/Speed: Spend two Willpower points to reroll a messy critical or bestial failure. The difficulty to resist frenzy increases by one.

• Hallucinogens: Unable to concentrate, the character's Wits, Resolve, and Manipulation pools are lowered by two dice. The difficulty to resist frenzy decreases by one.

• Heroin/Morphine/Oxy/Opiates: Subtract two dice from all Physical dice pools. Reduce frenzy difficulties by one.

• Marijuana: The mortal experiences a slightly altered perception of time, suffering a one-die reduction to Wits dice pools. Frenzy difficulties drop by one.

Haven

No Haven (Flaw)

Characters who take the No Haven flaw must find a place to sleep by the end of the IC night. This will require either an Intelligence/Wits + Survival roll, usually at a difficulty of 4. Failing at this roll inflicts one level of aggravated damage per point of missed margin (though you will find shelter eventually). If your character finds someone willing to provide shelter, you must swap this flaw out for another.

Resources

Due to the non-linear nature of Resources, players may not gift Resources dots to each other. They may, however, gift specific cash amounts (such as "40 ZAR"). Because Resources represents income, such gifts can rarely justify purchasing a dot of Resources with experience.

Sanctity of Merits

According to p. 180 of the core rulebook, characters may get back or replace lost Advantages purchased at character creation or with experience. This will be adjudicated on a case-by-case basis. However, please note that frivolously burning your Advantages to get something new is not allowed and will result in a permanent loss.

The same, of course, applies to Flaws. Kill your Enemy, and another may take their place. However, Flaws gained during roleplay may be permanently removed with appropriate in-character actions. You must always have at least 2 flaws in addition to your character's predator type flaws.

Torpor

When ending torpor early by drinking vitae of higher blood potency, a character with a health tracker full of aggravated damage reduces one level of damage to superficial.