About Vitae

Vitae is not blood; at least, not directly. Kindred create Vitae as a byproduct of processing the blood they absorb. There’s no digestion; the blood seeps through the gullet and washes through decaying tissues. Vitae is the perverse fuel that exists within the Kindred’s blood. When Kindred use their Vitae, they do not normally lose blood. The Beast is too selfish to let go of that fluid. However, certain Disciplines, the act of creating a blood bond, and the Embrace require the vampire to contaminate the world around her with her Vitae. She does this through blood.

Vampires do not naturally bleed when cut. The Vitae is possessive; it pulls the blood back to the body in the way a drop of mercury absorbs back into a pool. When exhibiting the blush of life, vampires will bleed normally, but still not lose Vitae. Some heinous injuries can cause limited Vitae loss. For example, if the vampire loses a chunk of flesh or a limb, the blood will remain with the lost part, and pour out as the tissue and bone decays. Only in these terrible cases would blood loss equate with Vitae loss.

Blood bearing Vitae is slightly darker, and has an almost syrupy quality. It has all the normal metallic smells blood should, but also has a subtle, sweet smell, like a dessert wine.

Blood Sympathy

Blood calls to blood. Relatives by blood share a certain amount of mystical sympathy; they can feel one another at their most important moments. They sometimes feel strong sensations and emotions from their relatives, including frenzies, the pain of violent torpor, and the shame of crushing defeat. This is rarely with clarity; it comes in the form of cryptic symbols, daymares, and hallucinations. Only the strongest ties — such as those between sire and childe — result in clear messages.

The various effects depend on how many steps removed the two characters are.

• Once Removed: This step is for sires and their childer exclusively. Sires and childer enjoy a +3 on all sympathy-based rolls. This level of sympathy has no range limits; sires and childer feel each other world-around.
• Twice Removed: This step is for siblings, grandchilder, and grandsires. Twice-removed Kindred receive a +2 die bonus on all sympathy-based rolls. Sympathy affects any relative on the same continent.
• Thrice Removed: This step is for cousins, a sire’s siblings, and great grandsires and great grandchilder. Thrice-removed Kindred receive a +1 die bonus on all sympathy-based rolls. Sympathy affects any relative in the same city.
• Four Times Removed: This final step is for all clanmates. They receive no modifiers for sympathy rolls. Sympathy affects any clanmate within a mile.

Sympathy comes into effect automatically any time a vampire’s relative enters torpor or suffers Final Death. The feeling washes over the vampire and she senses her relative’s state in vague, often symbolic terms. As well, characters can initiate sympathy to communicate their states of being to their relatives once or twice removed. To do so, they must spend a Willpower point and make a Blood Potency roll. Each success allows them to contact a single relative; the relative must still make the roll to detect sympathy.

Any particularly powerful emotion can trigger sympathy, at Storyteller discretion. This is less a foolproof detective tool, more a dramatic device. Any time a relative suffers a horrible fate, sympathy may cause frenzies.

Detecting Sympathy

When prompted, a character may roll to detect blood sympathy. She may also spend a point of Willpower to force sympathy and detect a specific relative, assuming they’re within the range allotted by their tie. Some Kindred use sympathy to track their family members.

Dice Pool: Wits + Blood Potency + Blood Sympathy

Action: Instant

Dramatic Failure: Rolls to detect Sympathy cannot dramatically fail.

Failure: The sympathetic tie fails.

Success: The character connects with the relative. She gets a vague impression of the character’s mental state, and his general direction. If the relative enters torpor or Final Death, his relative knows one of those two things has happened (but not which).

Exceptional Success: The character connects clearly. She understands her relative’s mental state, his direction from her, and his rough distance from her. She knows if he’s reached torpor or Final Death. In addition, he send a message of a single, short sentence that she hears through the blood tie.

Discipline Sympathy

As well as feeling the sensations of their relatives, vampires are more capable of using their Disciplines on those with whom they share blood ties. If a vampire uses a Discipline on a relative, add the blood sympathy bonus to the roll. Rolls made to enact Crúac sorcery use double this modifier.

Vitae Addiction

Vitae is life. Life tastes very, very good. In fact, it tastes so good, it’s highly addictive to both mortal and Kindred alike. Vitae’s addictive quality is one of the strongest tools Kindred can bring to bear. Even ignoring the blood bond, Vitae is a remarkable bargaining chip. Just as in the mortal world, addiction’s a terrible thing when leveraged against a person.

Vitae addiction feels very similar to addiction to a strong drug. An addict does not have to see her vice to want it; she always wants it. It sits in the back of her mind, festering. An addict could just let her wound heal, but instead, she pokes at it, she tongues it, she just can’t let go. At any given time, no matter what she’s doing, she is also thinking, “I could be getting my score instead of this.” Some blood addicts resort to attacking other Kindred, or even committing Amaranth to get a fix. Many seek out contaminated blood when they casually hunt, using hard drugs as a tepid replacement for their true needs.

Any time a character drinks Kindred Vitae, he must roll Resolve + Composure, with a –1 die penalty for each point consumed. If he fails, he gains the Persistent Addicted Condition. Any time he’s faced with further opportunities to drink Vitae, he must indulge, succeed in a Resolve + Composure roll, or gain the Deprived Condition. If a character tempts him with Vitae, she may make a Contested roll (usually Manipulation + Persuasion or something similar) against his Resolve + Composure.

Other supernatural beings have no resistance to Vitae Addiction or the Blood Bond (below).

Elders and Addiction

Once Kindred reach a certain degree of power, blood addiction no longer threatens them. If a vampire can only garner sustenance from Kindred (at six dots or more of Blood Potency), she is immune to blood addiction. This doesn’t render her immune to blood bonds, however.

Blood Bonds

While addictive, Vitae carries a far more sinister effect for those who drink it: the blood bond. A blood bond, also called a Vinculum, is a strand of powerful, one-sided emotion borne of Vitae. One subject to a blood bond finds himself drawn to, wanting, needing, devoted to, and even loving the one from whom he’s fed.

While many Kindred expose humans to the blood bond, often as part of creating ghouls, other Kindred are just as vulnerable to the blood’s draw. Many sires bind their childer. Many Princes impose bonds on criminals. Every city, every covenant, and indeed every vampire views the bond differently. Some abhor it. Some find it a regrettable inevitability. Some revel in it. Most fear it. Some Kindred willingly succumb to the bond with a trusted ally, because a given Kindred may only be enthralled to a single vampire. This serves as a form of perverse protection against a less desirable bond. Some mutually blood bond each other, to heighten feelings of intimacy.

A bound character is called the thrall, the character he’s bound to is his regnant.

The Bond in Play

Any time a character imbibes a point or more of Vitae, it creates or reinforces a blood bond. The bond comes in three stages, usually at the first, second, and third drinks.

Kindred (and other supernatural) characters can attempt to resist the bond by spending Willpower. Make a Blood Potency roll, minus the number of Vitae ingested. The Willpower point does not add to this roll. If successful, that drink does not add to the bond. However, the character suffers Vitae addiction normally. Any further attempts to resist the bond from the same vampire suffer a cumulative –1 die penalty; even ancient Kindred cannot resist the bond forever. Mortals have no such defense.

First Stage: Have you ever felt a crush, that butterflies-in-the stomach feeling, but for someone you know you shouldn’t want to have anything to do with? Have you ever kissed someone, and loved it at the time, then regretted it later, only to know you were going to do it again and love it just as much? That’s what the first stage of the bond feels like. It’s not love. It couldn’t convince anyone but maybe an inexperienced teen that he’s in love. But it pulls you and makes you want. It makes you want to be close to your regnant. It makes you want their approval.

When taking a Social maneuver against her thrall, the regnant’s impression is considered one step higher. As well, she gains a +1 die bonus on any Social action or Discipline roll against the thrall. Causing direct or indirect harm to one’s regnant constitutes a breaking point at Humanity/Integrity 5.

Second Stage: Have you ever felt complete and utter tension when simply thinking about someone? Have you ever made a stupid excuse to run off and touch yourself to get rid of that tension? Have you ever blushed when someone’s name came up, then lashed out when someone accused you of having feelings for them? This is what the second stage of the bond feels like. It’s easy to confuse for love. It’s a strong, pervasive affection that makes you vulnerable, and keeps you persistently wanting more.

When taking a Social maneuver against her thrall, the regnant’s impression is considered two steps higher. As well, she gains a +2 die bonus on any Social action or Discipline roll against the thrall. Causing indirect or direct harm to one’s regnant constitutes a breaking point at Humanity/3, or on Integrity with a penalty of –3.

Third Stage: Has someone’s name alone make you bite your lower lip in anticipation? Has it ever aroused you to imagine her reaction to something you’ve done? Have you ever sabotaged something that could have been special, for fear of its intrusion between you and her? Has your brain gone wild, imagining the worst possible scenario when she meets someone new? Have you ever thought to intervene in order to protect what you have? Have you ever tried to agitate her, because her irritation is better than her neglect? This is the feeling of a full blood bond. It’s nothing short of infatuation. It’s a tantalizing, forceful affection that always eats at the back of your mind.

When taking a Social maneuver against her thrall, the regnant’s impression is always considered perfect. As well, she gains a +3 die penalty on any Social action or Discipline roll against the thrall. Causing indirect or direct harm to one’s regnant constitutes a breaking point at Humanity/Integrity 1. Lastly, all of the regnant’s lingering Discipline effects gain additional duration. Any Discipline that would last a scene lasts one night. Any that last a night instead last a week. One week becomes one month. One month becomes one year.

Once the bond reaches the third stage, it shatters all other existing bonds, and prevents further bonds from forming.

The blood bond lasts a year from the most recent drink. Full or partial, the bond disintegrates after that time. Outside waiting out the year, methods for diffusing the bond — save for an overwhelming third-stage bond — are unreliable myths at best. The year limit isn’t quite on a calendar... it can vary by a few days or weeks.