Blood Ties
Vampires call themselves “Kindred,” but some are closer kin than others. The connection between sire and childe carries supernatural power. Kindred can affect their immediate, linear “family” with their Disciplines more easily than they affect other vampires.
For this purpose, all Kindred within two Embrace “steps” away from each other count as immediate family and are subject to this effect. Therefore, a character receives the bloodtie bonus to affect her sire, her sire’s sire, her childer and her childer’s childer.
The character receives a +2 bonus when she tries to affect these close “relatives” with certain Disciplines. These Disciplines include Auspex, Dominate, Nightmare and Majesty. Others state when such bonuses apply in their write-ups in Chapter 2. Certain bloodline Disciplines may apply as well (and Storytellers should consider this when allowing a player to create a new Discipline; see Appendix I for more details). A character must try to affect a “relative” directly with the Discipline in question. The bonus is not gained by a character for using a Discipline on herself and then doing something to another Kindred. For example, a character does not receive a bonus to hit a relative while using Vigor. Likewise, indirect powers don’t enjoy the bonus. A character employing the Auspex power The Spirit’s Touch does not receive the bonus. That Discipline affects the character herself, and what she does with the capability is incidental. Powers that affect targets automatically without the need for a player to make a dice roll do not gain any bonus. Further, the bloodtie bonus does not apply to any resistance to which a subject is entitled (logically, if the user gained a bonus and the subject gained the same bonus, that bonus would be effectively negated). The bonus is awarded only to the proactive user of a given power.
Example: Prince Maxwell decides he doesn’t want to continue an argument with his childe, Persephone Moore, so he orders her to forget about it — and backs up his command with Dominate. Maxwell’s player would normally roll 12 dice for this effort. Because Persephone is Maxwell’s childe, however, Maxwell’s player rolls 14 dice instead.
When a Kindred tastes Vitae, the player can roll Intelligence + Occult. Having active Heightened Senses (Auspex) grants a +2 dice bonus to the roll. One success is enough to tell whether the blood comes from the character’s own clan, or to recognize the blood as coming from his immediate Kindred “family” — that is, in the taster’s own line of sires and childer (see “Blood Ties,” above). Two successes enable the character to recognize the clan (assuming the character has tasted Vitae from several clans). Or two successes tell the character if the subject is within two generations of him in the line (that is, if the subject is a grandsire or grandchilde).
The character can also mystically recognize blood from his mortal relations, if he should happen to drink it without his knowledge, with one success on the Intelligence + Occult roll.
Example: The Nosferatu Gregor tastes the Vitae of a Kindred whom he plans to diablerize. Gregor’s player obtains four successes on the Intelligence + Occult roll to determine if Gregor has any insight into the blood’s origins. With four successes, Gregor determines that the individual he’s about to diablerize is, in fact, his sire’s sire! If Gregor’s player had obtained only one success, Gregor would know only that this Kindred was closely related to him in the sequence of Embrace. If no such connection existed, one success would have confirmed that the other vampire was in fact a Nosferatu.
On such occasions, the Storyteller can ask a player to roll the character’s Wits + Occult. The number of successes tells how much information the character gains from this flash of sensation. Active Heightened Senses (Auspex) adds two dice to this roll.
Dramatic Failure: Players cannot dramatically fail a roll for blood sympathy.
Failure: Nothing happens.
Success: The character has a strong feeling of what the other Kindred experiences and has a general notion of the direction and distance to his relative.
Exceptional Success: For a moment, the character perceives himself to be the other Kindred. He knows exactly what’s happening and the exact location of the other Kindred.
A character can also try to force this psychic awareness of a relative and so learn the other Kindred’s activities. Doing so costs a point of Willpower, which may not be used to add dice to the Wits + Occult roll. A character can also expend a point of Willpower to try to make a relative know what the character herself feels. The other character’s player rolls Wits + Occult, but the first character has no way of knowing whether the attempt to “transmit” succeeds. The blood sympathy does not seem to extend further than about 50 miles, or beyond a metropolitan area. This 50-mile limit applies to affecting relatives with Disciplines, too. For example, if a character uses a far-flung Theban Sorcery ritual on a blood relation who’s 500 miles away, she loses the bonus.
The Kindred bless and curse this blood sympathy. If a Kindred sends another vampire to Final Death or diablerizes him, his sire, childer or other “relations” might feel it. The chances are small that any of them will know exactly what happened and who did it, but would-be murderers (and diablerists…) must consider the possibility. Kindred also sometimes fret that their relatives might spy on their moments of strong emotion, be they benign, criminal or merely shameful. A proud Prince who holds court at the opera might not want his childe knowing that he breaks down weeping when he hears songs about lost love.
For this purpose, all Kindred within two Embrace “steps” away from each other count as immediate family and are subject to this effect. Therefore, a character receives the bloodtie bonus to affect her sire, her sire’s sire, her childer and her childer’s childer.
The character receives a +2 bonus when she tries to affect these close “relatives” with certain Disciplines. These Disciplines include Auspex, Dominate, Nightmare and Majesty. Others state when such bonuses apply in their write-ups in Chapter 2. Certain bloodline Disciplines may apply as well (and Storytellers should consider this when allowing a player to create a new Discipline; see Appendix I for more details). A character must try to affect a “relative” directly with the Discipline in question. The bonus is not gained by a character for using a Discipline on herself and then doing something to another Kindred. For example, a character does not receive a bonus to hit a relative while using Vigor. Likewise, indirect powers don’t enjoy the bonus. A character employing the Auspex power The Spirit’s Touch does not receive the bonus. That Discipline affects the character herself, and what she does with the capability is incidental. Powers that affect targets automatically without the need for a player to make a dice roll do not gain any bonus. Further, the bloodtie bonus does not apply to any resistance to which a subject is entitled (logically, if the user gained a bonus and the subject gained the same bonus, that bonus would be effectively negated). The bonus is awarded only to the proactive user of a given power.
Example: Prince Maxwell decides he doesn’t want to continue an argument with his childe, Persephone Moore, so he orders her to forget about it — and backs up his command with Dominate. Maxwell’s player would normally roll 12 dice for this effort. Because Persephone is Maxwell’s childe, however, Maxwell’s player rolls 14 dice instead.
The Taste of Family
Kindred can tell how closely they’re related to another vampire by tasting their blood (with all the hazards of addiction that entails). The blood of one clan tastes a little different than the blood of another; a discriminating undead palate can tell the blood of a Kindred “relative” from that of a more distantly related clan member.When a Kindred tastes Vitae, the player can roll Intelligence + Occult. Having active Heightened Senses (Auspex) grants a +2 dice bonus to the roll. One success is enough to tell whether the blood comes from the character’s own clan, or to recognize the blood as coming from his immediate Kindred “family” — that is, in the taster’s own line of sires and childer (see “Blood Ties,” above). Two successes enable the character to recognize the clan (assuming the character has tasted Vitae from several clans). Or two successes tell the character if the subject is within two generations of him in the line (that is, if the subject is a grandsire or grandchilde).
The character can also mystically recognize blood from his mortal relations, if he should happen to drink it without his knowledge, with one success on the Intelligence + Occult roll.
Example: The Nosferatu Gregor tastes the Vitae of a Kindred whom he plans to diablerize. Gregor’s player obtains four successes on the Intelligence + Occult roll to determine if Gregor has any insight into the blood’s origins. With four successes, Gregor determines that the individual he’s about to diablerize is, in fact, his sire’s sire! If Gregor’s player had obtained only one success, Gregor would know only that this Kindred was closely related to him in the sequence of Embrace. If no such connection existed, one success would have confirmed that the other vampire was in fact a Nosferatu.
Blood Sympathy
On some occasions, Kindred can feel the proximity of their Kindred “relatives” (as specified by the blood-ties rules) or know what’s happening to them. This normally happens spontaneously, when a “relative” feels some strong emotion or sensation such as frenzy, a grave wound or the pleasure of Diablerie.On such occasions, the Storyteller can ask a player to roll the character’s Wits + Occult. The number of successes tells how much information the character gains from this flash of sensation. Active Heightened Senses (Auspex) adds two dice to this roll.
Dramatic Failure: Players cannot dramatically fail a roll for blood sympathy.
Failure: Nothing happens.
Success: The character has a strong feeling of what the other Kindred experiences and has a general notion of the direction and distance to his relative.
Exceptional Success: For a moment, the character perceives himself to be the other Kindred. He knows exactly what’s happening and the exact location of the other Kindred.
A character can also try to force this psychic awareness of a relative and so learn the other Kindred’s activities. Doing so costs a point of Willpower, which may not be used to add dice to the Wits + Occult roll. A character can also expend a point of Willpower to try to make a relative know what the character herself feels. The other character’s player rolls Wits + Occult, but the first character has no way of knowing whether the attempt to “transmit” succeeds. The blood sympathy does not seem to extend further than about 50 miles, or beyond a metropolitan area. This 50-mile limit applies to affecting relatives with Disciplines, too. For example, if a character uses a far-flung Theban Sorcery ritual on a blood relation who’s 500 miles away, she loses the bonus.
The Kindred bless and curse this blood sympathy. If a Kindred sends another vampire to Final Death or diablerizes him, his sire, childer or other “relations” might feel it. The chances are small that any of them will know exactly what happened and who did it, but would-be murderers (and diablerists…) must consider the possibility. Kindred also sometimes fret that their relatives might spy on their moments of strong emotion, be they benign, criminal or merely shameful. A proud Prince who holds court at the opera might not want his childe knowing that he breaks down weeping when he hears songs about lost love.
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