Bulimia

severe; follows Fixation

People with this neurosis try to drown their anxiety through activities that comfort them, especially food. Doing so leads to a binge-and-purge cycle. The bulimic stuffs himself to relieve stress, then selfdisgust at his own gluttony drives him to vomit out what he’s eaten. The bulimic soon seeks to feed again, though, and the cycle repeats.
Vampires face a special temptation toward bulimia because feeding is the strongest physical pleasure left to them. A bulimic vampire relieves his fear and guilt by gorging himself on blood, perhaps feeding several times a night and burning the Vitae as fast as he can. The character can augment his traits for frenetic activity or wound himself as a form of punishment, then heal the wounds so that other Kindred won’t see his weakness and self-loathing. At severe levels, the vampire might even will himself to expunge Vitae by vomiting — no small feat and a noteworthy act of will, since vampires don’t store blood in their stomachs.

Symptoms

A bulimic vampire becomes hungry more easily than other Kindred and has a harder time resisting the urge to feed. Whenever the character feeds, the player must succeed at a Resolve + Composure roll or the vampire feeds until full, whether or not he really needs the extra Vitae. Additionally, the character must use that Vitae frequently; the player must spend at least one Vitae per scene for the character until the character rests for the day, even if circumstances wouldn’t otherwise warrant it. A player may, for example, devote Vitae to Strength for a turn in which no Strength roll is necessary, or spend a Vitae to heal a single point of bashing damage even though Vitae normally heals two points of bashing damage. A bulimic character also suffers an automatic -2 penalty to resist hunger frenzies. Forcibly preventing the character from drinking his fill might provoke a rage frenzy (no modifier to difficulty).

Type

Mental

Parent

Fixation