Storyteller's Option: The Power of Belief
So how do they do it? How does any Sanctified maintain any semblance of Humanity while following a religion based on refusing to view any mortal in any way except for food? The answer is complicated. The struggle against the Beast is much harder for the Sanctified than nonbelievers. For example, if a Sanctified endangers the Masquerade, his faith demands that he do whatever he can to correct his mistake, even if it means killing dozens of witnesses, which is sure to tax his Humanity to the breaking point. On the other hand, the Catechism effectively makes it a sin for a Sanctified to exhibit wanton cruelty to mortals, who are to be considered food rather than toys. For most Sanctified, the struggle to retain Humanity is the same as it is for any vampire, except that the Sanctified must also try to avoid situations in which his sense of Humanity and his religious views come into conflict. For the most dedicated of Sanctified, however, the intensity of the believer’s faith can actually bolster his sense of morality, allowing him to steel himself to perform inhumane actions without suffering degradation.
Over the course of the chronicle, situations will almost certainly arise in which a character’s Humanity conflicts with his religious faith. At the Storyteller’s discretion, if the Sanctified loses a dot of Humanity on a degeneration roll, the player may actually receive a two-dice bonus to be added to the subsequent Derangement roll. We reiterate: This happens only at the Storyteller’s discretion, and certainly not all the time. It’s completely inappropriate if the Sanctified in question is acting like a wanton monster. It is more appropriate if the degeneration related particularly to the vampiric condition, or as a direct result of the Kindred’s faith. For example, a Sanctified who murders a mortal to keep a secret probably shouldn’t receive any faith-based bonus, but one who killed a vessel in the throes of a feeding passion might.
However, while being a member of The Lancea Sanctum occasionally makes it somewhat easier for a Sanctified to pursue his religious beliefs without his Beast spiraling out of control, such intense beliefs do limit his freedom to act. Additionally, sometimes the Sanctified’s dogmatic adherence to their notions of higher power skew their perceptions of the modern world. Storytellers, consider this downside if you choose to exercise the bonus dice offered by a character’s strength of faith. If a Sanctified who has employed this bonus performs actions that violate the tenets of Humanity in a purely secular context, then he actually suffers a two-dice penalty to his Humanity roll to avoid a derangement in cases where such might apply. For example, if the character above exercised the two-dice bonus to avoid derangement after killing her vessel while feeding, she might suffer a two-dice penalty to avoid a derangement after Humanity loss when she learns that her haste in fleeing the site caused a car accident in which a driver was killed.
Storytellers, take note. This isn’t intended to be a point-counterpoint affair. Don’t feel the need to arbitrarily punish a character just because the bonus previously came into play. The intent here is to create a balanced rule that simulates an extremely focused religious outlook that applies to some aspects of the Requiem at the expense of others.
If you do choose to introduce this option into play, we encourage you to use all of the trapping of the faith it’s designed to represent. A character who employs the two-dice bonus probably prays with increased frequency or intensity to represent that bonus. A character who acquires a derangement in this matter should probably work with the Storyteller to color it in a suitably “religious” manner — perhaps a Delusional Obsession leads the character to believe she’s a Saint, or a character’s manic Depression is tied to his frequency of attending Mass, for example.
Over the course of the chronicle, situations will almost certainly arise in which a character’s Humanity conflicts with his religious faith. At the Storyteller’s discretion, if the Sanctified loses a dot of Humanity on a degeneration roll, the player may actually receive a two-dice bonus to be added to the subsequent Derangement roll. We reiterate: This happens only at the Storyteller’s discretion, and certainly not all the time. It’s completely inappropriate if the Sanctified in question is acting like a wanton monster. It is more appropriate if the degeneration related particularly to the vampiric condition, or as a direct result of the Kindred’s faith. For example, a Sanctified who murders a mortal to keep a secret probably shouldn’t receive any faith-based bonus, but one who killed a vessel in the throes of a feeding passion might.
However, while being a member of The Lancea Sanctum occasionally makes it somewhat easier for a Sanctified to pursue his religious beliefs without his Beast spiraling out of control, such intense beliefs do limit his freedom to act. Additionally, sometimes the Sanctified’s dogmatic adherence to their notions of higher power skew their perceptions of the modern world. Storytellers, consider this downside if you choose to exercise the bonus dice offered by a character’s strength of faith. If a Sanctified who has employed this bonus performs actions that violate the tenets of Humanity in a purely secular context, then he actually suffers a two-dice penalty to his Humanity roll to avoid a derangement in cases where such might apply. For example, if the character above exercised the two-dice bonus to avoid derangement after killing her vessel while feeding, she might suffer a two-dice penalty to avoid a derangement after Humanity loss when she learns that her haste in fleeing the site caused a car accident in which a driver was killed.
Storytellers, take note. This isn’t intended to be a point-counterpoint affair. Don’t feel the need to arbitrarily punish a character just because the bonus previously came into play. The intent here is to create a balanced rule that simulates an extremely focused religious outlook that applies to some aspects of the Requiem at the expense of others.
If you do choose to introduce this option into play, we encourage you to use all of the trapping of the faith it’s designed to represent. A character who employs the two-dice bonus probably prays with increased frequency or intensity to represent that bonus. A character who acquires a derangement in this matter should probably work with the Storyteller to color it in a suitably “religious” manner — perhaps a Delusional Obsession leads the character to believe she’s a Saint, or a character’s manic Depression is tied to his frequency of attending Mass, for example.