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Allies

The Allies background represents mortals who support and help you. These mortals may be family, friends, or even a loyal corporation or criminal organization. Allies may represent friends who work at the morgue, write for a prominent blog, or circulate in the high society of local celebrities. With Allies, you can make a few calls, cut a few deals, and get trustworthy assistance in a wide range of activities. Remember that Allies are mortal, and are not aware of the supernatural world of vampires. They genuinely believe you are a friend, and they may ask you for a favor in the future. If your Allies ask for a favor in return, and you are unable to assist them, you may lose dots in the Allies background until you "make good" on the deal. System: For each dot of Allies that you purchase, you must define one group of people with whom your character is allied. When you have your character call in favors, you must tell the Storyteller which group (or groups) she is contacting and explain how that group is capable of assisting your character with the specific problem. These Allies can perform reasonable tasks and may be more capable if the task is something appropriate to their profession. If the situation requires character sheets for your Allies, the Storyteller generates up to three Stock NPCs, one of level 3 and two at level 1. All of these NPCs are mortal, and none have any supernatural abilities. Note that Allies are capable of fighting, but they are not designed to be a character's personal army. If a character's Allies are killed, the character loses access to the Allies background for the next two games or one month (whichever is longer). You may use this background once per game for each dot of Allies the character possesses.

Alternate Identity

You maintain an Alternate Identity, complete with papers, birth certificates, or any other necessary documentation. This identity is normally applicable to the mortal populace, although it may be used to infiltrate supernatural groups, such as other clans, if you possess 4 or more dots of the background. You may buy this background multiple times, with each instance representing an entirely separate cover identity. Lineage merits may hinder any ability to successfully infiltrate other clans or supernatural groups, at the Storyteller's discretion. System: In order to determine if a character is using an Alternate Identity, you may choose to spend a number of downtime actions investigating a character you suspect of having an Alternate Identity, researching your target's bona fides. After you have spent your chosen number of actions, make a challenge using your Mental attribute + Investigation skill versus the target's Mental attribute + Subterfuge skill. If you succeed in this challenge, and you have spent a number of downtime actions equal to or greater than your target's dots of that Alternate Identity, you discover the target character's true identity. If you fail the test, if you have not spent a number of downtime actions that equal or exceed your target's dots of Alternate Identity, or if your target is not using an Alternate Identity, the identity appears legitimate. Even the strongest Alternate Identity will fail if you can't keep a secret, display proper etiquette for the identity, or if you are directly observed breaking your cover. While your cover story and paperwork can withstand inspection, some supernatural powers that directly examine you may lead to your alternate persona becoming compromised, at the Storyteller's discretion.

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Your identity is very shallow. You have a driver's license or other minor documentation, and it can survive a perfunctory internet search.

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You have a well-grounded identity that could withstand the scrutiny of a minor criminal investigation. This might include birth certificates and social security numbers.

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Your identity is very well established and stands up to all but the toughest scrutiny. This persona has a long and believable history, including friends, family, and character witnesses.

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Your identity is designed to infiltrate another clan or supernatural organization. At this level you've established a rudimentary identity as a new (or fairly new) member of the chosen organization.

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Your identity is a respected member of society; it holds powerful office in the mortal world or among your chosen supernatural group. You have a long and in-depth history, and your cover is solid.

Contacts

You have established close personal relationships with people all over the city. When you start making phone calls and asking for gossip or inside tips, the amount of information you can dig up is impressive. You know who to bribe, manipulate, or coerce into offering information, and the favorites list on your cellphone looks like a who's who of the city's most important people. Your Contacts help you keep an ear out for rumors and gather information. When you call on your Contacts, the character makes a few phone calls, checks in on her snitches, and listens to the local gossipmongers. The character very quickly gets rumors and information appropriate to the network she's established with this background. System: For each dot of Contacts that you purchase, you must define one individual with whom your character has a close relationship. This individual is considered to be very well connected in their field or area of expertise. When you use your Contacts, you may ask the Storyteller for one piece of information about an ongoing plot, or you may ask for information about one influence transaction that occurred within the city in the last month. If used to investigate plot, these Contacts will provide information that the Storyteller considers appropriate. If the Contacts are used to investigate influences, the character will gain a full description of the influence result and information that may be used to discover who controls that influence (if anyone). You may use this background once for each dot of Contacts the character possesses, per session.

Fame

Mortals are often chosen for the Embrace from the ranks of the elite. As a result, some vampires can claim a particular distinction from their breathing days: whether a prominent career in music or art, or a birthright within a royal or exceptionally wealthy family. Fame fades over the years, and is therefore normally the province of younger vampires. A player portraying an older vampire with this background must justify to the Storyteller the reasons that her character is still well known and recognizable to mortal society. When purchasing Fame, decide why your character is famous. The number of dots purchased in this background determines the range of the character's mortal acclaim. When you interact with mortals who recognize your character's Fame, you may add +5 to any non-supernatural Social challenges. Additionally, NPCs will often give you favors, assist you without question, and grant you the benefit of the doubt. Note that when you call on your Fame to help you, the circumstances will quickly become common knowledge among your sphere of acclaim. High levels of Fame can be disruptive to a chronicle. Storytellers should regulate the Fame background as they feel appropriate for their setting.

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Local scene

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City

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State

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Adjoining states/region

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Entire country

Generation

According to some clans' legends, the biblical figure known as Caine was cursed by God and became the first vampire. Caine then Embraced a second generation of vampires, who in turn Embraced a third, and so on. Because of this legend, vampires (even those who do not believe the myth) measure the strength of their blood in generations, counting how many sires have passed between them and the mythical apex, whomever it might be. Generation is the measure of a vampire's capability, based on the strength of her blood. Generation can only be purchased at character creation and is static thereafter for the course of the game (except in the case of diablerie). Vampiric blood, also known as vitae, is a significant factor in a vampire's potency. Having several dots in Generation means your vampire has stronger, purer blood, which can support elder powers. Thus, vampires of the 8th generation and above are collectively called "elders." Buying fewer dots of Generation means the vampire's blood is diluted, thinner and less pure, but therefore also less static. The blood of a character with fewer ranks in Generation is flexible enough to support techniques: powers created by mixing two or more disciplines together into a single effect. To play a vampire, you must purchase 1 dot of Generation. You may purchase more dots during character creation, but you cannot purchase them after the character enters play. Players should note that these dots are not additive — if you buy 2 dots, you don't get the bonuses of both: only those of the highest dot purchased. Each dot of Generation gives a character one bonus attribute point. Players can use these points to increase their character's attribute maximums. Each bonus point increases a single attribute category maximum by 1; a character must still purchase the attribute with XP as normal.

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Neonate (13th–11th generation). Blood pool 10, 1 Blood/round. May purchase techniques at standard cost. Skills and backgrounds at reduced cost (new level x1).

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Ancilla (10th–9th generation). Blood pool 12, 2 Blood/round. May purchase techniques at standard cost.

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Pretender Elder (8th generation). Blood pool 15, 3 Blood/round. May purchase techniques at increased cost (20 XP each). May purchase one elder power.

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Master Elder (7th generation). Blood pool 20, 4 Blood/round. May purchase any number of elder powers. Cannot purchase techniques.

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Luminary Elder (6th generation). Blood pool 30, 5 Blood/round. May purchase any number of elder powers and 6th level of all skills. Cannot purchase techniques. Increased out-of-clan discipline costs (new level x5).

Haven

Every vampire must have a safe place she can retreat to during the day, commonly described as a haven. A vampiric haven can be anyplace your character may reasonably survive: an expensive hotel suite, a mansion, a trailer park, a hidden tunnel in the sewer system, etc. System: Every time you purchase a dot in the Haven merit choose one of the following advantages. You cannot select the same advantage more than once for a single Haven location. Guards: Guardians regularly patrol your Haven; anyone who tries to infiltrate must contend with 5 levels of Retainers who guard your Haven. Library: Before making a Research or Lore test, you can spend one hour looking things up in your library to receive a +3 bonus to your pool. Location: Your Haven is located in a prestigious neighborhood; anyone who wishes to use downtime actions to negatively affect you must spend twice as many as long as you regularly stay in your Haven. Luxury: You receive a +3 bonus to Social tests versus mortals when they are in your Haven. Security: Challenges to break into your Haven or bypass detection suffer a −3 penalty; you always receive at least one turn of warning. Size: Your Haven is enormous with dozens of rooms; you can comfortably house up to 10 additional characters. Staff: Your Haven includes several servants who see to the needs of yourself and your guests. Occult: Your Haven contains wards that prevent supernatural Stock NPCs from entering without being invited; requires the Occult skill.

Herd

You have gathered a group of mortals from whom you feed without fear of reprisals or risking the notice of mortal authorities. A vampire with the Herd background doesn't have to go far to hunt; the Herd offers a safe and easy way to gain blood. You must define your Herd, whether they are kinky club-goers captivated by a vampire's charisma, or a fanatically religious cult that views you as some kind of priestess or incarnate divinity. A Herd could be a group of enslaved prisoners, a medical pass that gives you access to fresh blood supplies, or a personal zoo of animals. System: Characters with the Herd background do not have to spend a downtime action feeding each month. If plot, influence actions, or other circumstances require vampires to spend more than 1 downtime action feeding, you reduce the number of downtime actions required by a number equal to your dots in Herd. If you have more dots in Herd than you must expend for downtime actions to feed, you may allow other individuals to feed on your Herd, thus using the dots to supplement their downtime actions in the same manner. Additionally, at any point you may spend five minutes out-of-game feeding rather than the standard 15 minutes. If you do, you will gain a number of Blood points equal to your Herd rating. You cannot allow other characters access to this advantage.

Influences: Elite

The Influence background is a mechanical means to express the series of social connections, business transactions, and personal favors that make up your character's influence over the mortal world. You may purchase up to 5 dots of either influence category. The Elite: You have influence over the upper crust, those who are wealthy, hold legitimate power, own corporations, or control noteworthy institutions. These individuals live in a world of wealth and affluence.

Influences: Underworld

The Influence background is a mechanical means to express the series of social connections, business transactions, and personal favors that make up your character's influence over the mortal world. You may purchase up to 5 dots of either influence category. The Underworld: You have influence over those who work outside of the law, whether it is the working classes looking the other way, or those who live on the street ruling gangs and drug cartels, running networks of thieves, or controlling intricate cultural bureaucracy. These individuals live in a world of rumors, whispers, and lies.

Resources

There are many ways to acquire goods, services, property, and luxuries in the World of Darkness, but ready access to money is one of the oldest and most reliable. Vampires often maintain some kind of cash flow, though they must do so either through mortal proxies, alternate identities, or other subterfuges, and even then they must be wary of attracting the wrong kind of attention. The Resources background measures your character's purchasing power, available credit, accumulated assets, and liquid cash reserves. Resources may be actual cash, but as this background's rating increases, it is more likely that the character has significant investments in stocks and bonds, real estate, or hedge funds than piles of cash sitting around. A character with no dots in the Resources background is impoverished. She has enough clothing and supplies to survive, and she may live in a cheap motel or a small apartment. Characters without Resources have little or no liquid cash and cannot afford luxury items. An individual with the Resources background may overtax her resources, allowing her to spend up to twice the listed amount of money in a single month. When a character overtaxes her resources, her Resource background is reduced by two levels (minimum zero) for the next six games or three months (whichever is longer). The character may cut this recovery time in half by spending 3 downtime actions taking a personal interest in the recovery of her financial investments.

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Sufficient. You can maintain a typical working-class residence. You can afford an economical car, pay your bills on time, and purchase simple luxuries. Up to $1,000 in liquid cash per month.

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Moderate. You can support an upper-middle-class lifestyle with the occasional lavish gift or conspicuous indulgences. You can employ a servant or personal assistant. Up to $2,500 in liquid cash per month.

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Comfortable. You are a prominent and established member of your community with land investments, a large luxurious home, and at least one second home. Up to $20,000 in liquid cash per month.

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Wealthy. You rarely touch cash, as most of your assets exist in tangible forms like gold, diamonds, and gems, or in massive credit reserves. Up to $100,000 in liquid cash per month.

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Extremely Wealthy. You have vast and widely distributed assets, perhaps tied to the fates of nations. Corporations and governments sometimes come to you to buy into stocks or bond programs. Up to $250,000 in liquid cash per month.

Retainers

Whether out of personal gratitude, love, the blood bond, or some other means, you have the fellowship of a mortal who is intensely trustworthy and loyal to you. Unlike the Allies background, your Retainers are always available when you need them. They can be trusted to oversee your personal effects, defend your property, and further your goals. A Retainer does not have the specialized knowledge of a Contact, nor the broad capacity to perform favors like Allies do, but she is more loyal and resilient than either of the other two. A Retainer will fight for the vampire, if necessary, defending her when she is sleeping or carrying out her will when the vampire cannot do something for herself. For a vampire, a Retainer is usually a ghoul, controlled via the blood bond; even if the Retainer is free-willed, she will put the vampire's needs and survival ahead of her own. System: Use the rules for Stock NPCs to build Retainers. They can take any action that an NPC can take, but the Storyteller should remember that Retainers are not perfect. You may purchase the Retainer background multiple times, representing multiple Retainers, but you must purchase dots separately for each Retainer. No Retainer can have more than 5 dots. If your Retainer is released or killed, you lose access to that background for one game or two weeks (whichever is longer) for every dot you purchased for that specific Retainer. Your Retainer's test pool for most actions will be equal to her Retainer rating x2. A Retainer has a number of specialties equal to the Retainer's overall rating. There are two types of specialties: skill specialties (+5 to test pool for that skill) and discipline specialties (access to one power per dot of the Retainer in an in-clan discipline of the domitor). Retainers do not have Willpower and cannot retest failed challenges unless they can overbid. Ghoul Retainers have 5 potent Blood points that may be spent on vampiric powers and 5 mortal Blood points, which cannot be spent. Retainers have one effective health level per rating of the background.

Rituals (Sabbat only)

This background is available only to Initiated members of the Sabbat. The first dot teaches four Ritae: the Creation Rites, the Vaulderie, the Monomacy, plus one ritae of your choosing. Each additional dot lets you learn two more Auctoritas, Ignoblis, or Faction Ritae. This background is required to become a pack Priest. Faction Ritae are lost (without refund) if the character abandons that faction.