Rules and Mechanics

Blood Resonance

Certain diciplines can be enhanced by a kindred should they choose feed themselves with the appropriate type of blood of a sufficient quality. Note that quality is subjective based on the type of blood resonance you are trying to acheive, for example spending a large amount of time seducing and then having sex with prey and feeding on them at the same time has a good chance activating sanguine blood resonance and therefore providing you benefits for the disciplines associated with sanguine blood resonance.

The various intesities of resonance come in temperaments, which can be well-balanced, fleeting, intense, or acute. An acute resonance is self-sustaining, an effect called "Dyscrasia" adopted from Hippocrates:

Resonance Element Jungian Function Humor/Hormone Emotions Affects
No Resonance



Oblivion
Animal



Animalism, Protean
Choleric Fire Feeling Yellow bile, adrenaline Angry, violent, bullying, passionate, envious Celerity, Potence
Melancholic Earth Thinking Black bile, thyroid Sad, scared, intellectual, depressed, grounded Fortitude, Obfuscate
Phlegmatic Water Intuition Phlegm, pituitary Lazy, apathetic, calm, controlling, sentimental Auspex, Dominate
Sanguine Air Sensation Blood, testosterone / estrogen Horny, happy, addicted, active, flighty, enthusiastic Blood sorcery, Presence

All effects last until the vampire has their next drink, or reaches Hunger 5. The storyteller should decide circumstances where characters start with blood resonance however this can be used as an effective role playing tool and so a light hand may achive the best results

Hunger

Sating Hunger:
Source Hunger Sated Time Notes
Multiple small animals (three to four cats, a dozen or more rats) 1 One scene Slakes no Hunger for vampires above Blood Potency 2

Animal Resonance; No Dyscrasia
Medium-sized animal (raccoon, dog, coyote) 1 One turn
Large animal (horse) 2 One scene
Blood bag 1 One turn Slakes no Hunger for vampires above Blood Potency 2

No Resonance or Dyscrasia
Sip from human 1 Three turns Includes licking wound closed
Maximum non-harmful drink from human 2 One scene
Harmful drink from human that risks death unless treated 1-4 One turn per hunger sated Aggravated damage equals Hunger slaked; Human rolls Strength + Stamina against a difficulty equal to Hunger slaked to survive blood loss
Human drained and killed 5 Five turns The only way to reach Hunger 0 (zero)

Regular Dice Rolls

Regular Dice Rolls

Simple Tests

What are simple tests?

Usually day to day actions are free for player for example opening a door doesn't require any special checks as long as its unlocked. However for tasks or actions that are not part of regular life; if you want to do something harder than usual, like scaling a sheer cliff, reading Sumerian, or picking the lock on a door. You can make a simple test. Simple tests go like this:

Example:

Juan's character is canvassing the neighbourhood for information on movement in the area. The Storyteller decides this is a simple Resolve + Investigation test with a Difficulty of 2: straightforward. Juan's character has 3 dots in Resolve and 3 dots in Investigation and so he rolls 6 dice, getting three successes – more than enough for a win. The Storyteller gives Juan the info he sought: a clue he might be able to use.

Regular Dice Rolls

Traits and Dice Pools

The Storyteller tells you which combination of Traits creates your dice pool, the number of ten-sided dice you will roll, for any action. Although most actions use a Skill pool (Attribute + Skill or Attribute + Discipline), a few only use Attributes to build the pool. 

Often an Attribute pool represents a straightforward test of the given Attribute:

Specialties:

Characters may possess greater aptitude or expertise in one particular aspect of a Skill. If a character attempts an action that falls within one or more of their specialties for the skill used, they gain one extra die for their dice pool.

Regular Dice Rolls

Difficulties

Difficulty of the Action Required Success
Routine (striking a stationary target, convincing a loyal friend to help you) 1
Straightforward (seducing someone who’s already in the mood, intimidating a weakling) 2
Moderate (replacing a car’s sound system, walking a tightrope) 3
Challenging (locating the source of a whisper, creating a memorable piece of art)c 4
Hard (convincing a cop that this isn’t your cocaine, rebuilding a wrecked engine block) 5
Very Hard (running across a tightrope while under fire, calming a hostile and violent mob) 6
Nearly Impossible (finding one specific homeless person in Los Angeles in one night, flawlessly reciting a long text in a language you don’t speak) 7+
Automatic Wins:

 If a character’s dice pool is twice the task’s Difficulty, the Storyteller may opt to rule that the character wins automatically without a dice roll. Automatic wins streamline play and reduce distracting rules interludes. Apply them vigorously, especially outside of combat or for tests where character failure is boring: information-gathering tests, conversation-openers, or gambits that open up the scene or let it move forward dramatically.

Automatic wins seldom apply in combat or other stressful situations. A Storyteller willing to speed up opening rounds or to blow through a location they didn’t intend to be challenging, might allow automatic wins against mooks and nameless obstacle humans: renta-cops in the office lobby, not real cops in the streets.

Regular Dice Rolls

Contested Roll's

Storytellers use contests to model direct opposition: e.g., hacking a monitored system, sneaking past a guard searching for you, or seducing an undercover vice cop.

In a contest, the acting character and their opponent each build a dice pool. This process does not have to use the same pool; the Storyteller might tell the sneaking character to use Dexterity + Stealth, but roll Wits + Awareness for the searching guard.

Basic contests go like this:
Examples:
Scenario Aggressor Defender
The aggressor would like to sneak up on the defender Dexterity + Stealth Wits + Awareness
Regular Dice Rolls

Re-Rolling with willpower

Characters may spend 1 point of Willpower to re-roll up to three regular dice on any one Skill or Attribute roll, including a roll involving vampiric Disciplines. Characters may not spend Willpower to re-roll Hunger dice or a tracker roll, such as Willpower or Humanity. A spent point of Willpower counts as having sustained a level of Superficial damage to Willpower (see p. 126) and is marked as such.

Regular Dice Rolls

Working Together

If two or more characters can effectively work together on a task, such as investigating a crime scene or tag-teaming a mark in a confidence game, roll the largest pool among the participants, adding one additional die for each character assisting that has at least one dot in the Skill involved. If no Skill is involved, anyone can assist.

Regular Dice Rolls

Rouse Check

To make a Rouse Check, the player rolls a single die. As always, a result of 6 or higher succeeds. On a success, the vampire’s Hunger remains unchanged. On a failure, the vampire gains 1 more point of Hunger, and thus gains one more Hunger die. Any Hunger gained is added after the desired effect resolves, so it is perfectly fine to make the Rouse Check at the same time or even after any other dice test involved, as long as the Rouse die is clearly distinguishable and won’t be mistaken for part of the pool

Some conditions, such as increased Blood Potency, allow the player to roll two dice on some Rouse Checks and pick the highest. One success (6+) on either die prevents Hunger from increasing. (This is equivalent to re-rolling the Check.) At Hunger 5, the vampire’s body is too starved of blood to provide increased supernatural power. A vampire can never intentionally Rouse the Blood while at Hunger 5. If some outside factor forces a Rouse Check on the vampire, the player must make an immediate hunger frenzy test at Difficulty 4 (see p. 220). As always, failing a Rouse Check at Hunger 5 still activates the effect that caused the check, if any.

Conflicts (Combat) WIP

Conflicts (Combat) WIP

The Conflict Turn

What is a turn?
How do act in conflicts:
Consequences of conflicts:

Spending xp

Trait Trait Notes
Increase an trait (stat) The new level x 5
Increase Skill The new level x 3
Clan Discipline The new level x 5
Other Discipline The new level x 7 You must first gain the dicipline
Caitiff Discipline The new level x 6  
Oblivion Ritual Ritual level x 3
Blood Sorcery Ritual Ritual level x 3
Thin Blood Formula Formula level x 3