When one thinks about vampires, they seem to only care about the blood. It does make sense- after all, the blood is a very important aspect of the vampiric existence. The Kindred yearn for it, hunger for it, dream about it in their dark sleep. It powers their dark miracles, heals their body and sooth the Beast to rest. The thirst for blood shapes the vampire's personality and society, influencing their decisions and defining their existence. That sweet essence of life which is known as Vitae is what that binds a vampire to her sire, her sire to his clan, and the clan to the Kindred as whole. The blood is life, and life is almost everything to the Kindred.
But you can't get the blood without the Bite.
If the blood is life, the bite is death. It is the act by which the vampire takes the most important thing from another. The Bite could be seen as a "small murder"- that is, unless the vampire actually murders the target. The Bite is also a vector of the vampire's supernatural energy- after all, just like that the blood has occult properties, the Bite can also influence the victim, causing them great pleasure from the Kiss or terrible terror from the Assault. Those bitten by vampires also have chances to rise post mortemly, or return from the grave as revenants to hunt their unaware sire. The traditional Embrace itself includes both of those aspects of the vampire existence- the Bite to give death, and the Blood to give life. It is a part of the circle, part of the greater whole.
So it should not come as surprise that sometimes, the Bite changes people.
You know the stories about how a person bitten by a vampire always rise as a vampire? Well, that's nonsense (usually). However, sometimes a change does happen- some of the vampire's supernatural presence lingers into the victim, marking him with the touch of death. The mechanism behind the phenomenon is not really clear- sometimes, just a single bite is all that it takes. On others, It is a product of a critical mass of bites which accumulate in a favored Blood Doll. More than one Dragon has presented their own theory about the subject, including a full model which calculates the requirements for provoking the phenomenon, but no such model has been successful enough when preformed experimentally. It seems like there are simply too many variables to consider, and the assumptions needed for the models are more or less like assuming that the person is found in zero temperature, spherical and in vacuum.
Until then, there is nothing to allow the vampire to predict when their regular feeding may end up with some extraordinary result- for better, or worse.
After all, when biting people, you should always be careful that they won't bite you back.
The Bitten
The Bitten is a variant Stigmatic template, with the main difference is that instead of being marked by the God Machine's project, the person is marked by the Curse and the Beast. As such, all Bitten has the following traits-
- like Stigmatics, the Bitten gain an Unseen Sense, only aspected toward the Kindred instead of the God Machine. They also can't see the God Machine's gears and their like.
- the Bitten do not gain the Omen Sensitivity merit. Instead, they gain one dot in the Darkening merit for free (see bellow).
- the Bitten suffer from a variant form of glitches known as "bite marks", which represents the Bite which induced upon them the touch of death. They also suffer from a Persistent Swooning or Scarred Condition, related to their experience and the vampire who caused it.
- like Stigmatics, the Bitten may buy and activate Supernatural Merits. That includes Ghoul specific merits. In case the merit's prerequisite calls for a regnant, treat it as the vampire to cause you the Bite mark. All such merits requires the Bitten to be drained from blood at least once per 24 hours, or else she may not activate them. Aesthetically, all Supernatural Merits activated by the Bitten have themes of blood, darkness, shadows or death (Omen Sensitivity, for example, would show a world covered with blood, and psychokinesis would allow to manipulate blood or darkness). Work with the ST to decide the exact details, and if a certain mechanical changes are required.
Darkening (0-00000)
prerequisites: Mortal, being bitten in the past by a vampire at least once.
Darkening is the measure by which the Curse lingers into the the Bitten, making them into a "better prey" for the Kindred to hunt- or to bring their doom upon their head. Each dot in Darkening is considered as a virtual "heal level", once which does not count for the usual count of the Bitten's Health rating- but is counted for the purpose for feeding a vampire. When being bitten, the vampire first drains the virtual health levels before causing any real damage to the Bitten. That ability stacks with the Producer merit. The virtual health levels heal as if they were regular injuries, but only after the Bitten's true health if fully healed.
In an addition, the Darkening grants the Bitten a bit better leverage when dealing with the Kindred. When being targeted by the Kiss or the Assault, they may roll their [Darkening] against the vampire's [Blood Potency] in order to resist the effects of the Bite (they still enjoy it, but do not suffer from a Condition from it). The Bitten also have higher chance of suffering from the Posthumous Embrace, adding a positive modifier equal to the Darkening rating to the Blood Potency roll, and as a negative modifier for Humanity roll made when rolling for a Revenant.
Finally, there is one last power which all Bitten gain as their Curse grows darker- the ability to lure vampires, and bring doom upon their heads. At Darkening of 3 dots, choose a single Lure which corresponds to his "Biter's" Clan (see the Dampyr section at Wicked Dead). At five dots, he also gains the corresponding Doom. At any moment, the Bitten may activate the Lure (and Doom, if they have one) for a Scene by spending a Willpower point (adjust mechanics accordingly to 2e, like replacing Virtue/Vice with Mask/Dirge). The Bitten may decide to activate only the Lure, without the Doom. The progression in stages happens only while the Bitten activating their Lure. Bitten may but Lures for other Clans as 3 dot merits, and upgrade them to Dooms as 5 dots merits.
But you can't get the blood without the Bite.
If the blood is life, the bite is death. It is the act by which the vampire takes the most important thing from another. The Bite could be seen as a "small murder"- that is, unless the vampire actually murders the target. The Bite is also a vector of the vampire's supernatural energy- after all, just like that the blood has occult properties, the Bite can also influence the victim, causing them great pleasure from the Kiss or terrible terror from the Assault. Those bitten by vampires also have chances to rise post mortemly, or return from the grave as revenants to hunt their unaware sire. The traditional Embrace itself includes both of those aspects of the vampire existence- the Bite to give death, and the Blood to give life. It is a part of the circle, part of the greater whole.
So it should not come as surprise that sometimes, the Bite changes people.
You know the stories about how a person bitten by a vampire always rise as a vampire? Well, that's nonsense (usually). However, sometimes a change does happen- some of the vampire's supernatural presence lingers into the victim, marking him with the touch of death. The mechanism behind the phenomenon is not really clear- sometimes, just a single bite is all that it takes. On others, It is a product of a critical mass of bites which accumulate in a favored Blood Doll. More than one Dragon has presented their own theory about the subject, including a full model which calculates the requirements for provoking the phenomenon, but no such model has been successful enough when preformed experimentally. It seems like there are simply too many variables to consider, and the assumptions needed for the models are more or less like assuming that the person is found in zero temperature, spherical and in vacuum.
Until then, there is nothing to allow the vampire to predict when their regular feeding may end up with some extraordinary result- for better, or worse.
After all, when biting people, you should always be careful that they won't bite you back.
The Bitten
The Bitten is a variant Stigmatic template, with the main difference is that instead of being marked by the God Machine's project, the person is marked by the Curse and the Beast. As such, all Bitten has the following traits-
- like Stigmatics, the Bitten gain an Unseen Sense, only aspected toward the Kindred instead of the God Machine. They also can't see the God Machine's gears and their like.
- the Bitten do not gain the Omen Sensitivity merit. Instead, they gain one dot in the Darkening merit for free (see bellow).
- the Bitten suffer from a variant form of glitches known as "bite marks", which represents the Bite which induced upon them the touch of death. They also suffer from a Persistent Swooning or Scarred Condition, related to their experience and the vampire who caused it.
- like Stigmatics, the Bitten may buy and activate Supernatural Merits. That includes Ghoul specific merits. In case the merit's prerequisite calls for a regnant, treat it as the vampire to cause you the Bite mark. All such merits requires the Bitten to be drained from blood at least once per 24 hours, or else she may not activate them. Aesthetically, all Supernatural Merits activated by the Bitten have themes of blood, darkness, shadows or death (Omen Sensitivity, for example, would show a world covered with blood, and psychokinesis would allow to manipulate blood or darkness). Work with the ST to decide the exact details, and if a certain mechanical changes are required.
Darkening (0-00000)
prerequisites: Mortal, being bitten in the past by a vampire at least once.
Darkening is the measure by which the Curse lingers into the the Bitten, making them into a "better prey" for the Kindred to hunt- or to bring their doom upon their head. Each dot in Darkening is considered as a virtual "heal level", once which does not count for the usual count of the Bitten's Health rating- but is counted for the purpose for feeding a vampire. When being bitten, the vampire first drains the virtual health levels before causing any real damage to the Bitten. That ability stacks with the Producer merit. The virtual health levels heal as if they were regular injuries, but only after the Bitten's true health if fully healed.
In an addition, the Darkening grants the Bitten a bit better leverage when dealing with the Kindred. When being targeted by the Kiss or the Assault, they may roll their [Darkening] against the vampire's [Blood Potency] in order to resist the effects of the Bite (they still enjoy it, but do not suffer from a Condition from it). The Bitten also have higher chance of suffering from the Posthumous Embrace, adding a positive modifier equal to the Darkening rating to the Blood Potency roll, and as a negative modifier for Humanity roll made when rolling for a Revenant.
Finally, there is one last power which all Bitten gain as their Curse grows darker- the ability to lure vampires, and bring doom upon their heads. At Darkening of 3 dots, choose a single Lure which corresponds to his "Biter's" Clan (see the Dampyr section at Wicked Dead). At five dots, he also gains the corresponding Doom. At any moment, the Bitten may activate the Lure (and Doom, if they have one) for a Scene by spending a Willpower point (adjust mechanics accordingly to 2e, like replacing Virtue/Vice with Mask/Dirge). The Bitten may decide to activate only the Lure, without the Doom. The progression in stages happens only while the Bitten activating their Lure. Bitten may but Lures for other Clans as 3 dot merits, and upgrade them to Dooms as 5 dots merits.
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