New Vampire Systems

New Bloodlines

See also all bloodlines: Bloodlines^(GM)

Sangiovanni

Category: Sangiovanni^(GM)

Zapved'ma

Category: Zapved'ma^(GM)

The zapved'ma is a bloodline from West Tenevyye. They are native to Technogorod and are a communist revolutionary bloodline.

(See Bruja in Vampire the Requiem, p. 235 for details.)

New Merits

See: Merits^(GM)

New Rituals

See: Crúac^(GM), Theban Sorcery^(GM)

New Diciplines

Cattevera

Cattiveria is an Italian word meaning, quite simply, “wickedness.” Its development took generations of blood and sacrifice, such that it lives up to its name in both practice and spirit. Cattiveria, also called necromancy in some circles, is nothing less than the practice of manipulating the tainted essence of death toward such ends as raising seeping cadavers and enslaving specters and ghosts. When Lodovico became a vampire, he found himself robbed of the sorcery that had allowed him to command corpses and spirits when he was alive. Infuriated by what seemed to be a calculated punishment, the fledgling Kindred threw himself once again into studying the texts and stories he had inherited from his mother, striving in a haze of madness to discover what manner of block had been imposed on his talents. He traveled to Florence, hearing of a gathering there of others of his kind, and there he encountered the Lancea Sanctum, at one of whose midnight masses Lodovico was at last stricken with the revelation he had sought. Lodovico’s epiphany related to the nature of the very force that traps a vampire in his undying state. Much as a vampire is able to impart power to a ghoul through his Blood, so, too, can that animating force be shared with a corpse, granting it a jerky, unwholesome animation. Its kinship with a substance spiritualists in a later age would call ‘Ectoplasm’ likewise makes it particularly useful for drawing ghostly manifestations into the world. In practice, Cattiveria is almost more of a scholarly pursuit than an occult discipline, its practitioners more like engineers than occultists, even though its workings universally demand the trappings of black magic — if only to cement in the Necromancer’s mind the grim reality of what he has set out to do. Almost no application of this discipline can be enacted on the fly, instead typically requiring candles to be lit and blood to be shed in addition to whatever bizarre trappings please the Necromancer’s sense of drama.

● Animate the Dead

The Sangiovanni learns to awaken the dead. This is the first step and the necessary principle to further master the art of Cattiveria. The signature power of the San-Giovanni is their mastery of the dead. This power imparts weak animation to a corpse, whole or otherwise. The Shuffling Porter retains none of its body’s former intelligence. It is a simple automaton, capable only of performing unchallenging tasks as directed by its master. This power can be used on a single limb, if desired, but must be used once for each separate piece being animated. To activate this power, the vampire barks a short phrase in an obscene, guttural cant, commanding the corpse to rise. The power of the vampire’s Blood draws energies of spirit into the corpse, mobilizing it. Auspex-users may catch a flicker, similar to static, of a black, oily mist — coalescing around a cold corpse before the body moans and shudders, clambering to its feet to do the Necromancer’s bidding. The servants thus created are cold, with grayish skin and all the marks of death still upon them, shambling about stupidly and responding only to the simplest commands. These animated corpses rot at an accelerated rate and collapses in a matter of hours.

Cost: 1 Vitae per corpse

Dice Pool: Intelligence + Occult + Cattiveria

Action: Instant Roll

Dramatic Failure: A horrible backlash occurs. Not only does the corpse fail to rise, but the Necromancer takes a level of aggravated damage as the mysterious force that animates his own body flickers in brief failure.

Failure: Nothing happens. The corpse remains a corpse.

Success: The corpse rises as directed. The Shuffling Porter is a mindless creature, responding only to the simple commands of its master. It cannot be mentally or socially manipulated. Shuffling Porters have an effective rating of 1 in all Physical Attributes and 0 in all Social and Mental Attributes, and they have no Abilities. Their Defense is 0, and their Speed is 2. Their initial Health rating is equal to the number of successes achieved on the activation roll, and they take one level of lethal damage every hour as they rot. When the lethal damage they take equals their Health rating, they collapse into a mass of rotten flesh and cannot be animated again. Until collapsing, the animated corpse suffers no wound penalties. A Shuffling Porter can be under effect of one Condition from Sculpt the Dead Mind and at most two from Graft the Undead Form.

Exceptional Success: Shuffling Porters created with an exceptional success gain three extra Health levels upon activation.

 

●● Sculpt the Dead Mind

The Vampire can unshackle some of the limits of the mindless-undead creatures. To some extent, even to vampires. This power is often used to strengthen a Shambling Porter it can give one of the following conditions:

Cost: 1 Vitae

Dice Pool: Intelligence + Medecine + Cattivera (– Resolve of the creature if used against an undead not under your control, touch must be achieved previously. If another Necromancer is in control of the mindless undead the resistence is Resolve + Bloodpotency of the Necromancer)

Action: Instant

The Vampire can unshackle some of the limits of the mindless-undead creatures by anointing blood. This power is often used to strengthen a Shambling Porter but is not limited to them it can give one of the following conditions:

●●● Sculpt the Dead Mind

The vampire delves deep into the art of Cattiveria. She now has a deeper understanding of corpse crafting and is able to strengthen her creations by physically altering them. Learning not only to invoke a change in the mind of the creature but in it’s body. With time and effort, and often with nail and thread and the power of vitae the Necromancer can modify and alter corpses of mindless undeads physically and permanently. Using the power is always a extended action, as it require manually working and grafting the undead-flesh using tools and vitae. This can at the storyteller’s discretion take everything from days to weeks.

Cost: 1 Vitae

Dice Pool: Intelligence + Crafts + Cattiveria (– Resolve + Blood Potency, if used against an unwilling target, touch must be achieved previously)

Action: Target successes 10-20

Dramatic Failure: A horrible backlash occurs. Not only does the Graft fail, but the Necromancer takes a level of aggravated damage as the mysterious force that he attempts to tame to his will is turned loose.

Failure: The vampire fails to achieve the sculpt.

Success: One condition can be given to the creature.

Exceptional Success: If the success is exceptional, two conditions can be granted.

●●●● Sculpt the Dead Mind

Advanced understanding of the art of Cattiveria allows a vampire to learn how to imbue his animated servants with a measure of his own power and predatory instinct. With a symbolic kiss, he pushes a point of his Vitae into the corpse, awakening it and further empowering it. Before this power can be used, the target corpse must be animated as a Shuffling Porter, above.

Cost: 1 Vitae per corpse

Dice Pool: Intelligence + Occult + Cattiveria

Action: Instant Roll Results Dramatic Failure: The Vitae is wasted and the corpse is paralyzed by the botched attempt, completely unable to move or act for the remainder of its existence.

Failure: The awakening of the corpse fails. It may continue operation as a normal Shuffling Porter.

Success: The animated corpse is empowered and becomes more capable and more dangerous than a normal Shuffling Porter. The corpse’s Strength and Stamina rise to 4 each (adding 3 to its Maximum Health rating as well), and its Intelligence and Wits rise to 1 each. The corpse gains one dot of the Brawl Ability, with a specialty in Grappling. The corpse can comprehend more complicated commands, and will be imbued with the predatory nature of its master, who it will guard with fierce loyalty. Shuffling Porters gifted with the Predator’s Bequest stop taking damage from accelerated rot, and can only be destroyed by violent means. They do not heal damage naturally, requiring the application of Stay the Rot condition from Graft the Undead Form.

Exceptional Success: In addition to the attributes gained above, the Shuffling Porter inherits a second dot of Brawl and one dot of any other Ability the vampire possesses, as chosen by the vampire.

New Systems

See: New Shadow Systems^(GM)

Blood, hunting and feeding

In Shadow Chronicles the city is divided into districts, blocks and streets. Each district has a maximum number of blood points based on the population density, among many other factors. The blood pool of each district is the maximum blood point that a player and non-player character may drink from its mortal population during one night without consequences.

Note on murder:
If a vampire kills a mortal without feeding in a district this will in turn result in -1 blood pool point per murder.
If you kill the victim and feed from him the murder is considered 1 blood point instead of several.

When hunting the penalties and are situational. Hunting by seducing victims in a suspicious dark alley is would be harder than actually just physically jumping a individual for instance. (Read more about feeding in Vampire: The Requiem p.95)

When drinking blood from a herd, retainer or other merits don't effects the blood supply and uses the rules apply for the said system as normal. Open Elysiums have there own blood pools and as merits don't effect the district pool.

Shadow and Feeding ground merit

The hunting ground it self is tied to a specific location and have only effect on your roll when conduct a hunt in your area were the ground is tied to.

Expanded Breaking Point List

This is a list of extended and some braking points of note for quickly obtain them.

Humanity 10 (Five Dice)

Humanity 9 (Five Dice)

Humanity 8 (Four Dice)

Humanity 7 (Four Dice)

Humanity 6 (Three Dice)

Humanity 5 (Three Dice)

• Causing indirect or direct harm to one’s regnant when having blood bound stage one

Humanity 4 (Two Dice)

• Experimenting or preforming live vivisections on mortal out of curiosity

Humanity 3 (Two Dice)

• Causing indirect or direct harm to one’s regnant when having blood bound stage two

Humanity 2 (One Die)

• Have shackled slave for pleauere (Blood or Fun)

Humanity 1 (Zero Die)

• Causing indirect or direct harm to one’s regnant when having blood bound stage three
• Create a larvae
• Diablerie. It can’t be overcome with a bane.

Domains, Barronies and Vassals Explained

In Shadow Chronicle the are several different kinds of domains and how they are owned and transferred.

Domains

In the in game lore laws there are Titular and De jure Domains. A Titular domain can be given by a Regent, Barron or Prince to anyone. The titular domain, according to the in game lore, is not inherited but is destroyed on the kindreds death. A titular domain can also be revoked by the prince Regent. The Regent of a Titular domain can make up laws and rule the domain as she feels fit.

A De jure Domain is similar to a title domain but is inherited by the Regients Child.

A Domain can have vassals, a vassal can rule her territory the same as a domain regent.

Barronies

A barony is a court within a city ruled by, typically, a Barron and is self governing "domain". Not directly under the vassalage of a prince's domain. A barony functions similar to a normal domain but is sanctioned or mutually agreed upon territory not under the direct jurisdiction of the city prince.

A barony can have domains and vassals and functions the same as described above.