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Sabbat stronghold
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/2293/Mexico-City-by-Night
The Primogen's
Vampire: The Masquerade - Ghouls (Lore)
https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/Ghoul_(VTM)
Ghoul (VTM)
Ghoulis a term used to describe a minion created when avampiregives a bit of vampiricvitaeto amortalwithout draining him or her of blood first, which would instead result in theEmbrace.
Overview
Feed just about any living creature a little vampire blood and it becomes a Ghoul, at least temporarily. In VTM, ghouls are omnipresent servants, easily created, and heavily abused - although networks do exist to assist them in escaping their masters. A ghoul’s emotions run to extremes with the heady drug of vitae in his veins, not to mention the Blood Bond — such a creature often falls prey to great rages and disturbing cravings. The name “ghouls” was not chosen at random.
After a vampire feeds their Vitae to another creature, they become a ghoul, granting a few benefits: The aging process halts, sometimes even reverting slightly; limited access to disciplines and faster healing. However, Ghouls are dependent on the Blood, as they will revert to their true age when denied access, sometimes fatally. It's control is the primary way that ghouls are managed by their domitors, through the Blood Bond — in addition to more traditional techniques like Dominate. The nastiest part of being a ghoul, of course, is that one is a slave to an inhuman monster that treats humans as chesspieces or the occasional light snack.
Various clans have different needs (and consequently treatment) for ghouls. The Ventrue make extensive use of ghouls, many of whom are only marginally aware of this fact. The Tzimisce are also fond of ghouls, although they tend to use them as one might use modeling clay, and such ghouls are almost invariably deformed. Tzimisce ghouls used as bodyguards or shock troops are called szlachta; others are combined into the gigantic, gestalt war ghouls called vozhd. Some unlucky ghouls are even shaped into architecture for Tzimisce havens.[1] Such techniques have been adapted by the modern Sabbat, to create fleshweld ghouls, individuals ghouls able to merge into a creature similar to a vozhd at a moment's notice.[2]
Animals can also be made into ghouls, a tactic particularly favored by the Nosferatu, and other users of Animalism. Animal ghouls sometimes grow larger and mutate, the result being a somewhat horrifying parody of the original creature. In addition, animal ghouls may develop a taste for blood, regardless of their original diets.
Ghoul categories
Ghouls tend to fall into three major categories:
- Ghoul Vassals - who are the stereotypical blood-addicted servant of a vampire;
- Independent Ghouls - who live a dangerous existence in a constant struggle for vitae;
- Revenants - hereditary ghouls whose body produces their own vampiric vitae.
The ghoul vassals are pulverized throughout vampiric society, while Independent Ghouls are quite rare, considered dangerous enemies by Cainites. The Revenants are largely associated with the Tzimisce, but most of them are insane cannibalistic freaks, that have no place in regular mortal society.
Notable Ghouls
In general, ghouls aren't notable. If they were, they'd be dead. However, a small number have acquired a degree of notoriety.
Caiaphas Smith - the legendary monster hunter, is effectively an independent ghoul.
Heather Poe - an ill-fated college fashion major that can be turned into a ghoul by the protagonist of the game VTM: Bloodlines.
Jabal - Caine's personal ghoul in the First City of Enoch, considered equal in status to one of the 3rd generation because of his closeness to Caine;
Ossian - A Fianna Garou and independent ghoul. He is on the Camarilla's Red List.
Prias - the ancient ghoul of Helena, lived on a Methuselah's vitae for millennia, and is more than a match for any ancilla he encounters.
Renfield - who was Dracula's favorite ghoul. Famous through Bram Stoker's 1897 gothic horror novel "Dracula".
Samuel Haight - a Children of Gaia Kinfolk who later became a Garou and then also a Mage.
Seth - the fourth man to walk the earth might have been the first ghoul created by Caine.
Haqim - a ghoul who believes himself to be Haqim, the Assamite Antediluvian
Pierre Gedou - Madame Guil's personal ghoul and servant.
Legacy
The power in the domitor’s blood partly carries over to the ghoul: after a drink, they gain one dot of Potence. Mechanically, this vitae is treated as a single point - for one lunar month, the ghoul has a point of vampiric blood in his system and acquires all the benefits (and drawbacks) of ghouling. Ghouls can hold multiple blood points in their system, but if they try to hold more than a human capacity, it has unpleasant side effects until the vitae replaces their normal blood. As long as a ghoul has vitae in his system, he remains a ghoul: vitae is lost at the rate of one point per month, and when used to power Disciplines. While a ghoul has blood in his system, he will not age. Ghouls can also learn other Disciplines; Celerity, Fortitude, and Potence are always available, while other powers depend on what the domitor knows. Discipline levels above the first are only available to ghouls whose domitor’s Generation is lower than the Eighth. Look to the chart below for explanation:
Domitor Generation Maximum Discipline Level[3][4] 13th-8th 1 7th 2 6th 3 5th 4 4th 5 3rd ?? Ghouls are immune to Delirium and can soak bashing damage, but they can soak lethal damage unlike other mortals. Apart from fueling their Disciplines, they may also use the power of the vampiric blood stored in their bodies to increase Physical Attributes or regenerate a lost limb by spending a variable amount of that blood. They heal damage like a mortal, but can spend their blood to heal damage like a Cainite.
Ghouls are prone to frenzy, although not as strongly as a vampire, but do experience provocation for frenzy more often. In addition, they are addicted to vitae - apart from the deleterious effects of the blood bond, Ghouls are subject to horrible side effects when the supply dries up. Without vitae, a ghoul will rapidly age physically to his actual chronological age, and ghouls over a century will crumble to dust quickly.
Homebrew: Ghouls bonded to a single master for more than a year, develop a minor version of the Clan Weakness. Here are some examples:
Brujah: Brujah Ghouls share a higher difficulty to avoid the ghoul version of frenzy. The difficulty is one worse than usual.
Gangrel: Gangrel ghouls become more feral with frenzy. They take on traits that will be described as more animal like while still human, unlike the full curse of their master.
Lasombra: Lasombra ghouls do not share their masters casting no reflection. What happens to the ghouls is they see their own reflections with far worse eyesight than they see everything else.
Malkavian: Malkavian ghouls take on a lesser form of their master's madness. If they were already insane, this is in addition to their own affliction.
Nosferatu: Nosferatu ghouls may have an appearance no higher than 2. Those that were handsome or beautiful before will suffer worse due to this. Otherwise, their appearance drops by 1 as they take on some kind of malformation that most often is shown as a skin disease.
Toreador: Toreador ghouls share their masters weakness for art and may be overwhelmed as well. They never get lost in it for more than a minute. Toreador normally keep non bound bodyguards when needed to make up for this weakness in their defenses. Their ghouls often act more like Entourages until they can defend their masters.
Tremere: Tremere ghouls are blood bond not only to their masters, but the clan heads as well. Most Tremere can find their lack of complete control over said vassals a threat that the clan can use against them, should they ever turn traitor.
Tzimisce: Tzimisce ghouls must carry a memento of some sort from their home or lose one die from their actions.
Ventrue: Ventrue ghouls refine what they eat to an odd degree. Animals will only eat a certain brand of food. Human ghouls will only eat a certain few meals, with the only variations being what was for breakfast, lunch, and dinner on a single day. Ventrue have found ways to profit from this, by using healthy looking famous ghouls to launch diet trends that the human body can not actually sustain for long. Some of these fads have generated billions in profits but destroyed many people's health in the process. The ghouls themselves aren't affected as their bodies health is more of a side effect of vampire blood than it is actual nutrition.
As a matter of Homebrew, the average kindred blood points left in a ghoul is 5. This is true even with animals that would normally have a smaller blood pool if fed upon.
Also as a matter of Homebrew, no ghoul will have more than 9 kindred blood points within them. This is set as a base rule for ease of use for the storyteller.
https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/Frenzy_(VTM)
Frenzy
Game Mechanics
The following list shows common stimuli that can incite a Frenzy, and the typical difficulty for a character to resist. If the Frenzy has the potential to cause the vampire to commit an atrocity (killing a child or other innocent, for example), the Storyteller can rule that the difficulty is 9 (minus Conscience or Conviction) instead.
Provocation: Difficulty
- Smell of blood (when hungry): 3 (or higher in extreme cases)
- Sight of blood (when hungry): 4 (or higher in extreme cases)
- Being harassed: 4
- Life-threatening situation: 4
- Malicious taunts: 4
- Physical provocation: 6
- Taste of blood (when hungry): 6 (or higher in extreme cases)
- Loved one in danger: 7
- Outright public humiliation: 8
The player may choose to resist Frenzy (with a Self-Control roll) or enter the Frenzy but attempt to guide the character's actions with Instinct rolls. The player may spend a point of Willpower to put the Frenzy on hold for one round. Character in Frenzy are immune to Rötschreck.
Benefits
A vampire in Frenzy gains several temporary benefits from the state. Vampires in Frenzy completely ignore all dice pool penalties inflicted by injury, until the Frenzy ends. Once the Frenzy is finished, the pain comes back and the crippling effects of the wounds take hold again.
All difficulties to Dominate or otherwise mentally control a frenzied character are increased by two, and all difficulties to resist the effects of such mental control are reduced by two. The character never needs Willpower rolls to accomplish a feat, because the rage fueling the vampire’s actions is both a catalyst to heightened state of mind and a barrier against unwanted intrusions. Lastly, characters in Frenzy are immune to the detrimental effects of Rötschreck.
Frenzy as a Clan Flaw
Brujah and Bratovitch Revenants are known for their short tempers and suffer a +2 difficulty to resist entering Frenzy. Gangrel gain a physical feature characteristic of an animal as a sign of their closeness to the Beast.
Other Frenzy Modifiers
If the vampire has consumed the blood of a werewolf, the difficulties of rolls to resist Frenzy (and Rötschreck) are increased by one per blood point of werewolf blood consumed. This effect stays until the blood has been used up.
Rötschreck the frenzied retreat from fire is a separate check and must be determined by the Storyteller. Examples are posted in the next post. These will not cover Fear from Magical Fire or other things beyond the norm.
https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/R%C3%B6tschreck
Rötschreck
Overview
Rötschreck is similar to Frenzy in that it is a compulsion that is difficult to control; characters under Rotschreck will hysterically flee from whatever caused the discomfort.
The difficulty of resisting Rotschreck and its effects varies. In the worst case scenario, a vampire under the spell of this Rötschreck is completely controlled by their inner Beast, instinctively driven to a flight-or-fight mentality and forced to flee blindly from the source of fear while they remove any obstacle or person in their way, regardless of their personal attachments to them. Even when maintaining a degree of control, Kindred will avoid fire and sunlight unless absolutely necessary.
In the Book of Nod, Archangel Michael clearly states, while cursing Caine, that he and his children will fear the flame and it will hurt them deeply, causing unbearable agony and pain; vampires have been cursed not only by weakness to flame but also by fear of it.
System
The following list shows common stimuli that can incite a Rötschreck, and the typical difficulty for a character to resist.
Provocation Difficulty Lighting a cigarette 3 Sight of a torch 5 Bonfire 6 Obscured sunlight 7 Being burned 7 Direct sunlight 8 Trapped in burning building 9 Trivia
- The word "Rötschreck" is a misspelling of the German word "Rotschreck" (which properly uses an unaccented 'o').
- Rot is the german word for "red", while schreck is the german word for "fright" or "horror".
The Primogen's
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodbonds & Diablerie (Lore)
https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/Blood_bond_(VTM)?so=search
Blood bond
Overview
Virtually anyone can be enthralled through it, making the blood bond one of the most powerful vampiric tools. The strength of this link varies based on several factors, but it is incredibly difficult to break and likely will have many lasting effects on the thrall.
Someone becomes involved in a blood bond by drinking the vitae of the same Cainite on several occasions not excessively spaced in time. After the first sip of blood, the thrall begins to develop strong feelings for the regnant, whether love or hate, though they are still free to act as they choose. Those in a one-drink bond may unconsciously seek out the regnant, seemingly accidentally running into them on a frequent basis.
After the second sip, the regnant becomes a very important person to the thrall, who may go out of their way to seek the regent's attention or please them. It becomes difficult for the thrall to do anything that would harm the regnant, and the regnant likewise finds it easier to convince the thrall of things. Though the thrall's craving for the regent's blood increases, they still retain their free-will.
After the third sip, the blood bond is complete. The thrall is now subject to the regnant completely and loves them as much as they are capable of loving anyone. The regnant is the most important person in the thrall's life and takes priority over all else; sufficiently weak-willed individuals will commit any act the regnant asks of them. Furthermore, the regnant may command the thrall with Dominate via voice alone. It may still be possible for the thrall to act against the regnant, but only temporarily and after an extreme effort of will.
The strength of the blood bond is not influenced by the generation of the vampire, but continual drinks do reinforce it. The bond will become weaker over time if the thrall does not drink from the regent's blood and does not see them for a long time. However, due to the very nature of the bond, such avoidance may be extremely difficult for the thrall. The blood bond can be broken by the death of the regnant, however, the effect on the thrall is variable: some feel relieved or even joyful; others experience pain and desolation; others yet fear their independence and look for a new bond. A few may even kill themselves.
All childer begin at least one step bound to their sire, and it's normal for those that were ghouls to already be fully bound or for a fledgling vampire to be fully bound to their sire shortly after the Embrace. This was particularly common among the High Clans in the Dark Ages , when oaths of fealty to a liege were reinforced by some level of the blood bond.
Prior to the Anarch Revolt the blood bond was seen as being inviolable, so childer killing and even diablerizing their sires became a great surprise. In addition, some vampires began using the Vaulderie, which broke blood bonds and made members of the resulting "pack" more loyal to each other by creating a weaker blood bond-like bond called vinculum.
The Tremere have their own variation of this custom where all members of the clan are partially bound to their elders and the Tremere Inner Council of Seven.
Version Differences
In Dark Ages: Vampire the blood bond is called the blood oath, and instead of filling the thrall with feelings of love and adoration they filled with a sense of loyalty and obligation for their liege. Thus, its entirely reasonable for the thrall to strongly disagree with or even hate their liege, but they nevertheless feel bound to protect them and their interests.
A deeper look at retainer...
https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/Retainer
Retainer
A Retainer is a vampire's loyal servant or bodyguard. They are often ghouls, both to ensure their loyalty and to grant them the physical enhancements they need to stand toe-to-toe with the threats their master may face. Whether through vitae, Dominate or a generous salary, a retainer is bound to their master (but does not necessarily obey blindly). Retainers may protect their masters during the day or during torpor, manage household or business affairs, or otherwise act in their master's stead.
In the Storyteller System, Retainer is a Background from one to five dots. Each dot represents a single retainer loyal to the character.
It is possible for a character or NPC to pool the dots of this background for a more powerful ghoul, rather than multiple ghouls. It could mean a blood bonded supernatural of another kind that is also alive, such as a werewolf (most likely Black Spiral Dancer), Fomori, Mage, or Fae (most likely Unseelie). The relative cost would be what the possible ranking of the supernatural creature in question was. It is nearly impossible for this to happen with any supernatural that is more than one rank above said kindred if so.
This wouldn't be like acquired magic items or property after creation. This would be an active cost background, reflecting the active cost of handling such a dangerous ghoul and attempting to keep its true nature secret.
