Blood and Feeding

The need for blood is the most essential aspect of a vampire’s existence. Almost everything else they can survive without — food, water, air, the company of their own kind; when the last of a vampire’s humanity is gone, what remains of them is the hunger for blood. With it, they wield superhuman strength, speed, and durability, irresistable powers of persuasiveness, and other abilities that are almost godlike when fully mastered; without it they are rapidly reduced to frenzy, madness, and eventually the dreamless centuries-long sleep of torpor. It’s hardly surprising, then, that the quest for blood should be so central to their nightly activities.

As a roleplaying game, TowersMUX faces something of a quandry when it comes to feeding. On the one hand, how a vampire searches for blood and makes sure their undead existence remains a secret is one, if not the, most important aspects of their character. Roleplaying that search, how the vampire handles success and failure, and what they’re willing and unwilling to do for blood are great opportunities to explore a character, and we strongly encourage players to explore them. At the same time … hunting is also often (not always, but often) something that it makes IC sense for characters to do on their own. Particularly for characters who have specific feeding requirements — and may not want others to be aware of what those requirements are — but also for others, who might wish to conceal the extent of their Herds or the Disciplines they use to make feeding easier, or who just consider it a personal and private thing. 

In an effort to avoid having feeding become a clock-punching type of exercise, therefore, we’ve opted for some basic rules to handle in-game hunting.

• The 1 blood cost for rising every night is waived; it is assumed that all vampires are spending part of the night recovering the blood they spent in order to awaken. (If your character is operating under circumstances that would make this impossible, then you should spend the blood point for awakening for as long as that’s the case.)
• If you need to recover blood, follow the rules in the V20 Core Rulebook, p.259-260: select an appropriate Attribute + Ability combination, roll versus the appropriate difficulty, and recover one die (d10) worth of blood using the +gain command if you succeed.
  • The Attribute + Ability combination should be one for which there is a reasonable and non-convoluted explanation of how it will help you hunt for prey. We aren’t going to second-guess you on this, unless it comes up during a scene — but please operate by the spirit of this rule rather than the letter.
  • Modifiers to this roll (from Herd, Domain, etc.) apply as normal.
  • If you fail, you can try again the next real-life day. This is more restrictive than the book rule, but we’re being more permissive otherwise, so hopefully it will balance out.
  • On a botch, something goes wrong. We encourage you to play this out with someone who’s willing to ST for the scene (whether staff or another player), but, again, we won’t call you out for it unless it comes up during the course of another scene. On the other hand, a track record of playing them out will weigh in your favor with staff when it comes to approving XP spends with higher requirements!
  • London is a city where rich and poor exist in very close proximity to each other. Even the wealthiest boroughs, like Kensington or Westminster, typically have high-crime areas within easy walking distance. At the same time, automated surveillance is everywhere, and the city has very few areas that are ignored by the police entirely. Unless your character has no choice (due to circumstances) but to hunt somewhere like “outside the gates of Buckingham Palace”, you should assume that while anywhere in central London, your hunt takes place in an area where the hunting difficulty is 5-6 (low-income/Bohemian, business district, or warehouse district). Storytellers may impose higher or lower difficulties as they find appropriate, bearing in mind that difficulty 4 areas are very rare. 
  • In outer London (currently, the only on-grid borough considered ‘outer London’ is Hillingdon; more will be added over time), the typical hunting difficulty is 6-7, rather than 5-6; this reflects the more suburban and lower-density landscape there.
  • When beyond London’s boundaries entirely, players and Storytellers should use their good judgment. It’s much easier to find a good meal in Liverpool than it is out on the moors.

Havens, Base of Operations, and Domains

Given their vulnerability to sunlight and near-complete helplessness during the day, it’s not surprising that vampires are deeply concerned with the safety and security of their places of rest. Different games handle this in different ways, and require different stat purchases; for this reason, we’ve opted to briefly explain our approach to the concepts listed above — concepts that, especially in the Vampire sphere, are related, but not identical.

• Every vampire is assumed to have an established Haven in line with their Resources rating. This is a place that is secure from daylight and from casual intrusion in the same way that a mortal’s home would be — depending on how high someone’s Resources might be, this could be a boarded-up room in an abandoned building, or a flat with locked doors and windows and carefully-installed blackout curtains, or the basement of a townhouse that’s protected with alarms and located in a neighborhood with decent police response. This is part of your Resources, and you do not need to buy anything else to have one.
• Your Haven does not necessarily equate to all the property you own. In the last example above, the vampire may own the whole townhouse, but only the secure basement area is their Haven. The remainder of the townhouse will still have appropriate security measures. As long as the amount of property is in keeping with their Resources, this has no additional cost.
• A vampire’s Haven is his castle, metaphorically speaking. The Camarilla have the expression “Every Kindred is a Prince in their own Haven,” which more or less summarizes their attitude toward the concept. Where a grant of Domain comes into conflict with a vampire’s Haven, the latter wins.
• Vampires who want to have exceptional security or secrecy surrounding their Haven (or their property in general) may choose to purchase Base of Operations to do so. In this case, the Base of Operations ratings govern a specified high-security part of the character’s home — a panic room (low Size, low Luxury, high Security), an underground vault (which might have a wide range of ratings in all three areas), or a just a room with particularly strong locks (low Size, moderate Luxury, low Security).
• Buying Base of Operations can provide an area that exceeds the character’s Resources in terms of Luxury, Size, and/or Security, although some explanation will be required for how they’ve managed it. Whatever part of the character’s IC home is not covered by the Base of Operations still has the normal level of security justified by their Resources.
• Some vampires have been granted Domain — IC authority over the feeding rights to a particular space, extended by the Prince. Having Domain is a public expression of confidence by the Prince and the Primogen — characters who have it are generally those who are strong supporters of the Camarilla, who are expending a significant quantity of boons to “purchase” it, or who have some other compelling argument for why they should be trusted with this authority.
• A Domain is, with some exceptions, generally a public or semi-public space that both mortals and other Kindred are able to access (not necessarily easily). A Domain does not necessarily require that the character be the IC owner of the area in question — Anne is perfectly willing to grant Domain over a club or bar with a mortal owner or operator who handles the everyday business of the place. It can be a place owned by the character IC, but this is not mandatory. The converse is also true: being the owner of a property does not automatically make it a Domain.
• As mentioned above, where Domain comes into conflict with Haven, the latter wins. Even if Domain merely conflicts with a vampire owning (e.g., a nightclub), the latter generally wins, unless there is some compelling Camarilla interest served by forcing the owner to open up their territory. So — while Anne will sometimes annoy rivals by granting some other vampire a Domain that includes the rival’s property — that does not entitle the Domain holder to trespass by entering the rival’s house at their whim, for instance.
• A character can have their Haven in their Domain, although they may not wish to unless they are also the owner of that space. If so, the character’s Haven and Domain are handled separately — a high Domain rating does not carry with it a fancy and highly secure Haven unless Resources or Base of Operations justify it. It is also possible for a character with Resources and Domain to have their Haven somewhere completely separate from their Domain.
• These guidelines are meant to help players figure out what makes the most sense to buy for their characters. We aren’t here to play “gotcha!” and we aren’t going to go looking for reasons why someone might be vulnerable to attack. It’s fine — totally appropriate, in fact! — for characters to worry IC about the possibility of someone finding their Haven and destroying them, but please don’t stress about it OOC. If the exact nature of a character’s Haven or other property becomes relevant in play, we’ll discuss it OOC with the players involved to try and find a resolution that makes sense IC and that’s dramatically satisfying.

Awareness

Awareness has specific rules governing its use for the detection of supernatural phenomena. See the page on Awareness for details.

Domain

Domain provides extra dice to hunting rolls (one per dot in Size), not a difficulty reduction as in the book. Considering that Herd and Domain both make hunting easier, we felt that the stronger benefit should go to the Background that is focused entirely on that goal, i.e., Herd.

Generation

Higher levels of Generation have an additional cost beyond the Background dots. Please see Generation for details.

Herd

Domain provides a reduction in the difficulty of hunting rolls (-1 per dot, to a minimum of 3), not extra dice as in the book. Considering that Herd and Domain both make hunting easier, we felt that the stronger benefit should go to the Background that is focused entirely on that goal, i.e., Herd.

Discipline Rarity

We’ve chosen to divide Disciplines into three categories: common, uncommon, and rare.

• Common Disciplines are those that a large number of clans have access to. Their lower levels can be learned without a tutor, and they are generally easier to learn than the other sorts of Discipline. In-clan Disciplines are always considered common, even if they would otherwise be in one of the other categories.
• Uncommon Disciplines are those restricted to a smaller subset of clans, and are significantly more difficult to learn than Common Disciplines. They generally, but not always, require a tutor.
• Rare Disciplines are those that are known only to one of the thirteen clans, or to specific bloodlines. Rare Disciplines always require a tutor (unless they are an in-clan Discipline, and are therefore treated as common).

Celerity, Fortitude and Potence are Common Disciplines.

Animalism, Auspex, Dominate, Presence, and Obfuscate are Uncommon Disciplines.

Chimerstry, Dementation, Necromancy, Obtenebration, Protean, Quietus, Serpentis, Thaumaturgy and Vicissitude are Rare Disciplines.

Any Discipline not listed above (e.g., specific to a single bloodline) is considered a Rare Discipline.

Necromancy Rituals

For information on our attitude toward ritual magic in general, please see Ritual Magic.

As per the V20 Core Rulebook, buying the first dot in Necromancy gives you a free Level One ritual of your choice. Unlike the core rules, however, additional rituals must be purchased with XP (see XP and Advancement).

Limit on Number of Dots In Paths

The rules listed below for Thaumaturgy also apply to Necromancy (that is, any combination of dots in Necromancy Paths equal to the character’s dots in Necromancy, times three).

Modified Rituals

• Ritual of Xipe Totec: An individual character may only have one flayed skin available at a time — tracking the required blood expenditure would be onerous with any more than this.

Disallowed Rituals

Some rituals have been left out of the game on purpose, whether for balance reasons, because their drawbacks are difficult to enforce without constant ST presence, or because they encourage types of play we don’t want to encourage. These rituals (and the reason each has been disallowed) are listed here.

• Knowing Stone: This ritual has a very long duration, does not require any item from the victim, and is very likely to start arguments over what constitutes “the target’s current whereabouts”.
• Occhio d’Uomo Morto: This ritual conveys a permanent benefit and relies on a Storyteller to ensure that the drawback is meaningful.
• The Ritual of Pochtli: This allows multiple characters to pool successes when using supernatural powers, which we generally do not support.
• Divine Sign: This requires Storyteller adjudication every time it’s used in order to avoid arguments over what constitutes a “course of action”.
• Dead Man’s Hand: This causes inevitable death with no opportunity for the victim to resist the effects, which is something we generally do not support.

Thaumaturgical Paths

Limit on Number of Dots In Paths

A single character may have a number of dots invested into Thaumaturgical Paths equal to their number of dots in Thaumaturgy (or clan-specific equivalent), times three. Characters still cannot have more dots in a single Path than their Thaumaturgy (or equivalent) dots. Thus, a character with Thaumaturgy 3 could have up to three Paths at 3 dots, or four Paths at 2 dots and one Path at 1, or any combination of paths that add up to 9 total.

For characters who somehow manage to learn more than one type of Thaumaturgy — something which will draw very close scrutiny from staff — this restriction is applied separately for each type (if you have Koldunic Sorcery 3 and Setite Sorcery 1, you can have up to 9 dots in Paths for the former, and one dot in a Path for the latter).

This may seem harsh, but remember: Paths are effectively additional in-clan Disciplines. This isn’t such a big deal in a tabletop game with tabletop rates of XP gain, where characters are unlikely to ever max out even one of their in-clan Disciplines, let alone all three; but in an online game, where the expectation is that characters will eventually reach very high levels of XP, some sort of balancing restriction is necessary. Even with this restriction, no other clan has nearly as many in-clan Disciplines as a moderately skilled Thaumaturgist!

Available Paths

We’ve opted to include all the Paths of Thaumaturgy from the Core Rulebook — with the exception of the Path of the Father’s Vengeance, which is noted as being a primarily Sabbat path. Each clan that has a version of Thaumaturgy (Assamites, Followers of Set, Tremere, and Tzimisce) has access to a different subset of those paths, as follows:

• Assamites: Have access to Path of Blood, Lure of Flames, Movement of the Mind, Path of Conjuring, Hands of Destruction, and Awakening of the Steel.
• Followers of Set: Have access to Path of Corruption, Path of Conjuring, Ushabti, Path of Mars, and Weather Control.
• Tremere: Have access to Movement of the Mind, Path of Blood, Lure of Flames, Elemental Mastery, Green Path, Hands of Destruction, Neptune’s Might, Path of Conjuring, Path of Corruption, Path of Technomancy, and Weather Control.
• Tzimisce: Have access to Way of Earth, Way of Wind, Way of Water, Way of Fire, and Weather Control.

“When are you going to add <Path>?”

Probably never. To be perfectly frank, we’re already a little uncomfortable about having this many. Thaumaturgy is a very cool Discipline, yes, but we don’t want to allow so many different Paths that it becomes something that can solve any problem. If what you want is to explore magic with that kind of breadth and depth, you may want to consider the Mage sphere rather than (or in addition to) Vampire.

“When are you going to add Dark Thaumaturgy?”

We aren’t. As far as the game we want to run is concerned, taking Dark Thaumaturgy makes you an NPC antagonist, not a PC. If you want that to be your character’s fate, staff can arrange it, but that isn’t something that one returns to PC status from.

Thaumaturgical Rituals

For information on our attitude toward ritual magic in general, please see Ritual Magic.

As per the V20 Core Rulebook, buying the first dot in Thaumaturgy gives you a free Level One ritual of your choice. Unlike the core rules, however, additional rituals must be purchased with XP (see XP and Advancement).

We’ve opted to include a small number of rituals for Assamite Sorcery, Koldunic Sorcery, and the Akhu variant of Setite Sorcery, all from Chapter Seven of Rites of the Blood. It’s possible, but not likely, that some additional rituals from this chapter may be added over time.

Modified Rituals

Blood Magic

• Devil’s Touch: This ritual does not function on characters who have a supernatural template.
• Principal Focus of Vitae Infusion: This ritual may be cast once per night, and any given thaumaturgist may have at most a number of blood points in foci equal to half their blood pool (rounded down).
• Ward versus <thing>: The victim must voluntarily contact the warded object, meaning these rituals will not normally be useful when applied to weapons. We don’t want Thaumaturgy to become a substitute for Disciplines that already cover the same ground (in this case, Potence).
• Warding Circle versus <thing>: These rituals may have a list of specific, named individuals who are not affected by it. This list must be set at the time of the circle’s creation and cannot be modified without recasting the ritual entirely.
• Flesh of Fiery Touch: Striking the subject with bare hands (or feet) does count as voluntary contact.
• Shaft of Belated Quiescence: The tip’s progress through the body causes severe pain to the victim. They gain no special insight into the cause of this pain or how to stop it, but it is obvious to the victim that something is wrong.

Assamite Sorcery

• Horoscope: This ritual works as described when used to gain information. It cannot provide a difficulty reduction on other Thaumaturgical abilities used against the target.

Disallowed Rituals

As with Necromancy, we have intentionally left some Thaumaturgical Rituals out of the game. These rituals (and the reason each has been disallowed) are listed here.

Blood Magic

• Engaging the Vessel of Transference: The primary use for this ritual is to covertly blood bond someone. If that’s what you want to do, talk to the other character’s player, and work out with them a way to make it happen. Covertly bonding other characters against their players’ will is not a can of worms we want to open.
• Donning the Mask of Shadows: We don’t want Thaumaturgy to become a substitute for Disciplines that already cover the same ground (in this case, Obfuscate).
• Eyes of the Night Hawk: We don’t want Thaumaturgy to become a substitute for Disciplines that already cover the same ground (in this case, Animalism).
• Incorporeal Passage: Abilities that provide complete immunity, rather than resistance, to other characters’ abilities are generally not supported.
• Mirror of Second Sight: We don’t want Thaumaturgy to become a substitute for Disciplines that already cover the same ground (in this case, Auspex).
• Enchant Talisman: This ritual is very unlikely to succeed (the average successes rolling the maximum number of dice possible is only 2.7, and 20 successes on four rolls are required), and we generally do not support adding more dice to rolls for supernatural abilities (if it did succeed).

Abyss Mysticism

• Maw of Ahriman: It’s just not practical to track and enforce the one-month Willpower reduction for this ritual.

Assamite Sorcery

• Infusion of Kalif: Difficulty reductions for supernatural abilities are generally not supported when not a core part of the game mechanic (as they are in Changeling, for example).
• Bull of Heaven: We don’t want Thaumaturgy to become a substitute for Disciplines that already cover the same ground (in this case, Animalism).
• Passage of the Ghul: See notes for Incorporeal Passage.
• Directing Ahriman’s Lance: This is difficult to adjudicate, and the benefit is far too broad.
• Seeing with the Sky’s Eyes: This ritual requires a Storyteller to adjudicate its effects.

Koldunic Sorcery

• Ties that Bind: Difficulty reductions for supernatural abilities are generally not supported when not a core part of the game mechanic (as they are in Changeling, for example).

Setite Sorcery

• Scorpion Sending: This ritual requires a Storyteller to adjudicate.
• Shackles of Blood: See notes for Engaging the Vessel of Transference.

Vicissitude

• Permanent improvements made with Vicissitude (in particular, increases to Appearance) must be paid for with XP. “Getting resculpted by someone Vicissitude” is a great justification for this, but there is still an XP cost. It’s up to the players involved to come up with a rationale for why the changes don’t persist, if they can’t or won’t afford the cost that would be required.