A small overview of the Clans

[Myna]

Alright some of you may not want to go read over every detail of the clans to pick what suits you best so here is a little overview to give a feel for what each specalizes in.

Camarilla

Ventrue

Background:The Ventrue represent the stable albeit Mafia-style leadership of the Camarilla. There is talk of a turning of the tide in regards to this position… The Ventrue laugh. They have the hammer fist of mortal influence which they wield with impunity, no one can withstand a well-coordinated Ventrue assault; there is simply too much to bear. Some 60% of all Camarilla Princes are Venture, and this clan is not about to relinquish those titles. The Ventrue are one of the eight major clans.

Disciplines:Dominate, Fortitude, Presence

Advantages:The Ventrue Embrace wealth and power. As such all Ventrue begin with two levels in the Resource Background. They also start game with a free level of the Leadership ability.

Weaknesses:Ventrue are used to the best in life and possess rarefied tastes. As such each individual Ventrue has a particular type of blood that is their choice to consume. Even when beaten and dying they are incapable of drinking anything but that which is their chosen taste. This restriction does not apply to vampire vitae.

Tremere

Background:They are the most despised clan in the Camarilla. They have been accused of Infernalism more times than one can count. They can manipulate magick so your head is screwed off and you turn inside out. The Tremere are a clan tight knit to the point of fascist paranoia; the Council of Seven, a group of the most powerful warlocks on the planet. Tremere operate in chantries of three or more, pooling their knowledge and influence to make themselves a clan to be reckoned with. The Tremere have access to the most potent and secretive discipline in the game: Thaumaturgy. Any questions?

Disciplines:Auspex, Dominate, Thaumaturgy

Advantages:Based on the needs of the Clan and their taste in choosing Childer all Tremere begin with a free level of the Occult Ability. In addition, all Tremere receive instruction in the ritual arts from their mentors and masters. Thus all Tremere are allowed a free basic ritual or may take an additional tree of their chosing with one rank in it for free. Note: Thaumaturgy is considered one of the most flexible and potentially powerful Disciplines in the world. It was the sole factor that kept the Clan alive for decades and should be considered the greatest asset a Tremere can call upon.

Weaknesses:Tremere do not live a life you or I can identify with. They are recruited, trained, and operate their eternities under a strict code that define them and the actions they may take. Whenever a Chantry leader or a majority of the Tremere in residence state that an individual member has violated the Code the other magi of the city gather with the offender before them, discuss the situation, and hand out a formal penance. The Council of Seven enforces this practice of operation and law strictly. Above and beyond this is the general distrust and contempt the Tremere seem to garner regardless of their actions or precedence. Therefore, all Tremere have a permanent Negative Social Trait of Untrustworthy.

Toreador

Background:You can call them artists, posers, socialites or dilettantes, but you can’t knock their fashion sense. The Toreador are masters of the put-down, the snide comment and some actually can back up their audacious claims of artistic superiority. While many dismiss this clan and its seemingly inherent flightiness, Toreador are arguably the most successful manipulators of mortal society. They can function in the open with little fear of breaking the masquerade, and have little trouble finding a food supply.

Disciplines:Auspex, Celerity, Presence

Advantages:All members of this ancient line whether Poetaster or Artiste practices at least one form of expression Thus all Toreador may receive a free level of either the Craft, Performance. or Expression Abilities.
Also all Toreador are allowed a free level of the Herd background based on their closeness to humanity and the fact that their arts draw mortals like moths to the flame making it almost too easy.

Weaknesses:Toreador live their lives for and through art whether they are masters or not. Thus they can not help but be stunned by the beauty that you and I take for granted. Whenever a Toreador views an object or performance of respectable skill and merit (Something designed, made, or preformed with a level 3 Craft or Performance Ability) they must make a Static self control/instinct challenge against an ST-given difficulty or remain fascinated and stunned for five minutes. The only ways they may break out of the trance are to spend a Willpower point, or be disrupted by attack. Toreador are surprised by this attack.

Malkavian

Background:Malkavians are crazy. They are beyond the normal definition of this term, they are the homicidal lunatics of our nightmares. All in all, the Malkavian clan is one of seers and lunatic wanderers.
They choose their progeny on whims; some are insightful, brilliant beings for which reality is the only challenge. These Malkavians bring a lot to the proverbial table, both in knowledge and lunacy. The Malkavians have maintained their place in Kindred society through their keen ability to discern some of the complex problems facing Kindred.

Disciplines:Auspex, Dominate, Obfuscate

Advantages:Being privy to points of view and angles of perception that thankfully the rest of us will never have to experience, Malkavians are able to discern strange insights and incredible visions. (In hard and fast terms the STs will gift those who play Malkavians with cryptic visions and strange insights at least once per session) While Malkavians are poor company and jarring, one could learn something of great value by tempting to stare into their abyss. Malkavians also gain one free level of Awareness.

Weaknesses:As is well known to all that have spent even a few minutes in the proximity of or in conversation with a Malkavian they are one and all quite mad. Thus each Malkavian has one chosen Derangement that is considered “permanent” and can never be cured or truly relieved. The only reprieve can come from the expenditure of a Willpower trait that quells the madness for a short time.

Nosferatu

Background:The blood of their lineage curses Nosferatu to an existence of physical deformity, much like the Malkavians are cursed with incurable insanity. The deformed Nosferatu clan congregates in sewers and caverns, away from society and out of the limelight of Kindred politics. None the less, this clan has become the recluse intellectuals of the Camarilla. While not all Nosferatu fit this mold, the hideous nature of their being, the ostracism by the rest of the Camarilla, the Nosferatu have survived underground for quite some time.

Disciplines:Animalism, Potence, Obfuscate

Advantages:Given the nature of a lifestyle that springs from being a monster on the outside all Nosferatu need to develop skills that make living possible. Thus all Nosferatu have an additional level of both Stealth and Survival. Nosferatu survive by pursuing the fine art of intelligence gathering. As such at the start of each session each Nosferatu will be made privy to some random information as determined by the Storyteller staff (this information is strictly at ST discretion). Note: To this should be added the fact that Nosferatu are masters of their chosen domain the sewers. Never follow a cobra into its hole and never follow a Nosferatu into the sewers or Darwin’s Law will take an immediate and lasting effect on your life.

Weaknesses:Nosferatu are as monstrous on the outside as all vampires are on the inside. As such no Nosferatu may possess the Social traits: Alluring, Elegant, Seductive, Magnetic, or Gorgeous. Also when showing their true face all Nosferatu possess the negative Social Trait Repugnant x3.
Note Nosferatu players are also under a strict expectation to costume appropriately. Those who ignore this imperative will find their characters suffering. This Clan is not to be chosen lightly but the benefits speak for themselves.

Brujah

Background:You can call them punks, revolutionaries, even scholars. No matter where you try to place them, you can be sure the Brujah will do nothing less than defy your categorization. The Brujah are all rebels of some sort; in days of old this meant scholarly revolt, now it’s a joke. Most Brujah in the modern day are Hell’s Angels rejects. They like to break things. This is not to say that some don’t harken back to the clan’s heyday during the time of Carthage, just that the Brujah of today are more apt to pattern themselves after Sid Vicious than Hannibal.

Disciplines:Celerity, Potence, Presence

Advantages:Whether the virtues of being thick headed finally make themselves clear or the fact that revolutionaries and scholars have always been harder to sway and dupe the clan of Brujah does not lend itself well to mental manipulations. As such whenever another attempts a Mental challenge against a Brujah with the purpose of controlling them (either through discipline, ability, or as per normally) the Brujah is one trait up in their challenge. Being from 3 schools of thought, Idealists, Individualists and Iconoclasts the Brujah may select one free ability of Politics, Brawl, or Streetwise.

Weaknesses:Constant conflict with all wears thin even the steadiest of nerves. The Brujah are known for there short fuses. Thus, Brujah lose all ties on self control challenges to resist Social Frenzy.

Gangrel

Background:The consummate outsiders, Gangrel have little claim inside the halls of power, and have even fewer uses for it. Gangrel are the only clan that chooses to exist in the lands outside the major cities. They subsist off the land, and are the only clan that has any dealings with the werewolves. Still, many kindred look toward the Gangrel if they are in the need of traversing the hinterlands.

Disciplines:Fortitude, Animalism, Protean

Advantages:Gangrel are travelers and wanderers. As such they have little use or need for territory. Whether they feed off of the occasional animal, get “take out” and remove all incriminating evidence, or they simply feed unobtrusively on others' territories or in the distant suburbs, Gangrel are considered capable of getting blood without owning any territory. They also start with a free level of the Survival or Animal Ken abilities.

Weaknesses:Aligning themselves closely with animals has given the Gangrel setbacks as well as merits. With each Frenzy, a Gangrel gains a single animalistic feature such as tufted ears, claws, or slitted eyes. A Gangrel can gain up to 5 of these. Each of these characteristics gives the character either a Bestial or Feral Negative Social Trait. There are few known ways of removing the features and all are mystical in nature.

Independant

Giovanni

Background:The Giovanni were a small clan brought into the Camarilla by force. Despite this auspicious beginning, the Giovanni have blossomed into a power-brokering clan. Similar to the Ventrue in the way in which they carry out business, the Giovanni differ in that they are the sole practitioners of Necromancy, which may account for their quick rise to prominence.

Disciplines:Dominate, Potence, Necromancy

Advantages:Influence, wealth, and possession are the heart and soul of the Giovanni existence. As such each Giovanni starts with a free level of the Resources Background and a free level of the Retainer Background.

Weaknesses:Foul even by the generous standards of Kindred, Giovanni are afflicted with a very inconvenient curse. Mortals feel only pain from their Kiss and when they feed a Giovanni inflicts an additional damage level beyond normal. Years of family inbreeding have begun to take their toll upon this Clan. As such upon character creation the player must chose a single Negative Trait for their character and this Trait may never be bought off, as it is the representation of the 'shallowing' of the Giovanni gene pool.

Assamite

Background: From the desert wastes of the East come the Assamites, and they bring with them a miasma of terror. The Assamites are known throughout vampire society as a clan of murderous assassins, working for the highest bidder. Their loyalty is bought and sold in whoever can pay the highest price and not all prices are that of money.

Advantages: Speed, Silence, terror, all these are the attributes of the Assamite, trained as a mortal then as a vampire before they are allowed out from under their sire's constant watchful eye. They may start off with an extra level in their three diciplines.

Weaknesses:In light of their recent circumvention of the Tremere blood-curse, the Assamites have reacquired their appreciable taste for vitae, particularly that of other Kindred. Having been forced to rely on alchemic blood potions for much of its modern history, the clan is easily addicted to the blood of other vampires. Any time an Assamite drinks or even tastes the blood of another Kindred, she or he has a chance of becomming addicted to it. If they become addicted to it the next time they come into contact with kindred blood they have a chance of falling into a sanguinary frenzy, in which she will do anything physically possible to partake of as much blood as possible.

Ravnos

Background Ravnos generally sire few childer, and those they do Embrace are generally the most promising members of their own families. Younger Ravnos have been known to be more willing to sire, however, and neonate Ravnos from all backgrounds are beginning to plague the Kindred community.

Disciplines:Animalism, Fortitude, Chimerstry

AdvantagesStealth, Trickery and illusions are their domain, they love to cause trouble and revel in getting away with it. As such all ravnos start off with 2 ranks in the stealth ability and one rank in either Streetwise or Security.

WeaknessesThe Ravnos clan are all criminals; each Ravnos has a specific vice ranging from plagiarism to mass murder, or an addiction raging from cigarettes to needing his fix of PCP. When the opportunity to indulge that vice is present, they have an overwhelming desire to do so. Only age and experiance can give them the ability to resist such inate temptations.

Followers of Set

Background:They came from the deserts of North Africa. Their goal: world domination through corruption. The Followers of Set (or Setites) are the most twisted clan that can be found in the Camarilla. Few of this Independent clan has joined, and they did so more out of convenience than respect. No other clan trusts the Setites, and this is reflected in their shunned status among the Camarilla’s other clans. Because of this, the Followers of Set go to great lengths to hide their identity, constructing labyrinthine plots and false fronts to their mortal holdings.

Disciplines:Presence, Obfuscate, Serpentis

Advantages:Their blood diluted with the plying of their trade of addiction, taint, and corruption Setites are capable of Blood Bonding other Kindred with merely two tastes. In addition it is disgustingly easy for the Followers of Set to steal ghouls from others (Ghouls lose ties against a Setites Social or Mental Disciplines that are aimed at control, IE; Serpentis, Dominate, Presence).

Weaknesses:Being in truth serpents of darkness all Setites suffer from an extreme sensitivity to light in all forms. Sunlight does double damage and anything brighter than a large candle flame (spot lights, regular light bulbs, moonlight, etc.) will inflict an one Trait penalty in all challenges.


Sabbat

Lasombra

Background:The Lasombra are in many ways the Sabbat's answer to the Ventrue Clan. They are invariably talented and have a commanding air about them; even when they are not selected from aristocratic stock, they are skilled manipulators, tempters and plotters. They have the ability to create and control shadows, but unlike other vampires, the Lasombra do not cast reflections in mirrors or other surfaces, and are even more susceptible to sunlight than any other Cainites.

Diciplines:Obtenebration, Dominate, Potence

Advantages: Master of the shadow and the darkness and the equivelent in stature and prominece to the Camarilla's Ventrue. The Lasombra starts with 1 rank in Resources and Intimidation.

Weaknesses:Lasombra vampires cast no reflections. They cannot be seen in mirrors, bodies of water, reflective windows, polished metals, photographs and security cameras, etc. This curious anomaly even extends to the clothes they wear and objects they carry. Many Kindred believe that the Lasombra have been cursed in this manner for their vanity. Additionally, due to their penchant for darkness, Lasombra take an extra level of damage from sunlight.

Tzimisce

Background:The Tzimisce consider themselves apart from and superior to other Vampires, or Kindred, by dint of their unique Disciplines, unnatural ethical views and the inner-structure of their Clan. Many Tzimisce are warriors or religious leaders within the Sabbat, though many lead existences devoid of other Vampiric contact, instead surrounding themselves with servants and slaves. They are obsessed with their birthplaces and graves, usually possessing some of the soil from the location of their Embrace, over which they are fiercely territorial.

Diciplines: Animalism, Auspex, Vicissitude

Advantages: The second clan that rules the main body of the sabat the Tzimisce enjoy their solitude and time to practice their craft. They start with 2 ranks in occult and one extra rank in Vicissitude.

Weaknesses:Whenever a Tzimisce sleeps, they must surround themselves with at least two handfuls of Earth from a place important to them as a mortal. Failure to do so will weaken them for the next eve, if they go to long it will cause them to fall into Torpor.