Post by Tami on Mar 3, 2007 12:13:20 GMT -5
Long ago, Cainites discovered that mortals who consume their blood take on a small measure of their power. They gain supernatural strength and dark appetites, but they remain alive and able to endure the touch of sunlight. For centuries, vampires have chosen mortals and fed them blood to great ghouls, powerful servants inevitably bound to their master - called the domitor - by the fealty of the blood oath. Over time, ghouls gain a powerful thirst for vampiric vitae along with other dark cravings, a touch of the Beast in each ghoul's soul. They remain loyal to their domitors, but their passions often run as hot as the vitae coursing through their veins, and they are given to a sanguine nature as the blood changes the balance of their bodily humors.
Since the kin of the Dark Medieval world tend to be tightly knit folk, Cainites often take entire families as ghouls, and there are tales of families living on the outskirts of mortal society with a strange way about them. True lords of the night such as the Tzimisce even breed their ghouls to create lineages to serve them over the years. Other Cainites create ghoul "families" from communities, such as the isolated brethren of a monastery, the high-ranking members of a guild or a troupe of wandering entertainers.
For some, ghouls are an intermediate step towards the Embrace. Some princes do not require their subjects to seek permission before creating ghouls, as they must when creating childer, allowing Cainites to maintain someone they consider worthy of the Embrace until they can obtain permission.
Ghoul abilities
* They may store up to 10 blood points of vitae, and can spend one blood point per turn as vampires do. Elder ghouls can store an additional blood point per century of age, but still cannot spend more than one blood point per turn.
* Ghouls don't age as long as they have Cainite blood in them. This promise of eternal youth is one of the strongest temptations for mortals to become ghouls. Once a ghoul has passed his natural life span, he must always have vitae in his body, or he will swiftly age and die. For most, this takes several days, but very old ghouls can wither to dust in hours or even minutes.
* Ghouls can use their vitae to heal themselves and increase their Physical Attributes like vampires do. Ghouls that do not use blood to heal recover like other mortals.
* Ghouls can regenerate lost or crippled limbs by spending a Willpower point, an appropriate number of blood points (one for a finger or eye, two for a foot or forearm, three for an entire limb) and rolling Stamina (difficulty 8). If the roll fails or botches, the ghoul can never regrow that limb.
* While they have Cainite blood in them, ghouls can soak lethal damage, but they still soak bashing damage like other mortals(i.e. they do not divide damage in half) .
* Ghouls automatically gain one dot of Potence within minutes of first drinking blood, and they can also learn Celerity and Fortitude. Ghouls can sometimes learn other Disciplines, if they consume the blood of a vampire that has that Discipline. Most ghouls can only learn the first dot in a discipline, although some can progress to higher levels with time and training. The limits of a ghoul's disciplines are determined by his domitor's generation/ (Storytellers who want more powerful ghouls in a chronicle can use the optional level in parenthesis).
Ghoul's Power
Domitor's Generation //Max Disc Level
12th-11th // 1
10th-9th // 1 (2)
8th // 1 (3)
7th // 2 (3)
6th // 3 (4)
5th // 4
4th // 5
It cost a ghoul's player 20 experience points to learn the first dot in a new Discipline. When increasing disciplines with experience , it costs (current level X15) for the clan discipline of the ghoul's first domitor and (current level X25) for any other disciplines. The ghoul must consume the blood of a vampire that knows that particular discipline before learning it (Except for celerity and Fortitude, which all ghouls can learn).
* The vitae a ghoul consumes carries the curse of the Beast with it. Ghouls can frenzy likes vampires, although their difficulties are two lower, since the curse is not as strong in them.
* Ghouls who consume five or more blood points gain their domitor's clan weakness, which lasts until they have less than five blood points in them.
* Ghouls that go without feeding for a month are overcome with hunger for vitae. Whenever they have the opportunity to gain vitae - from any vampire, not just their domitor - they must make a Self-Control roll (difficulty 7) to resist. Additionally, each week of self-denial after the first month, the ghoul's character must make an Intelligence + Self Control roll (Difficulty 6), lest the character sublimate his cravings for vitae into a hunger for human blood or flesh. The ghoul can spend a Willpower point to avoid giving in to these cravings, unless the roll botches, in which case he is automatically overwhelmed by them.
* Ghouls are subject to the Blood Oath, but they cannot put others under it. Most ghouls are oathbound to their original domitor, but this oath can and does erode as with any other thrall. The Cainite tendency to treat ghouls as chattel--which erodes the power of the oath--is usually more than offset by regular feedings of vitae.
Since the kin of the Dark Medieval world tend to be tightly knit folk, Cainites often take entire families as ghouls, and there are tales of families living on the outskirts of mortal society with a strange way about them. True lords of the night such as the Tzimisce even breed their ghouls to create lineages to serve them over the years. Other Cainites create ghoul "families" from communities, such as the isolated brethren of a monastery, the high-ranking members of a guild or a troupe of wandering entertainers.
For some, ghouls are an intermediate step towards the Embrace. Some princes do not require their subjects to seek permission before creating ghouls, as they must when creating childer, allowing Cainites to maintain someone they consider worthy of the Embrace until they can obtain permission.
Ghoul abilities
* They may store up to 10 blood points of vitae, and can spend one blood point per turn as vampires do. Elder ghouls can store an additional blood point per century of age, but still cannot spend more than one blood point per turn.
* Ghouls don't age as long as they have Cainite blood in them. This promise of eternal youth is one of the strongest temptations for mortals to become ghouls. Once a ghoul has passed his natural life span, he must always have vitae in his body, or he will swiftly age and die. For most, this takes several days, but very old ghouls can wither to dust in hours or even minutes.
* Ghouls can use their vitae to heal themselves and increase their Physical Attributes like vampires do. Ghouls that do not use blood to heal recover like other mortals.
* Ghouls can regenerate lost or crippled limbs by spending a Willpower point, an appropriate number of blood points (one for a finger or eye, two for a foot or forearm, three for an entire limb) and rolling Stamina (difficulty 8). If the roll fails or botches, the ghoul can never regrow that limb.
* While they have Cainite blood in them, ghouls can soak lethal damage, but they still soak bashing damage like other mortals(i.e. they do not divide damage in half) .
* Ghouls automatically gain one dot of Potence within minutes of first drinking blood, and they can also learn Celerity and Fortitude. Ghouls can sometimes learn other Disciplines, if they consume the blood of a vampire that has that Discipline. Most ghouls can only learn the first dot in a discipline, although some can progress to higher levels with time and training. The limits of a ghoul's disciplines are determined by his domitor's generation/ (Storytellers who want more powerful ghouls in a chronicle can use the optional level in parenthesis).
Ghoul's Power
Domitor's Generation //Max Disc Level
12th-11th // 1
10th-9th // 1 (2)
8th // 1 (3)
7th // 2 (3)
6th // 3 (4)
5th // 4
4th // 5
It cost a ghoul's player 20 experience points to learn the first dot in a new Discipline. When increasing disciplines with experience , it costs (current level X15) for the clan discipline of the ghoul's first domitor and (current level X25) for any other disciplines. The ghoul must consume the blood of a vampire that knows that particular discipline before learning it (Except for celerity and Fortitude, which all ghouls can learn).
* The vitae a ghoul consumes carries the curse of the Beast with it. Ghouls can frenzy likes vampires, although their difficulties are two lower, since the curse is not as strong in them.
* Ghouls who consume five or more blood points gain their domitor's clan weakness, which lasts until they have less than five blood points in them.
* Ghouls that go without feeding for a month are overcome with hunger for vitae. Whenever they have the opportunity to gain vitae - from any vampire, not just their domitor - they must make a Self-Control roll (difficulty 7) to resist. Additionally, each week of self-denial after the first month, the ghoul's character must make an Intelligence + Self Control roll (Difficulty 6), lest the character sublimate his cravings for vitae into a hunger for human blood or flesh. The ghoul can spend a Willpower point to avoid giving in to these cravings, unless the roll botches, in which case he is automatically overwhelmed by them.
* Ghouls are subject to the Blood Oath, but they cannot put others under it. Most ghouls are oathbound to their original domitor, but this oath can and does erode as with any other thrall. The Cainite tendency to treat ghouls as chattel--which erodes the power of the oath--is usually more than offset by regular feedings of vitae.