Original electronic Scanned image These products were created by scanning an original printed edition. Most older books are in scanned image format because original digital layout files never existed or were no longer available from the publisher.
The result of this OCR process is placed invisibly behind the picture of each scanned page, to allow for text searching. However, any text in a given book set on a graphical background or in handwritten fonts would most likely not be picked up by the OCR software, and is therefore not searchable. Also, a few larger books may be resampled to fit into the system, and may not have this searchable text background.
For printed books, we have performed high-resolution scans of an original hardcopy of the book. We essentially digitally re-master the book. Unfortunately, the resulting quality of these books is not as high.
It's the problem of making a copy of a copy. We mark clearly which print titles come from scanned image books so that you can make an informed purchase decision about the quality of what you will receive. Original electronic format These ebooks were created from the original electronic layout files, and therefore are fully text searchable. Also, their file size tends to be smaller than scanned image books. Most newer books are in the original electronic format.
Both download and print editions of such books should be high quality. File Last Updated:. This title was added to our catalog on April 26, Publisher Average Rating. See All Reviews. See all titles Need help? Common Questions FAQ. Submit Suggestion. Contact us. My Library. Affiliate System. Create Content for your Favorite Games. About Us. Privacy Policy. A few smother their instruction in religious imperatives, philosophical tenets, or mystical confluences. Of course they lie.
All vampires lie. But the best lies are those that are told between two truths, yes? Here are thirteen such truths, childe. They may line up with other things you know, or they might not. Sometimes the narrators present tantalizing rumors and conspiracies, while others digress into areas not often considered by many. Some of what they say have no facts to back them up, but not everything is a lie, either. Lore of the Clans is a single volume revisiting all thirteen Clans for Vampire: The Masquerade 20 th Anniversary Edition , providing story hooks, character concepts, history, and Clan-specific rules.
This usually means the colors are less vivid, but it also means the price drops a bit per page in the production process. Examples of pages: Premium Color vs. Standard Color. Log In. New Account or Log In. Hide my password. Get the newsletter. Subscribe to get the free product of the week! One-click unsubscribe later if you don't enjoy the newsletter.
Log In with Facebook. Log In I am new here. Remember me. Error: No match for email address or password. Password forgotten? Click here. Advanced Search. V20 Lore of the Clans. From Onyx Path Publishing. Selected Option:. Whatever the case, the eschatologist rarely has good news for local vampires.
Mystic 1-point Title Transcendant 3-point Title The Mystic Kindred is known by many appellations: sage, spiritualist, sorcerer, witch.
Tremere and Tzimisce often hate Mystics, whom they regard as either threats to their own power or bloody pretenders. Those who seek the state of Golconda seek to transcend the curse of Caine. A Transcendant is one who is known — or believed — to have achieved that lofty state. Few seek to rouse the ire of a known mystic, because those who bargain their souls or their standing for otherworldly power make heinous foes. Of course, a Mystic may well be a charlatan, with little more than trickery or clever Discipline use supporting this title and reputation.
Warden 2-point Title Kindred society occasionally gives rise to Wardens, particularly in contested or tenuously-held domains. Wardens exist in some form or another in all the sects.
To hear the powers that be tell it, the Warden is an ugly responsibility, but someone has to do it. The Warden has the right to attack and kill unidentified or foreign Kindred in an established domain. In some domains, Wardens are compensated because their work is so unpleasant: Princely decree or ecumenical favor can grant an additional point of Resources, Herd, or Influence so long as the Warden remains faithful in her duties.
Eschatologist 1-point Title The undead have no end of prophecies that inspire them to ever-greater acts of terror, fiendishness, and desperation. Eschatologists study these portents of the end times and consult with their local leaders on how best 32 A true Transcendant is one who has in fact achieved Golconda.
A false Transcendant pays only half the normal cost to acquire this title. Note, too, that among vampires who hold Golconda in low esteem, such as followers of certain Paths, the standard Status benefit may be nonexistent. Consul 3-point Title The title of Consul has many variations, but the primary responsibility is to act as a cultural diplomat between sects, clans, or any other Kindred factions.
When a member of the home domain has a question about the organization to which the Consul belongs, she may approach and ask the Consul. Needless to say, the duties of the Consul sometimes place her in very difficult political situations, many of which can escalate into violence, especially if the relationship between the two Kindred factions is hostile.
Thus, Consul is often a title granted to either very powerful Kindred or those whom the home domain wants to simply disappear. The honesty and respect of the Consul is paramount. A Consul may apply Status accumulated in her home domain as well as the Status reflected by her title to social dice pools while in her diplomatic domain.
Note that this Status benefit ceases to exist in times of open war between the two factions. Headhunter 2-point Title Those vampires who devote themselves to war with the non-Kindred dwellers in the night occasionally earn the title of Headhunter. Those brazen Cainites who take on the savage Lupines and claim trophy over the shape-shifters claim this title at times, but so do those who engage with hostile mages or even slay one of the incomprehensible Good Folk.
Headhunters often make names for themselves at meetings of the Kindred in the local domain, where they show off their grisly trophies and boast before their fellow Damned. Only lucky Headhunters manage to slay their prey without preparation. Some choose to slake their thirsts with the vitae of lesser creatures. Especially among young Kindred, an initial reaction to the horror of becoming a vampire and the need to feed on the blood of what they once were proves too much to bear.
Caitiff Negative Title The word Caitiff has two connotations. The first means that a Kindred is a member of flawed or unknown lineage, or perhaps that she has been disowned but not extinguished by her sire. It implies that the Kindred is a mistake, not even worthy of being a vampire.
They are the results of mistakes, regrets, frenzies, and poor choices. Many are lucky to have even a vague recollection of their sire and the Embrace, while most stumble around with no understanding of what they are. Those that find a way to survive are the exception instead of the rule, and some of these Trash grow to become notorious Kindred in their own right.
The only thing that the Caitiff have in common is what they lack — the marks that identify a vampire as being part of a particular clan. For whatever reason, though, the Caitiff has none of these. While this tabula rasa keeps them from finding solace in the clan hierarchies of Kindred society, it also means they have no barriers to overcome — learning the intricate nuances of Dominating a mortal mind comes just as easily to a Caitiff as preternatural strength or manipulating insanity.
Nickname: Trash Sect: The Camarilla considers the Caitiff to be nothing more than expendable foot soldiers — second-class citizens to throw at their enemies when the time is right.
Some Caitiff cling to any sort of protection and acceptance, while others rebel at being treated as disposable and look to the Anarch Movement or even the Sabbat as alternatives. Still others dismiss politics as unimportant, eking out unlife in the fringes of the Ivory Tower or even becoming Autarkis.
For those Caitiff who are able to divert attention from their clanlessness, their appearance may well reflect the success or failure of their efforts to make a place for themselves in the world of the Damned. Haven: As with their Appearance, Caitiff havens are diverse; many Caitiff have to make do with whatever haven they can find, or with whatever haven they can cajole another Kindred into letting them occupy.
Few Caitiff are able to maintain anything more than a minor domain, and many Caitiff are transient or simply do without havens. Background: Caitiff can come from any background, most of which reflect as much about their absentee sires as it does about themselves. Indeed, when among the more formal societies of the sects, some Trash take great pains to obscure the details of their backgrounds.
Character Creation: Any of the three Attribute categories are appropriate for Caitiff to choose as primary, according to their background or what their sire saw in them. Talents are often primary Abilities, reflecting what the Caitiff has to do to protect herself.
Few Caitiff have much in the way of Backgrounds, preferring the immediate, practical value of bolstering Willpower or having picked up a smattering of lowlevel Disciplines. Clan Disciplines: Caitiff are able to purchase any Discipline at character creation, pending Storyteller approval. However, the cost to increase all Disciplines with experience points is six times the current rating, rather than the usual five for in-Clan Disciplines or seven for out-of-Clan Disciplines.
Weaknesses: Because of their social stigma, Caitiff are unable to take the Status Background at character creation. When Caitiff Embrace, their childer are also Caitiff. Stereotypes Assamite: They normally leave us alone. Gangrel: If you can convince them not to gut you on sight, they can be pretty tolerant. Giovanni: Never heard of it. Lasombra: Meet the new fucking asshole, same as the old fucking asshole.
Nosferatu: Misery loves company. Especially company it can blackmail. Ravnos: They seem to want us to trust them, and that raises my hackles.
Tremere: I gotta get back to my haven to, uh, turn off the oven or something. Tzimisce: The bats have left the bell tower. The victims have been bled. Undead, undead, undead.
Ventrue: Occupy Elysium! I am the 99 percent! Camarilla: Fuck you, milord. Sabbat: Fuck you, Dracula. Anarchs: Fine, why not? Organization: None to speak of. The process of trading, repaying, and incurring favors, known as prestation, is the cornerstone of the vampiric social structure. Put simply, a clever Kindred grants favors, while a foolish one incurs them — and becomes a servant to his promises and his debts. A vampire who calls in as-yet unearned favors from other Kindred too often soon finds his entire existence dictated by the obligations he has incurred.
In exchange for whatever tokens of help he requested, he becomes a puppet of those who came to his aid. Kindred society is a Byzantine knot of favors owed, loyalties sworn, debts repaid, and promises broken. From the highest Prince to the lowliest fledgling, the coin of the Kindred realm — after blood, of course — is the boon. All sects and all Kindred practice prestation, whether they admit to it or not. Granted, some play loosely with the custom while others observe it strictly. In the world of the undead, trust is a rare and priceless commodity.
Yet the whole of the Kindred social contract, whether owed by elder to neonate or even across the lines of sects, balances upon these promises. Boons come in a variety of significance, from a trivial boon to a life boon.
In some domains, boons operate like credit, in that a vampire must owe a boon for another vampire to extend him a boon; other Kindred must see the individual vampire as trustworthy. In other domains, the opposite is true — the more debts a Kindred owes, the less capable of repaying those boons she is assumed to be.
It might be a minor boon for a Prince to pardon a transgressor of the Traditions but a life boon for a fledgling to perjure himself before the Archbishop in order to excuse a straying Priscus. Boons also transcend sect and even the authority of any local luminary or leader.
The old adage of guilt by association applies here, too, making for some troublesome relationships. So what is a vampire to do? Some Princes and Archbishops allow forgiveness of boons in these cases, but the controversy of the special circumstances tends to follow those who receive special dispensation to excuse them from their promises. Cainites are, of course, a fickle group. Of course, these complexities illustrate why the systems of boons and promises are so tangled. Weaving the Web The process of establishing a prestation debt is simple.
A Kindred either asks another of her kind for assistance in a matter, in return for a favor of some sort at a later date, or a Cainite assists another in a time of misfortune — with the understanding that the favor will be repaid later.
The wisest among the Kindred keep very close records of favors owed, and take great care not to mire themselves in more debts than they can afford to satisfy at any given time.
Not all boons are accrued voluntarily, however. The nature of relationships among the Damned plays an exceptionally large role in this social dynamic, of 38 course. If it sounds a bit like a neighborhood protection racket or the quasi-feudalism of organized crime, well, it is. Veterans of the deathless, harrowing chronicle of Kindred obligation also favor maneuvering potential debtors into perilous situations and then rescuing them dramatically, thus placing the hapless victims in their debt.
On the other side of the coin, some Kindred adopt the tactic of swearing as many boons as possible as a form of protection, operating on the theory that their manifold creditors will want to keep them in one piece in order to collect.
Types of Boons In general, the society of the Damned recognizes four classifications of boons. Trivial Boon: These are the easiest boons both to acquire and to satisfy. A trivial boon might consist of aiding a hungry Kindred in the finding of blood, talking a hostile vampire down from a potential frenzy, getting a neonate past the bouncer at the hottest club in the Rack, or offering crash space for a blood-drunk acquaintance who stayed out too close to sunrise.
Trivial boons are easy to perform and usually have very little downside other than the effort required to execute them. Still, the Kindred observe their passage and exchange. Minor Boon: Minor boons require a Kindred to go out of her way to perform or pay off. They may have a small but permanent downside associated with them, or they may involve some amount of risk. In fact, for many Kindred, the risk of social embarrassment or loss of an academic resource might be more distressing than physical harm.
Examples of minor boons include casting a vote in favor of another Kindred during a convocation of elders, providing a vessel in a desperate hour, or hiding a Kindred no questions asked from a revenge-crazed Malkavian howling for her blood.
Major Boon: A major boon can alter the flow of Kindred affairs in a domain, directly or indirectly. Boons like these invariably invite some amount of personal risk or a significant investment of effort. That said, a Cainite desperate enough for a favor may well pledge a major boon for a quick but momentous action. Life Boon: The life boon is the rarest and most valuable of the boons observed by the Damned.
As their name intimates, these boons are often all that stands between a Cainite and Final Death. Examples of life boons include the obvious salvation of a Kindred from peril, but may also involve hiding a grievous secret, protecting a mortal lover, or offering an alibi without knowing what sort of horrific crime the boon-pledging Cainite is trying to hide.
Some honor-bound vampires will even die to fulfill a life boon, so great is their sense of duty or their debt. Of course, such Kindred are rare in the World of Darkness. Should one expect any less of the Damned? Many an inexperienced or desperate Kindred fledgling and ancilla alike has found himself in horrendous debt due to his ignorance of the various strata of prestation. This is not entirely through his own error.
No few Cainites of august Status brokering deals have assisted the matter by choosing not to inform a Kindred about his potential mistake or by deliberate misinformation when it suited them. This, of course, gives them the opportunity to help the unfortunate by extending another debt to ameliorate the first one. The sanctity of the prestation system is very important to any Kindred who benefits from the existence of hierarchy and the status quo, particularly those elders who have spent centuries cultivating vast networks of debts.
Needless to say, few elders of any sect intend to allow that to happen. Those investments in favors are major resources in the mini-Jyhads every Kindred plays. As such, every vampire, regardless of sect or clan, whether debtor or indebted, has a vested interest in keeping the formality of the prestation system intact. Anything less represents the complete breakdown of Kindred society: the lawless id of the Beast.
That said, some account housekeeping may be necessary. Cheating Of course, given the nature of the Kindred, such a simple social contract provides its own potential mire. Even across sect lines, a vampire willing to fuck over another Kindred so obviously and gracelessly for personal gain deserves whatever comes to them. If power were so easy to seize, every shit-heel fledgling with a lying tongue would be his own Prince. To this end, some heavy-handed domains ensure complicity with the rules of prestation by creating their own safeguards.
Several uses of Dominate can ascertain whether a given boon has been honorably satisfied. While the Kindred who attempts to sneak out on a debt has it bad, the one who kills his boon-holder to avoid paying suffers infinitely worse treatment if his treacheries come to light.
To deter desperate Kindred, elders and other opinion leaders among the Damned tend to come down hard on those who kill to escape honoring their obligations. For any Kindred who chooses Final Death instead of repayment, the best he can expect is likely the Lextalionis or being placed on tap at the next Blood Feast.
The worst may well be unspeakable — but the Kindred rumor mill certainly circulates endless dire stories to discourage other would-be oath-slayers. Obviously, the powers that be in a given domain tend to look unfavorably upon oathbreakers.
Whether a Prince or Seraph is the ultimate authority in a city, it comes down to the matter of trust. A Kindred who breaks a promise demonstrates that she places her own interests above those of others. Most Cainite leaders reason that bloody, final satisfaction is often the safest course.
A treacherous Kindred will betray again, so remove him from the domain. Inter-Sect Prestation It is for this very reason that the vampires of all sects observe to some degree, at least the conventions of prestation. Vampires of other sects are still vampires, and a rogue who backs out on a promise tonight may back out on a promise to you tomorrow night. Then again, in more liberal domains, no one may raise an eyebrow — indeed, they may pave the way for others to expand their interests as well.
The most difficult relationships of inter-sect prestation are, unsurprisingly, between the Camarilla and the Sabbat, given that the philosophies of the two are diametrically opposed. However, boons granted between members of the Camarilla and the Anarch Movement are also often scrutinized, as the success of one sect is frequently the hindrance of the other. How can a staunchly conservative Prince trust a subject who openly deals with a pack of terrorists that oppose everything his title represents?
At times, clan unity becomes more important than sect loyalty, and members of the thirteen great families of Kindred and, as frequently, members of marginalized bloodlines can close ranks against outside influence.
Note that most of these clan loyalties belong to those clans that are typically disenfranchised or otherwise less than fanatical about the artificial construct of sects.
The Nosferatu are certainly the most active in this regard, and the vast information network that connects the Sewer Rats does so without regard for ideology or geography. A secret is a secret, and the value of information is greater than any Ventrue or Lasombra wouldbe tyrant may suggest. As ever, Kindred politics makes strange bedfellows. Those with entrepreneurial minds or unorthodox approaches may well find their greatest adversaries amid their own supposed ideological peers.
Small minds make for vicious controversy. Boons As Commodities Like a slatternly Blood Doll, prestation debts circulate through the ranks of the undead. As banks trade assets, boons move constantly among Kindred, being retrieved, dangled, held in promissory escrow, and otherwise shunted around so that it becomes dizzying to keep track of who owes what to whom.
The Lick whose debt moves from one debtor to another must learn about the transfer, otherwise she runs the risk of denying a perfectly valid settlement for what she thinks is a perfectly valid reason, causing the whole network of prestation to collapse. Moving promises from one Cainite to another is as much a function of prestation as swearing them in the first place.
Boon Trivial boon Experience point cost 3 Minor boon 7 Major boon 20 Life boon — Optional System: Liar, Liar A character may choose to falsify the condition of a boon, declaring it either absolved or still intact, whichever is the opposite of the truth.
If the roll achieves any successes, the character has covered her tracks for one period of time scene, night, etc. On a botch, something much more problematic happens — the Prince decides to make an example of her, the Inquisitor connects the false boon with an Infernalism cover-up, etc. A player may spend Willpower to automatically succeed on this roll, but Willpower spent in this manner cannot be regained until the scandal blows over see below.
Sometimes Kindred news travels quickly, and the roll represents a single scene, such as a contentious convocation at Elysium or the Palla Grande. Other times, something else occupies the attentions of the Damned, so a roll may represent a period of downtime such as a month.
Note that the purpose of this system is to abstract the Kindred rumor mill, Nosferatu secret-brokers, gossip at vampire functions, etc. If someone manages to turn up damning evidence, they should certainly be able to expose the treacherous Kindred. No skeleton in the closet disappears completely just because the character acquired successes as described above. Few vampires of any Status, regardless of sect, look favorably upon the false satisfaction of boons.
In these modern nights, when promises can be recorded on digital devices and distributed to every Cainite in the domain at the click of a button, maintaining the stability of the domain is worth spilling a little extra blood. As a result, Kindred in most prestation arrangements are as safe as can be expected from any of her debtors. As long as one of the Kindred has a debt hanging over him, he must always be aware of the possibility of having his marker called in. Holding a debt over a vampire and insinuating that repayment might come due at any moment is an effective method of paralyzing a Kindred, quelling his ambition, and forcing him to reserve some of his resources against the possibility.
This game of move and counter-move takes on the characteristics of the sect in whose domain it is practiced. Bloody vendetta characterizes Anarch domains, social brinksmanship is the way of the Camarilla, and the Sabbat practices fervent bullying with a side of fire and zealotry.
Furthermore, a Kindred who owes another a debt is perceived as being inferior to the vampire to whom she owes it. This perception only applies to those who know about a debt, and many Kindred who dig up dirt on a powerful peer let the whole domain know about it as quickly as possible.
If the Cainite performs this sequence effectively, the creditor gains prestige while the debtor loses it. Once the boon is discharged, most sects look the other way when an abused debtor takes vengeance on a harsh creditor. Assuaging Social Debt Few Kindred like the idea of having lingering debts. As a result, most Cainites seek to pay off their prestation debts as soon as they can safely do so. Those who have extended the favors have a vested interest in prolonging those debts, so the result can be a game of cat and mouse, with the debtors frantically attempting to do their creditors favors and the creditors dodging anything that might conceivably be construed as a satisfaction from their debtors.
Debts among the Kindred rarely take specific shape. Few vampires request a detailed service. Rather, debts are vague and amorphous, assumed to fall into a category the favor-granting Kindred considers her expertise, or something that puts the indebted Kindred at a greater but delayed disadvantage.
The indistinct nature of the debt helps keeps those on the owing of prestation deferential, as they work to abate their debt with flattery or obsequiousness. Along those lines, since the nature of most Cainite debt is undefined, it is common among the Kindred to grant some sort of lesser consideration to their creditors in hopes of canceling the boon.
Particularly energetic or devious vampires may be able to maneuver their creditors into situations wherein they can appear on the scene and render assistance, thus wiping out the imbalance. What form payback takes depends on the size and type of debt incurred. It is considered bad form to ask for excessive repayment of minor debts.
In such cases, 44 depending on the sect in which the boon exists, the debtor may laugh off the request potentially even canceling it in observation of the absurd entitlement that accompanied the attempted discharge or even demand some sort of martial satisfaction.
Other Tabletop Games. Publisher Resources. Family Gaming. Science Fiction. Screen Inserts. Onyx Path Publishing. Pay What You Want. See all titles. Publisher Website.
Follow Your Favorites! Sign in to get custom notifications of new products! Recent History. Product Information. Copy Link Tweet This. Original electronic Scanned image These products were created by scanning an original printed edition.
Most older books are in scanned image format because original digital layout files never existed or were no longer available from the publisher. The result of this OCR process is placed invisibly behind the picture of each scanned page, to allow for text searching. However, any text in a given book set on a graphical background or in handwritten fonts would most likely not be picked up by the OCR software, and is therefore not searchable. Also, a few larger books may be resampled to fit into the system, and may not have this searchable text background.
For printed books, we have performed high-resolution scans of an original hardcopy of the book. We essentially digitally re-master the book. Unfortunately, the resulting quality of these books is not as high. It's the problem of making a copy of a copy. We mark clearly which print titles come from scanned image books so that you can make an informed purchase decision about the quality of what you will receive.
Original electronic format These ebooks were created from the original electronic layout files, and therefore are fully text searchable. Also, their file size tends to be smaller than scanned image books. Most newer books are in the original electronic format.
0コメント