Mind's Eye Theatre - Vampire The Requiem.pdf - RoseRed

chapter one: resisting society degeneration
of the damned 263
threaten those people to extort concessions from your character… or he might unintentionally
hurt them himself. The Damned seldom fi nd it easy to atone for what they’ve done.
At the other extreme, a player might say his character feels no remorse at all. She intended
to commit the sin, enjoyed it and would do it again. In that case, you might remove one draw
as a penalty. Such a Kindred doesn’t even try to resist the selfi shness that’s so characteristic of
the Beast. Don’t assess this penalty to a player already drawing only once for a degeneration
check. The fact that the character’s Humanity is so low that she has only one draw for the
check already signifi es that she’s beyond caring and remorse.
Note that modifi ers here apply to the degeneration series alone, not to Humanity draws
to determine if derangements are gained.
DEGENERATION AND VICES
The transformation from mortal to undead does not excuse a character from suffering his
Vice as his Humanity drops. Characters who want to retain their Humanity need to resist
their Vices as well as the Beast. Giving in to Vices can speed degeneration by eroding the
self-control that a Kindred needs to fi ght the Beast. The lower a character’s Humanity drops,
the more often he feels tempted by his Vice.
At fi rst glance, this would seem to put all Kindred on an accelerating death-spiral. Less
Humanity means a more prominent Beast, which means more sins, which eventually means
still less Humanity and an even more recalcitrant Beast.
That’s not actually true, because a character can sink below the level of his Vice. A Vice
drives a character to do something bad, but not the worst thing possible. A lecher might feel
driven by lust to seduce, but he doesn’t have to commit rape. An avaricious money-grubber
might have trouble passing up a shady business deal, but she doesn’t have to rob banks. At
low Humanity, the Kindred can fi nd many ways to indulge his Vice without committing the
most heinous acts. For instance, a Kindred who feels his pride insulted doesn’t have to murder
the offender. He might satisfy his pride by Dominating the offender into making a fool of
himself, use Majesty to turn other people against him or simply spy on him under cover of
Obfuscate to learn damaging secrets for blackmail or humiliation. These are all sleazy, selfi sh
acts — but not as bad as murder (probably). Make no mistake, though: Kindred who stabilize
at a low Humanity become deeply unpleasant characters.
DEGENERATION AND DERANGEMENTS
Derangements usually make it harder for characters to retain Humanity. Some derangements
can cause characters to lash out in wild fury under certain circumstances, or make
them believe they face deadly danger when they do not. Such outbursts can lead a Kindred
to commit acts he later regrets — or not, resulting in Humanity loss.
Some derangements can help preserve Humanity, however, if a character genuinely cannot
understand the signifi cance of his acts. He might not realize what he actually did. For instance,
the player of a paranoid vampire who believes that all banks are part of a Ventrue conspiracy
might receive a bonus to any degeneration draws that happen because of assaults on banks
or bankers. In his cracked mind, the vampire thinks a greater good justifi es his acts.
Players and Storytellers should remember, however, that derangements are expressly disadvantages
that always cause more harm than good. Storytellers should allow a derangementbased
bonus to Humanity checks only if a player has steadfastly roleplayed the disadvantages
of madness, and then only in very specifi c cases where the character’s delusions apply.
At best, madness helps a character stabilize at a low Humanity, as a last-ditch attempt by
the Man to protect itself from the Beast. Indeed, a character doesn’t get “better,” he simply
mires himself ever deeper in insanity.