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

starting play • determining another’s chapter one: status society • stotus of the and damned travel 283
DETERMINING ANOTHER’S STATUS
Kindred are social predators; most struggle for station from the moment of their Embrace
until their destruction. But knowing ones’ own standing is useless without being able to tell
how esteemed others are.
The best way to determine social standing is certainly through roleplaying and interaction,
but the degree of attention Kindred pay to discussions of and clues to social position can have
a role. When one Kindred meets another, the fi rst player may make a refl exive Intelligence
+ Occult draw to recall if her character has heard of the other in a particular context. Trying
to recall City Status, Clan Status or Covenant Status are all separate actions.
This draw can occur only when the observing character reasonably determines the observed
Kindred’s identity. An introduction certainly qualifi es, but overhearing a name is just as good. If
the observed character is never identifi ed, no draw is possible. If he presents himself under an assumed
name, then the draw is possible but can determine only the Status of his false identity.
For City Status, Kindred can determine only the effective City Status of visitors, not strangers’
true status back home. For their part, visitors who size residents up suffer a penalty equal
to that imposed on their own City Status (see below).
For Clan and Covenant Status, the draw fails automatically if the observer has no Clan or
Covenant Status of her own or she tries to determine Status across clan or covenant lines.
Failure: The observer has no sense of the subject’s standing. After a failed attempt, the observer
cannot try to determine the same Status type for the same subject until a full hour has passed.
Success: The observer recalls the Kindred’s standing (the player knows the other character’s
dots of Status). In the case of characters with the relevant Status at zero, the observer knows
if the subject has not earned any standing in the domain, clan or covenant, or has somehow
been stripped of Status. If the latter case, the observer does not learn how Status was lost
unless it was in a blood hunt.
STATUS AND TRAVEL
Kindred are predominantly sedentary creatures and their ranks and privileges do not travel
well. Still, the clans and covenants do provide means to send word from domain to domain,
and a powerful Prince traveling abroad is still afforded respect.
Clan and Covenant Status do not change as a character travels. A Cardinal of the Lancea
Sanctum abroad still outranks a local parish priest. The visiting worthy may not have the
local resources to enforce his will, however, so respect of domain remains a wise move for
traveling Kindred, even among clan and covenant mates.
City Status is the most bound to the conditions of a particular domain. This specifi city
makes it an effective tool in that locale, but also makes the trait highly unsuited to travel.
Characters visiting a domain have no true City Status, but do gain an effective rating based
on their reputation back home and how far they have traveled. A visitor’s effective City Status
is equal to her City Status in her home domain, modifi ed as follows:
3.10 — EFFECTIVE CITY STATUS WHEN TRAVELING
Character Is... City Status Modifi er
In his home region, but not city -1
In his home nation, but not region -2
Outside his home nation -3
These penalties are levied on a character’s City Status when he leaves his home city, and
don’t refl ect on any bonuses for being part of the eminent clan or ascendant covenant (in
either his home city or the one he visits). If a character is under a blood hunt in his home