Dangers to the blood:
Bullets merely bruise Kindred; swords crease their flesh. Even should they contract a disease from infected human blood, they pass it on to the kine they feed upon, while the germs die in their own system. However, a few means yet remain that inflict genuine harm upon a vampire.
Sunlight
Sunlight burns the undead, incinerating their unholy Blood and flesh under the eye of heaven. A vampire exposed to direct sunlight suffers Aggravated Health damage at the rate of their Bane Severity in points per turn.
Obscured sunlight, as through curtains or on a heavily overcast day, or protective clothing such
as a heavy coat, gloves, mask, wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses, and boots, reduces the rate of damage to every other turn or less.
Thin-bloods and sunlight:
Thin-bloods take only one point of Superficial damage per turn in direct sunlight. Thin-bloods can wear high-SPF sunscreen and swaddle themselves in less clothing (floppy hat, long sleeves) than full Kindred must in order to reduce their rate of damage to every other turn.
Fire
Unless used as a weapon (such as in the case of a burning torch, incendiary rounds, or a flamethrower), fire deals Aggravated Health damage to a vampire based on the amount of their body exposed, as dictated by the Storyteller. Having one’s hand shoved into an open flame might deal one point of damage, while being engulfed in a roaring inferno would deal three or more per turn. Although vampires burn no faster than mortals, fire remains a very real and omnipresent threat to the undead.
Extreme Cold
Though vampires cannot die from cold, they can suffer the effects of frostbite and even become entirely frozen in severe temperatures. Cold presents a special danger to vampires, because they have no bodily warmth save for a few minutes immediately following a feeding, and thus cannot easily detect dangerous drops in temperature.
After an hour of extreme cold (-30°C or below), vampires must roll Stamina + Resolve (Difficulty 2) to keep moving. They test again each hour, increasing the Difficulty by 1 for each roll. On a failure, they stop moving and can only exercise mental disciplines. An hour after that, their flesh freezes solid and they enter torpor.
Water conducts heat more efficiently than air; vampires in icy water test every half hour. A frozen vampire sinks, as they have no air in their lungs to provide buoyancy.
Decapitation
Successfully decapitating a vampire destroys them instantly. Beheading a vampire in close combat requires a called shot with a -2 penalty (see p. 302) using an edged beheading weapon (axe, scimitar, broadsword, etc.) that causes 10 or more Health damage of either type (before halving, in the case of Superficial damage).
Stakes
To stake a vampire through the heart, a hunter needs to either hammer the stake into the vampire while they lie sleeping or strike them through the heart during combat. For a combat staking, the hunter must make a called shot at a -2 penalty and inflict 5 points or more of damage of either type (before halving). This damage can stem from a ranged weapons test using a grenade launcher or a crossbow firing sharpened wooden bolts (or some similar stake-firing weapon), or it can stem from close combat with a Strength + Melee attack, using the stake as a weapon. A stake always has a damage modifier of +0, regardless of how it is applied. In circumstances where time and disturbance is not a factor, no roll is required to stake an incapacitated or sleeping vampire, at the Storyteller's discretion.
Being staked through the heart with a wooden stake paralyzes a vampire, though it initially remains conscious. By spending a point of Willpower, the vampire can perform minute movements, such as twitching a finger or opening their eyes, but that is the extent of their mobility. The vampire can still use mental Disciplines, such as Auspex, Presence, and Dominate, but they cannot issue commands unless they can communicate telepathically.
While staked, a vampire still rolls a Rouse Check every sunset to awaken. Sooner or later their waking Hunger drives them into torpor, as noted on p. 219.
TRUE FAITH
Many, perhaps most, mortals believe in a higher being or a greater reality, but only a few possess the Trait of True Faith. True Faith might reveal itself in evangelical zeal and fanaticism, calm conviction and profound sobriety, selfless love and warm generosity, or only appear in a true crisis.
It does not seem to manifest more or less often among clergy than amongst lay mortals; the Order of St. Leopold attempts to recruit for it, but even they find it hard to predict or determine.
Western vampire legends describe the Damned recoiling from crucifixes, but True Faith manifests in all religions. A devout Jew wielding a Star of David, a pious Muslim holding up the Holy
Qur’an, a faithful Hindu with an Aum symbol on their t-shirt: all might repel vampires by
True Faith. Even in the hands of a bishop a cross might be powerless if the holder does not possess this burning ardor.
The True Faith Trait appears in a rating from 1 to 5, like most Traits. It can- not be bought with experience points, although the horrifying experience may cause it to rise or erode. Each level of True Faith offers more protection against Kindred, as noted below. The ways of faith pose mysteries
to mortals and to vampires; only the Storyteller knows precisely what happens in their game.
• The character can attempt to ward off vampires by brandishing a holy symbol or uttering prayers. They roll Resolve + True Faith in a contest against the vampire’s Willpower pool. If the vampire wins, it can advance unhindered. Each success by the faithful mortal forces the vampire to back up a step and avert their eyes; if the faithful touches the vampire with their symbol this scene, the vampire also takes one point of Aggravated damage
per success, as the symbol sears their flesh. A critical success forces the vampire to flee and triggers a test for terror frenzy against a Difficulty equal to the character’s True Faith.
•• A mortal with a True Faith rating of 2 or more may resist Dominate and similar vampiric mind- control powers by spending Willpower (1 point protects for a number of turns equal to their True Faith rating).
••• At this level or more, a faithful person can sense the presence of a vampire. The mechanics, if any, depend on the Storyteller and on the mortal; a Nyanza witch-smeller or Bulgarian sabotnik might have uncanny Awareness, while a pious housewife on the way home from a mosque responds to her keen subconscious Insight. The ability works by dramatic necessity and doesn’t provide “vampire radar” – the mortal merely knows something unclean and evil lurks nearby.
•••• The mortal cannot be turned into a ghoul and never succumbs to any mind-altering disciplines such as Dominate, Presence, or Obfuscate.
••••• By brandishing a holy symbol or praying loudly, the mortal forces a vampire to make a Remorse test. Even if they win, the vampire collapses in helpless self-loathing and disgust, unable to act in anything but their own defense for a number of turns equal to their current Stains (to a minimum of one). Afterward, they remove all Stains. With no successes, the vampire permanently loses 1 point of Resolve, loses no Stains, and immediately flees in terror frenzy. A vampire who cannot flee suffers damage as though the symbol were direct sunlight, and they must move as far from the symbol as they can.
Torpor
Kindred dwell in a halfway state between life and death. Between vampiric unlife and Final Death lies an undead hibernation known as torpor. While in torpor, the vampire lies completely dead to their surroundings, reduced to the appearance of a shriveled corpse. They cannot use any disciplines or react in any way to ordinary stimuli.
Vampires remain in torpor for a length of time dictated by their Humanity (see Humanity Table, p. 241). If staked, the vampire remains in torpor past that time until someone or something removes the stake. Removing a stake after their period of torpor expires awakens the vampire immediately, or that night. Vampires awaken from torpor at Hunger 5.
Once their period of torpor expires, vampires in torpor who are not staked can make a Resolve + Awareness test (Difficulty 2) every time a potential victim enters their
vicinity. If successful, they can awaken long enough to feed, likely entering a hunger frenzy during the process. Once their Hunger drops to 4 or below, they rise fully recovered from the effects of torpor.
Vampires enter torpor in three ways: from Hunger, from damage, and voluntarily.
■ If a vampire attempts to rise
for the night with a Hunger level of 5 and fails their Rouse Check, they enter torpor.
■ If a vampire takes enough Aggravated damage to fill their Health tracker completely, they automatically enter torpor. They then unconsciously attempt to mend damage, trying to heal one Health point per night. If they fully restore themselves (heal all Health damage, and mend or recover from all impediments or critical hits), they can rise again. If failed Rouse Checks to mend damage drive them above Hunger 5, they enter torpor as above.
■ A vampire who entered torpor voluntarily still increases their Hunger every night, until they enter torpor as above. The same rules then apply.
To cut short a period of torpor, one can feed a slumbering vampire enough vampire Blood of higher Blood Potency than theirs to slake one Hunger.
Final Death
Though no longer mortal, vampires still face the possibility of Final Death. A vampire who dies
once again may not be brought back to unlife and is said to
have suffered the Final Death. In addition to fire, sunlight, and decapitation, acid that completely dissolves a vampire’s body kills them, as does explosive overpressure that dismembers it (though equally fatal fire accompanies most explosions), or deep-sea pressure that pulps it. The Storyteller may also know of certain vampiric diseases that bring Final Death from within.
Many vampires suffer Final Death in combat with werewolves, their own kind, or increasingly against human ininquisitors. Even vampire flesh can- not withstand endless traumatic force; enough bullets can drive them into torpor. Once in torpor, the vampire becomes a helpless target for their foes.
The Society of St. Leopold prescribes burning to ashes for torpid vampires. Other Final Deaths revert the vampire to a dead body of the same age. A vampire less than a year old becomes a rotting corpse; older vampires become skeletons or even dust.
Mechanically, when a vam- pire’s entire Health tracker is filled with Aggravated damage, the vampire enters torpor. Any additional Aggravated damage from fire or sunlight sustained in this state causes Final Death, as does decapitation or total destruction of their body.