Hunger Dice

For each level of Hunger affecting a vampire character, they gain one Hunger die. Hunger dice are ten-sided, just like regular dice, but should be a different color than regular dice, so players can easily spot them in a pool. (We suggest red.) When a player builds a dice pool for a vampire character, they exchange regular dice from that pool for Hunger dice on a one-for-one basis.

If the dice pool for the roll is lower than the character’s Hunger, simply roll a number of Hunger dice equal to the dice pool.

EXAMPLE: Erica wants to check a crime scene for clues. The Storyteller tells her to build a pool of Intelligence + Investigation. She has 3 in both Traits, so her dice pool is six (Intelligence 3 + Investigation 3). Erica has Hunger 2, so she removes two dice from her pool and adds two Hunger dice to it. Her dice pool is still six dice, but two of the dice in the pool are Hunger dice.

The exception: Characters never include Hunger dice in Checks, Willpower, or Humanity dice pools.

Hunger dice function as regular dice in tests and contests, scoring successes on a 6 or higher. Hunger dice can not be re-rolled by using Willpower, however, as the Hunger makes a mockery of the rational mind’s attempt to tame it. In addition, rolling a 0 (10) or 1 on a Hunger die carries additional consequences: messy criticals and bestial failures.

Messy Critical

A critical win in which one or more 10s appears on a Hunger die is a messy critical. The character succeeds as in a regular critical – but like an animal would, not a being capable of foresight or self-control. The Beast scored the critical, perhaps, not you.

EXAMPLE:

Your Hunger has driven you to greater than normal performance – at the cost of control. You killed the bouncer, but you clearly snapped his spine or tore out his throat. You opened the door by pulling it off its hinges. You found the right book and tore the rest of the bookcase down in your exultation. You eluded the guards by biting out the throat of the one who saw you before he could cry out, leaving a very informative corpse in your path.

The Storyteller and the player work together to decide on the level of success and the level of mess: by and large, they scale upward together. The following are results from a good, meaty mess:

■ The character gains one or more Stains (p. 239) from their monstrous action.

■ The character breaches the Masquerade, as they visibly demonstrate supernatural strength or speed, or leave gaping bite wounds in a body.

■ The character loses one dot from an Advantage. For example, you might have totaled your Bugatti (squandering Resources), crippled a Retainer, offended an Ally, or just lost Status in court following your outburst. Although the character still needs to spend time (in a later scene or in the background) to take action to repair the dot, the Storyteller can allow the loss to recover more quickly than other vanished dots.

■ If none of the above conditions fit the narrative, such as on stealth or awareness tests, the messy critical turns into a simple mess, and the test fails as the Beast clouds the senses or otherwise makes a quiet solution unattainable.

EXAMPLE:

Wanda scores a messy critical when using the Precognition power (see p. 249). As she gains the information she looks for with startling clarity, the vision is cut short by a glimpse of herself indulging her most bestial urges, and she receives one Stain.

You do not roll Hunger dice on a Willpower roll or on a Humanity roll, so you cannot get a messy critical on these rolls.

Bestial Failure

A failed roll (not enough successes to reach the Difficulty or to beat an opposing contestant’s number of successes) in which one or more Hunger dice come up a 1 is a bestial failure. Either the character failed because their Beast manifested inopportunely or excessively, or the character’s failure angered their Beast into manifesting inopportunely or excessively. The following are good results from a bestial failure:

■ The character must act out a Compulsion, as the Blood starts to subtly dictate their actions. (see below)

For players new to the game or troupes that want their characters less prone to acting on urges, choose one of the options below instead:

■ The character loses a dot in an Advantage as on a messy critical.

■ The character suffers one or more points of Aggravated Health damage. This result works well for bestial failures on resistance rolls, as the character breaks out in bloody sweat from the stress.

■ If no-one in the troupe can come up with a good idea, the Hunger increases by one. If this result would take their Hunger above 5, the character immediately rolls to resist hunger frenzy (p. 220) at Difficulty 4

Remember: if your roll succeeds anyway, you can’t get a bestial failure, no matter how many Hunger dice come up 1s.

Compulsions

Compulsions occur on a bestial failure as the Hunger subtly urges a vampire into actions dictated by their Blood, sometimes even instilling traits hailing from their clan’s founder. When a character must take a Compulsion, the Storyteller chooses one or randomly determines one by rolling on the table below. (Try to vary the Compulsions rather than leaning on the clan Compulsion each time, unless you enjoy stereotype overgrowth.) Once chosen, the player decides how best to act it out. Reward players who go above and beyond to play into their Compulsion by allowing them to restore a Willpower point. Note that, unlike frenzy, players cannot spend Willpower to ignore the effects of a Compulsion. These insidious urges compel behavior that feels utterly natural; the vampire may never realize they were influenced.

Sample Compulsions:

These basic Compulsions form the core of the vampire personality. Storytellers should feel free to create custom Compulsions based on their own notions of vampiric dysfunction or on the specific failure modes of their player character base.

RANDOM COMPULSIONS

1-3: Hunger
4-5: Dominance
6-7: Harm
8-9: Paranoia
0: Clan Compulsion*
* Re-roll for Caitiff or thin-blood

Hunger:

The archetypal Compulsion: with Hunger, the vampire’s thoughts inexorably stray toward the rush of sinking their fangs in prey and hot blood washing over the tongue. The vampire will do anything to slake their Hunger, whether that means violence, subterfuge, or outright begging. They perform any action not immediately conducive to feeding at a two-dice penalty to their pools. This Compulsion ends when the vampire slakes at least 1 Hunger level.

EXAMPLES:

in a social setting: Instead of questioning the mortal witness, the vampire moves the situation toward a seduction.

in a violent setting: The vampire discards their weapon, throwing themselves headfirst into a grapple, determined to feed.

in a solitary setting: The vampire decides they need a break and just happens to end up at a sweaty nightclub.

Dominance

The Blood urges its host to come out on top, to own, and to establish dominance. This Compulsion drives the vampire not only to excel but to revel in it, taunting the weak and challenging the strong.

The vampire makes their next interaction into a competition, using all means at their disposal to end up victorious and to rub the nose of the loser in their defeat. The vampire cannot use teamwork and performs any action that avoids establishing dominance or challenging authority at a two-dice penalty to their pools. This Compulsion ends when the vampire has “won” and gloated over it.

EXAMPLES:

in a social setting: The vampire turns a civil conversation into a one-upmanship exercise, alienating the person whose trust they sought to gain.

in a violent setting: The vampire pauses to toy with a mortal opponent, basking in their superiority, instead of focusing on the objective.

in a solitary setting: The vampire becomes obsessed with accomplishing their objective in a novel way, proving their superiority to themselves and the world.

Harm:

Things turn ugly: the Hunger compels the vampire to hurt and destroy – not to feed or to win, but for the sole sake of causing harm, reveling in the pain of others. This Compulsion often, but not always, means physical harm. It can also involve subtler types of damage such as social or emotional.

The vampire performs all actions not immediately resulting
in someone or something getting harmed at a two-dice penalty to their pool. This Compulsion ends when the vampire incapacitates, destroys, or drives away a target. If the vampire turns on an object, it must hold serious value to someone the vampire ordinarily values, such as themselves.

EXAMPLES:

in a social setting: A smooth introduction goes sour as the vampire starts to harass and psychologically torture the subject.

in a violent setting: Instead of leaving an incapacitated adversary, the vampire gleefully starts tearing into the unconscious opponent.

in a solitary setting: Annoyed at a minor inconvenience, the vampire takes a baseball bat to their expensive computer rig.

Paranoia:

Hunter and hunted, a vampire always needs to keep their eyes and ears peeled for trouble. With this Compulsion, that need flares into full-blown paranoia as the Hunger reminds the Blood of its vulnerability.

The vampire tries to disengage from any perceived threat, suspecting anyone, and anything. Any action not taken toward that immediate end incurs a two-dice penalty. The Compulsion ends when the vampire has spent roughly an hour in a safe spot: e.g., a rooftop with good visibility, their haven, or buried deep underground.

EXAMPLES:

in a social setting: The vampire treats everyone with suspicion, trying to get out of any and all engagements.

in a violent setting: The vampire tries to end or escape the danger by any means, whether running or begging for their unlife.

in a solitary setting: The vampire sees threats where none exist, lashing out and fleeing, fixating on random occult symbols or weird coincidences.

Clan Compulsions

The specific forms of the Blood flowing down from the Antediluvians warp their inheritors to suit a millennia-old pattern. Whether this Compulsion represents inherited defects, necessary release valves, or part of some ancient Working, it can prove inconvenient in the moment.

Brujah: Rebellion

The vampire takes a stand against whatever or whomever they see as the status quo in the situation, whether that’s their leader, a viewpoint expressed by a potential vessel, or just the task they were supposed to do at the moment.

Until they’ve gone against their orders or expectations, perceived or real, the vampire receives a two- dice penalty to all rolls. This Compulsion ends once they’ve managed to either make someone change their minds (by force if necessary) or done the opposite of what was expected of them.

Malkavian: Delusion

Their extrasensory gifts running wild, the vampire experiences what might be truths or portents, but what others call figments of imagination, dredged up by Hunger.

While still functional, the vampire’s mind and perceptions are skewed. They receive a two-dice penalty to rolls involving Dexterity, Manipulation, Composure, and Wits as well as on rolls to resist terror frenzy, for one scene.

Toreador: Obsession

Enraptured by beauty, the vampire becomes temporarily obsessed with a singular gorgeous thing, able to think of nothing else. Pick one feature, such as a person, a song, an artwork, blood spatter, or even a sunrise. Enraptured, the vampire can hardly take their attention from it, and if spoken to, they only talk about that subject. Any other actions receive a two-dice penalty. This Compulsion lasts until they can no longer perceive the beloved object, or the scene ends.

Tremere: Perfectionism

Nothing but the best satisfies the vampire. Anything less than exceptional performance instills a profound sense of failure, and they often repeat tasks obsessively to get them “just right.”

Until the vampire scores a critical win on a Skill roll or the scene ends, the vampire labors under a two-dice penalty to all dice pools. Reduce the penalty to one die for a repeated action, and remove it entirely on a second repeat.