Copyright 2003
White Wolf
Seduced and abandoned by their
sires, the Caitiff are everywhere on the fringes of Camarilla society.
Clanless
and unwanted, the Caitiff are the results of one night stands,
infatuations,
frenzied Embraces and outright mistakes. Most have hazy recollections,
at best,
of sire and Embrace; some have none whatsoever. Stumbling along in the
haze of
a new existence, each eventually discovered the keys to
survival--usually in
the form of another Caitiff looking out for the newcomer--or die
trying.
A
Caitiff's only identifying mark is a lack of identifying marks. Some
Kindred
theorists posit that some of "imprinting" between sire and child take
place over time, allowing the younger vampire to acquire the physical
characteristics of her Sire as mandated by the blood. Caitiff, however,
have no
such distinguishing marks--Caitiff descended from Nosferatu, for
example, may
be ugly, but rarely do they show the full-blown monstrosity of their
vampiric
ancestors. Thus it goes for other Caitiff, ones embraced by Malkavians
may be a
little quirky but not necessarily prey to full blown derangements, and
ones
embraced by Ventrue may have a feeding preference but not full blown
prey
exclusions, and so on. An informed observer can generally guess with
reasonable
accuracy what a Caitiff's lineage might be, but in the end, it's rarely
worth
even the attempt to do so.
Caitiff fill in the positions in Camarilla
society that
no one else really wants. While the Camarilla may take the Clanless in
on
occasion out of a vague sense of paternalism, the clans take care of
their own
first and leave the scraps for the Caitiff. Some Caitiff have been
known to scorn
active participation in city politics as second-class citizens, while
others
gladly seize any opportunity as a toehold in the establishment. In the
meantime, the majority of Clanless skirt involvement out of
self-preservation,
preferring to have the putative benefits of membership in the Camarilla
without
being drawn into its politics.
Caitiff Disciplines: Any
Combination of the Eight Common
Disciplines: Auspex,
Animalism, Celerity, Dominate, Fortitude, Obfuscate, Potence, Presence.
Clan
Advantages: Freedom - Caitiff possess no inherent clan advantages, other than
being able to determine there in clan disciplines by there background
and
environment.
Clan Disadvantages: Outcasts - Caitiff possess no inherent clan
disadvantages,
socially they are normally seen as the Trash of Kindred society and are
subsequently shunned by most kindred.
Feeding Grounds: None (Caitiff must find sponcership within a Clan,
so that they may share feeding grounds with that Clan)
Combo Disciplines:
Meat Shield (Fortitude - 5,
Obfuscate - 3, 6 xp)
Other Requirements: At least 1
Point mutual Blood Bond between User and
Recipient.
Expenditure: None.
Required Test: None.
Time Duration: Until Blood
Bond Dissipates.
Notes: Caitiff Only. This
discipline was developed by Simon Benson.
Description:
For centuries Caitiff have developed gifts on there own in order to
adapt to
the final nights that approach. In this expanse of time, many new
disciplines and techniques have developed from the use of the thin
blood in
order to combat the natural predators of the kindred and the
Caitiff.
When each Caitiff is embraced, there comes a point that the blood must
adapt to
the environment that the newly embraced kindred is a part of, this
leads to a
very close connected and personalized set of disciplines for each
Caitiff,
allowing them to study there powers more in depth than some other
clans, and
personalize the powers that they have developed.
Guardian's Sacrifice allows a vampire to draw upon his own life force
and
the kindred blood in order to save fellow kindred from a mortal
blow. The
discipline itself harnesses the inner endurance of the vampire, as well
as the
mind altering perceptions of Obfuscate, in conjunction with the mutual
blood
bond in order to create a symbiosis and life bond between two
kindred.
The bond causes even the greatest of wounds to be turned away from the
victim
and given to the user, in order that the other vampire might live.
Mechanics:
This discipline may only be once per night on a vampire which holds a
mutual
blood bond to the user of this discipline. There is no activation cost
for this discipline, aside from a mutually
exchanged blood bond between the user and recipient of this
discipline.
As long as the user of this discipline is within line of sight of the
recipient, the powers of this discipline may be used.
The user of this discipline may, for one round, declare an intent to
absorb all
damage from once source that is damaging the recipient. All
damage that
the recipient takes that round from the declared source is directed to
the
user, as wounds and other injuries from damage appear on his
body.
Fortitude and other powers may still be used in an effort to lessen the
damage
taken by an exposure to this power, and the recipient suffers none of
the
potential negative effects of the damage, wound penalties or other
aspects. If the recipient is set on fire, his body is on fire,
but the
user's skin will be the one to blister. If the recipient is shot,
a
gunshot wound will open on the user's body.
