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fiat_knoxHere's an idea for Vampire: the Requiem I came up with. Bear with me.
Suppose your Daeva character finds a torpid Nosferatu elder, pretty high Blood Potency - higher than your PC's, at any rate - and the character decides to diablerise the helpless NPC. The diablerie proceeds as planned, and everything seems okay.
Then your character encounters the drawbacks. The Humanity loss. The roll to acquire a derangement.
But instead of the expected black veins in your character's aura, they get something else.
They get the Elder's Clan or Bloodline weakness, on top of their own.
This weakness stains the Vitae for as many years as the black veins would: one year per point of Blood Potency. And then it fades. Your character breathes a sigh of relief.
Then the character Sires a new vampire ... and discovers that the Clan weakness of the diablerised Elder appears in the Childe from the Embrace.
So you have (for example) a Daeva, suffering from the Daeva curse, but also suffering the Nos weakness, too. Worse - it's inherited. Your character's Childe's Childe bears the same damn taint.
Your character (and you) might think they got away with diablerie ... but, in truth, they didn't. The character, and any Childer, find that they can join a bloodline, so you've not created a new bloodline - maybe your character didn't have BP 6, even with the diablerie, so it wouldn't have been possible anyway - but the taint comes along with them for the ride, and now they have a bloodline weakness to contend with, as well.
If the Childer were already members of a bloodline the character had created before the diablerie, they'd still have this extra weakness to contend with, as well as the shame of knowing that their Sire's Sire saddled them with this awful condition they had no hand in.
Bloodline childer created before the diablerie would, of course, bear no such taint. They might even split off, form their own separate bloodline, out of shame and spite, once they hear of the horrible thing your character's gone and done.
And then the diablerised Nos' childer would come calling, and discover that they can taste their Sire's blood ... in yours, and your infected childer's. It's as good as a blood tie.
Consider the joy a ST would have, creating, say, a pretty young socialite Daeva with the Nosferatu weakness; or imagine something like this happening to, say, a Ventrue diablerist who'd diablerised a Gangrel earlier in her life. She Embraces a young man, a genius, an Intelligence 5 luminary, whose brains she wishes to recruit to further her goals ... only to discover that she's given the Childe the Gangrel Clan weakness as well as her own Clan's weakness.
If you don't like that idea, consider the idea that all of a character's post-diablerie childer, and their childer etc., acquire the black veins in their aura, which never completely fade, even after the veins fade from the Sire's aura.
Nice ideas, n'est - ce pas?
Here. I statted it up, for those few people who might like a little crunch with their fluff:
ST options for diablerie rules:
(i) Black veins
As well as all other rolls performed for the diablerie, the ST rolls a Chance Die.
If the result is Dramatic Failure, black veins appear in the auras of all childer Embraced by the diablerist, and all subsequent generations of the diablerist's lineage, even long after they have faded from the siring diablerist's aura.
Each generation removed from the diablerist finds the veins harder to detect (cumulative -1 per generation removed from their diablerist sire to detect with Auspex, maximum -5) but they never go away. They're always there, if one knows where to look.
An afflicted childe who commits diablerie discovers that each diablerie they commit permanently strengthens the faint veins they were Embraced with. After their own diablerie wears off, they find the generational penalty against detecting their permanent black veins with Auspex has itself permanently decreased.
If the childe commits enough diablerie, there will be no visibility penalty to offset uses of Auspex on the character's aura and those black veins will remain on their aura, fully visible to Auspex, for all time.
So, for example, Fauster the diablerist Daeva sires a childe, Mendacia, who sires Apellido. Mendacia inherits Fauster's black veins, but they are at -1 to detect. Apellido's black aura veins are at -2 to detect with Auspex.
Apellido diablerises an Elder with 3 BP. For three years, Apellido carries the black veins at full visibility. Then they fade again: but to Apellido's chagrin, he discovers that they are no longer fainter than Mendacia's, but the same strength as hers. If he commits diablerie again, those veins will be at full strength, fully visible, forever.
Or at least, until the Hounds catch up with him and his sire.
Eliminating such permanent stains requires that the childe performing the Embrace spend 1 extra Willpower dot to remove them from the grandchilde. If the ST is generous, he can rule that this eliminates the stains from appearing further down the lineage, but if future grandchilder should commit diablerie, the veins will appear permanently on their aura.
(ii) Acquisition of the victim's Clan or bloodline weakness
Instead of black veins, the character acquires the Clan or bloodline weakness of the diablerised victim. This stain remains for as long as black veins do: 1 year per Blood Potency point of the victim.
So, for example, a Daeva diablerist who prizes herself on her knowledge of the Majesty Discipline might find that she is penalised by her acquisition of the Nosferatu Clan weakness on top of her own, making all uses of her Majesty Discipline problematic at best.
A Mekhet Diablerist might have Intelligence 5, but discover that her Gangrel victim's blighted her mind with slow mental erosion, eliminating all those lovely 10 Again rolls in her vaunted Attribute.
Of course, this is temporary. The taint lasts 1 year per Blood Potency of the diablerised victim before fading. But the character's not out of the running yet.
There is a possibility that the stolen Clan weakness won't have faded, simply gone into dormancy. It's permanently there, and next time the character commits diablerie, it comes back again, full force, along with the possibility that the character might acquire another permanent Clan weakness.
Roll a chance die next time the afflicted diablerist Embraces. If the result is Dramatic Failure, then the taint, or taints, will manifest full force in all further childer sired, and all subsequent generations of that diablerist's lineage afflicted with this taint. This does not affect childer of the diablerist's lineage Embraced before the diablerie: only those Embraced after.
If the diablerist Embraces whilst still suffering from the affliction, the taint is passed on to the childer automatically.
This does not count as the formation of a new bloodline. The diablerist could have any Blood Potency. Afflicted childer might be able to suppress the extra taints by spending 1 extra Willpower dot when they Embrace, but they have no chance of suppressing it in themselves: furthermore, the now-latent affliction carries through the blood to appear in that childe's childer unless they spend the extra Willpower on Enbracing, and so on.
If a childe carries latent taints, each time they gain or lose Blood Potency, enter torpor, enter a Chrysalis if they are Dragons, or frenzy, the character must roll a Chance Die. Dramatic Failure permanently brings all the extra taints to the surface.
As for what Clan the childer are: they remain tied to the base Clan of their diablerist progenitor (so a Daeva grandsire Embraces a Daeva Sire, Daeva Childer and so on). They only have the customary three in-Clan Disciplines of their originating Clan, unless they join a bloodline, in which case they gain their bloodline Discipline, as well as the bloodline weakness on top of what they already have.
Finally, the victim's blood lineage will have an effective blood tie with the diablerist for as long as the taints manifest; which means they have the equivalent of blood ties with all afflicted childer which manifest these taints.
This could be chosen by the ST as a possible third alternative, separate to the above two options.
Suppose your Daeva character finds a torpid Nosferatu elder, pretty high Blood Potency - higher than your PC's, at any rate - and the character decides to diablerise the helpless NPC. The diablerie proceeds as planned, and everything seems okay.
Then your character encounters the drawbacks. The Humanity loss. The roll to acquire a derangement.
But instead of the expected black veins in your character's aura, they get something else.
They get the Elder's Clan or Bloodline weakness, on top of their own.
This weakness stains the Vitae for as many years as the black veins would: one year per point of Blood Potency. And then it fades. Your character breathes a sigh of relief.
Then the character Sires a new vampire ... and discovers that the Clan weakness of the diablerised Elder appears in the Childe from the Embrace.
So you have (for example) a Daeva, suffering from the Daeva curse, but also suffering the Nos weakness, too. Worse - it's inherited. Your character's Childe's Childe bears the same damn taint.
Your character (and you) might think they got away with diablerie ... but, in truth, they didn't. The character, and any Childer, find that they can join a bloodline, so you've not created a new bloodline - maybe your character didn't have BP 6, even with the diablerie, so it wouldn't have been possible anyway - but the taint comes along with them for the ride, and now they have a bloodline weakness to contend with, as well.
If the Childer were already members of a bloodline the character had created before the diablerie, they'd still have this extra weakness to contend with, as well as the shame of knowing that their Sire's Sire saddled them with this awful condition they had no hand in.
Bloodline childer created before the diablerie would, of course, bear no such taint. They might even split off, form their own separate bloodline, out of shame and spite, once they hear of the horrible thing your character's gone and done.
And then the diablerised Nos' childer would come calling, and discover that they can taste their Sire's blood ... in yours, and your infected childer's. It's as good as a blood tie.
Consider the joy a ST would have, creating, say, a pretty young socialite Daeva with the Nosferatu weakness; or imagine something like this happening to, say, a Ventrue diablerist who'd diablerised a Gangrel earlier in her life. She Embraces a young man, a genius, an Intelligence 5 luminary, whose brains she wishes to recruit to further her goals ... only to discover that she's given the Childe the Gangrel Clan weakness as well as her own Clan's weakness.
If you don't like that idea, consider the idea that all of a character's post-diablerie childer, and their childer etc., acquire the black veins in their aura, which never completely fade, even after the veins fade from the Sire's aura.
Nice ideas, n'est - ce pas?
Here. I statted it up, for those few people who might like a little crunch with their fluff:
ST options for diablerie rules:
(i) Black veins
As well as all other rolls performed for the diablerie, the ST rolls a Chance Die.
If the result is Dramatic Failure, black veins appear in the auras of all childer Embraced by the diablerist, and all subsequent generations of the diablerist's lineage, even long after they have faded from the siring diablerist's aura.
Each generation removed from the diablerist finds the veins harder to detect (cumulative -1 per generation removed from their diablerist sire to detect with Auspex, maximum -5) but they never go away. They're always there, if one knows where to look.
An afflicted childe who commits diablerie discovers that each diablerie they commit permanently strengthens the faint veins they were Embraced with. After their own diablerie wears off, they find the generational penalty against detecting their permanent black veins with Auspex has itself permanently decreased.
If the childe commits enough diablerie, there will be no visibility penalty to offset uses of Auspex on the character's aura and those black veins will remain on their aura, fully visible to Auspex, for all time.
So, for example, Fauster the diablerist Daeva sires a childe, Mendacia, who sires Apellido. Mendacia inherits Fauster's black veins, but they are at -1 to detect. Apellido's black aura veins are at -2 to detect with Auspex.
Apellido diablerises an Elder with 3 BP. For three years, Apellido carries the black veins at full visibility. Then they fade again: but to Apellido's chagrin, he discovers that they are no longer fainter than Mendacia's, but the same strength as hers. If he commits diablerie again, those veins will be at full strength, fully visible, forever.
Or at least, until the Hounds catch up with him and his sire.
Eliminating such permanent stains requires that the childe performing the Embrace spend 1 extra Willpower dot to remove them from the grandchilde. If the ST is generous, he can rule that this eliminates the stains from appearing further down the lineage, but if future grandchilder should commit diablerie, the veins will appear permanently on their aura.
(ii) Acquisition of the victim's Clan or bloodline weakness
Instead of black veins, the character acquires the Clan or bloodline weakness of the diablerised victim. This stain remains for as long as black veins do: 1 year per Blood Potency point of the victim.
So, for example, a Daeva diablerist who prizes herself on her knowledge of the Majesty Discipline might find that she is penalised by her acquisition of the Nosferatu Clan weakness on top of her own, making all uses of her Majesty Discipline problematic at best.
A Mekhet Diablerist might have Intelligence 5, but discover that her Gangrel victim's blighted her mind with slow mental erosion, eliminating all those lovely 10 Again rolls in her vaunted Attribute.
Of course, this is temporary. The taint lasts 1 year per Blood Potency of the diablerised victim before fading. But the character's not out of the running yet.
There is a possibility that the stolen Clan weakness won't have faded, simply gone into dormancy. It's permanently there, and next time the character commits diablerie, it comes back again, full force, along with the possibility that the character might acquire another permanent Clan weakness.
Roll a chance die next time the afflicted diablerist Embraces. If the result is Dramatic Failure, then the taint, or taints, will manifest full force in all further childer sired, and all subsequent generations of that diablerist's lineage afflicted with this taint. This does not affect childer of the diablerist's lineage Embraced before the diablerie: only those Embraced after.
If the diablerist Embraces whilst still suffering from the affliction, the taint is passed on to the childer automatically.
This does not count as the formation of a new bloodline. The diablerist could have any Blood Potency. Afflicted childer might be able to suppress the extra taints by spending 1 extra Willpower dot when they Embrace, but they have no chance of suppressing it in themselves: furthermore, the now-latent affliction carries through the blood to appear in that childe's childer unless they spend the extra Willpower on Enbracing, and so on.
If a childe carries latent taints, each time they gain or lose Blood Potency, enter torpor, enter a Chrysalis if they are Dragons, or frenzy, the character must roll a Chance Die. Dramatic Failure permanently brings all the extra taints to the surface.
As for what Clan the childer are: they remain tied to the base Clan of their diablerist progenitor (so a Daeva grandsire Embraces a Daeva Sire, Daeva Childer and so on). They only have the customary three in-Clan Disciplines of their originating Clan, unless they join a bloodline, in which case they gain their bloodline Discipline, as well as the bloodline weakness on top of what they already have.
Finally, the victim's blood lineage will have an effective blood tie with the diablerist for as long as the taints manifest; which means they have the equivalent of blood ties with all afflicted childer which manifest these taints.
This could be chosen by the ST as a possible third alternative, separate to the above two options.
