Backgrounds

Backgrounds cannot be purchased after character creation they must be earned in game and be explainable! To get a background in game please make a write up of what your character is doing to gain the level of background you are requesting and load it into your Google Drive, then PM a Storyteller about what you are attempting so they can review it. You may add the Background to your Roll20 upon approval.
A level 3 influence is the highest any character is allowed to purchase in creation.
The combined number of characters dots in Influences, Information Networks, Animal Connections, Allies and Contacts may not exceed their combined number of dots in Mental and Social attributes on the character sheet. Any character wishing to "control" more of an interest in the city than this number must do so through an intermediary such as a retainer, ghoul, blood bound or dominated thrall etc...
To gain Allies and Contacts in play, a writeup of them, as well as a justification of their involvement with your character will be needed.
= Generation =
Each player will roll seven dice to determine the starting generation of their character. The roll will be performed as if it were any other against a difficult of 6 with no applicable specialty.
Automatic successes will be granted by the HST as he/she sees fit as a reward for backstory. In addition a player will earn 1 automatic success on this roll if they are currently playing an 11th gen character, 2 if their current PC is 12th gen, and 3 automatic successes if their current PC is 13th gen.
Conversely automatic “botches” will erode successes on this role for each generation your current PC is below 10th generation. IE -1 success at 9th gen, -2 successes at 8th gen etc…
Gen will start at 13th and each success will give the player the option of lowering the character concept being written by 1. If a player decides not to use all of the successes scored they cannot be pooled for later, however, a higher gen character will not impact the subsequent roll as significantly.
= Influence =
What Is It?
The influence system in Crossroads represents the pull your character can have over various areas of city life. Specifically, we break influence into 15 different spheres:
* Bureaucracy: represents your character’s sway over mortal government institutions on a city level and allows you to do things such as trace utility bills, acquire fake documentation such as driver’s licenses, passports, etc., and even get small areas of the city rezoned. Roll: Manipulation + Law
* Church: influence represents the pull your character has over the religious institutions of the city and allows you to do things such as pass as a member of the clergy, trace regular church members, open or close a church, obtain access to the records and archives of a church, manipulate regional branches of the church and even get access to ancient secrets and knowledges of the church. Roll: Manipulation + Academics
* Finance: influence represents the amount of power your character has over the financial institutions of the city and allows you to do things such as raise capital, trace account activity, and even ruin business’ credit ratings. Roll: Intelligence + Finance
* Health: influence represents your character’s sway over the health institutions of the city and allows you to do things such as obtain blood bags, get medical records faked or erased, access patient information and even get people hired (or fired). Roll: Intelligence + Medicine
* High Society: influence represents your character’s pull over the higher echelons of society - celebrities, old money families like the Rockefellers and even new money families all fill this niche. High Society influence allows you to do things like gain access to exclusive events, gain access to locations, and even score tickets. Roll: Charisma + Etiquette
* Industry: influence represents the amount of power your character holds over the industrial side of things in the city and allows you to do things such as arrange small accidents or sabotage, organize minor strikes, and close down or revitalize small plants. Roll: Charisma + Expression
* Legal: influence represents your character’s sway over the legal proceedings in the city and allows you to do things such as get free representation, have minor charges dropped, manipulate civil cases, issue subpoenas and have deportation proceedings held against someone. Roll: Intelligence + Law
* Media: influence represents your character’s pull over the news sources of the city and allows you to do things such as learn about stories early, suppress small articles or reports, ground stories and projects, boost or erode someone’s fame background and spread fake news locally. Roll: Charisma + Expression
* Occult: influence represents your character’s pull in the occult subculture of the city, both the real and the pretenders and allows you to do things such as make use of the practices of local occult groups, access resources for most rituals and rites, access common occult tomes and writings and research rituals from your sect. Roll: Perception + Occult
* Police: influence represents the amount of pull your character has over the local police forces and allows you to do things such as avoid traffic stops, access minor evidence that “goes missing”, get copies of an investigation report, access confiscated weapons or contraband, and arrange a setup. Roll: Intelligence + Law
* Political: influence represents the amount of sway your character has over the political goings-on of the city and allows you to do things such as lobby a politician, garner inside information on processes, sway or alter local political projects, and enact legislation. Roll: Charisma + Politics
* Street: influence represents the pull your character has over gangs and the homeless and allows you to do things such as identify most gangs and their turf, access contraband, arrange services from street people, mobilize groups of homeless people, and arrange an impressive protest by street people. Roll: Wits + Streetwise
* Transportation: influence represents your character’s sway over the transportation system of the city and allows you to do things such as travel locally quickly and freely, track an unwary target using public transportation, avoid most supernatural dangers while traveling, shut down some aspect of public transportation, and smuggle locally with impunity. Roll: Wits + Academics/Streetwise
* Underworld: influence represents your character’s pull within the criminal society and allows you to do things such as locate contraband and illicit activities, obtain untraceable guns, drugs, stolen cars, etc., arrange a minor hit, arrange gangland assassinations, and supply sizable drug needs for the city. Roll: Wits + Streetwise
* University: influence represents your character’s sway within the university of the city and allows you to do things such as get records up to the highschool level, fake highschool records, change a student’s grades, organize student rallies and protests and falsify an undergraduate degree. Roll: Intelligence + Academics/Science
== How Do I Get Influence and How Do I Use It? ==
There are a couple of ways to go about gaining influence. You can buy up to three dots in an influence at character creation using background points or freebie points or you can garner it in game with a write up (one to three paragraphs, single spaced, 12pt Arial font, submitted to an Influence Coordinator) which will consume 40 of your Downtime hours or via a roll of an appropriate Attribute + Ability against a difficulty of 6. Ten successes are required for the first dot, and each roll will consume 10 of your available Downtime hours.
Each dot of Influence requires a set number of successes (note: these successes are not cumulative. The successes are “spent” when you reach each level, resetting you back to 0 successes): 10 successes or a write up for dot 1, 20 successes for dot 2, 40 successes for dot 3, 80 successes for dot 4, and 160 successes for dot 5.
Retainers can purchase, gain and use Influence in exactly the same ways, as well as assisting their domitor with rolls by lowering the difficulty of the roll by half of their Intrigue secondary dots, rounded up.
Now that you’ve got influence, let’s go over how you can use it. Influence actions pull from your available pool of downtime hours, with each roll consuming 10 of your available Downtime hours.
Acquire: This action will get you physical items. What items you get depend on the levels of influence used. Examples of what you can get are located further down. You will roll your Attribute + Ability + Influence against a difficulty dependent upon the level of the Acquire action. A number of successes equal to 5 x the level of the Acquire action will be required to obtain the item in question.
Attack/Propaganda: With this action one uses influence to hamper another influence in some way. This doesn't have to be physical violence, but something that would damage another person’s sway within the influence. With this action, the Attacker will roll their Attribute + Ability + Influence vs the Defender’s Attribute + Ability + Influence. If the Attacker scores more successes than the Defender, any net successes take away from the Defender’s pool of successes. Ex: Tommy Tremere has a vendetta against Vinny Ventrue and wants to use his Street influence to attack Vinny’s Underworld influence. Tommy rolls his Charisma + Leadership + Street influence to convince a gang to go and vandalize Vinny’s meth lab. Vinny rolls his Charisma + Leadership + Underworld influence in defense. Tommy scores 6 successes while Vinny only manages 4 successes. Vinny’s pool of successes towards the next level of Underworld influence is consequently reduced by 2.
Embargo: Embargo works similarly to Attack/Propaganda except that the person being attacked does not get a defense roll. The attacking player will roll their Attribute + Ability + Influence level against a difficulty of 6. The number of successes scored on this roll determines the number of successes the defending player needs to beat to be able to progress their influence until the Embargo is removed. Ex: Vinny Ventrue wants revenge on Tommy Tremere for attacking his influence, so Vinny uses his Bureaucracy influence to put an Embargo on Tommy’s Industry influence. Vinny rolls his Charisma + Intimidation + Bureaucracy and gets 4 successes. Until Tommy does something to remove the embargo, he needs to roll 5 or more successes to be able to use his Industry influence, only garnering the net successes (1 if he rolls 5, 2 if he rolls 6, etc.)
Influence Growth: You supply/do something for your influences to help them expand.
Investigate: You pull on your contacts within your spheres of influence for information by rolling your Attribute + Ability + Influence against a difficulty set by the storyteller with the amount of successes garnered determining the amount (and/or quality) of the information gained, if any.
Obscure: To investigate an influence action, the investigator must make an extended roll using their influence pool [attribute+ability+influence rating] against a base difficulty of six modified by their usual secondaries, seeking to acquire a number of successes equal to the total successes of the influence rating of the person whom they're investigating (i.e.: Vinny Ventrue is tracking the person who Embargo'd his Street influence. He rolls his pool of Wits + Streetwise + 3 [his influence rating] against a difficulty of 6. Unbeknownst to Vinny, the Embargo was placed by Tommy Tremere, who has 5 Street influence. This means that Vinny needs a total of 160 successes to track the Embargo back to Tommy). This can be done over multiple cycles and the successes carry over.
== Record-keeping and Consequences ==
If you would like to gain/increase your influence or use it to take another action outside of a scene, get in touch with an Influence Coordinator. They will give you a roll with a number of successes necessary to successfully complete the action you’re attempting, as well as let you know how many hours out of your downtime it will take.
Record the action taken, the number of successes, the Coordinator overseeing, and the amount of time taken in your Downtime Log.
Tracking Downtime is the player’s responsibility and while the staff does understand that we are all human and mistakes will inevitably happen, in order to discourage cheating, a consequence system has been put in place:
First Occurrence - If players fail to keep accurate track and go over, they suffer a penalty the next cycle equal to however many hours they went over as well as receiving a warning.
Second Occurrence - If this happens consecutively, it will result in another penalty and another warning.
Third Occurrence - A third consecutive transgression will result in another penalty and and a third warning as well as a one-cycle soft ban.
Fourth Occurrence - A fourth repetition of the same offense would merit another warning and a two-cycle soft-ban.
Fifth Occurrence - A fifth consecutive transgression will result in a three-cycle soft ban.
If, at any point, the player goes a cycle or more without a transgression, previous warning will be dissolved and the player will start over as if they had no transgressions.
== Acquire Actions and What They Get You ==
The below lists are intended to be used as a general frame of reference for what each level of influence can accomplish and by no means represent a comprehensive list.
Bureaucracy
# Trace utility bills or other such “red tape”
# Fake a low level government document, photo ID, birth certificate etc…, Shut down utilities to a single family dwelling, Close a small road, park or similar low level government service, Get public aid ($250)
# Fake a mid level government document, death certificate, passport or green card, Shut down a small business on a violation, Close a public school for a single day
# Fake land deeds, Initiate a department wide investigation in a low level government organization, Shut down a public school for a week
# Start, stop or alter city wide program or policy, Shut down a big business on a violation, Rezone small areas of the city, Obliterate all city or county records of a person
Church
# Identify most secular members of a given faith in the local area, Pass as a member of the clergy, Peruse church records
# Identify higher church members, Track regular church members, Suspend lay members
# Open or close a single church, Dip into the collection plate ($250), Access private information and archives of a church
# Discredit or suspend high-level church members, Manipulate regional branches of the church
# Organize major protects, Access ancient church lore and knowledge
Finance
# Learn about major transactions and local financial events, Raise capital ($1000), Learn about general economic trends, Learn the real motivations for many financial actions of others
# Trace an unsecured small account’s activity, Raise capital ($3000)
# Raise capital ($5000)
# Manipulate local banking, Ruin a small business’ credit rating
# Control an aspect of city wide banking, Ruin a large business’ credit rating, Raise capital ($7500)
Health
# Obtain a small amount (5-10) of blood bags, gain access to morgues "off the record", pass as a morgue attendant
# Identify prominent doctors, open or close a small clinic, get medical records faked or erased
# Pass as a resident, dip into donations ($200), get nurses discredited or suspended
# Get nurses hired or fired, get doctors discredited or suspended, gain access to unsealed medical records
# Get doctors hired or fired, gain access to medical records and facilities
High Society
# Get tickets to exclusive events
# Get complimentary tickets to concerts and events, get invites to galas and auctions
# Throw charity events and galas, get early exclusive access to locations, boost or degrade someone's fame slightly
# At least a passing acquaintance with most notable members of high society, gain access to more exclusive events
# Get tickets to premiers and red carpet events, after parties and things of the sort, boost or degrade someone's fame significantly
Industry
# Learn about industrial projects and movements
# Have minor projects performed, Dip into funds ($250), Arrange small accidents or sabotage
# Organize minor strikes, Appropriate machinery for a couple days
# Close down a small plant, Revitalize a small plant
# Manipulate large local industry
Legal
# Get free representation for minor cases
# Avoid bail for some charge, Have minor charges dropped
# Manipulate legal procedures for civil matters, Access public court funds ($250), Get free representation in most cases
# Issue subpoenas, Initiate phone surveillance, Tie up court cases with continuances Have most legal charges dropped, Cancel or arrange parole in most cases
# Close down all but the most serious investigations, Have deportation proceedings held against someone
Media
# Learn about stories early, Submit small articles for consideration
# Suppress, but not stop, small articles or reports; Have social media searched for information; Have a piece of information either disseminated or pulled from social media
# Initiate local news investigations or reports, Ground but not kill stories and projects
# Have a social media account block or banned, Boost or erode someone’s fame background
# Broadcast fake news locally, Kill small articles or projects completely
Occult
# Contact, make use and learn the local practices of occult groups, Know some of the more visible occult figures
# Know and contact some of the more obscure occult figures, Access resources for most rituals and rites
# Know the general vicinity of certain supernatural creatures, Contact the more visible members of supernatural societies
# Access vitae or rare materials for rite and rituals, Milk impressionable wannabes for bucks ($250), Access common occult tomes and writings, Research a basic ritual from your sect
# Research an intermediate ritual from your sect Access minor magic items for a short time, Unearth an advanced ritual from your sect, Learn about some of the more hidden aspects of a supernatural sect or society
Police
# Learn police procedures and policies, Hear police information and rumors, Avoid traffic stops
# Have license plates checked, Avoid minor charges the first time, Get “inside” information from a precinct, Access to minor evidence that “goes missing”
# Get copies of an investigation report, Have police hassle, detain or harass someone, Get someone reassigned or hired to the force
# Access confiscated weapons or contraband, Have some serious charges dropped, Start an investigation, Misuse appropriations ($1000)
# Start major case investigations, Arrange a setup, Instigate federal investigations, Have officers fired
Political
# Lobby a local politician, Identify real platforms of politicians and parties, Be in the know
# Meet minor city officials, Garner inside information on processes, laws and the like, Raise funds ($1000)
# Sway or alter local political projects, local parks, renovations, small construction
# Enact minor legislation, Dash careers of minor politicians
# Get your candidate in a minor office, Enact encompassing legislature
Street
# Keep an ear on the street, Identify most gangs and know their turfs and habits
# Live mostly without fear on the underside of society, Street people trust you and tell you things, Access small contraband
# Get an insight into other areas of influence, Arrange some service from street people or gangs, Get pistols or uncommon melee weapons
# Mobilize groups of homeless people, Panhandle or hold a collection for a good cause—you ($250), Get a rifle, shotgun or smg, Have a word in almost all aspects of one of Chicago’s gangs
# Control a single medium sized gang, Arrange impressive protest from street people
Transportation
# Know what goes when, where, how and why, Travel locally quickly and freely
# Track an unwary target using public transportation, Arrange concealed passage safe from mundane threats
# Seriously hamper travel using public transportation, Avoid most supernatural dangers while traveling
# Shut down some aspect of public transportation, Route money your way ($500)
# Reroute major aspects of public travel, Smuggle with impunity locally
Underworld
# Locate minor contraband and illicit activities
# Obtain untraceable handguns, serious drugs, stolen cars etc...; You know mortal thugs willing to rough someone up for you; Fence stolen loot; Prove that crime pays ($1000)
# Obtain a high powered rifle, shotgun or smg, Arrange a minor “hit”, Meet someone in “the family”
# Make white collar crime connections; Arrange gangland assassinations; You know a mortal demolition man willing to torch places for you
# Supply drug needs for a sizable portion of Chicago
University
# Know the layout and policy of local schools, Have access to low-level university resources. Get records up to the high school level
# Get short term access to someone with specialize abilities, Have minor access to facilities, Fake high school records, Obtain college transcripts
# Call in faculty favors, Cancel a class; Change a student’s grades, Discredit a student or get them thrown out for various infractions
# Organize student protests and rallies, Discredit faculty members
# Falsify an undergraduate degree
= Resources =
This Background describes your personal financial resources, or your access to such. A high Resources rating doesn’t necessarily reflect your liquid assets; this Background describes your standard of “living,” your possessions and your buying power. No dots in Resources is just that: You have no permanent haven and no possessions save a few clothes and possibly a weapon or a pocketful of coins.
You receive a basic allowance each month based on your rating. You can sell your less liquid resources if you need the cash, but this will take you down one or more Resources levels and gaining it back isn’t as easy as you might think.
You may purchase Resources up to level 5 in Character Creation, however once in game this Background ignores your Generation maximum and may be increased up to level 8.
How Do I Increase My Resources?
Increasing your Resource rating in play will pull from your pool of available Downtime and require a roll of Intelligence + Finance + Resources at a difficulty 6. Each level requires a varying and increasing number of successes, however if you happen to have a Retainer with dots in Accounting, they can assist you by lowering your difficulty with half of their dots, rounded up, though your difficulty cannot go below 2. The successes gained in this way are not cumulative. The successes are “spent” when you reach each level, resetting you back to 0 successes: at level 1, you will need 10 successes to reach the 20 needed for level 2, etc. Each roll you make for your own character will consume 10 hours from your available pool of Downtime.
* Level 1: Grants $1,000 as an allowance per month and everything your character owns is worth $10,000. Requires 10 successes.
* Level 2: Grants $5,000 as an allowance per month and everything your character owns is worth $100,000. Requires 20 successes.
* Level 3: Grants $15,000 as an allowance per month and everything your character owns is worth $1,000,000. Requires 40 successes.
* Level 4: Grants 30,000 as an allowance per month and everything your character owns is worth 5,000,000. Requires 80 successes.
* Level 5: Grants 45,000 as an allowance per month and everything your character owns is worth 12,000,000. Requires 160 successes.
* Level 6: Grants 60,000 as an allowance per month and everything your character owns is worth 25,000,000. Requires 260 successes.
* Level 7: Grants 100,000 as an allowance per month and everything your character owns is worth 50,000,000. Requires 400 successes.
* Level 8: Grants 250,000 as an allowance per month and everything your character owns is worth 100,000,000. Requires 600 successes.
= Fame =
You enjoy widespread recognition in mortal society, perhaps as an entertainer, writer or athlete. People may enjoy just being seen with you. This gives you all manner of privileges when moving in mortal society, but can also attract an unwanted amount of attention now that you’re no longer alive. The greatest weapon fame has to offer is the ability to sway public opinion - as modern media constantly proves.
This Background is obviously a mixed blessing. You can certainly enjoy the privileges of your prestige - getting the best seats, being invited to events you’d otherwise miss, getting appointments with the elite - but you’re also often recognized when you’d rather not be. However, your enemies can’t just make you disappear without causing an undue stir, and you find it much easier to hunt in populated areas as people flock to you (adding one dice per dot to hunting pools.). Additionally, your Storyteller might permit you to reduce difficulties of Social rolls against particularly starstruck or impressionable people.
* ● You’re known to a select subculture of the city - local clubbers or the Park Avenue set, for instance. Pays $500 per month.
* ●● A majority of the populace recognizes your face; you’re a local celebrity such as a news anchor. Pays $2,000 per month.
* ●●● You have statewide renown: perhaps you’re a state senator or minor star of local interest. Pays $10,000 per month.
* ●●●● Nationally famous; everybody knows something about you. Pays $30000 per month.
* ●●●●● You’re an internationally famous media icon. Pays $50000 per month.
How Does That Apply in Game Terms?
Your Fame may add onto your Influence dice pool, dice pool for Social rolls when interacting with fans and add hunting pools. Fame can also add on to your Influence rolls in the appropriate spheres.
Now that you know what Fame does and what it can be used for, let’s talk about how to gain Fame or increase it if you bought it during Character Creation because, just like in real life, becoming internationally famous isn’t easy.
The first dot of Fame can be obtained via a simple write up. One to three paragraphs detailing what your character is doing to gain this Fame. This should be done in single space, 12pt Arial font and submitted to an Influence Coordinator. This first write up will consume 40 hours of your Downtime. If you’d prefer, you may also make a roll of an appropriate Attribute + Ability depending upon your specific type of Fame (Charisma + Performance for a singer, Dexterity + Performance for a guitarist, etc.), requiring a total of 10 successes to gain the Fame successfully. Each roll will consume 10 hours of your Downtime.
The second dot of Fame requires another write up (which will not pull from your Downtime) as well as 20 total successes, with each roll consuming 10 hours of Downtime.
The third dot of Fame requires a write up, some form of in character work towards achieving this Fame (scenes spent performing, etc.) and 40 total successes, with each roll consuming 10 hours of Downtime.
The fourth dot of Fame requires another write up, more work towards it in character and 80 successes with each roll consuming 10 hours of Downtime.
The fifth and final dot of Fame requires one last write up, yet more work towards it in character and 160 successes, with each roll consuming 10 hours of Downtime.
= Mentors =
A character can purchase the Mentor Background as normal. What is a Mentor? A Mentor is an NPC that either lives in the city, or can assist the character from afar. They can be a sounding board for the character, give advice, and potentially teach the character abilities, knowledges, and tricks of the trade to survive as a kindred in a very dangerous world of darkness.
But what does that represent mechanically? What can your Mentor likely be able to teach your character?
What Can A Mentor Do?
* A Mentor can teach Lores, Knowledges, and Combo-Disciplines
* A Mentor acts as a Teacher for purposes of Learning Time
* A Mentor can assist a Character with a Single Influence Action during One Cycle to obtain a single Roleplay goal, per ST Discretion.
* A Mentor does not gain the character Investigation Points.
* A Mentor does not gain the character Influence Points.
* A Mentor does not boost a character's Resources, unless it falls under the Single Influence Action as noted above, and never to raise the character's Resources Level.
What Can A Mentor Teach?
A Mentor has a Rating which equals the number of Background dots invested into them. This Rating directly influences how much they can offer to teach their character proteges.
* A Mentor can teach their Rating X3 of Lore Dots.
* A Mentor can teach Rank 1 and 2 Lores up to their Rating.
* A Mentor can teach Rank 3 Lores up to 3 Dots.
* A Mentor will possess Lore [Their Clan / Bloodline] as one of their knowledges up to their Rating. This will be taken out of their pool of Dots first.
* A Mentor can teach Combo-Disciplines at their Rating X2.
* Combo-Disciplines are valued at the highest level of Discipline Requirement needed to obtain the Combo.
* A Mentor can teach any other Knowledge [such as Computer, Academics, Occult, etc. up to their Rating.
= Retainers =
== Human retainers ==
While your character may have as many ghouls as they can feed only a certain amount of them may be retainers. Retainers are trusted servants and a valuable asset in a Kindreds arsenal. You may play your retainers just as you play your character and its unlikely that they will ever turn on you without serious mistreatment. Retainers may hold backgrounds just as the player character and they will likely be at full disposal of your character. Any influence held by a retainer is treated as if it belonged to the player character
* ● One retainer
* ●● Two retainers
* ●●● Three retainers
* ●●●● Four retainers
* ●●●●● Five retainers
== Animal retainers ==
To get most of your little furry friends you will need to have Animalism at least 1. Characters without it still may have them but will have far less control. Just as with humans, your character may have as many ghouls as they wish but only a certain number of them will be Retainers and can be controlled directly by you. Maximal amount of dots you may have in this background is caped by your characters Charisma or Animal Ken, whichever is higher.
* ● 1 Diminutive [Costs 10 hours of downtime] +2 Freebie Points at Creation
* ●● 2 Diminutive or 1 Minor [Costs 20 hours of downtime] +4 Freebie Points at Creation
* ●●● 4 Diminutive or 2 Minor or 1 Average [Costs 30 hours of downtime] +6 Freebie Points at Creation
* ●●●● 6 Diminutive or 4 Minor or 2 Average or 1 Strong [Costs 40 hours of downtime] +8 Freebie Points at Creation
* ●●●●● 8 Diminutive or 6 Minor or 4 Average or 2 Strong or 1 Powerful [Costs 50 hours of downtime] +10 Freebie Points at Creation
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Investigation:
When it comes to investigations animal retainers can help just as they are human counterparts. On qualifying rules you may add the players dots of animal retainers towards their dice pools on investigation rolls.
== Brood ==
Brood are retainers but unlike Ghouls they arent fully under the characters control. While you may roleplay them as your retainers, remember that they may not see the world as your character does. Brood do not generate their own experience and anything bought after creation must use your experience points, same as retainers. Brood may hold their own resources, contacts, allies and influence in much the same way as retainers save for one major caveat: not being blood bound to your toon, their resources and connections are not yours to pull from. Since it's likely your brood likes you and probably respects you as their sire, it is possible they could be persuaded to use their resources or connections to help you, but for that you must contact a Narrator or Storyteller who will run your Brood for the duration of that scene. As long as you are treating them well at least. This background may be taken multiple times and represents a single vampire.
* ● Fledgling. Has a base sheet created according to the rules in VTM Revised Core Rulebook
* ●● Neonate. Has a base sheet created according to the rules in VTM Revised Core Rulebook plus 10 freebie points.
* ●●● Ancilla. Has a base sheet created according to the rules in VTM Revised Core Rulebook plus 15 freebie points.
* ●●●● Elder. Has a base sheet created according to the rules in VTM Revised Core Rulebook plus 20 freebie points.
* ●●●●● Ancient Elder. Has a base sheet created according to the rules in VTM Revised Core Rulebook plus 25 freebie points.
== Wraith/Spirit slaves ==
To take this background your character needs to have an ability to interact and command said creatures. Wraith and Spirit slaves are played by you, though remember that they are forced into service and may not always like it. Maximal amount of dots you may have in this background is caped by your characters Charisma or Intimidation, whichever is higher.
* ● 1 Diminutive + 2 Freebies
* ●●2 Diminutive or 1 Minor + 4 Freebies
* ●●● 4 Diminutive or 2 Minor or 1 Average + 6 Freebies
* ●●●● 6 Diminutive or 4 Minor or 2 Average or 1 Strong + 8 Freebies
* ●●●●● 8 Diminutive or 6 Minor or 4 Average or 2 Strong or 1 Powerful + 10 Freebies
= Alternate Identity =
You maintain an alternate identity outside your own, complete with papers, birth certificates or any other documentation you desire. Only a few may know your real name or identity. Your alternate persona may be highly involved in organized crime, a member of the Camarilla, a con artist who uses alternate identities for her game or you may simply gather information for the Sabbat about the enemy. Indeed, some Sabbat may know you as one individual while other Sabbat believe you to be someone else entirely.
Each dot of this background requires a set number of successes (note: these successes are not cumulative. The successes are “spent” when you reach each level, resetting you back to 0 successes): 10 successes or a write up for dot 1, 20 successes for dot 2, 40 successes for dot 3, 80 successes for dot 4, and 160 successes for dot 5.
* ● You are new at this identity game. Sometimes you slip and forget your other persona. You possess rudimentary papers and a driver's license that might pass a traffic stop but won't hold up to any serious scrutiny.
* ●● You are well grounded in your alternate identity. You are convincing enough to play the part of a doctor, lawyer, funeral salesman, drug-smuggler or a capable spy. You possess a driver's license and possibly a passport that can withstand a casual check but won't hold up to any serious scrutiny.
* ●●● You have a fair reputation as your alternate persona and get name-recognition in the area where you have infiltrated. You possess a driver's license and a passport that will pass through a casual background check and possibly a social security number that will stand up to a casual check but doesn't actually exist and will not stand up to any serious scrutiny.
* ●●●● Your alternate identity has respect and trust within your area of infiltration. Your license, passport and social security number are solidly backed and will stand up to most investigations and background checks below the federal level.
* ●●●●● You command respect in your area of infiltration, and you may even have accumulated a bit of status. You have the trust (or at least the recognition) of many powerful individuals within your area. Your license, passport and social security number are almost fool-proof and can withstand even the strongest scrutiny.
= Certification =
Certifications are essentially certifications, permits, licenses, and other supporting documentation granting special access or permissions within Mortal Society. Do we really want people to take a dot in this Background before they can go and RP out a fishing scene? No. Do you need to take a dot in this Background to drive a car? No. However, professional, special, or noteworthy certifications should be purchased like a medical license or a concealed weapons permit. The background is bought in play via bureaucracy or other appropriate Influence.
Each dot of this background requires a set number of successes (note: these successes are not cumulative. The successes are “spent” when you reach each level, resetting you back to 0 successes): 10 successes or a write up for dot 1, 20 successes for dot 2, 40 successes for dot 3, 80 successes for dot 4, and 160 successes for dot 5.
* ●Hunting license, daycare permit, passport from an open country.
* ●● Teaching certificate, security officer firearm's permit, bail bondsman, CPA, trucker's license, notary public.
* ●●● Concealed weapons permit, hazardous waste disposal, church-ordained priest or minister.
* ●●●●Class-C weapons license, board-certified doctor or lawyer, commercial airline pilot's license.
* ●●●●● Diplomatic immunity, license to kill (Running down the street and shooting people will still get you arrested. It could help you in smaller, contained cases however).
Note on Firearms: To have a Gun License, your character must either purchase the Firearms License Merit (2 pts. HtR PG pg. 112) or you may buy 3 dots in Certification. The presence of neither on a character sheet will indicate that any firearms carried are carried illegally.
= Information Network =
You've got informants everywhere. You don't even need to go to them anymore – they come to you, and they bring all sorts of dirty little secrets to trade. The secrets you gather may be completely irrelevant to the problems you have right now, in which case you can always trade them away for something you can use. A factoid or datum you harvest may seem irrelevant now but may be massively useful later; it may give you a vital lead that places you one step ahead of everyone else.
There are 3 types of this background: Kindred, Human and Ghouls.
To grow this background each dot requires a set number of successes (note: these successes are not cumulative. The successes are “spent” when you reach each level, resetting you back to 0 successes): 10 successes or a write up for dot 1, 20 successes for dot 2, 40 successes for dot 3, 80 successes for dot 4, and 160 successes for dot 5.
= Occult Library =
Some Kindred have accumulated vast stores of mystical knowledge over their many years. Such resources may have been inherited from a character’s sire, treasures gleaned from ancient journeys, gifts from a mentor or even stolen from rivals. In fact, a library need not even be printed – books contained on a USB drive, or even a Contact who knows Occult lore may be considered a library for the purposes of this Background.
Whatever form it takes, an Occult Library aids the character in certain conundrums requiring knowledge of the mystical or magical. Whenever the player needs to make a roll involving the Occult Knowledge, and her character has the opportunity
to consult the books, she may call upon this Background to help. While this won’t be of much aid if the character is held prisoner by another Kindred, or visiting a foreign city, if the character is in her own library the information may prove invaluable. This Background may be take in addition to the Occult Library merit.
* ● A few books: +1 die to Occult dice pools
* ●● A modest collection: +1 die to Occult dice pools, -1 to Occult difficulties
* ●●● Many noteworthy titles: +2 dice to Occult dice pools, -1 to Occult difficulties
* ●●●● A wide variety of lore: +2 dice to Occult dice pools, -2 to Occult difficulties
* ●●●●● A veritable magical encyclopedia: +3 dice to Occult dice pools, -2 to Occult difficulties
= Animal Connections =
* ●		You’re known to all the animals of your specified type in a particular neighborhood.
* ●●		You're known to all the animals of your specified type in two neighborhoods.
* ●●●		At least half of the animals of your specified type in the city are familiar with you and are willing to do favors for you.
* ●●●●		Three fourths of all the animals of your specified type in the city are familiar with you and are willing to do favors for you.
* ●●●●●		All the animals of your specified type in the city are familiar with you and are willing to do favors for you.
How Do I Get This?
As long as you have at least Animalism 1, you may spend downtime hours at a rate of 10 hours/roll to make a Charisma/Manipulation + Animal Ken roll at a difficulty 6, lowered by your dots in the Animal Retainer background. 10ss are needed for the first dot, 20ss for the second, 40ss for the third, 80ss for the fourth, 160ss for the fifth. This background can also be taken in character creation as normal.
= Locations =
== Haven ==
Your haven is your fortress. This background serves to keep track of and represent the security measures taken in it. Please note that for full use of your havens specific defenses you need to have a writeup of them in your documents cash. Otherwise it is left to Storytellers imagination. The size and the level of luxury in the apartment is dependent on ones Resource level.
* • You’ve reinforced every door and barred the windows, or you may have a dog that barks to warn you when someone comes too close to the haven. The place is relatively secure from commonplace threats. Costs 5.000$ to acquire.
* •• The haven is secure but not impenetrable, relying on a modern set of locks, physical protection such as bars over the windows, electronic security measures such as alarm systems, and standard electronic monitoring such as security cameras. It may be remote or accessed only by protected routes, such as a high-rise with a security guard who watches the elevator. Costs 25.000$ to acquire.
* ••• Best of commercially available security. A paranoid buisnessmans shelter, a rich collectors private museum. Expensive security systems and walls that are heavily reinforced. A panic room that can likely survive a bombardment. Costs 100.000$ to acquire.
* •••• Your haven is protected by all of the security features for the previous level and then some. On par with the most garded governmental buildings and prisons, your haven has reinforced walls, sectionalized access throttles, and perhaps even several panic rooms or hidden chambers. You have invested a considerable about of time and effort to keep people out of your base. Costs 500.000$ to acquire.
* ••••• Your base is protected by all of the security features offered by the previous levels. Additionally, it is protected by one or more unique features, such as being far off the beaten path, incorporating a geographical boundary like being built on an island, and/or possible occult protections, like being visible only to Kindred. (Players and Storytellers should come to an agreement on the nature of such one-of-a-kind protections. Costs 1.000.000$ to acquire and needs an explanation to additional defences
== Herd ==
Herd are humans who are one way or the other under comfortable for the vampire to hunt on. Maybe they are regulars of a night club, maybe ghouls or any other number of reasons you may think of. Herd can be used one of two ways it can either add dice to your dice pool for hunting or you can use it to farm blood bags for sale or storage. Each level grants 1 die to your roll or provides an appropriate number of blood bags if you are using your herd as a resource. Each vessel can donate 3 trait of blood per month safely. Larger herds may be split to be used as both hunting and blood bags source. The owner of a heard may allow others to hunt on them
Each dot of this background requires a set number of successes (note: these successes are not cumulative. The successes are “spent” when you reach each level, resetting you back to 0 successes): 10 successes or a write up for dot 1, 20 successes for dot 2, 40 successes for dot 3, 80 successes for dot 4, and 160 successes for dot 5.
* ● 3 vessels
* ●● 7 vessels
* ●●● 15 vessels
* ●●●● 30 vessels
* ●●●●● 60 vessels
* ●●●●●● 90 vessels
* ●●●●●●● 120 vessels
* ●●●●●●●● 150 vessels
== Domain ==
Domain is a physical territory controlled by your character or granted to them for hunting purposes. It may be an apartment building, a night club or a full city block. The dot rating of the Domain doesn't necessarily signify its size but more the ease and safety of hunting there. A dark club with plenty of nukes to feed in will have a higher domain rating than a big uncontrolled chunk of the city. Each dot in the background lowers the difficulty of hunting in there by one. Owner of the domain may choose to share it with other kindred.
Each dot of this background requires a set number of successes (note: these successes are not cumulative. The successes are “spent” when you reach each level, resetting you back to 0 successes): 10 successes or a write up for dot 1, 20 successes for dot 2, 40 successes for dot 3, 80 successes for dot 4, and 160 successes for dot 5.
= Optional backgrounds with page requirements =
== Age ==
You have survived as a vampire for far longer than many Kindred – enough to be considered an elder according to the fickle, deadly others of your kind. This background is not necessarily a simple reflection of your age; it reflects the number of years you have functioned away from the slumber of torpor. If you have fallen into torpor, you may actually be older than even this Trait indicates….
Every dot of Age gives a character a certain amount of extra freebie points to reflect her greater acumen, but this wisdom comes at the expense of Humanity. Note that the progression is not linear – truly ancient vampires learn with much more difficulty than younger ones, as stasis grips them in their unchanging state.
* ● Annuated: 100 to 199 kindred years active, +30 freebie points, -1 Humanity. 8.350 words minimum of backstory are required for this background. 
* ●● Elder: 200 to 349 kindred years active, +55 freebie points, -2 Humanity. 16.650 words minimum of backstory are required for this background. 
* ●●● Hoary: 350 to 499 kindred years active, +75 freebie points, -3 Humanity. 29.150 words minimum of backstory are required for this background. 
* ●●●● Venerable: 500 to 749 kindred years active, +90 freebie points, -4 Humanity. 41.650 words minimum of backstory are required for this background. 
* ●●●●● Ancient: Active as kindred for more than 750 years, +100 freebie points, -5 Humanity. 62.500 words minimum of backstory are required for this background.
You do NOT have to take this background to have an old character. This background is a fairly powerful one, not one we are comfortable granting on top of our large EXP allowance. It is absolutely something extra. These Freebies points are limited to being spent on Mental Stats (Such as Intelligence, Wits, and Perception), Knowledges, Merits, and Backgrounds. If you are interested in writing a novel, we may as well reward you for it.
== Former Revenant ==
* ● 1 dot of Potence and 1 dot in a family Discipline -1 humanity. 2500 words minimum of backstory are required for this background. 
* ●● 1 dot of Potence and 2 dots of family Disciplines (May be distributed between all three; does not all need to go into one) (Must start and remain on a path). 5000 words minimum of backstory are required for this background. 
* ●●● Benefits of dot 2 as well as 10 freebies that my only be spent on abilities and backgrounds (Must start and remain on a path). 7500 words minimum of backstory are required for this background. 
* ●●●● Benefits of dot 2 as well as 12 freebies that may only be spent on abilities or backgrounds (Must start and remain on a path). 10000 words minimum of backstory are required for this background. 
* ●●●●● Benefits of dot 2 as well as 14 freebies that my only be spent on abilities and backgrounds (Must start and remain on a path). 12500 words minimum of backstory are required for this background.
Like age, this is a reward for a long and detailed backstory. If taken, it will bar a person from taking the homebrew Former Revenant merit.
== Former Ghoul ==
* ● 1 dot Potence, 1 dot Domitor's disciplines -1 humanity. 2500 words minimum of backstory are required for this 
* ●● 8 freebie points that my only be spent on abilities and backgrounds as well as the benefits of dot 1 -2 humanity. 5000 words minimum of backstory are required for this background. 
* ●●● 10 freebie points that my only be spent on abilities and backgrounds as well as the benefits of dot 1 -3 humanity. 7500 minimum words of backstory are required for this background. 
* ●●●● 12 freebie points that my only be spent on abilities and backgrounds as well as the benefits of dot 1 -4 humanity. 10000 words minimum of backstory are required for this background. 
* ●●●●● 14 freebie points that my only be spent on abilities and backgrounds as well as the benefits of dot 1 -5 humanity. 12500 words minimum of backstory are required for this background.
Like age, this is a reward for a long and detailed backstory. If taken, it will bar a person from taking the homebrew Former Ghoul merit.
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