"House Rules & FAQ"

Index:

• Character Creation
• Abilities
• Initial Backgrounds
• Freebie Points
• Creating Ghoul Characters
• Disciplines
• Superior Disciplines
• Dominate
• Obfuscate
• Thaumaturgy
• Visceratika
• Backgrounds
• Influence
• Retainers
• Willpower
• Regaining Willpower
• Substituting Willpower for Abilities
• General Rules
• Not Coming to Game
• Earning Experience Points
• Pre-Game Blood Challenge
• Hunting/Feeding
• Healing
• Torpor
• Monthly Expenditures
• Between Game Actions
• Diablerie
• The "challenge" vs. "expenditures" rule


Character Creation:

All rules for character creation are as written in "Laws of the Night (3rd Edition)". The following are extensions and modifications made to those rules:

Abilities

Abilities may be purchased as per the third edition "Laws of the Night (3rd Edition)". There are some new abilities published in "Dark Epics" which I’m willing to let players take in character-creation. These are: Archery, Blind Fighting, Demolition, Enigmas, Lore (although I’ve already been allowing Lore as a subset of Hobby/Professional/Expert Ability), and Throwing. Players may not take the Meditation ability. With the rules as currently written, I think this skill is game-unbalancing.

No character may have more than one of a specific negative trait unless it is physically manifested.

Initial Backgrounds

Availability of backgrounds is up to the digression of the storyteller. There are, however, several rules that the storyteller will follow when reviewing backgrounds selected at your initial character creation. The following rules apply to the selection of your initial backgrounds:

• Status: International status may be purchased at character creation for 1 freebie point per status trait. Your initial (free) background points may not be used for international status. Characters who wish to come into the city with any status at all may only have a maximum of two status traits, and must have done something of international significance to have earned them. Excellent background stories are required in order for this to even be a possibility.

• Generation: 9th generation (4 generation backgrounds) is the lowest generation you may purchase at character creation unless one of your previous characters has achieved a lower generation in-game. If this is the case then you may buy down to 8th generation (5 generation backgrounds).

• Influences or Allies: Unless characters have high levels of fame or other very good reasons why their starting influences or allies would be transferable to Denver, it doesn’t make sense for characters to start with a high number of these backgrounds that are immediately usable in Denver. Requests for higher levels of starting influences or allies will be handled on a case by case basis, with rationality applied to the process. Generally, however, your character should have no more then two starting influences.

• Resources: Characters are required to purchase at least one point of Resources, unless they have other means of protecting themselves from the elements (Earth Meld, leeching off of another character, etc.).

Freebie Points

New characters created for Bloodshadows will have twenty freebie points towards creation of their character instead of the five listed in the book. In addition, if you have accumulated any experience points from playing and NPC, these points will be added to the amount of freebie points you can spend on your character. If you had a previous character, you will get the number of freebie points equal to 75% of your character's total experience points.

Creating Ghoul Characters

There are special rules for creating ghoul characters in Bloodshadows. Since the rules for creating ghouls are unclear and contradictory in the books AND Bloodshadows is primarily a Vampire role-playing game, the following will apply. Keep in mind that these rules are for PC Ghouls only; for retainers, please see rules on the retainer background. Ghoul character creation will be done primarily according to "Laws of the Hunt (Third Edition)" but will also include rules from "Laws of the Night" as well. Any conflicts in rules will be clarified by the storyteller and added to this FAQ.

• Traits: Ghoul characters start off with 7 points for their primary attributes, 5 points for secondary attributes, and 3 points for tertiary attributes. As per "Laws of the Hunt" (pg. 115), Ghouls may have the trait maximums for partially awakened creatures. These are 10 traits for the young (13-19), 13 traits for the middle aged (20-65), and 7 traits for the old (65+). Revenants should use trait limitations for middle-aged ghouls because of the potency of their blood.

• Abilities: Ghoul characters start off with 5 abilities. Ghouls may have a maximum of 5 of any single ability.

• Association: Ghouls may belong to associations as outlined in "Laws of the Hunt" with storyteller approval. Belonging to an association will give your character all of the benefits of belonging to that association. However, in order to take advantage of this, you must always have a good background story. Keep in mind that your character will be treated as if you automatically had the "ghouled" merit. If your organization is one that does not take well to Vampires, you may find yourself "watched", "hunted" or worse.

• Disciplines: Ghoul characters start off with one discipline. This discipline must be from celerity, fortitude, or potence. These disciplines are to be considered "in-clan" for ghoul characters. A ghoul may not learn any other disciplines (even if they have a teacher) unless they purchase the "Learn other disciplines" merit (3 points- see "Liber Des Ghouls") during character creation. If a ghoul character possesses this merit then she may learn any other discipline provided she has a teacher. These disciplines will be available for the "out-of-clan" cost. Some disciplines (such as Thaumaturgy and Protean) my not be learned by ghouls at all because their blood is simply not potent enough. Ghouls in Bloodshadows use the "Powerful Ghouls" rules in "Laws of the Hunt" (pg. 153) for disciplines. If your dominator is 11th or weaker generation then you may only learn basic powers; 10th generation you may learn intermediate; and 9th generation or lower you may learn up to advanced. If a ghoul switches from a more powerful dominator to a less powerful one, all disciplines in excess of the new dominator's generational limits are lost.

• Backgrounds: Ghoul characters get 5 starting backgrounds. Ghouls may have any number of backgrounds they wish, but they may only have up to 1/2 their total traits in influences if they are young (13-19), the sum total of their traits if they are middle aged (20-65), and 2/3rds their total traits if they are old. Revenants are treated as if they are middle aged for the purposes of backgrounds.

• Humanity: Ghouls still have humanity, they cannot have paths unless there is a very good reason (i.e. - you are a revenant or were a ghoul in Enoch during the rule of the Black Hand). Needless to say, these exceptions require storyteller approval. As a result, a ghouls humanity traits to not have virtues attached to them. Use the rules in "Laws of the Hunt" (p. 139) for humanity for Ghoul characters. Ghoul characters start off with 3 humanity traits as reflected by their partially awakened status. They may also NEVER attain full humanity and are limited to a maximum of 4 humanity traits as per "Laws of the Hunt" (pg. 116).

• Willpower: Ghouls begin play with 2 willpower (not 3 as in LoTH). As partially awakened creatures, they may have up to a maximum of 8 willpower for the young (13-19 years), 9 willpower for the middle aged, and 10 willpower for the old. Because of their bestial natures, revenants are treated as middle aged ghouls for the purposes of willpower.

• Freebie points: Because they are still essentially human, Ghouls get 5 extra freebie points in addition to those awarded to Vampires. This makes to total number of freebie points equal to 25. In addition, if you have accumulated any experience points from playing and NPC, these points will be added to the amount of freebie points you can spend on your character. If you had a previous character, you will get the number of freebie points equal to 75% of your character's total experience points.

• Sorcery: Sorcery may be learned by ghouls because they still retain their connection to humanity to some extent. In order for a ghoul character to learn sorcery, they need a teacher or a mentor. This teacher or mentor MAY be the character's dominator if he/she has enough occult knowledge or influence to arrange for such training. Whether this training is available AND what powers are available are up to storyteller discretion. Since it was decided that Ghouls get vampiric disciplines for cheaper then they normally would, sorcery is more expensive. The cost for new sorcery rituals is 3 points for basic, 5 points for intermediate, and 7 points for advanced.

• Numinae: Psychic powers are available at character creation with approval from the storyteller. Your ghoul must purchase any numinae at the basic level at character creation if you want to advance at a later date. A ghoul cannot arbitrarily manifest psychic powers at a later date without a really good reason. If you have psychic abilities that were purchased at character creation, you can always practice them in order to advance in them at a later date. Cost for Numinae powers is 4 for basic, 7 for intermediate, and 10 for advanced.

• Blood: In third edition, Ghouls may have up to three blood traits of Vampiric Blood. This blood is in addition to human blood, so the ghoul does not suffer wounds when the blood is used to power disciplines. A ghoul must drink 1 trait of blood once per month to maintain their ghoul status. Ghouls must do the blood challenge at the beginning of each game to determine whether they have 1 (loss), 2 (tie), or 3 (win) vampiric traits in their systems for the game. If both the ghoul and the dominator show in their experience sheets leading up to a game that they are intentionally keeping the ghoul character "full", the effort of putting this in their experience sheets represents the effort of feeding the ghoul and they may claim 3 vampiric traits instead of doing a blood challenge. If this option is selected, however, the dominator must subtract 3 traits from his blood pool for the game, instead of the normal 1.



Disciplines

All disciplines function as they do in the book. All house rules regarding changes to these disciplines are now obsolete. The following rules clarifications regarding disciplines, however, still apply.

Superior Disciplines

The following changes apply to the generational limits of kindred using superior disciplines. This is a change from the generational limits as specified in "Laws of the Night":

• With a teacher and two months continuous study, characters of 9th and 10th generation may learn in-clan Elder level disciplines.

• With a teacher and three months continuous study, characters of 8th generation may learn in-clan Master level disciplines, and characters of 7th generation may learn in-clan Ascendant level disciplines.

• With a teacher and four months continuous study, characters of 9th generation may learn in-clan Master level disciplines, and characters of 8th generation may learn in-clan Ascendant level disciplines.

• Under no circumstances may any character not of at least 5th generation learn Methuselah level disciplines.

Dominate

Forgetful Mind

If you successfully implant/change/remove someone's memories, you must come let me know, along with the number of traits you possessed at the time of the domination. This can be very important (sometimes quickly and within the same game), so please do this promptly. Also note that "Forgetful Mind" will no longer work to delve through a subject's memories indiscriminately; that rules hole has been plugged. Only certain amounts of information may be retrieved; see the rules regarding Forgetful Mind.

Obfuscate

Unseen Presence

If your character believes himself alone, but another person can see you when you conceal yourself (one-way glass, another obfuscated character, etc.), this does not prevent you from concealing yourself from others. In this case, the observer of the character who "went invisible" may initiate a mental perception-based challenge to keep track of him.

Thaumaturgy

Ward vs. Lupines, Kindred, Spirits, Ghosts, Demons

Rules for these are the same as Ward vs. Ghouls in LoTN pg 186. Wards vs. Lupines and Kindred or intermediate rituals while Ward vs. Spirits and Ghosts are advanced. In Bloodshadows, Ward vs. Demons is an advanced discipline but is restricted to PC use because study of warding against these creatures involves too much study into the creatures themselves. Only certain Tremere have access to these rituals and may only be contacted by the expenditure of occult influence.

Warding Circle vs. Ghouls, Fae, Lupines, Kindred, Spirits, Ghosts, Demons

This ritual is enacted in a manner similar to Ward vs. Ghouls, but it encompasses an area designated by the caster. This creates an area into which the specified creature cannot pass without risking harm. Any creature that attempts to cross the boundary of the warded area feels a sleight tingle on her skin in time for her to stop herself from crossing it.  Those who ignore this warning must succeed in a Static Willpower Challenge (no Traits risked) vs. the casters Willpower Traits to cross the barrier. Should the creature fail the challenge, it is barred from the area protected by the ward until the next sunset and she suffers a lethal wound. Attempts to leave the circle are not opposed, but once the creature has left, he must challenge again to reenter.

The casting time for a Warding Circle is normal to create a circle that last until sunset, or one whole night to create one that will last for a year and a day. One blood trait must be spent for every 50 square feet that the ward encompasses.

Warding Circle vs. Ghouls is a basic ritual. Warding Circle vs. Fae, Lupines, and Kindred is an intermediate. Warding Circle vs. Spirits and Ghosts is an advanced ritual. In Bloodshadows, Warding Circle vs. Demons is an advanced ritual but is restricted to PC use because study of warding against these creatures involves too much study into the creatures themselves. Only certain Tremere have access to these rituals and may only be contacted by the expenditure of occult influence.

Visceratika

Dark Statue

This discipline remains as converted for Bloodshadows before. "Dark Statue" remains the first advanced level, with "Flow within the Mountain" the second advanced discipline.



Backgrounds

Influences:

If available, a character may purchase up to 10 Levels of a particular influence. Most influences have limits as to the number of people who can hold a particular level. For example: A city may allow 1 person to hold 10 influences in a certain area, 2 to hold 9, 3 to hold 8, etc. There will only ever be one 10 level influence in any particular area (if it is available at all). Anyone can buy up to five levels of any influence without restriction.

I have always been somewhat fly-by-night as to how influences have been played, and characters have expressed interest for more ways in which they can make them useful. I am taking suggestions from the "Dark Epics" book to make available additional actions that players may take with their influences. Let me emphasize that players do not need to learn this new set of rules. It would be my advice that if you want/need influences but don’t want to actively manage them, just mention on your monthly experience sheet that any unused influences should be used to Conceal the existence of the rest. Characters may still accomplish all of the actions listed in the books with their various levels of influence so long as they are not stopped by any of the actions below. In processing influence actions, they will occur in the order received by me (handwritten notes including written date & time presented at or after game are acceptable). I will accept "standing orders" for what is to be done with your influences (ex.: Conceal until further notice). However, if you place standing orders, your influences are tied up in performing those actions until you withdraw them before the start of a game so they will be available that game (influences renew at the beginning of each game). For more detail, see the "Dark Epics" book: all actions are adopted without modification except for Growth, as noted below:

• Attack: Provided you have Traced another character’s influence (thus know it exists), you may Attack that influence with your own. If the total number of influence invested in your Attack exceeds the total number of influence of the target player plus any Defend traits invested, the target player loses one point of influence.

• Block: A Block may be set up to attempt to stop a particular action from taking place with a particular influence, regardless of who might be trying to do it. The influences expended in such a block must be at least equal to the number of influences spent to attempt to accomplish the action (thus explaining why you might want to dedicate more than the minimum number of influences to accomplishing a goal using Boost). The action to be blocked must be very specific, such as an attempt to block the sale of all stolen pistols in the Underworld influence, or allowing license plates to be looked up using the Police influence. Influence expended in a Block action lasts for one month.

• Boost: If you think someone may be trying to block your actions, you may preface an influence action by investing additional (potentially unneeded) levels of Influence. For instance, if someone tries to get a free lawyer for a minor case using one level of Legal and they are blocked, they know there is a problem, and they lose the Legal influence invested in the failed action. They can invest a number of traits to boost their action: the Boost traits are compared to the Block traits. If Boost equals or exceeds Block, the Block is overcome, and the player can now spend a new Legal influence to attempt once more to get a free lawyer (succeeding now that the Block has been overcome). If they had just Boosted the action in the first place, they wouldn’t have lost that first Legal influence trait (then again, if no Block was in place, a Boost invested without testing the waters could be a waste of effort).

• Combine: Combine allows you to aid the endeavor of another kindred, Ally, or Mentor.  For every two influence traits invested by the assisting the player, the primary player adds one to their level of influence.  This is applicable in using traits loaned by the Ally and Mentor backgrounds.  Note: a character may not spend more than 10 traits towards a single endeavor in one month including those spent on Combine.

• Conceal: Conceal can be used to hide your influence from uses of Trace.  As long as the number of traits invested in Conceal equal or exceed those invested to attempt to trace the influence, your identity as controller of those traits is safe.

• Defend: You use the Defend maneuver when you fear that someone is going to Attack your influence.  Your influence is safe from reduction so long as your total number of traits plus the number of traits invested in Defend equals or exceeds those invested in the Attack upon your influence.

• Follow: You can attempt to see what someone is doing with a specific influence, so long as it has been traced already. Unless your target has invested at least as many levels of Stealth in hiding what they are doing, you will know what they are up to with the influence in question.

• Growth: [Note: no one gets free influences as stated in the book, sorry.]  If you were blocked from purchasing additional levels of influence because there was none available, you may invest what traits you already have into Growth. In order for another influence to become available (with Storyteller approval), you must spend twice as many traits into Growth as you already have.  Thus, you can theoretically find ways to increase the possible levels of available influence (allowing you to invest a new point in that influence) every other month, if that is all you do with your influence.

• Stealth: Stealth is added to endeavors to counter the uses of Follow and Watch.  Stealth can be applied to any action in the influence charts in the book, as well as to Attack, Block, Follow, Growth, or Watch.  If the number of levels of Stealth on an endeavor equals or exceeds the level of Follow or Watch, the endeavor remains undetected.

• Trace: You can use this to establish the identity of someone whose use of influence you have come across in-game.  You cannot simply guess that someone has an influence and attempt to place a Trace; you must have a specific action using that influence from which to start.  As examples, you may have used Watch to see a particular action taking place, or you may have been Attacked or Blocked from doing an action.  If the level of your Trace exceeds the highest level of Conceal or Stealth which is protecting those traits that month, you learn the identity of the controller of the influence traced.  Note that you may pass on the information gained by a trace to other players, but those other players must perform a successful Trace of their own before their minions can Attack or Follow the influence you’ve just traced.

• Watch: You can use Watch when you want to notice a certain influence action in a city from the regular influence charts listed in the books.  Your influence must be of sufficient level to perform that action before you can attempt to watch for others doing the same thing.  A Watch will let you know when and how often the action is attempted in the city for that month, and you will even discover uses of the action that occurred earlier in the same month before the Watch was instituted.  Note that you do not gain the identity of the owner of the influences in question: a successful Trace would have to be performed in order to gain that information.  You can also use Watch to look for the following endeavors: Attack, Block, Follow (only those targeted at you) Growth and Watch.

Retainers:

Retainers will be constructed at basic levels with no starting backgrounds or freebie points for the first point invested (See the ghoul creation rules). Additional points may be invested (with Storyteller approval) that allow the Retainer to control additional backgrounds, and these allow a character to control more background traits than they might otherwise. Any background point(s) may be combined with their regnant's backgrounds without penalty so long as they survive (backgrounds or abilities in Allies or Mentors are halved when adding to your own efforts) and this number may not exceed the maximum amount of traits available in a certain area (usually 10). Retainers who become PCs (or were constructed to be PCs), as before, no longer require their regnants to spend points on their existence.

Retainers gain one point towards an additional background, or three points towards character improvement, for each level of the Retainer background invested in them.


Willpower

Regaining Willpower

The new system recommends that Willpower be replenished at the rate of one per game session. This makes it more precious and this system will be adopted by Bloodshadows. Before leaving a game for the night, you must sign out on the Willpower roster that I will have available; if you do not, I reserve the right to assume that all Willpower has been spent and start you at one point the following month. If you forget, tell me how much you spent as soon as possible. Sometimes additional willpower points may be earned back during the month. This is typically done by spending your time throughout the month feeding your nature and resting. This is always up to storyteller discretion. If you want to get back additional willpower, please tell the storyteller how you plan on accomplishing this.

Substituting Willpower for Abilities

The book says that you may spend one Willpower trait to enter a challenge for which your character lacks an appropriate ability. This will be true only for non-knowledge-related abilities. You cannot use Willpower-based challenges on Academics, Computer, Finance, Lore (or most Hobby abilities), Law, Linguistics, Occult, Science, Security, and any ability tests that the storyteller deems inappropriate.



General Rules

Not Coming to Game

If you cannot make it to a game, I require that you let me know as far in advance as possible. Please be courteous and communicate with your storyteller. I understand emergencies, but I get grumpy if I put a lot of work into plotlines for you and you do not show up, especially if you knew that you could not make it beforehand. Please keep in mind that I am a volunteer and be courteous. Thank you.

Earning Experience Points

Experience point awards are as follows: 1 automatic point for attending a game, 2 points for turning in an experience sheet within a week after the game (only 1 point if the experience sheet is received in the 2nd week after a game, and no points if it is later than that but as always I will try and provide info/feedback). I will also make role-playing awards for an additional point, and will consider making awards for other contributions to the game. But players need to be more forthcoming with role-playing nominations in order for that fourth point to be awarded to more than a small handful of players.

Pre-game Blood Challenge

I am adopting the third edition rules as it comes to blood challenges. It will no longer be assumed that characters have full blood pools, or that they have extra blood to spend on things such as rituals. We will do the blood challenge at the beginning of each game; if you arrive after characters have been distributed, find me to run a challenge to see how much blood your character has. If you have a herd and it's located nearby, you can add one blood trait per level of herd to your after-blood-test herd. Also note that if your character has any ghouls, you will be at least one trait down for each ghoul you possess. PC ghouls may have up to three blood traits for a given evening, but this additional blood also comes from your pool. Therefore giving a PC ghoul 3 blood traits will remove three points from your blood pool instead of one. It is generally assumed that Ghouls have only one blood trait of vampiric blood. Please see the special rules on "Hunting & Feeding".

Hunting & Feeding

There have been some questions about how hunting works. These rules are as follows:

• If you spend a half-hour hunting, you can generally find a mortal without tests.

• If you spend 15 minutes (depending on locale) hunting and run a hunting challenge with me, you can usually find someone faster.

• Telling me that you're going out hunting the night of the game means you come in late by the number of half-hours (or 15 minute intervals if you make challenges with me) it requires to become full based on the blood challenge - just telling me that your going does not reduce the time required. You need to proactively hunt ahead if you want to be both on-time and full of blood, and you need to indicate how the blood is stored if you are doing so.

• Most mortals will object strenuously to having blood taken with a syringe...where they would not generally object to being bitten if you hunt carefully. So in general, it will be your blood that you store and use.

You may take up to 5 blood traits from someone and leave them woozy, seven and bleeding, eight and unconscious, or 10 if you kill them. Whichever method you use, please inform the story teller.

Healing

The rules on healing are contradictory throughout the books. The house rules are as follows:

• A kindred may heal 1 level of aggravated damage per night by expending 3 blood traits. This health level does not return until sunset of the next evening. If the kindred wishes to heal MORE then one aggravated wound in a single evening, she must spend a willpower trait and another three blood traits per wound.

• A kindred may spend 1 blood point to heal either bashing or lethal damage. Remember that bashing damage is halved for Vampires.

Torpor

There are two completly different rules for handling Torpor in the MET Book. Bloodshadows uses the table in LoTN pp. 199 for determining the amount of time that a kindred will remain in torpor without being rescued. Furthermore, as per the third bullet point in LoTN pp. 111 under morality traits, in order to be awoke from Torpor, you must be fed the blood of a Vampire three generations lower then you. Furthermore, if a vampire enters torpor voluntarily, they may specify the length of their torpor, but this must be at least half of the values on the table in LoTN pp. 199.

Monthly Expenditures

For any given month, a character may spend a maximum of 20 experience points. Expenditures of these points may only include any combination of the following:

• One discipline (see section on Superior Disciplines)
• One ability or ability specialization
• One willpower
• One virtue
• One path trait
• Two traits in any given category. (i.e. 2 physical, 2 mental, and 2 social traits may be acquired each month)
• Two backgrounds (including influences)

All character enhancements are subject to storyteller approval.

Between Game Actions

It is permissible for characters to interact between games. However, if characters are going to meet in person, they must actually meet in person. The storyteller must either be present or give prior approval for an in-person between game action to take place. The only difference to this rule is when two characters interact and it is likely NOT to turn into challenges. Examples of this might be Tremere who live in the same chantry or a regent interacting with her ghoul. These are subject to storyteller discretion. In this case, the two people may use email for an "in-person" conversation, and it is assumed that the conversation took place when the thread ENDS.

Characters may send email to each other in-game and all emails are assumed to be unprotected emails unless they specify an encryption scheme at the beginning of the email.

Characters may also have messages delivered to each other between games. If you wish to do this, please inform the storyteller in advance. This is due to the fact that items or letters may be intercepted via the use of influences, and thus never received by the intended recipient. Electronic facsimiles of "delivered mail" are also acceptable, but you must e-mail a copy of what you are having "delivered" to the storyteller at least a day in advance. The storyteller will inform you, upon notification, as to whether you believe your transaction to be completed.

Phone calls (and virtual "phone calls" over email) are also acceptable at any time between games. Players will be notified by the storyteller if their phones are potentially tapped; this will simply require that a brief summary of the discussion be sent to the storyteller. If you are not notified that your phone is tapped, you may use it freely.

Finally, while you may resolve game actions between games, for future play, any action initiated between games takes place at the time we get together to resolve it, not the time it is declared (barring a Storyteller ruling to the contrary).

There are two Golden rules when dealing with between game actions:

• You must make sure that the storyteller is cc'd on all in-character transmissions done over email.
• No between game actions are permitted on the day of the game. Changes to this policy will be extremely rare, so you'd best have an excellent reason if you even want to request that something happen on game day prior to a game. If the player hasn't accomplished it by sunrise Saturday, neither has their character.

Diablerie

I have had some problems and some questions about this in the past. Hopefully this will set the records straight.

Some characters hate it; some Princes disallow it under any circumstances. That's perfectly fine. But in the Bloodshadows universe, when it's gone to the test and kindred were brought up on charges, there has been narrow circumstances where it's gone unpunished and has been supported by Justicars of the Inner Circle. This typically happens when a character is Blood Hunted. Under a Blood Hunt they are no longer protected by the Tradition of Destruction and it is sometimes ruled that Diablerie against the individual may be permitted. Some Princes even have a standing Blood Hunt versus members of the Sabbat making diablerie against these Vampires permissible at any time. It is really up to the Prince and the politics of the city as to whether or not this is permissible in the city of Denver. But it is certainly NOT unheard of.

Your character can protest if you feel that a blood hunt is called to gain personal advantage and not for the protection of the Camarilla. You can even protest diablerie under a legitimate hunt if you want to, and if your argument is persuasive enough (through the use of status or other means), you might be able to sway the authority you are appealing to rule in your favor. I'm not laying down general guidelines as to how this *will* be treated, I'm laying down a ruling in the *history* of the general attitude towards diablerie in the world of Bloodshadows.

My intention here is not to constrain anyone. If your character has a vendetta versus diablerie and wants to put a stop to it, by all means, make your case. Just understand that in the past it has been found acceptable under certain circumstances. As usual, my NPCs have free will with which to decide how they're going to react. They just need to understand what the existing, prevailing opinion *is*, and tailor their reactions appropriately.

The "challenge" vs. "expenditures" rule

Bloodshadows used to have a system whereby every time the books mentioned "spend x traits to do something" then you would have to perform a challenge. Although this rule had good intentions, it was too confusing. Therefore this house rule and any other ones not listed in this document are now obsolete.