The Ten Bloodlines

Baali

Nickname: Demons Sect: Independent (individuals may infiltrate any Sect) Disciplines: Daimoinon, Obfuscate, Presence Common Paths: Path of Night, Path of Cathari

Weakness: Baali cannot look upon or handle objects of any sincere faith. They must avert their gaze from holy symbols; touching them burns their flesh. Against a wielder with True Faith, all hindering or damaging effects are doubled.

Background: The Baali are demon-worshippers, organized in small cabals of three to thirteen, serving infernal patrons from the Outer Dark. They are not merely evil for its own sake — they have theology, albeit one involving the deliberate cultivation of corruption and the feeding of forces that predate Caine. Their Embrace is diverse: they recruit teachers, fallen priests, laborers, and artists. Some Baali families breed ghoul dynasties raised on their truths.

In Kindred society: The Baali are widely despised — even by the Sabbat, who will occasionally call temporary truces with other enemies to hunt them. Their existence is an embarrassment to the Sabbat’s theology (demons should serve Cainites, not be served by them) and a threat to the Camarilla’s carefully maintained stability.

Blood Brothers

Nickname: Frankensteins Sect: Sabbat exclusively Disciplines: Fortitude, Potence, Sanguinus

Weakness: Blood Brothers cannot Embrace; any attempt simply kills the mortal. Additionally, when a Blood Brother suffers a wound penalty, all members of the circle suffer the same penalty for the following turn (overlapping penalties — only the greatest applies).

Background: Blood Brothers are not Embraced — they are created. Tremere and Tzimisce sorcerers manufacture them in rituals that produce near-mindless quasi-vampires organized into “circles” of three to ten, connected by a hive mind. The creation process strips individuality. Tzimisce typically fleshcraft the circle’s faces to be identical. They serve as Sabbat shock troops.

Sanguinus: The bloodline’s unique Discipline allows them to share perception, synchronize combat across the circle, and even extend their physical reach through the shared blood-connection.

Daughters of Cacophony

Nickname: Sirens Sect: Independent or Camarilla Disciplines: Fortitude, Melpominee, Presence Common Nature: Fanatic, Visionary

Weakness: The Daughters hear music constantly — an inescapable internal symphony that others cannot perceive. All Perception roll difficulties increase by two; no Daughter may have Alertness above 3 dots.

Background: The Daughters emerged as a bloodline during the 19th century, likely from Toreador or Malkavian blood. All are singers, their existence organized around song. They wander — never staying long, always following the music that only they can hear. The bloodline is predominantly female and too rare to threaten either Sect politically.

Melpominee: Their unique Discipline affects the soul directly, not merely the ears. It works on deaf subjects. It cannot be recorded or broadcast. Multiple Daughters can harmonize to reduce difficulty and increase effect.

Gargoyles

Nickname: Slaves (free Gargoyles resent this); also Rockheads, Runaways, Grotesques Sect: Usually Camarilla (though by choice rather than loyalty) Disciplines: Flight, Fortitude, Potence, Visceratika

Weakness: Appearance 0 permanently. Additionally, Gargoyles are highly susceptible to mind control from any source — their Willpower score is treated as 2 points lower when resisting mental powers of any kind.

Background: Gargoyles were created, not Embraced, by the Tremere through rituals using Gangrel, Nosferatu, and Tzimisce blood. They were enslaved for centuries as guardians of chantries. Many have recently freed themselves and found a place in the Camarilla as independent agents — though the Tremere still regard some as property, and the Tzimisce regard all Gargoyles as an atrocity to be corrected.

All Gargoyles have wings (which grow with their Flight Discipline), rocky or stone-textured skin, and faces that read as monstrous even by Kindred standards. Each starts with 1 free dot of Flight at Embrace.

Harbingers of Skulls

Nickname: Lazarenes Sect: Sabbat Disciplines: Auspex, Fortitude, Necromancy

Weakness: Regardless of blood consumed, Harbingers retain deathly pale skin and a skeletal appearance. Appearance 0 permanently; automatically fail all Appearance rolls.

Background: The Harbingers are alleged to be elders who emerged from a long absence — some claiming five centuries of absence from Kindred society — and joined the Sabbat. Their origins are genuinely mysterious. They claim to be victims of a great crime, though they refuse to specify which. They resemble rotting corpses and provide the Sabbat with necromantic services. They harbor a deep, unexplained hatred of the Giovanni — the extent and source of this feud they decline to discuss.

The Giovanni-Harbinger feud: This is one of V20’s best-sustained mysteries. The source of the conflict is not publicly known and provides significant story fuel.

Kiasyd

Nickname: Weirdlings Sect: Nominally Sabbat; some Camarilla or independent Disciplines: Dominate, Mytherceria, Obtenebration

Weakness: Allergy to iron. Touching iron requires an immediate frenzy roll. Weapons made from cold iron (specifically cold-forged iron, not steel) inflict aggravated damage.

Background: The Kiasyd are a Lasombra offshoot with fae-touched blood — the circumstances that introduced faerie elements into their lineage are ancient and unclear. They share Obtenebration with their Lasombra ancestors; they do not share the Lasombra’s political ambitions. Kiasyd are scholars and recluses, preferring vast libraries to Sabbat politics. They are calm, studious, and eerily patient. Physical appearance: uniformly tall and willowy, skin that seems to glow faintly, eyes without visible pupils (often violet or black), frequently over six feet.

Nagaraja

Nickname: Flesh-Eaters Sect: Independent; follow Camarilla rules in their cities Disciplines: Auspex, Dominate, Necromancy

Weakness: Nagaraja require raw flesh in addition to blood. For every night without flesh, they lose 1 cumulative die from all Physical dice pools. One flesh point (from a human body containing 10) restores one die. Taking a flesh point inflicts 1 unsoakable lethal health level on the vessel.

Background: The Nagaraja descend from a Middle Eastern death cult that ritually consumed human flesh and opened gateways into the lands of the dead. They have been hunted to near-extinction by political enemies and the ghosts they prey upon (which tend to develop grudges). Some belong to the Tal’Mahe’Ra (the True Black Hand, a secret Sect operating through the Shadowlands). Their necromantic practice has a different character than Giovanni necromancy — more spiritual, more violent.

Salubri

Nickname: Cyclops; opponents call them Soulsuckers Sect: Independent; sometimes masquerade within the Camarilla Disciplines: Auspex, Fortitude, Obeah

Weakness: Salubri have extreme difficulty feeding on unwilling vessels. Any attempt forces a Willpower point loss. They cannot feed easily without consent.

Background: The Salubri were once a true Clan — the healers, the seekers of Golconda. Their founder Saulot was diablerized by the newly-created Tremere, who then declared the remaining Salubri “soul-drinkers” and hunted them to near-extinction with the Camarilla’s passive assistance. Rumor holds that only seven Salubri exist at any given time. Each Salubri has a third eye in the center of the forehead, which appears when they master the second level of Obeah.

Character creation note: All Salubri must take 5 dots in the Generation Background — representing that they diablerized their own sires to survive, the only way to create a new Salubri.

The warrior line: A Salubri antitribu warrior caste exists within the Sabbat, using a variant discipline called Valeren (offensive Obeah). They are distinct from the healer line.

Samedi

Nickname: Stiffs Sect: Independent; occasionally join Camarilla or Sabbat Disciplines: Fortitude, Obfuscate, Thanatosis

Weakness: Appearance 0 permanently; automatically fail Appearance rolls. Samedi look like advanced decomposition: soft flesh that leaks fluid, rotted features, skin that sloughs and regrows.

Background: The Samedi take their name from the Haitian loa of death, Baron Samedi — who may be the bloodline’s founder. Their connection to the Giovanni or Cappadocians is suspected but undiscussed by either party. In Kindred society, Samedi serve as enforcers and contract killers, operating on a non-ideological business model. They refuse contracts against Nosferatu or Giovanni without a significant premium.

Thanatosis: Their unique Discipline embodies decay and disease — rotting tissue on contact, inducing wasting illness, and at high levels dissolving physical form entirely.

True Brujah

Nickname: Sages Sect: Independent; follow Camarilla rules in their cities; avoid the Sabbat Disciplines: Potence, Presence, Temporis

Weakness: The True Brujah’s Embrace strips emotional capacity, which deteriorates further with age. All Conscience and Conviction rolls are at +2 difficulty (maximum 10). Raising Conscience, Conviction, Humanity, or Paths costs double normal experience.

Background: The True Brujah’s claim: Brujah’s childe Troile committed diablerie upon the Antediluvian and stole control of the Clan. The original Brujah was cold and passionless — not the hot-blooded warrior-scholar the Rabble became. The True Brujah pursue knowledge above all, maintaining a small presence in Kindred society and occasionally consulting for the Followers of Set or Sabbat when the intellectual opportunity suits them.

Temporis: The unique Discipline of actual time manipulation — slowing events to a crawl, stopping moments entirely, and at elder levels reversing time locally. This is distinct from Celerity (which accelerates the user) — Temporis manipulates time in the environment.