Tzimisce

The Tzimisce are the Old World’s darkness — Eastern European nobles who understood their domains as extensions of self, who treated their subjects as material to be shaped, and who have carried those instincts into vampiric existence. Vicissitude is their gift and their aesthetic: flesh is clay, and everything can be improved. Their definition of improvement is their own.

Nickname: Fiends

Sect: Sabbat (founding clan)

In-Clan Disciplines: Animalism, Auspex, Vicissitude

Weakness

Bound to the Earth: Each Tzimisce must sleep surrounded by at least two handfuls of earth from a place of personal significance — the soil of their birthplace, a graveyard they claimed, the foundations of their ancestral home. Without this, they lose one die from all dice pools each day until their pool reaches zero, at which point they fall into a coma-like sleep.

Practicality: A Tzimisce away from home must carry their soil — or establish a new resonant connection to earth, which requires time and ritual. Travel is possible but logistically demanding.

Clan Culture

Koldunism: Ancient Tzimisce practice blood sorcery called Koldunic Sorcery — elemental magic predating Thaumaturgy that operates on different principles. This is separate from Vicissitude and not universally practiced.

Domain as self: The Tzimisce concept of domain is more absolute than other clans. What is within their domain is theirs — to shape, to protect, to alter. The invasive nature of this worldview makes them uncomfortable Allies and terrifying enemies.

The Old Clan: A lineage of Tzimisce predating the Sabbat exists — elders who rejected the Vicissitude obsession and the Sabbat’s theology and instead cultivated a more philosophical, land-connected tradition. These are rare and regarded with complicated feelings by their clan.

Fleshcrafting culture: Tzimisce Sabbat havens are typically full of their work — modified ghouls, reshaped architecture, aesthetic experiments in living tissue. Other Sabbat find this impressive or disturbing in roughly equal measure.

Roleplaying Notes

The earth weakness is the most logistically demanding clan weakness in V20. It is manageable with planning but punishing if neglected — and it anchors the Tzimisce to a specific place in a way most vampires are not.

Vicissitude as expression of identity: Tzimisce who reshape others are making artistic and political statements. What they choose to create, preserve, or destroy says everything about them. A Tzimisce who never uses their Discipline is making as much of a statement as one who uses it constantly.

Merits & Flaws

Bioluminescence (1pt. Merit) — Through Vicissitude or a biological quirk, you can grant yourself (via Malleable Visage) or others (via Fleshcraft) the ability to emit a controlled soft glow. Color and pattern can be varied with concentration. Requires at least Vicissitude ●.

Pain Tolerance (2pt. Merit) — You shrug off pain through conditioned nerves or Vicissitude modification. Wound penalties from injury are reduced or delayed; discuss the specific degree with the Storyteller.

Dracon’s Temperament (3pt. Merit) — Your psyche shifts fluidly through different Natures without losing your core identity. At the start of each story, choose one Personality Archetype to function as your Nature for that story. You regain Willpower according to the chosen Nature and may be affected by powers as per that Nature.

Haven Affinity (3pt. Merit) — You are deeply bonded to the earth of your prime haven. Add 1 die to all dice pools when operating there. You can home in on it with Perception + Survival (difficulty 6, +1 per state/country of separation, +2 if halfway across the globe).

Revenant Disciplines (3pt. Merit) — Your revenant family bloodline runs deeper than the Embrace. Select a revenant family at character creation (V20 pp. 503–506). You use that family’s three Disciplines as your starting in-Clan set rather than the Tzimisce standard (Animalism, Auspex, Vicissitude). XP costs for those three Disciplines are in-Clan rates.

Promethean Clay (5pt. Merit) — Your flesh responds to your will almost reflexively. All Vicissitude powers used on yourself are at −2 difficulty. You may activate Vicissitude powers reflexively at full dice pool while taking other actions. Powers requiring multiple turns still need the full duration. You need no physical sculpting to use the first three Vicissitude levels on yourself. Requires at least Vicissitude ●.

Unblinking (1pt. Flaw) — Your eyes never close. You may have modified them with a nictitating membrane or simply lost the habit. Adds +1 to the difficulty of friendly social interactions with humans, Kindred on Humanity, and others with mortal sensibilities.

Ancestral Soil Dependence (2pt. Flaw) — In addition to the standard Tzimisce earth requirement, you specifically require soil from the ancestral Tzimisce Eastern European homeland — not merely somewhere personally significant to you. Most commonly manifests in the childer of koldun or descendants of Yorak. Cannot be taken by characters Embraced in Eastern Europe.

Faceless (3pt. Flaw) — Every sundown, roll 1d10: on a 1, no change; 2–3, minor changes (somewhat recognizable); 4–8, unrecognizable by anyone including packmates; 9–10, total metamorphosis with tentacles, bone spikes, or other inhuman features. Alternate Identity, Fame, and recognizable reputation are nearly impossible to maintain. Cannot take Mistaken Identity Flaw. Requires Vicissitude ●.

Privacy Obsession (3pt. Flaw) — You carry the Tzimisce respect for privacy to extremes. You must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 6) to enter another being’s dwelling without being explicitly invited. When disturbed in your own haven by an uninvited guest, you must make a Self-Control/Instinct roll (difficulty 7) to avoid frenzy.

Revenant Weakness (3pt. Flaw) — You carry both the standard Tzimisce weakness and your revenant family’s limitation (V20 pp. 503–506). The Storyteller may also allow manifestation of a weakness from a lost or destroyed revenant line for added mystery.

Consumption (5pt. Flaw) — Something hungry lives inside you — corrupted Vicissitude, portions of an Antediluvian, or something else entirely. Each evening, you suffer one health level of lethal damage that cannot be soaked or healed with blood. The only counteraction is consuming one-tenth of your body-weight in human flesh. If consumed before the damage occurs, you simply vomit it up — the timing is strict.