Riley

Retainers You have one or more loyal and steadfast servants or assistants. Retainers may be ghouls who are blood bound to you, individuals you have so Dominated over the years that they are incapable of independent action, or individuals you have so overwhelmed with your Presence that they would do anything for you. You must always control retainers in some fashion: a salary, vitae donation, or direct mesmerism. Though typically loyal, retainers may betray you if the reward outweighs the risk or if you have treated them badly. The Storyteller can always call for a scene between you and a retainer. Retainers should act as characters, not puppets. Even ghoul retainers aren’t supermen; the most skilled servants don’t always show the highest loyalty. Everything in Vampire is a tradeoff. Storytellers can use Retainers to add flavor to the chronicle; don’t let them or their misuse damage the story.
 
•• A ghoul, a family servant, a human lover, or a dominated thrall: give them a backstory. Build them as an Average mortal or as a ghoul with no Advantages. For more on Ghouls, see p. 234.
 
 
Average mortal
■ Attributes: Two at 3, three at 2, the rest at 1
■ Skills: Three at 3, four at 2, five at 1
■ Advantages: up to 3 points (2 points maximum Flaws)
 
Mask As stealth predators, vampires have few weapons more potent than their pretense of humanity. The lies the Kindred live constantly shadow your stories, and no description of a lick should omit how they navigate mortal society – what they wear as a Mask. A good Mask explains the character’s nocturnal existence and offers plenty of opportunities to be alone with mortals. Some vampires switch back and forth between Masks, risking deep identity confusion and slipups, while others forge single plausible identities and strictly adhere to them for a human lifetime before they switch, adding makeup as they “age,” and faking every aspect of life to look perfectly normal on paper. Others, almost always Nosferatu or unbound vampires, forswear safety for freedom off the grid or on the streets. By default (at no dots) a vampire either has no need of a Mask, such as those recently Embraced and still able to pass as the human they were, or has a single Mask and fake ID that can stand up to a traffic stop or similar surface scrutiny. A zero-dot mask does not pass a background check, much less a proper investigation by the authorities.
 
Looks Not all vampires look like actors on the CW network. Some of them look even better. And some, of course, look far worse. These modifiers only apply when you can be seen. The Storyteller rules whether these modifiers apply during Social combats on a conflict-by-conflict (or even pool-by-pool) basis.
 
•• Beautiful: You add one extra die to all appropriate Social dice pools.