Vampires come in all flavors and stripes, but there are some constants that are the same for every vampire that should be considered when creating and playing a character. These constants are the curse, the hunger, the beast, and eternity.

Suggested Reading:

• The book of the Damned
• Chaining the Beast

The Curse

The first thing to keep in mind is that your character is cursed. Whatever power and strength undeath grants you, it comes with a price. Each clan has it's own curse, there are some in particular I would like to discuss.

Brujah:

The Brujah are the clan of rebels for a reason. This blood line is filled with a rage that mechanically results in permanently being down 1 Self-Control in any self-control challenge. This means that no matter how studious and in control you were in life, in undeath you are always on edge in comparison. This does not mean you Frenzy at the drop of a hat, you can still spend a willpower to walk away. However, in social interactions you should keep it in mind that your default disposition is always annoyed.

Malkavian:

This clan seems like the easiest to play, and I think this is largely due to the use of the word 'insane'. It's a fluff word, and it brings up images of cookie disney characters gibbering with googley eyes. Malkavians are not insane 'haha', they are deranged 'oh shit'. This is much harder to pull off. Among the clan they perceive these mental fractures as insight and enlightenment. There disorders should be deeply thought out, and it can take a lot of energy to play them out correctly. Side note: MPD is extremely over done.

Fluff Malk Concept examples:

• I think I'm the God RA, and I'm looking for the Star Gate
• I regress to a child age, and demand my blanky every time I get in trouble

Non-Fluff Malk Concepts examples:

• I am an Alter Boy. I seduce priests into sin and drunkenness. I then drink of there blood, now rich with dark energies, and look into the future. Then with this new power I reshape what I see.
• I serve the monster under my bed. The one that ate my parents. My sister. My grandmother... (etc etc)

Nosferatu

All Nosferatue are twisted, deformed, broke, and all around fugly. It is important to consider the effect this has on your PC. Physical beauty is extremely important in modern society, the ridicule someone faces with a simple zit can be scaring on the psyche. Now wear your insides on the outside for a while and see what effect that has. The embrace for a Nosferatue is a terrifying and extremely painful experience, many don't survive it. Do you live in the sewer? Do you live in the slums? What were your dreams and hopes as a mortal, as they have likely been dashed and destroyed now. Many Nosferatue are made cruel, and bitter as they try to come to terms with the monster in the mirror. Some just hide down in the sewers and live with the vermin, preferring them to even clan mates, and may slip into madness or go feral. These usually do not leave the sewers.

Toreador

Arguably the least cursed, and arguably the most cursed. Toreador are champions of humanity, they espouse beauty and creativity. They are artisans, and high society elites. Now condemned to an eternity of shadows, and dark cravings. There creativity and ability to adapt stunted as the stagnation of vampirism sets it. The eldest forced to watch classical music give out for Gangster Rap, and unable to make the transition themselves. This is the true curse of the Toreador. To always be a pale comparison of what they once were, and never achieving what they desire to be. Human. The book curse is when confronted with beauty they become entranced, and must spend a mental trait or be interrupted in some way. It's a good thing to point out the Toreador in question likely won't want to spend the mental, or even see this as a curse. They simply love beauty.

Tremere

Your curse is your clan. Upon embrace you are bound to it's leaders, instilling loyalty within you. This clan is big on secrets, following orders, and results. Fuck up are short lived. This is not a clan for casual gamers.

Ventrue

The clan of Kings. Big egos abound, the Ventrue curse restricts it's members to only being able to feed on a particular type of blood. Players are encouraged to be creative, and somewhat specific when selecting a feeding restriction. It is also extremely important for Ventrue players to determine HOW they find food. It is worth noting this restriction does not apply to kindred blood.

Feed Restriction Examples:

• 60+ year old woman
• Prostitutes
• The Homeless
• Blond hair, blue eyes
• Norwegians

Gangrel

This one is important. Every time you give into your beast you turn more and more into an animal. Physically and Mentally as you develop Beast and Feral traits. You are also filled with a wonder lust, and do not like to be restricted or 'caged'. Now, as we discussed with the Nosferatue, when your physical appearance is altered it can have traumatic effects on your psyche. Now add to that developing animalistic behaviors, and as you learn more of your clan gifts and actually transform into an animal. This should all effect your mental stability in some way. How do you come to terms with it, do you fight against it and shun your family gifts, do you embrace it and become border line feral and savage, do you hide your alterations in shame? Even those learning Gangrel powers out of clan should consider the effect becoming an animal has on there psyche.

Giovanni

Most vampires can hide behind the Kiss when they feed, and convince themselves it's a romantic thing. Not the Giovanni. There bite inflicts no pleasure, only pain. This again is important for those who wish to be higher humanity to consider. How do you maintain your humanity when every time you feed your victim howls in pain?

The Hunger

The Hunger is putting it lightly. Feeding permeates your existence, it is everything. Sex, Cheese burgers, drugs, etc is all replaced with blood. It sustains you, makes you powerful, and it's a pleasure unknown to mortals. Blood is an addiction, for those of you who smoke you can understand the cravings when you can't get a cigarette. That is nothing in comparison to the cravings for blood.

Worse still is that denying the Hunger only makes the beast angry. Those low on blood have a harder time resisting Frenzy, and possibly doing more damage to those they care about than they would if they just took a few nibbles of blood now and then. For some this creates a moral quandary that they simple can't handle, and they great the sun. How does your character deal with it?

The Beast

The beast is not simply a conceptual idea, it's an actual thing that lives inside you... and it's angry. It compels you too commit acts of evil, to feed gluttonously, to kill. It pulls you kicking and screaming towards wassail. It takes a great strength of will to keep the beast in check, and eventually every kindred will slip into Frenzy. In this state the Beast takes over and like a wild beast escaping from a cage will lash out at any and all that come near it. Upon regaining control the Kindred is confronted with the harm it has caused and must make peace with this and more hauntingly, the knowledge that it will happen again. And again, and again. A Kindreds guilt, like them, is eternal.

As a kindred ages the internal struggle with the beast, and the piling guilt of past transgressions, tend to compound and ravage the mind. Loosing touch with humanity is inevitable, if only to retain it's sanity. For this reason many elders will develop odd querks of behavior or full out derangements. If you are playing an older PC, you should ask yourself – how has age effected you?

Eternity

Forever is a long time. A young kindred may look forward at Eternity or be shook by it. An Elder may look back, and truly fear going forward. The Most horrifying aspect of Eternity is of course – Boredom.

This is why we have Prestation, the great Jyhad of the Elders, the sect wars, influences, etc etc. Eternity is boring, and Kindred need something to do. Granted that is putting it incredibly simply. No matter the age of your PC, you should consider to fullness of Eternity and how that effects the characters view point on it's existence. Does it become reckless, even self destructive. Does it become even more paranoid about Final Death knowing it has the promise of eternity only so long as it can keep it's head. Is it religious? Does it fear Hell more than Eternity, does it crave redemption for sins and fear the long nights to come as it struggles with it's beast?

There is a lot of depth to this game, and the character development. No discipline is just a fancy power, they all have dramatic impacts on the psyche of those who wield them. What kind of person do you become when you can look like/be anyone you desire? How do you cope with Camarilla social structure when you are used to the freedom of Democracy, how do you handle being taken from a mortal life or reality TV and slammed fangs first into a sect war with the Sabbat? Yet all of these issues pale in comparison to the effects of the curse, the hunger, the beast, and eternity.