Word on Backgrounds

Quoted from Vampire: Backgrounds describe advantages of relationship, circumstance, and opportunity: material possessions, social networks, and the like. Backgrounds are external, not internal, Traits, and you should always rationalize how you came to possess them, as well as what they represent. Who are your contacts? Why do your allies support you? Where did you meet your retainers? What investments do you possess that yield your four dots in Resources? If you've put enough detail into your character concept, selecting appropriate Backgrounds should be easy. Although it’s uncommon to make rolls involving Background Traits, your Storyteller might have you do so to see if you can obtain information, goods, or favors. For example, you might have to roll Wits + Resources to keep your stock portfolio healthy, or Manipulation + Contacts to wheedle that extra favour from your smuggler "associate."

My interpretation: Backgrounds should be rationalized. I appreciate creativity and common sense. I will likely accept a person’s Resources being very high from a large portfolio of successful investments, but I warn you that I will ask for rolls to "keep your stock portfolio healthy" due to this explanation. Of course, these rolls can hurt and benefit your Resources, as I believe this risk factor should include the chance to win and lose. You might roll exceedingly well and increase your Resources beyond five with some brilliant investments. You might also botch and end up homeless. It’s a good idea to get Backgrounds and skills that compliment each other. It makes sense. A character with all these investments would benefit a lot from the Finance skill and Mental attributes. Perhaps Empathy may come into play to get a genuine read on a potential client (whether they're slimy or the real deal). The aim is to have a well thought out character and represent it through your choice of Backgrounds. I will do my best to accommodate all your reasonable ideas.

Possible Backgrounds: Allies, Alternate Identity, Contacts, Domain, Fame, Generation, Herd, Mentor, Resources, Retainers, Status.

Rare Backgrounds: Spirit Slave (for those with Necromancy), Occult Library (for those with the means and history to explain a library on the occult), Military Force (for those that can adequately explain how they afford a squad of trained hitmen).

Allies

Allies are mortals who support and help you — family, friends, or even a mortal organization that owes you some loyalty. Although allies aid you willingly, without coaxing or coercion, they are not always available to offer assistance; they have their own concerns and can do only so much for the sake of your relationship. Allies are typically persons of influence and power in your home city. You may have friends in the precinct morgue, at a prominent group, among the high society of local celebrities, or at a construction site. Your Allies might be a clan of nomads who move their mobile home camp around the area, or they might be a family of generations of police officers. You may even count the mayor himself among your friends, depending on how many dots you spend on this Trait. Your Allies are generally trustworthy (though they probably don’t know that you’re a vampire, or even that vampires exist). However, nothing comes for free. If you wind up drawing favors from your friend in the Cosa Nostra, he’ll probably ask you to do him a favor in kind in the future.

• One ally of moderate influence and power
•• Two allies, both of moderate power
••• Three allies, one of whom is quite influential
•••• Four allies, one of whom is very influential
••••• Five allies, one of whom is extremely influential


Alternate Identity

You maintain an alternate identity, complete with papers, birth certificates, or any other documentation you desire. Only a few may know your real name or identity. Your alternate persona may be highly involved in organized crime, a member of the opposite Sect, or a con artist who uses alternate identities for her game.

• You are new at this identity game. Sometimes you slip and forget your other persona.
•• You are well grounded in your alternate identity. You are convincing enough to play the part of a doctor, lawyer, funeral salesman, drug-smuggler, or a capable spy.
••• You have a fair reputation as your alternate persona and get name recognition in the area where you have infiltrated.
•••• Your alternate identity has respect and trust within your area of infiltration.
••••• You command respect in your area of infiltration, and you may even have accumulated a bit of influence. You have the trust (or at least the recognition) of many powerful individuals within your area.


Contacts

You know people all over the city. When you start making phone calls around your network, the amount of information you can dig up is impressive. Rather than friends you can rely on to help you, like Allies, Contacts are largely people whom you can bribe, manipulate, or coerce into offering information. You also have a few major Contacts — associates who can give you accurate information in their fields of expertise. You should describe each major contact in some detail before the game begins. In addition to your major contacts, you also have a number of minor contacts spread throughout the city. Your major contact might be in the district attorney’s office, while your minor contacts might include beat cops, DMV clerks, club bouncers, or members of a local neighborhood watch.

• One major contact
•• Two major contacts
••• Three major contacts
•••• Four major contacts
••••• Five major contacts


Domain

Domain is physical territory to which your character controls access for the purpose of feeding. Some Kindred refer to their domain as hunting grounds, and most jealously guard their domains, even invoking the Tradition of the same name to protect their claims. As part of this Background, the character’s claim to the domain is recognized by the Prince or some other Kindred authority in the city where it is located. The Kindred who claims the domain can’t keep the living inhabitants from going about their business, nor does she exercise any direct influence over them, but she can keep watch herself and mind their comings and goings. She can also have Allies or Retainers specifically look for unfamiliar vampires and alert her when they find some. Domain refers specifically to the geography (in most cases a neighborhood or street) and properties on it, as opposed to the people who may dwell there (which is the emphasis of Herd). Domain plays an important part in Kindred society — vampires who lack significant Domain seldom earn respect — but it isn’t an automatic entitlement to status among the Damned. You may designate one or more dots in Domain to increase the security of your character’s territory rather than its size. Each dot so assigned to security provides a +1 difficulty penalty to efforts to intrude into the domain by anyone your character hasn’t specifically allowed in, and a -1 difficulty bonus to efforts by your character to identify and track intruders in the domain. A Domain of one dot’s size and two dots’ security, for instance, is small but quite resistant to intrusion, as opposed to a Domain rating of three dots’ size with no extraordinary security. Each level of Domain reduces the difficulty of hunting checks by one for your character and those whom the character allows in. If you use the domain security option, each dot of domain security raises the difficulty of hunting checks by one for uninvited vampires.

• A single small building, such as a single-family home or a social establishment — enough for a basic haven.
•• A church, factory, warehouse, mid-rise, or other large structure — a location with ready but easily controllable access to the outside world.
••• A high-rise, city block, or an important intersection — a location or area that offers areas for concealment as well as controlled access.
•••• A sewer subsection, a network of service tunnels, the enclave of homes on a hill overlooking the city — a place with inherently protective features, such as an isolated mountain road, bridge-only access, or vigilant private security force.
••••• An entire neighborhood, an ethnic subdivision like “Chinatown” or “Little Italy,” or a whole suburb.


Fame

You enjoy widespread recognition in mortal society, perhaps as an entertainer, writer, or athlete. People may enjoy just being seen with you. This gives you all manner of privileges when moving in mortal society, but can also attract an unwanted amount of attention now that you’re no longer alive. The greatest weapon fame has to offer is the ability to sway public opinion — as the media constantly proves. Fame isn’t always tied to entertainment: A heinous criminal in a high-profile trial probably has a certain amount of fame, as do a lawmaker and a scientist who has made a popularized discovery. This Background is obviously a mixed blessing. You can certainly enjoy the privileges of your prestige — getting the best seats, being invited to events you’d otherwise miss, getting appointments with the elite — but you’re sometimes recognized when you’d rather not be. However, your enemies can’t just make you disappear without causing an undue stir, and you find it much easier to hunt in populated areas as people flock to you, reducing the difficulties of hunting rolls by one for each dot in Fame.

• You’re known to a select subculture — local club-goers, industry bloggers, or the Park Avenue set, for instance.
•• Random people start to recognize your face; you’re a minor celebrity such as a small-time criminal or a local news anchor.
••• You have greater renown; perhaps you’re a senator or an entertainer who regularly gets appearances at prestigious establishments.
•••• A full-blown celebrity; your name is often recognized by the average person on the street.
••••• You’re a household word. People name their children after you.


Generation

This Background represents your Generation: the purity of your blood, and your proximity to the First Vampire. A high Generation rating may represent a powerful sire or a decidedly dangerous taste for diablerie. If you don’t take any dots in this Trait, you begin play as a Thirteenth Generation vampire.

• Twelfth Generation: 11 blood pool, can spend 1 blood point per turn.
•• Eleventh Generation: 12 blood pool, can spend 1 blood point per turn.
••• Tenth Generation: 13 blood pool, can spend 1 blood point per turn.
•••• Ninth Generation: 14 blood pool, can spend 2 blood points per turn.
••••• Eighth Generation: 15 blood pool, can spend 3 blood points per turn.


Herd

You have built a group of mortals from whom you can feed without fear. A herd may take many forms, from circles of kinky club-goers to actual cults built around you as a god-figure. In addition to providing nourishment, your herd might come in handy for minor tasks, though they are typically not very controllable, closely connected to you, or particularly skilled (for more effective pawns, purchase Allies, Military Force or Retainers).

• Three vessels
•• Seven vessels
••• 15 vessels
•••• 30 vessels
••••• 60 vessels


Mentor

This Trait represents a Kindred or group of Kindred who looks out for you, offering guidance or aid once in a while. A mentor may be powerful, but his power need not be direct. Depending on the number of dots in this Background, your mentor might be nothing more than a vampire with a remarkable information network, or might be a centuries-old creature with tremendous influence and supernatural power. He may offer advice, speak to the Prince or Archbishop on your behalf, steer other elders clear of you, or warn you when you’re walking into situations you don’t understand. Most often your mentor is your sire, but it could well be any Cainite with an interest in your well-being. A high Mentor rating could even represent a group of like-minded vampires, such as the elders of the city’s Tremere chantry or a Black Hand cell. Bear in mind that this Trait isn’t a “Get out of Jail Free” card. Your mentor won’t necessarily arrive like the cavalry whenever you’re endangered (and if she does, you’re likely to lose a dot or more in this Background after rousing her ire). What’s more, she might occasionally expect something in return for her patronage, which can lead to a number of interesting stories. A mentor typically remains aloof, giving you useful information or advice out of camaraderie, but will abandon you without a thought if you prove an unworthy or troublesome protégé.

• Mentor is an ancilla of little influence, or a Ductus or Pack Priest.
•• Mentor is respected: an elder or highly-decorated veteran, for instance.
••• Mentor is heavily influential, such as a member of the Primogen or a Bishop.
•••• Mentor has a great deal of power over the city: a Prince or Archbishop, for example.
••••• Mentor is extraordinarily powerful, perhaps even a Justicar or Cardinal.


Resources

Resources are valuable goods whose disposition your character controls. These assets may be actual cash, but as this Background increases, they’re more likely to be investments, property, or earning capital of some sort — land, industrial assets, stocks and bonds, commercial inventories, criminal infrastructure, contraband, even taxes or tithes. Remember that vampires don’t need to arrange for any food except blood and their actual needs (as opposed to wants) for shelter are very easily accommodated. Resources for vampires go mostly to pay for luxuries and the associated expenses of developing and other Backgrounds. A character with no dots in Resources may have enough clothing and supplies to get by, or she may be destitute and squatting in a refrigerator box under an overpass. You receive a basic allowance each month based on your rating, so be certain to detail exactly where this money comes from, be it a job, trust fund or dividends. After all, a Kindred’s fortune may well run out over the course of the chronicle, depending on how well he maintains it. You can also sell your less liquid resources if you need the cash, but this can take weeks or even months, depending on what exactly you’re trying to sell. Art buyers don’t just pop out of the woodwork, after all.

• Sufficient. You can maintain a typical residence in the style of the working class with stability, even if spending sprees come seldom.
•• Moderate. You can display yourself as a member in good standing of the middle class, with the occasional gift and indulgence seemly for a person of even higher station. You can maintain a servant or hire specific help as necessary. A fraction of your resources are available in cash, readily portable property (like jewelry or furniture), and other valuables (such as a car or modest home) that let you maintain a standard of living at the one-dot level wherever you happen to be, for up to six months.
••• Comfortable. You are a prominent and established member of your community, with land and an owned dwelling, and you have a reputation that lets you draw on credit at very generous terms. You likely have more tied up in equity and property than you do in ready cash. You can maintain a one-dot quality of existence wherever you are without difficulty, for as long as you choose.
•••• Wealthy. You rarely touch cash, as most of your assets exist in tangible forms that are themselves more valuable and stable than paper money. You hold more wealth than many of your local peers. When earning your Resources doesn’t enjoy your usual degree of attention, you can maintain a three-dot existence for up to a year, and a two dot existence indefinitely.
••••• Extremely Wealthy. You are the model to which others strive to achieve, at least in the popular mind. Television shows, magazine spreads, and gossip websites speculate about your clothing, the appointments of your numerous homes, and the luxury of your modes of transportation. You have vast and widely distributed assets, perhaps tied to the fates of nations, each with huge staffs and connections to every level of society through a region. You travel with a minimum of three-dot comforts, more with a little effort. Corporations and governments sometimes come to you to buy into stocks or bond programs.


Retainers

Not precisely Allies or Contacts, your retainers are servants, assistants, or other people who are your loyal and steadfast companions. Many vampires’ servants are ghouls — their supernatural powers and blood bond-enforced loyalty make them the servants of choice. Retainers may also be people whom you’ve repeatedly Dominated until they have no free will left, or followers so enthralled with your Presence that their loyalty borders on blind fanaticism. Some vampires, particularly those with the Animalism Discipline, use animal ghouls as retainers. You must maintain some control over your retainers, whether through a salary, the gift of your vitae, or the use of Disciplines. Retainers are never “blindly loyal no matter what” — if you treat them poorly without exercising strict control, they might well turn on you. Retainers may be useful, but they should never be flawless. A physically powerful ghoul might be rebellious, inconveniently dull-witted, or lacking in practical skills. A loyal manservant might be physically weak or possess no real personal initiative or creativity. This Background isn’t an excuse to craft an unstoppable bodyguard or pet assassin — it’s a method to bring more fully-developed characters into the chronicle, as well as to reflect the followers for which the Kindred are notorious. Generally, retainers are more like Renfield than Anita Blake.

• One retainer
•• Two retainers
••• Three retainers
•••• Four retainers
••••• Five retainers


Status

You have something of a reputation and standing (earned or unearned) within the local community of Kindred. Status among Camarilla society is as often derived from your sire’s status and the respect due your particular bloodline as it is by personal achievement. Among the Sabbat, status is more likely to stem from the reputation of your pack or the zeal of your outlook. Elders are known for having little respect for their juniors; this Background can mitigate that somewhat. High status within the Camarilla does not transfer to Sabbat society (and will most likely make you a notorious target for your Sect’s rivals), and vice versa. Similarly, Autarkis generally have zero Status, unless they have somehow garnered so much power and attention that they are considered forces to be reckoned with. You may have occasion to roll your Status in conjunction with a Social Trait; this reflects the positive effects of your prestige. Note that Caitiff characters may not purchase Status during character creation. Caitiff are the lowest of the low, and any respect they achieve must be earned during the course of the chronicle.

• Known: a neonate/Pack Priest
•• Respected: an ancilla/respected Ductus
••• Influential: an elder/Templar
•••• Powerful: a member of the Primogen/a Bishop
••••• Luminary: a Prince/Archbishop


Military Force

You have accumulated some sway over a group of fighting soldiers. Whether as the leader of a populous gang or the dignitary of an entire nation, an armed force obeys your command. Although the nights of the Kindred warlord are long past, many elders cultivate some degree of military might, though they do so now with discretion and subtlety, to avoid the ire of others of their kind. Military Force might not necessarily mean that the vampire has armed legions at her beck and call. Far more likely, especially in the modern nights, the vampire may suggest "police actions" or may influence brush-fire conflicts in certain nations. A vampire may, under extreme duress, be able to enforce martial law, but such behavior attracts attention, and her influence would no doubt wane significantly afterward.

• Surly mob: 15 poorly organized and untrained thugs.
•• Militia: 25 functionally trained "security guards"
••• SWAT team: 40 capable fighters
•••• Veteran troop: 75 combat seasoned soldiers
••••• Elite company: 100 battle-hardened troops


Occult Library

Some Kindred have accumulated vast stores of mystical knowledge over their many years. Such resources may have been inherited from a character's sire, treasures gleaned from previous journeys, gifts from a mentor or even stolen from rivals. In fact, a library need not even be printed – a library contained all on tape or even a contact who knows occult lore may be considered a library for the purposes of this Background. Whatever form it takes, an Occult Library aids the character in certain cases involving knowledge of the mystical or magical. Whenever the player needs to make a roll involving the Occult Knowledge and the character has the opportunity to consult the books, she may call upon this Background to help her. While this won't be of much aid if the character is held prisoner by another Kindred or visiting a foreign city, if the character is in her own library or laboratory, the information may prove invaluable.

• A few books: +1 die to Occult dice pools
•• A modest collection: +1 die to Occult dice pools, -1 to Occult difficulties
••• Many noteworthy titles: +2 dice to Occult dice pools, -1 to Occult difficulties
•••• A wide variety of lore: +2 dice to Occult dice pools, -2 to Occult difficulties
••••• A veritable magical encyclopedia: +3 dice to Occult dice pools, -2 to Occult difficulties


Spirit Slave

This Trait represents a hold that you have over a ghost, or several ghosts. Usually this hold is the form of catene – either something that the ghost valued highly in life, or possibly a random object or place to which the spirito became attached during the maelstrom. Regardless, you have a hold over the spirit and can bully it by threatening its fetter. Alternatively, you might have information about the spirit's goals and can control it by aiding it or impeding it.

• You have a hold on one weak spirito.
•• You have influence over two minor ghosts, or one of greater power.
••• You're the boss of three lesser ghosts, or fewer who can do more.
•••• Four ghosts are under your sway, or fewer who are stronger.
••••• You have mastered five weak ghosts, or fewer who are more talented.