Table of Contents

Much like in a typical Chronicle, characters gain experience for activity, and are able to spend it to raise their traits as they develop throughout play.

Characters who are active earn 2 experience points weekly, awarded every Sunday at 11 PM CST/Monday at 5 AM GMT/Monday at 3 PM AEST. Activity is determined per character, as long as they have a single post per week. Experience is also frequently awarded as participation in server events.

Note that weekly XP is tracked automatically by our bot Caine.

Much like learning a new skill in real life, characters need to make an effort in improving their traits. This can range from intentional (deliberate study) to indirect (consistent use), but regardless of how they’re practicing, it should somehow be evident within scenes.

The absence of specific guidelines and tables of extended rolls is intentional, as we encourage this process to be intertwined with narrative development as opposed to checking off a series of boxes. Of course, how much practice they’ll need depends on the dot level they’re trying to obtain. The first dot in most Traits only requires extended exposure, but the fifth would imply regular, rigorous application. Remember that five dots in the real world would be the result of decades of dedication or an innate talent at a near peerless level.

Not sure if you’ve qualified to buy something yet? Go ahead and send the request in anyway! If the Storytellers don’t believe you’ve hit the mark just yet, they’ll reach out and let you know what additional work might be required.

See Caine’s documentation to see how you can submit an expenditure request.

As long as experience is being earned, and justification is actively being pursued in-character, you’ll never hit a spending cap. Characters with several years of play can easily have spent several hundred points. Due to the fast acquisition of experience and the longevity of characters, there’ll come a point where you might not want to buy dots anymore. Because of this, LA in Anarchy offers quite a few different ways to progress your character to keep that experience from going to waste.

Trait	Cost
New Secondary Ability	4
Secondary Ability	Current Rating x 3
Additional Specialty	Spec Count x 4*
Clan Combo Discipline	Total Rating x 50**
Other Combo Discipline	Total Rating x 80**
Custom Discipline Power	Rating x 200

*Must have 5 dots in the Trait to purchase.
**Total rating is the total number of discipline dots required. Caitiff purchase all combination disciplines at Total Rating x 70.

Secondary Abilities aim to represent hyperspecialization that might not be immediately apparent from the 30 Primary Abilities. These niche Traits can be purchased once a character has trained the associated Primary Ability to the prerequisite rating. When being purchased at character creation, only experience can be used.

Whenever a character has dots in an applicable Secondary Ability, those dots are added alongside their normal Attribute + Ability pool, and the difficulty of all non-Discipline rolls are lowered by one, increasing their likelihood for success. Some Secondary Abilities might also have their own special mechanics, which are linked below.

Below is the list of currently available Secondary Abilities and their prerequisites. Note that unlike Primary Abilities, Secondary Abilities are typically rated from one (trained) to three (world class) dots, although particularly dedicated elders can possess even higher ratings (four at 7th Generation, and five at 6th Generation).

• Acting (Performance 2)
• Artistic Expression (Crafts 3)
• Carousing (Etiquette 2)
• Diplomacy (Expression 3)
• Enigmas (Investigation 2)
• Flying* (Athletics 2)
• Haggling (Streetwise 2)
• Interrogation (Empathy or Intimidation 3)
• Masquerade (Subterfuge 2)
• Mimicry (Performance 3)
• Negotiation (Expression 3)
• Panhandling (Streetwise 2)
• Public Speaking (Expression 2)
• Scan (Alertness 3)
• Scrounging (Streetwise 2)
• Search (Investigation 3)
• Seduction (Subterfuge 2)
• Style (Crafts 2)
• Swimming (Athletics 2)
• Throwing (Athletics 2)
• Ventriloquism (Performance 2)

*Only applicable for characters who already possess the means to fly (Shape of the Beast, Flight)

• Acrobatics (Athletics 2)
• Animal Training (Animal Ken 3)
• Artillery (Firearms 3)
• Blacksmith (Crafts 3)
• Blood Preparation (Crafts 3)
• Boating (Drive 2)
• Body Crafts (Medicine 3)
• Brewing (Crafts 2)
• Bribery (Subterfuge or Streetwise 2)
• Carpentry (Crafts 3)
• Climbing (Athletics 2)
• Cooking (Crafts 2)
• Dancing (Performance 2)
• Debate (Expression 2)
• Demolitions (Technology 3)
• Disguise (Crafts 2)
• Elusion (Stealth 3)
• Fast-Draw (Firearms or Melee 3)
• Fire Dancing (Courage 3)
• First Aid (Medicine 2)
• Fishing (Survival 2)
• Forgery (Larceny 2)
• Fortune Telling (Empathy 2)
• Gambling (Streetwise 2)
• Game Playing (Academics 1)
• Gunsmith (Crafts 3)
• Herbalism (Survival 2)
• Hunting (Survival 2)
• Jeweler (Crafts 3)
• Journalism (Expression 2)
• Jury-Rigging (Crafts 3)
• Leatherworking (Crafts 3)
• Lock Picking (Larceny 2)
• Mechanic (Crafts 2)
• Meditation (Awareness 2)
• Misdirection (Subterfuge 2)
• Networking (Leadership 2)
• Photography (Crafts 2)
• Pickpocket (Larceny 2)
• Pilot (Drive 3)
• Police Procedure (Law 2)
• Pottery (Crafts 2)
• Psychoanalysis (Medicine 3)
• Research (Academics 2)
• Sailing (Drive 2)
• Security (Larceny 2)
• Singing (Performance 2)
• Sleight of Hand (Larceny 2)
• Torture (Intimidation 3)
• Tracking (Survival 2)
• Traps (Survival 3)

• Accounting (Finance 3)
• Alchemy (Occult 2)
• Anthropology (Academics 3)
• Archaeology (Academics 3)
• Architecture (Academics 3)
• Art History (Academics 3)
• Astrology (Occult 1)
• Astronomy (Science 3)
• Biology (Science 3)
• Bureaucracy (Law 2)
• Chemistry (Science 3)
• Clan Lore** (Occult 3)
• Cosmology (Occult 3)
• Criminology (Law 2)
• Cryptography (Investigation 2)
• Economics (Finance 3)
• Electronics (Technology 2)
• Engineering (Technology 3)
• Floriography (Academics 1)
• Forensics (Science 2)
• Geography (Science 3)
• Geology (Science 3)
• Heraldry (Academics 3)
• History (Academics 3)
• Literature (Academics 3)
• Sect Lore** (Occult 3)
• Mathematics (Academics 3)
• Metallurgy (Academics 3)
• Meteorology (Academics 3)
• Military Science (Academics 3)
• Naturalist (Science 2)
• Physics (Science 3)
• Psychology (Science 3)
• Rituals*** (Occult 3)
• Thanatology (Science 3)
• Theology (Academics 3)
• Toxicology (Science 3)

*Must be taken for a specific clan/sect (Clan Lore: Nosferatu, Sect Lore: Camarilla)
**Requires a specialization (Rituals: Transmutation would only apply to rituals changing the physical properties of something).

With how broad some abilities can be, sometimes a single specialty isn’t enough to completely encapsulate what a character is capable of. Once a character reaches 5 dots in an Attribute or Ability, they’re able to buy additional specialties starting at 4 XP. This cost increases based on the number of specialties they already possess for that Attribute or Ability.

Much like other Traits, Combination Disciplines aren’t learned through extended rolls or a certain number of required scenes. Instead, characters must be making explicit use of all disciplines required for the specific combination they’re attempting to employ. The more effort, creativity, and narrative drive behind the character’s experimentation and testing of their capabilities, the sooner they’ll be able to purchase what they’re after.

When it comes to buying them, the experience costs of Combination Disciplines have been revised for LAiA. The revised costs are derived from the combination’s rating, or the total of all discipline dots required to buy the power.

If a combination discipline doesn’t belong to a specific clan, then it’s purchased as if outside the character’s clan. Caitiff purchase all combination disciplines at Total Rating x 70, since they lack one all-together.

Combination Disciplines can’t be purchased at character creation.

Disciplines can only cover so much within the first five dots, leaving quite a bit of room for innovation. For 200 experience per dot level, players can approach the Storyteller to spend experience on developing a custom discipline power, or combination discipline, for their PC. The player will decide on the Discipline, dot rating, and what they’d like for it to do, and the Storyteller writes all associated mechanics.

Importantly, custom discipline powers can’t make a more advanced application of a discipline available at a lower dot rating. They likewise can’t encroach on the abilities of other disciplines or combination disciplines, including those not currently available for play (such as Daimonion or Temporis).

Once purchased, a custom discipline power is uniquely developed by the PC in question. It can be freely taught like any other discipline power, but will not be available for any other characters to learn (unless the player deems otherwise).

Experience can be transferred from existing sheets to a brand new sheet, increasing their available starting amount. To be eligible, the experience from other sheets must have been earned during play as opposed to left over from character creation.

Transfers are made at a rate of 2:1, meaning every 2 XP spent on an existing character equals 1 XP on the brand new sheet. This XP can increase their age, but it doesn’t have to, meaning ghouls, humans, and younger vampires can all start with a boost. The experience must be spent when the new sheet is submitted.

There’s no limit to how many existing characters can transfer experience to a new character’s sheet. However, once spent, this experience is non-refundable, and can’t be regained should the character not pan out as anticipated, be retired, or die.