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A Toreador struggles with their hunger for blood. A Nosferatu steals needed intel without a second thought. A Tzimisce is infatuated by how their victim’s flesh peels from bone. What do these three completely different Kindred have in common?

More than other tabletop games you might’ve played, morality is an integral part of Vampire. Were it not, all vampires would be slavering monsters, mindlessly killing for their next source of vitae. Whether they still cling to the remnants of their Humanity, or walk an entirely different Path, each character is going to be intimately acquainted with this Trait.

Similarly to Willpower, their Humanity or Path is rated on a scale of 1 to 10, and is not capped by their Generation Maximum. Throughout the course of the game, this rating will fluctuate as they triumph over the Beast or succumb to their baser urges.

Humanity isn’t so much a measure of how ‘good’ someone is, but rather an abstraction of how far removed they are from conventional morality and, for Kindred, how closely they’ve succumbed to the Beast. This works in both ways, as sinking further into depravity can lead to just as comparatively baffling behavior as someone with an impossible set of lofty ideals.

A Kindred’s nature forces them to reckon with their Humanity on a nightly basis, but that doesn’t make humans entirely immune. Humans also possess Humanity ratings, and normally sit anywhere from 6-8 without much change throughout their lives. Those that do erode their Humanity become colder and more jaded, growing numb to the acts of atrocity they choose to commit.

A Kindred’s Humanity rating is a quick measure of how much of themselves has fallen to the Curse. It influences how well she can deny her vampiric nature, and how effectively she may pass for mortal.

• All Vampires are forced asleep when the sun begins to rise, and struggle to wake during the day even when threatened. Vampires with higher Humanity find it easier to rouse themselves. If forced to act during the day, their dice pool for any action can’t exceed their Humanity rating.
• The deeper into damnation a character slides, the more morality and self-preservation mean less and less. A player can’t roll more dice for a Virtue than she has in Humanity. In this way, a vampire with Humanity 3 is unable to roll their full Self-Control rating of 4.
• Humanity dictates how human a character appears and how easily she can pass for mortal. Vampires with low Humanity acquire unnatural, disturbing features, such as sunken eyes, perpetual snarls, bestial countenances, making the mortal populace more uncomfortable when interacting with them.

Sooner or later, the nature of a Vampire’s existence will catch up to them. Whether willfully or at the whim of the Beast, they’ll steal, maim, murder, or worse, and force themselves to confront the realities of their damnation. Do they feel remorseful, or do they take it in stride, blaming and justifying their sins on anything but themselves?

The process of determining this is simple: whenever a character undertakes an action that the Storyteller deems morally questionable, the character rolls their Conscience at a difficulty determined by their current Humanity rating, the action in question, and their own moral principles. Willpower cannot be spent on this roll for an automatic success—reprehensible actions are hard to justify.

Even a single success is enough for them to feel enough guilt for their actions to retain their Humanity. Failure, however, necessitates degeneration—the loss of a Humanity dot. Botching this roll is even worse, eroding not only their Humanity, but also a dot of Conscience, and often granting a derangement chosen by the Storyteller.

If a character ever falls to Humanity 0, they’ve entered Wassail, and are permanently lost to the Beast. Wights are not meant for player characters and are under the control of the Storyteller.

The goal of degeneration isn’t to maniacally screw players out of Humanity, but to foster an enjoyable, heart-wrenching narrative for all involved. As such, the Storyteller will always warn a player before they undertake an action that would necessitate degeneration. This includes vampires lost in the depths of a Frenzy (as Willpower can be spent to take intentional control for a single action).

Whenever degeneration is rolled due to an action that was in service to a character’s Nature, they make the roll as if they possess a speciality.

It’s impossible to fully quantify the width and breadth of a vampire’s existential morality on a scale of 1 to 10. Yet, in order to truly delve into the personal horror stories that Humanity allows us to tell, an effort has been made to define what each Humanity rating means. Examples of what might call for degeneration at each rating have also been provided.

Examples are given for degeneration at difficulty 4, 6, and 8, but the difficulties can vary between 3 and 8 depending upon the character’s Humanity rating, and the sin they’ve committed. Should an act call for a difficulty of 9 or higher, the dot of Humanity (or more) will automatically be lost.

Difficulties can never be reduced below 2, regardless of whatever additional modifiers a character might possess.

“Forgive me Father for I have sinned.”

Existence alone is selfish, and vampires who reach such a high Humanity rating never let themselves forget it. Consumed with guilt at every possible moment, even the simple act of killing an animal for sustenance can be twisted into a convoluted expression of wickedness and villainy. Rarely does anyone maintain such a punishing moral code for long, with survival and a sunrise racing to claim the wretch first.

Degeneration from Humanity 10 is caused by nearly anything that indulges selfish desires, including those necessitated by the vampire’s state of being.

• Difficulty 8 — Selfish actions (feeding on human blood)
• Difficulty 6 — Selfish thoughts
• Difficulty 4 — Harming an animal

“Wait, we can talk about this!”

Moral to a fault, Kindred at Humanity 9 value the well-being of others more than their own. They’ll sooner take a hit then raise a fist to defend themselves, and the idea of taking blood without asking makes them sick. Vampires at this rating tend to be Fledglings, their adoption of strict moral codes a reaction to their newfound predatory nature, although excessively humane neonates or ancillae aren’t unheard of.

Kindred Degenerate from Humanity 9 when ranking their needs above the health or personal autonomy of another.

• Difficulty 8 — Harming another (intentional or otherwise)
• Difficulty 6 — Feeding without consent
• Difficulty 4 — Spiteful berating

“You wouldn’t download a car!”

Even if it doesn’t really hurt them, it still isn’t right. Those who maintain Humanity 8 are more ethical than average, feeling guilty over inconsequential actions most people would condone in one context or another. Vampires of this rating can still feed without directly asking, but they still might try to disguise the act during consensual sex, or some other indirect method.

Vampires Degenerate from Humanity 8 by indulging their selfish natures more than warranted.

• Difficulty 8 — Petty theft
• Difficulty 6 — Blackmail
• Difficulty 4 — Blatant lies

“It’s just Walmart.”

It’s wrong to break something, it’s especially wrong to kill someone, but sometimes the self-checkout doesn’t happen to scan all your items. Vampires at Humanity 7 subscribe to a conventional outlook on the natural rights of others, but still tend to be a little selfish from time to time. Most humans reside at this level, as they lack the Beast’s malevolent encouragement, but also incentive to act selflessly.

Degeneration from Humanity 7 is typical when the ends begin to justify the means.

• Difficulty 8 — Stealing a car
• Difficulty 6 — Embracing a willing mortal
• Difficulty 4 — Petty vandalism (slashing someone’s tires)

“I have a fuck left. Not an entire fuck, though. Maybe more of an FU…”

With a few heartstrings left to pluck, a vampire at Humanity 6 still finds themselves capable of empathy, at least for those they feel worthy of it. People are still people, generally speaking, but they’re also a quick snack, and sometimes an aggravating nuisance. Many Neonates find themselves lingering at this level, comfortable with a slightly more jaded existence, but not completely blind to the plights of the masses.

At Humanity 6, vampires will Degenerate when intentionally deeming the lives and property of others insignificant.

• Difficulty 8 — Completely blood bonding someone
• Difficulty 6 — Kidnapping
• Difficulty 4 — Accidental violation

“Not my monkeys, not my circus.”

Only able to muster up the effort to care for them and theirs, a vampire at Humanity 5 has worn their empathetic capacity threadbare. They won’t go out of their way to destroy private property or take a life, but the vast majority of other beings are faceless, nameless individuals who might get caught in the crossfire. C’est la vie.

For vampires at Humanity 5, Degeneration typically starts when they actively go out of their way to irrevocably destroy something, grievously harm someone, or otherwise rank their selfish pursuits above their apathetic indifference.

• Difficulty 8 — Arson
• Difficulty 6 — Leaving someone to die
• Difficulty 4 — Unreasonable grievous harm

“Some of you may die, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make.”

No longer chafed by conventional social mores, the vampire’s personal agenda becomes paramount. Destruction, theft, injury—these are all tools at their disposal as opposed to taboos to be skirted around. While they still might not take a life themselves, they’re definitely not above ordering someone else to, or passing blame off to the first rays of dawn. Many elders linger around this level, keeping their Beasts in check by cultivating networks of pawns to carry out particularly unsavory orders.

At Humanity 4, Degeneration occurs when the vampire tantalizes the Beast with direct action, or begins to see their toolbox as more of a toybox.

• Difficulty 8 — Manslaughter
• Difficulty 6 — Maliciously Embracing someone
• Difficulty 4 — Deliberate cruelty (torture)

“Hey kids, wanna see a dead body?”

While the lives and property of others were considered tools to Kindred at Humanity 4, they’re now irrelevant. Kindred at Humanity 3 have breached the threshold from cruel pragmatism to sick amusement, and begin to experiment with mutilation of victims, ‘accidental’ murder, and other sorts of wickedness for the sake of it. Aspirants of alternative Paths of Enlightenment must reach this rating before their psyche is pliable enough to accept such alien tenets.

For those at Humanity 3, Degeneration tends to occur when acting “in the heat of the moment” turns into an intentional atrocity, planned and carried out in service to whatever twisted whim struck their fancy that night.

• Difficulty 8 — Hate crimes
• Difficulty 6 — Premeditated murder
• Difficulty 4 — Desecration of a corpse

“I see no God up here—other than ME.”

Kindred at Humanity 2 are wholly consumed with themselves. To them, everyone else only exists as servants or feeding stock, with their arrogance only rivaled by the occasional Kindred who they believe is a genuine threat to their survival. There’s little hesitation from the perverse atrocities they began to dabble in at Humanity 3, finding delight in all manner of twisted pleasures.

Degeneration at this stage is primarily concerned with casual violations that undeniably demonstrate an excessive irreverence for the well-being, autonomy, and property of others. Killing for the sake of it, and feeding to feel the way warm blood spills over the sides of their mouth, are just a couple ways the Beast finally cements its hold.

• Difficulty 8 — Thoughtless killing
• Difficulty 6 — Harming a touchstone
• Difficulty 4 — Gorging (feeding beyond Blood Pool capacity)

“...”

Only nominally sentient, vampires at Humanity 1 teeter on the edge of oblivion. Little matters to Kindred this far gone, even their own desires outside of sustenance and rest. There is literally nothing a vampire with Humanity 1 won’t do, and only a few tattered shreds of ego stand between him and complete devolution. Many who attain this stage find themselves no longer capable of coherent speech, and spend their nights gibbering blasphemy in their gore-spattered havens.

Because vampires at this stage are capable of committing any manner of atrocities, the examples below instead focus on actions which actively destroy their last few tethers to Humanity, as opposed to high body counts or wanton destruction (although these things can and will send them to Wassail).

• Difficulty 8 — Destruction of touchstones (killing mortal family/childer/ghouls, irreparably destroying their haven)
• Difficulty 6 — Rejection of identity (forgetting their name)
• Difficulty 4 — Total isolation

Principles are values, good or ill, that a character remains steadfast in even as they navigate undeath. As an optional rule, each character can take a number of Principles equal to their dots in Conscience. Whenever an action that leads to degeneration falls under the purview of one of their Principles, the difficulty of the roll is reduced by one. Conversely, should a character violate one of their Principles, they may have to roll for degeneration regardless of their Humanity rating, at Storyteller discretion.

When a character botches a degeneration roll and loses a dot of Conscience, they also lose a Principle as the strengthening hold of the Beast erodes even their deepest convictions.

It’s difficult, but not impossible, to change your outlook on things. Players interested in changing a Principle to something else will need to dedicate time in-character to display the self reflection and soul searching involved with such a process.

For those interested in Paths of Enlightenment, note that the above changes to Humanity do not apply. Paths are still operating as-written, which means they will roll Degeneration with Conscience or Conviction at difficulty 8 when committing sins equal to or lower than their rating on their Path’s Hierarchy of Sins. Pathed characters are likewise ineligible to take Principles.

For more on paths, please see our Advanced Character Creation Guide.