The following clans and bloodlines are currently capped and unavailable for new players (this is subject to change throughout the Chronicle):
Tzmisce
Ravnos
Gargoyle
Arhimanes
Gangrel*
*To maintain game balance, no clan can have more than 5 more PCs than the smallest clan with a Primogen Council seat. When one clan has 5 more than the smallest, we will cap that clan until the smallest clan's numbers increase. Players who wish to play a character in the soft-capped clan may either choose to play another clan, or they may go on a waitlist. At this time, clan Gangrel is capped. This cap will remain in place until clans Banu Haqim and Brujah have more PCs.
The following clans and bloodlines are not available for play in this chronicle:
Kiasyd
True Brujah
Lhiannan
Baali
Salubri
The following clans has its rarity increased or reduced to uncommon and can be played for two merit points:
Lasombra
Tremere
The following clans and bloodlines are limited to be no older than seventh genration (four points in the generation background) due to lore concerns:
Daughters of Cacophony
Nagaraja
The default bloodline for Tzimisce is Tzimisce, not Tzimisce [Carpathian]
Animalism 1: Animalism communication uses can be understood by other characters with the Animalism discipline. It also works on all animals, not just the ones listed.
Animalism 4: Focus: Manipulation will be amended so the last sentence reads as such: Activating this effect of Subsume the Spirit requires 1 Blood point for use for 1 hour, during which time the vampire can use Subsume as many times as they desire, though each subsequent use will require a standard action, eye-to-eye contact, and an opposed challenge (as per the standard use of this power).
Animalism, Luminary (Embrace the Beast): Powers that effect the user, but require an opposed check such as Auspex, Heightened Senses; Presence, Majesty; Obfuscate, Vanish from Mind's Eye are not considered "hostile" for the purposes of this power. Generally, the STs reserve the right to decide what is considered "hostile," and defensive or personal abilities are not affected by this power.
Auspex 4 (Telepathy): Telepathy requires knowledge of the target, not familiarity as defined by the BNS book, but having ever interacted with the target is required.
Dominate 2 (Mesmerism): Dominate can not force someone to tell an objective truth. A character can only tell the truth insofar as they know the truth. If Annie and Mabel are playing cards, and Annie causes a distraction which results in Mabel looking away while Annie changes some cards, Mabel cannot be compelled under Dominate to say that Annie cheated even if she knows out of character. Dominate can only be used to extract information the character knows.
Obfuscate, Luminary (Create Name): Add to the end of paragraph one, "This power does not confer any inherent lore or understanding of another clan or sect's culture, and as with any alternate identity, without the appropriate Lore, an identity may prove ineffective." After the First sentence of paragraph two, add, "The target of your impersonation must either be willing or helpless for the two downtimes you spend learning to impersonate them."
Obfuscate, Luminary (Rampart of the Mind): A power must target you directly to be affected by Rampart of the Mind. Powers that effect the user, but require an opposed check such as Auspex, Heightened Senses; Presence, Majesty; Obfuscate, Vanish from Mind's Eye are not considered "targeted" for the purposes of this power, nor are abilities that target an area and require throws from ALL characters in the area. Abilities that effect multiple characters that are selected in a group, such as Dominate, Mass Manipulation ARE affected by Rampart of the Mind.
Presence, Luminary (Cooperation): Each activation of the Luminary power Cooperation can only affect a number of characters equal to your current Willpower. Targerts closest to you are affected first.
Quietus, Elder (Purify): At the end of the fourth sentence add, "if you have more Quietus powers (counting Elder powers but not techniques) than the character who generated the effect had in the Discipline they used (counting Elder powers but not techniques)." Eg. Deborah uses Purify on the Nosferatu Walter. Deborah has five levels of Quietus, Purify, and Baal's Bloody Talons (for a total of seven powers). Walter is under the effects of Forgetful Mind from Alice, who has five levels of Dominate, Mass Manipulation, and the technique Instinctive Command (for a total of six powers as the technique is not counted), and Love from Jeff who has five levels of Presence, Love, and Capricious Image (for a total of seven powers). Walter is freed from Alice's dominate, but not Jeff's Love.
Quietus, Luminary (Awaken the Heart's Blood):At the end of the second paragraph, add, "E:h additional time you utilize this power during a night, if you are not currently acting to enforce one of the Laws of Haqim, you gain one derangement trait."
Visceratika, Luminary (Rockheart): Should specify: "If the user of this power would suffer any penalties to their mental or social defensive pools, such as from the Gargoyle clan weakness, these penalties still apply." Powers that effect the user, but require an opposed check such as Auspex, Heightened Senses; Presence, Majesty; Obfuscate, Vanish from Mind's Eye are not powers you are considered to be "resisting" for the purposes of this power.
In order to root player characters in the setting, we are inviting each player to select either a Location they control or an Equipment they posses at the start of the first game. This choice must be based on the character's backstory, must fit within the setting, and is subject to ST approval. Here's how it works:
Each player may make this choice for their first character in the Chronicle. If a player joins the Chronicle after the first game, they will be allowed this benefit as well.
Players who choose to enter with a Location will start by talking with STs to determine the Location that best fits the character's back story. When everyone is aligned, STs will create the Location as a Simple 3 Location for you. See the Locations page for more info.
Players who choose to enter with an Equipment will also talk through the Equipment of their choice with STs. When everyone is aligned, STs will create the Equipment with two qualities. (See page 515 of the rulebook for more info.)
To maintain game balance, Locations and Equipment awarded in this way will not necessarily be top tier; the emphasis will be on fitting the backstory and game balance, not on optimization.
If a character does not fill out downtimes, they are considered to do two things: feed and continue any already started quests .
Downtimes and Influence Actions refresh once a month, immediately after Gather. All unused downtimes, resources, and influences can not be “banked" between months, they are lost.
You can list whatever you want as your influence, but it will fall into one of these 20 categories. It is a method to keep people from trying to create a corner case in order to never be found out, but not taking away people's ability to be very creative for whom their character influences. More information can be found in our Influence Primer and Categories page and in the official BNS influence rules.
Childlike Flaw is replaced with: Frail (4 pts): You were clearly not the healthiest of people in life. In fact, many question why your Sire would have embraced someone in your physical situation. There are any number of issues that might have caused you to not be hale, but regardless, you are immortal and have all the power and privilege that entails, but it has left you slightly less than others. Characters with this flaw have a starting Physical attribute maximum of 5, rather than 10. This number can be increased with bonus attribute traits.
Social Age and Generation, while frequently discussed together are separate things. While all mechanics such as XP costs and access to Elder Powers and Techniques are linked only to the number of points in the Generation background you possess, the your abiding social status Neonate(none), Ancilla(Confirmed), or Elder(Established, Privilaged) may not be exactly the same as the points in generation you posses, as to hold these abiding statuses, one most both have the requisite points in the Generation background, and be of a certain age (50 years a vampire for Ancilla and 300 years for Elders). This means that some characters may have a lower Social Generation than their points in the Generation background may allow. There is also a merit entitled Machiavellian Prodigy, where due to great accomplishments, the character is treated as one social class higher than their true Generation.
1 dot of generation: You are a socially Neonate unless you purchase Machiavellian Prodigy in which case you are an Ancilla socially.
2 dots of generation: You are a Neonate or Ancilla socially. If you purchase Machiavellian Prodigy, you are an Elder socially.
3 dots of generation: You are an Ancilla or Elder socially. STs will have additional scrutiny on approving characters of this generation who want to wear Neonate status.
4 dots of generation: You are an Elder socially. STs will have additional scrutiny on approving characters of this generation who want to wear Ancilla status, and are unlikely to approve characters of this generation who wish to wear Neonate status.
Those with Elder status must participate in the Eternal Struggle. Elders complete this by spending a downtime for “Eternal Struggle”. This downtime is subject to being blocked. There are two special Elder Struggle actions you can take, which represents your Elder interacting with other Elders in the Sect to either enhance their own reputation, or slowly degrade another Elder socially in the Camarilla. These actions can be blocked or spied upon, as normal.
Action
Downtime Narration
Effect
Elder Struggle: Brag
Name an action that your favored or you did that is worthy of attention
May boost or protect your renown and reputation with other Elders. This may eventually lead to story plot where your Elder receives status and acclaim from others in the Camarilla, or
A good reputation and solid renown alone will never cause a character to receive special rewards, such as appointment to higher Camarilla positions, but it doesn't hurt when being considered. See the Quest system for achieving these goals.
Elder Struggle: Gossip
Expose an action or secret about another Elder's favored or the Elder, themself, that may embarrass them in Elder Circles.
May sink another Elder's renown and reputation. This may eventually lead to story plots that have others in the Camarilla warn you, stop replying to messages, be less inclined to vote with you at a conclave, or other plot based reputation ramifications chosen by the Story Tellers
A bad reputation will never cause a character to be added to the red-list or bloodhunted by an NPC, but instead affects how NPCs in the greater world react to your actions.
Due to being creatures of a previous age, learning new skills becomes difficult. This is represented in the cost of XP to purchase skills, but we also want to emphasize the magnitude of time-slip Elders experience. An Elder has a maximum number of points they can allocate to all of these modern skills during character creation. They are able to learn these skills with earned XP during the chronicle a the normal rate, but in order to do so, they must find a teacher with at least the number of dots they are wishing to learn to teach them. The teacher will need to expend a willpower, which represents the focus needed to instruct the Elder. This willpower returns at the same rate as willpower from teaching a discipline (two game sessions).
Generation
Age
Maximum points at character creation combined
4
Master Elder
4 points combined in Firearms, Drive and Computers
5
Luminary Elder
3 points combined in Firearms, Drive and Computers
If your Elder takes a skill such as Science, and uses modern techniques and equipment, it would take one of the slots above. An Elder that was a rocket scientist or a geneticist instead of Science as Leonardo Da Vinci understands it would be choosing to use on of their slots in this manner instead. The ST staff also expects a complete and compelling backstory to explain your exceptional skill.
We are limiting the number of Elders allowed in our game, please see /rules-faq/how-to-play-the-game for more details around Age / Generation and how to play them in our chronicle.
If a character is awarded a title in the camarilla more prestigous than Prince, they become an NPC. This includes but is not limited to Archons (any form such as Alastors, Josians, and Praetors), Justicars, Inner Circle members, and Imperitors. If the player wants to remain on the field for a final farewell game as that character (before bring in a new character) they will not hold their new status from that title. It is assumed they have accepted the role, but not been given the mantle yet.
The Harpy serves at the Will of the Primogen Council and can be replaced by a majority vote. A ⅔rds quorum (rounded up) of representatives must be present to vote in a new Harpy. Whips can replace Primogens for this vote, if the Primogen is unavailable, but can not exceed ¼ of the voting council. There needs not be a no-confidence vote to remove the Harpy before voting for a new Harpy by name, though frequently the issue of removal via no confidence is brought up first for political reasons. Removing the Harpy also, intrinsically, removes their appointed Talons.
A character utilizing the social class Abiding Status (Elder, Ancilla) is considered to have jurisdiction over any character with whom they physically (in person) interact
An Elder who holds the Favored status from another Kindred, appears to not to be able to stand on their own in the Eternal Struggle, and will suffer in reputation and renowned (see Elder rules above)
Streamlined: The final line now reads "...or you can finish a downtime task in half the narrative time the task would ordinarily require (it still takes a whole downtime action)."
Emissary to the Camarilla - Any character not of the Camarilla will be expected to have the merit: “Emissary to the Camarilla” merit.
Allies will be connected to one of the 20 influence categories as their specialty, and also include the flavor text about the allies. The list of specialties can be found in the Influence Primer.
Example: Jane the Brujah wants an Ally of a “Chicken Alley Killers Street Gang” and a contact who is a detective in the APD. She picks the closest match in the Influences Categories and adds them as a prefix to her specialty, as well as some details about her exact ally. She would express this on her character sheet as such:
Allies x1 [Criminal Organizations] - Chicken Alley Killers Street Gang
Contacts will be limited to 2 of the 20 influence categories as their specialty, and also include the flavor text about the contacts. The list of specialties can be found in the Influence Primer.
Example: Jane the Brujah wants a contact who is a detective in the APD. She picks the closest Influence Categories, and adds them as a prefix to her specialty, as well as some flavor text about the exact contact. She would express this on her character sheet as such:
Contacts x1: [Law Enforcement, News Media] - Detective Marcos, a former Investigative Journalist, found his true calling in Homicide Division, APD
Shared Backgrounds: Characters will be limited to one instance of each Shared Background. A character may be in multiple coteries, but can only have Shared Contacts with one of them, for example. Exception: Shared Haven.
Influence action: Free Travel: The text of Underworld Level 1 Free Travel is changed to the following: "You can spend one influence action to permit free travel for yourself or one other individual between Asheville and any location in Buncombe County, Madison County, Yancey County, McDowell County, Rutherford County, Polk County, Henderson County, Transylvania County, or Haywood County. If you spend no more than one scene at your destination, you may travel back under the same use of Free Travel. While doing so, you will escape detection by mortal and supernatural creatures as long as you remain discrete."
Languages: For the number of languages spoken, Linguistics will be adjusted as such:
Rank
Extra Languages
1
One Extra Language
2
Two Extra Languages
3
Four Extra Languages
4
Eight Extra Languages
5
Sixteen Extra Languages
6
Twenty-Four Extra Languages
7
Thirty-Two Extra Languages
**Natural Linguist would still double each of these numbers
Changes to location qualities, including new location qualities, can be found in our location qualities document.
While a character controls a location, they may use it for narrative purposes, perform scenes there, and at storyteller discretion, glean plot based information from it, based on it's location qualities. If characters wish to use a location for an effect that would cause in-world effects beyond it's stock qualities, the storytellers may present you with consequences for pushing your location beyond its stock location qualities, up to removing your control of the location. Further quests for the location may be more difficult.
Example: Samantha, the Toreador, controls City Jail. Her coterie-mate Marcus gets captured and put in the drunk tank. Furthermore, Marcus is low on blood and may frenzy. As Samantha doesn't have the influence to smooth the scene over, she decides to use her control of the City Jail to release the prisoner. The storytellers agree that this action is beyond a narrative choice to use the location without relinquishing the location. They offer Samantha's character the option, free Marcus but lose the Jail. Samantha decides that the risk to her coterie-mate, and the masquerade, are too high, and agrees. The location becomes uncontrolled, but Marcus goes free. The storytellers and Samantha's player, in mediation, decides that the Jail's Warden, who she was blackmailing, has just crossed a line, and loses his job.
Samantha is welcome to put another quest request in a future month to reclaim the jail, but just might find that the new Warden isn't quite so easy to bribe or blackmail . To her dismay, the location now has more difficult quest requirements.
Further, if other characters use the location for a meeting or to transit messages, perhaps ignorant as to the identity of the controlling character, your character may get a notification that the location was utilized for this purpose and who used it, but will never learn the contents of the conversation or message.
If a player drops a character currently on any Complex/Epic quests, their new character may not initiate any new ones until the previous quest is completed via their now NPCed character.
Improvement quests to stock locations cannot be done at game, they require a downtime.
Quests cannot be done in the last 60 minutes of game-play.
Patron status for a quest requires ST approval.
Players who frequently fail to choose quest consequences or ignore the effects of those consequences will be disciplined per the standard policy except suspension and bans will be directed at questing participation.
Clarification to location quest rules (pg 120 v2i1) When you (and possibly your questing party) succeed on a location or location upgrade quest that takes multiple months (complex or epic), you and any member of your questing party may then spend resources equal or above the quest levels (at a one for one basis) to lower or complete the next quest steps. The dots of resources expended return one per month, at our standard background/influences reset time.
To locate a haven, you must use the quest system. The difficulty of finding a haven is based on the number of points invested in the haven, shared or otherwise. It is always a complex quest and has a minimum difficulty of complex 2 (this taking at a minimum two months to complete).
The first month that downtimes are used on a quest to find someone's haven, the owner of that haven is notified that someone is questing for their haven. Their options at this point are to ignore the problem, leave their haven (abandoning any points that they put in the Haven until it resets, much like dead Retainers), or use downtimes to make the quest more difficult or even impossible. Other kindred may also use downtimes to help defend, but every character doing so must know the location of the haven they are defending.
If the attackers beat the number of downtimes that the defenders produce, they progress the quest one month. On the month they succeed in the quest, they learn its location. The questers, and only the questers, may start the next game with a scene at that haven's location or use influences to attack the haven as per the location system. No character will die by having a location destroyed via influences in this way, they would fall back to the rules for finding a character without a haven. But a character could die (or escape) if the quester party shows up at the location!
The location quality rules are changed thusly to assist this system:
Security quality gives you an extra warning, when someone requests the quest to find you
Guards add plus one to the number of dots a haven has, only for the purposes of quest difficulty
We will add to the downtime form a simple question, "Where are you seeking shelter this month?" If a character has multiple Havens, the quest is created by the STs for the haven in which they last stayed.
Havens can support guests at a rate of one guest per dot in Haven.
If the defender does not have Haven, the quest will be a complex 1 quest also only available in downtimes. For the quest test, the storyteller will throw for the defender mental + streetwise or social + subterfuge (whichever is higher) vs the quest leader's mental + investigation.
If a haven is upgraded while a group is questing for a location, additional quest requirements and months to completion may be added, with storyteller approval, and the new quest requirements will be relayed to the questers.
While online play on our Discord server is entirely optional for most characters, and missing a few games is no big deal, we do ask a certain level of commitment from anyone taking a role as a Court Officer, as follows:
Prince, Seneschal, and Harpy: Must check in and repond to direct or important posts on Discord at least twice a week. Should be able to commit to being present at game at least every 3 out of 4 games (emergencies happen and we get that; this is a best effort requirement).
Primogen, Sheriff, Scourge, Keeper, and Talons: Must check in and respond to direct or important posts on Discord at least once a week. Should be able to commit to being present at game the majority of the time (see note above).
The rules about spending resources to assist with Location quests are confusing, how does it work? When you (and possibly your questing party) succeed on a complex location or location upgrade quest, you may then spend resources equal or above the quest levels (at a one for one basis) to lower or complete the next quest steps. The dots of resources expended return one per month, at our standard background/influences reset time, midnight of night of gather.
How do I acquire Equipment Elite Influence Level 3 (Bureaucratic Errors), Elite Influence Level 6 (Everything Has a Price), Underworld Influence Level 3 (Illegal Favors), and Underworld Influence Level 6 (Pulling Strings) can be used to get equipment with one quality. For each dot of Resources a character possesses, they can purchase a piece of equipment with one quality; if the character has 5 dots of Resources, one of their monthly purchases may have two qualities. Characters can spend a downtime action to add a quality to an item if they have a relevant skill (e.g., Alice can add Accurate to her gun if she has Craft: Weaponsmithing, but she cannot add Fancy to her leather jacket with that Craft skill). It is also possible to use the loyal status during a scene to aquire an item with up to one quality. It is also possible to quest for items with qualities.
What combat forms can I use Feral Combat Maneuvers in? Feral Combat Maneuvers can ONLY be used in Shape the Beast, Form of the Cobra, and by Animal Retainers. They cannot be used with transformative powers like Horrid Form, or Shape of Beast's Wrath.
Does Potence, Prowess bypass all Armor Qualities, or just Ballistic and Hardened? While the full rules are not spelled out in the Prowess power, it references Armor Piercing, which is spelled out in equipment. It bypasses all Armor Qualities.
What's the difference between Contacts, Allies, Retainers, and Influences? Contacts are individual mortals your character calls upon to gain information. Allies are groups of mortals who care about you (or your interests) and will do favors for you, but they may call those favors in at a later date. Retainers represent individuals (usually human ghouls) who can take action on your behalf and are completely loyal to your character. Influences are how your character manipulates mortal systems, not individual people.
Can a Retainer get a skill specialization that would usually get its own specialization (e.g., Academics [Law])? Yes. A retainer can have Academics, Craft, Drive, Linguistics, Lore, Perform, and/or Science. When these are added to a retainer, they must each include a single subspecialization. Additionally, the Retainer will not get the +5 bonus when making throws involving the parent skill unless the subspecialization is relevant. For instance, if you add Academics [Law] and Academics [Theology] to a Retainer 2, you will use both of their specializations, and the Retain will not get a +5 when making an Academics [Art] throw. A retainer must have a plot justification to take a specific specialization.
How is XP calculated for Shared Resources (e.g., Shared Haven)? How are Specializations added to Shared Haven?
Characters purchase their dots individually, and XP is calculated on an individual basis. If a Neonate is adding the 5th dot to a Shared Haven, but it's the Neonate's first dot in Shared Haven, they spend 1 XP. Each character who adds dots to the Shared Haven can add Specializations equal to the number of dots they add. Security can be added for free by a character who is not already adding Security for free to another Haven or Shared Haven. (Example: Nel the Neonate, Alex the Ancilla, and Eli the Elder are creating a Shared Haven. Each of them add one dot. Nel spends 1 XP and adds the Luxury Specialization, Alex spends 2 XP and adds the Guards Specialization, and Eli spends 2 XP to add the Occult Specialization. Nel has a non-Shared Haven, and they have the Security skill, but they have not added Security to their personal Haven. They choose to add Security to the Shared Haven for free. The end result is a 3-dot Shared Haven with Luxury, Guards, Occult, and Security.)
How does Spirit's Touch interact with Obfuscate? - Conceal: Objects do not gain or leave psychic impressions while Concealed, but this only applies to the object itself, not the person Concealing the object. - Unseen Presence: Those who are under the effect of Unseen Presence do not leave psychic impressions. - Mask of a Thousand Faces: Objects used by an individual under the effect of Mask of a Thousand Faces do not receive a psychic impression from their user. Items used against someone who is under the effect of Mask of a Thousand Faces recieve a psychic impression consistent with the Masked identity. - Storytellers reserve the right to deviate from these rules when it favors the players and/or story as long as it's not a player versus player situation.
Can a Haven have Location qualities? Can a Location have Haven qualities?
No, the lists are unique. Haven qualities go on Havens, and Location qualities go on Locations. You may choose to choose to have both a Haven and Location in the same building/structure/whatever, but mechanically speaking they are distinct entities. For instance, Alice can have a Haven with Guards in the attic of her Location with Workshop (Gunsmithing). If Bob wants to quest to find Alice's Haven, and Casey wants to damage Alice's gun shop Location, they both do that by interacting with separate systems.
Can I choose my wits focus bonus for Shape of the Beast every time I use it, or is it set when I gain the power?
The benefit you gain from the Wits focus is chosen when you gain the power and cannot be changed at a later date.
How do Indirect Influence Attacks work? Indirect Influence Attacks are a more targeted version of General Influence Actions (see p. 512 of Mind's Eye Theatre Vampire the Masquerade), wherein you choose to apply a specific type of General Influence Action to attack another character in the game. For example:
Ginger uses Influences, Elite 3: Bureaucratic Errors, allowing her to (among other things) cause a major police effort to investigate a locale or individual. She has beef with Mr. Carburetor, and so decides that the best use of her Influence at the moment is to sic the police on him by getting them to investigate if the paintings in his art gallery are stolen. She's really mad and wants this to get through, so she uses all 5 of her Influences, Elite actions on this.
Mechanically, Mr. Carburetor will lose 1 downtime action (for two months) for every 2 levels of influence used in the attack (rounded down). So if Ginger uses this level 3 action and it succeeds, Mr. Carburetor will lose 1 downtime action. If she were to be more vicious and opt instead to levy a level 6 attack (using one of her specialties to get to level 6), Mr. Carburetor may lose up to 3 downtime actions. If Ginger wants to attempt to do more damage to Mr. Carburetor than even that, she will need to organize with other characters to Boost her attack higher.
To protect yourself from Indirect Influence Attacks, you use the Block action. For every Block action you use, you protect yourself from one action of Indirect Influence Attacks. For each level of Influence you use, you may protect one additional character. For Example:
Mr. Carburetor knows Ginger is angry and expects she will attempt to do something about it in downtimes. To protect himself, he uses his four Elite actions to Block Indirect Influence Attacks against Mr. Carburetor. Since he is using 4 Elite Influences, he may choose to include up to three other characters to be protected by his Block, as well. Note that the Block protects against any Indirect Influence attacks coming at you, even if from multiple sources. Mr. Carburetor's actions block 4 of Ginger's attacks, meaning only one gets over his defensive "wall". If she went with the level 3 attacks, this simply means he loses 1 downtime for 2 months.
This can get much hairier for a character if there are more and bigger attacks, however. If Ginger had gone with the level 6 attacks and Mr. Carburetor had not Blocked at all, he would potentially be open to losing 15 downtime actions (3 for each attack x 5 attack actions). Assuming he doesn't have 15 downtime actions, once all his downtimes are gone, this will start eating into access to his Backgrounds, at the same 2 for 1 rate. If the attacks burn through all his Backgrounds, the character enters with 3 less in their starting Blood Pool for each indirect attack beyond this point.
We are not going to devastate a character to the point of no return in downtimes. That's not fun for anyone. So to avoid this, we're implementing a couple of Storyteller Caveats:
1) If you use multiple actions to attack a single person with Indirect Influence attacks, you can choose to use multiple identical actions, in which case they will be treated as multiple actions vs. any Blocking "wall" the target has created. If you spend 5 actions doing exactly the same thing for your attack and the target has used 3 actions to Block, 2 of your actions technically get through…but since they were all trying to do the same thing, only the effects of that single action will take effect. If all 5 of your actions were using Level 6, Everything Has A Price to get Mr. Carburetor investigated, the end result will be that he loses 3 downtime actions.
2) Alternatively, you can write them all as unique actions (i.e. one is getting the police to investigate whether paintings are stolen, the next is planting a false news article that Mr. Carburetor had previously been convicted of dealing in the illegal art market, etc. etc.), in which case we will treat them all as single, individual actions vs. any Blocking "wall". So if you use all 5 actions doing different things and your target has used any actions Blocking, none of these actions will get through. However, if your target has not used any actions blocking…all 5 of those unique actions will get through, potentially doing a great deal more damage.
3) Given the potential for a character to be utterly devastated by a well coordinated attack, the STs reserve the right to apply narrative, rather than simply mechanical, consequences to the target, as listed on page 512 of the MET, VTM rulebook.
**Do note that as Indirect Attacks are regular General Actions, they can be picked up and discovered by others using Word on the Street or Gossip and Insider Trading. If you don't want others to know it was you, you'll also need to spend actions Blocking the discovery of your Attacks.**