Vampire: The Masquerade Guide – Best Advantages For New Players

A new character in Vampire: The Masquerade has many advantages to choose from, but these will make your unlife easier.

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There are a lot of choices that a player must make when creating a Vampire: The Masquerade character, one of which involves selecting their benefits and flaws from the Advantages list.

A Vampire: The Masquerade character needs to have attributes and skills, both of which determine their physical and mental capabilities, but there is more to someone than their talents. There are people who are born into wealthy families or are connected to powerful individuals and this would shape their personality. A young Kindred could be forced to sleep in dumpsters, as they can’t get a job and pay rent, which would also influence how they act when around their peers. The player gets to choose these aspects themselves during character creation, yet some are more useful than others when it comes to surviving the modern nights.

Bonding – This merit is more important in Camarilla campaigns, where older Kindred will often try to force people into Blood Bonds in order to exert a measure of control over them. Unbondable will prevent the player from being enslaved to the blood of others, but if they don’t want to spend points on a four-point merit, they could invest a point into Bond Resistance and gradually improve it over time by spending experience points.

Feeding – Feeding flaws are a major detriment to a Kindred (as the Ventrue will tell you). The three-point Iron Gullet merit, however, is one of the best in the game. Iron Gullet allows the Kindred to gain sustenance from blood that other vampires would find unpalatable, such as from a corpse. This gives the player way more options for feeding and is extremely useful for the traveling Kindred who doesn’t know where their next meal is coming from. (Note that Ventrue characters cannot take this merit).

Contact – Sooner or later, the player is going to need to acquire something that’s hard to find or learn information that isn’t available to the general public. They could ask the local Kindred for these kinds of things, but that could lead to favors being exchanged. Having access to a decent contact can give the player access to things like guns or explosives while knowing someone within the police force could help brush some Masquerade violations under the rug without any uncomfortable questions being asked.

Influence – Influence is similar to Contact, but it exists in a more fluid state. A few dots in Influence can work as a great preventative measure for trouble. In a lot of cases, a name drop can cause mortals and low-level Kindred from messing with the player. This trick won’t last forever and it’s liable to backfire on the player if they abuse it, but it’s a merit that’s always handy to have when trouble starts.

Haven – A lot of Storytellers will assume that the player has some kind of safe place to sleep during the day, but a Haven can be enhanced by spending points. A grandiose manor might attract too much attention, but a Haven with an armory, a security system, or guards to protect the Kindred during the day can serve a lot of useful functions.

The problem with a Haven is that it can easily be lost. All it takes is for the Second Inquisition to learn of its existence and those points the player spent will soon become smoldering ashes. The player should hope that they aren’t in the Haven when trouble comes knocking.

Herd – One of the best picks for a Ventrue player. Having quick access to blood can be an unlife saver in a game where a few unlucky dice rolls can send a Kindred from refined to ravenous beast. It’s possible to hunt for fresh mortals, but this can be a crapshoot at the best of times. As such, maintaining a herd can help keep the beast at bay on those nights when the player keeps failing Rouse checks.

Retainer – Having access to a loyal ghoul can solve many problems the player will face on a regular basis. A well-trained ghoul can protect the player during the day, deal with mortal authorities without fear of exposing their supernatural natural, and can act as a portable blood bank in emergencies.

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