In the World of Darkness, there are those on top, and there are those that serve them. The rest of the kine waits in their day-to-day existence for the moment that they are chosen, or perhaps that is merely what some Cainites would lead you to believe. Either way, Ghouls have been part of the history of Cainite culture dating back millennia, and so, there should be rules to accommodate these servants of darkness.

Mechanics
Mechanically speaking, the Retainers background covers the number of Ghouls any given PC may have, to a total of 5, or, alternatively, they may invest multiple points in this background into one Ghoul, creating a far more impressive servant.

The rules for this are as follows:

A Player Character must spend the first dot of the Retainers background on a Ghoul itself; whether this is animal or human is at the discretion of the PC.

Any subsequent dots in the Retainers background may be used to do one of the following, they may either:

• Invest another dot(s) of the background into an existing Ghoul (each additional dot invested will add 10 Freebie Points to that Ghoul).
  
• Add an additional Ghoul to their retinue (at the normal cost of 1 dot).
  

Building Human Ghouls
Now, these mechanics are all well and good, but at this point, you may be asking yourself how exactly to build a Ghoul for your PC. The good news is, it’s as easy as building a regular character…the bad news is that it’s just as mentally taxing, especially when it comes to those freebies.

The Character Creation process for a Mortal Ghoul begins in the Ghouls and Revenants V20 book or the V20 Core book, and will walk you through all the necessary steps for creating your Ghoul Retainers. Now, that said, there are a few things that need to be addressed here, in regards Retainer creation, as follows:

• Ghouls may never have more than 3 dots in any one Background (ex. a limit of Resources 3). This rule is to ensure that NPCs never outstrip the potential of what a PC can accomplish during the course of play.
  
• Ghouls may never acquire, nor purchase over time, the Majordomo or Retainers backgrounds.
  
• Ghouls may never have more than 10 Freebie Points invested into Backgrounds at the moment of creation.
  

Building Animal Ghouls
The following mechanics do not differ in any great amount from those previous, however they do concern themselves with a far different calibre of servant; that of the eponymous raven, or perhaps wolf…or maybe even panther, that your Kindred decided to call ally in their nighttime activities - or perhaps even daytime ones, as well.

The Character Creation process for an Animal Ghoul starts just as it would for a Mortal Ghoul, using the details listed in the Ghouls and Revenants or Core book - however, there are a few key differences that should be pointed out:

• Animal ghouls, for obvious reasons, may never purchase “Social” Backgrounds; i.e. Allies, Contacts, Influence, Status, and so on.
  
• Animal ghouls, ostensibly, are not going to be as smart as the average human - however, that is obviously subject to change as the nature of being a Ghoul enhances much of what a living creature is naturally capable. As a result, an animal Ghoul have a trait maximum equaling their domitor’s dots in Retainer where their Intelligence Attribute is concerned (ex. if you have 2 dots in Retainer, the trait max for your animal Ghouls is 2, 3 = 3, and so on.)

Contingencies
This all said, there is one very important thing to keep in mind when you are creating, and further running your Ghouls. All sheets must be submitted to the responsible Vampire STs, before any final posting to the Ghouls section of your PC Sheet.

Additionally, if it is discovered that you are abusing the Retainer rules as listed above, you will immediately lose access to all Ghouls you have acquired thus far, and will be prohibited from acquiring any new Retainers for a period of time that the Vampire STs see fit.

Mortals that are Retainers and not ghouled follow the same requirements that Human ghouls do with a couple exceptions:

• They do not have disciplines
• They do not possess a blood pool

In the Event of turning a mortal retainer into a ghoul they will gain access to both