The following rules govern the kindred.

Vampires, canonically, do not sleep as mortals do, as they are dead. However, they still require a period of rest, known as torpor, to allow their bodies time to regenerate and, some say, to allow their vitae to feed their Antediluvians.

Several things are adjusted to help facilitate scenes and generally improve quality of life for vampire players.

1: You are required to torpor each day, but torpor does not start the moment the sun rises. When the sun comes up, you must start making stamina checks to resist the effects of torpor. One per hour, starting at diff 3 and going up 1 per hour until you fail. Failure means you must stop what you're doing immediately, and find a place to torpor. It does not mean you fall down immediately, only that you must immediately start searching for a place to lie down and enter torpor. No vampire above elder can resist the noon day sun however. At noon, if you are still awake somehow, you fall over into torpor. You have been warned.

2: Torpor, in Shadows of the South, only lasts for a period of time equal to the ‘normal’ amount of sleep required for any mortal. This means a 8 hour period, taken at any time throughout the day. Now, what does this mean if you are a Vampire who chooses to be awake during daylight hours? Well, the sunlight will still burn you, but so long as you remain indoors with the curtains drawn, that will pose no issue to you, nor will it impose the normal penalties to you that it might normally in a Vampire-only game (i.e. no reductions to your die pools). You can, of course, still choose to torpor during the day, and then wake during the night, as per normal.

3: You lose one blood point when you rise from torpor. This cannot be avoided.

The kindred need blood to survive. This is as true as it has always been. The Kindred of the Starke Council try not to harm humans in feeding, but the thirst is as endless as it ever has been.

Vampires need to feed, it is what it is. Because of this each vampire needs to periodically find humans to feed on. As such we have instigated several mechanics to govern it. Starting with feeding tactics.

Vampires can gain blood in two ways, by feeding normally, and by attending Elysium.

Elysium is a weekly event that happens from dusk on Friday night until dawn on Satuday Morning. But for the sake of simplicity and to give a wider audience a chance to attend, the Elysium scene starts Saturday morning at 9am, and continues until 9pm Saturday night. Any vampire who attends, may replenish up to 2 blood points from the bloodwine provided by the prince during the weekly Elysium.

A careful kindred, can subsist nearly on the blood given by the prince alone. Though the prince often prohibits those out of his favor from partaking as punishment for misdeeds. Staying in the prince's favor is important, if you wish to gain the boons of his patronage.

When a vampire needs to hunt, they have many ways of doing it. Each vampire has a hunting type listed on their sheet. The hunting tactics are as follows:

Sirens are those Cainites who prefer to seduce their targets, now, whether that means conversation, a kiss on the cheek, or during sex is up to you - seduction takes many forms, after all. Regardless of your approach, the roll for this variant of feeding is always Appearance + Subterfuge.

Alleycats are those Cainites who prefer the stealthy approach, insofar as they might be those who break and enter into a house and feed on the sleeping denizens within, or otherwise, as the name suggests, find those who stumble drunkenly into an alley, and seize their meal therefrom. Regardless of your approach, the roll for this variant of feeding is always Dexterity + Stealth.

Cleavers are those Cainites who, in violation of the Masquerade, live with and otherwise engage with a mortal family. For instance, a husband who is Embraced might return to their wife and children, and feed therefrom. Regardless of your approach, the roll for this variant of feeding is always Manipulation + Empathy.

Consensualists are those Cainites who like to obtain permission from their targets, though this does not necessarily mean that they ask direct permission. Your PC could operate a blood drive, or otherwise operate in the open as having some sort of fetish. Regardless of your approach, the roll for this variant of feeding is always Charisma + Empathy.

Farmers are those Cainites who feed exclusively on animals, for whatever personal reasons. Regardless of what variety of animal you feed from, this roll is always Strength + Animal Ken.

For each success you gain in your feeding roll, you gain 1BP. And you can attempt up to 2 rolls per night, the first roll at difficulty 6, and the second at difficulty 8. As such is his HIGHLY recommended to only attempt the second roll if you ABSOLUTELY must. A botch results in you being seen, or in the prey fighting back, or some other problem, and must immediately be reported to the STs.

Given that Shadows over the South is a multi-splat campaign, Cainite PCs are far more likely to interact with, and therefore have the chance to feed from, a wider variety of supernatural creatures than they might otherwise be able to. As a result, please see the following rules regarding feeding from supernatural creatures.

For every point of blood drained from a Changeling, a Cainite PC suffers a +1 to the difficulty of all Perception and Intelligence-based checks. These penalties last for the rest of the day, or until those blood points are spent. The affects of feeding on the Fae is akin to a human using LSD or another form of hallucinagenic drug.

Feeding from a demon is dangerous. Full stop. Aside from the fact that certain hardliners will accuse you of being an infernalist just for admitting that you do this, the effects the blood of the infernal have on vampires are among the most difficult of all supernaturals to predict, due to Torment and the way it reacts with the Beast Within. In short, the effects depend upon the Torment level of the demon, and the Humanity of the vampire. Note that a Path of Enlightenment counts as low humanity for the purposes of these rolls.
TORMENT 4-
If a humanity has high humanity (6 and above), the only thing that happens is that the blood gives the vampire a warm, calming feeling. Mechanically irrelevant, but purely for flavor. If a vampire has medium-to-low humanity (5), the vampire must roll Willpower, difficulty 6 for a demon with Torment 3 or 4, difficulty 8 if Torment 2 or less. If this roll fails, the vampire is overcome with feelings of guilt, and is forced to reflect upon her sins for the rest of the scene. If this roll botches, the vampire instead has visions of being trapped in the endless Abyss, and must make an immediate Rötschreck check.

TORMENT 5+
Regardless of the humanity of the vampire, the effects of high Torment immediately begin to weigh upon the vampire's psyche. For each blood point ingested by the vampire, the vampire must roll for degeneration as the Torment attempts to corrupt the vampire from within. There is only one exception: If the vampire is on the Path of Evil Revelations and was offered the blood willingly by the demon, each blood point of blood swallowed by the vampire may add one extra dice per blood point spent to the use of any Infernalism-based power such as Infernal Investments, Daimonion, or Dark Thaumaturgy, but only for that scene, and only for abilities that require the expenditure of blood points.

The divine nature of the Imbuing renders the blood of Imbued distinctly unpalatable to Cainites. Any Cainite that attempts to feed from an Imbued suffers unimaginable pain, as the vitae turns to caustic liquid in their mouths. Further more the Kiss to an imbued does not have the same effect as it does normally. While the physical paralysis of the bite is still present, they will not feel the pleasurable effects of it. It's just going to hurt….bad.

With the exception of some Etherite and Technocrat Mages, all other Mages count as normal for the purposes of feeding, and therefore a Cainite PC will suffer no side effects. However, in the case of a radically enhanced Etherite or Technocrat (i.e. cybernetics, drastic physical changes, etc.), the blood gained therefrom will not be palatable to a Cainite PC, and will cause your PC to vomit it up immediately.

For every point of blood drained from a Shapechanger, a Cainite PC suffers a +1 to the difficulty of all Self-Control rolls for the rest of the day, or until those blood points are spent.

The Reborn, in their various forms, have a common element. Their bodies are supercharged with vitae. Feeding on the reborn is a deeply spiritual experience, and incredibly dangerous. Not only because of the risk of angering an immortal that can quite literally chase you until the end of time. But their blood is HIGHLY addictive, and has numerous dangerous effects.

For every health level drained from a reborn, the cainite gains 2 blood points. Additionally the Cainite gains one temporary point in humanity for each blood point taken, that remains until the BP that granted the humanity is used. When the kindred gains humanity in this way, they must roll willpower, diff 8. A failure causes them to become addicted to the sensation of having humanity, and they gain the Addiction flaw as determined by the ST.

Additionally, any vampire who is on a path, is doubly endangered by this effect. As the temporary humanity can come crashing down upon them suddenly. If your temp humanity dots outnumber your path dots, you are incapacitated by the weight of your sins, and become extremely vulnerable. Some kindred have been known to commit suicide and walk out into daylight, after feeding upon the reborn. You have been warned.

To learn a discipline that is not part of your clan, you need two things. A teacher, and some blood from a kindred that has that discipline as their clan discipline. The difficulty of learning said disciplines, however, changes.

Disciplines are divided into three groups. Common, Uncommon, and Clan Disciplines.

Common Disciplines
The common disciplines are:

• Fortitude
• Potence
• Celerity

All Kindred can learn these disciplines with little issue. It just takes time and practice. The ST will tell you how much at each dot level. For dots 4+ you will need blood from a kindred who has this discipline as a clan discipline. Dots 1 - 3 can be learned with just time and effort.

Uncommon Disciplines
The Uncommon Disciplines are:

• Presence
• Obfuscate
• Animalism
• Auspex
• Dominate

To learn these disciplines, even at the 1 dot level, you need both a mentor willing to teach, and blood from a kindred who has the desired discipline as a clan discipline. One dose from a clan will allow you to learn dots 1 to 3. But to learn 4+ you need a second dose of blood, from a kindred of a different clan that calls the discipline a clan discipline. For example. A dose of gangrel blood would allow a kindred to learn dots 1-3 of animalism. But to learn dots 4-5 they would need a dose from a Nosferatu. Dots 6+ might require yet another dose, from a tzimisce, for example.

Clan Disciplines
The final group of disciplines are Clan Disciplines. Those disciplines that are limited to a single clan. All bloodline disciplines count as clan disciplines in this regard. The Clan Disciplines are:

• Obtenebration
• Protean
• Serpentis
• Quietus
• Chemistry
• Dementation
• Thaumaturgy
• Necromancy
• Vicissitude
• Any discipline unique to a bloodline

Learning Clan Disciplines is nearly impossible. But if you can find someone willing to teach you, it is possible to learn. The same rules as learning Uncommon Disciplines apply, though in some cases, specifically with some of the bloodlines, it is impossible to learn more than a dot or two in their bloodline discipline, if possible at all.

Most clans jealously protect clan locked disciplines and will actively hunt down any kindred that dares delve into the secrets of their blood, as well as the mentor who was foolish enough to teach. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

The Thinbloods hold a special power among the kindred. If a Thinblood knows a discipline, his or her blood is a viable source for others to learn that discipline… and Thinbloods treat ALL disciplines as 'uncommon' for the purpose of what is required to learn them. Though the same restrictions apply as well. Such as being hunted for learning Thaumaturgy.

If a kindred attacks and drinks the blood of an enemy in battle, this counts as receiving a dose of their blood, but it does not satisfy the mentor requirement of learning a discipline.

If you Diablerize a vampire, you gain all of their discipline knowledge, and all of their blood. This allows you to satisfy both the blood and mentor requirements for both common and uncommon disciplines for up to dot 3. It does NOT however, satisfy the mentor requirement for Clan Disciplines or dots 4 or 5 of a common or uncommon discipline.