Frenzy

Trapped within the false civility of the Camarilla and the forced camaraderie of the Sabbat, there is a hidden truth: Vampires are monsters, possessed of an inner Beast. Though, like humans, they have the capability to overrule their baser instincts, sometimes they fail. When this occurs, the Hunger and the Beast become uncontrollable, and no one is safe from their excesses. Older vampires refer to the ensuing savage fits as “succumbing to the Beast Within.” Younger Kindred refer to these outbursts simply as frenzies.

During frenzy, a vampire no longer acts according to any rational plan. The Beast doesn't think. It acts based on raw instinct, with no thought for the future or memory of the past. The Kindred no longer recognizes friends, foes or family. Any creature with blood in its veins is reduced to obstacle or prey. While in frenzy, hungry vampires try to feed without restraint from whoever is nearest. Angry vampires do anything possible to destroy the cause of their anger. Frightened vampires flee the source of their fear and kill anyone who gets in the way. They care nothing for the consequences of their actions, only for the immediate satisfaction of a primal drive.

When the Kindred refer to "frenzy," without any qualifier, they usually mean an outburst caused by anger. Kindred give special names to frenzies caused by hunger and fear. The former, they call Wassail; the latter, Rötschreck. Young Kindred who think it's pretentious to assign fancy names to ugly rampages simply speak of "hunger frenzy" and "fear frenzy."

All these forms of frenzy have certain aspects in common. A vampire who succumbs to the Beast no longer pays attention to wound penalties, except perhaps to rage even more fiercely. Injuries that would leave a sane vampire crawling on the ground don't bother a frenzying vampire a bit -- the Kindred keeps fighting until he is forced into torpor or is destroyed. The vampire also becomes resistant to mental influences such as Dominate and Majesty. A frenzying Kindred routinely pushes his physical abilities to the limit, performing extraordinary feats of strength, agility and toughness. Kindred can employ their Disciplines while in frenzy, but only for the most rudimentary ends. For instance, a vampire can grow Claws of the Wild to attack prey, or use Majesty to drive people away who interfere with her flight, but she cannot command anyone using Dominate because that Discipline requires speech and a focused mind.

A vampire can slide from some kinds of frenzy to others. Yet, some forms of frenzy protect the vampire from others. Hunger frenzy is the weakest. A Wassailing vampire can be driven into a rage frenzy if he is kept from his prey, or a sufficient threat can drive him into Rötschreck. Self-preservation takes precedence over hunger, but sheer rage can overpower self-preservation if someone fights too hard to stop a fleeing vampire. While in a rage frenzy, a Kindred becomes immune to Rötschreck, but she can slide into a hunger frenzy as she guzzles the blood of a victim.

System:

The Storyteller decides when a character runs the risk of frenzy. Anger can cause frenzy, but not every moment of irritation stirs the Beast. Hunger provokes the Beast, but most of the time characters can feed without going berserk and killing their vessels. Rötschreck -- the "Red Fear" -- usually occurs only when Kindred face the two forces most able to destroy them, fire and sunlight. Other sources of fear seldom provoke frenzy, though it can happen, as with meeting a new vampire of higher Blood Potency for the first time. These guidelines are vague because the relative strength of Man and Beast can fluctuate for many reasons. One time, a character might shrug off an extreme provocation. Another time, the Kindred might feel a weight of accumulated frustration or anxiety and lose control over a small matter. We offer examples of circumstances that can trigger frenzies, and how hard they might be to resist, but the Storyteller has final say.

In rules terms, frenzy has the following effects on a character:

• All attempts to influence the frenzying character's mind, by Dominate, Majesty or other means, take place at a -5 dice penalty, while rolls for the character to resist or throw off mental influence receive a +5 dice bonus.

• Of course, a frenzying character cannot perform any action that requires much thought.

• The character receives two extra dots in Physical Attributes, this ignores generational limits. The Beast goes all-out, all the time, and its blinding rage shuts out all distractions and doubts.

• The character gains 1 point of armor that stacks with any he already has. The beast is ferocious and strong.

Resisting Frenzy:

Resisting frenzy is an extended action. Whatever the cause of frenzy, Kindred may try to resist the Beast and maintain control. When a character is on the verge of frenzy, the player rolls Resolve + Composure. If any successes are achieved, the character resists the frenzy for one turn per success. At the end of those turns, the player rolls again in hopes of winning a few turns more of self-control for the character. If the player can accumulate a certain number of successes, the Beast subsides and the character completely avoids the frenzy. If any of the rolls fail, however, the character goes berserk and spends the rest of the scene in frenzy. If the player suffers a dramatic failure on a roll, the character stays in frenzy for as long as the Storyteller thinks is appropriate. The character also gains a derangement related to whatever caused the frenzy.

The greater the provocation to the character, the more successes the player must accumulate. Five successes suffice for most frenzies. Higher numbers represent the most extreme humiliation or peril to the vampire's unlife. The Storyteller may also impose bonuses or penalties to Resolve + Composure dice pools to reflect a trigger that's especially easy or hard to resist.The rule doesn't change any, but it bears repeating: A Willpower point earns a character three extra dice on the roll to resist frenzy, as it does with most other rolls.

Anger Frenzies:

Here are some typical events that can spark an anger frenzy, with sample numbers of successes needed to resist them, or modifiers to the Resolve + Composure dice pool.

Virtues, Vices and Natures can work either way. Someone who gains strength and purpose from Justice, for instance, might feel extra anger at some crime that she cannot correct, but she could resist the Beast more effectively when someone takes her to task and she knows that person is in the right. Someone beset by Pride might have extra trouble dealing with humiliation, but he could make an extra effort not to embarrass himself in other cases. The Storyteller decides when a Virtue or Vice can influence the difficulty of the Resolve + Composure roll.

Kindred also find it harder to resist the Beast when hunger adds to rage. A hungry character suffers a -1 die penalty to Resolve + Composure rolls. A starving character, defined as having only one or no Vitae left, suffers a -2 penalty. These penalties are not cumulative with each other. You do not suffer a -3 dice penalty for being both starving and hungry.

Hunger Frenzies (Wassail):

Wassail can occur whenever a character feels hungry and encounters blood or something even just a tempting vessle. Hunger frenzies are most dangerous when a character actually feeds. Kindred who care about their vessels adopt various strategies to reduce the danger to their loved ones, such as never letting themselves become too hungry, or having a favored vessel drain blood into a bowl instead of submitting to the Kiss. Few modifiers apply to hunger frenzies, and loss of control is less likely once a character has imbibed blood. See the foregoing for the definition of "hungry" and "starving" for vampires.

Fear Frenzies (Rötschreck):

In some ways, the undead have less to fear than mortals do. Vampires are hard to kill, and they can hope to make up for any minor loss, given time. Injuries are also more likely to anger a Kindred than frighten him. Sunlight and fire, however, provoke a soul-deep terror among the Kindred. The Beast knows that these forces can cause its destruction. It instinctively flees sunlight and fire in a blind panic. While in Rötschreck, a vampire wants to do nothing but run away and hide, and she lashes out at anyone in her way. If a character cannot escape the cause of her fear frenzy, she might gain a derangement from excess terror.

Exposure to small amounts of sunlight or fire, at a safe distance or under the character's control, hardly ever provokes Rötschreck. A vampire might step away from a person lighting a cigarette, and she might prefer to stand well back from a screened-in fire in a fireplace, but she doesn't panic. Nor does a TV or movie image of a sunny day rouse her Beast... much.

If someone jabs a lit cigarette at the character or a flashbulb goes off in her face, however, it might be a different matter. Nothing about a character's personality has much effect on resisting Rötschreck. It's the quantity of fire or sunlight, or the degree of control, that makes resisting a fear frenzy more or less difficult.