Generation is the number of “steps” between a vampire and the mythical Caine; how far descended from the First Vampire a given vampire is. The farther away you are, the weaker you are; by default characters start at 13th generation however you can choose to be 14th or 15th generation and thus gain all the benefits and drawbacks. At Character Creation you may lower your generation with certain merits. See the chart below to see what your generation means.
Generation: How many steps removed from Caine a vampire is.
Maximum Discipline Rating: The maximum amount of dots that a kindred may purchase in a discipline.
Maximum Attribute Rating: The maximum amount of dots a kindred may purchase in an attribute. The more potent the blood the higher a vampire can raise above mortal limits just on her own.
Maximum Vitae Pool: How much vitae a vampire may have in her system. Lower generation vampire are not walking blood bags all vampires who are at their maximum have the same physical quanity of vitae in their undead bodies, rather their vitae is simply more potent, able to do more with less.
Maximum Vitae Spent a Turn: How much vitae a kindred may spend in a turn.
Blood Potency: A measure of how supernaturally potent a kindred's vitae is. Blood Potency is a kindreds Supernatural Tolerance, and comes into question whenever Supernatural Tolerance is needed.
*14th generation vampires are always caitiff. They can only use 8 points of their blood pool for healing, raising physical attributes, or activating disciplines, the remaining two can only be used to raise at night. 14th generation vampires gain the Eat Food, and Blush of Health merits for free. All 14th generation vampires have a chance of being thin-blooded, a considerably higher chance than the 13th generation.
†15th generation vampires are always caitiff. They cannot embrace or create ghouls. They can only use 6 points of their blood pool for healing, raising physical attributes, or activating disciplines, the remaining 4 can only be used to raise at night. 15th generation vampires gain the deceptive aura, calm heart, early riser, light sleeper, and inoffensive to animals merits for free. They are as warm as living human bodies if they choose to be, can eat food and digest it (though they don't need to), and can even sometimes have children. Finally 15th generation vampires only take Lethal damage from sunlight, and reduce the damage dealt per turn by 1 on the chart both in terms of intensity and exposure. All 15h generation vampires are thin-blooded.
Diablerie
There is one thing that elder Kindred dread even more than fire or the light of the sun. This is the sin known as diablerie. Among Camarilla society, diablerie is the ultimate crime; those who practice it are subject to the harshest punishments imaginable. It is as loathed and feared as cannibalism is among mortal society. The vampires of the Sabbat are said to indulge in diablerie freely, which is yet another reason why Camarilla elders hate them so.
Quite simply, diablerie is the act of feeding on a vampire in the way that a vampire feeds on a mortal. In so doing, not only does the murderer consume the victim’s blood (and vampire blood is far, far sweeter than even the tastiest mortal’s), but the victim’s power as well. By stealing the life of a vampire closer to Caine, the vampire can permanently enrich his own vitae. In this manner even the youngest vampire can gain the power of the elders. Elders know the crime as the Amaranth; in olden nights, it is said, an amaranth flower was presented to the victim a week before he was to be hunted. Kindred legend tells many dark tales of murderous childer betraying and cannibalizing their own sires, and it is for this reason more than any other that elder Kindred harbor such distrust for the neonates among them. Indeed, the great Jyhad itself may well have its roots in this eternal and savage struggle for power.
A vampire seeking to commit diablerie must drain all the blood from his Kindred victim. Following this act, the vampire must continue to suck, for (according to Kindred legend) the very soul is withdrawn from the victim’s body and taken into the diablerist. The effort involved in diablerie is monumental, for the vampiric soul is a greedy thing and clings tenaciously to unlife, hoping to regenerate its body and rise once again.Once a vampire’s body has been drained of all blood and has its leftmost health box filled with lethal damage, the true struggle begins. The kindred rolls an extended Resolve + Presence roll attempting to gain successes equal to the drained vampires Resolve + Presence.
If the diablerist succeeds his rewards depends on the strength of the kindred he just ate. The diablerist likely gains a least one dot of a discipline that his victim had higher than his assailant and If the victim was of lower generation the diablerist goes down one or more generation steps. However, if the victim of the assault was of exceedingly low generation and/or had Mental and Social Power/Resistance attributes much higher than his diablerist then the would be victor may find himself at best with some personality ticks he didnt have before, and at worst with a foreign soul in his body waiting to take over.
If you fail the Diablerie attempt then any blood you still have in your system goes into the would be victim and if in torpor the victim awakens.