A supernatural creature in their own right, ghouls form an incredibly important part of kindred society. They carry a portion of their regnants blood, a portion of the kindred's very essence. Such things bind Domitor and thrall together in strange and perverse ways.
It’s the rush, really, the freight-train running through your veins, the way your skin’s sensitive to every little thing except pain, the feeling that you’re just on the edge of death and have never been so alive. That’s what the Blood does.The blood within their veins drives a ghoul onward to with a supernatural vigor that makes the rest of the world feel like it's on xanax. Being a ghoul is incredible. You’ve got the best parts of being a vampire. The youth, the supernatural edges, the knowledge you’re just better than everybody else. Then there are the parties. The Elysium and everything else. Being surrounded by the beautiful and the eternal, being part of a world that only comes to life after dark. All that for just a few ugly little favors.
Except none of it’s really yours. Miss a dose, and the train rushing through your veins derails. The withdrawal’s bad, so bad. But there’s something worse. All of a sudden, with just a missed taste of Vitae… you’re normal. Mundane. Prole. Rat in a cage. So don’t miss a dose. Ghouls aren’t just mortals with a taste for Vitae. They’ve got a little bit of Kindred will in them, and the Kindred will is nothing if not an urge to treachery. As a ghoul, you’re simultaneously the most trustworthy and most dangerous of servants. A vampire who doesn’t respect his ghouls is a fool. A vampire who trusts them too far is a mark.
Some terminology: Ghouls are Thralls of a vampire, but not thralls because they are ghouls per-se. Rather anyone whom a vampire has under a full Blood Bond is called the vampire's Thrall. A vampire with a thrawl is generally known as a Regnant or a Domitor.
Creating and Maintaining a Ghoul
Creating a ghoul is relatively easy, but it is a deliberate act of will on a kindreds part. When a kindred first wants to turn a mortal into ghoul all he does is feed the mortal a vitae and spend a point of willpower. That's it. After that the mortal is a ghoul and will be until he dies. He gains all the benefits of being a ghoul immediately. The willpower spent to create a ghoul is only spent once, once a ghoul is made he's made, he can lose his abilities but deep down he'll still be tainted. Generally Kindred will wait to complete this process until the subject is fully blood bound. An only partially blood bound ghoul is a dangerous thing.
Once a ghoul is created he must get a point of vitae every month to keep on going. If he misses his dose, even if he has stored vitae in his system, he will lose access to everything that makes him special. He'll still be a ghoul, just an inert one.
Benefits of being a Ghoul
Aside from the vampire powers and the ability to store vitae there are a number of other benefits to ghouls. Many terminal diseases the ghoul has are put into a deep remission, cancer cells stop growing, etc. A ghoul finds himself full of energy, he sleeps less than most mortals do, but the vitae still keeps him going with a spring in his step all day long. In general his stamina is greatly improved, if a ghoul ever has to roll Stamina he gains +2 dice to his pool. His senses are sharpened to the height of human capacity. A ghoul body runs hot, not quite feverish but enough to make him feel warm to the touch. Most ghouls (nosferatu excluded) find themselves growing subtly more attractive, it's easier for them to lose weight, easier to put on muscle, their complexion improves, scars and wrinkles lessen; of course all of this will slowly revert if he misses his dose.
Ghouls no longer suffer wound penalties nor do they have to roll to avoid passing out when their last Health Box is full of Bashing Damage, the vitae driving them onward until their bodies completely give out.
When a ghoul is first created he gains 1 dot in potence and more dots in another physical discipline that the domitor has in-clan if the regnants generation is low enough. If the Domitor has no in-clan physical disciplines, then the ghoul simply gains more dots of potence. Ghouls can learn other disciplines, but they must be taught to them by their domitor. Experience point costs are discussed below.
Finally, ghouls case to age completely, their bodies completely halting the process. If a ghoul misses his dose of blood he will begin to age normally if he's still within his normal life span (roughly 100 years) if he is older than that the ghoul will begin to rapidly age as he suffers withdrawals. This depends upon the ghouls age, if barely over a century the process will take months, if many hundreds of years old a ghoul will age into a shriveled old man in hours, if older he may collapse into ash much like a vampire.
Ghouls and Vitae
Ghouls can hold as much vitae in their body for future use equal to their current stamina, yes the passive bonus from fortitude adds to this, making venture and gangrel ghouls rather frightening. Ghouls can spend this blood to Heal, Blood Buff, or Activate Disciplines in the same manner a Vampire does. Ghouls cannot use the blood in their system to stave off their needed monthly dose nor can they use the blood to create a Blood Bond.
Finally a ghoul can spend a point of Vitae and roll Stamina to flush a disease from her system, the vitae simply wiping it out.
Ghouls and Generation
Ghouls are given their amazing abilities by their regnants blood, the stronger the blood the stronger the ghoul. A ghoul can count her regnants generation as the generation of the regnant that first made her a ghoul, or the generation of the blood that she obtained this month, whichever is lower.