Vampire: The Masquerade is a game of personal horror in which characters are locked in eternal struggle between the person they once were and the monster that their Blood drives them to become. What makes the horror personal is that it comes from the choices made (or not made) by each individual character in the face of the World of Darkness.
The Humanity system measures where on this spectrum a character is. It ranges from zero to 10. A Vampire character’s default Humanity at character generation is 7. A Vampire’s Predator Type may modify this default Humanity. While a character may choose to start at a lower Humanity rating to reflect age or wicked deeds, this is a roleplay choice that provides no mechanical benefit.
Vampires are hunters by nature, and, for the people they prey upon, they are horrific. No vampire is truly “good.” At best, vampires are capable of a facsimile of good, trying desperately to embody traits that humans find noble or pure in the face of the Beast. It may take time, but vampires slip. As their Humanity falls, so do the vampire’s ideals. They become more capable of greater and greater evils, more inclined to take ruthless shortcuts, and more willing to do what they must to achieve their goals.
However, in a world where Hunters stalk the night and the sects demand greater adherence in preservation of the Masquerade, maintaining Humanity provides significant benefits for vampires.
Humanity holds back the Beast. Consult the following chart for the bonus to resist Frenzy and the length of time spent in torpor that your Humanity dictates.
| Humanity | Bonus to Resist Frenzy | Torpor Length |
| 10 | +3 | 3 days |
| 9 | +3 | 1 week |
| 8 | +2 | 2 weeks |
| 7 | +2 | 3 weeks |
| 6 | +2 | 1 month |
| 5 4 | +1 +1 | 2 months 3 months |
| 3 2 | +1 0 | 6 months 9 months |
1 0 1 year
Humanity 10
Vampires who maintain this level of Humanity are rare. To be this connected to Humanity is only ever the product of focused, continual effort through adhering to a rigid code that prevents the vampire from taking actions that would cause them to degenerate. Humanity 10 is incredibly difficult to maintain. At this level, acting selfishly is enough to erode the vampire’s Humanity.
Humanity 10 vampires have the following benefits:
● They appear almost mortal, though somewhat pale. Blush of Life is not required. ● They may taste, eat and digest food like a mortal.
● They can stay awake during the day like a mortal.
● While they may still mend with Blood, they also mend Normal Damage like a mortal does.
● Sunlight damage against them is halved (rounded up).
Humanity 9
Blending naturally into the human herd, vampires with Humanity this high make it look effortless. Able to think and act like the kine unconsciously, their Masquerade is excellent. They recoil at the notion of killing; violence is abhorrent and, for some, even feeding is a regrettable reality. Very few Kindred manage to maintain this level of Humanity, for a rigid method of avoiding provoking the Beast must be followed. It is a rare vampire who can do so for long.
Humanity 9 vampires have the following benefits:
● Blush of Life is not required. The vampire seems pale and a bit sickly, but not undead. ● If you wish, you may still have the desire for intimate relations with other mortals and vampires.
● While they may still mend with Blood, they also mend normal damage like a mortal does. ● They can taste, eat and digest liquids and rare or raw meat.
● They can wake up an hour before sunset and stay awake an hour after dawn. Humanity 8
Your Masquerade is good, and you largely seem and appear human. You still want to be connected to the world around you, your memories of humanity are intact, and you maintain a code of doing as little harm as you can to maintain this state. Why tempt the Beast? You had to work hard to get here.
Humanity 8 vampires have the following benefits:
● They may use the Blush of Life once per night without a Rouse check. Further uses require a Rouse check.
● With the Blush of Life, they may digest and taste wine.
● With Blush of Life you may engage in sexual intercourse and possibly enjoy it. ● They may rise up to an hour before sunset.
Humanity 7
A regular human operates at about this level, and so do most new Kindred. There is room for selfishness and bending some societal rules, but you’re not inclined to attack people just to work out your rage. You typically operate within the usual social code of a relatively law-abiding citizen.
Humanity 7 vampires have the following features:
● They may use the Blush of Life by making a Rouse check.
● While Blushing, they can keep food and drink down for about an hour, and can fake sexual intercourse.
● If they eat or drink anything other than Blood without Blushing, they vomit. They may make a Stamina + Composure test at Difficulty 3 to get to a washroom or outside before doing so.
Humanity 6
You’ve begun to grow insensitive to human concerns. You need to feed, and you want to do your thing. You aren’t seeking violence, but if people get hurt or killed, so be it. You are not broken up over death, and you are not inclined toward a default state of kindness. Selfishness is just part of life for you.
Rules for this level of Humanity work as per Humanity 7, except for the following:
● When using the Blush of Life, you must make a Stamina + Composure test at Difficulty 3 to keep food and drink down for an hour.
Humanity 5
A common level for vampires who have been around for a while, by this point, you have settled into the grim realities of being a monster without going mad. Existence is hard, death is a part of putting one foot ahead of the next, and loneliness and pain comes standard. Mortals are food, except for the few who make you care about something. Lying, selfishness, and pretending to care about things is how you scrape by. Vampires at this level seem “off” to mortals, as something about them doesn’t seem quite right.
Rules for this level of Humanity work as per Humanity 6, with this added condition:
● You suffer a -1 penalty on mundane tests to positively interact with humans. In roleplay, humans should interact with you warily until you have done something to earn their trust.
Humanity 4
You do what you want. If someone gets in your way, blackmail, extortion, injury, and murder are just part of how you get things done. You’re not a nice person, and pretending to be one is a tough act. You are getting corpse-like, and even make-up doesn’t hide it well enough. Humans are starting to avoid you, sensing that you are someone that they don’t want to be around, even if they don’t automatically know that you are a monster.
Rules for this level of Humanity work as per Humanity 5 and in addition:
● You suffer an additional -1 penalty (for a total of -2) on mundane tests to positively interact with humans. In roleplay, humans should largely avoid casual social contact with you. You just seem scary for some reason.
Humanity 3
You have degraded to the point where you do not give a damn about anyone anymore, not really. You are guided by your own desires, ambitions, and survival instinct, and you are nobody’s hero. Anyone with loftier ambitions to do good for others is a fool or a liar, though you might have the good sense to keep your nastiness to yourself if you have a semblance of Etiquette. Your primary concern is your own safety, and you will do what you must to maintain it.
Rules for this level of Humanity work as per Humanity 4 , with this addition:
● You suffer an additional -2 penalty (for a total of -4) on mundane tests to positively interact with humans. In roleplay you generally avoid relying on or even considering humans to be helpful in your nightly endeavors.
Humanity 2
You are a corpse, wearing the shredded moral trappings of one who was once human. You are the only thing in the world that matters. Everyone else is either your dinner, your pawn, or your enemy, and, if you are not sure if they are the first or second, they are probably the third. You are casually cruel, and only your self-interest will make you bother to try to act otherwise.
Rules for this level of Humanity work as per Humanity 3 and the additional effects:
● You suffer an additional -2 penalty (for a total of -6) on mundane tests to positively interact with humans. In roleplay, you consider humans to be of no use to you aside from a source of sustenance. You struggle to manipulate even the most useful of humans.
● Without a go-between, such as a Retainer or another vampire, you no longer have access to mortal Backgrounds such as Resources, Contacts, or Allies. These Backgrounds are not lost but can only be used when the character increases his Humanity to 3.
Humanity 1
Sleep. Feed. Kill. Everything that was once you is gone, save for tiny tethers of your will to exist. You are little more than a violent nightmare contained in bone and corpse-like flesh, if you have even bothered to mend your injuries. Most Kindred want nothing to do with such a degraded monster. Some will even put you down in the name of the Masquerade.
Rules for this level of Humanity work as per Humanity 2 and in addition:
● You suffer an additional -2 penalty (for a total of -8) on mundane tests to positively interact with humans. In roleplay, you are on the verge of complete devolution; you rarely speak, resorting to guttural noises and violent gestures.
● Sects want nothing to do with a character this degenerate, save for perhaps the most desperate of the Sabbat.
Shifting Humanity
The Humanity Track has ten boxes. It is tracked by filling in boxes from left to right. As a whole, Humanity only automatically shifts in response to significant actions in the story. It does not shift based on minor or unimportant actions.
However, the more unusual decisions that would stain the vampire’s soul from night to night are measured as Stains on the Humanity track. Humanity does not always fall from having Stains; a character might be able to show remorse and avoid degeneration. Stains are tracked by putting a slash into the Humanity tracker from right to left.
If a character violates a Chronicle Tenet, the Storyteller determines the number of Stains they incur based on how severe the violation was. A justified or reasonable violation incurs one Stain. A monstrous act warrants two or more Stains. In addition, if a Chronicle Tenet was violated in service of a Conviction, the Storyteller reduces the number of Stains gained by one or more. At the player’s discretion, severely violating a Conviction can also incur a Stain.
Once the empty boxes on the Humanity track are full, any additional Stains drain one Willpower per Stain. Further, when a character has more Stains than they have empty boxes on their Humanity track, they gain the Impaired Condition, reducing all of their test pools by 2. A character who gains the Impaired Condition from Stains is not able to intentionally violate Chronicle Tenets. If they are forced to, they must test for Fear Frenzy against Difficulty 4.
When a character gains the Impaired Condition from Stains, it resolves at the end of the game session after the Remorse test. Alternatively, a character may choose to voluntarily lose a Humanity point to resolve the Condition and erase their Stains. This represents a character choosing to show no remorse and rationalize the evil they have committed to themselves, sliding toward monstrousness to avoid grappling with what they have done.
Remorse
A character with any Stains on their Humanity track at the end of a game session makes a Remorse test. The character’s pool is equal to the number of unfilled boxes on her Humanity track. The difficulty rating is the number of Stains they currently have. When the character’s pool is equal to their number of Stains, they win this comparison.
If the Remorse test results in a success, then the character has suffered enough guilt to remain at their current Humanity. They remove all Stains.
However, if the Remorse test is a failure, the character loses one point of Humanity before removing all Stains.
Other Acts Against Humanity
Violating Chronicle Tenets and Convictions is not the only way to suffer Stains. The following occurrences cause Stains:
● Blood Bonding a mortal causes one Stain.
● Embracing a mortal causes two Stains.
● Your Touchstone being damaged causes one Stain.
● Your Touchstone being damaged by your actions causes two Stains.
● Your Touchstone being destroyed causes two Stains.
● Your Touchstone being destroyed by your actions causes three Stains.
A Touchstone is “damaged” when something bad befalls them, whether caused by the vampire or not. They might be investigated by the police due to association with the vampire. They might be in a random car accident. They might fall seriously ill or lose their job. It is up to the Storyteller to determine if an incident is sufficiently “bad” to cause a Stain. A Touchstone is also damaged if they change in a way that the vampire does not approve of.
A Touchstone is destroyed when they betray the Conviction that the vampire values them for, when they are killed violently or Embraced, or when disaster befalls them. Stains are worsened when the vampire directly causes the damage or destruction of their Touchstone.
Sometimes, a Touchstone dies non-violently. After all, humans are mortal. Their death is inevitable. When a Touchstone dies in the normal course of things, a character may undertake a story to transfer their Conviction fixation to another suitable human. The change requires a Humanity test at Difficulty 4 and the Storyteller is satisfied that a sufficient story warrants the fixation transferring.
If this test is successful, the new human becomes a Touchstone. If the test is failed or you do not try to get a new Touchstone, then the Conviction connected with the destroyed Touchstone is lost.
Increasing Humanity
Humanity can only be increased by a concerted effort to connect more deeply with human existence and deliberately turn away from vampiric concerns. Increasing Humanity is a
significant story arc involving incredible selflessness. This is very difficult for vampires, and it may only occur when the Storyteller approves it. When Humanity is raised, the cost is New Dots x 3.
Losing the Last Drop: Falling to Humanity 0
A vampire who loses their last point of Humanity goes out in a whirlwind of violence as they enter an unstoppable Rage Frenzy called wassail. All of their Physical Attributes increase to 5, and their Frenzy cannot be ended, paused, altered, or transferred in any way. The loss of the final point of Humanity is a moment of high drama, and Storytellers are encouraged to work out a dramatic final scene for a vampire entering wassail. If the character survives that scene, then they become an NPC in the control of the Storyteller.
