Vampires must Slake (lower) their Hunger by feeding. Blood can be found from animals, mortals, other vampires, or even other supernatural creatures. When a vampire bites a mortal to drain blood, they invoke the Kiss. The Kiss overwhelms mortal senses with bliss, leaving them helpless for feeding. Other supernatural creatures find it pleasurable, but they are not overwhelmed or helpless. 

After feeding, a vampire can close the tell-tale fang punctures by licking the wound, repairing the skin. This does not repair wounds from a bite intended only to cause damage nor damage caused by a human’s loss of blood. 

Most vampires prefer to feed on blood pumped by a beating human heart. However, some vampires are able to drink bagged blood or blood from an animal if they possess a Blood Potency of 2 or less and the Iron Gullet Merit. These sources do not truly satisfy, but, if that is what must be done to survive, a vampire will do it. 

The source and amount of the blood consumed dictates how much Hunger is Slaked (reduced). The only way to reduce your Hunger to 0 (zero) is to completely drain a human of all their blood, killing them. All vampires have a resting Hunger level based on their Blood Potency. Without killing humans, this is the lowest their Hunger can be dropped by feeding. 

The amount of Hunger Slaked and how long the vampire must take to feed is summarized in the table below (see page XX). 

Feeding From Animals 

Animal blood harbors no Dyscrasias and is an extremely bland experience. Even a Gangrel finds drinking exclusively animal blood to be unfulfilling. Vampires with a Blood Potency of 3 or higher can Slake no Hunger from animal blood. Vampires with a Blood Potency of 2 can only Slake one Hunger from large animals (see Animals, page XX). Feeding from large animals is a moderate ordeal, requiring 15 minutes out of play to locate and subdue such an animal. Feeding on normal-sized animals can be done easily in combat. Slaking from normal-sized animals kills them. In order to feed on small animals, a vampire must feed from multiple sources. This requires 15 minutes out of play and also kills the animals fed on. 

Feeding From Bagged Blood 

Bagged blood is extremely bland, even less flavorful than animal blood. Bagged blood has gone through so many different medical processes that a vampire wishing to Slake blood from it must possess the Iron Gullet Merit. Without this Merit, the vampire cannot reduce Hunger from bagged blood. This includes blood that has been centrifuged to separate plasma from blood cells, blood containing anticoagulant preservatives or any other methods used to prevent spoilage outside the body for longer than 30 minutes, or blood from a corpse that has been dead longer than an hour. 

Bagged blood has no Resonances or Dyscrasias and confers no additional effects to its consumer. Bagged blood can be used by thaumaturgists, necromancers, and alchemists to power Rituals and Formulae. 

Feeding From Mortals 

Sip from a Human: Feeding from humans can be done calmly and safely or quickly and dirty. In order to Sip from a human, the character needs five minutes out of game to find, distract, bite, feed, and lick the wounds closed, as well as a successful Hunting challenge. 

Non-Harmful Drink: A vampire can Slake up to two Hunger safely from a mortal in a non-dangerous situation. The vampire can lick the wound closed to heal it, and the mortal will suffer no damage. A non-harmful drink can be accomplished by spending 15 minutes out of game and succeeding in a Hunting challenge. 

Harmful Drink: In combat, feeding from a human requires a Grapple to be established before feeding can begin. The mortal suffers one Aggravated Damage per Hunger Slaked in this way. If the vampire Slakes more than two Hunger from a mortal with harmful drinks, the Storyteller will make a static challenge using the mortal’s Strength + Stamina versus a difficulty equal to the amount of Hunger Slaked. The mortal dies from blood loss if they lose the test. 

Killing a mortal via feeding: To drain a mortal completely of blood takes five turns. This is the only way to reach Hunger zero or go below the minimum Hunger value that requires killing and draining a human, as determined by Blood Potency (For example, a Blood Potency 5 vampire must kill and drain a human completely to reduce her Hunger below two). Draining a mortal dead usually causes the vampire to gain at least one Stain (see Shifting Humanity, page XX).

Feeding From A Vampire 

When a vampire has successfully bitten another vampire, she may choose to Slake instead of doing damage. If she does, she reduces her Hunger by one and her victim increases her Hunger by one. Remember, depending on Blood Potency, Hunger can only be reduced to a certain level without feeding from and killing a human. Feeding directly from another vampire also risks a Blood Bond.

Source	Hunger Slaked Time Spent	Notes
Multiple small animals (rodents, birds, cats)	1 15 minutes out of play Cannot be done in a combat scenario	Animal Resonance; No Dyscrasia. Slakes no Hunger if your Blood Potency is 3+ May be hard to find large animals in a primarily urban setting Must Slake on large animals and when doing so only Slakes 1 Hunger when Blood Potency is 2
Medium sized animal (dog, wolf, raccoon)	1 15 minutes out of play or 1 turn per Hunger Slaked during combat
Large animal (bear, horse )	2 15 minutes out of play or 1 turn per Hunger Slaked during combat
Blood Bag	1 1 Standard Action	Slakes no Hunger if your Blood Potency is 3+ No Resonance or Dyscrasia Requires the Iron Gullet Merit
Sip from a human	1 5 minutes out of play	Includes time necessary to grab,

	Cannot be done in a combat scenario	feed, and lick wound closed If Blood Potency 4+, sip will Slake no Hunger, while Non Harmful drink Slakes only 1
Non Harmful drink	2 15 minutes out of play Cannot be done in a combat scenario
Harmful drink	1-4 1 turn per Hunger Slaked	Humans take 1 Aggravated Damage per Hunger Slaked and make a Strength + Stamina check vs. difficulty equal to amount of Hunger Slaked to survive blood loss
Human drained and killed	5 5 turns	Only way to reach Hunger zero, but usually causes at least 1 Stain
Vampire	Special (see below) Special (see below)	Risks a Blood Bond

Hunting 

Regardless of the source and type of blood, feeding during a game session requires a successful hunting challenge using your Hunting Pool (dictated by Predator Type) vs. a difficulty of 6. If successful in the challenge, the feeding vampire may choose a specific type of Blood Resonance and receive a random Dyscrasia from that Resonance (see Blood Resonance, page XXX). Failing a feeding challenge may cause complications and further risks to the character as determined by the Storyteller.

By default at the beginning of a game, a character’s starting Hunger level is the lowest minimum level permitted by their Blood Potency without killing a human. However, the Storyteller may choose to increase some or all characters’ starting Hunger based on any of the factors below: 

● The difficulty of feeding in their Domain or territory is higher than normal. ● If numerous Rouse checks were made in downtimes. 

● A character who has mended any amount of Aggravated Damage in the period between games starts the next game at one Hunger level higher than normal. 

● If multiple games are on sequential nights, a character’s starting Hunger should be the same as it was when the game on the previous night ended. 

Any increase to starting Hunger should be communicated to the player prior to the beginning of the game. Once the Storyteller has assigned a Hunger level, a character may then reduce the assigned Hunger level using Herd. This does not count as using your Herd during play. 

Characters start with a random Dyscrasia. The easiest way to hand out Dyscrasias to players is by using the pdf deck of cards, freely available on the By Night Studios website. Each card has the Resonance type printed on one side and the Dyscrasia and its effect on the other side. Depending on your game size, you may want to have more than one deck.