Bloodlines

The main rules for Vampire: The Eternal Struggle are found on a separate page.

Additional Rules for Vampire: The Eternal Struggle

1. What are Bloodlines?

A bloodline is a type of minor clan. Some bloodlines are offshoots of the established clans, while others have been created (for servitude, although that didn't always work out). Some of the bloodlines claim membership in the Sabbat. The others are independent. None of the bloodlines have joined the Camarilla. As with other clans, not all members of the bloodlines adhere to the bloodlines' allegiances.

Most of the bloodlines are not meant to be played by themselves in V:TES (as their numbers would indicate), but rather, are designed to be added to other decks to add flavor and strategic variation.

2. New clans

In V:TES, the bloodlines are clans themselves in every respect. Five of these new clans claim membership in the Sabbat. The other seven are considered independent clans. The vampires of three of the clans (the clans indicated with asterisks below) are "scarce" (see section 3. "New Terms and Rules").

Sabbat Clans

Independent Clans
Ahrimanes Baali
Blood Brothers Daughters of Cacophony
Harbingers of Skulls Gargoyle
Kiasyd Nagaraja*
Salubri antitribu Salubri*
    Samedi
    True Brujah*

New Disciplines
Daimoinon
Melpominee
Mytherceria
Obeah
Sanguinus
Spiritus
Temporis
Thanatosis
Valeren
Visceratika

3. New Terms and Rules

3.1. Split Discipline and Multi-discipline Cards

Some library cards have two Discipline icons on the left side. Some of the effects listed on these cards require one of the Disciplines listed, while other effects require the other listed Discipline, and some effects require the minion to possess both Disciplines. Each effect shows the icon or icons of the Discipline(s) required.

3.2. Burn (discard) option

This symbol (only found on cards that require a clan to play) indicates that during any Methuselah's untap phase, the Methuselah can burn (discard) the card from his or her hand if he or she doesn't control a ready member of the clan required. Each Methuselah is limited to one such discard each untap phase.

3.3. Circle

Each Blood Brother is identified with a particular circle. This has no other effect on game play except as card text indicates (see the minion cards that require Sanguinus). A Blood Brother without a circle designation is his own circle - a circle of one.

3.4. Cold Iron Vulnerability

Damage a minion or retainer with cold iron vulnerability receives from a cold iron weapon is aggravated.

3.5. Flight

Some minions have flight. Some cards require flight to play. Similar to a Discipline, but not really a Discipline.

3.6. Infernal

Some minions are marked as "infernal." An infernal minion is one that has sold part of his soul to a demon (or demons). As such, the "control" his controller has over him is tainted by the control the demon has. This struggle for control is handled similar to contesting. During his or her untap phase, a Methuselah who controls an infernal minion burns one pool or taps that infernal minion.

3.7. Scarce

When a Methuselah moves a vampire marked "scarce" from her uncontrolled region to the ready region, she burns 3 pool for every other vampire in play of the same clan. These vampires are scarce - they are hard to find in the first place and usually not found together. The penalty represents the difficulty a Methuselah would face in finding a second or third vampire from the same clan.

3.8. Sterile

Sterile vampires cannot take actions to create other vampires (e.g., cannot perform The Embrace action, The Third Tradition action, etc.). These vampires cannot perform the Revelations of the Sire or the Abomination actions, either.

3.9. Slave

Some Gargoyles are identified as Tremere slaves or Tremere antitribu slaves. A slave vampire cannot take a directed action if his controller doesn't control a ready member of the specified "owning" clan. If a member of the owning clan controlled by the Gargoyle's controller is blocked, the controller can tap the slave Gargoyle to cancel the combat and untap the acting vampire and have the slave Gargoyle enter combat with the blocking minion instead.

4. Q and A:

Q: Are the True Brujah eligible to play cards that require Brujah or Brujah antitribu?
A: No. True Brujah is a clan unto itself, distinct from the other clans.

Q: What happens when, say, Ian Forestal plays a Sanguinus card or when a Blood Brother creates an Embrace?
A: A vampire without a circle designation is assumed to be the only member of his circle - a circle of one. As such, most Sanguinus cards will have little benefit to him.

Q: If a vampire uses Clan Impersonation to become a Baali, does he become infernal?
A: No. "Infernal" is not a sect, nor is it a clan-based trait (such as "Blood Cursed" is for Assamites). Card text indicates if a minion is infernal or not.

Q: What happens if an infernal minion is contested? When I win the contest, do I still have to pay a pool because he's infernal? Do I pay pool when I use card effects to untap an infernal minion? What if an infernal minion must remain tapped during my untap phase, do I have to pay a pool for that minion?
A: During the contest, you pay only for the contest. You don't pay for controlling an infernal minion (unless you control other, non-contested, infernal minions, of course). If you win the contest, you'll have to pay for the infernal minion or tap him as normal - you can never leave your untap phase unless each infernal minion you control is tapped or you have paid the pool for the minion. If you tap an infernal minion during your untap phase and then untap him with some other effect, that's allowed - you tapped him once, and that's enough. Also, if some effect is forcing an infernal minion to remain tapped during your untap phase, you can still elect to "tap" that minion instead of paying pool. Tapping a tapped minion essentially has no effect and leaves the minion tapped.

White Wolf : V:TES : Rulebook : Bloodlines