Blood Bond

What counts as a drink

The bond has a spine. Everything else is a modifier or a ruling, not a second system.

Fresh from the vein

The drink has to come from the regnant's vein on that night. Bottled vitae can keep a ghoul's clock running for a few days. It never adds to a bond. Thin-blood vitae does not ghoul and does not bond.

Three nights

The spine is one qualifying drink on each of three separate nights. On the ghoul tracker those drinks are strength 1, then 2, then 3. Strength 3 is a complete bond. A second drink on the same night does not add.

Up to 6

Further qualifying drinks raise strength by 1, to a maximum of 6. Drinks more than a year apart do not keep building the same bond on the ghoul tracker. At 0 the bond is over and a new one can start.

One regnant

While a bond stands, the thrall has one regnant and does not start another. Orders are resisted only once the bond is complete: Intelligence + Resolve against the strength, once per turn in the regnant's presence and once per scene away.

The same spine, two records

Kindred and ghouls share the three-night spine and the 0–6 scale. Only the ghoul sheet counts the drinks for you. The Ghoul rules are the home of that tracker.

Run it in this order.

1. 01Confirm the vitae is fresh from the vein. Bottled blood and thin-blood vitae stop here.
2. 02Count separate nights only. A second mouthful on the same night does not raise strength.
3. 03Three qualifying nights complete the bond. Further nights can raise it to 6. Bondslave, on a ghoul, completes on the first of those nights.
4. 04While it stands, there is one regnant. Another vampire's blood does not open a second bond.
5. 05Once strength is 3 or higher, an order is resisted with Intelligence + Resolve against that strength. Once per turn beside the regnant. Once per scene away from them.
6. 06A month without a qualifying drink drops a ghoul's strength by 1. A Kindred bond does not tick. The Storyteller records when it ends.

1. 01

   Ghouling is not the bond

   A ghoul's vitae clock is about a month of power, healing, and dependence. The bond is a separate count of fresh drinks. You can be a ghoul and unbound. You can be a Kindred thrall and not a ghoul at all. Do not merge the two clocks, and do not look to the Ghoul page for Hunger dice. A thrall who is a ghoul still has none.

2. 02

   The ghoul tracker is the one that moves

   Vampiro Life derives a ghoul's strength from qualifying drinks, up to 6, complete at 3, minus 1 per month without a qualifying drink. On that sheet a month is 30 in-game days. Long Bond uses 90 days. Short Bond uses 15. The two together cancel back to 30. Unbondable is strength 0. Bond Resistance adds dice to the defiance roll, up to 3. Bond Junkie takes one die away. Those modifiers live on the ghoul tracker. They are not a second bond.

3. 03

   A Kindred bond is a ruling

   The three-night spine is the same. The sheet does not count a Kindred's drinks, does not decay them each month, and does not roll their defiance. Feeding a Kindred can leave a pending event. The Storyteller records a strength from 0 to 6 and whether the bond is active or ended. Kindred may carry the same bond merits. The ruling does not apply those merits for you.

4. 04

   Drinks 1 and 2 are not yet a cage

   Before strength 3 there is no defiance roll and no invented penalty. Unease is narration. The mechanical resist starts when the bond is complete. Away from the regnant, one roll covers the scene. Beside them, one roll covers the turn. A win holds that order. It does not erase the bond.

Common mistakes

• Letting bottled vitae, or thin-blood vitae, start or raise a bond.
• Counting two drinks on the same night as two steps.
• Treating a ghoul's vitae clock and the bond as one tracker.
• Rolling defiance before strength 3, or rolling it twice in the same turn beside the regnant.
• Expecting a Kindred's drinks to tick strength and monthly decay the way a ghoul's do.

One bond at the table

Three nights make it complete. The roll only answers the order.

• Lale and the haven door

  Lale, a Kindred, drinks fresh from Osman's vein on three separate nights. Intelligence 2, Resolve 3. The Storyteller records strength 3.

  The third night completes the bond. Osman tells her to open the haven. She is in the room, so she rolls Intelligence + Resolve, five dice, against difficulty 3, once this turn. The faces are 6, 9, 2, 1, and 7: three successes. She holds for the order. The bond remains. A ghoul with the same three drinks would already show strength 3 on the tracker. Lale's sheet does not count them.

How Vampiro Life records a Blood Bond

Ghouls have a drink clock. Kindred have a ruling. Both use the same 0–6 scale, and they are not the same machine. The Ghoul rules describe the clock in full.

• A ghoul's sheet stores the regnant and the qualifying drinks. Strength is derived, up to 6, complete at 3, and falls by 1 per month without a qualifying drink. Bondslave, Unbondable, Bond Resistance, Bond Junkie, Long Bond, and Short Bond are read there.
• When a ghoul defies a complete bond, the server rolls Intelligence + Resolve against the strength, with no Hunger dice, and refuses a second roll in the same turn or scene. It does not roll Kindred defiance.
• A Kindred feeding can leave a pending bond event. The Storyteller records strength 0–6 and a status of active or ended. That write does not count drinks, decay the bond, roll defiance, or apply bond merits.
• Thin-blood vitae is refused when someone tries to ghoul with it, and it does not bond. Catenating Blood is a thin-blood Merit about bonds and the Embrace. The drink tracker does not read it.

Frequently asked

When is the bond complete?

On the third fresh drink, on a third night. Strength 3 is complete. Later drinks can raise it to 6. Bondslave, on a ghoul, completes on the first qualifying drink.

How do I resist an order?

Once the bond is complete, roll Intelligence + Resolve against the bond strength. Once per turn if the regnant is there. Once per scene if they are not. Drinks 1 and 2 have no penalty to roll against.

Does the bond fade?

On a ghoul sheet, yes: 1 strength per month without a qualifying drink, 30 in-game days unless Long Bond or Short Bond changes the period. A Kindred bond has no such clock. The Storyteller records the end.

Can I be bound to two vampires?

Not while a bond stands. One thrall, one regnant. Another vampire's blood does not start a second bond until the first has ended.

Can thin-blood or bottled vitae bind someone?

No. Bottled vitae does not bond. Thin-blood vitae does not ghoul and does not bond. See the Ghoul rules for the vitae clock those drinks also fail to start.

Related rules

• Ghoul Rules
• Disciplines
• Rouse Check