SANGUINUS

Sanguinus is the unwholesome Discipline granted
to the Blood Brothers by the Tzimisce who created
them. A curious relative of Vicissitude, Sanguinus allows
vampires who practice it to combine parts of their
bodies, loan them out to others, and coordinate their
minds and appendages. Even low levels of it are unsettling
to watch. Use of the higher levels is disgusting,
indeed, as flesh parts and exposed organs, atrophied by
the Blood Brothers’ state of undeath, merge and pulse.
Mortals observing the spectacle of this Discipline’s
more obvious powers must make Courage rolls (difficulty
4), spend a point of Willpower, or flee the area
in nausea.

• Brother’s Blood
A circle of Blood Brothers is closer than any Sabbat
pack, any blood-bound pair of vampiric lovers,
any ghoul family. The circle shares flesh, mind, and,
of course, blood. The members of the circle can spend
blood to heal each other’s bodies, no matter how far
apart they are.
System: The player spends a blood point, which may
be used to heal any member of the circle, regardless of
distance from the character. The Blood Brother may
also “bank” blood, spending five points to heal another’s
aggravated wound over the course of several turns.
This power takes effect automatically; no roll is necessary.
Blood spent by another Frankenstein does not
count against the maximum amount of vitae the target
character can spend per turn.

•• Octopod
The Blood Brother circle can donate limbs and organs
to one another. This isn’t meant for healing after
the battle, but for use during the battle. An opponent
facing down the Blood Brothers might see one of
his opponents grow a second set of legs (making him
nearly impossible to knock down), another pair of arms
(meaning he can block or parry almost any incoming
attack), extra eyes for 360 degree vision, or an extra
mouth for an greater blood consumption. Of course,
the Frankenstein that gives up the organ might be left
a limbless, eyeless, mouthless lump of flesh on the side
of the battlefield, but the Blood Brothers never seem
to mind that.
System: The “donor” player spends a blood point for
each limb or organ he wishes to loan to the other circle
member. (Only the donor needs to have this level of
mastery of Sanguinus; the recipient may be any other
member of the donor’s circle.) The loaned organs appear
at the end of that turn, in whatever location the
recipient wishes — eyes on the back of heads or on the
ends of hands have been seen, as have entire heads located
between a Blood Brother’s legs. Use of this power
does not impart any extra attacks, but it may allow for
additional sensory input, more blood to be consumed
in a single turn, or extra hands to hold weapons or pin
down foes. Only external organs may be loaned in this
manner — hearts, stomachs, and brains cannot.

••• Gestalt
Blood Brothers share a hive-mind; this ability was
one of the guiding principles behind their creation.
The Gestalt power is that hive-mind, the ability of the
Frankensteins to coordinate silently and perfectly in
battle, to avoid mind-controlling powers, and to act
in unison.
System: This power confers several benefits on the
Blood Brothers. For this power to work, however, every
Blood Brother in the circle must spend a blood point.
If even one member cannot or will not spend a blood
point, this power fails. Once a Blood Brother has met
the Final Death, he is no longer a part of the circle, so
the power continues to function among the still-undead
members of the group. Gestalt lasts for one scene.
While this power is active:
• Dominate, Presence, and the like take effect
against the highest Willpower rating in the circle. For
example, if a vampire attempts to Dominate a Blood
Brother under the influence of Gestalt, she must roll
against the highest Willpower rating any of the vampires
in the circle possesses, even if her subject has the
lowest Willpower rating in the circle. Additionally, a
Blood Brother affected by powers in this manner drops
out of the Gestalt, though Gestalt remains active for
others. This mental “fuse” was supposedly created to
prevent the entire circle from being Dominated by a
vampire looking into the eyes of one Blood Brother.
• Perception difficulties for all Blood Brothers in the
circle decrease by three, as they share the sensory input
of other vampires in the circle.
• By taking no action other than concentrating, a
Blood Brother may “loan” an Ability to another brother.
For example, a wounded vampire with Melee 4 may
step out of combat and loan a circle-mate with Melee
2 his mastery of that Skill. The “borrowing” vampire
makes Ability checks against the loaned Trait as if it
were his own.
• The Blood Brothers in the Gestalt may communicate
through telepathy, allowing them to coordinate
actions. In game terms, only one initiative roll is made
for the circle, based on the character with the highest
initiative rating (see p. 271).
Not all Blood Brothers in the circle need to have
this level of Sanguinus to benefit from the Gestalt. If
a given character does not know this power, though,
the player rolls Wits + Occult (difficulty 7) when the
power is enacted. If this roll fails, the character can
still receive loaned Abilities, but gains no other benefits
from the Gestalt.

•••• Walk of Caine
The sorcerous theory behind the Blood Brothers
reads like a philosophical treatise on the nature of individuality,
free will, and hematology. The Frankensteins
are not a group of vampires but are one vampire
in several bodies, or so goes the theory. As such, any
of their characteristics must be viewed as a continuum
— they are not individually Twelfth, Eleventh, and
Thirteenth Generation, for example, but they are collectively
Ninth Generation at any given time. While
the metaphysics of this kind of thinking makes most
vampires’ heads ache, there seems to be something to
it. A Blood Brother can draw strength from his circle,
lowering his Generation to allow for greater feats of
vitae expenditure.
System: Each member of the circle can “donate” one
step in Generation. In the example listed above, the
vampire of Eleventh Generation could take one step
from his two circle-mates and drop to Ninth, but the
vampire of Thirteenth Generation couldn’t drop lower
than Eleventh. No matter how big the circle, no Blood
Brother can drop to an effective Generation lower
than Fourth. Likewise, a Thirteenth Generation Blood
Brother can drop to an effective Generation of Fourteenth,
which carries with it the penalties listed for the
Fourteenth Generation Flaw (p. 481). (He cannot go
to Fifteenth Generation, however.)
As with Gestalt, only one Blood Brother needs to
know this power in order to begin the process. Any
that don’t have Walk of Caine need to make a Stamina
+ Awareness roll (difficulty 7). If this roll fails, they
may not participate in the action.

••••• Coagulated Entity
The Blood Brothers merge into a fleshy, bleeding
mound of horror. This juggernaut surges forward, crushing
and consuming anything in its path. The Sabbat
has learned to its chagrin that if the Blood Brothers are
not explicitly told to separate after using this power,
they won’t. This merger is, apparently, what the Blood
Brothers truly want.
System: Every vampire in the circle who wishes to
become part of the Coagulated Entity spends three
blood points. Three turns after the process begins, the
monster is complete and able to act. The vampire of
the lowest Generation who is part of the construct
guides the creature’s actions. The actual Generation of
the creature itself, however, is the highest Generation
of any vampire present in the construct, less one for
each additional vampire present in the construct. (Using
the previous example, the Eleventh-Generation
vampire would be the guide but the highest Generation
is 13, so the overall Entity would be 13 minus 2, or
Eleventh Generation.)
The creature’s Strength, Stamina, and Perception
are equal to the guide’s, with a +1 for every additional
vampire contained within. (Generational limits do not
apply to this creature — through sheer size, a Coagulated
Entity may have a Strength of 7 or more.) All
physical actions undertaken by the monstrosity gain
one extra die to the pool for each vampire beyond
the first present in the construct (before splitting dice
pools).
Only one vampire in the circle needs to possess Sanguinus
at Level Five for this power to work. Body parts
tend to shift during the creation of a Coagulated Entity
— fanged maws at the ends of hands and eyes atop
fleshy stalks have been reported by terrified survivors.
Storytellers should feel free to give any bonuses (or
penalties) to the construct as they see fit.
A Coagulated Entity may not be staked, as it has
too many hearts in unconventional places for any but
the blindest luck to impale. It has a vampire’s normal
seven health levels, plus two for each additional vampire
who becomes part of the entity (treat these extra
health levels as Bruised). The entity remains congealed
for one scene, unless the Storyteller wishes to rule that
no one told the Blood Brothers to separate.