Clans

Camarilla-Aligned Core Clans

  • Brujah: Rebels, warriors, philosophers turned punks and agitators. Passionate, violent, prone to frenzy. Disciplines: Potence, Celerity, Presence. Bane: Rage boils close to the surface — easier to frenzy.

  • Gangrel: Beasts, loners, wanderers. Feral and tied to the wilderness even in cities. Disciplines: Animalism, Fortitude, Protean. Bane: Each frenzy leaves an animalistic mark (fangs, fur, feral habits).

  • Malkavians: Oracles, seers, lunatics. Gifted with insight and cursed with madness. Disciplines: Auspex, Dominate, Obfuscate. Bane: Each suffers unique mental derangements or compulsions.

  • Nosferatu: The hidden, the deformed, the spymasters. Masters of secrets. Disciplines: Obfuscate, Potence, Animalism. Bane: All are hideously deformed, unable to pass for human.

  • Toreador: Artists, seducers, aesthetes. Obsessive about beauty and art. Disciplines: Auspex, Celerity, Presence. Bane: Entranced by beauty; must succeed to break free from fixation.

  • Tremere: Blood sorcerers, warlocks. Masters of Thaumaturgy and blood rites. Disciplines: Auspex, Dominate, Blood Sorcery. Bane: Bound by a weakened but lingering pyramid; blood magic exacts heavy costs.

  • Ventrue: Blue-bloods, kings, lords of the undead. Aristocrats of the Damned. Disciplines: Dominate, Fortitude, Presence. Bane: Can only feed from a chosen “palate” (specific type of mortal).

Other Canonical Clans (V5-era)

  • Banu Haqim (Assamites): Judges, assassins, keepers of blood. Recently allowed into Camarilla. Disciplines:Blood Sorcery, Celerity, Obfuscate. Bane: Struggle against hunger for vampire vitae.

  • Hecata (Giovanni & necromantic lines): Necromancers, merchants of death. Disciplines: Auspex, Oblivion (Necromancy), Fortitude. Bane: Their Kiss is painful — feeding feels like death itself.

  • Lasombra: Shadow-wielders, ruthless manipulators. Once Sabbat, many defecting to Camarilla. Disciplines:Dominate, Oblivion (shadow control), Potence. Bane: Reflections warp; technology hates them.

  • Ministry (ex-Setites): Deceivers, tempters, corrupters. Seduce mortals with vice. Often Anarch-aligned. Disciplines: Obfuscate, Presence, Protean. Bane: Weak to light — even dim light causes discomfort.

Clanless & Outliers

  • Caitiff: Clanless, no distinct bane, often scorned as “trash blood.” Flexible but despised.

  • Thin-Bloods (Duskborn): 14th–16th gen, half-vampires. Weak vitae, sunlight hurts but doesn’t kill outright. Often mocked, but capable of alchemy and strange hybrid powers.

Clans in Play

  • Identity: A vampire’s clan shapes their social role, their curse, and their reputation.

  • Politics: Some clans cluster in Camarilla, others in Anarch movements, others defect.

  • Mythology: Every clan claims lineage back to one of the Antediluvians, founders of the bloodlines.

  • Theme: Clan = destiny you can’t escape. You may rebel, but the curse of your blood always drags you back.

⚜️ Neutral Summary:

Clans are the blood families of the Damned. Each one is a gift and a curse, a lineage of power and stigma. In Camarilla courts, clans define hierarchy; in Anarch gangs, they’re street cred or shame; in Sabbat packs, they’re weapons of war. Whatever their philosophy, no vampire exists outside the blood.