Humanity Revisited

By Charles Roburn (Charlesr@montreal.speedware.com)

Description

It seems to me that the current VtM 'Humanity' system leaves out some important aspects of human existence. Although the Hierarchy of Sins presents a moral code, it doesn't really deal with events that could make a character feel less human simply because they reflect superhuman abilities or powers, or experiences that are necessarily beyond the ken of a regular mortal.

For example, having your lungs filled with water (i.e. drowning) should be a profoundly disturbing and de-humanizing experience; it isn't something anyone would do casually, if at all. And yet, there's nothing in the current rules system to account for the psychological effect drowning should have on a vampire. If your character decides to walk across the bottom of Lake Superior, (s)he receives no penalty for so doing.

Similarly, most Disciplines are inherently inhuman. Changing into a bat or possessing someone's body are powers that just aren't part of the regular human experience. And yet there seems to be no penalty for using them. To some extent, this is obviously for game purposes, because it wouldn't be much fun if you couldn't use your powers reasonably freely. All the same, it makes sense to me that high-Humanity characters should not use such powers casually, even in a 'good' cause.

So, below is a revised Hierarchy of Sins for Humanity checks, one that tries to take the aforementioned topics into account. It is, of course, subject to interpretation; for example, a character who was psychic in her mortal life might be able to use any level of Auspex without a Humanity check. However, its main intent is to bring some new elements of angst into the whole process, and to make your characters think more about what being human really means.

Comments and suggestions are (of course) welcome.

Rating	Minimum wrongdoing/event requiring a Humanity check:
10	Using any Discipline or vampiric ability (healing, spending blood, etc.). Drinking directly from a living creature. Unintentionally harming a human being in any way.
9	Drinking human blood. Using Protean, or any Discipline of level 2 or above. Using blood to heal any level of damage beyond Bruised (each) Fully using any Attribute/Ability of 7 or above.
8	Using any level of Animalism, or any Discipline of level 3 or above. Going into Frenzy (for any reason). Not loving any living person. Experiencing moderate Hunger (Blood Pool at 2/3 max or below) Taking damage from sunlight.
7	Using blood to heal any level of damage beyond Hurt. Drinking directly from a human being. Using any level of Dominate, or any Discipline of level 5 or above. Suffering any Crippling damage and surviving. Seeing one's contemporaries age significantly. Intentionally harming a human being in the heat of the moment. Experiencing severe Hunger (blood pool at 5 or below) Thinking of oneself as significantly different from a human being.
6	Using blood to heal an aggravated wound. Isolating oneself from human society. Seeing one's contemporaries die of age. Premeditated harm of a human being. Killing a human being for any reason. Not feeling compassion for human beings when appropriate. Going into torpor (voluntary). Thinking of oneself as superior to human beings.
5	Experiencing an Incapcitating or killing wound and surviving. Being staked. Not being able to breathe due to submersion in water, suffocation etc. Death of a loved one/family member (parent or sibling). No longer liking any human beings. Careless or premeditated murder of a human being. Experiencing ravening Hunger (blood pool empty). Thinking of human beings as insignificant, i.e. not as people.
4	Death of one's mortal child.
3	No longer being capable of hatred.
2	Torture etc.
1	The most heinous and demented acts.