Humanity
Humanity is a measure of how closely a vampire clings to the morality and values of her life as a mortal human being, and consequently how well they are able to resist the urges of the
Beast. It runs on a score of 1-10, 10 being the highest.
Since every
Kindred was a human before their
Embrace, their most natural response in resisting the Beast's feral, predatory nature is to cling to their humanity. This is generally represented by the strength of their
conscience and
self-control,
virtues common to Kindred and mortals alike.
A Kindred's humanity has a direct effect on the strength of the vampiric curse; those who lose ground to the Beast and lose their humanity find it more difficult to interact with mortals, to be active during daylight hours, and to awaken from long periods of
torpor.
Humanity is universally adopted by the vampires of the
Camarilla, but even among the
Sabbat it is the "natural" and most common way of dealing with the Beast. Some vampires however reject the mores of mortal existence and adopt an alien
Path of Enlightenment, in which they learn or construct a wholly different standard of morality. These often incorporate different virtues -
conviction instead of conscience, and
instinct instead of self-control - and establish a very different relationship with the Beast. Replacing the morality of one's human life is a daunting task, not to be taken lightly, and generally impossible without the tutition of one who already follows the alternate path.
Here is a quick rundown of how your character's personality is effected by humanity scores.
10-8: You are one holy
! Characters with humanity of 10 are practically saints and must do everything they can to keep from tarnishing their little halo. Unfortunately only 1 in 10 vampires can ever maintain scores this high.
7: Most humans fall in this category. You can be a little selfish sometimes but overall you are still good at heart.
6-5: Hey, sometimes people die! Vampires that fall within this range don't go out of their way to hurt people but they don't feel bad if they kill someone while feeding.
4: Sometimes people HAVE to die! Vampires who have a score of 4 simply don't care at all weather they kill, steal, or destroy things. You are losing the battle with the beast. Most elder vampires fall in this category if they haven't adopted another path.
3-2: Vampires who are this far gone begin to not even look human anymore. Most have sunken shadowy eyes and almost claws for fingernails. They kill, torture, and mutilate and they get sheer pleasure while doing it. Most vampires don't stay in this category for long as their fall into becoming just "the beast" is inevitable.
1: While you can still control your character at this point, there is little a vampire in this category won't do.
0: Must eat, must sleep, must kill..vampires who have a humanity of 0 cannot be controled by a player and get taken over by the storyteller and "the beast" controls them completely.