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Updated: 08 January 1999 ...And in my opinion, anyone who creates a new Discipline is Unbound, and therefore Caitiff...
Solomon Grey, Unbound Kindred, Outcasts: A Player Guide to Pariahs extanded greatly the possibilities of the Caitiffs. But some questions remained without answers. Here are those I found for the 2nd Edition. This work was written first for the Bloodlinebook: Black Widow. Note that Axioms are official rules found in the rulebooks, while Theorems are personnal rules deduced from those Axioms and common sense. Here are the rules about Discipline Learning and Creation we designed... Should you use the material to your own creations, be it on paper or on the web, please mention the names of the authors, our association, and of course, the name of the company who was the origin of it all: White Wolf Game Studio
Raoul ''Violence'' Borges
There is two way to win access to Disciplines powers. The first is by LEARNING them from a teacher who knows the Discipline. The second is to CREATE them, which means learning them without any teacher. The difference between LEARNING and CREATING is very important in the following text. There is, also, a difference between Caitiffs and Panders. In the following text, Caitiff will mean Non-Panders Caitiff, and Pander will mean Panders Caitiff, exclusively.
Clan or Bloodline Vampires LEARN their Clan/Bloodline Disciplines at the initial cost of 10, then 5 XPs per level. They LEARN non-Clan/non-Bloodline Discipline at 10, then 7 XPs per Level.
Caitiffs and Panders LEARN all Discipline at the cost of 10, then 6 XPs per level.
Caitiffs (Remember: Non-Panders Caitiffs!), and only Caitiffs can also CREATE Disciplines at the cost of 10, then 10 XPs per level.
A Teacher is needed to learn Disciplines. We admit that those
taken in the Creation of the Character were taught by someone,
or, perhaps, that the Character mastered the Discipline because
of special condition (like a Mortal having the Arcane Background
which can be transformed in the Obfuscate Discipline by the
Embrace).
A Caitiff can copy a Discipline he saw someone use by CREATING it. He can even customize some or all powers of this Discipline (like Metamorphosis in Cat instead of a Wolf for the Protean Discipline).
A Caitiff who LEARNED a Discipline can customize one (or more) level. He must, then CREATE this customized level, at the cost of 10 per level, instead of 6 per level.
When someone LEARNS a Discipline, we admit that when he used the
10 XPs to put the first point of that Discipline in the Character
Sheet, he is now able to learn the other powers just with XPs,
without the need of further teaching.
Someone can't LEARN a Discipline CREATED by a Caitiff if it was not finished (powers CREATED from level 1 to 5).
The powers of Disciplines from the level 1 to 5 are constants.
They are the basis (philosophical and technical?) of the
Discipline. The powers of the level 6 and beyond are variable
powers, customized by the Cainite who masters the Discipline
inspired by his personnal history and tastes.
The base cost of a Special power is the addition of the levels
of the two Disciplines who helped define this power multiplied by
three. The minimum requirement to CREATE or LEARN a Special Power
is to have the Discipline at the minimum.
The Dark Ages Companion introduced Valeren, Ancient Obeah, which
was constitued by two philosophical ways, military and pacifist.
Each Kindred LEARN Valeren had to specialise in a way learned
this way-powers at normal cost. If he wanted to LEARN the other-way
powers, he had to pay (the normal cost+1) per level and, of course,
find a teacher who knew this way. So buying a level 3 power cost
10 XPs (5x2 XPs). Buying the other way level 3 power cost 12 XPs
([5+1]x2 XPs).
As per Vampire: The Masquerade, Revised Edition Rules, to CREATE a Path, a non-Caitiff must have at least Thaumaturgy 6. This is an exception because of this particular Discipline. But Caitiff can CREATE a Path with but Thaumaturgy 5. Note that the cost is the double: That is 7 + 8XPs per level. Of course, to CREATE a Path, one must first have the Discipline Thaumaturgy.
This is a homerule that contradicts the Official Rules for practical reasons. To LEARN a Ritual, one must spend squared 2XPs per level of the Ritual. To CREATE one, one must spend 7XPs per level of the Ritual). For example, a level 4 Ritual would cost 2x4=8 XPs to LEARN, and 7x4)=28 XPs to CREATE. Anyone with Thaumaturgy 5 can create a Ritual.
To CREATE a Path, anyone must have at least one Hekau Path at 5 (Kindred must also have Senef Hekau at 5). Note that the cost is the double: That is 10 + 10XPs per level.
To LEARN a Ritual, one must spend squared (1XP per level of the Ritual). To CREATE one, one must spend two times squared (1XP per level of the Ritual). For example, a level 4 Ritual would cost 4x4=16 XPs to LEARN, and 2x(4x4)=32 XPs to CREATE. Anyone with an Hekau Path at 5 can create a Ritual for this Path.
These rules are given without having been tried, but I believe they should be sufficient to define what a Caitiff can, or can't do... By using them, any Caitiff (in the strict rule meaning) can now create any Discipline described in the Vampire rulebooks, even the Special Powers (see Vampire: The Dark Ages, or even the Clanbook: Brujah) which enhance the game possibilities by introducing Discipline Combinations, and even the strange Valeren (described in the Dark Ages Companion). By admiting these rules, there is but one remaining question: How Caitiffs start their (game-)unlife with 3 Disciplines Points (to be raised at the LEARNING cost)? They should start with CREATED Discipline, not LEARNED ones... We will admit that between their Embrace, and the first Chronicle Chapter, the Caitiff either learned it from another Kindred (in exchange of some service...), or either was somehow transmitted her Sire's Discipline (not necessarily Clan Disciplines) by Vitae, Embrace, and so, does not need to CREATE it. If you have your own idea, feel free to share it with us. Hope you liked it... : )
For more information about the Caitiffs, please read Outcasts: A Player Guide to Pariahs, p15-39.
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