Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines/Characters


Playable Characters

The Player Character

The Player Character/The Fledgling

No one tells me what to do! Well, actually everyone does, but this is my chance to get even!

Malkavian: How come you hide your true name behind a fabric, Susan?

  • Ninja: One of the Malkavian options.
  • Only Sane Man: Amusingly, even if you play a Malkavian, you can be this. A lot of your dialogue options highlight what a severely fucked up place the Kindred world is, and the Malkavian's special awareness only makes it more obvious (to you, at least; nobody else has any idea what the hell you're babbling about).
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Almost certainly what the final battle against LaCroix will be by the time you get to it.
  • Scary Black Man: If Brujah and male.
  • Sociopathic Hero: Most of the dialogues have this as an option, but playing it straight is up to the player. Unless you let your Humanity drop too much, in which case you'll have difficulties coming off as anything but this trope.
  • Spanner in the Works: You choose which factions to back and/or destabilise... of course, to survive in the World of Darkness, it's in your best interests to make every faction think you are working for them, which makes you ideally placed to destroy other people's gambits.
  • Surprisingly Elite Cannon Fodder: For LaCroix.
  • Unwanted Harem: You have the option to treat your Heather ghoul like shit. She will just keep fawning over you anyway because she's addicted to your blood.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Those creepy e-mails you keep getting who refer to a "pawn"? They're talking about you. The amount of people who manipulate or "move" you in this game is staggering. You can count on one hand the major characters who don't, though by the end you get the option to bite back at quite a few of those manipulators.
  • Video Game Cruelty Potential: You have a few options for it like blackmailing Lily, driving the Thin Blood vampire hunter to his death, or just randomly burning people's minds out with Dementation every chance you get.
  • Villain Protagonist: As with most open-ended RPGs, this is definitely an option. As long as you make a reasonable effort to keep up The Masquerade, you can be as depraved as you like. And let's face it, sometimes upholding the Masquerade involves having to Leave No Witnesses.
  • You Kill It, You Bought It: The Player Character gets to be Sheriff of the City in the Camarilla ending. If they side with the Anarchs, it's very likely they will be second in command to Nine's Rodriguez in his new order.

Non-Player Characters

The Camarilla

Prince Sebastian LaCroix

The folly of leadership is knowing that no matter what you do, behind your back, there's hundreds certain that their own solution is the sounder one and that your decision was the by-product of a whimsical dart toss. I pronounce the blast sentence, and I soak the critical fallout. I make the decisions no-one else will. Leadership... I wear the albatross and a bullseye.

The Ventrue Prince of Los Angeles' Camarilla kindred, and therefore the leader of the 'new kids in town'. LaCroix is a classic Ventrue: a domineering, manipulative politician with entitlement issues and a taste for Realpolitik. It soon becomes obvious that he is on very sandy ground concerning both the Anarch and his own Camarilla "underlings", with nobody really respecting him at all. After condemning the main character's Sire to death in the opening cutscene for breaking the second tradition, he is forced to leave the PC alive when it's obvious he's got a PR nightmare on his hands. He's also made an alliance with the Kuei-jin in order to eliminate the Anarchs in Los Angeles, and plans to open the Ankaran Sarcophagus to diablerise the Elder sleeping within.

  • Ambiguously Gay: His sassy way of walking and manners don't help anyone trying to convince some people otherwise.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: With Ming Xiao, until they stab each other in the back.
  • Butt Monkey: Nobody likes him. If not for the Sheriff he probably would not last a day.
  • The Chains of Commanding: As per his quote, he very much believes in this.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Oh so very much.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Can be surprisingly caustic at times, especially in regards to the Anarchs or a Malkavian Player Character.
  • French Jerk: Not really French any more, but still a colossal jerk.
  • Immortal Immaturity: LaCroix is, if anything, even worse than Nines and is over twice his age. Possibly explainable due to being Ventrue.
  • In-Series Nickname: The Malkavian Player Character has a thing for calling LaCroix "The Jester-Prince" or "The Jester", but never to his face.
    • The Ventrue Player Character calls him "Captain Dramatic" during the dialogue about Grout's death.
    • Gorgeous Gary, The Nosferatu Primogen, refers to him as "Prince Priss" during his introductory dialogue, and later calls him "Little Lord Flauntlacroix".
  • Karmic Death: In the Anarch, Independent and his own ending.
  • Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Was apparently an officer in Napoleon's army, making him at least 200+ years old.
  • Reassigned to Antarctica: This one requires a bit of knowledge of the setting, but basically, he has been sent to retake control of a section of the US the Camarilla hasn't controlled for the last hundred years, without the necessary backing to actually gain any control and lives on the Anarchs' sufferance. By Camarilla elders' standards, someone is playing a very cruel joke on him, and he's already seen the punch-line. No wonder he's so bitter.
    • This also explains how he can be a Prince while unusually "young" for the office by Kindred standards. In the World of Darkness setting, you can easily find Princes who are over a thousand years old.
  • Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Dude loves to hear himself talk.
  • Sissy Villain: Downplayed, but still present. For a man driven by ambition and greed, he sure hates getting his hands dirty.
  • Surrounded by Idiots: Very much believes himself to be in this position. The Anarchs hate him, the Camarilla treats him like a joke, his position hangs by a thread, and the only person he can actually throw his weight against is, well, you. So he does.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: You'd think, especially given all the epic badassery you do for the guy, he'd wind up respecting you as at least a very useful cats paw, right? Not at all.
  • The Uriah Gambit: The entire frigging game is a series of these.
  • Vampires Are Rich: Lives in a condo in downtown LA, decorated with quite a lot of gilt. He's certainly not poor.
  • Villain by Default: No matter how useful, how polite and understanding the player is to LaCroix, he never stops trying to get them killed.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Suffers one of these because of the player character's refusal to die. It comes to a head if he opens the sarcophagus - he sees the bombs and simply laughs madly until he's incinerated.
  • Why Won't You Die?: His raison d'etre for everything he involves you with.
  • Xanatos Gambit: After being forced to spare your life at the Camarilla meeting, LaCroix sends you on a series of increasingly impossible suicide missions. If you die (or fail, giving him an excuse to have you executed), he gets what he wanted in the first place; if you survive, he gets whatever he wanted out of the mission you completed. If you choose to oppose him, you shoot these plans all to hell.

Maximillian Strauss

True power lies not in wealth, but in the things it affords you.

The Tremere Primogen and Regent, Strauss is a mysterious, unfailingly polite sorcerer often found in the Tremere chantry Downtown. Unlike many of the other Elders, he actually shows some respect to the Fledgeling. He becomes the new Prince in the Camarilla ending.

  • Affably Evil: Although, most of his villainy is restricted to behind-the-scenes details...
  • Ambiguously Brown: So, is he black or is he blue?
    • Almost certainly a caucasian European. Over 300 years without a circulatory system (especially if you're low humanity) does wonders for your (lack of) complexion.
      • Oh, true about the circulatory system; however, he does seem to have the visage of a black man, or at least a mixed race. His accent definitely has a German touch, so it is likely he is European and spoke German as his native language.
  • Bald of Awesome: As part of his striking "modern wizard" look.
  • Camp: He has extremely theatrical mannerisms to the point where one may suspect animation glitching.

Are you now ready to prove your loyalty to the Camarilla?

If you get off that pogo stick, sure.
—shittakaburi01, Youtube video: HOW TO guide to get the Camarilla ending.
  • Cool Old Guy: Though not to the level of Jack.
  • Dude, Where's My Respect?: Averted. A major part of Strauss' appeal is the fact he's the only Camarilla elder who takes you seriously.
  • Dude, Where's My Reward?: Also averted. Strauss asks the same sort of favors that LaCroix does, but politely, and gives suitable compensation.
    • If the Player Character is a Tremere, he even gives them a swanky new pad and adopts them into the clan.
    • Even furthermore, he is one of the only two "factions" (the other being the Anarchs/Nines) who you siding with in the endgame doesn't end up screwing you over. In fact, in his ending his first act as the new Prince is to make you his honorary right hand.
  • Evil Sorcerer: He is a member of a House Tremere.
  • In-Series Nickname: A very telling one from the Malkavian Player Character: "Wizard King".
  • Mad Sorcerer: He created the Gargoyle that the Player Character has to deal with.
  • Man Behind the Man: The Malkavian run more or less says that Strauss is the real "King of the City", noting when he makes hints at ambition, "Your iron crown begins to sparkle."
  • Manipulative Bastard: There's a very good argument Strauss is giving Prince LaCroix just enough rope to hang himself.
  • Mentor: Slightly, especially to a Tremere.

Strauss: Let me give you some advice, young one. Your ability to succeed in Kindred society often depends on your ability to find things out for yourself. Remember that well.
Player Character: Uh, thanks, DAD.

  • Nice Guy: For a vampire, he's ridiculously polite, even refraining from blasting LaCroix's leadship of the Camarilla too harshly despite having good reason to do so.
  • The Older Immortal: Older than LaCroix and a Tremere elder. His age is probably counted in centuries, and could be anything up to around 900.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: To the point that he doesn't doublecross you or otherwise leads you to your downfall in his ending. In fact, his ending leaves you extremely well off as second in command of LA's Camarilla.
  • The Stoic: Very calm and collected, and almost impossible to anger on-screen.

The Sheriff

A huge, mute kindred who follows LaCroix everywhere as his bodyguard. Wields a gargantuan sword and apparently comes from Africa. He was the one who beheaded your Sire.

Gary Golden

By the clack-smack cracking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes. I don't remember seeing you on the guest list for the dinner party; we're having a wrap party for the Misfits about forty years late. Cast and crew only, boss...

The Nosferatu Primogen and former Hollywood star, now the sarcastic king of Hollywood's underworld. One of the most secretive members of the local Camarilla, he masterminds the theft of the Ankaran Sarcophagus and its sale to the Giovanni.

  • At Least I Admit It: His stance towards uppity Toreador Player Characters; in various lines of dialogue, he rails at them for trying to deny their inherent monstrosity with "Paris Fashions and Pomp".
  • The Barnum: Loves playing visitors and customers like puppets, especially in playing both sides of the fence in the search for the Ankaran Sarcophagus. Clan lore suggests that this is actually the preferred position to take when dealing with distasteful non-Nosferatu clients, vis-a-vis providing false information. Thankfully, he seems to like the Player Character... especially if you're a Nosferatu.
  • Break the Haughty: What he does to Imalia.
    • As he was once a movie star renowned for his looks and charm, he endured this following his embrace; unlike Imalia, however, he's had the the time to adjust and eventually reinvent himself.
  • Cool Old Guy: While rather creepy, Gary is still the sort of Primogen who looks after his own, and he never goes back on his word with you.
  • Dirty Old Man: If you run a few errands for him, he will provide you with pin-up posters of several of the game's female characters.
  • Evil Phone: Not exactly evil, but certainly startling if you forgot about Gary's promise to call you on a payphone.

(Sleazy salesman voice) Are you interested in saving money on long-distance calls? (laughter, normal voice) You done real well, bringin' our boy back. I got your info, hero.

  • Guttural Growler: And a rather impressive growl at that.
  • Hearing Voices: Introducing himself while Obfuscated, he pretends that he's actually a voice in your head. And when the Malkavian Player Character remarks that he doesn't sound like the usual voice, Gary counters with "Maybe I killed the voice in your head, boss."
  • Knowledge Broker: As Nosferatu Primogen, this is guaranteed, particularly when the LA Nosferatu decide they don't like LaCroix any more.
  • Large Ham: In-universe. Gary purposefully overplays his own monstrosity, complete with evil chuckles and theatrics in terms of word choice and voice pitch. Or possibly he really is that way all the time. Given he used to be an actor, he probably has training at it.
  • Lean and Mean: His body is very emaciated, though the "mean" part depends on the PC's interactions with him.
  • Looks Like Orlok: Manages looking handsome anyway, by Nosferatu standards.
  • Mummies At the Dinner Table: When you meet him, Gary is hosting a wrap party for a production that ended over forty years ago, having dug up the actors, dressed them in formal wear and placed them around a table.
  • Obfuscating Insanity: Possibly.
  • Reliable Traitor: Gary is the Camarilla Primogen of the LA Nosferatu. He also sells his info freely to the Camarilla's enemies, has no bones about flaunting this fact in LaCroix's face, and has no respect for LaCroix, his fellow primogen, or any members of the Camarilla whatsoever. Justified insofar that the local Nosferatu were residents of LA while it was a Free State (even the Anarchs knew better than trying to root them out), and Gary has probably gotten used to flying solo; much like Grout, he probably got saddled with the title of Primogen as a matter of seniority when the Camarilla rolled back into town.
  • Sharp-Dressed Man: Wears a crisp white shirt, black vest and bow-tie.
  • The Spymaster
  • Stealth Expert: Doesn't matter how good your stats are. Gary will get the drop on you.
  • Troll
  • Verbal Tic: He ends just about every sentence with "Boss".
  • White Dwarf Starlet: Played with. He didn't lose his career to age, but to the vampire curse, and he still looks better than most.
  • Younger Than They Look/Wise Beyond Their Years: If his backstory is true, Gary is probably no more than 70–80 years old (and if he worked in The Misfits while still alive, his embrace happened 40 years ago at most). Despite this, he's way more cynical and politically savvy than many LA vampires several times his age.

Alistair Grout

I am confident no cure for my condition or that of my beloved wife lies within our figurative minds, waiting to be unlocked by the correct combination of memories recovered from our childhoods. And I am most certain it has nothing to do with the relationship between myself, my parents and my... genitals. Sorry, Sigmund, but I choose to stay my course. In time, too, may your star fade and disappear...

The Malkavian Primogen, a former psychiatrist obsessed with finding a cure for his wife's Malkavian catatonia. Little is known of him until you're asked to inspect his mansion, whereupon you find that he's been killed by Ming Xiao.

  • Apocalyptic Log: His audiotapes.
  • Bedlam House: His home.
  • Deliberate Values Dissonance: Judging by his approach to security and the many audiotapes around his house, he still adheres to his era's ideas of how to treat the mentally ill along with many other extinct forms of medicine, such as phrenology.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: One reason for all the insane ghouls wandering the house is that he is using them to find a cure for his wife's condition.
  • Haunted House: Averted, his house is definitely scary and crawling with insane ghouls, but it is not haunted.
  • Hearing Voices: The audiotapes report that his Malkavian madness appeared in the form of voices echoing from other vampires during conversation, providing him with secret details of their lives; Grout kept his composure until the voices started to speak outside of conversation, warning him about a powerful vampire implied to be Lacroix and "his blackest crimes, both past and future".
  • I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Grout voices frustration that he never had the chance to question his sire (or "my infector" as he calls her). Apparently an asylum inmate, she attacked and successfully Embraced him, only to be set upon by orderlies and locked in the roaming pen; by the time Grout regained consciousness, the sunrise had killed her. In the same entry, he mentions this, he bitterly notes that she'd probably be just like the "mewling wretches" that make up his current crop of test subjects.
  • Lack of Empathy: Illustrated beautifully when one of his test subjects gnaws off one of his own arms and escapes into the floorboards; Grout's sole concern is for the atrocious mess the subject must be making in there. In fact, the only resident of his house that seems to draw the slightest bit of sympathy from him is his wife.
  • Mad Scientist
  • Properly Paranoid: Well, he's Malkavian, he's powerful, and this is the World of Darkness. Someone's gonna be out to get him.
  • Psycho Psychologist: Despite his rather calm demeanor, Grout is not someone you want treating you.
  • Sanity Slippage: As with all Malkavians, he's insane; however, Grout has a very slow-acting version of the Malkavian madness, going from a cold-hearted psychopath to a reclusive paranoid schizophrenic over the course of several decades.
  • Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Notes that vampires do it, theorizes as to why, then realizes he's doing it too over the course of one diary recording.
  • Shout-Out: To Coppola's "Bram Stoker's Dracula". The audiotapes he leaves around are similar to the ones used by Dr. Seward, and he also operates an asylum of sorts. Furthermore, his basic motivations...
  • The Spock: By Malkavian standards, to the point that the Ventrue diplomats that persuaded him to become Primogen hand-tailored their arguments to his "obvious infatuation with reason".

Bertram Tung

News travels down the Kindred grapevine like wildfire, and that courtroom spat between LaCroix and Nines Rodriguez is a juicy little morsel. And you in the middle... how interesting.

A Nosferatu agent of the Camarilla in Santa Monica. Living out of an abandoned fuel tank, he can show you the way to the Sabbat storehouse, but you must first persuade Therese Voerman to call off the Feud with him. He also has a ghoul running errands for him in town.

  • Body Horror: It looks like his head is full of huge zits, about to explode. Yuuuk....
  • The Chessmaster: A minor one, but he has a gambit in place to fool you into killing a local Kuei-Jin spy for him. This also serves as an introduction to the convoluted politics of Jyhad, for as Tung himself notes.

Don't take it too hard, fledgeling. I won't be the last Elder to milk you for a favour.

  • Deadpan Snarker: With emphasis on the deadpan.
  • Graceful Loser: If you manage to figure out that he's manipulating you, he reacts with grudging admiration, unless you're a Tremere, in which case, he'll respond with utter disgust. And if you play as a fellow Nosferatu, he just about gives you a round of applause.
  • In-Series Nickname: The Malkavian calls him "Nasty Dude", which s/he probably picked up from Knox (or "Your Nastiness" or "Your Dudeness"). Installing the unofficial patch adds a line where he threatens to tan your hide for it before realizing he's talking to a Malkavian and then letting it drop.
  • Knowledge Broker
  • Ugly Guy Hot Gal: Apparently he had an affair with Jeanette.

Quite an interesting specimen... but a pain in my dead ass, for sure.

Barabus

I've got no excuse - a Nosferatu getting caught by a bunch of humans... this is a new low.

A Nosferatu agent in Chinatown, he ended up getting kidnapped by the Fu Syndicate and experimented on. In order to recieve information on the whereabouts of the Ankaran Sarcophagus from Gary, you're going to have to rescue him.

Mitnick

Oh my god, are you kidding me? What are you using for security down there, a Trash-80? Guys, it's called "encryption". This is too easy; I'd let you off the hook, but stupidity always brings out the asshole in me...

A former master hacker, Mitnick's life actually seems to have improved as a result of his transformation into a Nosferatu, unlike Gary and Imalia. However, he still needs your help with setting up a few Schrecknet hubs around the city...

  • The Cracker: As of his induction to the Nosferatu clan, he's a friendlier example than most, but still...
  • Cursed with Awesome: Mitnick fully acknowledges that his Embrace was the best thing that could have possibly happened to him.
  • He Knew Too Much: Mitnick was Embraced after managing (after burning out three laptops) to break the encryptions on a very minor Nosferatu database.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: Compare and contrast with Kevin Mitnick.
  • Playful Hacker: What else can you call a man who once emailed all of America's nuclear missile activation codes... to the President?
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Subverted: like Beckett, Mitnick is one of the more personable characters in the game.
  • Sinister Surveillance: If you accept his quest offer, you're given the job of expanding said Sinister Surveillance for him.
  • Troll: Implied by his dialogue when you first meet him. He still manages to be rather nice face-to-face, on the other hand.

Imalia

Bitch! I can't believe she got the cover of Glamorella this month!

One of Gary's most recent Childer, Imalia used to be a world-famous model; punished for her vanity by a Nosferatu Embrace, she still hasn't gotten over her lost beauty or the fact that her place in the spotlight has been usurped. In fact, she's willing to offer quite a bit of money in exchange for any dirt on her replacement...

  • Alpha Bitch: Quite the prima donna in life, and still has the temper in death.
  • Bald Woman: Her hair fell out as part of her curse.
  • Break the Haughty: As an obvious Cleopatra (a Nosferatu embraced into the clan for being beautiful and too prideful about it), this is a given.
  • Green-Eyed Monster: What she has ended up as, due to her removal from the modelling scene and new model Tawni Sessions taking her place.
  • Guttural Growler: Sounds as though she has a really nasty case of laryngitis.
  • Punished with Ugly: Ending her modelling career in a hurry.
  • White Dwarf Starlet: Like Gary, more as a result of being undead than anything else.


The Anarchs

Nines Rodriguez

LA's the school of hard knocks, so keep your friends close and your enemies in a barbecue pit.

Leader of the Anarchs in Los Angeles, Nines is a Brujah freedom fighter and product of the Depression: He loathes the Camarilla and the Kuei-Jin with a passion and believes in the continued existence of the Free State LA, but is forced to tolerate the other factions because he hasn't got the manpower for an all-out war against both sides. Having lost his own Sire at a young age, he opposed your execution in the first place and also helps you out a couple of times during the story; Jack implies he has a soft spot for outcasts like the fledgling. With your unwitting help, LaCroix and Ming Xiao manage to frame him for the murder of Grout and later the Fledgeling him/herself for Nines' (fake) death. In the Anarch ending he takes control of the city.

  • Badass: Nines gets to prove it twice.
  • Berserk Button: Say something bad about the Anarchs, he won't speak to you for quite a long time. Also, do not mention the Camarilla while he's around, that tends to irritate him.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Who brings a grenade to a street fight? Nines does, that's who.
  • Cool Old Guy: He's from the 1920's and thus one of the older (but not oldest) Kindred you'll meet.
  • Crapsack World: What Nines claims it is. Given it's the Old World of Darkness, he's right.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: Brujah. Don't badmouth the Anarch cause in front of him.
  • Immortal Immaturity: Sort of: you would normally expect more maturity and wisdom from an eighty year-old vampire.
  • Nice Guy: Unless you manage to piss him off, he usually acts in a calm, nice and helpful manner. This stands in direct contrast to the other Brujah in the game, most of them who are notably more hot-headed.
  • Not So Different: From LaCroix, in the end. Just don't imply it while he's nearby.
  • Rebellious Spirit: Seemingly a much more sane version than Damsel and Skelter have.

Damsel

You wanna know what my problem is? Alright, I'll tell you what my problem is, you ready? You are my goddamn problem! Anyone who would lay it down for some cape in an ivory tower deserves what they get!

A bad tempered, hot-blooded Brujah girl and one of Nines' henchmen. Is quite rude, but turns out to have a nicer persona after all, under the right circumstances.

  • Berserk Button: Anything and everything to do with the Camarilla, sometimes to the point of Angrish
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Becomes this at the end on the game only if you go for the Anarch ending. It says a lot about her if you consider what the PC had to go through to win a tiny bit of affection.
  • Fan Service: Some of her tasteful nudes in college come back to haunt her in-game.
  • Fiery Redhead: Very much so.
  • Granola Girl: Skelter describes her as this, comparing her to an anti-Vietnam flower child. In person? Not so much.
  • Slap Slap Kiss: Her relationship with the Player Character.
  • Team Mom: Sort of, she's the "Den Mother" of the local Anarchs.
  • Tsundere: At least if the player character is a Male Anarch.

Malkavian: You are a candy heart with a "Fuck You" printed on it.

Skelter

Whatever, man. I choose not to submit: I signed away my rights once, and it landed my ass in a southeast Asian jungle with nothin' but an M16 and a shitload of questions. Now I'm dead, and the real hell starts. I'll be dust before I roll over and take it again.

A black Brujah and another of Nines' men. Conversation with him reveals him to be a Vietnam veteran.

  • Bald of Awesome: As a war vet with lots of experience fighting a secret war against frightening foes.
  • The Dragon: To Nines.
  • Scary Black Man: At first, he's quite obstructive, but he mellows out later.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran: Claims explicitly to have served in Vietnam, and blames some of the stuff he saw there on the Kuei-Jin.
  • Warrior Poet: Once he calms down, he's capable of speaking quite eloquently about the Blood Bond and the Masquerade. He's not a hard example of Warrior Poet, but he's definitely closer to it than Damsel.

Jack

Now you an' I maybe ain't seen eye to eye on everything - to be honest, I've made vampires deepthroat dynamite for less aggravation - but I think we understand each other, and hey! Our unlives are ours to do with as we will.

A jovial Brujah Elder who teaches you the basics of Vampire lore and the mechanics of the World of Darkness. He's actually the man behind the Ankharan Sarcophagus' arrival and its eventual fate.

  • Badass Beard: A holdover from his pirate days.
  • Big Brother Mentor: Well, more like a scraggy biker uncle mentor, but still.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: Always laughing, always joking, and always having the time of his life, even as he's crushing the skulls of incompetent Sabbat. He even lampshades this fact in-game.

Jack: Everytime I yank a jawbone and ram it into an eyesocket, I know I'm building a better future!

  • Cool Old Guy: He was a pirate, you know.
  • Genius Bruiser: Extremely clever and well-informed under his wild exterior.
  • Moral Dissonance: Claims to think about mortals the way humans think about cows. You don't go out of your way to kill 'em, but who cares if one dies? Kinda justified in that he is about 400 years old and knows to prioritize Kindred over humans when it comes to survival, or taking into account that pirates 400 years ago didn't think much about killing. He is trying to adjust to modern times, packing heat and bathing. You know, occasionally. Given 400 more years, he might give the morality thing more consideration. Or he might not, who can say?
  • Noodle Incident: Jack seems to have a specific problem with shotguns, and getting shot in the head with them, borne of experience. He'll never say what the experience was.
  • The Red Baron: Known as "Smilin' Jack", although he never uses it himself.
  • Wolverine Publicity: Not to the level of Beckett, but he is a famous background character in the World of Darkness.

The Voerman Twins

The Voerman Twins make up Therese Voerman, Anarch Baroness of Santa Monica, and her sister/nemesis Jeanette, a Malkavian and owner of the Asylum nightclub. The two almost never operate alone, and fill the same character sheet. Mainly because 'they' is actually a 'she': Voerman is a Malkavian with Disassociative Identity Disorder.

  • Ambition Is Evil: Subverted! If you choose to end the feud between the sisters, one of the most convincing arguments you can make is that Therese and Jeanette would be twice as powerful if they joined forces.
  • Anything That Moves: Jeanette will flirt even with the hideous Nosferatu characters...

Nosferatu Player Character: Uh, don't you find me a bit... ugly?
Jeanette: On the inside, we're all dead meat, kitten.

  • Bi the Way: Jeanette can sleep with the player character whether they're male or female.
  • Chewing the Scenery: Jeanette's coquettish intro speech is a true act of seductive overacting. Grey DeLisle really gets to shine.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Of course, Jeanette.
  • Creepy Twins: And they're the same person to boot!
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Therese, especially if you manage to save them both.
  • Different As Night and Day: Therese is cold, reserved and professional, while Jeanette is teasy and more emotive.
  • Fantastic Racism: In sharp contrast to her sister, Therese does not like the Nosferatu... but at least she has the common decency to apologise.
  • Hidden Depths: Jeanette.
  • Kuudere: If you manage to save both of her personalities, she becomes quite fond of you. It doesn't mean she won't hunt you down if you reveal her secret.
  • Neutral No Longer: Therese curries favour with the Camarilla and is quite overt about having ambitions to leave the anarch fold. If she remains alive or they merge, she eventually does. If only Jeanette is alive, she stays anarch.
  • Obfuscating Insanity: Subverted and played straight. Therese and Jeanette are a actually a split personality Malkavian, so it's played straight. The subversion is that the Therese side is quite competent at acting normal and fitting in so well with rubbing shoulders with the Camarilla and acting upper class you'd mistake her for a Ventrue. Jeanette on the other hand is her exact opposite, but even she is very clever in a Street Smart way and most of her Cloudcuckoolander antics will cease whenever she's being dead serious.
  • Parental Incest: Therese and her father. In fact, it's implied that Therese developed Jeanette as a secondary personality to help her cope with the abuse... up until Therese walked in on her father and Jeanette...
    • Word of God confirms this. Also goes to show their work: one of the game designers specifically mentioned in an interview about having researched how Dissociative Identity Disorder develops in real life and applying it here.
  • Perky Goth: Jeanette.
  • Self-Made Orphan: After witnessing her father sleeping with Jeanette, Therese "blew his mind out all over the silly clown wallpaper" with her father's shotgun.
  • Split Personality: Therese implies she was the "original" personality who created Jeanette to deal with her father's abuse and her sheltered lifestyle. Becoming Embraced by a Malkavian may explain why it's played so extremely.
  • Vampires Own Nightclubs: The Asylum.

Isaac Abrams

I don't fear LaCroix, nor do I give a damn about his jackboot sycophants and court jesters. Let them all come to Hollywood! It would be a battle sequence worthy of Kurosawa!

The Toreador Baron of Hollywood, and the financier of just about every single major American film made in the last few decades. He helps you in your quest to find the Nosferatu.

  • Ambiguously Gay: A Fanon theory about his relationship with his childe. Then again, being a vampire that doesn't really make much difference.
  • Ambiguously Jewish: Aside from his name, he both owns a jewelry store and is in involved in the film industry (see below).
    • Oh, and his possible henchman is a Golem-like gargoyle...
  • Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Isaac claims to be behind most of the top grossing pictures in Hollywood.
  • Cool Old Guy: And, unlike many examples in this game, he looks rather elderly.
  • Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Isaac is less remembered than most Kindred of the game because, very surprisingly, he doesn't have any crippling personality flaws.
  • The Gump: As a vampire with considerable ties to the inner workings of Hollywood, this is pretty much expected of him. He also has a very long list of famous directors and actors he's befriended and financed over the years, and still laughs at the fact that "some studio suit lost in time" once told him that the only thing that Humphrey Bogart could be used for was moving furniture.
  • I Love You, Vampire Son: Seems to be (or have been) in love with his childe. Sadly, Ash doesn't share the feeling.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: He has no love for the Camarilla, but he also has no problem helping you repeatedly during your quest, and supports a peaceful solution with the gargoyle problem.
  • Ridiculously Average Guy: Of all the vampires in the game, he's so generic looking for a vampire you could mistake him for an ordinary middle aged human in certain lighting.
  • Wicked Cultured: Sort of. He's not all that wicked, so more just cultured. However, it makes a rather stunning contrast to the typical Anarch.

Ash Rivers

A former Hollywood star and Isaac's Childe, having been embraced to save him from dying of a drug overdose. By the time you meet him, he's deeply tired of his vampiric unlife, and surrounded by vampire hunters, so it's up to you to save his life. No matter what you do, he gets captured by the Society of Leopold later.

Velvet Velour

Toreador Vampiress and owner of the Vesuvius club in Hollywood (which makes it guaranteed she's involved with Isaac somehow). Is not very interested in playing Jyhad, but provides a number of quests about maintaining the Masquerade.

  • Bi the Way: She falls for the main character, male or female.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Possible and implied.
  • Friendly Neighborhood Vampire: Even more than Isaac, given how softhearted she is toward mortal and vampire alike. Probably the nicest vampire you meet in the game, unless you manage to piss her off.
  • Gainaxing: Her character model moves around a lot and has a great deal of... bounce.
  • Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Has the personality of an extremely affable prostitute, and since she is a stripper, she's almost identical to the job description of the trope. The Heart Of Gold stems from her being genuinely very nice, not wanting kine or kindred to suffer on her account, and she even begs you in her intro quest not to get innocents involved and to use only as much force as absolutely necessary.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Shares the role with Jeanette, particularly in the opening titles of the game. She also has the largest breasts in the game.
  • Shallow Love Interest
  • Sickeningly Sweethearts: Her love emails are quite hammy.
  • Stripperific: Well, she actually is a stripper, so...
  • That Woman Is Dead: Her response to the Malkavian inspecting her past self.
  • Vampires Own Nightclubs: A stripper club, but close enough.


The Sabbat

Andrei

Tell me, childe, is my appearance that frightening, or is it my knowledge of you that is so unnerving?

A Tzimisce vampire and one of the highest-ranking members of the Sabbat. He lurks in a dilapidated mansion in the Hollywood Hills, where he crafts monsters out of junkies, runaways, illegal immigrants, thin-bloods, anyone who won't be missed, before unleashing them on the Nosferatu in order to "blind" the Camarilla.

Kuei-jin

Ming Xiao

Leader of the Kuei-jin vampires in Chinatown. She's plotting with LaCroix against the Anarchs, but clearly has her own agenda...

  • Affably Evil: Unlike a lot of examples, her impeccable manners are little more than a launch-pad for a lot of racial slurs.
  • The Baroness: She enjoys tormenting people and lording her superiority, real or imagined, over them.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: With LaCroix.
  • Blob Monster: Shapeshifts into one. Though it looks more like a giant slug with tentacles.
  • Chinese Girl: And proud of it.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: To a lesser extent than LaCroix, but only just.
  • Combat Tentacles: In her battle form.
  • Cultural Posturing: And how. It's to the point where she flat-out lies about certain things Kindred and Kuei-jin actually have in common (like being burdened with an ancient guilt), just to screw with the Player Character.
  • Dark Action Girl
  • Devil in Plain Sight
  • Dragon Lady: While she speaks perfect, unaccented English, she otherwise fits the bill quite accurately. With some Cultural Posturing thrown in for good measure. Unusually for this character type, she's the head of her own organization in LA, rather than serving someone else.
  • Fan Disservice: Her transformation into an inhuman monster.
  • Fan Service: A nice poster of her bathing, though Gary admits to Photochopping a surveillance picture of her head onto the body.
  • Fantastic Racism: Ming Xiao considers Cainites to be horrible disgusting monsters. Which, admittedly they are, but the Kindred of the East aren't any better.
  • Femme Fatale: Sadly, one you cannot flirt with.
  • In-Series Nickname: "Mistress of Mirrors" by the Malkavian. She reacts... poorly.
  • Mysterious Woman
  • Villainous Breakdown: A minor one, but converse with her as a Malkavian and her true self starts shining through when you nickname her and when you namedrop the Yama Kings in response to her posture about "silly Cainite superstitions".
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Actually, more like you were too dangerous to let live.
    • Overlaps with Idiot Ball. A lot of player characters sided with her just because she was hot.

The Chang Brothers

We Chang Brothers accept your life graciously...

Blade and Claw, twin Kuei-jin dispatched by Ming-Xiao to retrieve the Sarcophagus. You must fight them in the Giovanni crypt.

Independents

Beckett

I consider myself a seeker of reluctant information; "scholar" sounds like academia- ugh!

A legendary Gangrel scholar Shrouded in Myth, visiting Los Angeles to inspect the Ankaran Sarcophagus.

  • Adventurer Archaeologist: Complete with refined accent and outfit.
  • Animorphism: He first shows up in his wolf form. Running on a train.
  • Badass
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Averted. See below.
  • Cool Old Guy: Quite apart from his numerous exploits in Kindred legend, he's also notably one of two characters in the entire game who aren't trying to screw you over somehow. This is not an exaggeration, it's stated outright in the game.
  • Deadpan Snarker: He can snark with the best of them. It doesn't help that even when he's being serious, he still sounds like he's being sarcastic.

It's not that I don't love walking into the heart of danger to curry favor with the local magistrate of the hour, but... actually, that's exactly it.

Pisha

Real terror is not the sight of death: it is the fear of death. What is the fear of death? Terror of the unknown. Is it these eyes you peer into? No, I am not the unknown. You and I are closer kin than you and it were...

A Nagrajara occultist found lurking in the basement of an abandoned hospital, she will trade you a number of useful items in return for rare magical artefacts. Unfortunately, if you want to gain her trust, you've got to help recapture her next victim...

  • Badass Bookworm: While a very scholarly woman, she's a tough and dangerous foe in a fight, especially early on.
  • Cute Monster Girl: All right, she just butchered a TV crew and resides in an underground room full of spare human parts in an Abandoned Hospital, but come on! She's so pretty under all the gore.
  • Evil Sounds Deep: A charming deep voice, indeed.
  • Flunky Boss: If you fight her, she summons endless zombies at you.
  • I'm a Humanitarian: As A Nagaraja vampire, she has to eat the flesh of her prey on top of drinking their blood.
  • Lesbian Vampire: Explicitly stated in her introduction.
  • Meaningful Rename: After her lover.
  • Necromancer
  • The Spock: Calm, cool, and fiercely intelligent. So calmly analytical, she becomes one of the few characters in the entire game who isn't startled or confused by the Malkavian Player Character's dialogue; in fact, after being called "Black Widow", she goes so far as to state the innacuracies of the nickname, stating that "Mantis" would work better!
  • A Storm Is Coming: She strongly advises you to leave the city after you complete her quest, as she claims to have felt a sense of looming discord in the air. Of course, she's not far from truth...

The Brotherhood of the Ninth Circle

The doors have been opened! The seals broken! And the final steps into the abyss... the terrible mysteries of the Ninth Circle...
—Brother Kanker

A cult of vampires spreading a lethal disease among the prostitutes and beggars of downtown Los Angeles, they're also known as the Plaguebearers. They're dealt with in the secondary quests "Fun with Pestilence" and "More Fun with Pestilence", and though the Anarchs apparently kill off most of the cult between the quests, you meet three leading members yourself: Jezebel Locke (a Toreador seductress infecting prostitutes), Brother Kanker (a Nosferatu infecting homeless people) and Bishop Vick (a Brujah who runs the cult and "cares" for several dozen infected).

  • Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Brother Kanker lives in one of these, and has decorated it with the crucified body of a dead policeman for good measure.
  • Boss Arena Idiocy: A clever player armed with firearms can soon figure out a way to dispatch Brother Kanker without losing health and taking advantage of the nearby exit.
  • Brotherhood of Evil: Despite having female members, they act like characters out of a pulp novel.
  • Depraved Bisexual: Jezebel: she's not exactly choosy about who she decides to - ahem - infect.
  • Disposable Sex Worker: Jezebel certainly thinks of her victims in this way; however, the plight of the dying prostitute you encounter is undoubtedly a tragedy, and ultimately no fault of her own.
  • Disposable Vagrant: Kanker targets the homeless, branding them as "weak, sick, hopeless" and declaring them perfect vessels for his "truth".
  • Eyes of Gold: Kanker's eyes are referred to as "piss-yellow".
  • Face of a Thug: Vick. Seriously, it looks like it got caught in a bear trap!
  • Flunky Boss: Bishop Vick is followed by a large number of people who have been infected by the disease, and now seem very like zombies.
  • Freudian Excuse: Bishop Vick is unique in the sense that at least he gives a reason as to why he spreads his diseases; he seems to have genuinely lost his faith in humanity and God due to his Embrace.
  • Get Back Here Boss: Bishop Vick also has the Celerity discipline, letting him whisk across the room before you can land a hit on him and frustrating the hell out of melee-focused players.
  • Knife Nut: Jezebel.
  • Large Ham: Both Kanker and Vick.
  • Nietzsche Wannabe: All of them are dedicated to the downfall of society through the plague they spread, and rant about the end of the world and the pointlessness of existence.
  • Plaguemaster: The entire cult.
  • Religion of Evil: Obviously.
  • The Vamp: Jezebel. Rather appropriate, that.
  • "Wake-Up Call" Boss: Characters who have neglected their combat skills will be hurting badly by the end of this quest series.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: The doorkeeper of the Crackhouse, who mysteriously vanishes after you complete the quest.
  • Wolverine Claws: Brother Kanker, dealing Aggravated damage.
  • Zombie Apocalypse: A small-scale one in the ruined crackhouse. And they keep coming. The only way to get rid of them is to kill Vick.

The Southland Slasher

A Gangrel neonate who's been murdering ex-convicts up and down Los Angeles.

  • Chekhov's Gunman: You can actually see him standing around in the Surfside Diner early in the game; while you can speak with him and (if you have auspex) see that he's a vampire, there's no guessing who he really is.
    • But Thou Must!: You can probably guess he's important, though, by the fact that he's literally unkillable in that cameo appearance.
  • Extreme Melee Revenge: Just about all of his victims died by these means; the fourth one was lacerated with his claws, had his head torn off, and his body impaled on exposed rebar.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation: Despite being referred to as a neonate, he can use his Gangrel War Form. That's a level 5 skill normally available only later in the game (unless you cheat) and after paying a lot of experience points.
    • Actually, just before heading to the pier for the 1st time, a couple of police would discuss the worst thing they ever saw. One described a very vicious killing years ago. It's likely this neonate has been gaining experience all this time. What's really surprising is you can Curb Stomp Battle him anyway.
  • Guttural Growler: Not the worst case in the game, but definitely there.
  • Kill It with Fire: It's possible to knock him into a fire, if you have a sledgehammer... or Potence.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: So, you've decided to spare him without first convincing him to let go of his Unstoppable Rage? Congratulations! You've just released a psychotic, self-righteous Beast-consumed vampire on Los Angeles. Bet the locals'll be in for some fun.
  • No Name Given: Simply "The Killer".
  • One-Winged Angel: Turns into his feral Gangrel War Form to fight you.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: His killing spree was conducted against the criminals who murdered his family.
  • Serial Killer
  • Talking the Monster to Death: It's entirely possible to talk him into ending his rampage.
  • Vigilante Man: Thought of becoming one of these following the end of his rampage.

The Thin-Bloods

A group of young, high-generation vampires living under the Santa Monica Pier, all of them are outcast from mainstream vampire society and on the run from the Sabbat; as such, most of them are in need of your help... with the exception of Rosa, who seems to be expecting you...

  • Beware the Nice Ones: Lily might be weak by vampiric standards and more than a little bit shy, but that just makes her Beast-induced violence all the more startling.
  • The Cuckoolander Was Right: As the game continues, Rosa's predictions start making a disturbing amount of sense.
  • Damsel in Distress: Lily, after being captured by Vandal.
  • Happily Ever After: With your help, Lily and E can successfully reconcile and escape from Santa Monica alive.
  • I Hate You, Vampire Dad: E initially hates Lily for Embracing him, but they reconcile following Lily's rescue.
    • Lily isn't too fond of her sire, Rolf, partly for Embracing her but mostly for abandoning her in Santa Monica.
  • Kick the Dog: If you're feeling in the mood for easy money, you can trick Copper into paying for a "unicorn blood transfusion" to cure his vampirism, or a "Holy Stake" to use on the "Head Vampire".
  • Mad Oracle: Rosa, who isn't sure of what she's talking about at the best of times, let alone her babbled prophecies.
    • And the dialogue between her and a Malkavian character is amusing.
  • The Mole: Julius is actually revealing Kindred's secrets to a screenwriter. When you deal with him, you can decide whether to kill or spare him.
    • Though it isn't as much of being a mole as being too oblivious to realize that the Masquerade is being broken. Nobody ever bothered to tell him.
  • One-Letter Name: E.
  • Speech Impediment: Julius has a terrible stutter.
  • Surfer Dude: E, who actually came to Santa Monica for a surf tourney and ended up staying there after his Embrace.
  • Vampire Refugee: Copper, who desperately wants to find a cure for his vampirism... even if it means killing "the Head Vampire". He'll either be let down as gently as possible by the Player Character, or he'll cough up all the money he has left for three bags of blood and half of a stair bannister. You Bastard.
  • Waif Prophet: Rosa.

The Giovanni

The American branch of the infamous family of necromancers, the Giovanni are comprised of humans, ghouls, and the rare few chosen to be Embraced and made into full-fledged vampires. Decadent, opulent and messed up beyond measure, the necromancers are a force to be reconned with... especially when you're saddled with the task of crashing their reunion party.

  • Affably Evil: From the snippets of conversation you catch, "Uncle" Bruno Giovanni seems fairly cordial, planning to Embrace and Ghoul a few of his family members to celebrate their recent success.
  • Badass in a Nice Suit: Bruno, the Giovanni Elder presiding over the festivities.
  • Big Screwed-Up Family: One you can mess with rather hilariously. With a high persuasion score, you can get each human member of the family to reveal their secrets. You can then betray them to each other and watch the chaos ensue.
  • Dark Secret: Three of the most promising members of the family have secrets that would jeopardise their chances of being Embraced; Mira is HIV-positive, Adam's business has just gone bankrupt, and Christopher's mother had an affair. All three are prepared to pay handsomely for unveiling the secrets of the other two.
  • I Love the Dead: Nadia admits to being turned on by the the mansion's catacombs, and should you try to seduce her, she'll try and talk you into having sex on the mortician's slab.
  • Mook Maker: Bruno will summon guards as he fights, and then ressurect them as zombies when they fall.
  • Necromancer: Most of the high-ranking Giovanni are Necromancers by trade. Nadia Miliner is an apprentice necromancer, and if you're taking the persuasion route, she can be talked into taking you downstairs to tour the preparations room.
  • New Era Speech: Bruno gives one of these monologues at the party, though you can't hear all of it.
  • Time Dissonance: During his speech, Bruno refers to the many years since he last saw his extended family as a brief period of time. That "brief period of time" included The Great Depression.
  • Tome of Eldritch Lore: It's possible to steal one of these (The Voce Del Morte) from the mansion's library and give it to Pisha.
  • Torture Cellar: The preparations room. It also leads to a massive system of catacombs filled with zombies.


Ghouls

Heather

Anything for you...

A young woman found dying in an understaffed clinic. The only way to save her life is to feed her your blood- guaranteeing your own ghoul servant. If she stays with you to the very end, she's kidnapped and brutally murdered by the Sabbat. There are patches that avoid this, but they vary by version and methods.

  • All Just a Dream: A Malkavian can send her off by Dementating her into thinking the time with you was all a dream. Doing so nets you both a masquerade redemption and a point of humanity.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: What she eventually becomes under your influence. This is especially apparent if you play as a Malkavian.
  • Gainaxing: In her third, Stripperific outfit, she's clearly not wearing a bra.
  • Happiness in Slavery: Pretty much her entire existence revolves around this once she becomes your ghoul.
  • Ill Girl: How you meet her.
  • Kick the Dog: Almost every encounter with her is you doing this, either by accident or deliberately.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: A Malkavian player has the opportunity to Derange her into thinking it was all a dream if you choose to release her. This grants you both humanity points and a masquerade redemption.
  • Morality Pet: Heather is worth a Humanity Point for saving, and another one for letting her go later. Humanity gain is very easy in this game, but it's basically one (or two) points for doing practically nothing.
  • Perky Goth: One of her options.
  • Pet the Dog: Arguably, your treatment of her can be this for you.
  • Single-Target Sexuality: Heather isn't so much bisexual, probably, as she is you-sexual.
  • Stalker with a Crush: If you save her and don't speak to her upon returning from the Dane (basically only possible for a Nosferatu, as they arrive Downtown and enter the Venture tower via the sewers), she'll disappear and only show up in time for the Sabbat to kill her. The implication is she's been stalking you all this time.
  • Video Game Caring Potential: You can care for her, help her, and reassure her.
  • Video Game Cruelty Potential: You can take her money, feed from her, and verbally abuse her.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Especially for high Humanity vampires, you're keeping a blood addicted sex slave in your house.
    • Yeah, but you're also giving her a safe home and you can be extremely nice and gentle to her. Considering that when you first met her, she was suffering alone in a hospital with broken bones, damaged organs and internal bleeding, asking for her grandmother and literally moments away from death before you saved her by giving her some of your blood, this is quite an upgrade. Even if you're a Nosferatu, living in the sewers (temporarily, hopefully) and being a grotesque monster's devoted servant doesn't seem that bad when the alternative is being dead. Even as a Malk's Ghoul, Heather might seem touched in the head from now on, but really, after what landed her in the hospital in the first place, acting a little brain-damaged is a small price to pay for being able to walk away.

Mercurio

I can get anything anyone wants at any time. You could say it's my calling. 'Til the Astrolite, there wasn't anything I couldn't handle... well, back east, some shit went down, Big Apple, can't go back. I hate L.A., but whaddaya gonna do?

LaCroix's ghoul in Santa Monica, he prides himself on being able to find just about anything for anyone, from boats to military-grade firearms. Unlike his master, he's a nice guy.

  • Beware the Nice Ones: Explicitly stated to be one of the two people you can put your trust in. However, if you decided to retrieve the astrolite from the drug dealers without killing them, you'll later find out that they suffered the full penalty for crossing him: overdosing is a painful way to go. Especially if your kneecaps are on the floor next to you.
    • Also, if you treat Mercurio badly during the first meeting and threaten to tell the prince about his mistake, you'll return to find him fully healed and very pissed off.
  • Chivalrous Pervert: When asking him about Jeanette, he will comment on how "she's got a body built for bedrooms" to a male character. When a female character asks him, however, he hesitates before saying "Call me old-fashioned, but I don't feel right talking about this in front of a lady."
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Averted. He is explicitly one of the two people in the game that can be trusted.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: Uses a lot of these when injured.
  • Cool Old Guy: He may not look like it, but he's nearly sixty. He's also one of the only few people you can put your complete trust in.
  • In-Series Nickname: The Malkavian Player Character calls him "Fleet-Footed God" because guess why. He seems okay with it.
  • My Master, Right or Wrong: For all that he has to be a fully bound ghoul, he's remarkably clear-headed about his situation. Contrast with Knox and Heather.

(On LaCroix) Just so you understand, my loyalties are all but written in blood, so my opinion of the guy is moot.

  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: He's recovering from one when you first meet him.
  • The Scrounger: You could say he has a talent for it. Need a weapon? Mercurio can get it for you, given some time.

Romero

Far as I know, I'm the only person around Hollywood who considers marksmanship an art.

Isaac's ghoul in Hollywood, he guards the local graveyard, preventing any of the residents from leaving. You can learn a few tips about using firearms if you help him (by finding him a prostitute or by fighting the zombies back for 5 minutes).

  • Deadpan Snarker: He keeps up his good humor despite his morbid situation.
  • Friendly Sniper: Takes pride in his ability to shoot down anyone, and is a hospitable host for the player.
  • The Gunslinger: He loves killing zombies, even though he admits that he wishes he could do something else with his nights sometimes.
  • Hold the Line: Well, the gates of his cemetery. Defending them for him of the cemetery is probably the hardest mission of the whole game bar none. Characters without Celerity, a powerful gun or Protean need not apply.
  • Innuendo Backfire: You can help him defend the graveyard from zombies, or you can bring him a prostitute. If sufficiently attractive, you can even, ah, help him yourself.
  • Shout-Out: His name's Romero, and he works with zombies...
  • What the Hell, Hero?: If you fail the mission and the zombie hordes manage to break out, he gets pissed:

Where are my manners? Thanks for letting the rotting animated corpses out to chew on the flesh of the living, so I could spend all of my pre-dawn hours cleaning up decaying flesh and half-eaten dog carcasses. Really made my night.

Knox Harrington

Bertram Tung's ghoul, Knox enjoys his status as a blood-bound slave a little too much for his own good, and seems to mainly function as a smokescreen for his master's more obvious plans.

  • Ascended Fanboy
  • The Fool: ...He's excitable, that's for sure.
  • Keet: Knox is bouncing off the walls in just about every single scene you can meet him in.
  • Motor Mouth: Maybe ten minutes after you receive a lecture about hiding your vampirism from humanity, talking to Knox sees him realising what you are and refusing to shut the hell up until you remind him it's supposed to be a secret.
  • Not So Harmless: It turns out he actually used to be a bounty hunter... one of the reasons Bertram hired him in the first place.
  • The Renfield
  • Shout-Out: To Knock of Nosferatu.
  • Verbal Tic: "Oh man!"

Vandal Cleaver

Here again? What's the matter? Can't bring yourself to tear into the neck of some quote-unquote "innocent?" All that blood out there, and you have to buy the prepackaged stuff!

Therese Voerman's ghoul, Vandal runs the bloodbank in the basement of the local clinic, using his position to secure choice bloodpacks for his demanding mistress. Unfortunately, as altruism appears to be running low these days, "donations" of blood come from the clubbers, vagrants and Thin-Bloods that Vandal kidnaps.

  • Axe Crazy: Apart from the techniques he uses to supply his mistress with blood, he also lets slip that he was planning to kill his coworker Phil before Lily tore his throat out.
  • Blue Eyes: A very unnerving set too.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: A dark example, needless to say.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Mocks everything he can think of, including his own miserable situation if you Dement him.
  • Evil Redhead: A borderline-serial killer.
  • I Love the Dead: Subverted, of all the people, Vandal considers sex with a clinically dead vampire to be outright disgusting. He also goes on to state that this was how Therese roped him into her service in the first place:

Start breathing, you corpse: I already fell for that act once, and that's how I came to end up here.

  • Kick the Son of a Bitch: After freeing poor Lily from his torture chamber, you can threaten to drain him of all his blood unless he agrees to sell more bloodpacks to you. And God, it's satisfying.
    • If you're a Malkavian, you can also Mind Rape him to the point where he breaks down in insane laughter. And boy, does he deserve it.
  • Knife Nut:

Guns make people cocky; they never appreciate what a skilled hand married to a knife can do. All you have to do is get close enough to cut off the trigger finger... or their face.

  • Nightmare Fetishist: In the event that you manage to help one of his captives escape, one of the options for getting him to sell you blood again is to tell him a story of ultraviolence from your Multiple Choice Past... resulting in a very excited Vandal.
  • Psycho for Hire: Therese keeps him on a very tight leash.
  • The Renfield: Unlike most, however, he's bitter, cynical, and very much aware that he's a slave. Also, though he's too cowed to dare attack a vampire, he's very dangerous to humans.
  • Sarcastic Devotee: He hates Therese, but cannot disobey her.
  • The Social Darwinist: He has great respect for vampires who embrace the Beast and "feed upon the weak".
  • Soft-Spoken Sadist: Played with. His voice is very high and soft, and he rarely yells, but most of his dialogue seethes with barely-constrained rage.

Humans

Venus

Everybody comes in here's got to have to a shot - house rules: inhibition's the first thing to go. Two more of these, and you'll be telling me your nastiest, dirtiest stories; I am your Beat Priestess, and it's time to confess.

The beautiful owner and bartender of the Confession Nightclub. Having started her club with the aid of a local Russian Mafia boss, she's gotten sick and tired of paying her benefactor with sexual favours, and needs an assassin: you.

Yukie

A Japanese demon hunter who runs a noodle shop in Chinatown, currently hunting for the demon who murdered her Sensei.

Grünfeld Bach

As you burn, tell them it was Gunfeld Bach who sent your damned soul to that lake of fire! All agents of Satan shall return to whence they came!

An elite vampire hunter and Inquisitor of the Society of Leopold. He's after LaCroix, who killed his grandfather and father.

Chunk

A fat security guard initially assigned to guard a Santa Monica art gallery... up until you break in and vandalise the paintings. He's then reassigned to guarding the Venture building for Prince Lacroix.

Stanley Gimble

A dealer of prosthetics and medical supplies living out of a basement studio in Santa Monic. He's actually a serial killer.

  • Affably Evil: He is a genuinely bright and cheery man, right up until he's lured you into his kill room.
  • Grievous Harm with a Body: He attacks you with a mutilated arm. Probably his own.
  • Mugging the Monster: Luring you into his lair wasn't his brightest move.
  • Nightmare Fetishist: Along with his love of prosthetics and amputation, Gimble actually finds the Malkavian speech patterns quite charming.
  • Serial Killer: Likes to cut off limbs.
  • Stepford Smiler: Under that cheerful, smiling exterior is a merciless killer with a fetish for amputation.

The Mandarin

You and your kind may play mortals for weaklings and fools, and that may be fitting for some... but you underestimate me...

The apparent CEO of the Fu Syndicate, he's been manipulating the Chinatown Tong for his own dark purposes...

  • Bad Boss/We Have Reserves: Quite happy to let the Fledgeling kill his underlings if they displease him, and even happier to use his security guards and mercenary soldiers as experimental guinea pigs.
  • Baddie Flattery: Begins complimenting the Fledgeling in a very condescending way in the latter stages of the experiment.

You have shown considerable mental and physical accumen... and I'm quite perplexed as to how something that should be dead can possess such strong survival skills.

  • Bullying a Dragon: Makes the mistake of experimenting on Kindred at least twice, with disastrous effects. In the first case, the test subject is Barabus... which gets Gary's attention; the second case, you're the test subject, and it finally comes back to bite him. Possibly literally.
  • The Chessmaster: Lays a clever trap in Chinatown.
  • The Dragon: To Ming Xiao.
  • Faux Affably Evil: He compliments you regularly while trying to kill you, but once it becomes apparent that his experiment has gone awry, it all goes out the window.
  • Mad Scientist: He's studying vampires and their many weaknesses... at Ming-Xiao's request.
  • The Man Behind the Curtain: Up close, he's not much of a threat.
  • No Name Given
  • Shout-Out: To Fu Manchu.
  • Silver Fox: From what little you can see of him, he clearly has white hair, and he's at least middle aged.
  • Sinister Shades: That double as Sunglasses at Night and indoors.
  • Smug Snake: His arrogance, to put it bluntly, is not well-founded.

Fat Larry

An enthusiastic black-market salesman, he operates out of the back of his truck, selling just about anything to anyone... though getting to his special stock may take a few favours.

  • Fat and Proud: The Malkavian will even call him "Fatman" without Larry so much as reacting.
  • Friend in the Black Market: He sells guns and armor out of the back of a truck.
  • Honest John's Dealership: Subverted: Larry may seem like this at first, but his wares are perfectly serviceable. Plus, he gets very irritated when you suggest it.
  • Jive Turkey
  • Shout-Out: In order to gain access to his special stock, you have to retrieve a mysterious briefcase... the contents of which Larry only describes as "beautiful".
  • Soul Brotha: Just barely avoids being a Jive Turkey too.

Tseng

The merchant in the Chinatown area, Tseng inherited his family's herbal medicine store and is more than happy to help you with good herbal remedies for all your Tong-related problems. He has most definitely never been involved with the Chinese Army.


Others

Zygaena the Hengeyokai

A fiendish were-shark monster who preys upon the humans in Chinatown. Apparently works for the Kuei-jin, and killed Yuki's master at some point in the past.

  • All There in the Manual: Although not stated in game, he's a Rokea (were-shark), more correctly a Same-Bito, the eastern version of the race.
  • Bonus Boss: One of the tougher examples in the game.
  • Damage Sponge Boss: Has the greatest number of healthpoints, right after Slug Ming Xiao.
  • Everything's Even Worse with Sharks: Especially weresharks.
  • Laughing Mad: Once he confronts you in the warehouse, he laughs a lot.
  • Meaningful Name: His name comes from the Smooth Hammerhead Shark (Sphyrna Zygaena).
  • One-Winged Angel: As soon as the battle begins he sheds his puny human form and takes his Warform. This also is very typical for Rokea, as most do not see the benefits of taking human form other than situations where they absolutely must.
    • And besides, a skinny unarmed human body isn't much good against a katana-swinging demon-slayer and a heavily-armed vampire.
  • Psycho for Hire: He's insane and he makes it clear that he was hired to kill you.
  • Youkai: He's modeled after the Samebito, a shark demon.

Mr. Ox

... There is something in this store for everyone... Everyone gets what they deserve...

A mysterious shopkeeper in Chinatown, peddling curiosities and trinkets - most of which seem to have very morbid origins and purposes in mind. He enlists your help: first in retrieving a pair of "envious eyes" from the corpse of a thief, then in delivering a Bad Luck Charm to a target's locker.

Hello, Lin. Do you like it here?

  • Cryptic Conversation: A speciality of his.
  • Deal with the Devil: Implies that some of his customers pay for his wares with their souls.
  • Evil Old Folks: ...Probably. It's not clear what he is exactly, but he definitely appears to be an old man, and the quests he gives you are shady, to say the least.
  • Eye Scream: "Eye Gouge Hell..."
  • Mismatched Eyes: One blue, the other yellow
  • Prophecies Are Always Right/Xanatos Gambit: Shortly after you place the Bad Luck Charm in the target's locker, said target promptly appears and gets into an argument that ends with you being forced to kill him... exactly as Ox intended.
    • Off the Rails: If you're a Malkavian or a Ventrue, you can derail this plan by mind-controlling the target into leaving as soon as he finds you. Nosferatu can also avoid violence by scaring him away.
  • Vader Breath: He audibly huffs while talking to you.

The Gargoyle

A massive stone monster created by Strauss and used as a bodyguard- up until he went rogue and hid himself inside the old Chinese theatre in Hollywood. You can be sent here by Strauss or Isaac (or both) to kill him, or convince him to work for the Anarchs.

  • Berserk Button: The Gargoyle, already hostile towards Kindred, is downright infuriated by members of the Tremere clan or any mention of Strauss.
  • Boss Arena Idiocy: Subverted. You think you can just go upstairs and shoot him to death from the balconies? You're in for a rude awakening: he simply tears through the pillars beneath you.
  • The Brute: Kinda goes without saying.
  • Damage Sponge Boss: Blades and bullets won't help you against him. Even armed with a blunt weapon, you need some time.
  • Golem: Bears a startling resemblance to one. Considering that he can end up owned by Isaac, it might be somewhat appropriate.
  • Gone Horribly Wrong
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: It's very easy to piss the Gargoyle off, resulting in a boss battle.
  • Mighty Glacier/Glacier Waif: He's awfully strong, but quite slow and predictable if you stay close enough. He can sometimes dash at you if you try to take distance from him.
  • Talking Your Way Out: You can try and persuade him to work for Isaac, but is very difficult. You'll need a pretty crazy Persuade score, and to pick your words extremely carefully.
  • Weaksauce Weakness: To bludgeoning damage.

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  1. ↑ He is a Nagloper (African Tzimisce).
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